The moral maze
Kezia Dugdale made a spectacle of herself again at First Minister’s Questions earlier today. Using time intended for holding the Scottish Government to account over its devolved responsibilities, Dugdale once more decided instead to ignore her duty to the people of Scotland and attack the FM over a matter which is entirely outwith the Scottish Government’s control, namely the past actions of a Westminster MP.
Pausing only to demand that Holyrood interfere in the running of the independent Law Society, Dugdale then abandoned her casual endangerment of a live police inquiry by focusing instead on the morality of the aforementioned MP’s business practices:
But Ms Dugdale’s own ethics left a few things to be desired.
Ostensibly quoting comments made on a website in 2011 and implicitly attributing them to Michelle Thomson (even though they weren’t bylined to anyone), Dugdale radiated self-righteous indignation as she spat the words out:
“Michelle Thomson’s company boasted that the increase in the number of people struggling to pay their mortgage during the recession was, and I quote, ‘a great opportunity’, and that if people were ’emotionally distant’ they could ‘make a huge profit’.
So could I ask the First Minister – is preying on desperate people ever an ethical way to run a business?”
But as ever, Scottish Labour appear to have forgotten that anyone can access the internet for themselves, and within moments an alert reader had found the site in question. Here’s what it actually says. We’ve highlighted the bits quoted by Dugdale.
The other quotes are in a different article, from 2010:
Seen in context, the quotes are radically different in meaning and tone from the way Dugdale presents them. The first notes that foreclosed properties are a great opportunity not just (or even primarily) for investors, but for people otherwise priced out of the market for an affordable home.
The second has nothing to do with being emotionally distant from the people selling the house, as Dugdale implies. As the second sentence makes clear, it’s about not getting emotionally attached to a property itself, and allowing the fact that you really like it to cloud a cool judgement about drawbacks it may have.
Labour and the media have hammered relentlessly about the moral angle of Michelle Thomson’s activities. Someone with what appears to be a non-terminal skin cancer is invariably described as a “cancer sufferer”. Jacqueline and Douglas Wright, who had no complaint about their sale until the press came knocking at their door years later, are presented as having been in some way duped after they approached Thomson’s company to sell their house quickly for unspecified reasons.
It seems fairly safe to say that if the Wrights’ circumstances had made them particularly susceptible to being ripped off by a “predatory” operation, we’d have heard all about it from the press by now. In fact, so far not a single seller involved in any of the transactions has been identified as actually being in any way “vulnerable”.
Every newspaper in Scotland – including the Daily Record and the Herald, who’ve been at the forefront of the witch-hunt against Thomson – regularly takes money from advertisers offering people quick purchases of their houses, or auction houses selling foreclosed properties.
But we don’t recall hearing any horrified outcry from the press or from Labour about such firms – presumably because they’re perfectly legitimate businesses offering a service that nobody has to employ if they don’t want to. Like well-known companies such as WeBuyAnyCar.com, they offer much greater speed and convenience than the normal channels, but with the tradeoff that you get less money.
Hypocrisy, of course, is the stock in trade of both politicians and the media. But when it gets really ugly is when the likes of Kezia Dugdale serve up the usual dose of cant with a side-order of appallingly, cynically misleading selective “quotation” in order to smear an opponent as an inhuman monster.
(And when people who should really know better fall for it and start issuing ridiculous hyperbole based on wildly inaccurate reporting of the facts.)
We fear there’s going to be a lot more of that still to come before we discover whether anyone actually did anything wrong, and find our way out of this labyrinth of lies.
Thanks for that. Was really disappointed in those two (even if the latter still has a weird insistence that “nobody wants to see Scotland extinguished” even though I provided direct quotes).
BTW, I had a gander at Scottish Labour’s official twitter, wondering what they thought of the Tory Conference. Apparently nothing, because *not a single tweet* refers to it. Best I could find was a retweet of Blair McDougall’s self-righteous retort to David Cameron’s “anti-British” accusation directed at Jeremy Corbyn (presumably because it meant he could throw in a dig at the SNP).
The entire conference came and went, and @ScottishLabour had nothing to say. How many tweets contain a reference to Michelle Thomson did they write today alone? THIRTEEN.
Folk like Dugdale, apparently good enough to be a political “leader” still don’t realise that what they say as fact, can be so easily verified these days. It is as though they haven’t heard of the internet.
We are paying for those folk to represent constituents. It is about time they started doing that job.
I hope that all these rantings from so called politicians and corpmedia are being stored away for use later when we might have defamation cases in court.
That’s deliberate lying. I wasn’t sure if she was just thick or a liar. But she knows exactly what she’s doing. Incredible. That’s a complete two fingers up to the Scottish Parliament as well. Genuine lack of respect for it. Needs to be dealt with here
If Ms Dugdale is deliberately misrepresenting (which she appears to be doing here)why is the presiding officer not hauling her back into the chamber to apologise?
The media’s ‘human interest’ line is so bloody fatuous.
“So could I ask the First Minister – is preying on desperate people ever an ethical way to run a business?”
Scottish Labour certainly seem to think it’s an ethical way to win elections and referendums.
Oh what a tangled web she weaves.
I fully expect this to be the number 1 story on reporting jocklandshire tonight, with Kezia pressed hard to explain why she deliberately tried to deceive the people of Scotland and Parliament on live TV today.
Aye, right.
Kezia Dugdale is an absolute disgrace and an embarassment.
If this is the best the Labour Party in Scotland have got to offer, god help us!
Should all these as yet unproven and not evidenced allegations prove unjustified, someday, someone who is smart enough and courageous enough will invoke defamation and slander suits against everyone who is deliberately and inaccurately participating merely for political or media gain.
“Someone with what appears to be a non-terminal skin cancer is invariably described as a “cancer sufferer”.”
Bit harsh.
“Bit harsh.”
Why? Her medical condition is used to justify describing her as “vulnerable” in order to attack Thomson. But skin cancer doesn’t rot your brain, and if it’s not terminal then there’s no reason it would make you sell your house unusually quickly.
A good appraisal of the latest episode in this sordid affair, Stu.
Almost looks like Labour North Britain feel they have nothing left to lose.
It’s one thing for the gutter CorpM and UKOK Broadcasting Corp to get involved in all this smearing, but for the leader of the opposition to wade in neck deep into the shite, shows poor judgement.
Labour must think action will be taken on MT at some point, because if the whole thing turns round with no legal case to answer and with defamation actions queueing up, it will all backfire.
Mustn’t pre judge ( leave that to the Unionists ) but so far all the reports and ‘evidence’ look to be of distinctly questionable accuracy, as Stu has repeatedly pointed out.
Council houses being sold at a discount to then be sold on, led to a lack of houses for lower incomes right? Mainly because the money was not reinvested but squandered in my opinion. And the SNP at addressed the problem. Maybe I’m missing something here.
Every day as more information comes to light
Right thinking people are shown to be thinking right and if proven correct, which it looks like it will be, the conspirators in this whole sorry mess will be exposed and that fills me with a whole lot of satisfactory glee
We’ll wait with baited breath for the fulsome and heartfelt apologies though, won’t we
At FMQs of course Where wee Ruthless the Tankette Commander
Failed to back up her mate with the follow up smearing
Do we think Ruthie’s trap for Dippity worked
she lent her a big enough shovel
I’m convinced she is given her instructions and questions by her masters, she is over promoted by a fuckin mile
Thank you Stuart. Another excellent dissection of the rabid festering cadaver that is Kezia’s whining Labour and groaning political corpse.
Here’s something she might like to answer given the very high-horse she sits astride.
May I give Kezia her quote back and beg the question of her…
“Could I ask the the Labour Leader in Scotland – is placing children in harm’s way by letting loose a convicted drunken ex-prisoner in the form of criminal arsonist Lord “have you got a match” Watson ever an ethical way to run a shadow cabinet and education ministry in Scotland?
But then again we all know the answer to that. Labour have not got a clue.
Source: link to archive.is
You’d think the latest TNS poll would tell Ms Dugdale something about Labour and indeed all the unionist parties current approach to politics in Scotland, but apparently not.
link to tnsglobal.com
More smear, more misrepresentation, more time wasting and less return.
Why? Perhaps because, not unreasonably, we’d expect our politicians to create policy, govern, legislate, play nice together.
That kinda thing.
Thanks to Rev and alert reader!
I had heard this website being brought out before, so now we know the real story.
Disgusting performance by Dugdale to grandstand, and deliberately lie, and agree it should warrant an apology to the chamber for misleading the them and the public.
Such a pile of horseshit.
Taranaich is spot on; the nasty party is having it annual conference in Manchester & Labour’s north British accounting unit has nothing to say about it. Presumably because they must agree with much of the policy announcements?
So, since it’s national poem day today, I thought I’d write something for them …
“Beware of a Tory,
Ambition so gory;
Nepotism & greed,
So the poor they shall feed
Not nourishment or hope
But a desperate rope
To strangle scruffy collars so thin
To guarantee they will win
The battle of minds
Hearts, spirits & souls
To maintain their command
Over people & land
Grubby snouts in the trough,
Establishment power,
Has quite gripped them,
Lords, ladies & gentlemen,
I give you, Great Britain.“
Once again I am astonished at the low level of intelligence displayed by the branch manager of a former major political party…is Kezia really a qualified lawyer? If so, I really despair…I expect it from a muppet like a Jackie Baillie or James Kelly, but from the supposed leader it’s really shocking!
I gave up on the press years ago so don’t expect anything but drivel from the assorted sots who peddle their propaganda on behalf of the empire but to find that every unionist politician is quite happy to lie and distort on a daily basis is still quite shocking to me. Maybe I expect too much from them – you know daft things like respect for facts, attempts to improve the sorry lot of their constituents, perhaps implement even some policies to provide decent humane governance for the majority rather than their immediate families and cronies (which let’s face it IS the Labour/Tory way after all). I suppose I should be grateful that I can still be shocked by the actions of these morons.
“So could I ask the First Minister – is preying on desperate people ever an ethical way to run a business?”
That will be one of they rhetorical questions then!
I have raised this point on here before, and will no doubt have cause to do so again.
In the run-up to the Referendum, a regular poster on Wings, an I am sorry I cannot remembr who it was, remarked that when they saw Johann Lamont – they always got the impression that, somewhere, there was a Scotmid branch lacking an assistant manager.
When I see Dippity Dug, I always feel that same branch is missing a particularly incompetent work experience girl, who has been left in charge by mistake.
Still look at her mentors – Lord Foulkes of Scumnock and Big Dim Jim – nae wonder the lassie struggles.
Is misrepresenting the facts in order to deceive the Scottish Parliament, and so the people, not a breach of the rules? I agree with steveasaneilean. The Presiding Officer should expect an apology.
MT will have plenty of evidence for a defamation case.
More excellent journalism Stu.
If it wasn’t for the MainStreamMudslingers having a field day and impugning me as an SNP member for reporting Dugdale’s misuse of Scottish Parliament, I am sorely tempted to seek the referral of Kezia Dugdale to the Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life in Scotland for misuse of expensive Holyrood Chamber FMQ time with VEXATIOUS and COSTLY political point-scoring on NON-DEVOLVED matters.
link to publicstandardscommissioner.org.uk
Though it sure would be interesting to ask the powers that be at Holyrood HOW MUCH Kezia Dugdale is costing the taxpayer in her abuse of her position.
Out of curiosity, does anyone here know how much it costs to run the Scottish Parliament?
So let me see if I have this right here.
A LABOUR councilor is suspendecd over a £200,00 contract given to his nephew in South Lanarkshire.
link to taxi-driver.co.uk
A Labour constituency in Edinburgh has *ahem* lost £10,000.
link to edinburghnews.scotsman.com
Yet despite these *ahem* inquiries going on the Branch office manager decides to go with an attack on a person who is NOT under any investigation.
Hmm…
After watching that reporting north england clip.
Does anyone else find it strange that it was only after Michelle Thomson was elected to Westminster that the Crown office were formally notified?
They had been informed twice before.
A first-class bit of sleuthing Rev, Dugdale has indeed mislead the Parliament and needs a rap across the knuckles.
Time will take care of the baying muppets at her back!
‘Freedom of the Press in the Public Interest’
Well that’s working out then.
Reporting Scotland Editor
Sturgeon agrees with Kez that taking advantage of vulnerable people like Thomson may have done is very bad.
Sturgeon caves in to Kez demands that all papers relating to the atrocious practices that Thomson may have used are made public.
Oh, and SNP BAD.
Got that Jackie?
Good! and rolling…
As Peat Worrier observed the other day (and as the Rev acknowledges here), strip back the political spin and posturing and this is not just an empty partisan hatchet job.
There is enough evidence (in multiple cases) of the sort of tell tale signs of Mortgage Fraud cases (which may also have entirely innocent explanations). Certainly enough evidence to have reasonable suspicions and to warrant an investigation anyway.
The wise and sensible option then would have been for the Unionists and their allies in the Press, to report the basics, make a wee statement on the known facts and then step back and let things take their natural course.
Whilst the investigation were on going they would have hung over the SNP like a bad smell (potentially for a year or two). Then, if charges were made and a successful prosecution ensued, they could have unloaded everything they’ve got on the SNP, who would have no real defence.
But when handed a loaded gun to shoot the SNP for the first time in 8 years, in the rush to put the boot in the Unionist have gone a wee bitty mad and shot themselves in the foot.
And ironically, *IF* Thomson has committed a criminal offence, then their actions (playing fast and loose with the facts and plain out and out smearing) in the past few weeks have probably decreased the chance of a prosecution.
It takes a special genius to be dealt the equivalent of all 4 Aces and still find a way to lose the hand….yet somehow the Unionists have found a way.
Of course there will be a lot more of this to come and I’m sure Labour would like that.
Regardless of the rights or wrongs, innocence or guilt of anyone involved, this is nothing more than an opportunity to put the SNP in a bad light before the 2016 election.
I’m sure Labour are hoping that voters don’t identify the differences between MPs and MSPs in order to gain petty political points.
The mistake of the First Minister here is allowing this topic to be discussed in the first place. Keep the business of MPs, in any manner, for Westminster.
It seems clear that the strategy of labour/tories/libdem/media is simply to keep spreading lies or severe distortions of the truth so that the SNP and independent media spend too much of their time disproving such nonsense. So the main UK parties & media have nothing positive to say about their side of things and rely on shouting bad bad bad SNP. It’s pathetic and I’m tired of seeing this bs shouting & then definitive proof provided that was clearly all bs.
It highlights the difference between the UK parties and the Scottish ones (not just the SNP). The UK ones are stuck in a timewarp, with all negativity when they’re not in power, and spin bs when they are. Nothing positive and nothing concrete. I’d like to see more positive truthful accounts of actions aimed at improving things for most people. So that excludes labour/tories etc in their race towards economic and social destruction at the behest of the 1%. So how about more articles about the genuinely positive things that the progressive parties in Scotland are doing. UK bs stories do need to be busted but not to the extent that little positive news is highlighted.
Just now it seems that the alternative media are playing too much into the hands of the UK political and media nutters strategy. Whining always wears thin and I’m hoping that it does with the current labour/tory etc strategy so we can then concentrate on real positives and not the endless UK party bs of fake optimism for their ‘plans’ and pessimistic lies of others plans.
‘And when people who should really know better fall for it and start issuing ridiculous hyperbole based on wildly inaccurate reporting of the facts’.
The problem with the likes of MacWhirter is that, because they are part of the system, they continue to invest far too much faith in the veracity of what appears in their milieu.
There’s a kind of childlike astonishment displayed on their part at the notion that the corporate media lies casually and savagely and as a matter of course because hey.. we work in the corporate media and we’re good guys!
As for Dugdale, it needs saying again. This woman is the nadir of the Labour Party, a pliable airhead and an only too willing receptacle for McTernan’s viciousness.
Thing is, Kezia isn’t technically lying, just selectively quoting to give a different impression. Lying without lying as Gordon Brown would say.
Still sneaky and devious, though, that much is clear.
Simon: Does anyone else find it strange that it was only after Michelle Thomson was elected to Westminster that the Crown office were formally notified? They had been informed twice before.
Good point – she was noted a person of interest some while back. (Para Angry Man 4)
link to grousebeater.wordpress.com
Come on Stu. Iain McWhirter was always Devomax at most. That’s fair enough, I suppose, but there’s a certain emotional investment required to cross the final line to the independence camp, and if you can’t give it you tend to eventually relapse.
I have just been looking at the on-line Herald and comments on their latest MT Scandal Story.
A couple of the comments state that the transactions for which the lawyer was struck off took place BEFORE he had any dealings with MT.
If this is the case the ballgame changes significantly and it is possible that the balls of several people will be seen to be on the slates. – I would prefer them to be in a mincer.
What about the missing £10,000 from a Scottish Labour constituency party funds that was reported in the National the other day? Isn’t that fraud?
Absolute desperation from Dugdale and SLAB. The quotes she made in the Scottish parliament too imply the complete opposite of what was in the actual articles.
Now there is no way that this could be some kind of error, totally pathetic attempt at a smear and to stand there and raise this as a question to the First Minister is beyond contempt.
The woman is an idiot, wouldn’t surprise me if McTernan was in some way behind this.
I’ve totally avoided commenting on the Thompson articles, I’m not fussed at all about that but this totally stinks. I wish every Labour supporter that still exists in Scotland could read this article.
What a showing up for the state of Scottish politics but particularly for Dugdale and the pathetic remnants of the Labour party in Scotland.
They disgust me.
I really don’t give a hoot what Kezia Dugdale says!
Aye Socrates , an every time I see KD , I see the Magic Roundabout is missing a character !
If you were to use KD logic every business in the country has a moral problem ?
You plumber , joiner, Retailers , Garage etc etc are all making profit at the behest of us all.
The real Moral problem is the MSM being so flippant with , ehm truth .
There is now a MSM crisis , who the feck can you believe ?
Wings of course , WGD etc
After a while it takes some effort to remain outraged that nobody at all is questioning this because they’re all in it together. It has become normal. But of course it always was and I only started noticing how bad it was during indyref.
They need to have one of those nice “misled parliament” inquiries into Ms Dugdale’s statements. She should have to publicly justify this carp to a panel of her peers. The people of Scotland are being wilfully lied to. Enough is enough.
Clan Donald at 3:53pm
“Thing is, Kezia isn’t technically lying”
Quoting out of context or lying by omission is technically lying.
It’s the ongoing unionist UKOK double whammy-
1. Relentless SNP smear.
2. Denigrate and demean Scottish democracy and Holyrood.
Scotland’s going to have to decide whether or not BBC Scotland telling us Scottish democracy is actually a load of shite or not, really is true.
For all cyberbritnats out there, yes we know, pooping all over Scots.gov BBC style doesn’t mean you don’t really weally love Scotland.
Deceiving is as bad as lying. Perhaps she should be referred to the Standards Watchdog.
” the independent Law Society”
It’s a bit strange Labour are attacking the Law Society. Yes, there were Lawyers for Yes, but there were also Lawyers Together. The Law Society itself stayed neutral.
Law though is something mentioned in the Treaty and Acts of Union, and perhaps in itself is what makes Scotland a legal entity, Church which was also protected being a bit of a degraded factor these days.
I doubt there’s anything in Dugdale herslef beyond “SNP Bad”, and she like Labour, don’t care what “collateral damage” they cause, like Police Scotland, NHS, Education, teachers, all are unimportant to Labour in their constant attempt to make themselves relevant by attacking the SNP.
But the possibility there’s an underlying purpose of undermining the possibilty of an Independent Scottish state “sounding” as Crawford & Boyle put it in other ways, on the international stage, is not one that should be ignored.
It bears watching, carefully.
ClanDonald says:
8 October, 2015 at 3:53 pm
Thing is, Kezia isn’t technically lying, just selectively quoting to give a different impression.
Selectively quoting that is interesting. I might dig up a whole series of quotes and see if I can give the impression that Kezia is intelligent. That could be fun if a bit challenging!
I particularly enjoyed having fun with film! You can selectively edit a film & give the impression that people are saying all kinds of outrageous things!
Training Day: There’s a kind of childlike astonishment displayed
Excellent post.
The whole MT affair has taken on a surreal air and won’t subside until somebody in authority pronounces MT innocent of any wrong doing, or otherwise.
The hack pack hope people feel there’s no smoke without fire. Will MT feel she wants to continue if exonerated? Will GCHQ mark their memo pad, ‘one down, 55 to go’?
Taranaich
I think Gerry Hassan is a ‘left-wing’ One Nation Unionist.
I enjoyed and broadly accepted Gerry’s description of the Labour Party’s evolution and gradual adoption of a ‘neo-Fascist’ ethos, though Gerry crucially avoids calling a spade a spade. I also find it telling he makes no mention of the Fabian Society and their influence throughout.
link to gerryhassan.com
OT
I see from Herald Fiscal Affairs Scotland is running short of funding. Well, it has Robert Black about whom I know little, but it has McCrone (yes, that one) as another trustee, and its reports are often by Jo Armstrong – and John McLaren, ex of CPPR from Glasgow Uni. My heart bleeds.
“Someone with what appears to be a non-terminal skin cancer is invariably described as a “cancer sufferer””. So because it’s non terminal they can’t suffer from it?. Many of the valid and important comments could be overlooked to focus on that one silly remark. I get the point you were making about the press but I think you picked the wrong fact to pick up on it. Other than that I enjoy your informative writing.
““Someone with what appears to be a non-terminal skin cancer is invariably described as a “cancer sufferer””. So because it’s non terminal they can’t suffer from it?”
No, but why is it relevant to the issues? Why do the press keep mentioning it?
O/T (Apologies Stu)
The Corporate Media War
…for it is a war, folks. Make no mistake. All but one daily/national newspaper in Scotland is anti-independence. They are using their ragsheets to spin the truth and to tell bare-faced lies; lies intended to tarnish the only political party in Scotland that truly has the interests of the people of this country at heart.
So what to do about this poisonous Corporate Media?
We fight back.
I am looking into the possibility of setting up a web site for people to register their displeasure against companies who advertise in this Coprorate Media. All you will have to do is register your name and email address (which will not be published or used in any way) against a particular company that advertises in a particular media rag. This will then present a figure (a count) of the number of people who are actively boycotting each company. Emails will be sent to the companies showing them their ‘boycott status’ and explaining to them precisely why they are being boycotted–for providing financial support to Corporate Media that twists and bends the truth.
Obviously if we receive an undertaking from the companies that advertise with these Corporate Media rags that they will no longer advertise with them then their ‘boycott’ status will be removed.
With good support and a prevailing wind, we could seriously clip the wings of the Corporate Media in this country.
That is just the kernal of the plan. I would, of course, welcome all thoughts on this. I am happy to try an co-ordinate the effort and get the web site etc set up. But I need your thoughts–good, bad or indifferent.
Should this idea go ahead or will it be portrayed by the CorpMedia as an attempt to silence ‘free speech’ (you know how hysterical they can be)?
Thoughts anyone?
Iain Macwhirter is, I believe, a federalist at heart, so any support for independence was bound to be rather qualified, hence it is easy for him to follow the hysterical anti-SNP narrative at the moment.
The thing I’ve never understood is his support for the notion of BBC impartiality, since he has undoubtedly suffered himself at the hands of the Corporation.
As I said, I think Gerry Hassan is a One Nation Unionist and appears somewhat delusional. There is no such party as Scottish Labour, ergo they have no values.
link to gerryhassan.com
Gerry Hassan
So there would have been no social reform without the Labour Movement? Was the reform movement not motivated by concerns over Britain’s failing industrial and military power, as much as egalitarianism? Particularly among the more imperially inclined Fabians (e.g. Viscount Milner).
Three things you won’t hear on TV news to-night.
(1) Latest TNS opinion poll puts SNP 35% ahead of Labour
link to archive.is
(2) Oil predicted to recover by 2018 link to archive.is
and
(3) Onshore wind power now cheaper than nuclear or any other form of energy.
link to bloomberg.com
It would appear that I am now entitled to take several words from a quote and join them up with several words from other quotes,and create something which has no semblance to the truth whatsoever.
I think Carmichael did something similar.
On a more serious note,even if Ms Thomson was found to have committed any offence,I seriously doubt any trial could go ahead given the prejudicial statements and blatant accusations not only eminating from the media and Social networking sites,but from our very own Parliament.
Ms Dugdales training as a lawyer leaves much to be desired.
Mr Ponsonby at Newsnet reckons she’s the worst Branch Manager Labour have ever appointed. I completely concur. In fact I said it before he did.
She’s making Iain Gray look like a tactical genius.
Maybe it’s just me but I honestly fail to understand how Dugdale and the other two stooges can week after week get away with lying to the Scottish people and parliament what the hell is the presiding officer doing about this and to think she is in the S.N.P. To I am sure that even a unionist presiding officer would do more to put a stop to this farce
From the Herald: “The Scottish Government revealed the timetable for reaching a decision on fracking as Mr Ewing bowed to growing pressure from within the SNP and extended the existing moratorium on the technique to include underground coal gasification, or UCG.”
Gardham wants to make it look like the SG were forced to do something they didn’t want to do. Instead he’s shown the SNP to be a democratic party who take note of what members want, what other parties like the Greens, and campaigning groups want.
Bet that stuck in his craw. I daresay Paul “Blunt” Hatchetjob will be investigating HIM next.
Oh, and the Herald changed the story and the headline, but kept the comments that were there before, and that’s a total no-no in forum ethics, as it reflects on the posters.
Needs a word for Herald … Addled? Rattled?
What have Mckenna, Hassan and Macwhirter go to with this thread? Also I am fed up with the blanket attacks on The National and Sunday Herald. Lets attack our real opponents.
On topic
Lets not forget that it is very hypocritical for Labour and Tory politicians to wade into the Michelle Thomson media witch hunt as when in government they did nothing about building affordable housing, or scrapping the council house right to buy legislation or stopping the banks from giving out mortgages of up to 125% of valuation, all of which created the thriving buy to let housing explosion.
Rev, Peter Griffin from Family Guy had a slot on the local TV station called “Grind My Gears”, where he could get everything that was really bugging him off his chest.
I say you should have a similar slot on BBC Scotland every night.
Deflection, smoke and mirrors, just two of the tactics being used here by Scottish Labour and BBC Scotland.
They are sucking everyone in with this continuous rant at Michelle Thomson.
Another week has passed and top of Kezia’s agenda is the MT case.
Taranaich was spot on.
The Conservative Party Conference has come and gone, yet Scottish Labour and BBC Scotland had absolutely nothing to say about it.
The Tory welfare cuts, war in the Middle East, Trident, union laws, the list goes on.
Strangely Kezia and her rabble think it doesn’t need discussing.
The Rev included some comments they made as links.
That said, I agree on “real opponents.” I’m disappointed in some of the things the Greens & RISE have said and done (particularly the Scottish water misunderstandings), but the Tories have SNIPERS ON THE FREAKING ROOFTOPS and STEEL WALLS around their conferences while they give speeches even THE BLOODY TELEGRAPH thinks are too far, and New Labour does NOTHING.
Kezia Dugdale spent 8 blasted questions on Michelle Thomson when David Cameron is calling her boss a terrorist-sympathiser, Iain Duncan Smith proudly promised to make disabled people “work their way out of poverty,” Theresa May called mass migration “incompatible with cohesive society,” and God knows what else. She’s a disgrace to every single person who voted Labour expecting them to hold the Scottish & Westminster governments to account – much less the people of Scotland as a whole.
(Sorry for capitalisation, but New Labour’s complete refusal to go to town on the Tory Party Conference is breathtaking even given what we’ve seen from them)
@TheGreatBaldo
Yes, it was clear from the beginning that there were doubts, and I’m glad the Rev stayed neutral on the accusations as such, while demolishing the ranting raving media and politicians.
Sturgeon and the SNP have played this absolutely cool, and though there’s a problem for them getting through the media, the real story is getting out there, and people will be able to judge how the SNP handle problems within their ranks.
The shorter the answer from the SNP, the harder it is for the likes of the BBC to hide the answer.
And they still havnt figured out why most of their support has deserted them.
So now they want us to forget all about the facts of scandal after scandal they committed during their time in power in Scotland because one SNP MP might or might not have done something wrong.
If they think this will help stem the flow they are sadly mistaken.
There is no place in our parliament for this kind of behavior and any politician who thinks there is,is in for a nasty shock when they stand before the boss wanting their contract renewed.
We are watching Labour and so far you are a big disappointment incapable of being the Scottish government therefore it leaves us no option but to sack the lot of you.
I so hope MT
cont.
i hope MT takes them to the cleaners over all this.
Ultimately SLab will be very pleased with her today. She’s written tonight’s BBC Scotland SNP attack headlines, all tomorrow’s newspaper headers and even if Sturgeon had been to able to reply like WoS has done, none of it would be reported. It’s all about their intended audience , holding on to SLabour vote for May.
Another Union Dividend, Iain Macwhirter was referred to by the Rev as one of the “people who should really know better”.
Are Dugdale’s thoughts the result of random movements of atoms? She makes Johann Lamont and Jim Murphy seem like candidates for membership of Mensa.
And to think I once thought Councillor Terry Kelly was the most stupid, vile and brainless example of Labour political nastiness. Boy was I wrong, but I hadn’t come across either Jackie Baillie or Kezia Dugdale at that time.
Oh wow, looking through the new articles on the Rattled’s website, they’ve been spending days, weeks, building up their anti-SNP rhetoric and in one decisive action day, the SNP have totally demolished their efforts. Way to go!
If someone ‘only’ had skin cancer, there would be no reason to describe them as a cancer sufferer.
As someone who has had a hole in his head for five years after a skin cancer op, I know of which I speak!
And that puts me one up on Desperate Dugdale.
Socrates MacSporran @ 3:32 said
“In the run-up to the Referendum, a regular poster on Wings, an I am sorry I cannot remember who it was, remarked that when they saw Johann Lamont – they always got the impression that, somewhere, there was a Scotmid branch lacking an assistant manager.”
I think that someone was me. At least, I remember posting it somewhere. However, I have to confess that I nicked it off Paul Kavanagh (Wee Ginger Dug).
I was watching FMQ at lunch time and my jaw dropped the moment Kezia opened her mouth and continued with the Michelle Thomson “Scandal”.
She used up all her questions last week attacking the SNP in relation to this and again today
12 Questions spent on one issue that MT isn’t even under investigation for as yet because Police Scotland have said they aren’t doing an investigation into MT yet and also the fact MT resigned her whip and offered to assist the Police in their enquires should they need to speak to her.
The people of Scotland deserves better from Slab and this will no doubt will turn off even more voters of Slab when they see their “leader” using all her questions on something that the First Minister answered last week.
Nice image from Reporting Scotland’s coverage; pity they couldn’t get that SNP text and logo any bigger.
Just one thought from me on this issue…
The tidal wave of anti-SNP propaganda printed and broadcast over recent years hasn’t stopped the party winning a majority of MSP’s in Edinburgh and 56 MP’s in London. Maybe it’s time for the BBC and the newspapers to try something new before it’s too late.
Is Dipity “Dum”dale really a lawyer?
As I have said on previous posts.
If the establishment parties keep pushing this, when it implodes on them it will be cataclysmic.
O/T
“The People Versus Carmichael” fund reaches £100,050.
Proud Cybernat @4:40pm
What are you waiting for? Go for it!
DerekM says:
8 October, 2015 at 5:24 pm
And they still havnt figured out why most of their support has deserted them.
And continues to desert them. This isn’t about winning back the YES voters (aleady written off), this is about trying desperately to stop any more loss. Make no mistake, this is existential time for Labour, a battle for their very survival. I would advise Labour tacticians to look over their shoulders, because Ruthie tank commander is making a real try for their disgruntled unionist tactical supporters.
It’s going to get even nastier. Brace yourselves.
Gordon Broon speakith – will it appear on TV news?
link to politicshome.com
@ALANM
bearing in mind the recent “radicalisation” of the Herald, perhaps the Scotsman might see a gap in the market …
Radicalisation:
“is a process by which an individual or group comes to adopt increasingly extreme political, social, or religious ideals and aspirations that (1) reject or undermine the status quo or (2) reject and/or undermine contemporary ideas and expressions of freedom of choice.”
(my bold)
How many times did Labour haul Alex Salmond before parliamentary standards inquiries? Five times, six? Clean bill of health every time.
Perhaps Ms Dugdale should likewise be challenged to appear before a board and defend her statements. If the branch manager is so confident of her ground and had no intent to mislead I’m sure she would equally relish the opportunity put her case to such a body?
She could then also explain why she is not attending to the business of the Scottish parliament.
Bonus.
I think that people should support Labour on the cancer issue.
It should be law that you cannot buy a house from someone who has cancer or who had cancer and a health report is required for the seller as well as a house report.
See a better society…where the sick cannot sell houses.
O/T. I suspect Stuart will deal with this little opinion slid quietly between the USA telling Russia it will pay for daring to challenged US power, and the power politics played out at the Tory rally that are just as detrimental to world order:
Gordon Brown, the former Labour prime minister, accuses David Cameron of “a double betrayal” of Scotland that could “blow the union apart”.
In a speech to Glasgow University, Brown said that the Scotland bill currently going through the Commons does not honour the promises made to Scotland by Cameron and his Labour and Lib Dem counterparts in “the Vow”, promises eviscerated by the cross-party Smith pretendy Commission.
Did Brown have a remedy? Do pigs lie down willingly before Cameron?
PS: The Syrian conflict will be used by Cameron to justify more Trident weapons of mass death. “Look how safe we are,” her will say.
Grouse Beater At 6:20pm
A man who promised Scotland “near federalism” is accusing his Unionist pals of not keeping their promises? What planet do these people live on?!
Iain Macwhirter is a thoughtful political commentator who is affected by metropolitan media miasma. It is the effect of those he moves with all the time but nonetheless has has bright sparks of insight from time to time.
He described the corbynites as “chocolate socialists” and I get that immediately. Every time I see a “socialist ” in a wee Bob Dylan hat I know I am looking at a poseur who has never met a piece in dripping.
With Kezia misrepresnting quotes in parliament today I wonder if the National has the balls to print “LIAR” across its front page,
It is going to have to be done sooner or later.
Grouse Beater says:
So, can we expect Broon on every news bulletin for the next month telling we were stupid for voting No on the basis of Tory promises?
Will he be begging our forgiveness for doing Tory bidding?
Will he pace back and forward in his demented style beseeching us to grasp the metal and vote Yes next time?
Will Cameron appear in TV bacon ads?
Sorry, just noticed I posted the wrong link to the second Gerry Hassan quote.
link to compassonline.org.uk
It is apparent that the media, Labour and the other unionist parties are working together to smear the SNP via the MT affair.
So is this Corbyn’s ‘kinder politics’? What a bunch of hypocrites. Corbyn, (he is in charge, Dugdale is just a puppet) knows that the media use their power to destroy people when it suits their purpose. Yet when it suits him he colludes with them to undermine democracy.
If anyone still has any illusions that Corbyn is honest – lose them. He is just the joker in the establishment pack, as corrupted as the rest of them.
@Dave McEwan Hill
Basically as a Devo-Max type person McWhirter is confused, (as is in a different way, Kevin McKenna). In that respect he represents perhaps 20-30% of Scotland’s voting population.
We’re the lucky ones, the path is easy for us, we support Independence.
Mr Brown might be accusing Cameron of a betrayal,but I do not see any words of condemnation for his own Party of Labour who either abstained or voted against anything the SNP proposed for inclusion in the Scotland Act.
Perhaps his resentment should start closer to home.
Misleading liar.
OT – The National:
“Carmichael case will be in court again on Monday as crowd fund nears £100,000”. (over £100,000 now).
What about the missing £10,000 from a Scottish Labour constituency party funds that was reported in the National the other day?
Don’t concern yourselves!
It’s a Slab figure which translates, in real money,
as someone who entered the Labour Club for a cheap
pint dropped a £Fiver on the way to the toilets.
PS Why would Labour comment on the Tory Party conference, they have the same policies, morals, and dirty tricks manifesto.
The following is the result of an investigation into the workings of Kezia’s brain cell.
WARNING: contains material that may induce coma
link to blueballs2.ytmnd.com
Somebody, somewhere (most likely in WM) is in a panic; hence the overly desperate efforts to instigate a smear campaign. It takes a full 14 months and two ‘informal’ notifications by the Law Society to the CPS AND Ms Thomson’s appointment to MP for someone to take heed? Highly unlikely!!!!
If it was that serious a matter the CPS would have began investigating it after the matter being ‘informally’ reported the first time.
Interesting to know who ‘formally told’ the CPS to conduct the investigation into the case regarding Ms Thomson after so long!
Track down that candidate and you’ll more-than-likely find the culprit responsible.
How sad that there are an infinite number of much more serious matters needing attention in this world, and the media decide to run with smear campaigns! Shame on them all!
yesindyref2 says:
Hopefully not for much longer. As the current Scotland Bill gets nowhere, and might even by rejected by Holyrood, it must become clear once and for always that DevoMax is dead.
DevoMax must be given by WM and that is something they will never do. This we now know with certainty. Like the Dodo, It will be consigned to history.
Then, it becomes ‘make your mind up time’ for its supporters.
OT: 7.30pm start John Ashton on Fracking: for whom and
link to livestream.com
OT: 7.30pm start John Ashton on Fracking: for whom and
link to livestream.com
I’m a Dugdale sufferer please somebody buy my telly, first to see kin hiv it
On a more deeply serious note I’m giving odds of 50 to 1 on Ms Thomson returning to her job within a month and deep shit flying in all directions of the Unionists and their baying dogs
C’mon place your bets, you know you want to
Talking of the deluded and those without moral compass, I’ve been reading the BBC response to the questions the WM Government asked on the Charter renewal. link to downloads.bbc.co.uk
Devolution became fact in 1999 and in 2015 the BBC still have not come to terms with it. They still see their mission to promote a British identity, that only they define and keep secret as its for the purposes of their art, something and “journalism”, universally.
If its still open to us, write and object on the grounds
1) that there is no definition of the British identity that they wish to project
2) that they consider that there is an Asian-British identity for which they will cater, but not a Caledonian-British or Ulster-British one
3) that their insistence on universality means they have not and do not intend to acknowledge that devolution has taken and further is planned to take place
@Taranaich 5:22pm
Fully agree but each cloud has a silver lining. All these attacks are a MSM storm in a teacup. They are fiddling while the Tories Burn the fabric of the state (or whats left of it).
This will come back to haunt Labour. JCs inability to lead by conviction has still left a vacuum and Labour in Scotland don’t even seem to have reached their nadir yet.
I am starting to think that the SNP are letting this play out so that those still undecided can actually see whats going on. The MSM and Labour are going to more extremes and exposing their motives all the more clearly.
Its frustrating to watch, like many here I want the Scottish Gov to come out fighting… but if the Scottish Gov is biding their time it could well pay off as Labour continually leave themselves exposed as petty, corrupt, bereft of policies and conviction, amateur, and yes, most certainly, anti Scottish!
No matter, I give Dugdale till just after the upcoming Scottish election.
Time for ‘Wings’ and others to spend some time studying the 535 pages of the Common’s ‘Register of Members Interests’.
Start with Boris, who’s made £134,000 from book and newspaper deals (he gets over £22,000/pcm from the Torygraph).
He’s also received around £80,000 in ‘gifts’ and donations over the same period.
Labour’s Sadiq Khan and Liz Kendall have also received huge amounts – £260,000 and £160,000 – in donations and gifts, with the former taking about £67,000 from (at least) five …… property companies !!
That’s just since the 7th May.
It gets even more shocking when you study the previous Registers.
I fairly sure we could have a lengthy ‘Wings’ series looking at the worst entries, past and present, and the private companies that give MPs tens of thousands … for no obvious reason.
The question must be : ”What’s in it for them ?”
I doubt Kezia did any research herself but questions need to be asked about the ability (and sanity) of her spads. That is not just accidental misquoting, what Kezia perpetrated upon Parliament was a deliberate misrepresentation. A lie.
Labour – not getting any better and certainly not demonstrating “new politics”
Um Dr Jim I’m not a betting person – if I send you a quid and she returns to the SNP whip what do I get back?
Interestingly Iain McWhirter seemed genuinally taken aback when a number of people who probably normally support or partially agree with him, took him to task over his MT comments.
One full day later he was still trying to justify his comments.
frogesque
Superb, though I’m going to be at it all night now, trying to follow a single ‘neuron’ from top left to bottom right, where it can be recycled.
@liz
I’m nearly completely sure McWhirter reads a lot of comments, not just in his own threads, perhaps investigates, and uses them to help form his own knowledge and opinions.
Email the Presiding Officer with your complaint against Ms Dugdale. I am: Presiding.Officer@scottish.parliament.uk
Michelle Thomson has not done anything illegal but there might be damage to the SNP.
The SNP made a mistake in associating itself with the likes of “Business for Scotland” and “Lawyers for Yes”.
These people are Tories who have taken advantage of the SNP’s popularity.
If the SNP is not careful, it will be hijacked in the way Labour was hijacked by Blair and Mandelsohn.
The majority of the people of Scotland want a socially equitable society, not get rich quick capitalism.
We are not comfortable with the filthy rich.
Dugdale’s grandstanding at FMQ’s is pathetic and hypocritical. What she is doing is an abuse of ‘privilege’ and it is high time that the Presiding Officer hauled her over the coals for this persistent abuse of her position as an MSP.
Before anyone representing the any of the ‘big 3’ (Lab, Con, Lib.) wish to question anyone’s ethics or morals they should stop and consider the ‘MP’s expenses scandal’. As the parties with the most members at the time, they had the most seriel offenders, most of whom walked away, uninhibited by the crimes of fraud they had committed against the electorate.
What was their standard defence when challenged?
” I acted within the rules that were in force at the time”
All be it they were the ones who devised the rules and made them to their own advantage.
Neither ethics nor morals entered into it.
Then to compound the fraud and in an attempt to minimise the impact, Labour’s Harriet Harmon introduced legislation which prevented anyone submitting an FOI request from obtaining information regarding MP’s who had refunded monies which they had not been entitled to claim as legitimate expenses.
Since when did making restitution absolve anyone from prosecution for principal crime, a concept that should be well known to legally trained MP’s.
None of the opposition parties at Holyrood hold the moral high ground and they would best serve the electorate the claim to represent by ‘buttoning it’ and let any Crown Office enquiry take its course
frogesque
Actually, I think there is a bit of a visual distortion in the your diagram, as there is only one neuron involved, at any one time. What you are viewing are figments of reality. Shadow neurons of a hypothetical intellect.
Just in case some have missed the amazing and *cough* enthralling performance of the Branch Office manager today at F.M.Q.’s.
link to youtube.com
Is there a problem with my comments being posted? Twice I have tried to post a reply of an email that I got from the Presiding Officer in regards to Kezia Dugdale misleading the chamber.
I thought it would be beneficial as quite a few people are wondering why the P/O isn’t pulling Kezia up for it
Good & Bad News Day
Better half not very political, watching bbc news tonight
Dug comes on,wife listens then explodes.”what a f**king muppet.Whit aboot the torys destroying the fabric of
society,never mind about MT she has noo be charged with anything”
Turns to me “how can we get rid of that waste of space”
Me: Vote Emma Harper then SNP
Result!! Good News am a happy bunny tonight thanks Dip
Bad News : Brent Crude rises 3% to above $50 and set to rise rapidly (Bloomburg) we are all doomed,doomed I say
Poetry day – Hmm Rev watching Footie…
Oh to be in England when the shit hits the fan
No more putting up
With upstart Scottieland.
The money’s ours no subsidy
to Jocks who whinge and cry.
At last, at last the empire’s ours
It’s England’s through and through
We look around – enjoy the view
But all we see is me not you.
@Rob says: 8 October, 2015 at 4:28 pm:
““Someone with what appears to be a non-terminal skin cancer is invariably described as a “cancer sufferer””. So because it’s non terminal they can’t suffer from it?”
What you seem to have missed, Rob, is the facts indicate this woman can, in no way, be any kind of victim of anything done by either Ms Thompson nor of her lawyer who acted in this matter. Whether she is a victim of cancer is of no relevance whatsoever.
She and her husband approached Thompson’s company. No one chose to do that but themselves.
They asked for the company to take the house off their hands quickly. No one put pressure on them to do so. It was totally their own choice. It is all perfectly legal for a company to do such business and there is nothing either immoral or unethical about it.
Simply put, they needed the money quickly and it is their business, and no one else’s why the needed a quick sale.
If they could wait for a sale or get a re-mortgage they wouldn’t need to deal with such a company. No one was robbing them nor forcing them.
There was only one possible victim in this entire affair and that was the mortgage lender who apparently has not complained of the mortgage not being repaid. There has not, far as we know, been a victim. No one has been robbed nothing has been stolen.
The only thing being complained off is that the lawyer has not stuck to the Law Society’s rules and he got a bigger loan than the property warranted but it seems to have been repaid.
@Rock,
Seriously, are you advocating that the SNP have no interaction with professional bodies of any description?
Sure way to alienate huge swathes of voters mate.
Rock 7.58,
Pish.
@Rock
Good agent provocateur stuff.
I signed up to BfS and I am not a Tory.
Went to hear Ian MacWhirter speak last night in Dunblane at the invitation of local SNP.
He is an excellent speaker (ok he’s flogging a couple of books too) and thoughtful when questioned by the audience (and managed not too look too bored when one of our number wittered on past usefulness).
He may be a DevoMaxist but last night he described Scottish Independence as ‘inevitable.’ The only question, he said, was the timescale.
@proud cybernat 4.40pm
Great idea
Crash Gordon the olde fraud himself, will have enjoyed today’s display too, you go real Scot he’d roar, so from his ingenious vote NO devo-max federal The Vow fraud just before 18th Sept, its all now become the Smith Commission instead. Me not expert, me know that the Smith Commission not invented before 18th Sept. So rancid liars at The Graun and the biggest liar in teamGB history roll the Vow shyste and Smith farce all into one, neat, pile
link to theguardian.com
“He said such changes were necessary to fulfil the pledge of more powers made by Westminster before last year’s independence referendum and to deliver in full on the recommendations of the Smith commission, which the prime minister tasked with carrying out a review of devolution.”
Guess it’s really about what you took from The Vow pledge.
link to theguardian.com
These are all binned now.
Jeez, @Rock
Full marks for persistence at flogging those two horses on a daily basis.
Vote NO or else Guardian not even reporting Scotland international football now.
link to theguardian.com
Why would they, merely a region.
@Paula Rose
My deep love and grateful obedient thanks
It’s no much bit it’s aw ave goat
I said some time ago the ROCK was a TROLL, do we need anymore evidence
[Rock 7.58.
The SNP made a mistake in associating itself with the likes of “Business for Scotland” and “Lawyers for Yes”.]
You could’nt lace Ivan McKee,s boots Pebble.
@heedtracker
The Guardian is a goner there, the Herald is a goner ‘ere. Or is it the other way around?
Just how hysterical can Dugdale get?
That would be the same ‘left-wing’ Guardian that is owned and so ultimately controlled by HSBC. The bank of choice for all international drugs dealers and terrorist’s seeking competitively priced, no-questions-asked money laundering services.
Still, Better Together eh?
Rock – metamorphic under pressure?
The most harmful thing that labour’s Scottish department could do to the SNP, would be to have some credible policies.
If she wants to go on about political morals, maybe she could explain who was responsible for light touch regulation of the city. The policy which allowed banks to triple the amount of fiat money they keystroked into existence which they them pumped into the mortgage market. Little cost and Max profit for the banks.
This was one of the main reasons for double digit house price inflation and huge increase in rent cost.
Of course they didn’t bail out the wrights in 2008, they bailed out the wrongs.
Ever since devolution was implemented the Unionist Parties, Labour in particular, have been bringing Scottish politics into disrepute.
I don’t know who advises them, but surely by now it should have sunk in that their tactics are definitely not working. It could be very easily sorted for them but I don’t think they have the mental capacity to see the simple solutions.
@Rock
“The SNP made a mistake in associating itself with the likes of “Business for Scotland” and “Lawyers for Yes”. These people are Tories who have taken advantage of the SNP’s popularity.”
I had written 3-4 paragraphs here to give a counter argument, but decided to delete them and just stick to:
“You’re talking pish!!!”
I think you’ve lost sight of what we’re trying to achieve here.
If the SNP is not careful, it will be hijacked in the way Labour was hijacked by Blair and Mandelsohn.
In the way Labour was hijacked!
Nice.
So how come Crash Gordon and the Flipper didn’t unhijack the red tories then? You know all those Lord and Lady SLab goons at the trough, charging off to war on countries too poor to strike back, fighting the UKOK fight for their blue tory chums etc. JC won’t visit the queen is great fun though, heavy weights in action.
heedtracker says:
8 October, 2015 at 8:22 pm
Vote NO or else Guardian not even reporting Scotland international football now.
You almost sound surprised there Heed. Didn’t you get the memo?
Don’t tell me wee Kezia has lost your e-mail address … AGAIN!
There is no such country as Scotland. Scotland no longer exists. If you don’t believe me Heed just ask the Viceroy of S*******. I’m sure he’ll be more than happy to hold wee Kezia’s hand as he confirms this.
link to youtube.com
Ronnie Anderson 8.33pm
Re: The Rock
“You couldn’t lace Ivan McKee’s boots Pebble”.
Good opening salvo there Ronnie. LOL
@CameronBrodie
“same ‘left-wing’ Guardian that is owned and so ultimately controlled by HSBC”
Got a link for that Cameron? If so tweet it to @chunkymark:
link to twitter.com
PS
Why are we not up in arms about the fact that we don’t even get to see our national football team’s games? I’d have thought that if anything could get Scotland off it’s lazy arse it would be that.
Ach, well, we’ve got ‘comprehensive coverage’ on banana broadcasting Jockland radio.
@Rev. Stuart Campbell says: 8 October, 2015 at 5:55 pm
” … No, but why is it relevant to the issues? Why do the press keep mentioning it?”
That’s the whole point Rev Stu. The only victims I can detect so far in this entire farce are Michelle Thompson, The SNP and the people of Scotland.
Not only that but there seems, on known evidence, to have been no wrong doing except against The Law Society’s ethical standards.
No one has apparently stolen anything from anyone.
The sellers of the former council house made a double whammy killing by getting a massive discount on the rental home they lived in and then made a profit from it’s resale.
Ms Thompson’s firm made a profit as did her lawyer and, as far as we know, so did the mortgage lender.
Business, so they say, is business and the only known ethical or moral fault is against the Law Society’s ethical standards and that has been punished.
So far the only known victims are the apparently accused Ms Thompson, The SNP and the people of Scotland.
heedtracker
You must have missed the presenter on the BBC News channel the other day. She couldn’t even bring herself to say the word “countries”.
She was explaining that England was starting the plastic bag policy in supermarkets, the same as the “other parts” of the UK.
They just can’t help themselves.
We are not even regions of the UK now, we are a “parts” of the UK.
We shouldn’t be too hard on Ms Dugdale. After all, when Johanne Lamont stood down as Branch Manager, most of us thought we’d ne’r see her likes again. It appeared that a great asset to the Independence movement was lost. But now with Kezia, we have an advantage surpassing all those who have preceded her in office.
Kezia is to the legal profession what Harold Shipman is to Medicine.
As a politician she is without peer. Has there ever been anyone in British political history with such a comprehensive lack of wit as Ms Dugdale.
Johanne Lamont must be comforted every time Kez opens her mouth, while Ed Miliband will just be relieved he chucked it. So may we not ever take Kez too seriously nor judge her too harshly, but instead be quietly grateful.
And when Independence is with us, might I suggest she be invested with an honorary degree in Law so as to confer a modicum of academic respectability on the poor lassie, as well as giving some pleasure to her long suffering father.
As always Stuart, what would we do without the diligence and forensic insight your site provides.
I’ve been challenged twice now recently about this.
Both individuals care not a jot about the Wrights. Their crocodile tears are as phoney as Dugdale.
They attempted to use Thomson as a means to smear and demean the SNP in particular, and independence in general.
Of course, when I credit Wings as the source of my rebuttals, it is, as always, met with sneers.
Yet they refuse to check this site out for opinions other than the MSM, happily gobbling up London propaganda like good little pigs.
Heads so deep into the slops they are blinded by it.
@Marcia says: 8 October, 2015 at 6:09 pm:
“Gordon Broon speakith – will it appear on TV news?”
Well Marcia, if anyone should know about betraying Scotland it is the biggest known expert in that particular field of Scottish Politics. The Clunking Fist Broon.
Lesley-Anne says:
8 October, 2015 at 8:48 pm
heedtracker says:
8 October, 2015 at 8:22 pm
Vote NO or else Guardian not even reporting Scotland international football now.
link to theguardian.com
Well they are reporting Ireland and Northern Ireland matches live, so presumably the Scots are doing rather well and don’t actually need reporting, rancid The Graun style.
Maybe they found out their last ever Scottish reader, me uses adblock:D
Guys I think the reason there is no coverage of the Scotland game is because the Scottish Football Association sold their soul to SKY or some other Imperialist organisation.
O/Tthe Corporate Media of revenue)
Further to my post above (4:40pm). Having discussed this offline with a number of indy supporters, I have come to the conclusion that a site to boycott companies who advertise their wares in Corporate Media (in order to choke the CorpMedia of revenue) is, upon reflection, probably a non-starter.
The idea, as stated, is to choke CorpMedia in Scotland (press and broadcasters) of advertising revenue. But in doing that the boycott site would also be inhibiting indy-supporting companies from using these advertising outlets which could, in turn, damage their businesses. Some argued that this should not be a consideration and that a ‘scorched-earth’ policy be adopted. The consensus, however, felt that this would probably do more harm than good to the cause of Scottish indy.
As a result, we don;t think the idea is a goer unless anyone else has any other thoughts that might get around this?
@Macart says: 8 October, 2015 at 6:15 pm:
“How many times did Labour haul Alex Salmond before parliamentary standards inquiries? Five times, six? Clean bill of health every time.”
Did they ever take Alex to the Parliamentary Standards, Macart?
At least most times Alex took himself before the Standards Committee because, mainly Labour, false accusations.
What’s more the numpties continued the same claims of wrongdoing even after Salmond was found not guilty.
Didn’t they claim he had rigged the cross-party committee by packing it with SNP members but the SNP were in fact outnumbered by other party members.
Didn’t stop Labour’s accusations though, for just recently, perhaps on this very forum, I quoted the BBC transcript of the Salmond/Andrew Neil interview where the question asked by Neil was, “Did you ask your own Scottish Government legal officers for legal advice”.
Which Labour still claim was Salmond claiming he said he had EU legal advice. I argued that one with Ian Smart on Labourhame and he wouldn’t admit he couldn’t read simple English even when I posted a link to the BBC recording that plainly showed the question.
@David McDowell says: 8 October, 2015 at 6:31 pm:
” … What planet do these people live on?”
Unfortunately, David it is the same one we live on.
I think the normal quota of Wingers are somewhere else at the moment Robert.
X_Sticks
I’ve nothing really specific but it’s common knowledge that HSBC has been involved in billions of pounds worth of illicit financial activity. There have been a number of court cases where they have been found guilty of massive finacial irregularities and I know that there are ongoing investigations.
Here’s one though, ironically from the Guardian:
link to archive.is
There is also this:
link to medialens.org
And this:
link to jonathan-cook.net
I may be wrong but I think HSBC control the Scott Trust Ltd.
Robert Peffers @9.09
Cluncking fist Broon.
Lets rename him Fisty Brown, it has a certain ring to it.
link to indiegogo.com
Please keep it going People.
@Robert Peffers
Thanks for the memory jog Robert and you’re right enough.
It must surely be getting about that time when turnabout is fair play. Today was yet another example of the ‘opposition’ flagrantly wasting parliamentary and constituency time in a pointless and petty round of political point scoring.
All of the people, regardless of political affiliation, deserve better and at some point this bringing our parliament into disrepute will require stepping on.
handclapping says:
8 October, 2015 at 9:35 pm
I think the normal quota of Wingers are somewhere else at the moment Robert.
——-
O/T That Poland goal. Last kick of the game.
The thing is.. everyone KNEW it was destined to go in.
Something in the Scottish mentality to always bottle it at the last minute.
We need to get this nationhood thing sorted out, so players have the mentality we DESERVE to be in international tournaments !!
Disaster!
Yet another campaign ending with a last gasp goal conceded.
Hey Ho! It was ever thus.
Gutted re football just now,but I still think there has been improvement in the Scottish team,think we should make sure Gordon stays for World Cup qualifying.
Ah well at least our progressive liberal imperial masters have actually and finally reported it. This must be what it feels like being an English rugby union fan
link to theguardian.com
Thank you imperial masters. Can we have another Libby Carrell special. We deserve it.
Just found out what day it is, so here we go.
Sturgeon’s Lament
I can’t get no opposition
I can’t get me no opposition
And I try, and I try, and I try try try try, try
I can’t get no, I can’t get me no
When I’m driving in my car
And Dugdale’s on the radio
She’s tellin’ me more and more
About some useless information
Supposed to fire my imagination
I can’t get no, no, no, no
Hey, hey, hey, that’s what I say
I can’t get no opposition
I can’t get me no girly action
And I try and I try and I try try try try, try
I can’t get no, I can’t get me no
HSBC and British imperialism go back a long way, in fact, all the way back to 1865. For those who are unaware, HSBC was established following the Second Opium War and the opening-up of Chinese markets to British traders, including those dealing in opium from British India.
link to britannica.com
The “War On Drugs” is a sham. All prohibition dose is increase profits for the drug dealers. Perhaps this is the desired result, as ‘drugs-money’ keeps Wall Street and probably the City of London liquid.
CameronB Brodie, it looks like the cheesier, more spew inducing their tv ads, the bigger the crooks at the bank.
@Cameron
Cheers Cam. Didn’t mean to put you to a lot of work. Just saw Mark’s tweet and your post led nicely on.
Tweeted the MediaLens & the Jonathan Cook piece
heedtracker
It’s nothing personal, it’s only business. After all, one has to pay the mortgage.
X_Sticks
You stirrer you.
Never been a SNP supporter, pre Indyref always said Alex Salmond was the best First Minister Scotland ever had. When he spoke for Scotland you would never have the cringe factor, voted SNP because they are the best political block for Scotland. Joint the SNP after 19th September and left after the 56 result, job done. We need change and its coming,but we can not leave it to political parties, its up to us all. Thank you Wings and this community for doing what “educated journalist” fail do to.
link to en.wikipedia.org.
Jardine Matheson were probably the world’s biggest opium smuggler by the end of the 19th century. Their competitor in the opium trade, David Sassoon & Company, were similarly invested in HSBC.
The dug wi the same old bone.
Obviously a auld dug that can’t be taught new tricks.
link to en.wikipedia.org
I can’t explain why my link above re. the BCC doesn’t take you to an article. You’ll need do a search for “History of Jardine, Matheson & Co.”.
It is almost a certainty, IMO, that the Fabian Society had the exploitation of China in mind, as well as South Africa, when they created the British Labour Party’s constitution.
Gosh!
link to youngfabians.org.uk
At last, recognition of British Labour’s irrelevance in the 21st century.
link to fabians.org.uk
Stop sniggering in the back.
Every virus requires a vector that enables it to infect it’s host. The Fabian Society is the vector by which the Labour Movement was first infected with imperialism-friendly English Socialism, which has subsequently mutated into neo-Facsist New Labour.
Ok you lot listen up, its Latin today…
stop the groaning Brown and get you Latin text books out,
now today we will be practicing future tense,
Bailey if you don’t stop dipping Dugdale’s ahem pigtails in the inkwells,(stop sniggering you lot on the back bench) you be going to see the head along with Murphy who seems to think its funny telling lies about Salmond, and no Salmond wasn’t doing “a stretch” and the next person I hear mentioning BAR-L in here they’ll be looking for a telephone book to stuff down their trousers,
DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?
now watch the video while I go and do something more important in the Janitors cupboard with Miss Amanda Hugginkiss the eh rather fit gym mistress.
link to youtube.com
“Is preying on desperate people ever ethical?” says the leader of the party who frightened some of the poorest, most vulnerable pensioners into voting No by telling them that a Yes vote would mean their money stopping the very next week..?
link to socialistregister.com (pdf)
Didn’t Heidegger suggest the English form of Christian Bolshevism was the most dangerous threat to human dignity?
I have an overwhelming desire to send that stupid girl back to school!
caz-m says:@ 8:48 pm
Ronnie Anderson 8.33pm
Re: The Rock
“You couldn’t lace Ivan McKee’s boots Pebble”.
Good opening salvo there Ronnie. LOL
Opening salvo?
What?
like this you mean?
link to tinyurl.com
That salvo went down the funnel and blew the magazine up!
punklin says:
9 October, 2015 at 6:10 am
“Is preying on desperate people ever ethical?” says the leader of the
_____________
Sc….sh L….r party. No it is not but the Implication here is that Michelle Thompson is somehow guilty of doing just that even though she is not under investigation.
The Sc….sh L….r party leader also talked about the SNP vetting of new candidates, again implying that Michelle Thompson is guilty of something even though she is not under investigation.
Surely if anything, K…a D…..e should be under investigation herself along with J….e B….e for jeopardizing the outcome of a live police inquiry.
K…a D…..e is now the self appointed ‘Witchfinder General’ and none shall get a fair hearing if she has anything to do with it.
I will say however that these fudricks better be able to pass the Daz doorstep challenge because I reckon their skeletons are going to be getting an airing very soon.
Hypocrisy has always been the hall mark of the Labour party.
when it was in opposition, it condemned the Tories over sleaze.
Yet when in Government,Labour were worse than the Tories.
I don’t recall Dugale or Baillie ever appearing on TV
or making statements in the press condemning their own
party over its candidate selection process, the sleazy land deals with donors, cash for honours, dodgy loans etc
Oh well. Look on the bright side. Labour are polling three points down on their already terminal General Election result in Scotland. Can’t imagine why:
link to thenational.scot
Better call a priest…
Why I get sent these to my spam I don’t know but Slab are pretty persistent – I will give them that – anyway here is some of the latest drivel in their newsletter with a highlighted article on Michelle Thomson. I hope she sues them once this witch hunt is over “Exploitation of vulnerable families.” Don’t make me spew Labour!!!!!-
“Welcome to our second edition of ScotLab News – your new monthly newsletter to keep you in the know with what we’ve been working on, and what we’re planning……. As well as the preparations for conference this has been a busy month when it comes to FMQs – we’ve focused on delayed discharge and the worrying allegations of an SNP MP’s exploitation of vulnerable families……I hope you enjoy this second edition of ScotLab news – as always, your feedback is warmly welcome.
Looking forward to seeing you at conference,
Alex
Well thank god for Wings a haven of some sanity, and with only one newspaper giving ,well some sort but pretty limited support while trying to navigate this sea of lies and bilge.Many thanks to the Rev for his time and effort doing the investigating into stuff that would be beyond most of us who read and occasionally contribute here, for those who want to discredit the SNP government and there are a few I have noticed recently here and they know who they are, my message to them is remember Labours record over the last few decades! And you want a return to that ? Well count me out as the saying goes, been there,seen it ,done it , still living with their legacy of ‘Shit’ no thanks not again ever .
The dug is a bitch!
She is a nasty vicious gossip who makes up stories.
Jackie Baillie is another.
Kezia Dugdale, Jackie Baillie, Johann Lamont & even Ruth Davidson are an embarrassment to women.
They all act like nasty bitchy vicious gossips! Not good role models for young women!
Hi Ruby.
I’m just relieved that it was a female of the opposite gender who typed that!
8=)
Brian: Do you think if I had been male I would be accused of being sexist?
Hi Ruby.
I believe that, if one’s gender was of relevance, it would have been shouted from the rooftops – or not.
Is that a suitably non-committal answer? I have no desire to be hung, drawn and thirded.
8=)
According to today’s National the ex-MP LibDem expenses cheat, John Barrett has referred Michelle Thomson to the Commissioner for Parliamentary Standards.
Politics is well rid of leeches like Barrett who tried to fiddle £11,234 out of the taxpayer via his dodgy property deal. Barrett has the utter hypocrisy to try and besmirch an MP who did get elected in 2015, and unlike the proven liar Barrett has yet to be formally taken to task.
Where oh where is the MSM in their balanced journalism on this. I haven’t read anywhere about how a hypocite ex-MP who actually conducted a dodgy property deal is trying to tarnish a hitherto clean MP.
Source: link to archive.is
Barrett is an utter disgrace.
But then again he is a LibDem and as fellow LibDem liar MR Malcolm Bruce says “Politicians tell “brazen lies” MR Bruce, maybe in your house and your political party they do, but other politicians actually HAVE principles and tell the truth. MR Bruce’s lies reported here…
Source: link to archive.is
So this is my response to the LibDem liar John Barrett. I’m off to donate another £10 with pleasure to the get rid of liars campaign – AKA The People Versus Carmichael donation page…
link to indiegogo.com
Anyone care to join me?