The world's most-read Scottish politics website

Wings Over Scotland


Too much news

Posted on May 25, 2012 by

We need to clone ourselves – there’s so much going on today we can’t possibly cover it all. The official launch of the Yes Scotland campaign was better than we expected, with particularly good contributions from Tommy Brennan, Dennis Canavan and a showstopping closing speech from Brian Cox all highlighting the broad base of support for independence – Alex Salmond was the only SNP politician on show, taking up just a couple of minutes of the hour-long presentation.

Online Labour activists were particularly keen to vilify Cox, unleashing a deluge of bitter attacks which succeeded only in drawing attention to how desperately the party wants to silence the 20% or so of Labour voters who actually back independence.

In an attempt to spoil the media coverage, the nascent No campaign chose the eve of the launch to release a YouGov poll they’d commissioned, with a headline figure of 33% in favour of independence and 57% against. Curiously, though – and little reported by the media – the poll didn’t ask the actual question that’s likely to be on the ballot paper, choosing instead the comparatively tortuous “Do you agree Scotland should become a country independent of the rest of the UK?”

Creating such an obvious hostage to fortune is a clumsy and guileless piece of work – especially given the enormous public fuss the Unionists have made about the precise wording and the possibility of bias therein – but the anti-independence parties presumably knew the media could largely be relied on to focus solely on the numbers and not mention what the actual question was.

Our favourite thing today, though, was an extraordinary outburst from Labour MSP Kezia Dugdale, who apparently wants the word “Yes” itself to be outlawed in the years running up to the referendum. On first reading of the piece we thought it was just a complaint that a democratically-elected government was daring to actively pursue the policies it had been elected on, but in fact it’s even nuttier than that – the leaflet and website Dugdale is objecting to isn’t actually anything to do with independence at all, but merely promoting a positive, “can-do” approach to Scottish enterprise.

To Labour, of course, promoting jobs and the Scottish economy is simply despicable populist cheating on the part of the Scottish Government – worse still when, in the immortal words of George Foulkes, the SNP are doing it deliberately. As Labour cling ever more tightly to negativity, as Ms Dugdale herself says: expect more of this.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

9 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
TheMaganator

The wording of the question will undoubtedly sway some – that is why the SNP favour their own wording. Fair enough.Β 

Are you at all surprised by the figures for people that voted SNP in last election that said they do not support Independence?

“In another damaging finding for the pro-independence movement, the poll also suggested that only 58% of people who voted for the SNP in last May’s landslide victory for Salmond would back independence in a snap referendum, while 28% of SNP voters opposed it.”Β 

Doug Daniel

“TSB: the bank that likes to say yes.”

Or in Kezia’s world, “TSB: the bank that actively promotes the nationalist conspiracy, and how much of your precious tax monies are spent promoting this sick propaganda?”

Shirley

I have found no film on the BBC, radio or TV, of the Launch. Have they really not shown it, or have I missed it?
And did people see the midday Politics show? I hope you will put it on your blog.
Andrew Neil interviewed one person who had been at the Launch. This was introduced by a package which consisted of “unanswered questions about Independence”, and left viewers with the impression that we are being asked to vote without knowing what we’re voting for.
After the interview the two studio guests were asked for their opinions – both anti-Independence. No pro-Independence views in sight.
It was appalling.
Β 
Β 

TheMaganator

@Shirley:

I have not seen any myself – but judging by twitter – many were saying that STV had the best coverage.Β 

Longshanker

Brian Cox was the best Hannibal Lecter by a mile as well. Didn’t catch everything he said, but yes, an excellent and fantasticallyΒ eloquentΒ proponent for the case of independence.

I’ve always enjoyed listening to him on Question Time as well. Did he not give Starkey a bit of a booting?

Denis Canavan was excellent on Good Morning Scotland this morning. I’ve always liked him – more so after he turned independent and didn’t have to worry about curbingΒ  what he had to say. Reminds me of the Labour old school who recognised the value ofΒ a Michael Foot in the political sphere.Β Β Β Β Β Β 

Are they enoughΒ for the leap of faith to be made? I don’t thinkso. But the moreΒ media time Canavan gets, the better.Β Β Β Β 

Suth

I don’t know how the BBC manage to be so awful at covering these things or why they insist on only showing a handful of minutes of any big event to you before spending hours talking about it in the studio instead. I’d rather see it for myself. They did the same with the big international press event too.

Doug Daniel

It’s almost as if they’re trying to undermine it…

They certainly have no concept of the enormity of these events. Scotland is changing, regardless of the result in 2014. Depending on how things pan out, BBC Scotland staff could find themselves out of a job. I certainly see no reason why we should continue to fund a public service broadcaster that utterly failed in its purpose before we became independent. It’s a complete dereliction of duty on their part.Β 

If they don’t buck up their ideas a bit, then perhaps indy Scotland should start from scratch with a brand new public service broadcaster, populated by people who have some sort of idea how to run such an institution properly, rather than running it like a village community TV station.

Although we’d keep Isobel Fraser and Mark Daly on, obviously…Β 


  • About

    Wings Over Scotland is a (mainly) Scottish political media digest and monitor, which also offers its own commentary. (More)

    Stats: 6,677 Posts, 1,204,926 Comments

  • Recent Posts

  • Archives

  • Categories

  • Tags

  • Recent Comments

    • Republicofscotland on The Wage Thief: “One of the Wests favourite evil regimes – is awarded the right to host a FIFA World Cup. “FIFA has put…Dec 12, 12:18
    • Dan on The Wage Thief: “I’m totes #BahHumbug and don’t do festive shizzle as don’t buy into religion or rampant capitalist consumerism. It’s aw jist…Dec 12, 12:16
    • gregor on The Wage Thief: “Threat: “A suggestion that something unpleasant or violent will happen, especially if a particular action or order is not followed:…Dec 12, 12:16
    • Republicofscotland on The Wage Thief: “So Calderwood is off-the-hook so to speak, maybe she’s not a very good liar – no doubt she deleted her…Dec 12, 12:13
    • gregor on The Wage Thief: “BBC: Swinney considers calls for child social media ban: “First Minister John Swinney says he would consider a ban on…Dec 12, 12:11
    • gregor on The Wage Thief: “Inspire: “To make someone feel that they want to do something and can do it: His confident leadership inspired his…Dec 12, 11:50
    • sarah on The Wage Thief: “@ Dan at 09.49: thanks for your link to Soup Cruncher on Barrhead Boy. Soup C has nailed it -…Dec 12, 11:47
    • Republicofscotland on The Wage Thief: “I’ll believe this when I see it happening – until then…. “United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has vowed to ensure…Dec 12, 11:42
    • gregor on The Wage Thief: “@ScotGlobal: SNP must inspire to win back voters (Tommy Sheppard): ‘It took the SNP five years to lose that amount…Dec 12, 11:42
    • gregor on The Wage Thief: “@PeteWishart has blocked you: “Support for the SNP is growing. The last opinion poll had as securing another indy majority.…Dec 12, 10:59
    • Mac on The Wage Thief: “Ru$$ia has instructed all Ru$$ians in the US to leave the country.Dec 12, 10:31
    • Robert Hughes on The Wage Thief: “I just read and commented on that , D . An outstanding post by ” Soup Cruncher ” . He…Dec 12, 10:23
    • Dan on The Wage Thief: “I’m liking Soup Cruncher’s take on things. https://www.barrheadboy.com/everythings-fine/Dec 12, 09:49
    • Chas on The Wage Thief: “My granny always used to say ‘Never trust a person with nae lips’! She was not wrong.Dec 12, 09:34
    • Dan on The Wage Thief: “Even if Estonia does go down the path you state, it still showed a fleeting glimpse of the potential to…Dec 12, 09:27
    • Robert Hughes on The Wage Thief: “” A friendly warning – you should not sign your posts with a name, the Rev does not like it.…Dec 12, 08:22
    • Robert Hughes on The Wage Thief: “Good to see you back , G πŸ™‚Dec 12, 08:18
    • Willie on The Wage Thief: “Seems that the popular support in the US is turning to support the young man alleged to have shot the…Dec 12, 06:22
    • Geri on The Wage Thief: “It’s barking mad. All coz one eejit country is an anti social fuckwit that can’t decide if God gave them…Dec 12, 05:37
    • Geri on The Wage Thief: “My guess, btw, if they’d to choose it’d be the one with the most to offer. The one with extensive…Dec 12, 05:17
    • Geri on The Wage Thief: “That last para is absolute bollox & has been debunked a gazillion times. & The West lied just the once?…Dec 12, 01:59
    • Geri on The Wage Thief: “Unfortunately Estonia has jettisoned in a rabid psycho & Ursula Von derHitler has ushered her pal into the EU fold…Dec 12, 01:13
    • Geri on The Wage Thief: “He has spoken of regrets about that in the past. The more he was in the job the more shit…Dec 12, 01:01
    • Robert Matthews on The Wage Thief: “The usual ‘colonial’ guff from a man with an Anglo Saxon first name.Dec 12, 00:49
    • znovak on The Wage Thief: “Thanks for the response, I wrote what I think about Sachs (and why) in a reply to Breeks a little…Dec 11, 23:04
    • znovak on The Wage Thief: “Thanks for a long and thoughtful response, even if I have to disagree with parts of it. I reply late,…Dec 11, 22:57
    • Robert Matthews on The Wage Thief: “If Alba intervene in constituency races in 2026, they will harm independence and harm themselves on the listDec 11, 22:54
    • agent X on The Wage Thief: “I bet all the 1000s of OAPs ( aka – Geriatric Millionaires , according the warped perception of ” some…Dec 11, 21:54
    • gregor on The Wage Thief: “The Vandals: Internet Dating Superstuds: 43210-1: “Stop! Pretending you’re even having fun You just stand there looking dumb and bored…Dec 11, 21:52
    • Willie on The Wage Thief: “Assisted Dying – it’s here now big time with these sub zero temperatures and Starmer’s removal of the pensioner heating…Dec 11, 21:50
  • A tall tale



↑ Top
149
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x