The goldfish principle
It is, we’ve remarked before, often difficult to satirise Scottish Labour, because it’s hard to think of anything more fatuous, transparently hypocritical or just plain idiotic than the things they actually say for real. The party’s recent demand that the Scottish Government should set up a “resilience fund” to cushion the blow of falls in oil prices – or as everyone else on Earth usually calls it, an “oil fund” – is only the latest example.
There are just five months between the two tweets above. Yet Labour seemingly believes that the Scottish public will already have completely forgotten that the party spent most of the last two years telling Scots an oil fund was a mad, impossible idea.
But it’s even more ludicrous than it sounds.
Other than the sudden change of heart, the most obvious absurdity is that since the discovery of oil in the mid-70s, Labour has been in power for almost 20 years without taking the opportunity to create a sovereign wealth fund (for either Scotland or the whole UK) from Scotland’s North Sea bounty.
While it naturally blamed the Tories for the failure, it was Labour who were at the helm when oil started coming ashore in large volumes, but instead of setting up a safety net for the future it deliberately underplayed the value (and the lifespan) of the resource because of the political threat posed by the SNP.
But there’s much more recent history than that. The last time the oil price fell to the $50 a barrel region where it sits today was in 2009, by which time Labour was in power at Westminster again. Its reaction was interesting.
Rather than act at Westminster, where oil revenue is actually received and controlled, Scottish Labour issued an angry attack on the SNP Scottish Government, which had published a discussion paper on doing exactly the thing Labour called for this week. Just five years ago, it described the SNP’s oil-fund policy as “financial incompetence” and “desperate stuff”, insisting that “none of the figures [stack] up”.
(Mysteriously, that page is no longer visible on the Scottish Labour website.)
By a remarkable coincidence, the Secretary of State for Scotland at the time Labour was comprehensively rubbishing the idea of an oil fund was an up-and-coming MP from the party’s right wing by the name of Jim Murphy.
Notwithstanding that it was the exact opposite of what he’d wanted in 2009, Murphy made clear what action he was demanding of the Scottish Government in 2015:
In other words, while Westminster retains full control of oil revenues, Murphy wants the Scottish Government to underspend its own budget, tucking some money away for a rainy day. So a reasonable reader might presume he’d be delighted at the news, which also made the press this week, that in fact it had done exactly that, managing to put aside £444m (just over a modest 1% of the total) in 2013-14.
Yet when the Herald broke the story, it uncharacteristically and inexplicably failed to source a comment from Scotland’s main opposition party. Instead the Tories and the Lib Dems were left to furiously lambast the Scottish Government for managing to squirrel away some cash for emergencies.
(We’re sure this was just an accidental oversight on the part of the Herald’s Scottish political editor Tom Gordon when he penned the piece. Because otherwise forgetting for the first time ever to call the Scottish Labour press office when the opportunity to bash the SNP arose could look, well, a little suspicious to cynical readers.)
Labour has opposed a North Sea oil fund for 40 years. It failed to create one during 20 years in power. It has consistently ruled out any idea of oil revenue being devolved to Holyrood. When it was in power in London during the last oil-price crisis, when its current Scottish leader was the Scottish Secretary, it attacked the idea of the Scottish Government setting one up as “desperate”.
Now, though, it wants Scots to forget all that. To forget 1974, to forget 2009, to forget 2014. It even wants them to forget its curious silence just yesterday. We, at least, will be here to refresh people’s memories.
The most extreme example of Labour incompetence and duplicity yet. Share far and wide.
Well done Stu.
And of course there was Ian Gray asking where the money for an oil fund would come from anyway. John Swinney making to bang his head off his desk was entirely the correct response.
Stu… Please Please Please offer a variant of this story to the National for publication. This is front page news in any other country with decent media.
In fact why not send it to the Sun as well.
I second that wingman
Vote AYE for SNP
Well done stu
I did really like reading that. It was like reading and expose. It’s just a shame that these investigative techniques aren’t adopted by the MSM, especially so in the case of the BBC – the State Broadcaster/Progoganda Machine.
My two complaints to the Labour Bottoms lickers at the BBC are waiting in their inbox. One last night and one this morning. See how that inevitably pans out..
Blah, blah, blah, Duty to be Impartial.. blah, blah, blah, Jim Murphy.. blah blah blah.. Labour, blah, blah, blah.. Here to serve the Scottish Public.. blah, blah, blah..
SNP BAD.. MUST DESTROY LABOUR OPPONENTS USING LICENSE PAYERS MONEY..
Shocked at the Herald not doing there job though.. Hmm.. You think Jim’s promised them a cut of his expenses money for a shiny new printer..
Normal service of exposing lies resumed,brilliant. Glad someome is on the case. Looking forward to FMQ’s with Kezia etc, getting their New Year cheer from Nicola.
Is Scottish Labour policy to say the complete opposite on all issues to what they said previously?
If they keep changing their position they may hope to cover every policy from all possible angles simultaneously. They will be neutral, for and against everything.
The conflicting tweets from Jackie Baillie tell you everything you need to know about this unctuous woman with her supercilious smug smiles. She is a liar. Nothing more.
We don’t actually need an oil fund now.
Get the BoE to quantitatively ease another few billion quid. Give the money straight to the government, rather than going around the circle of selling gilts to banks and then the BoE buying the gilts back with printed money. It will even help the BoE hit its inflation target.
Good read as ever Stuart.
If only we could break this sort of news into mainstream media to awaken the masses.
Any genuine and self-respecting independence supporting media should be systematically challenging Labour and Murphy’s assertions. There is much to uncover in the direct support of independence and a better Scotland.
As long as these lies and SNP attacks are left unchallenged in the MSM, Labour will continue to ‘haul-in’ a few more voters with its propaganda ‘drag-nets’
The only thing to stop Labour’s continuous ‘trawl’ for votes, is to hole their nets at every ‘fishing trip’
Thoroughly disgusted and sickened by the sheer hypocrisy.
Daily we are bombarded by crap coming from this shower of liars while the sycophantic journalists aid and abet the dishonest.
My blood pressure going through the roof as I’m struggling to find much truth coming from UK media.
It seems to me that what Labour are actually suggesting is that Westminister takes the revenue from oil so benefits when times are good, but when times are bad the Scottish Government picks up the shortfall. If they’re successful with that it really will mean that North Sea Oil is a terrible financial burden!
It’s also exactly the wrong time to set up such a fund. Any surplus money at the moment is probably needed to pay out to the people the fund would be intended to benefit, not to squirrel away for some unspecified future time.
The time to set up a fund is when the oil price is high and taxation revenues are flowing freely. Like Norway did. Like the SNP always called for Westminster to do in those good times.
Now, it’s like saying, gosh I wish I had some money in a savings account, I could really do with something to fall back on. Quick, open a savings account!
I was following the story on Twitter before Stu posted this piece, and mostly it generates a sense of despair. I mean, how did we get into this situation where the main opposition party is nothing but a shower of opportunistic liars, and the media completely avoid calling them out on it?
Someone please tell Jackie Bailout that we are past ‘peak resilience’ and thus cannot afford a Fund, cos our stock of resilience is declining drastically.
I heard that Jim Murphy is going about with a placard saying ‘Je suis un vrai Charlie’ (tr: I’m a right Charlie) !
What, bang Ian Gray’s head off his desk? An appropriate response certainly.
???????
I mean, ?????
The wisdom or otherwise of setting up an oil fund aside, how in the name of the wee man is the SNP supposed to set one up when they have **no control whatsoever over the revenues**?
I feel like I’m taking crazy pills.
If we had set up a ‘resilience fund’ 40 years ago it might look something like this (approx 10NKr = £1):
link to nbim.no
Great work. We need to get a series of such inconsistencies together and out to the public at the right time because they’re already being hypnotised by MSM.
I was listening to GMS today and I’m starting to think that it’s a great insight into the Labour party (or general Unionist) strategic thinking, since the programme (plus Call Kaye) seems to make it pretty clear what we’re supposed to think about the SNP (or independentistas). Today, more on Murphy: superficially the Murphy stories appeared as a criticism of him, but really the message was loud and clear: Murphy is a tough guy who’s going to stand up for Scotland despite the hostility this may bring from the South East or elsewhere.
Labour know they must deal with the perception that a vote for the SNP is a vote to protect Scotland’s interests. Nice if they can get that vote together with the tradition ‘keep out the tories’. Does the average voter know how Murphy and the Labour party have stuck up for Scotland for the last X years (insert number up to a maximum of 114)?
I canny believe how stupid they think we all must be,nobody will fall for this,there again,she wouldn’t be doing it if nobody listened surely.
There may be folk out there even after all the indyref campaign, who still don’t know what the Scottish Parliament is responsible for and how its funding works.
Will anyone write to the P&J politely summarising Labour’s shameful hypocrisy, and, if they did, would the P&J publish it?
So the Scottish oil and gas tax revenues go to Westminster and the Scottish Government has to stump up for a contingency fund to tide things over in the bad times?
Now I’m just a thick yes voter but it doesn’t strike me that this scenario would represent the ‘best of both worlds’ mantra repeated endlessly during the indyref. It seems like the opposite.
It looks like slab policy to simply get in the papers with anything to obscure the snp completely. That is an epic fail for Scottish labour…. when I read Jackie Baillie’s tweet I was simply baffled. We’re I to see a policeman walking down the street with a native American headdress on it would produce the same result. WTF?
The only possible explanation is that I’m dreaming. Or Jim is a tory sleeper who is throwing the general election.
You’re right.
They are beyond farce or parody.
So let’s get this right Labour. What you are now asking is that from a slashed Barnett handout, the SG should set up a resilience fund? Bearing in mind that all sorts of services will come under unbearable pressure in communities across Scotland from said budget reductions of course.
Aaaaand the very thought that an ‘oil fund’ set up from the proceeds of oil revenues which would have been under the direct control of an independent Scottish Government was a bad thing? Is that about right?
They didn’t even have the courage to call it what it actually is. The two faced, back stabbing, hypocrites couldn’t use the words ‘OIL FUND’, because they know perfectly well that people can indeed connect the fucking dots.
Come on Nicola, rub their bloody faces in it.
Beware political chameleons – now you see them, now you don’t!
Yet another example of the breathtaking lies that Labour will tell the Scots in a desperate bid to win back the power they abused for decades. The MSM of course will never print that “resilience” equals “oil” because of course everything must be the SNP’s fault, at all costs.
Rev, I dunno about you, but I feel Wee Blue Book 2 coming on.
Really, Stu! I’m sure there’s a perfectly understandable explanation for this cynical, hypocritical, non-sensical and utterly decitful about-face from Scottish Labour.
Of course – it’s Jim Murphy!
See? Told you.
It seems that all the Unionist parties are becoming Political Magpies. Is this their strategy in combating the SNP by adopting their ideas. Don’t they realise that Scotland were paying attention and becoming enlightened during the Referendum and we expect more from our politicians than being hecklers, incapable of independent thought. Every time Slab open their mouths they embarrass themselves and validate the SNP’s as the way forward for Scotland.
And as usual despite anything else we might feel, nobody’s the least surprised at any of this!
As always Stu, your reporting of the basic facts reveals much about Scottish Labour. But we should not be surprised at their conduct. Let’s not fall into the trap of assuming that their actions are based on any rational policies or desire to improve the lot of the Scottish people. They are doing the old “SNP bad” thing. So whatever the Scottish government does, Labour will take an opportunistic approach to opposing it.
I firmly believe that Scottish Labour would do actual harm to Scotland and the Scottish people if there was just a suspicion of political advantage in it for them – particularly if that advantage helped them at Westminster. These people are cynical beyond belief and we should all be very, very wary of them. We must keep them out of power.
Outstanding article.
Of course, as others have noted, when Labour is the source no contradiction too absurd, no lie too great, no fallacy too nonsensical will ever see the light of day in the ‘Scottish’ MSM. Protecting Labour and the Union is ‘much more important’ than mere journalism, eh Cockers and you other spineless toerags in the MSM?
Tha National should run this article.
LIARS, LIARS, BLOODY LIARS, THE LOT OF ‘EM!!!
Congratulations Scotland – this is the reality of voting No.
Well it certainly shows the labour/red tory party and its leadership are a bunch of outright liers and storytellers.
In less than one week they have three times had their earses skelped for opening their gobs and letting their bellys rumble.
Same old same old labour
Kezia Dugdale went to school????????
Who knew?
They really are a shower of c***s. Can’t see passed the end of their own Pinocchio lying faced noses to remember what they said two minutes ago.. It really is laughable that they are now requesting an ‘Oil Fund’.. I do wish Spitting Image was on the go.
I found this about Mr Salmond pushing for an ‘Oil Fund’ in 2008.
link to energyvoice.com
Looks like that request fell of Labour Deaf Ears 7 years ago.
Now Mr Murphy has his grubby little hands on the idea, sprinkled some Labour Friendly Media Dust of the idea. Bingo! Vote winning headline. Kerr-ching..
Excellent piece as usual 😉
I hope enough people are getting this content to make a difference in May makes my blood boil especially the folk you try and educate at work that read the rags they are right you are wrong full stop. BANG HEAD OFF BRICK WALL!
Thank you for pointing this out <3
Great piece, Rev., exactly what I meant in a previous thread about your forensic, compare and contrast style – irrefutable.
There are many times when I read things like this, when I feel like stepping right away from anything to do with Scottish politics, including attending SNP branch meetings, and the reason is I feel Scottish politics like this are so excruciatingly tacky, and I begin to feel dirty, even at this distance.
However, even reading this with disgust, we must try to get people to see just how Labour have dragged this country down, and add deeper insult, with this kind of crap.
Please can we start a campaign to name The Labour Party in Scotland correctly, the Leader of the Labour Party in Scotland. There is no such thing as the Scottish Labour Party.
On a lighter note . Murghy visits NHS – pleadges 1000 nurses more than the SNP. He visits Aberdeen and talks to Oil and Gas companies and pledges an Oil Fund. I hope is is not spotted coming out of a lap dancing bar in Edinburgh.
Don’t know you remain so polite about these lying #######. I’d best leave.
Agree with previous posters .this story MUST MUST MUST be in The National.
The “Just Copy SNP Policy” approach continues.
Its like sitting in Project meetings and hearing hopelessly limited middle level managers rephrase a suggestion from wiser underlings and claim it as their own original idea.
Imitation is the insincerest form of flattery dear Blair!
I have come to the conclusion that Labour politicians think we are goldfish and have next to no ability to remember what they said 5 minutes ago much les 5 months ago.
I agree with Stu, they are succeeding in being beyond parody because they get there first. They are like George Bush, you couldn’t make up a daft statement from him because he would almost certainly have already said it…and be quite happy with it.
Nicola @FMQs. – We will take no lectures from Labour, who during their term, raked in £93billion in oil revenues, and did not save a brass farthing.
She also just mentioned Iain Grays reference to her horde of secret weans who will benefit from free school meals
REV
well worth posting Nicola Sturgeon FMQs today,BEST ROASTING OF LABOUR EVER
Absolutely stunning performance by Nicola Sturgeon at FMQs this afternoon.
Labour Party logic always leaves me bemused.
If, like Murphy, I was in a highly paid job with massive expenses claims in excess of £1 million, that would be the time to put money away for a rainy day.
If I become unemployed and have to live off of benefits, that is not the time to start saving but instead to draw on the savings from the good times.
Labour’s big idea is to do it back to front.
Absolute clowns!
Superb critique.
And SLAB still haven’t reached the depths of their hypocrisy.
So thanks to BBC ,Record etc this huge con works, Slab save all their 41? Westminster skins in May, Murphy wins 2016, he’s next Scots FM, sets to work with his 1000 new Scots nurses paid for by London property tax hikes, his not Norway style Scots oil pension fund and whatever else Bliar McTenbellies can think up over lunch at Greigs. It could just work but look at Murphy language, he’s not starting a Scots oil fund, he wants to “approach” one, as he’s Scottish Labour, which doesn’t actually exist either.lol
“I want to announce today that this is an approach the Scottish Labour party would take if i was first minister.”
At least the shysters are having to work a bit.
It’s how the Oil revenues were spent. Illegal wars, tax evasion and Banking fraud, so Westminster MP’s could use secrecy and lies, to line their pockets. Covered by the Official Secrets Act.
Scotland has lost even more revenues since 2011. Westminster for pure spite, put up Oil tax revenues 11% (£2Billion) and lost Scotland £4Billion + a year. (£16Billion by 2015) It was Scottish MP’s from Oil dependant constituency that were involved. What was that about? Cutting off their nose to spite their face. Now wringing their hands and appealing. ‘Let’s have a Conference. It wisnae me’.
This stuff is so bloody self-evident. Details of the hypocrisy are welcome, Rev, but surely journalists remember the referendum campaign rhetoric. As soon as Murphy mentioned this idea, every journalist in the country should have been asking what the hell changed. Every paper that mentions the idea needs a flood of letters to the editor and broadcasters need to be asked why they’re failing in their journalistic responsibilities. In the meantime, write to your local Better Together reps and ask them for their response to this vile hypocrisy. And any SNP folk reading this – pull the finger out! Call him out as a hypocrite and a liar! You won’t get a warm reception from the media for it, but the shitstorm of such blunt language will cause the media to report it. At this stage, these issues need to be forced because relying on the integrity of journalists in Scotland is no longer an option.
link to energyvoice.com
Press and Journal loves Murphy so even this is possible
“The East Renfrewshire MP also gave his full backing to a call from Aberdeen City Council leader Jenny Laing for a “summit” between oil and gas industry leaders, UK and Scottish governments and the local authority in the city.
So far, no date has been set, but Mr Murphy insisted it was “urgent and necessary”.
He added: “If it continues that no date can be found in everyone’s diaries, instead of waiting for the two governments to come to Aberdeen, then I will lead a delegation from Aberdeen to go and meet both the Scottish and UK governments. I hope it doesn’t come to that.”
He hopes it doesn’t come to what? same Aberdeen cooncil unionists that have bankrupted Aberdeen, officially banned all SNP Scots.gov from Aberdeen, wrote to everyone in Aberdeen in their council tax bills telling them to vote NO 18th Sept etc.
Could be like a circus coming to Edinburgh.
[…] The goldfish principle […]
Not forgetting it was Labour/Unionists who underfunded Aberdeen/shire Councils 30% less than all local authorities in Scotland for over thirty years. Labour/Unionists underfunded the Grampian NHS for over thirty years.
The paragraph on Jim Murphy being Secretary of State for Scotland brings an eerie picture into my mind of Labour rearing right-wing politicians in the shadows “just in case.”
HRMC recently announced that, since 1970, the UK government has received £187,825,000,000 in tax revenue from North Sea oil.
link to gov.uk
@Bob Mack – You are right Bob – it should be in the National. Yes, but as a result of their OWN journalistic efforts – and that is why I have stopped buying it.
For every litre of unleaded petrol bought in the UK, 61% of the pump price goes to the UK government as fuel duty and VAT along with 59% of every litre of diesel.
[…] It is, we’ve remarked before, often difficult to satirise Scottish Labour, because it’s hard to think of anything more fatuous, transparently hypocritical or just plain idiotic than the things they actually say for real. The party’s recent demand that the Scottish Government should set up a “resilience fund” to cushion the blow of falls in oil prices – or as everyone else on Earth usually calls it, an “oil fund” – is only the latest example. […]
Anger and frustration are making me think bad thoughts about Jackie Bailie liar liar pants on fire, oh what a bonfire…. But I won’t say that. It’s not nice
This is simply for big headlines and nothing more, point out what the SNP are not doing and demand they should do something. Simple and effective with a compliant Scottish MSM (and they are still compliant as ever).
Labour’s Better Together campaign continues, throwing away truth and hiding behind hypocrisy. I have no doubt that Labour’s plan eventually is to tear down the Scottish Parliament, they see it as their Frankenstein’s Monster. If they want to kill off the SNP then ultimate goal must be to take away their platform for governance.
A popular SNP in Westminster can be sidelined and ignored, but combined with a winning and popular SNP in Holyrood … that is a constitutional crisis.
Labour are tasked to stop the SNP in anyway possible. With the blessing of the British State Murphy will try to be the wrecking ball that Johann Lamont wasn’t. All he needs to do is to win back the 15% of Labour voters that currently say will vote for SNP in GE2015. This will push the Labour share back up to 40% in Scotland, enough to safeguard almost all Labour seats. Then seen as a hero (a la indyref via MSM) he will use that platform to spearhead his push for SE2016, this will be made much easier if Labour is in government in Westminster. If he does manage to become First Minister then the Scottish Parliament will be neutered into a Grand Committee Executive of some sorts. Murphy will be rewarded handsomely for this.
If Murphy achieves this result, combined with laws passed in Westminster, Scotland will never be able to hold a referendum again unless Westminster gives permission. It’s voice will be gone. Sad thing is devolution will be made greater in Northern Ireland and Wales, but Scotland will be reduced to nothing because the extraordinary amount of cash that flows to the Treasury from Scotland cannot be interrupted. Scotland is a cash cow colony.
This coming election campaign must be fought with the same amount of vigour and movement as the YES campaign. Constant positive poll findings breeds complacency and that is something the SNP and the wider independence movement can’t afford. Always remember, the Labour party only needs to turn around 15%.
It is only at the ballot box that Labour will find out if they are a success or failure, it is up to us to make sure that Labour does not get away with lies and hypocrisy to win office, because that is all they have.
Rather than an oil fund ,might I suggest a (rotten) “egg fund”
Would be a more appropriate “approach” re Murphy
The SNP have been in relevant power at Holyrood for three years. Done more in three years than the Unionists did in thirty years. Could do much more with fiscal autonomy/Independence.
Slabbers often accuse the SNP of stealing Labour’s clothes when, in reality, Labour threw their clothes away (along with their Labour principles) as it lurched ever further to the right in the pursuit of the Middle England vote.
It is now trying to steal the clothes off the SNP. But Labour hasn’t chenged, it’s still a right wing party and so they will find the SNP clothes don’t fit–sure, the SNP clothes will make the Slabbers LOOK the part but that’s as good as it will get. We’ll quickly spot the wolf in SNP clothing.
I think the word incandescent would cover my feelings on this. Just so angry and hope everyone in Scotland who recognise what these twisters are about are just the same.
First Ministers Question- All Wingers must seek this out and watch it. Nicola was on fire and SLAB in particular were utterly hapless and hopeless:
Dugdale- NHS question and failed to raise any credible criticism. Dugdale sitting looking deflated and dejected.
Jackie Baillie- Oil Industry. Nicola’s response was as if she was reading a printout of this current thread. Nicola also got in a dig about Murphy and Labour being in charge and doing nothing about squandering oil revenues. Baillie looked deflated and roundly beaten.
Iain Gray- he got on his feet to great hoots of laughter as Nicola had just finished making a fool of him in response to a question about free school meals.
Nicola made a good point that Labour have abandoned their core principles because they had become a subsidiary of the Tories, Ouch!
Even Brian Taylor could not find any pro-Labour sound bites. I would love to be a fly on the wall at the Labour de-brief. Murphy will be going mental.
Unelected Murphy will be leading no delegation from Scotland. Neither will the minority Labour/Unionists from Aberdeen CC. Despised by the majority in Aberdeen/shire. Any negotiations can be done by the Scottish Gov who actually know what they are doing.
The Gov gets 50% of all Oil production, along with the the tax revenues 30%+ = 80%. In some fields tax regime is up to 90%. Plus the licences revenues. Plus Corp tax on profits etc.going through London HQ’s, not to the Scottish Gov for commercial activities in Scotland.
He He He, our FM has really chopped the red tories and their stories to bits today during question time.
Deputy dugdale was totally dumbfounded by the end of her questions and Nicola was dusting her hands with the rest of the red tory gob-shites “ballie & grey” by the end of the session.
She also blew Ruthie right out of the water and anyone else who tried to be a smart-alec.
Nicola just answered your article in fine style.
points at jackie Baillie and Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah – takes a Biiiiiiig Breath and – Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahhahahahahhahhahahahhahahahahhahahahahah
Bugger it, I now have to change my trousers – however, another Biiiiig Breath and –
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahhahahahahahhahahahha………………………….
Tomorrow’s vote Murphy news today “Jim Murphy to scrap Trident, send it back to aye thone rich soft southerners in their London tax dodging mansions, like what uber Tory boy Boris Johnson is, who hates you Scotland, so lets stick Trident on the Thames next to Westminster”
or, Murphy is Scrapping Trident “I want to announce today that this is an approach the Scottish Labour party would take if I was first minister.”
Thats genius, have another Greigs lattice pork pie Bliar.
FMQs
Nicola ripping into Jim Murphy
and he cant reply
hahahshahahahahaha
Since it changes every day how can Scottish Labour remember the script they are supposed to be following?
The stench of hypocrisy is overwhelming now.
Surely ‘The National’ should by now be undertaking the job of promoting the failings of the mainstream media and interviewing in the gaps. And then pushing these interviews out into the mainstream. After all, all they need to do half the time is read this website and run from it.
Or is the National merely a ploy by the herald to pick up money and preach to the converted.
I could be wrong here, anyone got any ideas on investigative journalism from the national being pushed mainstream??
Well Scots are pretty daft; after all, 2 million of us voted to stay with this crapfest on 18 September 2014. Murphy’s imperial masters & his branch office minions really make one weep for Scotland’s future. It is SO depressing. Was there ever a country so bereft of citizens with vision and confidence? Can we send these bastardos a message in May? Christ, I hope so, I really, really hope so.
Resilience Fund = Oil Fund + £1000
No voters have a lot to answer for. Christ we must be the thickest people EVER to walk the planet. No wonder our “leaders” treat us with contempt.
Where is the tipping point I wonder? Surely there comes a point when folk just say enough is enough!
@ Kenny says:
You are spot on and the 45 should be writing to all the unionist papers and calling all radio phone ins politely and forcefully pointing out Labour hypocrisy and stupidity at every occasion and eventually the editors will get the message.
All the facts can be found on this site, Business for Scotland or at http://www.snp.org media centre
This lot of hopeless wannabe’s are a joke, and not even a very good one at that. If they had ONE solitary brain cell shared between the lot of them they would be dangerous! Thankfully the idea of Labour in Scotland actually find a solitary brain cell amongst their humongous number is very very very remote. 😀
Anyone know the editor of thd National well enough to outline many of these points raised today,and perhaps kntimate we would appreciate some appropriate coverage?
Bit hard on goldfish, which in reality can remember things for quite a few months. Perhaps Scottish Labour could take their place as the benchmark icon for an inability to recall past events.
Puts Murphy deeper in the mire, great!
@Cuilean
“Well Scots are pretty daft; after all, 2 million of us voted to stay with this crapfest on 18 September 2014.”
In fact if you subtracted the English residents of Scotland who voted NO, the majority of Scots voted YES. 🙂
Oil / resilience fund is surely now a moot point? –
Latest UCL study – ‘About 80%, 50% and 30% of coal, gas and oil reserves, respectively, would need to remain below Earth’s surface if the world is to limit an increase in global mean temperature to 2 °C.’
This is the kind of shite from Labour and the media that got me interested in politics and opened my eyes to the blatant lying, spin and omission.
Its clear that the indyref battle against the same forces is set to continue, in the guise of 2015 GE.
They might have cleaned up they’re site, but a quick google found it on twitter – link to twitter.com
These people are beyond parody. ( shakes head and sighs)
More than this are the benighted who cotinue to give them their votes and trust.
Ah well, not long ’til May.
Slightly O/T
Now Slab are on to a “SNP Tory alliance” in 2007-2011, forgetting at least Calman, the Trams and that they could have teamed up with the LibDems to govern instead.
Slab must be in the business of giving goldfish a good name.
Continue, obviously I hope.
Thanks for your article today Stu it was like a word for word of First ministers questions before it happened…Spooky.. NS raised the level a bit against the Baddies nicely, a bit more I am the First Minister style..
Wingman-thought there was 400,000 English residents in Scotland? Surely some of them voted yes?!
Of course all of this is just ‘campaigning’ and will in no way reflect the reality if they were ever allowed to become the government in Scotland. Isn’t this exactly what happened during the referendum ‘campaign’? Whilst Better Together/United had wall to wall media coverage of the ‘Vow’, the UK goverment were disclaiming the ‘promises’ on the grounds that this was ‘campaigning’ and did not reflect the UK governments position.
And how did that work out again? EVEL, back in our box, Murphy the saviour et al. This is exactly what this is. It in no way reflects the true face of Labour in Scotland; they are in the business of retaining Scotland as a region. No lie is too big, no manipulation is too outrageous.
This ‘grinding down’ will be relentless, Stu and all on here have forecast this. We need to get back to campaigning at the same level and intensity of the referendum. Town hall meetings, rally’s et al. If we lose the momentum and get utterly scunnered, then they are winning. They must not win.
We must fight against our own ‘disappointment’ time and time again, and get the information out there as we did before. Do not let these bastards drag us down to their level.
7/5/2015 Vote SNP or….wither.
@ No no no… Yes
“Baillie looked deflated and roundly beaten”
How can she be round AND deflated at the same time?
? arse 2
@ No no no… Yes
“Baillie looked deflated and roundly beaten”
How can she be round AND deflated at the same time?
pye arse squared
the forgetting things, isn’t working, May is going to be interesting
Cameron got the idea from Blair, who got the idea from Clinton, and now being deployed by the blessed St. Jim, in imitation of the think-tank on (ahem) “liberal democracy” The Henry Jackson Society. It’s called…
TRI – ANG – U- LATION.
(v. To nullify your opponent’s policy initiative by publicly rebranding it and adopting the position as your own while simultaneously corrupting the original intention and concealing your own ends – Christopher Hitchens on Clinton)
I’ll have to watch FMQ’s on iPlayer at home. I dunno what your all on about.. Nicola getting tore into Kezia etc..
I’ve just been through this though:
link to bbc.co.uk
From reading that it’s all about dogs electric collars. The rest comes across like folk at a knitting group arguing about the price of corned beef – nothing too serious but what the hell are we going to put in the sandwiches – it’s all Mabel’s fault for getting a Seeded Brown and not a Pan Loaf..tsk.
I do like BBC’s interesting choice of Tweets to include interspersed though the commentary. No guesses what side they’re on really eh, but I do admire them for not trying to hide it in the slightest. I bet they piss into the wind just for thrills.
I’m guessing having not seen FMQ’s, that the FMQ’s Live page bares no relation to what actually went on?
Nationalists are banging on about Labour now being in favour of an oil fund even though it’s something they’ve been opposing forever. Don’t worry folks, Scottish Labour haven’t changed one bit, this idea is absolutely nothing like Norway’s famous oil fund, in fact it’s the opposite. The low price of oil will, of course have a knock on effect in the North East, when the price is low production slows and people don’t get work. This is easy for the oil industry as they mainly hire people on short-term contracts, so no pesky redundancy payments for them. The way Jim Murphy describes the Resilience fund is that the Scottish Government will inject cash into areas which suffer from these kinds of cyclical industry slow downs (in practice this means the North East) to make up for lost council tax revenue etc, during lean periods. Of course the tax take from the oil industry goes direct to Westminister, not Edinburgh, so the money for the Resilience fund will have to come from cuts to another budget (strangely this is one of the reasons Labour gave for opposing having an oil fund). So essentially what the Scottish Labour Party are proposing is that Westminister continues to take all the tax take from oil, but when the industry slows down the Scottish Government steps in to shore up the affected areas, using money they could have spent on schools, hospitals or museums (just saying). See, it’s nothing like the Norwegian Oil Fund, because it takes money from the oil industry and uses it to pay for schools and hospitals, whereas Labour are suggesting we take money from schools and hospitals and use it to mitigate the damage done by a lean period in an industry which is only willing to employ people on short-term contracts. Funnily enough, short-term contracts are also something Labour are supposed to oppose, except when they want to subsidise them.
A Norwegian style oil fund would make Scotland wealthier and more secure (resilient even), Labour’s Resilience fund will actually make Scotland poorer.
Themadmurph 1:56pm
Archive, archive, archive, or else the SLABS will try and delete it. Here is the archived version now: link to archive.today
Macandroid 2:01pm Hahahaha
Forgot to ask, anyone got a link for the petition against this Union Flag on the licence nonsense, i must apologise for not signing before, i couldn’t believe they were actually going to impose this on us until i saw Alex Johnstone doing his “What part of NO does Miss McAlpine not understand” and then i learn NI isn’t going to have it imposed upon them in case one half of that area decides to blow up the other half. So the pen is only mightier than the sword when it applies to other countries except NI Is it just me but it’s not us re-running the referendum it’s them shoving triumphalism down our throats because we didn’t have enough guts to stick it to them first.
Ach ahm away to the shops…
DR Jim Petition as requested.
link to you.38degrees.org.uk
As usual, a brilliant piece of investigative journalism, demonstrating the deceit employed, and ineptitude of this pitiful excuse for a so called Labour opposition party.
I really do begin to feel sorry for those among us, who have voted Labour and placed their faith in this ‘sorrowful’ and’shoddy’party.
Those Labour voters must be sick to their stomach’s watching this lot perform like circus clowns.
It is so blatantly obvious that they haven’t a clue what they are doing and it is becoming increasingly embarrassing to watch. They truly have, become a laughing stock.
@ Inky pic
And there-in lies the problem. There can’t be a tipping point in terms of people waking up to this, because we are inside a soundproof cell (metaphorically speaking) and can shout and scream as much as we like about this kind of duplicity and lies, but as we look out the tiny window, we can see the wider populus wandering by oblivious to the reality and all the while, the MSM stand outside our door and jangle the keys to the cell whilst sniggering at us.
I heard much from the Govt Broadcaster (by proxy) this morning about an attack on democracy in Paris (and I am not trivialising the horror of the incident or the pain and grief of the victims here), but daily, the Govt Broadcaster (by proxy) in this country (Scotland) attacks democracy through selective reporting, suppression of reality and “squirrel pointing”. They are inexorably linked to Labour (I won’t say Scottish in front of the word Labour, as that entity just does not exist) through nepitism, friendship, marriage, business and the Old Boy network. That ain’t about to change anytime soon….frustrating, aint it!?
Democracy? In this country (Scotland) it is dead, buried in a shallow unmarked grave in the forest and like the movie “Invasion of the Bodysnatchers”, a facsimile has been put in it’s place.
Any link for Nicola today?
Here’s the actual article for LABOUR: OIL FUND FIGURES DON’T ADD UP: link to archive.today
Brian W 2:10pm
I checked out some of the tweets on the BBC summary. Funnily enough they have included one from a certain Euan McColm, who is a very unpleasant Unionist journalist. At 12.20 he says:
“kezia dugdale’s pretty good at this”
Still all Better Together, eh?
For me I think the gifts just keep on coming..
I got to this story link to bbc.co.uk via this site link to thelyonyawns.com
In the BBC Article (I know, who’ have thought) they are tripping over them selves to get across that the Oil Industry is DOOMED.. that’s right.. DOOMED I TELL YI..
I do love this bit from Douglas Fraser:
“To avoid the oil investment boom turning into a bust by the dramatic fall in the price of Brent crude, firms in the industry are having to go for unusual measures.”
hahahahah
Now how can we re-word that to reflect Jims apparent change of heart and demanding action and a “Resilience Fund” **, when he couldn;t be arsed to do it when oil was below $50 a barrel when Secretary State for Scotland
(** “Resilience Fund” re-branded oil fund folks – Like Opel Fruits became Starburst, & Jif became Cif)
I’m wondering if Douglas Fraser would be happy with the re-wording below (and i know there are far wittier better writers than me out there.. Monkey’s, room and typewriters would eventually come up with what I’ve wrote.)
To avoid Voters leaving the Labour Branch in Scotland, preventing the party going from bust to bust, Jim Murphy is having to go for unusual measures such as lying to the Electorate and calling for a “Resilience Fund” (Oil Fund to me and you). Even though being unable to take the unusual measure of arguing for implementing an Oil Fund when Secretary State for Scotland when Oil was last below $50 a barrel in 2008/2009.
Les Wilson 2:29pm
Link to FMQ’s today:
link to bbc.co.uk
Enjoy!
Lee Wilson,
You can also access this on youtube.( dont trust the BBC)
scottishparliment and click todays 08/01/2015 first ministers questions.
@ Brian W
Watch it here. Don’t trust the BBC version, they’re not trustworthy.
link to scottishparliament.tv
@ Dr Jim.
link to you.38degrees.org.uk
O/T
Apparently Alex Salmond is now to write a weekly column in the Courier -beginning on Monday ,the 12th….looking forward to that !
Big big problem to overcome is the “there are none so blind as those that cannot/will not see” syndrome and we have more than our fair share of these here in Scotland,I collared a very strident “bitter together” promoter at a stall one day asking him to answer me 3 simple questions,a he hadn,t understood them and b he couldn,t answer them his final broadside being that if they had found oil off the southcoast of England who,s oil would it be,completely flummoxed me.
Wee change of topic, sorry! But pertinent to discussion I think… Great news that Alex Salmond shall be writing a column for the Courier (or so I read today). I haven’t bought one of them in years as I got so scunnered with their biased editorials. But perhaps this is ‘change’?? One can only cross our fingers and hope. But one thing I KNOW – AS won’t let them away with any ‘unionist’ rubbish! Perhaps something like JM’s ‘turn-arounds’ (okay dam-right lies) will be highlighted. I doubt Alex will let them stay as they lay! Looking forward to seeing his ‘first edition’ on the stands and perhaps I might even buy one – just to see, of course…
Excellent article Rev.Stu.
It really should be in the National. Have they ever carried an article of yours?
@ gerry parker
Thanks for the link Gerry. I will watch it later on when i get in the hoose.
Good work Stu. When you’re good, you’re good.
Given what appears to be a rising number of comments on this site the truth has to be getting out there. Today’s FMQ’s was a typical example of Nicola taking on the opposition and not just winning but wiping the floor with them.
re fmq’s
more people are getting sick and indeed disabled because of austerity.
+ £220m PFI millstone.
the nhs is being required to deal with the human wreckage of the decades of thatcherite lab/tory policies.
Completely O/T:
Having a wee rake thought various websites I found this:
link to bbc.co.uk
A Labour councillor has been suspended for sharing a parody of a Conservative election poster, doctored to include an image of a Nazi death camp.
Nottingham City Councillor Rosemary Healy has expressed “profound apologies” for retweeting the picture of Auschwitz to her 1,500 followers.
Her expanation, “Profound apologies for that retweet which was a genuine mistake and would never have been retweeted had I recognised it for what it was.”
Is there a pattern emerging with the Labour Party competence at Twitter communications? First it was Emily Thornberry white van tweet and now this one. Wow!
Vote Labour anyone?
Brilliant dissection of Scottish Labour’s latest bout of hypocrisy. However, don’t expect the MSM to point that out.
Nicola was in top form at FMQs today and took apart all and sundry.
However, no comment on her performance apart from the usual 10 seconds or so from Flubber.
Every wednesday Brillo’s Daily Politics has a preview of PMQ’s followed by a 30 minute review of what was said. We in Scotland get nothing before FMQs and jusr Flubber’s 10 seconds afterwards and then straight over to Brillo in London. Even in news bulletins and the woeful Scotland 2014/15 there is little comment or analysis – I suppose because Eck and now Nicola always wiped the floor with the opposition parties.
Why is no pressure being put on PQ for more coverage and analysis of FMQs – how about a petition.
On the subject of Brillo and The BBC we had a wonderful example of The Pot Calling The Kettle Black today when Brillo launched a beautifully hypocritical attack on Russia Today for being biased.
SLAB’s ingrained hypocrisy and arrogance are really ticking me off now, even though I’ve never voted for them. It isn’t just their “core vote,” they insult with this sort of nonsense. Someone needs to let them know that Winston Smith was a fictional character and his job was allegorical.
Goldfish principle? Labour don’t do principles these days.
@ merida
Yes, WE know that the FM can wipe the floor with these people at will, but how many people out there actually take the time or have the inclination to seek FM questions out and watch it?
WE also know that the Rev is doing sterling work and his investigative journalism illuminates a lot of the deceit.
The problem is, as always, that;
A) The MSM in the vast majority WILL NOT report even
handedly.
B) Most folk simply aren’t politically minded or inclined.
C) Most folk are happy to drift along aspiring to a
disposable, superficial, amorphous celebrity culture.
D) Most folk will read a headline and look no further.
Folk will be folk and always look for the easy way through things.
It is the MSM in this Country which gives them a false pointer to easy street by mis-representing, mis-reporting, suppressing, conniving to cast doubt and “squirrel pointing” away from our message.
The MSM wants the status quo because they and their bosses are inexorably linked with Labour, the Tories and “The Establishment”.
Holyrood FMQ’s, Kezia says she was at school during last Labour right to reign over Scotland, so stop criticising them. Another Labour deep thinking heavyweight in action. At least she’s got better oral hygiene but when future First Minister Murphy does take his rightful place in charge of their Scotland region, he’ll be a lot more logical than Deputy Dugdale won’t he:D
Thanks again proud Scot buts.
Do you ever receive a response from those you mention in your posts or do they just treat you with the contempt you most assuredly don’t deserve!
I’m sick of this, all of it. It makes my skin crawl and I get so agitated when I see the lies day after day. I feel like im going to spontaneously explode.
I keep thinking about just ignoring it all and doing nothing other than turn up to vote to try and restore some sense of calm to my life.
I’m fed up with a daily process where the entire establishment of the country I live in tells lies, talks complete rubbish, contradicts itself and seems to have an agenda that is so blatantly interested in keeping the truth from the people that live here.
But I know so many people are doing and have done more than me and I feel guilty if all I do now is vote and give up everything else.
Stu, can you help me and all the others and produce a book or small pamphlet before the election which simply points out the double standards and complete lies. I’m fed up and frankly tired trying to remember the countless lies contradictions and false claims I continually rebut.
I don’t need one stating the differences in political promises, just detail the lies and hypocrisy.
I can never recall every detail when doing this and a small pamphlet would make it all the easier.
Thanks
I tell you what, Duncan McNeil is bloody lucky there’s a General Election coming up, because his performance at FMQ today has tipped me right over the edge.
In his infinite wisdom, McNeil chose to ask the First Minister some random nonsense about what percentage of the 135,000 children eligible for the SNP’s free school meal expansion would be classed as high-earning or otherwise out of poverty. There are almost a thousand children in Inverclyde who are classed as in extreme poverty, and you are complaining about free school meals!?!
Don’t think for a moment I’ve forgotten what you’ve said during the referendum, Mr McNeil. Once we’ve dealt with Mr MacKenzie, we’re coming for you, Mr McNeil. The 1,200+ members of Inverclyde’s SNP branch are sick of New Labour’s mismanagement, and we aim to fix your mistakes.
Kezia says she was at school during last Labour right to reign over Scotland,
Must be another slow learner, like Murphy’s nine years at Uni without a degree, Kezia was 26 when Labour were booted out Scottish Parliament in 2007 and 29 when Tories gained power at Westminster.
Why am I always gobsmacked by the sheer perfidy of this lying, devious, self seeking, odious bunch of arseholes known as Scottish Labour. If decency and honesty came along and bit them on the f*****g ankles they wouldn’t recognise it.
Clear off and leave Scottish politics to people with a conscience and some honesty and decency. This bunch truly are the Crously Crowing Rottans referred to by Hamish Handerson.
The Scottish press has attempted to normalise Jim Murphy as Labour leader. But his record as an extreme militarist, neo-con and Zionist speaks for itself.
By Alex Doherty and David Miller
link to spinwatch.org
Sorry, Henderson
Jimmy Hood MP in this week’s Hamilton Advertiser, purchased only for the second time since the referendum for football reasons, once more reminding the locals about 1979, tartan tories, “fundementalist cybernats” I shit you not. Christina McKelvie MSP will no doubt get a right to reply in a few weeks, next week it will be some Labour attack dog from the council or James “Mastermind” Kelly.
Well-done Rev!
Had been aware of some of this. Not however the 2009 stance taken by Labour.
Will all have to work hard to make sure these lies are exposed far and wide to general public.
Excellent article Rev, don’t ever let us forget.
I really must praise this piece and it’s writer. The forensic and clinical dissection of these issues is delivered with real precision and with no little flair.
Well done Stu, If the National don’t print this, does anyone have any idea how much this would cost to print in flyer form to put through letter boxes e.t.c
Tortoise Jim should go back into hibernation as he keeps making an arse of himself each day, but then again it shows the public how much of a clown he really is.
Future First Minister?????? heaven help us.
Gary
calgacus (and Rev Stu)
Isn’t it the case that the National is “produced” in Wales, not very far from Bath. Knock on their door Rev and tell them you are available.
This is all absolute nonsense. The oil industry’s fine. It must be, we (as a nation, not me) voted no- which we were told kept it, and the NHS, safe. No problems at all, this is cybernat rumour mongering (the worst kind of mongering, except maybe fish) and nothing more.
Thanks to whoever recommended Nicholson Shaxson’s book “Treasure Islands” particularly chapter 12 on the City of London. So scarey. My education continues on Wings.
I agree with those saying they feel like screaming.
If we cant shift these two-faced brazen liars at the GE we are done for.
Have they always been this bad and we didn’t know before the indy ref campaign?
They must be sociopaths if they can look folk in the eye and lie, lie, lie.
We NEED a WBB 2 but it’s going to be almost impossible to keep track of the bare-faced lies.
Didn’t think I could despise BBC/MSM any more but I’m running out of words to express my feelings for them
Well fielded Sinky…:)
A new report has been published by the Scottish Government calling for urgent reform of the taxation regime for North Sea oil and gas.
link to energyvoice.com
Interesting development:
link to bbc.co.uk
Cameron says he will not take part in TV debates if the Greens are not included. As the Greens are an English party which does not contest seats in Scotland (we have the Scottish Green Party, who are a separate party), this suggests that the SNP should not be excluded from TV debates on the grounds that they only contest seats in Scotland.
Or am I missing something?
Let me see!
The revenue of Scotland’s assets is sent to London.
We receive some pocket money back.
From the pocket money the SNP government is to mitigate welfare cuts, offset the bedroom tax, assist with the impact on the working poor e.g. foodbanks and now we are to set aside funds to deal with low oil prices.
If only we had the full income ALL of the time we could manage fine.
What happened to those broad shoulders of better together – shouldn’t they be helping out as claimed last year.
Dr Jim, Best [also] signing the official one from the UK Gov. because they’re likely to ignore the 38 degree one.
link to submissions.epetitions.direct.gov.uk
Jeez, how long before BBC just stop reporting anything to do with FMQ, the online transcript is just shocking, and as for the tweets, shaks ma heid
I can only dream about what Scotland may have been like if we had had control of our oil for the past 40 years.
Then I cry myself to sleep.
UK ?( Scotland oil industry crisis) media “deception”? Production since
The mid seventies, and profitable (0bviously) over the past 40 YEARS
With prices varying between as low as 9 USD/barrel and highs of
Last year.However, if you average the price over the 40 year period
Then possibly 30 USD could be close?So today at USD 50/barrel
We have a crisis?
Perhaps the real crisis is the diminishing tax take to the London
Treasury? And the pressure for further tax concessions ? Is this
The REAL CRISIS ?
@taranaich 4:17 pm
Duncan Mcniel MSP. I have watched him for years and he reminded me of someone or something from a long time ago. Today the penny dropped, many years ago there was a toy wind up monkey which had two cymbals which it would beat the hell out of until the spring ran down. Replace cymbals with holyrood desk check the facial expression and lugs! A dead ringer, at least from the neck up. Tick tock Dunky Tick Tock. Time to take your pension.
Thanks Kezia, Ian Gray, Jaba and the rest of the SLAB intellectuals in holyrood best comedy show on the tele.
Well done Nicola you are a gem.
Fergus Green
a UK wide party is one that can be elected to UKWM.
all UK post codes count, as being in the UK. 🙂
the seats up for grabs this may are for the UK WM.
or do snp mp’s sit in a different UK parliament.
after all the UK parliament represents or is supposed to represent the interests of all UK subjects atm.
as scotland is regrettably a constituency part of the UK.
Aspen,
Glad you enjoyed treasure islands by Nicholas Shaxson.
Would recommend this book to everyone who wishes to know more about the uk establishment.
Reference Michael above, a document listing SLab’s edicts over the years would be useful for canvassing. Charge Sheet seems like a appropriate heading . Selling your Granny for glue, the introductory guidance paragraph.
How ironic that the area most directly affected by the slump in oil price is the North East, which voted overwhelmingly NO, to a large extent because oil prices were “too volatile to base our economy on”. Perhaps, realising that, they should have been less profligate with their own personal and local economies while oil prices were high. They should now realise the importance of an oil fund.
Oh and someone should explain to Ian Gray that ordinary households can operate savings accounts while paying off a mortgage.
Rev Stuart Campbell – You are my hero. I read the two differing statements from each asshole and think “bastards!!!” And then I read your sum up and then I think “You fuckin bastards!!!!” Coz only then it really sinks into my thick nut at their hypocrisy (I ken I should ken beh noo). If only I’d stuck in at Kir’in Heh.
As has been said a squillion times this kinda shit should be in The National and this is why I’ve been slowly losing patience with the paper too. I always hope The National will have some of the Labour lies in it, but no they might give a wee peice on Main Stream Murphy but none of the stuff you give us here.
So long National. I’ve got Wings.
The reason Labour or indeed any of the London based political parties get away with this puerile rubbish is due to the chronic corruption that pervades British media.
Its relationship with Westminster & the wider London Establishment remains as cosy & intertwined as ever, despite all the testimony & consequential faux outrage courtesy of the Levinson inquiry.
As a wee infiller when is Jim Murphy going to tell us in East Renfrewshire if he is standing for Re-Election to Westminster? The grapevine seems to be saying that he will stand down and concentrate on finding a seat for the Scottish Parliament in 2016. So far none of the current Labour M.S.P’s within his area are willing to stand down and allow him their seat. Therefore he will probably have to stand as a List Candidate!! What a prospect for a man aspiring to be our First Minister. You have to stand in awe at the shambles of the LABOUR PARTY in Scotland!!
Hoors and coamic singers
@fergusgreen
The expectation is if the Greens are included then the SNP, with more Westminster seats, would have a legal leg to stand on, as it were.
Interesting times.
Alan of Neilston – if Jim Murphy doesn’t stand for re-election in 2015, and therefore wont be an MP, does that not mean he can’t be Slab leader until and unless he gets elected as an MSP, as their rules state that their leader must be either an MEP, MP or MSP. Unless that specification is one of the clauses he’s intending to re-write/delete. 😉
Rev, excellent article as ever. The biggest thing for me is not the total lies that SLAB tell us, it’s the fookin wanks at Pacific Q. I have no words to describe how I feel about them but we must be able to do something. Can’t you coordinate/advocate/advertise whatever a huge march against them. This could be a joint effort between all the indy sites and even the National. Could see 20000 turning up and needs to be well before May to make an impact. Please. Pretty please ????
@alanofneilston
Re Murphy, as far as I can see most SLAB candidates are already selected, not in his seat, so perhaps he isn’t, or still weighing up his options.
Can anyone find anything honest and true in anyone who represents the Scottish Branch of the Labour Party.
I’ll wait . . . .
No, I didn’t think so.
[…] I would laugh if it wasn't so sad. link to wingsoverscotland.com […]
i wasn’t born then, is ducking behind the metaphoric sofa.
an infantile remark indeed.
the battle of hastings did happen, even though most people in scotland were probably not born then!
Wouldn’t the ‘resilience fund’, because it would be designed to mitigate against changes in a reserved matter, fall foul of the same problems that the fund to mitigate against the Bedroom tax originally did?
Deputy Dug: “I wasn’t born then.”
That, my dear, is why we teach history in School. Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repat it (George Santayana).
The labour page from 5 years ago that’s mysteriously vanished. Gotta love a bit of web.archive link to web.archive.org
OT: Looks like the contract for 13 Type 26 vessels to be built on Clyde might not happen. Better Together my foot.
link to archive.today
Thanks for the linck to Labour was still at school when it all happened so what do we know about:D
“Scottish Labour today pointed out the ‘financial incompetence’ of the SNP’s plans to create an oil fund today.
The Scottish Government is publishing a discussion paper on creating an oil fund for Scotland despite none of the figures stacking up.
Andy Kerr, Labour’s shadow Finance secretary said:
“An oil fund works on the basis of investing money after all public spending is paid. But even on the most generous assessment, there have only been 9 years in the last 27 when Scotland’s finances were in surplus – and none since 1988.
“If Scotland had started an oil fund when Norway did, the total value of the fund today would be £0.
“That is because successive governments have spent more money on Scottish public services like schools, the NHS and transport than have been taken in oil taxes.
“It is sad that Mr Swinney has to use inaccurate information to justify spending taxpayers’ money on another consultation that is utterly meaningless.
“North Sea oil production has been steadily decreasing for the last five years. The reality is that oil is a commodity finite in supply and volatile in price.
“To pay money into an oil fund now, John Swinney would actually have to voluntarily cut money from public services. In the teeth of recession, that is pretty desperate stuff.”
Its late Sept 2009 and they really should be back at school, and this bit though takes the biscuit and after Crash and the Flipper have bankrupted us all too
“If Scotland had started an oil fund when Norway did, the total value of the fund today would be £0.
If the Scottish government couldn’t create a fund to offset the bedroom tax, because Welfare is a reserved matter, how can it create a fund for offsetting vagaries in the oil and gas industry, a reserved matter?
I have just emailed The National to direct them to this article and plead with them to run with this story on the front page. Worth a try! Maybe if they get enough requests they might take notice?
I agree this is a must if Wings go for a Wee Blue Book 2. I would be delighted to contribute to funding that – It would be such an excellent aid for the campaign up to May.
Go Stu – get this out onto mainstream – how much does a full page ad in the Record cost? Got to be good value if they would publish it. Failing that – the Sun.
No use in the National – preaching to the converted…. sorry for the pun
@alexicon
Thanks for that
In my honest opinion a WBB mark 2 is a non-starter.
Here in Angus, our main battle is not with the Labour Party and that will be the case in many constituencies.
Anyone who can produce a snappy graphic or piece of writing should post it on off-topic, people can download those that are prescient for use during the campaign.
“What can we do?” People ask, use the experience you have gained over the last two years –
Talk to people, engage with people and enable them to discover the reality.
In the name of the wee man, are there any brain cells at all in the Scottish Labour party? Now I know how truly STUPID Jim Murphy is and how stupid the MSPs are to follow his daft direction.
I see Alec Salmond is writing a weekly column in the P&J. It’s a shame I won’t be able to read it, but I have no intention of ever buying that piece of dung newspaper (allegedly).
“The labour page from 5 years ago that’s mysteriously vanished.|
Doesn’t anyone ever click the ETC ETC ETC
Is it just me or is anyone else struggling to get to the bottom of what is going on in Westminster politics.
I feel as if all the traditions and conventions of openness and transparency; of fairness and democracy have been scrapped and replaced with – with what?
The nearest I can come up with is something akin to a crossword puzzle, which is full of deliberately cryptic clues.
The ‘Resilience Fund’ – McTernan’s latest PR clue is typical.
It doesn’t make any sense to the electorate, quite the opposite. It appears so crass and stupid, as Stu so cleverly explains – but it makes perfect sense to the author of the puzzle, whose intention is that we get wrapped up in each clue, with lots of arguments about what it means, without ever getting the right answers – until it’s too late, and the votes have been counted and the results have been declared.
And we are left screwed.
Like with the Referendum, when so much of the No Campaign seemed so obviously untrue and absurd, but the why of it we never figured out till it was over, and we then understood that Better Together had only one aim, viz. to make the elderly afraid.
The hard core unionist voters were already guaranteed; the English immigrants could also be relied on, as could the business community and the well off.
The elderly were all that was needed and so it was decided from the very beginning by BT, to wage a campaign of fear – targeting the elderly.
BT gave us so many clues but we couldn’t figure them out.
Had we known then what we know now about BT’s strategy, Scotland would be Independent by now and we wouldn’t have that ‘if only’ feeling.
And so to the new crossword – the GE15 edition. I wonder if we’ll fare any better and figure out the Unionist strategy this time.
Or maybe we won’t have to. Maybe it will be a repeat.
But somehow I don’t think so.
@Jim McIntosh
The Alex Salmond Interviews, Day 1: Home rule is my goal
I still don’t understand all this piffle about Scotlands National Party not being included in Televised Debates. The UK constantly keep claiming they won the Referendum vote to retain Scotland as one of their loving family of Nations and we’re all Great Britain now (get over it) then surely by that logic the SNP is a UK Political Party or are we having one of those (Scotlands a separate issue) moments like NI and the driving licence flag issue. Once again, Brittania waves the rules. The law is what i say it is eh Westminster? They always have to be sensitive on the NI question, whereas us Scots don’t appear to be sensitive enough to frighten anybody… Djae Think?
@ heedtracker I hope your pleased wie yoursel after reading this awe day your post again 6.51pm hiz pushed me over the edge,am loseing the will to live,so I,ll have to call it a early nite before this laptop takes flight & meets with solid objects.GD nite lol.
Usual rancid Graun banality Libby Carrell says vote NO. Can someone explain to all teamGB liggers out there that they did win the referendum and teamGB still runs Scotland’s economy and even if there was actually anything that Scotland’s FM could do to boost the price of oil tomorrow , WE WOULD BE MUCH BETTER OFF THAN WE ARE NOW IF WE WERE NOT RUN BY OUR NEIGHBOURS, because nonone could do any worse either under spend crazed Crash and Flipper SLab, ConDem, bloaters like Carmicheal, old frauds like Murphy, school girls like Kezia etc. even if Scotland rebooted just 10 years ago.
Thanks again proud Scot buts.
“Nicola Sturgeon denies oil price plunge harms case for Scottish home rule”
link to archive.today
Excellent expose’ Might be , “The Sun” will come down on the SNP side in the election, (payback to the Tories). Might be worthwhile copying the editor the post. They are on-line.
Jim Murphy, the Tory sleeper cell. bringing the Labour party down from inside.
No no no yes says
“Is there a pattern emerging with the Labour Party competence at Twitter communications? First it was Emily Thornberry white van tweet and now this one. Wow!”
if anyone over the age of twelve claims they don’t know what this picture represents
link to tinyurl.com
THEY’RE LYING!
Murphy takes power.
a concern arises in that the new arrangements might concentrate over much power in the Leader. Addressing this a new executive team will be established, with powers over policy making, election strategy, hiring and firing key staff and setting policy in all devolved areas.
link to caltonjock.com
Everything they say is a lie. And Mr Murphy seems to have no fixed beliefs, principles or policies. If he ever becomes First Minister it will prove the stupidity of the Scottish voter…
First time posting in a long time but then isn`t it always just the same shit, different day in Scotland?
It could have been different, soooo different but here we are. I will make a prediction here, I fully expect the BBC (which I can`t bring myself to watch anymore) to have more crowds of demonstrator`s outside as it continue`s it`s campaign for the union.
What has changed down there since they took a war footing on Scottish democracy? I`m talking about long before the referendum too!
There are many reasons why we lost the bloody referendum, the BBC remains as does the pro union MSM and the Labour Party.
Yes I know, they are pretty much one and the same.
We need to be dropping through doors leaflets which highlight the biggest unionist lies and deceit of the month.
Can wings crowd fund some monthly leaflets? Wings has always been a great source of knowledge and had huge if not the biggest success in crowd funding EVER.
Sorry if i`m just reiterating what others have suggested but i`m just getting back into politics after our huge disappointment a few months ago.
Back in fighting mode for the GE.
We know exactly how they are going to fight this so lets get the foot soldier`s out, no point sitting in front of our keyboards whilst the battle commences. Ehm
Stu
The page might have been removed from Labours website but two posters here have found it on the web. Clearly Slab didn’t find every copy of it 😉
Gods Country says:
8 January, 2015 at 6:04 pm
“Rev, excellent article as ever. The biggest thing for me is not the total lies that SLAB tell us, it’s the @+/#;’@*$% at Pacific Q. I have no words to describe how I feel about them but we must be able to do something. Can’t you coordinate/advocate/advertise whatever a huge march against them. This could be a joint effort between all the indy sites and even the National. Could see 20000 turning up and needs to be well before May to make an impact. Please. Pretty please ????”
How’s this for starters?
Lets ensure a massive WOS presence – spread the word far & wide.
link to facebook.com
Rev Stuart you are magnificent!
The general electorate doesn’t retain these facts and figures and the Labour Party abuse this fact at every opportunity.
Absolutely flabbergasted at their arrogance, ignorance, and incompetence. It’s not even a case of their left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing, their brain doesn’t know it has limbs.
RE The National, I have been subscribing, however I’ve never encountered anything in the league of the Rev’s calibre of
revelations. I too wonder if the Tory Herald just seen the pound
signs in giving a few scapegoats a few inches of loose chain to see if they could make them some money without upsetting the apple cart? As support for the paper drifts off does the UK media Herald the death of Scottish Nationalism with its demise?
I will by tomorrow’s edition, but if they don’t have the common
sense to run with the Rev’s ball tomorrow, I fear that I would rather it disappeared now with distance between the final edition
and the general election.
I’m really behind a fund for the Rev to publish a page in one of the Red Top papers to show the great unwashed what Labour and the Media are playing at.
Can anyone advise on the cost of full page “advertisement”?
Well, this audacious piece of hypocritical opportunism has certainly got our shit in an uproar, hasn’t it. So well done Murphy.
No voters will lap it up – something to smugly repeat if the topic of oil comes up, never mind the mindbending inconsistency and fallacy of it.
My apologies if I’m offending anyone, but I only heard of the French Tragedy late on last night and searched the web looking for information. I said I wouldn’t do it, but I was guilty of opening the Daily Mail site, may God have mercy on my Scottish soul.
I could not believe how afraid they were to make any negative comment of their own about the terrorists.
As opposed to Murder or Assassination to describe the despicable act, they chose Executed, which is defined as:- put to death according to law. I don’t recall the victims every going up in front of a Judge and Jury. Why wouldn’t they condemn the act?
Later in their spiel, they declared the world was outraged, but again they didn’t want to add their own endorsement?
I could smell the Fear through the Ethernet.
It may have been something else I smelled from them, but lets not us that option.
I think that you already knew this, but free speech is dead as a dodo in the Mail. My sincere condolences to the French Nation.
It looks like the No referendum campaign has taught them they can get away with whatever shit they want and there is no down side. For them, what’s not to like. They have now become infallible with total media protect.
If they have an Achilles heel, I can’t see it.
@One_Scot
They have an Achilles heel. It’s name is Jim Murphy.
Sorry -incomplete post earlier when my dinner caught fire 🙁 so I’ll try again
Stu
The page might have been removed from Labours website but two posters here have found it on the web. Clearly Slab didn’t find every copy of it 😉
When we heard that JM had gone to Aberdeen earlier this week we should have heard alarm bells ringing then. They were bound to clean up their website so that they could make their false allegations with impunity.What the eye doesn’t see & all that.
If you think about it, it isn’t that long ago that the Tories did exactly the same thing with their site & removed every speech Cameron had made because he kept being pulled up by the press & voters on the things he’d said in the past.
So no I can’t agree Stu-there’s no ‘mysteriously’ about it. It was deliberately removed to enable SLab to decieve the voters. They do like to change history, don’t they?
O/T. Re. The National, anyone else experienced the phenomenon of having to look hard to find it? Plenty of outlets seem to stash it beneath weekly ad-rags or on shelves remote from other daily newspapers. Needless to say, steps can be taken by individual consumers to rectify such situations wherever they may be encountered..
Better Together II is upon us.
And this is only the start.
The only real aim for them is to keep everything in WM/UK/CON/DEM/NATION just as it is,and to say or do ANYTHING to achieve that end.
THEY GOT FAR TOO MANY SKELETONS IN THE CUPBOARD TO BE EXPOSED.
Whether its Labour or Tory-with any available puppet coalition necessary-that’s all that matters to the existing cartel,they’re all one and the same.
The difference will be what spanner we can throw in the works and we are not finished yet.
So let’s do what we can to change the rank rotten status quo.
Keep the heid and get as many SNP Mp’s as we can for GE2015.
Simples.
Time for Yes Nation to strike back at the evel Empire.
link to facebook.com
The unionists are gloating because the oil price has collapsed. However, I think that this will also cause really big problems for Osbourne also, the UK being so dependent on oil tax revenue and all. It looks like we may not get to see those promised type 23 frigates after all.
@ Dcanmore
Well said.
This is one of the best articles I have read on this site. Sums up our current situation completely.
Flipper having a rant about deceiving the public hahahahaha.
Anyone seen this today.
Dick Gaughan tells BBC to f* off and boycotts opening Celtic Connections concert due to referendum bias.
Fantastic.
Hopefully more will follow suit.
I once read that during blair years labour massaged all their wikipedia entries and got any controversial stuff removed
Thats why all wingers should keep screen shots and all attributable quotes for future reference.
This is a great article on the American establishment’s aggression and it’s propaganda machine. Well worth a read and strikes some chords closer to home
link to peakprosperity.com
Of course if I put this on MSM I’d be branded a communist or something similar by the dunderheeds!
OT have you wingers noticed the proliferation of telly programmes with the word British in the title? It’s unbelievable the number of them in the last year. Subliminal shit going on definitely.
Bob Mack,
“Agree with previous posters .this story MUST MUST MUST be in The National.”
Don’t hold your breath.
If the National’s support for independence was genuine, they would have had our Stuart as a regular columnist by now.
Folk star boycotts festival opening night concert over BBC’s indie ref “bias”
Gaughan, from Leith, Edinburgh, said: “After the referendum last September, I made the decision that I would not cooperate any longer with BBC Scotland so long as the current regime remains in place.
“This was a personal decision due to what I perceived as the biased, selective and partisan nature of BBC Scotland’s news and current affairs coverage of the pre-referendum campaign, which I found to be quite intolerable.”
1.6 million Scots are behind you on that.
I truly hate Scottish Labour. Bare faced liars and they must be exposed as so.
they should be put in the stocks and a ton if shit thrown at them.
Really like reading all the tosh on this site. All getting into a wee frenzy again are we??
@ Stoker.
Thanks, got it in my diary.
The return of Grahamski!
@ Joemcg, I hear what you say regarding the TV, but there are still a few jems being broadcast. Just watched a documentary on bbc2 ( who knew) called The Super Rich and Us. Brilliant expose’ of the British states complicity with the super rich to avoid tax, and the effect this has had on our economy and society. A must watch for all wingers, canny believe it was produced by the beeb!
Ed Miliband is Labour’s weak point. We need to get on to the social media and make big noise about him getting up here if he wants to be UK Prime Minister.
It is insulting to Scots not to expect the leader of UK Labour to speak to us and answer questions on policy rather than leave it to branch manager, Jim Murphy.
Thank goodness the National did not direct anyone to this site.
I have posted plainsong psalm singing on the Hebrides – yet this is one of the three most evil entities on earth.
I was born in England and therefore must have voted No.
Anyone who has ever voted Labour is an idiot.
Wake up you idiots, either be inclusive or find a ghetto that suits your exclusive view of Scotland.
I choose to live in a country that respects and welcomes all, some here are betraying that vision.
Enjoyed Nicola wiping the floor efficiently with Kezia, Ruth Davidson, Iain Gray and Jackie B. Anyone who shared my pleasure can read an impartially regurgitated, insightful report in the Scotsman of events in a parallel universe. Kezia herself should simply have been credited for the piece… or maybe McTernan.
link to archive.today
Tom Peterkin has outdone himself – we are reaching the stage where the Scotsman has descended to the depths of the gutter, where black is white and up is down.
Lower, indeed than a snake’s belly.
Re slab’s idea to make the Scottish Government make a contingency oil fund like Norway except without the oil revenues, can I also propose:
1. The Scottish Government sets up a navy from the existing budget to supplement the inability of the UK armed forces to patrol Scottish waters.
2. We setup our own foreign office and embassies to further Scottish interests abroad.
Of course we will still pay towards the rUK’s armed forces and foreign office but we can just squeeze the NHS and Education budget.
@Morag says: 8 January, 2015 at 11:42 am:
” … how did we get into this situation where the main opposition party is nothing but a shower of opportunistic liars, and the media completely avoid calling them out on it?”
Och! Lassie, they have always been like that. The plain facts are simply that they were getting away with it in Scotland. The reason being that they were just NOT the opposition then. Thus the media were not reporting anything to the public just as they do now so few voters even noticed.
As a very long term, Erm!, political insurgent, I have been threeping about these things nearly all my life.
OT
Can someone help me out with figures please or tell me how to search and find out the correct numbers?…..
Apparently Scotland would be 6bn in the hole if we were independent right now and oil is at it’s current price…..
As a comparison how much in the hole would the rest of the UK be? would they be in a similar situation or would they be much better off per year? I’d really appreciate some thoughts on this sorry if it’s already covered but I don’t really know what to search for.
Chossy try business for scotland
A £6 bn deficit for indy scotland is not as bad as the current uk annual deficit of £100 bn deficit and its time pro indy parties and supporters pointed this out
Well and truly exposed yet again and the lies are only going to become bigger and more frequent , I know it’s been said that this story should be printed in the national which I hope it is , but I can’t help but think if someone published a book that pointed out every single piece of nonsense that the labour Mp,s try to pass as the truth over just the last few years and it’s all fully referenced to a point they are actually contradicting themselves to a level which is hilarious , I am fairly positive that it would fly off the shelves , I for one would be buying it for the entertainment value.
Possible suggestion for the title if someone decides to publish this book ………..
Labour Of Lies !
Paula Rose,
“Thank goodness the National did not direct anyone to this site.”
Is that best comment you can make on such a brilliant article by Stuart that not a single journalist in the country has the intelligence or integrity to compile and publish?
As a supporter of independence, you prefer readers of the ‘pro independence’ National not to visit this site?
You think that the readers of the National are so stupid that they would not be able to make a distinction between Stuart’s article and the personal views of those posting comments on it?
Where do I apply for a job briefing SNP spokespeople before they go on Scotland 2015? Hosie missed an open goal tonight.
“Wouldn’t this have blown a hole in an independent Scotland’s finances?”
The answer is and should always be: “Firstly, no it wouldn’t. We wouldn’t have been independent until April 2016, by which time we expect the deliberate forcing down of the oil price by Saudi Arabia and the USA to have ended and the price to have rebounded. Secondly, we are NOT indepdendent, sadly, in part because the Labour-Tory-Lib Dem alliance insisted we needed the ‘broad shoulders’ of the UK to cope with the vagaries of the oil market. Well, let them cope. The Scottish Government has very little power over the energy market and no control at all over the taxation of oil production. This is entirely an issue for Westminster. The Scottish Government will do all it can to support the industry where it can and we’ve already done x, y and z. But unless this was yet another Better Together campaign lie, this is the responsibility of George Osborne and his allies.”
HOW FUCKING HARD CAN IT BE TO SAY THAT?
On the “resilience fund” crap, here’s the answer:
“Throughout the referendum campaign, we were told that an oil fund was impossible. Iain Gray, the former Labour leader in Scotland, even asked where the money would come from for such a fund! The SNP has argued for an oil fund for many years and the Westminster parties have consistently argued that unlike almost every other oil-producing nation in the world, Scotland and the UK cannot have such a fund. Now that they’ve won the referendum, Jim Murphy thinks that by referring to a ‘resilience fund’ rather than an oil fund, he can attack the SNP for failing to do something that is beyond the Scottish Government’s power. I feel certain that the people of Scotland will see through this vulgar hypocrisy. Having said all that, the SNP’s careful stewarding of the Scottish budget as it stands means that this year we have been able to set aside more than £400m to go some way to starting such a stabilisation fund.”
Learn the lines, numpties. This one is SO blatant that you ought to be able to give Labour an absolute kicking on it, but it won’t happen if you can’t articulate simple points that show them up for the lying, hypocritical scumbags they are.
Well, I am a former labour supporter who found the bias and untruths too much to take from SLAB. I am also English. I have a brain, however, and can differentiate between xenophobia and frustration. In general, this site is still a positive one. The slew of anti Yes vitriol outside of this site is incredible so it is only to be expected that some on here get rather fed up and rail against it in blunt terms. Unionists will pick and choose what they read on here, slagging off as and when they feel like it. That is to be expected. I see Wings as a place to share info, learn real facts and a place to vent frustrations. I see Yessers as being far more positive and inclusive than those with the opposing view…
It’s all those hormones flying about.
Cracking review/analysis.
Enjoyed that, thanks.
chossy
Re 6bn black hole, we have a larger deficit as part of the UK than would be the case in an Independent Scotland, that’s assuming we would have a deficit in an Indy Scotland.
As part of the UK we pay our “share” of costs for UK items such as Trident, London Crossrail, H2S, London Sewers, Overseas Military bases etc etc which we would not be liable for as an Independent Nation.
Cant remember exact figures but something like 53billion raised in Scotland and 28bn given back by Westminster meaning we are charged around 25 Billion a year for Defence and Foreign relations etc.
Oil is a bonus, we would be in surplus without oil revenues.
Robert Peffers,
Just to clear things up.
You insist that we will still be ‘British’ after independence.
Are you then perfectly happy for Scotland to be called ‘North Britain’ by one Gordon Brown?
Not whether he is technically right – he is, but are you happy for Scotland to be called ‘North Britain’ now?
Just a simple answer please. I am not asking you for a complete history.
Robert Peffers
I suspect this may be one of those “Does my bum look big in this?” questions. All sensible men avoid answering that type of question, as any answer will inevitably lead to tears, temper tantrums and heavy objects being thrown.
Alternatively you could just say, “Have another wine, dear.” That’s my husband’s default response to everything I say.
Looking at all this from the outside… It’s through the looking glass stuff. Where right is left and down is up.
The MSM in Scotland and also the wider UK seem to have abandoned all principles of proper journalism. The BBC in Scotland has become a mouthpiece for NO and now Labour in a bid to stem the SNP tide. They might even succeed. Unfortunately a LOT of people still believe the BBC is the paragon of impartiality. Even journalists in the Finnish MSM regurgitate BBC anti-Scottish and BBC-promoted UK neo-Lib propaganda when they report UK news. For some reason, the neo-lib message is more acceptable if it doesn’t come from America but from a European country.
Oh dear, England, and with it, the rest of the countries of the UK, will be dragged into another futile war to shore up US world prestige. And supposed UK prestige. (Insert here a “smiley” of banging head against a brick wall.)
No Finnish news outlet has the money to have a separate correspondent in Edinburgh, fair enough, but during the referendum I was disappointed, they just regurgitated BBC/Herald/Scotsman stuff. If Helsingin Sanomat could do an in-depth double page spread reportage on Scottish independence aspirations in 1992, why not now when independence was far more realistic than in 1992? (I’ve still got those newspaper clippings from 1992 somewhere. The pics had the leader (a younger and thinner Alex Salmond) and two SNP Youth Wing volunteers, Shona Robinson and Stuart Hosie :-D)
My eyes were opened around 2007 when I started watching/listening to uncencored Holyrood committee and plenary (chamber) sessions online. The gap of what was actually said and what was reported was staggering, and continues to this day.
One of the cornerstones of a working democracy is a free press that holds the government and the opposition to account over their undelivered or undeliverable election promises/pledges/vows, and exposes the corporate links and vested interests of those in power, or near power.
The UK media as a whole dismally falls at this hurdle. The MSM, owned by “media lords”, is too cosy with the Establishment, the moneyed rich interest. Ordinary people are given scraps and suitable scape-goats for all the social ills, like immigrants or the rebellious, insurgent, whinging, subsidy-junkie Scots.
The Scottish and the wider UK MSM fail dismally in proper journalism and holding powers that be to account. They pander to the powers that be, eager as lapdogs to preserve the status quo, get a pat on the head and aid and abet a further descent into neoliberalist hell. Vicorian kind of rampant capitalism that makes the few very rich and the most miserable.
Why is Downton Abbey so promoted in the UK MSM and consequently so popular? They (the nebulous Establishment that now includes the Labour Party) want to return to those good old times when the rich really were rich and the rest knew their place. When Scotland was just a place to shoot grouse and stalk deer and be beningly amused about the uncouth natives.
The Scottish MSM just isn’t doing its job and it makes me unbelievably angry. This is why increasingly many turn to alternative media like WOS. But truth and Scottish independence can never win until even the most BBC/MSM indoctrinated open their eyes and see the light. A lot of those people will just close their eyes (and ears) at a whif of “NAT” message because they’ve been told by the MSM that “SNP bad, vote Labour to keep out the Tories” and other lies.
As to democracy and free press. Reporters without Borders produces an annual world press freedom index. They might have their own axe to grind but their criteria (threat to life, governmental intervention, corporate ownership etc.) seem fair enough. Here’s the link to their place.
link to rsf.org
The top ten (discounting micro-states… Sorry Luxembourgh, Andorra and Lichtenstein) is Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, New Zealand, Sweden, Estonia, Austria, the Czech Repubic (Germany at 11). Mostly “small” countries. We must be doing something wrong.
When you look at the map you might understand why even a liberal, understanding, loving Finn like me is a bit wary about our eastern neighbour. Actually all Finns are a bit wary about our neighbour – you Scots think you have a nasty neighbour? With a 100 mile land border? He he. We’ve got a 1000 mile land border with the menance from the east. 😀
Finland tops the list, the UK languishes at 33 (dropped 4 places, mostly due to corporate control, concentrated ownership). Accoring to RsB, countries like Uruguay, Suriname and Lithuania have a freer press than the UK. The USA is at 46, is that what the UK Establishment is aspiring at?
Finland has a population of about 5.6M, lots of newspapers (the main quality dailies and tabloids have circulation figures the Scots press can only dream about), 4 public broadcaster YLE TV channels, 4 other freeview commercial TV channels. Countless national and local radio. With such a “small” customer base, YLE and commercial TV companies produce news, documentaries, original drama, game shows. Even Big Brother. (This year, a wonderfully earnest 23-yr-old Sami reindeer herder from the extreme north of Finland won the €100,000). Finnish TV stations buy foreign stuff like BBC nature programmes. David Attenborough is so well-know and popular in Finland that he even did a couple of ironic ads for a Finnish soft drink! We also get ITV’s Downton Abbey. Finns treat it as a foreign fairytale, not as a political manifesto and aspiration, which it is for the better together UKOK team of Labs, Cons, Libs. Same difference. All they want is to keep Scotland (perhaps not the Scots) and the oil revenues and the antiquated forms of patronage and priviledge. The UK is not a democracy in the real sense.
Sorry for this long rant, and I didn’t even mention school meals – I have a lot to say about that! 😀
@Joemcg says:8 January, 2015 at 2:00 pm:
“Wingman-thought there was 400,000 English residents in Scotland? Surely some of them voted yes?!”
Well, JoeMcg, I sure hope so. There are at lest 6 English born SNP party members who have been elected as either MPs or MSPs. There are lots of other English born members in the SNP.
I was African born! Do I count?
@K1 says: 8 January, 2015 at 2:00 pm:
” … We need to get back to campaigning at the same level and intensity of the referendum. Town hall meetings, rally’s et al. If we lose the momentum and get utterly scunnered, then they are winning. They must not win.”
Well, K1, the YES campaign has not exactly been sleeping. Just a couple of days ago I had the 8 X A4 paged, No.1 issue of, “The Grist”, pushed through my letter box by the Kelty YES Group. A well written and well produced, (and very welcome), initiative.
I’m just sorry I’m not able to get out there and help. I had a wee accident on referendum night, (well it turned out to be not so wee), and am struggling to get going again. Hopefully I’ll get going again soon. I feel so frustrated mostly stuck in the house. For the moment I remain a, “Cyber Insurgent”.
@lumilumi –
I’m sure I’m not the only Winger who would happily support you, in an independent Scotland, as some kind of ‘Media-Health Minister’, with responsibility for weaning us all off the horrible ‘BBC’ diet we’ve been force-fed for the past century.
Your comments help us to see that, yes, really, we’re not all going mad. We’re not crazed CyberNazis looking for scapegoats – there really is something terribly wrong with media in the ‘UK’, and right now? a lot of Scottish people have very good reasons to be extremely pissed off about it. So, if we don’t try to challenge it, who else will?
(P.S. Hypothetical – If you do stand for election to the Scottish Parliament, and win, will you keep the name ‘Lumilumi’?! In any event, Happy New Year to you.)
Rock, Canada is North America. Canadians will accept this but they don’t have to describe themselves as North Americans (and never would I imagine!).
The point is that Brown choose (like the weasel he is) to call himself North British as he was too ashamed of his country. Don’t blame him. I’m ashamed of it too, but not for the same reasons as him.
By the way you were spot on about the National. A wheeze to get money from the gullible. Same as the Sunday Herald. One owner mopping up all 100% of the ref voters.
The only thing we can do is knock on doors and get sites like this into peoples lives. If not possible for the oldies and non techies then WBB equivalent or small leaflets with the main points on to these folks.
@ Lumilumi
Another interesting post Thank you .
Dinna stop , we are listening with interest .
School Meals ?
I’m with lumilumi – like Finland, in Catalonia (8 million) there is a similar large spread of all media, public and private – what is wrong with the UK and especially Scotland? It’s a media desert.
Scotland and Catalonia apparently have a not too different GDP so it’s not financial problems. Who is it that gives out broadcasting licences again?
@author_al
Well, I am a former labour supporter who found the bias and untruths too much to take from SLAB. I am also English. I have a brain, however, and can differentiate between xenophobia and frustration. In general, this site is still a positive one. The slew of anti Yes vitriol outside of this site is incredible so it is only to be expected that some on here get rather fed up and rail against it in blunt terms. Unionists will pick and choose what they read on here, slagging off as and when they feel like it. That is to be expected. I see Wings as a place to share info, learn real facts and a place to vent frustrations. I see Yessers as being far more positive and inclusive than those with the opposing view…
I have always said that the true anti-English folk are the unionist Scots. They are filled with a great, unyielding level of self hatred along with a gigantic inferiority complex that requires an enemy in the form of England and the English to fuel the flames of such hatred. They have been divided and ruled, but they are too blind to look beyond their own pathetic complex to see the truth of the matter
For me, living in Asia and looking in from the outside, I can compare what I see here between the different peoples and nations, and my own experiences and knowledge from when I lived in Scotland. Unionists have this complex and its so blatant and out in the open now, I’m truly surprised that they don’t trip up over their own words every time they project their own little complex onto the independence movement.
@ Tackety Beets 12.45am
School meals?
Finland has had free hot school meals for everybody ever since right after the war, late 1940s, when Finland was a desperately poor country struggling with rationing and war reparations. But politicians of all persuations, left or right, agreed that all kids should have at least one hot, nutritious meal a day. Because the children are the future of our small country. (They also introduced child benefits and free pre-natal and post-natal maternal care, which slashed infant mortality.) The problem now is that the finicky kids don’t like the healthy, nutritious school grub and go to the nearest fast food outlet. 😀
In Finland you usually go to school for 12 years, from age 6/7 to 18/19 so you gain a lot of experience of school grub. Everybody’s an expert. 😀
Every generation has their own memories of school food. My parents’ generation remember macaroni soup (apparently a concoction of milk and macaroni), my generation still gets the boak about tilliliha (meat in a slimy “dill” sauce) and kanaviilokki (congealing shredded chicken, served with black currant sauce), and don’t get me started on “rubber potatoes”!
My nieces now complain about the poor salad selection (only shredded carrot or green salad on some days) and not having soft bread every day. When I was in school we had rye crackers every day. Hell, the Finnish Army marches on rye crackers and pea soup!
Oh well, kids will always complain about school food, it goes with the territory, it’s what they DO. Especially because everybody and everybody’s parents and everybody’s grandparents have had free school meals. We take it so for granted that we moan about it.
I (and everybody else) can only remember the horrors but mostly the food was good enough for me to forget what it was. I and all my friends happily ate it. I can still see the yellow pastic plates and red or blue pastic cups but proper Hackmann stainless steel knives and forks.
In primary school you sit down to lunch with your teacher, who helps you with table manners or even peeling the potatoes. By high school you’re expected to know these things and the teachers eat at their own table.
Rich or poor, Finnish kids all eat the same grub for 12 years. That’s one of the best sides of universalism. (There are no private schools in Finland so all the kids, rich or poor, go to the local school for 9 years. For the last 3 they spread out to vocational or academic schools of their choice.)
I think Morag put it very well about the importance of universalism, a few days ago here on WoS, maybe the tenth comment down.
link to wingsoverscotland.com
As a Finn, I find it silly to have this conversation/debate about school meals. Free school grub for everybody is just so self-evident… automatic for us. If Finland, when it was a desperately poor country, could provide free school meals to all, why can’t Scotland.
Meanwhile, enjoy ye all free hospital food. When the SNSH is privatised, meals will beome an optional extra that you pay for. 😀
Rev Stu/WoS – another fine piece of investigative reporting. If the MSM was this good you’d be out of a job.
I have dutifully completed a complaint form on the BBC’s website, concerning their failure to challenge the idiotic ‘dodged a bullet’ claim from scots tories, reported with a straight face on Reporting Scotland last night. If nothing else, it’s irresponsible journalism.
Lumilumi
Thank you for another excellent post .
Read it early this morning . Re read again just now .
Keep up the good work.
People the National did cover this story, over three pages and despite the Rev Stu’s standing, getting Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp to pen the commentary was more credible than the Rev doing it.
I have recently taken out a second monthly online subscription and I like the National.
tartanarse,
“Rock, Canada is North America. Canadians will accept this but they don’t have to describe themselves as North Americans (and never would I imagine!).”
As an independent political nation, self respecting Canadians wouldn’t want to be called ‘Americans’, even though they technically are, because of the USA being generally accepted as ‘America’.
Same applies to ‘Britain’ and ‘British’.
Apart from the likes of Robert Peffers and Natasha, no one gives a damn about Scotland being geographically or historically ‘British’ or part of ‘Britain’.
No one in their right mind would insist that a politically independent Scotland was ‘British’ and part of ‘Britain’.
tartanarse,
“By the way you were spot on about the National. A wheeze to get money from the gullible. Same as the Sunday Herald. One owner mopping up all 100% of the ref voters.”
We talk about Labour voters being brainwashed into voting Labour.
Sadly, I have concluded that many Yes supporters have been brainwashed to an even greater extent into funding The National and The Sunday Herald, in the misguided belief that they are furthering the cause of independence.
If another referendum was announced today, The National would very quickly change its colours or disappear.
Day in and day out, our Stuart publishes brilliant pieces of journalism.
The buyers of the National should perhaps pay him 50p each daily for his efforts so that HIS articles can be published in print form and distributed free to the general public.
That WOULD further the cause of independence.
Natasha,
“Alternatively you could just say, “Have another wine, dear.” That’s my husband’s default response to everything I say.”
Looks like you get onto here after your husband has given you his default response.
If I were you, I would be seriously worried.
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