The financial position of ailing marketing firm Acanchi underwent a startling transformation in 2012 just as they started work on creating the fake grassroots movement “Vote No Borders”.
In 2011 Acanchi’s auditors noted “The Company made a loss in the current year of £197,003, and at the balance sheet date its liabilities exceeded its assets by £385,162”. The company had a turnover of £25,631 against cost of sales of £21,283 and “admin expenses” of £201,125.
In 2012 Acanchi started work in Cambridge and London on developing the “VNB” PR campaign against Scottish Independence, which is surprising given that BBC propaganda portrayed VNB as a spontaneous movement of local Scots. We know they started in 2012 because one of Acanchi’s staff, Jessica Quiney, posted it on her CV on Linked-in. The CV page was deleted yesterday but not before Wings Over Scotland grabbed a screenshot.
This work for the No campaign coincided with an amazing turnaround in Acanchi’s financial fortunes. In 2011 they made a loss of £197,003. In 2012 they made a profit of £103,292. The income from sales went from £25,631 in 2011 to £348,835 in 2012.
There is a very interesting explanation given in the Directors’ report to the Acanchi annual accounts for 2012. It is signed by Gary Waple, the man who registered the “Vote No Borders” domain and who now works for the Regulatory Commission of the Bank of England. Mr Waple states in the 2012 Acanchi Directors’ report:
“The nature of Acanchi’s business is that the award of government contracts is subject to external delays beyond the Company’s control. As stated in last year’s financial statement, the Directors’ forecast that there would be a significant improvement in these financial statements. This was achieved as the result of the company being awarded contracts in the current period which had been the subject of long on-going discussions in the past.”
So what was young Jessica Quiney doing at Acanchi at this period? Well, in 2012 she:
“collated and formatted material promoting the pro-Union arguments in opposition to the SNP’s call for Scottish independence including development of narratives, a positioning strategy and a programme of micro-initiatives for this project.”
In 2013 Jessica was:
“Involved in the development and implementation of a proposal and subsequent micro-initiatives for a campaign supporting the No vote in the Scottish Independence Referendum in 2014”.
Vote No Borders had nine adverts in one single edition of the Daily Record newspaper in Scotland this week, each giving the story of a single “grassroots” Scots punter and why they are against independence. These “narratives” were developed by Jessica Quiney, a Cambridge classics student, born in England and educated at Northampton High School. I can see no evidence she has ever been to Scotland. Interestingly the photographer, Claire Borley, who took all the photos of “typical Scots” for the No Borders campaign which are appearing in the newspapers, is also Cambridge based.
Claire Borley’s cv gives a stunning glimpse into just how real and gritty this “Scottish grassroots campaign” is:
Born and raised in Cambridge, my professional life has always been about communication.
After gaining an English degree and jumping in at the deep-end in Bermuda as a PA with limited shorthand but fast typing, I worked in television production in London. Here I built up a wide variety of skills working for the Walt Disney Company, Buena Vista International, Buena Vista Productions, Roger Bolton Productions, Wall to Wall TV and Windfall Films.
After spending a number of years on the production side of a visual industry I felt it was time to develop my own creative abilities. With this in mind I returned to Cambridge and continued to work successfully as a freelance photographer for advertising, editorial and corporate clients as well as private clients, musicians and performers.
My aim is always to capture the personality and essence of the individual moment and make each project unique for the client. This leads to much of my work being used for PR, marketing and multi-media broadcast. I enjoy working below the line (direct mail, flyers etc), above the line (mass media advertising) or through the line (bit of both).
Young Jessica Quiney has done nothing wrong. Despite the fact that Fiona Gilmore, 100% owner of Acanchi, was now by 2012 raking in 100 grand a year in profit, poor Jessica was not even being properly paid – she was an intern, an example of the appalling exploitation of our young generation and the total lack of respect in modern society for the value of labour against capital.
But what cannot be forgiven is the BBC’s extraordinary promotion of VNB as a genuine grassroots organization – in total just under 150 minutes were devoted to showing Gavin Esler’s puff piece on the BBC News Channel, not to mention at least 20 minutes on other BBC news programmes.
It has recently come to light that the UK government has been rocked by private polling costing £56,000 of taxpayers’ money, which shows a major fall in “No” support. It is incredible that the government even thinks it is legitimate to pay with taxes for private polling to be made available to only one side in the referendum campaign. It does make you wonder, what else do they think it is OK to pay for? My strong expectation is that the poll of which news has been leaked is only the latest in a series; polling statistics are the basis of PR strategies such as the one Acanchi has been developing for the No campaign.
I cannot leave the subject of Acanchi without referring to this report that:
According to the Israeli daily Haaretz, in October 2008, it was the turn of British firm Acanchi, hired by the foreign minister “to craft the new image” (“Foreign Ministry, PR firm rebrand Israel as land of achievements,” 6 October 2008). The firm’s founder toured Israel as part of the mission “to create a brand disconnected from the Arab-Israeli conflict that focuses instead on Israel’s scientific and cultural achievements.”
I have deep contempt for Fiona Gilmore. To try to create a “brand image” for Israel that leaves out the Palestinians, is the moral equivalent of creating a “brand image” for the Nazis that leaves out the concentration camps. Anyone who can tour Israel as the guest of the Israeli foreign office to that end, is not somebody I would wish to associate with. She is however the ideal partner for Malcolm Offord, the Vote No Borders financier – and major contributor to the Tory Party and to Michael Gove personally – who argues that Britain needs much more drastic cuts to welfare benefits. There must be something about food banks that gladdens the Tory heart. The prospect of not having any in Scotland evidently terrifies them.
Doug Scorgie
“Habbabkuk (La vita è bella) !
16 May, 2014 – 7:53 pm
“I’m glad I live in the Evil West and not the Wonderful BRICs”
I’m sure the BRIC countries are glad of that as well Habbabkuk”
_______________________
Are you glad you live in the West rather than in one of the BRICs, Doug?
Off topic
Re kidnapped girls in Nigeria:
I read an article in the Guardian online edition about an hour ago that had a quote I think from Nigeria’s Goodluck Jonathan.
I paraphrase: “It’s all-out war against Boko Harem”
I thought this kind of talk would put the kidnapped girls in danger and it sounded like a military operation was being planned instead of negotiating the girl’s release.
I just returned to the article and those words are gone and the whole piece seems to have been re-written.
Can anyone find the original article?
Channel 4 News opened with the line that there will be ‘total war’ on Boko Haram now seen as Alki Ada.
http://www.channel4.com/news/nigeria-boko-haram-total-war-paris-summit-al-qaeda
Peacekeeper 17 May, 2014 – 2:02 pm
Can’t agree with you on this. I support Muslims when they are being persecuted. It is just as important for me to support Christians when they are being persecuted. Even if it was apostasy, which she denies anyway, what is wrong with somebody changing their religion? If somebody converted to Islam would that be a crime punishable by hanging? Anyway two wrongs do not make a right.
I recall reading about Dr Samuel Johnson, who I think was a pompous twat, refusing to have anything to do with a young woman who had heard the Quaker preacher and abolitionist, Mary Knowles, preach. Her name was Jenny Harry, apparently very beautiful and the daughter of a mulatto woman and a very wealthy planter called Hibbert. Mary Knowles was a long-time acquaintance of Johnson going back to their Staffordshire days. Jenny’s father allegedly disinherited her and Johnson condemned her for apostasy and Criticised Mary Knowles for proselytising. Johnson condemned Jenny (Jane) Harry for apostasy but did not condemn her to death, though she did die young. Apostasy and proselytising are words that should be removed from all languages.
So again I urge you to sign.
I should have mentioned, though I guess it’s obvious, that Jenny Harry converted from one Christian sect, Anglican, to another, Quakerism. In this respect 18th century England was more enlightened than 21st century Sudan.
Any execution for whatever reason is an outrage and an offence to mankind. Have signed John.
Her crime. She married a Christian. She is pregnant too.
No imminent execution for Christian in Sudan, despite death sentence
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/05/16/world/africa/sudan-christian-woman-whats-next/
Thoughts on India?
I think it’s pretty obvious that the BBC were not duped by this lot but were complicit in the attempted creation of the myth. Can pay won’t pay.
Craig. Brilliant deconstruction!
These “Turd Polishers” (thanks Mary) don’t see the irony of re-branding the separation wall builders then running a phoney grass-roots “No Borders” campaign.
Some rare footage here of two ordinary every-day Scots haggis farmers, the Mac Anchi-Gilmore sisters at the border.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glUm-cHeekc
Brilliant discussion of the genocide in Rwanda.
Another day. Another neo colonial op.
Same old. Same old.
http://www.corbettreport.com/interview-886-keith-harmon-snow-reveals-the-truth-about-the-rwandan-genocide/
Is this VNB not fraudulent and is there nothing we can do?
Good point Doug
17 May, 2014 – 5:07 pm
Mrs May plainly took advice from Rory Stewart (Torturers ’R’ Us) MP chairman of Westminster’s Defense Select Committee after Craig demolished her racist threat to close the border.
http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2014/03/theresa-mays-threats/
What’s happened to investigative journalism? If one of the TV newsrooms had been duped or colluded with unscrupulous campaigns like this in the past, it would have been big news and the other channels would have pounced on it, even if only to churlishly embarrass their competitors. Now… silence.
Thank goodness for citizen journalists, bloggers and Facebook.
O/T
Isn’t it nice to hear that in a country where we are ‘all in together’ that the rich have got richer including Her Maj? Now how do they do that? Could we be told so that we could follow suit with our pittances.
Rich double their wealth in five years
James Gillespie
Top 1,000 worth record £519bn
18 May 2014
http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/article1412257.ece Paywall naturally!
It was also nice to hear the charming Canadian at the BoE giving comfort to the developers/housebuilders/Tory donors in their quest to concrete over our Green Belt land.
On topic from the same organ
Keep it to yourself, but Scotland’s shy ‘no’ voters will win the day
Dominic Lawson
18 May 2014
David Cameron and George Osborne are, not for the first time, performing their “good cop, bad cop” routine. This is hardly unusual, given their respective day jobs. Prime ministers prefer to cast a roseate glow over the public mood; chancellors are meant to be more severe. In this case, however, the performance is specifically directed at the Scottish people.
Although it seems to have been going on for months, the independence referendum campaign proper is only now about to begin. So last week Good Cop Cameron travelled north of what is actually not a border to declare: “We want Scotland to stay. We are all enriched by being together. Scotland puts the great into Great Britain.”
~~~~
Then the piece fades into something about Bad Cop Osborne and RBS banknotes in the event of a Yes vote. It’s enough to scare the sporran off one’s person.
The rest is behind the same paywall.
http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/comment/columns/dominiclawson/article1411850.ece
“Thank goodness for citizen journalists, bloggers and Facebook.”
Well said Graham Purnell. The root cause was 9/11 and the so-called “war on terror” which was generated by the Bush dynasty to replace the old enemy “The Soviet Union”. Governments create mythological enemies to distract from domestic problems. If something goes wrong at home the news becomes focused overseas on the imaginary enemy. But the “war on terror” is treated like a real war. People are being wrongfully and terminally imprisoned due to two diabolical anti-terrorism acts for which there is no terrorism. And because it is being portrayed as a war wartime measures, the first victim of which is the truth, are in place. Nearly as many media staff were killed in the first year of the Iraq war. Journalists in the Ukraine are being targeted all to stop the truth getting out. In fact where did you see that journalists were being shot at on MSM? Speaks for itself.
Nicola Sturgeon is coming on the Marr programme later. Cleggover too. BBC1.
Ann Treneman and John Simpson, the BBC’s saviour of the Western world, review the papers.
John – I heard on Stourton’s Sunday on BBC Radio 4 earlier that there is a video running in a loop at the newly opened Ground Zero Museum that portrays Muslims in a bad light (linking to Alki Ada) and that it is causing great upset to the Muslim community in America. Disgraceful.
‘As the National September 11 Memorial Museum opened this week Edward talks to Matt Wells about the row over a museum film some say unfairly links Islam and terrorism.’
Homophobia in Church Schools; Pope in the Holy Land; Baha’i Cemetery Bulldozed
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b043wk06 16mins 15secs in
This young MSP was on QT last Thursday.
http://www.humzayousaf.org/
Recommended on Medialens.
‘This young Scottish MSP fella kicked establishment arses on BBC QT on Thursday night
P Ashdown and Esther McVey looked so artificial and full of shite against him, as well as ‘zany’ Torygraph fella and Blairite lady. He was really good, and on his own.
The BBC link here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/b006t1q9 ‘
It is also replayed on the Parliament channel CH 81 tonight at 6pm.
Mary reports
“John – I heard on Stourton’s Sunday on BBC Radio 4 earlier that there is a video running in a loop at the newly opened Ground Zero Museum that portrays Muslims in a bad light (linking to Alki Ada) and that it is causing great upset to the Muslim community in America. Disgraceful.
‘As the National September 11 Memorial Museum opened this week Edward talks to Matt Wells about the row over a museum film some say unfairly links Islam and terrorism.’”
____________________
Can Mary – or anyone else – supply a link to that video, please?
I should like to see it and make up my own mind.
This is because Mary omits to tell us WHO on the radio programme claimed the video
showed Muslims in a bad light, thereby causing offence, and in the quotation given by Mary I see the words “some say”, which could mean a lot or nothing at all.
Thanks in advance!
Habbabkuk (La vita è bella) !
18 May, 2014 – 10:18 am
“Can Mary – or anyone else – supply a link to that video, please?”
“I should like to see it and make up my own mind.”
That’s a bit rich coming from you Habbabkuk. You don’t provide links.
Perhaps you should do your own research, which is what you tell others who ask you for a link.
“Can Mary – or anyone else – supply a link to that video, please?
I should like to see it and make up my own mind.
This is because Mary omits to tell us WHO on the radio programme claimed the video
showed Muslims in a bad light, thereby causing offence, and in the quotation given by Mary I see the words “some say”, which could mean a lot or nothing at all.
Thanks in advance!
———————————————————————-
Can you, gnats pissing socket, please use your computer for the purposes you bought it, rather than making this blog look like its harbouring geriatric nimpomuks without a single grey cell to rub together.
Just because you been brought up with servants does not mean this extends into your adult life, now use your fingers for more than just strummin’ boare.
“Governments create mythological enemies to distract from domestic problems. If something goes wrong at home the news becomes focused overseas on the imaginary enemy.”
Strangely enough this analysis is only ever applied to western governments by Mr Goss. Why?
Doug Scorgie, Nevermind
Where one is expressing one’s own opinion, having made up one’s own mind, it’s not always necessary to provide links.
Mary, on the other hand, was referring to something concrete – not an opinion of her own but to a video which exists (I have no reason to disbelieve her) and therefore it’s perfectly legitimate to ask for a link.
What is your objection to someone wishing to see the video mentioned by Mary for him/herself?
*****************
La vita è bella, life is good!
Nevermind
“Just because you been brought up with servants does not mean this extends into your adult life, now use your fingers..etc..”
________________
If that’s a job application, Nevermind, then I regret to have to inform you that you would not be suitable, as I only employ people of sound mind.
“Claims the anti-independence campaign is deliberately seeking to avoid debating with its rivals have been made after yet another Unionist politician refused to appear at a pre-arranged event.”
“Last month a huge event organised in Glasgow saw Yes campaigners forced to scour the city for participants willing to argue in favour of a No vote after Better Together refused to take part. The failure to debate follows a string of events that have shown a marked move to Yes after members of the public are presented with arguments from both sides.”
http://www.newsnetscotland.com/index.php/scottish-news/9201-no-campaign-accused-of-pulling-speakers-from-debates
For those who wish to understand both sides of the argument rather than having it filtered ideologically!
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/24/nyregion/interfaith-panel-denounces-a-9-11-museum-exhibits-portrayal-of-islam.html?_r=0
Habba: You get double time on a Sunday don’t you ? Your job keeps you busy on this blog 24 hours a day.No wonder you have this mantra Life is good. HM keeps your fridge full for sitting on your butt all day.
Would love to see the job description.
FFS Can’t trolls even read? I know they are incapable of intelligent thought but really!
I gave the link and even the time of the piece.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b043wk06 16mins 15secs in
“Claims the anti-independence campaign is deliberately seeking to avoid debating with its rivals have been made after yet another Unionist politician refused to appear at a pre-arranged event.”
Strangely enough I have just heard Nicola Sturgeon on Andrew Marr refer to debates taking place throughout Scotland.