The grievance hunters
We’ve already noted that today is a confusing news day. But when we were listening to the radio this morning we thought we maybe hadn’t woken up properly.
(Good Morning Scotland, BBC Radio Scotland, 11 June 2015)
.
The segment concerned a report by the Tory-leaning think tank Reform Scotland, and saw both the organisation and Labour MSP Hugh Henry trying doggedly to find a bad spin on the news in the fact that crime in Scotland is at a 40-year low. So desperate were they to do so that they ended up denying the existence of arithmetic.
It takes some quite determined reading of Reform Scotland’s report to find out what it’s actually complaining about. The headline figures show that as the number of police officers has increased, the number of recorded crimes in the last nine years has fallen by almost 40%, from 438,000 to 270,000.
Unsurprisingly, the number of crimes “cleared-up” has also fallen (because there are significantly fewer of them to start with), but by just under 30%. That means that a greater percentage of crimes are now being solved – 52% compared to 45% in 2005 – and it also means that each individual officer is now solving proportionately more crimes (since the number of officers has grown by just 6.5%, but the seven-point increased in the solved percentage equates to 15.5%).
Hugh Henry, as you can hear on the clip above, has a considerable degree of difficulty in coming to terms with these simple numerical facts. Bafflingly, at one point he accuses the Scottish Government of being so ashamed of them that they’re “hiding behind” Christine Grahame, who is an SNP MSP and convenor of Holyrood’s justice committee, and therefore – one might think – quite well placed to speak for it.
Henry huffily demands that “Police Scotland need to explain why the number of crimes per officer is falling”, when a drunk child could have explained that if you have MORE police and FEWER crimes that’s both a good thing and statistically inevitable.
Grahame attempts, with heroic patience, to point that simple truth out, but to no avail. At one point Henry even calls this most basic of arithmetical principles “absurd”:
HENRY: There are fewer crimes per head, per police officer being solved –
GRAHAME: Because there are fewer crimes!
HENRY: No, that’s absurd! That is not true!
Henry then quickly spins away into irrelevant distractions about police numbers elsewhere in the UK and tries to suggest that policing could only be deemed a success if there were no unsolved crimes at all, but by that time the programme has descended into chaos as an incredulous Grahame talks over him as if trying to drown out the complete nonsense he’s spouting.
Meanwhile the Reform Scotland report concludes that “The centralisation of the police also acts as a warning about the loss of local input and diversity that other attempts at centralising services in Scotland could bring about”, without having identified a single factor that would merit such a “warning”.
But rather than simply acknowledge when something has gone well, the right-wing think tank and the Labour Party alike both twist themselves into knots trying to find something to attack the government with.
After an election in which it was widely concluded by Labour itself that its problems weren’t its policies but that people refused to listen to them because the party had lost its credibility, it might wish to consider a new approach.
Was it not Pearson who was on or have I got it wrong?
Henry proves the point that the Scottish people are sound in their judgement of not wanting the North British branch of the Labour Party near any biscuit tins soon, displaying such innumercy to the point of dyscalculia.
I never hear any girning and complaining about London’s Metropolitan Police Service which (according to a quick shooftie at Wikipedia) is roughly twice the size of Police Scotland. If having such a big police service is bad for Scotland then surely it must be twice as bad for Londoners?
It would be interesting to find out the sizes of the rest of the UK’s police services in comparison to Police Scotland. There’s no references to any of them in Reform Scotland’s report.
References –
Police Scotland
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_Scotland
Metropolitan Police Service
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_Police_Service
What they’re all needing is to have their ‘SNPBAD’ programming updated and for it to be not made their default setting. It used to work well for them at one point and seemed to be effective. However, now it’s just like old software – way out of date and very clunky looking.
If they ever do get an upgrade they might be able to engage is sensible thinking and dialogue. Until then I’m afraid we’ll just keep on ignoring them.
I honestly cannot listen to BBC Radio Scotland for more than a few minutes at a time now. I gave up on BBC TV after the referendum but continued to listen to radio. However, I can no longer cope with the open hostility and bias from their reporters whenever they are talking to an SNP politician.
“So desperate were they to do so that they ended up denying the existence of arithmetic. ”
Rev, that is one of the best yet.
Right wing think tanks are in existence to come up with this type of report.
The Labour Party in Scotland are in existence… well barely, and the Holyrood elections will see them decline further. Hugh Henry and his likes are well past their sell by date, tick tock.
Now Scottish Labour have attacked former voters, it’s now time to attack Police Scotland.
The facts are simple: more police officers and a drop in recorded crimes equates to less crimes for the police to solve… and that’s bad?!?!?
Scottish Labour really are a monstrosity of party and will attack anything, including good news stories, for political point scoring.
Hope Police Scotland come out attacking Scottish labour.
In addition to their struggle with simple arithmetic, Scottish Labour seem to forget that all those public service employees currently under attack (police, NHS etc) are also voters. The intended target may well be the SG, and SLAB will claim it is not personal. However, many workers who are collaterally damaged will take it personally, and who would blame then. SLAB are more or less saying that Scottish public service workers are not doing their job properly. Not a wise move IMO.
I have to admit that, as I listened to that utter cretin, Henry, this morning, I was shouting absurd things at the radio (it’s catching, y’see).
One of my sons was driving back home at the same time and was also apoplectic. These people (SLab eejits) need to have restraining orders against them to stop them harming the population.
And, only very slightly O/T, are there ANY items on the BBC Scotland News web pages ( http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/scotland )that are open for comment any more?
I’ve had a cursory look for the past week and haven’t spotted any.
Typical of the establishment organ – no right of reply to anything.
But rather than simply acknowledge when something has gone well, BBC vote Slab Scotland, the right-wing think tank and the Labour Party alike both twist themselves into knots trying to find something to attack the government with.
More like.
BBC stooges do themselves no favours introducing think tanks as independent, seeming neutral, when in fact most are Tory infested right wing nut jobs.
Rant over.
There is a silver lining to all this bias and generating bad news out of good …. Voters are being put off SLab specifically, Unionism in general, and hopefully the Union itself. We have absolutely clear evidence of this from the GE and polls for Holyrood 2016 are looking good.
Just read the comment below on newsnet: disgusting (but no surprise) if true. Can anybody confirm/deny this story? … we should be decrying this kind of Orwellian pish from the rafters.
“Even now, Labour isn’t learning any lessons. Take West Lothian. It’s a marginally Labour controlled council – and their apparent response to the GE drubbing? They’ve instructed the official photographer, tax payer funded by an electorate of all party persuasions and none, to edit out any SNP official (councillor, MSP or MP) from the official record at all kinds of events: galas, prize giving and other ceremonies. Petty? Yes: but didn’t Stalin employ the same tactic on his opposition?”
I noticed this if the papers this morning, and posted on FB about it as follows:
Here’s how spin works. Recorded crime in Scotland has dropped a whopping 35% from 419,257 in 2006/7 to 270,397 in 2013/14. Despite this being very good news, let’s see how the Express reports it. “Scotland has more police than ever – but fewer crimes are being solved”. Any questions?
Sadly none of my FB pals have posted any questions. Do they agree with me rather than the Express? Here’s hoping!
Do the right-wing generally and the Westminster Unionist parties, by policy, actually WANT Scotland to walk away to independence? That would be fine by me. The sooner the better. This constant barrage of ‘everything SNP and Scottish Bad’ can only lead Scots to one conclusion – time to go and leave these idiots to get on with their own bad choices! If we REALLY do wish to live in a Scotland that we can more fully respect, then there is no other way that we can achieve that! Bring it on brothers and sisters. Our ‘fairer’ country is already beneath our feet! Let’s make it even fairer and let’s make it ours!
I’d not heard of Hugh Henry MSP, but as he describes himself as a Scottish Labour politician, I’ll take it he’s a lying barsteward (There is no such registered political party of that name).
How much is Hugh Henry on? Salary that is, not mind-bending chemicals.
Arguing with Christine is never good, hehe
and when ur speaking rubbish you’ve no chance.
Christine knows arithmetic Hugh Henry! haha
Aye Hugh Henry, the man that probably worships Eleanor Bradford as the ‘bad news pin-up girl’
And on that subject, we’ll be back to knocking the track record of the NHS in Scotland tomorrow surely?
“Backlog of empty beds…not enough sick people walking through hospital doors…CRISIS!!”
You wonder how others, outwith the UK, see us; a country with proven successes in many tricky and socially demanding areas…yet constantly demeaned, especially by the state broadcaster who’s job it should be to convey to the public at large a BALANCED appraisal of the facts.
It must be the heat because my tolerance threshold is way down today.
That sounded like Kezia Dugdale in the RS segment. Is she moonlighting?
The best bit was when Christine Graham just laughed at him. That is what they are now…. a laughing stock. No wonder people are deserting them in droves. As CG rightly pointed out,. the crime rate is falling, the rate of detection is increasing and therefore the number of unsolved crimes is decreasing. She also admitted that there is always room for improvement. Which part of this would the electorate not like?
I’m off to buy some more nails. It’s not long before the coffin lid will be securely shut, never to be opened again. Think I’ll put my feet up and enjoy the show.
TNS poll shows over 60% of Scotland will vote SNP at the Holyrood Elections
Mibbees that should be a wee clue to the …… party
Sorry about the dots I forgot their name
There are some other Parties as well Ehh…NO…completely slipped my mind who those are
This idiot can’t even grasp simple division. Hugh: If numerator goes down and denominator goes up, the end number (crimes solved per officer) will always be smaller. A 4 year old could tell you that. What an absolute idiot. Hugh Henry is clearly the most stupid person in Scotland.
5 will get you 20 that the Murphy defence of: “I was only in post 5 months”, has allowed Labour in Scotland to conclude that the reason that “SNP BAD” didn’t work first time around, is because they did not do enough of it.
Their failure to grasp simple truths to push this message is making them look like…well, fecking idiots to be honest. They have also forgotten they have been pushing “SNP BAD” since 2007. But why let facts get in the way of a shit plan that has to work sometime…right?
Christine Grahame must think all her birthdays have come at once…..
This cretin is doing a better job of making himself look stupid than any concerted effort from the SNP.
Where are the media !!!!! This was on the BBC.
If an SNP politician had made such a horses arse of interpreting a set of figures they would be queuing up to ridicule them.
Staggering.
The Labour Party are in danger of becoming known only for their all-consuming hatred of the SNP.
That, and their love for the Union (and the Tories).
This comment may appear twice, apologies. I think my first attempt went into the moderation bit-bucket, because I used an expletive referencing micturition.
I saw this comment on another site. Can anybody confirm/disconfirm this: revolting if true.
“Even now, Labour isn’t learning any lessons. Take West Lothian. It’s a marginally Labour controlled council – and their apparent response to the GE drubbing? They’ve instructed the official photographer, tax payer funded by an electorate of all party persuasions and none, to edit out any SNP official (councillor, MSP or MP) from the official record at all kinds of events: galas, prize giving and other ceremonies. Petty? Yes: but didn’t Stalin employ the same tactic on his opposition?”
[on-topic because: SLAB’s estrangement from the truth]
The BBC has been officially recognised as a biased establishment broadcaster by eurosceptic English MPs, who are currently attempting to bring a bill making bias in broadcasting illegal (but only during the EU referendum)
Laugh till you cry, BBC license-fee payers.
I swear I heard Hugh Henry almost say…
“Calm down dear”! 😀 😀
Attack away I say Centralised Police, Controlled Police, Can’t solve crime Police, Are they Overmanned Police,Lazy Police
SNP Voting Police.. Now how many is that?
Attack away Numpties
Hugh Henry,hopefully an ex-MSP next year,showing what class intellects the labour party have.Thankfully we have Christine Grahame….Bye Bye Labour,Bye Bye…
Oh my, back to school for Mr Henry methinks. No wonder Christine Graham laughed at him.
He really is a very stupid person. Mind you he’s in good company, cause SLAB would appear to be full of them.
It’s a bit like that Adam Smith Institute lunatic on The Big Question who was citing the 2010 OECD figures allegedly proving that the NHS was “below average” compared to other countries, when the WHO cites the NHS as among the very top of healthcare systems – being number 1 in several respects – and the Commonwealth Fund, European Health Consumer Index and others putting the UK above the average.
When a nurse – who I’d *think* might know a bit about the NHS – tries to put her right on this, the nutjob just says “no, that’s not true, that’s a lie.” How can you respond to such idiocy?
Had you emerged from a cave to listen to the propaganda emanating from Pacific Quay these past few mornings, you could be forgiven for assuming that Scotland was in a state of utter and irretrievable chaos – crime out of control, anarchy on the streets, moribund health service, knackered education system..
It’s awful out there, I tells ye..
That was fun listening to that clip. Cheers Stu. C G Owned them all even the presenter. Will you let Hugh Henry speak. Ha ha Brilliant. There’s no talking over Christine Grahame.
I suppose using tortured logic to attack someone is easier than trying to come up with an even more effective improvement or an alternative…
… Nah! They’ll never go for it. Too much like hard work.
What part of attack, attack, attack pissing the electorate right off do they not understand? We’re sick of it. Either be part of a solution on any policy area or get out of the bloody way. Anything else is a waste of the public’s time and patience.
For my own preference consensus politics has to be the way forward. A politics where the party with the best vision, the best, most practical policies forms the party of government and once elected can actually count on other parties for support untill such times as either a policy becomes a proven failure or another party comes up with a better package.
Our adversarial system has bred the politics we see today. Parties so caught up in tearing each other apart they fracture society, destroy good government and disenfranchise their electorate through lack of trust in their institutions. Its not f**king rocket science. You want public trust? Then work for the public’s benefit. Govern for all not the few and work together to improve policies, ideas, living conditions. Give us a reason to TRUST all of our parties. Earn it FGS!
Right now I would trust any establishment party about as far as I could chuck a JCB and THAT is why their system is falling apart at the seams. We’ve lost faith in its ability to deliver on just about any level, but most importantly we’ve learned (the hard way) not trust in its politicians and institutions. They’ve proven time and again they simply don’t exist for our benefit.
I cannot prove it of course,but I am certain that there has been a group hypnosis session with all the Labour officials present.
The trigger phrase for them all appears to be SNP.Instead of hypnosis being utilised to nullify a phobia ,in this case it appears tht the hypnotist is having a laugh and is using the initials to magnify the fear.I can think of no other reason for their visceral hatred that allows them to ignore cast iron facts.
Trust me Labour,you need help from a professional,and soon..
I posted a bad link to Independence Live earlier
they need between £2000 and £3000 with 62 hours left on their appeal http://www.independencelive.net/
Bella is about £650 of its target – or 99% there with 16 hours to go
The unhappiest people in the world, right now must be Scottish Labour supporters who voted No last September. What now? For us, the dream will never die – we live to fight another day. We have hope. But for them? Another 10 years of Tory majority rule beckon, possibly more. Utterly hopeless. And even if another Tony Blair like figure eventually emerges to rescue the party’s UK fortunes in SE England, another Tory-lite, centre-right New Labour party is the best they can hope for. How sad is that? Will the penny finally drop that a UK-wide socialist utopia is never going to happen?, and that the best way to help the oppressed people in rUK is to demonstrate, in an independent Scotland that a different, non-austerity approach may be more successful? Until the penny drops, their future looks very bleak. I wouldn’t like to be in their shoes.
When i heard the earlier GMS report just after 7am I was doing my usual shouting at the radio “HAve you clowns never heard of the law of diminishing returns”
But it was worse than that it was stright out of StarTrek .”But not as we know it ,Captain” level of thought.
I am convinced the em Scottish Labour Party inhabit a parallel universe
As someone once rightly said, there are lies, damned lies, and statistics. Myself and my friends have personal experience that the Scottish Police are no longer classing a massive amount of incidents as ‘crimes’, in order to meet their targets. If they would start targeting real criminals rather than motorists, then the country would be a better place.
That being said, the Labour party would put a negative spin on Scotland discovering the world’s largest diamond seam. They truly are the political equivalent of a drowning man.
Scotlands clear up rate is 52% Yet in London for the same period the average clear up rate per borough is only 21%
Id say that 52% is something to be envious of. I found it difficult to find other rates for England and it would be interesting to find ho their rates compare with that appallingly low 52%
SNP still bad then? FFS – change the effing record SLAB. You have learned sweet eff all after the most humiliating defeat in your party’s history.
jeez dunce cap for Henry now go sit in the corner and learn your times tables you idiot.
Its a never ending stream of SNP bad ,even the good things they have done are bad ,its totally bonkers they have lost the plot big time if they think SNP bad will save their butts in 2016.
@ Scunterbunnet
Eh i think uncle Joe was a bit more extreme than just a few photoshops,but i guess it was his idea lol
I guess it’s the opposition’s job to hold the government up to scrutiny and to attempt to find fault even if there is none.
Don’t you know the mantra by now?
Repeat after me, SNP bad. And keep repeating, till the electorate believe it; it’s worked so well up till now.
I tuned in just as Grahame was trying to talk over everybody (it had got to the rabble phase).
I agree that Labour are always trying to put a negative spin on things and Grahame was right to call it out.
But being so ‘shouty’ made me think of Jim Murphy and it would better if Christine had managed to keep the heid. Not that I could have done any better!
“I WILL KILL YOU WITH HAMMERS”
That vile cybernat website WOS is at it again. Threatening actual bodily harm.
Taranaich says:
11 June, 2015 at 3:55 pm
It’s a bit like that Adam Smith Institute lunatic on The Big Question who was citing the 2010 OECD figures
She was in interesting display. Her schtick about how Germany and Norway have much higher private sector spends in their health care and therefore it was much better in these countries was her main shot. But that was it though.
Do Germany and Norway have similar public health care concerns to Scotland, is there a different ageing population issue compared to Scotland and Norway and so on.
If Germany and Norway are healthier countries than Scotland, they are much richer, the Adam Institute needs to say out loud because big health biz is going to profit take from the Scottish NHS just like it does in Norway. But if their profits dip with more expensive treatment and care here, its going to be the worst off Scots that suffer as usual in the UK.
“Perhaps a lunatic was simply a minority of one.”
George Orwell, 1984
Can just imagine the hysterical screams if Scotland had No reported crimes…
“SNP fail Scotland as police solve zero crimes this year”!!
It gets more laughable every day.
Proud Cybernat says:
11 June, 2015 at 4:30 pm
SNP still bad then? FFS – change the effing record SLAB. You have learned sweet eff all after the most humiliating defeat in your party’s history.
And by faithfully and unquestioningly regurgitating SLAB press releases every morning, the BBC reporters are also looking like complete numpties, tarred with the same brush, for all the world to see.
I can only get 2m 11s into that clip and it dies. I’ve tried downloading it and that’s all I get too. What’s up with that Rev?
O/T
For the Sudoku nuts out there. The Medium puzzle in today’s ‘The National’ has me totally stumped. Never seen a puzzle quite like it. Go have a look and tell me you don’t think it’s the hardest damned one they’ve ever published.
Just asked my 10 year old, who hates maths, if more officers and less crimes meant more or less solved per officer – and she got the right answer. So, Hugh Henry is officially *not* smarter than a 10 year old.
Yep, “Scottish” Labour just need to pledge that they will increase the level of crime in order to improve the ratio of officers per crime solved.
Maybe some kind of catchy soundbite like we will have 1,000 more crimes than under an SNP government?
Holyrood Labour majority 2016 in the bag!
He’s right, you know! According to Labour arithmetic, 1 + 1 = SNPbad; 5 + 5 = SNPbadbadbad; 71 – 14 = SNPbadbadbadbad.
With such impeccable arithmetical logic, Hugh Henry is spot on!!
What should also be taken note of – and it will never be reflected in stats – is that once all the ‘easy’ detection is done and dusted there are the more pernicious cases such as fraud, peado rings and organised crime. These criminals are intelligent and well versed in how not to get caught. It takes far more man hours to crack these cases bet we are all better off when they are solved.
I am tired of all this neggy stuff, the monstering and the othering ‘too wee, too poor, too stupid, SNP bad bad’ mantra. The Carmichaels, Dugdales and Mundells. If Scotland is so very bad and you hate Scotland so much that you cannot make a positive contribution then GTF! We will be better off without you.
I am proud of this country that adopted me, I am proud of Nicola and the way she promotes us, I am proud of the 56, including the the wee lassie from the chip shop who booted Douglas Alexander into oblivion to become our youngest star.
I am proud of our arts, theatre and music, I am proud of our world class industry, I am proud of our healt service and the initiatives to make a nation better and fitter and I have been privileged to learn some real history of a real people rather than the sanitised English version I was taught in school.
Of course there are things that could be better. We do not have infinite resource but there are so many things that can be better without spending money on them or by simply doing things differently.
So I say again to the doomsters and the naysayers just GTF and let us get on with it!
Yip there isn’t a shortage of talent in “Scotch” labour. Hence Dim Jim writing the recovery plan, and Hugh Henry crunching the numbers for Jim. Sounds like a good plan!
LOL
O/T
Nicolas speech to Council on Foreign Relations in Washington today.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbSJT4znjTU
I read an article a couple years back that the general fall in crime is nothing at all to do with more/better policing and that it’s entirely down to games consoles. Instead of going out on the streets, getting hammered, and causing all sorts of bother the yoof are staying in playing Call of Duty instead
Lollymum@5:26
Thanks for sharing,to us,simply Nicola.
To everyone else,WOW is the normal response.
Oustanding,Scotland should be proud,we very lucky to have her as FM. 🙂
The Unionists seem to be handing everything to us on a plate. They are driving away their potential voters. They appear to doing everything possible the bring their Union to an end. All of them, politicians and their ever loyal media.
WTF is going on?
Starting to give me a sense of unease!
I had no idea that Scottish Labour’s problems with division were so fundamental.
I will admit to visiting the Daily Fail on-line and searching for Salmond, Sturgeon, Scotland, or SNP.
To my horror, they don’t seem able to contrive anything today. Which is a real shocker – someone complain quick.
“Gordon Brown claimed £732 pen cartridges on expenses”
https://archive.is/ONErx
Looks like we’re in for a lot more vows, folks.
Just wait until you read his excuse.
Please, get us away from these self serving parasites.
No more LibLabCons – Vote them out.
I’d check if Henry has any shares in Serco or G4S, the future of policing south of the border.
Just sayin…
“The Medium puzzle in today’s ‘The National’ has me totally stumped.”
Hah! I solved it with one glance. 😀
The BBC are stepping it up. After the G.E. Wipeout, they are going to run a year long campaign leading up to next years Holyrood election. After all the unionist parties aren’t capable of it up here, so it’s down to the Beeb and the papers to resurrect Labour. If anything things’ll get nastier than we’ve seen so far…….they’ve been backed into a corner.
Thanks Lollysmum for the link to the First Minister’s appearance at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington.
This is a remarkable performance!! More than worthy of a PM of an independent, influential and progressive country!!
One word would have ended this debate; ratio.
More ‘Culture of Fear’ and ‘Media Control’ – is it just me or does it become more overtly noticeable every day? Or do they just not care for subtlety any more?
I listened to this and thought it was hilarious. I wished that the presenter had asked the Labour tumshie if he would complain if there was no crimes at all. That would mean there would be zero crimes solved per officer.
@Kes says: 11 June, 2015 at 3:38 pm:
“Arguing with Christine is never good, hehe
and when ur speaking rubbish you’ve no chance.
Christine knows arithmetic Hugh Henry! haha.”
A formidable lady is our Christine. She does not suffer fools gladly, (nor in any other way).
@Martin says: 11 June, 2015 at 3:41 pm:
” … What an absolute idiot. Hugh Henry is clearly the most stupid person in Scotland.”
Are you sure about that, Martin?
I would speculate he isn’t even the most stupid in the Labour Scottish branch office and as for the LibDems – well for starters they have Willie Rennie as their leader – and they must have other candidates for the most stupid trophy.
That leaves us with the Tory Party, who the Scottish Public long ago passed judgement upon, and found them wanting, (in the Scottish Lallans leid meaning of that word. As in, “Yon donnart gadgie haes a richt want aboot him”.
So we don’t commit much crime in the first place.
Shame on us! Putting the police out the job like that!
Richardinho,
“I guess it’s the opposition’s job to hold the government up to scrutiny and to attempt to find fault even if there is none.”
You think attempting to find fault even if there is none is scrutiny and part of the opposition’s job?
It is blatant dishonesty, at the expense of taxpayers.
And it is this blatant dishonesty in the opposition that will hopefully lead to their near or hopefully total wipeout in 2016.
@Gary McIlkenny says: 11 June, 2015 at 4:43 pm:
“I tuned in just as Grahame was trying to talk over everybody (it had got to the rabble phase).”
First of all Christine doesn’t try to talk over everyone else – she has no need to – she just cannot be ignored.
“I agree that Labour are always trying to put a negative spin on things and Grahame was right to call it out.
By the time you tuned in Christine had already demolished her opponent and the presenters with reasoned logic and arguments. The programme had then also passed the stage of argument and they had attempted to gang up on her but she still wouldn’t accept their ignorance and attempted spin.
“But being so ‘shouty’ made me think of Jim Murphy and it would better if Christine had managed to keep the heid. Not that I could have done any better!”
What other chance did she have? She had listened to their arguments, demolished their arguments and proved her points as correct and they were attempting to shout her down – and it was they who then lost the head.
Thanks for the link Lollysmum and what more can one say about Nicola Sturgeon? She’s a top notch International politician but where she differs from others of her calibre, past and present, is that she comes across as being totally down to earth and extremely honest. I can’t think of one world leader who compares with her.
I wonder if the BBC et al will make any mention of her many successful visits to New York and Washington, her professionalism and popularity or counter this with bleating on about neglecting her duties in Holyrood.
Lollysmum @ 5:28
Thanks for that link,the questions from the audience were interesting and genuine (not what we are used to from our media) Nicola was candid and honest in her answers (as always). Wow just doesn’t do it justice, we are so lucky to have Nicola as our first minister, sitting here in Ayrshire a couple of inches taller and proud as F*** .
‘There’s a hole in your bucket, Hugh Henry, Hugh Henry’…
If there is any possibility, any at all, to rant and rail against the SNP, Scottish independence, etc. it is pounced upon with glee by any and all shades of Unionist politician.
The Unionist mantra of attack and belittle Scotland at every opportuninty is disgusting and damn infuriating. Consensus politics is anathema to Unionist politicians… when it’s the SNP. Yet, true to their unionism, they play nicey-nicey and let’s not be too nasty with each other.
The referendum was lost, but from that whole campaign exercise the Unionist parties collaborating with each other to disparage and rubbish Scotland has been a real eye-opener to many in Scotland. The truth is now out there – Cons, Labs, Lib Dems, UKIPs may play the game of offering a choice for the electorate, but their ideology is the same; Rule Britannia, British-Establishment-are-we, Westminster rules, OK!; greed is good, poor people are trash… and the SNP and their supporters are evil separatists who must be castigated and suppressed at all times… God Save the Queen.
And here we are in 2015 and ‘better together’, according to those who continue to lie and sneer about Scotland, while smearing and attacking our politicians and discrediting so many of our population’s continuing hopes for independence.
I am, and I’m sure the majority of Scots are too, absolutely sick of it – the constant ‘Naw yez canny!’ smearing, scaremongering, fearmongering and blatant lying from the Brit Establishment, Westminster and – especially – the corrupt London-based media directed at my country and my people. Enough already.
Thanks to lollysmum, just watched Nicola in D.C. the woman is an absolute star. The best part of an hours Q&A without a stutter, hiccup or any obfuscation whatever, a credit to us all.
Hugh Henry, an auld sweetie-wife ifever there was one, can’t imagine he’ll be standing again. The Westminster disposessed will be fighting like rats in a sack over his place.
I agree with Robert Peffers. Christine Grahame was just not going to put up with the usual nonsense from either interviewer or witheringly stupid Henry. The difference between Christine and Jim Murphy is that she had something sensible to say.
@ Lollysmum
Thanks for posting the link to Nicola Sturgeon’s presentation at the Council for Foreign Affairs in Washington. Just watched it; some really interesting questions asked by the US participants.
Alison Payne – Research Director
Alison graduated from Edinburgh University with a degree in Economics and Politics in 2001. She began her career within the Scottish Conservative MSPs’ Research Unit, going on to spend four years as Head of Research. She later went on to become Political Adviser to Annabel Goldie MSP, Leader of the Scottish Conservative Group of MSPs. This role included acting as adviser to the Scottish Conservative Policy Advisory Group which was independent of the party.
Before joining Reform Scotland, Alison Payne was a senior account manager with PPS, which provides lobbying, communications and consultation advice to the property and development industry.
Alison is married with two children and was a Girl Guide leader for over 10 years prior to the birth of her second child.
All her pals are merchant bankers , financial advisors the odd ex Tory MSP and she worked for Ex Tory leader Goldie. Totally impartial of course. It is always curious how many of these Neo cons run charities. Social conscious or tax avoidance.
Now did the BBC research who this crowd were? Of course not , they know already. Totally biased BBC.
Hugh Henry, yet another of the bawbags bringing shame and facepalms to the people of Paisley & Renfrewshire.
Well done by Christine Graham in not being talked over by him.
Why does ‘Reform Scotland’ keep banging on about the unitary Police force being bad, it’s a real bee in their collective right-leaning bunnet.
Oh, and their document is mince. One of the tables (Table 1) seems to be out by a factor of 100 (one hundred) in one column (‘sq miles per police office’); and in the most recent year, our Supercops solved a ‘whopping’ 102% of all homicides! (Table 14, ‘2013/14 clearup rate’ column)
Yes, Taggart & Co solved more murders than there were actual murrders. Now THAT’S top copping!
https://reformscotland.com/public/publications/The_Thinning_Blue_Line_2015.pdf
Reminds me of Foulkes bemoaning how GOOD services in Scotland are compared to England. “But surely that’s a good thing?” he was asked. His reply “But they’re doing it deliberately!”
Further to Maxxmacc’s post regarding statistics,I would imagine that less people are reporting crimes as they have to pay to call the 101 number no matter which calling plan your on. People may have second thoughts on reporting something minor especially in the low earning – high crime rate areas.
Of course, this applies throughout the UK which would even out comparisons with other forces.
Labour’s Hugh Henry just goes on to show the lack of depth they have, Another Monkey with a Red Tory Rosette that was voted in.
He wants action against SNP and the Police as it just isn’t fair that despite a major recession, SNP have increased the number of
Police on the Street, Reduced the number of Crimes and increased the number of crimes solved.
He wants to go back to Labour ways where we had fewer Police, more crime, and fewer crimes solved.
He can’t have SNP funded Police taking preventative crime measures, when they should have thought of it. Shame on them!
BBC again lost all credibility to consider that this was a story
against SNP’s outstanding record on crime.
Look for a job that doesn’t involve Arithmetic Mr Henry.
You only have a few months left in politics.
Late in tonight , speed read the thread , apologies if I missed the VAT bit ?
I’m sure CG went on to challenge HH & Labour Party to support SNP in the quest to overturn the VAT issue which is costing the Scottish Police / SG / us on the bottom rung a wee fortune in being unable to claim back the VAT .
HH swerved the issue in the usual manner.
I’m unaware of the fine detail on this but it strikes me as another STUPID piece of legislation that makes no common sense and is hampering our Police force financially.
Extracted from the Home Office’s “Crime Outcomes in England and Wales 2013-2014.”
Last updated, 26 February 2015
Percentage of recorded offences with an outcome –
East Midlands Region 31.5%
East of England Region 32.6%
London Region 22.6%
North East Region 41.1%
North West Region 31.3%
South East Region 28.2%
South West Region 31.2%
West Midlands Region 28.7%
Yorks and Humber Region 28.5%
ENGLAND 29.0%
WALES 35.0%
British Transport Police 33.5%
ENGLAND AND WALES 29.4%
It is actually getting very funny now. This one is a cracker. Desperation time for BBC SLab.
The BBC do not know what to do – they have to “hold the SNP Scottish Government to account”. And yet with every biased News broadcast the SNP support goes up and up.
However, the “Curse of No” has knocked out most of the Labour and Unionist heavyweights and pundits – even Ian SSmart!
So they are only left with Kez, Paul Coia, Foulkes and some lowly SLAB MSP numpties that nobody has ever even heard of.
Happy days.
I might even get my TV licence back to see BBC PQ implode over the run up to SE16.
Then again – maybe not.
Thanks for that link to Nicola’s excellent and utterly faultless q&a at the Council on Foreign Relations Lollysmum.
As other have said she is quite simply superb in demeanour and eloquence. So pleasant to listen to those intelligent and considered questions from mature individuals and equally delightful to listen to Nicola’s effortless nuanced responses.
Breath of fresh, makes yi feel good about having someone of her calibre represent us in the broader world. Great catch! 🙂
What about bayoneting the wounded?
Remember who said that, may his words come back to haunt him.
Di
May I direct you to Internet radio. It is possible to buy a Roberts radio with inter net, dab and fm. If you have a smart phone or tablet you can get a app. It’s also possible to use the PC or lap top.
The two that I tend to use are tunein radio and calm radio. Get your sanity back.
There is a close correlation between falling crime figures and the banning of lead in petrol. All over the world crime is falling with a 20 year lag after the banning of petrol lead additives.
Naturally politians of all persuasions would like to claim the credit for their policies, but it is in fact simply a matter of brain chemistry. It is an established fact that high lead levels in humans leads to violent and anti social behaviour.
I thought Gary Robertson was very poor in this. I listen to this station most mornings and the interviewer’s questions and comments can at times be ridiculous.
I was astounded when Gary Robertson said “but those are percentages” (at 1min 30s in the clip above) in response to crimes solved rising from 47% to 52%.
Hugh Henry is educated to degree standard in accountancy.
Check his blog here
http://hughhenry.blogspot.co.uk
for a list of positions held.
This was not the ravings of an innumerate guy.
Was he under orders to do a kamikaze job on the ‘good’ news?
Or is that now their default setting out of which they cannot reboot?
“The true scale of Tony Blairs global business empire”
(At the expense of the taxpayer).
https://archive.is/dgaUr
Done a crazy thing yesterday after arriving in p’mouth, after holiday in spain. Bought a ‘record’. What a mistake. Straight in bin with this arse wipe.
Dal riata, brilliant post.