From BBC Scotland this morning:
SNP MPs have been accused of a parliamentary “stunt” after they were blocked from voting on an “English-only” bill about the NHS. Convention in the Commons has meant MPs from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have not had a say on bills deemed to apply only in England. However, the SNP’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford said the bill would have spending implications for Scotland. Conservative Michael Gove said the move was a stunt to “manufacture grievance”.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-51378669
I know, they do get around to the SNP position, which is, of course, true. The accuser turns out to be only the Slimy Gove, not an eminent legal expert but just a highly partisan politician then given the headline and the opening statement by the state broadcaster in Scotland. The damage is done, once more, to the image of the SNP in Westminster.
It’s no accident that the headline and the opening line begins from the UK Government perspective. An editorial decision was made not to headline and open with:
‘UK Government accused of denying SNP MPs right to vote on matter affecting Scotland.’
Conscious or semi-consciously or habitually, done, it remains thought control in a democratic society.
And this excellent survey by u/bottish on reddit:
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
At the School for Journalism. Instructor:—-
“In the past there were stories like *Hitler*s ‘plane found on the moon” which have been used to sell newspapers but of course its pure moonshine and simply isn’t journalism”. “Could anyone explain why”?
Repressing Scotland apprentice:—
“Sir! Sir! Our news editor says we have to look for ANYTHING which makes the SNP look BAD, and that would be a GOOD story, so could we say *Salmonds ‘plane found on the moon”?
Instructor:–Duh!
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‘State Broadcaster’
What a state to be in!!!!
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The Fraser of Allander Institute seems to be much more prepared to challenge the Better Together economic orthodoxies at the moment. Having very recently deconstructed Jackson Carlaw’s Scottish Income Tax proposals with a deliciously dry humour – they have now utterly debunked Scotland In Union’s demented claims that the SNP Scottish Govt are ‘burying’ Scotland’s recent economic statistical revisions by the novel means of publishing these routinely in the official economic statistical bulletins! Link and snippets below:
https://fraserofallander.org/scottish-economy/economic-statistics-revisions-and-burying-bad-news/
Economic Statistics revisions and ‘burying bad news’
Fraser of Allander Institute – February 3, 2020
We were highly puzzled by some recent newspaper stories that seem to accuse Scottish Ministers of ‘burying bad news’ after revised data on Scotland’s economy was published last week.
We think this is unfair.
So what is the story?
Newly revised data on the size of Scotland’s economy was published last week as part of the Scottish Government’s Quarterly National Accounts publication covering the 3rd quarter of 2019. This is a National Statistics publication pre-announced weeks in advance. It is available here. There was an accompanying news release to the publication here.
You can’t really bury bad news if you publish it on your website as part of a regular statistical publication.
It is unreasonable to expect Ministers to comment on each and every statistical revision that takes place over the course of a year.
Suggesting that the statistics have been buried to hide questions about Scotland’s fiscal deficit is simply bizarre.
There will of course be an important debate to be had about Scotland’s relative fiscal position, but this should only take place when all revisions – not just to GDP but the underlying public finances – are published in the annual GERS report in the summer. It will be at that point the underlying strength of Scotland’s fiscal position can be assessed, including if it has been revised down, once all the updated data is available.
There are important debates to be had about the performance of the Scottish economy. But this isn’t one of them.
Let’s hope these recent encouraging efforts presage a longer term commitment to subjecting britnat arguments to the same level of scrutiny to which Indy arguments are subjected. All we request is a fair approach to the analysis being applied.
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‘Simply bizarre’ I would say covers just about everything of British nationalist origin, thinking, and existence.
“Demented” is a better word though and truly descriptive.
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The National joins the FoAI in debunking the britnat ‘..burying bad news by publishing the regular economic data biulletins’ guff. Link and snippets below: (carried in The National’s Factcheck series – these factcheck articles can be freely accessed – not behind any paywall – worth a look at the full (short) piece):
https://www.thenational.scot/news/18212822.fact-check-libdems-claim-scotlands-deficit-7-2-rising/
WHAT’S THE CLAIM?
“Scotland’s national deficit is now 7.2% and rising” – LibDem MSP Alex Cole-Hamilton, Twitter, February 2 2020
DOORSTEP REPLY
Scotland pays its way. The latest GDP accounts show Scotland is as rich per head as Japan or France. The Scottish economy grew faster than the UK in 2018, the last full year we have data for.
The latest GDP quarterly accounts did include significant data revisions. However, the overall result was that for 2018 – the latest full calendar year for which numbers are available – Scotland’s onshore GDP growth was 1.5%. The equivalent UK growth was smaller, at 1.3%.
The substance of the budget deficit debate lies in Scotland’s ability to fund a high level of public expenditure post-independence. The January GDP national accounts provide hard evidence in this regard. For 2018 – and after the ONS revisions – the annual value of Scotland’s GDP in current prices is £32,300 per person, or circa $42,313. That is only slightly below Japan ($44,227) or France ($45,775) and better than Spain ($40,139) or New Zealand ($40,135) – IMF data for 2018. Scotland is a rich industrial nation that can afford welfare services on a par with these other nations.
FACT CHECK RATING: FALSE
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