Former New Labour minister and now supposedly just a journo at the Scotsman, is today making the frankly laughable claim that the SNP has Conservative-friendly policies.
What, these things that Labour would never ever consider?
- Higher taxes for the higher paid and lower taxes for the lower paid?
- The unique Child Payment pulling poverty well below UK levels?
- More affordable housing and lower rents generally?
- Rent freezes and eviction bans in the private sector?
- Free prescriptions, bus passes and HE tuition.
- Free school dinners for far more children than elsewhere in the UK?
- Opposition to nuclear weapons?
And on and on……?
It is headed ‘Perspective’ but, in the interests of readers might be better termed ‘Completely untrue.’
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
I WOULD LOVE TO KNOW WHERE THIS ONCE RESPECTED RAG
IS GETTING THE MONEY TO PAY THIS SCRIBE
AND ALL OTHER SALARIES
OR IS THIS RAG NOW DEPENDING ON HANDOUTS FROM ENGLISH COMMERCIAL OWNERS
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It’s not a going concern.
Click to access 50777501.pdf
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The Hootsmon tells ordinary freelances: “Sorry, we no longer have a budget for freelance contributions.”
However, if you are a Unionist commentator, with the right connections at the paper – guys like Wilson or McLellan – then, you can write any old pish and they’ll print it.
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As sure as night follows day…anything but anything SNP related via anything but anything that is promoted as a negative against the SNP will then result in some skewed version of that story that, as a story, bears NO relation to any reality connected to the actual truth of the story via the one and only Brian ‘always angry’ Wilson (former Labour MP and still current Labour supporter) who will be only TOO willing to jump in with BOTH (too big for his boots) feet to give his very much subjective and too partisan opinion upon it………#SNPBAD is it….well what say Brian Wilson via the The oxymoronic titled newspaper that is The Scotsman….as in the newspaper that gives a platform to anyone similar to Brian Wilson in that their opinion concurs with that of Brian ‘always angry’ Wilson …..as in those individuals who are ALWAYS (coincidently ….NOT) more than willing to diss the SNP……and also undermine Scotland as a country.
Breaking News: Long time hater of the SNP one Brian ‘always angry’ Wilson and also a strong opposer of independence writes yet ANOTHER #SNPBAD article in what has been a succession of #SNPBAD articles produced by him on that SAME subject since the ANTI Scotsman newspaper gave him a platform via what seems to have been an excessively long long long time to simply write about the same subject over and over and over again and strangely ALWAYS come to the very same conclusion that the SNP and too independence is not just BAD but REALLY BAD indeed far worse than anything that is happening politically within his UK (also known as him being but a one trick pony in that which he obsesses about i.e. #SNPBAD)……what a surprise NOT.
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‘… making the frankly laughable claim that the SNP has Conservative-friendly policies.’
Is this another example of how the parochialism of The Scotsman on politics – or rather its sacrifice of decent journalism in support for the ‘precious’ Unionism – ends up treating its readers as fools.?
This is from the review of the Labour Party conference, and in particular its leaders speech, by the Institute for Government (IfG). It is crystal clear in its (non-partisan) analysis: in order to win the next General Election, Labour is committing itself to ‘Conservative friendly policies’!
This is from the IfG (with my emphasis): ‘The Labour leader MADE A DIRECT APPEAL TO CONSERVATIVES to switch to his party, PURPOSELY FOCUSING ON THEMES of security and highlighting priorities traditionally popular on the right: fighting for the union, defending family life, keeping taxes down and building a positive relationship with business .’
Source: https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/keir-starmers-narrative
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I bought the Scotsman from 1970 to the end of Chris Baur’s short stint as editor. It was a Newspaper of Record, had the finest editors (Alistair Dunnett and Eric MacKay)Scotland has ever produced, a Home Rule, Liberal-supporting organ.
It is none of those things now.
Since the mid-’50s it has also been asset stripped by its owners–a smaller version of Scotland.
The modern version has invested in utterly putrid, partisan British nationalist journalism, is anti-Scottish and as a consequence, its circulation is now a tiny fraction of its glory years.
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Mr Wilson is redeploying an old jibe Labour used to throw at the SNP from around the end of the Second World War was to call them ‘tartan Tories’.
However, with Labour accepting neoliberal capitalism as the only game in town during the Blair/Brown years, with Labour’s unconstructive oppositionism (eg, her Dameness the Jaikie of Baillie) since 2007 and the collusion with the Tories in 2014, which continues via various organisations, it lost any traction as a jibe with voters, most of whom stopped voting Labour.
The fact that he is using the actions of an MP in a spiteful fit of pique to join the Tories to seek to resurrect it, shows how shallow Labour thinking is. In a country (Scotland) which is more than self sufficient in renewables, there is a former MP, who is a strong advocate of the Tory policy of more nuclear power stations. The move by former Labour cabinet ministers into business in the sector for which they had responsibility is substantial, particularly in health. Mr Wilson was a minister for energy. Perhaps he should tell us if he has a pecuniary interest.
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Brian Wilson is the Blackpool Rock of politics – cut him open and it reads SNPBaaaaD all the way through .
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