BBC Blog Network

User Profile

minceandmealie

Listed below are comments made by minceandmealie between Friday, 18th September 2009 and Friday, 9th October 2009.

«Newer
Older»

The plebiscite to end all plebiscites 1:12pm on 09 Oct 2009 "We believe that sovereignty rests with the people and that authority in a democracy derives from the people. We therefore acknowledge their right to determine the form of government best suited to their needs"

These words come from the constitution of the Liberal Democrats.

That party, and its predecessor the Liberal party, used to be known for its defence of principle. Any principled person remaining in the Liberal Democrats who supports their party's constitution should support a Scottish independence referendum.

It's that simple.
The big freeze 09:58am on 07 Oct 2009 It has been obvious for some time that the BBC in London has moved from being broadly pro-Labour to being broadly anti-Labour. This largely coincided with the departure of Blair and the assumption of the premiership by Brown, although the Blair-Bush-WMD-Iraq war farrago probably marked the start of it. In changing like this, the BBC in London is clearly following a general shift in English public opinion.

I think the BBC One Show coverage represents the mainstream English view of Scottish independence - which I would sum up as "if they want to be independent then they should just go ahead, and we wish them well". Contrast that with the typical output from Pacific Quay.

BBC Scotland is noticeably out of synch with this change. This is probably because Scotland had been a one party state for half a century, and you wouldn't get far in the media if you were an opponent of the Labour party - which in recent decades has become increasingly synonymous with being a Scottish nationalist. Labour had all the power, Labour had all the stories, and journalists had to play the game or be frozen out, with their careers at stake.

There has been a large shift in Scottish public opinion (eg the last Holyrood and Euro elections), but the response of BBC Scotland could best be summed up in the word 'denial'. It is kind of understandable how these like-minded souls ended up writing and presenting the state broadcaster's Scotish political coverage. Understandable, but not acceptable.
The Goldie conundrum 10:29am on 06 Oct 2009 I don't think Auntie Bella has been at her best lately.

"We believe in Britain, not narrow nationalism."

Ms Goldie, you are a nationalist, and that is nationalism. Hello.
Or to put it another way, British nationalism is good, Scottish nationlism is bad. Apparently.

This motes-and-beams motif continues when it comes to discussing referenda. Apparently the Tories want to have a referendum on "Europe" becasue "it's not the Europe people voted for". But they don't want to have a referendum on the Union, even though the people have never been given the chance to vote on it, ever....

Do they ever look in the mirror?
Trams off the rails? 3:05pm on 01 Oct 2009 It certainly seems like a lot of dosh to replace a couple of bus routes with things that are actually not dissimilar to buses.

Looks like the SNP might have been right about this, doesn't it? Are the opposition parties in the Parliament still chuffed they forced the tram scheme through?
Paper trail 3:00pm on 30 Sep 2009 Once upon a time it was the last minister and the last copy of the Sunday Post....more recently it has been the last Labour councillor and the last copy of the Daily Record. Of course, all four of these Scottish phenomena still exist, but their power to influence society has waned greatly. They still make noises, but fewer and fewer people listen.

The Sun is apparently following the Press and Journal in dropping a woefully out of touch partisan line in favour of (I presume) a generally sceptical one. To the extent that politics matters to readers of the Sun, this is a reasonable business strategy in a country in which no political party has a majority.

Media organs which preach an ideological position that offends many of their readers (or viewers, or listeners...) are not doing themselves any favours in the long run.
Your cheque's in the post 07:57am on 30 Sep 2009 Clearly, the government needs to increase the supply of mortgages on the High Street...it only owns Bradford and Bingley, Halifax, Northern Rock, Bank of Scotland .....so what it should obviously do is sell Irish mortgages in competition with itself.

Is it just me or is this beyond barking?
Time is running out 9:54pm on 29 Sep 2009 I think Gordon Brown genuinely stated what he believes in. That would be further increasing the role of the state (bringing back the workhouse for miscreant teenage mothers, taking tax credits for childcare away and replacing them with state run nurseries, continuing with the Orwellian ID cards scheme etc). Those who disagree simply do not count and will be ignored or possibly arrested (we will not allow nationalists to break up the union...)

Thank goodness for democratic elections. I doubt that Labour realise how terrible that stuff sounds to people outside their circle.
'A simple proposition' 9:02pm on 28 Sep 2009 We have heard much mention over the years of the "West Lothian Question".

Today I would like to pose the "East Lothian Question". Considering the mesmerisingly angry and spiteful performance of Mr Gray, and the even greter restraint, taste and charm shown by the Labour MP for the same constituency (remember her?) perhaps we should ask the following: why do members of the East Lothian Labour party despise the electorate so much?

It could be summarised as "How dare they vote for someone else! How dare they!" I imagine the coming general election may raise this bitter fury to even greater heights....
Lib Dems pina colada blues 12:21pm on 22 Sep 2009 From the preamble to the constitution of the Liberal Deomocrats:

"We believe that sovereignty rests with the people and that authority in a democracy derives from the people. We therefore acknowledge their right to determine the form of government best suited to their needs"

Except in Scotland, apparently. Tavish Scott doesn't have a clue what Liberal Democracy means. Where are the Liberals?
'Knives out' for SNP budget 4:44pm on 18 Sep 2009 The obvious question to all opposition parties, given that the Scottish government budget is externally fixed, is "what would you cut from this budget, and on what would you spend that money instead?"

Gordon Brewer put in a pretty fair performance of asking this question last night, I thought. Kerr's answer: "Not telling, but they are wrong anyway". Tory answer: "We will need to think about it." Strngest of all were the LibDems, who made a call to punish students and the middle classes. And here was me thinking that was whrere the LibDems got their votes from....principled or plain daft, take your pick.

Glenn Campbell, on the other hand, really needs to get himself under control. My primary school age daughter, with whom I don't generally discuss the concept of media political bias or government budget deficits (focusing instead on music lessons and converting fractions to decimals...), said to me unprompted this morning "They blame Alex Salmond for everything." "Who do?" I asked. "The radio", she replied.

This is a true story. And if my daughter notices it, I reckon the adult voting and licence fee paying population of Scotland may be noticing it too....

«Newer
Older»

^ Back to top

BBC MMVI

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites

BBC.co.uk

BBC Blog Network

Find and talk to the BBC's bloggers.

User Profile

minceandmealie