Talent borrows, genius steals
Viewers who are still awake after all today’s excitement will doubtless recall an article from this morning in which we reported the fact that hapless “Better Together” director Blair McDougall had issued an extraordinary petted-lip complaint about the Yes camp daring to use the phrase “best of both worlds”, as if it was copyrighted.
(The even more remarkable news being that the Scotsman considered this a story.)
Still, it’s a fair point, right? You shouldn’t just pinch stuff from people, should you?
That’s the original Scottish “Better Together” – a healthcare “patient experience programme” that, as far as we can make out from the hideous management jargon used to describe it, is something to do with improving the Scottish NHS by synergising pro-active solutions or some such. It was launched in April 2011.
And on the left that’s the logo of the British Tourism Association from 2002, alongside the popular “U KOK” logo from Mr McDougall’s campaign group. As you can see, they’re completely different – one has the “UK” part in red and the “OK” in blue, while the other is the opposite, and in a serif font rather than a sans serif one.
Could these two three-shades-of-blue bendy implied-Saltire logos be at all related?
Okay, so it’s not the MOST original name, but hey, at least it’s not trademarked.
Credit where it’s due, though – this was a pretty original idea:
At least, it was five years earlier when the kids at the SNP Youth group did it.
We’ll draw a veil over this one there, we think. It’s been a long day, and at a certain point you’re just sticking a spear on the end of a nuclear missile. *(An analogy we’ve “borrowed” from Lenny Henry.) Nobody likes kicking a man when he’s down.
Isn’t their wee saltire/plus sign logo ripped off from somewhere as well?
Yeah but Stu, those are all different because… erm… because… wait, I’ll have to get back to you
Rev, you’re a feckin’ star!
Isn’t their wee saltire/plus sign logo ripped off from somewhere as well?
Oh yes! Can’t remember what, but someone will. That has to be edited in!
Better Togethers last mailshot asked “Do you Agree…” short memories these guys.
Blimey, look at this! (It’s a Google Images search result page for “Better Together logo”.)
link to google.co.uk
Bettertogether is also an Irish charities umbrella organisation (founded 2010). Fittingly, one of its charities is a donkey sanctuary.
link to tinyurl.com
One might almost think our BT had pinched their schtick outright.
‘Why Are We Better Together?
It will come as no surprise to say that studies show that societies with high levels of social involvement experience less crime, less violence and enjoy better mental health. But the Better Together campaign is deeper than that.
It’s about connecting with and supporting your local community; it’s about recognising and celebrating the heroic efforts being made daily by volunteers and people working to help those most in need; it’s about sticking together through the good times and the bad.
It’s about demonstrating that we are truly are better together…’
Shurely shum mishtake.
Clearly their designers and marketing gurus earned every penny. 😀
‘No Scotland’ want to kick us until we are dead mate.We need to hurt them in whichever way possible.
The Best of Both Worlds is also a Star Trek – The Next Generaton episode where the Borg assimilate Picard.
Obviously a scenario where one group tries to appropriate the resources of another group for their own benefit has nothing to do with the Union.
link to en.memory-alpha.org
Nobody likes kicking a man when he’s down.
Best time to kick them, IMHO. I only have two rules when it comes to fighting: 1) Don’t; 2) If you have to, there are no rules.
Better Together has also been trademarked by PepsiCo, for a range of ‘nut based snacks’ apparently.
link to trademarkia.com
Scottish Youth Football had this logo at some point. I’m not exactly sure when.
link to stenhousemuirfc.com
The BT theme tune was a copy too from Yes choice link to newsnetscotland.com
Scottish Youth Football had this logo at some point.
That’s the one, Stewart! Oh go on, Stu, edit it in!
Better Together has also been trademarked by PepsiCo, for a range of ‘nut based snacks’ apparently.
Unfortunately, a different trademark class to…actually, I have no idea which class bullshitting and fear-mongering would be in. Not snack food, though.
The BT logo is remarkably similar to Scottish Youth Football one
link to bing.com
Aww, Stewart beat me to it!
I must be a genius then as I have just stolen this from Macbeth, I think he was describing SLAB, or Better Together JoLa, or maybe BT Blair or something / someone at the time. Substitute whoever you want for ‘Life’s’, it’s scarily accurate of some of the ‘opposition’
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more; it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
Being a twat who doesn’t tweet, I’ll risk going OT to support the Rev’s suggestion on Twitter of another Rev, Richard Coles, as head of state in an independent Scottish republic. I imagine it would piss off some people, many of whom it would be a delight to provoke, but he would be an excellent symbol of a progressive, outward-looking nation.
“The Best of Both Worlds” was a double album by independence-supporting Fish’s Marillion
in, er, 1997
link to en.wikipedia.org
Unfortunately, a different trademark class to…actually, I have no idea which class bullshitting and fear-mongering would be in. Not snack food, though.
i dunno Jigsbro, BT definitely are nutty…
“..hapless “Better Together” chairman Blair McDougall”
Hapless he definitely is, but chairman he ain’t. ‘Campaign Director’. And long may he continue to be in that role, he is a gift to Yes.
Brilliant Morag, brilliant 🙂
Do you want to win?
Its nice to be nice but if you want to win…
@Morag
Oh my…..that 3 stooges one. I’ll never see Ruthie in the same way again 🙂
“Nobody likes kicking a man when he’s down”.
Some people you just have to make an exception for though!
@Jiggsbro and everyone else who feels the same,
With my hands on my hips and my angry mum face on. I really wish those of you who don’t use Twitter would reconsider.
It’s a great way of getting good information out there. From experience I can tell you that it’s a brilliant way to promote events. You can promote sites like this, link to useful information and refute the twaddle of the No Scotland mob as you like. Ditto Facebook. Yes there is a lot of pish on Twitter but don’t follow these people. Seriously it is useful if used correctly it can get information and news out there very quickly.
There is no substitute for face to face contact and discussion but a wee ten minutes a day on FB and Twitter really doesn’t go amiss. You would be truly amazed at what people pick up and take seriously from social media. If you did nothing but tweet links to this site you’d be doing a grand job.
I shall now remove my hands from my hips and put my angry mum face away. You will of course do what you like but on this I am right as I am on most if not all things.
Seriously Rev Stu, and most of the guys who comment on here, if you think this site is tabloid style, which entices the working man to read this. Well your wrong, no offence intended, but I’m working on building sites, between 40 and 50 working class guys on site at any one time. Most of them casually racist about immigrants stealing their jobs, driving their wages down. Labourers from Poland , turning up on the next job as joiners or plumbers, getting paid, less than us, but having not the foggiest about What they are doing, so much so that the war ry on the building sites is, show they c£nts nothing or they will steal your job. But they are cheap right. I know for a fact that none of these guys have heard of any of these websites. Some are proud of not being able to work a computer . Honestly Stu , If you think that WOS Is aimed at the tabloid class , you are mistaken. None of these guys know any of the blairs, Ian Taylor or Dart energy. Seriously guys, if you want to reach these folk, you need to lower the tone a bit. These people don’t give a fuck about panel base polls. They want something shiny and catchy , and easy to understand. Like monkey lights match, and burns the fuckin Zoo down.
I think this is sort of tabloid for intellectuals, if you get my drift. It does whatever it is that it does very well indeed. Other sites target other demographics. Stu does what he does best. Maybe someone else needs to go the really populist route, if they have the right touch for that genre.
The people behind Better Together have no imagination whatsoever (sheep rarely do), that even extends to their own branding. Grey suits living in a grey world, talking a lot but saying nothing, protecting the status quo because they know best (ie it profits them). The Darlings and McDougalls of this world have no answer to vision and imagination, hope and progress. They fear those with ideals, call them dangerous or deride them as fantasists. These people rise without trace because they are not remarkable, they do what they are told and they get rewarded for it. Their only tactic is to fake rage, spoil, sow hate and breed discord, pull out the dusty old manual of Divide and Conquer written for an age before. Take the rich and powerful that humour them away and they are exposed as weak and spineless, arrogant and blind. Consumed by that arrogance these grey suits with grey minds will lose the referendum. Why? Because they offer nothing, and it will still be nothing at a time when the people will demand a deal, and the only deal in town will be Independence!
VOTE YES GET EVERYTHING…
VOTE NO AND LOSE IT ALL!
if you think this site is tabloid style, which entices the working man to read this. Well your wrong
I’m not sure anyone has said WoS is a tabloid style site. And I’m pretty sure that no website is going to reach the people who are proud not to be able to work a computer, who are – fortunately – not representative of working men (or women).
Good post AlexMcl
Given that BT haven’t produced a single original idea Blair’s mump about the use of “Best of both worlds” is just sad.
Nice work, people. Things edited in. NOW IT IS BEDTIME.
“Better Together has also been trademarked by PepsiCo, for a range of ‘nut based snacks’ apparently.”
I think either I’m slowly being conditioned or I’m just dog tired. I looked at this phrase for a good few seconds and all I could see was “Better Together, nutsacks”
He’s a NuLabour apparatchik. He only ran greetin to the Hootsmon because his political Mammy, Margaret Thatcher is deid.
@TYRAN
They have an anthem? Your having a laugh!
Alistair Darling’s image consultants are also guilty of plagiarism.
Alex – if you define the whole of the working class as guys who work on a building site you are seriously out of step with the range and diversity of what consitutes ‘working class’ (a fairly stupid classification belonging to the 1930’s in my book) I’m a carpet fitter, from a housing scheme but with a BA and a MSc, my own business etc. Call me middle class and I’ll be rude to you 🙂 I consider myself ‘working class; go figure that one out.
I don’t agree with AlexMcl’s post above at all. Yes, there is no doubt that those as Alex describes do exist however, to claim a stereotype over the complete construction (or any other sector) is plain wrong. Construction is unfortunately still male dominated, so you will get lads being lads, but it is more technical, varied, complex and professional than it has ever been. Lets leave ‘No Scotland’ with their monopoly of underestimating and putting down the Scottish people shall we. As we have seen time and time again from the MSM (Particularly the BBC), their previous attempts to dumb down the issues usually end up in it spectacularly blowing up in their faces. We in the ‘Yes’ camp are on the side of information, not the suppression & manipulation of truth and facts that is the modus operandi of the unionist supporting tabloids. Ps. The BBC used to portray itself as a broadsheet, now it’s clearly just a tabloid.
Fantastic work Rev. Stu with very interesting results – think you should have the weekend off after all your hard work.
Stu, just caught up. .. what a fantastic week. .. Outstanding work. Didn’t get to contribute this time due to the rest of you being quicker than my pay pal account…lol.. But consider my wallet yours for the plundering of you want another shot at panel base or indeed another equally brilliant scheme.. hope you managed a lie in today 🙂
Rev Stu
Why not put up two or three threads over the week-end, just 2 liners and let the bears get on with the business of carrying the blog this week-end?
Something to allow their collective aspirational and creative juices to flow and develop?
Spread the themes over the 2 days and just bugger aff yersell and chill out?
The ‘Better Together’ phrase was nicked from the Scottish NHS
link to snp.org
Let’s not forget one of No Scotland’s recent campaigning strategies which backfired: that of the giant independence ‘One Way’ train ticket. Yes, the same campaign used by the SNP (youth wing?) a few years ago, which featured – you guessed it! – a giant train ticket!
Pure dead brilliance Stu!
Thanks to all who emailed me overnight with offers of help and expressing interest. We’ve certainly got enough folk to justify a Glasgow meeting (Other cities are available.)
Anyone else who wants to get involved (or just be kept informed) please drop me a line
ian@stevenston4.fsnet.co.uk
Right now I’m just collecting contact details – later this week we’ll confirm a time and place.
Anyone fancy doing likewise to cover other regions?
O/T New BBC Tactic, Don’t Mention The Referendum.
Brian’s Big Debate, not a word on the referendum, closest they came to attacking independence was to bash the SNP over a very local issue.
Saturday’s good Morning Scotland. no word on the referendum, This allows them to stop repeating the “Untrusted” negativity of BTG and keep the positive message of YES from listeners. Two birds with one stone.
A positive from this is the YES message will win.
We will have to get it out, the BBC won’t help.
While we’re brainstorming, I like the idea of flash mobs. We need to inject some excitement.
link to youtube.com
Loving the fact my “U KOK” graphic (bottom left) made it into the list of similar logos 😀
“Nobody likes kicking a man when he’s down” Maybe nobody likes it but in certain circumstances it is a necessity. Snakes have the reputation of being able to bite even after they should have long been dead. There are creatures that need to be stomped on when they are down to keep them down lest they revive to cause pain and havoc. Even mummies can come back to spread their curse – just look at the House of Lard in Westminster.
““..hapless “Better Together” chairman Blair McDougall”
Hapless he definitely is, but chairman he ain’t. ‘Campaign Director’. “
WHY ARE YOU MAKING UP THESE LIES?
fwiw, Customs and Excise used to use round orange stickers bearing UKOK to mark imported goods that had the tariff paid on them. I used them in a remarkably unsuccessful campaign in the 90’s to protest against the high import duty for mountain bikes (which is still the highest tariff for imported consumer goods)
Vronsky says:
10 August, 2013 at 9:52 am
While we’re brainstorming, I like the idea of flash mobs. We need to inject some excitement.
Loving this idea Vronsky!!! Something for next year, nearer the referendum date perhaps?? Various cities in Scotland?? Can just see Michael Kelly having a coronary watching this happen in George Square!
Count me in on the Flashmob idea… loads of Saltires,. a Scottish drumming band like this for some music…
…lots of ‘Yes Scotland’ signs. Great :0)
Vronsky says:
10 August, 2013 at 9:52 am
While we’re brainstorming, I like the idea of flash mobs. We need to inject some excitement.
Seconded Heather. Its time we started to play by our rules with the panel base survey/poll being a case in mind with the success that has been, instead of playing at sitting ducks to any old crap the NO Scotland lot want to bog us down with as its all designed to suck the life out of us and our campaign. So flash mobs, fund campaigns for billboard advertising, fliers and projections all sound the way to go.
This is a people driven campaign and there is many of us. Its a way of taking it out there informing, engaging and enthusing the people all at the same time then watch the Unionists collapse. We need ways of side stepping round the msm and this is certainly some ways in which to do that. I’d rather go down having tried all i could than saying ‘what if we had all done x y and z’after a (God forbid) NO vote.
Its time we started to play by our rules with the panel base survey/poll being a case in mind with the success that has been, instead of playing at sitting ducks to any old crap the NO Scotland lot want
Couldn’t agree more.
Edin Scot
Everything you said! I think Blair Jenkins the official Yes camp is correct to project the calm and reasoned face of the independence debate and for the SNP government to take a back seat and let them lead the campaign and I can understand their reasons for doing so. You are right when you say its beginning to be a people driven campaign, after all it’s a decision which, one way or another will affect every man woman and child in Scotland so it’s up to the people of Scotland to get out and do something about it!
Vronsky, Have to say I was totally inspired by the Catalonian video – vibrant energetic and positive, non violent yet forceful way to put across their point. Great to see men women and children of all ages take to the street and participate in that!
The more visible the positive case for Scotlands Independence is the more confident the don’t knows will become and move towards a YES. People instinctively want to feel like they are part of and belong to something vibrant, exciting and positive with the ‘feel good factor’ .Getting out there among people will help dispel the doom and gloom and lies being spread by the nay sayers in the Bitter Together camp.
Another Catalonian flash mob.
HeatherMcLean
after all it’s a decision which, one way or another will affect every man woman and child in Scotland so it’s up to the people of Scotland to get out and do something about it!
____________________________________________________________________________
Therein lies the rub. This is ours to win and i firmly believe its ours for the taking but we have to become more engaged, more vocal and really make our presence felt and all in a positive fashion. Its reality that no one is going to hand us a YES vote on a plate and certainly not the Unionists. Lets put that proverbial cat amongst the pigeons and give the flash mob a whirl. Brain now imagining the best placed areas to have a flash mob…St Andrews Square & Festival Square (Edin), George Square & Sauchiehall Street (Gla), Almondvale Centre(Livi) etc rest of Scotland??
City Square Dundee ? Vronsky that second clip set me thinking…. anyone out there can play the bagpipes… fiddle accordions?? Can just vision the saltires unfurling to the strains of Big Country’s ” One great thing” the official anthem of the Yes Campaign and folk joining in the singing!! I’m totally up for this… we could do a tour of the big cities, everyone joining in!!
On the subject of mobs: Love this
link to youtube.com
Another Catalonian flash mob.
Wow, that was a performance and a half. Professional orchestra, rehearsed to within an inch if its life, with everyone having their parts memorised. The choreography was also very well rehearsed, right down to the wheeling on of the timpani. And the cinematography was professional and excellently done.
Then you realise that a lot of the people who seemed just to be standing around watching were actually the chorus – several even carrying their children and apparently just on a shopping trip.
Brilliantly executed. Kudos to the producer.
@EdinScot
A couple of us locally have been kicking around the idea of a flash mob for Almondvale.
Here’s one from last year (for MS Fightback)
link to youtube.com
Trouble is that a lot of private property managers may be sympathetic to charities, but are not happy about ‘politics’ on their patch.
So, public spaces are probably best
There’s some advice from the NTS (plus video) here:
link to nationaltheatrescotland.com
@Jiggsbro
Seconded re Rev Coles. Quite by chance for the first time listened to his show this am and enjoyed it.
Thought the #Arbroath was a witty touch in his response and his original tweet that prompted the offer was a corker.
link to newsnetscotland.com
Nice of G. A. Ponsonby to acknowledge his source – not. It’s noteworthy that his article only covers the points which were in the Wings article more or less from the start, and not the ones added by the readers at a later stage. Most people would at least have put in a link.
Re UKOK, as Scotsman BTL commenter neptunebar said this
morning, after the referendum the logo will be UKKO
Derick Tulloch, that is brill.
kininvie says:
10 August, 2013 at 12:38 pm
@EdinScot
A couple of us locally have been kicking around the idea of a flash mob for Almondvale
__________________________________________________________________________
Thanks for that kininvie. How uplifting and totally inspiring to see that vid from the Almondvale wow! Goes to show what can be done. If we have the will then anything is possible. Be great to see the flashmobs get off the ground all over our country. Just takes us to get one up and running then the snowball effect would kick in.
@ Morag,
NNS readers were linking these items yesterday long before last nights piece on ‘wings’.
@ Rev Stu
We’re in danger of having a lot of good ideas getting lost at the bottom of comment threads to posts that have long been superceded.
If the readers of this site are moving into active phase with flash mobs and light shows, we need somewhere to organise
Can you give us a page (like ‘quarantine’) where we can go and fix things up among ourselves? It can certainly stay under Zany comedy relief – as that is what it will be.
@heather
I play bagpipes, guitar, whistle, piano, fiddle, celtic harp, mouthie, mandolin, bandurria, and many strange things up in the loft or out in the garage. Recently noticed a musician friend posting on Bella. He’s English, much more eminent than I am, and I was surprised to bump into him there. We are part of a loose association which occasionally meets and sometimes performs. When we are together talk is mostly of music, and if it strays to politics it’s various flavours of leftism/anarchism. I’ve never vexed our little (very purist) company with my nationalist views. Perhaps I should.
But I mumble all that, because I wonder if we could do a Catalonia, and put an orchestra on the street. Just because you play the violin doesn’t mean that you haven’t got a political preference, and we already know that the arts community is pretty much en bloc for independence. Have we any contacts, that we can begin to explore and evilly seduce? I wonder (seriously, seriously, seriously) if we could put an orchestra on the street.
Could we also maybe have an online “bank” of pre-made flyers? That way it would be super easy for folk to download, print off and cut up??
@ Jenny
Have a look at http://www.indyposterboy.info/index.asp
FYI I bumped into Dundee Lord Provost Bob DuncaN (SNP ) this afternoon and was telling him about the flash mob idea. He sees no problem with using Dundee City Square as its a public space!! 🙂
Vronsky – sounds brilliant! I sometimes sing in a folk session in the Fisherman’s Tavern in Broughty Ferry – lots of talented pro indy musicians in the regulars that turn up including a couple of pipers, one of whom regularly plays with the Red Hot Chili Pipers and another who plays in a band called Amber Road.
kininvie is right.. this is developing into a great idea and we do need a place off the regular threads to discuss this further.. perhaps swop email addresses/ phone numbers privately through Rev Stu if he’s agreeable??
The more I think about the flash mob idea the more I think its a flash of inspiration!
@Heather McLean
@Vronsky
@all the rest of you
Couldn’t agree more with these suggestions to inject some fun into the campaign. Music, flashmobs…anything that’s fun and inclusive and increases visibility. And please, anyone who can make clothes or jewellery – we wimmin desperately need some help, here. I want to wear nice earrings and wear nice bracelets with saltires. I want a nice top with some tartan on it. I don’t want high neck t-shirts with an enormous YES across my chest. I want my views to be visible but I just don’t suit a high-visibility vest! There are those of us in this campaign who love to play – that’s why we frequent Wings – but the rules of the game are a bit dry at times. So I’m totally up for injecting some fun and enjoyment into the campaign. Flashmobs, music, theatre, fashion, comedy…..it’s high time and I’m upferrit!
@heather
link to graupius.co.uk
HeatherMcLean
I sing. Please let me know if I can help. Just off to the Fisherman’s now.
NNS readers were linking these items yesterday long before last nights piece on ‘wings’.
OK, fair enough, great minds and all that. Though I have to say I find the concept of “NNS readers” as a group somewhat abstract, and more so that they’re actually allowed to post anything at all, let alone links (which NNS doesn’t seem to approve of). I never read the comments now.
“Though I have to say I find the concept of “NNS readers” as a group somewhat abstract, and more so that they’re actually allowed to post anything at all, let alone links (which NNS doesn’t seem to approve of).”
Just in passing – congrats on your 2000th comment, which that was!
Not a duffer among ’em 🙂
Good lord! I have a life, really. Now where did I put it…?
@Heather McLean
If we can gather together some good musicians & dancers & a choreographer, they could be the core of a travelling mob and we’d add local volunteers from each place we planned to go.
Finding rehearsal space at short notice is sometimes difficult, so we’d need to plan. But let’s get the core together first.
I’ve always fancied a massive strip the willow in Waverley or Queen Street.
Probably also an idea to look at lots of flash mob vids to pick up some ideas…
Here’s a Russian wedding:
link to youtube.com
As there seems to be a strong Dundee contingent, how about ‘Party fears two’ as the choon? 🙂
Make that ” Labour” party fears two!! A massive Orcadian strip the willow with pipes drums fiddles et al!! This is beginning to sound great!!
Brotyboy .. if youre in the Fishermans on a Thursday night .. make yourself known to me!
Kininvie .. a core travelling flash mob sounds just the ticket!! I liked the MS flashmob where they whipped off their jackets to reveal the orange T shirts .. we could get Wings Over Scotland T shirts made up!!
Plenty WoS t-shirts available in the WoS Megastore, I remind you. Mine’s yellow, and has “A Hundred of us – Remain Alive” on the front. Caused much comment when I wore it in the north of England last week.
link to cafepress.com
My goodness – if I wasn’t a long way away, I’d be tempted to re-invent ‘The Great Fife Roadshow’!
Couple of further thoughts:
Yes T shirts would be more recogniseable. We could use WoS ones for the more ‘spontaneous’ occasions 🙂
Maybe ask around among those arty types at National Collective?…sure they’d have ideas.
Dundee’s a reasonably central spot. Aim at forming the core group there.
We also need at least one experienced person (and preferably more, because each venue will have to be planned) who can direct and help with cinematography & editing. If you look at what’s available on YouTube, the quality of the filming makes all the difference.
Bit late i’ve been down south in “the north” but ust draw your attention to this catchy little ditty from 1978.