Media Tory Lies Stripped Bare by Ashcroft Poll 797


You would never guess it from the media but Lord Ashcroft’s latest major polling effort strips bare the entire lie about a Tory and Unionist bandwagon rolling in Scotland.

You would never guess it from Lord Ashcroft’s Tory agenda-driven report of the findings either. This tendentious nonsense ignores Scotland completely – indeed I do not think he even mentions the nation’s existence. No paid media journalist would ever dream of reading more than the executive summary of the report, and certainly would never comb through the data tables, which contain the actual information on which the report is just a gloss.

But the data tables break down the sample by “region”, of which Scotland is one, and thus give us a very great deal of information. The Ashcroft polls have a 10,000 sample and the Scottish sub-samples of over 900 are more than used for many standard Scotland only polls.

So here are the highlights:

It is indeed true that Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson is more popular than Nicola Sturgeon – but only in England.

Contrary to constant media propaganda, Nicola Sturgeon rates over 12% higher than Ruth Davidson. Invited to rate their performance from 0 to 100, Scottish voters gave Nicola Sturgeon a mean rating of 52.91% (Table 47) and Ruth Davidson 40.52% (Table 48). Despite Davidson being proclaimed by the media as the new Jim Murphy/Jesus Christ, including constant lying claims that she is the more popular.

But Ruth Davidson is very much more popular than Nicola Sturgeon – with the English. In every region of England, Davidson is widely preferred to Sturgeon.

There is no Tory Revival in Scotland.

Asked whether they would consider voting Conservative at the next Westminster election, on a scale of likelihood from 0 to 100, 65% of Scots voters answered 0-10 “there is no chance I would vote Conservative” compared to only 10% who answered 91 to 100 “I will definitely vote Conservative”. (Table 8)

The mean Tory score in Scotland on this scale was 23.84. This was narrowly behind Labour. (Table 9) Typically Ashcroft’s poll does not even ask about the SNP. But note this methodology gives a mean result that is higher than a party’s actual percentage vote: totaling the party mean scores for England gives you more than 100%. So Tory support in Scotland is running below 23.8% and below Labour.

Again this is completely contrary to the media propaganda that has been blasted constantly across Scotland.

Tory Britain is Totally Alien to Scots.

In answer to the question “Do you think Britain is on the right track, or heading in the wrong direction” Scots stated by a resounding 67% to 33% (excluding don’t knows) that Britain is heading in the wrong direction.

This compares to a clear majority in England that Britain is heading in the right direction. (Table 15).

Again contrary to constant media propaganda, Scots are much less obsessed than the English with controlling immigration. Only 28% of Scots named controlling immigration as one of the top three political issues, significantly lower than any region of England. (Table 19) A tiny 4% of Scots think immigration is the most important issue (Table 20).

But more revealing still is the ability to discern continued Scottish support for more left wing approaches to the economy. Here Ashcroft accidentally does us a favour by his exclusion of the SNP from the question.

Asked who would “have the best approach to growing the economy and creating jobs”, and not given a chance to answer SNP, Scots favour Labour over the Tories by a conclusive 46% to 36%. This compares to an equally strong preference for the Tories across England. (Table 25). Interestingly an extraordinary 15% of Scots plumped for the Lib Dems, presumably in reaction to no SNP choice being offered.

Again this is a devastating disproof of the media narrative that Scots have swallowed Torynomics. The Scottish preference for Labour over the Tories shows up in later tables on schools, the NHS, the environment etc.

Tory Scotland is a Myth the Media are Trying to Propagandise into Reality

As we gear up for the next referendum, I am cheered that the poll clears up the difference between empirical observation of the Scottish public and the picture portrayed by the media.

The media are lying.

The Blairite leadership of Scottish Labour betrayed their party by close collaboration with the Tories in Indyref1. As a result the party is in meltdown – but there is still a strong public sympathy for what might be described as real Labour values. This mantle has been taken up by the SNP.

But because the Scottish Labour Party as an organisation is a laughing stock, and because the Tories are highly hubristic and have convinced themselves of their own propaganda about their popularity, in Indyref2 we will face an open clash between Independence and Toryism. The Tories will no longer be lightly disguised behind Gordon Brown. Hard-faced anti-devolution unionism and City of London economics will be shoved down voters’ throats.

I have no doubt at all we will win this battle and finally achieve national independence again. If Ashcroft has the honesty to look at the message hidden in the unused data of his own poll results, the Tories realise it too. Which may explain their aversion to a referendum.


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797 thoughts on “Media Tory Lies Stripped Bare by Ashcroft Poll

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    • Ball

      Alcyone,

      There is over 1.3+ billion people living in China. How does it break down % per population in comparison? AI’s claim is –
      ——————-
      The human rights organisation estimates the Asian giant alone killed “thousands” of people, a figure based on examinations of court records and news reports.
      ——————-
      ‘Thousands’, how accurate of AI. Out of 1.3+ billion people. It sounds similar to their claim about a prison in Syria executing 100,000 prisons when it could only hold 2,000/3,000 people. To be blunt AI is as trustworthy a source as the BBC.

      Not a mention of the USA in that reporting shows how bias it is. Here’s a story about US death row –
      —————–
      Seven people to be executed in 11 days because lethal injection drugs are about to expire.

      http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/arkansas-executed-executions-lethal-injection-seven-11-drugs-expire-death-row-a7673571.html
      —————-
      Drugs about to expire. Thoughts?

    • Godfree Roberts

      China has no need to ‘keep tight control on the Chinese people’. It has the overall trust of 80% of its people, the highest on earth, 93% policy support and, according to a recent World Values Survey, 96% of Chinese expressed confidence in their government (compared to 37% of Americans). Likewise, 83% of Chinese thought their country is run for everyone’s benefit rather than for a few big interest groups (36% of Americans thought the same). http://www.wvsevsdb.com/wvs/WVSData.jsp?Idioma=I+(http://www.wvsevsdb.com/wvs/WVSData.jsp?Idioma=I)

      According to the Pew Charitable Trusts’ interviews, “Nine in ten Chinese are happy with the direction of their country (87%), feel good about the current state of their economy (91%) and are optimistic about China’s economic future (87%).” 2010.

      Executions of deprave criminals have high support from the majority of the population, despite Mao’s aversion to them: “What harm is there in not executing people? Those amenable to labour reform should go and do labour reform so that rubbish can be transformed into something useful. Besides, people’s heads are not like leeks. When you cut them off, they won’t grow again. If you cut off a head wrongly there is no way of rectifying the mistake even if you want to”.

      • Alcyone

        Godfree, appreciate all your sources again please. I’m very interested. Thank you.

    • Resident Dissident

      After killing your own people and sending large numbers of them for “reducation” one of the other steps is of course to get the haters of western democracies to apply buckets of whitewash – look here are a couple.

      • Alcyone

        Well, RD, very good point, if you tried clicking on the link Roberts supplied, you do actually get a perfectly white screen!

        Shows how all our lovely, erudite and curious ‘commenters’ here will swallow stuff hook-line-and-sinker, the collection of one-trick ponies that we have.

        Depressing to see!

      • Dave Lawton

        Resident Dissident
        “After killing your own people and sending large numbers of them for “reducation” one of the other steps is of course to get the haters of western democracies to apply buckets of whitewash – look here are a couple.”

        What planet are you on ? Western democracies kill their own people after brain washing them and then send them to war to kill other countries people.
        Churchills best friend and adviser. Frederick Lindemann“During a 1930s lecture, Lindemann argued that surgery, mind control, and drug and hormone manipulations would one day allow humans to be fine-tuned for specific tasks. At the lower end of the race and class spectrum, he suggested, one could remove the ability to suffer or to feel ambition. This subclass would do all the unpleasant work and not once think of revolution or of voting rights. To perpetuate empires, he theorized, one need only remove the ability of slaves to see themselves as slaves.”

  • michael norton

    Watch out for this one it is BIG
    ———
    Toshiba are supposed to be constructing a fleet of nuclear power stations for the U.K.

    Toshiba has filed its delayed financial results, warning that the company’s survival is at risk.

    “There are material events and conditions that raise substantial doubt about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern,” the company said in a statement.

    The electronics-to-construction conglomerate reported a loss of $4.8bn (532bn yen) for April to December.

    However, the results have not been approved by the firm’s auditors.

    These latest financial results have already been delayed twice and raise the possibility that Toshiba could be delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
    Ministry of Truth

    • michael norton

      Nuclear woes

      Toshiba, originally known for its consumer electronics products, has faced a series of difficulties.

      It problems came to a head earlier this year, when it became clear its US nuclear unit, Westinghouse, was in financial trouble.

      Westinghouse was put into Chapter 11 bankruptcy in March, which protects it from creditors while it undergoes “restructuring”.
      The firm’s auditors, PriceWaterhouseCooper Aarata, have refused to sign off the company’s accounts, resulting in their publication being delayed twice.

      Now, faced with a deadline, Toshiba has made the unprecedented move of publishing the results without the auditor’s approval.

      Toshiba has warned that its net loss for 2016 could exceed one trillion yen ($9bn; £7bn) – one of the biggest losses in Japanese corporate history.

      Toshiba is the world’s second-largest chip manufacturer, with its products used in data centres and consumer goods worldwide, including iPhones and iPads.

      • glenn_uk

        WTF do you think we can only get this sort of day-to-day news (a) here, and (b) through you?

    • Kerch'ee Kerch'ee Coup

      Yoichi Shimatsu who writes foe 4th Media http://www.4thmedia.org and rense.com has been on Toshiba’s case in relation to construction two of the Fukushima reactors for some time . He also covers the issue of faulty Japanese/French steel in French reacors such as Flammanville.

  • michael norton

    New Nuclear Build for Cumbria

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moorside_Nuclear_Power_Station

    Moorside Nuclear Power Station is a proposal to build three AP1000 nuclear reactors on a site near Sellafield, in Cumbria, United Kingdom. The plan by NuGeneration, which is the British subsidiary of Toshiba-owned Westinghouse Electric Company, has the station coming online from 2024 with 3.4GW of new nuclear capacity. Work up to 2018 would include acquiring the site licence, the development consent order, and other required permits and permissions to start work. Site preparation would take two years, up to 2020.

    There was recently a Labour M.P. who resigned to go and work for the Nuclear Complex in Cumbria, a by election was held and the Conservative candidate took the seat, first change since before the war.

    • michael norton

      Copeland
      http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-39064149
      Theresa May this morning finds her grip on British politics hugely strengthened.

      For a governing party after seven years of austerity to be sweeping aside Labour in a heartland seat and to see their share of the vote increase in another is an extraordinary achievement.

      It will be taken by her supporters as a vindication of her hard-edged drive towards Brexit and her break with the more metropolitan politics of David Cameron.

  • Doug Scorgie

    Alcyone
    April 10, 2017 at 21:58

    “…Now please grant me the favour of a reply to mine @21.35. Does Nicola have the foggiest understanding of business?”

    ………………………………………………………………………………

    Alcyone, Nicola Sturgeon; like most leaders, have specialist advisors in economics and business. However, Nicola does have a university degree: Batchelor of Law (Hon) so she’s no numpty.

    Theresa May also has a university degree but its not in economics or business – its in Geography.

    So what was your point again?

    • Merkin Scot

      May’s Geography degree clearly did not include a requirement to be able to place Gibraltar or the Isle of Man on a map (or Ireland, for that matter).

    • Resident Dissident

      She wouldn’t be the first or last lawyer to have a poor understanding of business or economics.

  • Republicofscotland

    As Theresa May holidays in Wales, and the focus is on Syria, Russia and Brexit, social care in England is collapsing at an alarming rate as thousands leave their very poorly paid jobs, and over 80,000 vacancies go unfilled.

    https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/apr/11/900-carers-in-england-quit-a-day-as-social-care-system-starts-to-collapse

    With Brexit now the main focus Westminster will not have much time to deal with domestic policies, as it will be too busy repatriating laws from the EU. Laws that will undoubtedly lack proper scrutiny.

    • Joe

      Republicofscotland
      That’s interesting, wonder if the Guardian article prompted Good Morning Scotland’s article this morning. Inferring that some People living in Scotland are having to fund careworkers for relatives claiming that there’s a dire shortage of care workers. Can’t allow things to be in crisis in England without showing things are worse up here.

      • Republicofscotland

        Funny you should mention that Joe, BBC Scotland news is leading with that very story, that there’s a care shortage, I’d wager your hunch is a correct one. ?

  • nevermind

    A debate which is totally eluding us and is not being even taken notice of by this Government, is deeply embedded into the German elections later on this year.
    ‘What will Germany’s position be for the future of Europe’?

    The debate will decide the future of the EU, with Greece largely wanting to carry on steering a course within it, wanting another helping hand.

    With various ideas being banded about of a more moral Europe, a EU wide unemployment tax and system, shared by Italy. Junckers more socially responsible Europe has not much support in Berlin, but Schulz will argue for it, whilst Merkel will run the middle ground that protects wealth creation, surely a euphemism.

    http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/german-election-2017-focuses-on-european-union-a-1142693.html

  • michael norton

    Scotland recession fears: Crisis on Scottish High Street as ONE shop closes EVERY DAY
    MORE shops closed in Scotland than in any other part of Britain last year, with one shutting each day, a shock new report reveals.

    • Node

      Your comment is meaningless. It tells us more about you than Scotland.

      Is 365 a significant proportion of the total number of shops in Scotland?
      How many new shops opened in Scotland last year?

      • michael norton

        If I were you, I’d go to a disused shipyard and see if you can get hold of welders goggles.
        Then only go outside with then on, you will not see any closed shops, anymore.

        • Republicofscotland

          “Then only go outside with then on, you will not see any closed shops, anymore.”

          _______

          Norton.

          Have you been at the rough cider again?

          I can’t make head nor tail, of the above comment.

          • michael norton

            Well Ros,
            down here in the sunny deep South of England, it used to be said,
            “How did that car pass MOT was the inspector wearing welding goggles”

            So, I was suggesting if Node went into a disused shipyard, possibly abandoned welders goggles could be liberated from the dust.
            Then if Node only went outside his/her abode, wearing welders goggles, he /she would not see the closed shops.
            Hence in his/her mind
            all would be right with Scotland.

      • michael norton

        Shop closures hit Scottish high streets
        http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-39568587

        Scotland is losing shops faster than any other part of Britain, according to research carried out by PwC for the Local Data Company.

        The business advisers found 366 stores closed in Scotland last year, with 254 new outlets opening.

        The net change represents a 3.44% drop. The British average figure was 1.32%.

        The largest number of closures – at 32 – was among outlets selling fashion. The highest number of new shops were those selling fast food.

        The economy of Scotland is suffering because of uncertainty,
        yes, some of that uncertainty will because of Brexit,
        but some of it will be about these repeated Independence Referendums.

        • kailyard rules

          To paraphrase Napoleon. “England is a nation of shopkeepers” Not so Scotland.
          In my area one “fill a bag” charity shop closed (fashion?) one “vapour cigarette” outlet opened.
          Adding to Scotland’s “extreme recession” according to you.

          Indy2 is coming as a result of Unionist economic manipulation, mendacity, and mayhem.

          If some betting shops are among the closures then good riddance. Four in a row is three too much.

  • Ball

    Anyone see anything about the carnage in Mosul in the news lately?

    After the wall to wall coverage of the liberation of Aleppo (nasty Assad, SAA, Russia, Iran) the MSM seem to have gone silent on their coverage of the conflict on Iraq.

    Last I saw on the news weeks ago was the ‘coalition’ was ‘pausing’ their campaign after airstrikes were killing more civilians than ‘moderates’. Not starving them out by any chance. Sounds more like siege mode than a ‘pause’.

    Maybe the Iraqi’s were getting sick of being used as cannon fodder, while white folk looked on from the drone feed.

    7,000+ Iraqi soldiers estimates to have died so far in the coalition push, I bet they all wish they had of had the Russians directing the traffic over the clowns currently sending them to their death.

  • Muscleguy

    Meanwhile postings on twitter and elsewhere show Tory local election leaflets here in Scotland full of nothing but the referendum, an issue local councillors have absolutely no control over. They are offering NO local policies at all. What they might be is not known. They are now simply the Ruth Davidson No Surrender party.

    Thus far No unionist party leaflet or campaign literature has been found which criticises or attacks another unionist party, just the SNP and very, very occasionally the Greens who are also Yes. This is because their last hope is coalitions to keep the SNP out of local control despite that they will be the largest party over most of the country.

    It is not widely known but the largest impediment to improvements in things like education are Labour dominated local councils. Which is why John Swinney is pursuing the strategy of giving head teachers cash directly, bypassing obstructionist councils some of whom have spent cash meant for education on other things.

  • Republicofscotland

    England’s abolished NHS, is in such a dire state that they plan to borrow £10 billion quid from city hedge fund managers, just make repairs to crumbling hospitals, the Treasury needs to sign off the deal in order for it to go ahead.

    http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/cash-strapped-nhs-could-borrow-10198353

    Maybe they could, get a loan from Trump, it’s disgraceful the way that consecutive Westminster governments have run down health care in England. It’s as if they don’t realky care about the citizens of England.

  • michael norton

    Ms. Nicola Sturgeon told to dump indyref2 demand as SCOTLAND sits on brink of recession
    https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/politics/uk-politics/400452/sturgeon-told-dump-indyref2-demand-scotland-sits-brink-recession/
    Scotland is on the verge of recession after the economy shrank at the end of last year, official figures show.

    Output north of the border fell by 0.2% in the final quarter of 2016, while the UK economy as a whole grew by 0.7%.

    If the economy continues to contract in the first three months of this year Scotland will officially be in recession.

    And there you have it.

    • Ball

      michael,

      Conclusion – the 300 year old ‘Union’ does not work for Scotland.

      You seem to be the best asset to Independence on here. Keep it up.

  • Republicofscotland

    What the hell’s going on in England, where’s the money going?

    “Policing in England and Wales is in a “potentially perilous state” as government cuts lead to investigations being shelved, vulnerable victims being let down and tens of thousands of dangerous suspects remaining at large, a watchdog has warned.”

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/mar/02/inspectorate-police-engaging-dangerous-practices-austerity-cuts-diane-abbott

    First the non existent NHS is forced to go cap-in-hand to hedge fund managers. Now policing in England and Wales is in major decline due to a whopping 20% budget cuts.

    Police Scotland are in debt but they pay VAT, which no other police force in Britain pays, so why is England’s police forces teetering on the edge?

    • D_Majestic

      I often wonder just that. NHS on its knees, roads here in third-world state, schools having to sack teachers despite having classes of 40. Idiots in bloody Imprezas with silly writing all over them blasting round unhindered every Sunday. Frankly it is dystopian. Still-there’ll be plenty of money for a war.

      • glenn_uk

        Plenty of money for speed cameras too, have you seen the way gantries are being fitted with them throughout the motorway network? The M4 is already reputed to be the most heavily monitored road in the world.

        I daresay it’s because motorists are easy money for the authorities. If you’ve got a vehicle it’s got to be taxed, insured and MOT’d (because they’ll have you for that right away otherwise – presumed guilty in advance), so they know you’re good for a few £hundred fine. You must have a job, or some money, or you wouldn’t be driving.

        Some scrote who’s indulged in anti-social behaviour, on the other hand, is unlikely to provide much return for the effort of bringing him to court. No money, no job, on benefits, etc., and jail would be expensive and they’re already overcrowded.

        No – far better to clamp down on otherwise law abiding people (other than for a small technicality), and generally criminalise everyday behaviour. Nobody wants it, no politician campaigns on it, but this over-zealous monitoring of our road use – just waiting for a chance to catch us off-guard – is being rammed down our throats.

        • Iain Stewart

          “No – far better to clamp down on otherwise law abiding people ” Excellent, that otherwise! Very droll.

  • Republicofscotland

    Meanwhile according to the (JRF) the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. The highest levels of poverty are in England.

    http://www.jrf.org.uk/data/poverty-rate-area

    But of course this Westminster governments game is one of distraction, Syria, Russia, Brexit, immigrants etc, all turn our heads away from their complete and utter failure to deliver to the citizens of Britain, bread and circuses indeed.

  • Sharp Ears

    Two good GPs speaking on what is happening to OUR NHS. Wake up people!

    Dr Youssef El-Gingihy
    Your NHS is already a two tier system
    On Saturday the 8th of April, The World Transformed held an event in Croydon entitled Take Back Control, at which a discussion was held about the NHS.

    GP, Campaigner, Author, Friend and Supporter of the KOSHH Campaign, Dr Youssef El-Gingihy gave an excellent summary of the changes which have already taken place within the NHS, and a chilling explanation of what is due to happen very soon under Simon Stevens’ 5-Year Forward View.

    Dr El-Gingihy has written an excellent book which explains this in great detail, and we would urge everyone to read it. The book is called “How to dismantle the NHS in 10 easy steps” and can be purchased at any good bookshop.
    https://youtu.be/Tmaz69bAnL0

    Dr Bob Gill
    We have to break the ignorance
    16th Feb 2017
    On the 16th of February, KOSHH held another public meeting. This one was held in Morden Baptist Church and like our previous meetings, was very well attended.

    One of the tools that is being used against us is ignorance. We have to break the ignorance. Please share this video to let your friends know.
    Visit our website here: http://koshh.org
    https://youtu.be/n6Of1LsvL-8

    • Zebedee

      “Dr El-Gingihy has written an excellent book which explains this in great detail, and we would urge everyone to read it. The book is called “How to dismantle the NHS in 10 easy steps” and can be purchased at any good bookshop.”

      I can’t help noticing that Dr El-Gingihy is not giving this book away for free, so might I conclude he is making a profit from the demise 0f the NHS? “What a capitalist swine”!

      • Sharp Ears

        I am sure that that GP who works in one of the most deprived London boroughs is going to make a fortune from his book sales @ £7.99 a copy or £5.99 as an E book.

        Ask Mr Branson what his net worth is.

        And btw have you got your medical insurance in place and your credit card at the ready if and when you need medical help? Most private bankruptcies in the US happen through inability to pay medical bills. The insurance companies will not take you on there if there is a risk you are going to cost them.

  • reel guid

    The Herald reporting yesterday that a new unionist think tank will be launching next month and it will be going under the title of These Islands Ltd.

    It seems to be the idea of GERS greatest fan Kevin Hague and historians Dan Snow and Tom Holland are among those also on board.

    I’d say with brexit and austerity these islands are going to be very limited indeed.

    Independence means Scotland Unlimited.

    By the way Tom Holland posted this on his twitter the other day:

    “The SNP’s struggle to resolve the paradoxes of their attitude to the EU has shades of late antique Christology…”

    That will resonate with voters!

    Unionist council candidates should try repeating it on the doorsteps for the rest of the campaign.

    • Jon

      Reel guid,
      Kevin Vague sells Dug food. and according to his supporters is skilled at analysing Stastistics.

  • Alistair Cook

    As a widower of 12 years how can Tory cuts to pension be harmful to families. I feel so sad.

    Great to point out the marginalisation of Scottish investment and popularity of Ms Davidson (not)

  • RobG

    I don’t wish to drive people mad by banging on about Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the France Insoumise (Rebellious France), but here’s a brief RT piece about him and his rising popularity…

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hWpVET-UCE

    By way of balance/contrast here’s a recent piece about Mélenchon by Gearoid O Colmain,..

    http://ahtribune.com/world/europe/french-election/1607-french-election.html

    Colmain is purportedly a communist and heavily promotes François Asselineau of the Popular Republican Union (UPR), who hasn’t got a hope in hell of winning the forthcoming French presidential election. I heard Gearoid O Colmain being interviewed last week, and whilst doing his usual demolition job on Mélenchon he did not once mention the huge demonstrations there’s been in France over the last year or so, nor did Gearoid O Colmain mention that Mélenchon has this mass movement behind him.

    Jean-Luc Mélenchon has his faults, but he is the only realistic choice for those on the left, and for those who want to bring some sanity back into the world. Perhaps Gearoid O Colmain can come on to this comment thread and explain to me why he spends so much time and effort slagging-off Mélenchon, and promoting another leftist presidential candidate who hasn’t got a hope in hell.

    • John Goss

      When I saw the report on RT regarding Mélenchon I thought that’s they guy RobG keeps banging on about. Perhaps you are going to be proved right after all and all those of us who did not take a bet out on the guy will have lost out.

      • RobG

        John, whilst I’m probably “a strange person in a strange land” I do actually live here, and thus perhaps I have some idea of what’s really going on.

        Everything the mainstream media tells you is total bullshit (likewise with the trolls on boards like this).

        But you know all this stuff, anyway.

        • glenn_uk

          What do your French mates say, when you tell them that the atrocities in Paris and Nice (just as two examples) never actually happened and were government hoaxes – in your esteemed opinion?

          • RobG

            The French are just as propagandised as the Brits and Americans (in some respects the French media are even worse). I have to stress as always that I live in a very rural corner of France, and as such it’s not easy to judge the national mood.

            After the Charlie Hebdo attack in January 2015 France was in a real state of shock. In November 2015 (on Friday the 13th, no less) we had the ‘Paris attacks’, which included a heavily pregnant woman clinging by her fingers from a window sill for more than five minutes, and lots of other complete nonsense. The Paris attacks did not draw the same level of outrage as the Charlie Hebdo stuff. This was very noticeable in France.

            Following the Paris attacks they tried to turn France into a full-on police state, with the ‘state of emergency’. This garnered massive street protests, on top of all the other civil unrest that was going on against the neo-con agenda.

            Then in July 2016 we had the Nice ‘lorry attack’, resulting in the deaths of 86 people and injuring 434. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack. Hours after the attack, President Hollande addressed the nation. He stated that France was now at war and the state of emergency, which was due to expire on 26th July, would be extended by another 3 months, with considerations for it to be made permanent.

            The Nice ‘lorry attack’ took place one day before John Kerry held talks with President Putin in Moscow, about the situation in Syria. Just hours after these talks there was an attempted coup in Turkey. The attempt to overthrow President Erdoğan was carried out by a faction within the Turkish military. President Erdoğan was tipped off by the Russian security services shortly before the coup began and was able to escape to a safe place and rally his forces. After a day or so of chaos, Erdoğan managed to defeat the plotters and regain control of Turkey. The general consensus is that the CIA were behind the coup.

            But you’re asking what the consensus in France is about all these events. Many people in my little corner of France see it all for the total bullshit it is. That’s why you might get a surprise in the forthcoming French presidential election.

          • Zebedee

            “The French are just as propagandised as the Brits and Americans”

            But never fear, RobG alone knows the truth and is here to…..

            1) Enlighten us?

            2) Mock us?

            Methinks it is number two.

          • Pyewacket

            John, last time I looked on Oddschecker, the best on offer was 14/1. I’ve got him at 66/1, and guess Rob perhaps has him at more than 100/1.

      • Resident Dissident

        RobG doesn’t take bets – he just shouts the odds based upon his in depth studies based in his gite in the middle of rural France and its viniculture.

    • bevin

      The points that you are making about Melencthon, who ran for president seven years ago on a similar platform, are very important. Nobody should ever have illusions about the importance of elections. A characteristic of our era is that elections are, increasingly producing, results that the ruling scum/elite does not like (Syriza, Brexit, Corbyn, Trump etc etc) and that the said elites/scum are insisting that they be rescinded in practise.
      Thus the Greek electorate had barely finished digesting the fact that it had overwhelmingly rejected the Troika deal before it learned that the vote was bot going to count. In the US voters are finding today that by rejecting everything that Hillary Clinton stood for they were simply electing someone else to do everything that she would have done. And worse.
      Brexit voters wanting more control over their lives and a return to the welfare state of the pre-Thatcher days, now understand that what they will get is worse than even the EU.
      In France of course, all this is well understood: French voters (along with the Dutch) voted against the EU constitution, which was duly introduced sans voting, French voters elected a Socialist (no laughter please!) President Hollande to preserve the post war pact from Sarkozy, instead he did what Sarkozy never dared to do. He now hopes, through his tool Macron, to complete the neo-liberalisation and NATOfication of France, by the simple device of campaigning that “We may be rotten but at least we are not called LePen” and rallying the people for one last anti-fascist rally before elections are replaced altogether.
      Nobody should have an illusions about Melencthon, there are lots of things wrong with him, but he does represent the alternative to the cultural liquidation that Macron promises and Hollande followed Sarkozy in delivering. He also represents an alternative to Le Pen which is actually better than the National Front, which is something that cannot be said for Macron. He represents those in France who realise that the danger comes not from Islam but from capitalism- it is not the muslims who want to cut out vacations and increase the length of the working day, but Macron and his mates, some of whom hate to see French workers living with dignity, all of whom fear that their way of life could become contagious if others learned about it.
      What the ruling class wants is for Le Pen to come first and Macron to become the only alternative. If Le Pen and Melencthon both get into the run-off the media and the ruling class will not know what to do, but in the end they will back LePen over the outside hope that Melencthon represents of dialling back neo-liberalism and jumping off Donald Trump’s lap and kicking the USA out of Europe.

      • RobG

        bevin, what happened with Greece was a crime, likewise with Spain and Ireland, and there will be more to follow.

        I have no problem with communists, capitalists, libertarians or other strands, as long as its done within a ‘democratic’ system. The main problem is that there is no longer any ‘democratic’ system.

        I’m afraid that my view remains bleak: Trump (love him or hate him) was the last gasp. There’s now either revolution or world war.

        • bevin

          Here’s someone who’d agree with you:

          I wander thro’ each charter’d street,
          Near where the charter’d Thames does flow.
          And mark in every face I meet
          Marks of weakness, marks of woe.

    • bevin

      You and Norton make a great double act-ostensibly at cross purposes but in fact vying against one another to pledge allegiance to neo-liberal business orthodoxy.
      Are English people meant to lament the ‘loss’ of that den of thieves known as Lloyds, or the movement of the money launderers and tax avoiding ‘financial institutions’ to more ‘open’ cities?
      Does your Scottish Republic want The City of London? Would it care to take Westminster with it?
      It is these institutions which have been oppressing Scots people, and everyone else who works productively in the British Isles for centuries. Can you not see that if Independence is worth anything it must not just mean that Nicola Sturgeon jumps the queue begging for investment ahead of Theresa May?
      It must mean, if it is going to benefit anyone with sense, taking power into your own hands, all power, including the power to decide what sort of economy you want, what sort of landscape you want to live in, whether you want people to be homeless and poor begging for work or whether you want a society of equals living together in fraternity with dignity and love born of mutual dependence.
      Capitalism is rotting from the inside, the corruption is eating away at its vital organs, its appetite for expansion has turned inwards, now it is devouring its host. It is idle to pretend that another re-founded Capitalism in Scotland will deliver anything better for the ordinary people of Scotland. It is criminal to attempt to mislead the Scots victims of British imperialism that a Scottish variation on the same theme will benefit them more.
      The only Scottish Republic that makes sense is a socialist, democratic republic. Just as the only UK which can work outside the EU is one which rules itself, in its own interests rather than one which swaps the collar with two leashes-one for Brussels one for Washington- for self rule for the people.
      Anything else is just a fresh coat of paint on a rotten and ramshackle pile.

        • bevin

          Piss off.
          I’m no more a Trump supporter than I am a Le Pen supporter, and if you had the comprehension skills of a spastic sparrow you would understand that.
          Of course you do understand it, but you are so invested in the cheap TV culture in which you have been marinated that you would rather score a cheap shot than risk allying yourself with critics of The Establishment.
          Hence your specialisation in attacks on Rob, in conjunction with the vilest of trolls.
          Choose a fucking side.

          • glenn_uk

            Unfortunately, Bevin, you made yourself a campaigner for Trump when you campaigned against his opponent. I don’t know how people like you found it so difficult to understand that, when faced with a binary choice, working against one choice IS working towards the other.

            About RobG – he’s told me on a number of occasions that I’m to be shot dead. This is because his “false flag” assertions are rather beyond my credulity, and I say so. That’s OK with you though, apparently, because you’ve never uttered a word of complaint about that – indeed, you voice your support right here.

            Far from “specialising in attacks” on RobG, I’d rather he saw sense, stopped making threats, and stopped making ludicrous claims. You might see that as “attacks” because you see everything in the frame of being on one “side” or the other.

        • J

          Glenn, that has the vote for most bizarre comment of the year (so far.) I think Bevin is probably right, and you could only benefit from giving your television to the first homeless person you meet so that he can sell it and eat something today. That’s the only way anything good will come from it.

          • glenn_uk

            J, you’re a cheeky twat. What misinformation do you think I, personally, am getting from the TV then?

      • Republicofscotland

        Bevin.

        Oh I’m just pulling Norton’s, chain today, to see how he likes it, you known posting the kind of its all bad in Scotland thingy.

        Well I pointed out that it’s not a bed of roses down South either. ?

      • Zebedee

        “You and Norton make a great double act-ostensibly at cross purposes ”

        Hey, don’t they just Bevin? LOL

    • Zebedee

      “Lloyds, HSBC (a thousand jobs going to Europe) and AIG, are just a few of the financial institutions moving thousands jobs out of Britain, and into Europe.”

      Do you actually have any sources you can quote for such rumours?

  • BrianPowell

    And yet Scottish Labour is willing to sell us out to Tory England and so to Tory Scotland.

  • Velofello

    2 HYUFD … the Tories best ever Holyrood election result… recommend you study the D’Hondt vote allocation scam.And there’s a good article on Wings over Scotland on Murdo Frazer, he’s won a poll! And y’know, he isn’t the only Tory MSP trailing behind by +10,000 votes., plenty of them Then there’s Annie Wells, new darling of BBC Scotland, she polled a smidgeon over 2000 votes, yes, just a little over 2000 votes. And she doesn’t recognise the sovereignty of the Scottish parliament, and by extension, presumably, the Scottish nation.

  • giyane

    After Trump’s comment on BJ ” I don’t need him “, it appears that the G6 don’t need him either.
    The EU has spent the last 7 years trying to get rid of Assad, so it’s not world-shattering news that they still share that aim. However the window of opportunity of continuing to agree only lasts until the French and German elections, i.e. 2 weeks. Boris missed the last EU window of opportunity, getting Cyprus gifted to Erdogan for services rendered to USUKIS global hegemony.

    Can anyone please explain why Trump needs Russo-phile oil-man Tillerson to talk about chemical weapons? Nothing to do with Mediterranean/ Syrian / Iraqi gas? I think our policy that is we love all our extra-ordinary renditioners, Saudi, Syria, Scumbag State, equally, if they give us the gas and don’t get funny with us thinking it’s theirs to fund interest-free banking to Africa.

    C’mon guys we can do this the easy way or we can do it the hard way.

    • IBen

      Is there any doubt re: Tillerson?

      He’s a finance negotiator. He’s probaby regretting this job. He has to talk to people about non- finance human interests unrelated to profitability. He’s wondering why he still wants this job. It’s unprofitablr.

    • Herbie

      “This piece of junk is a ‘Rhodes scholar’”

      The Rhodes scholarship was a way of entwining young people into support for Western values, as the future of the world.

      It’s their function to support all measures which bring that objective closer.

      The fact that Western values are clearly satanic and dependent on the most laughable of lies doesn’t bother them so much.

      Ludicrously large salaries seem to help too.

      • Zebedee

        Please explain this “satanic” rubbish? I mean, you really believe that some “all-powerful god who created everything” even created himself some kind of all-powerful enemy? Now why would any sane deity do such a thing? Please feel free to give me some kind of rational answer?

        • Herbie

          Just means they act as gods on earth.

          You know, create the world in their own image.

          Destroy traditional cultures.

          Create Frankenstein foods.

          And so on.

          They can do better than nature.

          They even reinvent Man.

          • Zebedee

            Oh I agree with you on that Herbie, but they invented “Satan” in order to keep the people living in fear. They just love having the people living in fear. Like RoS is so terrified about all those jobs going to Europe. If they were real jobs surely they would be secure? You know, as in skilled jobs requiring skilled workers to do them, unlike those sweeping the floor jobs that anybody can do.

      • Babushka

        Herbie are you familiar with the film The Falcon and The Snowman? It documents some of the true story of Christopher Boyce and his stumbling onto some CIA facts surrounding Australia’s Rhodes scholar/Trade Unions boss/PM Bob Hawke.
        Gough Whitlam wanted Australia for Australians, and we all know what happened to PM Whitlam.
        It beggars belief the extent to which the blind choose to remain resolutely blind, and worse, condescend to and condemn those who are aware and awake.

  • giyane

    If Syria flew in one night and took out 20% of Birmingham’s bus capacity, would there not be a few eyebrows raise? But our Foreign Secretary employs many thousands of foreign agents who have totally dismantled Syria.
    One fifth of the fleet of one city would seem to me to be a very restrained revenge. Yet there is no international outcry, no blog from Craig about this international war-crime. Maybe bombing a sovereign country you want to steal their mineral resources from is no longer considered a crime.

    What’s yours is ours and what’s ours belongs to the 1%.

    Assad is a rendition torturer. Obviously no blame at all on the Western countries that employ him to torture. this was the thin black line that Craig was not allowed to breach. Was it a Satanic line? Yes because Satan’s job is to deceive and the deception of the colonial, nuclear West is supreme. In the 1959s the UK paid 2% of the profits of Iraqi oil to Iraq. 98% for USUKIS.

    In 2003 the Bush Blair invasion of Iraq was shamefully agreed by the UK parliament even though it knew that this was the fulfilment of Winston Churchill’s 1918 ambitions for Iraqi oil. Was that a satanic decision? In view of the fact that Mrs Thatcher sent aid/ i.e. sold arms to Iraq yes, because Saddam Hussein had no other weapons than that which he had purchased from the West , to fight the colonial wars of the West.

    2% is just too high a dividend for the West to pay. There is no ability to charge the oil rich country for weapons which get magicked away by armed militias from Scumbag State, or for protection by USUKIS companies against USUKIS employed savages. There is no ability to de-stabilise the entire region and bankrupt it so that it can be generously aided, as in Libya and Somalia with a British groomed government.

    This country, represented by Boris Johnson is so satanic, Satan is asking himself the question whether he’s out of a job. He’s now on zero hours in case the people of the West start causing problems. he is the back stop , behind Al Qaida and Daesh, just in case.

    • giyane

      This week I got myself in big problems at work because I compared the red hair-do of a female employee with that of a troll. I know it wasn’t fair or PC because trolls come in many disguises , including in the disguise of Zebedee, whom I remember vaguely as having eyebrows only. Obviously abandoning God would enable us to abandon the concept of justice as taught by the prophets. Satan would argue that satan doesn’t exist , wouldn’t he? I know he exists over there, in Libya, Somalia, Iraq, Syria, Turkey etc. But he doesn’t exist as such in perfidious Albion, surely?

    • Anon

      Rev 2:9 and you will understand freedland and aaronovitch and kamm and chuck toddsky have taken over where trotsky left off, and its been happening for 2000 years ! We are already under Bolshevism 2.0, if you must know !

  • Sophie-Grace Chappell

    Great stuff, Craig. It’s been obvious even to the casual observer of the MSM that they are selling us a pup about what Scotland actually thinks. Thanks for digging down a little and bringing out some of the reasons why.
    Follow-up question: it’s my impression that the press are *very* keen to ask “Should there be a second referendum?” rather than “How would you vote in a second referendum?”. And you don’t have to be an ultra-cynic to think that they’re doing this because they reckon that, if they ask the second question, they won’t get the answer they like. On the other hand, I haven’t yet seen clear evidence that there’s been a swing to Yes yet. So where do you think the numbers are right now on Indy Ref 2? On the evidence I’m seeing, I’d hazard a guess at about 44/48/08 Yes/ No/ DK. What do you think?

    • fred

      That’s terrible Sophie the MSM selling us a pup.

      Could you be more specific as to which particular papers it was that misrepresented the facts.

      I looked in the Scotsman:

      A Scottish sample of the survey by Lord Ashcroft revealed that Ms Sturgeon had the only positive approval rating of any politician in Scotland.

      The Sun.

      Among the 906 Scots quizzed for the poll, billionaire Trump fared worst of 12 leaders – with Nicola Sturgeon top of the pile.

      Not one of the papers I saw yesterday tried to misrepresent the findings of the poll.

      Who exactly are this nasty “MSM” who are supposed to have it in for Ms Sturgeon?

      • reel guid

        The Daily Mail were at their comical best by trying to spin it. Saying Sturgeon was regarded by voters as the best of a bad lot instead of the most popular.

        • fred

          But they still said Sturgeon was most popular.

          Reading Craigs piece I assumed that the papers had been trying to pass off all UK results as Scottish results but after I had seen a few newspapers I realised that wasn’t the case, the papers had given an honest representation of the poll results which makes me wonder if it is Craig’s representation of the media which is not so honest.

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