The world's most-read Scottish politics website

Wings Over Scotland


WCR Smackdown 2012

Posted on August 15, 2012 by

We can’t let this magnificent crushing of ever-hapless Scottish Lib Dem leader William Cowan Rennie, by Alison Elliot – the admirably blunt convenor of the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations – go unrecorded. It requires no additional commentary, though we haven’t been able to resist highlighting a few of our favourite bits.

“15 August 2012

Willie Rennie MSP
M2.21
The Scottish Parliament
Edinburgh
EH99 1SP

Dear Willie

In your letter (14 August), you have made serious allegations against the CEO of SCVO, based on two specific incidents. I consider your allegations preposterous, your interpretation of the incidents fanciful and your attempt to interfere in the business of an independent organisation unworthy of a public leader. I have no intention of asking Martin to resign.

It can be argued that, were it not for the efforts of civil society, through the Constitutional Convention, there would not be a Scottish Parliament for you to be an MSP in. That was of its time but civil society always has a role in a healthy democracy.

The poll which the Future of Scotland published last month indicates that there is an appetite among the public at present for a wide debate about Scotland’s future, something which should be no threat to the seasoned politicians who lead the two referendum campaigns.

It is this debate which organisations in civil society are promoting, with the intention of encouraging people to develop a vision of the kind of Scotland they want to see so as to inform their referendum decision. It is not a campaign for any particular outcome, or for any particular mechanism for achieving an outcome.

Special advisers from all the main political parties, including your own, have been in dialogue with SCVO in recent months; that is their job. We welcome these conversations and engage in them vigorously from our perspective as a civil society organisation that has an interest, on behalf of our members, in contributing to policies that shape the environment in which the third sector works. We are quite clear about the grounds on which we base our arguments; they are formed by the work and concerns of our members, not by any party political stance.

SCVO is not a front for anyone, nor will it be told by outsiders what it will or will not debate or how it should conduct its business.

Yours sincerely

Alison Elliot
Convener, SCVO”

As Archie McPherson might say: oooft.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

59 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
uilleam_beag

Beautiful, simply beautiful. That’s Wullie tellt!

Embradon

Don’t think Wullie will be referring to this on his CV.

Tris

You would think, wouldn’t you, that in a party as small as the Scottish Liberal Democrats, it wouldn’t be unreasonable for the leader to be aware of who was talking to whom, and that his party had been involved in talks with SCVO.

Or maybe he just thinks that SCVO should support his stance.

The trouble with Willie is that he’s not really party leader material, not even micro-party leader material, and he loves to punch above his weight by having something to say about everything, whether or not it makes any sort of sense. 

Cuphook

Willie Rennie is following the Unionist strategy of discrediting any person or organisation that questions the Westminster line. He will further follow that line by refusing to apologise.

Jeannie

Well, to quote an old phrase,”she didnae miss him and hit the wa'”, did she.  First Isabel Fraser verbally nuts Ian Davidson and now this.  C’mon the wimmin!
 

McHaggis

O/T but I also see Doug Gilon is at it again in the Herald sports pages with a piece I couldn’t believe I was reading.

To save you all the trouble, it basically states that the mostly south east england crowds at the Olympics cheered every competitor equally, but at the Commonwealth games Scotland will display its racism (his words not mine) towards the English by being somewhere less than generous in its accolades?

Essentially, Scotland = racists
England = fairplay and inclusive

The suggestion being that not actively supporting another country at a sporting event I am racist. What planet is this man on? 

MajorBloodnok

Ahahha!  No need to wrap the letter in a rolling pin then!

redcliffe62

Not in the MSM so far then? If Salmond had stupidly written this it would be page 1 with Magnus slavering at every word.

Also………  

I hope England get an anthem they like by 2014 Comm Games. 

I used to wonder why there were so few Norn Irish athletes but as so many compete for Ireland as first preference I guess they have a smaller pool to pick from.

Not too many from Scotland singing God save the queen, only Murray mumbling so he can coincidentally of course get a few more votes in SPOTY, but I suspect none singing from the Falls Road.

Andrew

Redcliffe
England does have a national anthem. It’s called “God Save The Queen”. Whether they like it or not is another matter.

James Morton

This man has been slapped down but hard so many times that one wonders if he is just immune to common sense?

Morag

Could I inquire what it was Rennie said to this lady that prompted the retort?  I think I missed an episode.

Doug Daniel

I’m getting really sick of the pathetic nit-picking by unionist politicians. I’m looking forward to the referendum being over (and won) so I can just ignore politics completely, like any normal sane person does.

Far too many people’s games need to be upped. We deserve better than this pish. Bring on the 2016 clear out at Holyrood, so we can get first-rate politicians in there, rather than the C-team Westminster-reject numpties we currently have to put up with.

John Lyons

In a nutshell Morag, he said the SCVO was a front for the SNP!

Gaavster

@Morag – It’s linked to in the article above Morag

It’s the blue (embedded) ‘letter’ in the script

Here’s the old-fashioned link –

http://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/william-rennie-calls-for-head-of-voluntary-council-to-quit-for-being-too-closely-associated-with-snp-1-2467682?commentssort=1&commentspage=3  

ronlad alexander mcdonald

Don’t think Willie will ever win Mastermind. He  looks and acts like man with a potassium deficiency. Just waiting for him to have a rant about the price of bananas!

Oh dear the unionist can’t take it. Well tough shit! They can fuck off and mismanage England(no disrespect to the poor English victims)  and leave us alone to make our own decisions.   

Galen10

Priceless – as elegant and forceful a slpa-down as I have read in a long time. So impressed was I by this that I felt moved to email the hapless Mr Rennie at Holyrood to back up the dressing down delivered by the estimable Ms. Elliot as follows:

“Dear Mr Rennie,
 I have been following the news stories about your ill-judged attack on the CEO of the SVCO, and your frankly somwhat paranoid claims about Mr Sime, with some interest.
 
Hopefully after some due reflection you will find yourself agreeing with the sentiments expressed by Alison Elliot in her letter to you of today, which is as elegant and forceful a put down as I have seen in some time. Her slap down of your preposterous allegations is right on the money.
 
The increasingly hysterical and desperate tone of the attacks mounted by Labour and Lib Dem politicians in particular, simply reinforces the views of many of us that those opposing independence are as bereft of manners as they are of ideas. Your actions may be slightly less thuggish than those of Ian Davidson of ill-fame in his attacks (variously) on Dr Eilidh Whiteford, Isabel Fraser and the BBC, but they are all of a piece.
 
You should be throughly ashamed of yourself. It is bad enough that your party is in bed with the Tories, and standing shoulder to shoulder with them in its attempts to subvert the referendum process which has a clear mandate from the Scottish people, but claiming that the independence and credibility of the SVCO is somehow in question on the basis of the threadbare “evidence” you have produced simply makes matters worse.
 
I am no supporter of the SNP, but the way the Unionist parties have been responding to the referendum issue, and their lack of a positive case for Scotland remianing in the Union, or any detailed plans for what further devolution is on offer, and how your parties could deliver it at Westminster, makes me more convinced than ever that independence for Scotland would be the best option for both Scotland and the rest of the UK.
 
Yours sincerely, etc…..

Holebender

Rennie is an idiot.
 
When he came out with his silly notion that a 51% vote for independence would be trumped by a 99% vote for devo max in a two question referendum I had an exchange of e-mails with him in which I proved mathematically that he was wrong. I’ll give him his due in that he did actually answer me, but he proved his idiocy in the end by trying to say that mathematics was no more than opinion and that we must agree to disagree.
 
Rennie is an idiot (and no cousin of mine, despite my maternal grandmother having been born a Rennie). Alex Johnstone, the Tory MSP, is, on the other hand, really my cousin – much to my chagrin.

Andrew

Holebender
 
So Rennie received an unsolicited email.
 
He should resign immediately!

Holebender

Andrew, is reading comprehension a problem for you? Rennie believes that mathematics is a matter of opinion. For that he should shut the fuck up.

MajorBloodnok

Yes, he should denounce himself to the Scotsman and then get Ian Davidson to give him a doing for good measure.

Andrew

Holebender
 
I referred to the fact that Rennie had called for Martin Sime’s resignation because he received an unsolicited email from someone in the SNP, and suggested he should consider his own position as he had received a similarly unsolicited email from your good self.
 
It was just my rather feeble little attempt at sarcasm and I apologise if I was being too obtuse for you.

MajorBloodnok

@Holebender and Andrew:
That’s funny, I took it that Andrew was referring to the letter from Alison Elliot, not Holebender’s email ;o) However, I am remarkably obtuse, being sadly educated out of my wits.

cynicalHighlander

When in a hole keep…..
 
link to scotlibdems.org.uk

Andrew

cynicalHighlander
 
That’s quite incredible.

MajorBloodnok

It’s beyond idiocy. Remarkable.

McHaggis

Similar to Davidson, when caught in an act of idiocy, no shame as they try to cover up by lashing out…

Does he really believe this will endear him to his own party members let alone other voting members of the public?

What an arse. 

Juteman

Well, Norman Wisdom IS a comedian. 🙂

Betsy

Rennie really wants the back of legs slapping.
Does anyone know if he actually intends to produce any evidence to support these remarkable assertions of his? Or is he just relying on no-one being terribly interested in what he says other than keen students of political buffoonery and a handful of well-intentioned but misguided relatives.

Bugger (the Panda)

How can one put more that two feet in one’s mouth at the same time?
 
Rennie needs to have a Law (Murphy’s style) named after him.
 
I am baffled how someone could be so stupid. Then again cooncillor Terry Kelly has blazed the way.
 

Holebender

Andrew, it seems I have mistaken you for a LibDem, for which I unreservedly apologise.

James T

And the Hits just keep on coming….

 

megabreath

Looked in the dictionary there and under “Balloon” it had “Rennie”(scots)

Andrew

Holebender
 
OMG I must have been even more obtuse than I thought :0

Betsy

@bugger the panda,
A while back I jokingly mentioned that Cllr Terry Kelly ought to be put in charge of the NO campaigns tactics. In the light of Davidson’s extraordinary tantrum and now this from Rennie, I am now beginning to worry about having made the remark a mere stone’s throw from John Smith House. One more absurd outburst from one of these gimps and I’ll know they heard me.


pro-loco

Is there a theme here of the unionistas trying to bully civic scotland into silence?

And what is their problem with women?  

Celyn

Beautiful letter from the S.C.V.O! 

As for maths being a matter of opinion, I wish my schoolteachers had thought so.  🙂 

MajorBloodnok

The thought did occur to me that Rennie might now be a contender for a Perrier comedy award at the Fringe…

Ananurhing

A timely reminder that the only Scottish Libdem politician with a shred of credibility left is Tavish. Wee Wullie Rennie is a chancer who has lost the right to call himself a democrat.

Iain Gray's Subway Lament

pro-loco says:
 “Is there a theme here of the unionistas trying to bully civic scotland into silence?
And what is their problem with women”

Speaking of which, Davidson back on Newsnicht right now blustering away. The twat.

Andrew

Ananurhing
“Credibility” and “Tavish” in the same sentence?

Macart

Oooooooo that’ll leave a mark. Light blue touchpaper and retire ten paces.

I wonder if Willie gets up in the morning and considers ‘just what more can I do to drop the Libdem’s past reputation and values in the dumpster of history?’ 

James Morton

Tavish put his “credibility” through a plausibility mincer with his wild idea about the Orkney islanders splitting off from Scotland….then linking up with the UK.
There is also his rather bizarre performance during the leaders debate for the SP elections in 2011.

Seasick Dave

The technical term for Rennie is a FAWN; ******* Annoying Wee Nyaff.

Ananurhing

“Tavish” and “credibility”. Hey…….he resigned on a point of principle. Surely that qualifies as a shred. Perhaps I’m being generous and using the term relatively compared to the likes of Rennie, Moore, and Swinson, who are more than happy to offer themselves up on all fours for a stab at an ermine jaikit.

MajorBloodnok

This has to be one of the funniest episodes of Unionist ineptitude in recent months.  Mind you, there was that Better Together’s referendum question Electoral Commission fiasco, and Ian Davidson on Newsnicht, and of course Johann “How many beans make five” Lamont at FMQ… all very entertaining.

Bugger (the Panda)

Cognitive dissonance can be a portal to many strange maladies.

Jim Campbell

Where does Oor Willie get his silly notions from ?

Is he looting “ideas from Labour’s PR department
that even the Scotsman thought were too stupid to print” ?
(despite A. Cochrane’s blessing)

Hey Charles !    Dump Westminster and announce that you are voting YES 
in the referendum and will run as an independent liberal democrat in the next
Scottish Parliamentary Election.  Also announce that you  will be running for the
leadership of the Scottish lib-dems.

get elected  

MajorBloodnok

@Jim Campbell
Good point – where is Charlie Kennedy these days?

Bugger (the Panda)

@MajorBloodnok
 
Wher is Michael Moore?
 
Probably in the same place as Charlie Kennedy.

Arbroath 1320

Who IS Michael Moore? 😆

Morag

Guy who made Bowling for Columbine and Sicko.

MajorBloodnok

I always think of him fondly as the guy who blows himself up in Team America: World Police.

The MP, not the film-maker, obviously.

orpheuslyre

Curiously, Lib Dem Blogger Caron Lindsay thinks that this letter by Allison Elliot actually *proves* Oor Wullie’s point.

I don’t think it does.

But I do marvel at the perennial combination of gross piety and outright intellectual dishonesty of many Lib Dems.

 link to carons-musings.blogspot.co.uk 
 

pa_broon

Read Caron’s piece, it didn’t seem to matter how much I mentally squinted my eyes, it didn’t really wash.

Willie even thought he’d help by explaining in his letter what the SCVO was supposed to do, I think they probably know that already better than he does.
I don’t know what the lib dems are for any more, I used to feel they were a bit hard done by, now I just feel pity. I wouldn’t vote Rennie onto a town council, he’s just not good enough.
Reading a bit further, it turns out the entire story was picked up by Magnus Gardham now of the Herald.

I think that says it all.

Iain Gray's Subway Lament

Lindsay is merely Willie Rennie’s pliant mouthpiece and will gratefully trot out his party line and ridiculous spin without engaging any critical faculties.
The idea that merely objecting to and correcting a loser like Rennie’s ignorant and desperate attempts to smear the SVCO as partisan somehow proves Rennie’s case is risible nonsense bordering on outright lunacy.
But it does now appear to be the despicable unionist strategy to try and bully opponents, particularly women now, into silence and try to discredit them by smearing them as partisan and SNP supporters when anyone even remotely objective knows it’s a lie and a pathetic one at that.
 
It’s amazing just how low the lib dems have sunk since becoming tory poodles and Thatcherite style true believers in attacking the poor, the unemployed and the disabled with their cuts to welfare.
The lib dems continued destruction is not only assured, with the likes of Clegg and his yes man Rennie at the helm in scotland, it is well deserved and immensely satisfying.
 
 
 
 

scottish_skier

“and try to discredit them by smearing them as partisan and SNP supporters”

Which could have cost those being smeared their job back in my parents day.

Given that just shy of half the electorate support the SNP nowadays, with ‘satisfied’ ratings up to 60% in polls over the last year, seems this old classic unionist tactic is just a little dated.  

Then there’s the strange irony of an e.g. Labour politician saying someone who supports the SNP is ‘biased’. This irony is hardly going to be lost on people; well not those making up their minds anyway…  

Barontorc

Lib-Dem status politically and morally is around the square root of nought – so why bother with what  Rennie or Scott or Ming, or Moore or Alexander or any other of that truly disgraced tribe utter? I also include Charlie Kennedy if he includes himself.

The manifesto efforts from all political aspirants  for the 2016 GE in Scotland will be very illuminating indeed. The crass venality of these unionist ball-carriers will be quite an emetic.


  • About

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

    Stats: 6,670 Posts, 1,202,831 Comments

  • Recent Posts

  • Archives

  • Categories

  • Tags

  • Recent Comments

    • Mia on The Long Unravelling: “Actually, twathater, he might have been democratically elected to the post of MSP, but he was “coronated” as leader of…Nov 22, 09:03
    • Zander Tait on The Long Unravelling: “Thanks RM, So another poll showing 52% to 48% in favour of Yes. Humpster will be down in the Dumpster.Nov 22, 08:42
    • Dan on The Long Unravelling: “If energy is too expensive to buy to keep you, your family home, or business premises warm, you can at…Nov 22, 08:41
    • Mac on The Long Unravelling: “Now into telling blatant lies to justify gen0ocide and ethnic cleansing. What a repulsive individual. The world can see who…Nov 22, 08:09
    • Hatey McHateface on The Long Unravelling: “Winter Covid’s making a resurgence, Gregor. Many don’t know when they have it. First thing to go is the sense…Nov 22, 07:52
    • Hatey McHateface on The Long Unravelling: “Stupidity, surely. He’s standing with the burners of babies, the rapist mutilators of teenage lassies, the hostage takers, the indiscriminate…Nov 22, 07:27
    • Hatey McHateface on The Long Unravelling: “Well, well. So you do have an ‘S’ on your keyboard. It’s just “scotland” that has to go without. Who’d…Nov 22, 07:16
    • Hatey McHateface on The Long Unravelling: “‘This is not a case of me , you , or anyway else thinking our opinions are ” superior ”’…Nov 22, 07:07
    • Hatey McHateface on The Long Unravelling: “Sure, Breeks. The soil of Holy Mother R is, of course, sacred. The soil of everywhere else, like U for…Nov 22, 07:00
    • Hatey McHateface on The Long Unravelling: “Falling out of windows is certainly endemic in R and its satellites. But targets and innocent bystanders can also get…Nov 22, 06:53
    • Robert Hughes on The Long Unravelling: “Yes , indeed , B . I’ve never known such levels of mendacious propaganda being spewed 24/7 by MSM &…Nov 22, 06:03
    • Oneliner on The Long Unravelling: “Yep – better to stick to an ad hominem like ‘microbe’ Do you have any mirrors in your butt an’…Nov 22, 05:21
    • Mark Beggan on The Long Unravelling: “He should have grown a moustache like Neil Gray.Nov 22, 04:59
    • Breeks on The Long Unravelling: “I haven’t either, indeed it’s something of a fallacy calling them newspapers. A cursory glance in the direction of the…Nov 22, 04:56
    • The Flying Iron of Doom on The Long Unravelling: “Don’t you mean “You fall out with the Tsar, you fall out of a window”? 🙂Nov 22, 03:00
    • Robert Matthews on The Long Unravelling: “https://www.progressscotland.org/uploads/Progress-Scotland-Nov-Release.pdfNov 22, 02:51
    • Robert Matthews on The Long Unravelling: “https://www.progressscotland.org/uploads/Progress-Scotland-Nov-Release.pdfNov 22, 02:49
    • Robert Matthews on The Long Unravelling: “Julius Evola – The Yoga of Power: Tantra, Shakti and the Secret Way, should steer you in the Right direction.Nov 22, 02:43
    • Campbell Clansman on The Long Unravelling: “I see that I’m living rent-free in your head. … Perhaps you’d explain how childish name-calling advances your cause?Nov 22, 02:23
    • Michael Laing on The Long Unravelling: “Perhaps you could explain to us, Camp Bellend, how Scotland benefits from being in the UK? How does having governments…Nov 21, 23:37
    • Michael Laing on The Long Unravelling: “It’s deliberate. He’s an unelected UK state plant. He’s just continuing the sabotage and destruction that’s been ongoing since 2014.Nov 21, 23:11
    • Zander Tait on The Long Unravelling: “You do like your facts embedded in your fantasy future Dumpster CamelMan. Unfortunately for you Cancer FannyBaws the last two…Nov 21, 22:58
    • Shug on The Long Unravelling: “I do hope Swinney and co turn up at Salmond’s memorial so we can tell them what we think of…Nov 21, 22:52
    • wull on The Long Unravelling: “Flynn should also have known that Alex Salmond also donated one of the two salaries he had at one point…Nov 21, 22:39
    • Campbell Clansman on The Long Unravelling: “Glasgow is an Indy stronghold. If these areas vote 2-1 Unionist parties, all the Alba/Salvo fantasies and all the lies…Nov 21, 22:37
    • Zander Tait on The Long Unravelling: “There ain’t no medals for his kind of bravery.Nov 21, 21:38
    • Mac on The Long Unravelling: “I have not bought a newspaper in 20 years but I have an X subscription which I bought just a…Nov 21, 21:30
    • Mac on The Long Unravelling: “What Craig Murray is doing is beyond brave. I really thought he had a death wish this last couple of…Nov 21, 20:56
    • Ian Brotherhood on The Long Unravelling: “Watching that right now. It’s remarkable, listening to these people, (regardless of whether you agree with them or not) and…Nov 21, 20:50
    • znovak on The Long Unravelling: “Craig Murray’s argument about purity is fallacious. When organic chemists say that that the product of synthesis was 95% pure,…Nov 21, 20:46
  • A tall tale



↑ Top
114
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x