Freedom of thought, freedom of speech and freedom from England…apparently a shortage of all in Bonnie Scotland.
Over 700 years ago…
…tyranny and terror were the tools being used by England to rule Scotland. Occupied and oppressed, the Scottish nation sought a hero to challenge the cruelty of King Edward I.
Someone to take the campaign for freedom into battle, and on to victory.
When the two countries faced each other at the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297, Scotland was led to victory by a figure destined to become a national hero – William Wallace.
Today Scotland has Mr Sean Adams……
According to ‘Mr Sean Adams’ of the SNP BBC Scotland has not allowed the Scots the freedom to comment on BBC editor’s blogs….strange you may think considering there is a referendum coming up on Scottish independence…might be nice for the BBC to let people tell the Media what they think….unfiltered…you might think it would be a useful sounding board for the BBC itself to judge feeling and opinion..
He compares to all the other regions in the UK which do allow comments:
Mr Sean Adams @ASairFecht 23 May Thirteen BBC regions. All have a political editor. All blog. Only region licence fee payers can’t comment? Scotland. Why @BBCScotlandNews
Mr Sean Adams @ASairFecht 23 May Licence fee payers in Wales, NI and all English regions can comment on Political Editor blogs. Only in Scotland do BBC deny us that option.
Mr Sean Adams @ASairFecht 23 May Anyhow, no time to talk about @BBCScotland denying freedom of speech when there’s grass to be cut. #Priorities
In his blog he expands on the point about BBC Scotland:
‘Some, including me, pointed out that – at the very least – BBC licence payers in Scotland were being discriminated against in relation to those in other parts of these islands. In this blog from April 2nd, 2012 I remarked on the anomaly that the BBC Political Editors in Wales, Northern Ireland and all eight English regions allowed the people who pay their wages to comment on their blogs. Only in Scotland was this privilege removed.
In terms of the BBC’s own Charters and operating guidelines the decision was, to say the least, a strange one. Nation may speak to nation but, it appears, a nation may not speak amongst themselves – except in England, Northern Ireland and Wales of course.
At any other period in Scotland’s modern history the decision would have troubled many. In the context of the Independence Referendum, when those of every political persuasion agree that Scotland faces its most important political decision in over 300 years, it was frankly bizarre.
Scots will not be allowed to discuss the issues with other Scots on the national broadcaster’s online platforms. The only information we are to receive on the issues will be the information supplied by Pacific Quay. Which is fine, I suppose, because the BBC is beyond reproach. No-one on the staff has a political bone in their body. At all times, we can be assured, news will be unfiltered, un-nuanced and uncorrupted.
I hope the people of the rest of these islands don’t feel too encumbered by their surfeit of free speech – it’s a heavy responsibility.
Luckily, we in north Britain have BBC Scotland to tell us what to think.’
Good God…. the SNP make an art-form out of puerile and blinkered moaning. BBC Scotland is possibly the most appallingly biased sect of the BBC in the known universe; Brian Taylor almost pops with orgasmic joy anytime Alex Salmond breaks wind. The Scots are getting plenty of airtime; it’s the rest of the UK, whom I feel are being bluntly told ‘mind your own business!’, I feel sympathy for.
And the SNP continue to get the soft soap treatment despite surveys showing that even 16/17 year olds are not yet falling for the Tartan Trewsered Fat Man with the oil slick that follows him like a slug trail( It`s his oil after all, and the bloody English drink it).
No matter how much of an arse Salmond is…the BBC will back him a la Braveheart…it`s what empty rebellions are all about.
Even the EU bureaucrats don`t want him in with his snake-oil trades…and if the EU crooks count their fingers after shaking hands after meeting him, then he really IS as much a corkscrew as any man can be.
Luckily he`s useless even as that-what with the rip off booze taxes proposed up there with hideous Nurse Ratchet-Sturgeon at the drinks aisle till, looking sour as ever.
Difficult to feel sorry for the little diddums when we Englsih won’t even be getting a vote on it – a topic well-avoided by the BBC.
the trouble with the snp and there mates at the bbc coverage is this, they still have this mindest that they are still victims of injustice and oppression at the hands of there english baron masters even though the battle of bannockburn finished in 1314,i really dont like this anti english scottiish nationalsm that is creating hate and division in the british isles.let them have there independence,but dont come crying back to us english mugs with your begging bowl alex salmond when it all goes wrong
Don’t forget their begging bowl still runneth over – courtesy of the Barnett Formula.
He’s going to have to stand in a rather long line of people complaining about the BBC not allowing comments on certain topics.
Although it would be interesting to see a debate between Scots like him who say the BBC is biased pro-Union and people here who say that the BBC is biased in favor of Scottish independence.
Personally, I think it’s most likely that the BBC is simply biased in favor of maintaining the BBC’s size and power and revenue. After all, if Scotland gets real independence, doesn’t that mean the end for BBC Scotland (Alba), its influence, the precious insider access, and all that lovely license fee cash paid by Scots? Self-preservation comes first and last at the BBC on pretty much everything else, and I see no reason for this issue to be an exception.
If Scotland does gain independence I hope Salmond won’t do a William Wallace and massacre defenceless women and monks….just BBC staff will do.
Not living in Scotland I can’t judge for myself the tenor of the BBC reporting of the independence debate.
From reports on this site it does seem that BBC Scotland is favouring the SNP . This is a bit of surprise because Labour will lose heavily if there are no Scottish seats in Westminster. Unless of course the SNP have promised BBC Scotland, or whatever it becomes, enormous riches and a Socialist Utopia once Independence has been achieved.
I wonder if the BBC will become the English and Welsh Broadcasting Corporation after Independence? Changing the Brand and Logo will cost the poor old LFP an arm and a leg but they will still pump out the same liberal left rubbish no doubt.
“This is a bit of surprise because Labour will lose heavily if there are no Scottish seats in Westminster.”
Scottish MPs have NEVER turned what would have been a Conservative government into a Labour one, or indeed vice versa.
• On only TWO occasions, the most recent of them being 38 years ago, have Scottish MPs given Labour a majority they wouldn’t have had from England/Wales/NI alone. The majorities in question were incredibly fragile ones of four and three MPs respectively – the 1964 Labour government lasted barely 18 months, and the 1974 one had to be propped up by the Lib-Lab Pact through 1977-78 so in practice barely qualified as a majority. Without Scottish MPs but with Liberal support, Wilson would have had a majority of 12.
• On ONE occasion (2010) the presence of Scottish MPs has deprived the Conservatives of an outright majority, although the Conservatives ended up in control of the government anyway in coalition with the Lib Dems.
• This means that for 62 of the last 67 years, Scottish MPs as an entity have had no practical influence over the composition of the UK government. From a high of 72 MPs in 1983, Scotland’s representation will by 2015 have decreased to 52, substantially reducing any future possibility of affecting a change.
“Labour is not as reliant on Scottish votes to gain an overall majority in the UK Parliament as these figures might suggest. Of the six Labour governments since 1945 only twice – in 1964 and February 1974 – was the party reliant on Scottish votes to help keep the Conservatives from office.
The last three Labour governments in particular have all enjoyed comfortable overall majorities, which the loss of Scottish seats would not have overturned. In 1997 Labour’s majority was 178, of which only 56 were Scottish seats; in 2001 their majority was 166, of which 55 seats were Scottish; and in 2005 Labour’s majority was 65, of which 40 were Scottish seats.
Nor does Labour’s recent electoral record in England suggest that the Tories would possess an innate advantage there. In 1997, for example, Labour obtained a majority in England alone of 127; in 2001 they had a majority there of 117; and in 2005 they secured a majority of 43”
http://www.consoc.org.uk/2012/02/would-the-conservatives-benefit-from-scottish-independence-michael-everett-constitution-society-researcher/
The Tories actually got more votes than Labour in England even in 2005, so Labour’s “majority of 43” was only because of the seriously biased electoral system. Similarly, the line about Scotland being a “Tory-free zone” after the 1997 general election overlooks the fact that the Tories still got the second highest number of votes there … so that when the devolved assembly was elected under a different voting system, there were some Tories after all.
The BBC is clearly biased against the notion of Scottish independence.
Scotland has one Tory MP but has to accept a UK Government with no mandate to govern. Scottish independence would simply ensure a democratically elected government that is accountable.
PS – the region with most spent on it is London. Scotland is a net contributor to the UK treasury.
That would be the London with a population almost twice the that of scotland
“Scotland is a net contributor to the UK treasury.”
As is London, without oil.
‘Scotland is a net contributor to the UK treasury. ‘
You need to look at the wider picture, starting with Scotland’s debt arising from its Central American colonial misadventure – written off by the English at the time of Union but calculated to be worth a couple of trillion now. And then there’s the Scottish share of national debt……
Oh, and you won’t find quite so many oil fields in Scottish seas when they extend the land border seawards – it runs SW to NE you know.
“it runs SW to NE you know.”
Not sure that’s correct. I believe it was flattened out (for oil purposes only) several years ago.
However, so far as public spending is concerned, if you compare it with local GDP, the picture for Scotland (as well as NE England) doesn’t look quite so rosy.
“North Sea oil is in ‘Scottish waters’, admits Vince Cable”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/energy/9959715/North-Sea-oil-is-in-Scottish-waters-admits-Vince-Cable.html
“Detailed research of the money brought in by the UK oil and gas fields suggests that Scottish waters – defined by the line of demarcation used in the fishing industry – accounted for 91.1 per cent of UK North Sea revenue in 2008/09.”
http://blogs.channel4.com/factcheck/factcheck-who-loses-if-scotland-goes-it-alone/6524
Oh well if Vince Cable said it must be true
I’m sure the Scandinavians are convinced
Arguing that with the Norwegians may prove fun. The current arrangements only exist because the UK could ‘outrank’ Norway. Without the English population to bolster Scotland’s claim the line moves West.
And lets hope no-one tries to encourage the Orkneys and Shetland to go independent or even Norwegian once the ball gets going. After all they don’t like you and you don’t like them if the Scottish comedy shows are anything to go by.
Fun times ahead.
“And then there’s the Scottish share of national debt……”
No problem with Scotland taking a pro rata share of the debt as with it would come a pro rata share of the assets. Only fair, don’t you think.
National debt created by the UK government.
Sill enough cash to spend billions upon billions to bail out their buddies in the banks.
Per capita spending…..
This London ?
“London accounts for a fifth of the UK economy and 15% of the country’s jobs”
As reported by the BBC
Oh and here’s a vision of the Socialist Nationalist (and Scottish workers) Party’s multicultural utopia not yet ,as far as I know, reported by the BBC
http://www.scotsman.com/news/pupils-withdrawn-from-trip-to-edinburgh-mosque-1-2954768
No comment required it speaks entirely for its self.
Meanwhile in the green and pleasant land…
http://news.sky.com/story/1100058/islamic-centre-fire-muslims-need-protection
Even the comments on biased BBC are biased.
The vote on independence is about democracy.
The UK government , and most of the posters on here , are Londoncentric. That is fine but I would suggest that should not be a barrier to Scottish self determination.
Undoubtedly the decision will be to stay part of the UK – that is fine by me so long as the process leading up to the vote is equitable.
If Scotland is such a ” drain ” on the UK then I would expect the prospect of independence to be appealing to those in other parts of the UK?
“If Scotland is such a ” drain ” on the UK then I would expect the prospect of independence to be appealing to those in other parts of the UK?”
I think you’ll find it is, only we are not getting a say in it. Democracy eh
Oh and that scout hut fire ,might not be the back lash you’ve been praying for