Monday 11 March 2013

10 Gaffes from the No campaign this year so far... (11 if you count Georgie)

 1. The UK Government's "pound for independence" gaffe saw the Treasury say independence would cost just £1 each for the period 1999-2011 – backfiring on claims that an independent Scotland would be worse off.

2. David Cameron's promise of an in-out EU poll backfired on No camp claims about Scotland in Europe, as it demonstrated it is Tory Euro-scepticism and Westminster isolation that poses the biggest threat to Scotland's position in the EU.

3. EU scaremongering was dealt a further blow when Lord Mark Malloch-Brown, who served as the Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations and was a Foreign Office Minister in the last UK Labour government - serving in government alongside the No campaign chairman Alistair Darling - told the BBC the EU would be “anxious to embrace” an independent Scotland.

4. After scaremongering on the Scottish Government’s transition timetable, the UK government's own academic expert, Professor James Crawford, agreed that it is 'realistic'.

5. Moody’s downgrade of the UK’s triple-A rating blew a hole in claims AAA is only secure in the Union.

6. Mounting anger over the ‘bedroom tax’ and other welfare cuts is building the case for why Scotland needs the powers to make decision over welfare, with over 90% of Scottish MPs voting against the tax this week, yet people in Scotland will still be impacted.

7. Labour’s backing of Trident renewal came as a major blow to the No campaign as it underlined the only way Scotland can become free from nuclear weapons is to vote Yes in 2014.

8. Michael Moore also revealed he believed Westminster was a ‘remote’ institution from Scotland, demonstrating that even the Secretary of State thinks Westminster is not best placed to make decisions over Scotland.

9. Alistair Darling’s admission in an interview with Newsnight Scotland that it would be "desirable" and “logical” for an independent Scotland to keep the pound backfired on previous scaremongering on currency.

10. No camp politicians have frequently claimed an independent Scotland would need to renegotiate 14,000 treaties that the UK is signatory to, but Westminster has admitted that it has no idea how many treaties the UK is a party to – and many of the 14,000 treaties previously highlighted have terminated or were concluded on behalf of former colonies.


Yesscotland.net|

23 comments:

  1. C.H
    Further to whammel
    I have found it as a verb in English meaning to turn over and then as slang
    ) In East London slang, a term of endearment used to describe a grumpy, bitter and twisted old man. (2) A working sailing boat ("Lune Whammel")
    Cannot figure out how it came to be in Scots vocabulary however unless it's a corruption of another Scots word The mystery continues Sorry to be O/T

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks as it is indeed a mystery when its use is very rare nowadays.

      Delete
  2. Whats the point in being the most wealthy GDP in the universe and find yer Taxes going up as well.

    Gaffes is that polite for lie ???

    Although Alex and the snp have made one mega fecking Gaffe
    in their contradictory public and private remarks.
    It will probably go down in history as the moment when
    the referendum was lost.




    ReplyDelete
  3. To Nikowhatever

    In yer dreams pal. How much do Westminster pay you these days. Oh and don't forget to pay your tory party subs this week.

    Kindest regards,

    David Milligan - a very Sovereign Scot

    ReplyDelete
  4. @Niko

    Great unitrolling...seems we can't shake idiots like you off

    ReplyDelete
  5. Yes, ch, as always Ian can say what he wants to in very few words.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. He is not the only one.

      I believe that R4 3pm is broadcasting something on Scottish independence tomorrow as part of a series they are running on 'Human (something or other)' don't know title.

      Delete
    2. It's called the "Human Zoo" Not specifically about independence though.

      The Human Zoo is a place to learn about the one subject that never fails to fascinate - ourselves. Are people led by the head or by the heart? How rational are we? How do we perceive the world and what lies behind the quirks of human behaviour?

      Michael Blastland presents a curious blend of intriguing experiments to discover our biases and judgements, conversations, explorations and examples taken from what's in the news to what we do in the kitchen - all driven by a large slice of curiosity.

      Nick Chater, Professor of Behavioural Science at Warwick University, is on hand as guide and experimenter in chief.

      Our thoughts, John Milton said, are a kingdom of infinite space and they might take us anywhere -whether our subject is writ large, like the behaviours of public figures or the contradictions of politics, or located in the minutiae of everyday life. We can show how what happens on the big stage is our own behaviour writ large - like the old Linda Smith joke about the Iraq-war coalition's failure to find chemical weapons: "I'm the same with the scissors".

      The Human Zoo explores why it is that our judgements are so averse to ambiguity, how mental energy is linked to our legs, why we don't want to be in the dock when the judge is hungry - and other thoughts that have nothing to do with anything much beyond the ironing.

      Delete
    3. Ta tris.

      The Human Zoo

      This week's online experiment is on the theme of status quo bias, that is the bias inherent in all of us that tends to make us plump for the status quo. Go try it out and explore your own status quo bias.

      Delete
  6. fairfor...

    Very interesting...and its fine to be off topic here. Anything interesting is good with me.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Yes Niko. Go and take some more pills because you are blethering worse than usual.

    Every government makes contingency plans for worst case scenarios. If Labour doesn't, that's a good reason why they shouldn't be in government.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hello David, don't worry about Niko. He's half mad!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello David, don't worry about Niko. He's half mad!

      First or Second! We must be told.

      Delete
    2. Erm... both...

      Delete
  9. Hello Harry...

    Niko talking nonsense is something I got so used to, I don't even notice it now. I see he's upsetting the good reverend though... Dangerous

    ReplyDelete
  10. Tris

    Be kind to Niko for Tazs sake. Just think if he is sent to the naughty step here and on Wings he will have nothing to do and have to spend more time with Taz.

    A good SNP dog like Taz deserves better, though not together.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Tris

    Taz was a Labour dog when he was a pup, then his eyes opened.

    ReplyDelete
  12. LOL Dubs... Very true!

    I won't send him to the naughty step, but, if there's nay more of his nonsense I'll get Mr Brownlie to deal with him. He won't like that!!!

    Thank heavens he opened his eyes... Taz I mean.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I won't send him to the naughty step,

      A good scrubbing would do him good. Get out the carbolic.

      Delete
    2. Mr Brownlie informs me than Mrs Niko (with whom he consorts at the bingo...although that is just between you and me) says he is a very clean man. She puts him in the bath with Taz every Friday, whether he needs it or not!

      Delete
  13. No, Tris, it's every Friday when there's a "Z" in the month.

    Did anyone notice Jackie Bird on BBC last night saying "They claim that it's Scotland's oil but that is by no means certain" or words to that effect?

    ReplyDelete
  14. I forgot the Z....

    No, I can't watch Jackie Bird any more. I can't afford to buy a new telly 3 times a week. In fact I watch very little BBC. Concerning Scotland, their news is now reliable, which makes me wonder how much else they lie about.

    Just who the hell's oil does she think it is, by the way? She surely doesn't think that Mr Blair's border between England and Scotland, which starts just off the coast of Dundee, is going to stand up to international scrutiny. If she does, she should have a word with Craig Murray, who used to work for that part of the government which sets borders.

    Silly old woman that she is.

    Is she one of the BBC old times that gets paid into a company so that they can fiddle their taxes?

    ReplyDelete