The world's most-read Scottish politics website

Wings Over Scotland


The day before yesterday’s news

Posted on August 05, 2015 by

Unalert readers will have been startled to read in much of the media this morning – including a front-page piece on the Daily Record – of the “shocking” £100,000 cost of renaming the new Southern General hospital in Glasgow after the Queen.

hospital

That, of course, is because all the alert ones read it on Wings two days ago.

It’s not just that the press has been rather tardy in picking up the story. When they eventually did, some of them – with the honourable exception of STV – credited the source of the information as the Scottish Greens rather than this site, although the Greens hadn’t said a word about it until 24 hours after we did.

The party’s website ran a strangely carefully-worded press release giving their reaction to the news “in response to a Freedom of Information request”, without actually saying that they’d made the request in question, which one might normally expect.

The party’s spokesman, ambitious wannabe politician Ross Greer (he’s top of the Green list for West of Scotland at Holyrood next year, and also garnered 804 votes in the East Dunbartonshire seat in this May’s UK general election, losing the party’s deposit by a large distance), has spent much of the last two years publicly smearing and attacking Wings Over Scotland.

Greer was employed by Yes Scotland during the referendum, during which time he upset numerous activists whose characters he didn’t consider personally acceptable by doing everything in his power to obstruct their campaigning for a Yes vote.

rgreer

So it wouldn’t be particularly surprising that he’d want to avoid giving us credit for the story. But when challenged by a couple of readers last night, Greer went further than the evasive website phrasing, suddenly claiming it had been the Scottish Greens’ FOI request all along and posting what he called an “email chain” as evidence:

greerfoi

Readers may note that the “evidence” is somewhat sketchy. It appears to comprise two internal Green emails, dated 4 August (the day after we published our story), with half an NHS Greater Glasgow And Clyde email address stuck on the bottom.

They might also ponder whether, if asked for evidence that you’d had your own FOI response, you wouldn’t just publish the actual email from NHSGGC – it being the simplest and most comprehensive way of proving your claim – but Greer has refused repeated requests to do so, referring them to the inconclusive image above instead.

Now, it’s entirely possible that the Scottish Greens submitted their own FOI over the renaming. Our own reply from NHSGGC noted that they’d received several requests about the matter from various sources. It’s attached below (click to enlarge).

foinhsggc

But in that case it’s strange that Greer wouldn’t just post the equivalent of the image above. It’s weird that the Greens press release would be so ambiguously worded. It’s odd that with such a newsworthy story having landed in their laps on Monday, neither Greer’s nor the Greens’ Twitter feeds would mention it at all until Tuesday teatime, 24 hours after Wings had posted it.

(One would presume NHSGGC emailed everyone their response at the same time, and indeed Greer expressly stated that that was the case.)

Of course, at the end of the day it doesn’t actually matter who gets the credit for breaking the story. Nor will it be of any interest to the vast majority of Scots that a supposedly pro-Yes campaigner and would-be politician has expended (and continues to expend) so much time and effort to attack other Yes activists, including by far the most popular and widely-read Yes-supporting website. It’s he-said-she-said stuff.

But it’s a little depressing that Scotland’s professional media, whose content already comprised 80% stories ripped from rival papers and 18% things people said on Twitter yesterday, is now too lazy and incompetent to even steal the news effectively. We ran the story at teatime on Monday, plenty of time to get something in Tuesday’s papers or evening news bulletins, but readers had to wait until it was TWO days old and the Greens had spoonfed them a pre-written piece.

More than one-third of Scots have given up reading daily newspapers since the turn of the millennium. It doesn’t take much of an investigative journalist to figure out why.

511 to “The day before yesterday’s news”

  1. Capella says:

    @ Ken500 8.53
    That’s quite a charge sheet Ken. Got any evidence for those allegations?

    Reply
  2. Ken500 says:

    Just look up the Inquiries and the Inquiries evidence. The Press reports etc. A Green Barrister who made a campaign of ‘Green’ issues, let go by the University, who still campaigned against the By-pass from the North East of England. Costing £Millions. They make careers out of it. Funded by Landowners.

    Google it.

    They can campaign all they like but not underhand and duplicitous. They are so sleekit and dishonest. The majority think they are ‘off their heads’. A common description. There only aim is to make people’s lives more difficult. Every City in Europe has a bypass road and a predestrianised City centre.

    Reply
  3. Graeme says:

    Brian Doonthetoon says:
    7 August, 2015 at 11:38 am

    Hi Graeme.

    That’s a decent video! Good choice of music and your selection of pics tells the story as it unfolded.

    Award yourself something!

    8=)

    Thanks Brian

    Reply
  4. Rock says:

    Tinto Chiel,

    “Repeating ineffectual arguments doesn’t make them less so, Rock.”

    Repeating “we are sovereign” doesn’t make us “sovereign”.

    Those who are sovereign don’t go on endlessly about it.

    Only those who are NOT sovereign have to keep on repeating it.

    Like the unionists having to start every sentence with “I am a proud Scot but”

    Those who are proud Scots don’t have to state it.

    Reply
  5. Rock says:

    From an earlier article:

    Ian Brotherhood,

    “Rock expresses similar views to you – his crusade against the Green Party gets tiresome at times, but at least he manages to make his points without being quite so insulting.”

    You can count the number of posters who have made anti-Green comments on this thread.

    I just saw through them earlier than many others.

    Reply
  6. Rock says:

    Rev. Stuart Campbell,

    ““Rectum” isn’t a swearword. But it seems to me you’ve flung plenty of provocative and personal rudeness out in this thread, so you’ve got no business being a crybaby about getting some back.”

    I myself have absolutely no problem about being called anything, although I don’t use bad language.

    My “provocative and personal rudeness” was directed at those who had been defending the Greens for standing candidates against the SNP, enabling the Tory Viceroy of Scotland to get re-elected.

    My first post was the 172nd comment on the article and was made because the article highlighted the duplicity of the Greens, something I have been pointing out since the May election.

    Reply
    • Rev. Stuart Campbell says:

      “My “provocative and personal rudeness” was directed at those who had been defending the Greens for standing candidates against the SNP, enabling the Tory Viceroy of Scotland to get re-elected.

      My first post was the 172nd comment on the article and was made because the article highlighted the duplicity of the Greens, something I have been pointing out since the May election.”

      Thanks for the stats update. What’s your point?

      Reply
  7. Rock says:

    Rev. Stuart Campbell,

    “Thanks for the stats update. What’s your point?”

    That if we want independence sooner rather than later, we must not trust the Greens, and ex Greens, or ex Lib Dems who count Carmichael as a close friend.

    The SNP and Yes movements would both have been infiltrated.

    Be careful with whom you share your strategies.

    Reply
  8. asklair says:

    There was a post on the Scottish Greens Facebook page relating to this article, basically insulting all WoS readers, Ross Greer had input too. All the content has now disappeared, someone with some street sense must of got it pulled. Some of the content really pissed me off at the level of New Labour pissed off, thats blowing the gasket on my gage.

    Reply
  9. Thepnr says:

    @Rock

    Genuinely Rock how would you propose that we can increase the Yes vote say to around 55% before going for another referendum?

    Reply
  10. Brian Doonthetoon says:

    Hi Rock.

    You’ve been posting on this topic since I asked you questions late on Thursday night (at 11.52pm) but haven’t responded.

    However, you may not have checked the previous page before posting here. So, as my questions were along the same lines as Thepnr’s from early this morning, I’ll repeat them here.
    ———————————————–

    You typed,
    “If WE are sovereign, we don’t have to go through the SNP or anyone else.”

    That’s a fine example of an opinion. However, it could be helpful to the rest of us if, perchance, you could suggest how we, the sovereign people of Scotland, achieve whatever it is you want to achieve, bearing in mind that only 45% voted for independence and that the percentage of support for independence has only crept up a point or two since September 2014.

    So, with reference to your quote above,

    1. What do YOU want to achieve?

    2. How do you suggest the answer to ‘1’ is achieved, without going “through the SNP or anyone else”?

    3. If the answer to ‘1’ is independence, do you believe the wishes of the 45% should overrule the wishes of the 55%, remembering that 100% of the people of Scotland are “sovereign Scots”?

    4. How would you legally and peacefully dismiss the wishes of the 55% who voted last year, to achieve your answer to ‘1’?

    Reply


Comment - please read this page for comment rules. HTML tags like <i> and <b> are permitted. Use paragraph breaks in long comments. DO NOT SIGN YOUR COMMENTS, either with a name or a slogan. If your comment does not appear immediately, DO NOT REPOST IT. Ignore these rules and I WILL KILL YOU WITH HAMMERS.


  • About

    Wings Over Scotland is a thing that exists.

    Stats: 6,776 Posts, 1,219,847 Comments

  • Recent Posts

  • Archives

  • Categories

  • Tags

  • Recent Comments

    • George Ferguson on The Grand Tour: “I have to comment after that exchange I have just had. Decades ago when I join the SNP and a…Jun 13, 00:01
    • Confused on The Grand Tour: “main spends all day trying to save old blighty, but it’s done https://archive.ph/gPbIQ and it won’t be 2100, more like…Jun 12, 23:39
    • Scot Finlayson on The Grand Tour: “Ireland is one of the most indebted countries in the world, `The national debt of Ireland was estimated at approximately…Jun 12, 23:29
    • George Ferguson on The Grand Tour: “@Insider Of course I know there is more than one George Ferguson. The point I was making which you missed…Jun 12, 23:04
    • James on The Grand Tour: “Careful there, MaryB -you’ll set off the Yoonhowlers and Franchise fannies!Jun 12, 22:44
    • Insider on The Grand Tour: “George Ferguson …. FFS ! Grow up ! Have you never realised there may be more than one person in…Jun 12, 22:37
    • Insider on The Grand Tour: “Findlay… “Governments don’t need to borrow money, they could issue their own currency…..” Aye right ! I’ve still got some…Jun 12, 22:32
    • MaryB on The Grand Tour: “Scot goes Pop so pathetic. Asks a question about who should have a vote in an Indy ref. But won’t…Jun 12, 22:24
    • George Ferguson on The Grand Tour: “@Dan Hi Dan a good example of AI on X. I wrote a post and Grok3 said I was George…Jun 12, 21:52
    • Findlay on The Grand Tour: “Scott, I thought that every country that uses a central banking system has a ;national debt’. You say that it’s…Jun 12, 21:47
    • Scot Finlayson on The Grand Tour: “Even Norway has a national debt, it borrows money to pay for infrastructure like every other nation, it is cheaper…Jun 12, 20:59
    • Hatey McHateface on The Grand Tour: ““It was just under a billion quid the taxpayer paid out in curtailment charges last year to big often foreign…Jun 12, 19:47
    • James on The Grand Tour: “Dan – was the bot a “John Main” model? ;-DJun 12, 19:38
    • Dan on The Grand Tour: “@ Hatey Oh do fuck off. Show me where you have ever seen me state leccy would be free? If…Jun 12, 18:59
    • agent x on The Grand Tour: “FIRST Minister John Swinney has said he does not think a challenge to his leadership would be a “good idea”.…Jun 12, 18:37
    • Dan on The Grand Tour: “Has anybody tried switching the internet aff, and jist leaving it aff… Was trying to find the Wings article on…Jun 12, 18:37
    • Hatey McHateface on The Grand Tour: ““The 6 farms that make up the Seagreen area off the Angus coast regularly are sitting in curtailment mode during…Jun 12, 18:31
    • Hatey McHateface on The Grand Tour: ““provide its people with cheap renewable energy before exporting to England or anywhere else” Sigh. It is undeniable that the…Jun 12, 18:23
    • Dan on The Grand Tour: “Aye James, most of the top 5 “concerns” that sit above Scotland returning to self-governing status can’t and won’t be…Jun 12, 18:14
    • Dan on The Grand Tour: “@ JBG Scotland’s leccy demand could / should be significantly higher than it is if we had more industries requiring…Jun 12, 18:05
    • Alf Baird on The Grand Tour: ““it’s the establishment in our neighbour’s capital that benefits tremendously by having Scotland shackled to it.” Yes, colonialism (aka ‘the…Jun 12, 18:02
    • Northcode on The Grand Tour: “This extract from an article by Sara Salyers posted on the Salvo website. Political ‘Kryptonite’ and UK Exceptionalism: …Management of…Jun 12, 17:53
    • PhilM on The Grand Tour: “Wait til Vivian O’Blivian takes a keek at that line-up for the Project 2050 conference…Jun 12, 17:47
    • Breastplate on The Grand Tour: “That’s right, we’ve all had enough of this democracy nonsense. Democracy isn’t even in the top 10 of things people…Jun 12, 17:46
    • James on The Grand Tour: “Scotland’s Imaginary Debt; In 2022-23 Scotland raised £87.5bn in tax which goes directly to Westminster. However, the Scottish Government only…Jun 12, 17:32
    • James on The Grand Tour: ““…Independence isn’t even in the top 5 important issues that the general public are even interested in…” Maybe they don’t…Jun 12, 17:28
    • Dunx on The Grand Tour: “The Barrhead Boy article just reads as a wish list. He treats UDI as an end in itself. There’s nothing…Jun 12, 17:10
    • James Barr Gardner on The Grand Tour: “Scotland’s power requirement is under 5GW…… There must be a dale/tarn or two in Ye Merry Olde Engalunt that would…Jun 12, 17:07
    • agent x on The Grand Tour: “Hatey McHateface says: Rev Stu won’t live forever. ————————————— Is that what the polls say?Jun 12, 16:45
    • Insider on The Grand Tour: “Stuart… Give up son ! Hatey can swat away a dozen wannabe wee trolls like you in the blink of…Jun 12, 16:44
  • A tall tale



↑ Top