BBC bias – Scottish independence content

Are you saying the people in the north of England are too dumb to come up with solutions if they had more self-government and the power to something about it?

Where did I say they were dumb?

Why do they need more “self-government” to achieve this?

How would “self-government” help?

I tend to agree with you regarding the House of Lords but I think we need less layers of government, not more.

If “Regional Assemblies” were created, then why would you expect them to be any use? I have just had dealings with my Local Authority and was amazed at how useless they were at all levels. Why would a “Regional Assembly” be any better?

But that isn’t the deal you signed, was it?

shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom

Sounds a bit like the marriage vow “until death us do part.”. So are you saying divorce should be bannned?

So are you saying divorce should be bannned?

Not necessarily – but just like a divorce, Scotland can’t immediately assume they’re going to get half the house and furniture and keep getting maintenance afterwards 😉

Not necessarily – but just like a divorce, Scotland can’t immediately assume they’re going to get half the house and furniture and keep getting maintenance afterwards

This keeps coming up (usually from English folk). No where has that sort of arrangement been suggested.

The Scottish people don’t want half, all we want is our fair share of what the UK currently has. We’ll take our share of the debt and also the assets.

Maybe what we need is the equivalent of a divorce lawyer coming in and helping to negotiate and get some proper facts and figures for the debate.

winston_dog – Member
…Why do they need more “self-government” to achieve this?
How would “self-government” help?
…If “Regional Assemblies” were created, then why would you expect them to be any use? I have just had dealings with my Local Authority and was amazed at how useless they were at all levels. Why would a “Regional Assembly” be any better?

So fundamentally you don’t think democracy works?

So fundamentally you don’t think democracy works?

Putting words into my mouth!

How far do you want to go? How many layers of Government would reflect the subtle difference between the regions of the UK?

I will ask again, how would these multiple layers of government help in basically dividing up a finite amount of resources?

On democracy “It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.”

Regional Assemblies were thrown out when they were voted on by the people of the NE.

Why not go the whole hog and let’s have Anarchy? A full network of small communities with no Central Government? Utopia!

Anarchy in (or out) of the UK it’s coming sometime…. 🙂

I will ask again, how would these multiple layers of government help in basically dividing up a finite amount of resources?

One less unelected at the top.

Replaced by a new elected one just below the top.

This is fantastic:

http://thinkafricapress.com/blog/if-uk-were-african-country-was-great-britain-mistake

😀

bencooper – Member
This is fantastic:

http://thinkafricapress.com/blog/if-uk-were-african-country-was-great-britain-mistake

Thanks. I’ve stuck that all on my FaceBook.

bencooper – Member
Yeah, that’s a total balls-up, but Edinburgh isn’t in the North-East of England

The point is still the same, though – huge amounts of public money is spent in London compared to the regions.

I am afraid they also pay far more in tax revenue than the rest of the country. Let me put it in a simpler way for the whiners they subsidies the rest of the country. I HAVE NEVER LIVED IN THE SOUTH OF ENGLAND ONLY NORTH WEST AND NORTH EAST, so I am not biased further more I live in rural area and don’t think we are entitled to the same quality of services as cities as they subsidies rural areas (indirectly electric telephone etc).

scotroutes – Member
Because
You
Would
Have
To
Pay
VAT
On
Them
If
We
Were
Not
In
The
EU
!!

And then you reclaim it when you sell on the item. Exactly as you would if you had bought the item from someone in the UK. Staggering lack of financial knowledge, don’t go into business you won’t last long!

winston_dog – Member
I can’t see how another level of government would help and that was rejected in the NE by a public vote in the 90’s.

It was 2004 [/pendant]

SD-253 – Member
I am afraid they also pay far more in tax revenue than the rest of the country.

More tax comes from (some parts of) London because of the unbalanced nature of the UK economy. The reason productivity and economic activity is higher in London is because it is lower in the rest of the UK. It is classic dependency theory – rich places stay rich by exploiting the resources (be they natural, financial, human, knowledge etc) than less rich places because they have more power.

Massive imbalances are bad for everyone because diverse economies are more resilient.

BBC again: Radio Scotland held a “Big Debate” on independence, not in a town hall or public school, but in a private school (Strathallan). When the audience of schoolchildren was asked how they’d vote, 3 in 200 were for independence.

So a nice, balanced studio audience there.

Then afterwards the one pro-independence person on the panel was abused on Twitter by pupils.

Classy.

Ben – Now that sounds pretty dodgy to me.

However, I don’t agree that the BBC is biased against the Yes vote.

Why would it be?

Surely the BBC journalists North of the Border are a pretty mixed bunch but will probably be more likely than most to be slightly “left leaning”. The BBC is always accused of being a bunch of hand wringing lefties. Isn’t the vast majority of support for Yes coming from the left?

So if this is the case, why would they be biased against a Yes vote?

“Left-leaning” in Scotland used to mean aligned to the Labour Party. If you live here, you’ll see that the Labour Party has a visceral, almost tribal hatred of the SNP. I guess it’s to be expected since the SNP has stripped them from 50 years of continuous power in Scotland. When you get BBC political correspondents going on holiday with Labour leaders, or making comments to Douglas Alexander (live on a BBC election broadcast) along the lines of “look at this SNP landslide, we need you here in Holyrood” you get an idea of how cosy the relationship between BBC Scotland and the Labour Party is.

Don’t worry Ben the FT counter-balanced this more by giving column inches yesterday to wee eck BSing on about how he could ignore what Carney was saying. How much bias is involved with uncritical reporting of his nonsense??

La, la, la……hear no evil, see no evil, speak plenty of it……

The labour v SNP debates this week have been particularly dignified hey Scotroutes?? Then the lovely picture of Ms Davidson in full attack mode in the Scotsman. Not a picture she will be keeping!!!!

“Left-leaning” in Scotland used to mean aligned to the Labour Party. If you live here, you’ll see that the Labour Party has a visceral, almost tribal hatred of the SNP.

I thought the Yes or No wasn’t about just the SNP and AS? This has been clearly stated on here numerous times.

If Labour have lost a % of their vote to the SNP then surely a similar % of left leaning journos would of went over to the SNP?

Just a minor point I lived in Scotland for 6 years until 2009.

thought the Yes or No wasn’t about just the SNP and AS?

Shouldn’t be, but for many short sighted people it is. There is a Yes movement in the Labour party, but hard to tell how big it is.

A relief to read in the Scotsman that

ALMOST a third of Scots are unaware of the existence of Alex Salmond’s White Paper and almost nine out of ten people have not bothered to read it, a poll commissioned by the Scottish philanthropist Sir Tom Hunter has claimed.

Despite the hype surrounding the document outlining the Scottish Government’s independence blueprint, the survey of 1,054 adults found only 14 per cent claimed to have read any of it.

That’s a relief ( that I one of the few fools who has actually tried to read it. ) The Scots are far too canny to bother which such rubbish. 😉

But almost a third unaware!?!?!?

Is that the poll that shows support for the Yes campaign continuing to grow? I think, if you leave the undecided out, it was at about 40%?

Yes, I think it does. Good job for the yes campaign that the details are ignored! Still, I reckon it will be much closer that current polls suggest. Just wait for the indigestion of having all those cakes and eating them though.

A quick look at the polling demographic suggests support for independence is higher in the lower income categories. I know journalists aren’t usually millionaires, but still… 🙂

Anyway, as I said, there’s been a cosy relationship for decades. The Derek Bateman blog is a useful read to see his take on it.

BBC: Balance the Bias

Sorry, but I just had to….

http://www.express.co.uk/sport/tennis/455395/Andy-Murray-holds-the-key-to-England-s-Davis-Cup-hopes

😆

ALMOST a third of Scots are unaware of the existence of Alex Salmond’s White Paper and almost nine out of ten people have not bothered to read it,

If they had read it, then like me, in their first quick glance through, perhaps they would have stumbled across this little gem:

What about bank bail-outs if there is another financial
crisis?
…
…

If in the future wider support from governments is required to
stabilise the financial system, this would be coordinated through
the governance arrangements agreed between the
governments of the Sterling Area.

I see. So if in the future Scottish banks implode, taxpayers from England, Wales and NI will be expected to pick up the tab. Nice one.

Why did the US Federal Reserve bail out Barclays Bank to the tune of £552.32bn?

Does the express not have an editorial department 😉 !!! That is a shocker.

Sticky speaking the FED allowed Barc to borrow from then – they were not “bailed out.” By hook or by crook Barc avoided any kind of official bail out although they clearly benefited from indirect assistance. But remember what function the FED played – it was the lender of last resort and going forward they will require Barc to structure themselves differently, Judging by recent comments, such thoughts havent even crossed wee eck’s mind yet.

Lender of last resort, pah!

Bloody got effort from the Davis Cup team though, makes you proud to be a Brit!!!

“I see. So if in the future Scottish banks implode, taxpayers from England, Wales and NI will be expected to pick up the tab. Nice one”

It doesn’t actually say that oldnpastit. It suggests that countries could cooperate in the event of a banking crisis. Though I think proper regulation and prison sentences for thise responsible would help.

A detailed response by the UWS academic to the BBC’s criticism of his paper:

http://www.newsnetscotland.com/index.php/scottish-opinion/8679-uws-academic-responds-to-bbc-scotland-criticism-of-indy-news-study

I am a socialist, pacifist and feminist. I had no agenda to pursue other than genuine curiosity to explore the patterns of journalistic behaviour in a process of wide contemporary interest.

This I find odd. If I was a socialist, or a pacifist, or a feminist. Or any combination thereof, I’d have an agenda in relation to Scottish independence. Mainly the socialist bit. But then, that’s me not being scientific.

Still, at least it was reported from an unbiased news source.

scotroutes – Member
Sorry, but I just had to….

Sadly the headlines been updated. Not the URL though.

You’ll need to explain what you was doing reading that paper. Please tell me you was directed there specifically for that article.

Alastair Carbuncle in the goniad

Kind of agree with him on some points about the cultural differences.

Interesting couple of articles in the FT

The headlines looked like they would be interesting and good for debate but all a bit thin in the end. On the issue of bias, the headlines suggested that all of the articles would be generally pro inpep and yet they were quick to point out the case for no. The Nordic model article was v shallow IMO which is a shame.

I wish there was a credible broadsheet that was firmly behind the yes campaign. It would be good to have sensible arguments (started in the one FT article today at least, if not well developed*) rather than Wee Eck’s BS grandstanding.

* but perhaps there is a good reason for this!!!!

. scotroutes – Member
Why did the US Federal Reserve bail out Barclays Bank to the tune of £552.32bn?

Come on scotroutes you don’t understand VAT you are hardly likely to understand the working of the Federal Reserve. If I recall correctly Barclays raised £7 billion from investors from Abu Dhabi and Qatar. Also “In March 2009, it was reported that in 2008, Barclays received billions of dollars from its insurance arrangements with AIG, including US$8.5bn from funds provided by the United States to bail out AIG.” Is the latter the bail out you were thinking of?

Be fair, sd, Scotroutes probably mixed up roles of central banks.

You point out the measures that the bank used to raise equity ( eg the qataris ). Judging by the numbers, Scotroutes was referring (but inaccurately describing) Barc’s use of the Fed emerging funding program. Two different approached to liability problems

Barc, HSBC and RBS all had access to official and secret fed funding. You can debate whether he latter was a good thing (stopped the crisis getting even worse) or a bad one (hid the truth from investors about the true scale of the problems at these banks). Then you can investigate various accounting procedures including loan recognition!!!!!

. teamhurtmore – Member

I wish there was a credible broadsheet that was firmly behind the yes campaign. It would be good to have sensible arguments (started in the one FT article today at least, if not well developed*) rather than Wee Eck’s BS grandstanding.
Other than we need more immigration as if they couldn’t find it from the 550 million population within the EU? How about filling in this Yes survey http://yesscotland.net/survey

I have never really been happy with the statement that the British government bailed out any UK bank. Ignoring it should have read the taxpayers bailed out the banks we bought shares in the bank and unless the government sells “our” shares at a loss then we will not have bailed them out at all. IF the eventual sale is done well……. Post office. Oh well you can only hope.

. teamhurtmore

Barc, HSBC and RBS all had access to official and secret fed funding. You can debate whether he latter was a good thing (stopped the crisis getting even worse) or a bad one (hid the truth from investors about the true scale of the problems at these banks)
Very Very begrudgingly a good thing. That hurt!