I’ve been alerted by a reader of the Tusker today, to the appalling display of unbalanced, ill-informed rants, drawn by the smell of blood in the exam results story, in the Scotsman today.
Ignoring the difficulty of the task faced by the SQA, the increased pass rates, the tiny scale of the protests and the adoption of a similar moderation strategy in England and Wales, the editor presents us with five rants by well-known Tory and Labour-supporters, one editorial and letters by Scotland in Union’s [SiU] covert letter-writing group.
We’ve got former New Labour minister, Brian Wilson, Tory councillor John McLellan, retired private school heidie and Tory supporter Cameron Wylie, new lad from the south, Conor Matchett, Labour’s Iain Gray, Labour adviser Susan Dalgety, SiU/Labour Phil Tate [Iain Murray’s manager] and Scotland in Union’s Allan Sutherland.
No contrary voices or opinions.
You’d get more balance in the Banana Republic Advertiser!
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Talking-up Scotland 
Dont buy it.
Dont read it.
Dont discuss it.
Dismiss its content and colonial remit.
Neues Deutschland was more independent of its political masters and more balanced.
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Used to buy that paper.The Scotsman deserves to die simply because it is about propaganda not even handed analysis.
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I bought it for two decades. It was a “paper of record” when I first purchased it.
Now I wouldn’t wrap chips in it.
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And I widnes dicht my A***e wi it
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Balance with them can only ever be restored by the placing of The Scotsman
Into the jaws of a crushing machine
And such jaws shall be the result Holyrood 2021 poll
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The BBC is as bad. They have form for inflating any issue that might show the SNP/Scottish government in a bad light, but only in Scotland. Compare and contrast with this quiet factual report from Wales https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-53693531 – they really must think we’re stupid if they think we can’t see the difference
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Scotland’s media are a howling banshee mob of Brit Nat bigots.
They are a disgrace to journalism.
Wait till Indyref2 and see the moonstruck craziness REALLY come out.
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Are they really ‘Scotland’s media’ though?
Who funds them? They employ Scottish story telling liars, for a few pieces of silver, but who on earth buys their BritNat propaganda rag anymore?
They had their Scottish audience mesmerised for decades, now, not so much.
Thanks for the great articles this past week, holding these anti Scottish, these right wing enemies of Scotland, to account. 🙂
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They are already out and such confirms that INDY 2 is now certain
They cannot stop it
But be ready for the full bag of tricks from the dark forces of the Bankrupt British State
Know thy Foe
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Each is as bad as the other, but the days where they dominated public information and thereby public opinion has gone, part self-inflicted due to their relentless onslaught against anything Scottish while SNP are in charge… You don’t have to be a SNP member or an Indy supporter to get the whiff of hydrogen sulphide…
The SQA confection was intended to get parents agitated, in reality few were, these mind-numbing propaganda barrages have not caused shock and awe but exclamations of “aw naw, mair shite”.
Propaganda only works if folks pay attention, increasingly they’re not…
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They only need a small percentage of us to be stupid, to stop Independence.
Everything they do is based on small nudges.
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This critique of The Scotsman is justified. But let’s not kid ourselves. The knives are out for the Scottish Government and the SNP from more than Unionist/Brit Nat supporting organisations.
Did anyone read this article from Common Weal yesterday? It’s entitled: ‘The foundations of Scotland’s democracy have crumbled and you should worry’.
It tears into the SNP and its record of government across a broad range. However, for those here interested in the SQA assessment issue you will find one especially ‘notable’ comment:
“Let’s take the SQA debacle; like everything else, it seems clear to me that the only real consideration was how the exam problem would make the first minister look. She clearly wanted a slight improvement – but not too much. In other words, to look like last year with a slight uptick. ”
Could have been written for The Scotsman but wasn’t.
When one looks at the documented statements by qualification regulators in England and Wales on strategic intent for the 2020 outcomes in terms of attainment in this exceptionally difficult year – i.e. to apply a standardisation method in order that grades are not inflated but are much like recent historic levels of attainment in order to maintain the integrity of the assessment ‘system’ – this personalised attack on the integrity of the FM is very, very hard to justify – and it’s an attack made by assertion rather than evidence.
I have no wish to amplify this material from an organisation whose work I have studied and appreciated on many occasions – I doubt whether even this brief comment is sensible. However it is important to know who is saying what – and with what ‘tone’ – at present just as the political party that is the key vehicle to secure Scotland’s independence faces a crucial election next year and, fortunately, has earned a high public opinion pole rating. A rating too high for the Unionists/British Nationalists certainly. But how do others view this polling?
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And by way of contrast, Wales do proper journalism…
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