The entire Scottish media and professional-politician community is currently in a self-righteous froth about a campaign ad being run by Reform for the Hamilton by-election targeting Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar.
Obviously none of the acres of press coverage trusts voters to see the ad and decide for themselves, because that simply isn’t how journalism works nowadays. You’re told that a bad thing happened – whether it be a campaign ad, a comedian’s joke or the supposed terrible abuse sent to a celebrity – and how outraged various pundits or other celebrities are about it, with the clear implication that you should feel the same, but you almost never get shown or told what was actually said.
So to start with, as a basic journalistic principle, here’s the ad itself in its entirety.
Now let’s look at what you’re being ordered to think about it.
Because even although it’s part of a transparent attempt from the Record to deflect attention from the many shocking revelations of the last few days around the Salmond affair, it’s still unusual that a newspaper would make a front-page lead out of a claim it knows it can’t provide a single scrap of evidence for.
The Scottish Parliament’s inquiry into the disastrously botched investigation of false allegations against Alex Salmond, which has been paused for several weeks due to the Scottish Government’s repeated refusal to provide it with material it’s requested, resumes today and enters its final and critical phase.
In the next two months all the key players in the shambolic affair, including the current First Minister, her predecessor and both of their chiefs of staff, will give evidence. But today perhaps the most central figure of all will appear. Or rather, she won’t.
The apparent reason for this, according to a recent report in the Times, is Mackinnon’s being “targeted on social media”. No further details of this “targeting” are given.
And there’s one rather big problem with that claim.
The mainstream media is now, by our count, up to at least 13 sizeable articles on the Great Yes-Movement Schism Of 2017 – a minor online spat between a tiny handful of people who’ve never liked each other and most of whom the general public has never heard of – and shows no signs of tiring of gleefully revelling in the subject.
There’s nothing particularly surprising or even diabolical about that. As any reality-TV show viewer will tell you, viewers absolutely love to watch people fighting, and doubly so if it’s the summer silly season and there’s no real news. Most of the stories have attracted large responses and therefore lots of juicy and profitable clicks for tired hacks who long ago stopped having anything of any interest to say but still have to honk out 1000 words a week in order to get paid.
But the more sinister aspect of them is the way they’ve been weaponised to (further) demonise and silence the Yes movement. If someone attacks other Yes figures with a provocative, offensive and dishonest piece, the extra bonus for the media is that any legitimately angry response to it can be used as yet more proof of The Vileness Of The Cybernats: “Look! They even turn on their own if they dare disagree!”
For the Unionist press, that’s a win-win every way up, and there are some on the Yes side who seem only too willing to co-operate with the narrative.
“Colonel” Ruth Davidson took time out from her holidays yesterday to unleash an extraordinary (and unusually defensive) 35-part Twitter tirade about the reaction to her appointment as an honorary military commander. So barren is the summer political news desert that two newspapers put it on their front page today, giving the BBC an excuse to deem it the day’s biggest story.
Alert readers will of course be aware that one of this site’s most frequently-recurring themes is “phantom news”, whereby events or unpleasant opinions that newspapers or broadcasters really want to have happened are conveniently brought to life, either by some random nobody on the internet, or an unnamed “source” or “insider”.
So when Nicola Sturgeon did something today that nearly everyone in the Northern Hemisphere knew she was going to do sometime soon, but wasn’t expecting just yet, there wasn’t time to prepare actual real people with the required quotes.
In the modern media world, though, that isn’t a problem.
Alert readers will of course be aware that a recurring theme on this site is looking for the alleged abusive behaviour by supporters of independence which gets regularly reported in outraged terms by newspapers but is mysteriously almost never supported by any actual evidence of the supposed abuse.
In every case the papers and/or alleged recipients of all these dreadful separatist haranguings screamed “VILE ABUSE!”, swooning at the horror of it all, then suddenly turned deaf and dumb when asked to provide any examples.
So we were quite surprised yesterday when a previous complainant – brutal stickering victim and lonely Scottish Labour MP Ian Murray – actually came up with the proof.
For several years now this site has been drawing attention to the weird phenomenon of phantom news – stories presented by the media without even a shred of supporting evidence yet treated as unquestionable empirical fact. And recently there have been more phantoms around the Scottish press than an episode of Scooby Doo.
The thing Alan Roden – who prefers intimidating ordinary members of the public by doorstepping them and vilifying them in his paper – links to in that tweet is an article on the Herald website last night. And it’s a weird article, because it’s an extensive, quote-laden story about something that doesn’t appear to have happened at all.
Have you ever wondered how you try to poison and shut down a debate and a political environment that you fear you’ve found yourself on the losing side of, readers? Well, it’s funny you should ask, because as it happens we’ve got a visiting professor – an expert authority on the subject – with us today to give us a demonstration.
Make sure you’ve got your pens and notepads ready. He’s got a very busy schedule and we can’t afford to have him here for long.
We spent much of yesterday evening trying to actually track down the “vicious barrage” of vile cybernat abuse that Labour and “Better Together” activist Clare Lally says she was subjected to after being revealed to be rather less of an “ordinary” member of the public than the No camp presented her as at its recent Glasgow rally, and which has received wall-to-wall media coverage.
As yet, we’ve drawn a blank. We’ve made repeated requests, some to people who’ve contacted us angrily claiming to be her friends or family members, for evidence of any abusive comments at all. All have been met with an abrupt outbreak of silence.
Geri on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “I think you’re on the wrong forum. The Daily Fail is that way —— > You’ll find far more fannies…” Mar 26, 09:30
Cynicus on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “Mark Beggan says: 25 March, 2026 at 11:32 pm “WOW! Just seen the SNP advert on Tube.” ======= Seriously? Is…” Mar 26, 09:10
Northcode on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: ““Areswipe…” A brilliant comment, Geri. Insightful, informed, and expertly decorated with ‘rude’. I never tire of reading your stuff.” Mar 26, 08:29
Mark Beggan on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “Amongst the many reasons Nazi Germany lost the war was their policy on women. Unlike the allies German women were…” Mar 26, 08:20
Mark Beggan on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “Leftwing ideology is the lunatics way of getting back at society. A nobody’s way to try and become become a…” Mar 26, 08:09
Geri on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “Areswipe, Let’s remind the group this is an illegal war. Every single one of those attacks is a war crime.…” Mar 26, 08:08
Mark Beggan on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “What age are you. You spout like an angry teenager who has Just read animal farm. Scotlands very own Greta.…” Mar 26, 07:31
Aidan on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “Having your entire leadership wiped out, your navy destroyed, your army weakened severely and significant damage to your oil exporting…” Mar 26, 06:39
Aidan on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “I’d be surprised if 4% of people earn over £100k in Scotland, I’d suggest it’s probably lower than that. But…” Mar 26, 06:27
twathater on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “Geri your demolition of the yoonionists on here is something to behold , so much so that Corporal Cave dweller…” Mar 26, 03:41
Cynicus on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “Red says: 25 March, 2026 at 5:20 pm “…the Scots will be reduced to a powerless, hated and poor minority…” Mar 26, 02:01
Anthem on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “What do you expect when it’s filled with English unionist parties?” Mar 26, 00:17
Geri on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “Not a bad ad. Punchy with facts & to the point. & TBF, yoons do have a low attention span.…” Mar 26, 00:17
Mark Beggan on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “WOW! Just seen the SNP advert on Tube. Not a party political broadcast but an advert with very colourful and…” Mar 25, 23:32
100%Yes on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “He’s just a bitter and twisted individual. I ignore his site and everything about him. He just attacks anyone who…” Mar 25, 22:37
alan scott on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “And jist lolz at a unionist lecturing on Scotland wasting monies, whilst not being critical of the much more significant…” Mar 25, 22:19
alan scott on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “I know the vast majority on here want Holyrood to be replaced by an independent Scotland. I’m just suggesting Holyrood…” Mar 25, 22:12
alan scott on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “I agree I’m a British Nationalist because the country I was born in and love is the United Kingdom of…” Mar 25, 22:06
Geri on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: ““Today, Scotland is in a worse position in every measurable aspect than it was 12 years ago.” That’s your Union.…” Mar 25, 21:53
robertkknight on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “The words…”None are worthy of my vote” will appear on my ballot paper. F**k the lot of ’em!” Mar 25, 21:16
Big Jock on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “And we have the SNP arse licker James Kelly accusing everyone of being a right wing racist. For the crime…” Mar 25, 21:02
Dan on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “@Chas Maybe it isn’t me that’s dense… To respond to the correct comment trail, you simply scroll up from the…” Mar 25, 20:58
Chas on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “Dan I did not respond to the wrong post. There was not a ‘reply’ option to your ‘percentages’ mince. You…” Mar 25, 20:32
Geri on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “Iran nailed it at the UNHCR with it’s warnings to it’s neighbours. & Well said by that lady who politely…” Mar 25, 20:23
Geri on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “They’re not dead. I hate to break it to you but they already won on day one. Pay the toll…” Mar 25, 20:04
George Ferguson on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “@Fearghas Of course this false debate is coming to a conclusion. But meantime others have suffered Stu, Father Ted, A…” Mar 25, 19:53
Dan on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “And seeing as Confused mentioned Jim Rogers and the lady in red shiting herself the other day… It’s only a…” Mar 25, 19:27
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “GIRLGUIDING WILL BE FEMALE-ONLY FROM SEPTEMBER Girlguiding has announced that any gender-confused boys who identify as girls will have to…” Mar 25, 19:25
Dan on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “C’mon tae fuck Chas. I hope you don’t play golf like you act on here. At least try to respond…” Mar 25, 19:22
