The certain death of the Union
We haven’t mentioned the Telegraph’s blustery old colonel Alan Cochrane for a while, because his columns in the right-wing broadsheet have recently veered from, well, let’s say Nigel Farage to Nick Griffin. Not in content, you understand – for all Mr Cochrane’s unpleasant faults we see no suggestion of racism – but in tone.
Gone is the note of jocularity, the benignly patrician manner of the bluff-but-affable old British gent, replaced increasingly by poisonous, angry and disturbingly personalised hatred twinned with a rank and ugly intellectual laziness – traits which seem to have spread from the paper’s “Scottish political correspondent” Simon Johnson.
Today’s column illustrates both facets.
In a piece labouring under the unwieldy and contrived title “Starved of facts on UK split, can Scots stomach another helping of ‘Project Fib’?”, Cochrane pads out a few paragraphs with empty waffle before alighting on his point:
Now, it doesn’t take a lot of effort to point out how fatuously stupid that is. Take out two words and add just ten and you end up with this:
“Among other things we need from the UK government’s ‘Scotland Analysis’ reports are the following: what will the personal tax rates be in the UK in 2016; what will the VAT rate be; what will be the rate of Corporation Tax; how much will old age pensions be and how will they be paid for; at what level will welfare benefits be set.”
Because of course, all of those things have changed significantly in the UK recently. The main rate of VAT has variously been 17.5%, 15%, 17.5% again and 20% in the last five years alone, and the items on which the basic, lower and zero rates are applied are the subject of constant scrutiny and alteration.
Corporation Tax was 33% as recently as 2001, then 30% until 2007, was cut to 28% by Gordon Brown, then cut again to 26% by George Osborne, and then cut further to the current 24%. By 2014 it’s scheduled to be 22%. That’s a breathtaking fall of one-third in the rate over barely over a decade.
(Of course, despite UK governments of all parties having reduced the tax by 11% in a short space of time, the notion that an independent Scottish Government might cut it by a further 3% is unfailingly portrayed by Unionists as a dangerous, irresponsible “race to the bottom” – even, audaciously, by the man who personally cut it by 5%.)
In just the last 35 years – barely one generation – the basic and higher rates of UK income tax have both been cut in half, from 40%/83% to 20%/45% respectively.
Readers of this site won’t need reminding of the havoc that’s been wreaked on welfare benefits since mid-2010. The pension age is being extended, and all manner of benefits paid to the elderly are being questioned and/or threatened with means-testing by all three UK parties.
We could go on, but you get the idea – demanding guaranteed fixed answers about a prospective independent Scotland, when there is (and can be) no certainty about those things in ANY country, including the UK, is such a toweringly cretinous exercise it defies belief that someone’s being paid for it.
(And that’s before you even get to the bit where you remember that the referendum decides a principle, not policies. Tax rates are set by governments, and governments are decided at elections, not referendums.)
When pressed on this sort of stupidity, it’s not uncommon (11m 30s) for advocates of the Union to say “Ah, but we’re not the ones demanding change, so we don’t have to defend anything – it’s only you that’s got to make a case”.
Which is so epically stupid, even in the context of the preceding argument, that we apologise in advance for being about to insult your intelligence by spelling out why.
To all intents and purposes, the 1707 Union of Scotland and England will end on 17 September 2014. There are only two options on the ballot paper that will be put in front of voters the following day, and each represents an active, not passive, choice.
The people of Scotland can either decide to run their own affairs from that point, or to choose – for the first time, because the Scottish Parliament which signed the Acts of Union was in no way democratically representative of the people, who had no say in the matter and were busily rioting in the streets in protest when it happened – to surrender their recently-asserted sovereignty to the Crown in London.
Mr Cochrane, in his witless and accidental way, has shone a revealing light on that stark fact. There is no “status quo”. As we’ve just shown, every aspect of life in the UK is subject to constant change. Even ten years ago, who would have predicted state-run banks with 0% interest rates, a privatised Royal Mail and an effectively-privatised (English) NHS, £9,000 tuition fees (in 2003 they were still £1,000) and foodbanks in every town and city, to pick just a handful of examples?
The referendum is not a choice between change and stasis. It’s a choice between two competing visions of change. One where Scotland chooses its own path, electing its own governments and taking responsibility for itself, and one where we elect to abandon ourselves to the mercies of English voters and take our chances.
Perhaps David Cameron did play Alex Salmond for a sucker over the referendum after all, though not in the way other clueless Telegraph commentators south of the border pretend. Because making the options on the ballot paper Yes and No presents a false picture of reality.
Saying “No” to a proposition implies “don’t change, keep things the way they are”, and that’s simply not what’s on offer from the Union. What’s coming, as Cameron so candidly and crassly revealed from his golden throne this week, is an ever-increasing tightening of austerity’s grip.
Everything currently possessed by the poor and the squeezed middle alike is eyed greedily by the insatiable rich. Some of it has already been stolen away, the theft lubricated by petty bribes just as the Union itself was. A No vote will not be a vote to keep it, but a vote to have to fight tirelessly against impossible odds in a crooked game to hold onto anything at all.
We are very aware in our house that things will never be the same after September the 18th but we oldies welcome it. Are we to be a grown up Nation or are we to continue as so many English people think, keep sucking on the teat. Those who are and are the most virulent are those who have been collecting their money in the South and do not want it to end. Our Unionist MP’s, the Politicians who made it the the House of Lords and then we have those in the media who earn their crust denigrating their Nation.
Absolutely BRILLIANT.
I was amused to see the minor correction which Alan Cochrane made concerning a recent article. Presumably this is intended to give the impression that he is a stickleback for accuracy in the hope that we won’t notice the fantasies which he is peddling in the article in question.
I watched an article debated on RT yesterday, where they had David Cameron filmed at a “do “, where amongst gold coloured chairs and grand settings complete with Ladies and Gentlemen in their best attire. Where he spoke about the UK adopting a permanent ideal of austerity.
RT scoffed at him, I do not do that, I loath him and what he and Westminster stands for. So he wishes to impose austerity on the less fortunate in order to feed and indeed applaud the rich who currently rule us.
Where just has to be a better way. We can simply x YES in 2014 and change all of this.
Excellent podcast on the economics of independence, by of all people the BBC. I hope the excellent Robin McAlpine is used widely by the Yes campaign. His sheer enthusiasm is infectious.
link to bbc.co.uk
Project Fear, Project Smear
NOW coming to a Scot Sec near you questioning…(What does a Scot Sec do?)
Project Projection
Alistair C contemplates his Scotchness
Alistair D asks TOO MANY questions
Projection
Projection is a defense mechanism that involves taking our own unacceptable qualities or feelings and ascribing them to other people. For example, if you have a strong dislike for someone, you might instead believe that he or she does not like you. Projection works by allowing the expression of the desire or impulse, but in a way that the ego cannot recognize, therefore reducing anxiety.
Wow! Rev. My ipad is going to be busy showing off this to all and sundry. A very fine and important piece of writing.
Nail, head.
Superb article Stu. Very inspiring.
I can’t help comparing Cochrane with that TV horse racing pundit McRirick. For some reason, I get the two mixed up. 🙂
Two plonkers of the highest order.
It is these kind of false promises that Cochrane is implying be made that have led to the decline in the belief of democracy.
Cameron is openly talking about permanent small government and cuts (because that is what wins elections in the south) so no one can claim to be surprised should it end with a No to Scotland outcome and financial hardship.
And the guy is from Scotland to, Dundee FFS…hangs ones head in shame.
His spouse spews the same shite via the Dundee Courier and whatever rag embraces her unionst propgrandist shite.
In my view “cochers” has a serious personal identity problem with his upbringing/origin from where he comes from and his desperate acceptance in the establishment social world..
All I know is that he would definitely be fucked off big time in any Dundee pub with his tory nonsense he spouts in his DT columns.
@Balgayboy.
What is it with our city? We produce some fine radical politicians, yet also have tossers like Cochers, Marr and Galloway!
O/T
Home from a very encouraging morning in Bathgate. Stu’s mum came along to say hello & leave us lots of Wings business cards. But better still, our car stickers were going like hot cakes to Yes voters & plenty of undecideds asking for info.
Don’t think you need to worry about your home town, Rev.
“Stu’s mum came along to say hello”
Which one are you in the pic, then?
You can smell their fear and desperation. The closer we get to the referendum, the more rank it becomes.
Does wee Cochie see himself going the same way as Scotland’s unionist politicians after the YES vote? Is it the case that independence will see a Scottish editor being superfluous to the Telegraph’s needs?
Very succinctly put Stuart. You can summarise in a few words issues that would take most other people a thousand.
“Very succinctly put Stuart. You can summarise in a few words issues that would take most other people a thousand.”
To be fair, that piece is almost exactly 1000 words 😀
Brilliant! That’s got to be one of your best Rev.
I’m going to commit many of the points you made to memory.
I think we all should.
Kindest regards,
David Milligan Lvss
The Torygraph distribution in Scotland is circa 15.000, only 3 out of a hundred Scotts bother to read it, while 10% of England do.
It’s reasonable to suspect how surprised their readers will be with a Yes result, due to the heavy slant Scotland’s reports have now.
For the Johnsons and Cochranes of this World Scottish Independence is impossible and it just can not be.
It’s not un-reasonable to suspect “FRAUD AT POLLS” will the front page headline scream, on the 19th of September.
REV , We need to get your stories to the wider populis im thinking the Snp news papers , buy the way do you know when a penny Whoppers conna be tuppence doors slammed shut own the wie oot Weil DONE DEBUNKER
Balgayboy,
Did he and his pal Brian Taylor both go to Dundee High School? They go to Dundee Utd. Matches together—saw them in an Edinburgh pub once near Easter Road. By n adtonishing coincidence Simon Pia was in the same pub….
O/T
…..have to fight tirelessly against impossible odds in a crooked game to hold onto anything at all…..
Did last nights poker not go too well? 🙂
“Did last nights poker not go too well? :-)”
As ATTENTIVE viewers will have noted, I elected to stay in and watch the Scotland game instead. So the “impossible odds” bit still applies 😀
juteman says:
As you know, still a great city and great people, crazy place I know but great fun as well.
Salt of the earth in my view.
Balgayboy, Jutenam ,Ur yous twa lookin fur a feigh as to whitch part of Scotland has the biggest Political TOSSERS ye hay tae mention mair thin 3 W here in the West lay claimm tae any titles gon dy ye conceed lol
Vincent,
If it wasn’t for Public Libraries the circulation of a lot of newspapers would be embarrassing.
Kinivie , Weil done pal congrates TO ALL
‘Oil tax concession from the UK gov’ widely reported. Scottish Oil sector taxed at 61% (80%+ Corp etc) Increased 11% in the 2011 Budget.(£2Billion),while the Scottish Block Grant was reduced £1.3Bullion a year. Multinationals making vast profits tax evading through the City of London.
Taxes raised in Scotland £60 Billion – enough for all Scotland needs including Pensions etc. Scotland gets £48Billion back (including £17Billion Pensions/Benefits).
Total revenues raised in UK. £610Billion (including £40Billion Royal Mail theft?)
UK government spends £720Billion. £120Billion borrowed and spent in the rest of the UK. Scotland would need to be spending £70Billion to be (pro rata) equal to the rest of the UK.
Illegal wars, Trident, tax evasion, banking fraud all wasteful UK gov policies. The despicable, disgraceful ‘Room tax’. Thatcher policies, deregulation caused the banking crash. Thatcher sold off Utilities etc, cancelled a Pipe line wasting £Billion of Gas and took equivalent of £20Billion a year in Oil revenues and shut down every manufacturing facility in Scotland.
Which one are you in the pic, then?
The good looking one.
Seanair says:
I know that blether with brian is an arab but not sure about old tory boy cochers football allegiance are though, hard to get a handle on his type in regards to what team or whatever the fucks supports…..
I would imagine probably whoever pays the highest price for his interests!
Excellent article, Rev! Demonstrates what a good journalist can do if s/he thinks a bit before putting finger to keyboard. Keep ’em coming!
BTW I sometimes wonder just how many purchasers of the Telegraph actually read it. I have one friend who buys it, but (he’s a rampant socialist) only browses the articles lazily, because he really enjoys the crossword!
Yes, I know that’s not a statistically significant sample… 😉
Its quite annoying Cochrane and his fellow self serving fearties can continually lie, sneer and put scotland and its people down without any accountability. Yet
We inherit the tax regime so nothing changes until voted on by Parliament.
Of course the Telegraph won’t need a columnist for an iScotland. I mean it’s not as if e.g. Le Monde has one.
O / T, Big Davy Cameroon lecturing Sri Lanka President (( ok not a democratic country ) on human rights POT KETTLE BLACK 270 british embassy,s gloryfied advertiznent agencys for r U K exports Nobodys listening to The Mother of all Parliaments More SO after 2014 sale of the century second hand emmbassy,s for Sale one Useless owner apply r UK PLC
@scottish_skier 3.51pm
I would have thought that Mr Cochrane would actually have an increase in his wages after a Yes vote since he´ll officially become their “foreign correspondent”. Just like Severin Carrell at The Guardian and others.
I stopped reading and commenting on Mr Cochrane´s articles over a year ago. It was simply too cruel too point out his “misunderestimations.” He is definitely losing the plot regarding the referendum. Regrettably my mother reads The Telegraph and avidly soaks up his words and repeats them to whoever will listen. And she has lots of friends and writes loads of letters to many newspapers.
Whenever any news of the referendum she literally screams at the TV saying “No bl**dy way!!!” and has seriously fallen out with her brother and their kids, my uncle and cousins, because they say they´ll vote yes. Such is Mr Cochrane´s preaching.
Depressing…
Telegraph Foreign corrspondents don’t get paid as much as Scottish Editors.
O / T Rev any stats on F C O hand outs to Indea ie Punjab re Mohammad Sarwar,s visit a month since he did nt come over here tae hold his sons hand thats for sure He had a bigger agenda
@BeamMeUpScotty
I have a feeling that part of my comment was a tad “facetious”. 🙂
I wish the rest of my comment was though 🙁
Cameron’s golden throne preaching is sickening and his visit to Sri Lanka to talk about human rights! What, he and his gang want to all but destroy the human rights act for citizens of the UK. They will do just that if they are get their dirty big mits on it when they are voted in next time.
Just reading Kirriereochs post, it’s sad to hear when families are falling out over the referendum. That’s exactly what the Tories want, but hopefully it’s not too common. I think people are scared as they believe the lies in the msm too much. There’s time yet for them to see through the lies.
It is the political equivalent of Eric Morcambe’s martial art joke “Get out of that without moving”. By setting a ridiculous bar height the field is open to scream in true deranged Unionist fashion “They have failed, how can you trust them, they are clearly hiding something!!!!!” It would be clever if it was more subtle but accompanied with this level of stupid it is just a bit mentalist….Cochers a bit mentalist…shirley not I here you cry.
Saying “No” to a proposition implies “don’t change, keep things the way they are”, and that’s simply not what’s on offer from the Union. What’s coming, as Cameron so candidly and crassly revealed from his golden throne this week, is an ever-increasing tightening of austerity’s grip.
Do people truly think that the future of Britain is going to be a nice place? I think Cameron’s continual austerity will eventually break the people in England. The people of Scotland are of no consequence ever. At some point it’s all going to come crashing down.
Voting yes is not the solution to all problems but I think the people of Scotland have a better chance with a Government closer to home and more representative of the electorate. I think Holyroods voting system is fairer than the first past the post in Westminister.
The Telegraph, is a Westminster Government mouthpiece, as for corporation tax, I’ve read that ATOS haven’t paid any at all.
Oh that’s a beezer Rev.
Must admit to having given up commenting on the Torygraph about a year and a half ago. The more outrageous Cochers became, the more outrageous the comments BTL became. They became a mirror of the loon above the line, making it pointless to even attempt a reasoned debate. Nice to know he’s being helpful though, in his own special way. 😉
Another excellent article. This:
Saying “No” to a proposition implies “don’t change, keep things the way they are”, and that’s simply not what’s on offer from the Union. What’s coming, as Cameron so candidly and crassly revealed from his golden throne this week, is an ever-increasing tightening of austerity’s grip.
needs to be hammered home to ‘No’ voters. Change is happening post-referendum, whatever the result. Scotland needs to decide what sort of change it is signing up for.
Can anybody explain to me why BBC Ceefax Scotland news is carrying, as one of its more prominent pieces, reports of marches and protests in Portsmouth.
On second thoughts don’t bother explaining to me. I know, of course, that it is to suggest to any Scot reading the piece that the UK Government has been very good to Scotland (again)
Great article Rev., provides easy to quote stats on future uncertainty vs past changeability.
“Even ten years ago, who would have predicted…..food banks in every town and city”.
I used to use that line on independence regarding how in my childhood the Clyde at “the bells” resounded to the horns of ships in the Clyde, and shipbuilding was a major industry.And look at us now, handwringing over whether an order for 3 naval ships is dependant or not on the referendum result.And unionists toy with the discussion like a cat with a mouse.
Completely O/T, but can’t get it out of my head.
How many nuclear explosions?
link to memolition.com
Cochrane’s your classic shit stirrer (usually very little facts involved just Bile & rank ill considered opinion).
Another who may need to keep his UK passport after September.
O/T D Bateman’s written a cracker on ‘Academic Gate’ (5 million Q;s @ Dundee Uni)
I get the distinct impression now that the MSM is now a spent force as far as a place for reasoned debate is concerned. This may be planned or part of the overall scheme of things as we move towards the referendum. Will we know this? I doubt it but if it achieves change in Scotland and the UK all well and good.
My own personal experience is I have turned my back on the MSM and the likes of this site is the place to come for reasoned debate and information. Am I alone? I very much doubt that either. Expect the popularity of Wings to grow between now and next September.
Seanair (at 14.56)
Cochrane went to Grove Academy.
@Sandy Milne
“My own personal experience is I have turned my back on the MSM and the likes of this site is the place to come for reasoned debate and information. Am I alone? I very much doubt that either. Expect the popularity of Wings to grow between now and next September.”
“
Too true. My only concern regarding news and the MSM, BBC etc is this:
“Glasgow has a significantly lower percentage of individuals accessing the internet (57%), by any means, than all other cities and Great Britain as a whole.”
Though I´m sure certain political aspirations will be determined this level of internet access remains as such until at least the 18th of September 2014.
link to stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk
Really good to read this and some of the comments. I was at a Yes meeting where Elaine Smith used Status Quo a couple of times and I really wanted to say to her and everyone – the status quo is NOT an option. Adding to Rev Stu’s list, changes in the UK such as 2 years to claim unfair dismissal, charges for going to an employment tribunal (still under challenge, but currently in effect in the tribunals), nearly a grand for a British Passport (how much will it be when you’ve done your 5 years, or more), and going down the speculation route on employment law and human rights, the possibility of a withdrawal from all EU employment rules, withdrawal from ECHR (not sure how that could work if EU accedes soon)… status quo really makes me feel so safe and secure and comfy in my bed at night. Change is scary.
The problem, however, is the number of people, many well educated, that don’t even realise that really this is Hobson’s choice – the only choice is independence, unless you want to vote on raw British nationalist emotion (considering the census, can that only be about 8% of people here at most?). The Yes campaign needs to take the gloves off and stop censoring the negatives of your future under Westminster. Maybe it is time for our own project fear, though ours would be closer to non-fiction than the existing BT PF.
Excellent article, Rev Stu!
This is what the people of Scotland need to wake up to. Voting NO will not guarantee some cosy British status quo. It’s more likely to guarantee an ever downward spiral for increasingly large swathes of people if the events of the past couple of decades are anything to go by.
Voting YES offers hope that things can be different – depending on who the people of Scotland vote into their independent Parliament!
Im having trouble trying to figure out Mr Cochrans gain in this telling lies / or any journalist,s in Scotland they depend on people buying news papers ( is that not their livelyhood ) If they dont listen to us the people maybe their Advertisers will listen ( e mails to their Advertisers stoped buying that publication reasons why ) would you pay full costs for Adverts with redused circulation we have many solutions to deal with BBC DONT PAY T V LICENCE FEE // DONT BUY PAPERS its no use Complaining When Your COMPLIANT I dont Pay BBC L / FEE I Dont Buy News Print like many people I use the Internet Indy Sites the BBC are in BREACH of a Act of Westminster Parliament with BIAS reporting Act dont Complain on these Indy Sites
Just watched that nuclear test video (memolition).Didn’t realise how many have been tested,they kept us in fear of communists for 50/60 years but ‘our’ side had most tests.
SoS For the rant REV, that post did nt include You for obvious reasons nor any one else that challenge Lies
Excellent!
This is why I felt pretty infuriated by the Better Together rep at the Napier Ref Debate. He consistently referred to the notion that it is better to try to help the whole of the U.K and not just Scotland ( sneakily implying those of us voting YES were selfish for doing so). What he never addressed was the ACTUAL political make-up of the U.K, the influence Scotland doesn’t have, the multi-coloured Tories, austerity, Atos etc. We should suffer because someone in Birmingham suffers. He even went on to suggest that a NO vote is a vote for ‘Radical change’ despite there being a snowballs chance of any reversal of the devastation delivered to the worst off in society thanks to Labour and the Tories.
BT and NO consistently paint a Britain that does not exist and then manipulate that vision to make the very idea of a YES vote seem selfish, pointless and parochial.
Also worth noting that the BT, when discussing Norway’s Oil fund in the 70’s, claimed complete ignorance of the McCrone report when I mentioned it.
Aye son, pull the other one.
Ronnie I concur, I no longer pay licence fee or buy any newspapers apart from Sunday Herald and Scots Independent
@Juteman
Dundee has long been a city of Haves as well as Have Nots. Here in the Ferry my neighbours still elect Tories to the council despite our best efforts (we always vote in local elections).
I also think that the problems of the past stimulated a lot of ‘chancers’ to find a way out, at the cost of their consciences. I know people who have not been near here in 30years who still regard Dundee as dire industrial, eyesore, hell hole. Since we moved here in ’98 the place has got better and better. I love it.
It is actually a good advertisement for Devolution and the benefits it can bring.
O/T
North-East branch of Scottish Democratic Alliance will hold a Blether (informal meeting) on Wednesday 20 November 7-8.30pm at the Caledonian Thistle Hotel on Union Terrace, Aberdeen. Anyone interested in finding out what this new party offers is welcome to come along.
Hoi!
I won’t hear a word against my mate Alan.
He provides me with so much entertainment online and in the flesh.
His sturdy band of sycophants/ followers do too.
On here there is so much preaching to the converted – there it’s preaching to the unconvertable…
Must go and slag off my good mate Heidie for the execrable English performance 🙂
FFS , STV 6pm News 4 min coverage on Portsmouth Shibuilders ( Unions Demonstration ) feckers could nt do a 2 min piece on YES RALLY Wheres the coverage of the Govan / Scotstoun Redundencies
jingly jangly , Ah ken pal but we hiv tae keepp spreadin the message
looks like a Dundonian has his own show on rt now lol.
Lumilumi, that is the most used wording in the english language at the moment Status Quo when Im on street stall duty an get that as a reply I tell them I like the Status Quo ( back ward step ) I olso like Led Zeplin / Rollin Stanes / Beatles / Joe Cocker noo that gits a reaction when ah tell them they groups wid manage the finances of this country better than Wastemonste
Great article. One of the classics. I hadn’t thought of that angle, that the union is effectively at an end at midnight on the 17th. That the vote can be regarded as one between endorsing the union, or continuing on our own way. I wonder if the Yes campaign or the Scottish government would frame it in those terms?
Just been out delivering the last of the Yes newspapers. I managed to sneak a Labour for Independence leaflet into a house I know to be occupied by a couple who are Labour members, he’s a No and she’s a Yes.
I understand there will be new newspapers in January or thereabouts. I just worry that round here and presumably round everywhere, people living out in the country will be perpetually left out. We didn’t have enough papers for everyone anyway, but every time, it’s the low-hanging fruit that gets done. I just did a village with about 43 houses, and I had 10 papers left. There was any number of groups of houses with maybe six together. I did a mental toss-up and finished off on a group of 10 rather swanky new-builds.
This is going to keep happening. Live in a town, or an established village? You’ll get lots of info. Live in a hamlet, a group of six or ten houses? Hard luck.
Mustleguy, Hiz that Balgayboy showed you Clerkie bakery yet , or bought you a couple o butterys lol
@Morag
I live in a “Village” ten miles from Glasgow City Centre just off the M74 and I have never seen a pamphlet never mind a newspaper. That goes for Yes and No.
“Referendum what referendum?”
Morag, Mair power tae yer legs ( cheapscate ) wan Lab indy leaflet whit if there no a carein sharein kin o couple But your rite about small villages getting left out that needs to be addressed Farmers are a must now with UK gov withholding E U grant funding
@ ronnie 5.47
I get your point, and I certainly wouldn’t pay the BBC licence fee in Scotland.
However, I’m a bit saddened and even worried about what is happening to the media, and not just in Scotland, even though the situation in Scotland is far worse than it is here in Finland, for example.
In my view a functioning democracy needs a free press to hold politicians and other powers that be to account. It doesn’t have to be print newspapers, it almost certainly won’t be a few years down the line because the digital revolution.
What worries me is the concentration of mainstream media (print/broadcasting/online) in the hands of few vested interests and being totally commercialised. This leaves less and less room for different voices, and also a lot of dumbed down, sensationalist, shallow churnalism.
There’s less and less room for proper, in-depth analysis and scrutiny and even intelligent satire in the media. It’s all about fluffy entertainment and short-attention-span “soundbite” news.
I still see a role for licence-fee funded public broadcasting. I think Finland’s YLE is doing a pretty good job. They’re not perfect (and regularly get accused of being lefty-greeny by parties that are not :-D) but they do produce mostly impartial and well-balanced news/current affairs programmes. More importantly, YLE produces a lot of Finnish programmes. Drama, comedy, talk shows, hobbies (gardening, outdoor etc.), children’s programmes, regional programming. Of course YLE also shows foreign content from many countries, usually subtitled. (That’s why Finns are so good at reading!)
None of the commercial channels can match YLE, most of them buy just buy American (and UK) shows and produce the minimum of Finnish programming they have to as per their operating licence conditions.
So, even though the BBC in Scotland are so awful, I hope the baby won’t get thrown out with the bathwater and an independent Scotland will have a public broadcasting corporation – properly independent of the government but properly regulated, too.
Let’s let Mr Cameron know what strong support he has for instituting a “small government” of say… of 5.5 million north of the border.
However, the choice will not be between independence and “union status” but between independence and colonial status, between real democratic self-government or being a colonial shooting estate/raw material provider with varyingly quaint and colourful natives to be patronized and exploited “for their own good” by the all-knowing great white brothers of the south fawningly aided by their northern lackeys. In whatever form it may take trickle down economics has always been a euphemism for pissing on the poor.
‘Certain death of the union’ – is too right,
London is to become the first city in the world with a domain name.
It is positioning itself as the money (laundering) capital of the world.
It is going to asset strip as much as it can before it declares itself a city state.
I think that there is another sign of the NO lots nervousness and that is the number of time they just have to say, ‘in the unlikely event’, when referring to a YES vote.
Then there are articles from them such as ‘We could still lose’.
Conan, yes some of us have noticed the way you cosy up to Mr Cochran, that’s how the rumors start you know. lol
Excellent Stu, ‘Wings over Scotland, reading unionist shite so you don’t have to’. Thanks
I live in a “Village” ten miles from Glasgow City Centre just off the M74 and I have never seen a pamphlet never mind a newspaper. That goes for Yes and No.
How many volunteers do you have in your group? We’re a lot better off than in an election situation because we have some Greens and some SSP people (the source of the LFI leaflets), plus some non-party-political people who just want independence. (Then when we had a by-election suddenly it was back to a few people because all the non-SNP help naturally vanished!)
Our guys can get a group to a large village or a small town and just blitz it in an hour or three. It does mean the rural houses get missed though. How big is your village?
OT,
I predict tomorrows Scottish politics interviews will be on the subject of Booze! wonder how I came to that conclusion
Does anyone know if its true that every house in Scotland will recieve a copy of the white paper?
I used to run an exercise in a training facility. The exercise was to illustrate anarchy.
It was a game, where one of the five teams had the ‘cards’ stacked in their favour so they won the round.
The team that won the round were allowed to change the rules. Of course they changed the rules entirely in their favour. And won again. Ad infinitum.
Of course what happened? Sheer angry and frustration on the part of the others, to the point where they were ready to lynch the smug bastards who held onto the power.
And this was only a game in a training room! It often got overly heated.
Labour and Conservative have been playing this game for years. Except they have an advantage, called FPTP. And just as the ball is getting too hot it gets passed to the other for a few terms. So people never actually reach the stage where they blow!
The two parties blame each other alternately.
The electorate run back and forward shouting, but actually it makes not a jot of difference to the people in power. They make election promises they don’t keep. They reward themselves handsomely with tax payers money and they maintain the whole British Establishment and power gravy train.
And has anyone actually noticed how incompetently the UK is run?
Economy
War
Welfare
Pensions
Social inequality, justice, problems
Borrowing
Banks
Manufacturing
I could keep going and going without finding positive… unless you live in London of course.
What a complete Broken Britain. Broken by every political party and politician since Thatcher.
@Morag
What group?
No Yes group near me! Dont know about UKOK lot.
The DT is ramping up the rhetoric. Here’s another piece tonight.
link to archive.is
If you’re that near Glasgow, there has to be one! Ten miles? I drive 14 miles to our Yes Tweeddale meetings, and twice that to Yes Borders. Check Facebook. They may be desperate for an activist in your village.
These journalists really are stirring up hatred between Scots and the English prior to the referendum. The posts on that DT article after only 30 minutes are just vile.
@Kirriereoch
“Too true. My only concern regarding news and the MSM, BBC etc is this:
“Glasgow has a significantly lower percentage of individualsaccessing the internet (57%), by any means, than all other cities and Great Britain as a whole.”
Time for a Wings Poster Billboard campaign in Glasgow?
Even just giant wings with the web address… But better a list of Labour misdemeanours.
@Morag
Sorry I posted my last without reading all of your post.
I stay in Bothwell (an affluent satellite village) as I am informed. There is no Yes group near me. The nearest is “Yes Uddingston and Bellshill” the trouble is that it is not really Uddingston it is what we children of the caramel wafer have always referred to as “up the hill” they have Uddingston in their postal address but are not even in the same county. The M74 being the boundary between North and South Lanarkshire. (I am in S. Lanarkshire 🙂 .)
I only know of one other pro indi person in the “village” I can get all excited by the sight of a Yes sticker on a car. Sad git!
and foodbanks in every town and city, to pick just a handful of examples?
I filled up a trolley for the Trussel Trust who were manning the front door of my local supermarket today. I complemented them on their kindness in giving their time and energy to help people in such a parlous state.
When I asked them what they planned to do next year to change the state of a nation which is so wealthy yet needed such charity, they looked at me blankly. They are decent people but don’t equate the problems with the governance of our country.
I gave them a couple of Aye Right cards and left. A bit downcast.
Alex
Just the sort of thing our friends at The Fear Factor could include in next year’s movie; but I see they’re still a few bob short and time’s running out.
Go on, you know you want to…….
@ wingman 2020 – aye!
TMITJ, I come from fairly near there and I’d never have called Bothwell a village!
Well it’s up to you but the only way to get the Yes campaign extended into your patch is to go to the nearest Yes group and ask for help. It seems daunting if you think you’re the only person in a town that size, so what can you do. But when you hitch up with others everything becomes possible.
It will cheer you up no end, too. Encourage the Yes people to include Bothwell, then you’ll find some more people, and it will all happen. We only have ten months now, so I think everyone who wants independence has to find something to do and then do it.
I’ve got a neighbour who can’t do much at all after a bad fall. Or so he thought. He has manned a card table with Yes literature in the village centre while the leafleting crew ran round the doors, he has folded Yes newspapers so that they can just be popped into letterboxes (they come in a big bale with only one fold), and later on I imagine he’ll be stuffing literature into envelopes and sticking address labels on them.
There’s always something needing done, if people volunteer. I wouldn’t worry about boundaries either, not for this campaign. We have people coming in from Midlothian just because it’s more convenient for them.
These journalists really are stirring up hatred between Scots and the English prior to the referendum. The posts on that DT article after only 30 minutes are just vile.
I went over for a look and I really couldn’t believe my eyes. The sooner we’re out of this the better.
@paula
Whats your email address? wingman@magus.co
When I asked them what they planned to do next year to change the state of a nation which is so wealthy yet needed such charity, they looked at me blankly. They are decent people but don’t equate the problems with the governance of our country.
Well done and thanks for doing that Alex, my wife and I deliver to Glasgow North West food bank, but it has never occurred to me to ask where the volunteers stand on the independence question, to be honest I just want to get back out and seethe at the fact that we have food banks at all. Might ask at my next visit though. and yes, they are decent people, but I just wish they would waken up.
limlilmi, I agree with you on several points I dont mean press BBC in the long term they have a duty to have report as is said no what they think there has been for a log time a dumbing down in T V proggrames thats a insult to the general populice reality T V celbrities hasbeens this is my life out kids watch that pish there should be a limit to the amount of mind numbing proggrames on TV shedules more factual informative noo your gonna git me shot doon in flames lol ah did na mentionPeter Andrae ffs tipicil example exploiting his wains tae keep him in the limelite ah fekit am switchin own the wireless Marcony wiz he fae Glesga
Does anyone want a set of black wings for Gravatar? I have skinny wings, fat wings, hairy wings, happy wings, angel wings … in fact many different kinds of wings graphics LOL
Anyone want to participate in a viral wings infection of the Internet, starting with your Avatar on here?
O/T but I have just watched the ‘Prince of Wales’ on BBC World, joining in with the hokey-cokey in Sri Lanka, wearing a white linen suit and a garland of flowers, why are we even contemplating the prospect of a King Charles?
Jesus… 🙁
Nothing wrong with a bit of cokey pokey for our future Monarch… he could do with both.
any interest in, and value in, doing a collaborative document that can eventually get printed and leafleted, or perhaps just a web page with the title, ‘Your certainty in the Union’ with categories of questions and answers, kind of ‘what will happen…’ imagining it’s 2003.
We could have Jobs section ‘What will happen if I’m unfairly dismissed at work?’2003 – you have the protection of…. 2013 you no longer have this protection.
Pensions: At what age can I retire? etc
I’m just thinking of ways of getting the message out about how shoogly the peg holding our coats is within the Union.
He can indulge in whatever he wants for all I care, it’s the ‘future monarch’ bit I have a problem with.
Iain, thanks for the info. Just wondered when they became joined at the hip. Must have been at so-called “journalist college”!
Bravo, bravo indeed! What WE really need is the level playing field the Referendum Bill will provide, overseen by the Electoral Commission, and all these things can be voiced and put in front of Pro Union advocates for them to deny and lie and twist their version of reality. Our only hope is that the people will see them for what they are and vote YES in an avalanche of Pro Independence support.
Thepner , Anither piece of heid up the erse journalism He wiz wie th Scotsman / noo Telegraph / next stop Metro aye that boy gits aboot lol
Just read: Journalists really are stirring up hatred between Scots and the English prior to the referendum. The posts on that DT article after only 30 minutes are just vile.
Imagine after NO vote; by the time both Labour & Tory have finished winding up for the 2015 election they will both have advocated for removal of the Scottish Parliament to prevent disorder and promote “the Union Scots voted for”. You can see them now already spinning up the PR drives!
I have been of the opinion for the longest time now that Cockring writes his ‘articles’ whilst in a state of angry inebriation – naught much else can explain the beligerant angry psychobabble that originates from the mind (such as it is) of this full moon bite victim.
Stuart Black, I e maild awe the bookies when the baby wiz bornn £100 fur charlie no tae git the throne nay chance none of themm would take ma bet am no a bettin man deos that tell you somethin I did tae me again nay chance lol
@ ronnie 8.03
Marconi was actually Italian. I remember becoming interested in early radio in my early teens (can’t remember why) and found a slim volume in the public library about him. He did a lot of work in Cornwall and Ireland, though, when he was developing transatlantic wireless transmission.
I liked your earlier bit about liking Status Quo… and Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, the Beatles… and they’d all manage the finances better than Westminster! 😀
What is it about BritNats/U-KOKs/whatever? As if you couldn’t like certain bands or tv programmes or whatever unless you are British and part of the “most successful union in the world”??
Plenty of Finns, myself included, like many, many British bands, tv programmes etc. Are we not allowed to??
I hope you’re right Ronnie, and keep posting son, I like your style!
I read with fascination about those in rural communities or villages that have not seen any YES campaign groups I their area
Let me be blunt , If none exist, there is NOTHING to stop you from doing it yourself!
DONT wait for someone else to do it DO IT YOURSELF!
This campaign is like none other, if you can access the internet, you can produce your own leaflets. you have it your power to make it ‘viral’ Its about helping ourselves
So if your in a village, farm, but and ben, what ever, have your own ‘Rural FOR YES’ !
Wingman, Apethy destroys the soul your rite, the pass the population games gittin stopped fur good then the rUK people might wake up we re well versed in inequality so we hiv a advantage
I moved to Scotland as it was obviously not in thrall to Thatcher and her ilk – now come on, the Scots are not stupid, they are not going to vote to continue this ridiculous farce of a political union.
Stuart Black well am ah no gled you canna see ma style the noo / shorts / slippers / jersey let e know when yer comin tae visit I ll pit tie own lol
@lumilumi: What is it about BritNats/U-KOKs/whatever? As if you couldn’t like certain bands or tv programmes or whatever unless you are British and part of the “most successful union in the world”??
Indeed. It really really baffles me, this. I ran into a post on CiF a while ago from a Labour activist based in Embra that illustrates this extremely odd attitude, my response is copied below (her words quoted in italics).
Her:
“And I want bands like The Smiths, Clash, Joy Division, Oasis, Gorillaz, Massive Attack to remain part of ‘my’ culture; I want Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Will Self to be part of my culture; I want all the James Bond movies to be part of my culture (I think we’ve had all nations + Australia presented as Bond)!”
Me:
So, the day that the Scots vote for their country to be run from Edinburgh rather than Westminster, what happens to these bands, these novels, these movies? Do they dissolve into the ether; will ‘Hard Times’ be replaced by ‘Wee McGreegor’, ‘London Calling’ overdubbed by ‘Donald, whaur’s yer troosers’, ‘Dr. No’ morph into ‘Dr Finlay’? Aw, have the nasty SNP taken yer kulchur aff ye, hen? Worse, you’re no allowed to see yer pals, sorry, comrades, (I used to talk like that when I was in the Labour party) any more, as the barbed wire and armed guards become emplaced along the border that you won’t be able to cross after we take control of our own affairs. Ah ken, getting from Belfast to Dublin is an absolute nightmare these days, innit?
You don’t half see some shite on these threads. And you managed to get the weasel word seperation in too, well done. Digging a trench and towing the northern section even further north now, are we?
You know something? I love British culture. But I fucking hate Tories, and that is all we’ll get from Westminster, regardless of which party is in power. And I think you know that too…
She didn’t much like it… 😉
In fact she accused me of being a Tory, which just shows how much close reading they do, given that I said I was an ex-member of the Labour party, lol.
Got a string vest on, Ronnie? 😀
Edward, strait tae the point nae messin , ah like it, sittin own yer erse disna get the job done , am a keyboard worrior fur the best part but I still manage tae git tae ma Yes group an street stall wait tae am better an fekin sethin the insults of the Scottish people
I’m sure I can recall a Scotsman story where Michael Moore had “demanded” the SNP reveal tax details post-independence.
What was so laughable about it, was that he made the demand a few days before the Budget. Therefore, as a member of the Cabinet, he couldn’t even tell us the UK‘s tax plans for the following week!
Stuart Black , nows the answer nae drawers on ether, in am no fae Govan ether bit a hud a nice chat te Mary Doll the ither month dressed of corse lol.:
“nae drawers on ether”
Too much information, Ronnie. 🙂
Stuart Black , you need tae stop talkin tae srange wummin lol lick wan wie a mop in her hawn their real people lol
Ronnie, problem, I only know strange women. 😉
Spent and evening on facebook (which I despise) and found an acquaintance who thought the status quo (whatever that is) was to his liking ,and over the next several hours I dismantled his (very arrogant ) argument to the point where his penultimate post was “give it a rest” followed (without any prompting from me) with “yawn”
I am proud of myself as I adhered to the unspoken rule of keep it respectful and pleasant , and still managed to dismantle his argument effortlessly,
I almost felt sorry for him (almost)
I RULE 🙂
@ Stuart Black, 8.44
Indeed, this cultural… I don’t know what to call it. It sounds like a three-year-old saying you can’t play with my toys! (Or worse still, Scottish cringers saying “we won’t be allowed to play with bully brother’s toys”)
Meanwhile, in the real world… Every independent country wants their culture, be it music, tv, literature, films, art, whatever, to reach as large audiences as possible. Often there’s a financial incentive, sometimes it’s down to pride in their own culture, wanting to share with other peoples and cultures. Nobody would restric access to and appreciation of their culture, surely?
Finland is a small independent country in the northern periphery of Europe, with a really strange language, and I freely admit our culture is not well known in the wider world. Some people might’ve heard of Sibelius and… er… Oh! Angry Birds is Finnish culture, isn’t it? 🙂
A Finnish folk tune apparently holds the world record for radio play because it was used as a secret military “weapon”. Säkkijärven polkka was played continuously for 5 months on the airwaves to find/defuse radio-controlled Soviet mines in and around Viipuri.
link to en.wikipedia.org
Spare a thought to those brave Finnish soldiers and radio engineers, this is what they had to listen to for five months!
This “Status Quo” discussion interests me, it is something I have thought about a lot.
The things I always valued by being part of the union are things like our welfare state, NHS, state funded education, decent pensions and (at the time) other nationalised essential services. Having lived abroad for a few years in countries where people didn’t have such things I was always proud and grateful that our nation cared for its people by providing these services.
Quite simply, I want to keep these things, I want to live in a caring society that protects the old, weak and vulnerable and offers educational opportunity for all. It is for these reasons that I will be voting to leave the union. My vision of an independent Scotland will be a future that retains the things I value from the present. It is staying in the union that will jeopardise them.
So, for me a vote for the status quo is a vote for yes, not no.
Love Sibelius, by the way!
One of the best, if not ‘the’ best article of the year.
Any naysayers reading this and the comments will be ‘trembling in their troosers’.
Lilimlilmi, ah wiz sayin a Marcony wireless nae referance tae his nationality , ah didna want tae say tranny bit noo you ve forced iit oot o me Its aw his fault so hiv a go at Ilumilime lol
StuartBlack, Johann , Jackie perchance lol
@ ronnie 10.07
No worries lol 😀
I only picked up on the Marconi bit because, with hindsight, it’s really strange that a Finnish 13-yr-old schoolgirl would become interested in such a subject (early development of radio).
BTW, I really enjoy your posts, Ronnie. You’re always on the ball, witty and passionate, yet good-humoured and kind. And most of your spelling makes sense to me because Finnish is written the way it’s pronounced. 😀
Lumilumi, thanks ma spelling mistakes are a result of my brain condition Im not like that as normal as a secretary of a community council ( af sick ) I have to have my full facalties
Do you think ah could learn finnish the wi am ur the noo lol ffs am bi linqual
@thepnr 7:32
agree totally, was getting very angry so had to abandon trying to read this nasty stuff.
be careful what you ask for, because you might just get it.
Good work, Rev as ever.
Another wonderful article. if only all Scots would read what Wings has to say it would change a lot of minds. Unfortunately too many Scots are like lifers in jail. They have no hope of escape, and are so institutionalised that they see nothing wrong in asking their warden to do anything. People without hope have no ambition, people without ambition have nothing to look forward to and are stuck in their ways. They are so used to being walked all over and told to take their medicine and shut up. A country with a population like that, who don’t want to be in control of its own affairs should make nobody proud. I will be ashamed if a No vote is returned.
“I live in a “Village” ten miles from Glasgow City Centre just off the M74 and I have never seen a pamphlet never mind a newspaper. That goes for Yes and No.”
I live smack in the middle of glasgows west end and I’ve not seen one either!
“The team that won the round were allowed to change the rules.”
How does the game illustrate Anarchy?
@ A2 It was obviously a type of troll anarchy?
Mary Bruce
NHS and Education have never been under the one roof. Scotland has always been responsible for that in Scotland. Look South and you will see privatisation of Health and fees for Uni Education.
As for pensions the UK has never ever provided pensions comparable to our European cousins across the North Sea.
A vote for the status quo is a very risky strategy as all the ‘better together’ parties have gone on record that Scotland will have to face more cuts and reduced powers, even the removal of Holyrood by some.
The only way is YES. Mary we can afford it ! What we can’t afford is a NO vote.
““Glasgow has a significantly lower percentage of individualsaccessing the internet (57%), by any means, than all other cities and Great Britain as a whole.”
Time for a Wings Poster Billboard campaign in Glasgow?
Even just giant wings with the web address…”
sorry can you explain that for me, how do you reach people without internet access by letting them know about a web address?
@A2
What do you think? Wear a pedants tin foil hat?
My suggestion was wider ranging than the internet access problem. Doh.
Dear Man in the Jar
link to facebook.com
tmij
intrigued by this , don’t know the area that well but did work in Bothwell/Blantyre /Uddingston for a short period of time. I had to check the map to see the middles of Bothwell and Uddingston are less than a mile apart surely there’s some scope for chumming up? I’m sure there’s some activists in nearby Hamilton that could give you support as well?