I have no sympathy at all for anybody who voted No on the grounds of the pledges by Brown, Miliband, Cameron and Clegg about constitutional change, and is now whingeing about the blatant dishonour of those pledges. I cannot understand how anybody could be so stupid as to have believed them, and yet have a brain capable of sparking respiration.
Labour is interested in losing no influence of Scottish Labour MPs on any UK or English matters. It wants greater powers to English metropolitan councils which are controlled by Labour – because that will give Labour careerists more jobs and access to contracts. Those are Labours “constitutional reform” goals. The Conservatives “constitutional reform” goals are to keep Scotland’s tax on oil revenues and tax on whisky coming to Westminster, while loading greater responsibilities but no more money on the Scottish parliament, and stopping Scottish MPs voting on English matters thus guaranteeing conservative apparatchiks continued jobs and access to contracts.
Both Tories and Labour want to keep the appalling corrupt and undemocratic House of Lords for its jobs for apparatchiks, access to contracts etc.
Nobody cares what the Lib Dems think anyway.
I ask again – what did you expect?
This is the collective wisdom of Andy Myles and myself, over an excellent mackerel breakfast at Nom De Plume.
Ba al
==========
Here you go why don’t you mention your idea on here there’s 156.000 YES voters just waiting for a direction to go in, who knows it could be your idea that gets the ball rolling.
https://www.facebook.com/wearethefortyfive
“Would £1 each from the 1.6M Yes voters seem excessive?” No and there should be a lottery grant avauilable to ‘support grass roots democracy’…. fat chance..
Internet is a good idea, its instant once you set it up, but with 1.6 million one could afford a small studio and roving van as well, the visibility still matters and iot would not detract from your possible sponsors.
I can envisage charity events and other outdoor events such as ballot box tossing/ old mobile phone throwing/ mass cairn creation and follow up dance, for the charitable purpose of promoting democracy in all those areas who feel that current political discourse, not just the system, has failed us voters.
I’m sure the DtRH crowd and crew would be into such an idea, lawyers will most definitely be into it once they can hear the sound of cash.
Flower
Your idea of a radio station is great. Community radio can be inclusive in a way other mediums cannot.
Although suffering from increasing corporate programming Resonance FM here in London is a fantastic example of diversity. It is literally like nothing else in the media. Real people talking about real lives. No professional presenters. Everyone is welcome to make a programme.
Community radio should not take a lot of money. Perhaps crowd funding is the answer. Perhaps a small grant could kick start. FFS Irvine Welch could fund it without forgoing a holiday. Listeners would soon be funding it. The biggest obstacle is transmissions license but presumably there is more chance now than ever of getting political support for this.
Don’t waste time arguing shit here. Start a community radio station. Radio Free Scotland!
£1.6m??
Jesus, you could start a community radio station for £1,600*. Maybe £10,600 would be more realistic.
[* We started a radio station in the 1980s for about £160.]
Imagine the crowd, funding 25 pence toward the venture.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hm9hdj0YEdE
If you attempt a professional media outlet you will immediately be subject to all the financial pressures that corrupt all the other media. Keep it community produced. That’s the way forward.
Great, people working on action.
Democracy Now started as radio only I believe, I know it’s still small (especially being in the US) but it’s serious and they get some very good people on. And it’s been a springboard for others. The only media i’v ever given money to.
The extent of repression
£1.6M was just a convenient debating point, Phil. No doubt it could be done for less, but goodwill among creatives- particularly good ones – may be harder to find during austerity. If it’s undercapitalised from the start, it’s gonna die before it can become self-sustaining. I am assuming a small studio, and not just radio. On the web, video is just as attractive and media graduates are falling over each other to get their stuff seen, in context, on something other than labrynthine YouTube, I think. The devil is in the detail, but I’m glad this finds resonance.
Nevermind – I think an outside broadcast van is highly desirable, but touring the Highlands and Islands with a VHF transmitter probably isn’t. The OBV would show the flag to some extent.
RoS – being a curmudgeonly old lizard I don’t have a Facebook account. I hereby relinquish any notional rights in the idea, which can’t possibly be original in any case. Take the ball and run with it.
“[Democracy Now] The only media i’v ever given money to.”
Very good, but personally I will not donate to pay Goodmnan $100,000+. You will never build an international news outlet. You shouldn’t want to. If you want to capture and sustain the “peoples revolution” ongoing in Scotland community based output is the way forward.
Baal,
Sure I know the £1,6m was a convenience. I suppose I was just going the other extreme trying to make the point that the issue is not money. It is about keeping people involved. Nothing kills community involvement more than professionals bullshitting.
Military ‘advisors’ in Iraq. Not ‘combat’ troops. I feel better knowing that.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/kennedy-authorizes-us-advisors-to-fire-in-self-defense
Has BBC2 cancelled serialisation plans? This looks like MSM ratings chasing
Obama has been shattering in the glass ceiling experienced by females for so long. It’s a relief that he has placed women in war mongering roles for the sake of democracy. (Samantha Powers for one)
The fair sex has been exempt form hegemony for too long. It’s time the Marie Antoinettes of the world to join in the androgynous forces for egalitarian progress.
Thanks for the good example Phil, hope you’re well. There is already a petition site for Scotland to be in charge of its own Broadcasting.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/574/697/105/put-scotland-in-control-of-scottish-broadcasting/?taf_id=12722229&cid=fb_na
Thjey would not have to change the SBC, just call it Saltire Broadcasting corporation, one would not want to waste money on fluff now….;)
Phil,
Your last point is already well taken. Agreed. Re commercialisation, wouldn’t it be nice if the station vetted potential backers/advertisers before agreeing to accept their money, instead of (see Guardian Trust) scrambling, salivating, for the cheque? I’m thinking advertising may not be strictly necessary, but if it is, it needn’t dilute the underlying purpose. Castles in the air, anyway if it can’t demonstrate an audience.
Re community involvement, part of this is simply to do what the likes of the Oban Times does, and make sure localities are well represented in the coverage. That’s what webpages are for…
Financial rewards or incentives for voting No keep coming. 25 pence per year for min wage and lower petrol prices by 2 pence.
http://www.scotsman.com/news/transport/2p-petrol-cut-hope-after-scotland-s-no-vote-1-3547366
Jubilee !!!
Phil, I don’t disagree about the power of community media, but this is about laying the foundations of a sovereign state, not a parish council.
It has to be a national undertaking in order to ensure that the likes of Nick Robinson and Severin Carrell can never again have a near monopoly on framing the debate by peddling unicon propaganda unchallenged.
Let’s agitate for iSBC now!
Phil,
I think where we are diverging ever so slightly is around the notion of authority. A DIY community outlet is one thing, and a very good one too. But an outlet matching the credibility (to the average punter in the street) of STV and the BBC, with at least semi-professional scheduling and programming and a wide demographic reach, is quite another. The former is preaching to the converted, the latter to the convertable.
BTW I’ve done radical local newspaper: core readership, radicals; marginal readership, Old Labour (it was ant-SNP, but that was before I got religion); fringe readership, people who wanted a laugh, local politicians and police, for professional purposes. It went bust. This may have coloured ny thinking.
Phil, Trying to be internationl is not what I meant. .
The point is it’s still tiny for the effect it has in the US. It’s superb, small but deadly serous, and that makes it much bigger than it’s size. Somthing that often seems missing from stuff.
I agree pointless giving Amy money, I bet she would not give herself time to spend it.
Mochyn said it better. Crossed post.
“But an outlet matching the credibility (to the average punter in the street) of STV and the BBC”
Well you go to start somewhere. Start giving people gold instead of brass. But i’d not aim for that anyway.
That kind of big credibility is becoming less attractive day by day i’d say.
Speaking of broadcasters, if the thought of funding the Orwellian BBC stick in your throat, well you get the picture.
http://www.bbctvlicence.com/Tips%20for%20avoidng%20TVL-BBC%20harassment.htm
Mochyn69
“this is about laying the foundations of a sovereign state…It has to be a national undertaking in order to ensure that the likes of Nick Robinson and Severin Carrell can never again have a near monopoly on framing the debate by peddling … propaganda”
Well show me one state broadcaster in the world ever that was not propagandist and I may have a heart attack as my view of the world collapses.
Your patronising dismissal of community outpout as worthy of parish council is embracing the mind set of the politics you claim to want to escape.
Ishmael
Credibility: There is a wider public perception that community projects are strictly for unemployable locals with grievances. Show me a socialist community project, and I’ll show you a bunch of socialists who were socialists before they set it up and will be socialist until they are buried in an ecologically friendly wicker casket in a woodland cemetery (run by socialists who got mugged by reality and are doing fine, thanks). They will perhaps have converted the rebellious children of bank managers to their POV: their own rebellious children, having rebelled, will be taking their accountancy finals.
The referendum did not get enough Yes votes to succeed. This was at least partly because the MMSM portrayal of the Yes case was one-sided, and because an overwhelming majority of the general public do, actually, believe what they read in the papers. That in turn is because what they read is professionally presented, and looks authentic, straight from the tribal shaman, in some way magically right. I say again, stop preaching to the converted. We’re converted. Examine how to reach the unconverted.
Mochyn will probably improve on this, too…
Seems to me it took a lot of independence, action and confidence to do what people did in Scotland. If anywhere is ripe for a fightback. Or close up again and absorb all the negative stuff. Accept ‘fate’ .
Just a small group, dedicated. Think of all the energy many put into online bloody arguments and rhetoric. Far more than it would ever take to do a few productive things, it just needs some initial organising.
It would feel better than watching the walls fall in and screaming. That’s quite draining.
Stupid Senate: Lawmakers put $10 million bounty on head of ISIS YouTube actor.
====================
$10 million for Jihadi Johnny, only a clown would believe this shit, isn’t that right Habb.
http://21stcenturywire.com/2014/09/20/stupid-senate-lawmakers-put-10-million-bounty-on-head-of-isis-youtube-actor/
Excellent page and comments.
~~
Ben I rather liked this satirical piece about Ms Rice in China.
http://dissidentvoice.org/2014/09/classified-transcript-of-susan-rice-xi-jinping-meeting-in-beijing-uncovered/
~~~
Nevermind. In your neck of the woods. The bastards have been out with their guns. Unfortunate for P Harry that the Mail put him in the frame by including the photo.
Police quiz Royal gamekeepers as rare bird of prey vanishes from Sandringham estateThe Montagu harrier called Mo was last seen on August 8 near the estate
The bird of prey was roosting near farmland at Bircham Common
Norfork police are speaking to locals to see if they saw suspicious activity
There is no suggestion that gamekeepers shot the very rare bird
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2763622/Police-quiz-Royal-gamekeepers-rare-bird-prey-vanishes-Sandringham-Estate.html
Remember the hen harriers?
Two hen harriers dead, one prince questioned, no charges
· Police not seeking anyone else over killings
· ‘Fact that bodies could not be found is disappointing’
http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2007/nov/07/monarchy.wildlife
“There is a wider public perception that community projects are strictly for unemployable locals with grievances.”
What are you trying to paint. I was agreeing with ideas above about an indipendent midea outlet. ? and giving some ideas? what’s your problem?
I’m not some kind “dream hippey”, though i’d not assume beacuse people think some ways, that’s a reason not to do it. Though id say your hole argumant is a little stiff thinking about society, people and “community progets” as you put it.
People can’t help picking can they.
Mostley “community projects” just got 45% of Scotlad to vote for indipendence. Thinking about it, What’s govenment partys but large community projects…?
John Hilley post referendum result. He observed Channel 4 and the Guardian in action in George Square. Very interesting.
Sunday, 21 September 2014
Indy not gone, still in the making
I found it hard to open the curtains on Friday morning, feeling just numb and dejected.
It’s felt like a wake, a weird bereavement-like emotion, the sense of a beautiful opportunity lost. One of my first thoughts was that Trident is now staying where it is. The establishment had won. Somehow the realisation of that just felt crushing.
But life has to go on. Down on George Square that morning a lot of Yes people just wandered around, lost and subdued, talking about the result, and where this massive energy might possibly go now.
John Harris and a cameraman from the Guardian, maybe having overheard some of it, came over and interviewed a few of us for a film piece. We talked broadly about the great Yes movement and how it had lost to fear and a massive establishment network that used every last, shameless intimidation to get its way.
/..
http://johnhilley.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/indy-not-gone-still-in-making.html