Taking things personally
Call us cynical if you will, but we were very suspicious when we saw today’s Herald.
We were a little bit surprised that Oxfam would have commissioned a report into Scotland, so we thought we better check and see exactly what it said.
And sure enough, despite the Herald being absolutely adamant that it was talking about Scotland, with the word appearing over and over again:
The truth turned out to be rather less dramatic.
Wait, that can’t be right. The Herald goes on and on and on, both in the front-page lead and an editorial, about how this was a report about Scotland.
So we had another try. And then another one. But no.
There is, in fact, not one single word of reference to Scotland, either direct or indirect, in the entire 76-page document (unless it’s so subtle it’s somehow eluded us), except in so far as it’s about the world and Scotland is a very tiny part of the world.
What’s that thing we say about newspaper stories, readers? “The Headline Is Always The Truth”? No, wait, it’s the other thing, isn’t it?
The thing that gets me is there is nothing we can do about it apart from moan and not buy the paper – and I’m about maxed out on that.
What a shame, they get what they “don’t vote for “. Maybe some day they’ll wake up and realise independence is the only answer.
Perhaps Oxfam will do the decent thing and ask for a correction rather than have it’s reputation for honesty tarnished second hand by the Herald, and possible see contributors no longer making donations.
Yes, I caught that particular headline when I went for my paper (not that one!) this morning.
More NorthBritLab exceptionalism from the ever-faithful dog-in-manger yoonitariat, alas, it turns out. Ho hum.
Once again a little bit of damage and distraction done to innocent passers-by. All merely to succour their steadily-waning readership.
What a waste of trees!
Heard a little bit of the discussion on ‘Good Moaning Scotland’ shortbread and the Oxfam woman spokesperson did say it was UK and Gary brought in the Scottish dimension… but that’s what they do.
PS:
There is a national footie team without a manager and the SFA has a big basket of eggs to explain away!
On the other hand you can reasonably argue that the shameless decline of journalistic standards exhibited by Britnat rags like the Herald is a sure sign they know their influence has waned to such an extent that their Britnat days are numbered.
When I was a kid my parents got Dundee Courier. It would lead with classified ads – somebody selling puppies or looking for a tractor. The second page, I think, was TV listings. After looking in sport and at the wedding page for the oddest looking couple – readers would eventually be compelled to confront the headlines. That always seemed more honest to me (and it served The Courier for about 190 years). In The Herald’s case they could have made a great improvement by expanding the nice main photo to fill the page. Featuring the headline an enormous “It Snowed, in Places” and dropping all the other nonsense.
It seems the Herald is now being told what to write by the Tory war mongering, peadofile sympathising, lying, glutinous, nazi party.
Surely there are laws preventing newspapers from publishing lies, deceit and propaganda and trying to incite the public to flood the streets and revolt?
It’s treasonable and simply destroys the professional reputation of the journalist who should be by right! struck off.
If it was a lawyer or a policeman or even a nurse , it would be dealt with immediately so why not editors and journalists ? Utterly disgusting!
If and when we get independence I hope along with the BBC, Tory party, and quite a few newspapers are BANNED from Scotland.
Good job somebody is doing the research work.Thanks Stu.
Horrific! How could they stoop that low to accuse a world renowned organisation like OXFAM to their own standards.
These shameless fools should apologise for their actions and donate their shirts to the kids in Syria for the tripe they print!
F******s
You can put lipstick on a pig but it still doesn’t look like Miss Universe. (Sorry Mr Cameron).
You have to give them credit for trying, and indeed they are very trying.
It will come as no surprise that the Herald has NOT allowed comments on this article.
Is the “news reporter” using a pen name?
No wonder no one reads it anymore. A load of nonsense. Unionist propaganda. They would do anything to try and slander Scotland. The headlines just put people off. Bad news.
We know what to expect from the Herald by now. Surely contacting Oxfam directly would clear the matter up.
We are going to keep going until we win Indy.
They are hoping to keep going until virtually no one buys their propaganda pamphlet.
They can’t win with that strategy.
Oh Gawd, Just checked the reporter. A freelancer who runs her own PR company.
She states “I can take your story and turn it into what you want” No false boast there then.
The formula becomes ever clearer. Find a bad story and somehow ,somewhere mention the word Scotland.
I. E. Nuts and bolts on N Korean missiles similar to ones made in Scotland. Job done.
This is the ultimate in FAKE news, and to put it as the lead item on the front page, is just stupid. It really is.
The Herald is rapidly becoming more of a joke than the laughingly titled’ Scotsman’ newspaper. And that takes some doing.
Surely this has crossed the line from “editorialising” to downright falsehood. I mean, there’s not even any weasel worded get out clause. It states Scotland when the word isn’t mentioned once in the report.
Is there seriously nothing anyone can do to give them the smackdown for it?
rongorongo When I lived in Aberdeen I used to get the courier on a Saturday for the motorbikes for sales adverts, it was a braw paper then and yes it still had the adverts on the front pages about twenty years ago. Mind you thr P+J wasnt that bad then, seems the referendum has had an adverse affect on journalism in Scotland. i wonder why!
LOL. “Comments are closed on this article”. I wonder why?
If it writes like a dick,and is called Dick,then it most probably is a dick.
What a ridiculous piece of fake news to headline on even by the Herald’s new standards.
I’m not even sure the official house Yoons would pick up this piece of crap.
Bob Mack
{ Oh Gawd, Just checked the reporter. A freelancer who runs her own PR company. }
And would there be a name forthcoming with your post , after all this is a information sharing site .
The Herald states today that:
“A new report from Oxfam reveals that in Scotland, the richest one per cent has more wealth than the bottom 50 per cent combined.”
However it is far from being a new report from Oxfam that statement about the wealthiest 1% having more wealth than the bottom 50% was first reported in the Herald on 26th April 2017 and related to a different report that was produced by Oxfam Scotland. Then the Herald had this to say:
Oxfam has for some time been campaigning for greater political action to narrow the gap globally and at national level – including here in Scotland, where income inequality before housing costs is at levels last seen in the early 1990s. After housing costs are accounted for income inequality is at record levels. Wealth inequality is even starker: “the wealthiest one per cent own more than the bottom 50% put together.”
link to archive.is
The report from back then was produced by Oxfam Scotland in collaboration with the Fraser of Allander Institute in response to this:
In 2015 Oxfam Scotland called for the creation of an Inequality Commission, building on Scotland’s politicians from across all parties stating their support to tackle economic inequality. The Scottish government has committed to establishing a Poverty and Inequality Commission in 2017–18…
link to policy-practice.oxfam.org.uk
Jamie Livingstone, Head of Oxfam Scotland, said: “With nearly one in five people still living in poverty in Scotland, it cannot be right for the richest 1% to own more wealth than the poorest 50% put together and for income to be so unevenly shared too.
link to oxfam.org.uk
WASH! SPIN! REPEAT! It the Scottish media way.
Mhmm last year in a report produced by the Fraser of Allendale Institute commissioned by Oxfam into inequalities in Scotland they state that the top 2% own 15% of the wealth…. that’s a heck of a change in one year!
More and more people each day are waking up to the lies they are being told and rightly placing the blame squarely where it belongs, at Westminster and with their lackeys the MSM. They know the SG are mitigating the worst excesses of this inhumane government. And more people are realising the differences between everyday life here and that down south.
Just last week I had the opportunity of helping someone see what is going on with the media and the SNHS and showed them the news we are not being told. They were visibly shocked. I later received an email to thank me for opening their eyes and telling me they would now carefully take anything read with suspicion and would check everything before believing.
Hopefully this person will now be a link to others who can benefit from same.
Slowly but surely we are winning.
Sent from my iPadold
Keep putting the solution in the eyes, the drip, drip from our dropper helps others to see the headlines more clearly.
Ooops, statistics ain’t my thing but yes was pointing out it’s last years news.
George Carling the comedian said the all time champions of Bullshit were religious leaders. Perhaps he never heard of the Scottish media and outright fraudulent publications like this.
Two reports are being referred to here. “Reward Work Not Wealth” is more broad, while last year’s one on inequality in Scotland which was commissioned by Oxfam Scotland – this provides the Scottish figures in the headline. What’s missing is Dr.Trebeck’s article from October in which she praised the SNP – “Fair play to the SNP – their ideas could cut gap between have and have-nots”
Herald owned by Newsquest,
Newsquest get funded by the State controlled BBC through the Local Democracy reporters scheme,
could potentially be £25,000,000 to Newsquest over life of scheme,
basically money laundering, from State washed through BBC to prop up and influence the print media,
State run BBC state run hacks and rags.
Let’s see if I am getting this.
This paper prints a story that can easily checked , but in this case involving a international charity who would once alerted jump on the offending publication from a great height , or would they , after all it’s publicity for the charity , in highlighting a worldwide problem that they want to draw attention to, so job done its no skin off their noses if it might be manipulated to serve a different cause , in other words not their problem ,
On the other hand if you really wanted to produce a whopper you would test the water first to see what and how much of a reaction you would get in return , how many people objected and criticised the article , if there wasn’t much then anything goes , be prepared for further misleading guff from this lot .
Knowing Oxfam, they probably have run the numbers on Scotland but may not have published them in the main report. Their domestic agenda has shrunk radically in the last few years.
…so it is a variation on the FOI trawling to find “bad news”. In this example you simply find ANY bad news ANYWHERE and change it from World to Scotland.
A degree in journalism must be so easy to get!
For your Masters you learn to ignore good news in Scotland or topics important to Scotlans future like Brexit votes or economic forecasts on the impact of Brexit.
Kenny @5:18
…they quoted the published report as the source…hence the search on Scotland
@Herald
Trying to jump on the post-colonial band-wagon? I suppose UKIP adopted a differential oppositional consciousness, in order to deliver Brexit. Still not a good look though.
link to ies.hypotheses.org
link to washington.edu
link to e-ir.info
Personally I don’t believe anything Oxfam says without checking it THOROUGHLY.
Oxfam became a lobbying group rather than an aid charity a long time ago & like all such groups/charities its up its own arse in terms of money paid to “execs” & nepotism.
tl;dr I wouldn’t believe anything 50%+ of “British” charities say on any subject. There’s probably (IMHO) 5 major charities worth giving money to in the UK, the rest (Oxfam being a poster child) are sinecures for the privately educated inbred wankers who run the “UK”.
I have checked Forbes and guess what,? Not even JK with all her wealth makes the rich list. Nobody in Scotland is in that exclusive club.
Oxfam did a report in 2017 stating that seven billionaires owned more wealth than the rest of the world. You can guess where they come from. These figures exclude Royalty of course.
The claim is therefore a downright blatant lie.
@Ronnie Anderson,
Sandra Dick
Robert Graham @ 5.14pm
The front page article in The Herald did nit appear in the on-line edition until 3 hours ago and comments are closed on it.
However, the Herald have a leader article in a similar vein and several people have drawn attention to the fact that the Oxfam report they reference in the article does not mention Scotland at all.
What a horrible read. What a horrible way to make a living, endlessly telling Scots their country’s a shithole and what an odd thing to want to hand over hard cash for too.
This one has to be up there in the running for the 2018 Lady Sarah Smith UKOK Tory Bullshiter of the year awards, well not year, today really, beeb Scotland gimp news is still half an hour away.
What a tawdry rag the Herald has become.
I can’t find it now, sorry. But, I’m sure I saw that the report said that 1% had 87% of the worlds wealth, reported today in an English newspaper on the bbc website. Can still access the Scottish papers headlines, but not the English ones. So even if the herald was accurate, or honest, that’s a pat on the back for the snp government
I watched the film The Post last night Tom Hanks portrayal of Ben Bradlee was very good.
Sadly the quality of journalism has fallen greatly since the days of Mr Bradlee.
It is relentless. The main stream media are pouring out more and more negative messages about Scotland and likely to get worse. Question? How many people actually buy and or read newspapers like the Herald / Hootsman and those that do what are the demographics? I suspect it is becoming a rather small audience. …Same goes for GMS?
At the same time as the Herald being a pile of mince like every other Unionist paper it should maybe be remembered, is this the same Oxfam who was caught not long ago only giving 3p in the £ to charity while their Execs were paid into the millions with monsterific pensions to see them comfy at the end of their couple of years hard graft
I think that’s the word anyway *Graft*
Still if you work for nothing in the shops you get first dibs on the goodies before the stuff’s sold on to the unsuspecting punters who spend their money in there thinking they’re doing a good thing
Or they’re skint and have no choice
Sandra Dick is for hire most days of the week for any media story to be put forward. SIU probably bought services and twisted it.
bob mack Thats a pseudonym naebudy wid caw themselves ah dick , its debiatateing for high achievers lol.
Thanks PNR for the further information .
Re the report about the crises in the English NHS, currently on BBC News at 6.
link to bma.org.uk
Another glimpse into the inner-workings of The
GlasgowHerald, spit.Maybe the ‘Wings Absolute Fanny Of The Week’ award (in addition to being awarded to unionistic politicians) could also be awarded to and won by unionist companies and unionistical paper publications, but not the previous voter.
Bend yer collective knees together unionist politicians, wur comin’ fur ye.
Sugar for thought, honey.
We are Scotland.
We are Scottish.
We are Scots.
Enjoy yer T.
STV just repeated the 1% – 50% claim related to Scotland !!
They led with 1% – 82% WORLDWIDE buy then stated in Scotland it was 1% – 50%
Scummy gits.
The Gini Coefficient is a measure of inequality. The lower the better.
South Africa 63, US 41, Germany 31, Netherlands 29, Norway 27, Iceland 26
Scotland is typically 30-34 in recent years
link to gov.scot
The UK as a whole inc Scotland, 34-36
In 1979 the UK was 25. Wonder what happened after that? One guess!
link to equalitytrust.org.uk
Held my nose and dived into the H online. As stated comments closed but I managed to haud my breath long enough to check out the ‘inbetweeny’ headline: Herald View, and there’s folks on that calling the H out on their lies. Also somebody saying that Oxfam do this every year to time with Davos. Couldn’t haud on any longer, sorry. Lying b’tds!
Hopefully, on the day we achieve our Indy, this will all stop. A’m no fir waiting til we’re actually a proper nation.
STV just repeated the 1% – 50% claim related to Scotland !!
and this too. Tory yoons are certainly working it now.
link to stv.tv
Has anyone checked lately how much of every £1 donated actually gets to those in need? Last time I heard it was about £0.10, any confirmation?
BBC Scotland news claiming that Oxfam’s figures are global. So if we replace Scotland with global, it might clear up the matter.
Breaking (semi-fake) news! Ukip in chaos! What a disaster for British democracy! David Coburn in meltdown!
We don’t need to go for the papers. We go for the “journalists”. Set up a meeting – public preferably and widely advertised – and kindly invite the journalists along to explain the articles.
If the papers print somethings which are untrue they are obliged to print retractions and corrections. This also applies to letters they publish in their “Readers Letters” section
Also just heard the EBC, Pathetic Quay repeating the same without any proper explanation, as usual of how the figures relate to Scotland or UK as a whole for that matter. Usual lazy journalism, go with the HEADLINE.
You can see why Westminster does not like free independent reporting and cry fake news
It shows them for what they are
Having a laugh tonight watching a brit general actually talking about how the British army should measures up to the russians
Given the size of Russia flees and elephant spring to mind
You cash see the Westminster arguments li ing up for I indyref2
Royal wedding
Russian plot
Uk Market bigger than eu for Scotland
Etc etc
BBC Scotland devious in their report wording, stating figures are global but inferring in conclusion that it is the same in Scotland, of course no actual figures for Scotland.
Can’t find a report that states the 1% own 50% in Scotland. The Fraser of Allander one states 2% own 15% of household wealth in 2017.
I’m not disputing that there is income inequality here but this is just exaggerating the figures for Scotland. Just the usual negative impression drawn on Scotland, even when its figures are better it is reported as bad.
Surely there must be one or two”heirs apparent” – men of substance and above average expectations – within that select band of Tory MSPs who arrived on the Holyrood scene after the last Holyrood election?
O/T Am gon back in business building Anderson Shelters ( special discounts for Wingers ) Genalismo Nick Carter warning about the Russian threats to the British way of life backed up by two muppets of the defence committee Mercer & Seeth MPs & Williamson asking for more money for the defence budget.
More distractions from the Brexit negotiations . Periscopes up keep yer ein peeled fur they pesky Rusks ( except if yer ah wain , wire in ) .
@Shug 7:08pm
You’re right, Shug. Britnats today really upping their anti-Russian rhetoric. Stand by for Britnat media trying to imply pro-indy Scotland connections with Russia.
Zinoviev Letters by the Britnat bucket load.
I see they have comments closed on said article.
Speaks volumes.
link to stv.tv
Theresa May holding a Burns Supper at No10 on Monday, Ha Ha Ha Ha!
Scots will just like that, here comes another loving!
Absolute shite, fanny of the week?
@jfngw
The statement that “The wealthiest 1% alone owned more wealth than the bottom 50% put together.” is in the report commissioned by Oxfam Scotland from the Fraser of Allander Institute in 2017.
See Sec. 2.9
2.9 Wealth inequality in Scotland
Data on wealth inequality is much less readily available than on income inequality, but what we do know is that wealth is much more unequally distributed.
The most recent data (Chart 7) shows that in 2012/14 the wealthiest 10% of people in Scotland owned 43% of all private wealth, 67% of financial wealth, 54% of pension wealth and 43% of all property wealth. The wealthiest 1% alone owned more wealth than the bottom 50% put together. The least wealthy 30% of the population owned less than 2% of all private wealth.
There is though something very odd about that though since the Chart 7 referred and is on the next page does indeed say “The top 2% alone own 15%”.
There might seem to be a large contradiction but I don’t think that there is because of the huge disparity in wealth between the bottom 50% and those maybe say only 10% or 20% above that.
In other words the bottom 50% have absolutely next to nothing other than the clothes on their back. Moving up a bit there will maybe be some equity or a small pension to be counted as wealth.
It was interesting where the source of the quote referenced in the report came from. It was the Scottish Governments own report on Wealth and Inequality published in Feb 2017, 2 months before the Oxfam/Fraser one.
From the executive summary of the SG report:
Scotland – like the rest of Great Britain – faces stark inequalities in wealth, with the wealthiest 10 per cent owning 43% of all private wealth, 67% of financial wealth, 54% of pension wealth, and 43% of all property wealth. The wealthiest 1% alone owned more wealth than the bottom 50%.
In comparison, the least wealthy 30 per cent of the population owned less than 2% of all private wealth – including very little or no financial wealth, pension wealth, or property wealth.
link to gov.scot
Re. poverty in the UK, here’s what HM Government has to say. Somehow, I don’t see Brexit improving a situation brought about largely through nearly 40 years of neo-liberal social negligence, the continual erosion of working conditions and the New Right’s approach to education and healthcare.
N.B. The particular set of indicators used in this review are not entirely free of “underclass theory” (cod-science).
link to gov.uk
It is a genuine report by Oxfam on the state of wealth inequality in Scotland the problem is its from last year. The confusion comes from the fact that they published another report today about global wealth inequality which doesn’t mention Scotland. We have to be careful here and only criticise where it’s due….yes criticise the Herald fir running a year old story as SNP bad but don’t think for a minute that the story isn’t true.
So there is no wealth gap in Scotland, the Herald just made it all up? Whew!
“We’re bought and sold for English gold-
Such a parcel of rogues in a nation!”
For May to talk about Burns night in terms of “enduring union” shows how little she understands the perfidy of the people who sold out to English bribes in 1707. Burns was talking about Scotsmen who sold out to English bribes. Remind you of anything more recent?
Just a thought. How you measure a thing can bias how you see a thing.
The average Scottish wage is, from memory, 15% less than in the east and south east of England. Scotland certainly has a problem with relative poverty, though I would suggest Scotland’s problems are more structural in nature. Most specifically, the failure of British economic, social, regional and educational policies to address the geographic disparities in UKOK economic activity, especially between the north and the south.
N.B. Multhus was wrong in the 18th century and he is still wrong today. A utilitarian approach to government is morally and strategically inadequate.
link to eprints.lse.ac.uk
link to ifs.org.uk
link to mentalhealth.org.uk
Vronsky @ 21:37,
Oh how wonderfully disingenuous. The Herald‘s heavy emphasis on Scotland, whether old news dredged up and presented as new, or genuinely new news that is entirely unspecific in location, has a transparent intent: make it look, by dint of implication if nothing else is at hand, as if it’s all the fault of the SG somehow.
A typical Labourite stunt, with a typical Labourite faux-concern follow-up. As if all the major levers of economic power don’t reside in London, where the responsibility truly rests.
And somehow we are supposed to deduce that all we here in Scotland need is for JC the Saviour to take the helm and Paradise will immediately ensue?
So SNPbaad, so routine.
It’s a disgraceful headline (I can’t comment on the article since I haven’t bought the Herald for many years now) and, sadly, not surprising although still disappointing. I thought I’d try to repeat the Rev’s search – just to see how easy it would have been for a journalist to do and, of course, I got the same result. However, I noticed the following quote from the report in the process which did resonate given the current collapse of Carillion and the debate into previous PFI deals.
“Monopoly power is compounded by cronyism, the ability of powerful private interests to manipulate public policy to entrench existing monopolies and create new ones. Privatization deals, natural resources given away below fair value, corrupt public procurement, or tax exemptions and loopholes are all ways in which well-connected private interests can enrich themselves at the expense of the public.”
Buy the fake “independence supporting” The National to keep its elder sister The Herald alive.
That’s some spectacular shoehorning their Rock.
@Rock
What a pathetic creature you are. Even I pity you.
Thepnr
I meant to say I’m impressed by the way you’ve extended your boundaries and taken to practicing critical social analysis. That indicates to me you have a very positive attitude, if you don’t mind me saying. Hopefully that doesn’t sound patronising.
Have come to know you better Mr B, you wouldn’t patronise me
I think we come from a pretty similar frame-of-mind Alex, belligerent humanitarian.
Roger Hyam says:
22 January, 2018 at 3:54 pm
“The thing that gets me is there is nothing we can do about it apart from moan and not buy the paper – and I’m about maxed out on that.”
It’s a bit of a bugger isn’t it? You can’t buy less or (even fewer) than one paper.
Setting fire to the stack in the paper shop would be extremist terrorism (and result in criminal damage) which is not where we’re at …. so…..
Having heard Mrs May attempt French with that ever so lovely accent , I dread to think how her rendition of a Burn’s poem would suffer
I hope the piper plays a suitable lament.
The once mighty Herald plumbs the depths yet again – what a bottom feeder it has become.
Anyone have any up to date circulation figures for my enjoyment?
The Herald rumbled again.
When Will They Ever Learn—When Will They Ever Learn?
Sometime—-never.
A laughing stock in my Mum’s newsagent.
I feel sorry for the the well intentioned people working hard there trying to make an honest living and putting food on the table.
Street Andrew and Roger Hyam, you cut to the essence of the article by RevStu. I reckon something can be done to stop the Sandra Dicks and Heralds of this world publish knowingly fabricated dissemled crap. Back soon with an answer
Bob Mack, you just gave me the boak and heebie jeebies in one go! I checked out your reference to Sandra Dick Media. These people remind mind me of the lowest sort of pond life? They explode a cesspit, then feed off of the shit. I kid ye not. Here is what cynical Sandra puts on her website, and I quote…
“Should you be facing potentially damaging media interest, I can limit its impact and even turn a negative situation into a positive one.”
Does Ms Dick get the irony of her vocation?
There is an answer to the conundrum of this thread posed by RevStu. I take everyone back to the fundraiser calling out the LIAR lawyer and discredited MP Alastair Campbell. That man is unlikely to be trusted ever again. The general population of Scotland beyond WoS KNOWS ALASTAIR CAMPBELL IS A LIAR AND BUFOON. Job done.
So, returning to the Herald..
I would be game-on to donate £25 to a fundraiser launching a test case in the courts under one of many laws, to obtain an order of the court prohibiting newspapers from knowingly publishing lies.
This is surely a win, win effort? Either way, the press get called out for shameless lying. We lose and they have a reputation in Scotland that the wider public needs to catch onto. The general newspaper buying public need to have it made utterly clear. They are buying lies. They are paying to get duped by unscrupulous journalists. We need to bang that point home. Time and time again.
Or we win. That would help set Scotland free. The 5% to 10% swing we need from no to yes is controlled by the lying media. Until we remove that power from the Herald, the Scotsman, the Daily Mail, the Daily Record, the Daily Express etc., all that will happen is some interesting and enjoyable debates at this WoS website. Scotland will still be controlled by a malignant group of self serving knights of the shire down in Engerland.