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Without honour or shame

Posted on August 31, 2013 by

We’d imagine, in fairness, that you need to be endowed with a pretty well-polished brass neck to stand as a Conservative politician in Scotland at all.

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So perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised at the sheer nerve of Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson yesterday as she gave a speech to an audience (if that’s not too strong a word in the circumstances) of “around 25” people in Edinburgh.

“Ms Davidson, who opposed the Scottish Parliament’s one-off decision to lower the voting age limit to 16, said it was now her job to speak to the teenagers who will have a say in September next year.

In a question-and-answer session later, the Tory leader stood up for her decision to oppose the voting-age reduction but pledged to campaign for the support of younger people.

‘It is absolutely my job to speak to people in that age group,’ she said.”

So let’s just make sure we’re clear on that – Ruth Davidson spent much of last year demanding that 16- and 17-year-olds be denied the vote, but now that they’ve been given it she wants them to vote for her. We’re sure that’ll go down well.

We’re not told how many of the 25 or so “Conservative Friends Of The Union” gathered to hear Ms Davidson’s speech yesterday were under 18, but we’re going to go ahead and take a guess that within acceptable margins of error, the number was zero.

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77 to “Without honour or shame”

  1. gordoz
    Ignored
    says:

    O/T Concern over Danny Alexander £10k peer donation – Speaking of honours ??

    Sat, 31/08/2013 – 12:52
     

    The MP who uncovered the Cash-for-Honours scandal has hit out at the hypocrisy of Danny Alexander, after it was revealed that the Chief Secretary to the Treasury accepted £10,000 from a wealthy backer who was subsequently made a Peer.
    Today’s Daily Mirror reports that Danny Alexander’s local Highland Lib Dem branch was given £10,000 from nightclub empire Ministry of Sound, whose boss James Palumbo is reported to have donated more than £700,000 to the Liberal Democrats.
    The donation was accepted on March 17th – but not declared in Mr Alexander’s register of interests until July 30th. Mr Palumbo was made a Peer two days later.
    Rev dont know if you saw this; ‘pots & kettles’ ??

  2. gordoz
    Ignored
    says:

    O/T Concern over Danny Alexander £10k peer donation – Speaking of honours ??

    Sat, 31/08/2013 – 12:52
     

    The MP who uncovered the Cash-for-Honours scandal has hit out at the hypocrisy of Danny Alexander, after it was revealed that the Chief Secretary to the Treasury accepted £10,000 from a wealthy backer who was subsequently made a Peer.
    Today’s Daily Mirror reports that Danny Alexander’s local Highland Lib Dem branch was given £10,000 from nightclub empire Ministry of Sound, whose boss James Palumbo is reported to have donated more than £700,000 to the Liberal Democrats.
    The donation was accepted on March 17th – but not declared in Mr Alexander’s register of interests until July 30th. Mr Palumbo was made a Peer two days later.
     
    Rev dont know if you picked this up (SNP website)

  3. Gizzit
    Ignored
    says:

    No surprises in the hypocrisy of the Naysayers – nothing new in that.  I can’t help wondering however – if this was 1979, would the MSM coverage be so desperate and hysterical?
     
    I doubt it – the Internet is offering people alternative viewpoints – and the Press are running scared.  Their death-throes are turning uglier by the day.
     

  4. Vincent McDee
    Ignored
    says:

    Johann Lamont:

    “Scotland deserves better than what we have at the moment,”
    “We deserve better living standards, better schools and hospitals, secure jobs and a vision of what Scotland can be.”
    Is this her attempt at a defence of the union?
    It’s funny because I couldn’t agree more, and she plainly fails to see the irony that this is the result of union.

  5. Murray McCallum
    Ignored
    says:

    ‘It is absolutely my job to speak to people in that age group,’ she said.
     
    Maybe she should try listening to them?

  6. HandandShrimp
    Ignored
    says:

    On the plus side the attendance levels minimised the chances of “death by utter pish”.

  7. Juteman
    Ignored
    says:

    Like most Unionists, the devil is in the detail.
    She said it was absolutely her job to speak to folk in that age bracket.
    I assume she speaks to family members of that age?
    No lies.

  8. annie
    Ignored
    says:

    Thought for a moment that was the BT meeting in Glasgow today – mental picture of all the indy supporters sitting with their multiple invitations laughing hysterically looking at the photo above.

  9. Marcia
    Ignored
    says:

    annie,
    I thought the same. I expect the meeting organisers will chuck out anyone filming today.

  10. Juteman
    Ignored
    says:

    Hello 16 year old. Give me a Big Mac, but no gherkin.

  11. gordoz
    Ignored
    says:

    “In fairness, that you need to be endowed with a pretty well-polished brass neck to stand as a Conservative politician in Scotland at all”

    Or completely ‘aff yer heid’

  12. proudscot
    Ignored
    says:

    When you look at this public humiliation of Ruth Davidson and her Unionist “Scottish” Tory Party, then take into account the falling (and repeatedly undisclosed) Labour Party membership, and the almost total electoral wipeout of the LibDems, you have to ask just who the hell are the pollsters polling, when they find support for independence still in the 34% region?

  13. Macart
    Ignored
    says:

    Clearly that cameraman is on punishment duty. 🙂
     
    Poor bugger will be ready for therapy after that session and the headache for the editors in trying to portray a full hall for the evening news…

  14. Jimbo
    Ignored
    says:

    “I thought the same. I expect the meeting organisers will chuck out anyone filming today.”
     
    That would be an infringement of their civil liberties. It is, after all, being billed as a ‘public meeting’. But yes, you’re probably right. BT holding a secret public meeting at which members of the public will not be treated as members of the public. Only in Scotland…
     
    BT are not interested who turns up (though they would prefer the hard of thinking). Any after speech questioners will be considered as nuisance value. It’s a pretendy ‘public meeting’ which is purely for putting across the soundbites they want to be broadcast by their compliant Scottish media.

  15. Boorach
    Ignored
    says:

    That’s Edinburgh?
     
    There were more than that crammed into a tiny village hall in Bonar Bridge on Thursday evening! Not only that but our lot were paying attention!

  16. Boorach
    Ignored
    says:

    Macart…. the cameraman obviously made the mistake of catching Alex’s good side!

  17. annie
    Ignored
    says:

    Boorach – was there a good turnout at Bonar?

  18. joe kane
    Ignored
    says:

    From that image you can see why the Tories need the Scottish Labour Party and its minions to do all their dirty work for them in the referendum.

    The Tory Party hasn’t won a British general election since 1997 and didn’t win the last one either. It is a UK party in long-term decline. It only got as many votes as it did by printing an obviously fraudulent manifesto, just like the Lib Dems, in order to steal votes. Such practices are referred to as British democracy, except when they happen in Putin’s Russia or Mugabe’s Zimbabwe , then they gets denounce as election stealing by the British press and politicians in Westminster.

  19. Tris
    Ignored
    says:

    Have 16 and 17 years olds started dying their hair grey? 
     
    If not the “crowd” in the picture appear to be rather older than that.
     
    Still give her credit. There are marginally more in the audience than on the stage.

  20. M4rkyboy
    Ignored
    says:

    They meant ‘Publicity’ meeting.

  21. Chic McGregor
    Ignored
    says:

    Well its a well used adage of our ruling elite that “if you fall off your horse, the best thing to do is get back on it as soon as you can.”  But in this case it looks like the horse had bolted (and who could blame it?).

  22. Graeme Purves
    Ignored
    says:

    There appear to be an unusually high proportion of silver haired teenagers in the audience.

  23. Chic McGregor
    Ignored
    says:

    OT.  Has there been a venue/pub/whatever suggested for an apre march WOS social?  

  24. quaichmaker
    Ignored
    says:

    Boorach keen to know how bonar meeting went
    Should have been there but had to go and help some friends deal with dodgy roof

  25. Boorach
    Ignored
    says:

    Annie, there were thirty or so there and all were in good heart. Given the population density thereabouts would probably translate to a few ‘hundreds’ in any of the cities.

  26. Jimbo
    Ignored
    says:

    What will she say to these 16- and 17-year-olds she’s now so keen to speak to?
     
    It can only be:
    Vote Unionist – If we get rid of that awful SNP and you go on to higher education we’ll guarantee you, you’ll pay for it. 
    We’ll privatise the NHS
    We’ll bring back prescription charges.
    We’ll keep the bedroom tax.
    If you can’t get a job we’ll call you a scrounger and put you to Workfare.
    We’ll bring back means testing.
     
    I could go on and on – The list of Unionist guarantees is endless.
     
     

  27. Archie [not Erchie]
    Ignored
    says:

    @ Chic – If the answer is yes does that mean I am gonna have to take my sleeping bag? Oh michty me!  Sounds like a lock-in is afoot. Wonder if Rev Stu has a party piece?

  28. creigs1707repeal
    Ignored
    says:

    Is that really the Tory Party’s logo – a ‘double-cross’?  I could really go to town on that but I think I’ll just leave it there. It ‘speaks’ for itself.
     
    YES Scotland.

  29. annie
    Ignored
    says:

    I am sooooooo bored – I wish someone would tweet or post about today’s BT meeting. 

  30. Chic McGregor
    Ignored
    says:

    Archie
    There is an ‘official’ march party at The Bongo night club, organised by the SIC, but no kids and presumably late to early.  I was just wondering if there was an early evening thing that WOSsers could drop into or if it was something folk would want.  
     
     

  31. Stevie
    Ignored
    says:

    The average age seems between 60 and 70 as opposed to 16 and 17 — Davidson really does have a rather large conceit of her abilities (which up to now are not manifested in any tangible way) and she combines this with a rather arrogant tone whereby we should all be grateful the Tory is enlightening us of ‘the truth’.  She really is not fit to be in the same game as the grown ups ironically enough.

  32. Alastair wright
    Ignored
    says:

    An audience of 25 is pushing it a bit, I had to include all the panel and BOTH camera people to get 25.

  33. Chic McGregor
    Ignored
    says:

    Bella would have been far more formidable a threat, IMO.

  34. Boorach
    Ignored
    says:

    Any word from BT’s bid do in Dingwall this afternoon?

  35. Jimbo
    Ignored
    says:

    “I am sooooooo bored – I wish someone would tweet or post about today’s BT meeting.”
     
    Anyone know what time it was starting/finishing?

  36. Macart
    Ignored
    says:

    @Boorach
    Macart…. the cameraman obviously made the mistake of catching Alex’s good side!
     
    No, punishment for that would be a Lamont speech. 🙂

  37. cynicalHighlander
    Ignored
    says:

    I don’t think any info re BT meet in Glasgow will emerge until after the ‘informant/s’ leave the building for their own id security.

  38. scottish_skier
    Ignored
    says:

    Hmm. Small venue. Empty seats.

    For BT launch.

  39. DMyers
    Ignored
    says:

    No doubt they’ll say there were 800 people at their public (sic) meeting.

  40. Jimbo
    Ignored
    says:

    Since they’ll obviously be aware that Indy supporters are attending their secret meeting they probably sent out a call to all Unionista branches/activists to attend in order to boost the Tory/Labour alliance’s numbers.

  41. creigs1707repeal
    Ignored
    says:

    11 rows x 15 columns = 165 seats (in picture). How many were infiltrators?
     
    YES Scotland.

  42. annie
    Ignored
    says:

    Duncan Hotherstall tweeting about Yes supporters outside shouting abuse ("Quizmaster" - Ed)/("Tractor" - Ed) etc. can’t wait for the real story.

  43. Andy-B
    Ignored
    says:

    Around 25 people you say, does that include the speakers and the cameraman, so roughly 25 minus 5 speakers and 1 cameraman, so roughly 19 people then.
    Why would 19 people show up to listen to Ruth Davidson, was it heavy rain outside, was their a minor earthquake, did the so called terrorists lock them in as a form of mind torture,maybe these people were evicted due to the bedroom tax, and just came in to heat up.
     

  44. creigs1707repeal
    Ignored
    says:

    “Darling: Independent Scotland would lack international clout”
    This is the imperialist, rule Britannia thinking that has been polluting the minds of generations. Why do you think Scotland wants “international clout”? That’s Westminster thinking. The Union allows Scotland to “punch above its weight”. So what! More Westminster rubbish! Scotland doesn’t want to be the world’s police service. We aspire to be a small, independent, self-contained, democratic European country that wants to live in harmony with all other countries. We are not interested in prestige or “international clout” – well not the kind of clout you and your post-imperialist cronies aspire to.
    YES Scotland.

  45. Brian milligan
    Ignored
    says:

    will there be a TV report on this/
     

  46. Ron Burgundy
    Ignored
    says:

    I wonder if when Reporting Scotland go big on the item the State Broadcaster will make sure that all 25 are in the camera shot.
    Accompanied of course with Toodleoothenoo Taylor asking her soothing lobs like
    Are you “excited” by the “campaign” to reach out to younger voters ???
    You could not make it up about as effective or penetrating as ZANU PF TV in Zimbabwe
     

  47. Juteman
    Ignored
    says:

    I have a Swedish pal here in Scotland. She often finds it difficult to sleep at night, because her military don’t bomb enough children.

  48. Andy-B
    Ignored
    says:

    @Juteman.
     
    I have a Swedish pal
     
    I cycle along the Clydeside almost everyday, and someone has put a large banner praying that the children of Syria arent bombed.
    on the otherside is a long line of trees with paper crosses attached to the trees with the names of the dead. Their names make for sad reading.
     
    Will we dragged into another illegal war, where innocent women and children die.
    I hope not, roll on independence.

  49. annie
    Ignored
    says:

    Apparently Alistair Darling has used the Syrian crisis to attack independence in his speech today – the phrase “totally lacking sophistication” springs to mind.

  50. HandandShrimp
    Ignored
    says:

    Duncan Hotherstall tweeting about Yes supporters outside shouting abuse ("Quizmaster" - Ed)/("Tractor" - Ed) etc. can’t wait for the real story.
     
    I don’t know, you can’t even shout ("Quizmaster" - Ed) at a bunch of ("Tractor" - Ed)s these days without somebody making a fuss. Political correctness gorn mad 😉

  51. M4rkyboy
    Ignored
    says:

    OT but a Home Office ‘Immigration enforcement’ van just drove past my house in Carronshore.Never seen one of these before.WTH is going on?

  52. Archie [not Erchie]
    Ignored
    says:

    @ M4rkyboy – Funny you should say that because I saw one in Aberdeen 2 days ago and I have never seen one before. WTF is going on?

  53. M4rkyboy
    Ignored
    says:

    My first thought was Krystalnacht followed by ‘those bloody Tories’

  54. Doug
    Ignored
    says:

    If Dunk H (Edinburgh apparatchik) is typical of the Glasgow BT crowd, what does that say?

  55. Ken Johnston
    Ignored
    says:

    I’ll need to put a scan of that photie in my reply to Ruth’s kind enquiry as to myself and mine’s voting intentions next year.
    I hope someone was videoing outside to blow away DH’s, I’m sure, haverings.
    Dunkie and his on-line cronies are like a flock of young excited budgies. We’ll just have to wait for them to grow up.

  56. Yesitis
    Ignored
    says:

    Yes, Duncan is doing a lot of pointing the finger and bumping the gums.
     
    https://twitter.com/dhothersall/status/373835683938332673
     

  57. Ananurhing
    Ignored
    says:

    “We’d imagine, in fairness, that you need to be endowed with a pretty well-polished brass neck to stand as a Conservative politician in Scotland at all.”
     
    Don’t know about that. Being a small fish in such an over represented tiny pond must hugely increase their chances of winning the ermine goonie and a gravy train ticket for life. Which has to be their only motivation for joining in the first place.

  58. Arbroath 1320
    Ignored
    says:

     
    creigs1707repeal says:
     
    “Darling: Independent Scotland would lack international clout”
     
    I think this is Better Together speak for ‘an independent Scotland would not be able to go to war as America’s wee lackey!’

  59. Dorothy Devine
    Ignored
    says:

    Obama is saying he is going to take military action , recalled congress etc.etc. and other bullshit.
     
    P.S Who is Duncan H – I have absolutely no idea.

  60. annie
    Ignored
    says:

    Arbroath – Or as Andrew Nicholl tweeted earlier ” does this mean an independent Scotland would be too wee NOT to go to war in Syria”

  61. heraldnomore
    Ignored
    says:

    Apparently the 400 seat theatre was almost full – anyone at the Mitchell today care to define ‘almost’?

  62. Arbroath 1320
    Ignored
    says:

    I think your right annie, Andrew Nicholl has hit the nail on the head.
     
    Going O’T here but apparently BBC have an article about the great big launch today.
     
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-23910983
     
    I don’t know about anything else but at least one thing has been resolved, Johann Lamont is ALIVE! The photo in the above article proves it. 😆
    Just looking at the photo does make me think that the ‘panel’ are not exactly making a very good case for the union are they. I mean I think I’d be hard pressed to find a dourer bunch of Muppets if I tried.
     
    New Better Together slogan:
    Join Better Together and become as dour as us!

  63. Gizzit
    Ignored
    says:

    @Arbroath 1320 – fairly balanced article at the BBC – well done them.
     
    …but if it is a 400 seat theatre, how can the event have been attended by “over 700” as BT claim?  Are they counting the hecklers outside?

  64. annie
    Ignored
    says:

    Ruthie taking up the stroppy teenager  position but who is next to Alistair Darling?

  65. annie
    Ignored
    says:

    Johann definitely wondering if she turned the cooker off.

  66. Rusty Shackleford
    Ignored
    says:

     There appear to be an unusually high proportion of silver haired teenagers in the audience.
     

    Daily Record exclusive: Philip Schofield and Annabel Goldie’s 25 secret love children!

  67. Boorach
    Ignored
    says:

    Gizzit
     
    It’s YesScotland who claim to have had over 700 at it’s launch some time ago. At,m what was in all probability, a truly ‘public’ meeting.

  68. Silverytay
    Ignored
    says:

    Gizzit        
              It was the YES Scotland launch in Glasgow that had over 700 people in attendance .

  69. Norrie
    Ignored
    says:

    Interesting way to put ‘claim to have over 700’ the press didn’t attend then?

  70. Gizzit
    Ignored
    says:

    @Boorach @SilveryTay – ah, thanks for the clarification – my mistake
     

  71. Thomas
    Ignored
    says:

    You think they Tories HIV problems? A took the wife to the dancin last night first time out in ages going well till this muppet gets up on the floor doing moonwalking breakdancing back flips you name it wife says to me see that guy 25 years ago he proposed to me and I turned him down. I says looks like he’s still fucking celebrating hen. She’s no spoke to me since. 

  72. frankieboy
    Ignored
    says:

    Duncan H, from what I can see on Twitter is the chairman of the unionist grievance committee. He orchestrates every hurt, every sleight, the political equivalent of a footballer diving as if they have been shot when they were not even tackled.

  73. annie
    Ignored
    says:

    Silvertay – I think the 700 from BBC Scotlandshire, 150 labour councillors, 50 nat agitators and 500 protesters outside.

  74. Barontorc
    Ignored
    says:

    Given that it’s normally the accepted thing for ‘numbers attending’ to be reported – the very lack of such comment, speaks volumes. But given the venue could max at 400 seats – there was clearly less than that number enjoying the day out with such an august company of speakers – for instance, who would have wanted to miss these pearls from Rennie and Lamont:-
    Liberal Democrat Willie Rennie added: “Some things are easier when you have your friends and family standing beside you. We are stronger when we work together.”
    Too bad then Willie that you can’t raise a crowd of more than a few hundred from a Labour controlled city of more than half a million, innit!
    Labour’s Johann Lamont claimed that independence is a distraction from more important issues.
    She said: “Scotland deserves better than what we have at the moment. We deserve better living standards, better schools and hospitals, secure jobs and a vision of what Scotland can be.”
    Last time I looked Joanne, it was the unionist pals of yours in Westminster who were causing these living standards to drop like a stone – the only positive vision for Scotland is coming from the independence camp, not yours. Jeez, you really should read what your gonna say before sticking your foot in your mouth.
     

  75. Muscleguy
    Ignored
    says:

    @Thomas
    Whenever my wife is giving me the silent treatment I sigh with pleasure and quote Chamberlain: Peace in our time. Unfortunately this usually results in her relenting and speaking to me again. Will I never learn?

  76. G H Graham
    Ignored
    says:

    25 people who had lost the keys to their house or car and had nothing better to do while waiting for the locksmith to call and announce when he might show up.



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