The graveyard of competence
There’s been considerable mirth in nationalist circles ever since Jim Murphy became leader of the Scottish Labour branch office late last year. Announcing that he wanted to “reach out” to Yes voters, his idea of an olive branch was to hire three of the most divisive and obnoxious figures to be found anywhere in his party’s entire hinterland, in a move about as conciliatory and unifying as when Rangers signed Mo Johnston.
Counter-intuitively, the link-up with Blair McDougall (who headed Murphy’s successful leadership bid) is the one that makes the most sense. After all, as “Better Together” campaign director McDougall was responsible for turning a 30-point lead for No into a 10-point one, so he clearly knows something about how to appeal to Yes people.
But for a man widely cited as smart and savvy, Murphy also staffing his office with comically unpleasant Twitter troll John McTernan and the nutter-fringe imbecile Susan Dalgety – someone who was last seen resigning in disgrace after likening the SNP to the Omagh bombers – was harder to understand.
And the non-stop trainwreck that has followed leaves only one explanation.
It started with the Infinite Nurses Paradox.
The original version of Murphy’s NHS pledge was so arithmetically stupid that people almost forgot to notice it was also politically idiotic – the NHS is devolved, so the 2015 election couldn’t possibly have any impact on the number of nurses employed in Scotland. Even if Labour won at Westminster and gave the Scottish Government extra money, the decision about spending it on nurses would remain with the SNP.
Since then, Labour has tried to pretend that the “over and above anything the SNP pledge” line never happened, and that the promise was simply for 1000 extra nurses compared to the current number all along, hoping that nobody will remember.
Next up was the insistence – “FACT!” – that the biggest party at Westminster gets to form the government. This site blew that one out of the water within hours, linking to a whole series of official UK government documents including the Cabinet Manual, and then reminding Labour that as recently as the last election, they’d been angrily insisting to anyone who’d listen that they had the right to try to form an administration despite having almost 50 seats fewer than the Tories.
The falsehood was so blatant even the mainstream press couldn’t help picking up on it, and without ever admitting that it had been lying Labour has quietly backed away from the claim, with newer graphics subtly changing the wording.
Then someone gave Murphy the bright idea that he could win back defecting “Glasgow Man” voters from the party’s heartlands by promising to let them drink alcohol and sing sectarian songs at football again. Domestic abuse charities were horrified, calling the idea “absolutely crazy”, and a poll run by the Daily Record today currently suggests that the plan is backed by just 8% of voters.
Then, just for a bit of slapstick light relief (don’t even get us started on the zany “I’m not a Unionist” debacle, or the bewildering assertion that the blood-soaked history of Irish nationalism was a nicer model than the entirely corpse-free Scottish one), there was the embarrassing leaking, followed by deleting, of the “Yes For Labour” sub-site yesterday, exposed by a couple of Herald journalists.
But the piece de resistance was still to come.
Building on an earlier clanger about an “A&E crisis” in Scotland’s NHS, in which Labour MPs and MSPs turned up at closed-down clinics that had been replaced by brand-new facilities and complained that the defunct ones were understaffed, Murphy released a video bemoaning the number of cancelled operations at Scottish hospitals, which he claimed was four times as high as the equivalent in England.
The only problem was that Labour had completely misread the figures – something the SNP quickly jumped all over, forcing Murphy to delete his tweets and the video.
Remarkably, even after being caught red-handed in a wildly inaccurate accusation, a blustering Labour spokesgoon actually tried to blame the SNP for Labour’s error, demanding that more figures be published, even though Labour had just proven itself unable to grasp the ones that were already in the public domain.
In just two months of Murphy’s leadership, his team of spin doctors have presided over more inept cock-ups than the last two hapless leaders managed between them in three years. Given their previous track records of bumbling stupidity, the only reason we can arrive at for employing them is that they know where the bodies are buried.
You really couldn’t make it up.
Labour have proven that statement, time and time again; especially with Wings casting a critical eye, on all they say and do.
Thanx Rev, for all that you and all the Wingers do.
“Fresh blow for Sturgeon as Murphy/McTernan turn out to be even more incompetent than previously thought”
Superb summary, Rev 🙂
Brilliant post, Rev.
Excellent journalism as usual. Anyone got a copy of the NHS stats video?
Murphy is the best thing to happen in Scottish politics in decades, He’s single highhandedly building up SNP/Green/SSP voters better than any other method……
link to facebook.com
Hey, now. There’s no need to associate Moe, Curly and Larry with these clowns.
Rev, where do you dig up these old photos?
That one at the top of this article with a young Neil Findlay, Johann Lamont and Professor Curtice sampling the Labour Party snake oil is a cracker.
😉
Only person Daily Record can find is Better Together friend Archie Macpherson backs our call to review alcohol ban at Scotland’s football in @Daily_Record bit.ly/19t7rZL
That, in all it’s beautiful glory, is the inept and incompetent SLABBERS.
They need to be re-named…but I just can’t think of one that displays their full talents!
Maybe DRIBBLERS. 😀
I noticed that Jim Murphy in The Herald had also claimed he was the ‘alternative government’ in Scotland. As an MP he is a member of the opposition in the Westminster Parliament, and as he is not an MSP he is another citizen in the eyes of the Scottish government.
I don’t know how much of this line of ‘alternative government’ we’ll hear but he should heed the lesson of history. Neither the Old Pretender or the Young Pretender became the monarchs and thus the government of Scotland. Given Jim’s capacity for blagging, he’s just a pretender.
I STILL do not trust them. I STILL cannot believe that so called Professional PR bods can be so incompetent on so many fronts from factual accuracy to judging public opinion to misrepresentation.
I’ve noted this elsewhere but the only way in my opinion that Murphy’s ‘strategy’ makes any sense, is if Labour have already conceded defeat/written off in the General Election and have started campaigning for 2016.
Even with the best management, planning and funding in the world, Health Services *always* struggle with the higher demands caused by winter (especially A&E Depts.)
And we all know, however wins in May is going to cut even further.
So even if John Swinney is in ‘Scotland’s Merlin’ form there are gonna be a few awkward stats and headlines for the SNP to deal with next winter as well
and when they do Jim will be there on telly saying ‘We warned them about this 12 months ago and they did NOTHING’ etc
I might be crediting Murphy’s team with far too much cunning and forward thinking, but he’s a devious bugger so I don’t think we can write him off as stupid just yet.
Could they just be playing the ‘Long Game’?
We know that there is no love lost between Murphy and Miliband, and that whilst Miliband remains leader, his Westminister career is limited to the back benches.
So I think Murphy is probably pretty ambivalent to whether or not Miliband gets to Number 10 and is now focused entirely on getting himself in Bute House.
Excellent. Now turn it all into leaflets (or a Wee Big Joke Book) that we can put through the letterboxes!
This just show’s that red tory MPs were only ever standing in the first place for the cash, as they have no clue what so ever about political issues or how they affect normal people.
Labour would risk it for a biscuit and willing for a shilling,and the corporations and bank’s know it. 🙂
documentary corporations
link to tinyurl.com
The presentation of this catalogue smells like a ‘lunatic in charge of the asylum’. Mebbe the SNP should try and woo those traditional labour voters who find this disgraceful farrago much too much and any notion of the truth the main casualty. Words are not enough to describe this reptile, with apologies to reptiles. He has to be got at by one of his own, surely?
If I wasn’t sure before… I am now. Murphy, McTernan et al hate Wings.. AKA Rev Stu.
I don’t know if I should be delighted at their mind numbing incompetency and assumption that Scottish votes are stupid enough to “buy” it, or totally fucked off that they think Scottish voters are stupid enough to “buy” it despite their incompetency. ( apologies for the sweary words )
The problem is the MSM and the BBC let them away with it.
The same lot arsed up many times during indyref, but with the BBC covering their backs, they wont be worrying too much.
There protected in scotland by the msm it’s as simple as that
Great stuff. Our Imperial Masters in action. Give me stupid and over confident generals and Not Future PM Milliband’s set up creepy Jim for a fall. If we only had a remotely neutral media for Scotland #BBCout
Funny – my wife was saying a few days ago that perhaps Johann Lamont was not that bad a Labour leader after all.
You know – I think she might be right.
While it is hilarious we need to be careful. I think the No campaign was pretty pathetic too, and look what happened there.
Can you remember the media landscape before Newsnet and Wings?
Such a shift in Scotland from the sycophantic,mono-cultural circlejerk that passed for our press.
I dont know what i would do without the likes of you Rev.
Is JM standing for an MSP, or MP for that matter – have we calified that yet with his holliness, and the party headquarters at the BBC?
What kind of person would vote for this shower of con artists, liars, charlatans and incompetent fools. The fact the EBC and MSM are prepared to assist in their SKULLDUGERY tells us a lot about the moral and ethical standards of all concerned. SLAB zero rated, but very dangerous thank goodness they are totally incompetent.
You are performing a tremendous service for the people of Scotland Rev. Respect.
The answer is very simple. Blair McDougall tried his best with Better Together to get Scotland to vote YES, but despite his best efforts Scotland still voted 55% NO. But he hasn’t given up, he asked for his assignment to be extended for a year to go undercover at the Scottish branch office of Labour, and support the “best” candidate for leadership. From the inside he is now making his plans and taking his actions. Such dedication to duty deserves the Cross of St Andrew.
Similarly Danny Alexander tried his best from deep inside the Treasury, but his plans came to nought, or, more precisely, 44.7%. He has, however, managed to get the keys to the vault of the Bank of England copied, and will be bringing them home to Scotland, to a well-deserved rest after 7/5/15.
Angus Armstrong, having failed to over-egg enough the disaster scenarios with his time at NIESR, his plan being to make it so absurd nobody would believe a word of it, has also taken a dangerous and somewhat futile assignment as he contests Edinburgh South West on behalf of Labour to wreak his sabotage from inside the system. Sadly the counter-ops branch of the SNP have more chance of winning that seat.
For the next thrilling installment watch BBC. Any time. This from them is determined deprogramming of the Scottish people by fross exaggeration, but unfortunately with their usual incompetence, they got it the wrong way around. Michael Caine to the rescue with a rusty nail!
From the bottom of my heart – thank you thank you thank you for the brilliant job you all do of making sure this keech is reported. A great article and one which I look forward to seeing lots of additions in the coming weeks…..
The emaciated frame of Murphy guarded by his heavyweight minders, McTernan, McDougall, and once he has changed the tire on his JCB, Gordon Brown, compose a silhouette of mobsters who extract money in return for ‘protection.’
They are not to be underestimated.
This just shows the contempt in which Labour holds Scotland and the numpties that it fobs us off with. They managed to get away with it for years but now they have a clued up opposition, they are losing the plot.
An SNP vote really is the intellegent vote.
Labour the party that keeps taking the phish.
Vote SNP, get Scotland.
Vote red Tory, get Disneyland.
[…] The graveyard of competence […]
Oh, that’ll leave a mark.
Nice one Rev. 🙂
Rev,
I think it’s quite right for you to draw attention to Mr Murphys incompetence.He is,indeed,a nincompoop.But I think it’s incumbent upon you to also remind the electorate just how creeeepy he is too.
Creeping about A &E is downright ghoulish.Even if it is closed.
This is what is otherwise known as “A Comedy of Errors”! 🙂
If anyone was wondering, the TRUTH is now out about how Murph the Smurph *ahem* selects his *cough* policies. 😛
link to weegiewarbler.tumblr.com
Leev wae yon swoard, dee wae yon swoard.
Murphysaurus hiz kamikaze fit.
We have moved from “the more SNP seats, the more Scots have a voice”…to “Jesus, please don’t let any of those incompetent trough feeders get elected”.
Either way, we need something better than Labour in Scotland.
Haha, like Mrs Hoss McIntosh, I’ve seen other references to all of this making the former branch manager, Lamont, look like a respectable elder statesman.
Thank you, Rev., good to see all the crap swept up into a nice neat pile.
A lot sweeping under BBC etc carpet going down tonight, Bliar McWalkingDisaster tweets his tea and
“Legendary commentator Archie Macpherson backs our call to review alcohol ban at Scotland’s football in Daily Rangers.”
We used to have a cat called Archie Mcpherson and its also nice to hear an dottled old man from the distant past trying to get everyone pissed up and battling again at the football, in the streets, in town, in the house, on buses, mind the wrecked trains with defenseless terrified passengers getting a hiding for nothing. Good old SLab.
There is a comedy sitcom in this. A bit like Bob Servant Independent.
Maybe, Jim Murphy Political Turkey.
Seriously, does he and his team realise how stupid he looks? Do they think that we are so daft that we will fall for it? Surely Labour is dead in Scotland now. If Labour get any Scottish vote in GE15 they can only come via postal fraud.
It’s “Carry On Labour”!
With Jim Dale as Jim Murphy
Sid James as McTernan
Joan Simms as Susan Dalgety
Hattie Jacques as Magrit Curran
Bernard Bresslaw as Blair McDougall
Barbara Windsor as ‘Labour superfan’ Duncan Hothersall
and featuring Kenneth Williams as David Cameron
and Charles Hawtrey as Gideon Osborne
Ooooh er missus!
Am phoning Cardonald Cat & Dog home the morra,jist in the of chance Murphy an his TV crew & Daily Rancid turn up looking for A/E waiting times statistics,cause he,s no having any luck wie the Scottish NHS.
Murphy does not need to talk sense, or even the truth. Murphy only needs to keep talking so that the Media have something to write and talk about. The objective is to steadily frighten the population.
Not everyone is as savvy as you are.
Murphy is a rogue, but don’t underestimate him…he is backed by bigger rougues.
You give Labour hacks too much credit. James Kelly MSP still pushing the “biggest party forms the Government” line on twitter only a few hours ago. His twitter also continues to be overloaded with photos of “campaign teams” which comprise elected personnel with (if you are lucky) a single “civilian” who probably fancies the life of a Councillor when one of the old ones retires…. Pathetic, really.
I was going to type up a wee note about how wings could maybe dial back the anti labour articles, but how can they when labour currently are like a muck spreader just sitting there parked up chucking out s£$t, until the barrel runs dry, and someone loads up another one.
You have to applaud the zeal of wings. At the coal face (read up to your knees in shit) every day.
Great article REV, yes, you have had very many. However I particularly love it when you are putting these creeps in their place.
I am surprised by the Record’s poll on alcohol, this is the Record after all, so I reckon the real YES figure is probably about 2%.
From their point of view 8% is better than 2% right!.
Murph will be crying in his Irn Bru! Oh YES, indeed!
As someone who was at Ibrox for Mo Johnson’s first home game for Rangers, (don’t judge me, they were my local team at the time), I remember it took about 18 minutes, and a scything tackle from some lout in the number 6 shirt for Spurs, (Gas-coin, or some such, I wonder what became of him), for the Rangers crowd to rally round and cheer MoJo on.
Which all goes to show that, when some self-delcared “hard man” tries to put the boot in, your average Scot’s sense of fair play kicks in.
That Guardian poll is now on 94% NO, but I have been able to vote twice. So anyone else can. It is probably just click bait and they will probably make up a figure to suit their next story like they made up the Vow.
The great baldy says “Could they just be playing the ‘Long Game’?”
Possibly but there is one glaring flaw in that option.
What are they all going to do to earn a living for the next 5 or 6 years ???
Sure as sihit on a donkey’s tail most of them won’t be drawing a salary from Westminster.
Sorry, I meant Daily Record and wrote Guardian. Mea culpa
@Geoff
“Hattie Jacques as Magrit Curran”
eh? I think you missed a trick there.
And yet people are still planning to vote for these clowns. Without the MSM protecting Slab, they’d be looking at a Lib Dem style meltdown.
I see the killing fields of Subway beckoning
Excellent work Stu.
Increasingly it is becoming apparent that the referendum result was not the end for the unionists they are now seeking to disengage the Scot’s from politics altogether. Through conduct more commonly found in the domestic scene of a broken marriage, where the offending spouse achieves a status of disbelief to the point of acceptance whilst the trapped spouse mellows to the level of a door mat. Mental cruelty is the only description that would explain Slabber’s performance todate. As we approach the GE2015 it is going to get worse as the mind games expand. They cannot be permitted to succeed and indeed should be punished heavily so that our Pandas outnumber both Red and Blue Tories in Scotland and we get the country we deserve.
Even I was surprised when Labour announced McTiernan and McDougall would be working with Murphy. Now we see the consequences. The blind leading ‘those who will not see’.
It would be a kindness to wipe Labour off the electoral map of Scotland in May, because only then will somebody in the Labour party finally wake up, and realise that the team of ‘yesterday’s’ men they now have working for, and representing, them are like a yoke around their necks.
As with the proverbial addict, Labor needs to hit rock bottom, before it will reform. We can make sure that happens in May by getting out and ensuring a strong SNP vote.
The Labour party which Scotland used to know, is dead and gone, all that’s left of it is a bunch of third rate, cloying, political, careerist chancers.
Murphy makes a break for the Idiot vote.
Drunken wife beating child abusing football bores who can’t count to be New Labour’s core voters.
Geoff Huijer says:
“Barbara Windsor as ‘Labour superfan’ Duncan Hothersall”
😀
Now there’s a cunning plan!
Scottish Labour are targeting the section of the population who are ineligible to vote by reason of insanity.
Why did nobody else think of doing that? They can tell them anything they like and they still can’t lose a single vote because none of them are allowed to vote anyway.
What could possibly go wrong?
And not a peep from the effin english establishment broadcasting company about any of it!
People keep saying the Record Poll is 92/94% No, and yet this one is at 64% No.
Do they have more than one poll going? Then they pick the result which suits them?
link to dailyrecord.co.uk
Carry on Labour?
More like –
Are You Being Served?
NO
Stuart – you are going to kill me with this style….
I’ve been laughung for hald an hour at the three stooges image of Murphy, McDougal and Mcternan
Since it’s the three m’s couldn’t they rebrand as Emineminem…and bring out an NHS rap?
McTiernan, McDougall, Murphy – unsavoury and unscrupulous.
But hey, they’ve got to earn a living. What other employment could they work at, employment that required integrity?
Yet another superbe repertoire of the current political climate. Great job Wings, a pleasure to hear from you always. 🙂
looks like we’re in for a rerun of the referendum campaign. I’ve voted since 1972 and I can’t recall elections before the referendum that were so full of outright lies and deceptions. What has happened to our politics ?
One at a time these are remarkable.
All together, OMG!
Is there a master strategy that I am not seeing?
Useless. How can anyone vote for them?
Thanks
Rev please read the BBC online article about this – currently second link under the top article about the weekly publication of A&E figs. As if you need any more evidence of BBC bia, but it still shocked me!!
Aye,and for the record,we can be a mono-cultural,sycophantic circle-jerk as well.
The point is that we now have a choice which one to join in with.
Fear not, remember the majority of Nos had made up their minds before the m&ms got going so what they acheived was to drive 40% of the free vote to Yes. Lets hope they can do better this time in moving Lab voters to SNP
Unintended consequences, Nicola each day you impress me more, but what were you thinking when, during the referendum, you told Scottish Labour to reclaim their party. It seems that only the Zoooomers, got the message.
Stuart …you really should keep a list of all Murphy’s blunders, claims, and promises since he became party leader. Then once we get to April, publish them all here in one fine glorious list, and we’ll get it out there on Facebook or whatever.
The more that folk realise that this guy is a deluded clown, then the more chance we have of shattering SLAB in this election.
This is predictable. Same calibre of rubbish as pre-referendum. But, it is planned and it will work. Those of us NOT on Twitter, not savvy enough to see through this will fall for it. Labour need around a 4/5% boost to stave off a bloodbath. They can live with the consequences, for the time being.
To re-iterate, this pop-up and take-down posturing is totally deliberate.
I like Wrinleyreborn’s idea @9:22
Vote for the pandas!
BBC Reporting Scotland was really bad this evening. Really, really BAD. Jackie Bird and that lanky streak of misery Eleanor Bradford up to their shitty tricks again.
Where are the Clowns? Labour are here!
Fud Smurphy as Charlie Carolla.
“Isn’t he rich? Is it a Dare?
SNP here on the ground, Smurph in mid-air
Where are the clowns?
He’s taking the Piss? soon be removed!
One who keeps tearing around, one we cannot approve
Where are the clowns? There ought to be clowns
Just when I’d stopped opening A & E doors
Finally knowing the one I’m at wasn’t yours
Making my entrance again with my usual flair
Not sure of my lines, and no one is there
Don’t you love farce? My fault, I fear
I thought that you’d want what I want, sorry, sectarian beer
But where are the clowns, send in the clowns
Don’t bother, Labour are here!
Isn’t it rich? Isn’t he queer?
Losing his job this late in his career
But where are the clowns? There ought to be clowns
Well, No more Labour next year!
Great work Stu
You are filleting Scottish labour Rev… the lib dems have filleted themselves. Let’s not forget some 400,000 odd voters in Scotland voted tory last GE. We need to tackle more than just the labour vote. Sort of widen the beam.
In fact I think the more we discredit Westminster the better. Did anyone watch the Commons documentary on Saturday night? Amazing stuff.
It is 2 decades since my RPR comparison of Kafka’s The Trial and The Castle (a novel Kafka and I both left unfinished). In the Commons Kafka could have found ample material.
Delapidated corridors and back offices where MPs slept for days in sleeping bags to submit day motions before anyone else. MPs lodging motions the government disagrees with being promoted to the bottom rung of the ladder in order to silence them.
We hear of MPs drinking until they cannot speak, all the time propping up the rotten edifice that has sucked the life of the UK, worshipping big business, despising democracy and all forms of democratic involvement of the electorate…..
Kafka would have had a field day (well, he would have written an amazing novel about it and continued to despise himself).
Anyway. I just wonder that Scotland has put up with third or fourth rate governance for so long. If I can say on my deathbed ‘we gained Independence from the absurdity of this stifling subjugation’ I will be at peace. And I won’t be talking my in-laws.
Jamie, Yes your’re correct, there does seem to be two polls on two seperate articles asking the same question.
Here’s the one I think the Rev’s graphic is taken from, which is written by Scotland Now (whatever the heck that is).
link to scotlandnow.dailyrecord.co.uk
It’s stamding at 93% No to 7% Yes
Here’s the second one written by Jonathan McFarlane.
link to dailyrecord.co.uk
It’s standing at 80% No to 20% Yes
Hmmm…
Billy Connolly said that if the “Vow” wasn’t delivered there would be hell to pay in Scotland. Mebbes Billy thinks it has been?
Scotland Tonight will discuss cyber bullying of politicians. Two victims will appear on the show, Mags n Jim perhaps?
Rough b, couldn’t agree more. They surely must, must, be embarrassed to present like that. I thought it was worse than anything prereferendum.
Scrap last post…jeez…
Scotland Now are running the same poll as the Daily Record!
Doh…apologies people…all the same, it is a bit confusing? Or is it just me? 🙂
But when will any of this appear on the bbc or stv
Having just watched the garbage spouted by Jacki Bird and Eleanor Bradford on Reporting Scotland at tea time tonight (on the I player) – does anyone have any idea what qualifications EB has to spout this rubbish about medical matters ?
Gary
If you treat the electorate like fools. They will punish you for a long time. RIP SLAB!
It’s the Murphy bounce! Honestly! It is happening! Can’t you see it?
@snode1965
“Scotland Tonight will discuss cyber bullying of politicians. Two victims will appear on the show, Mags n Jim perhaps?”
Something of that ilk. It’s only cyberbullying (of the political type) if it happens to a Unionist politician.
@Wrinkleyreborn
As just one someone who entered and spent time inside one of the RIC panda suits there are more of us about than you might think. I found myself sharing a car out to get the vote out on the 18th with someone else who had done it.
The pandas are legion.
To see all this together just makes you even more mad at the BBC. Total dereliction of duty for even handed reporting.
Well don’t scrap all of it, I think I was implying both were from the DR but they are not…I think Scotland Now followed by Daily Record in the URL is confusing.
There are two seperate polls. Of that I am clear. (I may be suffering from labouritis, where all information is now confusing…or is it murphitis, too much of him is damaging my mental health, I think) 🙁
Wulls, most of them are hingers on, they have to follow their leader, they know nothing else. I do think some will crack under pressure though if they sense defeat in their own personal vote.
The only explanation is that Labour are deliberately throwing this election, they don’t want to win it because then they would be committing themselves to slashing public services. They want a minority Tory government to wield the knife, then Labour can decry them for a few years and return with a majority government in 2020.
Losing this election will be an excuse to get rid of Ed, they’ll reposition and strengthen, Murphy is absolutely looking towards 2016, because what better positioning and electioneering statement could he have than that the “SNP vote let the Tories in at Westminster again – just like they did Thatcher”
They’re not stupid, they’re just playing a different game
Wings Over Scotland
Splattering the smart suits of the Slabberers with Guano from a great height.
More power to your keyboard.
Cadogan Enright,
‘But when will any of this appear on the bbc or stv’
The Revolution will NOT be Televisied.
When he said “reach out to YES voters” I think he meant it the same way Frankie Boyle did. In other words, to reach out and grab us by the neck so he can choke us…
Absolutely Brilliant column Rev. It just gets better and better, unlike Labour. Hard Labour and weak Gim, needs a lie down for a week in hospital in a darkened room.
@ RonnieAnderson and everyone,
Brilliant comments
101 out of 100 – Just like our fabulous NHS.
How dare these free loading, Labour/Unionist incompetent, troughing ‘politicians’ who have never had a job in their lives attack our great NHS/Education system.
It is hard to figure what the hell is going on. It isn’t as if they have much time. We will be voting in 11 weeks.
I guess they could be trying to lull us into a false sense of security and get competent later but they have left a lot debris behind for us play with.
Would that Scotland only had three stooges.
Skeletor is the biggest asset the SNP could ever have hoped for. His whole presence and demeanor makes voters’ blood boil just watching him on the telly.
He is a thoroughly unlikeable loathsome character with no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Hopefully he will be picking up his P45 come May. And hopefully never to be seen again.
Along with McTernan, McDougall, Dalgety, and the rest of the branch acolytes.
Hi Muscleguy.
I didn’t know you were Mr Gill!
Hi chic.
Are these the pandas to which you allude?
Just thought I’d post a tweet I’ve just read from the Dalai Lama. 😉
When our minds are clouded by hatred, selfishness, jealousy, and anger, we lose not only control but also our judgment.
I think if nothing else it explainseverytrhing there is to know what is wrong with Labour in Scotland. 😛
@ Thepnr Kin ah be ah FruitBat wie Diarrhea kin ah please, they bastwards huv gied me diarrhear fur 3 f%^(-+ ++ years.
Just keep thinking Murphy is a clown, and with McTernan and McDougal they’re the three stooges…..
And you know what? you just might wake up with only a handful of SNP gains on the day after the G.E. , if you’re lucky.
This strategy of deception and confusion is DELIBERATE.
All the time the BBC and STV and the msm are sustaining the attack on the SNP government and their alleged ‘crises’. That’s the stuff that the soft Labour vote sees, and they don’t get to see the refutation of Murphy’s lies.
The media are doing exactly the same tactics that they did in the lead up to the Referendum: rubbish the SNP’S performance and ability to govern. And just like BT did, Murphy and his cohorts are using disinformation that would make the CIA blush.
People on here must understand that NS and the SNP constantly defending non ‘crises’ plays right into Murphy’s plan: keep them on the defensive; make them look weak and dissembling; and allow (via msm collusion and omission) Murphy to look confident, positive and believe it or not (to us) a viable leader.
By parading populist issues Murphy’s charade only needs to swing a couple of hundred thousand ex-Labour non social media user types back to his grotesque distortion of ‘Old Labour’ with a tartan wrapper round it.
Underestimate this snake at your peril!
@Lesley-Anne
Problem is Scotland’s Daily Lie Llama gets full support from the Brit-Nat propaganda machine.
Hoss Mackintosh says:
“Funny – my wife was saying a few days ago that perhaps Johann Lamont was not that bad a Labour leader after all.
You know – I think she might be right.”
Sorry, Hoss, completely disagree mate.
Lamont was just thick and laughable.
Murphy is Londons gofer, a creepy chancer and pathological liar, as well as thick and laughable.
Under Lamont i don’t think they would be experiencing the same levels of loathing and revultion as they are under Murphy.
Yes, they would still be going downhill rapidly but under Murphy that vehicle, which we refer to as the Scottish branch of the Labour Party, has had its brakes removed.
That can only be good for us and more importantly Scotland.
😉
______________
BTW, for those of you not in the know, ‘Scotland Now’ is a part of the Daily Rectum and its pathetic “Polls” are click-bait traps. The Daily Rectum is a Unionist rag which routinely urinates all over our Independence cause.
Not sure if the following is genuine but it is v funny
John Miller ?@BigbadJohn74 26m26 minutes ago
@blairmcdougall
Suppose your just really a fatter,younger version of Ian Paisley huh ?
Blair McDougall ?@blairmcdougall 24m24 minutes ago
.@BigbadJohn74
could be worse. I could be you.
Johann Lament MSP ?@wee_things 15m15 minutes ago
@blairmcdougall @stephenkidd56 @BigbadJohn74
ffs Blair don’t try and raise yourself to their level
The Rough Bounds says:
17 February, 2015 at 10:02 pm
…I was lucky. The remote missed the screen!!!!!
Dear Ed,
I am a regular and consciencious voter in General Elections. It is therefore through my conscienious work to vote correctly that I must write to you this evening and ensure that you are fully aware of this earth shattering news. Now that it has come to light that you can no longer control your underlings I feel it is only fair that I inform you that I will no longer be considering the possibility of voting Labour in May.
yours in all conscienciousness
Arbroath 1320
link to itv.com
Has anyone stopped to consider this.The Labour party continually lecture that the election is about either the Tories or Labour, in number 10.
Yet the entire Scottish campaign is spent attacking the Scottish government, and not the English Tory government who they seek to replace.
So in other words Slab are running this like a Holyrood election.Attacking the Scottish NHS and the SNP government when they should be attacking the Tories in London.
Your average Scot will be confused about who Labour are opposing. The SNP are not the Westminster government? I suppose Slab really don’t know what they are doing. When someone is attacking, their red mist prevents any logical reasoning!
@Lochside
Agreed, this is a carefully orchestrated propaganda campaign, they know exactly what they’re doing, and they’ll have it all well planned out a month ahead
We are not their target demographic, it doesn’t matter how they appear to us, in fact the more they bait yes inclined folks the more they can peddle the nasty nat label
I’m getting increasingly concerned at the ridicule of Murphy and co, it makes us look arrogant and complacent
They won in September, they won dirty but they still won
I’m concerned that this is a long game for 2016
I’m actually running a book on the next “Jim Murphy gets egged by rabid nat mobs tragedy.” Odds shorten by the week with last 2 weeks of VOTE SNP get red and blue Tory campaign, 2/1.
Jims not the messiah , hes just a very naughty boy.
I see the popularity of that Jobby is rapidly catching up on the popularity of Murphy on Facebook – at this rate the jobby will beat him by tomorrow night link to facebook.com
Lochside. There is another side to that argument. McDougall and McTernan are also one trick ponies. Its not that they specifically came up with a new strategy.
Its just what they do. Negative personal campaigning!
It doesn’t mean that it will work just because it worked in the referendum. Don’t forget we came within 6% of victory and McDougal lost and alienated 20% of the unionist lead.
So in effect McDougal finished with 20% less than he started. That’s not success.That’s just starting with a high base line. Another month and they would have lost.
Mcternan is a liar, a bigot and a bully. But fundamentally he is not very clever and McDougal is just a big blustering vacum of empty rhetoric.
@Big Jock 11.33
I had wondered about that myself – Labour in Scotland is completely failing to attack the Torys – maybe they got that 2016 and 2015 elections mixed up?
Pretty accurate summary of the “Murphy Dynasty” so far…what puzzles me is Labour seem to be fighting the 2016 election rather than the 2015 Westminster one as everything they talk about is a devolved matter and thus a Holyrood issue. Maybe they don’t want to talk up their support for Tory austerity measures, their support for fracking, their love of food banks, their comfort in the company of tax-avoiding donors to the “people’s party” , their hard-on for Trident renewal, their glee at decades of abject poverty in the areas they controlled, their love of claiming the last drop of expenses from the public tit, even down to claiming for a can of Irn Bru…maybe that’s why they talk pish about devolved issues and advocate more boozed up football fans…keep’em pished, keep’em ignorant, keep’em desperate…keep’em distracted – that’s the Labour way!
@Lochside
Let’s get our facts straight first of all. Murphy is a clown and together with McTernan and McDougal in my view come close to emulating the three stooges.
The three stooges were funny though, these clowns aren’t.
The soft “Labour vote” you talk of are known and related to all of us, so it’s our job to persuade them otherwise. We will refute Murphy’s lies. At least I will, will you do the same?
Forget the media, we know how biased that is, all you can do is LAUGH at their scare stories and show people the bias just as this article does.
People on here understand very well what is going on and Murphy does not look confident NOR a viable leader.
He comes across as a creepy person, reminds me of the Childcatcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
You overestimate his capabilities, he’s a loser, and soon to find that out in his first true test as a “leader”.
Big Jock and Indigo
I think you are both correct in your analysis of Labour’s strategy for the GE in May. They will be ably supported by the BBC and others in the media in their aims.
The report on the NHS in Reporting Scotland was a fine example of this and contained the statement by Ms Bradford that the NHS, and by implication the SNP’s stewardship of same, would feature in the upcoming GE.
Pointless I suppose to point out it is a devolved issue so should not feature as an issue in a GE but indicative of Labour’s strategy of fighting the GE as if it was a Holyrood election thus treating it as a dry run for 2016 and in the process getting traction for their campaign in 2016 for Holyrood.
Big Jock: at 11:33 pm
Aye Jock, I could not agree more, but cast your mind back a few years ago to the 2011 Holyrood elections. When, for the best part of the campaign Elmer Fudd attacked the Tories only to realise they were banging their heids against a wall and in the latter weeks started to attack the SNP… far to little far, to late.
Now the NuLabour Party branch in Scotland is repeating the same mistake for the 2015 Westmidden elections. I wonder at what point these numpties will realise this… hopefully, much to late.
@ Craig (11.52pm),
Good post.
Of course they’re playing the “long game” and for several obvious reasons, not least because they know they can’t recover so soon after their passionate affair with the blue Tories to destroy our referendum.
Playing the “long game” also prevents them from being questioned on current events related to policy & Westminster etc.
And throughout all this period right up to, and beyond, our very own 2016 elections, they will be compliantly aided and abetted by their colleagues in the foreign owned Unionist media, led from the front by the British Bullshit Corporation.
That is the Unionist way.
Protect Scotland’s interests – Bin the BBC – and vote SNP.
😉
So stick it in your mouth, Mr. Murphy
Well it only weighs a quarter of a pound.
There’s s ring-pull on top,
Not so tough, eh?
And it squirts if ye shake it up and down.
Robert Louis at 9.22
It has been obvious for same years that the SNP is not beating Labour in its central Scottish heartlands. It is replacing it. Labour in Scotland is mostly elected representatives at various levels, an unhappy crew seeking election and folk of vested interest in both those groups.
This process started at least two decades ago and was not immediately obvious but is now becoming critical and very obvious as the loyal Labour core of years ago pass on and are not replaced by new members.
There will not be a renewed Labour Party in Scotland. It is dead and rotten There may well be a completely new left wing Party taking over the reins abandoned by Labour. Perhaps one of the biggest factors in this collapse was the infiltration into Labour of unscrupulous tories like Donald Dewar,John Smith, George Robertson who put on Labour colours to get seats as MPs
Didn’t McTernon have some input into Australian Premier Tony ‘Nutcase’ Abbott’s speeches.
Can I suggest you Google Tony Abbott and Suppository.
Then you’ll find why the Three Stooges are the enema oops I mean enemy of the Scottish People
Excellent posts by McEwan and Bobby Louie 😉
I have to agree 100%. Labour really are struggling. They’ve seen the SNP who are by no means perfect, but a very good run local government run rings round them and they have absolutely no fight back. They relied on voters esp in the cities and west coast to willingly vote Labour almost right down the clichéd “Ma da votes Labour”.
The SNP have been in power for 8 years now and more popular than ever.
Labour are also fecked beacuse we have a very clued up electorate. It was said ‘SNP for Holyrood. Labour for WM’ yet that is eroding according to the opinion polls. And even now, if the SNP make massive gains (still, hauding back with that for now and not getting too excited)
Labour then target Holyrood, but why vote Labour when they are a centre-right party these days, and if they want that type of admin, surely vote for the Tories instead, and if a true left voter wants someone in Edinburgh they’ll go Green, SSP, SNP, or if that new STUC/radical lefty party finally starts up.
Labour are dying. Their core vote is aging. The youngsters en mass are backing the 3 main Indy parties – (there was a subsample recently, I forget maybe Ashcroft? 18-25 years old – it was absolutley insane numbers something like 88% SNP backing).
I just googled ”Dejected Scottish independence” and found some awful images that took me right back to that night/morning. Every one of them were photographs of younger lassies and laddies, and it made me smile eventually because, we will get there! We will get there sooner than the Britnats expect.
Jobby has passed 4750 likes – less than 500 to go link to facebook.com
Well, according to the Record #creepyjim “…wouldn’t be hated so much if he wasn’t so effective”. So, it is all a cunnning plan, you see…..
If Keith Waterhouse were alive today, could he sue Murphy for plagiarism? Watching Murphy is like reading ‘Billy Liar’ all over again. He just makes it up as he goes along. He is a loose cannon, (albeit a dangerous one when backed up by MSM, McTermite and McDribble), but even they are struggling to keep tabs on him.
Read an article on him today by a former Labour party activist and ex-colleague who exposed a life of bare faced lying and backstabbing by Murphy in his quest to get to the top.
Red rosette, monkey. Labour (Scottish depot) don’t have to be competent, just persistent. Like a wean screaming for sweets at the check-out.
If SLAB and UK Lab have already written off the 2015 GE as a lost cause, what can both organisations gain from ‘reducing’ the likely landslide to SNP in the 2016 SE?
At best it might keep some labour MSPs in post, but on the bigger map it’s simply meaningless. If this is a winning strategy – I ain’t seeing it.
If this is all about a vanity project for SLAB’s Murphy to get to be FM in 2016, what in God’s name does that mean to UK Labour washing around in the UK bilges?
Does Miliband know what Murphy’s about here in Scotland, no matter if he cares or not, but to talk of a loose cannon with an excruciatingly pliant BBC Jockland backing up his every nonsensical utterance, is just about the worst car-crash and it’ll be pits forever for UK Labour from a Scottish perspective. Their Union is going down the drain faster than a speeding ……!
God, do I utterly loath the BBC!
Howde host, rockin out inda city.. hey X sticks, good times.
Give me a solution, with revolution, for da revolution ”
On topic, why do the main stream unionists (the MSU’s) persist in naming Alex Salmond in a negative vibe..? Nicola, she’s the girl, an she’s cool!
Paula Rose, would you like to dance?
Cheers Stu.
Simply.. Love Scotland and you.
I believe it’s time to reconnect with each other.. talk to me.. the Saltire is the flag of Scotia.. the American flag is a beautiful thing.. mr chris cairns, try this one.. like America, they got the stars.. imagine our Saltire with 59 stars, put da blue intooda white, anda white indtooda da blue.
Rev Stu, chairs.
Mr Murphy’s greatest problem isn’t the awful McDougall and McTernan, it’s Mr Murphy. Their strategy is centred on rewriting Murphy’s image and to a certain extent erasing or at very least clouding his political history, from right wing Blairite with transatlantic links to irn bru swilling, patriotic man of the people. From ruthless political mover and enforcer, to cuddly, caring, concerned socialist.
Of course McDougall and McTernan’s greatest problem in this regard is that even with the full weight of the media of Scotland in their pockets, people have seen both sides of Murphy in the last year. They have to convince people that they didn’t really see the man who took so readily to denigrating, othering and intimidating his own electorate. They have to convince people that we didn’t see the tabloid cynicism of his 100 day tour or the blatant attempt to trash the YES campaign through the laughable egg-gate nonsense.
Mr Murphy is living breathing proof of the driven, ambitious careerist we’re all so fond of associating with Westminster politics. No conscience, few if any ideals and the ethics of a crocodile. The man is dangerous and has surrounded himself with an equally ethically challenged campaign team.
Their current tactics are comically awful because they lack subtlety and people are becoming ever more politically aware by the day. They have no time to fuly rewrite the man’s history or polish and present this new man image in the way they would like. Memories of his recent past are too fresh and too painful for many. Hence they carpet bomb the media with contrived crises for Mr Murphy to look deeply concerned over (oh and point a lot). If this were even a decade ago these tactics would have worked with still some trust between people and the media, a media totally compromised by the accepted political establishment. But its not a decade ago, its only months since this same campaign team launched one of the most shameful campaigns in Scottish political history. The bad news for them is that our memories aren’t that short and we learned our lessons well over the past three years.
Hey, allow me to share a friggin cool song with YOU:
Manooghi Hi ~ Kizmet
link to youtube.com
East meets west.
Love you Scotland 🙂
Here’s one for the insomniac in us all.. who’s up world?
It’s the Bad C:
link to youtube.com
Love the crowd.
Hey ho, let’s go.. so.. Scotland.. how do we reach out to everybody that wants to know.. I know, but ahm gonna save it till 2morrow, cheers
Try.. love over fear (love is stronger than hope)
@Macart
“Their strategy is centred on rewriting Murphy’s image
People are more politically aware, but he still shouldn’t be underestimated.
Think what Johann Lamont did by comparison – pretty much nothing.
The media are still allowing him to dominate the agenda, and spread his lies pretty much unchallenged.
His spin doctors used the same misinformation tactics at the referendum, and negative campaigning ended up winning.
Most people aren’t on politics sites.
They just get glimpses of the news with, eg Murphy looking concerned outside a hospital department.
I agree, it’s all about stunts and imagery.. actual words and policies are secondary.
There are still 11 weeks to go and his team will do all they can to lie, distract and set the agenda.
@Macart
“Their strategy is centred on rewriting Murphy’s image
People are more politically aware, but he still shouldn’t be underestimated.
Think what Johann Lamont did by comparison – pretty much nothing.
The media are allowing him to dominate the agenda, and spread his lies pretty much unchallenged.
His spin doctors used the same misinformation tactics at the referendum, and negative campaigning ended up winning.
Most people aren’t on politics sites.
They just get glimpses of the news with, eg Murphy looking concerned outside a hospital department.
A picture paints a 1000 words as they say.
I agree, it’s all about stunts and imagery here.
There are still 11 weeks to go and his team will do all they can to lie, distract and set the agenda.
@cactus
It is Free not Bad Co. Bad Company formed by Paul Rodgers and Simon Kirke from Free.
@ Onwards
The media aren’t so much allowing, as actively helping. Labour and the media in Scotland are tied at the hip. There is no in roads there and certainly no criticism which would help any causee not Labour or unionist.
As per the referendum we rely on the work of sites like this and our own communication skills to get people informed. THIS is why it was so important that sites like Wings, NNS, Bella, WGD et kept going. THIS is why it was so important that the groups formed during the referendum stayed together and that the support, sharing of information and day to day communication continued.
Ref Planet Oil BBC 2 – revealed the fcorruption and lies of first Westminster/UK smear campaign in Iran.
The same corrupt Westminster/Unionist smear Campaign that is being used against the SNP Scottish Gov. Trying to corruptly smear our great NHS/Education system. One of the best in the world.
The NHS figures show how brilliantly the NHS is doing, in difficult times. An average of 50,000 operations a month with an average of 100 cancellations a month. Operations can be cancelled for many reasons. The patient being ill (colds etc. or unavailable.Work commitments etc,)
The NHS/Education have a wonderful, excellent record. First Class the world over. Scotland has led the way in (medical) ‘discovery and invention’ because of the world famous NHS/Education system. Doing brilliant work. Admired the world over. World leaders. Telephone/TV – telecommunications – the Internet – the world wide web. A 40 million diasporia. The influence Scotland has made on (democracy) in world is amazing. “Scotland – the beautiful land of ‘invention and discovery’ ” – the Chinese. The base of world Democracy. The ‘Arbroath Declaration’ and the ‘Enlightenment’.
Unionists should stop criticising the NHS/Education system and the SNP Scottish Gov, doing an excellent job, in difficult conditions. Unionists are lying losers.
Another Stuart Campbell piece.
Another snide comment about Rangers Football Club.
Wonder if he’ll ever realise there is a large number of Rangers supporters – like me – who are lifelong supporters of Scottish independence.
We can do without the childish insults aimed at RFC in every other article.
Strange though that Celtic Football Club don’t get the same abuse from Campbell.
Yoose are all wrong. The lot of ye! We were promised Murphy’s Law and it was delivered. Murphy is clearly a man of integrity.
@ Onwards
Sorry for the split reply, got sidetracked by the front door. Onywise where was I?
Oh yes. What I’m trying to say is that until we have one worth the name, WE are the alternative media. The sites mentioned do the spade work and we spread the word. Its not fair, its not right and in a proper democracy we’d receive a fair and balanced output through our daily titles and broadcast media, but we don’t, so we make best use of what we do have. Each other.
We have to put in twice the effort, taking a longer period to reach the same audience, to inform the same amount of people, but we know it works. And slowly, but steadily public opinion IS changing.
We can do this and the prize is still so worth the effort. 😉
Ronnie Boyd;
In the introduction notes of Wings it does say that cheap sarcasm is part of the offering for this site.
But think about this; if I was a fan of Rounders or Hockey and then complained that Rev Stu was having a go at my team (let’s call them “Ellon Rough Riders Rounders club”), would you laugh at my indignation?
Hopefully you get my well intentioned point.
And still this crisis agenda RE: the NHS on the BBC radio this morning.
The last time we were at A&E was in November when our 4 year old swallowed a £1 coin. We were seen within minutes, x-ray done within 20 and on our way home after 45 mins.
Still, i would would probably just scrape into the “seen within 4 hours” according to labour. Maybe even put into the “seen within 8 hour” bracket.
Truthiness..
Ronnie Boyd says:
18 February, 2015 at 7:40 am
“We can do without the childish insults aimed at RFC in every other article.”
to be fair, as a fellow bluenose, i don’t think this was one of them. seems like he’s slagging both sides equally, which is his right as a sheep.
Rev Stu can make any comment he likes. It’s his site.
Football/Sports (Companies) who employ people of only one faith/gender are breaking the Law. The Equal Opportunity Laws. Breaking UK/EU Law. The Directors are breaking Company Law and should be disbarred and prosecuted. They are not fit people to hold office. Bigotry doesn’t pay. It’s bad for business, illegal and loses support.
The Terraces are empty because of illegal, bad business practices in Sport. The supporters are being taken for mugs and priced out of the Game. It’s a Shame. Everybody loses. People find other activities to support.
Sport, religion and politics do not mix. It’s a sham. The supporters are the loser. Equals less
participation in healthy sport. It’s a shame, but a result of the UK/EU Law not being enforced and non devolved powers.
@ Macart – yup. i’m not half irritating some of the people i know on social media tho
Paula Roses says
“Carry on Labour?
More like –
Are You Being Served?
NO”
Now, who could we have as Mrs Slocombe I wonder? hhmmmm
______________________________________________________________
The rough Bounds says
“that lanky streak of misery Eleanor Bradford ”
BWhahahahahahahahaha love it. 🙂
____________________________________________________________
Andy Nimmo says
Didn’t McTernon have some input into Australian Premier Tony ‘Nutcase’ Abbott’s speeches.
He was Julia Gillards spin doctor Andy
link to tinyurl.com
_______________________________________________________________
Rob James @
Murphy backed up by MSM, McTermite and McDribble
Har har har you’ve got the makings of a funny cartoon there Rob
Murphy and his minions.
link to youtube.com
_______________________________________________________________
Cactus says
“Simply.. Love Scotland and you.”
Jesus I’ve taken a wrong turn and ended up on Brokeback Mountain
I’m eh just going to my, eh tent now and I will be zipping it up and padlocking it, pardner. 🙂
__________________________________________________________
Ronnie Boyd says:
18 February, 2015 at 7:40 am
“We can do without the childish insults aimed at RFC in every other article.”
I have to take drugs for asthma which I blame for making my skin paper thin and easily bruised.
Whats your problem young lady?
@Soda
how is the wee one?
any change?
“Strange though that Celtic Football Club don’t get the same abuse from Campbell.”
Maybe because their fans weren’t singing “Rule Britannia” with great gusto at a certain recent game.Just a thought.
Separating the wheat from the chaff
McTernan & Co always try to obscure their campaign strategy.
That way, we can’t counter it,
and at the same time,
we run around scratching our heads
and chasing our tails – including the SNP.
If all we do is follow McTernan’s trail of nuts
then we will walk right into his trap.
Reacting to every cough and sneeze from
Jim Murphy will get us nowhere.
Better to look for the things which they repeat
rather than attention seeking one-offs.
We must make a real effort
to separate the wheat from the chaff.
As others have shrewdly pointed out,
SLAB’s target may very well be 2016
and not GE15 at all.
The Union would suffer fatally
if Labour were deleted from Holyrood –
and the Tories with them.
If SLAB are targeting 2016,
then Westminster is playing Independence Politics
in Scotland NOW.
If that’s the case, then we are out of step.
Because we are definitely playing only GE15 politics –
when we should be playing both.
Another day, another Scottish Government bad headline on radio Scotland ignoring the real story of labour’s incompetence. I’m sure Nicola announced the weekly reporting at FMQ weeks ago – I watched it myself.
Is weekly reporting enough? Why not daily?
While we’re at it, why not save some of the license and just put McTernan on, reading the news?
At some point the Scottish Government needs to put out a statement that BBC Scotland is not fit for purpose and they will cease dealing with them. Begin looking at a new independent broadcaster. This is getting beyond a joke.
@ george
😀 LOL
Depends on who’s being irritated.
Shona Robison had the perfect opportunity to expose Murphy’s latest stunt when on GMS a wee while ago.
Gary Robertson teed up the cancelled op question but SR did not say a word about Murphy.
Seems to me to be proof, if any more was needed, that SNP are not going to be getting down and dirty during this campaign.
It’s a frustrating strategy when all you want to hear is someone ripping Murphy apart.
i’m really not sure how effective this strategy is going to be.
Jim Murphy’s been fiddling NHS stats…and deleting his tweets
According to Jennie Mara this is only a small mistake,Scotland 15 last night noticed the presenter did not dig a bit more on that,Mark Macdonald seen mouthing a small mistake,have these BBC presenters no balls or is it a case of do as you are told or theres the door.
It’d be nice though, every now and again you understand, to pass on some positive information about Scotland or the Scottish Government. Things they are trying to do, things that pro independence, or should that be simply pro democracy parties or groups have achieved.
Change of pace and all that.
Fun as it is to watch the Rev, WGD, Derek Bateman rip the wossiname out of Labour or Westminster in general. 😀
Graeme:
Shona Robison had the perfect opportunity to expose Murphy’s latest stunt when on GMS a wee while ago.
she did that yesterday with the following:
link to snp.org
It is also reported in some newspapers today.he still has not apologised.
If the SNP gain more seats and some form of traction at Westminster as, say providing support to Labour government (not looking likely now) on a supply basis then Nicola must demand devolution of broadcasting.
Shout for removal of Trident and our other favourite targets but broadcasting is essential if we are to gain independence. As an aside I really wish folk would stop being so precious about their football clubs. Divide and rule has worked for too long!!!
jackie g
Good to hear it is reported in some papers today but for those of us who go on about the lack of exposure of the truth on the BBC i really think it needed a good airing there this morning.
Graeme Doig says:
To be fair Gary Robertson had a real go at Jenny Marra at 7.15 am on GMS and she just repeated it was a small misinterpretation and refused to apologise for misleading people when challenged by Gary Robertson four times.
Positive campaigning on NHS achievements badly needed.
Ex-Rangers supporter here. I am actually embarrassed to say that I stood in the same stadium as the rabid unionist scum that appeared inside and outside Ibrox during the Referendum Campaign.
I will NEVER step foot inside Ibrox ever again. Standing next to somebody singing Rule Britannia and waving a Union Jack in my face is not my idea of a fun day out. The Orange Order/Rangers supporters don’t even want to be called a Scots. They are British, end of story.
They spit on the Saltire. They rip the Saltire from wee girls. Ibrox allowed huge Vote NO banners to be displayed during games.
Then on 19th Sept after the result, they headed for George Sq in Glasgow where they celebrated a NO vote. and beat up anybody who disagreed with them.
They disgusted me that night.
Those are some of the reasons why I am an EX Rangers fan.
link to bbc.co.uk
Have a look at that story. It quotes Labour’s inflated figures and uses weasel words like “Robison insisted the figures were inflated” rather than state clearly what the problem with the figures actually was. The SNP claims Murphy had to delete posts from social media, not “Murphy was forced to delete a tweet and a Youtube video after the error was identified.”
It’s such a lot of crap, and exactly the same crap we saw throughout the campaign. When the SNP say something that isn’t 110% accurate with cast-iron verified facts on every imaginable detail, it’s a heinous lie. When the unionist side get their numbers wrong or just tell outright lies, it’s all he-said-she-said. Ultimately, it’s very poor journalism. Even if it’s inadvertent (and I still like to imagine that it is, even as the evidence piles up to the contrary) it’s still thoroughly incompetent.
Was there ever a golden age when journalists would hear two politicians dispute statistics and someone would actually go and check the facts then point out the reality to the readership? Or were journalists always this lazy, reducing every single aspect of our political discourse to Punch and Judy crap that doesn’t inform or enhance the debate in any way and seems to actively damage the chances of a real, intelligent, grown-up discussion about what is best for our country?
The BBC is meant to inform, educate and entertain. Maybe they’re shooting for number three on that list, but it doesn’t seem very entertaining to me. They sure as hell aren’t doing very well on the first two.
So, the blatantly propagandist BBC are in full anti SNP/Scottish Government mode today.
A more blatantly politically biased, undemocratic and wholly unaccountable so called public service broadcaster would be hard to find anywhere.
Sinky
Wasn’t aware of that. Cheers.
Gums stopped bumping quite so hard 🙂
Graeme Doig says:
jackie g
Good to hear it is reported in some papers today but for those of us who go on about the lack of exposure of the truth on the BBC i really think it needed a good airing there this morning.
Graeme, I know it is frustrating and you are correct it does need to be brought to the fore a bit more.
That is why we have Wings and Social Media, they inform us as to what is really happening.
Today’s Scotsman:
The number of people dying within a month of being admitted to hospital in Scotland continues to fall, new figures show.
There was a 16.3 per cent drop in hospital mortality between October-December 2007 and July-September 2014, according to official statistics.
No mention on BBC news website, Eleanor Bradford maybe had to have the day off.
Jackie G
Shona Robison may well have said he needs to apologise but she should still have pointed it out this morning on GMS.
Big audience missed the chance to hear that Murphy had lied and deleted tweets/ you tube video.
Until Scotland gets an independent news channel not pushing the British State agenda and is accessible to all homes in Scotland, then the reality is they will always beat us.
It’s just a simple law of physics.
It wasn’t the illegal break at Watergate that did for Nixon it was the attempted cover up.
TweetGate will have the same impact on Jim Murphy – a chancer who tried to bury his mistakes.
It’s time to nail my colours to the mast.
Re Rangers fans & English people living in Scotland too. If there weren’t more than 50% of either group voting Yes then you can all get tae fuck! Scotland does not need you.
caz-m at 9.14am
Same. Couldn’t agree more!
A good read about Honest Jim link to commentisntfree.com
I hope that on May 8 Jim Murphy doesn’t have a job and he is forced to announce that Labour didn’t lose a single seat they had lost 41.
gillie
The difference is that the Washington Post was on the case and TV stations picked up the story to publicise it.
Here we largely have the opposite from TV and newspapers.
john king says:
18 February, 2015 at 8:39 am
@Soda
how is the wee one?
any change?
haha, thought i’d heard them all mate, what rate of interest is he giving.. hope the penny drops soon… is he “keeping the pound”… if he farts he’ll sound like a puggie spitting out a jackpot, etc, etc.
Guess who had the pleasure of checking for re-entry? It took 3 and half weeks of unspeakable pleasantness until it made a reappearance 🙁
In a democracy, the job of the opposition is to hold the government to account (firmly but fairly). The job of the state broadcaster is to tell the truth. When you have the opposition and the state broadcaster colluding to manufacture lies and grossly distorted half-truths, and then make false accusations, you know that something is not right. It stinks.
It’s a complement to the Scottish government, that, after eight long, tumultuous years, the red tories and their BBC chums still cannot find any substantial weakness of record, and therefore resort to downright lies.
@Jacqui:
I’ve commented on that ‘You meant it then’ post on that blog, noting how Jim’s version of his upbringing in Arden in the 70s doesn’t quite add up.
Bumbling ineptitude, nepotism and even graft have never stopped Labour doing well before. Hopefully more people are paying attention now. I’m still conditioned to fear the worst when the public is let loose in the voting booths, but mabye the referendum has at least stopped people voting in a more or less complete state of ignorance.
@Macart
Brilliant comment. @02:18
Quite why the SNP continues to engage with the Broadcaster of British Propaganda, the BBP, remains a mystery.
Caz spot on. I am a Partick fan but I would nver be a ("Tractor" - Ed) to my nation, to support a football team. The day Partick fans waive union jacks, is the day I walk away! There are too many apologists for Rangers fans. The majority are anti Scottish …and I don’t care if thats controversial.
Sorry to keep going on about this O/T, but I think it is important.
Independence Live are needing £510 to reach their fundraising target with 46 hours to go.
I know there’s a lot of readers who haven’t yet contributed to this – where’s the renowned generosity of Wings readers?
C’mon folks, a few quid more to get them over the line. Pretty please.
link to independencelive.net
We each should have a single objective re the GE. We all make sure we reach as many YES voters as possible and make sure that they don’t slip into the traditional abyss of voters ‘disfranchisement’
There are people who didn’t vote in the last GE and who got to the polling booth for the referendum.
It’s the responsibility of each and everyone of us to ensure that the message gets out that every single vote is needed.
All the Murphy, McTernan and McDougall stuff is just political flotsam and jetsam… pure nonsense. We can all easily lift our eyes and noses above it and encourage others to see the big horizon.
And as the three Amigoes above read this… each of you know this… You are not representing the real electorate in Scotland. You are not as smart as you fantasise you are. You are all an equal waste of space and Scotland sees through you and your empty rhetoric.
Now I know I can be very dim at times but why can’t the SNP politicians start repeating the facts revealed on this site to counter the relentless slew of lies from London Labour’s Holiday Camp in Bath Street, Glasgow. The pro indy parties need to be more vociferous and start highlighting the lies from the truth. Being nice at the back of the bus won’t get us anywhere.
Among the posts on this topic lie some serious criticisms of the SNP’s inability to get ahead of its attackers.
It must be obvious to the dullest idiot that Labour are manufacturing an issue a week, hence in three weeks they, and the media that feeds upon them, have three to play with, each spinning around the capitalist broadcasting stations as the latest topicality.
For the SNP to continue responding with a brief rebuttal, as they did during the Referendum, allows an accumulation of effluent negativity to pile up at the door of our parliament.
The stench is all that Labour needs in people’s nostrils. Professional yobs such as MacTernan don’t give a damn about the credibility of their accusations and claims.
It does not matter to him his assertions are contradictory, obvious lies, or an arithmetical cock-up – it’s the quantity that he can engineer that is important.
Once the heap begins to mount the mass of people, busy trying to get on with their lives, can’t check detail and soon do as McTernan hopes, they believe there is no odour without shit.
Just had a thought about our National Broadcaster, I am thinking it is they, who should be labeled a virus.
Not us at all!
They have gotten fat and lazy on anti-tory sentiment, they developed a sense of entitlement to Scotlands vote that beggars the imagination. They have taken it for granted for so long they practically went into hibernation. They forgot what it is they once stood for. They forgot that to be popular, you need more than soundbites. You need more than policies, you need a vision and Scottish labour have neither.
Labour are now out of touch and backwards looking. They dither, they dallie, then they lash out unthinkingly.
They are being killed by the kindness of the MSM, who allows them to make one mistake after another. But it is all dutifully reported by the media, and this simply makes labour look like confused, incoherent, swivel eyed loons.
Murphy, like Lamont was the wrong answer to their problem of relevance. That he then picks Mcternan and Blair Mcdougall shows the tin ear hasn’t been dealt with. These gentlemen think they crushed all before them, when in truth they almost brought their precious union to the brink of defeat. They have mistaken disgust and repulsion at their negativity, for fear of their awesome political savvy.
They could not have been more wrong.
Scottish labour are the architects of their own misfortune. No one else did this to them. I never thought I would ever relish the prospect of seeing this once great party consigned to the dustbin of history. But I do. It is a fate they richly deserve.
Kezia Dugdale, regarding lifting the booze ban at football matches, says on the labour website “I know there will be some women’s organisations very much against the move because of the perceived link between alcohol and domestic violence, and they should be considered closely, but there’s no excuse for losing control. ”
The use of ‘perceived’ is worryingly misleading. Women’s organisations will have plenty of facts, I’m sure. Keira just doesn’t want to listen to them. She calls football matches family friendly, which they are when drink is not a factor. What planet is she on?
Rev
Please never interupt your enemy when they are making a mistake!
For some reason I keep picturing Jim Murphy believing he was coming home to be some kind of “Local Hero” reception which reminded me of the apt conversation in that classic movie:
Local 1: “Isnt there 2 L’s in Dollar?”
Local 2: “Naw but theres 2 G’s in Bugger Off!”
[…] There’s been considerable mirth in nationalist circles ever since Jim Murphy became leader of the Scottish Labour branch office late last year. Announcing that he wanted to “reach out” to Yes voters, his idea of an olive branch was to hire three of the most divisive and obnoxious figures to be found anywhere in his party’s entire hinterland, in a move about as conciliatory and unifying as when Rangers signed Mo Johnston. […]
I will be summarising this masterly summary and taking it with me on street stalls and canvassing because “ma heid’s nippin'”.
My hobby-horse at the moment is “Watch the Labour councils”. Their elections are not until 2017, so they have lots of time on their hands to trash the Scottish Government (i.e. SNP) I am currently waiting on figures from a Glasgow Labour councillor which he says proves how the SNP are diverting money away from Glasgow to other areas. I’ve been holding my breath on this for several weeks now. If anyone has such figures I would be interested.
Les they are a virus that we pay to feed! That’s the really sad part.
What has happened is that BBC Scotland’s authority was challenged in 2014. They didn’t like it and have decided to get their revenge on the SNP. The party they don’t graps is that the SNP carry over 50% of the elctorate with them. In other words they are poular and liked.
BBC Scotland probably only carry 20% of the population in terms of viewers and listeners. They are not respected,not trusted and unpopular. Does that sound like another party in Scotland?
It’s now a race to the bottom between the Labour party and BBC Scotland.
David Agnew @ 10:40
Good summary David
O/T
The BBC News website is currently offering a survey to people that access the Scottish pages (at least that’s where I was when their survey appeared).
Suffice to say I told them what I thought.
Author_Al
Sounds to me like Kezia is acutely aware that she is about to part company with a number of Women’s groups in her attempt to stay with Jim on this and isn’t comfortable doing so. Nor should she be.
As for football being a family game she is off her blooming trolley.
O/T just received e-mail from Amazon. Outlander DVD £3.60. 10 copies available, more on order.
A straw poll in my work ,indicates that Murphy is seen as loony and an opportunist. The booze thing absolutely no-one agrees with. I doubt even 7% would want it.
What he has done is to try and court the hardline old firm fans, back to Labour. He is appealing to the base element in Scottish society. The ones that you hear complaining about, not knowing which songs they can sing, and they are just wee confused innocent fans!
It’s backfired because the majority of fans, are not worried about laws on sectarianism. It’s only the bigots who have a problem. Half of them wouldn’t even know how to vote, as they are so stupid and pished half the time.
good luck Jim!
Big Jock says:
Your right Jock, but there might be one way to beat the BBC and that is forming a UK government along Labour, yea, distasteful I know, but could and should be a means to an end. One may be that Broadcasting gets devolved to Scotland.
Something we would all like to see, I hope it could happen, but we need the big result the polls have been predicting.
Truly cringe worthy Labour in Holyrood today
[…] do like Wings Over Scotland for the simple satire: link to wingsoverscotland.com and this […]
Give a name for the Independence Live Appeal to make sure the donation goes to the right account. The Bank will not give detail. Data protection and all that. There are quite a few saunters to Spain and Greece. In the interest of research? no doubt. ( : > }
The SNP does reply and give the facts, it just doesn’t get reported. When the SNP heid bummers are asked, They say, ‘Retorts are given but it is deliberately not reported.’. The BBC Scotland only employ card carrying Labour/Unionist members and their associates. The stigma runs deep. The Labour Mafia tentacles are hard to break. They inter-marry and in-breed. The handshake.
Only watch the BBCScot occasionally, the only way things will change is lower viewer figures. There has been already a new head brought in, although nothing seems to change. ‘Things change but everything stays the same.’ Dire.
[…] Today, for Labour and the Union, probably in that order, was the Daily Record’s David Clegg and the results of a Survation poll and in the pro-independence corner, The National, focusing on Jim Murphy’s attempt to hide his party’s arithmetic illiteracy. […]