Wagging the dog
Posted on
May 24, 2014 by
Chris Cairns
The world's most-read Scottish politics website
-
About
Wings Over Scotland is a (mainly) Scottish political media digest and monitor, which also offers its own commentary. (More)
-
Recent Posts
- 11-12
- 11-09
- 11-06
- 11-04
- 11-03
- 11-02
- 10-29
- 10-26
- 10-26
- 10-21
- 10-19
- 10-16
- 10-13
- 10-11
- 10-10
- 10-07
- 10-06
- 10-05
- 09-28
- 09-26
A tall tale
Wee Books
Video
Probably a robbery
Transphobia
Good take, as the tail certainly is wagging the dog.
He is in the right place
That pooch just got mounted by the BBC. Why BBC liggers want UKIP to win so much is another teamGB mystery.
Heedtracker
It has to be that “they” want to drive the Tory Party further right and then force the Labour Party back to the trendy pseudo lefty intellectual Party, or summat.
There has to be a reason and it is not because “they” are right wing.
Think Lefty academic “stab in the back” politics.
I look forward to Saturday Morning and Chris Cairn’s graphic summations.
daily mail
UKIP 4 me, Exeter, United Kingdom, 7 hours ago
Vote UKIP at all times
593 positive
64 negative
.
Great Toon Chris, but were is Nigel Garages infamous ‘Gottle o’ Gear’.
Nae baws. Does that make the UK a bitch? 🙂
Farage is achieving what he wants without actually winning Councillors. He is setting the agenda and when you control the agenda you are onto a winner. He’s actually being very clever by keeping the argument extremely narrow and that appeals to those who don’t want to think to much.
Keep it simple, that’s his plan and it is working.
The other parties will seek to move into the territory occupied by UKIP. So, without achieving the numbers, Farage gets what he wants.
The question for Scotland is what will the Labour and Liberals do. Follow the leader (Farage) or cut loose from the Right Wing agenda? This is the point in the debate where we really get to see the true colours of Scottish Labour. Are they Crypto-Tories or do they have a social conscience? I hope I’m wrong, but I suspect that many of the leadership, including Johann Lamont simply do not have the best interests of the Scottish people at heart.
I would appeal to any within Scottish Labour who will listen, please don’t allow Scotland to be dragged into the abyss.
O/T Does anyone know when the 10,000 flags for Scotland are coming?
The Gumball 3000 rally is coming to Edinburgh accompanied by all the World’s TV stations on Saturday and Sunday 7 and 8 of June.
link to thisisedinburgh.com
Are you thinking what I am thinking?
My take on UKIP is that they are nothing more than a pressure group tasked with a single mission to drag the UK political map to the right, in much the same way as the tea-party do in the USA. The level of difference between the two main UK parties is now pretty much the same as it is between the US Democrats & Republicans.
The illusion of choice.
Very impressed with your cartooning and satirising skills Chris but also very disturbed by pretty much everything about that image (and the state of uk politics, so you hit the nail on the head) 🙂
What an arse!
UKiP a minority fringe Party with absolutely no power. Given unaccountable publicity. Once it gets one MP in Westminster it will be held to account.
SNP airbrushed out of Electoral campaign, by MSM, undemocratically. A Democracy needs a balanced Press.
Vote YES and SNP if necessary in 2015. The SNP could hold the balance of power at Westminster which would be a powerful negotiating position. Get rid liars and vote for Democracy.
[…] Wagging the dog […]
Dr JM Mackintosh
Does anyone know when the 10,000 flags for Scotland are coming?
I was told I would get my flag by the end of May.
And why is their only 10,000 flags?. Lets double that number, at least.
Today it might be worth keeping an eye on on Radio 1’s Big Weekend – an annual mini-festival of live pop and rock acts. This year they’re in Glasgow, this weekend. I’ll be watching the footage to see any undercurrents of Yes (or No…) folk on the ground.
Plus, Paolo Nutini is closing tomorrow night – I wouldn’t be surprised if he said something from the stage. Keep ’em peeled!
If I might offer a criticism – why is the British Bulldog sad? Farage isn’t a hemorrhoid on the British psyche – he’s a butt plug.
I see in the Independent that LibDem activists are calling for Clegg’s head, or at least a leadership contest. Is it to much to consider that if the Euro results are poor for the LibDems, there could be pressure for Clegg to go and that may result in the LibDems leaving the coalition, thus precipitating a crisis in the Government. Can there be an early Westminster general election before 2015 if the coalition collapses?
I look forward to the start of the purdah when these MSM types have to toe the line. Maybe then we can get a level playing field and allow us to concentrate our efforts on converting the undecided and naysayers rather than forever be firefighting the deceit.
That genetic engineering has gone to far,1st it was human
ears grown on Mice’s, now human Heid’s on dugs arse’s an
an whit a heid tae experement on, Chris you should have
put it under the tail. Piles are a laughable condition ,
unless you suffer from them. Good cartoon keep em coming.
Alfresco.
Wouldn’t dragging the British map ti the right take the UK right into the heart of Europe? Geographically, if nothing else.
O/T, Silvertay donated 2 raffle prizes for the CH2 gig,ah
hope oor raffle seller Mrs Irene King can make the venue.
Dr JM Mackintosh
Does anyone know when the 10,000 flags for Scotland are coming?
What flags are these? and where would I get one or more?
Thanks
As a window cleaner I speak to lots of people everyday. I like to get onto independence as quickly as I can and this is a conversation I’ve had five times this week:
Them: I’m kind of for independence, don’t like Alex Salmond and like UKIP’s ideas.
Me: They don’t have any ideas, they have one policy and that’s if you’re white you’re alright.
Them: What about immigration (Coming Over Here Klaxon!!!) it needs control and UKIP will sort that.
Me: We’re in Broughty fu–in Ferry, FFS, where are all these bad people you talk about?
Them: Yeah but no but yeah but no but……
Me: Do you go to Asif Brothers for your newspapers, Visocchis for a cone, the tapas bar for eating out, the Chinese, Indian or kebab shop for a takeaway, the Turkish Barber for yir haircut and a shave? If so please show me where all these bloody foreigners are that you dislike so much.
Them: That’s different.
There’s work to be done.
Is that a tail, or a bawbag in the wrong place?
That’s the dog with the two assholes?
The ruling powers realise that the sham democracy we have isn’t working anymore. Us plebs have sussed their game. They have manufactured a protest party that suits them, before the plebs start forming real alternative parties of their own.
Churchill Insurance jumps on the UKIP bandwagon.
FARAGE: Hey Churchill! What do you say to foreign-johnnys wanting to take out car insurance?
DOG: No no no no no.
Can’t get into Derek Bateman blog! Any ideas?
Anyone else having trouble getting Derek Bateman’s site?
From the “Terrierman” blog. 😉
link to terriermandotcom.blogspot.co.uk
no DB site for me either, seems to want to change the url dropping the wordpress bit at the end.
Could the BBC have pushed UKIP so much because they expected it would be Tory voters who would vote for them only to find out it was also disaffected Labour and Libdems and people who apparently had not voted for anyone in recent years. The BBC are absolutely to blame for the rise of UKIP, people think if Nigel Farage is constantly on the BBC he must be acceptable/respectable.
Very appropriate.
I always thought of Farage as having a face like a dog’s a**e!
Considering what he talks a load of, shouldn’t his mouth be a bit lower down? 😉
(Apologies to anyone trying to eat breakfast right now! hehe)
I was getting Derek Bateman’s site earlier this morning but there seems to be some sort of glitch now. He’s away so it will may well stay like that for a while.
If it weren’t so serious I think the UKIP phenomenon is an interesting experiment in how much power the MSM has actually got. Since the local election I have heard both radio 4 news and Any Questions discuss what policies the three main parties are actually going to change to meet this revolution in UK politics. And I am bemused. What revolution? UKIP took some council seats but so far as I know at present they do not even have control of a single council. How is this a “sea change”? Looks more like a protest vote to me. and that is hardly unusual. It is a large protest. That is not surprising given how far people have lost faith in mainstream politics. But I am asking myself whether the greens would have had similar success if they were never out of the press or off the electronic media. Farage is ubiquitous, though his party has not a single MP, unlike the greens.
Seems to me the media is still powerful but not as powerful as they like to think.
The fact that UKIP did not do so well in London as elsewhere suggests to me that this is not about xenophobia per se: it is about jobs. Immigrants are being blamed for high unemployment. which is a very familiar excuse and tactic from plutocrats who actively promote high unemployment because it is essential to their economic theory.
However that may be the MSM are presenting this as much more important than it needs to be, for reasons which genuinely escape me.
Great cartoon! It made my morning, so shared on Facebook! Says everything!
O/t. When are the Flags for yes coming and when are the Bannockburn tickets coming?
Love the cartoon. What a skill to cover a topic so well with one picture!
The BBC might have hoped that hyping UKIP would make more people vote Labour.
looks like another day of Shite from the great & the good
political elete, spouting same old shite on the rise of
UKIP, they jist dont get the message from people.
THE ELECTORATE ARE FED UP OF THE SAME OLD SHIT, LAB/CONS/
LDEMS. RIGHT OR WRONG UKIP ARE THE CHANGE OF BRITISH
POLITICS,& THREATENS THE ESTABLISHED COMFORT ZONE OF OTHER
POLITICAL PARTYS.
YES CAN ONLY GAIN FROM THE APATHY IN ENGLAND.
I remember the Flags for YES being sometime in June FoS.
Are we under DDOS attack duplicate comment appearing.
As said before, and the cartoon sums it up in the usual style, there is no rise of UKIP, it is a pressure group with one issue being allowed (by whom ?) to drive policy on that one issue.
The political mandarins are all mock horror, accusing UKIP of racism, but if they were then surely these lawmakers and shakers would be able to ban them on that basis ?
If i used racist overtones to someone i would be arrested and investigated after all, so if UKIP are inherently racist as every politico loves to tell us, when did the investigation start ?
The “4th party in UK politics” is the best spin yet, they do not have a single council in their control nor a single UK MP.
In fact they have a leader who avoids standing for parliament, yet claims his party are in european elections to act like some demented 5th columnists to get the UK out of the EU despite having zero chance of doing so.
There is zero chance Cameron will have a referendum in 2017 imo, even with a clear majority, it will be deemed ” against the national interest” at that particular time since we ” cannot afford to rock the boat” during the fabled economic recovery when we are so close to it.
Correct me if i am wrong, but has the tories given an unbreakable legal guarantee there will be an in out referendum if there is a tory majority, and even so, why is there no pledge to fight for one in the event of another hung parliament, why is it majority or bust ?
Re the Flags, the details of the fundraiser is here. They should be available from next week.
link to indiegogo.com
When I went to that site I saw another live fundraiser:
link to indiegogo.com
Just clocked the wee booklet in the Record in the paper shop ‘the facts you need’ 12 glossy pages A5 size. Printed by better together.
Do you need a postal vote? It asks.
I might have snaffled one … On the way out.
Looks like Better Together are really splashing the cash. Their “The Facts(sic) You Need” booklet seems to in every Daily Record, at least in my local Sainsburys. There was also three of them at the side panel, staring incoming shoppers in the face. I bagged them then noticed more there on my way out. Someone must be under orders to keep topping them up. All in all I purloined nine. Well, if they are going to lie to people they cannot expect us to play fair.
But it made me wonder, just what are the YES campaign doing with the Weir’s money and all our individual donations? Where are the Yes leaflets in papers or through our doors? Apart from a few billboards and the paper, and the current one is quite poor imo, they seem to be content to let the other side steal a march on them. I don’t buy this, “it’s too early to be ahead in the polls anyway”, we’d love it if we were 50%+ with BT having to lie even more to catch up. It would be hilarious! Sorry, but I’m becoming a bit disillusioned by the lack of activity from Yes.
Nothing, absolutely nothing happens in the UK unless it’s approved by the ‘establishment’, never forget that. The landslide vote for the SNP in 2011 was an enormous blip for the movers ‘n’ shakers and you see the truth of that in the comments that followed – ‘it wasn’t supposed to happen’, ‘Holyrood was ‘designed’ to maintain the status quo’, its only in that light that you realise the game we’re all in and that affects all of rUK too.
The whole MSM and the BBC is a single operation, the enemy of democracy – realise that and seek to find a legal/UN/Human Rights mechanism to combat it. It must also be very close to another tipping point when the Scottish Government has enough information to tell the Electoral Commission that they are appearing as unfit for controlling the Referendum process and they will be supplemented by UN observers for the duration.
Come on guys! Mark needs more support for his ” Rome to home” ride . He arrives in Gretna soon and will be greeted by Dumfries YES. This is worth supporting! What a great ride!
Sorry this is o/t
The Man in the Jar says, read the bit about the English Bulldog and as an owner of the much despised Chinese Pug, I would like to say that mine, who is a big Pug has sent many a dog packing who thinks he is a whimp, and he did, not that long ago, send a young, very well built English Bulldog on his way for sniffing his bum. Thing is the much despised at least by Terrierman Chinese Pug is that the Pug is such an ancient breed that it has more wolf in his DNA than most others.
Bob Mills has kindly called this website “Wings over Leith”. Such an insightful commentator on things Scotch.
On Radio Five that is.
George Osbourne back to the LISTENING stage & act.
Goerdie boy people have been shouting for long enough
YOUR NO LISTENING , ONLY AFTER A KICK IN THE ARSE TO ALL
POLITICAL PARTY’S DO YOU ‘S WANT TO LISTEN, THEN TURN DEEF
AFTER A ELECTION.
Cons havent fractured on the result of loseing council
seats. George says so. & the Bbc havent reported any
dissent from the Rank & File , oh would they ever do that,
their not known for their Biased reporting,after all their
a British establishment, & very respected thoughout the
World ma ERSE.
O/T I see the Daily Retard is highlighting your football supporters poll.
The prettiness of your bulldog makes the Farage tail all the more abhorrent — well done!
labour won OBAN by election
Neil MacIntyre, Scottish Labour Party – elected at stage 5 with 918 first preferences and after application of the election rules.
Re the Yes campaign putting ads in the cinema – what does that cost, I would imagine a lot.
I think if you had ads opposing what the BT ones said – it would seem like oh yes it is, oh no it isn’t, so I’m not sure it would be that affective.
Also people object to political ads in the cinema, it’s not why they went and also most folk seem to talk through the ads, or are still taking their seats or are on their mobile phones – it is a dilemma but I’m sure the Yes campaign are trying to make the best use out of the money donated
What the English local elections have shown is that Labour can not win a general election. It is now odds on that a Tory/UKIP coalition will form the next Westminster government. Surely the Scottish electorate faced with this alternative to independence will vote YES.
O/T again.
Prof John Robertson’s latest report is out….
link to newsnetscotland.com
Surprise Surprise – BBC bias against the Yes campaign on GMS.
I have found phoning the BBC to complain is much quicker here is the number 03700100222.
One of the call centres must be in Northern Ireland as they are very nice and can even understand my very angry, highland accent no problem.
Do not know if it will do any good but it does makes me feel better. It is good to talk.
On VNB cinema ads I have heard that people are now openly booing them.
If I saw one I would walk to the front of the cinema and point out they they are false and that Scotland is being lied to by London funded PR company.
That is the way to counter them.
Re Oban by election – There were a total of 3494 votes cast, which meant that the quota to get elected was 1748 (50% of votes cast + 1 vote).
On the first round of voting:
Neil MacIntyre had 918 votes out of 3494
Iain MacLean had 980 out of 3494
On the second round of voting:
Neil MacIntyre had 946 votes
Iain MacLean had 988 votes.
So although this was a victory for Labour, it looks complicated.
OT
Just picked this up on Derek Batemans Twitter page.
O/T Just been reading Gary Robertson (Good Morning Scotland etc.) will not have his contract renewed by the BBC when it runs out in August. Just a month before the Referendum, he is said to be furious and blaming incompetent management.
liz
rules are rules
I can see Scottish Green Party losing last seat Scotland,due to European rules ( : > (
Re Derek Bateman site, I’ve been unable to click on for a few weeks now. Sometimes Newsnetscotland shows the latest blog from DB on their site (click on Opinion) but you only get his piece, not access to any comments or a list of previous blogs by DB. But no way to contact him. If you’re reading this in Skye Derek, have a look at the problem please. We miss you, stay with us etc.
@ bookie from hell, Yes I know that I’m just saying the picture is complex, as the headlines will be Lab win, SNP lose.
And I know that helps the SNP sometimes as well.
@roll on 2014
That is pure gold, I’ll be spreading that far and wide!
@roll_on_2014 – that is LOL – is it photo-shopped or is it a break for the door?
thx liz
A lot of in-house fighting going on at the top of the Labour Party. Wee Dougie Alexander seems to be the scapegoat. Have a listen to the Ed Balls radio interview as well.
link to order-order.com
BT have a stall in St Andrews today, manned, with manned being the operative word, by , I guess, conservative students, but also supported by a few elderly folk. However it warmed my heart to see the cat rescue stall near by doing a much brisker trade. The BT stall is handing out the new booklet mentioned earlier in the thread
Liz – not sure if you’re responding to me but I never mentioned cinema ads, I would like to see the Yes campaign splash the cash on leaflets to counter the BT lies pamphlet.
A better Labour Party in-fighting link,
link to order-order.com
I keep getting told page not found when i go to Derek Bateman’s site . Wings too REV . When i use opera it gives me Wings pages from last May. Someones pissing about …. are we surprised ??
Derek i gather is off to the islands and will return l8r but a wee tip might be to change your browser. I am on mozilla now and Wings is ok but DB is still down .
We know they can muck up web pages. They will do anything to divide us but they will fail.
Anne
BT have a stall in St Andrews today, manned, with manned being the operative word, by , I guess, conservative students
I have their student rag, Features in front of me – was there last Monday to arrange an exhibition.
Front page devoted to the Yes argument. The centre two pages give Yes, No, and the University’s view, often way off beam skewered toward No.
Fly in the ointment of neutrality is a page devoted to Pillar of the Establishment, Sir Menzies Campbell’s “I Will Vote No to Independence,” the Chancellor of St Andrews.
His waffle is full of disinformation – as you’d expect from a spectacularly failed and ailing politician.
@ Yes Guy
Many thanks for your support for my blog. Much appreciated.
It’s gone viral again this week, average 250 hits an hour. Bit scary, actually.
Please apply here for Indy debate
link to bbc.co.uk
Sorry O/T but potentially good news. Picked up in the library a paper I hadn’t read before—tfn, Third Force News.
Headlines: Third sector rejects devolution promises (after a No vote) and TFN poll, correct at today’s date suggests 83% Indy, 3% status quo, 14% enhanced devolution.
No idea of methodology, but sounds good anyway.
For more go to thirdforcenews.org.uk
Grouse Beater at 12.42
Worth reminding the student paper that the History Man, Sir Menzies Campbell told the Lib Dems in Scotland not to enter into a coalition with SNP in 2007 as he opposed the very idea of holding a referendum on independence.
Some Liberal Democrat.
@Harry – yes I did think you meant cinema ads, leaflets would be a better idea.
I think the posters that the Rev got us to send the other day are also very good as they are straight to the point and a picture paints etc.
Will email the Yes campaign about this
@ Sinky
Sir Menzies Campbell told Lib Dems not to enter into a coalition with SNP in 2007
I remember that blunder.
I advised them to alter their slogan to:
“Vote Lib-Dem – We Reject Power!”
I’m adding my voice to the rising chorus of “WTF is the YES campaign actually DOING to counteract no’s lies and misinformation and to positively and actively promote the YES case?”
I understand that it’s largely a (genuinely) grassroots movement and that they are co-ordinating activists on the ground canvassing, leafleting etc, but is it enough? Will it be enough? If the referendum was held tomorrow we may well lose this once in a lifetime chance to say a very personal and collective “FUCK YOU” to the uk ruling class and their minions.
For example, checked out this link which someone here posted the other day link to indiegogo.com
Their fund has only reached a few hundred quid so far. What’s the Yes campaign doing with the Weirs’ donations plus the numerous smaller donations they must be getting.
I for one am beginning to find that in terms of counteracting the No side’s lies and scaremongering the claims that the Yes campaign is just “keeping its powder dry” increasingly concerning and as time goes by unsubstantiated. Right now I’m left with nothing but hope that they indeed do have some sort of winning strategy. Tick tock.
Re Generation Yes, I should have said their fund has only reached a couple of thousand quid so far.
seanair at 1.01pm
O/T
http://thirdsectoryes.org
Indeed it is really important that the third sector are in support of Independence in Scotland.
It is the only way they will continue to continue to provide support to the most vulnerable people in our communities.
blimey, must be tired typing continue to continue? Quick exit me thinks!
dkcm99
The only way possible for us to counter the No side’s lies is through the internet, where WOS is leading the way, and through the grassroots.
No matter what the official Yes campaign does to refute the lies, the media will put a negative spin to it.
So it is really best that the official Yes side sticks to its positive message while the grassroots enlighten the general public.
And I would say that democratically, the Yes side is winning. That is why No is getting more and more desperate.
Had a visit from a local Labour Councillor today with her BT leaflet. I have spoken to this lady before on an unrelated matter, and I have to say she is very conscientious and does a lot of work in the community as do all the local councillors up here (of varying political persuasions) but I’m afraid I rather lost it a bit with her and now feel a wee bit sorry. I’m not normally aggressive. But I did lay into her about SLAB in particular and how disgusted I feel with them (although I am not a Labour voter). However, I got the feeling that the substance of her argument for the Union was just – well, we’re better together so Vote No and forget the whole thing. I challenged her on her feelings about Trident, for example, but I don’t think, once having gathered I wasn’t on her wavelength, she was interested in further discussions except to say she had been the subject of ‘cybernat attacks’ but reluctantly (very reluctantly) agreed it was going on from both sides. She did bring up the subject – don’t they all – of how Scotland alone would have dealt with the banking crash. I reminded her of under whose watch it happened etc. I think they all speak from the same hymn sheet with no clear idea of what else to say. My feeling is that Scotland doesn’t really matter all that much to them.
Maid_in_Scotland
It is like a religious cult. They have sold the Farm and bought into it.
When challenged with logic and reasoning and explained how their cherished ideal is just nonsense, they freeze and try to rearrange reality to suit whatever they hear.
They cannot re-evaluate the basis of their belief and will die denying reality.
The Earth is flat.
o/t
Chief secretary to the treasury Danny Alexander says
(paraphrasing)
It doesn’t matter what it costs the UK government will pay for the restoration of the Rennie MacKintosh art school,
Anyone else smell the stench of black arts here?
What better way for London to suddenly look like the guys in white hats than paying for the repairs after an unexpected and unexplained fire?
re the Third Force News poll – I’ve just been to the site and voted. It isn’t a “proper” poll in that those voting are those who have chosen to do so. Nice though the results are (when I visited, more devolution was up and independence down on earlier reports, with still almost nothing for the status quo) they need to be put in context.
The existence of thirdsectoryes is actually far more important (and encouraging).
Westminster are entitled to foot any bill to restore the GSA, after all they threw cash(including Scottish taxpayer cash) at windsor castle after it had a fire.
I cannot recall historic building restoration being devolved, so cough up.
geeo – what about Historic Scotland?
link to historic-scotland.gov.uk
crazycat
I was careful to say POTENTIAL good news and query the methodology, but it was encouraging that it was splashed over the front page of a paper read by many people in this sector.
Obviously I am glad to hear that there is a thirdsectoryes organisation.
Maid_in_Scotland,
These people are brainwashed robots – no point in arguing or discussing anything with them.
The best medicine for such people is to tell them I am a definite Yes and then close the door without saying anything else.
Ronnie Anderson
Did you hear the latest on the above transplant?
Apparently the arse rejected the head.
@T-Jenny.
Its all about pooling and sharing though…Windsor castle repair/restoration came from all the Uk, let them use some of the uk pot for this restoration.
Sell a missile to help pay for it if they refuse.
????
Awwww…ma wee devil emoji thing didnae work !
Boo..