FREEDOM!!!! [2]

Its the Tory Conference and the PM's big speech tomorrow. And apparently the Union is big in his speech as well as that of the Scottish Tory Leader, Ruth Davidson.

But is there a change of tactic?-

"Pro-Union campaigners must "hammer home"* the benefits of remaining part of the UK in the run up to next year's independence referendum, according to the Scottish Conservative leader."- BBC

Surely not? Surely they are no going to try and pot a positive case for the Union instead of just scaremongering?

"In a speech later, Ruth Davidson will also say the UK would be worse off without Scotland.
She will say the referendum "is not the same as an election".
"If we don't like the result, we can't just come back in 5 years' time and vote again. It is a choice that is vital and is binding," she will tell delegates.- BBC

Oh no, my mistake, same old scarey threats as usual then


* I wonder if that phrase 'hammer home' is deliberate, just tactless or a bad ignorant accident- its rather unfortunate given most Scots still have not forgiven Edward the Black, Hammer of the Scots for the atrocities he committed over generations on the Scots in order to get them to accept English rule.

So much for the Union being big in Camerons speech- I just listened to the entire 49 minutes of it, he mentioned the Union- zero times. He mentioned Scotland- zero times.  

Aren't they still called the Conservative and Unionist Party? Seems a bit strange.

What did Ruth Davidson say?

Strangely enough I havent been able to find her speech yet, only got the BBC soundbite report on it buried near the bottom of the Scottish page on their news site-

'Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson has urged people in the rest of the UK to speak up for the Union.
She told her party's UK conference that everyone had a stake in the future of Britain, whether they had a say in the independence referendum or not.
She said: "Alex Salmond doesn't speak for a majority of Scots. In fact, he never has. Time after time, poll after poll, people in Scotland say they want to stay."
Ms Davidson accused the SNP government of embarking on a "say anything, do anything, promise anything approach to breaking up Britain".
She went on: "I know that many of you living in other parts of the UK won't have a vote - but we all have a stake in the result, and we can all play a part in securing our country for the future."
Ms Davidson added: "Over the next year, when Alex Salmond comes on your television, saying things designed to get right up your nose, know that he's doing it on purpose, and that he doesn't speak for the majority of Scots.
"Know too, that while this is the most important decision in Scotland's history - it also affects each and every one you, no matter where you live."- BBC

Interesting goings on today as Cameron had a reshuffle- and out went Michael Moore Scottish Secretary and head of the Better Together Campaign. Even more intriguingly the rest of the reshuffle was among junior grade Ministers, he was the only Cabinet Minister to lose his job, and I dont think he is too happy about it, saying he was 'disappointed to be leaving the Scottish office and the Cabinet"- disappointed is usually ministerial code for bloody furious but I still think Ive got another chance if I toe the line.

He has been replaced by a libdem-

"Mr Carmichael, the MP for Orkney and Shetland, has been the Lib Dems' chief whip and a government deputy chief whip since the formation of the coalition."

A bruiser in other worlds. A thought confirmed by-

'The BBC's chief political correspondent, Norman Smith, said the move could be explained by David Cameron and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg's desire to have a more combative figure in the job to take the fight to SNP leader Alex Salmond.'

Carmichael ... don't know the name, but isn't the MP for Orkney and Shetland the one who said those islands should leave Scotland and become crown dependencies in the event of a Yes vote?

Edit: Seems it was some Lib Dem MSPs, actually. >link<

Yeah that was a fairly blatant attempt to try to create a problem that doesnt really exist by talking about it in serous term as if it did.
If Orkney and Shetland were to ever leave Scotland they would most likely go back to their other ancestral routes with Norway.

Don't give Norc any ideas!

I dont think its very likely, at least not in the short term, but if it did happen they are way more likely to go back to being Viking than to become Moriss Dancers.

"the BBC has seen an internal Ministry of Defence (MoD) briefing document on Scottish independence.
It raised concerns about the effect a "yes" vote would have on England, Wales and Northern Ireland, saying the debate matters because of the potential effect of Scottish independence on "our politics, our economy, our standing" - referring to the rest of UK.
The document also suggested that about 500,000 votes could "swing the result" of the referendum "either way".- BBC

Thats not what they are saying publicly.

That's good news for the Yes campaign though, right?  I can't count the number of times I've seen news articles (especially American ones) making disparaging comments about Salmond or the SNP because "the polls" have always been against them. Recent news seems to increasingly be telling a different story.

Yeah the YES campaign have clearly been making ground. And the sacking and replacing of Moore combined with the contents of this leaked memo strongly indicate the Westminster government see a real potential now they might lose.

Typical of the BBC though these days in that the MOD leak story was buried in the middle of another story about defence and did not get its own story or headline, so if you didn't read the full, unrelated article, you wouldn't know about it.
Sadly the BBC, who I have always respected for impartiality, have been fairly blatantly taking a pro-Unionist stance- giving prominence to Unionist stories and attacks on the SNP and burying everything else.

Today is a good example- on the day the MOD report leaks giving strength the SNP claim they are winning the debate the BBC Scotland main story for much of the day was about a Westminster report claiming Scotland couldnt manage a defence force of its own under the headline -"SNP plans insultingly vague"- despite the fact the SNP White Paper laying out their plan and costings for defence is not due to be published for a couple of weeks and no leak of it has been made.

Run rabbit Run!

theres bubonic plague in Madagascar. dont go there.

 

More BBC unionist bias.

Every Sunday I try to catch the Andrew Marr Show- BBC1's big political Sunday Morning Show.
This morning I missed it due to being in buckie recovery mode, and they were interviewing Alex Salmond.
Not to worry I thought, I will just hop over to BBC News pages where they always have the vid of any important political interviews done on that show (in fact the BBC usually dine off their own interviews for their news for most of a Sunday)- but surprise, surprise its not there. For the first time I can remember the main political interview from the Andrew Marr show is not on the BBC news site.

And I am still trying to find Alex Salmonds key note address to Conferenec from the other day on the BBC and can only find a sound bite few minute version- despite the BBC covering extensively across all news mediums the Labour, Conservative, Lib Dem and even bloody UKIP conferences- and I watched all the full party leader speeches from them on the BBC- yet they dont have Salmonds speech?  

Impartial BBC my arse!  
Every signal piece of media in this country is on the Unionist agenda.
We are now in the ludicrous situation where the most pro-independence media is the Scottish Sun! )They backed the SNP for the Scottish Parliament, but are opposed to Independence)
But when you have to turn to the Sun for fair reporting something has gone horribly wrong.

Salmonds key note speech from Conference- it half an hour long but worth a listen, Id particularly encourage our English neighbours to give it a listen, as afterall if Salmond gets his wishes it will affect you too.
But more than that its worth hearing why the SNP want to do this, as particularly in England there seems to be a great deal of misunderstanding over this.

I cant. I want to slap him.

I can understand how most of the media in the UK is opposed to independence. If nothing else, it would be a major inconvenience for any organization that operates on both sides of the border and would now have to deal with the laws and regulations of two separate nations. Also, most corporations (who own much of the media) probably dislike the amount of uncertainty surrounding the prospect of Scottish independence. And the BBC would suffer the loss of significant audiences and possibly creators, not to mention they might have to change their name.

None of that excuses the abdication of journalistic responsibility, but I can't say that I'm surprised by the one-sidedness.

The BBC is already broken into regions Eldo. You have BBC Scotland, BBC Wales and BBC NI- all of whom have their own parts of the budget to make 'local' programs.
Doctor Who for example is made by BBC Wales and the studios for filming it are all in Cardiff.

There is no reason those could not remain after independence under the overall BBC umbrella, as they do now.

Although another option is to create a new Scottish National Broadcaster that produces its own programming and to buy in popular shows from the BBC same as other countries do.

But personally I think the former is more likely.

Alex Salmond being interviewed on todays Andrew Marr Show-



And Deputy Leader Nicola Surgeon on todays Daily Politics )so Mrs Figg can hear the case without having to look at Salmond!)

What may I ask Petty is Nicola doing in Alex's living room?

 ..........  

I am for the 'Its not going to happen vote' srsly its not. Its bad timing, we are in the worst recession since the Great Depression, people wont go for risks in times like these, they want stability and safety, even if they are not exactly thrilled with the status quo, they wont risk the unknown in times of financial uncertainty. The yes vote is doomed to failure. you need to try again when everything has settled down.  

people wont go for risks in times like these, they want stability and safety- Mrs Figg

You might be right there- fear of the unknown has been the biggest enemy of a yes vote since this began. But it might play the other way, people might think the Tories are making such terrible policy that its not better the devil you know.

There is also a growing sense Ive noticed that if we vote no we will wonder the rest of our days what might have been, especially if things get worse in the Union afterwards and not better.

A lot of that will come down to what happens if we vote no. Cameron has promised further powers will be devolved, but lately right wing newspapers and think tanks have been calling this promise a mistake and an error, and that if Scotland votes no we shouldn't get another inch. I suspect this view is also the more popular one on Tory backbenches.
And its exactly what happened in the 1970's when the vote was lost then on devolution, they promised all sorts of new powers if we voted no and we got nothing but 19 years of Thatcher in return.
That memory is also playing into things.