What are the odds?
BBC1’s weekly Question Time political debate shows are heavily over-subscribed. Only a couple of hundred tickets are typically available for would-be members of the studio audience, and far more than that apply to attend, so your chances of getting through the initial vetting are fairly slim. You’re especially unlikely to be selected if you’re not from the city where the show is being held, for obvious reasons.
While the group of failed Scottish Labour parliamentary candidates is, let’s say, rather larger than it used to be, it’s still a pretty select club of a few dozen people.
And if you DO make it into the QT audience, the chances of you being picked out to speak are also rather poor – not more than 1 in 10 at best, probably nearer 1 in 20.
So what happened on tonight’s edition from Dundee was quite the long shot.
The show was so openly, goadingly biased that a cynical viewer might easily come to the conclusion the BBC was purposely trying to reduce the Yes/SNP vote by means of heart attacks. With three Unionist politicians to two pro-indy ones, rather than even things up in a country split 50/50 on the constitutional question the Beeb chose to fill the sixth panellist slot with a public-school English Unionist Tory from the Telegraph, in the form of Tim Stanley.
It then somehow contrived to stuff the audience with what appeared to be people carefully chosen to be from anywhere BUT Dundee. There was barely a Scottish accent to be heard all night other than on the stage, and perhaps one from the city the episode was ostensibly taking place in.
And on the very few occasions John Swinney actually got to speak, he was never allowed to make it through a sentence without being interrupted, barracked and heckled by one or two of the other guests, and often chairman David Dimbleby too.
(Dimbleby also joined in as an active Unionist participant from time to time, explicitly backing up a quite extraordinary lie from the Unionist politicians that Scots voted in the indyref knowing in advance that there was going to be a referendum on the EU, which is utterly untrue. The Tories pledged one, Labour were opposed to one, and in September 2014 nobody knew which of them was going to form the government.)
But that wasn’t the good bit. Because given prominent airtime were not one but TWO of the aforementioned failed Scottish Labour candidates.
Early on came Braden Davy, a strange young chap from Morpeth in Northumberland who once formed an “independence for Northumbria” party but then moved to Aberdeen – an 80-minute drive from Dundee – to stand against Alex Salmond in Gordon, where he saw the Labour vote share plummet from 20.1% to just 5.9%.
He spoke at length in favour of a Brexit and against the idea of a second referendum in the event that Scotland voted to stay in and the UK voting to leave. But next up, just a few minutes later, was the real star performer.
Piping up with a GERS question was an audience member with an English accent (so as to blend in, presumably) who David Dimbleby identified as “Kathy Olibierti” – we’re guessing at the spelling – but who readers of Wings will know better as Kathy Wiles.
Wiles quit as Labour candidate for Angus after smearing some small children who took part in a protest at the BBC’s Scottish headquarters in Glasgow as being like the Hitler Youth. Targeting primary-school children was an outrage too far even for a party which regularly likens SNP voters to Nazis, and Wiles scuttled off into the darkness, though not before revealing offensive views on benefit claimants and immigrants too.
While she resigned as candidate, no mention was made in any of the newspaper reports about her of her being thrown out of the Labour party, whose chair in Angus, John Ruddy, is a prominent social-media activist and online commenter who locked his Twitter account during the furore over Wiles’ behaviour in order to avoid answering any questions about how he’d managed to overlook her foul but easy-to-find internet history when selecting her as candidate.
As far as we know, then, she’s still a Labour member and activist, just like Ian Smart, who was briefly suspended and then reinstated after a barrage of extremely offensive comments frequently involving the Nazis.
[EDIT 13 March: She definitely is – in the pic below she can be seen, third from left, campaigning in Arbroath two days after her Question Time appearance.]
But we’ve covered Scottish Labour’s fondness for harbouring abusive cretins in its ranks many times before and this isn’t the place to go into it again.
(Though it’s perhaps interesting that Jenny Marra, list MSP for North East Scotland, didn’t manage to recognise either of them.)
What we found ourselves wondering tonight was how TWO hapless, obnoxious Labour candidates managed to inveigle themselves onto a show that’s very hard to get into, and get themselves both picked to speak at length, yet with neither being identified as party candidates (you’re supposed to declare any such affiliations), one of them quite possibly from another city and the other using what may have been a false name (you have to provide identification).
(There are, of course, other possible reasons Wiles might have a new name.)
Tonight’s episode was such a colossal stitch-up in almost every other sense that even the most fair-minded independence supporter straining every sinew to avoid conspiracy theories would have their credulity stretched to the limit. We’ll wait with interest to see if any of the parties involved offer any sort of explanation.
I thought pantomime season was over. This is the most blatant, and stupid, piece of MSM propaganda the BBC ‘et al’ have ever engaged in…
Katy Aliberti is her new name.
You just reminded me why I never watch it any more Rev.
I’m still beelin’
Never before have they taken the pish in this manner.
Onybody that didna see it wants to watch it on iPlayer to see the depths to which the BBC has fallen.
If Stuart Cosgrove and Eamonn O’Neill are heaving a sigh of relief that this all unfolded a full week before their next Media Review on BBC Radio North Britain, they’d best not believe that it will have been forgotten about.
They ducked Spannergate. Big time.
They can’t duck this.
Right, folks, you have all the ammo you need from this article.
Let’s flood the BBC with complaints and demand answers to questions. Even if we are just successful in overloading their corrupt and antiquated complaints system it will be a small victory. Well done, Rev, in putting this article together so quickly.
Right, off to my pit, will lodge complaint later today.
Maybe even lodge numerous complaints under different names, seems to be all the rage these days, especially where the BBC are concerned.
😉
Just finished putting in my complaint to the BBC, before reading this – damn!!
Hope many more have put in complaints – shocking programme.
Certainly highlights what we are up against!
Come on Stu. You are reading too much in to it! It was all pure luck!
Genius at work…well done!
QT for the BBC I think.
The labour candidate thing is a little dodgy to say the least. on the abundance of English accents, I just think that is a function of the type of people who actively move country to set up a new life also being the most likely to stick their hands up and offer their opinion. Will see it in any town hall meeting the UK over, ‘incomers’ often the most actively involved in pushing change etc.
When she first appeared, I thought, “I know her face…”
Wasn’t until I read subsequent WOS comments that the penny dropped. And as others have pointed out on previous pages, that was the most unrepresentative audience for a host city I have ever seen for QT.
It’s so obvious – Better Together” are fighting a rearguard action…
I’m still frothing at horrific Question Time. The late Peter A Bell knew well the causes of this appalling political lynch mob. He wrote about Wiles who appeared on QT as follows:
“This whole Kathy Wiles episode is symptomatic of the disease at the heart of British Labour in Scotland and, perhaps to a somewhat lesser degree, the other British parties too. There is a cancerous resentment at the core of unionist politics in Scotland born of an unthinking sense of entitlement being denied, righteousness being challenged and the natural order being disrupted. This has given rise to a malignancy within the British parties – but British Labour most of all – in which a snarling, vicious loathing of the Scottish National Party is seen as normal and even the most splenetic expressions of this irrational hatred are regarded as quite acceptable, if not an actual requirement for acceptance by the group.
This would be regrettable enough in itself. But what we are seeing is a much more disturbing spilling over of this detestation of the SNP into contempt for those who give their vote to the party and, by extension, the democratic system which allows those voters to reject the “right” parties and threaten the established order.
Kathy Wiles may be an aberration in the wider context of a Scottish politics which has, if anything, become much healthier, more diverse, more tolerant and more thoughtful as a result of the referendum debate. But she is far from being exceptional in the context of British Labour tribalism and the odious brand of British nationalism which constitutes a large and growing part of the unionist response to the democratic process of self-determination in Scotland.”
We witnessed that odious British nationalism in the raw tonight on BBC Question Time.
Un PC and Kathy esque offensive comment, but did someone really marry that dodgy audience member??
Just another point, I’m pretty sure Dimbleby said a couple weeks ago that audiences would be balanced on the EU question until the referendum. That right there, if the case, would explain a lot about how there came to be a false balance (and from those that spoke overbalance) in favour of No voters, English people and right wingers…
@Cuilean The LATE Peter A Bell – Has something happened in the past few hours?
He was posting in FB yesterday.
Hope you’re wrong.
Could it be hoped that further audience members ( and their affiliations!) may come to light and add to the case against the BBC.
Maybe we should all be watching the show again and ‘spotting’, to see if any more of the enemy can be outed!!
@Brian Doonthetoon –
You’re a civil kind of guy, polite an aw that…
‘Rearguard action’ is a nice way of saying ‘covering yer arse’, aye?
How pathetic is someone who requires the likes of Sir David Dimbleby to cover theirs?
It’s a total red-neck for all concerned…
Here’s hoping that the folk of Dundee ensure that their voices are at the fore of whatever protests are raised.
The more thay push this shit the further thay erode the little credibility thay have left.
I propose the hashtag #BD4PM (Braden Davy for Prime Minister) which we make trend ironically …
If you’re going to change your name because you stupidly went and made your old one toxic, you should really keep a low profile instead of going on TV where you’ll be recognised thereby allowing your new name to appear alongside your old one on internet searches.
Now your new name will no longer disguise your foolish internet abuse, Kathy Wiles Aliberti.
Why would anyone vote for these idiots?
[…] What are the odds? […]
The BBC in Scotland is a shameless affront to democracy. Please, please can we take the fight back to their doorstep? Before the Scottish elections so as to highlight once again post referendum that they are a completely corrupt organisation working counter to common decency and whatever f”ck#ng rules they supposedly police themselves by.
Come on people, we always knew indy would only be won by fighting the one sided system in front of us. We are not going to get f#ck all by letting this British institution walk all over us.
These past few days have sturred feelings in me that I’ve not fealt in a year and a half ruffly. Ken?
Presumably Kathy’s new middle name is Taking.
me thinks Cuilean confused with Ian Bell
Im not a religious man rev but your preaching to the choir!
Ian Brotherhood,
I’m with you , I felt the ‘ cringe’ and was utterly embarrassed that this programme was supposed to be representative of a view from Scotland .
I’m also starting to get seriously hacked off with Ruth Davidsons needy ‘ ( what about me) constant interruptions.
Your not funny and your not clever Ruth .
However heard the BBC promoting their two debates for the election today – with Glen Campbell so perhaps this was just the warm up- whatever I won’t be watching
They’ve gone too far now
Just looked at the WoS twitter and then felt better and not at all like the paranoid YES voter I thought Morag and I might be. Phew!
How high up the food chain at the BBC and UK establishment is this outrage against Scotland organised?
(I exclude Queenie who of course is neutral) 🙂
I’ve sent off my complaint to BBC.
I thought it useful to remind them that Dundee voted YES in 2014 and there is absolutely no way the good people of Dundee could have changed their minds in less than 18 months.
Complaint sent. For what it’s worth…
Just as an aside, worth remembering that Question Time is produced by a supplier production company, Mentorn – one of the many London companies taking advantage of the perks available when they set up satellite branches in the provinces under the “Nations and Regions” quotas.
I’ve phoned up to be on Question Time over 15 times without a single callback. Maybe I should talk about Nazis the next time I try.
I only saw the last half of the programme but it seemed like DD went out of his way to cut off independence arguments as soon as they were gaining any kind of momentum. He also shut down debate at one point citing something like ‘too much detail’! As for the Labour ‘plants’…I think they must have some kind of inside track onto the programme…it’s just too coincidental.
QT
Rage Level down to ‘simmer’,will I get any sleep tonight…..?
Okay the it’s the usual formula,you all know the drill.
Faux Balance Debate
1.Ruthie you start by having a wee go at Jenny.
2.Jenny do your mock outrage.
3.Willie, you have your wee pop at Ruth.
That’s the first 3 minutes over…the viewers will love it….now business as usual…..pile into Swinney,SNP,Scotland.
#bbcthisshipissinking
That’s another licence fee which won’t be adding to their piss taking propaganda.
SNP x2 and bring it on !
Posted this a couple of threads back, but more apt here I think.
I’m guessing QT went as expected from the tone of the comments? They’ll never learn.
The result of this ‘entertainment’? Enraged viewers.
Here’s a friendly hint to policy wonks doing their usual scanning of indy sites. Maybe just me mind, but if you continue to insult and denigrate your opposition, your public, your viewers, readers n’ such, don’t be surprised when they respond negatively.
For the past two days the public have watched elements of their union supporting political class and pretty much the entirety of their media celebrate the release of this year’s GERS fiction. Oh and yes folk are aware its an incomplete set of books, based on an incomplete set of finances and working to a deliberately convoluted methodology, but even putting that aside. What they’ve observed are these people, these institutions gloat, cheer, take pleasure and revel in the denigration of their own country. All for what? Constitutional and party political advantage? Tribal hatred of an opponent? The public themselves?
How do you suppose that looks and plays to the wider public, hmmm?
Do you think it looks edifying? Do you think people should be grateful for an economic model that paints a picture of a country incapable of tying its own shoelaces? Do you think its a grand idea to ‘apparently’ take a great deal of sadistic pleasure and entertainment from such a scenario?
As I say, maybe just me, but why should the public vote for people who insult them, take pleasure in the act and are the authors of the economic model which produced such a ‘woe is me’ situation in the first place? Hmmmm?
Were I you guys, I’d encourage your chain tuggers to take a step back and look around at what THEY have done here.
Oh and, yes. That’ll be SNPx2 in May.
Tick tock.
Never watch this tripe now. Come to that, any ebc. See above for reasons. But I will be complaining anyway!
Pathetic rigged affair, from what I’m reading, but just like tabloid smears, no retribution will be discussed by yoonatic officialdom.
Surely every time some blatantly obvious attack like this happens, more undecideds decide to act for indy. The people of Dundee must be especially livid.
SNP x 2
Just finished watching it on iplayer. I don’t believe anyone fell for it IN SCOTLAND, surely?!
Only those cognitively dissonant types could console themselves on this unionist fodder.
That show was broadcasted for the benefit, and indeed favour, of their imperial masters.
Aye, I smelt sh*te right enough. There was too much applause for the Brit Nats….. and in Dundee of all places. Do they think we’re stupid and that. So where did they bus them in from, then? Mind you yon Swinney planted a cracker that bound to cause a bit of mischief. He’s no everybody’s cup of tea but he’s as cool and calculating as he is sleekit and capable and he knew exactly what he was doing when the Brexit question came up. There was an undoubtably abundance of plants in the audience. But he planted a seed that will grow roots if allowed to. But I suspect the establishment will make it disappear. I really don’t care what Betty thinks or doesn’t think.Its a diversionary nothingness based on hear say, really. But I suspect the proprietor of that obnoxious rag the Sun will have had his tea when next he attempts to secure royal patronage for whatever.
I actually made to the EBC in Queenie Margaret Drive a few times. I held my arm up so long, foolishly expecting to ask a question, that the blood drained from my arm. A friend of mine once stood up near the end and left swearing at the panel. They managed to edit that out
A couple of times I tried a Radio Scotlandshire phone in and hung on the line for ever, after being asked my view. For some reason I was asked on a Gerry Sadovitch (sp?)show in Milngavie on the question of the Monarchy. I never made it past the English wumman, who interviewed me on my response. Could it be something I said?
I don’t watch English political panel shows as there is no difference between the candidates is not worth arguing about and the level of pure waffle is of much ado about nothing. I feel sorry for the English electorate given the level of their choice of media politics. I have heard better from London taxi drivers.
The funny thing is, so few people watch QT anymore. I used to love it, decades ago, but it’s up its own arse now – a parade of puffed up, right wing non-entities. Watching it feels totally like watching another country, it’s just alien in every way. I don’t know anyone else who still watche it either, and even on political sites where it used to be discussed, few people now seem to bother.
So all the BBC achieve by this is enraging a huge swathe of people who didn’t watch but then hear about the what they did via Twitter and sites like this.
Confirmation that this program (and much of the rest of BBC output) is not worth watching any more.
Wee ginger dug rips the state propaganda broadcaster a new one.
I was so disgusted at the blatant bias: “SNP Baaaadddd” of this programme, I switched off midway through.
Ki Jong Ruthie was allowed to talk over everyone, interrupt and generally act the obnoxious Tory – at one point, when John Swinney was making some reasonable points, the camera was on Ruthie’s childish expressions of disgust – it was so-blatant.
Willie Rennie was allowed to spout off, unchecked, as was Jenny Marra, and as for that posh Toryboy from the Torygraph – was he on a punishment exercise: “Tim Nice-But-Dim, orf you go and talk down to the Sweaties and we’ll allow you to go to Ascot this year”.
And that’s before we get to the Liebor plants in the audience.
Freedom – now!!!
Of course there was balance. Dimbleby, an ex Bullingdon Club Boy, attended Oxford, while Tim Stanley whiled his drinking years away at Cambridge.
Jenny Marra actually had a ‘reddy’, blushing unashamedly at the blatant put up job on John Swinney.
From the get go, Dimbleby abandoned any pretence that he was there to chair a balanced discussion.
The audience was riddled with Unionist plants, who applauded every word coming out of the Better Together Team carping mouths…
They are getting really desperate now.
The Lib Dems cannot buy a seat on the Beeb’s QT any other week, yet there was Oor Wullie (£15 billion deficit, 174,000 college places) who ‘leads’ a team of 5 MSP’s and one MP Liar, centre stage, announcing to an English audience that the country of his birth was a financial basket case and relied on subsidies from the English to fend off food banks, charity shops, pay day loans and …oh, but wait a minute, we have those now under his blessed pooling and sharing Union..
Ruth was there waving her bit of paper again, and receiving rapturous applause every time she spoke; why don’t they tie a bit of string to herr toe, fill her full of helium and let her float above the audience at the next BBC Better Together put up job?
And Jenny Marra, who should be ashamed of herself, joined in the too wee too poor guff, broadcast to the UK.The English heard it from the horses’ mouths. WE are subsidy junkies, aye right.
ProudScotsBut, indeed.
We are living in an English Colony now. Freedom of speech is a thing of the past.Bow down to your Imperial Masters.
Roll on May when they will have no choice but to listen to the Real Voice of the Scottish People.Except the Postal Voters of course.
Last night’s disgraceful QT from Dundee has, in my opinion, been a case of the last straw breaking the camel’s back (unless, that is, the forthcoming election debates scrape the bottom of the political bias barrel even further).
They must not be allowed to get away with it and I suggest that action should be taken on all fronts possible as follows:-
Submit formal complaints through the normal BBC channels which seems to be well under way plus direct complaints to Tony Hall and the woman whose name escapes me for the moment..
Complain to your MP.
Bring it up at FMQs, PMQs and the next edition of WM Scottish Questions with possibly voluble participation from the Public/Strangers’ Gallery in each case.
An On-Line Petition for a debate on BBC political bias in Scotland to take place at WM.
A march to and protest in front of PQ (it’s about time that we had another one).
A protest outside Holyrood – the BBC seem to be quite keen to feature Holyrood protests but would possibly duck out of covering one critical of themselves.
Suggestions for any additional ways of exressing our disgust will be welcome.
Question time, the death kicks of a dying beast. The BBC writes it’s suicide note.
Excellent work,Stu.
LibDems have paid off Carmichael’s debt with public money. Have the LibDems paid the £80,000 to Police their Conference in Glasgow?
This edition sounds like course material for a media studies propaganda module.. I’m looking forward to seeing edited highlights.
My guess is that the English based production company relied on Scottish “advisors” to recruit the audience. Neil Findlay springs to mind. Coming so soon after the not triumphant JC4PM show in No City (Edinburgh) they get null points for presentation.
How did they find so many non SNP pols in our One Party State?
OMG, how corrupt does this British State in which we live have to become before we realise how much power and influence they have in subliminally controlling our minds and what they want us to think.
This is some scary shit.
I’m probably gonna be one of the heart attack cases.
Scotland loses £10Billion a year to the Union. Osbourne’s 60/80% tax on the Oil sector, when the price had fallen cost Scotland at least £20Billion from 2011 to 2016. Losing thousands of jobs in Scotland
Scotland pays £4Billion a year in debt repayments on money it doesn’t borrow or spend. Scotland loses £1Billion a year on Trident/illegal wars/redundant weaponry. Scotland can’t put a tax on ‘loss leading’ drink or a sugar tax losing £1Billion a year, in health/social care. = £10Billion a year which could be better spent. Scotland would have no deficit.
Scotland can’t industrialise the Clyde or develop the Oil fields on the West. Invest in CCS for coal. Coal is abundant in Scotland – half the price of nuclear, or imported Gas. Weetminster has stopped coal/steel production in the UK. Stopped Oil & Gas production (too high tax). Banned onshore wind turbine in England. Stopped invested in solar.
Westminster intend building an overpriced nuclear power station by the sea. A disaster waiting to happen. There are cheaper, safer alternatives. HS2 is a white elephant with do business case which will harm the UK economy.
It seems our Kathy didn’t fool too many people.
link to ekla.in
How arrogant is Obama. He learn the hard way to never trust a Tory. No wonder the Americans are sick of him.
A wonderful article which sums up last nights QT. I was on the point of switching off the program I watched after the event on catch up. A lot of it I fast forwarded because I couldn’t stand the blatant anti-Scottish rhetoric and downright pro-unionist propaganda. Ruthie was loving it as if she was well aware that the audience was rigged in her favour and taking full advantage of the platform. I used to watch QT avidly until a few years ago when it became a platform for government propaganda.
On QT the BBC and their Unionist fellow travellers smugly think they are succeeding with their cunning plan of demonising the SNP.
I whisper the obvious that the BBC and their sellouts are captured in a miasma of the unintended consequence. They are seen as cheats and liars and fundamental fools who in reality hate Scotland for not turning over on its belly in surrender. Self loathing Scot Buts.
Luckily I never watch question time these days.
Having just read this article leaves me boiling. I never swear on here but really want to!
You would think in the YES city there might be more of a representative audience. Not on establishment TV of course.
Where was Alberto Costa?
Never watch it now. It’s so blatantly fixed …even in England. So watching a presentation from Scotland …aye right …hell will need to freeze over first!
This is probably just the beginnings. I wonder how often Question Time will now ‘come from Scotland’ over these next few weeks as the Beeb try to character-assassinate the SNP.
After all …what else would you really expect?
If anyone gets a response from their complaint to the BBC, could they share?
I can write it for you right now if you like.
QT is an English show for English people. Even in Dundee Yes City. Beaming propaganda into our living rooms. Who watches it any more?
The first paragraph is unedited from Wiki – about how the Serbians used their “Much-loved, Favourite National Broadcaster” to try to hold their fragile “Union” together.
The second para is my substitution. The BBC are a disgrace!
The Croatian will for independence fed the flames of fear, especially in Serb majority regions of Croatia. According to de la Bosse, the new Serbian identity became one in opposition to the “others” – Croats (collapsed into Ustashe) and Muslims (collapsed into Turks).[4] Even Croatian democracy was dismissed since ‘Hitler came to power in Germany within the framework of a multi-party mechanism but subsequently became a great dictator, aggressor and criminal’
The Scottish will for independence fed the flames of fear, especially in Westminster-inclined Establishment individuals and organisations within Scotland. According to impartial academics, the new “British” or “UK” identity became one in opposition to the “others” – Scottish (collapsed into “Jocks”) and Highlanders (collapsed into “Teuchters”). Even Scottish democracy and its Parliament was dismissed since ‘Hitler came to power in Germany within the framework of a multi-party mechanism but subsequently became a great dictator, aggressor and criminal’
I didn’t even watch it to the end, I was so disgusted at the obvious bias and won’t watch it on catch-up either, so obvious was the Biased Broadcasting Company at it’s worst
The BBC may well be flooded with complaints about this farcical propaganda exercise… but it won’t make one iota of a difference. They are a rule to themselves, evading and avoiding any questioning, with the full complicity of the rightwing Unionist British establishment.
They are but the broadcast version of the the Unionist press, where it is ‘Broadcast and be damned!’ rather than ‘Print and be damned!’. It doesn’t matter a shit whether ‘it’ is the truth or not, it has been aired as the truth to those who know no better, or even care to know better, and that is all that matters. Those who do know that what has been presented is lies, misinformation, deliberate subterfuge, smearing, scaremongering, FUD et al can ‘make their complaints’ to the BBC… without a hope in hell of anything being done – none whatsoever.
What was aired last night was rightwing, ant-SNP, anti-Scottish independence propaganda by the British state, with the full connivance of the impartial [sic] BBC.
Those who have control of a country’s airwaves and press control the agenda/narrative/propaganda.
Scotland will never – repeat – never be rid of this cancerous growth not just upon its body-politic, but also that that eats away at the hope, potential and sheer belief of its people that it can be a great country when rid of the monkey-sized malignant tumour of Westminster from its back.
These BBC obscenities perpetrated upon the people of Scotland will only end when Scotland has its own broadcasting service producing work for Scots, not against them. This will only happen in an independent Scotland. That independence must come soon – for the good of us all. Speed the day.
Dearie me. See twitter stream below. Question about NHS Trusts – which Scotland doesn’t have. England has NHS Trusts. What a shoddy attempt to smear SNHS.
link to twitter.com
Scroll down that tweet to a chart showing NHS response times in A&E. Scotland does best in UK. But oddly, these figures are different from the Chart shown by the BBC earlier which Stoker archived on previous thread. Shambolic.
Goebbels would have got his jotters for showing the joins like this.
link to archive.is
I was so incensed by the programme last night that I woke up in a very bad mood and made a complaint to the bbc. I’ve never done that before and feel much better for it I have to say
The broadcasting arm of the State strikes again.No more surprises there.
I can see though why John Swinney who I think is a brilliant chancellor,is not a natural leader. He does not have Nicolas’ ruthless streak. Can you imagine Nicola allowing herself to be treated like that?.
Loaded show, loaded chairman,loaded content,loaded audience. There was never any other outcome on the cards.
However,I think the BBC did more damage to themselves and the Union,than they did to Scotlands government. What goes around comes around.
In a Scottish context, the BBC’s primary role is clearly to protect the Union.
A couple of years ago their approach was subtle. Apologists could claim their news and political coverage was simply outdated and parochial rather than intentional propaganda.
Well, there is absolutely no way last night’s performance of their weekly flagship political debate was anything other than crude propaganda and flagrant manipulation. In your face, with no pretence to anything more innocent.
Excellent! If they have reached a stage of being blatant and brazen then the Yoon Establishment are definitely in full panic mode!
I suspect this is because polling, and possibly private polling, is showing (roughly) just over half pro Indy, a quarter firmly anti Indy, and a quarter open to Indy persuasion. IMO removal of any prospect of significant Devo and the failure to deliver The Vow is beginning to sink in with inevitable consequences.
You must have nerves of steel and a cool head to watch this Stu. Thanks for the health warning.
Very first question asked by ‘Nation Treasurer Conservative Future Scotland’…facebook.com/calum.richardson.52
The bum must really think that the Scottish people are so stupid. The BBC must not of heard of the internet. They don’t seem to comprehend that their days of power and influence are over. They have ensured that the bbc will be broken up when we inevitably gain independence from this failed union. All the job losses at Pacific key are down to them. They could have told the truth and reported fairly, but now they are beyond redemption.
Bob Mack says
“I think the BBC did more damage to themselves and the Union”
Yes. I am sure they would need to be a lot more subtle to effect opinion in Scotland now. That flagrant performance is more likely to make more Scots see the nasty truth and Imperialist nature of our opposition.
There is another aspect. They show’s audience is of course mainly rUK. Last night may have been aimed primarily at them. The BBC playing a dangerous game of showing Scots as greedy spongers to suit WM’s agenda.
QT was a pure stitch up last night. But then, isn’t it made be BBC Scotland. Representative cross-section, my arse.
Typo Stu, first line after bottom pic
“Wiles quit as Labour candidate for August” guess that should be Angus
Also think the name is Aliberti, I did a FB search last night and this seems to be her. No clear pics though, one with dark glasses on, but pretty close
Absolutely vile QT, watching Swinney in an ambush.
I’m more than sure he is up to explaining the deficit stuff, but wondered if he just lost the will, with Dumbledim cutting him off, to bring in the plants from the audience.
I suppose its some version of payback for all the jocks that talk about a Scottish Six. The problem of apathy about a BBC Scottish Six, was there to see.
Of course it would be an asset to our cause, if done right, but so many say, too little, too late, and have no Faith.
I haven’t been able to watch QT for a long time now as it makes my blood boil! I detest the BBC news and current affairs output so much that I cancelled my TV licence last year – complaints to the Beeb get ignored so it seems the only way to protest.
Would it do any good for the SNP/pro-indy parties to boycott appearing on it – or would that do more harm than good?
People who are not interested in politics wont watch this garbage. People who are will, and it doesn’t take a genius to work out what the state broadcasting service is orchestrating.
It is really very sad, and the Yoons will get their propaganda and spout the usual nonsense in a cocky manner, but the free thinking will see the corrupt UK for what it is.
OT
After all the clamour and accusations about the Forth road bridge and how it was all the SNP’s fault. It would seem that after exhaustive dirt digging the following was the result of the enquiry…Forth Road Bridge defect “could not have been foreseen” – See more at: link to scottish.parliament.uk
i spent way too much of yesterday posting comments about the Guardian’s blatantly biased ‘black hole in Scotland’s finances’ story so I avoided Question Time – I sensed I might be irritated if the usual level of BBC bias was present. Seems I was wrong – a new, almost surreal , level was plumbed.
Few supporters of Scottish independence now trust the BBC enough to watch much of their output, so I would urge them to watch this programme on the i-player like I am going to and complain if it was as bad as everyone here says it was. This new anti SNP campaign by the BBC may be nastier than the referendum one, so they must be confronted. Complaining won’t do it on it’s own. Neither will the Stuart Cosgrove radio show though it will help a lot. Any more suggestions as to how they are to be challenged??
Didn’t watch it.
Mrs Goose alerted me this morning to social media comments on the obvious bias, lack of audience balance, lies etc.
Hello BBC and London puppets! We see you!
Clowns all of you!
I was so incensed by what I’d just watched, that I shot off a complaint via the B.B.C.’s web site,
Four unionists against J. Swinney, (they were never going to attack Harvey), and one of them a reporter from a London paper, parachuted in (down), given a tartan tie, just to make him qualify you know, that’s it job done, as far as the B.B.C. was concerned.
But not quite, the makeup of the show was so blatantly biased, that it probably will backfire on the B.B.C.’s intentions to belittle the S.N.P..
Although the “show” has now pasted, I encourage all on here to lodge a complaint via their website.
Just a further thought, as this is the S.N.P.’s conference this weekend, could this not be brought up then ?, surely to do nothing will be condoning the B.B.C.’s actions, bloody well attack them !!!.
What did we expect from the corrupt BBC honesty, impartiality get a grip people. I watched it for 15 minutes before turning off as i recognised the two Planks sorry plants but could not place them.
All the usual SNP bad, not helping Scotland with their policies etc etc. Come the election lets show our neighbours dan Soufh (bad London accent)that we are not as gullible as they think we are. Lets give them another bloody nose but voting all Non SNP MSP members out! Ok lets have a few of the green party in just for laughs.
Excellent article as always
I too have complained – fed up with same ‘responses’ from blatantly biased corp – but feel I must complain and maybe when they get thousands of complaints they will have to listen.
Whenever I see Rennie and Davidson I think back to that Sunday politics show just before the G.E. With Gordon Brewer in the chair, smirking, as Jim Murphy did his school bully act, shouting at Nicola Sturgeon, egged on by sneaky wee Willie Rennie and giggling schoolgirl Ruth Davidson.
The fifteen minutes or so of QT I saw last night was perhaps even worse. It was a full on attack on the SNP and the very idea of independence. It’s so obvious now that they don’t think that they won anything on September 18th 2014.
They have nothing left but lies, smears, and cheating. Did they ever have anything more? It frightens them, because they know now in what passes for their heart that they have lost. It’s only a matter of time.
SNP x 2.
This brings back all the memories of the ‘debates’ leading up to the GE last year culminating in the horrendous free for all chaired by Gordon Brewer.
It is surely a parallel reality that the BBC and STV inhabit alongside the electorate. All this stuff does is show how out of touch they are.
I am sure the SNP representatives are used to it but the bias is so blatant now that I genuinely worry that we have true democracy.
With regard to the panel, Jenny Marra was as unimpressive as ever although considering Kezia Dugdale’s last appearance on QT anyone would have been better. I had some regard for Patrick Harvie last year but I’m afraid that is now all gone. Ruth Davidson seems to be our Boris equivalent; shallow bluster and faux bonhomie and just as ruthless. Tim Stanley as ridiculously curmudgeonly as ever. Willie Rennie? Meh.
John Swinney was in an impossible situation but did what he could when not being ambushed and interrupted.
More than ever, both votes SNP.
Against my better judgement I watch QT last night, it should have been called the jenny Marra and Ruth Davison
show.
You ask if Kathy Olibierti (formerly Wiles) is still an active member of the Labour party, though I cannot confirm this, it was interesting to see her standing with the Angus North Labour Candidate, Mr J Ruddy, outside Angus Council Chambers last month and then both sat next to each other in the Chamber itself. This could be all coincidence of course and they both just happen to be shopping in Forfar and wanted to shelter in from the cold.
@Albaman – completely agree, we should all send in complaints to link to bbc.co.uk
This surely will be brought up at the SNP conference this weekend (wife is going so I’ll get details!) – but it must be time to ‘go for’ the BBC over this blatant propaganda setup.
State controlled media is beginning to fail and Scotland is leading the way. While the BBC did their job well in indyref1, they will not be so lucky next time around. Think of the treatment the likes of Ron Paul and Bernie Sanders get in the US and you can see why state/corporate controlled media have gotten so cocky……berate your enemy and limit their exposure, it ain’t rocket science.
If I were in their camp I would be looking for influential independence supporters who can be ‘turned’ and then never have them off the telly….,let’s hope Mr McWhirter doesn’t sell his soul.
And when Scotland becomes independent I will be one of the first to forgive them, right now though, the BBC is enemy number one.
To be fair to the BBC,an English member of the audience said that he was delighted to move from the Lake District colony to the more optimistic political environment of Dundee.
I watched QT last night and, yes, Swinney got a hard time.
However, it is no different to lots of QTs in England where we have a Conservative government in Westminster plus another 11% of the population that voted further right by voting UKIP. One might therefore expect a “balanced” audience where just over 55% of an English audience would be sympathetic to conservative policies – but it never happens.
The issue is that the representative of the government is always there to be shot at – and will always end up being “picked on” and be on the back foot. The government (Tory or SNP) is in “defensive mode” – it is the nature of the beast. Are more people motivated to apply for tickets for QT because they think the government is doing a great job – or because they are frustrated, angry and opposed to the government of the day?
So whilst many here are frustrated – I think you will have to get used to it. Not watching the programme is probably not the answer because you wont learn what lines of attack are being used and what the responses should be. You have the Holyrood elections coming soon and the existing SG (whoever it is) will always be under fire.
As an observation, I thought Swinney struggled. The other panellists managed to rattle him and he did look a bit desperate sometimes – and seemed surprised that he didnt have a “home crowd”. Even if the audience was “balanced” – he should have expected about 50% of them to be against him.
I took the time out yesterday to watch QT in the “hope” of getting the views of a Scottish audience and answers from the panel.
Jeez I’m naive aren’t I…! 🙁
QT was a planned in detail propaganda half-nelson aimed as a support for the GERS attack to try and break the SNP’s neck.
Fixed just doesn’t explain the madness of the bbc, openly and blatently coniving to blot out any debate. It’s pure and simple insulting the intelligence of the population of Scotland.
The uinionists just can’t understand that they’re living in a weird kind of bubble where the SNP are some kind of mad abberation. Half the Scots must be on the magic mushrooms or something.
Take no prisoners – SNP + SNP and then roll on the council election in 2017.
Can you imagine how good it would feel if we had a news programme that is not foaming at the mouth anti SNP/Scotland going into the next referendum.
Naw, me neither.
What was the meaning of the comment but the Tory leader in Scotland that the SNP are skimming the health budget, I personally found that offensive.
Man, you are such a piss taking dick.
Dearie Me BBC – a diminished institution that is internally conflicted on all matters of Scotland’s participatory democracy and can only cope with a politically passive public.
Perhaps given the severe limitations by the chair to allow the discourse of democratic participation to become manifest in the ‘greater say’ and the obvious misrepresentation within the audience and panel of those opposed to independence, then no-one who supports independence, democracy or free-thinking should agree to appear on it. Then the programme can remove its mask and it can announce itself as QT with the caveat ‘with a limited truck with democracy’.
@Bob Mack
“However,I think the BBC did more damage to themselves and the Union,than they did to Scotlands government. What goes around comes around.”
Well said. I think you are right.
Valerie says:
“Scottish Six… Of course it would be an asset to our cause, if done right, but so many say, too little, too late, and have no Faith.”
The Scottish Six could be excellent. The problem, as you correctly opine, is the BBC. I just cannot imagine them ever being capable of delivering what is needed.
Being a born sceptic, it wouldn’t surprise me if already planning has taken place on how they can deliver the message that UK is OK and Scottish is second rate, night after night.
What these feeble-minded, motor-mouthed morons like Wiles simply cannot recognise is that the only Nazis to be afraid of in this country are the ones they see looking back at them in the mirror every morining, the BritNazis. Scottish nationalism is a civic movement that places democracy, equality and inclusiveness at its heart.
The BritNazism of Wiles et al is the blood and soil type. The Loyal type. The Sabernat type. The type that salutes the Fuhrer on the lawn of Buckingham Palace. The BritNazism that will never allow dissenting voices to be heard.
They are the type that would happily bayonet the wounded. And they just don’t fecking see it; they are so dim-wtted to realise the very clear distinction. Cretins for sure, every last fecking one of them. Eyes but do not see, ears and do not hear.
I don’t watch the propaganda anymore. There is no point once you’ve seen the rabbit.
The insidious thing about this BBC propaganda is that it isn’t us Nationalists that it’s aimed at. The spell is broken in us, but there are many people in our country who are blind to the truth, and it’s that body of opinion which the BBC wants to shore up. If it upsets us along the way, then so much the better, but it’s an incidental benefit.
Goebells didn’t malign the Jews to make them feel bad, he did it to demonise them in the minds of fair minded free thinking German people so they would keep walking or look the other way when the Jews were abused.
Thing is, because I don’t watch the propaganda, I feel myself becoming increasingly detached from current affairs because if the propaganda was removed overnight, there would be so few and paltry outlets for news and information left to fill the vacuum. Seems I’m a victim of the propaganda whether I watch it or not.
There are two issues here; stopping the propaganda from being aired – tough ask, it’s well entrenched and awash with funding; but the second issue is having “something” to fill the void. There is no alternative viewpoint seeing the light of day. (I know, we have excellent blogs, but I mean mainstream media).
With a plebiscite, our Holyrood government could secure a mandate to change Scottish broadcasting, and use the in-between time to generate momentum for a home grown news and media mechanism. I started calling for this the day after the YES debacle. I didn’t have merely the BBC in my sights, but a plebiscite asking the Scottish people which Governmental portfolios should be held in Holyrood and which deferred to Westminster. If it had happened, and happened quickly, it could have driven a full speed steam locomotive hissing and howling through that ambiguous grey “more powers” area of the “Vow” and let Scotland decide which powers we should hold. Nothing happened of course, and the Unionists got away with lukewarm gestures which actually deliver nothing. Here we sit, with Unionists talking shit about the vow delivered, and us being impotent in reply.
It’s not good enough. We are pedestrian, lead footed, and so very far removed from holding any initiative. We are being out-played, out-generaled, and out thought by Unionist propaganda which is much more aggressive in pursuit of its objectives than anything we have at our disposal to counter it.
What I see is an SNP objective to increase vote share, and hopefully sweep the board of Unionist MSP’s, or at least have a massive majority in May. I get that. I can’t see the down side in achieving that, here comes the but, but what happens then?
The SNP has to articulate some deliberate direction and plan of attack to defeat this hostile propaganda. It simply must, or be judged by history as a lame duck administration in a country ruled by the BBC.
The BBC will dismiss the complaints with the reply the audience members who managed to speak really come from Kirkton, Douglas, Menzieshill and Fintry.
I started to watch but bailed out when Wiles came on. However it’s the make-up of the “opposition” that is interesting.
– Questions from failed Labour would be politicos, one racist
– A panel made up of Scottish MSP’s who won’t win a constituency
seat between them
– Obligatory Tory news hound
– The fragrant and divine Mr. Dimbleby.
If that’s the best they’ve got they are indeed in trouble. That cohort just does not reflect modern Scotland. More than 50% of the population detest them, always whingeing, lying, and spewing negativity. We’re sick of it.
That they don’t get that slagging off the people whose minds you want to change is mindblowing. Labour seem incapable of separating the Scots who want indy from the SNP. Irrational hatred of the SNP has morphed into hatred of the voters.
Hence the collapse as auld Labourie types are not going back; well this one ain’t.
Before I upset everyone, let me say that I find the BBC disgusting and that I have not bought a TV licence for 11 years.
That said, not all pro-independence people support the SNP. In my view, the SNP is led by ("Tractor" - Ed)s to Scotland who would allow us to become an impoverished vassal state of Brussels – and how much would our ‘membership fee’ be. £1 billion a year?
“Targeting primary-school children was an outrage too far even for a party which regularly likens SNP voters to Nazis.”
Whuch is worse: this or the videos showing children being brainwashing, Nazi-style, with GIRFEC propaganda?
People in glass houses…
The fact is that politics in this country is a joke, with all the main parties having very similar big state, bully-boy tactics, over-taxing, nation-destroying policies and the SNP is right up there.
Either the SNP needs to get rid of the dross at the top or we need a new Scottish party which puts our people first, not the transnational corporations, not the unaccountable bureaucrats in Brussels, not the pseudo scientists in the ‘climate change’ con and not the namby pamby fake charities who want to ban and control everything and everyone.
I know it’s always difficult to get tickets for these things but at least 20 Dundee residents with whom I am personally acquainted applied and missed out. Dundee is a more cosmopolitan city than most realise but even so the shortage of Dundee, or even Scottish, voices among those chosen to ask questions was blatant.
Is it not time the SNP simply refused to take part on such shows, surly if they boycotted more BBC programming such as this, Sunday Politics and the rubbish on BBC at 10.30 of an evening, they might then get the message.
I am much calmer this morning ,after a night of fury and disgust. As a young man I was a very good footballer until injury stopped my career short in its tracks. My coach often used to tell me to watch how opposing teams set up to win the game.
Therein he said lay the key to defeating them.He was usually right.
I have watched closely since the referendum,and here is how the match is going.
Our chosen representatives at Westminster are sneered at and jeered by the majority of other parties even for making very appropriate points. Shouted down and voted down for trying to contribute to the Scotland Bill which affects us here in Scotland. We are their constituents.
The media en masse is against the SNP. Daily garbage,sifted through by the brilliant Rev Stu ,and filtered for us to see the true facts.
In Holywood the Unionist parties belittle their own country,telling us we need to hold on to Mummy Unions apron strings for as long as we can,otherwise we will perish.
They tell us that the SNP is a disaster of a government,even though they are building new roads ,bridges ,hospitals ,mitigating for benefit cuts and performing economically as the best in England’s regions. All within a constrained budget.
The opposition game plan is crude. Try as a team to disheartenthe Scottish people.Make them lose faith in their own ability ,and the ability of their chosen representatives to win even a small victory. That is their game plan.
I have news for them,and it is something I never thought I could feel. You may have the bigger team ,but I have the bigger heart. I will fight you now with everything I have.I will never give in. Only when I am dead shall resistance cease.
My anger has changed to an unshakeable resolve.I will defeat them
SNPX2 IN MAY AND BEYOND.
@reginald says 9:47am
Please try and keep up Reggy. The EBC ain’t fair, the man you talk about was to take the bad look off all the other shannanigans that were going on. He could well have been a plant also wouldn’t put it past them.
Bob Mack
Well said Bob.
Bob, I’m in your team!
Just tell the bbc we are no longer prepared to be treated like idiots refuse to appear on any of their shows unless they are prepared to act in afair and decent manner no more bad mannered interruptions or we walk out no more panels made up of minority party’s and given the same representations as the majority party the bbc staff to display good manners at all times and to be honest and tell the truth for a change otherwise we don’t want to know .i mean for the S.N.P. To do this and do it now enough is enough
Team Bob.
They are the “British” broadcasting corporation as Mr Massie once put it. Did we actually expect anything than another dreary attempt to annoy SNP voters into voting for something else?
And there in a nutshell is why the idea of a Scottish Six being handled by the BBC is really bad idea.
I am up home for a few days so I won’t get my English friends reaction to this QT debacle.
However, if anyone mentions it on my return I will ask them if they saw the venom and hatred from the Unionist parties to Swinney? Did they notice the unbalanced panel? Did they notice Dimbleby’s bias? Did they notice the lack of local Dundonians in the audience? Did they notice the lack of pro Indy voices from the audience? Did they notice the Labour plants asking questions as members of the public? Did they notice Swinney getting shouted down by the others time after time?
I will tell them this is the norm in Scotland.
And yet we have 56 SNP MPs. And yet we have an SNP government in its second term. And yet we have a May election coming up which appears to make the SNP likely to wipe the unionist parties from view.
So my final question will be why do you think this is? I am fully expecting lots of blank expressions and no ideas whatsoever.
@Bob Mack. Their tactics also show that we are a credible threat. So we must be doing something right.
Like many I decided to watch the overtly biased anti Scotland/anti SNP programme that is laughing called Question Time last night.
Thankfully I had taken my medication earlier in the day, for my heart, but even so I could still feel my heart reaching a point where I thought some explosive action was about to happen with it.
I can not remember EVER watching such a disgustingly biased programme like the one last night before. I mean FIVE unionists against TWO independence supporting politicians. I guess I really should have known better, after all the warning signs were there for all to see. The minute I learnt who was to be on the *ahem* panel I should have realised that it was going to be one gawd almighty stitch up from the get go!
I have not sent my complaint into the BBC … YET! 😉
I need more time, yes I know it is more than 12 hours since the anti Scottish programme was on but I am not able to reduce my anger levels as quickly as I once could. 😀
I only surprised that the beatific, saintly Jakey Rowling wasn’t on, to provide some balance and counter the incomprehensible accents of most of the panel.
It was actually a fascinating documentary about the lost city of Dundee
link to moflomojo.blogspot.com
Watched QT before I read Wings this morning and have to say I concur with every point you have raised . We should NOW sit up and take real notice of what the kind of manoeuvrings are going on at the BBC . What would have been wrong with Lesley Ruddock being the journalist on the panel instead of English Cambridge educated journalist Tim Stanley , this would have given it more balance .I also do think that SNP cabinet members are far too polite waiting their turn to speak , they will need to learn to be a lot louder in their response, like Ruth Davidson , who just completely takes over , regardless of the question and whose turn it is to speak . This does not bode well for the upcoming debates that are about to take place running up to the election , it could seriously harm the overall result for the SNP.
I am a man of few words .. SNPX2 IN MAY
I never watch or listen to BBC news or politics. I’m getting older now and have to watch my blood pressure. I let Stu do that for us!
However I watched QT last night through the bbcqt twitter. It was very amusing. People were furious and when Scots get furious their humour shines through.
Even some English people were entirely sympathetic. I don’t think that it will affect the result in May, in fact I think it will increase the SNP vote ( wee smiley winky emoticon)
I watch QT religiously, but switched off in disgust after 10 minutes. In work this morning, it was an unusual conversation, as everyone had noticed the obvious ‘stitch-up’.
Why can’t the BBC be forced to explain itself?
link to change.org
The health spending statistics are gathered differently, in England and Scotland. They are leaving out funds (sums) paid to NHS in Scotland (deliberately). Different fund. Capital fund? When these figures are included NHS spending in Scotland is higher (pro rata). Alex Salmond explained it on his radio show,
There is also more allocated to social care (pro rata) in Scotland. Free personal care saves money. It allows more elderly peolple to stay in their homes than institutional care. Desirable and cost effective. Monies are raised from wealthier pensioners through the tax system.
They did it comparing Higher Education spending (pro rata). Funding for Colleges in Scotland were left out of the equation. Not comparing like with like.
Unionist economics 2 + 2 = 3. Three useless Unionist Parties. All in it together.
Overheard a remark on the bus this morning, that programme seems to have touched a raw nerve. ‘The person wha gave oor folk fae Dundee those elocution lessons will mak a mint’.
Just filled out a complaint on the BBC website. They don’t make it easy, but it’s worth persevering. make sure you ask for a reply so that they don’t just delete the complaint.
Sensibledave ?,
Well that’s a misnomer, if I’ve to understand with your comment, you said that you thought John Swinney struggled at times, you better believe it, so would you, and anyone else, if you had 4, sometimes 5, (when D.D. joined in the attack.), no man, this was a blatant up up job.
Last night was a blatant exercise in anti Scottish racism. It presaged what a ‘Scottish six’ will look like. Sneering,taunting, goading Unionists unfettered by any obligations to truth.
I still feel nauseated this morning after that orgy of self-loathing led by Davidson, eagerly backed up by Rennie and Marra.
Posted in a rage last night about QT obviously so incensed I made a mess of it. Somewhat calmer, I gave it 15 minutes before starting the obligatory complaint letter to British Biased Corporation.
Had to check it was coming from Dundee, failed liebour candidates, an audience with as far as I could see and hear very few Dundonians.
This is shameful from the BBC. Surely an apology from them. I won’t hold my breath.
SNP x2
Submitted my complaint today to the BBC re last nights farcical edition of QT .
Did anybody see picture in today’s National ( pg 12 & 13 ) on story of Richard Lochhead being heckled by a (small) rally of farmers (courtesy of BBC QT audience pickers).
Iain Gray and Ruth Wishart in crowd and apparently Willie Rennie was there too , reminiscent of BT campaigning. Looks like they all feel they are STILL Better Together and unite together as one against SNP.
I don’t know why the Yoon parties in Holyrood don’t just all join up and form a new party. I mean they all seem to feel exactly the same about everything so feck it why not go for it, it’s not as if the electorate can tell the difference between them and their UKOK pack mentality.
My Complaint has been sent to the BBC.
midgehunter 9.49. I was the same, never watched qt for ages but thought as it’s from Dundee could be interesting. Absolute rubbish. DD must be the worst chair of any programme ever.
Snide remarks, no control, a farce of a debate. How the hell Swinney kept control buggered if I know. What a shouty bitch that Davidson is. She reminds me of that English mp Soubry or whatever her name is, ” now listen to me while I shout louder than you “.
bob @ 10.08
I’m in your gang anaw.
I was appalled, actually. Ended up switching it off.
[…] ar Wings over Scotland a Wee Ginger Dug heddiw. Rhaglen Question Time neithiwr yw’r […]
The unionists will have planned the ‘farmers’ protest. Tory Landowners. Many farmers support and fund the SNP. Big supporters.
Djokovic is taking drugs. Demeanour.
link to en.wikipedia.org
An ill advised choice of word to use where finances are concerned. Perhaps Ruth should be afforded an opportunity to clarify that she wasn’t making accusations of criminal activity.
truly shocked at the level of blatant bias on last nights qt…only because it was from yes city, dundee….talk about plants, just about every view was an english, metrocentric unionist with angst at the very idea of a scotland deciding its own future…totally ashamed of this propaganda, made me so angry and frustrated at our hands being tied with this shower of charlatans. snp would perhaps think of withdrawing totally from this corrupt so called programme…
Dotty Dave:I thought Swinney struggled. The other panellists managed to rattle him and he did look a bit desperate sometimes – and seemed surprised that he didnt have a “home crowd”.
Dotty Dave, never the leader, but there to sneer, ever ready to stick in his pen knife after the others, and then claim it was his pals who led the attack.
@Breeks
I agree that the BBC are now going all out to shore up the unionist vote. They must know that such extraordinary levels of bias won’t win people over to their side. This is damage limitation for them now.
Clapper57 at 10.57
Ruth Wishart? Better Together? No way. She has addressed at least two huge YES ralies
I must be psychic so decided to watch Scotland Tonight. I think we all should have expected BBCQT to turn out the way it did. But I didn’t expect Mervyn King to be so honest as regards the currency question, which was one of the main pillars of the NO campaign – He blew it away last night. I hope everyone can watch on catch-up before it vanishes into the ether, as this will be the most useful piece to come from the media last night.
Albaman at 10:51 am
Sensibledave ?,
You wrote: “if I’ve to understand with your comment, you said that you thought John Swinney struggled at times, you better believe it, so would you, and anyone else, if you had 4, sometimes 5, (when D.D. joined in the attack.), no man, this was a blatant up up job.”
We agree. The point I was trying to make is that “government” representative always gets it, jointly, from the other panellists. The others are not in government so, whilst they may disagree on many things, they typically agree that getting after the “government” representative is a good thing to do. So the government representative is having to deal with different lines of attack, from each of the other panellists, on the same subject – so is constantly “defending” and on the back foot. Because the panellists are given roughly equal time, this means that some “attacks” are not responded to because the the subject matter moves on.
Would you prefer, if say Labour were in Government in Scotland, that each panellist makes their point and then the government representative is given the time to respond to each of those points in turn? Which would mean that the government representative got 50% of the show time?
Honest John Swinney’s just too much of a gentleman to waste his time bandying words with arseholes.
Was this show the result of UK military psychological research……. Or just plain anti Scottishness…… Even viewers who don’t read Wings will be aware that too many of the audience were English, with anti SNP views predominating then add in the behaviour of Rennie N Gang …….
Never forget we need to increase the number of people reading WoS
BBC swamped with complaints this morning. Just heard on Radio Scotland that a grand total of 2 complaints were received after last night’s QT broadcast. And one of those complaints went intot he wrong box as the person was complaining about Prime Minister’s QT. So that’s just one complaint received by the BBC about last night’s QT.
It’s true you know, ‘cos the BBC said it. (Sniggers).
link to bbc.co.uk Get those complaints fired off people , if we don’t NO one will .
I’d like to know how Kathy Olibierti managed to get into the debate with this name as the BBC ask for ID before you’re allowed into the building. Either that or she must have changed her name by marriage/deed poll?
I cant for the life of me understand why the SNP actually go on the Beeb, they know they are going to get stitched up, They should agree to go on but at the very last minute pull out and make sure no replacement available and leave them in the lurch!!
I know the Beeb would try and get somebody else but at all stops the SNP should prevent this. Just look at the USA you see a BBC correspondent standing outside the White House but when they have a press briefing the US Media see on the inside and poor Aunty left showing a picture of a building !!
They should just do a press briefing once a week and put it out to RT, Al Jazeera, Euronews and if the Beeb & ItV want info they have to go begging!
Time for the SNP to hire a good press officer and control all of these programs.
truly sickened after watching last nights qt..bad decision on my behalf..thought since it was from yes city it would have been interesting stuff.. instead it was packed with metrocentric, english unionists filled with bile at scotland have the audacity not to get back in our box and shut up, we lost dont you know…so obvious they were shipped in for the show for maximum effect…talk about obvious, they cant do subtle if they tried..time the snp withdrew and boycotted this show, its nothing more than a unionfest week after week…wont view it again, ever..
Tim Stanley is the darling who on BBC News wished that Alec Salmond would just die.
I’ve just read this from one of our TWO lovely audience members last night. 😀
I do love abuse I get for appearing on #bbcqt but the only reason I was picked was because I’m voting to leave and I live in Dundee…
Care to guess who? 🙂
It shouldn’t be too difficult he tells us where he lives.
DAMN!
I’ve just given the game away there haven’t I! 😀
As I’ve said before the bbc has given up trying to be balanced in its attitude towards Scotland’s politics. Like britnat newspapers its paramount purpose now is to concentrate on fellow britnats by feeding them with more and more too-wee-too-poor-too-stupid propaganda.
Don’t pay the licence tax.
All the motivation l needed to get round the doors leafleting this morning with my 4 year old in tow. Complaint also made (pointless but helps the blood pressure).
They’ve just increased my resolve.
SNP x 2
I neither fund the BBC (Britain’s official propaganda channel) nor watch its TV broadcasts.
And I was not surprised, on account of the Twitter feed last night, by the planned & organised bias & invective towards Mr. Swinney in particular, on display during Question Time.
Anyone, except perhaps the most bitter of hard line, jingoistic BritNats would have recognised a frothing lynch mob, willingly press ganged into a Dundee studio by a circus ringleader long past pretending to be politically impartial.
There was a whiff of Brown Shirt mentality on display; a disturbing if not embarrassing development, led by a wealthy & powerful broadcasting apparatus bussed up from the far south in London.
Writing to complain about it though, is a waste of one’s precious time & even more valuable, emotional energy.
But you are not powerless. The BBC only survives because it uses on an industrial scale, fear of criminal prosecution. But that fear only fully worked when there was no alternative to live broadcast TV.
Thanks to catch up services, on-demand services & the internet, there is a rapid reduction in the reliance upon traditional TV & radio media for news & current affairs content.
When you deny the BBC their self righteous demand for £145.50, you take back control while starving them of funds that they use to broadcast pro BritNat propaganda, just like they did last night & indeed continue to do so every night.
I’m not suggesting however that your affirmative action will force the BBC to cease but what it will do, if enough people have the courage, is cause a proper conversation to take place about what sort of service Scotland deserves.
In due course, it may even lead to a completely separate broadcasting service, nothing to do with the BBC but one that fairly & accurately reflects the country we live in.
Don’t give up hope folks. You know you are winning the argument when all the BBC has left is a braying mob bussed in from somewhere else & a big Dundee logo.
WELL said Bob Mack (10.08)I concur! Having been born in England 68 years ago, I came home to the Highlands 32 years ago. I fight, and will carry on fighting, with every fibre of my being to rid Scotland of these shysters,liars, curmudgeons and creeps from WM. I don’t have a TV. Got rid of it ytears ago as I think I could see back then the way tv was heading. It was subtle then but now?? Sledgehammer tv as last night! They do have a problem at Pathetic Quay though… US!! We will never forget! WE ARE A NATION!!
‘What are the odds?’
If you want to live in an Independent Scotland, probably quite low, however, if you are happy to live in a British run State dictatorship and sing like a canary, probably very high.
If it makes folk feel, better then complain to the BBC but I will be gobsmacked if they reply with anything other than – we have taken your comments on board but we disagree etc etc, thank you for getting touch.
During the indy ref Newsnet Scotland ran a story about a complaint that took one year to reach a conclusion which was a half-hearted acceptance of the original complaint.
newsnet.scot/?p=111049
You would need the patience of a saint to deal with them
Correct link link to newsnet.scot
made my blood boil watching this blatant, thinly disguised propaganda last night…didnt realise dundee had so many english, metrocentric unionists with angst against scotias limited democracy..truly turned my stomach to watch john swinney being shot down, cut off, and dismissed by the rest of the naysaying cabal..time the snp boycotted this, sunday politics etc and say we no longer wish to comply with this bilge…what can be done, so angry even today i need some kalms..wont witness this dross again…
That’s my complain sent off to link to bbc.co.uk
When people say things like ‘you have the Scottish elections coming….’ in place of ‘we have’ it makes me curious I pay so much in tax, I mean, that’s just amatuer. Even a Scot living outside Scotland would say ‘we have’ or ‘there is’, but ‘you have?’
Haven’t watched QT, might do, but reading all the angry posts with a smile on my face, the BBC just keep doing the SNP’s work for them, solidified Yes support and likely turned a few more soft No’s – brilliant!
As a Dundonian, I have always wondered how establishments such as the BBC would react to the real voice of Dundee.
I’m still wondering.
When I heard QT was coming here, my initial excitement was tempered by memories of programmes past. I wasn’t disappointed.
Dundee is a working class city. The make up of last night’s audience reflected the sort of ‘balance’ the Courier’s letters page gives us on a daily basis and certainly didn’t reflect the place I know.
The establishment, in all it’s forms, thinking that by ignoring people they will go away has to be an agenda as idiotic as they obviously think we are.
It may have worked in the past, but in an internet driven 21st century, with sites such as these, the tide has turned.
Last night’s programme WAS a crime.
I doubt even Dundee’s CSI unit would touch it, given how much it reeked.
Clapper – you surely mean Ruth Davidson, she is in the photo. Ruth Wishart is not and is an independence supporter anyway.
This morning Stephen Daisley and Duncan Hothersall, in response to the furore over the Question Time programme tweeted that this was evidence that the SNP represented “Blood and Soil” nationalism.
My countries flag the Saltire which was incorporated into the Union Jack has flown above many scenes of carnage ,cruelty and atrocity whilst it was loaned to the United Kingdom. I do not have enough memory in this I pad to list the centuries of killing and enslavement carried out under that emblem.
I cannot think of even one episode of the SNP talking about expansion beyond the welfare of the Scottish people.
Yes,there is blood and Soil nationalism,but it is to be found mainly across the other side of Hadrians Wall, and in the corridors of power where the selfish and self serving lurk under political banners
The SNP stand for peace ,for tolerance, for justice, for decency.
Qualities that perhaps have been for too long strangers from these shores. Like the much to be pitied Syrian migrants,these noble ambitions have drowned in a sea of imperialism and conquest and never made it off the beaches.
There is only one way to reclaim our flag,and everything it should stand for.
SNPX2 AND BEYOND.
Well that’s it done. 😉
Complaint fired off. 🙂
I’m not the best at complaining especially when they limit what you can say but hey ho let’s see. 😉
I expect to receive nothing more than the usual whitewash peelly wally excuse from the BBC but hey I’ve done my bit … sort of! 😀
Why’dye delete ma comment…wiz it really that bad 🙁
I Have sent of my complaint to points of view, in writing to BBC complaints department and to Bill M Bill Matthews, Chair, Audience Council Scotland trust.enquiries@bbc.co.uk
The BBC are unbelievably unaware that the electorate in Scotland since the referendum is one of the most politically astute and informed of any nation. Regardless of the intent, whither deliberate, or just simple incompetence, the actions of the programme makers has seriously tarnished the reputation of the BBC even further.
Surely the BBC cannot ignore calls for a statement regarding last night’s question time, an expectation exists that these complaints are answered, least there true intention is revealed as state sponsored propagandists, and not their creed ” Nation shall speak peace unto Nation”, and the proclaimed standard of programming to of “honest and of good report”
Can I point to the last general election where in Dundee West, the Scottish National Party gained 61.9% share of the total vote, Labour received 23.7% share of the total vote, Conservative gained 8.6% share of the total vote with the Green party managing 2.7% share of the total vote, whilst the Liberal party only managed 2.4% share of the total vote, actually the liberals only received 1057 votes, so their share of the audience was by far in excess of any other party.
Now I am not for one second demanding that the audience fully reflect the electorate in any Town, but it is not unreasonable to expect that the audience approximately reflects political reality in that town. If not then why have a program that travels throughout the Land, easier to have it located in one studio if the intention is not to generate a feeling in the audience of the flavour of the town visited.
Not advocating a full boycott of the licence fee, as it will result in some getting into financial difficulties, but boy am I sorely tempted.
So if the intention was propaganda, it has spectacular backfired, really why am I paying for this so called service?
For surely its a sin against natural justice that the abused has to pay the abuser?
Just thought i’d add my tuppence worth with this copy of my BBC complaint.
“Question Time SANK to a new low in British State Propoganda Broadcasting,10th March 2016.
How can two Labour (failed) parliamentary candidates, one who had to resign in disgrace prior to the election, plus the “National Treasurer Conservative Future Scotland” mysteriously manage to get invites and then get to ask blatantly planted questions.
You may well wonder why over 60% of Scottish viewers now distrust what was once a World Class broadcasting service.
Well it’s you the BBC Trust who, by your picked placements and continued inaction over the last two decades, that have allowed it’s name to be dragged through the mud.
It (the BBC) is now beyond redemption.
Pathetically all the biased headline news paranoia has achieved, is to drive more people in Scotland into the SNP family.
So by it’s actions the BBC will have hastened the end of the Union.
Also where was the balance on last nights panel, 3 for the Union, 2 for Independence.
Then you balance it by putting on a junior hack from probably the most unionist paper The Daily Telegraph. That only gets sales in Scotland if you want a free bottle of water at an airport.
By the way another insult to the people of Dundee and Scotland, was the final question last night about how raising taxes would help fund the NHS trusts.
Shockingly shoddy knowledge by your research staff and by the chairman David Dimbleby, that NHS(Scotland) does not have trusts like NHS England & Wales. Doh!!!
Nothing like being on top of your subject.
Finally for Question Time from Chelmsford, I am sure we will hear an abundance of Dundee and Scottish accents from the questioners with only one being from an actual local. Just in the interest of balance and fairness.”
Get everybody you know to fire off at them for that absolute disgrace of a program last night.
In all honesty folks I think there can only be ONE true response to last night’s BBC’s FAILED attempt at political neutrality and discussion. 😉
link to youtube.com
Bob Mack
I WANT them to call us blood and soil Nazis, why?, because normal rational no voters know many normal rational yes voters, so when respectable figures resort to this futile line of attack, it makes them stop and think.
Then the SNP continue to govern sensibly, we all take time and effort to mildly educate our no voting friends (now having doubts about some of the people you just mentioned) and where will that lead us?
SNP X 2 and beyond, that’s where
I put my complaint in within ten minutes of the programme finishing and named Kathy Wiles and Braden Davy
There were two others I recognised but didn’t know their names
I’m not listening to the big debate today because as soon as it started the first Question was scripted in exactly the same way as last nights QT
SNP x By as many as the fukcing ballot paper allows
They’ve got my dander up now Ooooh!
Complaint now sent to BBC , they SAY it will be circulated to staff tomorrow ! Don’t be frightened to do it , you do not need to give your name or address and you do not need to ask for a reply , but you can submit your complaint . Go for it , made me feel better .
sensibledave says:
11 March, 2016 at 9:48 am
I watched QT last night and, yes, Swinney got a hard time.
Hi sensible. It was a fine display of toryboy Britnat thuggery BBC style but will it really work now, like it clearly did in the referendum.
You’re merely a typical odious tory sensible, just like the mass display of tory imperial masters on QT last night but what are nice people saying about Scotland down where you are in teamGB?
John Swinney did not ‘struggle’. He sounded like an actual statesman. He was the only one on the panel who knew what he was talking about. His superior knowledge shone through and his calm and rational demeanor put him head & shoulders above (a) the ludicrous Libdem (b) the bumptious bully ringleader Tory (c) the posturing labour lightweight with faux outrage and (d) the patronising for England Brexit journo.
Swinney was the ‘responsible adult’ to a spolied wee gang of weans, who in a few years we will all be very hard pressed to remember their names, like that shouty mannie who used to stand on irn bru crates.
David Dimbleby – He once gave a lecture on the future of debate lol.
Ruth Davidson – A very rude and clueless sack of steaming cr@p.
Jenny Marra – Clueless eye candy used to brighten up the set.
Willie Rennie – A clueless major bed sniffing orifice.
Patrick Harvie – Well, he’s the fly in the oinkment.
Tim Stanley – This will remind you of all you need to know about that nasty little Tory shit.
link to wingsoverscotland.com
In January we had this statement from the BBC in Scotland
link to downloads.bbc.co.uk
Then last night we had the BBC London response,
BBC the shame of Scotland, fictional news broadcaster, and state propagandist.
Sorry to burst the balloons of all contemplating a complaint to the BBC, don’t waste your time , I have lost count of the times i have completed their long winded designed to frustrate compliant process ,what you will receive after probably a few weeks is a stock denial of any type of bias , and even if they receive thousands of complaints they will never see the light of day in any of the media , they are not obliged to publish them so surprize surprize they don’t , the Licence fee boycott however will register as it cuts their source of funding to produce lies .
Cuilean says:
11 March, 2016 at 12:32 pm
John Swinney did not ‘struggle’. He sounded like an actual statesman.
Imagine what it must be like surrounded by yoons, listening to liar Libs like Willie Rennie hysterically lying about everything you do professionally, while a stuffed shirt like Ruth Davidson rants on and on about “once in a lifetime” and when you look at the ridiculously biased audience, its a sea of enraged Britnat red and blue tory plants? And what about that twit from the Torygraph, he nearly broke into to tears trying to defend the super heating London road to fabulous wealth, just go back to 2000 and buy a crappy terraced house in London or two.
“It’s all socialism” he shrieked.
Super heroic Swinney more like. Although on balance, this torboy goon show of thugs is intended as a show of force in their Scotland region BBC style.
Its certainly making Scottish May elections interesting.
IMHO EBC under direction from the “ESTABLISHMENT” is driving a wedge between Scots and English populations as a starter to isolating the Scots separatists so they can be “dealt with”. After all if HMG can state that 95% of UK population agree with the unionists then what is wrong with that in a “true” democracy.
If the game isn’t going the way you want and the truth and the rules don’t work to your advantage, dead simple CHANGE THE GAME and make up the rules as you go along. If all else fails, THEY WONT LET US GO WITH GOOD WISHES AND A SHAKE OF THE HAND. Think that is becoming quite obvious.
We are a threat to the establishments power and wealth and that will be resisted tooth and nail. Don’t threaten their feeding trough or position.
Apart from the obvious Yoon bias, one of the reasons the SNP spokespeople get interrupted and cut off so much is that they try to give context and answer the question.
Glib and trite answers are just that and reflect badly on the politicians who rely on them – Ruth Davidson, Kezia Dugdale are two of the worst offenders.
Frustrating as this is for the broadcasters, they do themselves no favours with an audience wanting more than sound bites. This is perhaps why so many of these programmes like QT are failing – they want a quote for a retweet and offer no answers.
They are the TV equivalent of click bait and the reason so many of us look elsewhere for answers. Surely a complete and utter failure for a public broadcaster?
Maybe we should be thanking the bbc for their inept propaganda (in the form of question time) hastening Scottish independence. They are inadvertently the best recruiting sergeant for the SNP we could wish for.
Andrew McLean.
“Not advocating a full boycott of the licence fee, as it will result in some getting into financial difficulties, but boy am I sorely tempted. ”
Not sure how you come to this conclusion. They will save themselves 140 quid by not having a license, all they need to do is stop watching TV programmes when they are broadcast live.
Easy enough to do, contact the licensing people and tell them that you no longer need one.
Heid still in ragin mode from last night….Double Doh..of course I meant RUTH DAVIDSON NOT RUTH WISHART !
Many thanks to those who spotted (un)intentional mistake.
I’ll get ma coat of shame …..and wear it wae pride…not.. lol.
In addition to a “Scottish Six”, perhaps it is now time to have a proper Scottish QT. Every week a different venue in Scotland, with a Scottish host, a Scottish panel and a Scottish audience.
And David Dimbleby and his chums need not bother us any more. 🙂
Just in case folks thought that John Swinney never “loses” it then I give you this. 😀
link to youtube.com
Heedy 12.30
You wrote: “You’re merely a typical odious tory sensible, just like the mass display of tory imperial masters on QT last night ”
… thanks for that Heedy! You are an idiot.
… as far as I could see, the panellists were made up of Scots – and only one of them was a Tory (oh, and maybe the chinless journalist). Even the pro Independence Greenie went after Swinney.
At the referendum, most Scots voted to stay in the Union (remember Heedy, I am ambivalent either way, and didn’t have a vote). Wouldn’t you expect most of the audience, and all of the party representatives, to be anti-Swinney? Or are you arguing that SNP representatives deserve special treatment and shouldn’t be held to account by the public – because you disagree with the public?
I no longer pay my TV license and although this article still angers me, I feel a lot of comfort in not paying for the privilege of the BBC’s anti-independence propaganda! I’d recommend others do the same. It’s surprising how little I miss television with all the other forms of televisual entertainment that are available online without having to watch the BBC.
@Luigi -you would just get that mini-me Glen Campbell instead.
The BBC needs to be broken up completely & a new independent Scottish broadcaster set up.
We now have the opening of a new film studio in Cumbernauld that can be used.
Give Pathetic Quay back to Londinium, it’s their PFI project
Why not indeed Luigi?
Why can’t we pay for a venue and camera crew, and have wings broadcast it live on the night? We crowdfund everything else…Why not that?
So tired of our impotence, no amount of complaining to those bastards will make a difference…ever.
We have to do something as a ‘movement’ now. We should boycott the debates for a start…everyone should switch off on those nights and let Stu do a running Twitter commentary. I’m serious.
A mass tv switch off…but the whole movement should do it. That would leave a mark.
@ Call me Dave
“(I exclude Queenie who of course is neutral)”
As neutral as a badly wired plug!
The BBC excuse of having two Tories in order to comply with their policy to have at least one anti EU panellist on every programme is absolute rubbish.
Apart from the obvious fact that this was the last Question Time in Scotland before the Scottish Parliament elections, therefore that should have ben their framework,any researcher worth their salt could have had Scottish anti EU politicians such as Margaret Mitchell (Tory) Former Labour MP (Nigel Griffiths) instead of Davidson or Marra or even being mischievous.. Jim Sillars.
The Peoples QT. Invite our politicians and a wider range of voices from across Scotland’s political spectrum on…with real audience members from each region in Scotland.
We need to ‘do’ something about this. We did a lot of this during the campaign, people came in droves. We can’t leave this up to the SNP or any of the usual outlets.
Just so scunnered and raging about these sabotaged ambushes. We are being played, we really are.
The Daily Telegraph’s Tim Stanley of last night’s Question Time,joins the sneering,vindictive and sarcastic BBC Chattering Classes attacking Alex Salmond in ‘The Papers’ 2014.
Sometime I despair of our fellow Men,Women and the BBC including the Established Branch at Pacific Quay,Scotland!
3 minute VIDEO:-
link to wingsoverscotland.com
@ K1 (1.05pm)
That sounds like a plan, we need to give that idea legs.
My only fear, blood pressure overload and we lose a major player.
RIP Rev? Eh, naw thanks!
lol
sensibledave says:
11 March, 2016 at 1:00 pm
Heedy 12.30
You wrote: “You’re merely a typical odious tory sensible, just like the mass display of tory imperial masters on QT last night ”
… thanks for that Heedy! You are an idiot.
I am. But above all you’re merely a n other odious toryboy but what do nice people down there really say? Make yourself useful for once.
There are some progresive liberal English people sensible. Toryboy world does own the BBC led UKOK media but it does have opposition/ There was a nice English guy in audience last night who said he’d moved to Dundee precisely because he could see Scotland really is on the way to shake off toryboy, red and blue Westminster and City spive domination and ofcourse London’s insanely superheated socio economics, which nearly made the ridiculous torygraph chap cry.
Also YES did lose, to a slim majority in our referendum. But this may well have been because some of the greatest Project Fearing liars around, BBC, red and blue tory, all roared vote NO for The Vow, devo-max, federal UK.
All of it’s turned out to be worse than nothing, UK.gov even trying to use to rip off their Scotland region by £7+bn.
Not exactly a triumph of democracy sensible. Just like last night, historic fraud, bullying, naked thuggery and a great deal of UKOK “you said once in a lifetime, shut up and let toryboy world take over” tubthumping, BBC style.
Good luck with that toryboy.
Cuilean @ 12.32. Well said.
Complaint submitted to BBC, although as many observe, it may be useless, but, on the other hand, we are the ones that should be doing it. Puts them to some work at least.
Marra obviously flavour of the month, had to listen to her whining about the named person legislation. Aligning herself to red faced Christian fundamentalist types.
No one seems to understand the SG is on the side of the vulnerable child in this legislation. I would tell the critics to f“k off, and stop trying to prevent progressive protection of children at risk.
Luigi says:
In addition to a “Scottish Six”, perhaps it is now time to have a proper Scottish QT. Every week a different venue in Scotland, with a Scottish host, a Scottish panel and a Scottish audience.
Do you mean a show hosted by Brewer, Bird or Joffrey with panelists from Labour, Cons, Lib-Dems and UKIP versus the solitary SNP representative?
You could always include a journo from the Daily Record (Clegg, Crichton?) for balance.
No thanks!
…when you think they cannot sink any lower…you will be wrong!
What other nation would be expected to pay for the propaganda directed at them?
However Scottish politicians running down their own nation is even more sickening.
A Twitter feed directly connected to the programme, where people can comment freely, Rev doesn’t have to do that part. 😉
What are the odds?
I calculated that for ANY individual getting to ask a question on QT (based on guess of. 5,000 applicants per show, 200 audience and 5 questions being asked) works out to be about 0.1% probability. Thus, that 2 of those 5 questions were from ‘known’ failed politicos is really quite an astonishing outcome and, in terms of proability, unlikely to occur by random chance alone.
I think that Ruthie has got a bit carried away, with her aspiration to overtake Labour, the Tory papers suggesting that’s likely, and her ability to rabbit on and on loudly convincing her that she’s making good points and winning arguments.
With more exposure, her voice and her ready schoolgirl grin have become predictable and a bit boring. It’s the same performance with the same content every time and, really, there’s not much behind it – she’s never inspired any constituency at any level elect her as its representative, and has never held a post of public responsibility. She could well be in for a massive disappointment in May.
From the sublime to the ridiculous.
Just now on the news,a financial expert giving his opinion on John McDonnel Labour Shadow Chancellor’s view that we have to borrow to stimulate the economy and promote growth. The expert thinks that he and all economists would agree this makes perfect sense,as under Osbornes plans the economy is beginning to stagnate.
Do we all remember when the SNP proposed such a plan and were shouted down by all quarters including Labour?
No mention of this however .It is apparently Mr McDonnel revolutionary idea!!!
You have to laugh.———or cry.
@ Liz
“…it’s their PFI project.”
PFI? Is that ‘Prevent Full Independence’?
SNP x 2 + 1 x EU = FREE
This article just shows what good value for money my increasing collection of badges is. I watched two thirds of QT and must admit was puzzled at the number of vociferous noisy unionist clappers there were in the audience who clearly were not natives of Dundee. The audience member who impressed me the most was the guy who had moved from the Lake District who had the only positive contribution in a negative badly chaired programme. Thanks Rev for the inf. I will certainly spread it far and wide.
By the way if you need cash for polls, etc. just ask.
Anyone arguing against Scots taking control of their own broadcasting will now face unimaginable derision.
The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others. Mahatma Gandhi . we need somebody prominent now to step up and expose the lies from the corporate media and hmg . no voters should be ashamed after watching that debacle last night .
@Macandroid
I sincerely hope that Queenie is the last in a long line of scroungers but that is for another day. Independence first!
She is as neutral as one of her two headed coins! 🙂
SNP x 2
Dr Jim 12.25
“There were two others I recognised but didn’t know their names”
would be interested to know who else you recognised- would be nice to try and put a name to a face between us. I clocked Kathy as a plant immediately but missed the young guy Braden. Thought I saw Kevin at one point but rewound and I don’t think it was him.
If you can put yourself through watching it again… but that is asking too much Jim.
John H. says:
11 March, 2016 at 9:39 am
It was a full on attack on the SNP and the very idea of independence. It’s so obvious now that they don’t think that they won anything on September 18th 2014.
Ruby replies
The current debate is weird Unionists are still fighting the Indy Ref!
It’s ‘IndyRef Ground Hog Day in Yoonsville’.
As others have pointed out, this was likely staged for the benefit of rUKok.
I know that my graun reading friends in Newcastle watch this avidly, and most likely they will now feel even more convinced that Scotland is a basket case, a one party state, and verging on fascism. Whatever way they want to perceive it, but they are not daft, so maybe they will even see it for what it is. Fingers crossed.
It’s a hatefest towards the SNP for the benefit of rUKok, because the ebc know that the SNP are mega popular. If the SNP are seen to be the anti austerity, fair wage, NHS saviour, down in england, there could be a problem for the establishment, people might just start getting really p*****d off about the way things are being done in their green and pleasant land.
So they need someone else to hate and blame to avoid a backlash from the electorate in rUKok.
The unionists are desperate to ratchet up some major division in the run up to our election and UKoks EU vote.
If you thought the TV version was bad, listening on the wireless was considerably worse. At one point, I was willing Mr Swinney to just walk off stage.
Then I thought, when the gang of 3 tried bullying NS on the TV debate pre IR1, she actually came away enhanced. Except we still did not win our country.
… there is an awful lot of “one eyed” claptrap written above.
Watch any other QT – and watch the Government Rep’, whoever they are, get monstered by most of the other panellists as well as the audience.
Most here seem to be arguing that QT should be renamed “Praise the Government” time. If a government rep can’t cope – then they shouldn’t be in government.
What would have drawn attention to this anti scottish charade, was if john swinney got up, stated his concerns about the bias and walked out the studio. They couldnt edit that out the scumbags.
I haven’t watched QT TBH I’m not interested in what 90% of the members of that panel have to say.
There is the possibility that the behaviour of the Unionist politicians has done them more harm than good.
It will be interesting to see the next set of polls.
I don’t think it’s a very good thing that there are so many English people speaking out against Scottish Independence.
Adam Tomkins, Kevin Hague, JK Rowling, Braden Davy & Kathy Wiles
But hey do I care? The Yoonsters can make as many mistakes as they like.
To Roland Smith,
Stu has a fundraiser at the mo’, as does Stu’s postie, who posts out all the lovely perks & even snashters sometime, while Stu concentrates on debunking the Yoons iScotland hatefest (& ordering seaweed).
Both are to be found at Indiegogo.
I dont know about anyone else but the more someone insults and degenerates me the more likely i will do the exact opposite.This was more about hanging on to the hardcore and swaying the soft no’s it aint going to turn the 45% to 50% hardcore for independence.
The usual troll types appearing again attempting to sound reasonable by using phrases like “Ambivalent either way” and they don’t have a vote anyway because they don’t live in Scotland
Two points made there and both of them make Scotland none of their business
First they don’t care, Second they have no vote
So the intention is simply to annoy people with their unsought and unwanted opinions proving the very point as to why Scotland will be Independent because of the arrogance of people exactly like this idiot who thinks he knows better but doesn’t get the fact that WE don’t care what people in other countries think because it’s OUR country
It’s my car and I want to drive it, clean it, maintain it, put the Fukcing petrol in it or buy a new one when I want
NOT when another country allows me, or tells me or says they won’t give me my wages that they took from me to decide how that other Country should spend them on what they want because they’re smarter than me
How many countries want to rejoin the United Kingdom?
Robbed blind for the last 36 years and for one year Scotland has dropped 1% and all hell breaks loose once again with their arrogant big mouths and when you point out the facts they say but that’s all past what are you going to do NOW, we’re better together
Well we’re Fukcing doing it by getting rid of the Bastirts who have robbed every country they have ever colonised to the point where every country they have colonised has kicked their thieving Arses out never to return and it’s the best thing they ever did and no one will find aforesaid countries saying differently
Oooh, what’s that in the background I hear, is it America wanting to come home, Is it Fukc!!
The Yoonited Kingdom originally taught the Americans how to do politics and they were very successful at it
So successful in fact that between them America and Britain are the number 1 and 2 most hated countries in the world
Now that’s definitely something you’d want to be a part of innit!
@ Senseless Dave
“Most here seem to be arguing that QT should be renamed “Praise the Government” time.
Why not? After all, speaker after speaker were praising the SNP Govt’s record at a LABOUR event (JC4PM) the night before!
This wasn’t anything to do with the SNP’s superlative record in Government here in Scotland which no Unionist Party can even get close to. This was nothing more than the Yoonies trying to fight IndyRef#1 all over again. These are people who obviously can’t take “NO” for an answer.
Marcia i wonder if i know the person from Fintry thats where i was born, i doubt it. The village changed to a dormitory village for the higher salaried as its thirty miles from Glasgow.
Whether there would or could be a possible future referendum was raised repeatedly last evening, with calls from some, here today gone tomorrow politicians attempting to determine the extent that the citizens of this Nation can demand another referendum.
Surely it is indeed strange and unusual for politicians who would proclaim to be democrats to express such sentiments, unless their view has its root in a misunderstanding of the power contained in the body politic of this Nation.
This misunderstanding compounded by the adoration of the monarchy again expressed yesterday evening is indeed an uniquely English concept.
For if we so demand it we could have a referendum every day and twice on Sunday, let no political hack tell you any different.
We Scots since the declaration of Arbroath have never, despite the intent of the act of union, surrenderd our Sovereignty to Westminster rule, this is truth is apt as the question of the sovereignty of the Scottish parliament is concerned therefore it is not a large step to say the Parliament in Scotland is the physical representation of the Scottish Nation, its longevity secured by the Sovereignty invested in it by the people of Scotland.
Regardless of the dictum, “No parliament can bind a successor by purporting to make a law that cannot be repealed: whatever one Parliament can do, another can undo” the question of Scotland and its ability to proclaim independence is as fresh today as one second after the act of union that some purport was its intention, came into being.
This desire summed up by the “Get back in your box and shut up about independence” is as morally and politically corrupt as any actions by any dictator in history, for what is a man who is not free to shape his own destiny, and has his freedoms stolen for so cheap a price as subjugation to foreign rule.
Soar Alba
Valerie @ 1.20 pm
The road to the named person legislation as it is called started in 2001 under the Labour-Lib Dem Scottish Executive.
In Lord Pentland’s written judgement (Jan 2015), on what was the first court case brought by the Christian groups and others, there is a very good section setting out the background to the legislation – paras 22-35 if I remember correctly.
This was a horrendous imbalance . 4 unionists 2 independence . A an usual audience ( from Dundee) ! Considering Dundee supported the yes campaign . Not a mix at all . Mr dimbleby
Never intervenes when they consistently never let mr swinney finish a sentence !
Going on for years whenever they had Alec salmond on , or Nicola sturgeon .
The y didn’t even try to disguise their bias .
We need a change of media for us to ever get a fair hearing on any BBC programmes .
Stoker, What I meant is we could designate someone else to watch it and Twitter feed the debates but Rev would be the obvious candidate. As the whole point is for Scotland to switch off during them. (half anyway)
We all know they will be a complete stitch up anyway. Why can’t we do this ‘silent’ but ‘loud’ switch off. We know who we are voting for, we’ll all just come on to wings to vent our frustration about the other wannabes.
So, save our collective blood pressure…If Rev doesn’t want to do commentary, he could quickly put together a post that effectively summarises the debates.
And if people could do the switch off as a protest, they will always be able to catch up later, if they want to contribute to aiding high mortality rates for heart attacks in Scotland that is.;-)
If you wanted to spot who is in the audience the best way to do it would be to make a recording of QT and then run it through something like Gom player which allows you to take a still of every frame.
Quite an interesting thing to do and you get some weird & wonderful expressions.
Gom player is free and the ‘burst capture’ works on Windows. I haven’t figured out how to do the ‘burst capture’ in Gom player on a Mac but it doesn’t matter because like most Mac user I have Windows running on a partition.
sensibledave says:
11 March, 2016 at 1:41 pm
… there is an awful lot of “one eyed” claptrap written above.
Watch any other QT – and watch the Government Rep’, whoever they are, get monstered by most of the other panellists as well as the audience.
Sensible it was from Dundee, the YES city, but BBC goons had loaded the audience almost entirely with yoons, upper class English tories, failed SLabour candidates, horrendous expelled SLab candidates etc.
That’s the major point sensible. BBC flex its muscle in its Scotland region and all to get SNP out of Holyrood government. How frightfully world famous BBC unbiased and neutral of them.
Ofcourse an odious tory britnat like you sensibledave laps up this kind of BBC attack propaganda, in a fractious region of teamGB what you think you own but do you really think its going to make any difference?
Do the nice people around you down there think it will sensible?
My wife and me have both been on Question Time. We were asked what political party we supported.
On seeing the make up of the audience on the night, we felt our applications were only successful because we had the foresight to lie by saying we supported Labour.
Ruby says:
11 March, 2016 at 1:41 pm
I don’t think it’s a very good thing that there are so many English people speaking out against Scottish Independence.
They still don’t seem to realise that people notice this sort of thing. One or two non-Scottish accents are fine and representative, and I would be the first to defend their right to participate. However, when the entire charade is dominated by non-Scottish accents, people get slightly suspicious. Something not quite right eh? A rather large, smelly BBC rat appeared last night. Time for those nose pegs. 🙂
Long may it continue I say. The BBC are only harming the union cause.
anyone got a recording of Morag on Radio 5 Live this morning!
I know that he is going to be busy until the Presidential Election is out of the way in November but wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could get Michael Moore to let rip on the Guys In The Black Hats over here.
It’s probably toommuch to hope for to get him to dedicate himself full time to such an exercise but if he can’t can we not brief Mike on the situation here and get somebody over here say Mark Steel to go over and get some guidance.
If there is one person in the world who can rattle the cages of the ruling classes it is Michael Moore.
It looks as if McQuarrie will have to go.
The BBC in rUK 80% approval, in Scotland less than 50%
i/c the Beeb response to Saville, still not resolved
English programs ( NHS trusts! ) rebadged as Scottish with no QC
Appoints a Head of News that is in thrall to a political party
Never in the office running BBC Scotland just look at his expenses up and down to London all the time
Maybe he is doing what is on his BBC job description but it is not what an impartial observer would expect; sorry, McQuarrie must go
A smart Twitter comment re last night’s British Broadcasting Corporation’s Question Time.
“If that audience was representative of Dundee then Winston Churchill would still be the local MP.”
Sensibledave seems to be missing the point quite spectacularly.
Or is just trolling…
Three cheers for the man who moved from Cumbria to Scotland to find a more progressive lifestyle. Independence cannot come soon enough
The one time I got to be in a BBC audience I lied through my back teeth not just about what Party I supported but also about where I was actually from. I did get caught out by a Scot Nat who knew me from my Glasgow Uni days and he had also lied about his voting intentions and where he was from.
I don’t even bother trying to get into their audiences now, I don’t think I could contain myself being sat next to a brain deid Brit Nationalist.
Sensibledave@ 11.27 am.
There is a world of difference between Q.T. In England, and Scotland.
In England, normally you’d get three politicians, an newspaper reporter, and maybe a “celebrity”, and they discuss local,national,and international news, and any political “ding dong” is normally between the Conservatives and Labour.
Here in Scotland, the way the B.B.C. has it structured, with four very pro Union panellists, and an audience hand picked to be representative, representative of what, the panel?.
In any case with four pro Union panelest, it was bound to heavily feature questions appertaining to Scotland’s future, and the S.N.P.s view of that, and the B.B.C. was very well aware what would be the outcome.
No Sensibledave, be a bit more sensible,
Not sure if this has been posted, but for anyone who will not be able to get near a TV to see the BBCs wall to wall coverage of the SNP tomorrow,
‘We will be broadcasting live from the SNP’s National Conference at the SECC in Glasgow from 11:30am.’
link to snp.org
The whole thing about the BBC asking what party you support during vetting is a bit absurd. Surely to get an audience which reflects the city/town is to just ask if the person is a resident?
I managed to get into the audience in Stirling a couple of years back. All the people who were selected for questions just happened to be sitting together, – even Dimbleby had to try to cover the obvious stitch-up. I left before the filming started, as I didn’t fancy being filmed vomiting as the pantomime unfolded. Don’t pay the licence fee- remember they have no right to enter your house unless you let them.
@ K1 (1.55pm)
Yeah, i got what you were driving at and i agree with your thinking. As i said, it’s a plan we need to give legs to and it’s about time we did something about exposing all this BBC guff instead of just letting off steam every week.
Don’t know if you seen the link i posted at 12.37pm?
link to wingsoverscotland.com
The article, as per usual, is excellent stuff from the Rev but as good as the comments are i find it slightly depressing, to say the least, that here we are many months later still firing off the same old volleys of anger.
We really need to be organised in exposing and destroying the BBC by every legal method possible and that includes bombarding their very predictable corrupt complaints system.
The BBC is a far bigger threat to our future prosperity than the BUM rags. Time we did something..anything..but it has to be organised.
The enemy of progress is apathy!
One_Scot says:
11 March, 2016 at 2:21 pm
“Not sure if this has been posted, but for anyone who will not be able to get near a TV to see the BBCs wall to wall coverage of the SNP tomorrow,”
Dont you mean BBCs wall to wall SNP BAD coverage One_Scot?
I’ve said for a while that the way to challenge the BBC over this stuff is to take them to court. People pay a licence fee in order to receive an impartial service. Well, an impartial service is clearly NOT delivered. That’s breach of contract. I’d be tempted to throw in a racial discrimination element too – treating English football as worth almost £100m a year because it’s “national” but barely allowing 4% as much to be spent on Scottish football (and God alone knows how little on sport from Wales and the north of Ireland) is (arguably) racist. It is certainly not delivering the same level of service across the UK.
I’d do it myself but I’m not technically a licence fee payer. (I also probably have some skeletons that could cause problems if/when the British nationalist media went digging on me.) Do we have any genteel older ladies who’ve been paying their licence fee faithfully for decades and have nothing dodgy in their pasts who’d like to take up the mantle? I’d be absolutely delighted to do any research and support work that was needed and I’m quite sure Mr. Ponsonby and Professor Robertson would be happy to throw their support behind it too. And if the Rev were willing to help with some fundraising, we could probably make it work.
The courts are not a perfect option. There’s always the chance that it ends up in technical dead ends and legalistic foot-dragging that ends up beating you by attrition. However, the thought of getting Tony Blair into the witness box to describe his opposition to the Scottish Six is too good an idea for me to let go. Throw in appearances from John Birt, Tony Hall, Dimbleby, Nick Robinson, Jackie Bird, Sarah Smith, Andrew Neil and EVERYONE at Pacific Quay and we’ve got weeks if not months of high quality entertainment. And if we won, we’d have to watch the BBC refund maybe 3-5 years of licence fees to everyone in Scotland. Who doesn’t want to see that?
Re UK deficit, the Msm are reporting that the Scottish deficit is double in percentage to gdp of the U.K. I seem to remember that in that financial year the UK Govt privatised the Royal Mail and as a sweetener took that companies pension fund onto their books which on paper reduced the UK deficit by 28 Billion. (The sting in the tail is that the Royal Mails pension liabilities are a lot more than 28 billion) additionally did they not do a smoke and mirrors act with the interest payments on QE so that the Boe paid them back over 20 billion in interest payments, taking these two examples into account you will probably find that the deficit to gdp percentage is similar.
Dundee 60% yes city. Yet noone with the remotest Dundee accent! Enough said. Who do you think you are kidding Mr Dimbleby….if you think Yes Scotland’s done. We are the boys who will stop your silly toys.
The main problem with last nights show is that John Swinney is just too nice a guy. He genuinely gives these unionist muppets the benefit of the doubt and tries to educate them away from the ill informed anti Scottish bile that they incessantly spout.
This whole once in a generation/lifetime bollock needs nipped in the bud. John Swinney has to give these Bastards both barrels and call them out on their mince. I am glad John Swinney is on my side, I see his easy going, optimistic nature as a real benefit and he is indicative of the type of person I would like to share my country with. There is however a time to be nice and a time tell these nawbags to shut the fudge up.
@ ian, anent Fintry I think you’ve the wrang soo by the lug, it’ll be the Dundee wan.
Went to see the film ‘ Truth’ yesterday and what struck me, was two doors along they were showing the film ‘ Spotlight’ .
Both films are about journalism. Both films are about getting the story out despite big Institutions/Corporates.
Both stories ( based on real events at 60 minutes and The Boston Globe) go to great lengths to find the evidence to back up their stories.
Then you leave the cinema and come back to the World according to The BBC.
They appear to have the opposite ethos.
Don’t identify or inform the viewer who the interviewee actually represents
Don’t broadcast actual news like strikes or rallies ( whatever the number )
Don’t allow interaction with the public , they might go off script
Don’t show evidence or name people , use terms like ‘ critics say’ but don’t identify who those critics are
Always always always got to another BBC employee to get their comment or opinion or their interpretation of events.
QT is no different,did anyone ask Ruth about the impact of her parties policies, or Jennie Marra about Labours schizophrenic UK policies or even as its a British show about the debate where Trident is driven right through the UK ?
I switched off , you at least feel as if you want to learn something or hear something of interest with your time . BBC Scotlands news/factual stuff offers nothing
Interestingly enough the very moving programme the night before was apparently made by STV although shown on BBC
Hey all, I somehow got an invitation to attend last night’s recording which seems to have been quite the feat judging by what consequently went down. Someone from the production team called me up after I submitted my application and quizzed me on my background, so she was aware how I vote (SNP), what my main concerns are (EU ref and Trident) and I still got to go. I live in Dundee but am from near Glasgow originally. There was a lot of hanging round before recording started (about 2 hours) and I spoke to some people, so I know there were *some* Dundonians in the audience, I also spoke to a guy from Aberdeen. Before the actual panel comes on, they run a mock session with volunteers from the audience and a member of the production playing the role of Dimbleby. The audience is encouraged to participate and during this mock-up a few Dundonians did indeed ask questions. This went on for quite a while, a good half hour at least. I wonder if this session was being watched closely from behind the scenes, and they were already selecting who was going to be picked to make a comment on the actual programme based on accent, viewpoints etc. On arrival, we were given cards on which we had to write down our questions, along with our names and professions and then hand them in. From that point it took about an hour for production to come back and notify the chosen few. Given the amount of information they already had on us, it wouldn’t be too difficult to cross-reference names and bin all the questions from the Yes folk. Dimbleby had an ear-piece in the whole time (a couple of times he was having conversations with whoever was whispering the sweet nothings) and so it would be very easy to tell him who to go to for a comment – or not.
Kathy’s new surname is an anagram of Oil tribe. BBC piss take?
I expected the anti-SNP agenda to be in full force, even if it is amazing that they’d stoop to the depths of letting two failed 2015 General Election candidates speak in a city which voted 61% SNP in 2015. I expected the audience to be pro-Union, even if Dundee voted 57% Yes in 2014 and was in fact the highest Yes-voting constituency recorded in the referendum.
It’s the Euroscepticism of the Dundee audience which surprised me. Dundee is not the most pro-EU area in Scotland, but is still broadly in favour of the EU according to the large Yougov poll, finding them “mixed leaning Europhile”, admittedly from a sample of only 289:
link to yougov.co.uk
The Beeb is often accused of pro-European bias, so it seems strange they would artificially bolster the Eurosceptic portion of a Scottish audience… unless they were trying to perpetuate the idea that Scotland and England are no different politically. Hence why they insist on having Tories, Lib Dems and UKIP vastly over-represented in the press & media relative to their vote share.
If one was even more conspiracy-minded, you might presume that the Beeb were actively trying to boost the Leave vote in Scotland to prevent the “EU crisis scenario” trigger for indyref 2. If the UK votes Remain, or even the UK votes leave and Scotland votes only marginally to remain, then there will be no indyref 2 on that particular basis.
Is it too paranoid, even for this cybernat, to contemplate that the BBC would be trying to represent Scotland as just as Eurosceptic as England despite all signs in order to influence opinion? The GE result scared the wits out of the UK media not just because of the SNP landslide in itself, but because the vote showed a clear, undeniable gulf in voting patterns between Scotland and England. Not only did a party that doesn’t run in England utterly rout the other four largest parties in England; not only did the governing party in England receive a mere 14%; not only did the opposition in England receive only 25%; the most prominent Eurosceptic party third largest party in England in terms of votes got single figures.
The EU question is completely redundant in the Scottish elections, because every party of consequence is pro-EU. The current government is pro-EU; the largest opposition is pro-EU; the three largest minor parties are pro-EU. The Scottish Tories are nowhere near as torn apart as their southern colleagues (in no small part because there are so few of them).
The media are going to try and make the EU a big deal in the Scottish elections, even when there is no point, because all the parties of any consequence are pro-EU. The only justification is if the media actively want to boost the anti-EU presence for whatever reason.
woohoo yoon ambush in Dundee.
Poor John imagine having to deal with all that he aint no daftie he knew exactly what he was walking into and i guess if there is one guy who can keep his cool at the right time its our John.
Despicable stuff but strangely amusing at the same time to still see them think that this kind of stuff will go unobserved ,an elephant wearing a pink jumpsuit in a false moustache playing the banjo would have been less conspicuous.
Folks,
In an attempt to move on, please if you can read this piece of work from common weal on the creation of a National Investment Bank for Scotland.
It’s a good bit of work aimed at reforming the banking structure to something similar to the regional banks in Germany Dan Scandinavia.
We should be pushing for this with our Mps. It would really show up the UK govt for its criminal behaviour in not reforming the UK banking system.
Please read.
link to commonspace.scot
I’ve watched Ruth Davidson, Jenny Marra & Willie Rennie performances on FMQ and I was so unimpressed that I never watch FMQ anymore. Can’t think why I would want to pay a fee to watch these three muppets on TV.
I haven’t had a TV licence for 4 years. I just wrote off to the BBC to tell them I didn’t need a licence shortly after I did get a visit from a really nice chap with a clipboard I told him I didn’t watch TV I just watched progs on iplayer/catch-up and he said that a lot of people were doing that.
I get a letter about once a year to ask if I still don’t need a licence and I just go onto the internet a tick the appropriate box.
If you buy a new TV you will get a letter from the BBC and all you have to say is it for use as a computer monitor.
I don’t miss the TV and I don’t get too wound up about programmes like QT because I don’t subscribe.
The Making of a ‘Political Fantoccini’
In Yoonworld,Ms Dugdale is being sidelined in favour of Ms Davidson.
How do I know ?
Her manic laughter and television grandstanding are beginning to get on my tits,I used to think she was semi intelligent……must be on a promise,aaahh,personal political ambition is enough to make someone lose their head..what a shame (not).
The promise of shiny shiny…..there is a long list of people,previously losing the plot over such a promise of shiny baubles,watch as she goes into meltdown overdrive,over the next wee while,I thought I caught a wee glimpse of physical changes to her coupon last night,scary,maybe that was just the lights/shadows.
Should come with a health warning,The Love of Yoon (London City Filthy Lucre) can and probably will,make you mad as a hatter,on the plus side you can be a star,our very own Political
Fantoccini.
Thanks Yoons
Tick Tock
Albaman at 2:20 pm
You wrote: “In England, normally you’d get three politicians, an newspaper reporter, and maybe a “celebrity”, and they discuss local,national,and international news, and any political “ding dong” is normally between the Conservatives and Labour.”
…. yes, and typically, at least two of the politicians and at least one of the other two, will be anti-government. Whether the programme comes fro Moss Side in Manchester or the heart of Tory land, the questions will be aimed at perceived government shortcomings and the audience will never be a Tory “home” crowd. It has never happened – and never will.
Many here seem to hold the view that the SNP representatives should not be held to account – simply because they are your favoured incumbents. It really is a little odd. No politician in England receives the sort of sycophantic, uncritical praising that so many here feel that SNP Reps should get.
The SNP has been in government in Scotland now for many years, and, over that time, the majority of Scots did not vote for them. They have no god given right to an easy ride. People who oppose the SNP position on something have every right to bitch.
And to those above that question why I should care about what the SNP think about anything really do no need to think before writing. The SNP have 50 odd seats at Westminster – at the only Parliament that I have a vote in – and that is fine.
However, if the SNP want a say in making, or stopping, laws that might affect me in England – then do I not have a right to have views on the SNP?
Grow up!
The Making of a ‘Political Fantoccini’
In Yoonworld,Ms Dugdale is being sidelined in favour of Ms Davidson.
How do I know ?
Ruthie got in some solid hits on her “vote Tory not SLab, we’ll stop ref 2” though.
Jenny Marra looked punch drunk last night. QT twerps got an audience so loaded with enraged tories, it clearly caught her by surprise. They even went ater SLab for backing SNP and ref 2, to which she could say nothing but looked shocked, and no wonder.
Still trying to get last night’s QT out of my system. It will take a lot of leafletting and canvassing before this happens.
Looking again at the make-up of the panel.
Willie Rennie. The wee boy in class that sniggers a lot at the dirty jokes and craves attention fae the big boys.
Jenni Marra. The lassie that always wants to look smart but is really a bit dim.
Ruthie. The class swot looks at Labour and Lib deads and realises that she can top this wee class (wouldn’t be hard)
Tory Toy Boy Tim Stanley grammar school Cambridge patronising condescending tartan tie wearing (how dare he?) FFS.
DD the old unionist headteacher loving the fact that it was a no vote and twisting the knife at every opportunity.
John Swinney The reason I have kept Mr Swinney apart from the rest is that he just doesn’t want to mix with them and let’s face it who would?
btw, re Peter A Bell, not that I know him personally but I have a friend who knows him a bit and I gather he is alive and kicking.
Michael Diamond,
I don’t think Mr Swinney should have ‘left the field’. He’s on QT to convince Nos. He’ll never walk away from that. To do so plays into Yoons’ hands, who want to stop/avoid intelligent debate.
I thought Mr Swinney’s most interesting statement, was when he advised the SNP had legislated a Scots equivalent to the OBR. Westminster won’t like that. Come IndyRef2, the rUK won’t have it all its own way as in Indyref1, iScotland’s case will be backed up with hard, proven facts.
The SNP are quietly setting up the chess moves for IndyRef2. All terribly dull, but terribly dull stuff removes fear.
Could you imagine SLAB, Tories or Libdems setting up a Scots OBR? Never. Not in a 100 years would they show such vision for Scotland! That’s why the SNP is like a giant among Lilliputians, when compared to the Yoon parties’ complete lack of ambition for Scotland.
And why did no-one in the audience ask about the SNP’s defeat of Cameron’s extended Sunday opening for shops or the English doctors strike? Scots doctors are not striking. The SNP could have explained why our doctors are not on strike. QT did not want that to happen. Scotland better than England at governing? How very dare you! ‘Sunday opening’ & ‘doctors’ striking’ both far more topical than Indyref2!
A political fix from start to finish.
[…] a lot of understandable and perfectly justified anger about the BBC Question Time broadcast from Dundee on Thursday 10 March. Even for the BBC, there was some quite remarkably blatant bias on display. […]
I applied to QT once, they know exactly who will make up their audience because they ask you questions on who you voted for previously and even who you you intend to vote for I think also.
There is no excuse for last night at all, they knew exactly what they were doing. No doubt about that!
This and their many other attacks on Scottish democracy can’t be allowed to continue.
Are we not left asking if we do have a functioning democracy when our main public broadcaster along with the majority of the printed press are so heavily aligned to a parliament much further away than ours.
We can always blame the naw bags anyway.
Please, please can people on here STOP feeding the ‘sensible’ troll – it just encourages him.
Ignoring his posts would be much kinder!!
My response was simple,
I asked a few people (I’m from Dundee) if they had saw QT from Dundee last night.
They hadn’t,
No! I replied..there’s a big stushie on twitter etc about it, not a single Scottish accent, never mind Dundonian, made a right fool of Dundee apparently,
Do you ever read Wings over Scotland? there’s a load of stuff about it on there…
Don’ty get angry folks…get clever!
Does Mr. Bateman still defend the Beeb? A
state propoganda vehiclepublic sector broadcaster that appears institutionally incapable of meeting it’s own targets. Not fit for purpose, IMHO.link to bbc.co.uk
This is my favourite Pubic Purpose. 😉
Tic toc.
link to facebook.com
It’s Aliberti.
No indication that she is married so doubt that’s why she uses that name.
Obviously harassing her on FaceBook would only give her an excuse to play the victim card so let’s not do that. Not being sarcastic.
Outstanding piece of analytical journalism, Rev.
Complaint duly submitted to BBC.
Dimbleby was PROMPTING DAVIDSON…
Clearly spotted turning his notes towards her..
..she scanned what was put into her line of sight..
Shuffled to the bottom of her pile of notes..pulled one out..placed on top..
..started reading-up, ready for when it was her turn.
Then Geordie with my blessing burn them down
link to caltonjock.com
Time for a petition to get Stuart Cosgrove to be given the job as controller of BBC Scotland and get some decent programmes made that are relevant to Scottish Society.
Complaint duly made. I thought that the Beeb couldn’t sink any lower than with their handling of the Independence debates – just shows how wrong you can be after last night.
Heedtracker@ 3:34
Aye you correct,but it was an unplanned intervention,Jenny Marra strayed off the SNP Bad message,(‘John is correct’,’I agree with John’,something like that),Davidson shot Dimbleby a look,then scolded Marra who sheepishly accepted the rebuke.
Tank Commander running the show aided and abated by Yoon Tv presenter.
SNP Bad…..nothing,absolutely nothing else mattersed. 😉
SNP x 2
I am sure,lots of messages on here are typed/posted on hand held devices,speeding kan sum times be an attishooo,pleaz do not get the hammers 😉
next time qt is in scotland i am going to apply to be on but say im a tory or labour supporter
p.s will wash myself with bleech after the show of course
Sensibledave @2:20 p.m.
The short answer, and that’s all you deserve, —-is NO.
No TV license money from me ever.
I imagine there might be a good few journalists in despair at what the BBC has blatantly become – a full-blown propaganda outlet for Unionism.
That said, independence supporters should take heart:- with every over the top assault on ‘too poor, too wee, too stupid’ Scotland; with every Unionist-rigged audience and panel; with every ‘SNP Bad’ insinuation; and every report on SNP policy sandwiched at the start and end by predictable Unionist doom – a few more No voters realise that the whole game is crooked, then do some research and make their way to Yes.
Look at it this way: the Union is dying. Everyone knows it. The BBC acts like North Korean TV because it now has to. It’s a tool of the UK state.
If the Union was fine – would the BBC need to blatantly stuff the audience with unionist party members masquerading as non-partisan members of the public? Would Reporting Scotland need to sandwich any new Scottish Govt. policy with Unionist spin? Would MPs need to lie about the First Minister and French Ambassadors to get elected? Would the BBC need Nick Robinson to misrepresent Alex Salmond’s near 10 minute answer to his question – bringing howls of derision to the BBC from the international press corps – on news bulletins? Would Westminster need The Vow, marketed as Devo Max by a compliant media, days before the Independence Referendum itself and by any reasonable measure illegally break purdah rules?
With each desperate move the Unionists are trying to shore up their falling support in Scotland. The indyref proved a tsunami; the Westminster General Election was another; the Scottish Parliament election in May should hopefully be another; and the EU referendum might trigger the collapse of the wall entirely.
Expect the BBC and the Unionist Press to scream louder and louder – and their tactics to become more and more desperate.
The Union will probably survive the Scottish Parliament election, after all there’s currently a SNP majority anyway. It might even survive the EU referendum if enough people in the rest of the UK would to stay in. I think the acid test of the Union may well, in that case, be the subsequent council elections. If the Unionist vote collapses then, then Unionism loses the majority of its foot soldiers and makes another indyref much more winnable.
The BBC is and always will be a unionist propaganda machine.
Thank you Stuart Campbell for all your brilliant and dedicated work on behalf of this fine and distinguished nation of ours. Scotland Their lies will not defeat us and we will obtain our freedom. The QT programme should be seen as a measure of our collective strength and of what increasingly looks like a clear and growing majority for independence. And thanks for braving this appalling programme. I, like so many others, simply cannot hack it. Keep up the great work!
The constant refrain by the Independence supporters that Scotland will vote heavily to remain in the EU but will be forced to leave because the rest of the UK vote to leave is now looking a bit shakey. Some of the latest opinion polls now show the gap between remain and leave narrowing. I realise that the SNP only believe polls that favour them so no doubt they are already rehearsing their excuses if things don’t follow their script.
jimmy we dont care about the EU referendum in out shake it all about is not our choice,when we become independent then we will deal with the EU as Scotland,but until then all the EU referendum is,is a potential trigger for indyref2,we probably much prefer to stay in the EU as the thought of unshackled aristocratic tories making us all work for nothing with no rights until we drop dead doesnt appeal very much to me.
Jimmy? Do you actually hear yourself? The polls aren’t the issue, the reality is the SNP want an In vote and would rather we did not leave the EU. If All of UK vote In then there is no trigger, the point is ‘IF’ a majority vote Out in rUK and ‘IF’ Scotland votes majority In. Then we have a very real trigger to contend with.
Because then it is clear that a majority in Scotland do not agree with leaving the European Union.
That’s ‘people’ deciding Jimmy. Not the SNP.
You do realise ‘IF’ people vote for the SNP in May and they gain a majority, that it is the people who voted who determined that majority? You do realise that the main premise of the SNP is one of self determination for Scotland? So it follows that ‘IF’ a majority of people vote for the SNP, they are aware of the possibility that the SNP will seek to constantly find ways to pursue that fundamental aim?
So whilst your comment is aimed at denigrating the SNP and those of us who support the constitutional position of Independence, all that you really convey is that you disagree with nothing in particular. And are merely exhibiting sour grapes.
But you haven’t the courage to actually comment about what you are upset about?
You haven’t presented any kind of argument, or position at all.
So why comment?
Could it be you just ‘dont like the SNP’?
And what about it? Vote how you like Jimmy, don’t embarrass yersel by coming on to the number one Independence site in Scotland, where you will find some of the brightest and most articulate people versed in economics, constitutional law, physics, maths, psephology, psychology, accountancy, sociology and last but certainly not least Scottish History…and trump yer wee snp bad horn and expect to be taken seriously.
Go study some of the material on the site, come back and make some point…oh and welcome to 21st century politics in Scotland.
Good Evening to you Jimmy.
Thanks for the piece. However didn’t watch it as the BeeB and the DR mean nothing to me now. Dimbleby is a self serving hack and QT was so bad during Indyref that I gave up even trying to debate its points. I did wonder how they got their audiences but now we know. And don’t really care. They are more to be pitied than scolded.
Just been reading the news about BBC Question Time in Dundee and the ridiculous bias of their gerrymandered audience.
Well done Stu., and Wings Over Scotland – I reckon this website has been instrumental* in highlighting this issue of BBC-QT bias…
BBC Bosses Forced To Defend Themselves: link to archive.is
BBC-QT Backlash: link to archive.is
BBC Bring In Outsiders: link to twitter.com
Methinks the BBC are in trouble over this. Time for a debate in Holyrood and have the BBC high command explain themselves. Indeed, it is time to summon Dimbleby to give an account of himself.
—-
* Wings Over Scotland has an impressively high website ranking of 2,357 in the UK: link to archive.is
This compares very favourably with the click-bait infested fiddled internet ranking of the MSM…
Glasgow Herald: link to tinyurl.com
Scotsman: link to tinyurl.com
Daily Record: link to tinyurl.com
Even UK National Broadsheets like…
The Sunday Times: link to tinyurl.com
The published BBC justification is interesting:
“Question Time audiences are always selected in accordance with our guidelines on fairness and impartiality, and this week was no different. We are careful to select audiences which are politically balanced and reflect a range of political views. Every member of this audience was a Scottish resident and from Dundee or the surrounding area.”
As ‘this week was no different’, does that mean that the BBC’s idea of ‘political balance’ always reflects UK rather than local vote share – even though the audience are local residents?
On that basis, they may claim it defensible to have an audience of around 100 Con/Lab/UKIP/LibDem voters, 10 or so SNP/Greens, and the remaining 40 others/non-voters. It certainly appeared that way from the broadcast.
Still makes a mockery of Dundee though, and they must have really had to scrape the bottom of the barrel to fill those 100 seats – which might explain the presence of Braden Davy and Kathy Wiles/Aliberti (plus the question about ‘NHS Trusts in Scotland’).
Albaman at 8:07 pm
So, I wrote “However, if the SNP want a say in making, or stopping, laws that might affect me in England – then do I not have a right to have views on the SNP?
You wrote “The short answer, and that’s all you deserve, —-is NO.”
…. Pathetic Albaman! You all bluster and no brains.
I haven’t watched QT in years. It became a carnival sideshow ages ago and is a window into the soul of nothing.
I did like the comment that someone made that there were no SNP supporting Dundonians (60% of those who voted in 2015) on the show because they all have tickets for the next QT in Chelmsford.
😉
The constant refrain by the Independence supporters that Scotland will vote heavily to remain in the EU but will be forced to leave because the rest of the UK vote to leave
Jimmy
Is it a constant refrain? I think the chances are the vote will be to stay in. It may be close in England and Wales and less so in Scotland and NI. It might even be fun if the In votes in Scotland and Ireland tip the balance 🙂
or perhaps too early to fully tell.
As to opinion polls which ones are you saying are being preferred over the others?
James over at Scot Goes Pop tends to be keeper of polls for us evil Cybernats and he is still showing a Remain win.
In fact Jimmy, just fuck off!
[…] made this comic after reading this blog post by Wings Over Scotland about the bias and clear manipulation by the BBC during its BBCQT in Dundee. And before anyone gets […]
link to facebook.com
Well against my better judgement I watched this farce , I got as far as 12 min and after the fourth obviously English member of the audience including the person who was chosen to put the question spoke , what a f/n carve up does Pacific heights really believe we are so bloody stupid as to fall for this total pish , If the SNP do in fact regain a majority in May I hope they have a commitment to get shot of this bloody stupid voting system where failed useless big mouth arseholes from Con – Lib – Lab are allowed acces to the parliament other than the viewing gallery
Aldo:
link to facebook.com
I don’t find it at all surprising two Labour candidates would want to watch question time live or that they would be chosen to ask questions. There is an awful lot of unsubstantiated conjecture in this piece and I really don’t like the comments about people with what you think have English accents not being allowed an opinion. That is just outright racism.
“I don’t find it at all surprising two Labour candidates would want to watch question time live or that they would be chosen to ask questions.”
No, that isn’t especially surprising, though as we note, the odds are long. Two general election candidates not being identified as such, and being presented as ordinary members of the public, however, is.
“There is an awful lot of unsubstantiated conjecture in this piece and I really don’t like the comments about people with what you think have English accents not being allowed an opinion. That is just outright racism.”
Absolutely nobody said anything of the sort. And Scottish and English people are the same race.
As to the two activists in the audience – it should come as no surprise that people interested in politics might be inclined to attend political debates – their views are as legit as anyone’s and there’s no ban on ppl being in the audience who’ve been involved in politics.
It doesn’t take much to latch onto a conspiracy theory though, with a nudge and a wink.
Here’s a few examples:
link to dailymail.co.uk
link to dailymail.co.uk
link to order-order.com
“As to the two activists in the audience – it should come as no surprise that people interested in politics might be inclined to attend political debates – their views are as legit as anyone’s and there’s no ban on ppl being in the audience who’ve been involved in politics.”
Of course not. But if you’ve been an actual candidate for a major party you shouldn’t be allowed to pretend you’re just Joe Shlub. That’s exactly why the application form asks you to identify yourself as a party member/activist/campaigner.
P.S. “public sector broadcaster that appears institutionally incapable of meeting it’s own targets”
Institutionally incapable because the Beeb’s values are in conflict with it’s purpose, so are not achievable in the case of Scotland’s constitutional status. The clue is in the name.
And that’s not to mention the fact that a sitting (SNP) Dundee councillor was “vetted out” at the first hurdle!!
Typical lefty BBC audience. They did the same in Northern Ireland a few months back where they packed the audience full of same-sex marriage supporters in Northern Ireland!, the only country in the UK not to have redefined marriage! And the audience just happened to be unbelievably unbalanced. I am not buying it.
Dippy Dave: “Many here seem to hold the view that the SNP representatives should not be held to account – simply because they are your favoured incumbents.”
Now, that’s the sort of dimwit statement that marks Dippy out as the clown he unwittingly is.
Here we have a right-wing, anti-democratic bigot on an independence website telling contributors they are far too independence minded. Ooo! There’s a thing. Fancy that. Wings members are prone to support self-determination.
And he can’t help lying. The implication that the SNP gets off Scott free from criticism is clear mental selectivity.
It doesn’t matter that the SNP won an election with a landslide majority, in Dippy’s world they had to have every person in the land vote for them before he feels it a legitimate result.
In Dippy’s tosspot head it’s okay for Cameron to win by only 32% of the British vote and implement draconian neo-con policies, but not for a party devoted to Scotland’s interests to function after voters threw out almost all other political doctrines.
Dippy’s heady mixture of arrogance and ignorance has you sneering or laughing, or maybe like me, grimly wishing the little prick stood before you so you can poke him in the proverbial eye.
He’s done it again…
link to huffingtonpost.co.uk