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The black armbams

Posted on March 22, 2015 by

Scotland on Sunday on Labour’s latest Scottish election strategy:

armbams

We’re not making that up. Go and check for yourself. And when you’ve prised your jaw off the floor, acquaint yourself with the truth, as told by Jim Callaghan himself.

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  1. 22 03 15 10:43

    The black armbams | Speymouth
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  2. 22 03 15 11:25

    The black armbams | Politics Scotland | Scoop.it
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134 to “The black armbams”

  1. TheMadMurph
    Ignored
    says:

    they’ve tried everything else. Let’s run with the re-writing of history, see how that goes. Do you think anyone in the media will challenge it?

  2. Kevin
    Ignored
    says:

    Do they really think that will get them back any voters

  3. Geoff Huijer
    Ignored
    says:

    Black arm bands to mourn the death of all the socialist ideals they held in the ’70s.

  4. HandandShrimp
    Ignored
    says:

    Desperate people do desperate things. This can’t be an official Labour thing surely. Even McTernan and co are not that pathetic.

  5. Patrick Roden
    Ignored
    says:

    Black arm bands are used to acknowledge the death of a significant individual, but recently in Scotland, much mirth has been had by many people by marking the problems of Glasgow Rangers, with the wearing of black arm bands etc.

    I get the feeling the Labour Party in Scotland, have not fully thought through, the potential for this stunt to back-fire.

    We have all saw the imaginative and artistic responses, that Nationalists have been able to create out of almost any image or idea, so I can only imagine that it will be the Labour Party who will be getting mockingly ‘mourned’ by the time this stunt gets off the ground.

    Labour in Scotland’s epitaph?

    ‘This time next week, the polls will begin to turn in our favour’

  6. mogabee
    Ignored
    says:

    And that will finally close down that lie.

    Labour..who’s making their strategy? 😀

  7. Donald MacKenzie
    Ignored
    says:

    It’s yet more evidence that they are completely stuck in a now out-of-date way of thinking about politics and how the Scottish people have engaged with thinking about their future. This sort of stuff might have had some effect one upon a time. Today? Today it’s just a joke.

    They just seem unable to grasp that or developing thinking that takes account of, the fact that Scotland’s people have moved on and left that nonsense far behind.

  8. Capella
    Ignored
    says:

    Good morning Scotland. Here is the Labour news. All of the Labour MPs joined the Tories to vote for austerity and Trident. All of them joined the Tories to run Better Together. All of them are neo-liberal Tory clones. Sad isn’t it.

  9. Iain Gray
    Ignored
    says:

    Straightjackets at the ready..

  10. Gordon hunter
    Ignored
    says:

    Another case of rewriting history to suit their agenda.The Truth will out, As always.

  11. Gillian_Ruglonian
    Ignored
    says:

    This has got disaster written all over it, have the labour party been hacked!

  12. Chitterinlicht
    Ignored
    says:

    OMG

    Apart from that being just sad labour had 13 years in power to reverse Thatchers legacy but didn’t.

  13. alexicon
    Ignored
    says:

    Will the red tories commemorate betraying Scotland with the 40% rule?
    Will they also explain why the Labour party closed down more pits that Thatcher ever did?
    Hypocrisy is too mild a word for that mob.

  14. Wee Jonny
    Ignored
    says:

    Black arm bands – HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
    Deal breath – HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

  15. Jock Scot
    Ignored
    says:

    Too right about my jaw being on the floor. This is disrespectful on so many levels. Please allow me to highlight one of the obvious ‘creators’ of this..

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLuGIy3C7kw

  16. Alan Stirling
    Ignored
    says:

    Labour. Like a drowning man reaching out for something, anything , to grasp onto. Always good for a laugh though.

  17. No no no...Yes
    Ignored
    says:

    As Nicola said at FMQ’s, Dearie, dearie me.
    I dare them to carry this through, with full MSM coverage no doubt.Ths BBCScottish news will go big on it.

    I can see Jackie Bird dressed in black, sombre lighting and Jim Murphy in his undertaker’s suit. Her opening line will be, “Let’s call this Devoid of all credibility..”

  18. Craig Wilson
    Ignored
    says:

    So a right-wing Thatcherite party are going to wear black armbands to commemorate the year a left-wing party forced them to become Thatcherites in the first place? My head hurts.

    This is electoral suicide, and no matter how much the press lap it up (which they will), I can’t imagine it having anything but a left negative impact on their polling. A huge and growing proportion of the country no longer trusts the Daily Record or Reporting Scotland, especially when they just rehash Labour press releases.

  19. Famous15
    Ignored
    says:

    Black day in Labour’s history where THEIR voters turned against them in England. TWO MILLION of them!

    It was not the SNP ,Liberals and others betrayed by Labour who brought forward the 1979 General Election by a few months only who ended Jim Callaghan’s term as PM. It was the Labour voters in England who felt betrayed by the party of the working man being more concerned by their own selfish ends.

    Jim Callaghan does not spare them in his memoirs. Stabbed in the back by his own party.

  20. Rigmac7
    Ignored
    says:

    You know, on the 22nd March 1906, the first international rugby match between England and France was played. Maybe the black armbands are really the mourning of not winning the 6 nations.

    Or maybe it is to commemorate the passing of that cartoon genius, William Hanna, of Hanna-Barbera fame. Let’s face it, some of those coupons do look like they’ve been drawn.

  21. Luigi
    Ignored
    says:

    What about the 18th September 2015?

    Now there’s a really sad anniversary, if ever there was one.

  22. chossy
    Ignored
    says:

    100% OT

    Alex salmond on top form on Andrew marr, ha ha he’s such a star. How last shot at the lib dems was a peach.

  23. Desimond
    Ignored
    says:

    Armbands…why dont they go the full wat and demand SNP members identify themselves wearing wee yellow suns

    Its amazing how the either still cant see they are the problem or know it but cannot do anything in response

  24. De Valera
    Ignored
    says:

    When you have no future, all you can do is look to the past.

  25. Sandra
    Ignored
    says:

    And what about Gordon Brown letting the Tories in in 2010 by not dealing with the SNP? Not to mention the fact that Labour PM Tony Blair was the thing Margaret Thatcher considered her “greatest achievement”.

    How quickly they forget.

  26. Indigo
    Ignored
    says:

    Wow Anna Soubry’s ‘SNP Bad’ rant on the Andrew a Marr show, just after Alex appeared reasonable, considered and statesmanlike shows the terror of the Westminster parties, she made labour and the tories look really weak with that outburst.

  27. Stoker
    Ignored
    says:

    HandandShrimp says:
    “Desperate people do desperate things. This can’t be an official Labour thing surely. Even McTernan and co are not that pathetic.”
    _____

    My dear friend, given we had the eclipse on Friday marking the first day of Spring, i’ll overlook that comment. It’s a bit obvious you’ve just surfaced from hibernation.

    Give your eyes time to adjust and prepare yourself for the avalanche of pathetic McTermite Slabber lies we’ve already been subjected to.

    All comprehensively debunked on WOS as per usual.
    😉

  28. Wee Jonny
    Ignored
    says:

    Woops. Just saw my last post – no paragraph breaks. Stu I’m sorry. Truly truly sorry. Please leave the hammer in the tool shed. I’ll take a drap breath sooner the next time. Promise.

  29. Dcanmore
    Ignored
    says:

    is Tam Dalyell and Dennis Skinner going to turn up, you know part of that 34 Labour MPs that brought down their own government?

  30. Jax McDowell
    Ignored
    says:

    So sad. So sad. They wanted us so much at the referendum but now they don’t. It’s our money they want

  31. TheGreatBaldo
    Ignored
    says:

    Leaving aside the rather obvious error in them providing a very helpful set them images for ‘Scottish Labour in Mourning’ for any TV producer on May 8th if the polls turn out to be correct.

    I suspect this stunt will only appeal or make any sense to those voters who can actually recall 1979…namely pensioners or those far closer to being pensioners than they would like to admit.

    In other words, the very demographic group that, according to the polls…….is gonna vote heavily Labour ANYWAY.

    For everyone else, Labour is assuming voters in Scotland have memory and intelligence of retarded goldfish and will completely forgetten about the 2 1/2 years leading up to Sept 18th.

  32. galamcennalth
    Ignored
    says:

    Let’s commemorate the 28th of March as the anniversary of Labour selling out Scotland in 1979 and highlighting that they have been selling us out ever since. 36 years of treachery ends this May!

    Make it a big Wings event. Get publicity for the truth. Call Labour out for what they are.

  33. Noel Chidwick
    Ignored
    says:

    It was 1979. I was 19 years old, born and brought up in Birmingham, now a student in Newcastle. My first vote in a General Election.

    I remember thinking: how can I possibly vote Labour; those nasty evil SNPs nats or whatever they were forced an election somehow, therefore I must vote tory.

    Is that really what Labour thinks went through English voters minds? Really? With apologies to Scotland, but Scottish devolution was not at the top of our thoughts back then – we had other issues to think about. Labour lost in 1979 because the Tories won. Is that so hard to understand?

    This nonsense from Labour is just so insulting to everyone and they’re embarrassing themselves.

    PS I voted Labour 79.

  34. Macart
    Ignored
    says:

    Sooooo 11 SNP MPs voted a no confidence motion against a government who had stabbed Scotland in the back over the then devolution campaign. What was the excuse of the what thirty odd Labour MPs who stabbed Mr Callaghan in the back?

    Labour rewriting history for almost forty years. When blaming anyone for Thatchers rise to power they need only look in the mirror.

    It would make a pleasant change if just for once they would own up to their own guilt.

  35. The Man in the Jar
    Ignored
    says:

    I remember 1979 well and I reckon that black binbags would be more suitable attire for commemorating those events.

    I can visualise it now. Labour MPs and MSPs parading in black bags to the sound of the “Star Wars imperial March”

  36. muttley79
    Ignored
    says:

    It shows just how bereft of vision, ideas, integrity, that SLAB keep returning to events which happened over 35 years ago. What a awful indictment on these political pymgies. I have no idea what they actually stand for, apart from hating the SNP of course.

  37. Jax McDowell
    Ignored
    says:

    So sad. So sad. They wanted us so much at the referendum but now they don’t. It was only ever about the money.

  38. Algernon Pondlife
    Ignored
    says:

    Great. Something that didn’t even happen over thirty years ago is supposed to win votes for a party that thinks the hatchet didn’t go far enough.

  39. Marcia
    Ignored
    says:

    I see that Labour has a rather selective memory when it comes to the SNP. The Liberals voted the same way too. Labour seem to always live in the past. Perhaps the election day might consign them to the past up here.

  40. Rigmac7
    Ignored
    says:

    You’re all too wee, too stupid and too poor to make your own minds up.

    And if you don’t start sitting quietly and eating your cereal I’m going to get angry and lock you in the cupboard with Jim. Oh, and I’ll pour Irn Bru over you first.

    More Shreddies?

  41. John Lowe
    Ignored
    says:

    A wreath at the miners memorial. They (Red Tories) abandoned the miners and working people disabled poor and unemployed years ago. This stunt is an insult into all of us

  42. Stoker
    Ignored
    says:

    And what, pray tell, will the unions be doing whilst Slabber continue promoting this lie in a very deliberate attempt, yet again, to deceive the masses?

    I’ve said it before and i’ll keep saying it, it’s time the unions boycotted Slabber and put their full support behind a true political party of, for and by the people.

    By aligning themselves to the sinking Slabber ship they will lose any credibility they may have, just like the corrupt Unionist media, and they WILL go down with that ship.

    I call on all unions to abandon Slabber and get behind the SNP and do what you’re supposed to do, look after the interests of the workers in our society.

  43. HandandShrimp
    Ignored
    says:

    Aye Marcia

    Labour had the Lib Lab pact back in 1979 and still the Liberals voted no confidence in 79 and yet do we here a single word from Labour on that? Labour would jump back into bed with the right wing Liberals in a shot.

    Pathetic and hypocrites to boot.

  44. Gary Reilly
    Ignored
    says:

    This is quite sickening tbh! Laying a death at the miners club is as low as they could go. If ever there was any proof needed that lobour couldn’t give a shit about you. This is it.

  45. Andy MacNicol
    Ignored
    says:

    It never seems to occur to the Labour Party when they wheel out this old news that it was not the SNP which helped Thatcher in, it was a rubbish Labour Party which could not persuade people to vote for them in the ensuing election. The Tartan Tories label is still being used 36 years later by a party which is more Tory than Thatcher ever was.

  46. G4jeepers
    Ignored
    says:

    What’s that you say?

    Milli-band wants nuclear arms banned?

    Gaun yersel Eddie!

  47. john king
    Ignored
    says:

    H&S says @ 9.20
    ” Even McTernan and co are not that pathetic”

    They’re not?

  48. scotsbob
    Ignored
    says:

    Looks like another photo opportunity for Murphy which the BBC will give extensive coverage to without any attempt to research the actual facts.

  49. john king
    Ignored
    says:

    Wee Jonny @ 9.41
    If you did that on purpose Jonny. BRILLIANT 🙂

    If you didn’t do it on purpose BRILLIANT. 🙂
    Either way the hahahahahahahaha running through the Gandhi quote was sheer class.
    respec!

  50. Kevin Evans
    Ignored
    says:

    Shite, shite and more shite.

    I think that covers it all.

  51. Alex Mckechnie
    Ignored
    says:

    Groundhog day, how many more till 7th May if its not groundhog then a practice for April 1st surely who caan make thesethings up

  52. Kevin Evans
    Ignored
    says:

    roll on the 8th of may – this is getting tiresome

  53. Valerie
    Ignored
    says:

    @Stoker, Last I heard, the SNP Union group had grown hugely, but I agree that any Trade Unionists left with any conscience for their members rights, and earnings etc. Have to take a very hard look at themselves, and uncouple from the zombie party.

    I can’t wait for 1st April, for the next piece of mirth from the SLab election strategy, that’s if wee Dougie takes off his tin foil hat long enough.

    That’s the trouble with Scotland, they’ve got yon t’internet.

    I watched the film Michael Collins last night, seen it loads, but I’m always gripped, and its a great cast. At one point he is asked what he would say to the English, and he says – just leave us be.

  54. norrie
    Ignored
    says:

    Next they will be issuing yellow stars to SNP voters.

  55. H
    Ignored
    says:

    So right back then. The Government was working to the European Agenda of breaking up Britain and then England into Euro Regions.

    Treason against the British people from the Start. Not surprised at Foot and the other labourites.

    Their legacy is the Milibands. 4 – 5 generation Marxists. Apologists of mass murder.

  56. Bugger (the Panda)
    Ignored
    says:

    SNP membership now over 100,000 according to the Sunday Herald.

  57. Margo Sharp
    Ignored
    says:

    desperation rearing its head I think.

  58. SteveW
    Ignored
    says:

    They should be laying a wreath of apology at the miners memorial for the betrayal to the socialist cause.

  59. Lucy
    Ignored
    says:

    Snotty beyond belief. How awful.

  60. Wee Jonny
    Ignored
    says:

    John King – Of course I meant it????

    I never Stu.

    I did John……….

  61. Sinky
    Ignored
    says:

    In the period 6 March to 31 July 1974 Westminster Parliament the SNP MPs voted with Labour 66.2% and with Tories 21.6%.

    For 1977/78 SNP MPs voted with Labour 63.2% of the time and with Tories 17.3% (source Gordon Wilson Turbulent Years)

    In minority Scottish Parliament Labour voted along with the Tories twice as often as they voted with the SNP.

    Meanwhile in the 21st century Labour and Tory cash for honours scandal continues with this in to-day’s Observer

    http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/mar/21/revealed-link-life-peerages-party-donations

  62. i'm a fan
    Ignored
    says:

    Re #79binbags hashtag gathering pace on twitter

    It wasn’t just rubbish that went uncollected. The dead went unburied too. Who’d have confidence in any party that let the country get to that state?

  63. chris kilby
    Ignored
    says:

    Jaysus. Don’t they realise that is the last act of a desperate man?

    (Ah don’t care if it’s the first act ae Henry V. Ah’m still votin’ SNP!)

  64. DerekM
    Ignored
    says:

    it wiznae oor fault its was they big nasty SNP wot done it and ran away.
    jeez when are the red tories ever going to admit that it was the internal struggle in their party over who should be boss that caused their downfall,but hey we all know what these idiots are like as some things never change Blair/Brown and i wouldnt put it past Balls to try to oust Ed the red to be party leader,what a bunch of hopeless fuds.

  65. Bugger (the Panda)
    Ignored
    says:

    Labour have no real proposals,no policies, no inspiration, no vision, no hope and no chance. They probably have no money either as Red Ed in Londonshire has written them and needs the money to try and rescue just enough seats in Greater Englandshire to form a coalition or association with anybody else except UKIP. Ed will simply do a deal with the SNP a replace the Scottish contingent with them, he thinks.

    MacDougall, McTernan and Murphy are meanwhile reduced to, photo ops and TV appearances in their tame MSM,soundbite and tweets from the darkness they call their asylum.

    We are the stage of just laughing at them as they lie their way through their non campaign.

    They are a metaphorical lame duck going round and round in circles waiting for the coup de grâce.

    I am chuckling. Full laughter will be the order of the day as they get chucked out one by one during the night of the 7th into the 8th when it will be my birthday. What a present.

  66. jock wishart
    Ignored
    says:

    Noo they’re playing politics with dead miners
    Scum.

  67. Naina Tal
    Ignored
    says:

    So, on 28th March we can all play spot the spot the spot the loony.We’ll know them by their number. Relatively small numbers I’d wager…

    How about a national survey like the one they do every year for birds? How many black armbands did you see between noon and 1pm? That sort of thing.

    To paraphrase an old joke What’s the difference between The ridd Tories and a polisman’s bauton?

    Ridd Tories are known for cunning stunts
    Polisman’s bauton’s for stunning c. Och I forgot the rest.
    Cheerio

  68. Iain Gray's Subway Lament
    Ignored
    says:

    “I get the feeling the Labour Party in Scotland, have not fully thought through, the potential for this stunt to back-fire.”

    Spot on Patrick.

    This is from the same fuckwits who thought having Murphy hand out the big issue was a good idea just after the Ashcroft polls showing ‘scottish’ Labour getting slaughtered. McTernan had to cancel that in embarrassment once he realised even the westminster journos were laughing at his and Murphy’s stupidity.

    Clueless ‘scottish’ Labour MPs and their hangers on wearing black armbands will be taken one way and one way only. Signifying the death of their party in scotland.

    These idiots seem determined to be mocked as even the most callow and inexperienced journalist would be laughing very hard indeed at the blatantly obvious symbolism of “black armbands” as Labour head over the cliff in scotland.

    Bring it on. 😀

  69. Bugger (the Panda)
    Ignored
    says:

    Maybe they could form their own wee private marching band and dress up in black.

    They could associate themselves with their pals in the OO and go out marching every week-end in Glasgow, well until 2017.

    The Black Preceptory Remembrance Order.

  70. chris kilby
    Ignored
    says:

    It is an ex-party. It has ceased to be.

  71. Papadox
    Ignored
    says:

    While we suffered transport strikes, power cuts, Local government workers strikes, rubbish piled 10 ft high on streets, the dead unburied, hospitals picketed and the coldest winter in 16 years. I those were the days and much worse. Dereck Hatton running about Liverpool in a taxi handing out redundancy notices.

    Jim Callachan arriving back from the Carribean, when asked by a reporter at Heathrow Airport about the crises in the country replyed “CRISES WHAT CRISES?”

    All the SNPs fault, according to SLAB. Lest we forget the truth.

  72. Cuilean
    Ignored
    says:

    My YES voting 18 year old daughter had to ask me, ‘Who was Thatcher?’ My daughter was born 6 years AFTER Thatcher was ousted by Heseltine’s challenge of her patry leadership.

    If McTernan, Murphy & McDougall plan a labour (Scots accounting unit) revival on knowledge & residual hatred of Thatcher, they are well and truly ‘history’.

    Richard III, Agincourt, Thatcher. The red/blue tories love re-living (and re-writing) the past.

    Alex Salmond on excellent form on Andrew Marr today but he should have let that awful tory woman have it with both barrels when she falsely called foul at UK democracy. She decried the audacity of the Scots to dare to hold power over middle England. Salmond should have fired back, ‘HOld on a minute, hold on a minute, are you suggesting Scots are second class citizens in their own country. Is it only democracy when a GE sees your party in power? If you want only English voices in Westminster you better call a referendum for English independence, or shut up and get to the back of the bus!’

    Tory woman on Andrew Marr quote on Scots minority govt. ‘Oh but that’s just Scotland. We deal with other things in England!’ ‘Oh’ quippped Alex, ‘big things, important things….’ laughing.

    Thanks tory woman, on Marr show, (or was it the Life on Mars show) you just guaranteed more SNP mps at Westminster. can we have her contempt and faux outrage beamed into every home in Scotland every day between now and 7 May 2015, BBC please? See the naked contempt Westminster holds for Scots and Scotland. See the outrage and fear Westminster holds to any challenge to its duopoly rule. Hear the resounding silence from the Scot, Marr, as his country and his kin are demonised, patronised and villified. Great stuff, BBC! Keep it coming!

    AS the song goes, ‘But it’s a new day, it’s a new dawn, it’s a new world, and I’m feeling good’.

  73. Wilty
    Ignored
    says:

    The Man in the Jar says: I can visualise it now. Labour MPs and MSPs parading in black bags to the sound of the “Star Wars imperial March”

    Oh, please, please, make it happen… pure magic! {heavy breathing} BOW TO YOUR IMPERIAL MASTERS

  74. Wee Alex
    Ignored
    says:

    What a gift for Council areas where Labour share power with the Tories.

    Does anyone remember the photos of Blair and Broonie sucking up to Thatcher, I’m sure they will be appearing soon on a twitter account near you.

    Desperate times for the Red Tories.

  75. Valerie
    Ignored
    says:

    Andrew Neil @JimforScotland

    Labour used to dominate Scotland, now they are on life support, why?

  76. chris kilby
    Ignored
    says:

    “Ma name is Dozymurphiarse, branch manager ae branch managers,
    Look upon ma prospects, ye voters, an’ rejoice…”

  77. Kennedy
    Ignored
    says:

    Wow!

    They can not expect this to go unchallenged.

    This may be the chance for the truth to come out and massively backfire on the Red Tories.

    Gun loaded, aim at foot, FIRE!

  78. Christian Wright
    Ignored
    says:

    Instructive at this time for Labour to remember Denis Healey’s First Law of Holes:

    When you’re in one, stop digging.

    oOo

    Scotsman: “It comes the week after Labour leader Ed Miliband ruled out a formal coalition with the SNP, and Scotland on Sunday understands this will be extended to a confidence and supply deal. (emphasis added)

    Oh dear, oh dear. I take it this conjecture based on Jim Murphy’s disastrous Dirty Harry interview in the Times, just yesterday, wherein he intimated there would be no confidence and supply pact.

    The SNP can support a minority Labour government or they can bring it down says square-jawed Jim (For the sake of brevity, the gist was: “Go on punk, make my day!”).

    Two parliaments, two prime ministers, one house. That’s where this bit of machismo leads. Jim Murphy, the gift that keeps on giving. The SNP should be praying that Labour enacts this idiocy.

    The response of the SNP should be to say, uh, OK we’ll not bring your government down. We will support you in the initial confidence vote so that you can form a minority government. We will support you in the event of a no confidence vote should one be tabled at any time.

    We will support you in matters of defence and foreign affairs (unless you propose something daft, like renewing Trident). We will support you in those votes where Scotland’s vital interests are at stake.

    Other than that, in the case of English-only legislation, being mindful of the inequity perceived by other members of this House and the English electorate at large, we will continue our time-honoured practice of abstaining from voting.

    The effect of this strategy would be:

    1. To have in UK matters, Ed Miliband calling the shots, installed as British Prime Minister in the UK Parliament, propped up by the SNP,

    2. In EVEL matters, where the Tories have a majority, David Cameron, de facto Prime Minister of England in an English parliament.

    Two parliaments, two prime ministers, one house. And we all know that a house divided against itself cannot stand.

    Bring it on, Jimbo!

    parts from http://www.weourselves.com/not-the-brightest-bulb-on-the-christmas-tree/

  79. Kennedy
    Ignored
    says:

    Ha ha. You’ve got to laugh.

    This is not accidently shooting yourself in the foot.

    This is Stoopidity!

  80. Kennedy
    Ignored
    says:

    The party with the most lies forms the Government.

  81. heedtracker
    Ignored
    says:

    When you think what wearing black arm bands really means and then try to even begin to comprehend the loss of life their horrifying illegal invasion of Iraq has caused, it just shows what a bunch of parochial dangerous clowns SLab really are.

    If it wasn’t for the corruption of that glass box of UK propaganda at Pacific Quay…

  82. Grouse Beater
    Ignored
    says:

    Kevin Evans: Shite, shite, and more shite. I think that covers it all.

    It’s gems like that, that brighten my day. 🙂

  83. Wilty
    Ignored
    says:

    @chris kilby

    Pining for the fjords.

  84. Helena Brown
    Ignored
    says:

    Aye well those eleven SNP MP’s fair put the wind up them at the time, that it only took them to bring down a Government even though we know they didn’t that Labour brought themselves down, well if they keep parroting this it may make people think how much power will 50 odd SNP MP’s have in Westminster, be careful what you wish for Labour.

  85. almannysbunnet
    Ignored
    says:

    God I wish I could draw. Suggestion for a cartoon. Take the black armband and slip it over Murphy’s head so it’s covering his eyes and ears.

  86. Robert Peffers
    Ignored
    says:

    @HandandShrimp says:22 March, 2015 at 9:20 am:

    ” … Even McTernan and co are not that pathetic.”

    Oh! Yes they are!

  87. Scot Finlayson
    Ignored
    says:

    In the context of politics is the wearing of black armbands not associated with the fascist parties of the 20th century.

    The thought of Labour apparatchiks marching down the high streets of our cities and towns dressed with a symbol of fascism worries me greatly.

  88. john ferguson
    Ignored
    says:

    I am waiting for the reopening of the Clutha pub. I expect to see Murphy cutting the ribbon wearing the appropriate football top .

  89. Midgehunter
    Ignored
    says:

    cuilean says:

    “Richard III, Agincourt, Thatcher. The red/blue tories love re-living (and re-writing) the past.”

    That’s true enough but with one exception, Bannockburn

    We all know how they did their best to disrupt and sideline the anniversary in 2014.

  90. boris
    Ignored
    says:

    O/T
    Concerns emanating from the US are that subsequent to implementation of the defence review the UK will not be able to “deploy troops with accompanying fighter aircraft and naval vessels without relying on American forces” and this would be unacceptable. The Independent Trident 400 warhead nuclear deterrent is also considered to be of little consequence given that the US has placed it’s entire 20,000 nuclear warheads within the command structure of NATO. Finance saved by the UK by giving up Trident coul be better used in the maintenance of conventional forces and weaponry. More Here

    http://caltonjock.com/2015/03/22/additional-defence-spending-of-30-billion-over-5-years-to-be-added-to-the-austerity-programme-but-only-for-public-consumption-ater-the-general-electionpublished-what-a-fiddle/

  91. msean
    Ignored
    says:

    I’m sure all the other surviving non Tory MPs who voted against that government will be there as well. Incidently, on that Agincourt thingy,today is the 22nd of March. On this day,1421,the Battle of Bauge was fought.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Baug%C3%A9

  92. Author_al
    Ignored
    says:

    Can anyone summarise the facts around the SNP’s role in ousting Callaghan? I believe it was because of his betrayal over broken devolution promises. I gather Dennis Skinner played a part inadvertently too.

    I have just received confirmation my voting details are being re-assessed so I can vote. I was apparently not registered despite living in my house for seven years. #cock up or conspiracy?

  93. almannysbunnet
    Ignored
    says:

    Busy next Saturday:
    28th March – Black armband and wreath laying ceremony by SLAB.
    28th March – 38 degrees TTIP day of action.
    28th March – SNP Conference starts.

    Wonder which one the BBC will be covering?

  94. galamcennalath
    Ignored
    says:

    Alec Salmond in good fettle on Marr. Worth a wee trip to iPlayer to listen to him. At about 39mins in.

    Although most of the discussion concerned the GE, I do sense IndyRef2 is sitting on the back burner waiting to be heated up.

    Marr hinting continually that somehow Alec still pulls the strings. They really don’t understand how a democratic political party works, do they?

  95. Legerwood
    Ignored
    says:

    This is an all too believable strategy by Labour because they have been using it for the last 30-odd years.

    Last week the Herald had a front page article and in it they mentioned that the ‘anniversary’ of this no confidence vote was coming up.

    Labour has become the party of spin and have spun this story for so long that they actually believe it and in believing it they have hollowed out any beliefs they once had and replaced them with ‘spin’.

    Their election strategy in Scotland for the past 30-odd years boils down to: ‘We’re no Mrs Thatcher, gies yer vote’. Remember their 2011 election slogan: ‘Now that the Tories are back…’

    Labour have nothing to offer. Empty vessels one and all.

  96. john king
    Ignored
    says:

    Wilty says @ 11.28
    @chris kilby

    “Pining for the fjords.”

    No,
    this parrot is dead,
    if you hadn’t nailed his feet to the perch he would be pushing up daisies!

  97. Marcia
    Ignored
    says:

    galamcennalath

    Here is his interview with A Marr prior to the video above.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XdJYx0Psl8

    I like his comment that he got more people at his book signing in Aberdeen that attended the LD Conference.

  98. Fiona
    Ignored
    says:

    I think we should be happy about this.

    For decades we have been told that Margaret Thatcher is a towering politician who saved this country from economic collapse and blah and blah. Even today there are tory MP’s who appear to get a hard on just by thinking about her.

    Scotland never bought that narrative, and in this country it makes some limited sense to play up the disaster she visited on us all for electoral advantage. But it does not play well in rUK, if what we are told is true

    It isn’t true. A great deal of eg. the north of england share the view that she was an unmitigated evil for a civilised country. Seems the labour party has now decided to acknowledge that, though that is quite a departure from the position of Nu Labour under Blair and his pals.

    Do they imagine that the voters will forget their history on this issue? I don’t think they will

    More importantly, are they blind to the fact that Thatcher is history to most of the voters, who are too young to have lived through that period and do not even understand what they are talking about? It is profoundly irrelevant to a great many voters under 40 in rUK (though not, I think, in Scotland)

    As a declaration that they are “out of touch” nothing could be better, IMO.

    I wonder how the Labour party in Westminster will present this stunt to their voters?

  99. Robert Peffers
    Ignored
    says:

    Seems the Labour Party, (Scottish Branch Office), are like believers in Voodoo. Voodooists blindly believe curses can kill them and, although there are no scientific proofs, they continue to believe. Thing is a Voodoo curse will only kill those who believe it can. It takes a fairly thick, and blindly trusting in their faith, bunch of numpties to defy the truth and run with such idiocy.

    In this instance the Labourites may indeed believe strongly enough without any proof and it may very well kill the Scottish branch office of London Labour off for good. You really couldn’t make this, “SNP let the Tories in”, stuff up but seems Labour d do.

  100. Rev. Stuart Campbell
    Ignored
    says:

    “Can anyone summarise the facts around the SNP’s role in ousting Callaghan?”

    Um, have you tried clicking the link at the end of the article?

  101. Fiona
    Ignored
    says:

    @ Marcia

    I linked this last night. Given the SNP stance on debt and deficit I think it is really important that people understand what this issue comes down to and so I am linking it again. There is nothing more important fpr this debate, IMO. You may not agree with Mr Keen’s analysis but it should be addressed.

    http://thosebigwords.forumcommunity.net/?t=45710123&st=30#lastpost

  102. Alexandra-M-
    Ignored
    says:

    I think the SNP should all wear black armbands on May the 8th to commemorate the day that the Labour party died in Scotland.

    Idiots.

  103. Robert Peffers
    Ignored
    says:

    @De Valera says:22 March, 2015 at 9:58 am:

    “When you have no future, all you can do is look to the past.”

    Yeah! De Valera, but when Labour look to the past they forget to open their eyes. Then they nudge their mate and say, “What just happened there”, and their mate then does the same and it gets like the word of mouth signalling system in the trenches in WWI.

    The Officer in charge at the front sends the message via a runner, “Send reinforcements we’re going to advance”, and the message is passed along the lines back to GCHQ, (Government Communications HeadQuarters). Where is arrives as, “Send three and fourpence we’re going to a dance”.

  104. Robert Peffers
    Ignored
    says:

    @Sandra says:22 March, 2015 at 10:00 am:

    ” … How quickly they forget.”

    Oh! They don’t forget, Sandra, It’s what we call, “The alternative reality”. It’s just a kind way of saying they’re liars.

  105. donald anderson
    Ignored
    says:

    Just came in form “tidying” my front garden, when someone came in the gate and asked if could deliver some Campaign leaflets. I said sure and asked him on whose behalf.

    He said Labour and I pointed and told him where the bin was on the lamppost across the street. I told him I had never voted Labour because I was a socialist. He then told me I was SNP. I said I was a Scottish Republican Socialist and half my life as a shop steward fighting Lords Wilson and Callaghan’s pay freezes. I shouted after him and his companion, asking then to name me one socialist in the Labour Party. Jim Murphy? They never looked back.

  106. Robert Peffers
    Ignored
    says:

    @Jax McDowell says:22 March, 2015 at 10:07 am:

    “So sad. So sad. They wanted us so much at the referendum but now they don’t. It’s our money they want”

    I’ll correct that for you Jax, ” … They only wanted what they believe to be their money

  107. Brian MacLeod
    Ignored
    says:

    And indeed they should wear black armbands.

    To commerate the day they betrayed the Scots and forced them to vote Labour out of power.

    Have they not yet woken up to our long long memories?

  108. gerry parker
    Ignored
    says:

    Thought it was worth a letter to my MP using

    http://www.writetothem.com

    Asking him to make sure he didn’t take part in the “celebrations” to perpetuate this lie.

    And suggesting he get a copy of Jim Callaghan’s book.
    Labour councillors, MSP’s and MP’s need reminding of this.

  109. Ken500
    Ignored
    says:

    Black armbands. The ‘winter of discontent’, when even the dead could not be buried.

    The illegal wars when thousands of innocent people have died. Have they no shame. The banking fraud, the tax evasion. They have no shame.

  110. Marie clark
    Ignored
    says:

    Jesus! Is this for real, or is it just a cunning stunt.

    To borrow a phrase from Macart ” weapons grade fuckwitery”.

  111. Stoker
    Ignored
    says:

    @ Valerie (10.45am) – or anyone else who might know.

    I’m aware the SNP have a large growing union members support but i’m not very clear on what, if any, actual Unions support the SNP/Yes movement.

    I know most of them backed a ‘No’ vote through “diplomatic silence’ but at the same time encouraging a ‘No’ vote, if that makes any sense.

    What i’m not very clear on is what Unions supported us and what ones didn’t. I believe the STUC backed ‘No’ but then had the cheek, shortly after, to attempt a protest against austerity in Glasgow very soon after the referendum.

    Any clarification on any of this would be very much appreciated.

  112. crazycat
    Ignored
    says:

    @ Noel Chidwick at 10.09

    Small world – I was also a student in Newcastle at the time of the 1979 General Election.

    I went to my first lecture on the Friday and discovered that only 5 of us, out of about 30, had not voted Tory.

    That is why Thatcher won.

    (As for laying a wreath at the miners’ memorial; although that commemorates those who died, it surely also symbolizes the death of the industry. Didn’t Neil Kinnock oppose the strike?)

  113. Bugger (the Panda)
    Ignored
    says:

    @ donald anderson

    Could you work put if they were local to the area because I believe Labour is busing in people from outside, and paying them.

  114. Jim Arnott
    Ignored
    says:

    At the end of the post, Stu gives a archive link to:

    “The truth, as told by Jim Callaghan himself.”

    If you haven’t clicked on that link, you are missing out on the details of what actually happened in 1979.

    I would encourage everyone to make themselves aware of what happened in 1979 because Jim Murphy was, even this morning on Sunday Politics, still spouting the lie that the SNP caused Labour to lose the subsequent election.

    We need to be aware of the Labour Prime Minister of the day, Jim Callaghan, putting the blame firmly on the 34 Labour MPs who voted with the Tories that precipitated the No Confidence motion that led to the election that the Tories won.

    Callaghan’s account is wholly at odds with Murphy’s, and indeed the whole Labour Party’s, current attempt to say “it was the SNP what done it”

  115. De Valera
    Ignored
    says:

    @ Robert Peffers
    Very true, despite growing up in a staunchly Labour household, I will never be able to understand their mindset.

  116. carjamtic
    Ignored
    says:

    Ahh…the Internet,marvellous,allows one to see not only the strings on the puppets but the puppet masters and what a pathetic sight/sound they make.

  117. liz
    Ignored
    says:

    The truth makes no difference to the Lab hacks since they have the good old MSM/BBC to back them up as they will with the Tartan tories ’79 story.

    They are still continuing with ‘the biggest party’ lie , they know it’s a lie., we know it’s a lie, the BBC/MSM know it’s a lie but they are hoping that a lot of the electorate don’t.

    We will just have to flood twitter, FB and hopefully The National with the facts.

    BTW still unsure about Ian McWhirter’ in today’s Sunday Herald, he says that Nicola finally ‘admits’ they got the oil price wrong.
    How can you ‘admit’ something that everyone knows?

    He also goes on to say that Nicola hasn’t had a good press this week – when does she ever have a good press at the hands of the MSM – what with GERS, ‘problems’ with the NHS and her non-attendance at the Afghanistan memorial.

  118. Now's the Hour
    Ignored
    says:

    Scratching my head here. Labour are going to ‘commemorate’ something that never happened and which was comprehensively dissed by their own former PM. Yet what did happen was done by their own MPs!

    Plus it was nearly 40 years ago, probably a historical moment to most of the electorate, yet they’re trying to drum up contemporary support with it?

    I really don’t know whether they’re stuck for ideas, have lost the plot completely, or are just plain desperate or stupid. Probably a mixture of all four.

    May 7th…tick tock

  119. Uno Mas
    Ignored
    says:

    Younger wingers and SNP supporters in general who weren’t around at the time should be made aware of the facts surrounding the 1979 election and the reasons for the dominance of the Thatcher government in the 1980´s as this is going to be the hot topic of discussion this week and they need to be up to speed with the facts to answer the Slabites.

    The simple truth is that the Conservatives were going to win the ´79 election no matter what.

    The Labour government of Callaghan was unpopular beyond the point of repair owing to their general financial incompetence, rising unemployment and an electorate sick and tired of trade union excesses during the 1970´s and culminating of course in the much documented “Winter of Discontent”

    So win or lose the vote of no confidence they were history.

    The continuation of the Thatcher government with their 1983 election win has mostly been credited to the popularity of the tax cuts introduced and of course the success of the Falklands Military Campaign (I refuse to call it a war) however the truth is that their share of the vote actually reduced significantly in 1983 and their success in that election can be attributed to four more Labour Party heroes (sic), Shirley Williams, Bill Rodgers , Roy Jenkins and David Owen A.K.A. “The Gang of Four” who split away from the Labour Party and formed the SDP and entered in to an alliance with….wait for it…. The Liberal Party to become the SDP Liberal Alliance.

    This new alliance campaigned in the ´83 election aiming to and winning a lot of centre left voters who would normally have voted Labour and in doing so they split the anti-Thatcher vote so that in seat after seat the Labour and SDP Alliance would come in a close second or third place behind the Tories who of course thanks to F.P.T.P. would take the seat, very often with the combined opposition votes being almost double that of the eventual winner, therefore delivering the large 144 seat majority of the Conservative Party.

    The rest as they say is history.

  120. Joe Foster
    Ignored
    says:

    Yep as I recall that 1979 no confidence vote was to a large extent an inter Labour backstab too…which might resonate with Ed and his minions…kind of beside the point with the present too I feel….and many others agree I understand

  121. Dal Riata
    Ignored
    says:

    It simply gives further proof that Labour in Scotland are in a death spiral, one where they will try anything – anything – to survive.

    This latest black armbands and wreaths wheeze is ugly and beyond contempt.

    But, hey, fuck’em, let them go ahead. The lie will be exposed (it already has been on here for some time) – though, of course, not by the mainstream media – and the voters will either be enraged by, or they will laugh at Labour, neither of which bodes well for the party… and the death spiral will be completed. Utter buffoons.

  122. Stoker
    Ignored
    says:

    @ Panda (1.54pm).

    They (Slabber) are busing people in.

    Only yesterday on here, can’t remember who it was, someone stated that whilst participating at an SNP stall in Saltcoats they got talking to one of the Slabber lot just up the street a bit from them and if my memory serves me correctly it turns out the guy was from Dagenham, or somewhere doon sooth.

    There are other similar stories doing the rounds.

    They most definitely are getting a lot of outside help.

    Who’s financing it is another matter, probably head office.

  123. donald anderson
    Ignored
    says:

    Reply to Bugger (the Panda)

    I don’t know where they came from. They left in a hurry. One had a beard and spoke with a Scottish accent. The other said nothing, at least, not within earshot.I liver in Kelvindale, in the Maryhill constituency.

  124. Cadogan Enright
    Ignored
    says:

    and issue 34 armbands for Skinner and the other 33 Labour MP’s that voted against the government? And how many for the Labcons?

  125. Ferncake
    Ignored
    says:

    This proposed stunt, apart from being incredible in its desperation, is likely to be a complete non-event as the only people likely to believe any of it are the ageing ‘Stick The Heid In A Gas Oven’ tendency who will vote Labour in any event.

    Most of the current electorate was either unborn or very young in 1979, and those of us who were witness to the events then have a more balanced view of that time.

  126. Lollysmum
    Ignored
    says:

    There was a photo on Twitter yesterday of a small group (4 or 5) of English students bused in to canvas for SLab

  127. Davy
    Ignored
    says:

    Are you sure this is not to celebrate how thick the labour/red-tory party are !!

    Ref : Stoker, a previous comment about any union’s supporting the YES campaign, I can say my union the RMT supported the YES campaign, it took an honest vote of only it’s scottish members and the result was a majority for YES.

    This was unlike a lot of union’s who either used their non-scottish members to get a NO vote, or where only the senior officals of a union voted but not the members to also get a no vote.

    The RMT did it right and honest.

  128. Stoker
    Ignored
    says:

    @ Davy (5.36pm).

    Thanks for that.

    Aye, now that you mention it i do recall someone previously stating that the RMT supported us.

    Thanks again.
    😉

  129. Edward
    Ignored
    says:

    Reading various stories of Labour bussing in or bringing in canvassers into Scotland to doorstep and leaflet constituencies.

    Basically it may have been workable during he referendum, as the referendum was only in Scotland, the campaign was only in Scotland.

    However IF Labour are trying the same stunt, then they are more thick that first thought off. The general election is UK wide, so Labour HAVE to canvass across the whole of the UK.

    Labour in Scotland, by all accounts only have something like 6000+ members plus assorted union member types perhaps students, pitted against the SNP’s 100,000 + members, guess which will be thin on the ground?

    I would imagine that Labour will rely more on cold calling and mail shots to make up for their very thin ground force

    We have already seen the ‘Readers Digest’ type letter mail shots

    The other aspect that Labour will use is the main stream media and their friend there in

  130. ronald alexander mcdonald
    Ignored
    says:

    The British electorate voted in Thatcher. Not the SNP.

    That was 36 years ago. The Labour party even had some socialist MP’s.

    So let’s get this right. Vote Labour because we’re no’ the tories and we fuckin hate the SNP!

  131. Alan McHarg
    Ignored
    says:

    A poster campaign highlighting the truth me thinks!

  132. Tamson
    Ignored
    says:

    The ’79 stuff is old hat: it’s laying a wreath for the miners that is seriously offensive. A major aspect of the strike’s failure was the Labour Party refusing to back it. worth reading up on that.

  133. Hobbit
    Ignored
    says:

    Which also means that had the SNP backed Labour in that March 1979 vote, that would really only have delayed the inevitable. The way the unions gift-wrapped the election for the Tories is something they (the unions) have not faced up to either. Basically, much of the voting public had had enough of them.



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