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The trick is to keep reading

Posted on December 13, 2015 by

We’ve lost count of how many times we’ve drawn people’s attention to the necessity of sticking with newspaper articles right to the end if you don’t want to be horribly misled by eye-catching headlines. But it never hurts to have another example.

scomailfrb

If you only read the start of today’s Scottish Mail On Sunday “bombshell” on the Forth Road Bridge (the left side of the picture above), you might come to a very alarming conclusion. But if you get all the way through it, to the paragraphs we’ve highlighted in red and enlarged on the right-hand side of the image, you’ll discover the truth.

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blackhack

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”

Bugger (the Panda)

How many readers of The Record and Sunday Mail actually read and mentally digest articles like that. Same with Daily Mail & Express.

Very few I think. The headline is what they take in and the first couple of paragraphs maybe.

Programmed to perfection.

Thepnr

There is no room for the truth in newspaper headlines. The thing these newspapers fear most is the truth. That’s why they will never print the truth. Too painful.

The truth hurts.

starlaw

Personally I’m no longer interested in anything the bum press have to report on the bridge. Everybody and his dog know full well what happened to close the bridge.
Well done Derek Mackay for the way he has handled this loathsome onslaught of the bum slab proper uppers, more power to his elbow.

mealer

The dwindling band of readers of the Mail on Sunday have children and grand children,siblings and friends,who need to spend a wee bit more time with them pointing out this kind of thing.Dont give up on them.Keep at it.Generations of brainwashing can take a lot of time to break down,but this is how independence will be won.

Kryczek

The real trick is not to read any of them. Don’t even give them click’s.

Marcia

Journalism as espoused by Dr Goebbels still flourishes in the Mail on Sunday.

Clydebuilt

B(TP) said it for me……. Thats journalism in Scotland for you. When are the junior journalists taught how to manipulate the news. Is it
1. At Journalist School.
2. On the shop floor during their first job.

Scratching my head for another possibility

donald anderson

Heard oor Glorious Transport Meenister speak at Boab Doris’s Scoriach and adoption meeting last night last night in Maryhill. He wuz great:mMuch better than oan the telly.

Calum McKay

I used to buy three papers on Sunday, Mail, Post and Scotland on Sunday and the Herald during the week.

Now I buy zero papers on Sunday and zero papers during the week.

This has been the case for many years.

The primary reason, the headlines are negative about Scotland and or the SNP. As soon as I start to read it comes across as a knocking exercise aimed at undermining Scots confidence and the independence cause.

This paper and headline aptly demonstrate why I do not buy papers anymore, nor will I in future.

How nice it would be to have the press Ireland has, where they celebrate their country and its achievements, ours act like agents of a foreign state. Hold on, that’s exactly what they are!

caledonia

Can anything be done about the blatent lie apart from posting it all over the net

heedtracker

2010 FETA analysis concerned another part of links, 2015 unexpected/not predicted defect detected a few weeks ago, how BBC Scotland attack propaganda works

link to bbc.co.uk

‘More questions’

Scottish Labour’s deputy leader Alex Rowley said: “Derek McKay’s extraordinary comments confirm exactly why we need a full parliamentary inquiry into what has gone wrong with the bridge.
“For an SNP Minister to admit that cancelled repair works would have replaced the damaged section of the bridge as far back as 2010 raises many more questions about the actions of the government.

“In recent days Nicola Sturgeon dismissed suggestions that cancelled repair works were linked to the bridge closure, but now Derek Mackay is saying something different.”

Sinky

Caledonia

Very difficult to get truth out when unionist editors don’t print letters and BBC constantly interrupt SNP spokespersons.

The dependency brigade can’t get it through their unthinking skulls that due to the cancellation of the second road bridge by Malcolm Chisholm in 1997 the old bridge would have to be closed for weeks on end without a suitable alternative crossing no matter when the works were done.

Robert Peffers

@Kryczek says:13 December, 2015 at 2:24 pm

“The real trick is not to read any of them. Don’t even give them click’s.”

That’s about how it is, Kryczek. I cannot remember when I last read an actual newspaper, (and I’m talking decades here), and I rarely even read them on-line even if there are links quoted or even archived lnks. I’ve given up on TV too and radio is going the same way now.

Just what is the point of reading news that is full of lies? You are far more informed by reading fables.

A fable is a fictitious story that is designed to teach a lesson. People have been telling fables for hundreds of years, For example Aesop, an Ancient Greek, taught by use of fables.

Newspapers, though, are meant to print news but the UK press go well beyond fables and use fictitious stories as propaganda.

Capella

I was looking at the Government “Top 40” priority investments “which are considered crucial to meeting the UK’s needs in each infrastructure sub-sector.” and wondering why the FRB isn’t listed.

link to wingsoverscotland.com

Is it not time this confusion of what is UK expenditure and what is “regional” was clarified?
On the other hand, I see that the Carbon Capture and Storage investment, one of the two planned in Scotland, has been cancelled.
Perhaps the hacks in the Scottish Sunday/Daily Mail would like to investigate something worth reporting for a change. But their attempts to turn Derek Mackay into a National Hero are very much appreciated. I’d never heard of him before the buffoons mounted their umpteenth smear campaign.

Dandy Dons 1903

What a rag of a newspaper, heading down the plughole along with the union very soon i hope!

K1

Proof if more were needed that they are propaganda sheets. I wish it was May already, these mouthpieces for Slab need removed from our newsstands, not that the wipe out in May will achieve this but their hysteria by then will be so apoplectic that even yer average punter will ‘get it’.

The best thing about the referendum is that now, on the lead up to elections in Scotland, we as a country are unified in sufficient numbers to achieve in our parliament through a voting system specifically set up to prevent such a possibility, an outright majority for the SNP.

Like snow aff a dyke, Labour, no longer a branch but reduced to a stump.

All you so called journalists, best start making yer travelling arrangements now, yer a disgrace to yer profession and a blight on Scotland’s politics.

Your input will no longer be required. Now fuck off.

Thepnr

“The truth is out there” to quote an old TV program.

Thing is, you have to go and find it by yourself. The truth is usually hidden somewhere between the lines and never ever in the headlines. Go look, find your own “truth”.

Stuart

And yet, not a single engineer has come out in support of the SNP’s handling of how the FRB was maintained….

Funny that!

Seems like this might come in handy as the Nationalists flounder about trying to deny responsibility for this fiasco;

The SNP guide to news management…

1 Ignore the Problem
2 Ignore it some more
3 Blame Westminster
4 Deny it exists
5 Admit it exists
6 Deny that you denied it
7 Deny that you admitted it
8 Deny all the denials and admissions, whilst admitting all the denials and admissions
9 Do all the above on a day with bigger news stories
10 Abuse your accusers
11 Blame the ‘Red Tories’!
12 If all else fails, Look! Look over there, there’s a Squirrel!

13 Repeat steps 1 through 12 as necessary…

dramfineday

Calum @ 2:35, plus 1 my friend, plus 1.

galamcennalath

GIven that research has established that people partially read, then IF your job is being a journalist AND you wish to impart news clearly, then it would be important to construct articles carefully. In fact, much like an academic paper. A clear, concise and accurate title/headline, followed by a good paragraph ‘abstact’ giving the essential points, and then the full article in detail.

Presenting information clearly in written form is straightforward.

HOWEVER, if you encounter something where all the rules are broken – a misleading title, inaccurate waffle, and the most important facts hidden near the end – the you know for sure something quite different is going on!

It is therefore very easy to differentiate between genuine NEWS and this form of PROPAGANDA!

So, to all those out there who accuse us of being a bunch of tin foil hatted conspiracy junkies … Bollocks! More and more of us see through what is being done by the CorpMedia!

K1

Don’t bite, folks.

Now's the Hour

Unfit for picking up a doggie dump.

Isn’t it high time the SNP took the gloves off and confronted this sort of sh*t head on? Call up the experts and call out these so-called ‘journalists’ (= lying nawbags)? The best form of defence is attack.

ben madigan

All is not lost for Scottish journalists!!

Here’s news of another Scotsman who has uncovered a large propaganda source. link to eurofree3.wordpress.com

In my view the Scots should all be very proud of what Wings and other Scottish blogs have done/are doing to make people aware of what exactly is going on in the UK and elsewhere. They really represent the first attempt to call Unionist myths into question.And I am confident the message is getting out there.

Bill Hume

Sunday, no school today…..Stuart’s undivided shite all day.
How’s the adolescent acne doin’ Stuart?

ahundredthidiot

What K1 says

Kenny

Talk about milking a “story” until its udders fall off!

Flogging a dead horse? It’s mair like flogging a dead fossil of a dead mammoth’s dead great-great-grandfather who wis dead at birth!

I am so glad that all this “SNP Bad” Project Fear 2: The UKOK Strikes Back is having such a dramatic turnaround on the polls. SNP continues to make dramatic swings and 50.0% of the country want independence.

I’m surprised the knives are not out for the “leader of the opposition”. No, I’m not talking aboot that Kezia lassie, I mean Jackie Bird! How is she still in a contract?!?

K1

Can we have one fucking thread were no one replies to him? Just one, can we unite over this on Wings, this one tiny thing? Can we fuck!

Al dossary

Sigh,

UKOK guide to news management.

1. Blame the SNP
2. Get your chums in the BBC and newspapers to only give 1 side of the story, not forgetting to blame the SNP.
3. Repeat said story ad infinitum, no matter how much evidence there really is to prove that the story is a half-truth at best.
4. If 2 & 3 fail, roll out the NHS crises, not forgetting to blame the SNP.
5. Repeat from 1.

If only the Labour led Holyrood governments had taken the giant leap of faith to actually invest in something useful……..

But then again it would probably have been PFI financed and be costing the punters £5 or more per crossing to be used. Oh, and they would just have started about NHS/ Police Scotland / SNP bad for the want of anything else to print.

Grouse Beater

‘Phony Stuart’ – another Unionist dunce boosts his self-esteem by spraying graffiti on Wings site. Banksy he ain’t.

Bob Mack

It is the fault of nobody else if unionists are gullible and believe what a Unionist press has to offer. The one above offered proof by “Tartan Jack” as empiric evidence.

I am still laughing at that one. We know the truth.That is the bottom line,and all the nonsense written by the now million strong army of “civil engineers” who have recently voiced opinion will not change a thing.

Fergus Green

Ignore him and he will go away

Wuffing Dug

@ 3.10

Why do they come here?

Heard there’s been a lot of rain down Lanarkshire way, but shite floats unfortunately.

Robert Kerr

@Stuart.

Strangely enough Engineers are professionals and their code of ethics precludes them for making political statements.

If they were commissioned for a fee then something could be forthcoming.

Engineers are not really professionals in the UKOK. Only in proper countries like Germany and USA. It’s the colonial mindset here though. Bullington boys are important, don’t you know! Engineers fix washing machines.

Joemcg

Totally agree Calum, great post. Have skimmed through a few discarded records left on the bus and you are guaranteed at least 3 anti SNP stories per day with the letters page also containing 3 or 4 SNP bad claims by fake readers. Surely even the the most dense no voting sash wearer can see through that shite.

Dinnatouch

The same misleading headline technique can be found in this story in the Daily Record.

ahundredthidiot

K1

Easy tiger, just skip over it like the rest of us, I hear you, I agree with you, but if readers want to play, what can you do

Back on theme, MSM = 90% lies, but so long as ten percent of it is truth they think they are innocent.

The MSM is not innocent. People are beginning to realise that.

Bob Mack

Meant to say. I actually know people who work on the bridge.
The SNP should hold an inquiry because from what I can gather FETA will be absolutely filleted, and sliced and diced for their poor management and penury over maintenance costs.

They were aware of bridge faults fof many years before .

Macart

Churnalism right enough and they wonder why readerships are falling off a cliff. (shrugs)

gordoz

That Stuart guy has really made me think ..

Cutting edge info – have decided to change sides, definitely
voting No from now on !

PPPffff. 🙂

What a diddy

K1

Dinnatouch, that was such a ‘non story’ in the record, she paid her rent for the year, in advance, that was it, all of it. But the headline conveys an entirely different premise: ‘she’s at it’.

The Daily Record: Comic book for the stupid.

ahundredthidiot

I mind seeing many years ago T shirts with Jimmy Hills mugshot and it read ‘Jimmy Hill………he’s a poof’

Offensive I know, but also kinda funny.

Anyway, maybe we could find a market for a new T shirts with Jackie Birds coupon on it, reading ‘Jackie Bird…….she’s a BLANK’

Open to suggestions

K1

Aye, ah hear you ahundredthidiot, just dog tired of the shite from all sides…Wings is an oasis in comparison with any other news site btl, and I’ve even ‘played’ wi some maslef on here, but no more.

I’m running out of patience with the ignorant and stupid and downright right wing flavours of idiot that come btl. A touch tetchy, as Grouse was saying on previous thread, it’s been a fucking miserable week. Letting my temper get the better of me…apologies for my intemperate outburst there.

*eyes front…strolling by the trolling*

David Wallace

There’s an awfully dull echo in here…

Hugh Kirk

Echoing Calum McKay , I used to read lots of MSM back in the day. I got pissed off with the lack of quality journalism and misinformation so I stopped all my subscriptions and saved a ton of moola.I get all my info from socal meadia and feel much better informed. I do however sometimes read “The Beano” which of course is absolute shite but doesn’t pretend to to be anything else.”Mad” magazine is also worth a swatch.

Proud Cybernat

The problem the State Sponsored Broadcaster and the Idiot Press (i.e. the CorpMedia) have is that 50% of the potential readership in Scotland are simply not listening to them and know them for what they are – propagandists and apologists for a defunct, irrelevant Union. We are getting our facts from more reliable and honest sources.

This rubbish in the CorpMedia is not for the 50% who know they are a bunch of lying spin merchants but rather for the uninformed and is designed to keep them uninformed and ‘on message’.

Slowly but surely, however, the uninformed are opening their eyes and seeing the CorpMedia for what it truly is – an Establishment tool wielded to keep them ignorant and supressed. Some (you know who you are) will NEVER realise what is being done to them by the CorpMedia – afterall, it’s very hard to admit you have been taken for a fool.

Most, however, upon realisation they have been taken for mugs by the Idiot Press and the State Sponsored Broadcaster get angry and reject their propaganda and seek out other sources of news backed up by credible facts and hard data. That’s why hundreds of thousands are now coming to Wings Over Scotland, Wee Ginger Dug, Common Weal, Bella etc. The TRUE MAINSTREAM MEDIA (TMM).

Truth will always ‘out’. And that is what the CorpMedia are powerless to prevent. They spin their rubbish to spread doubt and fear and do so in a bid to ‘protect’ their glorious ‘Union’. They fail to realise that their tactic is doing more harm than good to their cause and fail to see that the Union is finished in the minds of 50% of those in Scotland (and growing by the day) and that it is merely now living on borrowed time.

Tick, tock.

Sassenach

This story was the one that ‘Rentahonk’ Baillie started her ‘Brewster Show’ diatribe with today – then the beloved host attempted to talkover the SNP reply – not much changes in BBC-land then!!

Grouse Beater

It would be a small but significant gesture if the Mail dropped the prefix ‘Scottish’ and substituted ‘Union.’

Dr Jim

Gossip magazines sell, Bad news sells, Comedy sells, unfortunately Good news is boring to the Idjits who can’t spell half the words anyway

The Yoons do like the ones with the most pictures in them though, Shaven headed people with Tatoos that spell LOAYL or Nose Serendur, and the men are just as bad

The only uses most of us Independence Seekers have for newspapers are Budgie Cages, Fire, or rolled up for the Hamster to play in and Shite on

How about “Know Surrender” Too cryptic?

SteveW

Severin Carrell this morning this morning on SP not able to understand why SNP voters are not taken in by this type of shit.

scott

Bugger (the Panda) says:

How many readers of The Record and Sunday Mail actually read and mentally digest articles like that. Same with Daily Mail & Express

I quite agree with you but you have left out one of the worst and that is the Sunday Post also did you see that from the Telegraph on Saturday from cockers pal Simon Johnson “English trains save SNP blushes”anything to down the SNP I wonder if they would have been happy if nothing was done and we had a disaster on the bridge.

galamcennalath

Imagine, just imagine, from 2007 until present Scotland had been ruled by a Labour led Scottish ‘Executive’?

{shiver down spine}

But here’s the thing … what would BBC and CorpMedia have substituted for political propaganda? More reality shows, quizzes, or song and dance competitions on TV? More ‘news’ about celebs, or more immigrant bashing in print?

Another Union Dividend

Stuart is Claymore64 in Hootsman or its plagerism

As well as Labour cancelling second Forth road bridge in 1997 worth noting Wings tweet this afternoon

From Civil Engineer 5 January 2009 on how Labour refused to help fund a new road bridge

link to newcivilengineer.com

The Treasury has rejected the Scottish Government’s application for £2.3bn to fund the new Forth bridge.
Scottish finance secretary John Swinney had asked for special permission from the UK government to pay for the new bridge with cash from future capital budgets.
However, chief secretary to the treasury Yvette Cooper replied to Swinney request yesterday by saying this was not a “credible option” and has suggested alternatives such as building up a big underspend or using a public private partnership (PPP).

Dave McEwan Hill

link to facebook.com

Indeed

And Ian Bell’s death has left me in a strange place. I no longer have any time in my life for polite treatment of fat arsed complacent nawbags, I’malrightjocks, the wilfully uninformed and the Scots among us born without imagination (or ambition or social conscience or national self respect).

There are idiots roaming our streets. Time they were telt

broonpot

I see the Edinburgh Evening News have also posted a similar article today. It was short and did not have much truth hidden at the end of it. I did however have enough half truth and innuendo to prompt a veritable frenzy of anti-SNP comments.

link to edinburghnews.scotsman.com

Roll on an enquiry

Kenny

In “1984”, Oceania was doing away with words, so that in the future Emmanuel Goldstein’s book would be reduced to only one word: “Thoughtcrime”.

How nice it will be for the environment in the future, when all the BUM press and BBC Labour talkshows, interviews and “debates” can be reduced to one word also: “SNPbad”!

Grouse Beater

chief secretary to the treasury Yvette Cooper replied to Swinney request yesterday by saying this was not a “credible option”

Try and explain to loyal Unionites here all of that and they simply can’t assimilate it. They will not believe that English generally don’t give a toss about Scotland. The UK is their safety zone. Anything else is viewed as a threat to their stability. Thus, the SNP are tolerated so long as they do NOT espouse full autonomy.

galamcennalath

Nana drew attention to this on the last thread…

link to aljazeera.com

IMO it is a reasonable appraisal of where we stand and how events are unfolding.

This made me laugh. Quoting Duncan Hothersall, “The irony is that I would never have described myself as a unionist; my politics has never been about the constitution. I’m interested in equality and social justice.”

…. it has to be asked, in which decade could Labour have been considered a party of ‘equality and social justice’?

Inequality increased hugely under Blair/Brown. Personally, it is MY interest in ‘equality and social justice’ which makes me an SNP and Indy supporter.

Bugger (the Panda)

@ Grouse Beater says:
13 December, 2015 at 3:31 pm
‘”Phony Stuart’ – another Unionist dunce boosts his self-esteem by spraying graffiti on Wings site. Banksy he ain’t.”

More like painting golden embossments in the snow and even less real.

Just piss off please?

peter

Ah Stuart the Troll again! As Ive said before maybe you can get your best pal , Roofer and Plumber Emeritus Dr Scott to enlighten us as to what his solution to it is then?

arthur thomson

It is truly frustrating that the media are able to lie with impunity.

All we can do is counteract it when possible and leave it to increasing numbers of the electorate to discover that they are being cynically lied to.

I am not convinced that the SNP should mount an attack on the media. It is arguable that the actions of the media are actually self-defeating. Also, any attack by the SNP would have to be as incessant as the media lies and I cannot predict what effect that would have.

They would get no backing from any other political party. Corbyn is attacked by the media but is more than happy to sanction co-operation with it against the SNP.

galamcennalath

arthur thomson says:

“I am not convinced that the SNP should mount an attack on the media. It is arguable that the actions of the media are actually self-defeating.”

I completely agree with you.

It is incredibly frustrating to watch, however the ‘proof is in the eating’ … the SNP’s relentless positivity in the face of media opposition has so far worked well. Simple as that. Staying aloof is paying dividends.

There’s a saying, I forget the exact words, but it goes something like … “don’t argue with fools because they will drag you down to their level and win on experience”.

Similar logic applies here. The CorpMedia, broadcasters and Unionist politicians grovel in the gutter while the SNP/SG get on with doing the best they can for the country and ignore shit littering the path.

Macart

The FACT cannot be overstated, that had there still been a Labour executive in place we’d have no second crossing at all.

More speculatively, what they consider excess monies would still no doubt be returned to the treasury and our aging infrastructure would by this point be on the verge of collapse.

However, as speculation goes, I’d very much doubt I’d be far off the mark.

As yet not one mainstream title and not one establishment party has commended the Scottish Government for pressing ahead with the second crossing. They are, as usual, too busy spouting SNP bad from the sidelines. Deflection, smear and spite is all they have and all they are capable of.

Their policies are all handed down from central offices not of this country, which is why as far as Scotland is concerned they are a policy free zone. Despite their protestations, they have no autonomy to formulate policy of their own (remember Mr Umunna putting Murphy in his place?). Their one job handed down from head office, is to break the Scottish Government and bring the Scottish electorate back in line with the voting norms of England. To this end they’ve been given all the help the media can bring to bear and free irn bru crates and megaphones.

So instead of counter policy and ‘here’s how we could handle the situation better’, we get biblical catastrophe headlines in the hopes that people don’t read the small print or follow the history of the subject in question.

Its all sadly too predictable rinse and repeat. It won’t stop until we make it stop. Those parties and their media need to be left in no doubt, this is not the politics or the media we need or want. If they don’t wish to be part of any solution, then ARE part of the problem.

Mental Paul

Even if the content of these emails would have prevented the bridge issues I don’t understand how this can be used against the Scottish government.

The recipients are Lesley Hinds – an incompetent labour Councillor and Sue Bruce – nonpolitical chief executive of Edinburgh council. No links to SNP. Nothing to suggest they escalated the issue to Scottish government – i.e. their fuck up

Ruby

According to this Sunday Herald article dated 08 Jan 2006
They knew about crumbling bridge 8 years ago

Bridge in troubled waters FORTH ROAD BRIDGE: REPLACEMENT URGED

Business and political support for a replacement Forth Road Bridge has been gaining momentum since November, when an engineering study commissioned by the bridge’s operator, the Forth Eastuary Transport Authority (Feta) was released. Carried out by specialist bridge engineers Weidlinger Associates, this found corrosion to the bridge’s main cables was so severe it would have to be closed to lorries in 2013 and to cars by 2019.

Transport minister Tavish Scott does not appear to trust Feta’s inspection findings, and has instead mounted an “independent” assessment of the bridge’s cables, the results of which are not due until 2007. He has also refused to give any backing to a new bridge.

proudscot

Thank goodness for your well researched Wings site, RevStu. It’s no wonder the Unionists dislike you so much and continually try to paint you as some kind of deranged SNP-brainwashed looney exile in Bath. Keep up the good work exposing the anti-SNP bile produced on a daily basis in the print and broadcast media.

As for the cretin who posts under the pseudonym Stuart – I’m sure he’s actually the bampot MP Alberto Costa, who from time to time gets to his feet in the HoC and proves the old saying, “Better to stay silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and confirm the fact!”

Ruby

Actually They knew about crumbling bridge 9 years ago

McConnell refuses to be swayed on bridge battle:
ALAN RODEN Transport Reporter. Evening News [Edinburgh (UK)] 24 Jan 2006: 5.

The Forth Estuary Transport Authority (FETA) warned about the decreasing lifespan of the road bridge almost a year ago. The recent findings of an inspection programme revealed the state of corrosion in the crossing’s main cables, which could force to bridge to shut to vehicles by 2019.

Challenged on the proposed £4 increase in bridge tolls Jack Mc Connell said no formal decision had been made.

He said a final decision on any toll increase would have to wait until the bigger decision on the future of the crossings had been taken. He said: “These are big decisions, they require proper analysis and it is the responsibility of the devolved Scottish government to do that.”

It would seem Labour went into an election without telling voters if the bridge toll would or would not be increased by £4.

Ruby

Firms warned we’re out of time on Forth Road Bridge:
Colin, Donald. The Scotsman [Edinburgh (UK)] 07 Oct 2006: 37.

“Havelock has 50 to 70 HGVs crossing the bridge every week. Uncertainty makes it very difficult to operate a manufacturing business in Fife. We will make relocation choice soon based on whether a new bridge will definitely be in place, and there are plenty of other businesses like us,” Balfour says.

“This is not a Fife issue. It’s an issue for any business in Scotland that relies on HGV deliveries or that has a workforce commuting from the other side of the Estuary, be they SMEs or big companies like RBS and Standard Life.”

Balfour’s frustration – with what he sees as political cowardice that has deferred a decision until after May’s election – stems from simple maths.’

Why did it take so long to make a decision about a new Forth Road Bridge?
The point about firms making relocation choices depending on decision about new bridge is interesting.
Did Amazon decide to locate in Fife before or after the decision about the new bridge?

MJack

Hey wait a minuite if the fourth road bridge closure is so impotant to Scotland and therefore Uk, surely the uk treasury should put some money in for the works.Didnt we help pay for cross rail, London sewers, cross rail and London Olympics?

yesindyref2

@sturat
The title of this piece is “The trick is to keep reading”

Please obey and keep reading before commenting. This is not a write-only medium, basic levels of reading and comprehension skills are usually a prerequisite, with the exception of Labour MSPs who would be struck dumb if reading and comprehension were a requirement for them.

ArtyHetty

Gowd it is must be taking some doing for the unionists to twist this whole thing around from the fact that the SNP government were the only ones to actually look at the situation and make the right decision about the bridge to not only save life and limb, but to ensure continuation of transport and business links in Scotland,

Scott Borthwick

galamcennalath says:
13 December, 2015 at 5:31 pm

There’s a saying, I forget the exact words, but it goes something like … “don’t argue with fools because they will drag you down to their level and win on experience”.

There’s a related saying: “I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it.” George Bernard Shaw.

Muscleguy

The same effect works elsewhere. At scientific conferences those who did not get selected to give talks, junior researchers, students etc present posters. Stands are set out in a large room and you affix your poster and at designated times you stand by it to answer questions.

When designing a poster most effort should be put into devising an eye-catching title as 90% of people will only read that so it is your main chance to attract more attention. Then you must put effort into your abstract (summary) of the work as maybe as much as 5% of people will read that. 2-3% only will subsequently look at anything else. Everyone else will simply ask you for a spoken potted summary to save their eyes.

The commonality is human attention spans and interest levels. Both of which seem to have declined in recent decades. Read any even vaguely long form article on the net and there will be a number of TLDR comments below it.

Brian Doonthetoon

A poster, that prints out fine at A3.

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    • James Gardner on Things happen slowly: “Kinlochleven Smelter Fiasco ???Oct 8, 16:11
    • Hatey McHateface on Coping with change: “For many folk it’s an obvious no-brainer. Bills will come down once the multi-billion (trillion?) investment in all the infrastructure…Oct 8, 16:06
    • Hatey McHateface on Coping with change: “12 hours, Geri. Remember, he’s half Scottish. Do the math!Oct 8, 15:58
    • Geri on Coping with change: “He’ll solve it in 24 hours cause he has no choice. He’s discovered he isn’t fighting defenceless unarmed civilians &…Oct 8, 15:26
    • Republicofscotland on Coping with change: “GB Energy, won’t reduce your electricity bills – it will however – use public money to help subsides the energy…Oct 8, 15:22
    • Rev. Stuart Campbell on Coping with change: ““You’re a technical person, implement a better solution.” Hi, I don’t think we’ve met.Oct 8, 15:03
    • sarah on Coping with change: “It was obvious, Mac. I believe from previous comments that AA is not a supporter of Scotland regaining its rightful…Oct 8, 14:14
    • Mac on Coping with change: “No not really. I was being sarcastic about Swinney. He’s a useless cunt. I thought would be obvious!Oct 8, 13:53
    • Geri on The whole caboodle: “I remember when I first started commenting rather than lurking & that one didn’t exactly lay out the welcome mat.…Oct 8, 13:36
    • James on The whole caboodle: “Have you ever been banned then, Andy?Oct 8, 13:09
    • Geri on Coping with change: “Aye as Kev, the dug food salesman said, a long time ago, its mean not to share. It was akin…Oct 8, 13:09
    • James on Things happen slowly: “Erm, what Scottish international container port does all the whisky depart from then, Aidan?Oct 8, 12:57
    • Upteenth Steve on Coping with change: “Any chance of blacker writing? Gray on white is very cool and all that but black on white is easier…Oct 8, 12:26
    • Dan on Coping with change: “1st point: You overlook that some folk did stand as non-party affiliated candidates in the recent GE. They were always…Oct 8, 12:09
    • Southernbystander on Coping with change: “I object to the +/- buttons only giving a cumulative total.Oct 8, 12:09
    • Ruby on Coping with change: “It’s an improvement on the old system. Not too keen on the ‘Awaiting for approval’ malarky but that’s the price…Oct 8, 11:42
    • Jay on Coping with change: “Have been intending to join your discussions in support of national self-determination in principle and practice, also very keen to…Oct 8, 11:19
    • Dode on The whole caboodle: “Isolationist is a word beloved of unionists, is it nor?Oct 8, 11:11
    • Dode on The whole caboodle: “More immigration and English custom officers on theTweed?Oct 8, 11:10
    • Geri on The whole caboodle: ““Geri’s simplistic and deeply conspiracy theory addled worldview is on on a par with those insisting that sinister cabals control…Oct 8, 11:09
    • Stuart MacKay on Coping with change: “He claims to be able to solve the U problem in 24 hours so to compensate he has to look…Oct 8, 11:07
    • Alan Austin on Coping with change: “Really?? A FM who thinks if his mate steals £11,500 from the Scottish Electorate its ok if he pays it…Oct 8, 11:05
    • Cuilean on Things happen slowly: ““Things happen slowly, then all at once”. I hope so. But I have little faith left in the Crown Office…Oct 8, 10:36
    • Mac on Coping with change: “As for Trump, he is resembling Inspector Clouseau bumbling his way around avoiding a series of comical assassination attempts through…Oct 8, 10:33
    • Hatey McHateface on Coping with change: “Good summary, Mac. NOT!!! Please step away from anything to do with running Scotland in the real world. I don’t…Oct 8, 10:26
    • Geri on Coping with change: “You’re obsessed. & No it isn’t an accurate description. They were continually offered a peace deal from day one. He’s…Oct 8, 10:15
    • Mac on Coping with change: “Seems to me like the Ir@nians were demonstrating two key things in the space of a few days of each…Oct 8, 09:59
    • Hatey McHateface on Coping with change: “That’s an accurate summary of Pres P in para 1, Geri. After that you kinda lost it. You need to…Oct 8, 09:51
    • Garavelli Princip on Things happen slowly: “That makes sense, Harry. And reassuring – if that’s what happens!Oct 8, 09:50
    • Geri on Coping with change: “A few months ago the deranged one said he’d just initiate a scorched earth policy. Like a demented teenager not…Oct 8, 09:41
  • A tall tale



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