Evil Cybernat Bully Shona McAlpine has been stalking and harrying a poor innocent unionist. Doubtless this will be in the Daily Mail tomorrow.
I am fascinated by how the BBC are going to play the Commonwealth Games opening. There have been numerous warnings to Alex Salmond not to try to stoke up a wave of patriotism on the back of the Commonwealth Games, just as of course there was absolutely no effort to stir British patriotism around the London Olympics. There was absolutely no waving of union jacks, no jubilant celebration of home victories, no commentators getting all emotional at award ceremonies at the London Olympics, was there?
So I have no doubt the Commonwealth Games will be treated by the BBC, just as the launch of that useless expensive aircraft carrier was, as a unionfest. Any boos aimed at Alex Salmond will be gloatingly reported and tweeted, while the boos for Charles and Camilla will be turned off the soundtrack and ignored. George Osborne has already used the Commonwealth Games as a platform for anti-independence remarks, and Cameron is coming to Glasgow and will do the same, but woe-betide anyone who besmirches the political neutrality of the event with a pro-independence comment.
I have already seen a girl who plays badminton and a cyclist interviewed on the BBC to say they could not train or be financially supported in an independent Scotland. That some of the money that we send down to England actually comes back again seems to some cringing Scots like a reason for eternal grovelling gratitude. Training for elite sport is worldwide now, and doubtless some will still be done in England, also in the rest of Europe and in the States, for Scots sportsmen and women after independence. Interestingly I have seen no attempt by the BBC to interview any pro-independence Scottish competitors.
Rule Britannia …rule Britannia… Britannia rules the waves ….and we shall not be slaves.
That at least might give some “brave heart” courage to Scots to be free!
You know, seeing this post somehow made me think about Scottish independence and royalty – something I hadn’t considered before. Would a free, independent Scotland become (at some point) a republic, do you think? I’m very ill-informed, obviously.
Just on the Commonwealth Games, I thought this piece: http://athousandflowers.net/2014/07/20/game-of-drones-the-four-dodgiest-companies-behind-glasgow-2014/ was quite indicative of potential gains under independence, assuming government contracts could be given a fresh look in that eventuality.
Pessimal
We are cunningly not discussing stuff like a republic and leaving NATO until after we have achieved independence 🙂
This may be the funniest scare yet, Don’t vote YES – DO YOU WANT THE VULTURE TO EAT THIS BABY? VOTE NO AND SAVE THE BABY SAVE THE BABY!!!!
Pearly Kings in the East End of Glasgow?
Now there would be an image…lolz
The Commonwealth Games has been sn establishment political propaganda-fest from the start.
Why the surprise it’ll be used for their ends?
Ms Raworth, the head girl, is excited and ready for the orf. She laughs in the faces of the homeless and those using food banks by telling the viewers that the games are costing £500m. A snip.
Agent Cameron says it’s nothing to do with the vote. It’s a celebration of sport and the commonwealth. Right Dave. The timing of the games in Scotland and the referendum following on in its supposed reflected glory is a pure coincidence.
I am not watching any of the bread and circuses.
Charles and Camilla? Did you mean their alter egos, the Duke and Duchess of Rothesay? They all have double or even triple titles for use in whichever part of the ‘country’ they are gracing with their presence.
Craig – thanks, I’ll keep that under my hat then.
Strange though, I would have thought becoming a re****ic would be an attractive bit of marketing, as a free bonus offer alongside getting out from under the increasingly disreputable westminster thumb. (Of whom, I see, they can’t even seem to get an elementary parliamentary ambush in pursuit of basic oppression and surveillance right, these days: https://www.accessnow.org/blog/2014/07/22/civil-society-groups-alert-european-commission-to-uks-breach-of-eu-law – what are things coming to?)
I’m afraid that the Diego Garcia Swimming team will n ot be represented at this or any Commonwealth game.
I shall enjoy the opening ceremony.
“Strange though, I would have thought becoming a re****ic would be an attractive bit of marketing, as a free bonus offer alongside getting out from under the increasingly disreputable westminster thumb.”
Quite the opposite, the royal family are very popular in Scotland. Scotland intending to become a republic would undoubtedly end any chance of a majority vote for independence at the referendum.
If people knew the SNPs plans they wouldn’t stand a chance. Alex Salmond’s republican past is kept quiet, nobody mentions the 79 Group.
From an athlete’s POV, I’d think the English would be very happy to cut the Scots loose. More funding would be available for English (and sometimes, lesser) athletes in Olympic sports as diverse — and Scot-dominated — as curling and modern pentathlon.
The Scottish athletes would be able to train at home, or wherever they pleased, with coaches of their own choosing, and not be subjected to the strict resident training centre requirements (and ridiculous politics) of the Team GB system.
I did hear the BBC World Service casting scorn on Scotland yesterday for eschewing some sports for the Glasgow games in favor of sports that Scotland was strong in. I think lawn-bowling was the example they gave, clearly aimed at making the Scots sound like quaint folk who need guidance in the larger world.
….the royal family are very popular in Scotland.
Can I have stats with that? Not my impression when I lived there. I’d say indifference was nearer the general mark, and the conspicuous emoting that marked Diana’s death in London was nonexistent escept on the tabloid front pages. Princess Anne might get a No vote or two, and I’d put a side bet on the DofE, but the family as a whole? Maybe round Dounreay or Holy Loch…
“Can I have stats with that?”
Every time one of them gets married or reproduces just take a look at a news stand.
I don’t see much avid support for royalty here, except among elderly ladies.
There was no great outpouring for the Jubilee despite Cameron urging people to get out and have parties.
I can’t remember how many there were, but it was few, and they were mainly in the posh parts of Edinburgh. I recall none at all in Dundee.
The Labour Party used to be strongly against the royals, but as they have become more and more Tory, they seem to have developed a liking for a bit of kowtowing. A great number of Labour supporters including ones who will vote no, hate them. My English born neighbour, interestingly, insists on voting no, but wants the royals and the lords removed, by revolution if necessary.
There are certainly republicans in the SNP, but it’s largely a monarchist party at the moment. Alex Salmond gets on well with the Queen (who refused to refer to independence in the speech from the throne); and I understand that Salmond and Charles are good friends).
My own impression is that most people don’t really care much one way or the other. It’s not something we think about. Royalty is something that happens far away in London; is the preserve of the English Prime mInister and his parliament and has little to do with us. They are only in the country for around 10 days a year, apart from their holiday, where they are left alone on their very large private estate to get on with huntin’ shootin’ and fishin’, and we never see them. The perfect holiday for them.
Every time one of them gets married or reproduces just take a look at a news stand.
I try not to. I might get overwhelmed by glutinous slop. If that constitutes popularity, as opposed to a combination of easy ‘news’, utter irrelevance and the government line, ok, they’re popular. Because DC Thompson says so.
Notably absent from Diana’s mother’s home town, Oban, when Diana died, were piles of flowers and crowds of weeping suckers. That alone gives pause for thought.
And what Tris said. My impression exactly.
Great fun to see Cameron kissing Putin’s arse for help with his own dissolving police state. If Obama’s butler can’t even be trusted to go to war with Putin, the jig is really up.
At the games folk have been given small saltires with ……Union Jacks on the reverse side. Scottish and Brittish. That’s the better together message. Wonder who gave them out.
Years ago was at an televised athletics meet in Kelvin hall. BBC employees handed out small union jacks to kids. +big foam pointing hands , emblaxoned with the U. J.
Clydebuilt, those are Union Jacks with Saltires on the back. Trust a bloody Scot to get a bit of paper the wrong way round 🙂
Reliably @ 9.04 –
I think someone should tell the World Service that Bowls has been played at all but one Commonwealth /(Empire) Games since the first one in 1930. It is regarded as a “core” sport.
“We are cunningly not discussing stuff like a republic and leaving NATO until after we have achieved independence”
Are you cunningly not discussing becoming an Islamic Republic outside NATO by any chance? You might have to extend your kilts a little bit.
“We are cunningly not discussing stuff like a republic and leaving NATO until after we have achieved independence”
You’ll make yourselves dizzy with all these U Turns.
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/snp-votes-to-abandon-opposition-to-nato.1350664796
Commonwealth Games opening ceremony review – no lack of heart but a lack of oomph
Celtic Park, Glasgow
David Zolkwer’s attempt to recapture the magic of the Olympics had moments of genius but fell back on clichés
‘”This is our house and you’re all very welcome,” declared Karen Dunbar at the start. The invitation was welcome. But if London was like being invited to an eccentric large scale fancy dress party, full of layered political signals, then Glasgow was like being invited into a friendly family knees-up where nobody wanted to cause offence.
The kind of family gathering where you’ll find Rod Stewart singing in the front room, and John Barrowman behaving like an embarrassing uncle who wouldn’t stop dancing in the kitchen.’
http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/jul/24/commonwealth-games-opening-ceremony-glasgow-review
Oh dear!
The only bit I saw on the news was the arrival of the royal limo which seemed to be bouncing slightly. Was it?
Yes – I noted the saltires with union jacks on the reverse featured very prominently in the BBC’s edited montage of people arriving at the event. But in the live coverage they were not visible at all – people evidently chucked them away. Just lots of saltires people brought from home.
The Royal car was hilarious – obviously the suspension was buggered and it rolled up and down like the clowns’ car at the circus.
Actually, given its much lower budget, the whole opening ceremony was a lot better than we might have expected and reflected well on Scotland and Glasgow. It was obvious from the BBC commentary, however, that there was an uneasiness about everything that was said and that any even innocent aside which might be regarded as a pro-Union or pro-Scotland comment had to be immediately balanced by a counter comment. The two-sided union/saltire flags were a farce and a political gesture. This was a Scottish Games and not a British Games just as Manchester was quite clearly an English Games and we should never be made to feel ashamed to declare our nationality. Why is it alright to be an English or even British patriot but not a Scottish patriot? As all those other Commonwealth Nations showed we can still be proud members of the Commonwealth AND independent, and still have England as a friendly neighbour.
@Craig
“We are cunningly not discussing stuff like a republic and leaving NATO until after we have achieved independence”
Some might say that is not being entirely honest. Bit like Clegg cunningly not discussing his change of view on deficit reduction until after the election, or that his position on student loans was up for negotiation.
Of course it can now be said that “prominent Scot Nats have plans to ditch the Queen and Nato have plans to ditch the Queen and NATO should they win the referendum” without fear of contradiction.
An excellent book, ‘Living off the state, a critical guide to royal finance’ if you can get hold of it, would make anyone’s blood boil at the horrendous situation of keeping the people down and in their place while they finance the royals and their cronies. The book is by Jon Temple. It took me a year to source it on amazon.
Craig, there aren’t many things we agree on, particularly around the referendum. However I completely agree with you that all internet abuse from both sides is absolutely to be condemned without reservation by everyone.
As a mark of your commitment to promoting reasoned and rational debate, would you consider changing “Vauntie Cybernat” to something slightly less provocative?
Love and Kisses
Your Scottish Tory Friend
David
Dear Craig
Perhaps I can inject some truth on the Shona McAlpine situation for you and your readership.
My name is George Laird.
At the Pollok SNP cllr selection meeting in 2012, Shona McAlpine abused an Asian man who put himself forward to be a councillor in the Pollok Ward.
http://glasgowunihumanrights.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/alex-salmond-faces-questions-about-his.html
This is a blog post I wrote at the time.
Also Ms. McAlpine joined the followers list of a hate account setup in twitter called @georgemlaird. a hate account to brand me a paedophile among other things.
She has since left the followers list after I made public I had gone to Police Scotland, the Police have since arrested and charged an individual.
Guess what?
Shona McAlpine knows the person arrested by the Police.
I see the title of this piece is called Evil Cybernat bully, just as well I dropped by, the idea of people living in ignorance about Ms. McAlpine disturbs me greatly.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University