The geography of news
An update, then: as we write, our anti-poverty fundraiser (which set out to gather just £500 for a young woman in Kidderminster fined almost £330 for stealing a 75p pack of Mars bars out of desperate hunger after her benefits were sanctioned) stands at a phenomenal £14,395.
Not for the first time, we’re blown away by the generosity of Wings readers, and so is a lot of the media. The story has drawn attention from newspapers and broadcasters further and wider than we ever imagined:
The Independent (and again)
The Mirror (and again)
BBC Radio Scotland (from 41m 33s)
(We didn’t actually contact anyone, the fundraiser was spotted by the Independent and then picked up by others from there. We’ve had calls from other papers and radio stations too, so there’ll probably be more to come.)
It’s great news that (a) the target has been reached and so spectacularly exceeded, and (b) the press coverage has raised the profile of issues like the government’s brutal sanctions regime and the new court laws in England and Wales which see small fines inflated to several times their size by fees and surcharges designed to intimidate poor people into pleading guilty (because that attracts far lower charges).
Alert readers may, however, have spotted a notable exception. While the story has been reported in national and local UK papers, as far afield as Italy and Poland, and by both of Scotland’s national broadcasters, not a single Scottish newspaper has thought it at all newsworthy, despite the ostensibly noteworthy and locally-pertinent facts of vile Scottish cyber-separatists raising money for an English woman in Kidderminster, and that all the extra money will now be going to Scottish charities.
As ever, people can draw their own conclusions.
Interestingly the Polish story seems to have turned you into a clergyman from Bath without any connexions to Scottish independence, Rev!
We can’t have the Scottish press printing truths that go the opposite direction to the “Vile, Separatist Cybernat” agenda they have been force feeding their gullible readership for years.
Proving quite conclusively that Scottish newspaper journalism is an oxymoron. Surprised and disappointed that even The National appears to have dodged the issue.
Wot!
No Telegraph, Mail or Sun?
I’d like to nominate Chris Cairns to draw my conclusions for me.
I’m running out of crayons now.
Are you hinting that these papers fall into the category of
“Parcel o’ etc. 🙂
(Didn’t want to fully breach rules n be hit with hammers)
Lazy Scottish journos stick to their stereotypes with Labour trolls good and SNP Cybernats bad and will never print anything that might cause voters to doubt their inbuilt prejudices.
Good causes and social justice has no borders. I strongly suspect that if Scotland was independent Wingers would respond in exactly the same way.
Well done everyone you have made a difference to someone’s life.
I note that on the BBC Scotland report on Newsdrive, the BBC couldn’t bring themselves to mention who had organised the fund raising. It was left to Mark Franklin of the First Base Agency (being interviewed) to mention Wings over Scotland
While Wings readers/contributors did not do it for recognition it is notable how disingenuous most of the reporting is. Despite obviously knowing the truth most rags have delighted in portraying it as a fund set up by a Bath churchman and contributed too by his congregation.
I noticed a couple of comments posted referring to the fundraising within the Scotsman and the Herald, yet never to be picked up on!!
Surprised ? Not at all ,A large percentage of journalists have become lazy either that or can’t read maybe they should start sounding the words,if that’s not to difficult
I am surprised that The National has not reported it.
It would be perfectly possible for a Scottish newspaper to entirely omit the fact that Stu runs Wings. The original Independent story just has him as a Reverend from Bath. Kudos to the New Statesman for at least giving Wings a menshie.
Not just the Scottish press missing, Stuart. But I don’t see any of the main stream English-based papers take it up either. One would have thought that Alan Cochrane would be thrilled to write about this!!
The Victim Surcharge and all the associated problems it brings will be winding its way to a court room near you soon as well…
link to gov.scot
Summed up in 365 words.
link to youtube.com
An amazing response. That’ll put some food in the right hands.
As for Scotland’s press? Conclusion reached.
Apparently acts of kindness and generosity don’t fit well with a narrative of evil separatism.
Who knew?
Damned that snail mail!
You would have thought that here in the U.K. we would have moved into the 21st Century and actually moved on from snail mail to something more modern like … erm … the TELEPHONE! 🙂
Oh wait a minute though. Perhaps they DO have the telephone in the U.K. the cables just can’t quite reach the Northern extremities of the U.K. 😛
Yes that must be it … the telephone is in use in the U.K. but just not in use in the Northern region of U.K. I guess we are just going to sit back and wait until the year 2100 … Oops, think I hear a wee song coming on here. 😉
link to youtube.com
Amazed again by people power. Not so amazed by the pathetic msm in Scotland. No surprise, ‘tho.
Not even covered in the National.
Evil Cybernatz and their odious Winterhilfswerk fur Engeland!
They wouldn’t be able to contain themselves;
“REV NO HELP TO SCOTS”
“SECRET SNP PLOT TO UNDERMINE ENGLISH JUSTICE”
“ON-LINE NATS SECT SENDS CASH TO CRIMINAL”
You get the drift!
epiphany moment.
Nothing in that story surprises me…….. Which is a damning indictment of our media.
They should be there to report the news….not influence it.
When that ethos changes natural justice will have half a chance
Has Lady Mone given anything?
Hi Rev,
How about considering Play As One Scotland as one of your nominated Scottish Charities?
We are a group of volunteer fundraisers and trustees, that are trying to make play inclusive to all.
We believe that all children, regardless of mental and physical status should have the right to play.
To this end, we are planning to install accessible play equipment in our public park. We have charities and groups that are interested in sponsoring individual play equipment.
How does the “Rev Roundabout” or “Wings Swing” sound?
Please have a look at our Facebook page and our Web page for some background info.
Regardless of whether you choose to support us, well done to you all for raising this issue and the funds to assist.
Gordon (Trustee pa1s)
Cybernats undermine British justice with a confection of criminal fine payments.
Known agitator and mysogenist, the self proclaimed “reverent” and cybernat Campbell….
There you are a headline suitable for a Scottish “but” media.
Gosh its quite fun being a unionist for a moment, truth is no longer an impediment to reporting, any bile will do… though I feel a bit grubby.
Sorry for that Rev, just couldnt resist.
Simples.
Why would Scottish journalists want to give publicity to the person who shows them up on a daily basis?
Disappointing, but not entirely surprising 🙁
Dan Hull,
You mean like diet pills or something like that?
Absolutely fantastic!! The power of humanity and solidarity wins for once. And also exposes the unfair, unjust class based corruption riddled society we exist in and scum government and establishment at the same time.
!! Keep up the excellent work Stu and fellow wingers. You are making a difference.
Ps… Anyone any idea how much Michelle Mone or Jk Rowling contributed…..
Great stuff Rev what it also shows up is that most of these journalists are feckless lazy creatures or they might have done some research (1 min would have done to google Rev Stu Campbell)instead they have all copied the independent story and to make it look like they didnt changed the sum raised.
Except the mirror of course who went beyond that and called you a church leader lol
Still any PR is good PR ,watch out you dont have the masses congregating outside your house Rev wanting a sermon.
He is not the messiah he is a very naughty cybernat lol
I am sure the Daily Record would have the headline :
“Evil cybernat- in- chief encourages accolytes to fund scroungers and lawbreakers “.
Seriously, great work here Stu.
We don’t agree on many things but I like to think we concur on really ‘big picture’ stuff like this; makes you take a step back and rethink.
It’s fantastic that the power of Wings has been harnessed for such a worthy and desperate cause, and so much good has come of it. I like to do my bit by taking a bag of food to Church each week for our local foodbank but £14k+ is vastly more that I’ll do in an entire lifetime. If I’d organised something like this I would be immensely proud – this is just awesome.
What other charities do these donations support? I’d like my money to go towards the hungry and not funding First Base’s slapfight with the Trussel Trust.
As far as the press here in North Britain is concerned, what should one expect from a pig, if not a grunt?
Or even a poke?
Poor old Rev..reduced to a reverend from Bath
Collecting money for a hungry woman in engerlandshire from his large separatist supporting congregation in Scotland
Never even got a menshun in sum o the upper class msm
Don’t worry aboot it big man..you doing a great job..keep it up
(Oh fook is that a big hammer hoverin abuin ma heid)
Aaaaahhhhhh!!!!!,
I have no idea if the Western Daily Press publish my comment on this story but I did give them chapter and verse, said it was not bad from a bunch of Cybernats.
I am sick of hearing excuses for our MSM.
I always read that they are just to lazy for good reporting. They are belitting Scots.
By omitting truths, with no mention of anything that could be construed as positive done or suggested by Scots in general, but Yes Scots in particular.
So let’s get it right, they are not lazy, their following their directive ” nothing positive allowed from Scotland” least they start to beleive in themselves.
So forget all this lazy journalism rubbish, they are liers and manipulators in tow with Westminster, the biggest liars of all.
@Captain Caveman
Good to hear from you again. Hope all is well, regards!
Great bonus that the gross unfairness of the system has been picked up by a section of the media.
Little Scottish coverage? But, there was no official Scottish Labour press release so the media here wouldn’t have noticed the story.
WoS and Scottish independence doesn’t get much coverage. I suspect that’s just the usual lazy journalism rather than conspiracy. They just copy stories from one another like a gossip circle. Nobody goes back and checks for detail to put their own spin on the story, they just regurgitate. It began with a ‘clergyman from Bath’ and continues thus!
I may be wrong of course. Someone somewhere may be actively suppressing good news related to anything pro-Indy!
Has Lady Mone given anything?
Dont give them ideas.
Lady Mone’s making loadsamoney UKOK style with her diet pills, so next up- lose weight the teamGB way, get sanctioned for any reason at all, starve yourself UKOK sexy, try “Austerity” by Lady Mone, developed by healthcare professionals, rich spivs in suits, as featured in press but not the Scotch ones, visible results dole stats lose you, sponsored by UK.gov.
As seen in the press, “Austerity”
link to trimsecrets.com
Bikini clad UKOK Lord Reprobate shows off his dramatic weight loss and sexy new curves and all because of “Austerity”
And disappointing there has not been a mention of it by the SNP or any of its MPs MSPs. SNP seems to have been subsumed as a part of the Scottish main media.
It’s not over yet
No good deed goes unpunished
Somebody will want to tax you or something, how very dare you interfere with the wheels of British oppression
They’ll be looking into your background right from school to find something on you, an old chum to spill the beans, a Photy near someone with only a tiny moustache, Oh yes, they’ll be after you now (Damned Jock from Bath)
Look behind you when you go down the shops
It’s going on and on…
JANIS Butans, 34, of London Road, Derby, was handed a six-week community order with curfew and was ordered to pay a £150 criminal courts charge, £85 costs and a £60 victim surcharge for stealing three bottles of baby milk from Sainsbury’s in the Intu Derby, on July 18.
[…] The geography of news […]
I think it is fair to say that stories like this will stick in the collective Scottish media craw- hardly surprising it has not been more widely reported up here. I’d be surprised if it had been
They never mentioned the wee blue book despite it being such a boost to the yes campaign and the print run stretching to, what, 300,000 copies never mind downloads.
I know Stu did not set out on some kind of pro-indy mission on this but if we are trying to open people’s eyes to the goodness, the honesty and the generosity of spirit of those on the pro-independence side, and counter the constant smears of the media against yes supporters this is how it is done.
If it winds up the Scottish msm then that’s just a pleasant side effect.
Christ, it might even spur them on to do some charitable works themselves, just to spite Stu and us Wingers!
it’s interesting, Common Space seems to believe we are an independent country, from the articles they put up.
And did this story feature in a Scottish Labour Party press release?
No?
Not news then.
Somewhere in an alternate universe, where freedom of speech is used virtuously and the media aren’t just mouthpieces for the elite few, an article on this subject, like the following, might just exist. Maybe even in the not too distant future in a free and fair Scotland!!! To save any busy journo’s the time and effort, maybe they can just copy and paste the following effort for their readers tomorrow:
George Osborne’s assault on the poor and unfortunate in society has suffered a setback after a leading social justice website took up the cause of a shoplifter in Kidderminster.
A starving young woman who hadn’t eaten for days, stole a 75p pack of Mars bars, the cheapest food item she could find in the shop, but was caught, charged and ultimately fined almost £330 by unsympathetic beaks who, you must understand, were only doing their well renumerated jobs. Really, how do these people sleep at night?
Rev Stuart Campbell, whose website Wings Over Scotland has been leading the campaign to make Scotland a fairer country for the people who live there took up her cause, setting up a crowd funder online to raise the money to pay her fine. Within five days, generous pro-independence readers of the website had donated over £14,000.
Often termed as ‘vile cybernats’ by supporters of the rotten westminster system, Osborne’s austerity crusade and the continued wasting of billions of pounds on weapons of mass destruction, this is yet another example if one is required of the gross misrepresentation in the media of most Yes voters.
Nobody from Scottish Labour, whose supporters have a zealous hatred for ordinary people seeking greater democracy, often labelling them as ‘separatist nazi’s’ or worse, could be found to squeeze out a single grudged word of praise for this act of sympathetic generosity.
It is also worth pointing out that Kidderminster is in England whilst the website promotes Scottish independence, yet another example if one was required of the gross misrepresentation of most Yes voters in the mainstream media.
Michelle Moan (worth c£30m) and JK Rowling (worth c£500m), exorbitantly rich and prominent supporters of Scotland’s subjugation (and most of the rest of the UK regions outside the Westminster bubble) by Osborne’s sick regime are not thought to have contributed a single penny to the appeal.
As the good Rev said on his excellent website “as ever, people can draw their own conclusions”.
Re a supporter at 1129;
Nice try; no cigar ????
Oh, the story will be picked up by the ‘Scottish’ MSM all right, once Dugdale and Labour have arrogated to themselves the efforts of the Rev and Wings readers to serve as an example of how ‘revitalised’, ‘Scottish’ Labour could ‘commit to social justice’..
Did we really expect anything different from our very own ‘Scottish’ newspapers?
Nope, neither did I
@ A Supporter
If you’re going to do this, you must make a better stab at it
Research more, Think harder, Make it more convincing
And we’ll still laugh
I’m sure I read it in the national on Saturday or Mondays edition.
There is a need to ensure when you call into the BBC you mention wings and scorn them with ‘well you don’t really think anyone out here believes you any more – do you” and laugh at them
There is nothing will get under their skin more
@Captain Caveman
Nice to see that we can at least agree on this. Well said.
Posing as an Anglican clergyman has a history. Mikhail Bakunin did that in exile in Switzerland to avoid the Tsarist Secret Police.
One might be charitable and say that it just that a lot of the Scottish press doesn’t really do journalism any more and just re-treads existing stories and press briefs
On the other hand it may also just mess with their heads a wee bit 😉
Why don’t the Westminster Wasters just impose a fine
of £80 Billion on the next poor soul who has to steal food when left without any means of support?
This could pay for the money the mega rich greedy Bankers have cost the general public with their Casino Gambling.
I could never get my head around someone with no collateral being fined? How can this possibly make sense?
The Judge is actually saying that you had Zero funds and
could not come up with 75p in order to eat, so give me £500
and you can be released?
For me it its like putting a death sentence on someone who died due to dangerous driving.
There is no additional punishment to be applied!
In these days of austerity, how can we afford £2,000 per week to keep a minor offender in prison for 3-6 months?
Am sure the goes against “the claim of rights act 1689”
It is not with in the power of the law to levy exorbitant fines on someone.
link to legislation.gov.uk
Effijy @12.48
” how can we afford to keep a minor offender in prison for 3-6months”.
Indeed, while the real criminals are free to go about their illegal practice in westminster, and be paid a nice wage and expenses to boot.
As far as I know, you cannot go to prison for debt in Scotland like you can in England, ie for not paying your tv tax. But you can be locked up for non payment of fines in Scotland. We should only ever be locking up serious criminals, but we are living in the 1800’s, it seems.
Ukok, such a wonderful, forward looking civilised place to live, not.
@Effigy
That’s the UKOK way. I was at Uni in the early 80’s and one guy on the course was a volenteer on the lifeboat out of Broughty Ferry.
He carried a pager in those days and a couple of times was called away on an emergency such as a “jumper” off the Tay Bridge spotted by a member of the public.
Got talking to him about this and it turned out those attempting suicide but were then rescued were billed for the “cost” of the lifeboat attending!
This policy was only scrapped many years later.
Thank fuck, as far as I can tell, this kind of odious mandatory minimum fine isn’t being imposed on Scotland, yet.
As to the lack of publicity in some areas. Fuck it as well. This is a devolved matter and as someone living in Scotland my only concern would be that Westminster would find an excuse to claw it back. That the English press pick it up is enough. That it shows just how, for want of a better word, evil the last coalition government was is simply as side issue.
Let’s not moan about this too loudly or it’ll appear that rather than genuine outrage this whole thing was just a publicity stunt. I genuinely don’t believe that it was. So why don’t we all calm down and let word of mouth on social media do the print medias job for them.
Just thinking. Bear with my logic here.
I’m not sure how others write themselves up in their official histories, but the UK always gets portrayed in its own stories as the good guy. I am certain there are a great many people out there who don’t accept that there are at least two sides to every historical story. The UK has for centuries been a force for good in the world, without reservation for many because that is what they get told.
An example might be Napoleonic times. Napoleon was an evil despot and good olde Britannia was the land of the free. A totally different view could be taken! Workers in the UK had absolutely no rights for decades after Napoleon had been removed. The UK was not a nice place 200 years ago. But the myth persists in our official history.
Iraq War – it went horribly wrong. Perhaps for the first a majority of the UK population had at a minimum serious doubts that the right thing was not being done in their name. This shook the establishment. Where’s the Chilcot Report?
Now to Scotia. We are in a situation where UK is certainly not OK for around half of us. The BritNats and their media running dogs has not behaved well over they last couple of years, and it’s obvious to many. I’m sure even NO voters are often aware the establishment is playing dirty.
Basically, who are the good guys? There IS always two sides to a debate, but the long established precedent of always portraying the UK as the decentest and the bestest and the goodest, just isn’t going to work! That upsets them and they just don’t know how to cope.
So they smear us, or they try to ignore us. A story that puts pro-Indy Scots in a good light just isn’t part of their agenda nor mindset. That’s just not the way they want the history of the here and now to be written up!
O/T but geography of news also applies to the closing down of Longannet and failure to built gas fired power stat5ion at Cockenzie.
Successive UKOK governments have failed to tackle the National Grid transmission charges which penalising Scotland but gives South of England power producers a subsidy.
Instead of encouraging renewable energy the Tory government removed renewable subsidies and Labour’s Ian Murray failed to vote on 14th July against George Osborne’s Climate Change Levy cuts to the Renewables sector which disproportionally hit Scottish businesses.
Meanwhile the controversial £24 billion nuclear power project is proceeding as the government inches toward a deal with EDF Energy, the French nuclear giant, and two Chinese state energy companies, to finance and build two reactors at Hinkley Point, Somerset.
The plant, the first since the Sizewell B reactor was completed in 1995, would take 10 years to build. It would be underwritten by 35 years of subsidies tacked on to household bills.
David Cameron has targeted a visit by Chinese president Xi Jinping in October to sign the accord.
Does Hinkley make any sense given the changes sweeping through the energy industry, from the rapid fall in green energy costs to efficient homes and appliances that are reducing demand.
The government has guaranteed that EDF can sell electricity from Hinkley C at £92.50 per megawatt hour. This will rise with inflation, so that by its first year of expected operation in 2026 it will have jumped to about £120 an hour — nearly three times today’s wholesale rate.
So under the Union fuel prices will escalate… something unionists said would only happen if we voted Yes.
Some folks are surprised that it’s not in the National.
I am not.
In days long gone people used to be deported for stealing the food they needed to survive. How long before the far right say that any imigrant caught stealing food be deported.
Hamish at 12.40pm
Please don’t forget Rev Ted Chippington !!!
myspace.com/revtedchippington
link to youtube.com
link to independent.co.uk
Austerity makes you free, of any professional principles or social conscience.
‘In an age where everything can mean anything,perhaps it is only possible to exist as a cipher,as a thin outline of hope etched across an infinity of madness’
WOS showing us the greatness of ordinary people,the too slow expiry of a disfunctional system that is UKOK and Hope over Fear.
Thanks
The last thing the establishment needs is the entire population discovering sites like these, where…
Any and all necessary facts, required to either prove or support a given argument, or disprove public perception …
…can be found in one place, without the rose tinted filters of government appointed information providers..
Who do we really trust?
The people.
a supporter says:
And disappointing there has not been a mention of it by the SNP or any of its MPs MSPs. SNP seems to have been subsumed as a part of the Scottish main media.
I am so extremely very sorry “a supporter” but I am so very much confused here. 😉
Is the S.N.P. a newspaper that I do not know anything about?
Are M.P.’s and M.S.P.’s just a new fangled way of calling someone a journalist?
Other than that what a great post.
Dinnae worry regular readers I’m grabbing ma hat and ma coat and just closing the door behind me! 😀
The operative word in the title is ”News”. Had the Scottish media had a go at reporting it it would have been propaganda.
galamcennalath:
This guy is usually up for a bit of counter-narrative:
https://stuartmchardy.wordpress.com
“Scotland’s Future History” challenges many Scottish historical myths.
Sorry, I’m still laughing about the description of the Rev as a clergyman from Bath. Because of my age, a picture of “All Gas and Gaiters” comes into my mind, with Stu as a bearded Derek Nimmo, toying with a glass of sweet sherry and a Bath Oliver biscuit.
Titter ye not…
After the Scottish press spending years working overtime in order to denigrate us they’re hardly going to print anything that shows us in a good light.
Jimbo..
Then we shall return the favour..
How come the Mirror webpage has zero comments? Are they having to suppress the fact that it all comes from Indy cybernats?
[…] An update, then: as we write, our anti-poverty fundraiser (which set out to gather just £500 for a young woman in Kidderminster fined almost £330 for stealing a 75p pack of Mars bars out of desperate hunger after her benefits were sanctioned) stands at a phenomenal £14,395. […]
“Those damned cybernats!”
“They are helping poor, starving people, and you know what is really bad?”:
“They are doing it deliberately!”
Can we get legal aid for…
The People versus Conservative & Labour parties.
The charge?
50 years of financial mismanagement, ON OUR BEHALF, by lying to (misleading) parliament regarding the shift of wealth from poor to rich.
Can we sue…..?
@Tinto Chiel
Reminds me of that old saw.
“More tea vicar?”
“No it makes me fart!”
Doesn’t everyone fart in Bath?
O/T
If your medication is up to date then go to the on-line Guardian and have a gander at Mr McTernan’s hymn of praise to Ms Dugdale.
Tinto Chiel says
“Sorry, I’m still laughing about the description of the Rev as a clergyman from Bath. Because of my age, a picture of “All Gas and Gaiters” comes into my mind, with Stu as a bearded Derek Nimmo, toying with a glass of sweet sherry and a Bath Oliver biscuit.
Titter ye not…”
OH calamity!
Robert Kerr said, “Reminds me of that old saw.”
Enough with the cutting humour already, my boy.
Sorry, I blame my upbringing.
Sinky says:
18 August, 2015 at 1:17 pm
O/T but geography of news also applies to the closing down of Longannet and failure to built gas fired power station at Cockenzie.
Make no mistake: This is the punishment for not allowing nuclear new builds in Scotland.
The old boys can be pretty spiteful when they don’t get their way.
McTernan the remora fish.
Swimming in the labour politics pool to make a living… 🙁
link to archive.is
PS:
Just heard Matheson getting a free advert on radio Scotland interview reviewing his achievements in Glasgow and all options open after he walks the plank.
Aye right!
O/T
link to caltonjock.com
According to the BBC “DWP admits using ‘fake’ claimants in benefit sanctions leaflet” apologies if link has been put up before.
link to archive.is
Thie McTernan article reminds me of the one he penned for Jim Murphy after his coronation!
The comments all pick up on this individuals atrocious track record.
A pure fantasist that believes his own propaganda.
Rev,
It is a good thing that which you do!
Your congregation are pleased with your efforts.
Time to tear down that pathetic statue of Dewar in Glasgow and replace it with one of The Bearded One.
🙂
Just before I started to read WoS I read a news report on another site. It claimed the DWP has, (in reply to a Freedom of Information request by the website, “Welfare Weekly”), admitted to using made-up benefits stories, “in order to demonstrate the positive impact of benefits sanctions”.
A DWP leaflet featured a welfare claimant, “Sarah”, who said she was, “Really Pleased”, a cut in her benefits had encouraged her to improve her CV”. However, the DWP now admits the story was for, “illustrative purposes only”.
You couldn’t make such stuff up – but our public servants sure as hell can – and they are supported by those we have elected to office as our representatives.
Well they sure as hell do not represent anything that I stand for,.
Robert Peffers says:
A DWP leaflet featured a welfare claimant, “Sarah”, who said she was, “Really Pleased”, a cut in her benefits had encouraged her to improve her CV”.
That fiction has the sophistication of something VoteNoBorders would have dreamt up!
Whoever came up with that storyline has clearly never had to rely on benefits!
I was quite disappointed not to see at least a mention of this in the National. With that in mind, I’ve sent them the following email, and I will post any reply they send me, assuming they bother to acknowledge me:
“Dear editors / reporters at the National;
I was somewhat curious to see that there has, as of yet, been no mention in your paper about this story – which appears to have made headlines in countries other than Scotland. I find it surprising for the reason that it has several points to it which would surely make it a good story for your paper to report, namely:
1. It shows Scots – and Scots who believe in independence for Scotland – raising money for an English woman who lives in England, illustrating the non anti-English attitudes of independence supporting Scots, surely something worth pointing to in these times where much of the media makes a huge and inflated issue of so called “cybernats”?
2. It shows Scots raising money for a good reason, a reason which is a social policy / social justice issue, and one which deserves to be highlighted.
3. It illustrates one of the more unsavoury aspects of the policies which afflict all of the countries within the UK these days, and how those policies adversely affect those with the least ability to pay.
You can find the details of the story, and the fundraiser, here: link to indiegogo.com.
I really hope you can find at least a few column inches in your newspaper to illuminate this story – it certainly appears to tick all the boxes for a newspaper such as yours.”
asklair says:
18 August, 2015 at 4:41 pm
Thanks for the post I had missed that story.
A discraceful but unsurprising piece of propaganda
“Stoker says:
18 August, 2015 at 5:07 pm
Rev,
It is a good thing that which you do!
Your congregation are pleased with your efforts.
Time to tear down that pathetic statue of Dewar in Glasgow and replace it with one of The Bearded One.
:)”
Spot on, Sir. You bring the pick, I’ll supply the drills.
How many people in Scotland know about the theft of 6,000 sq. miles of Scottish coastline on the eve of “Dewar’s Parliament”? An idol with feet of clay.
Swing Hammer Swing!
Sinky/Luigi,
Regarding Longannet, that’s what Westminster and Whitehall intended all along, leaves Westminster to announce the awarding of a contract for the fitting of a “carbon capture”
system to one or a series of power stations in East Yorkshire, and I recon it’ll be announced before the year is out,
Rev Stu
there is an article re this in Third Force News…not sure how to link properly to this site, maybe someone else can? It’s just come through, so in todays newsletter, TFN.
Yehey!
The article in TFN does not mention that the funds over n above will go to charity. Will comment later when not making a mess of my prints! Argh.
Haud a daud, Stoker: “The Bearded One”. Not Jeremy Corbyn, I trust?
We’re going to need the geli…
galamcennalath says: 18 August, 2015 at 1:15 pm:
“I’m not sure how others write themselves up in their official histories, but the UK always gets portrayed in its own stories as the good guy.”
Indeed you are correct, galamcennalath.
Here’s irrefutable facts for you : –
Well done Rev., Wingers and all who contributed.
‘Twas not done for publicity but, for seeking to right an injustice.
That made up benefits leaflet story gives a very strong sense of déjà vu. Better Together TM anyone?
No doubt the Scottish media will be reporting this story once they’ve figured out where the Rev got his chandelier from.
@ Tinto Chiel
Nah, why exert ourselves when we can use a wrecking ball.
And if it’s made of non-ferrous metal we can arrange for a scrappy to come and take it away then donate the money to food banks.
🙂
@ Tinto Chiel (6.30pm).
Am no even gaunny dignify that comment wae ah response, lol.
🙂
Anybody want this job?
link to civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk
All you have to do is communicate the benefits of the Union to the Scottish public. Easy.
@ Albaman says re Longannet
Remember that at present Scotland is a net exporter of electricity, gas, oil, water plus food and drink (by value) but that will change if the capacity from Longannet is not replaced and that is what UKOK wants dependency on London just like the North British Labour Party.
Robert Peffers says:
“The term, “concentration camp”, came into general use during the Second Boer War (1899–1902). The United Kingdom operated such camps to intern Boers. The UK built 45 tented camps for Boer internees and 64 for black Africans”
That was the first time the ‘term’ was used, but the first time what we would ‘recognise’ as concentration camps were used during the US governments treatment of the native Americans in the early-mid 1800’s
Stoker says:
18 August, 2015 at 6:56 pm
@ Tinto Chiel (6.30pm).
“Am no even gaunny dignify that comment wae ah response, lol.
:)”
Goad, now I feel so DURRRRTY!
Tee hee.
Seriously, every time I pass that green carbuncle I get an irresistible urge to push a plunger. Perhaps when GCC are “reconfiguring the public space” or whatever it is they’re going to do at the steps, there could be a simple misunderstanding with a crane jib or something and save us all the effort.
Humpty Dumpty: or J. Mcternan
“When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean.”
He must be scribbling away fine at the moment.
Labour has blown its chances.
link to archive.is
Jeremy Corbyn says he’s very disappointed with UK hacks to Channel 4 news, the wimp.
High art Coronation Street rotten about Sturgeon, low art red tory The Graun sticks the boot as per, this time its non nationalist British art good, Scottish art bad and Holyrood banned genetically modified farming even badder.
“But nationalism cannot leave it there. Nationalism is a toxin. It is viral. Once it gets in the cultural bloodstream its petty attitudes corrupt everything.”
Why cant rule britannia britnats not wimp out and just stick “Scottish” in their spittle flecked rage at Scotland not being run by England, is my teamGB mystery of they day.
eg.
“But Scottish nationalism cannot leave it there. Scottish Nationalism is a toxin. It is viral. Once Scottish Nationalism gets into the Scottish cultural bloodstream, its petty attitudes corrupt everything British, which is lovely lovely thing and not nationalist.”
link to archive.is
@ Headtracker 7.42pm
From Wikipedia:”The Turner Prize is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist”. That seems rather, well, nationalistic. Don’t you think? Certainly not very international given that just approx 0.8% of the world’s population are British. They just don’t do irony do they? Utterly blind to their own hypocrisy. Such rampant self importance certainly is very endearing. Hmm, I wonder what the other 99.2% of artists are doing…. Nothing important, obviously.????
heedtracker says:
“Scottish Nationalism … corrupt everything British, which is lovely lovely thing and not nationalist.”
That sums everything up. All the BritNat attitudes can be condensed down to a few simple words.
They don’t see how blind, intense and uncomprising their own nationalism is. More profoundly, they completely fail to understand why anyone would want to walk away from it in the hope of finding something better. Theirs is the best, their history proves it cannot be bettered.
OT I have to say, an exceptional piece by WeeDug. This stands out for me …
“If you’re a socialist and you believe in the continuation of the Union without being a Unionist, then you need to be able to explain precisely how the Union is a better vehicle for the delivery of socialism, or even social democracy, than Scottish independence. You need to be able to demonstrate how the structures of the British Union are more likely to lead to the introduction and implementation of socialist policies and social justice than an independent Scottish state. Jeremy Corbyn hasn’t done that.”
link to weegingerdug.wordpress.com
“a young woman in Kidderminster fined almost £330 for stealing a 75p pack of Mars bars out of desperate hunger after her benefits were sanctioned)”
As in Scotland, the justice system in South Britain is rotten to the core.
It is meant to protect the ruling classes from the plebs. The plebs can go to hell as far as it is concerned.
The vast majority of lawyers, especially judges, are the lowest of the low.
Not long before lying, defaming Lib Dem MP Carmichael’s secret clearance by a Scottish judge is made public after a farcial hearing costing hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Assorted royal birthdays, Waterloo anniversary, VE Day, VJ Day, and now, “the most difficult day” in The battle of Britain Day. For Gods sake, somebody make it stop. Please make it stop.
People on Twitter seem surprised at the Daily Record supporting Corbyn. Of course the DR does, it’s a Labour rag through and through and backed the No campaign, it’ll do anything to retain the little readership it has in Scotland and it hopes by doing this that it will attract those Labour yessers back into the fold.
The Daily Record is a shameless unionist rag that would jump on the back of any ‘popular’ campaign to claw back any kind of revenue it’s lost in recent years in Scotland. As long, of course, as that ‘popular’ campaign is a unionist one. The DR is not the ‘people’s’ champion its the DR’s champion.
Carbyn’s an establishment plant. He may espouse socialist principles and so called ‘old Labour’ values. But were was he during the Indyref when his Labour party were fully behind the establishment driven denigration of Scotland’s people making their democratic choice to vote in a fair and democratic referendum?
2016 we finish off the second leg of what we started in May, 2017 we finish the job at the council level.
Then we’ll see how Mr Corbyn or whoever is the so called leader of the Red Tory party respond to that. Ex Labour voters, do not be fooled again, the ‘old Labour’ were just as much involved in the retention of Scotland as a cash cow as the ‘new Labour’ bastards ever were.
Beware of ‘old socialists’ bearing gifts’.
Re. concentration camps.
It was Viscount Milner who was ultimately in charge of South Africa, in the run-up to the second Boer War. Many feel it was Milner’s fundamental belief in British imperialism and the ‘exeptionalism’ of British interests, that made war inevitable. As the imperial Governor of South Africa, Milner was ultimately responsible for the internment, brutalisation and death of many thousands of civilians in British concentration camps.
Milner became a prominent Fabian Socialist who reportedly felt it essential to ‘nudge’ the English working class towards socialism. Apparently this was to be achieved through the vehicles of education and propaganda.
Makes you think, eh?
link to boer-war.com
It seems to me that we should now be making contact with progressive friends across the UK and doing everything we can to re-engage people with the impact politics has on their lives.
Another disappointing documentary on Connery – a few Scots and some Americans actors saying how wonderful he is followed by a couple of directors saying how wonderful he is – old clips of Connery from past interviews, the usual flash bits from his main films, and a no show from the man himself, all par for the course. A cobbled together parade of a man whose public persona is far different from his private one. But happy birthday, the real ‘Big Yin’, just the same.
galamcennalath
I suppose that for Corbyn it makes sense to be a unionist- it suits the left wing English to have left wing Scotland in harness rather than let us go. Strength in numbers I suppose. Doesn’t mean it is going to work out for us.
Curious how even the best, most thought columnists of our age can still get it wrong when thinking of Scotland – perhaps indicative of their remoteness from Scotland, seeing at as Northern Britain.
George Monbiot in the Guardian:
“Either Labour must win back the seats it once held in Scotland (surely impossible without veering to the left) or it must beat the Conservatives by 12 points in England and Wales to form an overall majority.”
Quite, K1.
It doesn’t really matter that supporting Corbyn pulls the rug out from under Kezia: the DR doesn’t do thinking. Just push any of the magical socialist buttons and hope the deserted Labour supporters will get all those warm and fuzzy feelings again.
Desperate measures for a paper in dire straits.
Has George Monbiot chucked it?
Probably not. But…
Is he compromising our rights to self determination?
Is he turning our well-informed electorate into merely something to be overcome, by comparing it to swinging a 12 point lead..?
Is he setting out a scenario where we return to the two party system, with it’s facade, disguising the great shift of wealth from poor to rich..?
I give up..(not really)
Re Monbiot. I’m not sure if he does it deliberately Grouse, or if it is a product of the geographical remoteness of Scotland from the umwelt that informed his identity.
link to qualityresearchinternational.com
The sooner that England devolves and dissolves itself, the better.
Like a political exorcism.
We’ll be well gone by then though, and merely a trading partner, a bit like a tiny Canada, what with the Queen and all.
The ‘UK’ system will never be the same again.
The people now, are more savvy than their masters.
Paula Rose says:
18 August, 2015 at 10:16 pm
It seems to me that we should now be making contact with progressive friends across the UK and doing everything we can to re-engage people with the impact politics has on their lives.
Meaning what, accept the Smith Commission fraud, vote SLab, be quiet?
Nearly 600 MP’s, nearly 800 Lords, super rich royals, far right tory UKOK media, an England much better off than Scotland, an England that will be diminished after Scotland does vote YES…
All that really matters is the power and glory of England.
So, the Daily Record’s backing Jeremy Corbyn?
Big fucking deal.
They’re as well backing Jeremy Clarkson for all the difference it’ll make.
SLab’s already away down the lavvy. The DR is just the wee bit that needs a second flush…
O/T
link to caltonjock.com
DR backing Corby? Wasn’t so long ago they were backing Milliband and Brown.
@heedtracker
Yer man, Jonathon Jones, the Guardian’s art and Scotland critic is a fucking unionist arse of the first order. Remember how he went off on one about the Kelpies in Falkirk being shite, just because they are in Scotland, basically? That he can come out with:
“But Scottish nationalism cannot leave it there. Scottish Nationalism is a toxin. It is viral. Once Scottish Nationalism gets into the Scottish cultural bloodstream, its petty attitudes corrupt everything British, which is lovely lovely thing and not nationalist.”
… as a so-called art critic in a so-called national newspaper is repulsive in the extreme.
Of course, this same tosspot no doubt disparages Scotland’s national poet, Burns, who came out with the immortal line just for the likes of Britnat Jones – Tae see yersels as aithers see ye.
@louis
“The people now, are more savvy than their masters.”
The gestalt intelligence of the population has, IMO, always been demonstrably superior to that of the ‘ruling elite’.
But that intelligence may be realised only if an enabling system exists.
To re-invoke the rowing boat analogy.
If the passengers/electorate are given the ability to periodically choose which oar, port or starboard, is used, then the ultimate direction of the boat/nation may be set in accordance with that collective will.
That is how a democracy should operate.
However, when the only choice on offer is two oars which are both deployed on the same side of the boat, then no real progress is possible and we are doomed to going round in circles.
At least, until there is a mutiny.
@John H at 9:53 pm
“Assorted royal birthdays, Waterloo anniversary, VE Day, VJ Day, and now, “the most difficult day” in The battle of Britain Day. For Gods sake, somebody make it stop. Please make it stop.”
Yup, heard about that “the most difficult day” in The Battle of Britain (poor Northern Ireland, ignored again), and honestly, all I could do was laugh. Like, WTF? As you say, will it ever stop?
All these assorted reasons to look back on the past and the glories of The Empire, Queen and Country are so transparent and just so fucking pathetic. And they find excuses to invent new ones every year!
Are they (the Tories, Westminster, the British Establishment and state) doing it to make us ‘rebellious Scots’ feel pride in ‘our UK’, or make us drop the idea of independence because we’re better together [sic], or, just what? Whatever they’re trying to do, personally, it just makes me despise them even more.
And it won’t stop, either.
Oh for Scotland to have its independence to get away from the Britnat’s right-wing pomp and ceremony, xenophobia and backwardness. It really, really can’t come soon enough.
(All due respect is still given to those who died in wars by and for the UK, listed and unlisted.)
Almost £15K with over a week still to run on this fundraiser.
Well done one and all, what an achievement.
You vile and nasty viruses!
😉
Re. “the glories of the Empire” and the supporting role they now play in the historical misdirection that is Britain’s media environment. I agree with Baron Giddens, traditionalist societies that fail to evolve are doomed to fail. As such, I suggest that the BBC is intrinsically anti-social and claim my £5 gift token.
link to en.wikipedia.org
OT
according to the National this mornming the Oil and Gas sector is worthy £27 billion to the “British” economy.
dont know if this will work;
edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk//launch.aspx?eid=894fb58d-beac-4345-a1ee-856b9f08859e
Meanwhile, the DWP are admitting that they have been publishing leaflets with fictional characters and fictional quotes about how the DWP helped them into jobs.
Goebels could not have done better and this reinforces exactly how the state has become the people’s enemy.
Like the Jews in 1930s Germany the poor sick or unemployed have become the object of something that needs to be despised.
The appeal now stands at £15,000-well done everyone
link to indiegogo.com
As an Ayrshireman, I take grave exception to those who misquote oor ain Robert Burns.
So, Dai Riata, to misuse the Bard’s great quote as you did in your rant against Jonathan Jones of the Guardian was wrong.
The quote is: “tae see oorsels as ithers see us”.
This puts a somewhat different slant on your post.
Donated first thing this morning, delighted that so many people will benefit from this fundraiser, hats off to all who donated, its a privilege to be associated with this site.
It’s the glorious Team GB Olympics crap they gleefully parade every month or so and it’s fantastic legacy.
Whether or not the rumours of doping are true, I love how it’s tarnished the whole bloody thing for them.
The constant wars remembered brainwashing is too much to bear.
Let’s see them remember the good old concentration camps from the Boer war or the glorious use of tanks against the poor in Glasgow at the end of WW1
Yesterday BBC Radio presented an excellent programme on the history of Scottish nationalism, weaving it as it should be with Labour and Liberal promises of Home rule.
It was rational, thoughtful, with good contributions from stalwart independence supporters from all sides of the political spectrum, and without prejudice.
Written and presented by Billy Kay the Scottish language enthusiast, it really ought to be repeated at regular intervals, and also have a companion piece made for television. It was broadcast at a time of low listening figures.
Of course, BBC Scotland will be able to point to it and claim political neutrality, as if one swallow denotes Spring.
If Wingers can track it down, it’s well worth a listen for its full length.
Cal: On Jones and The Turner Prize. Is a prize an annual prize presented to a British visual artist”. That seems rather, well, nationalistic. Don’t you think?
In the scheme of annual art prizes Turner is small and not held in high regard by artists generally, but it gets a lot of PR because of the crap controversial installation work it encourages – of the same sort that burnt down Glasgow School of Art.
And that’s it problem, it has encouraged art colleges to dump art and turn to craft. It is getting more and more difficult to find an art student who can actually draw.
Here’s the skinny on Jones:
link to grousebeater.wordpress.com
Grouse Beater, Billy Kay’s radio series is repeated on Sunday’s at 7am as well, prime time!
You can also find it on I player at a time more convenient to the individual although that also reduces the mass listening/ water cooler effect same as Outlander online viewing.
Result for establishment either way although I agree that this allows them to claim balance and nonbias.
O/T
Morning folks,
A wee laugh to start the day.
Zippy is unveiling her super duper front bench team this morning?
de ja vue anyone.:-?
16/12/14:
Jim Murphy unveils new front bench team.
19/08/15:
Kezia Dugdale to announce frontbench team.
Scottish labour’s new slogan:
Dont worry folks If you miss one leader there will be another one along in a few months.
😉
My grandfather never ever said a word about WW1, my father said very little about WWII.
I find this celebration of conflict, bordering on jingoisim quite sickening.
Brave men and women died, were horribly maimed and traumatised by the bullets and bombs while a few made vast fortunes out of producing arms aided and abetted by politicians.
And, should we also forget the bravery of the the other nations involved in the conflict on both sides? Whatever the rights and wrongs, the ordinary German soldiers and people suffered equal if not greater loss. Are they not allowed to mourn also?
We have to move on, Trident is a monument to that awful time. Time to get rid!
Grouse Beater said @9.09:
“In the scheme of annual art prizes Turner is small and not held in high regard by artists generally, but it gets a lot of PR because of the crap controversial installation work it encourages – of the same sort that burnt down Glasgow School of Art.”
Ouch! Watch out, you’ll upset Muriel Gray.
I remember going to the GSA graduation exhibition in the early 80s and being astonished at the quality of Steven Campbell’s work, in contrast to the talentless, clumsy prices of conceptual art which wouldn’t have looked out of place mouldering away on the window-ledge of a P5 classroom (apologies in advance to P5 children everywhere).
Your acerbic article on Jones summed up both the Establishment’s cultural colonialism and the Scottish Cringe perfectly: one of your best.
Anyway, back to my own “installation”: two slices of wholemeal in the toaster. Don’t have an unmade bed or gin bottle to hand at the moment.
well said Wee Ginger Dug
The only way to guarantee that the Conservative and Unionist party is consigned to the political fringes and the advances of social democracy – not the values of Conservatism – are entrenched, is Scottish independence.
I’m not hearing enough arguments for independence these days. Lets not take our eye off the ball. The case needs to be directly and constantly made so that more people make the connection between what is going on around them, and our lack of control over our own country and resources.
Why should I not be surprised that no newspaper (other than daft story in Daily Express) has the outrageous National Grid charges story of the front page as this effects every household in Scotland.
Longannet may have been inevitable but not building gas powered station at Cockenzie is a real blow to Scotland.
Grid charges £40 million a year charge to transmit power from Longannet or Cockenzie to central belt of Scotland whereas power stations in south west of England which are much further from large centres of population received a subsidy for connecting to the grid.
The SNP has raised this with successive UK governments over the past ten years but neither Labour or Tories have done anything about it.
UK government going to build very expensive nuclear power stations in South West of England at a cost of £45 billions and have guaranteed EDF and China that electricity prices will triple in ten years time to meet the cost of building it.
Yet UK government has refused to pay £1 billion to set up world leading Carbon Capture plant in Scotland which was first area to show interest and submit plans and is now tipped to go to the North of England.
Scotland will still be a net exporter of electricity.
Lanarkist:
“Billy Kay’s radio series is repeated on Sunday’s at 7am as well, prime time!”
Many thanks, Lanarkist! 🙂
As you say, top time to broadcast it, when we’re not listening.
jackie g says:
19 August,2015 at 8:26 am
O/T
Morning folks,
A wee laugh to start the day.
Zippy is unveiling her super duper front bench team this morning?
de ja vue anyone.:-?
16/12/14:
Jim Murphy unveils new front bench team.
19/08/15:
Kezia Dugdale to announce frontbench team.
Scottish labour’s new slogan:
Dont worry folks If you miss one leader there will be another one along in a few months.
Never mind our Kez – May 2016 will be her reckoning, I wonder how long the bearded one will last. It’s just not democratic to have ordinary members vote for you, it has to be the right sort of member, with, you know, the right (wing) credentials
Tinto Chiel: “ back to my own “installation”: two slices of wholemeal in the toaster. Don’t have an unmade bed or gin bottle to hand at the moment.”
🙂
frogesque says:@ 8:50 am
My grandfather never ever said a word about WW1, my father said very little about WWII.
Indeed Frogesque, your post reminded me of this.
For anyone who has never seen it the first 11 episodes are highly recommended.
Heimat(Homeland)
The original series, premiered in 1984 and follows the life of Maria Simon (Marita Breuer), a woman living in the fictional village of Schabbach (the village of Woppenroth in Rhein-Hunsrück, a very rural region of Germany to the west of the Rhine, was used for filming).
The film spans the years 1919 to 1982. Subtitled Eine Deutsche Chronik — A German Chronicle, it consists of 11 episodes running in total to 15 hours 24 minutes of screen time and depicts how the events of German history affected the Simon family and the community in which they lived.
link to en.wikipedia.org
Hugh Henry to stand down as Kezia is set to announce the new shadow cabinet in Holyrood. Obviously his constant carping about Police Scotland from the sidelines were not achieving any traction. He was comprehensively cuffed on his last attempt a few weeks ago on GMS.
Gender balance – is the name of the game says Zezia the new branch manager.
Morning Call – Rory again surely- plus imaginary friends and all such says Kaye and call in about how can we close the attainment gap in education.
I’m switching off… I will, I really will…in a minute… aach! there the noise has gone off. It’s a beautiful day in Fife.
Two butterflies and a few bees outside, coo! It’s been a while
🙂
Glamaig says:
19 August, 2015 at 8:56 am
well said Wee Ginger Dug
The only way to guarantee that the Conservative and Unionist party is consigned to the political fringes and the advances of social democracy – not the values of Conservatism – are entrenched, is Scottish independence.
I’m not hearing enough arguments for independence these days. Lets not take our eye off the ball. The case needs to be directly and constantly made so that more people make the connection between what is going on around them, and our lack of control over our own country and resources.
All I want is my own wee Country backed by anyone and everyone that lives and breathes Scotland. For sure we will have our problems and differences but they will be ours to resolve in a way that suits us.
Keep asking every Unionist (particularly Conservative ones) what exactly is so abhorrently wrong about self determination and standing on your own feet?
Dear Kez: Education is a fairly simple affair.
Teachers and schools provide the means and materials to inspire children to learn. On the whole they are pretty damned good at it!
It’s not that ragged wains with empty bellies and poor parents in cold damp houses cannot learn, the problem is they learn survival first and school can become a distraction. Faced with the choice between buying a pack of pencils or a poke of chips it’s a no contest.
So, please by all means make education a priority by following Nicola’s lead. There is nothing wrong with constructive opposition but never forget the underlying problems of why some children under-achieve.
@ jackie g 9.06am
Thanks for the link!
@ jackie g
Great film, Heimat. It also chronicles the gradual social shift to more modern times such as the post war influx of American bankers and financiers and the growth of debt.
When tertiary education was expanded under the Wilson govt, there was none of this nonsense about under achievement from labour in the sense it is talked about now. That govt did not blame the poor: they recognised that redistribution of wealth must go alongside greater opportunity and they acted on that. Teachers and politicians expected young people to succeed (not perfect but there was a far more optimistic atmosphere in schools as elsewhere). They built the universities and the people came. That is why you hear so many people of that generation saying ” I was the first person in my family to go to university”.
Labour party now follows the tory narrative of blaming the individual, atomising structural problems as personal failings. And that is why they are tories in their hearts.
Michael Kelly ex Glasgow high hied yin says:
“The electorate are being unrealistic and irrational”
SNP Teflon Coated, Bad, Disastrous, Other Adjectives Blah Blah Blah The wheel will turn Blah Blah Blah, Union, Britain, Party of Devolution, Blah Blah Blah
If we accept the polls that’ll be around 62%+ of us who are Irrational and Unrealistic then
Good to see the Labour Party getting the hang of this
Call Kay(e) gets a row from female teacher on her wee show about bias interviewing of Nicola Sturgeon and Union Jackie is just as bad
Go Teacher!!!
Michael Kelly ex Glasgow high hied yin says:
“The electorate are being unrealistic and irrational”
Projection is wonderful to behold.
Dr Jim,
‘ the electorate are being unrealistic and irrational’ are they well?
I see Andy Burnham has written in The Belfast Telegraph ( I know, I know) that if elected he will call for an immediate review of the Labour Party prohibition on standing candidates from N Ireland.
Methinks some people might think he’s being a wee bit ‘ unrealistic and irrational ‘ .
Of course desperation will push people to do all manner of things and he is 56 short ( in the longterm) but has he really thought of the impact this may have ?
In saying that he’s also promised he’ll get Carwyn Jones to be a co – convenor on a Constitutional committee ‘ so we get the final settlement right’ . Even though Carwyn Jones has been pushing this already for the last couple of years.
As for Scotland , I must have missed whatever sweeties we were offered but make no mistake these guys will wreak havoc to get and maintain power .
its seriously questionable whether they are realistic and rational when the prize is No 10 ?
@Dr Jim
Heard that too. The wheel will turn…and so it might, we have a shortish window of opportunity and Sturgeon and Co are going to make the most of it.
Out in the town centre, free WIFI, so missing call Kaye. NOT!
🙂
The Media and the Labour lot love repeating this Utter Balderdash about the Scottish Governments terrible record and hoping the hard of understanding will fall for it
When in fact nothing could be further from the truth
In terms of achievements and even the general feeling in the country their record is staggeringly good
Scotland is on the world map for a whole swathe of accomplishments now and we could run out of internet listing them
By an easy comparison to previous administrations they are a mile in front
So it strikes me as the most stupid of plans for new and improved Chiefy Dugs to go with this idea of putting her own bewilderingly poor Party’s pathetic performance up for scrutiny
This coming Holyrood election is to be contested on that very premise says The First Minister, and if that’s the case FMQs at the very least will prove to be both hilarious for us but a nightmare of epic proportions for the new and improved Kez
Once again the Labour Party bring a knife to a gunfight
(forgive the film analogy) If the Labour party plan to survive, and I mean “Just survive” the oncoming Tsunami their best bet would be to do, and say nothing in the hope nobody will notice them and It’ll all go away
To engage with the SNP and the Voters on any level will likely lead to complete and total destruction of the Labour Party in Scotland
Come to think of it, in the words of the great and discredited Donald Dewar “I like that”
Molly says:
19 August, 2015 at 10:16 am
Molly, Andy Burnham reminds me of Jim Murphy. He will say anything to get a vote.then forget all about you.He has the sincerity of Tony Blair.
Grouse Beater at 8.09
“And that’s it problem, it has encouraged art colleges to dump art and turn to craft. It is getting more and more difficult to find an art student who can actually draw.”
Well said. As a graduate of GSA I’ve stopped going to GSA shows.
Weeks ago no one would give Corbin any chance of winning Labour’s leadership. His supporters emulated the Yes & SNP campaigns of using the relatively new social media and by-passing the mainstream media and speak directly to the Labour members.
There is a sizeable chuck of voters down south waiting for an uplifting message rather that the negative diet of information giving out on a daily basis by the MSM. Labour are now in for a period of in-fighting no matter who wins the leadership.
Stoker says:
19 August, 2015 at 1:08 am
Almost £15K with over a week still to run on this fundraiser.
Well done one and all, what an achievement.
You vile and nasty viruses!
😉
It wiz him what dided it. That vilest of the vilest the Rev, Cybernattery in the Bath.
We,re awe bit part players,but awe the bit part players are Stars.
Just been talking to a pal, staunch Labour. Talking about the current crop and dearth of real policy and ideas. He’s swithering SNP for May 2016.
One step, one body, one vote at a time. It’s still all to play for!
Labour’s ‘gender balanced’ frontbench team will not directly shadow Scottish Government ministers.
What’s name included to keep him quiet!
Marra acted as Co-Chair of Jim Murphy’s campaign that went well.
Ian Gray going back to schools 🙂
Déjà vu again.
link to archive.is
@Dal Riata says: 19 August, 2015 at 12:18 am
” … “But Scottish nationalism cannot leave it there. Scottish Nationalism is a toxin. It is viral. Once Scottish Nationalism gets into the Scottish cultural bloodstream, its petty attitudes corrupt everything British, which is lovely lovely thing and not nationalist.””
Before going any further let’s just get one thing right. The whole sense of the above quote is utter claptrap and it seems you have fallen for it. The idiot you quote has made a fundamental error.
He says, “its petty attitudes corrupt everything British”, but that phrase is the ravings of a total idiot. The reason being he has no concept of what the term, “British”, actually means. The Scots are every bit as British as the people of the Republic of Ireland, The inhabitants of both Channel Islands Bailiwicks, The people on Manx and the several peoples of the United Kingdom.
He, like most of the Establishment, are victims of their own, (if you will pardon the pun) long established propaganda. To these numpties the terms, ‘British’, ‘United Kingdom’ and ‘England’ are mutually, and equally, interchangeable.
While the people of the Republic of Ireland, the Channel Islands, The Isle of Man and the United Kingdom are all British they are not all citizens of the United Kingdom and most certainly not all citizens of the United Kingdom are English.
Yet not only do these idiots utterly confuse the disparate terms themselves but they also confuse a very considerable portion of the populations of the World at large. They should not, however, be able to confuse the rest of either Britain nor the United Kingdom.
Sadly the truth is that they have indeed managed to confuse far too many non-Englanders in the British Isles by their propaganda. Witness the likes of Margaret Curran who claimed that, “If the Scots vote to become independent they will cease to be British and their family members in the rest of the UK will become foreigners to them”.
This is so obviously idiotic, not least by the implication that there is something wrong or shameful in being either, “Non-British”, or Foreign. Thing is we Scots, whether independence supporters or not, need not go along with the propaganda and should highlight just how stupid the confusion of these term is.
Perhaps the greatest offender is none other than David Cameron who persists inn claiming to be the, “Prime Minister of Britain”, or calls the United Kingdom Government the British Government. If someone were to pull him up for his errors every time he made them the idiot would be rendered mute.
Dal Riata says:
19 August, 2015 at 12:18 am
@heedtracker
Yer man, Jonathon Jones, the Guardian’s art and Scotland critic is a fucking unionist arse of the first order
England is the centre of the universe, as we all know full well. Or its just another a cheesy example of how establishment England considers itself the cultural superior of its neighbours, which means it has an absolute right to dominate.
A short trip through teamGB art history and it was ever thus.
High Imperial England’s furious rejection of the French Impressionists is actually laugh out loud funny. European Modernism drove them nuts and they still boost upper class mediocrities like the Bloomsbury group as if they’re were English art gods. They weren’t.
Jones and all the Britnat pseuds just like him in the media continue a very English tradition of WTF, ok its nice, oh fcuk it’s incredible, let’s rip it off, we invented it, rule Britannia.
Right now for example, Greece would like their “Elgin” Marbles back and listen to the UKOK bullshit flow on all that rule Britannia jazz.
Plus ca change, Rodders:D
That’s interesting; I’d seen the commentary at the Independent, so I was fully aware of the fundraising … but until I popped back into Wings today, I had no idea it was the RevStu that had set it up. Indeed, the MSM had never referred to it as anything other than a community initiative at all. And now, the most amusing thing; Some refer to a “Reverend From Bath”? But wasn’t it supposed to be a huge scandal during the Independence debate about Stu not discussing his faith and what he was a Reverend in? Except now the media wants to be sympathetic, or at least to disguise who it really is, it’s accepted uncritically and his title is all they’ll recognise… Such hypocrisy.
@Robert Peffers
I’m afraid you’ve fallen prey to exactly the confusion of terms you describe. The word ‘British’ has at least three senses according to context, for instance the geographical meaning is the large island that extends from John O’ Groats to Land’s End.
The political entity you seem to be thinking of, the UK, is “The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland”. The Northern Irish (well some of them) see themselves as ‘British’ in this sense. The Republic of Ireland hasn’t been ‘British’ in any sense for many a long year, in fact if they knew where you lived you residence would no doubt already be surrounded by a Fenian mob with pitchforks and flaming torches.
The Isle of Mann and the Channel Isles are not part of the UK and never have been. They are ‘Crown Possessions’, but so are Gibralter, The Falklands and all the other relics of Empire scattered across the globe.
Relise please how it plays into WM’s hands whenever someone says ‘England’ when the really mean ‘Britain’ and ‘Britain’ when the really mean ‘The UK’ etc. Even the geographical term ‘The British Isles’ when used to include Ireland, the IoM etc. is problematic, but I don’t know of a simple alternative. What term do Irish school textbooks use?
O/T
Posted this on off topic as well.
Just a wee reminder if anyone wants to hear Eck.
link to word-power.co.uk
All very interesting but this is getting us absolutely nowhere. Our target should be the steady erosion of infrastructure and institutions which are making Scotland weaker as time goes by and consequently independence more difficult to achieve. I am sure this is a deliberate ploy. There are quite a few things going on if you look around from the RNIB to Longannet Power Station. Yes I know these are independent bodies but should we care about that?
No one can defend the pollution created by Longannet but does anyone anywhere seriously believe if Scotland were currently independent that Longannet would be closed BEFORE an alternative was available.
Fergus Ewing is chipping in but he should be protesting from the rooftops as should all our MSP and MP’s. The lack of action is a disgrace.
@Robert Peffers 12.12 p.m.
You’ve said it all before, Robert, but it bears repeating because the various terms you discuss are not interchangeable. To some people these matters are trivial but we should not be complicit in allowing the Establishment to air-brush us out of history or perpetuate false notions about the exact relationships between the various countries of the British Isles.
The Irish may not like the idea very much but Ireland is regarded as being part of the British archipelago. That is why, in The Dead by James Joyce, Molly Ivors teases Gabriel Conroy by calling him a West Briton after he says, “I’m sick of my own country, sick of it!” Shades of Proud-Scot-Butism.
Having said that, I don’t think Dal Riata has “fallen for” anything; he found Jones’ words repulsive and wasn’t condoning them in any way.
I don’t think RPeffers is giving Dal Riata in to trouble, I think it’s just how Robert frames his opening salvo when discussing various subjects within the comments on the thread.
He kinda utilises the original comment as a form of elaborating and hammering home the distinctions he is making. I think he also, is always saying, why take these clowns seriously, don’t let them get to you too much, as they are in fact thick as shit in the neck of a bottle when it comes to the nuances of their own propaganda.
And as long as we stick steadfastly to the facts, over and over again, we know, what’s true, and thus don’t waste our time in becoming infuriated over such obvious provocation.
I think in essence, don’t let the bastards grind you down. Robert’s the hammer on this site…it gets in eventually…and it sticks!
Most of the world thinks of the UK/Britain as England with its English monarchy. I remember visiting the Plains of Abraham in Quebec and the guide referred to the “English cannon” made at the Carron Ironworks. Even the Canadians who are super sensitive at being overwhelmed and being confused with the USA, are not quite so sensitive when it comes to Scotland.
Sir John Macdonald, Scottish born Prime Minister of Canada was not immune when he said “In all countries the rights of the majority take care of themselves, but it is only in countries like England, enjoying constitutional liberty, and safe from the tyranny of a single despot, or of an unbridled democracy, that the rights of minorities are regarded”.
In the UK today the vast majority think England/UK/Great Britain are interchangeable terms. It’s only here in Scotland where some delude themselves by thinking it means something different. Friends who visited India and stayed with friends there, discovered hardly anyone had heard of Scotland and was it a part of England? The closest some got was linking it to Scotland Yard.
@Robert Peffers at 12:18 am
“Before going any further let’s just get one thing right. The whole sense of the above quote is utter claptrap and it seems you have fallen for it.”
WTF are you on about? I didn’t ‘fall’ for anything. I quoted what that fuck-head Jones had said in the Guardian and responded to it with a comment. You going off on one is just bizarre. Calm down and look before you leap.
@Tinto Chiel at 12:12 pm
“Having said that, I don’t think Dal Riata has “fallen for” anything; he found Jones’ words repulsive and wasn’t condoning them in any way.”
Exactly! Thank you, Tinto Chiel.
My, we do have a few delicate souls today!
I also advocate reading on…
Why read on, when taking it personally is so much more satisfying. Sigh… 🙁