As it happens, one of the things that we’ve been occupying ourselves with during the current news drought is pulling together a post called “The SNPBAD Files”, collecting all the desperate smear and innuendo of the Unionist press as it systematically tries to discredit every one of the 56 SNP MPs elected last May.
Until last night we hadn’t been sure which had been the most pathetically dismal. Was it the MP who still did a few haircuts in his barber shop on Saturday afternoons? The one who bought a derelict London house many years before he was an MP, renovated it with his own hands and now sometimes stays there when working at Westminster, rather than charging expenses to the public for accommodation? Or perhaps the one who tweeted that he was opposed to the concept of monarchy, the foul monster?
As politics wakes up from the holidays, any readers still bothering to gaze at the pages of the Scottish media could be forgiven for a crushing sense of deja vu.
Alert readers may recall an incident last year in which the Scottish media got itself very worked up about some independence supporters threatening to boycott holiday company Barrhead Travel after its owner sent a barking-mad letter to staff about how the company would go out of business if Scotland voted Yes.
So we’re sure that you won’t be able to move later today and tomorrow for newspaper articles about something similar, but significantly worse, that happened this weekend.
Last night we ran a piece about a story in last week’s Daily Record in which a Scottish Labour official was given free rein to make an extended political attack on the SNP in the guise of a “business student” from the University of the West of Scotland, without his Labour identity being revealed, on the flimsy basis of a petition about college cuts with a few hundred signatures.
As it happens, another UWS student also has a petition doing the rounds at the moment. But it got treated rather differently by the Scottish press.
We’ve noted on more than one occasion that the spectacular SNP surge since the referendum appears to have completely unhinged much of the Scottish and UK press. Having pumped out a vast avalanche of hysterical coverage which utterly failed to stop the Scottish electorate returning 56 SNPs out of 59, the papers have responded to the rebuff by simply turning the volume up.
But even by those standards, today has been special.
Amazingly enough, the Scottish press today ISN’T wall-to-wall with stories about Baron McConnell of Glenscorrodale, UK peer and lawmaker, endorsing the “f***ing booting” of Conservative supporters at the weekend, in a striking contrast to when a young SNP candidate said similar but less offensive things some months ago.
(Lord McConnell’s friends were talking in the future tense about something they would do. Mhairi Black was talking in the past tense, about things which she HADN’T done.)
As far as we’ve seen, the small piece above in the Scottish Sun is the only coverage. (The Daily Record, as well as not reporting the McConnell comments at all, actually has another go at Mhairi Black instead.)
But we were having trouble recalling any “hate-filled violent mobs” (McConnell’s actual full quote) on the Yes/SNP side. And so was an alert reader who had a dig through the papers from the last couple of years.
At today’s First Minister’s Questions, the Scottish Labour deputy leader Kezia Dugdale launched into an ill-advised attack over an SNP candidate who’d made some foolish (but not especially outrageous) comments on Twitter in 2012. Rather than simply issuing the standard generic condemnation of abusive remarks, Nicola Sturgeon did so but also drew Dugdale’s attention to the beam in her own eye.
Labour activist, blogger, lawyer and regular BBC pundit Ian Smart (he hasn’t been seen on STV since accusing them repeatedly, without any evidence, of letting the SNP pre-approve all interview questions some time ago) is well known to readers of this blog. Bizarrely, however, Dugdale feigned ignorance of his activity.
To help her, we’ve compiled some of Mr Smart’s greatest hits.
As alert readers will already know, this site’s core long-term aim is to eventually render itself redundant, by showing people how to read between the lines, spot what isn’t being said and understand the various tricks that newspapers use in order to get the public to believe things that aren’t true without ever doing anything so crass (and more to the point, legally-actionable) as directly lying.
Today’s papers provide an especially clear-cut example.
That clip (from just past midnight on the BBC News channel) isn’t a bad starting-point summary of last night’s extraordinary story, except by our count the Telegraph’s piece was fourth-hand rather than third-hand.
(First-hand would have been Nicola Sturgeon. Second-hand would have been the ambassador. Third-hand would have been the consul-general. The civil servant – who doubted the story him/herself – is fourth-hand.)
This is also a pretty good primer. Now let’s get to the fun stuff.
Former Labour spindoctor Charlie Whelan in the Strathspey & Badenoch Herald:
Click to enlarge as Whelan segues seamlessly from terrible Scottish “nationalism” to racial genocide in Auschwitz, because, you know, Yes voters are all basically Nazis*.
*George Galloway’s comments (made in his capacity as a nominated representative of “Better Together”) from yesterday’s BBC “Big Big Debate” were edited out of the broadcast version. We’re sure it was just to keep the running time tight.
Geri on Where We Stand Now: “The delusion is strong in you. The UK is a joke on the international stage & they know all too…” Jan 5, 20:49
willie on Where We Stand Now: “Away with ye Peter McAvoy. Stripping the pensioners of the winter heating allowance is a wizard idea. If they are…” Jan 5, 20:46
Geri on Where We Stand Now: “Suck it up , sunshine. That’s the Union for you… independence supporters voted to leave that set up & keep…” Jan 5, 20:39
Aidan on Where We Stand Now: “Liberation is not going to get Scotland listed as a non-self governing territory though so all of the consequences that…” Jan 5, 20:39
Republicofscotland on Where We Stand Now: “The Scottish taxpayer is bank rolling this known sex pest. “A shamed former SNP MP who sexually harassed a teenage…” Jan 5, 20:37
gregor on Where We Stand Now: “Kid: “A child: He took the kids to the park while I was working.”: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/kid” Jan 5, 20:24
Confused on Once more around: “– that “rodent” is a civic animalist and is a “new squirrel”. Dan should be minister for offgrid, come the…” Jan 5, 20:22
willie on Where We Stand Now: “No doubt Scotland’s International Development Alliance with a replacement “rocket” at the head of policy and communication he will soon…” Jan 5, 20:22
Geri on Where We Stand Now: “Aye, like they weren’t remotely interested in a diddy wee province called Northern Ireland where they sent a whole team…” Jan 5, 20:21
Mia on Where We Stand Now: “Oh for goodness sake. What part of “there is more than one way to skin a cat” or “to bring…” Jan 5, 20:20
willie on Where We Stand Now: “Disgraced sex pest and ex SNP MP Patrick Grady who sexually harassed a teenage staffer has just been appointed head…” Jan 5, 20:14
KT Lorimer on Where We Stand Now: “Interesting – I see the McEleny debacle is being picked up on and an interest in the NSP proposal.” Jan 5, 20:13
gregor on Where We Stand Now: “Keep your children safe: https://tinyurl.com/3u69hjyz #PedoCharterExtravaganza” Jan 5, 20:11
Campbell Clansman on Where We Stand Now: “The “New Scotland Party” wants to lead an Indy movement, but can’t even create a working website. BTW, even the…” Jan 5, 20:11
Campbell Clansman on Where We Stand Now: “Reliable sources placed the AUOB crowd at 20,000, not 100,000-200,000, Sarah. I suppose a moonhowler movement needs to invent fantasy…” Jan 5, 20:06
Confused on Where We Stand Now: “micro expressions tell all” Jan 5, 20:03
gregor on Once more around: “Libs of TikTok @libsoftiktok: “The “science guy” who Biden just awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom doesn’t know basic biology…” Jan 5, 20:02
Peter McAvoy on Where We Stand Now: “Holyrood should have a vote to gain more taxation powers to reinstate the winter fuel allowance and prevent the imposition…” Jan 5, 20:02
Campbell Clansman on Where We Stand Now: “In short, in 2024, about 736,000 voted for the (nominally) Indy parties (SNP and Alba)–about 30% of those voting, and…” Jan 5, 20:01
Tartanpigsy on Where We Stand Now: “Instead of more of the same, I’d prefer to see articles promoting how the non party Yes movement is getting…” Jan 5, 19:55
Mia on Where We Stand Now: “Let’s see: Total electorate in Scotland: 4,078,398 Turnout: 2,414,810 (59%) Votes for labour: 851,897 Votes for SNP: 724,758 Votes for…” Jan 5, 19:48
paul on Where We Stand Now: “Who was this senior figure? Swinney, or the senior guy in westminster? I’ve heard of dancing on grave, but rolling…” Jan 5, 19:46
Muscleguy on Where We Stand Now: “There’s more to the Yes movement politically than the SN bloody P. I am not SNP so don’t hold a…” Jan 5, 19:37
Muscleguy on Where We Stand Now: “If Liberation can get Scotland listed as a Non Self Governing Country it will be an enormous diplomatic embarrassment to…” Jan 5, 19:33
gregor on Once more around: “BREAKING: Keir Starmer will respond to Elon Musk’s grooming gang comments in a statement tomorrow: Elon Musk: “I can’t wait.”:…” Jan 5, 19:13
sarah on Where We Stand Now: “Hi, twathater. I went to the link, the blog and the facebook and couldn’t see how to sign either, at…” Jan 5, 19:11
Evil_c on Where We Stand Now: “I am a unionist but do agree that the only way this works if you have a enough levers to…” Jan 5, 19:05
Mark Beggan on Where We Stand Now: “Scotland’s International Development Alliance.” Jan 5, 19:02
Mark Beggan on Where We Stand Now: “When a government destroys a nation by trying to change it to suit itself. Then it is the duty of…” Jan 5, 18:56
Mark Beggan on Where We Stand Now: “The SNP are going to get booted into hyperspace.” Jan 5, 18:50
