Indyref 9

[IrnBruTheNoo]

...

"irn I'm a No and have criticised the BT campaign at times. It's okay to say when something is wrong or has gone too far, surely you are not agreeing with Jim Sillars extremist views"

Ok, you may have a point. I agree with some of his statement, but not all. I don't want the elite to be lining their pockets forever more. Something's got to change whether or not it's a Yes or No next week.

rt.com/uk/187344-bbc-scottish-independence-bias/

Sweet! That's RT picked up on the story. They don't tend to cherry pick the stories compared to the BBC.

Irn - ALL media outlets cherry pick the stories they will run - they simply don't have the bandwidth to cover every single story.

You really want to trumpet RT as a bastion of the free press? Really? The outlet with so much editorial integrity and freedom that it is letting the Kremlin determine editorial policy/content/tone regarding people actually, you know, dying in Ukraine.

There are plenty with Sillar's views. I have a socialist friend in the radical campaign who has complained about why the yes campaign refuses to do much with them and Tommy Sheridan - I suspect the horrified response here to Sillar's comments is why.

I suspect they are useful to the Yes campaign to be going out knocking the doors in poor estates promising people hope and all sorts of possibilities like a citizen's income/minimum income which even they can't hope to deliver (current number of socialist MSPs of any stripe under proportional representation = 0). But of course they are held at arm's length because it wouldn't play well in the mainstream under scrutiny.

And they keep a tight leash on their 'broad church' of opinions. I'm pretty sure on the BigBigDebate that I witnessed Patrick Harvey defend the idea of a currency union despite previously favouring a new currency.

I don't know, but suspect that Better Together thought that they needed a more radical lefty to balance having Ruth given they were going up against the Scottish Greens - and thought George Galloway would appeal to the young people. He wouldn't have been my choice, but I think he did okay.

It's bewildering to have a conversation with a very left wing friend (and I'm on the left myself) who has a. given up her solidarity with the rest of the UK b. will happily point out and agree with me where the SNP are right-wing c. will fully acknowledge that the things she wants out of independence are not even promised/talked about by the mainstream yes campaign d. does not self-identify as a nationalist and even dislikes nationalism.

She is not only voting yes, but is going out there trying to convincing others to do so too. I don't understand it, the chances of a yes vote getting her a socialist Scotland are minuscule. MAYBE the increased activity of the socialists will get one or other of the socialist parties a regional MSP or two at the next Holyrood election, but that doesn't seem reason enough for me to vote Yes.

I love her to bits and agree with her on so much politically, but I can't understand her vote at all.

She thinks the SNP will muck it up, and that folk will turn to the socialists.

I am a mother of a toddler, I'd rather not have to raise him in a country that has been 'mucked up'.

"Irn - ALL media outlets cherry pick the stories they will run - they simply don't have the bandwidth to cover every single story."

BBC were lying about Alex Salmond not responding to Robinson's question when he actually did!! It was a down and out lie and they heavily edited it to make out he did not respond at all.

Yes, I'm aware about the Ukraine situation but I'm not commenting on that, but on the BBC being biased when it comes to home stories.

"He wouldn't have been my choice, but I think he did okay. "

Seriously?!!?

RT have no agenda when it comes to the Scottish referendum, they are just telling the facts. But I do agree they have their own agenda with regards to the conflict in Ukraine.

DH says that George Galloway said that the BBC wanted one mainstream view and one minor party view on both sides of the debate and that they asked for George Galloway. When Yes said they wouldn't share a platform with him he was withdrawn but after complaints was reinstated.

*DH does not know George personally! he just followed the situation closer than me.

Yes, seriously he wouldn't have been my choice

You can be a hardcore Tory and vote Yes. With independence Scots can vote for the policies that they want without their voice being drowned out by the rest of the country. All that Yes supporters have in common that they think Scotland will do better with independence. What "better" is is very much up for discussion.

As has been said before on this thread, independence will ironically probably kill the SNP off as they will have lost their USP.

NS didn't do herself any favours last night, and GG with his hat on!! . I thought the whole thing was useless tbh.

I am getting very tired of it all now, just want the thing to be over , one way or another.

"GG with his hat on!!"

Now, this I can agree with you on. I thought he was very ignorant wearing a hat whilst speaking to people inside the auditorium. Surely to goodness he could have removed it whilst he was there!

How on earth is RT not biased? Presumably they believe a yes vote would destabilise the UK.

NS didn't do herself any favours last night, and GG with his hat on!! . I thought the whole thing was useless tbh

TBF it was very heavily edited to try and make it seem like a more evenly balanced debate than it actually was.

grandtheftmanual
RT have no agenda when it comes to the Scottish referendum, they are just telling the facts. But I do agree they have their own agenda with regards to the conflict in Ukraine.

Nope - don't believe RT have no agenda when it comes to anything.

Of course RT have an agenda with every story they cover.

Their agenda is to find and show any disagreement and dissent that arises in any country that is not friendly at the moment with Russia.

In fact, scrub that. It's not their agenda. It's their raison d'etre. They were created by Putin for that purpose.

WTF is in it for RT if Scotland votes yes or no? They don't give two hoots!

Anyway, the point of my link was to show that the BBC were lying when it came to the International Press Conference that Salmond called for. They edited out his answer and claimed he never responded. It's a disgrace.

Sorry from SE England but what is RT?

The UK have been very vocal re Ukraine. Russia doesn't like that. Anything that makes the UK look bad (unfair, unbiased reporting) will be playing into Russian Govt hands.

You can't claim one media outlet is impartial when they patently are not. You don't think the Kremlin wants to give the UK (for its policy and criticism of its actions in Ukraine) and the BBC (for its reporting of the situation) a kicking? Incidentally, see also any Scottish Sun support for Yes as a Murdoch glasgae kiss to the UK over phone hacking.

And no, I don't work for the BBC.

And while we're at it, John Lewis is not a Tory business - it is an employee owned enterprise where profits are distributed among its employees as bonuses as they have no shareholders to satisfy. That's hardly the Tory way.

And no, I don't work for JL either.

Finally, beyond any necessary regulation the government does not tell business what to do, especially hugely powerful supermarket chains - one of which is actually US-owned. These businesses aren't toeing the government line, they are acting in their own self-interest, so they can't be accused of :
a) lying to Scottish consumers down the line if their prices do go up or
b) lying to their investors if their future profits are impacted by further increased costs of doing business in iScotland.

For the person who mentioned Aldi, Lidl - you do know that while they are comparatively cheap in the UK, their prices here actually are higher than they are on the continent? Wonder why that might be?

And no, I don't work either for the government or for a supermarket chain.

Grovel rt.com/

Grovel - RT = Russia Today. Kremlin-backed (and run, by all accounts) news organisation.

x-posts with grand!