The Experts
Turns out it’s not just Scotland the media commentariat knows nothing about.
(of the Telegraph)
(The Independent)
(The Times)
(Guardian, New Statesman, Independent, others)
(The Times)
(Conservative party worker at Greater London Assembly reassures above chums.)
(Disgraced former Labour MP Denis “Slobodan Salmond” MacShane identifies Steve Richards of the Independent and Helen Lewis, deputy editor of the New Statesman.)
(Atul Hatwal is the editor of Labour Uncut. Articles from July and August.)
Who knows Labour better than its own MPs?
But, y’know, when you can’t even rely on the judgement of the guy who used to be in Right Said Fred any more, maybe it’s not really the pundits’ fault.
On the other hand, some things are always certain.
And of course, nobody’s perfect.
Oh it’s good sometimes just to have a nice big laugh. Cheers Stu 😀
Corbyn’s safe enough then, if McTernan’s spending every minute taking the party back off of him.
Who does McTernan think he is, 60% or so of the labour membership voted for Corbyn, surely the members gave Corbyn the right to run the party, not shitehawks like McTernan.
Still, pop corn at the ready…
That went well for them then eh!
Still very entertaining to say the least. Watch this space, I have a feeling that the best is yet to come.
People who make predictions based on their prejudices usually end up with custard splattered on their face.
These people are mostly idiots who like the sound of their own keyboard and think that they must be right just because they’ve got a by-line.
It reminds me of Tony Blair who thought that something was true simply by virtue of the fact that he said it.
I wonder what odds the bookies are giving for him to be PM?
Brilliant
I did enjoy Channel 4 giving McTernan the Necromancer lots of room to vent his spleen at Corbyns election yesterday.
Did Disreporting Auntie give him equal time to vent. I hope they did.
Or maybe his anger was at whoever stole his copy of the Necronomicon.
Hmmm, dunno, that last one looks photoshopped! 😀
i’ll just sit here with my packed lunch and wait for the world to end, just like every media outlet said it would if Corbyn won the leadership…. They can’t be lying, they tell the truth…. Coffee anyone …lol
A lot of that will be attempts to influence the vote.
The real question is can he win a UK election ?
Possibility if he can boost turnout – but expect him to be absolutely hammered by the media. And if the polls don’t improve then they have a crisis.
Of course he can always perform complete U-turns, like half the Labour politicians are doing right now.
First thing will be to drop opposition to NATO.
Utterly brilliant Stu.
No wonder they all hate you right down into the rotten depths of their empty, meaningless, hypocritical, bastardised, souls.
And, of course, that’s why WE love you! 🙂
It’ll all be big smiles from the parliamentary Labour party over the next week. All saying how they will ‘make it work’, how they ‘respect’ the democratic choice.
At night they’ll be sharpening their knives.
McTernan is a tory dressed up as “new” Labour Blairite.
Blair joined the labour party as he couldn’t get elected in the NE England.
He wanted power and would do anything to get it. If it had suited he would have joined the tories or lib dems.
McTernan used Blair and Murphy and……..
Nice to decent a decent man elected. I don’t see Gideon’s leadership succession having quite the same popular expression.
At least the blairites will have someone to hate even more than the SNP.
Big laugh, someone known to me been on the phone tells me she did not vote for Corbyn, She is a Tory through and through, but became a labour supporter through her union in her work, although retired she still has union membership and a vote. this fair makes me laugh when in cleaning out the £3 pound supporters they did not look hard enough at the union members and a great number got through the Labour trawling net. It seems to me the forgot something a net is a packet that is full of holes, just like the Labour brains full of holes.
Let us hope that no-one with influence in Labour notice how comprehensively wrong McTeiran is in his every forthright pronouncement and they continue to give him a leading role.
There is no chance that the BBC will notice – just like they did not notice what Kezia said about Corbyn and let her thrills of joy at his election go unchallenged.
Meanwhile with 3 days to go and IScot not quite half way there, let’s contine to build he infrastructure of independence and broaden our base
link to indiegogo.com
Grousebeater. 2.16
I’ll make a prediction and its based on what I’ve read on Wings threads,not prejudice.
Corbyn led Labour can’t win a GE because the key marginals which usually decide the outcome are soft Tory and will become hard Tory at the thought of ‘old’Labour.
He may win increased majorities in safe Labour seats but in first past post system,this will be of no consequence,so he’s a lame duck Labour leader.
It seems the only thing thats making Mr Corbyn unelectable in England is their own members refusing to work with an the elected leader. Disunited party and all that.
Here’s the rub, the right wing British State and media are about to unleash hell on Corbyn, so what exactly is his incentive to help maintain their colonies?
Would it be fair to say if Corbyn came out and stated he was in favour of Scottish Independence, would the union be dead.
Is that is silver bullet.
The loudest most audible sound ringing throughout the land this weekend is the sound of a collective assortment of dummies, rattles, and teddies being thrown out of the prams of a tired and discredited bunch of self regarding chancers and gravy train chasers who only have time for that section of the electorate who are susceptible to their snake oil.
To these people anyone and everyone within the electorate who does not concur with their failed world view is discardable. The picture of the week has to be that of Tristan Hunt ‘ s face when the result was announced. This bunch will continue to plot on behalf of the corporate establishment from the backbenches, briefing in secret a vicious fourth estate which itself has been captured by the same interests who they themselves serve.
The self delusion of chasing Tory voters whilst actively ignoring and denying the reality of the larger number of non voters switched off by their sell out to neo liberal Corporatism and all those who voted for an alterative they cannot support should lead them to the logical conclusion there is no longer alterative place for their cuckoo in the nest entryism.
It’s over. They should man up and get used to it.
All those who put a bet on Corbyn when he 200-1 will be laughing all the way down to the bank. Now wish I had done that!
McTernan should do what Tom Harris did yesterday and put on his twitter avatar that he is part of the 4.5% who voted for Kendall.
Plenty competition there, but the McTernan Trifecta tops the lot!
Who are the new Labour voting Morningside Murray Tories going to vote for now
They must know the Tories can’t win at Holyrood, they won’t be able to bring themselves to vote for Corbyns Labour
Do they vote for disgraced Lib Dems, can’t trust them not to change their minds on anything they say
Greens? forget that, it’s Morningside, who’s left, you don’t think Nah they wouldn’t would they
Vote SNP to keep Labour out I can almost hear it now, all the way from Glasgow
It kinda puts the Mockers on Wee Ruthless’s move from Glasgow SNP to Edinburgh SNP
Could it happen?
Hilarious! All these Facists, Tories and right Wing press INSISTING “We don’t want it to happen, so it CAN’T happen!”
“Let’s all shut our eyes, click our heels together and say ‘Corbyn is unelectable! Corbyn will lose! Our comfy financial status quo is safe!’ Now let’s open our eyes, and everything will be…………….OH SHITE!”
After reading all of the above captions posted by Stuart, I’m left wondering as to what is really going on! Is it:
(a) The political commentators for the papers are so biased in their own opinions, that they are truly blind to what they hear or see.
(b) They are being told by some Editor-in-Chief to follow a set order as issued by the Establishment member that owns the paper, and that they must write ‘Corbyn is a loser’ …no matter what.
(c) They are clueless and are just following the herd. One of them decides that Corbyn is a ‘loser’, and therefore they all just jump on the same bandwagon, no matter what the common person in the street is telling them.
(d) They are doing it for a joke (and only the political media boys are in on it)
(e) They are bone idle lazy; can’t be bothered to investigate and find the facts; won’t interview anyone; follow media speculation instead; and then point out afterwards that they had predicted the outcome all along.
Any other suggestions are welcome…
@Grouse Beater says: 13 September, 2015 at 2:16 pm:
“People who make predictions based on their prejudices usually end up with custard splattered on their face”
I’ve news fir ye. Grouse Beater. – Yon’s no custard oan thir nebs, an Ah’m no gawn tae hae ony o it oan ma rhubarb.
ronald alexander mcdonald says:
I wonder what odds the bookies are giving for him to be PM?
Forget it! They won’t make him 200-1 again!
If they did, I might punt a couple of grand on him …and then quietly retire if he wins LOL
Somebody pass the chocolate raisins. Its fun watching the media and assorted metro punditry have a hairy fit. 🙂
From what I have seen of people’s opinions on Corbyn and what it means for both the Labour and Tory party, then in my view, I can only see the Tories rolling out one of their oldest tricks.
Divide and Conquer
I think the Tories will lead Corbyn down the garden path towards a series of traps during PM Questions on a Wednesday, and in doing so, they will get him to admit what his policies are, and what he intends to do with them. I can see Cameron gleefully pointing to the Labour backbenches as he gets Corbyn to answer, and ask the Labour Leader how his answer will go down with the Blairites who are watching on fuming.
By keeping the Blairites and Corbynites at each others throats, the Labour Party will look ineffective, decisive and bitter. Who would vote for them?
That means another Tory victory come 2020.
[…] The Experts […]
And of course , these are the same people who are (and will be) saying Labour is un-electable at the next election.
Dave Hansell….It’s already been said…:) link to daftynews.com
(the uk one)
I’m beginning to agree with some posters on here.
Chillax and enjoy the almighty cluster fk unfolding down south.
When you step back and think about it Corbyn could be the catalyst for the final wm meltdown, listen to the squeals of the fuckwitariat already!
Thank god for Nicola.
Never interrupt your enemy when they are making a mistake. Let them get on with it. Heartened by SNP stance on Corbyn.
I think he’s in an impossible position, completely untenable. He has never actually held a ministerial position.
His ‘own side’ are gunning for him.
Popularist pish will not wash in the real world.
Cameron could chew him up and spit him out, we shall see.
The neo cons have a new target now, they will concentrate on him, take their eye off the ball.
There should be further opportunities for some SNP mischief now.
Next few weeks will be interesting.
None of us are soothsayers, Stu, although the MSM pundits do seem to get it wrong more often than not (including the result of GE2015 : but would it not be fair to say that most people opined a hung parliament than Tory majority?).
5 years is a very long time in politics, and it would be rash to say that it’s *impossible* Corbyn can’t win a majority. Arguably, anything is possible. The more pertinent question is, is it likely he will? Or, as Nicola put it yesterday, does he have a credible chance? The historical lessons, and the current evidence (which, granted, can always materially change) would suggest “no”:-
• despite the level of his ‘mandate’, Corbyn is going to lead a deeply divided party. Only 10% of the PLP voted for him. 7 shadow cabinet ministers have said they will not serve under him. Expect the MSM to torque up the “Labour Divided” line continuously. The electorate do not generally find divided parties an attractive proposition : eg. 1983 (Labour); 1997 (Tories). The majority of Labour MPs are going to have to perform political gymnastics in order to subscribe to a Corbyn agenda (eg on tax & spend, Trident, NATO). The public aren’t daft, they know when politicians peddle horseshit they don’t believe in.
• there is no doubt a disenfranchised bloc of voters in England who want an alternative to a Tory-lite, neo-liberal agenda. I’m not sure though that a couple of hundred thousand new Labour members paying £3 to join and vote in the leadership contest is representative of Labour’s target vote in England if they’re to win a majority. As far as I’m aware, the studies that have been carried out post-GE2015 showed that Labour failed to win a majority in England because (1) voters didn’t like Ed Milliband; (2) they didn’t trust Labour on the economy and immigration; and (3) they thought things were going in the ‘right direction’ under the Tories. There’s no evidence I’ve seen that English voters turned their back on Labour because it wasn’t left wing enough.
• you reference the pundits’ failure to forecast the SNP winning a majority in Holyrood in 2011 and the GE2015 landslide. The difference is that by 2011 the SNP had shown 4 years of competence in government as a minority administration, and voters rather liked what they did. Corbyn has no opportunity to demonstrate his competence in government prior to 2020. If English voters didn’t trust Labour under Red Ed, they’re hardly likely to trust loony left Jeremy (I see that not 24 hours had passed after Corbyn’s election and the Tories put out a “he’s a threat to the country’s security, economy and your family” press release). As far as GE2015, the Indyref was clearly a game changer for many voters (particularly Labour) in determining who they would vote for in the GE. MSM pundits had their heads in the sand. The polls for weeks (months?) beforehand put the SNP ahead. Nicola was popular. It was clear that the SNP were going to make gains, albeit few people predicted the scale of the victory. What equivalent game changer will Corbyn have prior to 2020 to facilitate a Labour majority?
• as I said in a previous post, boundary changes that are due to take place prior to 2020 are likely to give the Tories an extra 20-25 seats. It will take a landslide of 1997 proportions to give Labour a majority of 1.
• there was a poll last night tweeted by Gerry Hassan from Survation. Ok, it was only a snapshot in the immediate aftermath of Corbyn’s victory. But over 50% said that his election would make no difference to how they vote. For the remainder, more said it would make them less likely to vote Labour than for him.
I genuinely wish Corbyn well and, if I lived in England, would probably vote for him. My only interest in his victory is how it impacts on Scotland moving towards independence. He doesn’t support independence. He doesn’t even wish to extend the Smith powers. His policy prescriptions are wholly UK-centric. Insofar as left of centre Yes/SNP voters might be tempted by his policy platform, they need to ask themselves : despite 50 years of voting Labour and getting Tory governments most of the time, are they really again going to put their trust in England, “that most conservative of nations”?
Tell you something else. This Corbyn win, in spite of the media hype and Establishment cross-party opposition including his own Labour Party, sends a torpedo right through the Good Ship HMS Westminster’s engine room.
Scotland has now rejected the English Establishment parties and it looks like the ordinary party members have rumbled this former Red Tory Leaders in the London Labour Party. We just may see an Earthquake in English and Welsh politics now. It has long passed the time for the ordinary party members to take back their party from the Red Tory leadership – but better late than never.
Robert Louis says:
13 September, 2015 at 2:36 pm
It’ll all be big smiles from the parliamentary Labour party over the next week.
Apparently, Botox sales have just gone through the roof.
@ Wuffing Dug
“squeals of the fuckwitariat”
Love it!
Dr Jim says:
13 September, 2015 at 3:02 pm
Who are the new Labour voting Morningside Murray Tories going to vote for now
That’s a very good question. The fur coat brigade won’t be so keen to vote tactically next time round. So, Blue Rinse Dearies, what’s it going to be:
Anyone but SNP?
or
Anyone but Corbyn?
Ain’t life a bitch!. 🙂
Democracy Reborn 3.57
Given that Rev Stuart’s tweet is dated 15th July 2015 I think he was being ironic about Corbyn’s chances.
And he is being a bit of a braggadocio in throwing his tweet in at the end of the post.
Hubris is such a bitch. Although Macternan’s spending every minute taking Labour back from JC, makes it clear why the JC years certainly mean Toryboy England for decades.
Wishful voting or will JC really be any different from Milliband? he’s not a good speaker but maybe he could ensure Bomber Bliar and co actually stand in the dock at The Hague war crimes court?
The sad thing is Labourites don’t realise, Mr Corbyn will actually be a good thing for democracy in this small, wee island.
He may start to bring back old Labour values, (who knows?) one thing’s for sure, the establishment troughers will be starting to sh*t themselves at the prospect of the gravy train being derailed.
The Blairsh*tes can go and join their fellow tory pals,
expect the establishment to go into overdrive, if we thought the smear campaign against the SNP was bad, we ain’t seen nothing yet.
The Red Torries and the Torries are basically funded by the same scumbags in “The City” it’s just a big game to them, only it’s not a game when ordinary human beings are part of it.
Expect more reports of Russian planes in UK air space,(with the use of library pictures) over the next wee while, they will have to keep the electorate paranoid about the need for nukes, mocked photographs of Mr Corbyn, Ms Sturgeon and Mr Putin having dinner together e.t.c
“the times they could be a changing”
Vote SNP get SNP.
Agree with the idea that the MSM screeching against Corbyn pushed a lot of voters to go for him – Tories trying to destroy Lab.
If Corbyn is truely going to get Lab back to it’s roots, announce the complete withdrawal of all Lab peers from HoL in his acceptance speech.
ALEX SALMOND IS BEING MENTIONED AS A CANDIDATE FOR JEREMY CORBYN’S NEW DEFENCE SECRETARY…
Source: link to huffingtonpost.co.uk
Are we in a parallel universe? Must have missed something over the past 48 hours. Well o’ well, isn’t Westminster having a lot of political earthquakes of late.
Seems that harmony doesn’t quite reign between Tom and Jerry as we might truly think. Sure they’re pally, but both have slightly different opinions on key matters.
Tom states in the Huffington Post article (and apparently live on the Andrew Marr show this morning), that there are 3 key policies of Corbyn’s that Tom isn’t happy about; Trident, the EU and Nato.
No doubt the Blairites will have taken notice of this admission, and no matter how much Tom states that there will be ‘“zero chance” of Labour MPs mounting a coup against Mr Corbyn’, but then they don’t have too …they only have to undermine him over key policies. This would then lead to Corbyn being perceived by all as a lame duck Party Leader. In the end, resignation is far better than a blood-led coup.
Well …who knows …we might get to see a live version of our cartoon heroes in full on rage yet if the peace between them is broken!
link to archive.is
Aye Liz, but we all know Corbyn will be hemmed in by the blairites, I don’t see how he can really make any ‘changes’ of the fundamental kind that signify a real shift back to their roots.
That’s ‘how’ the Tories will play this out as others have said; goad Corbyn and watch the Labour backbenchers squirm. Popcorn time right enough.
Btw if he did withdraw Lab peers, it would be a ‘revolutionary’ act. I think they would have him…fall off a mountain or slip on some grass on a dry hot day rather than let him have any ‘real’ power.
Thankyou Wings,
The most interesting for me was Michael White, slagging off Len Mcluskey in the older posts.
link to wingsoverscotland.com
Shows that it’s not just the establishment types who are out of touch, but the MSM who have thes
these people as regular commentators.
Mcluskey has backed many a winner and many a loser in his time, but has respect for sticking to his remit as trade unionist to protect his members best interests.
I’m considering the BBC licence “don’t pay to be lied at” option..even though always thought 30p a day was good value.
HOWEVER, now that Corbyn will be putting up commentators and spokespeople on BBC news, should get more interesting.
Who knows maybe we’ll get an actual political ‘argument’ on telly one day.
Won’t win Labour more support than it already has, but might be a laugh.
Part of Corbyn’s appeal is, he does not blame the population for the state of the economy, or for economic migrants. He blames the Tories and neo-liberalism.
Tip for Kezia: Builders Merchants sell kneepads.
Got a copy of Sunday Herald and a free hour at last!!
Here’s my contribution: link to grousebeater.wordpress.com
Corbyn is a sideshow, a distraction from the only way forward.
What Nicola said today regards plans for indyref2 make a lot of sense. We need demand for it, a majority wanting Indy, and a good excuse to hold it.
Scots need to get their head round a very simple fact – the future holds only two options. We can proceed to independence or we can live with Tory mandate-less rule for at least a decade.
What about DevoMax/Home Rule? That only has one answer – stop being stupid, that won’t be given.
Then, what about Corbyn and new old Labour riding to the rescue with an anti austerity, anti Trident message? Well, while Corbyn’s policies might have appeal to some, he represents a bigger threat to the neo-liberal establishment than anything else around. They will never ever let him achieve anything of consequence, one way or another. It will all get absolutely nowhere.
heedtracker @ 4.21
Won’t happen. Blair was only a puppet, draw to the side of the Dubya by his own personal greed and ambition. He was a perfect ‘usefull idiot’, as he is posh and stupid, i.e. dangerous (OK, Blair is intelligent but that does not make him wise).
His protectors / handlers are far more powerful than Westminster.
“Admitting he and Corbyn had different opinions on Trident, [Tom] Watson said: “No one wants to live in a nuclear world, but it is how you disarm. I think the deterrent has kept the peace for half a century and hope we can have that debate in the party.”
He also hopes to persuade Corbyn of the merits of Nato…”
link to theguardian.com
Hmm. I wonder what else Corbyn can be persuaded about. What’s happening here, is it a case of “meet the new boss, same as the old boss”? Now that he’s leader, is Corbyn about to morph into…Blair?
If I were paranoid, I might think that the shadowy representatives of the extremely wealthy and extremely powerful individuals who really run the world had already paid a visit to Corbyn and told him that he better get with the programme fast, or else. If I were paranoid.
@frogesque
Yeah, it’s entertaining.
Long may they keep squealing.
Let’s send them off with their tails between their legs and heads stuck up their arses.
In fact, forget the arse bit, they have their noggins firmly lodged in their holes already.
At least Mr McShane has some excuse : it must be difficult reintegrating into civilian life after his very new labour crime and punishment (invented ‘a front organisation…[then] submitted invoices to himself’). With such guardians of labour values it’s no wonder they’re having an identity crisis
link to theguardian.com
The right wing commentariat have no empathy for other people. If you can’t empathise with others, you can’t understand them. And if you can’t understand them, you can’t predict how they will behave.
Tip for Kezia: Builders Merchants sell kneepads.
Amazon have good deals, discount for bulk purchase.
Another tip is go back in time and watch how outfits like the Sun, BBC etc destroyed Michael Foot and Arthur Scargill. I can still mind kelvin Mackenzie monstering Foot on everything from his donkey jacket to their front page, “Do you really want this old man to rule Britain” and so on. Do toryboys/girls like Laura Kinsberg from Embro really have the chops to take down JC. They all flopped badly trying to turn Salmond into another Foot but Scotland is a very different country.
Just read on Twitter someone saying a FOI request should be sent to the BBC asking to revel how many complaints they had about the Panorama Corbyn programme. Nearly pissed myself.
Looks like the rest of the UK are about to learn how the BBC operates.
CameronB Brodie says:
13 September, 2015 at 5:05 pm
heedtracker @ 4.21
Won’t happen. Blair was only a puppet, draw to the side of the Dubya by his own personal greed and ambition.
The greater issue is that it legally and morally should happen.
Also JC said it could happen.
These are the big tests for JC and Labour and they will all get behind him in a historic and spectacular display of New Old Labour unity and…splutters juice all over ipad:D
Maybe if BBC play a new programme called The Great British Fuck Off everything will go back to ‘normal’ with Corbyn and his mad supporters.
Then again maybe not.
CameronB Brodie says:
13 September, 2015 at 5:05 pm
heedtracker @ 4.21
Won’t happen. Blair was only a puppet, draw to the side of the Dubya by his own personal greed and ambition. He was a perfect ‘usefull idiot’, as he is posh and stupid, i.e. dangerous (OK, Blair is intelligent but that does not make him wise).
His protectors / handlers are far more powerful than Westminster.
————–
Not at all. Unlike the US president, the UK prime minister is subject to international law in this circumstance. Blair understood this well when he chose to back GWs lies. This is why he pressed so hard for a 2nd resolution.
Bottom line – JC said that he would apologise for the invasion. He should be pressed to do so ASAP. Make no mistake – Blair is FAR from untouchable.
It is generally accepted that the current situation – ( well – until yesterday) whereby we have the Blue Tories and the Red Tories is a result of them both being puppets of ther Fat Cats in The City.
What nobody seems to realise is the fact that it suits our pals in Washington to have a system over here similar to their’s with 2 parties very similar who swop power every few years but continue to be enslaved to the Fat Cats who fund them and provide individuals with riches when they quit politics while remaining comfortably well ensconced up Washington’s backside as far as Foreign Policy is concerned.
That, together with the fact that most of the media is controlled by extreme right wing fanatics explains why the London Political Establishment and Media are throwing all their toys out of the political pram.
Don’t ignore the fact that the advent of Corbyn as Labour Leader, not forgetting the presence of our own 56 heroes, does not suit Washington’s agenda.
G.C.H.Q.
Get.Corbyn.Head.Quarters.
Gerry
Glad to be corrected.
Aaaaarrrgh.
I wrote a brilliant, wide-reaching, intelligent, funny etc. etc. comment but one of my female vanity long (natural) fingernails sent it into cyberoblivion.
What I wanted to say is… Corbyn, NOT what the Establishment and their pet media want. This guy is actually giving voice to the “plebs”. He doesn’t understand that “British democracy” is all about seeming democracy that preserves the privileges of the monarcy, the aristocrats, and the modern equivalent = rich people.
The green and pleasent land in England is good, lovely for the people who can afford it. Not so much for the poor. England is regressing to Victorian times, or even Jane Austen’s, and Scotland is dragged down with English social problems and bad solutions to them – because Scotland is part of the UK.
O/T The propaganda outlet BBC has a poll of “Great British Battles”. I ticked Bannockburn, I suggest you all do. BBC will probably make a programme out of this. If we get Bannocburn in the top three, they’ll have to do it in their “Great British Show”. Right now “Battle of Britain” (WW II) and Hastings (1066) are tied for first, Bannockburn is 3rd.
gus1940
Got your tinfoil bunnet handy? Check out the Anglo/American Establishment. A weird marriage of monopoly capitalists and Fabian Socialists.
link to en.wikipedia.org
Hi lumilumi have you or anyone else a link to that poll?
O/T. And now for something completely similar!
Re. Craig Murray’s article on the legal opinion justifying the Iraq war (link from WOS last week). When I read Daniel Bethlehem’s memorandum to the House of Commons, I couldn’t help think that it had been inspired by Llap Goch, the secret Welsh art of self defence ! (Llap Goch was an invention by Monty Python, as a spoof on adverts for martial arts / bodybuilder courses) Compare:
Here is the Daniel Bethlehem statement:
“It must be right that states are able to act in self-defence in circumstances where there is evidence of further imminent attacks by terrorist groups, even if there is no specific evidence of where such an attack will take place or of the precise nature of the attack.”
Here is the Monty Python description of Llap-Goch:
‘It is an ANCIENT Welsh ART based on a BRILLIANTLY simple IDEA, which is a SECRET. The best form of DEFENCE is ATTACK (Clausewitz) and the most VITAL element of ATTACK is SURPRISE (Oscar HAMMERstein). Therefore, the BEST way to protect yourself AGAINST any ASSAILANT is to ATTACK him before he attacks YOU… Or BETTER… BEFORE the THOUGHT of doing so has EVEN OCCURRED TO HIM!!! SO YOU MAY BE ABLE TO RENDER YOUR ASSAILANT UNCONSCIOUS BEFORE he is EVEN aware of your very existence!’*
It seems that the Pythons pushed the envelope one step further than Bethlehem, but I’m sure the hawks will rectify that. I do hope that any further reporting on this subject will refer to it as the Llap-Goch Doctrine. Chilcot please note.
Love, Nuggets.
*’The Brand New Monty Python Paperbok’ (Eyre Methuen) Sometime in the 70’s I think.
There is considerable attraction in a progressive alliance to tackle things like the House of Lords, Trident etc, and I do believe there is much we could agree with Corbyn about. However, I am not sure that things will be simple. I read somewhere that Umma is setting up some sort of centrist group so it may that there will be serious in-fighting in Labour and that there will be lots of abstentions or God forbid voting with the Tories on things like Trident renewal.
The language being used by the Tories that Corbyn is a security threat would suggest that he is already on the GCHQ radar (as I am sure Nicola and many SNP politicians already are). The moment there is a genuine challenge to the existing order it is clear that we live in something less than a democracy.
Another slightly O/T
I see bbc news/24/Scotland are hammering the Nicola indyref2 story. The unstated byline that she is a liar as “she said” there wouldn’t be another indyref for a generation.
I wondered how the bbc got the footage from the STV documentary that won’t be aired until tomorrow? The start of the establishment’s indyref2 project fear beginning?
why dont you try pressing the bakc buttom Lumilumi, you find you can retrieve the post.
Do people seriously think MI5 are not embedded in BBC Scotland and STV?
The Finnish MSM, our YLE (BBC-type national broadcasster) carried a story today. Headline “Scots to the polls again?”
link to yle.fi
YLE also has stories about Jeremy Corbyn and how “left” he is – so mildly left, in Finland he’d be centre, maybe centre right. Har har.
However, the UK pseudo-democracy needs a proper opposition party. Maybe in the 1920s, 1930s Labour was a true opposition party. Then it got sucked in into the Establishment. Labour Lords etc.
The SNP will not take up appointments in the unelected, undemocratic House of Lords. Oh, well, they won’t be offered seats in the heart of the English… erm, British Establishment anyway.
Marcia says:
McTernan should do what Tom Harris did yesterday and put on his twitter avatar that he is part of the 4.5% who voted for Kendall.
I had to go and check my former MP’s latest Twitter updates after reading this and found this gem:
“The only thing worse than Corbyn losing the next general election would be Corbyn winning the next general election”
I don’t expect he’ll try to get into Holyrood as long as Corbyn leads Labour then?
The sham that has been the political circus played out by the British Labour Party in recent weeks should be treated with the appropriate degree of suspicion.
Eyes on the prize folks,they are not to be trusted.To the Westminster 56 stay well clear,I,m sure you have been well warned.
Sigh! Just caught a glimpse of Sturgeon on the news, long shot of her being interviewed, but no sound.
The newsreader told us what she said… 2nd referendum triggers in manifesto…etc.
My naive grand-daughter says,”Oh why can’t we just hear her Dave” (she’s a fan since meeting her in Glenrothes last year)
You know she’s right…let’s hear her BBC… or just put up a caption on the screen saying ‘an actor read the words’ FGS!
Oh and Jeremy Corbyn BAD and must modify his stance says lots of spokes-persons. 🙂
link to bbc.co.uk
Link above.
Have voted. Come on wingers, let’s all vote for Bannockburn and annoy the BBC!!!
Paula Rose says:
” have you or anyone else a link to that poll?”
link to bbc.co.uk
Unfortunately, I think it will need a direct link to get the poll to work.
@john king
Thanks for the tip. Never knew that!
Tom and Jerry news. ‘The insignificant seven’
Defeated leadership rivals Yvette Cooper and Liz Kendall, shadow education secretary Tristram Hunt, shadow work and pensions secretary Rachel Reeves and shadow chancellor Chris Leslie, are among seven shadow cabinet resignations since Mr Corbyn’s election.
Shabana Mahmood and Emma Reynolds have also quit as shadow chief secretary to the Treasury and shadow housing minister respectively.
link to archive.is
Link for the Battle poll
link to bbc.co.uk
Apologies for linking to Pravda but it was requested 🙂
@heedtracker – you might be amused that the prof of Slovenia is on Guardian CiF criticising the UK foreign policy regarding the middle east – hard to disagree,
But why oh why was s/he so anti Scottish independence, we are entitled to ask!?
Al Stuart,
That Huffington Post article is a reprint which was originally posted in August. I cannot swear to it but I think the original might well have been published from their comic/comedy section.
call me Dave,
Angela Smith has also quit her Shadow Environment portfolio.
Gavin at 7.07
Done it. Get in everybody else
Ah, Scottish and Israeli nationalism. The dichotomy British Labour can’t escape, as paty of the British Establishment, so they try to misrepresent it hoping the people simply won’t spot their twists. Hypocrites, especially Labour Friends of Israel!
Wonder how Mr. Corbyn will square that particular circle?
On the battle polls I take issue with the history of Brunanburh. It most certainly was not brought about because the other Kings did not want to see an independent England (whether thye did or did not is unknown)
It was brought about because Aethelstan styled himself as King of all the British Isles and expected the other Kings to pay tribute to him. Although it ended in a Saxon victory of sorts, Constantine and the other Kings returned home and the victory was at such a cost that Aethelstan’s power waned and he never tried to impose upon the Scots, Norse and Irish again – which obviously pleased the latter.
It is important because it rather set in place that there was no one ruler of these isles.
CameronB Brodie says:
“Do people seriously think MI5 are not embedded in BBC Scotland and STV?”
You having a dig at me CameronB Brodie? 😉
I have my own thoughts on how some things happen in the wonderfully weird world of britnattery, but I would rather just pose the questions and let folk make up their own minds.
Aren’t our royal family wonderfully super-duper and they love us all so much and they do so much for charity and they keep the bogey man away and if you’re really, really good she may even give you a bauble or title. Worth every penny.
Help! I’m suffering from bbcradioactive exposure!
The Labour Party all of a sudden have re-established their Roots? Do not be fooled. The Establishment will create Diversions, we have to remain focussed!!
Let’s test the water.
First private members bill to SNP should be on Trident or similar.
Let’s find out how many Labour MP’s follow their leader.
Slightly o/t, but does anybody have information on what Murphy and wee Dougie Alexander are doing for a living now? My money is on six figure salaries in CIA sponsored think tanks, but any hard info welcome.
Viz “a generation”. I read recently ( cannot say where – maybe even here ), that a political generation is defined in the Anglo Irish Agreement as being 7 years. The generation in question there being votes for Irish reunification. Did some google searching, and it does recur in relation to Irish unity votes, so I’m thinking my recollection is accurate.
So I would not get too hung up on the generation game. It is defined by precedent and statute as 7 years. Fits the time frame nicely. After Gideon gets elected in 2020. Scotland clamouring to get out. 2021 would actually be a generation later. As defined by HMG. And its after 5 years, but before 10 years.
Now how many years was it in that calculation of Unionist attrition by death until we have a demographic majority again?
Can I suggest how Mr. Corbyn could deal with the mutineers? Katorga! Put them to good use and help HS2 come in on time and budget. Then they can be move on to develop the ‘Northern Powerhouse’.
It’s all about England, eh Mr. Corbyn? Or would you not describe yourself as an English Socialist?
Hi John King @6.59pm.
“why dont you try pressing the bakc buttom Lumilumi”
Are you trying to perpluzzle our Finnish Winger by using your own made-up vocabulary?
8=)
On the battles. I think most us will agree that the Romans, Saxons and then the Normans and Plantagenet’s were a thoroughly bad lot.
The Brit Nat Brainwashing Corp just cant help being patronising about them though. I hope they the Brit Nats realise that England lost control of its immigration with Boudicca’s defeat.
I voted for Bannockburn just to piss them off. That is one in the eye for them.
I think the real battle that changed everything for the worse was the failure of a certain Celt to reduce Rome to a smoking ruin when he had the chance. Idiot took the bribe. Hey wait a minute a lot of idiots took the bribe last September – nothing changes it seems!
Dont get me started on that Vercingotrix bloke either.
X-Sticks
I wasn’t meaning to have a dig, just missing dem damn beta-blockers*……nurse. 😉
* true story.
Voted for Bannockburn but more votes required
link to bbc.co.uk
Looked at that Brunaburgh listing,different perceptions of history abound. I read that although a defeat for everyone else it succeeded in checking an expansionist English king, a recurring problem in those times. A hollow victory.
The description of Bannockburn is a bit off as well,I’m sure that Edward 2nd brought the biggest army to date to relieve Stirling castle that included lots of hardened campaigners, only to suffer a “setback”, which must be the new way to describe utter defeat. 🙂
Now at £22,687.
Man alive…
link to indiegogo.com
Have they dronefucked Jeremy Corbyn yet?
BDdtT
“Are you trying to perpluzzle our Finnish Winger by using your own made-up vocabulary?”
I knew I buggered that up but guess what?
I did exactly that (pressed the back button) to look and the post wasn’t there to check. 🙁
CameronB Brodie says:
13 September, 2015 at 6:08 pm
Gerry
Glad to be corrected.
——————
I am fairly sure that Corbyn didn’t realise that when he undertook to apologise on behalf of labour for Iraq, that this potentially opens the door to Blair’s prosecution.
Blair knows this and seemed to visibly age 10 years the day that Corbyn said he would apologise. I hope he makes good on this promise sooner rather than later.
Tactics for dealing with indyref2
Give Scotland’s FM the Gerry Adams TV voice treatment in a broken English accent, or
Get her to prove she is not a witch
…..beeb can make cheque available to ahundredthidiot
BBC ‘Battle’ poll currently:
B O Britain: 29%
B O Hastings 27%
B O Bannockbuurn 13%
None of the other options are even close, so let’s go for it –
link to bbc.co.uk
@HandandShrimp @7:53
Indeed, I have noticed how Brunanburh is always described in a manner where England was saved for eternity from the encroaching and envious barbarians.
I have always thought of it as the battle where English expansion was stopped and the separate identities of the other nations of these isles guaranteed.
HandandShrimp says:
On the battle polls I take issue with the history of Brunanburh. It most certainly was not brought about because the other Kings did not want to see an independent England (whether thye did or did not is unknown)
———————————
Did you notice that when describing the Brunanburh battle they showed a picture of the Aberlemno Pictish stone potraying the battle of Dunnichen. A battle not even on the list ! Where do the BBC get there researchers from ?
Craig Murray
Wee Dougie is now my gimp. I keep him in the cellar and feed him once a day on fat free muesli.
Shit, no……that was a dream I had.
……..but, if he is looking for employment…..unpaid mind…..
I’d ruin him if he was
I voted for Bannockburn 🙂 though actually I’d plump for Hastings, as the English state did not exist until the Normans took control of ‘England’. In fact, England as we know it, did not exist until the Normans unified the ‘English’ kingdoms under feudalism (a relative new legal authority backed by the Pope).
I may have read the wrong sources though, David Starkey?
The socialist in me is pleased for England that Corbyn has won at a canter. I think the good people of England are about to experience project fear on acid for the next few years as the right wing press and establishment attempts to secure conservative rule forever.
It will probably galvanise his support, galvanise his opponents and they will learn a thing or two about how the UK works along the way. A strange time to be alive.
Re the poll on battles: interesting ’cause’ behind Bannockburn. Stuart McHardy discusses this propoganda in his book ‘Scotland’s Future History’.
‘Scottish Independence’ apparently. We had our independence but had been invaded so I would have described it differently. The ‘Wars of Independence’ is a total misnomer. ‘Repelling invasion’ would have been more accurate I think.
Iain More
Would be interested to hear your take on Vercingetorix. I visited the battlefield ‘Gergovia?’ many years ago- quite a complex battle from what I have read. Amazing statue in Clermont Ferrand. Sorry… you said DON’T get me started.
Anyway- to go even further off topic if that is possible, I have a very brief question for anyone who has read the letters pages of the herald today and knows anything about marine renewable technology.
I read about marine lagoons being used for hydroelectric power and the amazing plans for (part of) Swansea Bay: link to tidallagoonswanseabay.com
My (perhaps ridiculously ignorant) question is- has this technology been considered for sea lochs? Or obsolete harbours? Both would seem ripe for using the same technology without having to go to the trouble of building an enormous man-made sea-wall.
Anyway- as you were
Gavin – on BBC researchers
It’ll be the same ones who used Ilyushin 76 aircraft wreck pics on the day of MH17’s demise in their main 10 o clock news slot
And I have the apology to prove it before anyone thinks I am a crazed conspiracy theorist! (Which of course, I am)
BBC are slags
‘Battle’ latest:
Britain – 29%
Hastings down 1% – 26%
Bannockburn up 1% – 14%
I don’t expect Corbyn to win but would spend every minute taking the party back from him
Corbyn was democratically elected leader of the Labour Party with 59.5% of the vote, 40% more than his nearest rival, but McTernan obviously thinks that the Labour Party is his to shape as he sees fit.
Re the battles, they’re saying that Brunanbuhr was 937 with Aethelstan agin the Scots,Irish and Norse. So who was Oengus II fighting in 832 in East Lothian as that was Aethelstan too. That was the battle which saw the saltire appearing in the sky giving an omen to the scots. (We won that one too…)
Extra points awarded to whoever knows what the well known saying that Pope Martin V mentioned…
I still think it should be Hastings. It meant English would become a world lingua franca.
The Normans ladies were to posh to breast feed so English nurses spoke baby English to the aristocracy and when the aristocracy got the sign that they were never going to be French there was only the baby talk remnants of the language of the Angles available, stripped of grammar and declension.
Yes English is an easy language as long as you only want to talk baby talk but to explain any concept clearly requires incredible prolixity or borrowing a word from another language. Given that many who post on here don’t have English as their first language it is amazing how few spats we’ve had through mistaking others use of the English language.
Britain – unchanged at 29%
Hastings – unchanged at 26%
Bannockburn UP 1% to 15% 🙂
It’s starting to kick-in – let’s get this properly viral, eh?
Twitter like your life depends on it – ‘we really wanna see those fingers!’
link to bbc.co.uk
davidb says
In simple terms I think of it like this.
The oldest voters are 75% NO, the youngest voters are 75% YES.
Roughly, every year the oldest 2% of voters die, to be replaced by a 2% of new voters.
Therefore 1.5% NOs and 0.5% YESs disappear, and 1.5% YESs and 0.5% NOs appear.
A close to 2% swing to Yes, per annum?
Five years for complete turn around, excluding all other influences?
Voted-Bannockburn now at 14% Says the result will be posted online when it closes but no indication when that might be.
When they get the ‘right’ result maybe? Oh yes, I am very definitely a cynic 😉
Headandshrimp-
Did you notice that when describing the Brunanburh battle they showed a picture of the Aberlemno Pictish stone potraying the battle of Dunnichen. A battle not even on the list ! Where do the BBC get there researchers from ?
They don’t use researchers, investigative journalists, or the truth, if it can be avoided!
To be honest, the whole ‘let’s vote for the best ever battle that Britain ever had …like forever ever!’
What a load of right-wing utter nonsense that only the BBC could come up with. It’s almost as if they lost the ‘battle of Corbyn’, so let’s roll out some other battles, and all vote for the ‘Battle of Britain’ because that’s our favourite down here in the South-East (seriously …what utter nonsense).
And even then, some of the battles they have chosen seem to go against the grain …as in …they’re English, and not British at all.
Boudica – Not a British affair at all. Fought in the Roman occupied South East of England between the Celtic tribes of the S.E. against the growing dominant Roman invasion.
Brunanburh – (??? – the wording of this is shocking) As others have said, it was to stop the Angles from conquering Britain. The Celts-Norse might have lost, but we ended the Angles ambitions also.
Hastings – ‘The Last Invasion’ (EH!!!! – Naw! Wrong! …that wasn’t the last invasion. What was William of Orange’s 15,000 Dutch troops doing when they crossed the channel in 1688 ????)
Bannockburn (surprised they included this one. They lost!)
From this point, yep …they may be termed ‘British’, but all were pretty much fought in England (apart from the Battle of the Boyne (we all know who) and the Battle of Dunbar (Cromwell)).
And then we have the won that they love. They can’t help themselves. They just have to do it. This is the real reason for the poll. This is what the poll is really about. Just a reminder of what happened in 1940. Yeah, Britain won that battle, but if it wasn’t for Hitler’s mistake of attacking Russia, then Britain was going nowhere with this war. Attrition would have won the day for Hitler. Thank Hitler for invading Russia because if he hadn’t, then chances are, 1941 would have been a pretty bad year for Britain.
So (beginning to calm down now)…as others have commented. Bannockburn gets the vote ….just to annoy the BBC.
Jimbo
“but McTernan obviously thinks that the Labour Party is his to shape as he sees fit.”
Lets remind ourselves, what was McTernans majority again?
oh no of course he was elected by noone has no mandate and certainly represents noone but himself, best ignored eh?
Did you notice that when describing the Brunanburh battle they showed a picture of the Aberlemno Pictish stone potraying the battle of Dunnichen. A battle not even on the list ! Where do the BBC get there researchers from ?
Ironically another battle that stopped another expansionist Saxon King in his tracks.
Craig Murray at 8.08pm
A few weeks ago I remember seeing something online saying they were both backpacking in the Andes or some such. Must admit I couldn’t really picture it happening somehow seeing as both were entirely comfortable with the luxurious lifestyles of WM. Cover story maybe?
Any CIA outposts there 😉
This is exciting!
Battle of Britain has dropped one, Bannockburn now up to 16%
Get in there!!
Tam Jardine
The Rance Tidal Power Barrage in Brittany has been operating for over forty years in France.
France has little or no oil and this is a great source of clean power.
I don’t know why we couldn’t do the same in Scotland. There are many deep narrow sea lochs, but it does involve a big concrete dam across the tidal stream. Not very pretty but perhaps less obtrusive than wind power.
However France relies for eighty per cent of its power on nuclear power stations. No anti-nuclear protests there, and they have the cheapest power in Europe.
Wee Dougie Alexander was spotted busking outside Queen Street station, singing “I’ve Been to Paradise (But I’ve Never Been to Me). His cap was bulging, apparently.
Just been back to BBC link to test a theory. It told me I’d already voted so I used Firefox Remove Cookies from Site button & came back to Wings. Followed the link again & hey presto I got a 2nd vote. Bannockburn 16%
Get voting guys & gals.
liz says:
13 September, 2015 at 7:20 pm
@heedtracker – you might be amused that the prof of Slovenia is on Guardian CiF criticising the UK foreign policy regarding the middle east – hard to disagree,
The good Prof has eased of his YES voters are fascists, Scots are deluded maniacs sort of thing but its got nothing whatsoever to do with this exciting announcement-
link to notesfromnorthbritain.wordpress.com
From what I have read, they are going to Neuralise Corbyn and turn him into one of them.
Aw well, as you were everyone.
Hi Ally,
I think Oengus was fighting the Northumbrians and not one of the Athelstanes as they were from Kent and Wessex. Perhaps Athelstaneford is just called after King Althelstane -the later one?
Pope Martin V ?
Ah – The Battle of Bauge – now there was a battle. Why is that not on the list ?
@Nuggets O’Pish says: 13 September, 2015 at 6:44 pm:
” … I couldn’t help think that it had been inspired by Llap Goch, the secret Welsh art of self defence !”
Brilliant stuff Nugget’s.
Mind you the way things were going was signalled by the Establishment when it began lifting anyone from the streets that they claimed to be a terrorist. They refused to state what their evidence was on the grounds of, “National Security”. They refused to arrest or try their victims, again on the grounds of national security.
Many, including myself, warned then that the thin edge of a very large wedge had just been introduced to the human rights of the people of the United Kingdom. So it has proven for now we have a totally unacceptable number of untried, un-arrested members of the public being shot and killed by, particularly, the Metropolitan Police force.
We had government sanctioned murders in Northern Ireland and now they have the scientific capability to send in drones anywhere in the World to take out anyone they class as a terrorist suspect. No arrest, no evidence, no trial and only their word for it the people killed are even who they claim they are. As far as I am concerned the whole UK government are criminals in both UK and international war crimes definitions. We have no democracy, no real freedoms and no rights whatsoever.
What is more it is only going to get worse under Westminster Establishment rule. If our last attempts at ending this Westminster misrule by democratic means are stymied much longer there will be armed uprisings in the UK.
History, ancient and modern, teaches that downtrodden people reach a stage where they cannot take any more from their rulers and they would rather die fighting back than slowly be tortured to death.
Ian Brotherhood
Don’t get too excited Ian. To spike the nationalist surge the BBC have just added Flodden as a late entry
You could not make it up, people voted for him because of his values and now the Establishment will Doctor Who him into Tony Blair.
Don’t you just love the British regime.
Lolliesmum 9.17
‘Backpacking in the Andes or some such’
Wee Dougie and Murphy are probably doing the Che Guavara Trail pretending to be the Socialist Revolutionaries they imagined themselves to be.So sad 🙂
You must mean Athelstaneford,named after a slain English king.
link to en.wikipedia.org
17%. And they said Corbyn couldn’t win…
@ Craig Murray, 8:08pm
No hard info Craig, but, I reckon they are both toiling for Brian Wilson making Harris Tweed or he could have introduced them to some of those arms companies with whom he and the Lord of Cataclysm are so chummy. Can’t imagine they have any info the CIA haven’t already given them.
B/burn now up to 17%…
🙂
@Ian Brotherhood re battle vote.
I happened to notice that I could vote again by using another browser … just saying.
I’ll try to remember to tell the BBC that they need to deduct one vote for me. I might take a few days to get round to it though. Kinda busy with other things right now.
I wonder if my Firefox browser also works on Windows 10 , hmmm, let me see …
In the last I hour 20 minutes, the ‘Battle’ stats are:
Britain dropped 1%
Hastings dropped 2%
Bannockburn gained 4%
Okay, we’re just having a bit of a lark, but this stuff is important if for no other reason than it demonstrates we can, and DO have a measurable effect when we act together.
Let’s ram the point home – first, we ‘take’ Hastings!
link to bbc.co.uk
When I first tried to vote on the battles, I was told “voting is not supported on this device”, despite the fact that I have previously (though not recently) used said device to comment on BBC articles.
Logging in with the username I had concocted for those comments miraculously allowed voting to be “supported” on the very same “device”.
Meanwhile, back here, although I can read the comments, all the commenters’ names are blank spaces. Sometimes I recognize the avatar and/or posting style, but other times I haven’t a clue who is writing.
I hope this will revert to normal, though I am still having to sign in each time I comment, and there is a delay, so I am not optimistic.
@Hoss Mackintosh.
C’mon, Hoss, we both know the gemme’s a Baugé.
Plus ça change’n’at!
@Tam jardine re tidal power.
There was a test installation on (I think) Tiree – but now not sure if that was wave or tidal – anyhow, The whole thing relies on your basic 1st and 2nd year (high school, not uni) physics stuff.
If you’re going to be at the Embra do later this month, I can sit you down with a few reams of paper and a pencil, and send you to sleep with the calculations 😉
😛
@ Tam Jardine 8.48 link to wikipedia.org
It’s awe ah pile o pish bit gave wan furr 1314 anyhoo.
So did the boss, she beat me to it, the wench can make her ain tea!
🙂
Battle stats at 22.11:
Britain – down one, at 27%
Hastings – same, at 25%
Bannockburn – up one, at 18%
@Ian Brotherhood
did you know that the chrome browser has an “incognito” mode that you can access by pressing shift+ctrl+n ?
Seems it doesn’t store cookies 😉
Battle stats at 22.14:
Britain – same, at 27%
Hastings – same, at 25%
Bannockburn, up one, at 19%
Update on the BBC “Great British Battles” thingy.
Battle of Britain 27% (WW II, RAF)
Hastings 25% (Norman conquest of England, 1066)
Bannockburn 18% (Scottish independence, 1314)
Naseby 7% (English civil war, 1645)
Armada 7% (The Spanish Armada against England 1588)
The Battle of Boyne, so beloved by Orangemen, is down on 4%, level with Bosworth (Richard III).
The piece is written from a very English perspective. From the blurb for the battle of Brunanburh, 937:
King Æthelstan faced an allied force that included at least five foreign kings, including those of Dublin, Alba, and Strathclyde — an alliance whose united purpose was to destroy the Anglo-Saxon kingdom that would become England.
Eh? Foreigners in the British isles even in 937. People who actually were there before the Anglo-Saxons. The Anglo-Saxons, supplemented by the Normans, were and are nothing if not arrogant!
Also, the blurb for the Battle of Boyne says it resulted in “Confirmation of Protestant, democratic government”, and quite blithely says a couple of lines later, “Catholics were subsequently subjected to penal laws that long denied them political rights”. Democracy, English/UK style, eh?
I think it’s rather expected that the 1940 “Battle of Britain” leads the board. Some people still have firsthand and lots of people secondhand memories of it, and it touched the masses in a way no medieval battle did.
Anyway, go over to vote for Bannockburn, the BBC will have to recognise that battle in ther forthcoming “Great British” programme. 😀
link to bbc.com
O/T
Any trolls or unionists who read this site.
Tell your masters, as far as the “once in a generation/lifetime” vote for independence is concerned.
How long is a lifetime/generation?
1 year, 10 years, 45 years? Nobody knows.
You lot promised Scotland THE VOW.
Where is it, when will it be delivered?
The beauty of the Scots, we never forget.
It’s oor spacehopper and yur no getting tae bounce oan it.
But we might let you look at it when the VOW is delivered, but only a look, yur no getting a shot.
@ Call Me Dave 7.07
I have been thinking along the same lines recently re the total black out of the SNP by the MSM.
They haven´t said the words yet but undoubtedly their plan is to “Deny them the oxygen of publicity” and it´s only a matter of time before “The words of Nicola Sturgeon will be spoken by an actress” will be heard on our tv screens.
To which what do you think about us running a wee poll to find out who would be our preferred choice of actress.
I´m going with Scarlett Johannsen.
Any other takers?
@ Alan Mackintosh:
Re the Battle of Bauge, 22 March, 1421.
“Verily, the Scots are well-known as an antidote to the English.”
That battle was considered the turning point for the French in what English historians call the ‘Hundred Years War’.
I voted.
Bannockburn is now 19% – or it was 20 min. ago when I posted this. ;-(
Aint having more than one browser the dogs bollocks? 🙂
Bannockburn 19%
like many other misgivings of the MSM, they have not worked out that,by ignoring the Scottish electorate only makes the SNP stronger.
They are too dim to realise this.
Tick Tock.
Actually …for multiple shots at the BBC ‘British Battles’, use your phone, iPad and PC. Get everyone in the household to do the same. Really flood the BBC poll LOL
Barbara Windsor?
At 8.30 this evening Bannockburn was 14 percentiles behind Hastings.
Two hours later, ‘we’ are now 5% behind…
Britain – 27%
Hastings – 24%
Bannockburn – 19%
Bannockburn 20%
Aa need tae go tae bed. that’s twenty votes I managed though. 🙂
20% 🙂
‘Ramming speeeeeeeed!
Come on Rev, we know you’re watching the kick-ba, but even a wee toty Tweet to your 44,000 followers and we could take Hastings!
(Where’s me woad…)
link to bbc.co.uk
haha yea Rev thats a right collection of eejits you have got yourself their lol
Oh come on guys do you really think the BBC are going to show anything other than the Battle of Britain regardless of a poll lol
Its just an excuse to repeat all their BoB footage they have made since the actual battle,the strange thing is they do not usually need an excuse to show it.
Vote for Bannockburn here; link to bbc.co.uk
and boost this appeal to all your friends; link to indiegogo.com
@Tam Jardine says: 13 September, 2015 at 8:48 pm:
” … My (perhaps ridiculously ignorant) question is- has this technology been considered for sea lochs? Or obsolete harbours? Both would seem ripe for using the same technology without having to go to the trouble of building an enormous man-made sea-wall.”
Ach! Tam, way back in the early 1950’s I was an apprentice and we had lectures and debates on much of what is happening today. Here’s the thing, though. Scotland has a unique resource that runs 24/7/365. It is the cold and warm sea currents that runs in counter directions around much of Scotland’s shores.
The cold sea currents from the polar regions flows round parts of Scotland, over the Atlantic and into the hotter oceans on the other side of the World. It warms up and then, as water flowing out must be replacer, it begins its journey back across the Atlantic as The Gulf Stream. This is why there are semi-tropical botanic gardens at Inverewe and the Logan Gardens in Galloway.
So there is this constant current of cold water in one direction and one of hotter water flowing in the other direction that could be used to provide electricity. In fact there are, (successful so far), several trials going on as we speak.
In the 50s we also debated how to design generators that could utilise the water flowing in such as the River Forth and others that could also take advantage of the tidal flow in firths and bays.
For example a tidal water turbine need not have lots of infrastructure. A turbine has two sides and you must only supple force to one side to turn the generator.
So you must block off one side of the turbine blades to allow the tide to turn the machine. However, tide flows in both directions as it ebbs and flows. The solution we came up with was a tidal operated gate system that, much like a weather vane, turns the shield to the side of the turbine depending upon the direction of tidal flow and you have a 24/7/365 generator that needs neither fuel nor the need to fetch fuel to the turbine.
The tide, like the wind, brings its power to you for free but the wind doesn’t do it 24/7/365.
Now that was us debating this long before the general public even knew what electronics or computers were.
Vote for Bannockburn here; link to bbc.co.uk
and boost this appeal to all your friends; link to indiegogo.com
Bannock burn 1314 voting .
For those on iPad go to settings , scroll down left column and select Safari then Look to options on Right ” clear history & Web data” and do so .
I have fired in a good puckle votes tonight , it’s now on 20% on posting .
Work PC will get a bit of abuse @ Lunch this week.
Heee heeee !
About the “Great British Battles”. I realise I’m a bit naive in being cheery about Bannockburn being third on 20% (Battle of Britain 1940 27%, Hastings 1066 24%)
The BBC will portray it as brave, poor English soliders, victims of vicious, murderous Scots. Another chance to bash those dastardly Scots. Especially if they get ideas above their station, wanting more devolution, democracy or – gasp – independence! That just does not fit with the BBC view of Scotland. Here, have a haggis and move along.
@CameronB Brodie 10.33
Barbara Windsor?
Excellent choice Mr Brodie and funny you should choose her as a friend just suggested Hattie Chaques.
Incidentally It wouldn´t need to be a male voice I suppose.
Bannockburn 21% at 11.59
Hastings 24%
Battle stats at 23.00:
Britain – same, at 27%
Hastings – same, at 24%
Bannockburn – up one, at 21%
I’ve had two long-term relationships with Germans, both of whome just scratched their heads and laughed about all the BoB stuff.
Than again, a friend of one was run out of town by an anti-German hate campaign headed by the Sun, who blamed her for goading a Holocaust survivor in to committing suicide. Personal abuse, damage to property and such. I’m pretty sure she ended up winning compensation.
English/British jingoism is DANGEROUS
Corbyn names Shadow Ministers
link to bbc.co.uk
@11.04
Britain – down one, at 26%
Hastings – same, at 24%
Bannockburn – same, at 21%
Whoever’s in charge of deciding when this thing’s to be shut down must be touching cloth… 🙂
Latest Shadow Cabinet recruit is Lord Charlie Faulkener.
Is this the cutting edge of the new dawn?
That “incognito” mode on Chrome (ctrl+shift+n) is quite helpful.
Especially with link to bbc.co.uk
B at 26%
Bannockburn still at 21% at 00.05am
@uno mas
Scarlett Johannsen. 🙂
Meanwhile Tom and Jerry are selecting their shadow cabinet.
Corbyn win splits Labour and makes independence only alternative to Tories.
link to archive.is
PS:
Naturally as a Hill of Beath born Fifer I only voted once but it will make no difference the chosen programme is ‘in the can’ already and Bannockburn… ffssssttt…in the bucket!
🙂 But it is good fun to see the numbers change.
Jim Thomson (& Cadogan Enright)
Aye- will see you there. You can try and explain it to me!
The Irish project sounds ambitious. I am not sure where the extension to the Cruachan storage facility is- but check out what the Russians are planning:
link to hydroelectric-energy.blogspot.co.uk
87GW capacity?
With all the doom and gloom about the oil price and the implications for the fund we need to establish to hand on to future generations after we are free of the dead hand of WM, I have been dwelling on this.
It firstly struck me that surely instead of trying to accumulate vast sums like the Norwegians and investing should we not be stockpiling oil when the price is low either at a government level or as a bank the people can invest in. It ain’t going to stay low for ever… a finite resource can’t. The Chinese are doing so I believe.
The other thing I have been thinking about is a big fuck off tidal project (or a number of smaller projects) could be the alternative oil fund we could all put into- Scottish Government and Scottish people in partnership. Rance took 20 years to pay for itself- so some kind of long term green energy bond?
Sorry for digressing on this thread- I was just blown away by the simplicity of the Swansea scheme and can’t help thinking we need to plan for the post indy energy future starting now.
Westminster are strangling green investment in Scotland as they know energy is a strength for us and a weakness for them so we need to look to ourselves up here to plan for the future.
I just think the ‘oil fund’ may need to become instead a national energy investment partnership to bring future returns and create enough energy to meet our needs and export for the next hundred years plus.
uno mas
Can Hattie Chaques giggle uncontrollably in Cockney? 🙂
Robert Peffers
Ref Hydro Power
In Aberdeenshire the Don had a mini dam with concrete slope on the down water side or with Salmon leaps at side ,they were placed every few miles. Every one was used to run Hydro Power for the local area. I think they operated up to early 60’s but gradually they came to a halt as the area were encouraged to join the ” National Grid”
The infrastructure is still there , I often wonder if those involved were truly advised correctly.
I wonder if Billy Connolly realised their potential on his stretch.
We both know the simplicity & reliability ( apart from bearings) these turbines would run almost indefinitley. For me they are a fantastic item to invest in.
Anyone know if our Hydro Dams , Pitlochry etc are also penalised via connection charges ?
@ 23.18 –
Britain – same, at 26%
Hastings – same, at 24%
Bannockburn – up one, at 22%
For anyone just joining us, the stats, at 8.30 this evening, were:
Britain – 29%
Hastings – 27%
Bannockburn – 13%
There’s no telling when the poll will be shut, so do what ye can, and do it now:
link to bbc.co.uk
@Lollysmum
I couldn’t see the % so I pressed the Bannockburn button again to see the values. You’re right only 3% in it now.
Maybe I’ve voted twice…Halo gone… 🙁
@Tam Jardine and Robert Peffers
Currently undergoing 1/4 scale test in my constituency before deployment in Gulf Stream and anti-clockwise current around Ireland link to minesto.com
half a kilometer from link to minesto.com and being expanded to 20MW under new owners
and testing this link to renews.biz
More action, at 11.23 –
Britain – same, at 26%
Hastings – down one, at 23%
Bannockburn – same, at 22%
@Tam Jardine at 11.10
Russians looking at my constituency too, ? ? ?? ?????????? ??.
link to belfasttelegraph.co.uk
B at 26%
Hastings at 24%
Bannockburn at 22% at 23.28pm
Last post had wrong time-should have been 11.05pm
Pretty sure that’s things back to normal in the ‘Not New Labour party’ – ‘Back to the future’ parody ?
Corbyn appoints a lord to Shadow Cabinet. (Has Charlie Falconer ever been elected )?
Does this not make him a supporter of the HoL ?
1 day in post and principles badly holed already. (Tut,Tut)
Bannockburn at 23%
Hastings 23% at 11.30
Hastings & Bannockburn = @ 23%
Keep er chappin folks ,
Thanks
‘Ere my Darlin’s wots all this tolk abaht Barbara Windsor – yor ‘aving a larf ain’t cha (giggle).
‘I have been thinking about a big fuck off tidal project’
Westminster invests £1 bn in Swansea Bay tidal project and Scotland gets £0.5 bn first instalment of Trident spending foisted on us.
Trolling the Scots or what ?
@ uno massive
If we really wanted to screw with their minds, we should have wee eck doin the voice over.
Me @ 10.57 Stupid Me !
Ref iPad users.
I meant to add a wee warning on above post .
You will probably have to login with passwords on all your usual sites if you remove Data . SORRY .
Re. the BBC poll – Bannockburn and Hastings neck and neck @ 23:41pm.
I blame Chinese hackers. 😉
@23.39 –
Britain – same, at 26%
Hastings – same, at 23%
Bannockburn, up one, at 23%
Keep biting at their ankles, and pulling the wee hairs at the back of their knees!!
Once we’re done with Hastings, we take to the skies!
link to bbc.co.uk
Uno mas that should be.
Damn autocorrect,there’s always one that gets past me.
Call me Dave
Your eyesight is getting worse as the hours go by! I like your style 🙂
Paula Rose
We’re making a list of possible voice-over candidates for the FM. 😉
#neverenoughlists
BoB at 26% with Bannockburn neck and neck with Hastings at 23% link to bbc.co.uk
IScot at £23,768 GBP link to indiegogo.com
11.46pm
Bannockburn 24%
Hastings 23%
B 26%
This is doable!Now for 26%
@23.47 –
Britain – same, at 26%
Hastings – same, at 23%
Bannockburn – up one, at 24%
Oooh-er, what ‘ave we done?
Ha ha! Bannockburn now overtakes Hastings with 24% challenging Britain at 26%.
Vote here
link to bbc.co.uk
What’s the betting the BBC will pull the ‘battle’ poll at midnight?!
@23.59 hrs
BoB and Bannockburn neck and neck at 25%
11.55pm
Bannockburn 25%
Hastings 23%
Keep it going
00.00
B of B 25%
Bannockburn 25%
Hastings 22%
The battle is neck and neck @ 11:58. 🙂
Bang on midnight –
Britain – down one, at 25%
Hastings – down one, at 22%
Bannockburn – up one, at 25%
00.03
Bannockburn 26%
B o B 25%
Hastings way back in the dust!
That’s it We are in the lead .
Night all .
@12.05 –
Britain – same, at 25%
Hastings – same, at 22%
Bannockburn – up one, at 26%
😮 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
Aw bless, wee clueless BBCers, ye should’ve shut it down at midnight after all eh?
And now, if ye start fannying about with the stats when we’ve been tracking them all evening, it’d be a tad obvious, right?
Fucking amateurs…
GIRFUY!!!
Climax
Ooh I just voted and Bannockburn now 26% and BoB 25%!
The BBC vote runs until 18th September.
link to bbc.co.uk
Bannockburn in the lead on 27%.
00.16
Bannockburn 27%
Okay, now it’s getting embarrassing…
Britain – same, at 25%
Hastings – same, at 22%
Bannockburn – up one, at 27%
Wee reminder of the question the poll was asking:
‘The British Isles have seen countless battles, campaigns and wars. But which one affected us the most?
This year is rich with the anniversaries of significant battles – Waterloo, Gallipoli and Agincourt.
But during the past 2,000 years, the British Isles has been riven by conflict, being remembered with the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, the recent reburial of Richard III and the upcoming 950th anniversary of Hastings.
So which is the most important battle ever fought here? A clash of arms that produced not only a winner and a loser but perhaps changed everything that came after?
Read the shortlist and cast your vote at the bottom of the page.’
Aye, okay. We just did.
Next ‘question’?
Folks,
The EBC battle vote goes on until 11.59 on 18 September.
Currently Bannockburn at 27% @ 00.20.
re that wee poll, we need to get all our disgruntled pals in the rest of the UK to join the party – get busy.
Great to have a bit of fun at BBC’s expense just for a change 😉
HoHo
Bannockburn at 27% – Battle of Britain at 24%
Geritupye BBC
BBC ‘battle’ update….00.17…
B’burn 27%
Britain 25%
Hastings 22%
Possibly childish, possibly anti-imperialist and important (in a small way) but well done Wingers. You/we are a genuine force then. Heids might roll in BBC London for this.
BoB takes a dive = Bannockburn soars ahead
IScot £23,853
On subject of big UKOK wars, JC gave Lord Falconer Justice Sec job, the great democrat that he is. So Bomber Blair probably wont be going to the Hague war crimes court then. Strange crew Labour.
00.26
Bannockburn at 28%
Bannockburn 28%.
Great fun. Ha,ha!
Paula Rose
‘get all our pals in rest of UK to join party’
As Cameron B alluded to,get our friends in the Confucius Society to help out.
lol i can just see the BBC on the phone to GCHQ saying help us those evil cybernats are trolling our poll.
At least we will have given them some work tomorrow,Scottish cybernats keeping GCHQ in jobs.
Dont say we arnt good to you spooks lmao
@smithie (12.15) –
And there’s the rub…
We can get ‘Bannockburn’ to 40%, but it won’t make a jot of difference, because they will annul this poll, using the strangely prescient ‘terms and conditions’ in the link you provided.
It’s just a matter of when.
Will they let it go to Sep 18th? Or will they do a Carmichael, and call the whole thing off?
In any event, the blame will be laid on what are fast becoming the ‘usual suspects’ i.e. fanatical CyberNats.
Hey, who cares? We’ve given them another red-neck, and it’s no more than they deserved.
There is, now, a rather sad predictability about BBC behaviour. We should express solidarity for the many decent folk who continue to work for the ‘national broadcaster’, but it cuts both ways – the bias and belittling has gone on too long. The way in which this ham-fisted propaganda exercise has backfired – and so quickly! – should give food for thought to many, inside the BBC and beyond.
Yeah, we took this on as a bit of a ‘joke’, and no real harm has been done, but those responsible for planning and launching such projects should realise that they are not playing with fools – the loaded deck they always bring to the table will only carry them so far.
Turning point for Corbyn was Mairi Black’s maiden speech. JMO.
29% Bannockburn
Ian Brotherhood-yes but at least we’ll know they’ve fixed the result 🙂
Bannockburn 29% BoB 24% @ 1am
Well done Jimbo, Pope Martin V was wise
It’s all ‘our fault’. Rev wasn’t involved in this.
A wee reminder for those who are catching-up –
The BBC ‘Battle’ poll was flagged-up on this thread, and at 8.30 the stats were:
Battle of Britain – 29%
Battle of Hastings – 27%
Battle of Bannockburn – 13%
Right now:
Britain – 24%
Hastings – 21%
Bannockburn – 29%
Don’t take no Professor Curtice to work out that some serious shift happened there, right?
Four days to go though…IF they keep it open.
This is one we should watch very closely – they cannot afford to lose face, and will do everything to avoid it.
They’ve played a real stinker here – let’s not give them the chance to re-present it as anything but the complete howler it is.
They wont do Bannockburn. What and have BBCs fav Scot baiter Starkey admit that the outnumbered poor wee thick sweaties gubbed a brutal feudal military dictatorship. Just my peculiar take on it.
I can just see snarky Starkey foaming at the mouth.
Just voted Bannockburn and it is in the lead. yahoo.
Well you pop over to the tennis for the final and the BBC poll trashed…LOL!
Can’t believe it but, as they say, we’re in the UK for now it’s our £ and BBC too, we’re entitled to take an interest in our shared history. 🙂
The link will disappear like the vow! Well done all.
Oh anyone for tennis it’s been delayed by 2 hours.
http://neolive.net/29958/1/Watch-Federer-vs-Djokovic–Arhtur-Ashe-Stadium-/
Prof Curtis photo alert. 🙂
He’s dropping hints that the ‘new powers’ might be better as the subject of a referendum.
I can see it could by-pass the SG but on the otherhand it’s a referendum init and could go to the advantage of the ‘YES’ folk… if they were to vote NO to the new powers.
How strange!
link to archive.is
ha ha, Bannockburn is now 28%, “Battle of Britain” (WW II) 24% and Hastings 21%.
The BBC will soon “recalibrate” (=rig) the vote and make the programme they’d planned. Sycophantic UKOK BritNat WW II Battle of Britain guff.
Oh deary deary if they have to mention Bannockburn. But they’ll get around it. Bannockburn, where nasty Scotnats murdered good, honest Englishmen. Before the Scots saw the light and realised they’d better be ruled from Westminster and relegate their country to a region of greater England.
It was Scottish “nobles” who sold their country for places in London society. No wonder ordinary Scots to this day hold no truck with “nobility”.
The battle I’d choose isn’t on the BBC anglocentric list.
Dunnichen (AD 685) halted and ended Northumbrian Angles’ assaults on Scotland. But that isn’t a “Great British Battle”, because “Great British” means “English”. The Scots, Welsh and Irish should feel lucky to be dominated by such a master race.
Harsh words, but that’s what “Britishness” seems to mean nowadays. You Scots might think you’re Brits but you aren’t. Not if the English have a word in defining it. You’re insurgent, stupid Scots and should know your place!
@1.29
Britain – 24%
Hastings – 21%
Bannockburn – 30%
Ho-hum…
@ Ian Brotherhood 6:21 actually and not even a Scot but someone who is always helping us to get over the Finnish line.