Every half hour BBC News is running a three minute puff piece which is even more sinister for what it hides than for what it says – and By God! That is sinister enough.
“Now the BBC has learned about an alternative No campaign which calls itself No Borders a group determined to rouse the emotions many feel about being Scottish but also British. Gavin Essler has this exclusive report:”
GAVIN ESLER: “A recording studio on the outskirts of Edinburgh. A group of musicians putting the finishing touches to a song which they hope could save the United Kingdom”
(Pretty girls caterwauling unpleasantly). The song is part of a new campaign called No Borders. Their website goes live today on the anniversary of the Union”
(Long speech by Malcolm Offord of No Borders – not a single question asked).
GAVIN ESLER (orgasmic voice): “Here in the very heart of Glasgow in fact almost anywhere you go anywhere in Scotland you’re never far away from our three hundred years of shared British history…. Putting the passion into the campaign to save the United Kingdom is exactly what No Borders say they are about.”
(Another statement from Malcolm Offord. Still not asked any questions).
GAVIN ESLER ‘The idea is a grassroots campaign to rival that of the pro-independence campaign, based on those who wish to remain in the UK. A retired care nurse from Glasgow Elizabeth Bashir is one of those who has given her testimonial.
(Pro-union view from sweet old lady.)
(14 seconds to spokesman for Yes campaign – presumably this is BBC “balance”.)
(Pretty Girls Caterwauling Again).
GAVIN ESLER “In the music industry they say you should never rewrite a hit, and No Borders say the Union has been a great hit worldwide for three hundred years. But others say it might be time to sing a new song.”
Now this long propaganda piece for the No campaign is disgusting in itself for its internal bias, and for the fact that the very much larger grassroots movement the Radical Independence Campaign has never been given any publicity by the BBC (and the failure to reference the longstanding anarchist No Borders movement). It is not even news – it is two days since “Vote No Borders” was given an even longer bout of free publicity on Newsnight Scotland.
But what makes this propaganda utterly unforgiveable is that Vote No Borders is not a grassroots campaign at all but a government organized campaign which has mysteriously acquired start-up cash of 400,000 pounds with no declared origin.
The registered office of Vote No Borders, a private limited company, is at 24 Chiswell Street, London, EC2Y 4YX . Which is perhaps surprising for a “Scottish grassroots campaign”. The directors are Malcolm Offord and Fiona Gilmore.
Now pay close attention: Fiona Gilmore is chief executive of Acanchi a PR Consultany which specializes in “Country Branding”. Its clients include Israel, Dubai, Bahrain and “England”. Yes, it actually specifies “England” on the company website. Acanchi also works for DFID – in short, it gets UK taxpayers’ money, plus Israeli and Gulf Arab money. Are you familiar with the word fungibility?
Malcolm Offord, it turns out, has donated over 120,000 pounds to the Conservative Party plus made personal donations to Michael Gove. He is the author of the report “Bankrupt Britain” on the Conservative Home website. In his paper Offord suggests that further cuts in UK public spending should continue to be made even after the present debt crisis has been passed and urges government to:
“Reform the bloated benefits system of this country to reduce the burden on the state and, just as importantly, boost the growth rate of the country”
And the wee retired care home nurse Elizabeth Bashir? Well, she’s not quite as “grassroots” as shown by the BBC either.
That picture is definitely the “grassroot” Elizabeth Bashir interviewed by the BBC. There is also an Elizabeth Bashir from Glasgow on Facebook who “likes” Vote No Borders [reference here deleted as it has been pointed out, I think fairly, it was to something probably meant as a joke]. This lady has expensive tastes for a grassroot, her other “likes” are Svarovski Crystal, the swanky Aura club in Mayfair and Faz Collection clothes. Strangely although she calls herself Elizabeth Bashir, Glasgow and supports Vote no Borders, everything she “likes” which has a geographical location is in London. It is conceivably a different Elizabeth Bashir from Glasgow, perhaps a daughter, but the coincidence of the Vote No Borders like is very strong.
It took me an hour with google to find all this. That the BBC continues to propagandise this fake “grassroots campaign” without revealing Offord’s Tory Party credentials, his belief in never-ending cuts in public spending and welfare benefits, and Acanchi being a consultant paid by government to boost the UK image is completely beyond anything that can remotely be described as legitimate.
It is the most abhorrent example of a fake story, entirely contrived state propaganda, being put out by a state broadcaster.
UPDATE
From commenters below: The “Vote No Borders” website domain was registered by Gary Waple, who works in the Prudential Regulatory Authority of the Bank of England!!!! Before that he worked at the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates – that British government and Gulf money connection pops up again.
ANOTHER UPDATE
The Guardian also is pushing it. Amazing how neither the BBC nor the Guardian noticed who Mr Offord was, or who his fellow director is, or asked where the money came from. We have a huge responsibility in social media to combat the ultra-powerful combination of the entire mainstream media with the British state, the City of London and their overseas neo-con allies.
I ask every single person who reads this to do what they can do to get this news out – it may open eyes about the BBC, media in general and the hidden hands behind the No campaign. Feel free to copy and paste anywhere you want. But please everybody either blog or tweet about it, put it on your facebook page, email people about it or if you can’t do any of those, just tell three people. The only way we can beat the massed forces of the state and the ultra-rich is by a deliberate and purposeful exercise of people power. That will never happen unless everybody tries. Do something. Now. It does not matter where you are in the world. Knowledge is universal – that is the root of every power the people can hope to have.
FURTHER UPDATE
Brilliant! This post is currently being read by more than one person every two seconds. I hope it’s being read some other places by now too. Don’t stop, we need much more than that to equal the numbers who will view the execrable mainstream propaganda.
Craig, I’m curious to know how many hits you’re getting for this article and where they’re from?
Note the piece appears to have been recut this afternoon. Wee old lady has gone. I find the newsreader in cue the only slack element now. Somebody has had a slap albeit a mild one.
Fiona Gilmore founded Acanchi in 2003, with the purpose of specialising in country brand capital development. Acanchi was created to advise governments on how to devise compelling positioning strategies to enhance a country’s competitive advantage and help build pride amongst local people, celebrating shared values and talents. Fiona’s project experience is worldwide – over the past twenty years she has become a leading expert on country positioning strategy. She has published a number of articles on this subject and has worked with many countries and regions around the world helping to sharpen and focus their offer, including: Hong Kong, Bahrain, Mauritius, Dubai (code of behaviour study), Israel, Dominican Republic, England, Wales, Zambia, Rwanda, Lagos (pilot study), Northern Ireland, Isle of Man, Lebanon and the Blue Mountains Region in Australia.
https://camfed.org/about/team/fiona-gilmore/
Wonder what she said about Israel and how much they paid her?
Gary Waple, described as an Associate at the PRA, BoE on
http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/gary-waple/3/9b4/989
does not feature on the website
http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/pra/Pages/about/prapeople.aspx
and does not come up in a search for his name there.
There is a Rosalind Gilmore there but I am sure she has nothing to do with Fiona!
LOL Mick and Mrs Grimble.
The brief biographies of Malcolm Offord metion that he was ‘born at 33 Bank Street, Greenock’.
Why the specific details?? What purpose does that serve?
(on checking Goole Maps, it is rather a posh hoose!)
Cancel your TV licence – defund the scum.
Big up National Collective, who have also been busy:
http://nationalcollective.com/2014/05/01/campaign-tory-donor-bankrupt-britain/
Another auspicious referendum.
“With the recent news that the Rolling Stones will be playing their first-ever concert in Israel, and at what is a critical time in the global struggle for Palestinian freedom and equal rights, we, the two surviving founders of Pink Floyd, have united in support of Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS), a growing, nonviolent global human rights movement initiated by Palestinian civil society in 2005 to end Israel’s occupation, racial discrimination and denial of basic Palestinian rights”
http://www.salon.com/2014/05/01/pink_floyds_roger_waters_and_nick_mason_why_rolling_stones_shouldnt_play_in_israel/
The brief biographies of Malcolm Offord metion that he was ‘born at 33 Bank Street, Greenock’.
Why the specific details?? What purpose does that serve?
Undoubtedly it was on the beautifully crafted press handout which some dim fuck of a sub c&p’d into the article. It’s to demonstrate that Offord, despite having a Cambridgeshire name, is authentically Sco’ish, hoots mon where’s yer troosers.
http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Offord
From 1958 to 1973, Mrs Grimble was the keeper of the ‘Government War Book’.
Chee Bai Charlie
About 16,000 so far, bit over half from Scotland
Excellent sleuthing. I have already phoned a complaint to the BBC citing your excellent detailed work and that of Wings. This should now be taken up with phoned complaints by everyone who reads this article. We could make the story into the story of this bogus group’s background and thus the BBC’s compliance with putting out false ‘No’ propaganda. Please everyone take this up.
Well said fandafan, it was up long enough for three people to recommend it and you have a copy of the site, your right as the publisher, in my humble view, have you shared this on facebook yet?
I would have recommended it as well, so don’t despair.
Offord is also a donor to Michael Gove. Say no more. Please.
http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Malcolm_Offord
Dear Domestic Extremist, Interesting point about TV licence fees. I always wondered why I had to pay a licence to have the piss taken out of me. Now that sounds rather flippant but I really mean it.
Brilliant Craig!
Now how about somebody in the MSM following your lead and headlining this information and the distortion promoted by the BBBC?
Ach! A foolish notion , there are no journalists in the MSM with integrity in Scotland or the rest of the UK .
Sad really that they are so short sighted that they don’t realise their jobs are in jeopardy no matter which way we vote in the referendum, for there are many who will never forgive their duplicity.
OK; Who is Mr and Mrs. Grimble?
Wonder if her African ventures bring her into contact with BLiar at all?
‘The Chairman of the world leading country positioning specialist, Acanchi, Ms. Fiona Gilmore, visited Sierra Leone recently to offer advice on the re-branding of Sierra Leone. Planning her trip to coincide with SLIEPA’s ‘Sierra Leone Investment Partnership Forum,’ she held discussions with various stakeholders including Government, parastatals, members of the private sector and international agencies.
Ms. Gilmore, author of ‘Brand Warriors – China,’ an analysis of China’s leading brands, has previously helped countries such as Rwanda, Mauritius, Hong Kong and Lebanon to develop their brand identities, and believes that the time is right for Sierra Leone to change its image in the world saying, ‘Sierra Leone must shake off the negative images associated with its past. There are new promising stories emerging that must be highlighted.’
Commenting on her visit Ms. Gilmore observed that the potential within Sierra Leone today is clear as successive Governments have worked hard to create a fertile environment for investors and the business friendly approach is paying dividends as can be seen from the investments already established in the country.
“I was impressed at the Investment Partnership Forum, with the endorsements from world class organisations such as African Minerals, Cape Sierra Hilton Hotel and London Mining. By being here one can appreciate the spirit of the place and I feel a palpable energy and momentum amongst Sierra Leone’s communities. Sierra Leone is poised to become one of Africa’s best investment destinations in the next few years, bringing jobs for Sierra Leoneans. Whilst there are inevitably obstacles to growth, I am excited at what I have seen for myself, from the dedication and welcome of the fishermen on Lumley beach to the expertise of the new generation mining companies,” she noted.’
[..]
http://africayoungvoices.com/2011/12/time-to-re-position-sierra-leone/
16,000 is an impressive number but how many in Scotland watch BBC news daily? I bet you’re counting in the hundreds of thousands.
Come the vote we’ll maybe understand a little more the internet’s ability to combat an onslaught of corporate-state propaganda. Personally I suspect the answer will not be good. Hope I’m wrong.
FWIW I don’t do social media but have put this on indymedia and sent out an email. I am struggling to know where to put it. It’s not really relevant to radical sites.
I have just seen one of those Keep Calm posters on another website.
Coloured red, underneath the emblem of the crown it says:
____________
KEEP CALM
YOUR CRIMES
ARE BEING
EXPOSED.
___________
Copies to Lord Patten and BBC Trustees, please Miss Jones.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/who_we_are/trustees/
BBC have reported on Radical Independence campaign on their website.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-25059029
I’ve never seen them on their TV news, though i suppose its possible i’ve missed it as i don’t watch much BBC due to endless coverage of the royals.
ESLO
2 May, 2014 – 2:11 pm
“Not surprisingly we have had no comment on the Nationalist leader’s admiration of Putin… Doesn’t quite go with the benign non aggressive nationalist line that is being pushed by Craig and others.
From the link you give ESLO:
“In his GQ interview, Campbell sought to establish Salmond’s view of the Russian president…”
Salmon: “Well, I don’t approve of a range of Russian actions, but he is more effective than the press he gets and you can see why he carries support in Russia.”
“Admire him?‚” asked Campbell.
Salmond replied: “Certain aspects. There are aspects of Russian constitutionality and the intermesh with business and politics that are obviously difficult to admire. He’s restored a substantial part of Russian pride and that must be a good thing. Russians are fantastic people, incidentally; they are lovely people.”
Now ESLO, what is wrong with what Salmond said?
Can you explain yourself?
@nevermind – Cheers.I’m not on Facebook btw,but anyone can share the links if they like.
I only discovered this site today,through CiF,so I suppose the Guardian has its uses.
I visit WOS every day,Derek Bateman too,so I’ll be here regularly now too.
The disinformation in the MSM is astounding – I know quite a few people who are seldom or never online,
but hopefully the message from sites like this is gradually filtering through.
Thanks Craig for the work you put in,and for putting that work out there.
It’s much appreciated,and obviously it goes further than even independence.
O/T but some disturbing live scenes from Odessa right now. Some links and pics at https://squonk.tk/blog/2014/04/19/ukraine-russia-the-west-and-what-comes-next/comment-page-1/#comment-6599
Phil
The following link goes to Wings over Scotland’s recent piece on their blog stats for April.
http://wingsoverscotland.com/manhattan-skyline/
They show over 600,000 unique readers, since January and about 4,000,000 pageviews in April.
Remember, unlike Craigs blog, the focus of Wings is uniquely Scottish Referendum.
In contrast the Scotsman sells about 30,000 editions per day.
Live video of fire brigade attempting rescue of pro-Russians trapped inside building set on fire with them inside – http://www.ustream.tv/channel/new-odessa/theater
More links in squonk thread.
This picture was taken in the Glasgow city chambers. The lord provost is Sadie Docherty. The lady in white is my mother in law Anne M Stuart MBE. Chairperson of Cassiltoun Trust.
The lady in red is Elizabeth Bashir of Cardonald Community Council. The gentleman is a Mr John Glasgow who was evacuated with his mum during the 2nd world war to Glasgow. He was put into Castlemilk Childrens home at that time when his mother became ill and died in Glasgow. Ms Bshir, my mother in law and the lord provost helped Mr Glasgow to find his mothers grave in Glasgows sighthill cemetery. Ms Bashir was a nurse in the home before it was demolished in 1969. This was in the Glasgow Times newspaper and that is probably where this “Borders mod stole it from.
Just expect the BBC to have a go at Alex Salmond, thanks to Kevin Toolis’ view of a Yes vote ushering in a Scottish history reminiscent of what the IRA did in Ireland.
It’s been set up by the arrest of Gerry Adams for allegedly leading the murder of British tout Jean McConnville.
Great piece of investigative journalism Craig. Well it could hardly be left to MSM could it?
Done a short blog. Will start sharing tomorrow.
Should we all go to this?
The Future of the BBC
Date: Wednesday 14 May 2014
Time: 6.30-8pm
Venue: Old Theatre, Old Building
Speaker: Lord Patten
Lord Patten will speak about the ‘Future of the BBC’ in a wide-ranging public lecture which will consider the ways the corporation needs to adapt within Britain’s changing broadcasting and political environment. Controversy has been a notable feature of the BBC’s recent past and is likely to remain an ever-present challenge. Chris Patten is one of the country’s most respected public figures who, as chairman of the BBC, finds himself charged with securing its future.
Christopher Patten is a former Conservative MP. He is now chairman of the BBC Trust and chancellor of the University of Oxford.
http://www.lse.ac.uk/publicEvents/events/2014/05/20140514t1830vOT.aspx
As a former taxpayer I should like some assurance that the £400,000 is not coming out of our pockets.