The Formula
Have you ever wondered how you try to poison and shut down a debate and a political environment that you fear you’ve found yourself on the losing side of, readers? Well, it’s funny you should ask, because as it happens we’ve got a visiting professor – an expert authority on the subject – with us today to give us a demonstration.
Make sure you’ve got your pens and notepads ready. He’s got a very busy schedule and we can’t afford to have him here for long.
1. FIRST, GET EVERYONE GOOD AND ANGRY
You need to get yourself noticed, and in the modern world the easiest way to do that is to be a bit of a trolling dick. So start bashing out some wildly generalised and highly offensive abuse of large groups of people.
“Scottish nationalists and Brexiteers” covers perhaps 75% of Scotland (almost 50% of people vote SNP and 38% voted Leave, and the crossover is quite limited), so that’s a cracking start. Ideally say it in both the headline and the caption for added effect.
Of course, journalists often complain that headlines and picture captions are written by someone else (an editor or sub-editor), so make certain that you’ve said the same thing explicitly in the body copy of the article too so people know it was you.
Be sure to use the word “all” so that there’s no mistaking that you mean everyone in those categories, and if you can rope in another one while you’re there – “Corbynistas” – then that’s better still. You’ve now just called pretty much 80% of Scots “utterly vacuous”. With luck that should get them quite hacked off.
Make ridiculously over-the-top claims wherever you can. It might be quite a lark to suggest that political intolerance didn’t exist before 2014 and that it’s all the fault of Scottish people, for example. (Obviously you’d only actually mean Scottish people on one side of the argument.)
It helps if you can fire out derogatory and pejorative terms like “cybernats” to dismiss anyone who objects, or call them “deranged maniacs”. Crassly hinting at a likeness to the murderous sectarian bigots and terrorists of Northern Ireland might be fruitful.
Still, don’t stop there. You need to do it for a sustained period of time – six years, say – for it to really work, and you need to be in people’s faces at every turn.
So ensure that you churn out stuff for every possible outlet – not just the Herald but the Scotsman, the Daily Record, the Times, the Financial Times, the Guardian, the Telegraph, the New Statesman, the BBC, STV, Channel 4, the Independent, Scottish Review, Conservative Home, absolutely anyone who’ll have you – so that there’s absolutely no escape from your face and your spin for anyone who turns on the TV or radio, opens a newspaper or looks at political news on the internet.
Of course, those outlets are all one-way, which is ideal. You get to impose your views on people but they have no means of answering back (do airily announce that you’d never read BTL comments). This will likely prove quite frustrating for them, increasing their anger as you merrily mock and belittle them, which serves your purpose.
For advanced-level credit, regularly bemoan the “politics of hate” of the “cybernats” while not only ignoring that of the other side, but actively endorsing the most abusive proponents of it and joining in with their attempts to antagonise.
2. MAKE IT PERSONAL
It’s not enough just to have provocative opinions. If you really want people properly wound up you have to personalise it as much as possible, so you should make the most outrageous comparisons you can muster. Unfortunately Hitler’s been done to death already, so how about a more modern monster?
Donald Trump? Perfect. Now, you’ll probably need to have kept the personal attacks coming on a near-weekly basis for years to goad a response out of your subject:
But eventually you should get one, however brief and gently acidic:
You’re well on the way now. Perhaps try to get under the skin of other popular figures with snide, condescending comments based on out-of-context micro-quotes:
Then, like any troll, proudly show off the reaction you got:
And now you’re almost set.
3. THE BAIT-AND-SWITCH
Having invested years in making sure that everyone on one side of the debate has good reason to think you’re a complete arse and openly glorying in the fact that you’re needling them, it’s time to suddenly play the victim.
It needn’t take much, because we live in an age where you can just say you’ve been abused and expect to be believed without actually having to demonstrate the fact.
Twitter is the perfect medium for this move. Firstly you can close/hide your account so that people can’t easily expose your hypocrisy by pointing to all the times you’ve insulted them yourself. Helpfully, that also makes it a lot harder for sceptics to find any evidence of the bad things that have supposedly been said to you.
And with your own history wiped, it’s time to start rewriting it.
Barely 24 hours after flouncing off Twitter, you can have a column in the Times, in which you complain piteously (for money, natch) about “misrepresentation”, apparently having suffered a major self-awareness failure. You can bleat that a mild letters-page barb two years ago unleashed the hounds of Hell, or that being politely corrected by a politician amounts to a coded signal for a campaign of intimidation.
It’s important to emphasise that it’s never your fault for being wrong or deliberately provocative, of course. None of the subjects of your attacks, whether they be powerful politicians or powerless members of the public, are ever permitted legitimate anger in reaction to your provocation. They must simply endure it forever in meek silence, even when they’ve been obliged to pay for it through a legally-enforced licence fee.
They must ON NO ACCOUNT call you a “disgruntled walnut” or “angry Weetabix”, for example. The vacuous, dishonest, stupid, bullying cultist cyber-scum.
Congratulations! You’ve shaped public perception! Take the rest of the week off.
—————————————————————————————————
The worst attacks on David Torrance that anyone could show on Tuesday night were three tweets collated by – ironically – a highly abusive anonymous Unionist troll:
The first was in fact an ironic tweet from someone mocking the people who might talk that way. The second is undoubtedly pretty rude, but we’re not entirely convinced that “quisling prick” is orders of magnitude worse that “vacuous cybernat”. And the third was three weeks ago, so it’s a bit of a stretch to imagine it was what brought about his tearful fainting fit on Tuesday night.
And conspicuously, not a single one of them was actually addressed to Torrance or featured his Twitter @ tag, so the only way he’d have seen any of them at all was if he was searching for his own name. In 24 hours we have as yet found nothing nasty enough to conceivably merit a diva-esque walkout.
Social media is an open forum, on which other people have as much power as you. If you put yourself there, you better be prepared to deal with the reactions you elicit from people by what you do. That doesn’t mean you have to tolerate abuse – there are a wide range of built-in tools which can filter and block messages – but it does mean that you’re down in the stalls with everyone else, not pontificating from the safety of a media tower. You have to fight your corner.
It’d be easy to say that people like Torrance (and his thinkalike chum Chris Deerin of the Daily Mail, who also performed a loud Twexit last year, before scuttling back barely a week later) were simply a bunch of weedy snivelling hypocrites, delighted to dish it out but pathetically unable to take it.
But that would be too kind a judgement. Articles like the one in the Times today are part of a desperate and deliberate rearguard action against the democratisation of opinion, and an attempt to delegitimise anyone who would challenge the status quo.
The political landscape is shifting faster than anyone can keep up with, and those who see themselves as gatekeepers, interpreting events for the benefit of the poor dumb plebs, live in terror of being rendered obsolete by change and by ridicule. Any voices ranged against them must be tainted and discredited, painted as a vicious lynchmob of thugs and bullies. There’s no shortage of eager and willing mouthpieces.
The snide, sneering sarcasm is merely the house style. But engagement is precisely what Torrance and his ilk fear, because engagement means debate and debate means that people might expose all the holes in your arguments – the ones the Herald’s comment editors instantly delete in that nice safe walled and controlled environment.
In the light of an epic track record of spectacular wrongness, readers and viewers and listeners are increasingly realising that most political commentors are clueless and therefore pointless. They actually know nothing about politics, only the self-reinforcing circle-jerk outlook of their own tiny social clique of other hacks.
And with the media serving as the front line of the No campaign – more so than ever now that Scottish Labour has been left a shattered, broken mess by the last one – that would be a catastrophic loss for the Union.
So expect this routine to be played out many more times over the coming months and years (not just against independence, but also Jeremy Corbyn and anything else perceived as a threat to the existing order). Because the one thing that can never be allowed to happen is normal people being allowed to speak and think for themselves.
The formula is like a vaccine, to be deployed in greater and greater doses because the electorate (or as they’re seen by the punditariat, the virus) is developing immunity. And that, rather than a couple of nutters with placards outside a Tunnocks factory, is the “Scottish resistance” that has them quaking in their shoes.
The Americans call it a sweater vest!
Quite magnificent Stu. I’m assuming our hero will be wanting an autographed copy for his collection.
One of your best yet…..absolutely wonderful take-down of the pompous little arse.
So David Torrance wrote a valedictory tweet? I think the first four letters of that are superfluous.
Does that make me an abusive cybernat troll?
David Torrance = nomark best to be ignored
The wider truth is the MSM and their supporting commentators, I can’t call them journalists, are an affront to a democratic society. They have consistently supported and defended blatant untruths. Their demise or exit is no loss.
However his comments about ‘Ulsterisation’ were interesting. There are two distinct groups in Scotland. The UKOK (can do no wrong)and yes supporters. If you want to see the cultural difference see the Independence supporters in George Square and Unionists at Ibrox.
Yes has to break down the reasons they see ‘no wrong’ coming out of Westminster if yes2 is to win
UKOK supporters have to see that Westminster hold them with contempt and care nothing for their interests.
Interesting challenge
“The punditariat”. Love it.
David Torrance morphs into David Intolerance.
That’s a keeper.
Cracking post.
Professional political pundits are getting more and more desperate. They realize their self-importance is being rightfully degraded on a daily basis by intelligent internet commentators. Britnat newspapers and television still demand a haughty respect to which they are clearly not entitled, hence the hissy fits from britnat journalists. People like Torrance and McTernan are just not good enough at their jobs. The more they realize this the more they demand attention. Silly little boys.
I took your advice about a year ago, to read everything from start to finish…a lesson in life I’m thankful for but I really enjoyed reading this, thanks.
Stuart, what an utterly self-indulgent, deluded load of old bollocks.
When you’ve recovered from your lovers tiff with Mr. Torrance (which looks like it won’t be for a while) I recommend you re-read this “formula” and ask yourself how much of it you have applied to your own little operation.
Torrance the Disgruntled Walnut is really good. He’ll sneak back, and then he’ll leave and on it’ll go, toryboy style.
Combine UK media’s relentless monstering of Scots and JC voters that wont vote how the Disgruntled Walnut says, with tory BBC led media shrieking Scotland’s a shithole with SNP Scots.gov at us, all makes for rather creepy stuff though.
Classic Disgruntled Walnut puffery , rancid The Graun style. Graun’s toryboys do like their Scottish tories alright.
link to archive.is
Hmmm, I wonder if Torrance is the very first BritNat meeja propagandist to realise that the rubbish he writes is actually counter-productive to his cause…
…no, not that degree of self-awareness…?
…surely not…?
I conducted a snapshot of the mood on the nation this morning. Well it was with a few pensioners at the Pensioners Club when enjoying a cup of tea. I asked them what they thought of David Torrance? Blank faces all around. One did say that her relative in Kirkcaldy said he was a good MSP. There you have it folks. Nobody cares.
Hi all
I saw the latest A and E stat for Scotland and the famous 4 hour wait – 95.6% versus target of 95
I have been googling for the equvalent in the other 4 nations with no luck so far
I have been wanting to get them out there before the like of Torrence or the BBC manipulates them
A fantastic unravelling of the Fair Isle nitwit.
His income depends on being noticed. Some years ago, he admitted that he had moved to London in search of work, but the landslide electoral success of the SNP and the Referendum have been lucky for someone always available. The recent flurry of attention-seeking abuse suggests that the career is not advancing as well as he would like. The problem is that people see him as a chatterer, not someone to be taken seriously, and his outbursts confirm that.
The evisceration of an egotistical blowhard. Splendid.
Top photo – Horace Broon.
This article needs to be used as an answer every time Daisley et al come to Torrance’s defence.
Torrance is one of the most opportunistic of his breed but what is most annoying is that he is actually a very poor analyst and writer.
Love the bit about political commentators being useless.
The thing is they should stick to commentating ie passing an opinion on something.
It’s when they try to make forecasts they make complete arses of themselfs.
Hotershall is now a widely acclaimed idiot (largely by his own hand)
There are more but the childish crap Torrence is coming out with indicates he is vying for the pack leader job.
In a pack of disrespectfull manipulative, lying arseholes that’s quite an ambition.
I suppose it was necessary to combat the twat Torrance as you have above, but I can’t help feeling it was all a terrible waste of your valuable time…
Mr Torrance writes in his Blog:-
“About Me”:-
“……………… a year and a half working as Parliamentary Aide to the Shadow Scottish Secretary David Mundell at the House of Commons.”
2006-2007.
I suppose that may,just may make him a Tory.
Torrance is claiming that he has been misrepresented on his ‘Scottish Six’ appearance. So what exactly was the point he was trying to make? For the life of me I can’t see anything deeper than the ‘too stupid’ line that has been rightly mocked.
Spot on.
@Martin Richmond,
At least the Rev stays to fight his corner.
I am keen to know what the line in the sand is between me being a “useful Idiot” and a “Vile Cybernat” especially as I now have a bag For life proclaiming me to already be a “Vile Cybernat” .
Yours in the hope of being “Useful”
Brilliant, thank you Stuart.
That’s quite a list of media outlets paying for David Torrance’s musings. It’s been said that some journalists are just intellectual prostitutes. Well, it seems Torrance is halfway there.
I was astonished (yes, that word is still available for use) when DT sat spouting his deep technical, and operational, knowledge of broadcast media for all to hear and appreciate.
The only appreciation it actually brought though, was of his own shallow self importance.
I would dearly love to know what actually brought about his curtailing of twitter output. My own best guess is that it is simply to get his article “click rate” up and so bolster his own potential earnings. He probably doesn’t have any other means of income because he is, more than likely, talent-less and unskilled in any real workplace or business sense.
If anyone sees a direct link to his MSM outpourings, best not click on that. If someone else has provided an archived version, fill yer boots.
Let’s not encourage the his trolling behaviour.
Why the tories will always need the Disgruntled Walnut and his creepy chums, in all Scottish newsrooms.
link to archive.is
Theresa May has been dragged further into the controversy about honours after it emerged that her leadership campaign was given £35,000 by two Tory donors put forward for a knighthood and peerage by David Cameron.
May’s campaign received £15,000 from Ian Taylor, the oil executive at Vitol and funder of the pro-EU campaign, who asked not to be given an honour following an outcry over Cameron’s list.”
@Martin Richmond 3:18pm
Hi David, how are you today? Feeling better?
Aye Weetabix McWeetabix face certainly gets noticed in that cracking tank top.
( A total “cereal” trumpet)
As always cracking post Stu.
I honestly have nothing positive to say about David Torrance. He pedals opinion as fact and facts as negative propaganda.
Would have more respect for him if he declared his political interests.
Oh dear. It is coming back to me know. Some time ago on a different thread there was a picture of him in his bedroom wearing a ‘Scottish Resistance’ tee-shirt. I remarked at the time his bedroom was an absolute mess, very untidy indeed, most unhygienic . If that has driven him off twitter then I do apologise.
Has he ever not whined?
link to davidtorrance.com
What a delightful soul. What I really like about him, apart from the political and spiritual similarity to Anne Coulter, is his earnest contributions and suggestions to the real and actual problems and opportunities that Scotland has and the SNP are doing something about.
Oh wait.
There is a telling irony in that journionists like Torrance, Daisley, Deerin et al see themselves as the amplifiers and champions of public opinion, yet the last people they want to engage with are members of the public with an opinion. I guess journalism was easier when you could spew out 6,000 words of twaddle and assume the reader agreed with every word. No means to disagreed equalled no disagreement.
Torrance hasn’t flounced off Twitter, he has returned to the glory days unargued self-righteousness.
Meh, I’ve said far worse about Torrance, they just didn’t look far enough back.
He’s a faux-intellectual hipster douche – that particular comment was when we was trying to convince an audience down in London that he’d faced Jo Cox levels of political violence during indyref because if what he writes about “The Nats”
The boy’s a rank arsehole & his patter is mince.
“I suppose it was necessary to combat the twat Torrance as you have above, but I can’t help feeling it was all a terrible waste of your valuable time…”
Had anything else been going on I wouldn’t have. But it’s a really slow news day, and it’s a useful future generic reference point.
Saw him in the flesh at the Holyrood launch of English Scots for Yes in the run up to the referendum. He had cycled to the event and, on seeing him, he immediately reminded me of that other oddball that used to stalk the powerful and famous a few years ago: Dennis Pennis! (Look him up on YouTube).
Good one Stu, well done.
The vast majority of these ‘journalists’ have sunk below the level of the gutter press. They peddle insidious propaganda in a fraudulent manner and are a disgrace to their trade. It amazes me there aren’t more honorable and experienced individuals getting together to offer a true alternative.
Same goes for bankers and Labour MPs.
What a mess we’re in.
How does Torrance think in anyway shape or form that you start a debate by insulting the people you disagree with. I fundamentally disagreed with everything Cameron did when PM. I detest his party’s right wing agenda. But I can’t think of any occasion where I personally insulted him on twitter and ran away.
Some unionists wish to insult and condemn rather than debate. Then they are surprised when people stand up to their abuse and bite back. Salmond who is a moderate left leaning person. Has been compared to every dictator that ever lived. There is no truth in the insults in fact he is the opposite he is a democrat. But why let the truth get in the way of a good insult or your agenda. It’s like me calling Theresa May a leftie or Marxist. It’s a good insult but has no bearing on reality. The SNP are the most left wing mainstream party in the UK. Yet Salmond and Sturgeon are compared to dictators! Lazy ,lazy venomous journalism. Torrance does not have a shred of decency, insight or credibility.
“I recommend you re-read this “formula” and ask yourself how much of it you have applied to your own little operation.”
Yawn. I block abusive people, I retweet any especially funny ones, I alert Twitter/the police to any apparent genuine threats and I get on with my day.
I expect there to be rudeness on the internet, and I freely admit that I contribute some of it myself on occasion. It’s just words, ffs. Unlike Mr Torrance, though, I’m not a massive fucking hypocrite about it. You won’t see me flouncing off sobbing into my hanky because some wee Loyalist bedwetter (or emeritus professor from Edinburgh) called me nasty names, as happens at least a hundred times every single day.
It is funny to note that we have a Tory clique masquerading as Brian Spanner. That is the connection between them all Tory leanings. They are as vulgar and crass as any cybernat I have ever met or read,.
However,they have to hide behind pseudonyms. They are not brave enough as you have witnessed by David boy trying to get out of the glare when challenged.
They are also mindful of tank commander Ruthie being averse to being associated with their out of hour activities. Cowards every one. Tory cowards. Spoilt wee boys who run and clipe to their dad when pulled up by Joe public.
I wouldn’t want them on my side in a tight corner. They are the guys who start a fight then go “to get help” leaving you to get on with it. I despise them.
Marcia, the problem this boy has is that his core audience, his peer group, will think him a bit soft, after all they lived through the War, had fathers lost, or friends or relations killed in battle, so him saying that someone called him a name , like walnut face, won’t endear him at the local pensioners club, more likely some old dear will slap his privileged puss!
I actual have spent far too much time commenting on this nonentity , but as a valedictory, can I relate an actual conversation I had today with a real living person, we spoke using speech and face to face, I will call this new mode of communication “Face Time”.
I was doing me usual, leaning against something sturdy to take my weight, when a bloke passed and asked me what was so funny, I explained about the twitter exchange, and about the “victim”, “oh” he said, “FWP”, “What” ? “FWP” he said,” what’s that”? “Well my wife says it like this, right now somewhere in the world a woman is actually trying to rip her own heart out with her fingers, as she screams over her dead child’s body, at the same time a man is shouting cause a kid has accidently hit his car with a ball, and his wife is shouting because she has spilled a drink on her new dress”.
“FFS, mate” I said “that’s bloody grim!”, “Yes”, he said “that’s third world problems, compared to first world”!
I think I like the false world of twitter better than real life, hurt in the real world seams a lot more painful, and well, real!
Sigh, if only the rest of the knuckle dragging cyberyoons would disappear so easily.
Having said that, they’ll probably all have a go at the drama ‘exit slash return’ agenda for maximum Yoon ‘look at me, I’m a victim’ publicity.
Hi Rev, I enjoyed reading that, he well deserves it. Thanks.
Effijy @ 3.31 when I read the fluffy connection I started to wonder if they ever shared their lunch…”Two ‘sliver of sardine’ for a crumb of mince David”?
Brilliant work sir.
He’ll be back within the week on Twitter or else: in a year, we’ll be asking David who? And searching on the Wings site for a mention of him, only to find this article making us smile again.
*Round of applause*
T
The only time I have heard,read or seen any remarks or print by this guy Torrance is on here.
Have I led a sheltered life, or am I watching/reading/listening to the wrong things?
This stushie sounds a bit personal.
This is quite simply a thing of beauty & a joy to behold.
As posted yesterday, I have some news from George, the chap who initiated the petition against Blatant BBC Bias, against Scottish Independence.
I can share some of the comments that he sent me below:
“Firstly, OFCOM are not interested in issues such as this! The BBC are, to all intents and purposes, self regulating. When I contacted them about bias reporting and this petition they directed me to BBC trust who in turn simply replied “no. there was no bias”.
I can empathise with George as I have taken things up to the highest BBC level possible, but their UKOK Computer says No.
The so Called !Trust at the BBC is the Criminal, the Jury, and Judge. They are just Tory Toffs destined to rule over us from an untouchable position.
Their number includes Rona Fairhead, who held one of the senior roles at the HSBC Bank that was found to be Money Laundering and encouraging Tax avoidance.
She only gets £110,000 per annum at the BEEB for popping in to say No to the plebs accusations of corruption.
Well you could give a Tory Toff who lives next door to ITV’s fictional Downton Abbey.
As Westminster, the BBC, Ofcom and England in general don’t give a Damn about Scotland, Democracy, or the Petition, we hope to send 100,000 signatures to the Scottish Government as yet further proof that Scotland knows their game and that we will not allow it to continue.
It may also land on a desk in the Hague as I cannot see why this corrupt establishment is not held accountable through normal E.U.legal channels.
So far, Scotland has 90,630 Signatures that say the BBC IS
Blatantly Biased. What do you have to say?
link to you.38degrees.org.uk
Martin Richmond says:
4 August, 2016 at 3:18 pm
Stuart, what an utterly self-indulgent, deluded load of old bollocks.
Well you can hardly argue with the end Martin?
“So expect this routine to be played out many more times over the coming months and years (not just against independence, but also Jeremy Corbyn and anything else perceived as a threat to the existing order). Because the one thing that can never be allowed to happen is normal people being allowed to speak and think for themselves.”
Don’t you find yourself listening, reading and watching UKOK tory meeja shite and wondering and wishing you could emigrate, to anywhere that’s owned by toryboys, its that shite and run by the most awful con-artists, like the Disgruntled Walnut?
Martin Richmond says:
4 August, 2016 at 3:18 pm
Stuart, what an utterly self-indulgent, deluded load of old bollocks.
Well you can hardly argue with the end Martin?
“So expect this routine to be played out many more times over the coming months and years (not just against independence, but also Jeremy Corbyn and anything else perceived as a threat to the existing order). Because the one thing that can never be allowed to happen is normal people being allowed to speak and think for themselves.”
Don’t you find yourself listening, reading and watching UKOK tory meeja shite and wondering and wishing you could emigrate, to anywhere that’s NOT owned by toryboys, its that shite and run by the most awful con-artists, like the Disgruntled Walnut?
Ohhhh bugger. Brompton enthusiast.
Well I don’t care, they’re still great bikes. He can’t ruin that for me. I don’t ride mine in a tank top, more likely a Madness t-shirt or one with a skull playing a harmonica.
Putting the hilarious banter aside for a tick, Torrance deserves to face serious questioning over what he’s written.
Most of what he writes appears to be basic SNP-bad guff and some is just sheer sophistry based on circular reasoning and wobbly metaphors. Fair do’s – he’s got to write something. But the ‘Ulsterisation’ stuff is dangerous. I’m not aware of anyone in the MSM directly calling him out over such reckless drivel.
Dear God, all that work to get noticed but the good thing is the people who have heard of him think he is a total clueless idiot.
Now with his twexit, he comes across as a namby pamby wee wean, as well as a total, clueless idiot
Best to ignore the poor sod. I must confess I always have ignored him.
Third world Problems for a first world slow news day
The Syrian Network for Human Rights recently published a report detailing the death toll in Syria throughout July 2016. The total deaths included 1557 civilian victims. Over 1,000 of which at the hands of the Regime and Russian forces.
The largest civilian causalities were at the hands of the Syrian Regime, with a total of 769 civilians, including 253 children and 197 women throughout July 2016. The second largest portion of civilian casualties were at the hands of Russian forces, with a total of 239 civilians, including 66 women and 105 children. They also report 156 victims fell as a result of ISIS, including 33 children and 14 women.
In addition to the casualties within Syria, the SNHR also detailed the drowning of fleeing refugee’s over sea’s or bombing. They documented 97 civilians, including 36 children and 39 women.
As part of their report, the SNHR calls for the Security Council and international entities to do their part in stopping the acts against civilians, especially those perpetrated by the Syrian Regime.
Least we forget, “in the going down of the sun and in the morning”
DO NOT OPEN THIS LINK IF YOU ARE OFFENDED BY TWITTER AS IT SHOWS A REAL THIRD WORLD PROBLEM CAUTION I AM NOT KIDDING link to iamsyria.org
Phew… A quick Google finds that he uses a Brompton M3R. I don’t have one of those and it’s not a great choice for using in Scotland.
O/T
link to facebook.com
Tribute to Trump Oh Shit lol.
@Quentin Quale 3:34 pm
I was trying to come up with a half decent monicker for the poor snowflake to help soothe his wounded ego. I thought perhaps something big and manly, such as David “Big Man” Torrance, perhaps.
However, having been inspired by your post, and that of @Iain 3:26 pm, I think I have it:
“The always available David Torrance”.
‘The only time I have heard,read or seen any remarks or print by this guy Torrance is on here.’
From the little I have seen of him, he just talks crap. He tends to say what he would like to happen rather than what is reality, so to be honest you have not missed out on anything.
This line about “political commentators” what is that?
I suppose not so long ago it applied only to media journalists both on the telly and in the papers. Now that the plebs have become “political commentators” in their own right I can only guess that a few journalists have had their noses put out of joint and don’t like it one bit.
Everyone posting here is now a “political commentator”, so too those expressing an opinion on various newspaper website. We now have an opinion on politics and those that read Wings get to see what they are. Our voices are becoming louder and more noticeable while “theirs” are weakening along with their influence.
I intend to keep commenting on politics that affect me and everyone around me and if the likes of Mr Torrance decide to take the huff then all the better.
David Torrance’s own vacuous comments about Scots and Scotland are what caused him to quit Twitter not non existent cybernat abuse as he claims.
#TorranceNoMore
Ho-hum!
Good stuff!
“… readers and viewers and listeners are increasingly realising that most political commentors are clueless …. And with the media serving as the front line of the No campaign … that would be a catastrophic loss for the Union.”
Indeed. Fast evaporating are the days when a political pundit would explain it all to the plebs who would take that explanation as a fair appraisal of a situation.
Looks like the pro Union block in IndyRef2 will essentially comprise a damaged and discredited media along side the Ruth ‘Not Really Tory’ Davidson Party, backed up by London mischief making behind the scenes. A motley crew, for sure.
And, of course, Rev., unlike the BritNatz (remember how they would never turn up for public debates during IndyRef#1 in order to shut down debate?), WoS will afford Mr Torrance the right to reply (should he so wish). That’s because on this side of the debate, Mr Torrance, we are bigger people and, unlike your side, have nothing to fear from open debate.
You have a lot to learn, Mr Torrance. Not only will you be on the wrong side of the debate, you will find yourself on the wrong side of history. And redundant.
Which leads to the question. How much damage can the UK inflict on Scotland before the loyalists change their minds? The answer is there is nothing. They will support the UK when they are on a drip in hospital on their last legs! These people are anesthetised to the pain inflicted upon their nation and it’s democracy.
They will be dragged kicking and screaming to independence. Thank God some of us can see and fight for democracy everyday.
Superb article, well played sir.
The irony of folks like Daisley, who throw in their 2 pence worth, using exactly the same tone as those nasty cybernat “attackers” is off the chart. Of course, we can’t highlight that point to them (even nicely) as we become vile for even daring to converse with the ‘media elite’
David may look like he is from Happy Days but he is no Fonz.
He has however jumped the shark.
This level of trolling is almost at attention seeking level and may be more to do with David’s profile level than any attempt to help the Yoons. In truth I think David would happily throw the Yoons under a bus if it raised his career profile…..doesn’t make him a bad person 🙂
I enjoyed that put down of the loathsome Brit Nat toady walnut Torrance. It is thoroughly deserved in the case of the peeved walnut.
OT now
The bullying tactics employed by the BBC against an outspoken Yes supporter in Andy Robertson are of course acceptable to the Brit Nats and illustrates for me another reason just why the BBC must go. Especially when it is okay for individuals like a certain alleged historian that they have employed is allowed to slag off with impunity those that just happen to pay their wages.
David Torrance should stick to golf.
No, hang on.
Sorry, I’m confusing him with someone who has real talent.
I would be happy if this was the last thing ever written about David Torrance: it’s absolutely perfect. Everything he writes is a simple variation of the great childhood phrase: “NO YOU.”
When he writes something incredibly stupid, & people suggest he is intellectually vacuous (as I have on a few occassions, prompted by his seemingly wilful lack of critical thinking beyond the basest level), his response is “no, friend, it is you who is intellectually vacuous.”
When he writes a spiteful and borderline libellous screed, & people suggest he is being provocative and offensive, he responds “on the contrary, it is you who is being nasty and abusive.”
This part always gets me:
1. Please list which items of “Yes Scotland’s Project Fear” were wrong.
2. How can we possibly know which of Better Together’s Project Fear were “more or less bang on” when we are not independent? The entire point is that BT’s PF was about what would happen if Scotland became independent. Yes Scotland’s “Project Fear,” whatever that is, would surely have been based on what would happen if Scotland remained in the UK.
We have no way of knowing if BT’s PF would’ve been right or wrong because WE ARE NOT INDEPENDENT RIGHT NOW. We DO, however, have an idea of whether Yes Scotland were right or not, because WE. ARE. NOT. INDEPENDENT. RIGHT. NOW.
It’s really simple, yet Mr Torrance cannot, or will not, understand:
“If we stay in the UK, these bad things will happen, but if we become independent, these good things will happen” – Yes Scotland
“If we become independent, these bad things will happen, but if we stay in the UK, these good things will happen” – Better Together
Only one of these two situations can be tested, to see which was “bang on” or not. And oh, look at this, someone wrote a freaking book about it.
link to theweeblackbook.com
I don’t care whether Mr Torrance stays or goes. I do care about the “winners” of the indyref constantly evading the consequences of their “victory.”
Torrance should fold up his tent same as he folds up his wee foldy bike an fek off.
David Wardrope says:
“we become vile for even daring to converse with the ‘media elite’”
Yes indeed.
Apart from the cause they fight, there is an issue of status and prestige. They are the professionals, the elite, full of entitlement and exceptionalism. And on the level playing field of Twitter, that all evaporates. They become just one more angry Unionist, fearful as they watch their world dissolve like sna’ aff a dyke.
Hamish McTavish at 3:38 pm
@Martin Richmond 3:18pm
“Hi David, how are you today? Feeling better?”
Is Martin not Edinburgh’s irrepressible letter writer Martin Redfern?
I am surprised that so many take Torrance so seriously.
His Salmond biography, written in Sep 2010, ends with the prediction that Salmond will step down as SNP leader in a year’s time after he has lost the 2011 election.
His Sturgeon biography, in Jan 2015, concludes that Sturgeon will need to develop a coherent ideology if the SNP is ever to replace Labour as the natural party of government in Scotland.
Both his conclusions were soon overtaken by electoral events
“His Salmond biography, written in Sep 2010, ends with the prediction that Salmond will step down as SNP leader in a year’s time after he has lost the 2011 election.”
Please tell me you’ve got a picture of that page 😀
Absolutely one to savour! A brilliant deconstruction of Torrance’s self centred, self righteous, self important right to dish it out, whilst at the same time, brooking no dissent from the great unwashed cybernattery!
Careful now Ronnie! I was round your bit in my big nasty car earlier so no messing with folding bikes.
Oooops, that might come across as a bit threatening. I’ll stick to the bike.
Gullane No 4 @ 15:55:
If you have missed him, you’re probably watching/reading/listening to the right things!
Not least the BBC. In that regard I believe that there is more to this latest spat than first meets the eye. Torrance’s antipathy to a “Scottish 6”, shared by all his fellow BritNats, is actually not new. Which is why he was chosen to go on the telly by someone upstairs in BBC News who wanted a voice to oppose the recent recommendation made by an HoC committee.
Without the BBC’s beloved “balance” on the issue, please note.
Torrance has been the BBC’s goto yoon rentaquote, but after a bad audience reaction to the anti-Scottish smear, has been hung out to dry by them. Maybe that’s really why he has flounced off in a huff now.
Lots of people make a fanny of themselves on TV. Torrance has a unique way of doing so in such a cock sure and condescending manner. Some people on twitter said aloud what Clive Myrie, the interviewer, was thinking. Clive has called someone a dickhead live on TV before so Torrance got off lightly as Myrie was probably biting his lip this time.
The best thing to come out of it so far is the response above from Stuart, absolutely spot on.
The Torrance bubble was burst by hundreds of what he would call little pricks on twitter. Isn’t it great when the reader can fight back! They don’t like it up em Capt Mainwaring they don’t like it up em.
link to youtube.com
It is I find the usual tactic of a bully to play the victim with an eye on winning an Oscar or a BAFTA. They don’t like it up them Capt. Mannering. Torrance certainly didn’t like him. The Brit Nats don’t tolerate anybody standing up to them.
All joking aside, is anyone running a sweepstake on how many days ‘@davidtorrance does not exist’ will actually be true for.
How someone who made a living from “unauthorised biographies” even became a political known political pundit is beyond my ken!.
The Yoons always have to seek out compliant voices, I guess that must be it, and of course that meets his self promotion ideas perfectly.
Knowing Yoonery advocates, will be need for a while yet, he has found a good source for “work” himself to cling to,in the hope of being Somebody!.
After Indy2, he will become a renown “Expert”, and superb political pundit. He known Scotland will not cut it for him, but he will be asked for thoughts in Yoonland, to satisfy the their opinions of Scotland.
Here in our country, no one pays the slightest bit of attention to him, and he knows it.
Must be difficult when your a nobody wanting to be a somebody.
Yon Mararet Hilda Roberts had the right idea, deny them the oxygen of publicity.
A simple: “Aye Right Davie” comment might work.
Sorry a couple of typo’s in last post.
Note to UKOK political commentators… Johnston Press shares fall to all time low.
The company said in its interim report that it had wiped £217m off the carrying value of its local newspapers, around 46% of the total, to reflect current trading performance and reduced growth expectations.
It meant that at a statutory level, Johnston Press reported a first half pre-tax loss of £183.7m.
The heavy impairment was unveiled alongside trading that missed even grim expectations for the debt-laden publisher.
link to archive.is
Socrates MacSporran says:
4 August, 2016 at 4:39 pm
Yon Mararet Hilda Roberts had the right idea, deny them the oxygen of publicity.
The late Linda Smith had an even simpler idea. Deny them the oxygen of oxygen.
Hmmmm, might upset some people of course.
OT Every cloud….
Johnston Press shares plunge to all-time low after massive writedown
Yorkshire Post and Scotsman publisher reports £184m pre-tax loss after wiping 40% off the value of its local newspapers
link to archive.is
This is the journalistic (Ha) equivalent of Murphy’s egg.
POOR ME! 🙁
Pity yhe did not learn from JM. Crude attention seeking and victim playing ultimately results in self harm (not that anyone will notice).
[…] Wings Over Scotland The Formula Have you ever wondered how you try to poison and shut down a debate and a political […]
Got my badges today – Yippee!
As I lovingly pinned the black “Vile Cyber Natz” one on, I thought of Torrance. What a silly boy he is. His antics have helped this almost 60 year old “auld wifie” to be a Strong Independance Voter.
Thanks David – for making sure I haven’t turned out like you.
I think one of mi5’s usefull idiots has sat the dummy oot lol.J ust like a bad dose of the shits he will be back.
Oh dear Mr Torrance. Have you no heard that old Scottish adage ” if it’s no ill tae gie, it’s no ill tae tak. Petit wean.
Great article Rev, thoroughly enjoyed it. Well done sir.
Giving it a month before he is back.
Attention whores love the drama.
“After all the encouragement from well-wishers, I have decided not to be silenced by nasty cybernats. Now here is a link to my latest hypocritical rant”
Stu, my hat goes off to you, you’ve nailed it there! Absolutely perfect summing up
link to change.org
Might sign this. A whole hour of the Bird and toodle oo the noo is probably worse than a water boarding. “I’m now joined by a Disgruntled Walnut, David, isn’t Scotland shite?” “Good evening Jacky, yes Scotland really is shite, but like you I love Scotland too, its just that its so shite, and we cant even point a tv camera properly let alone have our own currency, and those cybernats eh?”
Thank you David Torrance.
I fail to see how you could call yourself a journalist and NOT be on twitter Part of the job I would imagine?
If you’re going to use every available media platform to directly insult people’s hopes dreams values and ambitions the least you can expect is that those same people who don’t have recourse to media platforms will find a way to express their irritation in whatever form is available to them
This should demonstrate to all “Journalists” that their opinions are simply that, opinions, and no more or less valid than anyone else’s
Political analysis and opinion by it’s very nature doesn’t make it a fact it only makes it something someone thought of
Problem with “Journalists” is they think they’re the only learned enough people to voice a more informed opinion, which in itself is an arrogance too far and when they’re wrong, which is a lot of the time (even if they’re honest)they don’t want to admit it as they feel even being wrong is still preferable to being a punter
People don’t need to be schooled in the written word to take offence, and take offence they should and good for them for doing it
David Torrance and others of his despicable ilk deserve no more or less than they get and reap entirely what they sew
If they stand by their billious scribblings or TV squawks as gospel and truth they should be able to repeat those same words in any pub cafe or street to the folk they enjoy denigrating in their various “Newspapers” and remember to take along a camera so we can all watch Police Scotland remove them from the premises for incitement
I double dare them
@ Mr Torrance and his ilk,(who are without doubt reading WOS!)
To quote John Lennon,
You can live a lie until you die,one thing you can’t hide is
when your crippled inside.
Socrates MacSporran says:
4 August, 2016 at 4:39 pm
“Yon Mararet Hilda Roberts had the right idea, deny them the oxygen of publicity”.
Reading that name again reminds me of all the times I have read of how the young Mrs T learned all she knew about politics by being a simple shopkeeper’s daughter from Grantham. Well I lived through the destruction of her reign and the resulting devastation celebrated by blue and red tories alike, and I ain’t impressed.
I commented on Wings a few days ago on how Thatcher changed the wealth equation from
Wealth = Resources + Labour
to
Wealth = Resources + Profit.
I can only assume, from the state BS and it’s effects, that the young Margaret Hilda spent much of her childhood listening to her father rage that paying his employees was bleeding him dry.
“So expect this routine to be played out many more times over the coming months and years (not just against independence, but also Jeremy Corbyn and anything else perceived as a threat to the existing order). Because the one thing that can never be allowed to happen is normal people being allowed to speak and think for themselves”
You don’t say!
link to mark-russell.net
Torrance lunches at either the Tollbooth or Cannon’s Gait when he’s at Holyrood ,am no trolling him honest,but i’ll put the wind up him that people note these things
Wee Foldy Bike man ,should that no be a BamPot foldy bike that Torrance rides.
Nice to see what’s left of the Labour Party activists in Scotland coming to the rescue of poor Tory David at his greatest time of need.
According to Duncan Horthersall of Edingburgh Labour CLP, Torrance has been “hounded off twitter by useful idiots”. Who are those useful idiots Duncan? Care to name some or even one?
The useful idiots apparently “believed liars who deliberately smeared him”. I do wonder who the liars were and what the alleged smears actually were. I note no mention of abuse just smears.
That’s what remains of yer Labour Party right here in Scotland.
An apologist for a right wing media hack who would talk down Scots and describes more than half the population as “vacuaous” and “intolerant” as well as stating that the “Ulsterisation of Scottish politics is complete”
What a disgrace Torrance and Hothersall are to the majority of Scots.
Ooh there’s two
link to change.org
“We would urge the BBC to resist these demands from the SNP as they are not the representative view. We would urge the BBC to continue to serve Scotland as it does now to ensure that we continue to receive the high quality and variety of programmes that we currently enjoy, including the UK 6 O’clock news”
I do like cake. Watching people baking cake is also great. More cake programs and royals worshipping, and stuff about world war 2, and England winning the world cup in 1966, and the one show, its so shit it makes you get up off the couch and go outside. A national treasure.
I think the best turn of phrase to describe the witterings of Mr T and his ilk is “EGO TRIPE”.
Am posting to slowly.
Make yer feking mind up, am ah Two finger typisst an they Two Fingers ur pointed upwards the noo. lol
He really fancies that his sharp pen and wit will be the great slayer of the vile cybernats; that he, Davy Torrance, will be regarded by his Yoonyoonist acolytes and luvvies (you know who you are) as the ToryBoy (or is tha John-Boy) who single-handedly slayed those who see Indy as the best way to improve life for everyone in Scotland and, in return, will fawn all over him with the adulation he clearly craves and feels he thoroughly deserves.
In short – a fud.
Torrance is just the bottom end of the British Bullying Cohort comprised of inelegant and unintelligent “Reporters” and “correspondents. The bullying starts with Westminster, down through the “impartial” BBC, various non-entity lower end politicians and ending with the media whores and Torrances of this world. They all have one thing in common – they are bullies and when they are challenged they become what they are at the core of their being … “COWARDS”!!
There is however, a deeper question that needs asked about the likes of Torrance. The media generally claims to represent the views of society, yet in Scotland it does nothing of the kind.
At present trend polling data suggests just fractionally more people in Scotland support independence than oppose it. Even being generous and saying it is 50:50, we still cannot fail to see the massive disconnect between the bulk of the media in Scotland regarding independence, and reality. Day after day, silly anti independence story after another, with barely a pause for anything resembling coherent analysis.
Twenty or thirty years ago, when support for independence was much lower, the media kind of matched how things were in reality – most people did NOT support independence. Now, here in 2016, with at least half of voting Scots supporting independence the media is completely out of touch.
This I think, is the root of the problem. The media in Scotland is presenting viewpoints such as those espoused by Torrance, which really belong in a different decade. In effect the media has not/will not adapt to the altered political REALITY in Scotland.
Torrance is just one voice among many in the unionist commentariat which dominates Scottish political media. They are from a time when such commentators could effectively ‘preach from on high’, immune from criticism, able to willfully insult and smear with impunity any and all people who support independence. Those days are gone, and it’s time they were too.
I personally couldn’t care less if Torrance is off Twitter, in my mind he merely replays the same tired old unionist tosh we used to see 20 or 30 years ago in Scotland. Devoid of any apparent understanding of the political reality where most Scots actively now vote SNP, and where half the population support independence, his voice has become an irrelevant and frankly rather tiresome drone.
Cogent political debate in Scotland has moved on and left the maddox’s and Torrance’s behind. They are yesterday’s men, punting tired and irrelevant insults regarding Scotland. By clinging to such outdated and cliched unionist argumentation, they have sealed their own fate in much the same way as has happened with the dying papers which employ them.
Political reality is changing very quickly in Scotland and such people just haven’t kept up.
We need new dynamic progressive pro independent writing and thinking in Scotland, which represents political reality, rather than some kind of wistful unionist nirvana from times of yore. Rule Britannia? Aye right.
The sooner we see Scotland’s political reality reflected properly in OUR media in Scotland, the better – for Scotland AND the media.
I always saw David Torrance as a conceited little man, who’s own self insignifance, will mean one day he’ll disappear up his own arse.
Will he be missed? I very much doubt it.
HandandShrimp 4:17
Surely you meant “Happy Daze” rather than “happy days” in your reference to The Fonz!!!
Re my previous comment “Insignificance” my apologies.
@ Heedtracker 5.25pm (bbc petition) Geogina Sparrow = Uk union voice.
Ashley Highfield who is CEO of the now near worthless Johnston Press (Scotsman) was a big name in the birth of digital media at the BBC,
his main claim to fame/infamy at the BBC was DMI (Digital Media Initiative)
it lost the BBC licence holders £100,000,000 before it was scrapped,
the House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts defines the project as a “complete failure”
he lost the BBC £100 fricken million,his project is called by UK Gov a complete failure,
and yet he is asked by same UK Gov to be part of renewing the Royal Charter for the BBC which expires in Dec 2016,
no wonder his newspapers are faithful campaigners for the Unionist Establishment.
lickspittle,
`a person who behaves obsequiously to those in power`.
Nice one Rev lol
Aye no BBC standard blah blah piss off to complaints on the internet.
These scribblers(i refuse to call them journalists)seem to think that they have immunity and that the masses should not be responding to them except to agree,i blame the sheltered existance they have on the dead tree press who moderate everything to make it look like they have no criticism.
So these big headed bawbags when online deserve to have their ego bust and a reality check that this is not the dead tree press and there is no mod going to rush to protect them from public scrutiny.
Loved the weetabix number nearly bust a rib laughing at that one the other night 🙂
If anything farts, makes a bad smell and produces shyte then its an earse.
As for D. Torrentsofabuse, grow up you silly little boy!
Only Unionist propaganda outlets would employ such an obnoxious choob and call him a “journalist”.
Good article. Torrance really is a nonentity.
And O.T.
Got my badges today. Absolutely love them. So well presented I’m full of angst as to whether I should take them out of the packet.
I’m no on Twitter or Facebook. I do not watch BBC Scotland or STV news and I most definitely don’t read a paper.
Who is this David Torrance?
Was he somebody important or just an arsewipe?
France24.com RT.com Euronews Der Spiegel and Die Welt for me.
I can get by in German
JM says:
4 August, 2016 at 5:22 pm
Socrates MacSporran says:
4 August, 2016 at 4:39 pm
“Yon Mararet Hilda Roberts had the right idea, deny them the oxygen of publicity”.
I’d rather deny them the oxygen of oxygen.
Anything which has Daisley, Farquarson & Hothersall whining can’t be anything but good for normal people 🙂
Behold, the Rev Stu of the financial World:
link to brontecapital.blogspot.co.uk
O/T
Bill Cowan stv reporting on a escaped prisoner to G4s officer,s assaulted Bill Cowan out.
G4s employee’s arent officers Ronnie Anderson reporting to WOS out.
Excellent thanks for a great article.
The britnat press are doing their utmost to portray Scotland and Scottish independence supporters as rabid, intolerant idiots. It isn’t going well for them, and they have nothing else to say because that might involve intelligent analysis, even criticism of their westminster masters.
What an awful way to earn your pay, telling lies, distorting truths, and doing down your own country, day in day out. Living a lie must be very destructive.
I have little option but ignore this brackfast cereal of a man as I like, as far as I am aware, everyone like everyone who oppion even slightly no aligned to him am block.
I am not know for sweary rants, offensive name calling on threats.
Analysis dismantley and of course Sarcasm (my first language)
I like to thank those that draft fizzing swivel eye anti-independence diatribes in a please and supportive tone.
“Thank for your good works in promoting the cause of Scottish Independence” and intreechment to continue
I beleave David “walnut” Torrance block me in responces to one of those.
He is a petty little tory more to be pitied that scorned
@Stuart Campbell 3:50
In know you’re tired and it’s difficult, but I hope you’ll be able to make a fuller, more self aware assessment when you feel better.
“a growing population is a necessary ingredient for economic progress”
link to brontecapital.blogspot.co.uk
@ Dr Jim 5:20 pm
“If they stand by their billious scribblings or TV squawks as gospel and truth they should be able to repeat those same words in any pub cafe or street to the folk they enjoy denigrating in their various “Newspapers” and remember to take along a camera so we can all watch Police Scotland remove them from the premises for incitement.”
Spot on.
Nailed it. Some of your first work Stu.
*finest (stupid autocorrect)
I normally have little time for Murray Foote of the Record, but he stuck the boot in on Torrance quite beautifully on Twitter today.
Nice to see journalists calling him out for a change.
Leaving the EU is the black hole of reason. The UK Treasury believes it will have a catastrophic effect on the economy. The politicians it will empower are horrific. The secondary repercussions (strife in Ulster, a renewed pull for Scottish independence etc.) are terrible. I am stunned this vote can attract 10% of opinion polls let alone a majority.
link to blogger.com
Wake up
In the overnight ITV/STV coverage of the 2015 General Election, which seemed to be held in a kind of railway carriage set up, Torrance was introduced on several occasions as ‘The expert on the SNP’ and ‘biographer of AS and NS’. His opinions were not required much after midnight as the Ukip/Tory show in England began. Saw it on YouTube as I was on holiday, in between using ‘Hola’ for BBC coverage.
His idea of his own importance is quite beyond the tiny borders of his mind.
The contrast between Rev Stu and David Torrance and his ilk is striking. Here we find several articles per week which are well researched, referenced and directly relevant to our political interests.
The BTL commentariat are almost all bright, knowledgeable and good humoured.
Can you imagine someone like Torrance producing anything like this type of forum from his bad-tempered and insulting opinion pieces? Me neither.
Thanks Stu. Yer a media phenomenon. You won’t be getting a Press Award soon, but you have something more valuable and rare, the respect of the Scottish independence community.
New name for David Torrance types online.
If Wings etc are dubbed CYBERNATS,
then there can be only one word CYBERTWAT.
Troller Who Ignores Truth. Or whatever fits.
David Torrance CYBERTWAT.
“Performed a loud twexit.” LOLZ.
I googled ‘hipster’ and clicked on images. The results reminded me of someone, can’t think who, any idea, folks?
Torrance sure knows how to keep the spotlight on his hirsute self.
Can’t be bothered to check when I wrote this, but it’s prescient if nothing else. I happily donate it to the cause of sending packing shills and third rate hacks:
link to wp.me
On reflection,”angry Weetabix” and “disgruntled walnut” are more appropriate than “Ewok”, who were fighting against the evil empire, not sucking from it’s tit.
Absurd and inconsequential fits the bill, IMHO.
He’ll be back to twitter when he realises nobody cares for his views without him trolling.
Beards were made for chins like that.
Does anyone really think he has gone for good?
We should be so lucky
It is part of his raison d’etre as well as one of the few ways he has, to try and stay relevant if that is even possible
We should have a poll to see how long it is before normal service is resumed, Days or weeks ?
I say 10 days
Posted for reference
link to en.wikipedia.org
The first picture in this article is an excellent portrait of David Torrance.
The Fair Isle sweater vest says it all.
‘But engagement is precisely what Torrance and his ilk fear, because engagement means debate and debate means that people might expose all the holes in your arguments that the Herald’s comment editors instantly delete in that nice safe controlled environment.’
I would like to see more articles like this looking at the way other journalist use this provocative technique to insult & wind-up readers.
More articles looking at moderation on forums like The Scotsman & The Herald and why posts are deleted. Do The Herald email you to tell you why your posts have been deleted?
I’ve had some emails from The Scotsman telling me why they have deleted my posts. The one that made me laugh most was one that stated that my post had been deleted because of ‘veiled profanity’ I used the term pee pee. I was reminded of this reading the above tweet by Agent P. as it may well have been the same Agent P. that I referred to as Agent Pee Pee.
The Fair Isle sweater was a cunning ruse to have us think he supported Scotland, but all he’s did was depress sales!
O.T. Just got in to find a Wings badge set through the letter box. BIG Smiles. 🙂
Scotland has a totally disfunctional media. An independent and varied media should hold politicians and public figures to account. It should be an important component in a democracy.
The colonial media we are subjected to is something quite different.
Take the Police numbers story it universally ran with. A non story giving the appearance of ‘holding to account’ when there was nothing to answer for.
Or, Named Person, which may have shortcomings which need rational discussion but the real story is why it passed through Holyrood unopposed to be later attacked by opportunists.
This is at the same time has there are HUGE stories around a potential forced Brexit, the treatment of our MPs, WM’s broken promises, neocon politics being forced on Scotland with no mandate, etc etc
Where is a Scottish media just when we need one!?
Excellent article Stuart. Well done you old bean.
O/T Herald article about downgrading the director of BBC Scotland by excluding him from the top decision making team. He must now liaise with a “director for the nations and regions”.
“The BBC has announced that its Scottish director, Ken McQuarrie, along with his counterparts in Wales and Northern Ireland, no longer have a place on its executive team with the posts replaced by a single “director of nations and regions”, who they will report to.”
But it’s all very confusing. Who is to represent England? It doesn’t appear to be one of the nations or regions.
Perhaps the BBC is now “ex regio”.
link to archive.is
AgentP is ScottP from Political Betting who is almost certainly a CCHQ sockpuppet.
@Brian McHugh
Ditto: Badges arrived superb 🙂
DT’s … a thing of the past don’t drink much at his column on the Herald.
Great article, and pretty much precisely why I ignore virtually all mainstream output.
Ignore them, don’t pay their cover price, and don’t pay the BBC. Make them irrelevant even faster.
It’s far better for your well-being too.
link to tinyurl.com
If you want a pattern for a Fair Isle sweater vest you might have to go to an Antique Shop and try to track down some vintage knitting patterns. Back in the day when men wore Brylcreem and Fair Isle sweater vests were all the rage the pattern cost 8d.
I’m not too sure if this 1940’s style vest top works in 2016. It might be OK if you got rid of the shirt, tie & pipe and just wore the sweater vest on its own and showed off your Fair Isle tattoos.
link to tinyurl.com
What I have always found very funny about David Torrance is his style of writing. He has a template that he uses again and again in his articles and it is this:
Start off with a reference or quotation to some text that the reader almost certainly has not read. Then steer his pontification around to Scottish Independence or the SNP and begin the attack.
He must think this devilishly clever- in his mind he is coming across as learned- on another level. It is almost as if he wins the argument before he reaches the end of paragraph one. You- after all, you thick pleb… how can you even argue with me? Have you even read the **insert impressive text here***? Did you know that?
He is like some wank in the pub whose conversation you can’t help overhearing. Some folk can rise above it and ignore. Other folk cannot help listening to his bile and pish masquerading as intellectual discourse without calling him out.
Well done for this article Stu. Forensic.
Just to give those unfamiliar with his style a flavour, here are some random intros from the Herald:
1. “THE preamble to the Constitution of the United States begins with a lofty statement using language borrowed from the 1707 Act of Union, the intention to create what it calls “a more perfect Union”.
2. “When the facts change, I change my mind,” John Maynard Keynes is reputed to have remarked, “what do you do, Sir?”
That the legendary economist most likely never uttered those words doesn’t really matter, for it captured the pragmatism required of seismic changes to the status quo, be they political, economic or constitutional.”
3. “It was Machiavelli’s 16th-century treatise “The Prince” that established the political principle that the end justifies the means.
“He who neglects what is done for what ought to be done,” wrote the Italian diplomat, “sooner effects his ruin than his preservation.” Elsewhere, there is this: “The prince must be a lion, but he must also know how to play the fox.”
4. “The media,” mused Tom Stoppard in his play “Night and Day”. “It sounds like a convention of spiritualists.”
It’s a good line, although today it’s an uncomfortable truth that for many, “the media” has about as much credibility as those who claim to commune with the dead.”
5. “During Richard Nixon’s visit to Beijing in 1972, the Chinese premier Zhou Enlai was asked about the impact of the French Revolution, to which he was said to have replied that it was “too early to say”. The same might be said of Alex Salmond’s legacy, with its true impact only likely to become evident in decades to come, although certain aspects are already clear less than a year after his resignation as First Minister and SNP leader.”
You are led to imagine David nobly thumbing through a worn copy of Il Principe or reading old papers on Nixon’s visit to Beijing over a fancy coffee in Geneva or Paris where he is no doubt attending a symposium… and maybe that is indeed David’s cultured life. It just comes across as so forced and pretentious like the ridiculous garb and facial hair- my guess is the real academics and intellectuals like Tom Devine read his stuff and roll their eyes if they even bother reading his stuff.
Anyway- if I ever start a post referencing Herodotus or quoting from Dostoyevsky or dredging up some scene from a Fellini movie in a droll pompous preamble before I get to the point do feel free to call me every name under the sun as I would surely deserve it.
So its true…a self loving self loather isnt just for Indyref1…its for the lifetime of being able to drag out their sorry little spot of spoiler stardom regardless of the depths needing plumbed.
Give it 3 months and cue ‘plucky’ David with the announcement of either
A: A BBC presenter gig
B: An unapproved
biography of Nicola Sturgeon or authorised biog on kindred spirit Ruth Davidson
Looks like he sits in his bedroom abusing himself while watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
I was stuck in an out-patients’ waiting room for several hours while a friend had tests so this was a godsend, Rev, and the comments btl were a hoot too.
The Tank Top Twally is beneath your attention, really, Stuart, but I suppose he had to be swatted because MSM gives him saturation, like Buffalo Girl. They are non-entities, but they’re all Yoondom has and deserve all they get when they start their lies, distortions and hypocrisy.
Never mind, David will be up in the attic playing with his train set until his chicken soup is ready, sheltering from all you vile cyber seps.
Youse are pure evil, btw.
@Taranaich 4.19
Great post, all the serious points about this whinging idiot covered in your usual polite, articulate style.
If there is any justice, you, Taranaich, will be one of the rising stars in an independent Scottish media.
That Times article entitled ‘Cybernat twits rob their party of the chance to evolve’ is unbelievable. How on earth can the Times print such garbage.
Were there any comments on this article?
As from the 1st September I won’t be able to watch any BBC TV progs which is no great loss. I will just have to watch STV instead. I wonder when the BBC find out that their propaganda is not getting through that they might decide to ditch their new idea re BBC iPlayer catch-up.
What I was wondering about is if the BBC radio iplayer catch-up will still be available.
Agent P is that not the name of ladies very expensive lingerie?
An Agent P thong can cost anything from between £75 to £225
Nice one Stu, made me chuckle.
While attending the independence rally on Calton Hill, my partner drew my attention to a group heading towards the stage. She said, “He obviously thinks he’s important, who is he?” I turned and saw Torrance and his hangers on walk past. Torrance’s head birling like a demented lighthouse, desperate for attention. “Look it’s me!” “It’s me!” Hilarious.
I replied, “He’s David Torrance, he’s on TV sometimes, but his importance only reaches as far as the boundaries of his skull.”
My partner then said, “He looks like a prick.” I should point out that she doesn’t normally use such language.
On he walked, with desperate smugness oozing from him, on a day where his small minded sneering was made impotent in the face of a fabulous gathering.
@Tam Jardine
Yes, well spotted. he attempts to use the wise words of those long gone as a means big up his own dross. I’m sure he realises by now that it is surely failing. Hence the strop on Twitter.
He himself describes as a valediction no less. Fecking balloon.
@Tinto Chiel
It’s easy to agree that there are more “serious” items that are worthy of an article or comment. However, the behavior and as importantly the exposure of our so called media is also important. Torrance has spat the dummy and ran away after been called out for making an arse of himself by stating that Scotland is not capable of making a one hour news program.
Well how patronising is that? He deserves any criticism that comes his way including this article. I hope he is reading.
We that support Independence have no real media so we have to do it for ourselves. People like David Torrence work exclusively for those that would oppress our voice not to make the voice of the public heard.
That’s why the likes of WOS exist. Long may it thrive.
I wonder what Torrance thinks of the shenanigans going on at labour?
The bile since Corbyn took over has been absolutely staggering, both ways between the MPs and members.
Rather than portraying politics with an open and analytical mind Torrance takes the easy and dishonest route highlighting his own prejudices and throwing objectivity omit of the window.
Torrance is up there with Grant and McTernan, never let the truth get in the way when attacking the SNP.
DT represents the Union in Scotland.
Judgemental, egocentric, corrupt and unable to connect to people who have not led pampered lifestyles
@Ruby (8.20) –
You should ask Paula Rose about that stuff.
After all, she won the European Thong Contest in nineteen *inaudible mumble*…
Twenty years ago Torrance and his ilk would have pontificated from lofty pedestals totally immune from the criticism of plebs. Now to some extent they have to mix with said plebs on social media. Inside they are screaming ‘Look at me. I’m important’. But the more the rest of us question their relevance – or laugh at their neediness – the more likely they are to resort to insult and abuse. Their frustration is almost palpable.
But what can they do? Many of them are too arrogant to take responsibility for their own failings, so they look for others to blame. It’s the the fault of the SNP and the cybernats on social media, they cry. In a phrase, they engage in ‘the journalism of grievance’. It’s a sign they’re losing. Good.
F
“Fannybaws” might have been specifically invented just for Torrance!
Oor ain Doug Daniel was on The Twitter today, saying that the Weetabix mock-up of Torrance is one of the funniest things he’s ever seen.
What makes it an instant classic is the fact that many would be able to identify that as Torrance, and – get this – it wouldn’t matter much if it was the bearded version or not!
Soo-perb.
@Thepnr 8.45. Yes, I agree, which is why I said of Torrance and Tank Girl: “They are non-entities, but they’re all Yoondom has and deserve all they get when they start their lies, distortions and hypocrisy.”
He reminds me of the speccy wee clype at school the bad boys couldn’t even be bothered taking round behind the bike sheds for a summary interview.
How long does it take Torrance, hacks and politicians to understand it has very little to do with the SNP – it has everything to do with a better educated electorate resolved NOT to take the abuse about ‘crap’ Scotland … ANY … BLOODY … MORE?
Excellent Rev, though I rather hope he keeps writing his driven in the newspapers, just to keep us alert about the unionist mindset. I’m currently reading ‘Hidden Histories’ which includes a devastating chapter on how the press told outright lies about German military preparations pre-WW1 to forment anti German sentiment and support for war. And of course it worked. So the press have well over 100 years of practice at information ‘management’
Change.org have got a feckin’ nerve, though I think it more likely they’ve been spun a line about how totalitarian the SNP are.
@ Change.org
Don’t be suckers, suckers.
@ Georgina Sparrow
Care to tell us who mandated you to speak on the behalf of Scotland?
@Tinto Chiel
He reminds me of everything I loathe about UKOK jouralism and media.
and this ladies and gentleman, is why i donate to this site
@ Thepnr 9.27: yep, in spades.
@ CameronB Brodie
And somebody should tell Georgina Sparrow that this was her own yoon westminster that came up with this idea not the SNP and that we vile cybernats dont really give a monkeys either way as it will just be like all the rest of the bollocks except 30 mins longer.
Yoons what are they like cant even understand that its their own side trying to extend the SNP bad news,what a shower of eejits.
I read somewhere recently that Scotland has the most politically aware electorate in Europe. Perhaps.
This current stushie has come about because we have simultaneously a politically inadequate, unsophisticated, and out of tune media! Most of the populace are in one place while the media occupy an entirely different space.
I have the second edition (Christmas present from a well-meaning relative who knows I’m a nat but not aware of Mr Torrance’s, ahem, reputation) published after the Holyrood election with a new post-election postscript. Curiously, that prediction is nowhere to be seen, with no reference to the omission in any of the endnotes (as far as I can find, at least).
There are some absolute belters still there, though. Lots of implications that indyref would be kicked into the long grass, etc. Particularly loved this bit from the new postscript:
Got that? Salmond argued that support for independence “could only increase” if the SNP demonstrated competence in government. Torrance then goes on to explain how “that strategy didn’t work” while including evidence of… an increase of support in independence. In the space of a single paragraph.
The man is a complete and utter fool.
Best one in a while
Living in an independent Scotland knowing I did my bit alongside millions of others is stardom enough for me, Valerie. 🙂
Oh David.
Karma is a bitch, eh?
😉
Apropos of nothing in particular…
The British State has always had ‘agents’ who are at, or at least near, the epitome of whatever trade they ply.
Doesn’t matter if they’re curators, carpenters, clergy or ‘commoners’ – they have to be good at what they’re ‘supposed’ to be. Otherwise? Nae credibilty…
Graham Greene was a writer. He was also (I’m assuming this is now accepted) a British ‘spook’, of similar ranking with Philby. He had his first novel published when he was 21 yrs old, and travelled around the globe in a pattern which was remarkably coincident with matters of major concern to ‘Britain’ until he died, sixty-five years later.
The ‘Empire’, even as the sun was setting, still had quality material to draw upon.
This embarrassing stump of a ‘State’ spends most of its time fending scandals away from the gates of Buck House. Little wonder it can’t command sufficient mandarins to ensure proper discipline in ‘The North’.
Ach well…just canny get the staff these days, eh?
@ronnie anderson says: 4 August, 2016 at 4:21 pm:
“Torrance should fold up his tent same as he folds up his wee foldy bike an fek off.”
‘know, Ronnie, I’ve been wondering what the title of this article reminded me of but I just couldn’t remember what it was. Then, just now, it struck me, “Jekyll & Hyde”.
Did not Dr Jekyll take, “The formula”, and it turned him into Mr Hyde? Mind you in this case when D. Torrance took, “The Formula”, the daft bugger ran awa aff o Twitter tae gan an hide.
Aye, there’s a want abbot thon lad.
So, not only is he a PROVEN fool..
but any ‘producer/editor’ who invites his opinion, is also an APPARENT fool, journalistically speaking.
Caption for top photo: “Men of renown never wear brown.”
Cardiff University School of Journalism must be hanging its head in shame at being included in Torrance’s bio. It does not speak well for the School’s teaching on non-bias, nor on “how to make friends and influence people”. Btw, the book by the latter title is a dreadful treatise on how to manipulate people.
If Disgruntled Walnut’s freelance, it would be interesting to see what toryboy hacks get paid per SNP bad thing. UK Foreign Sec BoJo gets a quarter of a million quid a year for his planet toryboy Torygraph guff so its probably quite good money.
There’s a good youtube thing with BoJO’s first US John Kerry press conference and the US hack goes through a list of insults that Bojo’s used to insult people around the world. A lot is spectacularly racist, upper class twit English racist. Only the torygraph freak show would print stuff like Africans are “flag waving picanninies” with “water melon smiles.”
link to youtube.com
@Ian Brotherhood
Graham Greene was a writer and a spook. Too much narrative in “non fictional” novels for it not to be the case.
Some of these novelists of non fiction were of course also spooks themselves back in the day.
No idea if any of our enlightened journalists today could possibly be spooks but they are in the main spooky bastards.
Desimond@7.57
I think cereal boys comeback will be a book on the three uses of a carpet pattern tank top.
No1 Look like a twat.
No2 Look like a daft twat.
No3 Thinking you look trendy wearing a carpet, but you just look like a twat.
BBC lying yet again “Scotland’s first oil rush” Grangemouth Refinery built in its early years did do shale oil but it was minimal compared with the complex built in the late fifties expressly to process Persian (Iranian) crude extracted by Shell Oil.
According to the BBC it was built by Scots what they don’t tell you it was a carbon copy of an American one built near Houston USA, my Uncle a marine engineer with a Chief Engineers ticket, time served draughtsman Yarrows, veteran of Russian Convoys was based in Houston to be envolved in the American construction which he was to replicate later on in Grangemouth. BBC yet again rewriting history FLB.
Meantime BBC giving time to some arse who has written a book about Ted Heath PM and how he was a nice chap but a bit shy. Where the F do the BBC get away with this crap, and the high head yins did not know about Jimmy Saville, whit about about Heath’s dark past nae mention of that, but what do expect from the BBC truth don’t make me laugh.
Scotland will be free, Westminster can swim in it’s pool of sewage!
In the second photo, he looks like a crazed, sadistic dentist.
What a stunningly comprehensive post – absolutely brilliant. What a laugh I have had reading the comments. Thanks, one and all. As ThePNR says: “Fecking balloon”.
This site is worth every penny.
Can anyone enlighten me though as I think I may have missed the origins of the Weetabix thing. Love the pic – it’s so silly it’s hilarious – but was this just some random joke that a vile Cybernat came up with? Or was there a DT Cybertwat orgin for this?
Thepnr
The strategy game “Civilisation”, is a goldmine for those looking for wise words of those long gone. That’s all I’m saying. 😉
@ Desimond
Gary45%’s post reminded me that I meant to reply to yours at 7.57.
Has DT not already written an unauthorized biography of Nicola Sturgeon?
(link to amazon.co.uk)
Its highly unlikely, or rather, the last thing on planet UKOK toryboy this particular Disgruntled Walnut toryboy is interested in, is twats:D
No1 Look like a twat.
No2 Look like a daft twat.
No3 Thinking you look trendy wearing a carpet, but you just look like a twat.
If you zoom in on the photo which shows him wearing the blue t-shirt, you can see his favourite brown fair-isle tank-top lying in a heap on top of the drawer unit.
If that’s his bedroom, he ought to be ashamed of himself.
@heedtracker says: 4 August, 2016 at 5:19 pm
link to change.org“
Yeah!Heedtracker, I saw that and had a good old belly laugh at one of the letters on the petition page that claimed, “The SNP doesn’t speak for Scotland”.
Matter of stone cold fact the SNP most certainly Does officially, and democratically, speak for Scotland.
What with being the properly and democratically elected Scottish Government and with a vast majority of the Scottish MPs at Westminster, there is absolutely no doubt whatsoever that the SNP does indeed speak on behalf of the majority of the people of Scotland.
Breaking news: David Torrance shaves off his beard, ditches his glasses and poses for a photo wearing a saltire badge.
link to scottishgolf.org
@Quinie frae Angus
“Eat yer cereal” LOL
What with being the properly and democratically elected Scottish Government and with a vast majority of the Scottish MPs at Westminster, there is absolutely no doubt whatsoever that the SNP does indeed speak on behalf of the majority of the people of Scotland.
All true Robert, except there’s an extraordinary tory BBC led blackout on everything and anything SNP, apart from bad. For UKOK tory BBC led media, their UK is no longer a three party politic. Its red and blue tory and that’s it.
No idea whatsoever how to counter the BBC’s SNP ongoing blackout because this is the UK really flexing its propaganda muscles, UK wide. Ofcourse BBC Scotland’s main purpose is to get the SNP out but its a long slog.
They’re probably aiming to cut SNP Westminster by a third 2020 and keep hammering away at Holyrood SNP but its Westminster that getting the SNP out is the most blatant BBC anti Scots democracy. If they weren’t licence funded, they’d lose half their Scots income instantly.
Brilliant post Rev. Witty, intelligent, and devastating all in one go.
@Free Scotland (10.54) –
‘If that’s his bedroom, he ought to be ashamed of himself.’
Kin right…
And if it’s someone else’s bedroom? They need to re-assess – rather urgently – their current habitation situation, eh?
We all know rented accommodation in The Mother Of All Cities is tight and expensive, but, hey, what a thought:
*PLEASE CHECK – MINOR SCOTTISH JOURNALIST MAY BE LIVING UNDER YOUR BED!!*
Poor Davy. Off Twatter for nearly 24 hours now. The DTs must be real bad right about now. His brain will be numb with all the schemes it’s gone through and cast aside to get him back online with his integrity (sniggers) still intact.
Don’t worry Davy boy – you’ll figure something out to weasel your way back to the adoring fans in your mind. We have every faith in you.
Oh, and do stop nicking Granville’s clothes off the clothes-line.
Social capital is social cohesion,shared access to resources, embodied cultural capital, bridging capital which facilitates the flow of ideas and achieves mutual understanding – the YES movement has this in spades, frankly.
The aspiration for Scotland’s independence transcends the usual cultural and social divides that the WM political psyche fixates on and is articulated in the MSM using language that reinforces imbalanced power relations (because that’s what you have to do if you only rate high- status individuals).
As Chomsky (who does know something about the role of dominant and subjugated language in constructing social injustice in the political sphere) argues,
‘the best way to defend civil liberties is to collectively build a movement for social change that has broad- based appeal, that encourages free and open discussion, and offers a wide range of possibilities for social agency…The systems of private tyranny –totalitarian in character-are also not there by natural law, but by human decisions. They can be democratised and dismantled. What concentrated privilege can’t live with is sustained pressure that keeps building , organisations that keep doing things, people that keep learning lessons from the last time and doing better the next time…Real research and inquiry is always a collective activity. Such efforts can make a large contribution to changing consciousness, increasing insight and understanding, and leading to constructive action’ (1995,The Harvard Educational Review 65(2)
Exactly-the vacuous supporters of Scotland’s autonomy (that other rather vacuous entity) using deeply positive arguments and sentiments to construct the alternative coherent case for Scotland’s independence. Utterly vacuous, frankly.
I will hand it to David Torrance. That is a whole Wings article devoted to him.
That’s his profile raised more than a Twitter spat or an article in the Scotsman!
(He may be on BBC too of course – I wouldn’t know any more.)
Ian Brotherhood @ 11:19
*PLEASE CHECK – FORMER MINOR SCOTTISH JOURNALIST OF NO CONSEQUENCE OR ACHIEVEMENT MAY BE LIVING UNDER YOUR BED!!*
Fixed that for you.
Wee Skribbles.
link to facebook.com
@Proud Cybernat
“The DTs must be real bad right about now.”
Yes, you would think so, but propably on his third bottle of sherry and reading Wings right now muttering to himself..
“It’ll all be alright tomorrow”
Torrance has built a nice little career portraying himself as the defender of the union. Playing “the victim” and making out he is under attack from the nats makes it look like he has something important to say and he has become the go to guy for the BBC. The problem is his career is on thin ice if he becomes the subject of ridicule. This is exactly what happened in this case. He didn’t quit twitter because of abuse he quit because people were openly laughing and making fun of him. He saw the danger and had to shut it down. He will be back when he thinks people have forgotten, but like Johann Lamont’s “genetically programmed” comment, Torrance will be forever remembered as the fanny who thought having a news programme made and produced in Scotland was too difficult for the ridiculous reason that camera’s were too complicated for Scots to operate.
@Phronesis
Thanks for Chomsky quote.
Excellent diagnosis, frankly 🙂
Thanks for the exposé, Stuart. Excellent article.
@Almannysbunnet says: 4 August, 2016 at 11:42 pm
” … Torrance will be forever remembered as the fanny who thought having a news programme made and produced in Scotland was too difficult for the ridiculous reason that camera’s were too complicated for Scots to operate.”
The really hilarious bit is that the very first successful TV camera, television transmitter and television receiver was invented built and operated by a Scot. Not only that but the first successfully operated public TV broadcast used that Scotsman’s system. It is not generally known but John Logie Baird also made the first colour TV broadcast.
What is more Robert Watson-Watt, a relative of James Watt, led a team of unproven and unknown British scientists who invent the first practical Radar system.
Another thing not generally known is that this was actually also the invention of the Microwave oven.
As a young apprentice in Rosyth Dockyard in the 1950s we used to make our tea and heat our pies by opening up the little section of the Radar waveguide that was at the bottom of the Radar Ariel meant for maintenance, (it was roughly a 4″ long square pipe section).
Then we would operate the radar with the pie or whatever in the gap to heat it up. If we had realised the implications then we could have made our fortunes.
Back in the seventies, I accompanied a fashion orientated friend on a day trip to Edinburgh, where we went in search of a jumper similar to the hand made Argyll jumpers which were all the rage at the time. (The real ones could be acquired from a place in St.Enoch Sq. in Glasgow, but they were out of our price change).
We entered a somewhat old fashioned premises up the bridges where the shop assistant attempted to palm us off with everything from polo neck sweaters to cardigans. His final offering was a v-neck tank top which had us in convulsions on the shop floor. On our exit from said premises, my friend remarked, ” No doubt he’ll sell it to some gullible arsehole.”
@ To all defaming Mr Torrance’s name.
He is not a twat He’s a Twunt. 🙂
Ohhhhh jeeeezz louise. He’s got LPs on the floor.
No, they do not sound warm. They sound like rice krispies with all their snap, crackle and pops. Don’t even mention the rumble and the pre-echo… I blinking flip hated the pre-echo…
@Smallaxe
No one on Wings is defaming anyone, just saying it like it is and I still hope he’s reading. Maybe make him think twice before spouting off again with his pish in the papers or on the telly?
Doubt it though because he’s a UKOK Sycophant not a twat or twunt. He depends on the existence of the UK for his living and “fame” and writes and speaks accordingly. Sycophant.
Party accounts reveal new financial might of SNP
link to archive.is
PS:
Meanwhile in England & Wales: They’re looking for a 4th chair.
Child sex abuse inquiry: Judge Lowell Goddard quits
link to archive.is
In North Britain it is a national scandal to lose just one!
Funny old world init! 🙁
Can you get “Nicola Sturgeon speaks for Scotland” on a badge
Now that’s got to wind them up
@Thepnr,
Agreed, in a different age Torrance would not be facing just
Insults,his head would be in a basket looking up at his ruined
tank top.:-)
Goodnight All.
In the days when I still read ‘The Herald’ I could barely get to the second column of Dt’s post.
As a retired English teacher I couldn’t make sense of his column. He is probably of the level of bottom Standard Grade
regards ‘English’ passes.
Has anyone else seen this yet?
link to global.handelsblatt.com
@ Gerry
It was being discussed on another site I was looking at this evening – too late at night for me to assess it properly, but there were various suggestions about enforcement, effect on credit rating of any default, etc.
link to ukpollingreport.co.uk
and following comments – mixed in with other topics and just lay people’s opinions.
(The person who originally mentioned it sometimes posts on here, though I’ve not seen him do so recently with that username.)
@ Gery
What I meant by that last sentence (it’s far too late at night!) is that he might be posting with a different name and I wouldn’t know – if that wasn’t clear.
I see we now have a spam filter.
@ Gerry
Sorry – didn’t mean to deprive you of an r.
Good night!
I vow from now on not to give this man the cyanide of public ridicule. He’s doing what his handlers expect him to do after all; and making a tidy sum out of it too.
The basis of every piece which he scribbles, every broadcast in which he takes part, is that we who support independence are rabid nationalists, that because we were born here, we happen to think that Scotland, in his view an English dependency, a financial basket case, populated by an unsettling number of vacuous cultist,is the greatest nation on earth, and that evry other nation is vying for second place.
I’d argue that he believes that this is the case with regard to his precious Union, GB, the UK, or the British Empire as such.
The Pro Independence argument is obscured in this man’s diurnal drivel.
This is the last time I give this man the cyanide of public ridicule. May I venture that the posters above might consider ignoring this buffoon in future.
Unbelievable that unionist press and that vile torylite Hothersall goes on about abuse from “Cybernats” yet no matter how often this link of what SNP politicians, people and country were attacked in the vilest of tweets, especially the racist ones in the run up to IndyRef 2014. NOT one media highlighted it. Maybe its time The National or Sunday Herald did,there is thousands of the tweets, I kept sending them to Daily Record acc when they kept naming and shaming Yes voters if they swore at a celeb a few years back, they blocked me choosing not to be a balanced media. If you name and shame one side, you name and shame the other side or so it should be link to twitter.com I wish someone would set up a bot again because I fear the abuse against us is far greater now thanks to Torrance, Brian Spanner and many others .
Maybe Stu could do a fools gallery.
All the unemployable failed political and journalistic nobodies, that used the 2014 referendum to try and spark life back into dead careers.
There are those who should be excluded from this list, such as the ones who betrayed everything they “claimed” to believe. Like the honest accountant who after 30 years decides to steal all his clients money and run away with Beryl the receptionist. The ones who got rewarded.
I’m talking about McTernan and Murphy and Torrance.
Torrance is in his what forties and he’s trying to dress like a hipster. It’s not difficult to find images of his as the typecast little Tory errand boy running around in a knockoff Saville type suit. Can’t afford the real one. Then he’s tries to dress the part of the cool young guy. Why? hipster specs to cover the wrinkles around the eyes. Beard to hide an aging face and because “all the young dudes” are on the up swing in the face hair generational cycle. Owen Jones knows he too old to sport a beard and he’s 30. All that along with his perpetual appearance of holding in a serious fart. Or maybe he’s got a weak sphincter he has to clench. Is the look meant convince us he’s got gravitas and authoritas. Is he pretending to be a young political player with his finger on the pulse “down wit da yoofs”. He’s in his bloody forties his boat never came in and now he’s trying to make those in authority think he’s still useful.
Well it seemed to work for Mone, a little for McTernan and just perhaps finally for Davy. Has his boat come back for him?
Why is it that every time I look at the fotie of Torrance in his sleeveless pullover the lyrics of “Hermless” by Michael Marra burl roon ma heid?
link to youtube.com
O/t
BBC Breakfast few mins ago. Absolutely dire interview re End Festival with acrobats performing behind. Of course we have to have the obligatory English accents.
Anyone thinking of visiting Scotland’s capital for the World’s largest arts festival would be totally nonplussed.
Ffs BBC, get a fucking grip!
Edinburgh festival!