The Tartan Messiah
Well, Shauny‘s knocked it out of the park.
There aren’t many laughs in Nicola Ferguson Sturgeon: The Tartan Messiah, because it’s not that kind of satire.
There’s none of Shaun dressing up as Patrick Harvie or Auntie Sandra or any of his familiar cast of characters. This is the pitch-dark kind of satire, the sort that bitterly shows you how you’ve been cheated out of a better nation.
(Think more of the energy of Dead Set or Four Lions, although when we saw the latter at the cinema we were surrounded by idiots hooting like it was Mr sodding Bean, so maybe you’ll be chuckling the whole way through.)
Its triumph, and its horror, is that it plays out an all-too-plausible alternative timeline of the last decade, in merciless detail, which will leave you not basking in the comfortable glow of laughter but burning with rage, as illustrated in the coda performed by Shaun as himself (as opposed to the fantasy narrator) between the movie and the credits.
To be honest we could have done without that bit – or more precisely, would rather have seen it as a separate video – because it slightly undermines the deft subtlety of the main film and ironically demands action of the viewer without specifying what that action would be, making it a harangue without a discernible point just at the moment where you’d be pondering the message for yourself.
(Always a more powerful method than having it shouted accusingly in your face.)
But hey, that’s the artist’s prerogative. NFS:TTM is a terrific piece of work, and if the nation wasn’t such a satirical desert it’d be getting broadcast on BBC Scotland rather than YouTube, as part of a wide-ranging culture of political commentary/entertainment that the country utterly and shamefully lacks, which is as damning an indictment of Creative Scotland as the direct one in the movie.
Most tellies nowadays can show YouTube by one means or another, though, so while we’ve linked it above, Wings recommends that you do what we did and watch it on the big screen as IF you lived in that better Scotland. It’ll be a start, and it deserves it.
As a filthy YOON
I think that is an excellent piece of work and i hope it pushes shauny onwards
As even if he walks away from media then it is an excellent CV to show this writing and more importantly his production as it is excellent
He will hopefully excel at whatever he does
Should that say subtlety, and NFS:TTM?
I’ve been waiting for this – it’s been showing up on my YouTube front page for the past few weeks. I’ll sit down to enjoy the full hour tomorrow.
Shauny Boy does some great stuff, but he did say this would be different. I doubt that Creative Scotland ponied up for it, though.
Thank you. I could have easily missed this. The end sent shivers through me.
Thought provoking stuff, though agree with the Revs appraisal of the pre credits finale.
Makes you wonder if the SNP chief troughers watch any of this, or, are they too brainwashed, or just keeping on LinkedIn for their next incompetent money raking Quango gig..
And like Shauny Boy says, the opposition are amoebas/ worse..
Politics as we’ve suffered it will not survive the internet/ social media age..
Enjoyed it. Very cleverly done.
I thought the ending was needed, it explained that if you keep supporting the nuSNP they’ll just keep betraying you.
I liked the end.
I’m looking forward to the utopia the yoons have been promising since the nasty nats took their toys away in 2011 & they never got over it. Imagine having the audacity to ask a population for an opinion!
I can’t wait to see what their plans are for Scotlands pocket money. They’ve had 13 long yrs out in the wilderness – lamenting how great things were like PFI & trams that went nowhere, where everyone worked for self esteem & good fun was had by all. If I remember correctly, it never pissed rain either.
Aye, it’ll be a Beezer of a plan for sure. I’m giddy with excitement already. I can’t wait to see the GERs..
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…
loved it. Shauny Boy is becoming a national treasure. Someone needs to fund him.
the device of an imagined history of what should have been was used recently in “once upon a time in hollywood”
I once mused on an “evil, parallel, mirror universe” where everything was reversed and people had little beards … what nikki would have done … ( we got indy )
from when she -was- the messiah
https://archive.is/KrBbp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIeA1Gkaz6w
the false prophet is a component of the unholy trinity, in islam they call it the dajjal, “the deceiver”, who is blind in one eye
Ah I must’ve misunderstood the end. I thought he was talking about unionists?
” What now?
You claim you want change, You claim you want a better Scotland but are you going to do anything about it or will you retreat back to your tribalism and culture war….”
These are the words that struck me.
” are you going to live up to your rhetoric or are just going to mouth off..”
Shauny Boy is a raw talent that’s for sure. I too thought the coda detracted from the piece of work. Close the curtain as soon as the performance is over is the old acting adage. What to do next? I am beginning to think Holyrood is not the answer. We could be heading for an early Scottish Parliament Election. Scottish Labour are now 22 MSPs short of an overall majority. Up 5 short in 2 weeks and Sarwar has barely spoke. Or in others words the SNP are forecasting just 2 MSPs behind Scottish Labour and have good prospects of being the party with the most MSPs. What am I doing about? I am getting my ticket for Saturday. Well done to Shauny Boy the sort of artist that should get Creative Scotland support.
lol – this is up there with spinal tap – brilliant bit of satire.
Dolphins, brilliant 😉
Shouldn’t look back in anger or take blame culture too seriously (unless aimed at the fatty in the mirror!) but also fair enjoyed the ending as it dovetailed perfectly with this morning’s news (French TV) advising that I’ll need to restart my own dolphin training asap if I want to see home again without surrendering yet more dignity* to those claiming ownership of our freedom of movement (paid visa proposed for travel between EU & UK from 2025)
*Obv if that particular cunning plan dovetails with the Sunak/Musk magic genius utopia of universal high income, the dignity & dolphin training can take easily take the hit until such time as the (heated) 50m garden pool is up and running..
You have obviously never seen Wendy MacDonald standing on the motorway bridge at Kilmarnock waving her saltire from her telescopic willy Stu.
“I thought the ending was needed, it explained that if you keep supporting the nuSNP they’ll just keep betraying you.”
None of those people are going to be watching this film.
That is Art with a capital A.
Shauny Boy is an artistic genius.
It’s bloody brilliant!
And she and her incompetent bunch have caused the next disaster – Grangemouth to close next year. B…..ds.
Like any great work of art it needs to be ‘stared at’ for long periods of time to pick up on all the little details.
ie stroking the cat cup.
That was a tough watch.
🙁
I’ve got an hdmi to lightning cable. I plug hdmi into TV and lightning into Macbook and the TV is transformed into big computer screen.
Everything can be watched on big screen.
(My TV is pretty old so I don’t think I can connect to You Tube.)
I would imagine there are similar cables for PCs without lightning ports.
It probably works best if I download ‘The Tartan Messiah’ from You Tube and play it directly from my laptop.
Thank you ‘Shauny Boy’ for being a brilliant artist and enriching my life.
Cheers!
The political elite, for want of a more fitting description, both pro and anti independence, is definitely moving away from the milieu of the masses. Likewise traditional [almost wholly British nationalist] media. We haven’t had an update on newspaper circulation in Scotland for a wee while. [Apologies if the Rev has updated us recently and I’ve missed it].
There’s got to be votes in a pro-indy party or politician publicly calling out for a boycott of all British nationalist media and for a mass refusal to pay the BBC tax.
Largest steel market in europe – lose your steel industry
13th largest oil producer in world – lose your refinery
Largest green energy generator – pat gas prices and ireland france and Spain make a fortune.
It would really make you laugh
What do we hear from swinney and co whine whine whine
They could crash the parliament and call a defacto but they have f….. Up their chances so often!!
I struggle to believe they are so stupid
I am more relaxed regards Shaun’s little rant. It’s broadly accurate. The demise of Sturgeon (or at least her retreat to acting behind the curtain, with her ultimate destruction pending an inevitable release of the facts surrounding the attempted imprisonment of Alex Salmond), solves nothing. Sturgeon predates the current generation of careerist who bear the fingerprints of MI5 (via the cut-out of the US State Department). This is of course assuming that the Dreghorn witch wasn’t recruited by the British Security Services while studying at the University of Glasgow. With that institution being the epicentre of spook activity North of the border, that is at least a possibility but that is worthy of separate post in its own right. The point being, that Sturgeon was atypical, being the target of manipulation rather than recruitment. Why would Thames House opt for manipulation? Why was Sturgeon identified as being vulnerable to their well honed techniques of psychological exploitation? This brings us to the curious psyche of Nicola Sturgeon.
?
?Robin McAlpine is credited with being amongst the very first to see through the carefully concocted image and recognise the horror that lay beneath. I suppose being professionally concerned with the nuts-and-bolts of political campaigning, Robin was quickly cognisant of the true lack of substance, the absence of serious intent, ultimately the nature of the grift.
What’s intriguing is why this superficial con artist was so successful, why so many folk were eager to follow this charlatan.
This brings us to the concept of Pathocracy proposed by Polish psychologist Andrzej ?obaczewski. ?obaczewski states that a leader exhibiting strongly atypical psychological pathology will through a process similar to osmosis, alter the system to mirror their dominant psyche. ?obaczewski, who experienced the tyranny of both the Nazis and the Soviets, focuses on psychopathy but in theory, malignant narcissism and Machiavelli syndrome would also apply. Crucially, ?obaczewski allows for the acolytes of the leader to mimic the psychological pathology of the leader rather than truly possess it themselves. Quote: “If an individual in a position of political power is a psychopath, he or she can create an epidemic of psychopathology in people who are not, essentially, psychopathic.”.
Without an intimate knowledge of Sturgeon’s personality, amateur and remote diagnosis of any of the “dark triad” traits (psychopathy, narcissism and Machiavellianism) is problematic. This said, there’s enough of her professional life that’s been lived in public to form some speculative proposals. The “dark triad” pathologies exhibit reasonably early in life. Did the failed Solicitor display the ruthless focus of a psychopath, the needy attention cravings of a narcissist or the serpentine manipulative scheming of a Machiavellianist? I suspect not. Sturgeon’s career is characterised by failing upwards.
This leaves open a possible diagnosis of Hubris Syndrome. Unlike the “dark triad”, Hubris Syndrome is an acquired personality disorder. This is über hubris on a pathological scale. Alternatively, Hubris Syndrome is a pseudo-scientific label applied to what the rest of us would regard as common bleedin’ sense. According to its advocates, Hubris Syndrome exhibits only when high office is attained and becomes more pronounced the longer the elevated position is retained. We could go through the 14 symptoms of Hubris Syndrome one-by-one and most if not all apply to Sturgeon.
Perhaps the most strikingly applicable is; “Excessive confidence in the individual’s own judgement and contempt for the advice or criticism of others”. This trait was clearly on display during the Judicial review at the Court of Session, called by Alex Salmond to adjudicate on the procedure the Scottish Executive attempted to use to “fit him up”. Only when her lawyers Roddy Dunlop KC and Christine O’Neil, flatly threatened to resign, did Sturgeon concede the case.
Isn’t it extraordinary that in the decade since the independence referendum that the BBC, STV, and all of Scotland’s political, cultural and media elite have produced the sum amount of zero satire towards Sturgeon, the SNP, and the state of Scotland generally. Sure, there’s a feeble gag here on the BBC’s Hogmanay ‘comedy’ specials. Janey Godley might make a voiceover of a Sturgeon speech where she does the same gag she’s battered to death, but otherwise we’re a satirical desert.
So thank god for Shaun & this is the pinnacle of what he’s done though I hope he carries on as he’s a much, much needed voice. If Scotland was a fair place he’d be funded by the likes of the BBC, rather than crowdfunding but if it has to be funded that way so be it.
The one thing he outlines perfectly there that the rise of Sturgeon wasn’t some grand conspiracy by the ‘yoons’ or any other crackpot conspiracy. It was someone who saw an opportunity for power, took it, liked it and that power went to her head while she picked off any potential threat and surrounded herself with allies and ineffective cronies. That rally at the SEC was the turning point and the Brexit campaign was when she kicked up a gear as suddenly she was being praised by middle class political commentators in the rest of the UK and that went right to her ego.
Though Shaun’s right, Sturgeon’s the symptom of the main issue. Salmond, for all his many, many faults, surrounded himself with competent people & enacted a broad socially democratic set of policies, while Sturgeon rebranded more centre-right ideas as ‘progressive’ & took Blair’s obsession with managerial politics to the nth degree. Of course Labour under Starmer aren’t offering any great change & although Labour’s cutting of the winter fuel payment is genuinely evil, they are right to point out the Tories spent 14 years trashing the UK. The fact is the time for independence is gone, for now at least. Not that I’d want people like Swinney and Patrick bloody Harvie on their hands on an independent Scotland.
Scotland is in a rut. The political elite are riddled with corrupt careerists and the good ones are outnumbered by these people. Our media is useless, and our culture is almost dead thanks to the likes of Creative Scotland who have done nothing of note to push different voices. The independence movement is full now of bitter people (I count myself in there) mixed with crazed conspiracy theorists and flag-shaggers. Civic nationalism is a thing of the past.
We’re nearly at the tenth anniversary of the Indyref & the last decade has been hellish but as Shaun says at the end in his coda, the blame can’t just be laid at the feet of Sturgeon. There’s a lot of blame to be shared.
The last time I voted SNP new or old was 20014, after that they became irrelivent as I have always maintained that begging or asking someone else’s permission to be free from a supposedly voluntary union was placing ourselves in the Westminster colonial straight jacket voluntary and maddeningly for a second time,
Surely it is time for all the Scots that are (not in the treaty of union) to voluntary walk away,
Why do we need the SNP or other political parties from the Scottish Version of Hollywoods Hollyrood.
Scottish people are not in a treaty of union with the UK parliament. So Westminster state, And the Scottish parliament ended in 1707.
An ideal situation for Scotland.while Keir Starmer is doing his upmost along with the mannie khan in London paralleling with the policing in favouring other religions changing in England which was another fundamental corner stone of the supposed voluntary 1707 treaty of union…..Religion….being protestant,
We are playing by the wrong rules in Scotland and we are definately approaching the ultimate independence of Scotland from an incorrect starting point,
And Personally in my musings I do not think the people in Scotland have a lot of time left to play around with the nicities of party politics if we want to save Scotland and its people from this new and possible tyrannical governance that appears to be happening in Britain,.
Even if we got rid of the SNP out of hollywood in Scotland that would not make an iota of difference to still being governed by the three or four parliament,
The Westminster parliament, the parliament of Great- Britain and the UK parliament and the devolved government sent to Scotland which all of them are slapping two or three sets of laws over people in Scotland.
Compared to one set of laws in England due to Westminster parliament of great britain being the only parliament governing body of England.
LABOUR’S MESSIAHS
https://archive.ph/MfVnh
Then raise the scarlet standard high.?
Within its shade we’ll live and die,?
Though cowards flinch and ("Tractor" - Ed)s sneer,
?We’ll keep the red flag flying here.
It suits today the weak and base,
?Whose minds are fixed on pelf and place,?
To cringe before the rich man’s frown,?
And haul the sacred emblem down.
Pelf=filthy lucre.
From our latest on OTS:
At the ’10 Years On’ gig on Saturday, would you like to hear Alex Salmond address directly the issue of the franchise?
Yes 79.9%
No 8.3%
Not bothered 11.8%
‘We don’t expect that Alex Salmond will be bounced into addressing anything specific by anyone. There is a lot we would like him to explain about matters which he cannot go anywhere near for very obvious reasons but while those wheels of justice continue to grind exceedingly fine there is other business which can and should be attended to.
We chose to raise the franchise question because it is, in our opinion, a sore which has remained festering since the publication of Scotland’s Future in November 2013.
Alex Salmond (in a post-referendum interview which we cannot find) explained that defining the franchise parameters was one of the most difficult tasks he faced. No doubt he had to tackle similarly weighty problems but that is the one we would like to hear more about.
Even if not addressed directly by Alex, or any of the other speakers, we know for sure that it will be a talking point amongst attendees and it is not going away. We don’t know how the event will pan out – a time for reminiscence, honest reappraisal, regret? All of these things and more, for sure, but we hope that it will produce at least some indication that the independence movement is capable of producing something positive from the past decade of pain.
If we have learned nothing else it is that ‘positive campaigns’ don’t always win. In a fairly refereed contest, aye, perhaps. But the Anglo-state does not play by the rules. Anyone’s rules. For them, might is right and the status quo must be preserved at all costs.
We don’t speak for everyone in the independence movement and have never claimed to do so but we have been around genuine activists and serious thinkers long enough to know that frustration has long-since passed endurable levels. That’s why so many have either given up or gone off-grid entirely, scunnered with the apparent inability of ‘the only vehicle to independence’ to maintain even a semblance of resistance to Westminster diktat.
If there is any remaining hope of Scottish independence being secured via a peaceful ‘democratic’ route then the precise calibration of the franchise must be addressed. Exactly how it can or should be modified is a matter for debate but it is crucial that the debate happen soon. Those who exploited loopholes and maladministration (or blatantly lied) in order to cast a vote on Scotland’s future when they knew fine well that they had no moral right to do so must be put on notice that they won’t get away with it again.
It is not reasonable to expect Saturday’s gathering to produce clear ‘policy’ on any matter. This is not a party political event. But on Saturday evening, as attendees mull over what they’ve heard and share their analysis with the rest of us via social media, we will discover whether or not the grassroots are energised, hopeful.
That can only happen if they are given some indication that ‘the gloves are coming off’. It doesn’t matter if Alex Salmond or any of the other speakers use that expression or not. What matters is that we discern some indication that we are no longer expected just to keep a dream alive.’
https://www.offtopicscotland.com/post/gloves-aff
Climate change issues do not get a mention as part of the 1707 treaty of union nor did Scots agree to that in the terms, agreements that became ratified,
The gender issue is not part of any of the 25 articles either,
And the Parliament of Great – Britain ended in 1800/ 1801.
The real message that Shauny Boy had to say was from 58 mins in.
We are up to our necks in the s**t, so what are WE, WE, WE doing about it…!!
Vivian O’Blivian.
Hubris Syndrome seems to be active both sides of the border nowadays.
None of those people are going to be watching this film.
Quite. SNP loyalists won’t go near this, and the few that do won’t get to the end because they think Shaun is a ‘YOON’, ‘transphobic’, ‘a Labour plant’, and all manner of nonsense.
Will no one think of the dolphin children?
🙂
” Shauny Boy is becoming a national treasure. Someone needs to fund him.”
We did.
Well, ah watched the hale ay that fake doc fae start tae finish. Hudnae seen nuhhin fae Shauny Boy in long enough, thought he hud jacked it in. Didnae laugh much. It wis too fucking painful. The country’s political institutions destroyed fir the lonely-teenage-ego-stroking vanity ay yin closeted manhating sociopath. Only in Scotland. When that boay wis shouting aboot pensioners dying alone, that wisnae satire, n the boay didnae sound like he wis trying tae be funny. Nearly spat oan ma screen when that cunt came oan wi her “Get your jacket, it’s time” smug pish. Whaur noo Shauny Boy, indeed, whaur noo. Fuck knows.
The different mugs/cups he holds about halfway in are pure genius, I chuckled at that one. Also some of the stuff the talking heads throw out is pretty funny too, all hagiographies are funny when you think about them. Nobody is that perfect.
Not sure I agree with his prescription of what could have been done, where the money would come from to start with. But it’s a decent effort.
Oh and the bringing world peace at the end, that brought a good guffaw too.
BTW the V&A Dundee is a people’s museum, entry to the normal exhibits is entirely free, you get to wander the inside of the building. It’s the special exhibitions which cost. Went to one on Computer Games design with my Bioinformatician geeky daughter, it was well done.
F*ckin Brilliant.
Sturgeon the Judas – f*cked us big time.
Sorry but- it’s a bit lengthy and boring.
it’s not really mainly trying to be witty and funny, just applying the black-white irony to history telling, bit lame really
Another yoon here … I thought this was very good indeed though much longer than it needed to be to make the point – it would have benfitted from judicious editing. A lot of fun though.
Agree with the rev on the closing coda – not necessary. People who stuck it to the end got the message ok without the closing sledgehammer.
I’m pretty much aligned with the overall pitch. I’m primarily against seccession not because I don’t see the argument for it or indeed the desirability, but for the following two reasons: Scotland’s current starting point (massive budget deficit, low growth/low investment/low entrepreneurship/high tax/high welfare dependency culture and a flailing education system and unreformed public sector more generally); and the woeful response to all that of Scotland’s utterly useless political class.
Those culpable are both pro-indy ones, putting the independence cart before the horse and simply waving away the massive structural financial, economic and social issues that could rapidly lead to a failed state like we had in 1700), and the pro-union ones, who fail to see that helping get Scotland to a place where independence could be a sane and sensible option would be a good thing regardless of your view on it, and would make for a very different and much healthier debate when indyref2 finally occurs – about kinship, identity, shared history and the function of a 21st century state, rather than one based purely on economic considerations or generalised anger about ‘Westminster’.
The right politicians in Scotland could, in time and with determination, make a genuinely positive difference to people’s lives, and if successful, I’m sure people like me currently on the pro-union side might well be persuaded.
As it stands though, we are a long way off that. The only answer: gradus ad parnassum. There’s a mountain to climb.
Gawd this is awful! I hope the BBC do show it just so more people can see such poor satire from Independence supporters. This certainly knocks Have I Got News For You out the park for immature student satire.
Much as I am a fan of Shauny’s usual video content, I was left with an overall feeling of “meh” from this. The stereotypical working class characters were rough, sweary and deluded, while the hoity-toity middle class characters had “thet” accent and talking proper – while being deluded. For me, it lost any “alternate timeline” credibility when they started talking about hanging flags from their willies. At this point, were it Monty Python, someone would have stepped in to note that “this is getting silly”. but sadly not.
If this was aimed at the usual Shauny audience then there was, as the Rev says, no need for the post-documentary rant. It would be unappreciated by his British Nationalist followers who just like to see bad things said about Sturgeon, etc, while many of his pro-independence supporters are already trying to do something other than be the happy-clappers the SNP so desperately wants.
The question is, how will it be received by the SNP loyalists, and lets be fair, those who remain, that is all that remain in the party. I doubt few will watch it, and it is unlikely that they will be receptive to the films message – far less the post-credit rant.
In the end, Shauny is entertaining the more self-critical wing of the independence movement. But what now?