The National has published the results of its fourth study of BBC news coverage of political stories and found, yet again, that the Corporation grants markedly more favourable treatment to the Conservative Government in Westminster than the Scottish Government at Holyrood. One third of the political stories on Reporting Scotland about the Scottish Government were negatively framed while just 20% of the political stories on the BBC’s flagship News at Six were negatively framed towards the Conservative led government at Westminster.
Between 18 and 22 October this year, there were 15 political stories on the News at Six, of which five had a neutral framing of the UK Government, three stories were positive about the UK Government and just three were negative. There were no political stories about the Scottish Government on the News at Six on BBC1 during this period, reflecting the general lack of interest in Scottish affairs in the UK-wide media.
Meanwhile there were 12 political stories on Reporting Scotland, over the same period. Three fewer heavyweight news stories than the UK-wide news, as is typical for a programme which is famously obsessed with sport, crime and human interest stories, or as it is often put – fitba, murrdurr, and a wee cute kitten.
One of Reporting Scotland’s political stories was neutral towards the UK Government, one was negative and two were positive. However when it came to the coverage of the Scottish Government, three stories were neutral, four were negative and not one was positive.
This is the fourth time in recent months that The National has carried out this study, and it’s the fourth time that the newspaper’s researchers have identified a clear bias, the supposedly neutral and unbiased publicly funded national service broadcaster is decidedly more critical of the SNP led Scottish Government than it is of the Conservative UK Government. The consistency of this pattern of harsh treatment of the Scottish Government compared to the indulgence granted to the British Government and the fact that it has been identified over a protracted period, both by The National, and by other researchers such as Professor John Robertson before it, can only be because this pattern of Conservative favouritism versus the demonisation of a Scottish independence supporting government at Holyrood is not due to coincidence or chance, rather it is a deliberate policy on the part of the Corporation’s management.
The BBC’s evident pro-Conservative bias becomes even worse when viewed in the context of the wider media landscape in Scotland and the UK. The British print media is predominantly pro-Brexit and Conservative supporting. Of course as privately owned companies newspapers are perfectly free to take whatever editorial line they please. Equally members of the public are perfectly free not to support those publications with digital subscriptions or the purchase of print copies. However everyone in the UK who has a device in their home which is capable of receiving live TV broadcasts and who watches live TV or the BBC’s iplayer service is legally obliged to contribute financially to the BBC.
It’s one thing to be forced to pay for entertainment programming which you don’t necessarily watch yourself, it’s quite another matter to be forced to pay for the production and broadcast of pro-Conservative propaganda which is directly antithetical to your own views and interests and which promotes a mendacious and corrupt political party with distinctly authoritarian and anti-democratic tendencies which is currently trying to unilaterally undermine the devolution settlement without any mandate from the people of Scotland to do so and which is trying to deny the outcome of the recent Holyrood election.
As a public service broadcaster the role of the BBC ought to be to act as a corrective to the bias that exists in the privately owned media. Instead the BBC amplifies and propagates that bias, by refusing to challenge the Conservatives or report negatively on them. All too often the Corporation is happy to meekly follow a news agenda determined by the right wing press. In the process the BBC is skewing media representation even further to the right, and depriving critical voices on the left, and those in favour of Scottish self-determination, of equivalent platforms.
When we have a Conservative government in Westminster which is determined to undermine the devolution settlement and which is eager to by-pass Holyrood in order to exercise direct Westminster control over devolved areas of government and which is doing so without any mandate from the people of Scotland, the BBC’s reluctance to challenge the Conservatives becomes dangerous to the very future of democracy. Moreover the Conservative are currently shamelessly lying to and gaslighting Scotland with the aim of negating the outcome of May’s Holyrood election which produced a Scottish Parliament with a cast iron and indisputable mandate for another independence referendum. Yet the BBC continues to facilitate and give credibility to the blatant lies of the likes of Michael Gove and Alister Jack instead of challenging them as it should.
This is all the more dangerous in a state like the UK where there is no written constitution and no clear demarcation and distinction between the powers of the different branches of government and one legislature is filled with unelected political appointees and the other is elected using a voting system which gives a crushing majority to a party which has not secured a majority of the popular vote. Under such circumstances, a fearless media which is not afraid to speak truth unto power and to challenge the party which controls the government with few effective checks or limits on its power is even more essential in order to guarantee the probity of government and the maintenance of democratic standards.
You only need glance at the serial scandals, the constant sleaze, and the corruption, chaos and incompetence of the Conservative government of Johnson to see that this is a party which has lost any fear of ever being held to account. Just a few days ago the Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries heavily criticised the broadcaster, and expressed her anger over political correspondent Nick Robinson telling Boris Johnson to “stop talking” during a Radio 4 interview. Yet the BBC meekly acquiesces as it is bullied by a government minister.
Naturally the BBC refuses to acknowledge that it could ever be in the wrong, the Corporation is as unaccountable as those Conservative ministers that it is so reluctant to criticise.
I have a physiotherapy appointment tomorrow so there won’t be a blog piece as I am always wiped out afterwards. It is definitely helping however, my mobility is slowly improving.
I am now writing the daily newsletter for The National, published every day from Monday to Friday in the late afternoon. So if you’d like a daily dose of dug you can subscribe to The National, Scotland’s only pro-independence newspaper, here: Subscriptions from The National
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Wee Ginger Dug 
After 300 years of trying the parliament in England still can’t make Scotland English, even with the assistance of modern technology they still find it frustratingly difficult, even with an entire English supporting print and television media Scotland does not seem to want to succumb to being told they’re something they’re not
Scotland doesn’t vote for them, Scotland by majority detests their politics, Scotland refuses to be told that we are all one country, Scotland looks like it will NEVER accept all the efforts by every branch of the One Nation Conservatism ideology
So for the benefit of those who don’t get it yet, Why on earth do you think that is?
Reblogged this on Ramblings of a now 60+ Female.
Great to hear that you are progressing in your recovery Paul
Long may it continue
The combined efforts of the biased media has & will not affect the Scottish people
We now see through their lies & the truth that lies beyond – Indy 2 🏴🏴🏴
Sometimes I think that we need a “Netflix for news” service. The audience pays them a subscription and they produce decent, unbiased reporting. If the audience doesn’t like the job they are doing – they cancel their subscription. The problem with the funding for the BBC is not just that it is coerced from the public- but that its final awarding to the BBC is handed by the government rather than the viewer. The government thus is able to take people’s money and then use its conditional aware to wield power over the corporation. (People warn about a subscription news service becoming a left of right wing echo-chamber – but personally I trust the audience to be smart enough to differentiate between articles they disagree with – but which are well sourced – versus clear systematic bias).
I believe that a public service broadcaster is worth having, but it should be run as a mutual with a politically-unaligned directorate periodically elected by its members, the licence-paying public. No politician or government with any kind of involvement (except as interviewees).
Try watching ‘Scotland at 7’ via;
https://www.broadcastingscotland.scot/
They have a nightly news programme, via YouTube because of course broadcasting is a reserved power to the English government, so other means of broadcasting in Scotland, are necessary. Anyway, it’s a very good programme, some great people contributing, and they need people to subscribe and support them by donation or monthy subscription if at all possible. With COP26 coming up there is much to discuss and cover. ‘Scotland at 7’ discussion and debate is generally measured, and pertinent to Scotland, as well as the wider world. I watch to keep up with all sorts of news I would likely otherwise miss because I have not subscribed to the BBC for years, never watch and never looked back! They would have to pay me to watch their propaganda!
Scotland at 7 is worth a watch, worth a subscription and worth supporting. 🙂
In the USSR the people got their propaganda for nothing. In Tory Facist Britannia we are forced to pay for it. We should all black the BBC and
refuse to pay the licence fee , see how the EBC would squirm. They have betrayed our trust long ago of being impartial, continually miss reporting Scotland. They are no better than Lord haw haw and the Nazis. Dr Gorbals tell me a Tory.
What mugs we are to pay for their lies.
Totally agree. The Scottish people need to take mass action against the EBC by refusing to pay. They can’t gaol all of us.
Great post Paul….
It has also been reported that the BBC’s in house Tory (not the only one) Tim Davie recently had apparently had ” constructive talks” with BBC deserter Andrew Neil who left the BBC last year to become the chairman and lead presenter of the right-leaning station GB News…..which he has now ALSO deserted…to what…be welcomed back to the so called mainstream channel, the BBC, that he abandoned and who he claimed this on a tweet on 9 August 2021 ” I lost my BBC job during lockdown and wasn’t paid a penny. So don’t lecture me about job security”. …..God only knows what he was responding to but it was crass to tweet such nonsense considering his other financial ‘interests’ and indeed the truth of how/why he left the BBC.
GB NEWS LAUNCHED on the 13 JUNE 2021…..so perhaps he QUIT the BBC rather than LOST his job….quit to help form/front a new right wing channel founded by Andrew Cole and Mark Schneider (both close to the right-wing American cable TV billionaire John Malone) and also the GB NEWS CEO Angelos Frangopoulos( former Australian SKY news CEO)……
Who else on here remembers the multitude of tweets from Neil ‘introducing’ another NEW presenter joining GB News BEFORE it’s launch……..also “job security”…..is this not the SAME Andrew Neil who is chairman of The Spectator……who is resident in France and who also has homes in London and New York………..so not a foodbank required for him then………in HIS Union that he supports pre and post a Tory Brexit….think his current lifestyle shows that “job security” with or without the BBC will not impact him financially to the extent he is unable to pay the food bill, energy bills etc
It was reported in September 2020 that ” Broadcaster Andrew Neil has paid tribute to the BBC after announcing he will be leaving after 25 years. Neil’s last appearance for the BBC will be in early November 2020 when he will help lead its coverage of the US presidential election “…the Director General of the BBC Tim Davie held talks with Neil in September 2020 “in an attempt to get him back to the BBC”………..so Neil had ‘NOT LOST HIS JOB THEN’….but perhaps left it to join somewhere else then…..pure coincidence that when he supposedly ‘lost’ his job at the BBC another new opening via a new so called news channel surfaced…….with him being the chairman of it and also fronting it…..in opposition to his former employer the BBC……….
So now fast forward to 2021 Andrew Neil , on the 25 October 2021, tweeted THIS :
“SNP leader of Glasgow city council blames Margaret Thatcher for plague of rats and piles of rubbish in the streets. Obviously”…..
Yes an impartial not impartial former and perhaps once again BBC employee gets involved in party politics…..not in a good way but in a obvious partisan anti SNP way and not for the first time either……but somehow we , who live in Scotland are supposed to just suck it up and ALLOW , without a right to OBJECT or CHALLENGE his Unionist and anti SNP biased views …..
Also that a national broadcaster like the BBC who employed and could possibly re-employ someone like Andrew Neil…..who fronted and helped the formation of a right wing news channel, GB News, and who is chairman of the politically conservative magazine The Spectator (whose editors included at one time the current PM Boris Johnson),is the BBC taking the proverbial you know what…… and Andrew Neil is also very much someone who is not averse to regularly publicly denouncing the SNP and indeed Scottish independence…..so the BBC could welcome HIM back into THEIR corporation to front what….a POLITICS SHOW…..
It seems The BBC as a broadcaster is , as per once more, setting out it’s stall as a Tory & Unionist propaganda mouthpiece and indeed an anti SNP and anti independence opponent……thus losing all credibility as a supposed balanced and impartial news broadcaster here in Scotland and indeed in other parts of this UK….news not where you are….but news dictated from somewhere else but broadcast where you are ………..to brainwash you……British Brainwashing Corporation.
As Alex Massie, of The Spectator once said “Yes, of course the BBC is biased against Scottish Nationalists’ and it should be because it is the ‘British’ Broadcasting Company”.
#ScottishIndependence11
Perhaps Andrew Neil is being groomed to be the face ( God forbid ! ) of ”Bitter Together 2 -This time it’s personal !”
What a team he could attract to put on the park :
Michael ”Goalposts ” Gove ( he is always shifting them) between the sticks – Dad-dancing when play is suspended ,
Baroness Rape Clause in Defence ( of what nobody knows ! ) ,
Jackie Baillie as the stopper at the back backed by her Trident Tactics ,
Tom Harris as the Socialist/Tory winger – he is naturally at home on the right-wing as the left-wing ,
and wee Sub Lt. Bowie will endear himself to everyone as the team mascot .
‘Course if they had Dross as the ref., then that would fix it in their favour, too!
Today the BBC interviewed the leader of the “Welsh Nationalist party”
So there you go Wales you’ve moved up a rung on the annoyance ladder, not be long until you get your full separatists title like us verminous Scots
Chambers Dictionary (a Scottish dictionary, he whispers softly) always had a reference in the Abbreviations section to WNP as the “Welsh Nationalist Party” and never anything under PC.
Has this changed at any time?
Chambers Dictionary (a Scottish dictionary, he whispers softly)
So too was the Oxford English dictionary founded by a Scotsman, Professor James Murray. The 2019 film “The Professor and the Madman” tells his story.
It’s being streamed now on Prime if you have that and is an excellent film starring Mel Gibson as the Professor and Sean Penn as the Madman. Great performances from both and well worth a watch, interestingly the scholars and academics in England said it couldn’t be done and they didn’t want him to succeed for some reason.
Encyclopaedia Britannica too, so I believe.
Which has a reputation with us. Early 20th centuries editions had:
WALES (See ENGLAND).
You’ll see a lot of us Welshies making hay with that quote when the need arises. 😉
There is a Human Rights aspect to the behaviour of the BBC and other British State institutions. By defining their duty narrowly to apply only to the Westminster government and its governing Tory party, a party which the Scottish people have not elected for 65 years, they have curbed our freedom of expression and right to self determination. For example, the Tory government added a duty to uphold the United Kingdom into the BBC charter. Embedding unionist aims into the charter of a public service broadcaster turns it into a state broadcaster and the mouthpiece of whichever party is in power in Westminster. It is no longer “British”.
Pluralism is essential in a democratic society and the state has a duty of neutrality and impartiality.* We have a right to debate important cultural and political issues in an atmosphere of openness and acceptance. Instead we are subjected to the well documented harassment and bias of the MSM. Only independence will bring this appalling gaslighting to an end.
* opinion of the European Court of Human Rights, Council of Europe, of which the UK is a signatory.. See sec 88 of this judgement which was about religious freedom but applies equally to philosophical freedom.
https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/fre#{“itemid”:[“001-185293”]}
You have to be ‘the right stuff’ to be employed by BBC Scotland.
Can we complain to Ofcom about sectarian discrimination at BBC Jockland?
They seem to have the same selection criteria that was in operation for most of the 20th Century.
Speaking as an agnostic.
Discuss.
And the ‘right accent’ too Jack, when too/to/two sounds like tchooo, thin, pursed lips, nose screwed up, tip of the tongue behind the top teeth, nasalised and spat out.
In fact, Paul made a comment on bj’s ‘tchoo’ not so long ago and they all have this affliction.
Only 27% of people in Scotland are British, i.e. either British or Scottish + British dual nationals.
It is a foreign channel to most of the population, and one which is deliberately interfering in Scottish politics. It’s actions make RT blush and Putin look all sweetness and light.
It’s also totally crap, with rubbish news / current affairs, poor or non-existent sports coverage, loads of parochial small minded flag waving crap like ‘England’s best on the planet brexit bakeoff’ and s**ty one sided politics programming.
No wonder they need to send sweaty union jack arm banded gestapo agents against across the border to force us to pay for it on pain of fines / jail.
“This is all the more dangerous in a state like the UK where there is no written constitution and no clear demarcation and distinction between the powers of the different branches of government and one legislature is filled with unelected political appointees and the other is elected using a voting system which gives a crushing majority to a party which has not secured a majority of the popular vote. ”
Together with this comment and others in your article I have been arguing that the UK is no longer a democratic state. Consider also that the previously independent Electoral Commission has been taken over by the Conservative government; Constituency boundaries are being changed to suit the Conservative Party; the Government takes the right to override or ignore legally binding agreements it has itself signed with no effective internal opposition.
The Conservative Government – or should I say Regime – gives political roles to its Party donors and gives tax payers money to favoured suppliers. Seems like an autocracy to me.
There can be little doubt that the UK is governed by a favoured clique which is doing everything possible to ensure that it remains in power and that effective opposition is no longer possible. All this has little to do with democracy.
Couldn’t agree more.
You could also add to the charge list the illegal prorogouing of the UK Parliament, the hollowing out of the powers of the Senedd and Holyrrod and the attacks on legal aid and judicial review. Couple all that with an insistence that you work till you drop on a zero contract, with no recourse to employment law protection (“Elf and Safety has gone mad”, I tell you), levelling up meaning continuing to enrich Tory constituencies (see Sunak’s Budget today), an insistence that you should go to work but that it’s up to you if you wear a mask or not – coz that ain’t the Government’s responsibility – and the whole place stinks to high heaven.
Please god (if there is one) let us out of this non-Union, ‘Union’, and soon.
Great comment Clachangowk……
And yes …under the circumstances tis indeed a “Regime”….and one seemingly unopposed by the so called ‘official’ opposition………..the catastrophe that is Brexit as a concept would have been an excellent place for any decent opposition, considering what is now happening thanks to Brexit, to have gained some political traction…..but hey…Red Wall…now Blue Wall…..equals no dissent from Labour via their so called Leader.
It took a wee look at RT News today to realise that the Julian Assange extradition case started today,,,,,, on budget day?
a coincidence or a good day to bury bad news.
Of course it was a good day to bury bad news. You surely don’t expect the puppet English government to do anything to upset their American masters.
O/T The RMT Union have called off the planned rail strike during COP26.
A wise decision.
Yep RMT were beginning to look really stupid when all the other rail unions had settled. I have even less respect for trade unions now because of their highly political strike plans around Cop26. I still think the conference is a total waste of time though and that it will cause a spike in covid19 cases and CO2 emissions with all their air travel of course
RMT got what they corrrectly wanted and Scotrail / Abellio could have resolved this months ago.
“Mr Lynch also asked for three hours booking-on allowance and a new pay and conditions review by April 1 2022.”
That’s the same 3 hours Aslef members already had for months. Scotrail just ignored the Sunday strikes for months, and most people didn’t even know such a thing was on.
RMT is not the villain here. The ignorant comments about unions I’ve read elsewhere from people who apparently want a fair and just Scotland sicken me. Without unions workers would be screwed over by Thatcher’s Tories.
Really! it depends on your experience of unions. When I went to work for the council in mid 1970s it was a close shop so I had to join Nalgo. Nalgo had it’s good and bad points but eventually Nalgo became part of Unison and that for me and many colleagues was when the problems started. Unison led us up the garden path a few times twice we ended up having a pay raise inflicted on us after strike action that was worse than we were originally offered. we did not get full support from the union in our grading dispute and had to go through full recruitment process after strike action encouraged by the union when my post was deleted when originally we were just to be matched into other posts by the council. Too much self interest by the union stewards and officials often occurred.
From what coleagues told me GMB was even worse. I left in 2012 after 35 years as a union member and will never join a union again. I have worked for a charity for past 2.5 years never had a pay rise and don’t expect one anytime soon. What has been going on Glasgow with various unions has been political and likely orchestrated by Labour to embarrass an Snp Council and government
Eilidh
Agree,
I saw collusion with TU’s union members and counsellors in local authorities to settle disputes to the detriment of th workers.
The workers came behind their political ambition. I remember one republican socialist party member joining the Labour Party and elected as a counsellor. Another became an MP.- no it wasn’t Alistair Darling but very similar in outlook.
The RMT negotiations have been going on since the beginning of the year, and have absolutely nothing to do with “Labour to embarrass an Snp Council and government“. There has been strike action on Sundays since the end of April.
The pay offer and award was and is 2.5%. Scotrail tried to tie this up with “productivity improvements” and staff cuts (ticket collectors, ticket office) which affect only RMT members. They also refused to give a 3 hour signing in which ASLEF already have.. Last night because of the threatened strike, Scotrail gave up their unreasonable demands and took those stupid conditions out of the offer, and offered the 3 hours. RMT accepted.
All this is very easy to find if, like me, people took the trouble to do some very basic research rather than tapping away with their fingers making stuff up as they go along about h ow people are out to get the SNP Government. RMT, a YES supporting union, looks after its members.
IF you’re looking for a villain, look no firther than Abellio who were SACKED by the Scottish Government with effect March 2022, and would be delighted to embarrass the Scottish Gvoernment, as they have nothinhg to lose.
What about the Schools and bin men in Glasgow….do you know if they are they still going to strike during COP26 ?
It appears that bin men and school strikes are still on
Thanks Eilidh.
That’s interesting; means that I can get through to be noisy and bothersome without using an oil-powered thing of my own!
Not sure we’ll hear this on the news, sorry propaganda stations, where we are.
https://www.rmt.org.uk/news/scotrail-rmt-pay-deal/
Finally Scotrail dropped all the tangles of strings attached to the deal. They could have done that way back in April.
I am so sad to see the anti-union comments, which in themselves cross the Independence divide. There seem to be a lot of Thatcher lovers around.
Remember this.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/feb/04/falkirk-labour-dismayed-evidence-party-internal-report.
This is where Ineos got involved – threatening closure at Grangemouth and a candidate was apparently getting shoed in because of union involvement.
UNite forgot their members again. One of the the individuals involved ended up as an adviser to `Corbyn. That went well.
Of course such behaviours must be guarded against in all walks of life, be it the golf or drama club as well as trades unions and political parties. I include the SNP and ALBA in this.
[…] Source […]
Glad to hear your mobility is improving. Keep doing the exercises!
An alternative perspective from ‘ itisintruth ‘ on Cop26.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/215556435841901/permalink/981672492563621/
Good Morning All. This is completely O/T but I just wanted to share some wonderful news. Two weeks ago I was admitted to the Day Surgery Unit at Ayr Hospital for minor surgery. Wow, what a wonderful experience, even the food was ok. The people were magnificent. The surgeon, who was no spring chicken, even got down on his knees so he could be at eye level with me as he described the process. Nothing was too much trouble for any of them. The op went well but I took longer to recover than normal and I just could not stay awake. It was decided to keep me in overnight. I didn’t care, I was asleep anyway!
On discharge I felt the need to put something in writing. I wrote to the hospital to thank them and I received a very nice letter of appreciation.
However, I also thought it appropriate to thank the SG for providing me with such wonderful treatment. All I hear at FMQs are tory rear holes complaining about our NHS. So, as a member of the SNP I have the odd email from within the SNP and I sent an email asking them to thank Nicola for me.
To my very pleasant surprise, not only did they pass the message to Nicola, I had a personal note from Nicola arrive in the post wishing me well. Not computer generated, a personally signed not!!!
The point I am trying to make is this is the sought of country I want to live in. Where people care for people and where a World Leader can find the time to sign a personal note to one of its citizens.
We will achieve Independence, but only (in my view) with the Leadership of Nicola and the SNP and the likes of the good folk who populate this blog.
Have a great day!
Exactly, and well said, Alan.
I attended my appointment on Tuesday evening, for my flu and booster jags..no fuss, no bother, and not a khaki uniform in sight.
Yet Sarwar Dross and A Lax Coal Scuttle will get to their pins during FMQ and cite a ‘constituent who is having problems getting a Covid jag appointment, or waiting 500 hours for an ambulance; the inference being that our SCOTTISH HS is cr^p, and Scotland is crumbling under the SNP/Green Government.
I really couldn’t trust myself to be in the same room as the Red Blue and Yellow Brit Nat Jock Collaborators.
They are evil twisted men, out to spread fear and panic, especially among the sick, vulnerable and elderly.
Judgement Day is coming very soon now.
Loved your very positive post, Alan.
Maybe BBC Jockland will contact you to do a piece to camera on your successful visit to SCOTLAND’s HS?
Don’t hold your breath.
Cheers.
PS. My blue bin was emptied on time to schedule, trains are still being shunted into the depot adjacent to Chez Nous, and I am about to indulge in a rare treat, and grill two square sliced sausages from my local butcher.
I have picked fruit in my younger days at the farm where the meat came from.
There are still aspects of our life intact despite English Imperialism and the madness and racist folly of Brexit.
Michael Gove is bankrolling a shopping mall in Aberdeen. Seems a bit much just to get a free pass to an Aberdeen nightclub to dance the night away hugging young men, non?
We are on the brink of taking our country back from colonial oppressors.
I can taste it in the air.
Alan Howard
I too made use of our fantastic NHS, last week
Foolishly managed to get hit in the eye whilst playing tennis
Visited the optician who sent me to the eye clinic at RAH, Paisley
The service was first class & the staff exceptional
I was transferred to Gartnavel where I received Laser eye treatment that night.
A checkup was arranged at the RAH the next day
So much from the MSM about how bad the SNHS is – total rubbish!
They deliver a world beating service & deserve the support of the media & not the crap they broadcast
I’m sure the Scottish public can see through the rubbish that the media keep peddling
Glad I’m not British. I would be utterly ashamed if I was.
Time to dump these racist scum Scotland.
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/uk-diplomat-asked-to-peddle-half-truths-about-brexit-s-impact-on-ireland-1.4711626
UK diplomat asked to ‘peddle half-truths’ about Brexit’s impact on Ireland
Alexandra Hall Hall says UK ‘damagingly’ downplayed impact on NI peace process
…In a lengthy article published in a US academic journal, the former career diplomat excoriated the UK government for downplaying the cost and impact of Brexit in “public talking points” aimed at presenting the official UK government line in Washington….
…“A low point for me was when I heard a senior British minister openly and offensively, in front of a US audience, dismiss the impact of a no-deal Brexit on Irish businesses as just affecting ‘a few farmers with turnips in the back of their trucks,’ ” she wrote.
I’m sure they wanted to say ‘potato’ but managed to hold back.
I’ll add this on the border issue:
https://archive.md/ywmUz
NI voter border preferences:
55% Customs checks between NI and GB
38% Customs checks between NI and Eire
7% DK
With Ireland / EU exports to the UK booming while UK exports going the other way crash, you can understand why NI folks want to be outside the wall and join the hard border bonanza.
We just need to hope upon indy that the rUK puts up a hard border with us, giving us the same trade advantage as NI / Eire instead of it being a level playing field.
Aye, mind that; the border down the Irish sea is seen as giving NI an advantage over the rUK, and for good reason. It puts them outside the wall to a large extent. A wall on the English side at Gretna would give us the same advantages.
The Scottish Government are seeking views on a draft plan aimed at ending the need for foodbanks in Scotland.
This is just a glimpse into what will be possible in an Independent Scotland that has the powers over all decisions and priorities for spending.
The UK government could end reliance on foodbanks tomorrow if it wanted to. It’s clear that it doesn’t want to, and foodbanks just like Universal Credit, Atos assessments, and humiliation of the poor are all part of the current government strategy of dismantling the welfare state.
https://socialcare.today/2021/10/28/scottish-government-announces-plan-to-end-need-for-food-banks/
“The UK government could end reliance on foodbanks tomorrow if it wanted to. It’s clear that it doesn’t want to,..”
Ah but neither do the voters on the Red/Blue (Purple?) Wall, apparently. Remember the bloke who said that when they voted Labour, they only had one, but with the tories they’ve got 9? (I read somewhere recently that it was now 11. Which he must be even more pleased with.)
So, like Brexit, they’re enacting The Will of The People, yes?
I despair of my ex-fellow-countrymen/women/people…
“The UK government could end reliance on foodbanks tomorrow if it wanted to”
The UK government doesn’t want to end ANYTHING to HELP those who are MOST in NEED.
The UK government ONLY wants to HELP those who help THEM, the UK government….as in those who HAVE the MOST but NEED and WANT more……from the UK government……as in you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours….Tory donors and all others with wealth who support the Tory government and who NEED and WANT them, the Tories, to remain in power……twas ever thus etc etc
Scotgoespop reporting this (panelbase) for council election first preferences:
https://scotgoespop.blogspot.com/2021/10/exclusive-scot-goes-pop-panelbase-poll.html
SNP 45%
Conservatives 22%
Labour 21%
Liberal Democrats 6%
Greens 4%
Alba 2%
2% Alba? that must’ve been rounded up from 0.2%
As Alba won’t be contesting every ward in Scotland they are unlikely to break 1% nationally on the day and I can’t see them making even a 20% quota anywhere. I wonder just how many candidates they’ll field?
Didnt the previous Panelbase poll (last May) give Alba 6% and 8 Holyrood seats? Which mean they have lost two-thirds of their electoral support in 5 months.
That was a once off outlier. The average was just a few % in the run up to the vote and that’s what Alba got within error.
‘No change’ is what 2% suggests.
2% suggests irrelevance.
I presume even the star-struck neophyte politico Kelly realises that with STV, 2% or 0.2% doesn’t make a whit of difference, that’s a complete Alba cull at the first round, and the only interesting thing to eventually discover is where their 2nd prefs go: SNP, the bin, or…?
(Of course, what can’t be so easily measured is the voter suppression that their continuing vitriolic mudslinging of the SNP and its leadership manage to achieve. That’s their gift to Unionism that keeps on giving.)
I see the pretend Indy for Scotland blogger who makes up about 50% of the Scot goes pop comments thinks we are all numpties. I use the term “thinks” as this would imply the use of some sort of cognitive function.
Still it is good to know that neither the IIS or some of their ALBA colleagues will vote SNP. X% of possibly 2% in local government elections is a statistical error.
That is fine most SNP supporters will vote 1,2,3 SNP, SNP, Green anyway in a 5 councillor ward.
Unfortunately, local election polling is unreliable the way it’s currently done. The same thing happened with polling in the runup to 2017’s local elections – both of them recorded <1% for Others. None of them explictly offer a form of "local independent candidate" as an option… and then they got about 11% of the first preference votes.
Even the results with "don't knows" included are distorted because of the lack of that option. Theoretically, all parties should be inflated somewhat proportionately, but this phenomenon seems to affect the largest party most with a margin of error as high as ±9% there. That's awful, but not as useless as the headline figures which WERE off by 15% in 2017's polls!
In reality the SNP is probably somewhere closer to 36%, which would be a 4% improvement upon 2017.
Ha ha! Just took a look at the Scottish newspaper front pages. Only got as far as the Scottish Daily “We’re Backing the United Kingdom” Express. Picture of Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnston clinking pints of beer in their local – cheers.
“Rishi Sunak hailed the family of the Union as he handed Scotland an extraordinary £4.6 billion extra,”
That’s rich Rishi. Takes £65 billion, hands back £35 billion then so generously adds £4.5 billion. Meanwhile devastates the Scottish economy and raids our revenues as if there was no tomorrow.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-59073858
Todays FMQs: DRoss unhappy at the ending of the rail strike meaning the FM won’t have to drive the trains herself
Sarwar extends an invitation to the FM to join him in being a rat catcher for the day, the FM pointed out she was trying to solve the rat problem (some of whom sit in Holyrood) she never said that but it would’ve been apt as she also pointed out the political involvement of the Labour party in the stimulating and enlarging of unions eh *difficulties* in this area
Prof Robertson has already debunked ratgate. Glasgow isn’t even in the top ten cities for rat residents. Edinburgh, in fact, is no 10. Shock! 😱
Edinburgh rats ! Ian Murray , A Cole-Hamilton and Christine Jardine ?
Sarwars comments were despicable and I was glad to hear Nicola condemning his ‘doing Glasgow down’ comments.
”Sarwar’s comments were despicable !”
That works equally well if you remove the middle two words !
A bin men strike at an opportune moment that will result in I believe RATS….unemptied bins encourages vermin….a win win for Chris , the GMB and Unionist politicians…..for Glaswegians and Scotland not so much….the workers….well they are mere tools to be used as political fodder in this particular fight….as, in this instance, useful to exploit at an opportune moment when Scotland via Glasgow is centre stage….the GMB Union is supportive of the Union alright…..but we know what Union that is…the non Union aka the UK.
I would have more respect for Unions…and what they historically represented, if the GMB Union had not tactically instigated the equal pay for women in Glasgow strike when Glasgow was under the SNP led council but strangely whose position under the previous Labour controlled Glasgow council saw them, the GMB, as supportive of the…..council…. not so much the women then….
And let’s not forget the Gary Smith of the GMB and both his and their involvement in the BT campaign pre 2014 where he/they backed the NO side…..the same Gary Smith, who was elected in 2021 as General Secretary of the union, who signalled support this year for Keir Starmer’s plan of changing the rules for electing leaders of the Labour party…..for the people not so much…hence it was challenged and rejected by the people for the people….within Labour….one member one vote…why that sounds more like what a worker’s Union would prefer….unless in this instance you are more supportive of the Labour party and it’s leader than the members themselves….not ALL Unions supported this indeed some rejected it….as any decent Union would….Keir now hopes to “water down” these plans………Red Tory U turn same as blue Tory U Turn…..etc etc
I believe Richard Leonard’s wife is a GMB ‘organiser’….as indeed Leonard himself was previously also in the GMB as a industrial ‘organiser’……..to then become (yet another) chief disorganiser of the Labour party in Scotland as leader of the party…….connections connection…join the dots.
Anyway Glaswegians are not daft….and they know the score….and they are the ones who will suffer in this industrial action….but hey there always has to be victims in a fight….pity the GMB did not target the real baddies in their fight for REAL Justice……but we know who the GMB thinks are the REAL baddies in their fight for supposed justice…..hence why they fight so very hard and continuously for maintaining the REAL baddies to control their Union aka the UK…………
GMB Union and Labour….United against the SNP and Independence for Scotland………actually on same page/side as Boris Johnson and the Tories……….not a conundrum for them but a united front commitment to the Union that MUST be maintained…..we in Scotland are inconsequential as per to them ………seems very apparent that not ALL Unions are equal and not all who represent a Union want it to be equal either…..who knew….well us on here and many t’others too obvs.
Your second paragraph speaks volumes….
An attempt to “prove” their false calumnies of Glasgow by taking action to actually cause them! Rich. (Desperate, but rich.)
That’s current Labourism in a nutshell – exert themselves to degrade everything by word and deed with the deliberate intent to cause people to lose hope of anything better, and thus return to dependency on their quackery. The doctor who once prospered by carefully ensuring the patients remained unwell.
The GMB crooked U-turn over the Glasgow women workers was indeed so outrageous that it ought to win a special award in the annals of trickery, if only for its sheer effrontery. Now they are trying a rerun of it by claiming that Glasgow is impoverished (while carefully omitting why). These days though we have a better, more positive offer, so their cynical old tricks fall flat. The more they try them on, the more obvious they become.
Not sure if any saw this, but it perfectly examples the point regarding HMS Sarah Smith and their propaganda production line. Warning, contains Nuts…
You know you have a British state broadcaster when they report British Unionist assertions framed as facts and Scottish government facts framed as “claims”
*We will make you doubt* should be the motto of the BBC
The piece wasn’t all that bad, except that it troubled to give any coverage at all to the unmitigated pish produced by the usual suspects like Cole Scuttle and the Tories’ medical mascot, who has to dress up to try to make us forget that he’s just another party hack who as a medic knows fine that the SG had to wait for JCVI approval of the booster programme. The letters for the 70-plussers are getting out, vaccines are being delivered, and before long that will be seen to have successfully achieved very high coverage indeed. (And thus ignored by the media.)
The only real issues I’m aware of are queues at the vaccination centres as people respond well to the invitations, and the distances the 70-plussers may have to travel to get their shots, caused it seems by other places being held in reserve as drop-in centres for the vaccine-hesitant among the younger cohorts.
Ah the queues! Jackie Baillie has an elderly constituent who had to queue for an hour in the cold to get her jag. This is unacceptable. What is the First Minister going to do about it?????
There are no queues in England because nobody knows where to go to get their jags.
Plus – as Prof Robertson tells us, Scotland is doing many more jags per capita than England who are, as usual, skewing the figures by lying about hwo is getting the booster.
BBC Scotland lies to terrify old folks and the vulnerable. I’ll dance a jig at the gib when we finally kill this English evil propaganda machine off. Coal Scuttle..’leader ‘ of three Yellow Tory nobodies gets big licks at Plantation Quay.
I am living proof. I attended Tuesday night at the allotted time, spent 10 minutes in a row of seats, got my jags from NHS staff, not a khaki tunic in sight, and no fucking Butcher’s Apron close up like wot BBC Plantation Quay shoved in viewers’ faces, .
Roll on the revolution.
In East of Scotland 3.5 million heads of broccolli and 1.5 million cauliflowers binned so far because of shortage of hgv drivers and farm workers due to brexit.
And tgere is currentky a shortfall of 500000 workers in food processing.
https://www.foodmanufacture.co.uk/Article/2021/09/01/Broccoli-and-cauliflower-wasted-in-droves-in-labour-crisis#
And no end in sight to this ever ending, what a waste of food. But the tories will say its “teething problems”, “brexit will improve over time” or even “there are no shortages”
And guess what checking online, my supermarket is out of stock of broccolli except the air freight, imported small broccoli spears from Morroco.
Once again Unionist trolls and the pretendy Independence supporters absolutely enraged that world leaders are turning up to hold talks with Scotlands FM at Bute House before COP 26 even gets underway, the worse they troll
Each time the WHO and UN congratulate Scotlands FM on her work their wee heads just explode and their problem with all this is that the entire world bar none knows that Boris Johnson and his Nastys are an ideological bunch of incompetent charlatans and they want as little to do with them as they possibly and personally have to so they come and talk to someone sensible
Their fear of Nicola Sturgeon speaking to these world leaders comes down to two words
Scottish Independence
O/T yet not O/T on the continuing Tory Unionist shysters currently playing politics…with OUR lives.
I see Paul Dacre ( ex ultra heinous Daily Mail Editor and uber Tory….the one who published a multitude of pro Brexit and disgraceful front pages against migrants) is getting a SECOND chance to apply for Ofcom chair….
Ofcom deemed him unsuitable first time round…..but rather than appoint candidates whose neutrality had been accepted the government decided to re-interview all candidates.
On the setting up of the Levenson inquiry Dacre refused to take David Cameron’s telephone calls for months after the launch of the Leveson inquiry in 2011.
In his first cross-examination on 6 February 2012, Dacre admitted that the Mail had used the private detective Steve Whittamore, who was jailed in 2005 for illegally accessing information, but claimed that the rest of the British press had done so too.
Peter Wright, now a former editor of The Mail on Sunday, had said in his session that the Sunday paper continued using Whittamore for 18 months after his conviction, which Dacre effectively confirmed
Dacre’s Leveson appearances were described as being “defiant, disingenuous and in denial”, by Kevin Marsh (BBC Editor of the college of Journalism). “It was a chilling insight into a warped mindset”, Marsh wrote in the book, The Phone Hacking Scandal: Journalism on Trial.
Andrew O’Hagan wrote in the London Review of Books in 2017 that Dacre’s “worst effect” on the Mail “has been to let it seem mired in the things it hates, as if society’s worst excesses were mostly an outgrowth of its own paranoid imagination”
In his view, under its editor the paper is a “bubbling quagmire of prejudice posing as news, of opinion dressed as fact, and contempt posing as contempt for that portion of the world’s population that doesn’t live in Cheam”. Polly Toynbee in 2004 commented “Read him out the first clause of the press code – the one that tells newspapers not to ‘publish inaccurate, misleading or distorted material’, and he replies with a straight face that the Mail obeys it”
According to Cristina Odone, writing for The Observer, Dacre has a reputation towards underlings of “verbal abuse” and “a drill sergeant’s delight in public humiliation”.
So Dacre as chair of OFCOM…………
Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom.
Ofcom has wide-ranging powers across the television, radio, telecoms and postal sectors. It has a statutory duty to represent the interests of citizens and consumers by promoting competition and protecting the public from harmful or offensive material.
Some of the main areas Ofcom presides over are licensing, research, codes and policies, complaints, competition and protecting the radio spectrum from abuse (e.g. pirate radio stations).
The Chair of Ofcom is a four year appointment.
Although Ofcom is independent of Government, Ofcom has links to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport …whose current minister is Nadine Dorries…..yes Nadine Dorries……God help us all…..the previous minister….Oliver Dowden….….wrote to the government’s Commissioner for Public Appointments earlier this year saying he wanted a second competition for the Chair of Ofcom.
A new interview panel is now expected to be appointed.
Earlier this year Julian Knight MP, who was elected as the chair of the House of Commons in January 2020 of the select committee covering digital, culture, media and sport, said he was “concerned about the lack of clarity on why the process to appoint a new chair of Ofcom needs to be re-run”.
He said: “As a result of this unnecessary delay, the communications regulator finds itself without a chair at what could not be a more critical time as the government prepares to legislate against online harms.”
Boris Johnson WANTS Paul Dacre as chair of Ofcom……why ?…why do we think ?
Boris Johnson wants useful allies in positions of power……irrespective of their previous CV clearly showing their unsuitability for these positions indeed unsuitable in any position where they have influence or power…..one only needs to look at the abysmal failures of his choice of cabinet secretaries to see that his choices are made in order for blame to be appointed…not on him…but on those not up to the job…….and the media lay the blame , when they can be bothered or rather when there is a public backlash, on the monkeys (cabinet members)…who are useless…but not on the organ grinder Boris Johnson who appointed them…..
This is the reality of the UK……the so called Union…..what’s to like ?…………..why should it be saved ?……because like others on here I cannot for the life of me see the so called benefits of being part of such a corrupt (non) Union…….the fact that some can and are actively campaigning to retain it tells me more about their lack of knowledge, morality and credibility…… and also politically as to the non Tory politicians it tells me that they are cheeks of the same proverbial ….you know what…….because it is not ignorance of the current position that drives their quest to save the (non) Union but self interest and greed hence their loyalty to the Union…..as in the gravy train courtesy of this (non) Union’s WM and then the ultimate gravy retirement not retirement prize….a seat in the unelected chamber of the HOL’s and endorsed by all Unionist politician in THEIR Union.
Meanwhile somewhere in Glasgow the GMB Union are focused on Rats…..while the bigger Rats at WM who are in power are getting away with murder and REALLY polluting society…….but hey…You won’t get me cause I’m part of the Union….said the GMB and the Tories…the REAL Union that is…UKnotOK one.
Appointing Dacre as head of Ofcom would be like leaving Dracula in charge of a blood-bank.
A wee pep talk from Alan Bissett to get you in the mood.
Oh rattus norvegicus or is it rattus rattus?
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/02/25/uk/rats-rise-lockdown-london-intl-gbr-scli/index.html
Noticed these excellent links form Scott on a comment on John robertson article I lnked to above.
https://archive.fo/T80tF
https://archive.fo/RgwjW
That’s why Wood was cagey on the bbc when been interviewed over the exclusion of Scotland. He didn’t want to complain too much.Big toes in different pies.
I wonder if the bbc interviewer feels they were sold,a pup?
Many of us know what *Sir* Ian Wood is
On the subject of recent ‘polling’…
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Human rights / equality policy should never, ever be based on public opinion. That would be the very worst form of ugly right-wing populism and could lead down very dark paths.
Even if non-biased, reliable polling data was available – as opposed to surveys undertaken by those seeking to get the answers they want by putting leading questions to a public with a very poor understanding of such complex subjects – still governments should completely ignore it.
The reason is simple; equality laws are there to protect minorities from a potentially prejudiced majority. To ask the ignorant and prejudiced what they think then base policy on that is at best ridiculous and at worst right-wing populism. It’s what Boris Johnson does.
If you are currently busy telling the Scottish government they should ultimately base e.g. GRA policy on the latest poll, you are one of those in the 1980’s who did that for same sex relationships, showing data like this to back your position:
https://www.bsa.natcen.ac.uk/media/38526/personal_relationships_figure_1_4.png?width=500&height=305.2851182197496
Is that really who you want to be? Do you want to be Nigel Farage saying to ignore the experts?
https://www.bma.org.uk/bma-media-centre/leading-doctors-affirm-trans-and-non-binary-rights-in-healthcare
The only people that should ultimately be listed to in terms of changes to the GRA are medical / human rights experts. Same when it comes to who can compete in different divisions for sporting competitions; it is a matter for experts to assess what constitutes overwhelming advantage and so how competition can be made fair for all.
And remember, since not nice people want you to forget:
https://www.gov.scot/publications/gender-recognition-reform-scotland-bill-consultation-scottish-government/pages/1/
Nothing in what we are proposing will change the exceptions in the Equality Act 2010 which allow trans people to be excluded when this is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim – for example single sex services, employment, health services. Those exceptions are very important and the Scottish Government would encourage any organisations and service providers to know their rights on this issue.
GRA? whit’s that and who cares is basically Scotlands attitude because they just don’t care, but of course that won’t stop the professional politically aggrieved Twitterers facebookers and bloggers from grinding away attempting to create a relevance it’s never going to achieve to blame it all on Nicola Sturgeon, over two years Stuart Campbell plugged away at this in his personal hate crusade on the FM, it didn’t work then and it’s not very likely ever to work
I agree.
I disagree. I care. Women care. Most people, as Dr Jim points out, have no idea what the issue is about. But they will become aware mostly because the Tories and the right wing press will make sure of that when a referendum is imminent. Or, when they are in situation where the reality becomes all too real.
This is a fiercely contested area of public policy – far too complex to discuss on this blog – but please be aware that many of us are very committed to protecting the rights of women and girls, freedom of expression and freedom of assembly, regardless of the pressure to put up and shut up.
No.
I know what you mean. I have my own reservations too. The SNP leadership haven’t helped by taking a clearly tone-deaf one-sided stance over a matter that is complex and inherently divisive, and instead of cooling it and treading carefully to keep everyone onside, have instead pushed their blinkered well-intentioned do-goodery too far, and to make matters worse, have allowed it to get out of hand and become visibly poisonous. In public forbye.
As an umbrella pro-indy movement that necessarily has to accommodate a wide spectrum of views on any other matter, it is unfortunate to say the least that the SNP – without prompting – has found it necessary to conjure up a “my road or no road” diversion of its very own which is (with due respect to both sides) essentially peripheral in relation to its prime common purpose. That it is an issue in which very strong views are held makes it all the worse, even if they are held by an objectively relative minority on both sides.
In an independent Scotland this might be the very kind of issue that could be publicly worked through with the involvement of everyone and settled by means of a referendum, just as for example the Irish did very successfully with the abortion issue. But we don’t currently have that luxury. We have to get free first. So I find this eminently avoidable self-indulgence at this critical juncture frankly inexcusable.
The only thing that has protected this potential Achilles heel is that all the Unionist political parties are themselves broadly supportive of the GRA, while with a view to their own membership have had the good sense to recognise this socio-political minefield for what it is, and don’t want to touch it with the proverbial bargepole.
To clarify Capella, of course some care. As you see from my posts, I care (enough to inform myself). I imagine people with sex dysphoria do, the government clearly does, and a small number of the general public does too, including some from either ‘side’, both of which tend to be quite vocal (I’ve being subject to rants from both). However, in the office, the pub, the gym, the park… at the dinner table. Absolutely nobody has ever brought this up, and this is with them knowing I’m the ‘go to’ guy for politics. So it does seem correct to state the issue is salient with most voters. Given how few and far between trans people are, and how they pose no more a risk to people than anyone else, you can understand why. At the same time, the issue has been weaponised by unionists and anti-SNP/Green/Labour/Liberal folks.
You do nicely highlight the key point of my initial post. I quote us both:
by putting leading questions to a public with a very poor understanding of such complex subjects
“Most people, as Dr Jim points out, have no idea what the issue is about.”
So we are in good agreement here. It’s why I was arguing that polling the public on the matter is at best pointless, and at worst disturbing (if someone has an agenda). And even if the public were very well informed and had all read proposals in depth (nobody should be voicing opinions unless they’ve actually done this), what if 70% were prejudiced against trans people? That was the case in the 1980’s if you were homosexual:
Hence governments should absolutely not base human rights / equality police on public opinion. Heavens, 30% of the UK public admit to racial prejudice, ergo public views are not to be listened to on such matters; only internationally agreed human rights laws and the views of impartial experts should be used in decision making.
Of course public consultation is important, mainly to spot potential flaws and pitfalls; these will be seen in the public voicing genuine concerns. It’s absolutely fair to ask ‘But will this affect my rights to see a doctor of the same sex if I want? for example.
However, if I was asked:
Who should be eligible to legally change the sex or gender recorded on their birth certificate?
I would answer ‘This is not my decision and should not be as I’m not an expert, and could be someone who was prejudiced against trans people, who is a racist homophobe and anti-Scottish to boot’.
That aside, in the end, who the hell am I to tell others how to live their lives if how they do that doesn’t negatively impact me? I have no issues calling Jane John going forward in the same way my neighbour prefers Jen to Jennifer.
The fact you can get ~20% of the population saying even if people get full surgical reassignment they should not be recognised as having changed sex shows how very unpleasant and prejudiced some people are. This renders polling meaningless as such people’s views are completely at odds with internally agree human rights / equality laws (this is the reason the Tories want rid of such laws and say public opinion is what matters….gulp).
And that was the main thrust of my argument.
And note my own views come from discussions with my wife, teenage daughter, liberal and pro-equality parents etc. That and being a scientist, reading quite a lot about the subject etc.
Key for me is that, as noted in my original post, the sex based rights protections of the equality act – which apply to men and women (men also might wish a male doctor for certain issues!) – are not being changed and can’t be as they are based on human rights laws.
Any risks arising from the legislation will come from poor / mistaken implementation of it by companies/originations etc and not from the legislation itself. What is key is getting that right and IMO, the likes of stonewall talk too much guff* at times here, confusing things.
—
*According to their website, I’m ‘trans non-binary’ as I don’t have this ‘gender identity’ thing we are all supposed to be in possession of. 🙂
In fact according to recent ‘polling’, a full 40% of people in Scotland (actual nationalities unknown) are so prejudiced against innocent, pleasant people with medical sex dysphoria, that they believe these either have no right at all to quietly and harmlessly live their lives in their preferred ‘gender’ (and everyone knows it’s ultimately impossible to fully change sex, hence ‘trans’ people calling themselves exactly that), or must undergo full ‘conversion therapy / surgery’, including extensive bodily mutilation, before being given a GRC. That means 40% apparently support the ‘Iranian Mullah’ approach here. Jesus.
I’m astonished that people are quoting this right wing stuff and suggesting the SNP should listen up. If the SNP started changing policy to suit such people, they would become the Tories.
Addressing valid concerns – these being where a negative impact on the rights of others could occur – is of course a completely different matter. But that doesn’t come from such polling, as the latter is agenda driven.
I mean check this out:
https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/survey-results/daily/2020/06/04/0bbc7/1
52% think the UK is a racist society (57% of people Scotland say it is), and they are right. The problem it now faces is that UK governments are not fighting against that, but making populist policy to appease the racists (think anti-immigrant mugs etc and where that all led), and so we have empty shelves and a crashing economy.
Of course there is nothing wrong with pointing e.g. at Y/N polls in Scotland and arguing for an iref as this, just like taxes, trade deals etc has nothing specifically to do with human rights.
Unless of course you are asking everyone in Britain whether the Scots have the right to indy and basing your decisions on that. Then it is a human rights / equality matter with potential prejudice against a minority group (Scots).
Sorry for waffling a bit here and I hope folks do understand the point I was trying to get across.
I’m not very good at short posts on such topics!
Just realised I could have saved myself a lot of time / classic skier waffle and just asked if it would be ok to poll the below types of questions then use %’s answering B-E to pressure governments into bowing to public opinion?
In your opinion, who should be allowed to live their life as a homosexual?
A. Anyone who self-identifies as homosexual
B. Anyone who makes a solemn legal declaration that they homosexual
C. Only people who have been medically diagnosed as homosexual
D. Only people who have been medically diagnosed as homosexual and can prove they have lived as a homosexual for 2 years
E. No one
In your opinion, who should be considered as belong to a racial / ethnic minority group in terms of equality laws?
A. Anyone who self-identifies as being from a minority group
B. Anyone who makes a solemn legal declaration that they are from a minority group
C. Only people who have been medically diagnosed as being from a minority group
D. Only people who have been medically diagnosed as being from a minority group and who can prove they have lived culturally as that for 2 years
E. No one
I imagine that would have made my point quite clear in a very simple way! 🙂
You imply that the poll was conducted with the intention of pressuring the government to bow to public opinion, but the commissioner of the poll explicitly says he doesn’t intend that:
“I don’t expect the Scottish Government to automatically change course because the public oppose their plans. If you believe in something, there’s a case to be made for leading public opinion rather than slavishly following it. But they do need to be honest with themselves and with others that they are, as of this moment, running well ahead of where the public are ready to go, rather than persisting with the fiction that there is a huge public clamour for GRA reform. This poll shows that there isn’t even a clamour among the SNP’s own voters.”
Men care too but the emphasis placed on the topic as a means of challenging the FM is wrong. It has also failed. Bad tactics by her enemies.
In fact this has done a disservice to women’s rights as I think it has diverted attention away from the genuine concerns of many. Attacking a female FM in order to defend female rights?
Honestly, who was the infamous blogger to raise the flag on this after some of the statements on so many issues.
Everybody has rights. The question in part is how they can be exercised fairly where they may clash and within so called society.
2+2=4 That’s Mr and Mrs Scotland just like the Misters and Mrs around the world, STV news tried a programme on this very issue and Scotland collectively groaned reached for the remote and channel anything else was tuned into, the reason? too deep complicated and murky and sounds boring and life’s boring enough let’s send out for a curry
The average person is middling conservative left or right, they don’t care for extremes of anything especially if they think it might offend them into the bargain, 2+2 and they buy it, three word slogans and you win, all they want to know is will I be better off than I am now, anything else is political waffle speak forgotten by tomorrow dinner time except for the extra £fiver a week each somebody said they’d get, and they don’t even care who said it
People like us on this blog read everything digest everything dissect everything, normal everyday folks don’t even know we exist but they do know if petrol or a curry goes up in price or supermarket shelves run out of chocolate digestives
The question gives a lot of information and therefore encourages making an actual choice of answers. Here’s a couple of contrived questions (memory being what it is I also had to use google):
————-
“If you were able to take a small emergency kit while driving for 24 hours through a wilderness of snow, and had a choice of taking just one kilogram of a chemical compound, which would you take?
1. C2H5OH
2. CH3OH
3. C12H22O11
4. I have absolutely no idea”
————
I’d guess that 4 would get 90% or more. Whereas for:
————
“If you were able to take a small emergency kit while driving for 24 hours through a wilderness of snow, and had a choice of taking just one kilogram choosing between C2H5OH which is medical alcohol and used as an antiinfective, CH3OH which is methyl alcohol (methylated spirits) and can be used as an anti-freeze in your screenwash, or C12H22O11 which is sugar, same as you can use in your tea or coffee, but could be used to give a bit extra energy in an emergency, which would you take?
1. Medical alcohol
2. Methylated spirits
3. Sugar
4. I have absolutely no idea”
————–
I’d guess that 4 would get about 10% or less.
I actually dozed off while reading that question in the article.
Apparently the main BBC Breakfast news this morning reported that Wales (run by Labour) had the highest cases of Covid per 100,000 this week and Scotland the lowest……..they did a breakdown of figures per 100,000…which seems amazing….yet perhaps not amazing….. as if it were England (run by the Tories) in the top position I suspect it would not have been mentioned……
Dross and Sarwar will be disappointed aka raging that their position as to Scotland and the SNP being bad…very very bad…. was not being reinforced by the MAIN news from England……….
AND…
When they cut away to the ” news where you are”….they , the so called Scottish news, did NOT mention it…..as in Scotland lowest cases of Covid per 100,000 in the UK……surprised not surprised.
So not ALL of the news where YOU are then…..only the BAD news where you are as per…..
As I type this the Tories, Labour and Lib Dems will be contacting BBC Reporting Scotland with a ‘some critics’ contrived story to spew out tonight on Reporting NOT reporting Scotland…..to ‘balance’ out the obvious SNP good and Scotland good news as broadcast by HQ this morning….
John Robertson has been highlighting the relative performance on all the various Covid related issues throughout the pandemic, BBC Scotland’s portrayal almost always steering well clear of any positive, flooding their web-pages with “other” news to keep what they don’t want reported off the public radar.
With their “rats”, “boosters” and “soldiers” campaigns fading, it’s “Thousands miss out on care due to staff shortages” leading, cue “outrage”, “tsunami” and “disaster” from the frothing Opposition later today.
The majority of negative stories on the London broadcasts originated in BBC Scotland’s propaganda factory, but although some swallowed it, a surprising number in England realised it was propaganda and sought more trustworthy information, much as Scots have.
That BBC London is recognising Scotland’s better performance NOW likely means impending changes in England as numbers escalate, as one thing we can be sure of is it will have had approval from #10. Probably masks.
Just read this on Paul Dacre and Ofcom job :
“The final decision will be made by the culture secretary, Nadine Dorries, in consultation with Downing Street.”……………so what will the NEW panel that is being appointed do ?…..say No to Dacre as Chief of Ofcom only to be overruled by Nadine and Boris Johnson…. or will the new panel consist of Tory Yes men & women….who will agree to his appointment thus forming a different conclusion from previous panel who rejected him……..
Tories being Tories means….Jobs for THE boys…..money for THE boys….power for THE boys….and control for THE boys…..well Tory boys will be boys….cause it takes real MEN & WOMEN to rule properly…..as in opposite of what Tories do in government…………
Meanwhile DRoss will continue to flap his gums to preach to the converted….also to provide ‘stories’ ( Fairy ones) to the so called Scottish media who are obviously deficient in the skill of investigative journalism and actual REAL news content …..and of course DRoss’s never ending grievances against the SNP aids both Sarwar & Cole Hamilton and provides them with the same ammunition to target their collective favoured baddies in Scottish politics….. the SNP…………
Fortunately a lot of people who live in Scotland CAN see the woods for the Trees……as in DO understand the bigger picture that is….. England under the Tories is a disaster……and for DRoss to disregard that fact and focus instead on HIS deliberately partisan, skewed and false perception of how the Scottish government are performing here in Scotland exposes him as a supreme chancer…well I guess he has to excel at something……..
Dacre for Ofcom……if this story IS true as to who FINALLY decides re Ofcom Chief…then this will be yet another Tory shoo in to a TOP job as in another scraping the BOTTOM of the Tory Barrel…….more news for the BritNats in Scotland to pretend they welcome……..welcome as in Door Mats…….
Oh, the hypocrisy.
“You’re always banging on about having a 2nd separation referendum – until you get the result you wants. You despicable Nats.”
Johnson: I won’t give in getting Dacre appointed to the BBC until people cave in and get me what I want.
Indeed WS…Tis forever thus….the pot calling the Kettle black……….
Or as now commonly known amongst the canny ones like WOT we are …Do as I say not as I do………on repeat….
Nicola’s interview in Vogue
https://www.vogue.co.uk/arts-and-lifestyle/article/nicola-sturgeon-interview
I read the interview and wasn’t too impressed by the reporting. It wouldn’t surprise me if Nicola Sturgeon thinks much the same.
Some of the usual garbage, “you need permission for a referendum”, “Scotland has one of the highest levels of Covid infections in the world” blah blah blah. Not impressed at all.
Too much personal opinion (ignorant opinion) of the journalist in the article for me.
I agree, it was very lightweight and not at all probing. I suppose it is just another first to chalk up – being in Vogue. It’s a fashion magazine after all.
If the writer was English, it wouldn’t be surprising. Thanks to generally shallow and uninformed media coverage down there, media coverage is generally shallow and uninformed! (A vicious circle that can only be broken by diligent individual effort.) Also, exceptionalism is endemic. They just can’t abide the thought that in any respect Scotland might be doing better than them.
However, in a sense it doesn’t matter. The mere fact that the FM is found worthy of featuring like this will reach many (women, mostly) who are not in the least politically engaged like we here, and upon whom it may leave a subtle but possibly lasting positive impact that will later pay dividends. Since one of our biggest hurdles is our own chronic lack of self belief, Nicola’s prominence both domestically and internationally provides a real tonic to the country as a whole. One can readily understand why the “British” among us absolutely hate that, as with any other sign of Scottish achievement and positivity, but it’s a pity that the native zero-sum-game types can’t get past their own jealousy to see it too.
The journalist is based in London but she is not English.
“Marie Le Conte is a French-Moroccan political journalist based in London. She grew up in Nantes then moved to the UK in 2009 to study journalism at the University of Westminster…”
https://www.marjacq.com/marie-le-conte.html
Thanks for that. Of course, the London metro media have their very own form of exceptionalism too. In-depth coverage of matters Scottish not at all their forté.
It is not the first time Ms Sturgeon has appeared in Vogue if memory serves me correctly.
What people should remember is that Vogue has a world-wide presence so to appear in any of the Vogue magazines – British, American, Russian – has a high impact. This may explain why the last time she appeared in Vogue the Bitter Together lot went doolally.
It is not the content so much as being there, being recognised as someone of importance and by extension Scotland too. It also adds to, enhances, the normalisation of Scotland on the World stage in its own right.
Don’t knock it. Every little helps
Absolutely. That was my last point as well, if only from an inward-looking perspective. But as you say, it also projects a positive image to the rest of the world. On behalf of us all. Which is why those who basely impute personal advancement as the motive spectacularly miss the plot.
Well-remembered, Legerwood:
https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/nicola-sturgeon-british-vogue-october-2015
(Internet doesn’t forget, either!)
Hubby is chuffed.
A situation gold-plated guaranteed to bring out the soorest of soor prunes – as it has, BTL. What bitter shrivelled little lives some people evidently have, in their miserable zero-sum-game world.
The obsession-du-jour appears to be “ringfenced donations”, whose hare was first set running by the Sage of Bath, but after that has evaporated like all the previous runners, one wonders what they’ll latch on to next. Baa – baaa – baa…
Correction: Radge of Bath.
Well corrected! {grin}
Haters gonna hate.
The same trolling miseries are even Twitter trolling the dignitaries that have visited Bute House and dared to talk to the FM, though to be fair most of them are now coming from England followed closely by the ALBA people then the usual Rangers till I die mob
Interesting that the Scot goes pop has 8 comments on their dismal 2% showing for the elections next year of which 5 comments are from the independista in escocia. 20 comments on GRA. Shows their respective priorities.
Will AS tell his followers to vote 1 ALBA, 2 SNP 3 Greens ( if standing) or vote only for ALBA?
Many local government election constituencies will have us many as 4/ 5 councillors to be elected. Best tactic is not to vote for all candidates but only those that have Independence in their manifesto.
In this case I would vote for scotia/ ALBA to keep independents ( tories by another name) out.
However if ALBA says vote for anyone apart from SNP this may be their last election.
Alba will be standing in the next Holyrood election? Lol.
So McAskill and the other guy put themselves up to be judged by the SNP voters who put them there, I’m sure that will go terribly well
You can always put a later pref for Alba if you want, but if they’re at the bottom of the voting order as is likely, they’ll be the first eliminated, so any residual prefs that you might have for them in later rounds will never get to them in time. Conversely, post-elimination, Alba voters’ 2nd prefs will be used in full, so they matter.
Reputationally as well as electorally, as you imply.
Alastair Bryan says:
October 27, 2021 at 4:52 pm
Mr Bryan, your NOT forced to pay it, you have a clear defined way out, it’s called LLF (Legally Licensed Free) Don’t watch Live broadcast feeds or record live broadcast feeds, you don’t need a licence.
This is the website with loads more info https://www.tvlicenceresistance.info/forum/
PS. I’ve been LLF for the last 11 years, and have a nice collection of BBC Threat o Grams
Yeh…has anyone come up with the ‘original’ quote ‘She should be getting on with the day job ‘ yet….same ones who had NO problem with Baroness Ruth appearing on HIGNFY and Great British (obvs for her) Bake off…..and her wee show on LBC Radio…..thought she would be appearing on Strictly Come dancing next…. as so used to her JIVE talking and she certainly did the QUICKSTEP out of Holyrood…..and her excuse for doing so had me saying whiskey TANGO FOXTROT…..
“whiskey”…..WHISKY…I’ll waltz away now………though either works…..
Not really, NMRN.
I think the NATO alphabet goes with the ‘Irish’ and ‘American’ spelling – so you were right first time, ‘whiskey’ it is. (Although not for viewers in Scotland … !)
Likewise, my cousin called my cat’s kitten gifted to him some tears ago as, ‘whiskey’,
If you ever come to Cymru – ask for ‘chwisgi’ 🙂
(I have a pro-indy fable based on this, too … )
Aye but…..WS
“Although not for viewers in Scotland”…indeed…….Ha Ha
“chwisgi’…a shot or a pint….Lol ( need a pint with all of the carry on going on just now….maybe a bucket)…glug glug
Have a nice evening
Well that’s the bin strike called off now. DRoss will be so disappointed. However, Nicola Sturgeon has caused rain and floods in Glasgow so she’s still very very bad.
OTOH, the Australien Government Carbon Capture ad is encouraging.
https://twitter.com/thejuicemedia/status/1433573878383591435?s=20
Ah yes they do excellent coverage of the real Aussie goverment and their far right wing planet destroying disaster capitalism, they have a new vid out about Aussie and COP26, though I thought the Austrialian PM was boycotting COP26. Watch their latest vid it’s an eye opener and very scary indeed.
There is no carbon tax in Australia. The Liberals, read Tories, Destroyed this when the most right wing PM in Australian history, Tony Abbott, when elected, tried to take Australia back to the stone age. Gillard, the previous Labor PM, had brought in a carbon reducing policy that was paid for by the polluters. Abbot I believe is now working for the English Government. Morrison the present Liberal PM is not much better than Abbott, as he is a supporter of the very rich exporters of coal and gas. Morrison is an ex advertising executive and this is how he tries to govern the country, by slick adverts. All the media in Australia supports the right wing policy of the present Government. Murdoch is the largest media company here, followed by the 9 Network, which just happens to have Peter Costello as its boss, a former long serving Liberal treasurer and second only to Howard within the Government. Don’t believe everything you read in the UK Media regarding Australia and Morrison.
There’s a good run down of Rishi Sunak’s over spun budget on the SNP site. Some handy facts to inform discussion. Plus, scroll down for an excellent clip of Lesley Riddoch on QT spelling out so articulately what Tories hate to hear.
https://www.snp.org/rishi-sunaks-budget-explainer/
Anas Sarwar is on a mission ….same mission as always ….SNPBAD…..
He DECIDED to CHOOSE to accept this MISSION on behalf of the Union aka the UK
Unfortunately the UK will soon SELF DESTRUCT and be no more…..
But Anas still accepts this MISSION…..even though it is IMPOSSIBLE.
Anas Sarwar attacks the SNP for the RUBBISH normal opening times of the Subway … either ignoring or ignorant of the fact neither SNP council nor government runs the Subway and never has….
WHAT…not still weaponising the word RUBBISH is he…..clue ….he is…. but hey who in the media is gonna pull him up on this misinformation……and thus he hopes that this new mission of disinformation can be accomplished….it won’t be as too many people better informed and have more dignity and morality than Anas credits them with………..#LabourBadAgain
BuuuuuuuuuuuuuT……………..to verify….
Glasgow’s Subway is run by SPT, Labour dominated for almost all its 50 years & still co-chaired by them. SPT has never ever been SNP run.
That is BTW the very same Anas ‘Glasgow is a rat infested rubbish laden S**te hole’ Sarwar……….
Anas is desperate ……as just like DRoss…. his impact……or lack of…with voters in Scotland, via a majority, has left him adopting a new kind of politics …though to be honest it is still the same old same old kind of politics he has always used really…the kind of politics that sees him as a constant political loser….it’s called political grasping at straws…any straw irrespective of the collateral damage it inflicts on Scotland and the people who live here in the eyes of the world….with Glasgow his latest target……another failed mission……perhaps Tom Cruise could offer guidance to you Anas….or maybe not….as he accomplishes his missions…in the films anyway…..unlike you in real (political) life Anas.
Tell the world Sarwar why don’t you , that in YOUR opinion and t’other Unionists, Glasgow is a dump…way to go…a vote winner NOT…..and so to Hell with the inevitable potential negative consequences of HIS words against Glasgow & indeed Scotland….at a pivotal moment when the world looks on….way NOT to go….if you a) want to be next FM ( Ha Ha) and b) expect voters to believe that you really really Love Scotland and indeed Glasgow……
Just like DRoss though his only motivation as branch manager is one of a chief deflector ( as in deflect away from ANY UK Government) and also a constant overall irritant…..not just to the FM and the SNP but after his recent behaviour towards Glasgow….to Glaswegians and others who live in Scotland too…as in those , who live here, who are actually PROUD of their country…….which given Anas’s recent insults towards Glasgow ( i.e. a city in Scotland Anas) is something he cannot claim….but he will do obvs ……in his ever so unique Unionist kind of way….Proud Scot BUT…big BUT obvs.
Anas Sarwar doesn’t live in Glasgow though, he just stays here, there’s a difference
Like to help us out? Thanks / Diolch.
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/599066
Petition
Make St David’s day a bank holiday in Wales
Dydd Gŵyl Dewi / St David’s Day has always been a significant day in Cymru / Wales, and has been used to celebrate everything Welsh. It’s time to make this special day a bank holiday in Wales, just like Scotland has St Andrew’s Day, and Ireland has St Partick’s Day as bank holidays.
3 066 signatures so far.
Done
Ditto
👍 3093rd
3148
3158th
St.Andrews day is not tho a bank holiday in Scotland. A. Salmond requested that did he not, via EngGov rules or in ScotGov (?) and it was wholly rejected. It is NOT a bank holiday as it should be for Scotland.
Apparently it is a Bank Holiday though banks are not obliged to observe it.
https://www.gov.scot/publications/bank-holidays/
Welsh Sion….signed.
Have a nice day
Some nice splodges of gold all over Scotland – not quite SNP level, but thank you one and all! (All the border seats covered as well …)
3 286 and counting.
3,424 now…
“Suddenly you’re on an open unknown road
Passing all the heavy, long wide loads
It is time to make your great escape
And you can hear your freedom calling
I want to dive into the sea of love
But my knees they are a quaking
I can see myself high up above
And there’s no time left for faking
I no longer need to understand
What it is to truly be a man
Only when I gave up on my masterplan
Did I then hear freedom calling
Did I then hear freedom calling.”
From Colin Hay’s ‘Freedom Calling’.
Perhaps one of you techie’s can load the Men at Work Saltcoats’ boy’s wee gem on here.
We need a wee boost.
Perhaps the Proclaimers and Colin record a new version for Indyref 2?
I note that Sally Magnusson and the Dead Tree Scrolls are reporting that ‘Nicola Sturgeon’ is pleading for the Climate Protesters
Of course when the planned demos happen, as planned, it will all be Nicola Sturgeon’s fault.
A Lax Coal Scuttle, Linesman Dross and The Millionaire Sweat Shop Dentist will be the ‘critics’ quoted on BBC Jockland’s bulletins condemning the Scottish Government for not stopping the melee.
‘Nicola Sturgeon KNEW that these anarchists were going to disrupt the Summit. Why didn’t she do anything to stop them?
Nothing to do with the fascist English Junta in London…it’s all the bad SNP/Green separatists’ fault.
Rats bins trains ..it is all down to the nasty Nats.
‘It is time to make your great escape,
And you can hear freedom calling.’
And there’s the rain Jack, she just won’t do anything to stop the rain
Alex, thanks. Ace!
I have an itch in the corner of my eye now.
It’s comin’ yet for a’ that.
Seriously, a remix with the Proclaimers would be brill during the Indyref 2 campaign.
Anybody got Colin’s e mail address?
No email address Jack but he has his own website and is still going strong. There is a contact page but no personal details.
Thanks, Jack,
Thanks Alex,
There’s much more than an itch in my eye!
Brilliant.
I’m sure I’ve heard the second song too but can’t remember when or where. Probably on a radio program that used to be presented by another Colin from his home studio up North, pre Indy ref 1.
Thanks again
Worth a punt, Alex?
In the morn.
This might bring a tear to the corner of your other eye Jack.
The man is pure genius, Alex; one of our own.
I made French onion soup earlier, so it may have been that which caused my tear ducts to well up.
Or, the image of and 8 year old Colin, recounting his love for an ‘older woman’, the eponymous 9 year old Maggie, as they skited stones across the water in Saltcoats.
I retire for the night with music ringing in my ears. A good place.
Thanks, Big A.
Later.
Jings, I never knew.
Good news for diabetics and reported on the bbc! First for Scotland
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-59095948
BBC Radio Scotland (after 9.30am)
Discussing How Scotland stands to gain from it’s renewables
A rep. Of Strathclyde University’s Energy Systems Research Unit
” so for various reasons if Scotland doesn’t stand to gain from exporting renewable energy we could export Expertise in renewables. (Including Carbon Capture).
Only we won’t have expertise in Carbon Capture as it’s going ahead in England years before starting in Scotland.
There is an interconnector running down the West coast that exists souly to EXPORT renewable energy from Scotland to England. A second is planned to run down the East coast.
Yet a representative of Strathclyde’s ESRU doesn’t see Scotland exporting renewable energy.
The ESRU rep. May have been the Unit’s chair person.
Now for some relevant polling, rather than the hot potato stuff!
This is where polling to get public opinion is just fine as it’s not about the treatment of a minority group / an equality / human rights issue.
https://archive.md/viKZb
Holyrood ‘should have power’ over Scottish broadcasting, Scots say
The poll asked voters: “Which parliament do you think should have law-making powers over Scottish broadcasting?”
In response 22% opted for the UK Parliament, while 65% said the Scottish Parliament.
Or at least broadcasting policy would not obviously be if Scotland was independent, but it’s not. As things stand, England has full control over its own broadcasting while the other UK nations do not.
The fact that the people of Scotland desire this and are being denied it, is a human rights issue. The English government is being discriminatory / prejudiced against the minority Scots people in not granting these equal rights to English citizens. At least that very much applies if Scots cannot freely self determine / chose indy without ‘needing permission’. Can they or is the UK a racist / apartheid state?
Note that excluding DK, the result is 75%. That’s the 3/4 1997 Yes and basically the % that choose ‘Scottish’ in forced choice national identity.
“A human rights issue”. That is exactly the right way to frame it. For our entire situation.
Loading this again. . . 2nd attempt
BBC Radio Scotland (after 9.30am)
Discussing How Scotland stands to gain from it’s renewables
A rep. Of Strathclyde University’s Energy Systems Research Unit
” so for various reasons if Scotland doesn’t stand to gain from exporting renewable energy we could export Expertise in renewables. (Including Carbon Capture).
Only we won’t have expertise in Carbon Capture as it’s going ahead in England years before starting in Scotland.
There is an interconnector running down the West coast that exists souly to EXPORT renewable energy from Scotland to England. A second is planned to run down the East coast.
Yet a representative of Strathclyde’s ESRU doesn’t see Scotland exporting renewable energy.
The ESRU rep. May have been the Unit’s chair person.
Hi Clydebuilt – here’s a link to the discussion with the Strathclyde rep. It’s 1 hour 12 minutes into the programme:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001137p
Ah but hard border! Hard border! The electrons will need to queue up for checks and show passports / paperwork at Berwick / Gretna just like the gas molecules will need to as well!
Comres for the Scotsman.
48% Yes / 52% No is no change, with my average for this year remaining at 50.2% Yes ex DK.
Phantom Power have a new video up: 10 Economists on Scottish Independence. 14 mins
Hmmm – Youtube say the video is unavailable but you can watch it o their twtter feed:
Working on YT, now, Capella:
Thx WS don’t know what happened above. 🙂
Groom your own conspiracy theories, Capella. Yours still doesn’t work – mine is a different link.
Probably incompetence here WS it can happen – difficult to believe I know. 🙂
Capella incompetent? Whowouldvethunkit?
(At my age, you become ‘incontinent’ …)
😂
Yes, this is exactly the kind of thing we need. (No, not the blank screen! {laugh}) These examples are of course dated, resourcefully culled as they have been from the recent-ish past, but there are various useful hints in there that can still be drawn out and developed. (Kerevan’s point about investment, for example.) A programme assembled from neutral economic experts willing to put an honest case direct to camera, free from the kind of patronising assumption-laden exceptionalism (“England funds our welfare needs”) that is typically displayed by UK-based panellists and interviewers. And addressing (ie. re-framing) the issue from the perspective of a small and fairly prosperous European country, which is what we undoubtedly would be.
This is a great start, but this should only be the beginning. People can’t process a BBC-style blizzard of indigestible financial data of dubious provenance, what they need is reassurance from those with expertise they can trust that there is a sensible (if initially uncertain) way forward that can offer and deliver far greater benefit to us all.
Correct
I see the constituency graph, the Greens are missing. What is their figure?
I see ALba is 1%.
I suspect they’d be grouped under ‘other’ on the constituency as they don’t tend to stand in most areas.
This looks interesting but you need a TV licence to watch it live or on iPlayer. Maybe those of you who pay the licence fee could watch it and let the rest of us know what it’s all about. It is Martin Geissler. But even Martin Geissler can make a useful programme surely?
Just watched, very very interesting,. In one part it was shown that newbuild flats were built in Peebles. It was only after the flats were built and people had moved in to them,that it was discovered it was actual common land that they were built on !
IMHO, the impression for me from this episode is that the Land Reform Act of 2003 is in need of reform or tightening up !
Interesting. Thx Alec. One tweet I saw said this:
Andrew Bentley-Steed
If episode 1 was any guide, this program is an absolute must-watch.
If we Scots all had to pay 45p tax for every square metre we owned, our total tax bill would be less than £30 per year, matching the entire £33bn of Scot Gov’s 2016/17 budget… but only if no tax was avoided.
Sounds great! I’d vote for that.
No independence for you, Jockos – so says “Uncle Tom” Naughtie.
“The truth for Boris Johnson is that he may well find – like many previous occupants of his office – that Ireland proves much more challenging than Scotland.
There are two reasons. The first is that Sturgeon’s star has passed its zenith. The polls – which the SNP celebrate when they show increasing support for independence and tend to ignore when they don’t – are on the wane for the nationalist side. They show an almost evenly divided country, and that is not a platform for an early independence vote. So Sturgeon is playing a longer game.”
https://inews.co.uk/opinion/irish-nationalism-boris-johnson-loom-larger-than-any-prime-minister-century-1274464
If 2 years of Yes being ahead and pro-indy parties getting a majority share of the vote for the first time ever in a Scottish national election is them ‘past their zenith’, I’m sure they love being there.
I remember when Yes ‘passed it’s zenith’ in 2011-12. Then it did it again in 2015, falling consistently for 2 years to a new low in 2017…
Like waves running up the beach then retreating, but on rising tide…
Ach, Uncle Tom is just jealous because he’s never going to be featured in Vogue. {wink}
As for numbers, it’s a long game all right. We may have another Covid winter to get through, and there is one potential big distractional event in the offing, but I would still go for it at a suitable time even if numbers stay roughly where they are. Most people aren’t currently paying attention, but Brexit is still quietly making itself felt regardless, and an eventual campaign that mutes the unmitigated barrage of Unionist sludge will build. It doesn’t need to be much. Then events alone can show the likes of BBC house stooge Naughtie where to take his wishful prognostications.
there is one potential big distractional event in the offing
________
I think you’ll find that the second will follow the first seamlessly. (At least those with flegs will expect it to.)
You know things are looking dire for the union when they wheel out Jim Naughtie. In 2014 he was installed in Plantation Quay because none of the home based lackeys could be trusted to stick to the agenda, obviously.
He’s fae Keith, you know. Which is almost as bad as “Ah kent his faither”.😂
In the Irish Times.
‘English nationalist’.
Aye. Our neighbours ken fine well what’s going on.
https://archive.md/S2PAC
Worst threat to Belfast Agreement is London’s nationalist agenda
A former high-ranking British diplomat has alleged that a large degree of indifference – and at times, recklessness – has been exhibited towards the Irish peace process on the part of British ministers and officials. For many, the revelations will come as no surprise. The British government has shown itself to be disingenuous and duplicitous when it comes to Northern Ireland – isn’t it time we dropped the diplomatic charade and admitted that the greatest threat to the Belfast Agreement is the current British government and their English nationalist agenda?…
…In 1990, then secretary of state Peter Brooke stated that the British government had “no selfish strategic interest” in Northern Ireland. This position of neutrality in pertinence to the outcome of a future Border poll was seen as a crucial intervention in a tumultuous period of history, ultimately ensuring its inclusion in the foundation of the Belfast Agreement eight years later. Earlier this year, however, leader of the House Jacob Rees-Mogg imposed his own thoughts on the subject, reminiscing that: “Somebody once said that the UK had no selfish or strategic interest in Northern Ireland – I dispute that. I think we have an interest in keeping the whole country together as a united kingdom.”
It’s bloody serious when you have a senior member of the UK government disputing a UN international peace agreement brokered by the US and backed by them and the EU.
Brooke IIRC was back in the day of John Major, who was old-school Tory, the last of his kind. It was that neutral approach to NI that opened the way for Blair and the GFA. Now we’re in the hands of unashamed English Imperialists, whose only remnant of Empire is within these isles.
They may be arrogant, but it’s all bluff. At heart they’re desperately needy. And the reality is, we don’t need them.
Do you mean…
“They need us more than we need them”? 😀
Even back in 2012 there was a more mature attitude to politics at Westminster.
“Argentina and the Falkland Islands
Britain is committed to defend their right to choose their own future. The Islanders are fully entitled to enjoy the right of self-determination. It is a right which cannot be applied selectively or be open to negotiation, and one which is recognised in the UN Charter and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Self-determination does not necessarily mean independence. Britain has willingly granted independence
where it has been requested, and will continue to do so where it is an option, while remaining committed to those of its Overseas Territories which choose to retain the British connection. In exercise of their right of self-determination, the Falkland Islanders have repeatedly made known their wish to remain British. An Argentine-inspired poll, conducted in
1994, revealed that 87% of them would be against any form of discussion with Argentina over sovereignty, under any circumstances.”
https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN05602/SN05602. pdf (remove space)
The decline and fall of democracy in Britain, with May and Johnson.
A definite bookmark for me. Says it all really.
There’s only ever been England, nothing’s changed and nothing ever will
This is demented rhetoric even for the Mail on Sunday.
We must do more to celebrate and exploit our Brexit freedoms
It’s not even about Brexit, instead, it’s all about the BBC bias against Brexit and not being patriotic enough! It ends with Our fully realised freedom may even, one day, remind the BBC that the first word in its name is ‘British’.
The English have lost their minds in supporting this crap, I feel sad and sorry for those that have remained sane despite the Mail, the Sun, the Telegraph, the…
https://archive.ph/XqZvV
Yep, but it also looks very like a publicity piece in support of Paul Dacre for the Ofcom job….
Talking of British hubris, the Express today has the headline “Boris the Gladiator” as he demands the EU “rein in” Emmanuel Macron.
Newspaper headlines: ‘Rein in Macron’, and soldier ‘joked about murder’ – https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-59106910
Yeh Capella …but I saw someone had identified on Twitter that within the word Gladiator was the word ‘LIAR…..and they blanked out some of the letters in Gladiator…to amend headline as …..
Boris the Liar….Ha Ha
A truer headline if ever there was one……..
Maybe if we were still in the EU they might have listened to him ?
Nicola Sturgeon invited to be patron of the Constance prize for upholding European values.
https://www.thenational.scot/news/19684244.nicola-sturgeon-chosen-patron-german-constance-council-prize/
An English fisherman was being interviewed on radio 4 about 9.30am. . The BBC man summed up the fisherman’s situation . . . “he used to land 80% of his catch in Belguim but for reasons you can probably guess he no longer does that” These reasons are B R E X I T . . . . the word they dare not mention . . . (In a negative context that is)
Just watched Union Jack on Guisler’s programme, it was hilarious watching his face change colour, to bright red, as he attempted to justify the Tory lines.
Nice to see him cut off in midsentence trying to say they will not allow an Indy!! Prat.
According to Open democracy :
Tory MP and former energy minister John Hayes…..calling for delay to UK climate action has banked………… £150k from oil firm…..
He has likened climate protestors to radical Islam…….but as a brexiteer I am sure the Brexit protestors who intimidated and abused MP’s outside WM were seen . by John Hayes, as good old British patriots. ( that is the Brexit protestors before withdrawal agreement vote in HOC’s when Theresa May was PM).
However also note that some of the MSM is presenting Boris as saviour of the planet….not this planet though but one within the parallel universe that both Boris J and the MSM seem to inhabit …the one dictated predominantly by (planet) fiction as opposed to (planet) reality………..
Meanwhile John Hayes Tory boss, Boris J, is telling EU leaders to ‘act’ on climate changes….while some of Boris’s own MP’s within HIS party are NOT wanting to ‘act….on climate changes…indeed they seem to want to ‘act’….against it……just shows you the power that lobbying for big corporations has over some MP’s when there is money to be made…..for both parties…..and who with a brain cell would believe or see Boris Johnson as some kind of Climate warrior PM…the Chief Liar and Bobby dancer supremo…..Boris could definitely be defined as someone who constantly Talks the Talk but will only ( in a superficial and obvious false way) walk the walk…only if there is money to be made for those who donate and support his party…..especially those who donate to his own election campaigns.
Seems logical…..if you are a Tory though….as in their needs greater than citizens needs….or indeed anyone in the world…..
Not that long ago Boris J was telling the world it was “easy being green”…now he is saying that it might not be easy to get agreements at COP26…….and he is very “worried” about climate conference……how quickly he , once again, backtracks on previous (false) statements…..as if any of the delegates at climate conference would believe his ‘green’ credentials and commitment on the climate………or indeed find it credible that he could lead anything that would result in change for the good……indeed Good and Boris Johnson are very distant relations….indeed no relation at all.
John Hayes…..just another questionable Tory Brexit MP……….just like his boss Boris J.
Next Friday, Glasgow, along with other cities in the ‘4 nations’, will construct bonfires, and prop effigies of a Catholic atop thousands of pyres, to ‘remember, remember, the 5th of November’,1605, when a group of Catholics tried to blow up the House of Lords, and James the Sixth of Scotland, James the First of England.
So in the midst of COP26, Glasgow will reek of smoke, and hundreds of thousands of fireworks will pollute the night air, to celebrate Catesby, Fawkes and the Jesuits, being hung drawn and quartered 416 years ago.
This morning BBC Jockland was taken over by the London mob.
Marr with Rachel Watson a regular Brit from the telegraph, and Pippa Crerar of the Mirror, three Brit Pet Jocks, analysed the Blahs, with Watson telling the world that Govan was a cess pit, riddled with fly tipping…
Marr interviewed alok sharma, Ed Milliband, and Greta Thunberg…which I easily and readily scrolled through, unlistened.
Then we had Giessler…more Cop 26, with a ‘Kevin Keane’ and good old Glenn Campbell, talking saving the planet, and and environmental lawyer, on saving the planet, then, Alister Jack on sucking Scotland dry of oil, Carbon Capture in Mersey side and NE England better than in Scotland, and offering people the ‘choice’ to fly from Southampton to inverness on cheap flights, and the next Independence Referendum…usual tropes…not now.
BBC Radio Jockland is live in Aberdeen for 1 1/2 hours talking to oil bosses apparently.
Scotland and our Government do not exist in the world of Marr and Geissler..crikey, yikes, crumbs, gulp.
So, when you gasp for air next Friday night, remember remember the 18th September…
Won’t be fooled again.
You know Jack….is it not amazing that those individuals who are dumping their rubbish , as in Fly tippers….are NOT the ones being castigated…..something that costs the tax payers a large amount of money for the councils to clear up……..constantly….. as this is a repeated act by fly tippers.
I mean is the REAL problem here , not a problem with the councils, but actually those individuals dumping THEIR rubbish in inappropriate places as opposed to designated sites …..is no one considering this in the media……well apparently NOT….not if it gives the Scottish media and Unionists a way to present this as yet ANOTHER opportunity to generate YET ANOTHER fake SNPBAD story……….who are the real culprits here ?
So councils everywhere have to clear up rubbish dumped by PEOPLE and then it happens time and time again….a never ending cycle of rubbish…….but in Scotland, we blame the council and the Scottish Government….while in areas within England it IS identified as not an issue generated by councils but by those who are continuously dumping their rubbish everywhere and anywhere…in fact the councils in England are given sympathy for the battle against these individuals polluting the environment….and it is also identified as a great cost to the tax payer.
Perhaps it’s time to target the REAL baddies in this….as in the lazy selfish pigs who care nothing for the environment, care nothing about the area they choose to dump their crap in and care nothing about the resulting costs to people in having to clear up their unwanted cr*p.
It is people who cause rubbish in our streets ….and that is the issue here not the all to familiar blame culture being generated by Unionists…..blame towards the WRONG target……at a time when a major climate conference is taking place…..the media and politicians and a certain trade Union seems to be excusing the behaviour of the REAL culprits and focusing their staged protests against a council who is LITERALLY expected to clear up other people’s mess…..while simultanously TO BE SEEN as the REAL baddies….How the Hell does that figure ?
Glasgow is not the only city in the UK where people fly tip……it happens all over the UK….but Unionists EXPECT us to believe it is a problem UNIQUE to Glasgow and EXPECT us to believe that the council do nothing…..clue….they do….but no sooner is rubbish cleared…..more appears….by PEOPLE…….Unionists don’t want you to join the dots though as that weakens their argument…..as in weakens an argument already weak obvs.
Only in Scotland of course……..
Yet another example of Mitigation Hell, alas.
Served up by the usual neurotic Labour hand-wringers who can’t even provide effective political opposition down south where there’s a significant reserve of popular disaffection with the BoJo Clown Circus that has nowhere else much to go.
Yes Grizebard
“Labour who can’t provide effective political opposition down South”
When this is but SOME of the things Tories have done :
No tax rises – Lie
£350 million for the NHS – Lie
40 new hospitals – Lie
Pensions triple locked – Lie
Food will be cheaper – Lie
Erasmus safe – Lie
No barriers to trade – Lie
Manufacturing safe – Lie
No regression on rights – Lie
No Irish border – Lie
I mean come ON……Labour now are the party who have endorsed Brexit……same Brexit as opposed by those who live in Scotland….but as endorsed by those who live in England….but then Labour too frightened to step on the Tory party’s toes or indeed to step on the toes of the English voters…after all tis English voters who decide who gets elected as government at WM is it not …..meanwhile English voters ask what do the Labour party actually represent ?
Labour , in their own words, tell English voters that they as a party represent and agree with similar things to the Tories thus English voters decide to continue voting for the Tories…. a party that the Labour party supports………. and whose policies they, the Labour party, do not effectively oppose via Keir Starmer….i.e. he is a follower of populist opinions not a leader of a political party…The Tories the party in government unopposed by the so called official opposition…..as Keir Starmer too busy condoning what they, the Tories, are implementing.
No one wants to diss Brexit in the Unionist parties…..will of the people….well some of the people anyway, the majority of whom elect who rules within their UK……and we all know where the majority population is within the UK…..hence why the UK , as promoted as a United and democratic country…does NOT work…..for Scots, Welsh and indeed Northern Irish….but it seems to always work for for those who live in England though……..they get who they vote for and what they vote for……..DRoss wants to keep FPTP in UK elections…he wouldn’t want it in Scotland though….#ToryWipeOutInScotland……..
Brerxit is the most outrageous mistake the English have ever inflicted upon themslves. Did David Duduid manage to get his ‘favourite pasta shapes’ yet?
The brit Nats Jocks are selling their country, their nation, their sovereign state, Scotland, to their colonial masters for cash.
They will cling on like dried encrusted snotters until we ultimately boot them out of office.
They don’t give a tuppenny toss for their fellow Scots.
The UK government is the sovereign government of the UK to which the matter of the constitution is reserved, if the First Minister and Scottish government press ahead with a referendum on Independence without the legal agreement from the UK government it breaks the law and leaves itself open to the *consequences* of doing so it’s as simple as that, so there’s no point continuing to ask me the question on this matter
The UK minister who said this was subsequently asked the question 20 minutes later on air by the BBC journalist and replied “Support for Independence must be at 60% for at least one year before the UK government will consider it, we can’t just keep having referendums whenever an SNP government win elections, it’s bad for inward investment and the economy”
Now we all know who said this but he’s always careful not to say all of it in public or on air but does this mean our elected government and FM have already been threatened with a Spanish government style approach to Scotland implementing the promised democracy they were elected on
The question we should now be asking isn’t about referendums, now the question should be has the government of Scotland that we elected been threatened by the UK government?
The BBC knows the answer
I wonder if these unelected (by us) bluffers have any notion of what the “consequences” might actually be if they persist in their denial of our inherent right to self-determination.
Y’know, the self-determination which their predecessors used to boast about being great defenders of. (See yir2 upthread @ 21:36 yesterday.)
Maybe…
Maybe they’ll…
throw us out of the union…
Oh,the shame…
Y’know, the self-determination which their predecessors used to boast about being great defenders of.
_______
You mean this, grizebard? 😉
“Rule, Britannia! rule the waves:
“Britons never will be slaves.”
(‘flummery’ is derived from a Welsh word for a peasant dish made from sour oatmeal and husks, llymru.)
English/British rule is ruining Scotland.
https://archive.md/PKqaT
Brexit leads to ‘Catastrophic failure’ warning for Scotland as crops left to rot
A THIRD of Scotland’s largest brassica crop has been left to rot in the field because Brexit ended access for seasonal pickers.
Costs will rise next year and production will shrink as a result, farmers predict. Meanwhile, empty shelves are causing problems for rural Scots. And Scotland’s iconic food producers are facing “catastrophic failure” to protect their status in UK Government trade deals.
Andrew Faichney, managing director of the East of Scotland Growers (ESG) co-operative, which represents 16 farmers in the Fife area have left about one-third of Scotland’s largest crop of brassicas worth more than £1 million to rot in the field, as Brexit meant a shortage of labour to pick them.
I look forward to Wendy Chamberlain Yellow Tory MP for NE Fife, and Wee Willie Rennie, of course, appearing on all news outlets and in the Dead Tree Scrolls condeming Brexit and attacking the Blue Tories for destroying Scotland’s agriculture.
Won’t hold my breath.
The strange case of the Ayr Fishing boat fishing knowingly without a licence in French teritorial waters.
The Blahs refuse to name the captain, but moan that he and his crew are being ‘held’ in Le Havre and face a £63,000 fine.
Now nobody in their right mind would risk this fish piracy unless he had been ‘encouraged’ to do so by London and the Brexit boys.
I’m with the French here. Does that make me a traitor, who will face ‘consequences’ for not bowing down to my Imperial English Masters?
Marr and Co are ratcheting it up to ‘the worst diplomatic relations between ‘Britain’ (that’s the UK to you and me) in living memory’.
An Ayrshire fisherman illegally poaching fish…and we’re right behind him?
Aye, right.
Brexit is never mentioned now.
For two weeks they can flood the news with COP26 nonsense…and film the latest mattress dumped in Govanhill.
The Loyal Sons Blackshirts will be out in force as self appointed ‘vigilantes’ clobbering environment protestors..and it will all be Nicola sturgeon’s fault.
“The strange case of the Ayr Fishing boat”, “An Ayrshire fisherman” ? – The Cornelis Gert Jan was recorded as having 3 British personnel onboard including the captain at time of detention, so the “Ayrshire fisherman” is presumably one of the other two ? Aye, a 3 man operated 328 Tonner…?
That boat has a history of knowingly breaching the rules, so pardon my surprise that the French lifted them. The only question remaining is whether they were paid to do it (after England’s Dildo Harding Test&Trace fiasco the cost of this little stooshie would be chicken feed) or whether they were skating on thin ice again.
The French don’t misinterpret rules so the case is solid enough, but what is never circulated in the media is that the French fishing operators have seen few if any of the reciprocal fishing licences honoured by London, so a hint of Eau de Latrine (made in London) is circulating over this “strained diplomacy” malarkey.
A confected diversion by the spin-merchants to avert gaze from the ongoing Brexit catastrophe at home, the “you should be offended at the French because they’re not English, sorry British, ahah..” plan doesn’t really work on Scots much these days, they’re immune thanks to our own Daily Wail, BBC Scotchland…
So heard that Prince Charles is taking the lead now— in Italy with Johnson and his bidy in. He will be tough with the world. Doesn’t sky , bbc not realise he is a spent force.
We remember when he caught covid and both he, Camilia and his entourage jumped on a plane to Aberdeen to hide away. To hell with natives and green miles.
This will be a week full of hypocrisy by the Brit nats.
This will be a week full of hypocrisy by the Brit nats.
________
cf. WGD’s previous blog concerning Willy Wales/Wills the Earthshot and the Royal Train.
While Prince Charles talks titivates and cultivates his organic green cabbages his family alone racks up the carbon footprint of a small town
Mark Gattiss, the actor:
“I’m currently very, very ashamed of being English, but I love what I think it represents, or used to,” he says. “The most terrible thing about Brexit is we always had a hard-won and very fair reputation for being amateurish, but basically decent. In a tight corner, you knew where you were with us. And I think that’s been ripped away. It’s like a mask has dropped, exposing this horrible snarling, sneering, angry, jealous face.”
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/mark-gatiss-i-m-currently-very-very-ashamed-of-being-english/ar-AAQ9u1q
If Glasgow fails we all fail says Johnson.
The world faces disaster.
As a born and bred Glaswegian I should have known it was my fault.
I’m off , dearest, please fetch our private jet, we are off to the Maldives. What do you mean it’s flooded? Right let’s head to Southampton via Aberdeen. The Scottish governor says this is what being a Brit is all about.
Still on pop goes Scot the hot issue is selecting your gender again……So out of touch are the Albanians…
Reminds me of this article.
https://archive.md/NX9Sm
Unisex public toilets are attack on women’s rights – Kenny MacAskill
I assume MacAskill has separate M and F toilets at his house, or does he force male and female (including trans) guests to share mixed sex use gender neutral loos?
At home, our loos are gender neutral like those in the coop garage, the flat cat gallery cafe, and the lauder public WCs. Same for our shower/bathrooms; mixed sex use. Women / men take their turns! Have we got it wrong? Are we inadvertently breaking women’s sex based rights in our homes and never realised?
Some people are either immensely stupid, or malicious.
Erm, there is completely uncontrolled immigration between UK nations Führer Johnson.
Only a racist could think it ok for English people to be able to freely live (‘uncontrolled migration’) in Scotland, but not e.g. my aging French mother in law (who may soon need our care), simply because she isn’t British/English.
https://www.thenational.scot/news/19684872.boris-johnsons-bogus-claim-roman-empire-rubbished-historians/
BORIS Johnson has been rounded on by some of the UK’s top historians for claiming the Roman Empire’s demise was primarily due to “uncontrolled immigration”.
And with empty shelves and food rotting in fields due to skilled key workers flooding out the UK exit gates in their thousands every day, what kind of prize f**kwit argues British economic problems are down to immigration? FFS you thicko racist nutjob, nobody is coming; they are all leaving en masse!
Papers are full of ‘mass labour shortage due to uncontrolled emigration’ headlines and the PM of England is ranting on about completely fictional masses of dangerous, British job stealing ‘not like us’ foreigners arriving?
The UK is so utterly, utterly screwed. It will suffer the same complete economic collapse as other countries where the pale, sweaty racist creeps took over.
I just saw a retweet of a tweet dated 29 October 2021 from Brendan May …
“So this aged seal on a Norfolk beach was humanely put down, but not before police were called because crowds of people had been throwing stones at it and posing for selfies with it in this utter hellscape of a country we’ve become. I am so f**ing angry”.
Brendan lives in England….he too feels Mark Gattiss’s pain….Brendan hates Brexit….and pretty much hates the Tories and Boris Johnson who currently (mis) represent HIS UK.
I myself just despair at not only the way some people in this UKnotOK treat those people who are so desperate and who come here from other countries to escape the hell(scape) of their own country and risk their lives to do so….. but I also hate and despair at the way some people treat animals with no regard for them as living things….grouse shooting, fox hunting, Hare coursing, dog fighting…isn’t it considered that psychopaths initially are people who start by torturing and killing animals….well if that cap fits……..
It’s like they have no empathy, compassion , kindness for anything or anyone but themselves……I am not saying Scotland is free from such people because I know it is not…..but this is emblematic of Brexit Britain under the Tories and includes those in Scotland who fight so hard to still be a part of it……a soulless , self destructive, ignorant , sleazy, cruel , bitter , neurotic, arrogant, deluded, immoral, dishonest ,greedy , selfish, Brexit mad, Covid denying anti mask wearing mob of xenophobic flag waving irrelevant citizens of an irrelevant non country parading as a real country aka the (dis)United Kingdom ( United in name only but NEVER in reality)…,
One whose UK government is not given recognition as a government by all of the people imprisoned within it’s kingdom of Hell(scape)………a disunited Kingdom thanks to a Unionist government which fails miserably to both govern or lead by example or indeed respect ALL within the confines of it’s fake non united country……and one that shows favour mostly to those who in turn will show favour to them by donating to their party coffers and support them to stay as a not fit for purpose government….while pandering to and feeding more hate to the haters within their non country posing as United but clearly to many within and outwith it’s confines see it for what it is…..as a disunited kingdom led by a corrupt and greedy government….a non country unravelling with each passing day.
This rant over but not last rant………
Yes I do know other countries have individuals who are also Covid deniers and anti mask wearers and anti vaccines too…………but somehow it seems more natural for the Brexit lovers in UK to endorse this………as they , by nature, are anti democratic, easily led and by nature selfishly neurotic and consider only what they want…to Hell with everyone else…..a kind of …..you are either with us or against us mantra.
You forget to mention that the rest of us Remainers, pro-vaxxers, Scots, Welsh, law-abiders, refugee supporters etc etc are all ‘enemies of the people’ and are ‘the enemies within’.
Stoning a seal today that has washed up on our shores is only the beginning. How soon will it be before they start hurling stones at migrants who have crossed the Channel and landed exhausted, frightened, hungry onto the Sussex and Kent coasts? (I’m convinced there will be some in that Norfolk mob who regretted that ‘it was only a seal’ that made land-fall – How sick is that?)
And Johnson et al. in all this? They’re not so much fiddling whilst Rome burns – they’re stocking up on jerry cans filled with petrol.
Indeed WS……
Have a lovely evening
It’s possible that the stoning of a seal by a crowd on a Norfolk beach has been a tad exaggerated. This is the tweet from the RSPCA that the story originates from.
Someone in South Coast of England tweeted not true “.I live on the South Coast and when a seal beaches this story always goes out I have never seen anyone throwing stones crowds gather it’s natural. guy guarding seal told me that they put the story out to protect the seal – community protect it from stone throwers that don’t exist”…
RSPCA s replied to tweet “Well we are very glad if it is not happening on the south coast, but it is very much happening here”
Who to believe…………
The press have a tendency to exaggerate when it suits them, think Murphy and the egg.
Apparently the Bin strike is back on in Glasgow…pay offer rejected..
Picture of Chris Williams (mega mouth) GMB Union walking with Anas Sarwar……but NO collusion here…NOTHING political………said no one with a brain cell.
It’s looking likely that the binmen’s strike in Glasgow will go ahead from midnight tonight after the GMB accused Glasgow Council of not giving them enough time to consider their offer and “acting in bad faith”. Everyone has the right to strike for better pay and conditions but I don’t see this particular strike going down well with the citizens of Glasgow.
But apparently there was to be a 2 week consultation about the pay offer. See this on Talking up Scotland
I take it the GMB endorses the non wearing of masks indoors.
I hope the Health and Safety Executive take note. Next time the gmb talks about elf and Safety they can be ignored.
Guys you have been set up.
I doubt that many can do with a week or two doffed from their December pay packet.
The GMB ‘Fred Kite’, self proclaimed Covid ‘hero’, leading a howling choir of GMB poster waving ‘comrades’. Where are the thousands of other cleansing staff; taken to the streets in protest?
From Covid hero to bubonic plague rat infested villain?
This will fizzle out in hours.
GMB Chris Mitchell….mega(phone) mouth…thinks he’s Jimmy Reid……..as if….
Chis hopes to climb the greasy pole like wot Gary Smith did……….
Sure Glaswegians will just love this…what with all of the disruptions, road closures and additional people in city for COP26…..now Labour and the GMB give them a…bin strike.
Perhaps Jack you are right…cause this staged tactic is not a winning formula that will garner much support from the citizens of this city………
Be interesting to see the BritNat supporters of Tories in Scotland supporting Unions for once….normally they decry them and the Labour party…..indeed they present Labour governments as a recipe for disaster for the so called “multitude of strikes taking us back to the bad old days”….the irony being we are now in the worse days and it’s only going to get even worse under the Tories.
So is it only Glasgow binmen who are going on strike?
According to Prof Robertson’s post there was an agreement with COSLA for a two week consultation period during which the strike was called off. Suddenly, they are accusing Glasgow City Council of not giving them time.
Is collective bargaining abandoned in Glasgow?
I smell a rat.
Hi Capella my understanding **was that strike was ‘postponed’ for next two weeks to give time to consider/study offer**….not sure what has happened in interim period to then go to…… strike back on !……….though I could hazard a guess….SNPBAD (***My understanding may be wrong).
.Also …the fact that road sweepers will be on strike too if last minute agreement not agreed to by GMB…how will visitors to the city view the streets of Glasgow if roads left unswept as well as Bins piling up with rubbish……..
How will the citizens of Glasgow feel………bins unemptied and roads unswept…..
If strike not averted then the fallout and backlash will fall on the GMB and Labour (as Sarwar getting way too involved in all of this so much so tis inconceivable that this is not a collusion reminiscent of GMB strike for equal pay for women in Glasgow council backed by Labour party)….the worst laid plans have a tendency to backfire…………
As someone who comes from Edinburgh I know how proud Glaswegians are of their city……and those who seek to undermine that, indeed seek to promote it as a dirty and rat infested dump,….well Hell mend ye…..Labour & the GMB…..(in what is surely being identified as an underhand way to gain political advantage over the SNP via generating embarrassment to them as a council and Scottish government…….though perhaps GMB & Labour not considering how this will impact citizens of Glasgow….or care) …..but workers as per, used as useful tools in this argument)……..
Does the GMB Union intend to instigate strikes in other cities and towns in the UK for all bin men etc…..as surely Glasgow cannot be PERCEIVED by the GMB to be THE only city in UK where the GMB feel that bin men etc are disadvantaged by the respective council….seems a fair question to ask. …as if fair comes into this equation…who am I kidding.
Just read this :
“This was the GMB yesterday: “Drew Duffy, of GMB Scotland, said the union would hold a two-week consultation from Monday 1 November, and had agreed to suspend strike action during this time.” Today, GMB and Anas Sarwar meet in an ‘alleyway’ and now strike is back on. Pathetic”
So my understanding was correct re two week consultation period and strike suspended for that period.
Not that any Scottish media peeps will report this…..as they don’t do investigative journalism in Scotland…..they only report SNPBAD tittle tattle and Unionists opinions…like ‘some critics’…aka Unionists and Unionist politicians.
I see the GMB managed to buy a huge inflatable rat. I suppose they felt they had to make use of it. All that pre planning and the C02 blowing it up.
I notice it isn’t wearing a mask either. What’s the world coming too?
The current Governor of the Punjab (Pakistan) is Sarwar Snr. Sarwar Jnr might be interested in this news item from earlier this year.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1603486
The Governor’s House is in Lahore, apparently.
The National article on the Glasgow binmen strike. Apparently the reason they are striking in Glasgow, in spite of everyone else agreeing to consult for two weeks and suspend the strike, is because Glasgow has “bad faith”.
Bad faith? What can this possibly mean?
I’m leaving the full URL so you can read the btl comments which are interesting.
https://www.thenational.scot/news/19685007.cop26-glasgow-bin-strikes-go-ahead-world-leaders-arrive/?ref=ebln
Archive version for those who can’t access the live version:
https://archive.fo/zBa3T
GMB really are pathetic so they agree to 2 weeks consultation and suspend strikes for that period and then renege on it. Why? How much consultation of their members did they actually do totally political decision I am sure. If Sarwar things he will gain from this he is sadly mistaken Glaswegians are not stupid and will not blame the council or Scottish Parliament for this fiasco but GMB and Labour will just look stupid. As for all the crap about rats there has been always loads of them in Glasgow. When working night-shift in a job near the Clyde around 15 year ago on CCTV we counted 16 of them on the gate of cash and carry across the road they were often seen on other nights too but of course they were Labour supporting rats same as the ones that ran the council at the time. I actually saw a rat up here in East Dunbartonshire a couple of months ago so clearly Glasgow is not unique
Have a look on utube for rat kills by night shift.
An industrial area in Leeds where the shooters use infra red lamps to kill Hundreds of rats in a night.
There’s a wild world just outside your door, our cats bring in a mouse each night, each.
I had to clear out a drawer in the garage when a mouse family set up home after I let a bag of crisps in it, they must have thought they were in mouse heaven as the bag was turned into a nest with old insulation.
Read a report that we are all about 10 feet away from a rat nest if outdoors.
Seems that the secc has captured a selection.
Blwyddyn Newydd Dda / Gappy New Year to all fellow Celts, Duggers, lurkers and others!
*Happy, even. 🙂
Thought that you were having a ‘Gapp’ Year, there for a moment, WS.
I’ll get ma coat.
Is Sarwar out catching rats today?
A must read article on the BBC from Newsnet who, by the way, are fundraising.
https://newsnet.scot/news-analysis/bbc-scotland-the-unionists-most-powerful-weapon/
That is a devastating critique of the BBC in Scotland. Well worth a read. Thx Legerwood.
This whole farrago was a union dispute with COSLA who agree wage rises after consultation with said unions .
Strangely ( NOT ! ) the media and a union ( GMB ) and a certain millionaire Labour leader ( who shall remain nameless ) have contrived to turn a simple wage dispute into an attack on Glasgow , Scotland and its Government !
I think the public , despite the propaganda , will see the villains in this piece of nonsense .
How fitting that the loud-mouthed GMB official , who seemingly has a VIP line to BBCShortbread for interviews , has a rat as his new best friend – not the blow-up plastic one but the millionaire, plastic-labour kind .
This proposed settlement involves COSLA, so is Scotland-wide, right? (Except maybe Aberdeen, which IIRC opted out a while ago in some kind of BritNat futile gesture?) Nothing particular to Glasgow, anyway. That just happens to be a Labour target to reclaim their old neo-Stalinist fiefdom next May. (As if the BBC don’t know that.)
Unionist world and the Alba party combine forces in trolling Sky news presenter Kay Burley for daring to interview Scotlands FM and the UN for allowing her access to COP 26
For some weird reason when Boris Johnson said he would move heaven and earth to keep *that woman* out of COP 26 the Tal Alba faithful and the Unionist separatists believed he had the authority to do that and somehow conveniently forgot Johnson tells lies for a living
COP 26 is a UN event and while in Glasgow is UN territory for the duration of the talks
Monday’s bin day down our way.
No collection.
Keep it up GMB. I’m right behind you.
Come on Millionaire Sarwar, man the barricades, UP Ra Workers, but not in Cash And Carry Outlets…
Let next Monday come and go and let the bins lie unemptied.
As man and boy I have paid domestic rates for 51 years, this month in 1970 being the first time I paid my dues to society at LA level.
Never missed a payment.
I am still paying, for schools, social work, care for the elderly, and so on, none of which services I thankfully need nor use. Can’t remember when I last called on Police assistance, although I still use the library..but no longer the public baths.
But I don’t count. I don’t matter.
Sally Magnusson and the Brits at Pathetic Quay give a posturing idiot of a man air time, evilly portray my city as a cess pit crammed with old mattresses and garbage lying unattended in lanes and kerbsides..and I have no voice to protest?
Let them ‘down tools’ for , say, two weeks.
Everybody Out!
That grown men and women can be so easily led by a sinister little bunch of agitators beggars belief.
Two weeks without pay.
Well done. That means roughly a 4% ‘saving’ on this year’s wage bill.
And an even bleaker Christmas for the families of honest men and women being led by the nose by wee Commie agitators, Millionaire Red Tories, wwhile the Blue and Yellow Tories laugh their heads off.
We are not living in the black and white soot encrusted world of the middle of the last century.
There is no ‘Them and Us’.
Why don’t they go the whole hog and stay out ’til Christmas?
Eventually they shall return, and the garbage collected.
Oh how Sarwar Dross and Coal Scuttle will laugh.
Bad bad SNP.
They are treating workers like simpletons..to save their precious fucking Union.
Someone BTL here accused folk like me of being Thatcherites…Aye, right.
Get the Good Old Them An Us farce going again.
It’s a Class War!
Divide and Conquer.
Get agrip, and welcome to the 21st Century.
AUOB does what it says on the tin.
Get back to work, comrades. Your Union doesn’t care about you and yours.
They are using you as a sheath to fuck the SNP Council.
Sorry for the ‘industrial’ language, Duggers.
I have patience. I can sit it out.
Men, and it’s mostly men, who are one wage packet away from a food bank, cannot.
The wee full time Union rep isn’t going to suffer. His wages get paid regardless, from subs paid by the mugs on strike.
It may be noted that in any pictures this Covid Hero is not wearing working gear. He doesn’t empty bins.
I have given up watching BBC Jock entirely now.
Which is a success for Sally and the Gang.
Yet another media outlet closed down to us who prefer Scotland to be reflected in our news, not, the Elite Jock collaborators’ view of the English colony in the North.
I am clacking in quiet rage, as you can see.
Get back to your work, lads. You are being used by England’s elite to destroy Scotland.
You are being made to look heartless and foolish.
Rant over.
It makes me smile, Jack, when Sally M’s name is mentioned, considering her faither came from a country with, currently, a population less than Glasgow, therefore some would say ‘too wee’, and very remote from anywhere, yet manages to do very well indeed without the loving arms of Sally’s beloved Westminster to help its continued survival. Has it been attacked by aliens? No. Has it been shunned by the rest of the world? No. Is it poverty stricken? No. Is it a ‘filthy dump’? No, more than likely because it hasn’t been subjected to hundreds of years of Tory/Labour mismanagement and malfeasance/misfeasance.
I am convinced that BBC Jockland raid the Prop Department and set up a scenario, usually in Govanhill, with a burst mattress and an old sofa last used in ‘Still Game’.
Evil North Korea strength lies about Scotland and Glasow on a daily basis.
They really are the worst kind of collaborators.
Comfy, well off, ‘jobs for life’ functionaries of a foreign power.
As I often observe; may I live to witness the last helicopter leaving the roof of Plantation Quay.
I am at ‘a loose end’ waiting for the autumn leaves to dry out before clearing up the garden. Be warned.
The “old mattresses” ploy started life as a far-right anti-immigrant campaign in Govanhill (and thus targeted at the FM as well). Curious but entirely unsurprising how that’s been taken up lately by the Cash-and-Carry Labour Millionaire and his union paymasters. Never mind the furry rodents, what foul company these human rats keep.
Brilliant Jack…..keep up the rants…..passion over apathy.
Very interesting analysis of the BBC an it relationship with reality over the years, especially now and its relationship with the GMB. From Prof Robertson.
Also two other relevant posts – the Prof is working hard for All Saints Day – on the Gumbies’ strike.
A Tale of Two or Three City’s Rubbish
GMB and Labour Trash Glasgow
Cue BBC Reporting Scotland out on Glasgow streets speaking to Glaswegians about strike action…..what are the chances they will broadcast those Glaswegians who are ‘supportive’ of the workers and the GMB………
Will anyone be shown to confirm what we know…as in tis political …..and a collusion between GMB and Labour…….
Plus Sarwar in the limelight again…for the wrong reasons….and perhaps a Tory conveniently available for a comment to back up comrade Sarwar and brothers in the GMB, same Tory who disappears and is ‘unavailable’ when HQ screws up ( which is a regular occurrence)……remember Tories do NOT believe in strike action indeed tis one of their weapons they use to promote to the public against voting for the Labour party as a UK government in GE’s……so they should be against the strike action………now this is something the media should be asking a Tory….do you support the strike action ?……………as seems an obvious question given their historical opposition to it as a means to achieve some benefit to workers ( which in this instance is NOT the case by the GMB/Labour party political alliance as (in)opportune moment when the world looks on).
The media in Scotland another weapon controlled by the Unionists…..to ensure the news where YOU are is not the ACTUAL news where YOU are but instead NEWS dictated from a Unionists perspective….control the media etc etc
Rob Roberts..Tory MP who sexually harassed staff members gets his Tory membership back….
Now THERE’S a question DRoss could get put him by Scottish media…..especially since this type of behaviour is being scrutinised in public …….what with Met policemen being identified as culprits of one killing and raping a woman and one who is charged with raping a woman and also the current spiking with needles of females in clubs/bars……….but hey it’s okay for a TORY MP to sexually harass staff members ….just banter and thus another Tory escapes punishment and the welcome mat is once again thrown down…..do as we say not as we do…..Tory UK never OK…..well OK for Tories and their wee helpers Labour & Lib Dems to do as THEY like in THEIR UK………..us on here and thousands like us not so much…………God forbid anyone in the SNP steps out of line….ARMAGEDDON ………eternal fallout …..hold the front pages (the Unionist ones…there are many)………….
How much would we bet that no one in Scottish media will touch this hot potato…….
Also remember unnamed (protected) Tory MP accused of raping a woman ….the Met police dropped investigation….’dropped’…….I bet they did…..
Oh, we may know who he is, NMRN.
Unsurprisingly he may be a fat bloated leading light in Jacob Rees Mogg’s ERG, who pushed for Brexit; I believe that he also got on his pins in Parliament to contribute to the ‘tributes’ to the murdered MP not two weeks’ ago.
I believe that it was 4 counts of attempted rape. Allegations dismissed by Cressida Dick’s Met who concluded that there was insufficient evidence to proceed.
Or should that be Baroness Dick of Distemper?
This is pure rumour and conjecture, so I may have been misled by reports which I picked up in the English Dead Tree Scrolls of course.
I do not accuse, name, nor ‘jig-saw’ anyone.
The Dead Tree Scrolls, and the editorial sludge piles of the broadcasters will be full of ‘dead bodies’, hidden from public scrutiny.
Yep I know who he is too Jack……as does EVERYBODY else…….
Like a certain member of Royal family though….he is protected………the ERG the ‘royalty’ of the Tory party…..Owen Paterson is another example playing the victim and expecting immunity……
Just read online that Rule Britannia is now being called by some ‘Stool Britannia’….though Britannia not right is it…since not ALL of their fantasy country aka Britain have privatised water companies dumping raw sewage into rivers/seas…..some within THEIR fantasy country aka Britain have nationalised water and act in a responsible manner towards environment and citizens who live within it’s country……
Yes public scrutiny does not apply to Unionist politicians…..and those who vote for and support them are more than happy about that….. thus by Unionist voters endorsing this behaviour (turning a blind eye) they ensure it continues and gets even worse…..to their and OUR detriment…….it’s like living in the Twilight zone……….
Will Welsh Greens follow Emily (and the Scottish Greens)?
https://nation.cymru/news/green-partys-only-county-councillor-in-wales-defects-to-plaid-cymru/
Green Party’s only county councillor in Wales defects to Plaid Cymru
01 Nov 2021 3 minutes Read
Note: The Wales Green Party is a semi-autonomous political party within the Green Party of England and Wales [sic.] and is also known as, Plaid Werdd Cymru