The Scottish media this week has started to rather resemble Argentina under General Galtieri’s military junta – everywhere you look are the ghosts of the disappeared.
Earlier today we reported on the mysterious failure of the Herald to notice that its front page lead story about supposedly poor ScotRail punctuality figures made a number of serious errors with regard to the facts, most notably confusing the excellent figures for last month with a 12-month rolling average which was significantly worse.
But as we read the rest of the papers, we noticed the oddest thing.
Today’s edition of The Times contains a textbook example of a phenomenon that we highlight regularly: how newspapers gradually unpick their own dishonest headlines to grudgingly admit a truth which is often the polar opposite of the initial claim.
The BBC’s Reporting Scotland is, in our view, directly responsible for at least 80% of Yes supporters’ belief that the UK’s state broadcaster is biased against independence. Almost all of the worst examples of unbalanced or downright dishonest coverage over the last five years come from the flagship teatime bulletin.
Today’s Daily Record covers the story we mentioned yesterday about a report from a Scottish Labour campaign group making the pretty factually-uncontestable point that the branch office’s dismal strategy in last month’s election held the UK party back.
Broadly speaking, the psychological phenomenon known as the Pollyanna Principle is a tendency to neurotically see the most positive possible view of a situation. It’s not generally widely found in newspapers – for whom bad news as a rule sells much better than good news – but for some reason the Scottish press makes a uniform exception when it comes to military shipbuilding.
This, for example, is today’s Herald:
Now, in itself that headline is – unusually – true, so far as it goes. But it only takes until the first sentence of the article text before things start to fall apart.
Hanzala Malik has been a Glasgow Labour politician for 22 years without anyone noticing. His Wikipedia entry sums up his contribution to Scottish politics over that time in a single 25-word sentence amounting to “served on some committees”.
But he got noticed yesterday.
Because so committed was Malik to the core ideological principle of Scottish Labour – namely that absolutely everything bad that happens anywhere is the SNP’s fault – that he somewhat overstretched himself and blamed them for the closure of six Jobcentres in Glasgow, despite the startlingly obvious facts that responsibility for the decision lies solely with the UK government and the closures have been opposed consistently by every SNP MP in the city, two things Malik can’t possibly have not known.
After an outcry on social media when an alert Wings reader spotted the falsehood, Malik quietly amended the Facebook post twice, first from an attack on “the SNP” to the rather ambiguous “Government” and then finally to the accurate “UK government”. But “SNP BAD” will always be Labour’s instinctive default reaction.
We’re always loath to criticise political journalists for feeble stories published during the summer season, when parliaments are in recess and there’s nothing much happening to fill space with. But the Sunday Post has started pretty early this year.
Let’s see if we can put a number on the degree of “dilution” here, shall we?
The Labour Party’s current state of euphoric hubris about losing another election is at least partly explicable. Jeremy Corbyn increased his party’s 2015 vote in England and Wales by a thumping 40%, took the highest vote share of any Labour leader since 2001 (beating Tony Blair’s 2005 victory by five points), the highest actual vote since Blair’s 1997 landslide, and deprived the Tories of their overall majority.
Those achievements are tempered by the fact that while Corbyn vastly overperformed expectations and certainly gave Theresa May a bloody nose (and might well end up depriving her of the Prime Ministership once her party gets a challenger together), the morning-after reality is that Tory rule has been extended to at least 2022 – by which time Corbyn will be 73 – with the nasty hangover of the empowerment of the DUP.
(With both Labour and Corbyn personally now leading in the polls it’s pretty much impossible to see the Tories losing a vote of confidence which would trigger another exemption to the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act. Any new election would very likely lead not only to a Labour government but to a Jeremy Corbyn Labour government, a prospect to chill even the most rebellious Tory into meek and sober compliance.)
But it would be churlish to dispute that Corbyn has put Labour in its best position for nearly 20 years. The same is emphatically NOT true of Scottish Labour, which hasn’t stopped the Scottish media from desperately trying to pretend otherwise.
She’d insisted explicitly several times that a Jeremy Corbyn administration WOULD block a new indyref, even after being shown a video clip of Corbyn from earlier in the day saying he wouldn’t, and she repeatedly urged readers not to listen to the party’s leader and to instead go and look at the Labour manifesto.
Athanasius on Seven Days Too Long: “Don’t vote. The government will get in.” May 1, 06:30
Peter McAvoy on Seven Days Too Long: “Has the site of the fire in union street been examined to see if the buildings and roads are in…” May 1, 02:05
Young Lochinvar on Seven Days Too Long: “FFS What is up with you lot? Vote ATLS. Simple. “Independence, nothing else”. Isn’t that what we are crying out…” Apr 30, 23:49
Rob on Seven Days Too Long: “I did vote for Fergus, its not that I don’t like what the SNP used to stand for, its more…” Apr 30, 23:27
Alf Baird on Seven Days Too Long: “The Crown as relating to the Kingdom of England seems clear enough, an thars nae doubt thon Croun is whit…” Apr 30, 22:31
James on Seven Days Too Long: “Dan; I’m south Scotland and have an ATLS choice on the list so they will get my vote, sadly there…” Apr 30, 22:12
Mark Beggan on Seven Days Too Long: “I think Scotland is about to become the land that time forgot.” Apr 30, 21:17
Cynicus on Seven Days Too Long: “If you can, vote for Fergus Ewing. #No Votes SNP.” Apr 30, 21:13
Cynicus on Seven Days Too Long: “If you van, vote for Fergus Ewing. #No Votes SNP.” Apr 30, 21:12
diabloandco on Seven Days Too Long: “Please , please go and vote – spoil your ballot paper if no-one appeals – but please vote as even…” Apr 30, 21:11
Dan on Seven Days Too Long: “The trouble is James, that after 10 years and two Scottish parliament elections, there is now a choice of voting…” Apr 30, 21:06
Doug on Seven Days Too Long: “Our only hope for independence is Farage becoming PM in England.” Apr 30, 21:02
Doug on Seven Days Too Long: “A leader with any integrity would resign. So, aye, Swinney will remain as leader. The gutless memebership will probably beg…” Apr 30, 21:00
James on Seven Days Too Long: “Are you not missing the point? Agree to disagree on anything and everything except; Independence, nothing else nothing less. That’s…” Apr 30, 20:23
Confused on Seven Days Too Long: “pessimism is just playing the odds, but it makes for a dull life 1. england is swallowed beneath the waves…” Apr 30, 19:33
Potace on Seven Days Too Long: “I’m just not going to bother voting. What an utterly depressing shower they all are, and I’m left completely politically…” Apr 30, 19:06
Highland Wifie on Seven Days Too Long: “Alf says “Scots need to elect radicals.” Alliance to Liberate Scotland made a huge mistake in parachuting in Craig Murray…” Apr 30, 18:30
Sven on Seven Days Too Long: “twathater @ 17.54. “They may not be polished or grandiose” and, I’d add, not career or would be professional career…” Apr 30, 18:20
100%Yes on Seven Days Too Long: “Have you seen this below? https://neilslegalstuff.blogspot.com/2026/04/crown-of-england-post-1707-read-act.html Just wondered your thoughts?” Apr 30, 18:18
Sven on Seven Days Too Long: “Cynicus @ 17.39. I’d guess that you have missed the opportunity to waste some hours of your life which you’d…” Apr 30, 18:12
Alf Baird on Seven Days Too Long: ““a lackey for Sturgeon Don’t you mean “a lackey” for the ‘Union’?” Apr 30, 17:56
twathater on Seven Days Too Long: “FFS whats wae awe the girnin and defeatism , a canny vote for this yin or a canny vote fur…” Apr 30, 17:54
Cynicus on Seven Days Too Long: “I have not watched a single Party political broadcast or leaders’ debate.. Have I missed much?” Apr 30, 17:39
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Seven Days Too Long: “To be clear, Fergus Ewing is of course standing as an independent.” Apr 30, 17:27
Alf Baird on Seven Days Too Long: “Independence is of course ‘radical’ in terms of totally transforming our society and governance which means Scots need to elect…” Apr 30, 17:19
100%Yes on Seven Days Too Long: “The outcome of SNP election will be, Swinney failed again. He’s no Alex Salmond and why would he be, Alex…” Apr 30, 17:10
Shug on Seven Days Too Long: “He will fet my first vote but will never see the second until the perjurer is in jail” Apr 30, 17:04
100%Yes on Seven Days Too Long: “These are my predictions for the coming years:- 1 Scotland will still be in the Union in 2031 2 Peter…” Apr 30, 16:58
joe on Seven Days Too Long: “I’m happy , got eva comrie here to vote for, she will get my vote , hopefully get in on…” Apr 30, 16:54
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Seven Days Too Long: “Stu Campbell writes: “With the exception of Fergus Ewing in Inverness & Nairn, we’re struggling to think of a single…” Apr 30, 16:51
