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Weaving lies from air

Posted on February 21, 2021 by

If there’s one subject this site can speak about with authority, readers, it’s defamation. We’re now into the FIFTH YEAR of a court action we brought against former Scottish Labour branch office manager Kezia Dugdale after she’d smeared us in a newspaper and in the Scottish Parliament with a vile personal slur which a sheriff and three senior appeal court judges all found to be unequivocally false and defamatory.

But they also ruled that because Dugdale is a drooling halfwitted imbecile who doesn’t know what simple words mean she was entitled to use her stupidity and ignorance as a defence, so we lost the case and to this day (the original smear having happened way back in 2017) our lawyers are still negotiating with her lawyers over the final costs.

So trust us when we tell you this: today’s front-page lead in the Herald On Sunday is a great big pile of stinky unmitigated horse-bollocks.

Because we know whereof we speak.

The story was the subject of heated debate on Twitter last night.

Alarm bells will have rung loudly in alert readers’ heads instantly at the involvement in the story of Hannah Rodger, who is the pet journalist of the SNP’s ugly transactivist wing and author of a whole string of stories pushing their endless whines and gripes and leaks aimed at damaging Cherry and other gender-critical voices in the party.

But even by Ms Rodger’s abysmal standards, this is grim stuff. Let’s look at that last claim, for a start. Is the online version “exactly what is printed in today’s paper”?

The version trailed last night starts with these words:

But the only piece on the Herald’s site this morning on the story is completely different, with a different headline and opening paragraph.

So we immediately know that Rodger is lying. But we knew that anyway, because it’s clear that what’s actually happened is that Cherry has sent the actor – notoriously foul, obnoxious, transactivist bully David Paisley, a man obsessed with trying to shut down gay advocacy group the LGB Alliance and a whole range of other feminist voices – a letter, and the Herald is relying on a casual description of that as “legal action”.

That’s why Rodger makes the ludicrous statement that the headline “does not imply” that Cherry has taken COURT action. Because any normal person reading about “legal action” and “a defamation action” would reasonably assume that it was a court matter.

And it’d be reasonable because that’s what legal action actually is.

A letter, even one that’s been delivered via solicitors, is NOT a “defamation action”. It’s just a request. It’s in fact an attempt to AVOID legal action. “Legal action” is a term that actually means something clear and specific.

You’re not taking legal action until you’re in a courtroom, or have at least initiated court proceedings. A letter is actually saying “please settle this matter or I may instigate legal action in the future. As that last definition notes, it’s a threat of legal action – it is not in itself legal action.

So Rodger and the Herald are making a statement that simply and unambiguously isn’t true, and then trying feebly to hide behind the presumption that dim Herald readers won’t understand the proper definition of the term. Because no “legal action” has in fact taken place, Rodger has to try to crassly pretend that the story isn’t implying what everybody and their blind dog knows it is.

Journalistically the article is a shambolic train-wreck of sub-student-newspaper-level drivel. Incredibly, it doesn’t actually bother to quote or even paraphrase either David Paisley’s allegedly defamatory tweet or the tweet from Cherry it was a response to, so bewildered readers are left trying to put together a jigsaw with literally no pieces.

The whole thing is – as anyone with experience of Rodger’s work would have been expecting – a one-sided hatchet job whose true purpose is to smear Cherry in the service of the transcult. It gives Paisley an unchallenged platform to bleat about the terrible hurt he’s supposedly suffered and cites unspecified “threats” and “harassment” that he’s supposedly been subjected to without providing a shred of detail or evidence for any of it.

(And implies that in merely sending a private letter Cherry is somehow responsible for the unidentified, alleged actions of these unnamed people.)

Amazingly, it then attempts to use the fact that Cherry has been defamed in the past to paint her as a serial bully.

But what that paragraph actually tells us is that Cherry WAS defamed by Pink News and WAS subjected to false complaints by a former employee, not merely that she “accused” them of such things. Cherry was the victim in both cases. She was fully entitled to defend herself against malicious falsehoods and quite properly did so.

So the long and the short of it is that Hannah Rodger and the Herald have lied, then they’ve lied about lying, then they’ve tried to cover up the lie, and finally they’ve lied about that as well.

The story is a barely-veiled hatchet job, the latest in a long series of spurious attacks on Cherry by the transcult and their tame hack, and the fact that Scottish PEN have allowed themselves to be roped into it – providing Rodger with the thin nail on which the whole piece shakily hangs – is a matter of shame and disgrace, especially from an organisation which has remained silent about countless intimidatory attacks on, and silencings of, gender-critical female journalists.

Sadly, the article itself is just about sufficiently vague, incoherent and weasel-worded that it probably doesn’t itself reach the threshold required for defamation. It’s simply a piece of garbage that says far more about Hannah Rodger and Donald Martin, and the state of the Scottish media in general, than it does about Joanna Cherry.

———————————-

PS On the subject of garbage in the Scottish media, some extra-specially alert readers may have noted that today’s Scotland On Sunday carries a pitiful, tiny “correction and clarification” for a totally false quote it attributed on its front page to Alex Salmond last April. Salmond had of course been given no right of reply at the time. This, nearly 10 months later, is what the Scottish press classes as “regulation”.

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Dave M

The world is becoming more and more like that in Nineteen Eighty-Four, on a daily basis.

Muscleguy

I cancelled my The National subscription a couple of years ago now for reasons of financial straits. But with my impending employment (if Dundee CC HR dept ever get off their chuffs) i will not be gracing that stable with a single penny or any links not archived.

The National is just a cynical attempt at pandering to a perceived marketplace. For a start it is NOT a newspaper. Other than sports it contains almost no actual news from Scotland, just endless comment articles.

The journalists are not silloed between the two papaers either. They both bleat about subscriptions but they only have themselves to blame. I’m not sure the death of print media in Scotland will be a bad thing.

It can always be resurrected.

Meg merrilees

Thankfully someone – i.e. Stuart Campbell – is telling the truth and that backs up what Joanna Cherry is saying.

It must be particularly frustrating for someone who has dedicated their life to trying to establish the truth and defend the truth to be pilloried and publicly attacked under the accusation of lying when it is the attacker who is lying.

Hold your head high, Joanna. They attack you because you tell the truth and they can’t stand that.

Shame on these cowards and shame on The Herald for publishing such lies!

McHaggis69

Some arse on Twitter is dancing on the head of a pin trying to suggest a letter from a solicitor *is* legal action.

When I pointed out that getting a final reminder for a bill with a statement you should pay up or legal action would be taken, is no different… and that the letter is not in itself ‘legal action’… they’ve gone strangely quiet.

kapelmeister

Never get into the ring with a top QC over legal definitions.

Charles Hodgson

I’d like Joanna Cherry to know she is supported by huge proportion of the independence movement, and the population in general. I hope she is able to stay in the SNP, and can play a part in putting them back on the right track.

ClanDonald

Surprise surprise, the same folk who can’t tell the difference between a man and a woman also can’t tell the difference between the threat of legal action and the act of legal action.

Reality is anything you want it to be.

Dave M

@Muscleguy. I binned my National subscription about 18 months ago when it was clear that their ‘journalism’ was recycled Twitter content, they weren’t questioning the SG at all, their letters page featured the same 10-12 names every day, and their front page was essentially on a rolling three day cycle. It was nothing more than a Party newsletter. Utterly pathetic.

iain mhor

(They) “…have lied, then they’ve lied about lying, then they’ve tried to cover up the lie and lied about that as well”

That M.O sounds vaguely familiar, but I just can’t quite put my finger on it.

Charles Hodgson

Has anyone got a transcript of what Nicola Sturgeon said about her at the disastrous NEC meeting yesterday?

Doug McGregor

Why are the Tories never asked about Transwomen?

Captain Yossarian

Shite like this is why many, many Scots are reading Wings and The Spectator. Both routinely make fools out of our print media, BBC Scotland, Holyrood and our legal fannies.

Stephen Daisley has returned to help drive a stake through the heart of the Sturgeon Junta.

It has been a good weekend for Wings. Yesterday’s cartoon by Chris Cairns was a classic.

McHaggis69

You’ll also be aware today Stu, that Alex Salmond has had the Scotsman print a correction.

The correction is –

Words Mr Salmond did not say, at all. None.
to
The words Mr Salmond actually did say.

You’d think Journalists would get even a quote correct given they probably actually, you know, recorded his statement as he made it outside Court.

Ruglonian

Using “Read it and understand it” shows how ‘clever’ this person is.

Anyone who hasn’t been living under a rock knows it to be the shriek of the crybully from the council zoom meeting that went viral.

Any person (woman especially, unfortunately) who’ve had any involvement in any level of politics will have experienced this type of hostile irrational presence. The type of person who finds it not just acceptable but actively desirable to bawl over others with their half-baked aggressions.

Yes, this Hannah Rodgers one is very ‘clever’ indeed with her use of that phrase.
Not holding my breath for her to be condemned for her tactics, obviously.

Dickie Tea

Sorry I thought the lies were the Herald calling anybody from River City “A Star” or “An Actor”

Hamish Kirk

Transcult. Where in the name of the Wee man did it come from ?

Hamish Kirk

On reflection i suspect it may be extraterrestrial in origin. Is there any way we can send it, and its adherents back to Tralfamador ?

Andrew F

The editor can’t even string a functioning sentence together.

And, no shitface, journalism is not a “profession”. It’s a trade, a craft, an industry, a calling, an art perhaps – but it is not a profession.

Andy Ellis

@Charles Hodgson 11.52am

Not that I’ve seen. Hopefully someone will release the full minutes in due course.

I wonder if Joanna Cherry was at the meeting?!

Captain Yossarian

Hannah Rodger joins Andy Wightman and a few other inconsequential folk who’s life’s work amounts to next to nothing but who have nevertheless achieved noteriety for their dishonesty thanks to this website.

Hannah Rodger and Andy Wightman will be joined next week by some much bigger names.

Dorothy Devine

‘Disappointing that our professionalism has been called into question’

Ha! ha! Does he have any idea what the circulation figures have been doing in the last few years?

Has he any idea what that could possibly mean?

Or is he blaming it on ‘people not buying print media’

Ha! Ha!

Though I have to say that I am deeply disappointed that money has been given to keep these hacks afloat .

David

Be careful his screen Dad is Lenny Murdoch

Cath

We live in a world where “free speech” is the ability of particularly vile, nasty misogynits to lie about women and instigate pile ons which lead to actual rape and death threats which involved police protection. But protecting yourself against such defamation and attacks is “bullying”. Fuck sake. That’s all I can say. I have no idea how anyone pushing this insane crap sleeps at night.

Doreen A Milne

There’s a lot of that going about ATM.

Jonny Kiehlmann
@kiehlmanniac
·
1h
Most of what he’s said is unevidenced.

If what he was saying was pernicious lies with insinuations damaging folk, making out they’re shadowy evil figures and misrepresenting them, don’t you think that would bother folk? Just a thought experiment.

(Which happens to be true.)
Doreen Red square
@damilne1
·
59m
If he is lying and has no evidence to back his assertions why aren’t people suing him every time he writes these ‘pernicious lies’?
Jonny Kiehlmann
@kiehlmanniac
Replying to
@damilne1
and
@gina_scot
Defamation is hugely expensive and the Streisand effect is a thing.

I didn’t say nothing he says is evidenced. Plus most of what he says is written in a form of “suppose” or hypotheticals so he doesn’t actually state things

kapelmeister

How prescient it was of Benjamin Disraeli to tell people to keep an eye on Paisley.

Gizzit

Positively surreal.

Today, I cancelled my SNP membership, giving a detailed account of why I was doing so.

They will still get my constituency vote in May, but my regional vote will go to whichever pro-Independence party makes the strongest case between now and May.

It’s time for the SNP to give the Augean stables a good rinse, clear out the arriviste agendas and get back to basics.

MaggieC

I hope Joanna Cherry knows that there are plenty of people in Scotland and within the Snp who fully support her and the people attacking her should be ashamed of themselves .

.
From Alex Salmond on twitter ,

An eagle-eyed reader of SoS will have spotted this correction ordered by IPSO. Time and effort could have been avoided if the publication had apologised back in April for putting their words in my mouth to suit their own agenda (1/2)

IPSO ruled this “misleading” and required it be remedied. I welcome the correction at the bottom of page 2, as such rulings are rare enough. Worth reflecting that if IPSO insisted on front page blunders being met by front page corrections, then there would be fewer cases (2/2)

link to twitter.com

.
Wonder how long it’ll be before the Herald have to apologise to Joanna Cherry re their article about her ? .

Col.Blimp IV

Perhaps The Herald’s definition of “Legal Action” is : Any kind of activity or movement which is not illegal.

Therefor should one feel an urgent need to defecate in the presence of a Herald reporter, one can excuse one’s self by exclaiming “Hold your nose, I’m about to initiate a Legal Action”.

Willie

So it very much seems that the Herald journo and her editors are liars.

The dictionary definition, the ordinary usage of words are absolutely clear in what ‘ legal action ‘ is. And if Joanna Cherry has not raised proceedings then the Herald’s headline is a lie.

That the journo and her editor try to deny this brings into sharp focus the contemptible rag that the paper is. No wonder their sales have fallen through the floor. People like these you wouldn’t even spit on.

But you know what it is all part and parcel of the rot at the heart of the so called MSM. It’s also part of the same rot that sits at the heart of a COPFS and Police Scotland that pursues malicious and wrong court cases. It’s also part of the judiciary that in the Dugdale defamation case says that a Mr Stuart Campbell was wrongly defamed as a homophobe but that its really alright.

It’s also reflective of a Police Scotland and MSM who will not disclose details of th3 thirty year old man from the Stirling area who grievously threatened Joanna Cherry. That he is anecdotally being suspected of being an SNP official and partner of one of the senior MPs close to Sturgeon, the smell of rots once again seems to permeate all.

Dear oh dear, Scotland under Sturgeon and the SNP is one foul cess pit. And this bias against Joanna Cherry, just like her front bench sacking, just like her being restricted for standing for the Scottish Parliament, just like the attempt to have her deselected as an MP, just like the threats against her, and just like this papers lies against her today, are all examples of that.

Beaker

I’d never heard of David Paisley before. Then again I don’t watch soaps.

I was following the Twitter messages. Joanna Cherry could not have been clearer.

“Read it and understand” is pure arrogance. Used by people trying to be clever.

Jock McDonnell

Increasingly its like a football team, under previous management we were ambitious, entertaining, threatening. The crowd loved it.
Now, we just fuck about in midfield, mostly in our own half. The crowd are screaming for a different approach but the players all think they look terrific, passing it about without ever getting a shot on target.

Robert graham

Here we go again alternative truth then barefaced lies to cover this alternative truth, FFS honestly

I am tempted to suggest we return to pre Loony Law and customs let’s get some fucking normality back , this whole me me me shite that’s poisoning every walk of life , you can’t say this you better not say that all this deluge of shite is to force people to self censor themselves for fear of retribution

How many times have people here started to post a point then thought oh maybe I shouldn’t say this and that looks a bit dodgy better not , it’s not the ones that might be upset it’s the fkrs who get upset on their behalf , watch your Ps and Qs aye ok bloody thought control I mean who in their right mind would suggest something like that eh ” Hate speech bill ” proposed 2021 Humza that’s who .

David Earl

Ah Kezia Dugdale. She was on that jolly to “merica with her future SNP partner too. Along with Nicola’s Chief of Staff, Liz Lloyd and the Daily Records Editor, David Clegg. All very “under the bed sheets cosy” in Scottish politics and MSM. A lot of back scratching. Just saying ?

Liz

I’m surprised Paisley can be be on the receiving end of any “attacks” and “harassment” as he appears to have pre-emptively blocked so many folk, of differing opinions, who have never interacted with him. What an attention seeker.

Captain Yossarian

‘Willie – only a few days ’till Wednesday. Salmond’s not perfect but he will eviscerate these skitter-merchants. I think they are right to all feel a sense of great foreboding just now.

The real press are waiting for that – Sky News, The Spectator, the Daily Telegraph, The Times and The Guardian. Will they be joined by The Sunday Post?

Famous15

Fiona Robertson did NOT slither into the NEC meeting and so Stu ,you lied.

She boldly went… sorry I am not thinking straight… sorry I am clutching at straws.

Famous15

She also said she was elected. How so?

Socrates MacSporran

As far as I am aware, Hannah Rodger is the daughter of a former Herald Sports Editor.

If that’s correct – I kent her faither, he was an excellent journalist and department manager.

I don’t think he’d be too-pleased at how his daughter operates. But, there again, today’s Herald falls a long way short of what the Herald was in Rodger Senior’s day – and it shows.

Pixywine

The Herakd= Volkischer Beobachter.

Strathy

Interestingly, Hannah Rodger’s Twitter username is @HRwritesnews.

Quite appropriate really; rather than @HRreportsnews.

Presumably @HRmakesstuffupforsturgeon was already taken.

Pixywine

Cheap nasty seedy little Herald liars

Pixywine

Cheap nasty seedy little First Minister.

Pixywine

Happy fucken Sunday.

Socrates MacSporran

Dickie Tea

Re everyone from River City being “a star.”

It’s all part of being int he Glasgow West End media/showbiz bubble. For the same reason, every nae-user who ever got to even sit on the bench for Rangers or Celtic is automatically “a star,” even though half of them, to use an auld Scots phrase: “Couldnae kick doors at Hall’een.”

Pixywine

River city”stars”? Somebody’s having a fucking laugh surely?

John Martini

The article exists and does not exist.

Paul K

David Leask, AKA Upside-down Heid.

Scot Finlayson

@Jock McDonnell,

you just summed up Scottish coaching/football,

pass,pass,pass,pass,pass,pass,pass,pass,pass,pass,pass,pass,pass,pass,pass,pass,pass,pas,pas,pas,pass,pass,pass,pass,pass,pass,pass,pass,

then balloon over bar `cause you don`t practice shooting/scoring.

kapelmeister

So despite the Herald’s claims River City will remain more famous for shell suits than lawsuits.

winifred mccartney

If you don’t know the difference between and a man and a women how could you possible make any good judgement on anything else.

Pixywine

I’m sick of lying bastard Agents of the State like Leaske.

Saffron Robe

Stuart, you know whereof you speak.

Fiction is far stranger than fact with these people. Odd isn’t it how Nicola Sturgeon storms into a meeting yesterday demanding action against anyone who disagrees with their ideology and here today we have an attack on Joanna Cherry? I suppose it’s no surprise that they can’t define legal action since they find it so difficult to define themselves. To be fair though, it is quite hard to define a shapeshifter.

Their lies have become an infinity mirror, replicating themselves over and over ad nauseam. The most worrying thing is how much of Scotland’s body politic is willing to tolerate Nicola Sturgeon, a craven and unhinged individual who is a stranger to the truth and an enemy of justice.

Bob Mack

I just adore these folk.They have it all sussed out.

They use their minority status to claim persecution. They then utilise that minority status to claim they need protection. Politicians and support groups with vested interest agree, both fearing to fall under the dreaded bigot slur. Seeing themselves untouchable these minority groups then throw caution to the wind and say whatever they like to whoever they like claiming to be the victim.

That isn’t the real world though. I don’t give a toss about being seen as a bigot of phobic and that won’t change.

People like me make politicians. We can also break them

Fanana Bama

Joanna Cherry: “apologise or I’ll sue you.”

TRA : “Joanna Cherry has sued me!”

JC: “No, I’ll be suing you if you don’t apologise.”

TRA “See! She’s sued me, I told you so! I am correct!”

JC: “No, threatening to sue someone is not the same as suing someone.”

TRA: “Exactly, that’s what I said! Joanna Cherry has just confirmed that she’s sued me!”

Sane people: “Sigh, I give up.”

TRAs “Ha, see, we win, we’re right, you’re wrong.”

SilverDarling

Who would have thought, eh? Words have special meaning in law. The editor embarrassing himself piling in trying to defend Rodger’s “professionalism”.

The rancid Scottish Press really do always put their fellow hacks before their readership and they wonder why they need handouts to survive.

Dave Beveridge

Open season on Joanna Cherry now then?

Alex Stone

Does anyone know if the Herald received any of the three million in cash Sturgeon gifted to the media?

Just a thought.

Josef Ó Luain

Leasky: The establishment’s toothless, wee serpent.

All hiss and no bite.

Mia

I wonder if it would be possible to get a list of “the local press” that has received subsides from Sturgeon’s government and if a FOI would reveal if there was some kind of contract/strings attached to the receipt of those subsides, like, say having to write certain number of articles on a particular subject, or be prepared to write hatched jobs on demand.

What were the conditions imposed on RCS to receive the subsidy from Sturgeon’s government?

John Connelly

The manner in which in-fighting on sexual orientation/sexuality – an issue far remote from the priorities of the many people outside the political bubble who are clamouring for progress on independence – has come to dominate activity within the SNP raises serious questions as to why anyone should be interested in voting for any of these clowns in May.

With the pandemic ongoing, living standards seriously hit for many, and the worst of Brexit yet to come I can see the SNP itself being the reason why we may have to wait another generation for independence.

It is time for these children to stop playing games.

Black Joan

Stewart McDonald MP praises NEC for “transphobia definition”, says WoS etc are part of an “online counterfactual community” and irony lies dead and buried under thousands of copies of Nineteen Eighty-Four.

Bob Mack

A man can become a facsimile of a woman, but never a woman.

That is from a general surgeon friend of mine who has performed God knows how many operations.

He advises that one day far into the future when Star Trek becomes reality and multicellular procedures become fact it may be possible ,but not now.

Why are we accepting this ?

Robert Louis

Is it not just frankly bizarre, that a so-called ‘journalist’ from the Herald, is actualy arguing about a legal definition, with one of Scotland’s highest rated QC’s? I mean seriously Herald, WTF? And then you bleat that people don’t buy your paper of lies. Is it any wonder???

It would be like me (with no medical knowledge) arguing about brain surgey with a Neuro-surgical consultant at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, and repeatedly telling him he is wrong.

Bizarre. And so-called ‘scottish’ journalists get angry when people challenge what they write?? Just stop writing sh*te you know to be untrue.

John Martini

All looking a bit coordinated. Should not be too difficult to condtruct a web of connections graphic for a counyry the size of scotland.

John Jones

OT
Has anyone actually seen an official audited set of the SNP accounts?
Where all the credits and debits are shown?
They should show all the salaries of management/directors.
If only in gross terms.
The income from all sources, fundraising, the hush money from Westminster,(soft money?) sales etc.
The only bit I’ve seen is the wee page with a sort of summary.
Which tells you absolutely nothing.
I”be tried asking people who should know,silence!

Lenny Hartley

Sorry for going O/T so early but this is a cracker, Brwris now looking at using the Isle of Man as a roundabout in the middle of the Irish Sea With tunnels from Scotland, England m Northern Ireland connecting in the IOM , is this the biggest squirrel ever? See Forth bridge down was trending on twitter last night, thats the code for duke of edinburgh pegging it, so they will have that card to play soon, strange their bringing out a tunnel network at the same time.

Fin Cunningham

Disappointed to see one of the guests on Broadcasting Scotland smear Wings today talking about ‘disinformation.’ Last week Gordon Ross, one of the regular presenters also had a go at him on his video blog. My subscription to Broadcasting Scotland hanging on a very shoogly peg.

Socrates MacSporran

Lenny Hartley

I have seen that Isle of Man roundabout project mentioned before. It actually makes more sense than Baw Jaw’s bridge/tunnel across the North Channel.

Problem would be getting the people of the Isle of Man to agree to it, I don’t think they’d take too-kindly to the noise, mess and interruption to their quiet life-style.

Cuilean

Jo Cherry marched at the last big AUOB Edinburgh March where hundreds of thousands marched and gathered afterwards in the Meadows. She gave stirring speech on her dreams of an indy Scotland in the pouring rain and cold wind and was loudly cheered. She clearly spoke from her heart with a passion for her country’s future.

The Murrells have been conspicuous by their absence from all grass roots indy marches.

Joanna, don’t be downhearted. The vast majority of SNP members know you are a first class MP and a brave and principled person who has never lied to anyone. Unlike the duplicitous Murrells.

Hamish Anderson

Can’t help but feel that Scotland nowadays is like Germany in the 1930s.

JB

In England such letters are known as a “letter before action”, which rather indicates just what the relationship is to any purported “legal action”.

Cuilean

The Isle of Man is an independent country from the UK. It has its own Parliament, currency and laws. It sends its own team to The Commonwealth Games. It was never a member of the EU! It was the first country to give women the vote, in the whole world!

Boris Johnson has no say over the Isle of Man. They can and will tell him to f off.

Sylvia

I wish more people would acknowledge the Herald/National and Evening Times are all AMERICAN owned. The parent company was Gannett (McLean, Virginia, USA) until late 2019, then Gannett merged with New Media Investment Group. I know they publish in other countries but unsure of how many.

Runner 118

Can someone explain where the “legal fees” of £2k comes from? A lawyer’s letter? She’s getting ripped off.

John Martini

Isl of Mann is a crown dependency. The queen is head of state. She can tell them what to do with her land.

kapelmeister

Hamish Anderson @1:17

“…Scotland nowadays is like Germany in the 1930s”.

Aye Hamish. I’d say though, it’s more like a bizarre combination of Germany in the 1930s, San Francisco in the 1960s and Butlins in the 1950s.

Heil-de-Heil campers.

Bob Mack

@Runner 118,

Good lawyer is £250 per hour plus VAT.

Calum

I only discovered who this Paisley bloke was last night because of this stooshie. Had no idea. As one commenter said the lie is the bit about “stars” in River City.

And of course, presumably because I don’t believe women can have penises, I’m blocked by him.

Alf Baird

Here’s a definition us Scots micht aspire tae.

Independence:

“freedom from being governed or ruled by another country”

link to dictionary.cambridge.org

Sae its aa aboot scouth (‘freedom’) fae bein doun-hauden efter aw!

Ian Mac

What an absolute dog’s breakfast of journalism that piece is. On the weekend when very important issues are being raised about the constitution and the executive, they choose to run a hack smear piece about, let us not forget, someone who has been victimised more than once for her perfectly legitimate views. So in place of the people who should be in the court of public opinion, they place a substitute who they can denigrate with a diversionary tabloid piece of fake news. And they have the cheek to pontificate about the ethics of journalism. The only journalism I am seeing here is Wings explanation of what has actually happened, which informs us of what is going on, and the agenda of people trying to draw a veil of their own role in obfuscating and misrepresenting it. For shame, you hacks at the Herald. Sort your own house out before chucking rocks at people who are more convincing than you, and who don’t get paid a nice little sinecure for gutter trash journalism, which only drags the reputation of the whole newspaper industry even further down.

sog

There seems to me to be a fault with the twitter link above. It opens briefly then shuts. Could it be a DOS attack or similar?

Hatuey

It looks like one attack after another on JC. And it looks coordinated. Everything looks coordinated right now. Are they going to kick her out of the party? Is that what they’re building up to? Does anyone even care now?

Again, though, it all looks like a desperate plan to distract from that other much bigger issue that’s unfolding in the foreground. To be clear, I am referring to the Salmond Scandal which in the words of Gordon Dangerfield can be summarised as follows;

“The First Minister of Scotland was a key part of a conspiracy by those closest to her, including her husband, to bring down former First Minister Alex Salmond. She has lied repeatedly, including to Parliament, about her part in the conspiracy, and indeed has falsely denied even knowing about it. She is now part of a conspiracy to cover up what she and others did to Alex Salmond.”
link to gordondangerfield.com

I don’t think firing Cherry will distract from that. I think you’d need to come up with something involving nuclear weapons and/or aliens to distract from that and that sort of stuff is reserved.

deerhill

Don’t watch “soaps” so I’ve never heard of Mr Paisley.
I take it he plays a “hardman” in the series and has confused acting with real life.

As someone said to me once after an “incident”:
“There are plenty of hard men in Glasgow, but there are no old hard men in Glasgow”.

James Che.

The witches cauldron.

Hubble bubble, boil with trouble, Slight of slander, a big hint of corruption, a suggestion of defamation,
Hubble bubble boil the troubles, Plenty of False allegations, stir it up, stir it up,
A bit of Brexit, generous helpings of covid pandemic, a sprinkle of timing,
Some media madness. Add some doubt to scare the bejingers out of people, mix and stir.
Now add a little of feet to the fire, oops missed the pot, A little bit of pre-election ramp up, a big dollop o shite, a sprinkle of past sell by date politicians, mix and mash, turn up the heat, higher higher,
Some more timing is needed, empty the jar in. Throw in a squirrel or two,
Some lying fisherman’s friends and disillusioned farmers potion, season amply with invisible human rights.
Pour all the bottle of infighting into the mix, along with the Barnett formula powder.
No oil, water or land taxes required as this recipe avoids mentioning it.
A titch more seasoning of invisible human rights, timing and one more squirrel and were just about done .
Now turn up the heat to finish as high as it will go.
Test by leaning over the recipe and smell, it should stink to high heaven, if successful then bottle and send to all unionist for delivery in Scotland.
Feed one Teaspoon a day to the people of Scotland.to deters the onset of independence.

Bob Mack

Paisleys time line is a nausea fest. Poor David. It wasn’t that bad. It’s an injustice.blah blah blah.

Bullied as a child apparently. Wern’t we all. However we grew up.

Keep your mouth shut if you don’t know if your committing defamation or not David. Take the risk,pay the price.

MikeD

@John Jones

The most recent accounts available are the 2019 ones which are downloadable from the Electoral Commission Here…

link to search.electoralcommission.org.uk

Helen Yates

So the long and the short of it is that Hannah Rodger and the Herald have lied, then they’ve lied about lying, then they’ve tried to cover up the lie, and finally they’ve lied about that as well.

The Herald and the SNP have much in common then.
I wonder who learned from who.

Ian Spruce

Anyone fancy a giggle – have a watch of this!

link to twitter.com

Desimond

The weirdest part of all that is Hannah Rodger saying “confirmed bymy Editor!”L

They must have done the whole Belts n Braces checks BEFORE running any Front Page story let alone one involving a leading QC with a Proven history of successful litigation?

Therefore the Legal advisers at The Herald believe ‘legal action’ is flexible.

Which could get interesting…

Neil Wilkinson

NHS definition of ‘phobia’

A phobia is an overwhelming and debilitating fear of an object, place, situation, feeling or animal. Phobias are more pronounced than fears. They develop when a person has an exaggerated or unrealistic sense of danger about a situation or object.

Can’t wait to see the bollocks they come up with to define Transphobia

Ottomanboi

On like theme.
link to quillette.com
Who dares critic the critics?

So called Critical Theory is the latest convenient catch all construct, one only superficially understood by those ’genderists’ playing with it, whose language is used to blank all counter argument, such argument being considered a mere manifestation of the repressive, prejudicial role of ‘the powerful’.

The similarities to the robotic group think of the quasi religious, totalitarian systems of the twentieth century is noteworthy.
Indications that academe in particular is infected with this desire to stifle argument is only a step away from the burning of books, and the burning of people.

The predominance of one version of ‘the science’ during the government Covid closedown is yet another sign of growing absolutism in contemporary culture.

Frank anderson

Yes, it looks like an attempt to expell Cherry. This started with the faction in the Westminster group of MP’s who wanted not only her removed as a spokesperson but the Whip removed. Reshuffle my ar*e! Then we have NEC members calling for members of the Party to be excluded for using Wings.
Where are the PRINCIPLES of the likes of Robertson who is democratically voted off the NEC yet turns up as a substitute for an unelected, by the membership, position on the NEC. It must be questioned why the affiliate group can’t attend the NEC and need a substitute every time, who happens to be the same Robertson person.

Republicofscotland

So the efforts to crush Joanna Cherry steps up a gear, as Sauron (Sturgeon) has set her (Orcs) the wokeratti the task of discrediting Cherry.

The Herald is a shit rag and has been for years, a kind of Scottish version of the Express newspaper, only tackier. Anyway Paisley “the actor” Cough! is now following the script, which is out of character for him, he’s now playing the part of the victim, even in this role as in other roles he’s portrayed, though they allude me for now (that’s how memorable his acting is) he’s very unconvincing indeed.

link to twitter.com

Anton Decadent

The elephant in the room here are the Green Party. Hannah Rodgers was lobbying on their behalf in yesterdays Herald on the important environmental topic of Trans tyranny. This party appears to have three main policy demands none of which have anything to do with the environment. They appear to have more sway on policy in Scotland than the bulk of the membership of the SNP.

kapelmeister

The Holyrood website business bulletin lists 4 committees that will be meeting on Wednesday 24th, but the Harrassment Committee isn’t included.

Lenny Hartley

Socrates MacSporran I listen to Manx Radio To get away from the brit nat radio stations, the story was on the manx radio news today, i know the Isle of Man quite well and have lots of friends there having visited over fifty times for motorcycle racing viewing and taking photos for magazines etc.
To those who say the IOM is separate, yeah technically your right, but in practice the UK says jump and before you know it the Manx people have a nose bleed they are so high up.
For me I wish they would do it, same me a fortune on the Isle of Man Steam Racket company, who i spent thousands a year on fares. (Pre Covid) However i think its more pie in the sky.
On another matter , i saw on twitter that the Sunday post was reporting this
link to archive.vn

Mac

Another example of Nicola Sturgeon getting help where she shouldn’t be.

Why would a unionist shitrag like the Herald be fighting her battles and doing her dirty work for her… going to ridiculous lengths to spin a negative story out of thin air about Joanna Cherry.

Everything about Nicola honks of betrayal. It really is every where you look now.

As for the Herald divot above saying he is ‘disappointed’ his ‘professionalism’ has been called into question… jeezo, you are so far from being a professional journalist I would not worry about it too much.

Clown, article, clown journalism, clown newspaper.

Republicofscotland

Scottish PEN appears to have taken a negative approach to Joanna Cherry, in the interests of parity here’s the board, any names jump out to anybody here for all the wrong reasons.

link to scottishpen.org

Christopher Quinn

Incredible. I live in Germany now and keep up tp date with news from back home via the awful Scottish msm. I had, on numerous occsions, emailed H Rodgers to correct awful grammar and spelling as well as criticising her inability to communicate “news” in a way that didn’t assume the readers were all of a mental age of three. The fact that she has been PROMOTED from The Record to The Herald is damning indictment on the state of things.

stuart mctavish

..A letter is actually saying “please settle this matter or I may instigate legal action in the future

Similarly, a promise to spend £600,000 on PREPARATIONS for a referendum might actually be saying a politically correct version of “its shite being Scottish..”

Scott

“some extra-specially alert readers”

Chapeau!!

—-

I also find it amazing that a super-dooper journalist like David Leask forgets how to spell when desperately trying to defend his art – “In real journalist, we correct mistakes”

David R

Had a quick look at Twitter when I saw that Joanna Cherry was trending. The faithful are out in force attacking Ms Cherry for refusing to bow before their goddess. Always surprised at how many feminists that vehemently attack men and ‘toxic masculinity’ have no problem once they slap on a dress and some lippy.

Republicofscotland

The numbskull Kezia Dugdale, whose now hiding out in the diehard BritNat John Smith centre in Glasgow Uni, is the latest to portray the victim.

link to twitter.com

Republicofscotland

Christopher Quinn @ 3.01pm.

So effectively Rodger has crawled out of the septic tank (The Daily Record) and into the bucket of sewage (The Herald).

Captain Yossarian

This shit could go-on for another 20-years. All that Sturgeon and Swinney are doing is managing the decline of a country once known for its strength and honesty. Both of them are deeply dishonest individuals.

Old-Alex can see that. He will throw a hand-grenade into the middle of Sturgeon and Swinney’s legal fandango on Wednesday and she will soon be gone.

Scotland can then start taking steps to re-gain its place in the world.

robertknight

Starve the b*****s of revenue…

DON’T PURCHASE DEAD WOOD SCROLLS!

holymacmoses

Rev. Stuart Campbell says:
21 February, 2021 at 2:26 pm
“Does anyone know if the Herald received any of the three million in cash Sturgeon gifted to the media?”

It was supposedly for “local” papers, which is what the Herald is officially designated as, so it’s certainly possible.

I am certain they’re on a bonus if they can get rid of you and some others:-)

tricia young

OMG just come off twitter and it is horrendous. Stu I genuinely don’t how or why you can put up the lies and crap sent your way. I feel all is lost at the moment for indy and we are definitely in big trouble with the type of idiots that are in power throughout the establishment. Fuming. Did my best to defend you and was piled on but I see that as a badge of honour tbh.

Fraser Reid

That last piece ” the fact that you can complain about inaccuracies…. proves they are not fake.”……. Let’s ponder on that one for a while…..

Tinto Chiel

Talking of actors, could any kind soul explain why the non-River Shitty one who was at the dinner party where one of the Alphabet Women alleged a serious sexual assault (despite evidence showing she wasn’t actually present) was granted anonymity?

It’s always mystified me why this was permitted.

wee monkey

Charles Hodgson says:
21 February, 2021 at 11:48 am
Quote?:-
“I’d like Joanna Cherry to know she is supported by huge proportion of the independence movement, and the population in general. I hope she is able to stay in the SNP, and can play a part in putting them back on the right track.”

I’d like to point out that those who may [or may not] be aligned in the same political direction, also SUPPORT Cherry against these fascists.

wee monkey

Mac says:
21 February, 2021 at 2:47 pm

Quote:-
“Why would a unionist shitrag like the Herald be fighting her battles and doing her dirty work for her… going to ridiculous lengths to spin a negative story out of thin air about Joanna Cherry.

Clown, article, clown journalism, clown newspaper.”

Last bit correct, however if you dissect them like Rev Stu has, UNIONIST shitrag??? nope

Tinto Chiel

@Republicofscotland 2.57: good catch with the PEN personnel. I suppose there had to be an LGBT rights angle to the anti-Cherry stuff and (oh, the irony!) human rights, of course.

Amazing how these types often come up with that cringe-making PR stuff you expect to see on a job application. Everyone is “passionate” about or “committed” to something or “incredibly proud” of something else.

Synthetic, empty management speak is one of the banes of modern existence.

Jontoscots20

Dickie Tea says:
21 February, 2021 at 11:55 am
Sorry I thought the lies were the Herald calling anybody from River City “A Star” or “An Actor”

?FFS he plays a forgotten estranged offspring of Lenny Murdoch, so the BBC can play diversity bingo, and thinks he’s De Niro. I don’t always agree with Julie Burchill but when she says actors should shut up and that playing in the dressing up box doesn’t mean they should be heard, she is bang on.

Daisy Walker

Tinto Chiel says:
21 February, 2021 at 4:29 pm

Talking of actors, could any kind soul explain why the non-River Shitty one who was at the dinner party where one of the Alphabet Women alleged a serious sexual assault (despite evidence showing she wasn’t actually present) was granted anonymity?

It’s always mystified me why this was permitted.

’tis indeed a mystery, an Edinburgh mystery, even Rebus couldn’t work it out. The actor – who could not be named – was in Italy (family connections) at the time of the trial.

WhoRattledYourCage

From Leask’s second tweet: “In real journalist, we correct mistakes.” Aye, ‘journalist.’ I think that adequately sums up the state of mainstream Scottish “journalist’ (sorry, ‘journalism’) quite adequately, in many ways.

President Xiden

Stupid people appear to have taken over the world. What on Earth is going on?

Brian

David Paisley (@DavidPaisley) Tweeted:
Joanna Cherry QC has claimed that “there is no legal action”.

This is dishonest, I have no option but to share these legal threats in the public interest.

Elected representatives should not mislead the public, or issue legal threats to silence those asking legitimate questions. link to t.co

Mia

mmmm.

Ms Cherry was involved in the successful ECJ brexit case and also in the more recent case of the UK parliament prorogation where not only the buffoon but also the monarch took a beating (metaphorically speaking, that is).

What we are witnessing here is a similar scenario to Mr Salmond’s: a collusion of lots of different actors, from different spheres and not all necessarily within the SNP, to smear Ms Cherry and push her out of politics.

So what is exactly what are we seeing here? Is it simply a ganging of Sturgeon’s minions and gradualist parasites to maintain the path open for the booby price to become leader and preserve the status quo and more importantly, that evidence suppressed, or rather we are before something more sinister?

What are the odds that what we are seeing here is a display from much more powerful forces moving the strings of their pawns Sturgeon, Murrell, the perjurers, Blackford, Blackman, Oswald, the genderwoowoo and those pigs threatening Ms Cherry to remove her from any parliament before Holyrood and Scots law are subjected to a deadly bludgeoning by the British State?

Does anybody else remember Ms Cherry openly stating in the House of Commons not that long ago that the legal minds in Scotland were not too pleased about the uninvited and unwelcome intrusion of the UK market bill in Scots law and the potential breach of one of the articles of the treaty of union it represented? They were so silent in the HoC when she delivered that speech that you could have heard a pin dropping to the floor.

Does anybody else remember some noise in the last couple of years coming from the House of Lords regarding a new Act of Union?

What are the odds that it is the British state using its minions to desperately remove Cherry out of the front bench and the SNP to stop her eviscerating them in a court of law because of what they have planned?

What are the odds that the new Westminster committee she has been invited to is to keep her distracted with something else?

Food for thought?

cctxt

O/T Does anyone know how the lads from aye right radio
are doing ? – they seemingly vanished two or three weeks ago.

Tinto Chiel

@Daisy 5.21: just bung the name on O/T. No-one ever looks over there 😉 .

To be clear (he Sturgeoned): moanlyjokin’!

Alan Mackintosh

Tinto, I agree with you, I don’t understand why his name was kept out of the media. A wee bird did tell me that he might have had a dalliance with a certain letter of the Alphabet, at least in his case, she was in the building…

As Daisy said, it would test Rebus, this puzzle…

All that said of course, I do Ken his name… but I’d best not say.

Tinto Chiel

@Alan M: och, it’s one rule for them, etc.

Your Cicero quote re the sleekit ways of the Massey Fergusons wot you done reference recently was a perennial teamed.

On relection, I may Ken too 😉 .

Tinto Chiel

Teamed should be teaker. Autofill nonsense.

Menstruator

So Scottish PEN says “Mr Paisley has also been subject to complaints to his employer which have been dismissed as baseless. ”

Will they be supporting Allison Bailey who lost her job when complaints were made to her employer (by Stonewall)?

I shan’t hold my breath.

Brian Doonthetoon

Thanks to Daisy Walker’s reference to “Rebus” and TC’s and AM’s allusions, my brain cogs began to turn… “police, ken…”

Got it!

The actor was Ken Beattie!

link to youtube.com

Tinto Chiel

Really, BDTT? Thought it was this chiel:

link to youtube.com

Confused.com!

Brian Doonthetoon

Nah, that’s Jack or Cameron – no Ken was harmed in the typing of your comment.

Tinto Chiel

Thank God for that!

Kiwilassie

This is what the woke movement are trying to infect society with. JC is right to speak out about this.

link to childrenoftransitioners.org

David Caledonia

Many moons ago we had to apply for legal aid for an accident claim for my wife.
The lawyer sent me a letter costing £25 which the state paid for.
And what important information did this letter contain, it said to come for an interview at a certain date and time.
Now you might think this was a reasonable request until you realise he had our landline number and could have just instructed his secretary to call us.
Or I could have given him a stamped addressed envelope and a pen and paper to drop us a note.
There you are 25 quid saved.
That lawyer actually committed suicide a few years later, he comes into my mind now and again when I hear of suicides in scotland ( two a day ).
Yes I have said it many times to lots of people, we all live in our heads, and your there till you die, so keep the inside of your head nice and tidy, and don’t complicate the decor


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