In the Herald today:

‘SCOTTISH Labour is braced for a near wipe out in its heartlands at next year’s local elections with the party trailing the Tories in many of its core constituencies. Figures leaked to the Herald from Labour’s own internal polling shows the party has failed to recover from its dismal election performance at Westminster where it returned just one MP nor at this year’s Holyrood ballot where it slid into third place. Around one quarter of its support has transferred to the Scottish Conservatives since 2015.’

To win in 2020, UK Labour needs to win back their Scottish seats and achieve an overall majority in the UK or form a progressive alliance against the Tories, Ulster Unionists and UKIP with the SNP, Plaid Cymru and the Greens. The chances of the former are remote indeed as the SNP seem likely to add dominance of local politics, in 2017, to their current hegemony at Holyrood, in Westminster and in Brussels.

On Thursday 5^th May, Sky News reported Jeremy Corbyn as saying:

‘We Won’t Abandon Scottish Labour. There is a lot of building to do in Scotland. We’re going to walk hand in hand with the party in Scotland to build that support again and re-establish Labour traditions.’

Only two months later, on 11^th August, we read in the Herald:

‘A furious row has erupted within Labour after the party’s new shadow Scottish Secretary refused to rule out a possible coalition with the SNP.’

Then on the 8^th October, there was:

‘When asked whether he viewed voters who support independence, because of their distrust and anger at the Westminster establishment, as part of a broad progressive movement, Corbyn said “absolutely”.’

Now, I know that none of this proves what my headline suggests but pragmatically for UK Labour it makes tremendous sense and it’s not just my idea. Back in March, 2016, the National newspaper had been sniffing the air and detected the whiff of betrayal:

‘Is Corbyn happy to watch the Scottish Labour Party sink?’

In an unattributed ‘comment’, signs were detected in the entrails suggesting evidence for the idea that UK Labour was shifting in the way suggested in my headline. In particular, Corbyn’s failure to address the Scottish Labour Conference before the election sent a strong signal that UK Labour was not going to take any casualties itself to try to save the Scottish leader, Kezia Dugdale, or to share responsibility for the predicted massacre. Milliband, Brown and Blair had all attended previous pre-election conferences in Scotland.  The National wondered:

‘Corbyn will instead be going door-to-door asking people to vote for the UK to remain in the EU. The question is: who is avoiding whom? Has Dugdale told Corbyn to stay away? Or is Corbyn staying away in a bid to distance himself from Scottish Labour’s sinking?’

Further weakening the bonds between Corbyn’s UK Labour and Dugdale’s Scottish Labour, there is a powerful, combined, personal and ideological, schism between the two. Dugdale, it is suggested, represents a more ‘centrist’ or ‘rightist’ Labour Party but it has been her personal reaction to Corbyn’s leadership that makes it hard to see why the latter would want to help her survive in any way. Even after a second convincing leadership win for Corbyn, she seemed out of touch with the majority:

‘Kezia Dugdale plunged her party into a fresh crisis yesterday, claiming Jeremy Corbyn cannot unite Labour or win a general election just minutes after he was re-elected as UK leader. His mandate enhanced by a convincing 62-38 win over Owen Smith, Corbyn told Labour members in Liverpool: “I have no doubt that this party can win the next general election.” But almost immediately Dugdale contradicted him in an interview with BBC News.’

Kezia is not alone. The Scottish Labour Party has had no equivalent to the Corbyn revolution  in England and remains wedded to New Labour thinking.  It’s not that long since its members thought that electing Jim Murphy as leader made sense. On October 9^th, we read in the left-leaning Tribune:

‘The uncomfortable fact for the Scottish Labour right wing is that these good people, some 120,000 of them in the SNP, many Greens, at least a third of their own members. and many more in non-party ‘Yes’ groups, have far more in common with Corbyn’s English hundreds of thousands than with them.

OK, I rest my case. If I’m wrong, I’m wrong. We’ll see over the next two to three years.

What then of my second suggestion that Scottish Labour’s PR department, otherwise known as BBC Scotland, is drifting toward the exit doors? If Scottish Labour is fatally weakened then who will defend the Union?  More important for BBC Scotland and especially for its senior staff who got their jobs and their promotions via New Labour affiliations or allegiance, how can they best continue their work. Unlike UK Labour they cannot possible form a strategic alliance with the SNP so who can they now favour? In the wider UK, BBC elites fear the Tories especially its right-wing which would gleefully do them down. Nevertheless, needs must, they are beginning to show signs of this kind of cold pragmatism. In England, they will continue a sullen hostility toward the Tories but in Scotland they will move toward a subtle favouritism for them. It’s the kind of Realpolitik you see in Syria where the US supports an al-Qaeda affiliate because that group opposes the Syrian regime and its Russian backers. I’m stretching this point a bit I know.

Where’s the evidence? Well these are early days but there are signs. In my own research, I’ve recently demonstrated:

‘There, you have just three very recent bad news story headlines about the Scottish Tories, Scotland’s official opposition, neglected by BBC Scotland.  Even if we accept that BBC Scotland has no business damaging the Scottish Tories’ ‘reputation’ with the endless faux pas and corruption of UK Tories such as Boris Johnson’s flip-flopping over Brexit or playing on his phone as the PM speaks or Amber Rudd’s offshore activities, the Scottish Toryboys have been providing plenty for the ever-Labour-faithful Daily Record to rage at so why are BBC Scotland ignoring these stories? Further and perhaps more important why are BBC Scotland protecting her this way?’

Similarly Indyref2 have argued:

‘Unionists need Davidson to be star.  Her Labour contemporary is an acknowledged failure, UK Labour are in open civil war and Brexit is about to become an open-sore.  So she’ll be portrayed as a star. If the Scottish media can push a line that Ruth Davidson is the most popular leader in Scotland, they can push anything.’

So, there you have it. Making predictions about political outcomes is not always a clever thing to do but I’ve done it now. What’s done is done as Lady MacBeth said, I think.

Sources:

http://news.sky.com/story/corbyns-vow-to-scotland-after-labour-thrashed-10270646

http://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/14674587.Scottish_Labour_react_furiously_to_SNP_coalition_comments_from_new_shadow_Scottish_Secretary/

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14791108.Jeremy_Corbyn_seeks_to_reach_out_to_independence_supporters/

http://www.thenational.scot/comment/the-national-view-is-corbyn-happy-to-watch-the-scottish-labour-party-sink.15258

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14763247.display/

http://www.tribunemagazine.org/2016/10/is-scottish-labour-listing-right/

https://thoughtcontrolscotland.com/2016/09/24/some-things-are-utterly-ruth-less-as-well-as-utterly-useless-but-it-is-not-all-doom-and-gloom-even-in-scotland/

http://indyref2.scot/protecting-ruth

 

 

 

 

Image: http://www.boxingscotland.org/

 The tragic death of Scottish professional boxer Mike Towell has prompted calls for the sport to be banned. In the Herald on 2^nd October 2016, we read:

‘Despite claims from leading industry figures that boxing is safer than ever before, head injury charity Headway said that lessons had not been learned from previous incidents and called for the sport to be outlawed to save young lives…..Dr Otmar Kloiber, the secretary general of the World Medical Association, says there is now a growing understanding of the damage boxing causes to the brain.’

Politicians expressed sadness and sympathy for the relatives but did not join the calls for the sport to be banned. Should they have?

I’m unsure on this one. I have no doubts about so-called sports involving cruelty to animals. These unequal contests are, to my mind, wrong. Boxing though seems to have a kind of dignity about it, with two humans of fairly equal ability, size and weight, competing consensually, within quite strict rules of fair play. I’m not saying it’s a good thing but it’s a far better thing than much human activity which we do allow. Most of all, it’s not an especially dangerous sport by comparison with many others.

Back in 2009, Government Chief Drugs Advisor, Professor David Nutt, drew our attention the dangers in horse-riding in comparison with the hobby of taking MDMA (Ecstasy) pills. He noted that 1 in 350 horse-riding episodes result in harm while only 1 in 10 000 episodes of ecstasy use do.

Horse-riding, however, does not even make the top five most dangerous sports. Injurylawyers4U, who should know about this, surprised me a little by listing these:

1. Cheerleading: Figures released by the Department of Education in 2010 showed that 37% of British schools now offer Cheerleading as part of their physical education curriculum.  Although some may perceive this sport as fluffy, competitive cheerleading is one of the fastest growing sports in the world. It is also highly skilled and very dangerous.  According to research from the United States, 66% of catastrophic sporting injuries (meaning injuries resulting in permanent disabilities or medical issues) amongst females are caused by cheerleading, making it by far the most dangerous sport for women.
2. Rugby: In 2010 the Edinburgh University’s Centre for International Public Health Policy, released findings of a study concerning 193 rugby matches at five schools between January and April 2009.  The matches resulted in 37 injuries, of which 20 were seen at A&E and one resulted in an overnight stay in hospital for a spinal injury.  One of the study’s authors, Professor Allyson Pollock, called for the banning of high tackles and scrums in rugby played at junior level because of the high risk of injury. At premiership level, in the 2008/09 season, 769 match injuries were reported, which is an average of two injuries per club per match.
3. Motorbike Racing: The Isle of Man TT race has claimed 240 lives in its 106 year history. It is without a doubt the most dangerous race on the planet. Motorbike racing is a very injury prone sport, because let’s face it, if you hit the ground at 200mph the chances of you receiving a serious injury is very high and there is very little you can do to prevent it. 
4. Cycling: This may surprise you but cycling is one the most dangerous sports you can participate in.  Each year thousands of cyclists are injured on British roads and in 2012 over one hundred cyclists lost their lives.* 
5. Cave Diving: Officially the most dangerous sport in the world cave diving is considered so risky that many articles have been written examining the psychological effects of this incredibly dangerous activity. One of the reasons this sport is so perilous is that even years of experience can count for nothing if you find yourself in difficulties.  In dark, enclosed spaces a person’s vulnerability to panic, anxiety and disorientation is amplified to an extreme degree and it becomes very easy to make disastrous mistakes. There is no light, limited oxygen and your exit route can be cut off in an instant. 

We haven’t even considered mountaineering, squash, rally car driving and other martial arts. I don’t know where professional boxing stands in a full list of dangerous sports but it looks as if it would be well down that list. Mind you, a short period of amateur boxing as an adolescent may have caused me to develop the thick neck I have. This is perhaps due to the regular dodging of blows (I had no real punch). I now have sleep apnoea which correlates with neck thickness. I don’t recall any protective gear for the head then (c1960) so that might also explain a few other things.

*Readers with an interest in cycling and road safety might like: ‘SNP Cyclepath Strategy under attack from councillors but latter fail to mount credible alternative’ at:

https://thoughtcontrolscotland.com/2016/10/08/snp-cyclepath-strategy-under-attack-from-councillors-but-latter-fail-to-mount-credible-alternative/

Sources:

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14777143.Death_in_the_ring__After_tragic_death_of___39_Iron__39__Mike_Towell__39_s__new_calls_for_boxing_to_be_banned/

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/why-does-someone-dying-from-alcohol-poisoning-get-no-media-coverage-while-an-ecstasy-related-death-a6726541.html

http://www.injurylawyers4u.co.uk/2014/news/uks-most-dangerous-sporting-activities/

PDF: should-the-scottish-government-ban-boxing

 

Image: http://ukmambo.blogspot.co.uk/

Segregated cycleways in Edinburgh, Bearsden and in Ayr are threatened with being ripped up and the roads returned to their original state. The funding for these and other routes comes from a Scottish Government scheme. Here’s what Transport Minister Keith Brown said at the launch of ‘Free Wheel North’ in the East End of Glasgow:

“With this significant investment of £2.2 million we will create a legacy by helping people in Scotland adopt healthier, more sustainable ways of getting around. Investment in walking and cycling infrastructure, as well as on-road cycling training for both children and adults, will help meet the vision set out our ambitious target that at least 10% of journeys are made by bikes by 2020. Our consultations show that perceptions of safety are a key reason for not cycling more often or even at all.  Through the ‘Smarter Choices, Smarter Places’ programme and our commitment to cycle training for children and adults, we are tackling head on this issue and expanding a network of safe cycling routes.”

You see the reference to safety there and the implication that you have to invest in safe infrastructure before people will cycle? You can’t expect people to cycle in unsafe surroundings before you respond to the need for it. I cycled the route in Ayr for decades before the installation of the segregated cycleway. It was so scary most of the time that I used the footpath, waited until after the pre-9am rush or took to backstreets culminating in a wee spin through the cemetery and a walk across the road with the bike on my shoulder. How dangerous cycling can be is more than my personal experience though. Injurylawyers4u lists the five most dangerous activities and include cycling in the top five:

‘This may surprise you but cycling is one the most dangerous sports you can participate in.  Each year thousands of cyclists are injured on British roads and in 2012 over one hundred cyclists lost their lives.’

The other four are rugby, cave diving, motorcycling and…..guess? It’s not boxing or any of the martial arts, it’s cheerleading!  So, why are local councillors opposing these schemes? At first, I have to admit I thought it must be Labour councillors trying to ‘derail’ SNP targets, as the first headline I read suggested:

‘As another segregated cycleway hits the skids: are some councils derailing the Scottish Government’s cycle targets?’ (Herald, 6^th October 2016)

Imagine my surprise when I read that ‘SNP, LibDem and independent councillors clubbed together to oppose the Labour-Conservative coalition and stop the [Bearden] cycleway in its tracks in a tight 12-11 vote last week.’ (Herald, 6^th October 2016)

It’s a serious matter too. I read also in the Herald, that back in December 2015, ‘Police probe death threat as mystery Bearsden resident threatens to “execute” council staff over cycle path.’ When I saw that the route was to be named the ‘Bears Way’, I have to admit, shamefully, that I thought the route must be in Govan. What will any such route in Govan now be named….’Walter’s Way?’

And then, also in the Herald on the 6^th October 2016, I read: ‘SNP councillors lead bid to tear up ‘dangerous’ Ayr cycleway.’  I’m an SNP member in Ayr and don’t remember being asked my opinion on this. The suggestion that the segregated cycleway will be dangerous is an interesting argument and for me, a rib-tickler. I speak as one whose ribs have been more than tickled after being forced off the road.

So, what’s going on here? Are SNP councillors undermining a Scottish Government initiative? Is there a greater loyalty than that to your Party operating here? Lesser disloyalty would have you expelled from the Labour Party, tout suite!  Is it a largely older male obsession with cars and an unquestioning assumption that they come first? 76% of local councillors and 83% of Scottish MEPs are men. The average age is 58. ‘Millenials’ (18-34 years-olds) are buying far fewer cars than older men and they are cycling more too. See this:

‘Millennials are now biking more than ever before. Fewer are interested in obtaining their driver’s licenses, and buying a car—once a rite of passage into adulthood alongside home ownership and marriage—is often seen as a burden. As they age and enter the workforce, Millennials are turning to public transportation and biking as commuting options.’

Let me take you back to the rationale for these segregated cycleways – you need to invest first in safety before people will cycle. 50% of Danish urban journeys are by bicycle. Why not here?

Come on, Scottish local councillors, get on your bikes! Get your legs over if you can! What sort of men are you?

PS: Notice my rejection of any easy cyclepath/psychopath allusions here? No puns either about cranks or peddling myths? Classy or what?

Sources:

http://www.transport.gov.scot/news/%C2%A322m-funding-package-boost-scottish-cycling-rates

http://www.injurylawyers4u.co.uk/2014/news/uks-most-dangerous-sporting-activities/

http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/tide-turned-for-womens-representation-scotland/

http://www.apse.org.uk/apse/index.cfm/research/current-research-programme/the-future-of-elected-members-in-scotland/the-future-of-elected-members-in-scotland/

https://www.fastcoexist.com/3027876/millennials-dont-care-about-owning-cars-and-car-makers-cant-figure-out-why

http://thegbrief.com/articles/millennials-and-bike-culture-reshaping-the-urban-landscape-551

 

The corridors of power. Image: encorehospitalityservices.co.uk

 Well, to be accurate, Garscadden/Scotstounhill isn’t exactly in the geographical heart of Glasgow but you know what I mean. It was a 20% swing to the SNP overturning a majority in excess of 60% at the 2102 election. Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn was in the city at the time. It might be an early sign of an historic transfer of power in next year’s local elections. Sounds kind of newsworthy to me but what do I know about news values?

Instead, BBC Scotland’s early news bulletin at 06:25 on 7^th October 2016 went with:

1. Scots nurse tests negative for Ebola
2. New office park for Glasgow
3. Study into concussion effects on our reporters…no…sorry…on rugby players
4. Homelessness
5. Nicola goes to Iceland (the island)

 You can see how they just didn’t have time for a massive and possibly portentous political shock in there. The Daily Record and the Scotsman missed the story too. The Herald pointed out helpfully that the SNP had only won by around 100 votes…so it wasn’t that dramatic after all….was it?

As for the Tory surge, there was no sign of it here. I’m starting to wonder if it’s real. Do you think it might not be real and is just one of those media constructs I used to teach about?

Running Total:

Running total 21 to 7/10/16*                           Number of reports

Bad news for SG/SNP                                                            16

Good news for SG/SNP                                                         7

Bad news for Labour                                                              1

Good news for Labour                                                           5

Bad news for CP                                                                      0

Good news for CP                                                                   3

* Monday to Friday only

No additions today

PDF for printing:

snp-overturn-massive-labour-majority-in-heart-of-glasgow

Image: aberlour.org.uk

That wasn’t the BBC Scotland broadcast headline this morning, of course. Well, they don’t want to frighten the electorate do they? What, they usually do? When it’s possible to blame something on Scottish Nationalism, they do? Well, of course, but that’s only reasonable unless you’re one of those awful ‘divisive Scotch nationalists.’ English, sorry British, Nationalism, is healthy and normal, not like that divisive Scotch version. You’ve only got to look at our ‘wee’ Northern friend, Ruth ‘Bullstraddler’ Davidson, to see a normal, loyal, grateful, ’wee’ Scotch person.

Here’s the 06:26 TV broadcast headline:

‘Scotland’s economy will be cushioned from the likely negative impact of Brexit compared to the rest of the UK.’

So, there’s no need to get uppity about your son’s or your daughter’s job prospects falling of the UK’s broad shoulders. Interestingly, the BBC News website went with:

‘Fraser of Allander report: Brexit could cost 80,000 jobs. Scotland could lose between 30,000 and 80,000 jobs as a result of Brexit, according to an economic analysis. But the Fraser of Allander Institute said the Scottish economy would be “cushioned” from the likely impact compared with the rest of the UK.’

 See what BBC TV News did there? Catch the inattentive and the short-attentioned with more good news about Britain and those broad shoulders even though it’s clearly bad, very bad, news indeed!

 This happens a lot. The broadcast reports present the worst possible interpretation for the SNP and the Yes campaign while the website does not. Indyref2 revealed a classic example yesterday (see below) where Gary Robertson utterly distorted reality. These distortions are now, I’ve decided, to pre-14^th Century, Celtic form, Donnachaidh.

Have BBC Scotland’s still Blairite (Ye Blairites by name lend an ear, lend an ear?) top brass given up on the predominantly Yes-supporting internet surfers and are concentrating their fire on the more easily frightened older voters still loyal to the broadcast version?

I’ve insisted before that, mostly, when BBC Scotland presenters appear to be biased against Scotland, it’s probably habitual, unconscious or at worst semi-conscious. The above case smells of deliberate bias to me. Many of us have strong suspicions that their Unionism is consciously driving the work of some reporting. Indyref2 ‘called out’ Gary Robertson, yesterday (5^th October 2016) for what seems a clear piece of deliberate distortion on Good Morning Scotland:

‘Shona Robison doesn’t want to see training for more British doctors.  Yep you read correctly.  Scotland’s Health Secretary objects to a plan by the Tory government to make England self-sufficient in terms of doctors. How do I know this?  I know it because Radio Scotland presenter Gary Robertson said so ……The claim though is false.  Shona Robison has no objections to more training for British doctors.  In fact you’ll be hard pressed to find anyone in the entire UK who objects to more training of this nature. What Shona Robison was objecting to was a threat by the UK government to deport foreign doctors already practicing in the UK.’

Indyref2 seemed a wee bit uncomfortable with ‘outing’ Robertson in this way. I’d like to see more of it. Scotland’s future is too important for active Unionist propagandists, on salaries paid for in large part by Yes-supporters, to continue to flout their own rules of impartiality and balance with impunity. I’m reminded of the way ‘top’ journalists rallied to the defence of BBC Scotland when protests at Pacific Quay were deemed by them to be a form of bullying:

‘Scottish secretary Alistair Carmichael has called pro-independence campaigners a “bullying mob” following a protest outside the BBC in Glasgow.’ (STV, 15^th September 2014)

As we now know, Alistair was to go on to be mercilessly ‘bullied’ by Orkney voters who seemed to think he had lied about Nicola sturgeon.

Most of us, by now, feel sure we can identify the consciously deliberately biased individuals at BBC Scotland. Across social media, the very mention of some names triggers rage – Robertson, Bird, Bradford, Campbell, Naughtie, Wark, Smith………..quite a few actually. What about the others, are they just dupes, programmed, airheads? In some ways, that’s a worse insult isn’t it? In 2014, Guardian cartoonist, Steve Bell, called me ‘a nationalist dupe who could stick my research up my erse!’ Not taking time to think about I just replied ‘bell-end’. Mature, not me clearly? But seriously, I was a dupe, taken in? As a full prof (foolproof?), I found that more insulting.

The early morning report also had a fairly balanced piece on underground coal gasification and another one of those regulars on the bitter struggle between the Scottish Government (SG) and the (still) Labour local councils. I’ve coded the latter as bad news for the SG. No, I’m not coding the 80 000 job losses as good news!

Running Total:

Running total 21 to 6/10/16*                          Number of reports

Bad news for SG/SNP                                                            16

Good news for SG/SNP                                                          7

Bad news for Labour                                                              1

Good news for Labour                                                           5

Bad news for CP                                                                      0

Good news for CP                                                                   3

* Monday to Friday only

 

Sources:

http://indyref2.scot/some-bbc-scotland-presenters-deserve-to-be-called-out

http://stv.tv/news/politics/news/292211-scottish-secretary-alistair-carmichael-bbc-protesters-a-bullying-mob/

 

 

 

pdf for printing: when-we-can-all-see-it

 

 

Images: http://www.comingsoon.net/ http://motherboard.vice.com/ bbc.co.uk

Between watching Westworld last night and BBC Scotland’s early morning report, there were only my dreams to protect me from these two spookily similar nightmares. In Westworld we met utterly perfect, beautiful robots who, like the ‘replicants’ in Blade Runner, would come to want much more than their creators planned for them. In the end, disappointed and trapped in their endless horror, they would plan their revenge upon us. On BBC Scotland we saw one of their perfect beauties tell us, apparent happily, of our awful fate:

‘Production will begin formally today on the next generation of UK submarines which will carry Trident missiles. The Defence Secretary, Sir Michael Fallon, will attend a steel-cutting event in Barrow-in-Furness. The vessels will be the most advanced ever ordered for the Royal Navy and will house the UK’s nuclear weapons system from the early 2030s. The MOD say several hundreds of suppliers are expected to be involved in the new programme at its peak securing jobs from Scotland to the South of England.’

There wasn’t a hint of any discord in these words or, for that matter, in the presenter’s voice and facial expression. ‘Securing’, that’s a nice word isn’t it? ‘Securing’ total annihilation for our leaders’ enemies.  I feel better already. Only 40% of Scots want to retain the missile system in Scotland yet the report is 100% uncritical of the development.  It’s quite a naked piece of propaganda. Before that, we heard:

‘The leader of the Scottish Conservatives will today insist that Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP do not speak for Scotland. Ruth Davidson will tell the Conservative Conference in Birmingham that the majority of Scots do not want another divisive independence referendum. She’ll also say Scotland is bigger, more varied and more complex than the SNP would like to pretend it is. The Scottish Conservatives are currently the second-largest party at Holyrood, behind the SNP.’

Again, there was no balancing or contradictory comment. The report reads like a PR announcement rather than news. The irony of the Tories praising Scotland’s rich diversity, as they drag it out of Europe, is rich. The last sentence is utterly misleading and pathetic given their tiny membership and miserable 14.9% of the vote in Scotland in the last general election. The ‘Scottish Tory Surge’ is a media construct.

We also had the RMT strike called off and very good news about wind energy output.

Running Total:

Running total 21 to 5/10/16*                                    Number of reports

Bad news for SG/SNP                                                            15

Good news for SG/SNP                                                         7

Bad news for Labour                                                              1

Good news for Labour                                                           5

Bad news for CP                                                                      0

Good news for CP                                                                   3

* Monday to Friday only

The trends continue. My mind screams.

Sources:

http://www.lyricsfreak.com/h/hedgehoppers+anonymous/its+good+news+week_20543512.html

http://whatscotlandthinks.org/questions/if-scotland-became-independent-should-it-continue-to-host-trident-or-not

Typical thieving Scot cases the joint? (Image: telegraph.co.uk)

In April, Ruth Davidson welcomed the Scottish Government’s decision not to raise basic rate income tax, as ‘realistic, responsible’. Today, their decision not to copy the UK government’s plans to increase the threshold for the 40% rate and for a supplementary tax on large businesses were presented as a ‘Scotland Surcharge’. BBC Scotland at 06:26 on 4^th October 2016, reported:

‘Scottish taxpayers and businesses face a Scotland Surcharge of up to one billion pounds over the next four years, the Scottish Conservatives will claim today.’

We did get a single sentence Scottish Government clarification but, as often before, the report lacked balance, 3:1 ratio of sentences for the Tories over the SG, rigour and explanation – what’s the basis for the £1 billion, which taxpayers and businesses? Well it’s the top 10% of taxpayers (BBC) and 1 in 8 of businesses (Courier). And the £1 billion? Eh, what, em….. Fair or not, the BBC report badly needed this kind of information in the light of a headline lacking it. Perhaps it should have been:

‘The top 10% of Scottish taxpayers and the top 12% of businesses face a Scotland Surcharge of up to one billion pounds over the next four years, the Scottish Conservatives will claim today.’

There’s a fair bit of irony in Ruth defending honest taxpayers given her recent toadying to the PM by playing up a negative Scottish stereotype, in plush art gallery surroundings (archive.is):

‘I’m delighted we have such spectacular surroundings. Usually they put the Scots in a place where nothing can be broken or stolen for that matter!’

Boak?

The full early morning report, repeated every 30 minutes, was:

1. A radical extension of the way electronic tags can be used on offenders is being planned by the Scottish Government
2. The tax story
3. MSPs are to debate the SG budget timetable after the Finance Committee raised concerns about the delayed draft of spending plans
4. Trees
5. Nobel prize

So that was two bad news stories (2, 3) and one good news story (1) for the SG. Story 2 is, of course, good news for the Tories.

Running Total:

Running total 21 to 4/10/16*                                Number of reports

Bad news for SG/SNP                                                            13

Good news for SG/SNP                                                         5

Bad news for Labour                                                              1

Good news for Labour                                                           5

Bad news for CP                                                                      0

Good news for CP                                                                   2

* Monday to Friday only

The trends continue.

Sources:

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14412071.SNP_tax_plan_is__quot_realistic_and_responsible_quot____says_Scots_Tory_leader_Ruth_Davidson/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-35864248

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/business/business-news/278967/scottish-business-leaders-want-large-business-rates-supplement-reversed/

http://archive.is/CJfQI#selection-3361.0-3369.95

PDF for printing: who-are-you-calling-a-thief

Image: dailymail.co.uk

 

‘It is the UK that is negotiating to leave the European Union. It is the UK that voted to leave the European Union and it is the UK Government that has the task of conducting the negotiations!’

BBC Scotland’s report this morning, Monday 3^rd October 2016 at 06:26 and repeated every 30 minutes, gave us seven sentences, four stating the PM’s view but only one opposing her. Mike Russell, ‘SNP’ not ‘Scottish Government’ Minister for Brexit, we heard, said that it was ‘crucial that the Scottish Government is fully involved.’ Why SNP and not Scottish Government? We didn’t get to see or hear Mike directly. It’s understandable. They didn’t want him weakening the full blast of Theresa’s triple whammy – two IS and one HAS. We got Theresa’s full imperial sound-bite, delivered in £1 395 worth of dress, designed by Victoria Beckham’s favourite designer.  It was such an imbalanced piece that I’m tempted to give it a 3 in my table below. I won’t.

The full list of despair for this morning’s anxious viewer was:

1. An oil rig leak
2. Theresa May’s speech
3. A rail strike
4. Council chief executives’ additional payments
5. An opinion poll reveals Scotland’s dreadful work life balances

It’s all a bit gloomy and so, as I’ve explained in earlier reports, bad for the government of the day. I’m going to add 2 and 5 as bad news for the SG and 2 as good news for the Tories. It is of course a first entry into the charts for the Scottish Tories despite umpteen faux pas somehow missed by BBC Scotland. Again, see earlier reports for this.

Running Total:

Running total 21 to 3/10/16*                                           Number of reports

Bad news for SG/SNP                                                            11

Good news for SG/SNP                                                         4

Bad news for Labour                                                              1

Good news for Labour                                                           5

Bad news for CP                                                                      0

Good news for CP                                                                   1

* Monday to Friday only

The trend continues and deepens? And, we don’t even have a date for IndyRef2!

Earlier reports mentioned above:

https://thoughtcontrolscotland.com/2016/09/22/the-power-of-nightmares-waking-up-to-early-morning-bad-news-on-bbc-scotland-and-fearing-the-unknown/

https://thoughtcontrolscotland.com/2016/09/29/bbc-scotlands-still-ruth-less-approach-to-the-news-what-do-they-need-to-do-to-get-bad-press/

https://thoughtcontrolscotland.com/2016/09/24/some-things-are-utterly-ruth-less-as-well-as-utterly-useless-but-it-is-not-all-doom-and-gloom-even-in-scotland/

PDF for printing:

it-is-the-uk-government-that-will-decide-and-it-is-bbc-scotland-that-will-just-tell-you-that-they-will-decide

 

pdf for printing: who-do-english-football-commentators-think-they-are

Images: http://tvnewsroom.site/, uk.sports.yahoo.com, manutd.com, ianinthefuture.wordpress.com

‘It was a terrible clearance by the Japanese defender, lazy and casual’ (Sam Mataface, ITV, on Southampton vs Hapoel Beer-Sheba, 29/9/16)

‘What is ….trying there?’ (Guy Mowbray, BBC on West Ham vs Southampton, 25/9/16)

‘Hits Porto where it hurts…punishes Porto’ (David Stowell, ITV, on Leicester City vs Porto, 28/9/16)

 ‘Dispossessed by ..punish the error’ Clive Tyldesely, ITV on Celtic vs Manchester City, 28/9/16

I’ve had a feeling for some time that, despite no actual ability to play the game themselves, English football commentators can be cruel, judgemental know-it-all’s and that their Scottish equivalents are not. Sam Mataface’s comment above was the trigger for me to have a more scientific look at the performance of him and three other English commentators with a view to  comparing them to a group of Scottish commentators. First, here’s a little context.

You know this theory that we Scots are altogether more likeable people than our English neighbours, especially the Southern ones? I know, it’s just stupid. There are nice folk in East Anglia and nasty folk in East Renfrewshire. Indeed, wasn’t Jim Murphy the MP for East Renfrewshire?

But, there is actually some hard evidence that, on the whole, ‘we’ are often nicer folk. Look at the recent spike in hate crime in England post Brexit and the lack of such in Scotland. See this in the Scotsman but from the London-based Mirror newspaper:

‘A Freedom of Information (FOI) request submitted by the Mirror revealed that, although tensions had boiled over in a number of places south of the Border – particularly in areas that had voted to leave the EU – Scotland was the only police force area in the UK where the number of recorded hate crimes fell.’

What about the vote for the Nasty Party (Tories), with their fondness for offshore accounts, hunting and shooting and hurting the poor and the disabled?  In 2015, the Scottish Conservatives got 14.9% of the vote in Scotland. Across the UK, the Conservatives got 36.7% of the vote. If you are English, you are nearly three times as likely to be a Tory, than you would be if you were a Scot. Sorry, excuse me. I can’t type for that lump in my throat.

Then there are our national football supporters, the wonderful Tartan Army. I don’t really need to point out just how awful their English equivalents can be.

I’m sure there is more evidence but, as a Scot I don’t want to hurt their feelings any more than is necessary.

While we are, just were, on the topic of football, is it possible that our TV commentators are nicer too?

I watched Match of the Day 2 (25/9/16), Sportscene (25/9/16) and UEFA Champions League Highlights (29/9/16) and made a note of comments of a particular kind:

1. Knowing better than a highly skilled athlete just what to do
2. Knowing what players are actually thinking
3. Using cruel, personally insulting language
4. Seeing incompetence or weakness in errors which might have been almost unavoidable for any human being
5. Blaming individuals rather than the team

Here are Sam Mataface’s comments of the above kind from three short highlights pieces:

‘How on earth did he not…that’s a poor clearance…a terrible clearance…..almost made to pay…got away with another…missed a golden chance…has spurned it….he’d have been better served if he’d…wasn’t convincing….there were other options….a real pasting…was napping….took it too heavily…went too wide….more by luck than judgement…wasn’t convincing…his first ball is inaccurate…it was a terrible clearance by the Japanese defender, lazy and casual’

How on earth does a, by comparison, slow, unfit, unskilled ordinary human being feel able t judge today’s super-fit, highly trained elite footballing athletes, in this way? I’d like to see him try to get past any premier league defender or try to tackle any premier league forward today.

Here are some from Guy Mowbray

‘What is (named player) trying there?…look a sorry bunch now…they just crumbled…exploited weakness…should have pulled it across…he just totally switched off…they were all over the place…they couldn’t cope.

How on earth….

And from David Stowell:

‘rather fortunate…let off…hits Porto where it hurts….punished Porto….had to shovel it away…an easy safe’

How on earth…

Finally from Clive Tyldesley:

‘Punish the error…dispossessed by…scuffed his finish…allowed to turn…has presented it to’

I’m sure you get the idea. These guys talk as if they are somehow godlike, above these awesome specimens. They are of course on higher level, up in media boxes, with the benefit of an aerial view utterly denied to the mere mortals on the pitch. Of course they see the other options from up there. Even I would! Why, though, are they so superior, so brutal with such talk of punishing, hurting, exploiting and being made to pay? Why are they so ready to talk smugly of crumbling, not coping, being all over the place, switching off and not coping when they cannot possibly, for all their elevated situations, see into the minds of these superb athletes pushed to their limits, hyper-alert and fighting for survival in a cauldron of emotion?

Let’s look now at BBC Scotland’s ‘Sportscene’ highlights of the games on 25^th September 2016, with six different Scottish commentators. From six highlight pieces, here are the phrases you might see as similarly cruel, judgemental and all-knowing:

‘He’s loose with the back pass…he’s not really picked up there….an alarming amount of space….he will feel he should have hit the target with that’

There you go, there’s nothing much really. There were comments alluding to collective errors but mostly it was just that the other team played particularly well that resulted in success.

I know, I’m on thin ice here but haven’t I produced evidence of at least some observable differences. What do you think?

pdf for printing: wishing-i-was-english

Image: mirror.co.uk

I’ve just realised something. Since I gave up on my addiction to big hits (views?) to be free of editorial oppression, I’ve stuck to writing only for the campaign – independence, independence, independence – but I don’t have to. I’m an SNP member and fully loyal in the face of their opponents in Scotland. Though I’m really uncomfortable with the acceptance of NATO, with the monarchy and with aspects of our economic policy, I know only the SNP can do it for us. One of my last big pieces, ‘Are the SNP’s ‘Critical Friends’ really helping or just posturing?’  on the Indyref2 website , was a devastating (my own assessment) attack  on those  of the left who don’t seem to agree.

I should say, I’m pretty much with Indyref2 and did try to jump ship to them after deciding Newsnet.scot (NN) were less than fully committed to bashing the BBC and were trying to restrict my output. Rather wittily, I have to admit, NN told me last year, after a previous disagreement, that they had been to CIA HQ in Langley to be told how to suppress me. You think I’m paranoid and complicated? I think I’m paranoid, manipulated. It might all be garbage, I suppose. Indyref2 wouldn’t have me other than as a guest and suggested that NN was where readers expected ‘the Prof’ to be. I know it was well-meant but it was also a bit patronising and controlling, like a mum can be. ‘The Prof’ has left the building.

Anyhow, back to the point, I really like JC, Jeremy Corby that is. Though utterly opposed even disgusted by the Labour Party’s Scottish branch and leadership (other than Alex Rowley?), I can’t help being really interested in what’s happening to Labour in England and liking JC and Momentum. Things are kind of settled in Scotland. We’re just waiting for Labour here to completely fade away and, if we have any sense, turning all our fire now on the loathsome Scottish Tories and their media protectors.

I’m currently following the battle for England with massive interest and might write some stuff about it. I know JC has said ‘no way’ on Scottish independence but if your friends all had to be perfect, you’d soon have no friends at all. Of course, ironically, the Labour Party in England would chuck me out if I so much as said I like Nicola’s new suit.

So, I’m ‘out of the press’ on this one. By ‘press’ I mean ‘closet’. The Online Scots Dictionary says ‘Sorry no translation for closet.’ My granny who actually spoke Scots had a big walk-in ‘press’ as she called it so that sounds right. As is my right, I now demand a complex identity as SNP loyalist and a follower of Labour in England. I have two hands so let me keep the Saltire and the Red Flag flying high.

Sources:

http://indyref2.scot/are-the-snps-critical-friends-really-helping-or-just-posturing