Those who don’t live in Scotland may not be aware that we have a newspaper called ‘The National’. It has a very pro-independence slant (which is fine – most newspapers have a slant), but I’ll admit that I have only bought and read it twice and -on both occasions- found it dismal and hagiographic.
‘The National’ has just, perhaps, taken things to another level with the publication of a speculative piece about how Scotland would look, 50 years after gaining independence. I’ll link to the article in the comments section below. If it had been published in a North Korean newspaper, we’d be sharing it and laughing at it (which is exactly what we should do now). It’s difficult to be polite about an adult who can write something like this and even harder to be polite about a newspaper that publishes it.
Unless there’s a subtle level of parody that I’m missing, this is just all kinds of wrong.
Here’s an extract:
“There have been numerous highlights in the past five decades, but there’s no doubt about Scotland’s finest hour on the international stage, which came early in the life of the newly independent Scotland.
The removal of Trident just days before the so-called Trump-Putin War of 2022 encouraged small nations across the globe to stand up to the bullies and forced Russia and the USA to end their strife peacefully in the face of worldwide ostracism.”
Here’s a link to the comedic genius of the article:
http://www.thenational.scot/comment/scotlands-independence-day—50-years-on.15484
Reads like one of Richard Littlejohn’s dismal “funny” pieces.
Ha, I love Littlejohn’s humour pieces (in a purely ironic way). He is obviously always so pleased with himself. I can imagine him reading the draft out to his wife and kids, chuckling away to himself while they all die inside.
I burn with shame that I live in a country where The National is read non-ironically and treated as a serious news source. It’s the Der Sturmer to the Daily Mail’s Blackshirts’ Gazette.
And then there’s this: http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/mar/26/meet-the-scottish-resistance-independence-movement
“”Look at David Icke”, he says. “People used to laugh at him.””
Um…
A nice piece of journalism to just leave that uncommented, I thought. An article that is all the more illuminating for managing to keep a straight face.
I know the two main guys and I have no time for them. One of them did good work with the Bedroom Tax but they are on their own with their Resistance. Everyone I know in the Yes movement has cast them adrift. Don’t be surprised if they go into partnership with Tommy Sheridan. Neither has any friends left so a mutual support seems likely.
I have to disagree on The National. For godsake – it’s our one, ONE newspaper. That article was part of a pull-out to mark what would have been our Independence Day. There were serious pieces and some that were very obviously meant to be funny. The humour may bot be to everyone’s taste but it is very obviously not a serious piece.
We pay 60p for The National. A tiny sum. I think they do a grand job for it. I’d be happy to pay double if it meant more content and some better writers. That said, I find most of the columnists are very good . The National is happily preaching to the choir. Unionists have the rest of the market to pick from.
It’s not the one nationalist newspaper. I believe that the Scottish Sun is also an SNP-supporting publication. I don’t think much of that one either.
Genuinely news to me. I never buy it but I never see any pro-indy stuff from The Sun in my feeds.
But even so, I like The National. Good columnists, good letters. I was a Herald man my whole life but I rarely buy it now.
‘I burn with shame..’. Aww, you poor wee sensitive flower, you.
What’s truly shameful is yet another pathetic equating of the SNP with the Nazi movement with your, oh so witty, Der Sturmer reference. Black nationalism good; white nationalism (with the obvious exception of the IRA) bad.
Shouldn’t you be ou canvassing to prevent your beloved Numpty Party from coming in third behind the Scottish Conservatives in the forthcoming election?
As for Corbyn and the paranoid party, are you in ‘Core negative’ or ‘ Hostile’?
Obviously, I regret upsetting a Bennite fellow-traveller such as yourself, however a comparison of nationalist propaganda rags seems valid to me. The IRA tag is a shade harsh though – I’ve no sympathies there.
The comparison is clearly on the mark. (SWIDT) I particularly enjoy the anti-Semitic pieces and the cartoon strips – Oor Adolf and, my fave, The Broonshirts.
Is there an Arthur Donaldson column? There should be.
The Broonshirts may well be a stroke of genius on your part though. I’ll have a think about working that one up.
At the furthest extremity of my imagination I would like to say how proud I am to be a Scot. Welcome one and all to Utopia.
The piece could and should have concluded ‘………and the drugs are totally banging’.
“The role of UN General Secretary Alex Salmond in solving the crisis…”.
Whoever wrote that was using some seriously hallucinatory drugs.
I reckon he probably had some help from President of the World, Nicola Sturgeon.
I read that article and I can see humour in it. I think it’s meant to be a bit tongue in cheek, is it not?
Myself: I reckon it is is very tongue in cheek. But it is a lovely bit of Poe:
http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Poe's_Law
I’m with BJB. So OTT, it has to be tongue in cheek.
I’m not sure. There’s flashes of (attempted) humour, but these feel more like jokey asides rather than setting the tone of the whole piece. I think (as a Scot) it is worryingly serious overall.
If I’d read that piece in The Spectator (for instance) I’d know it was a parody. But if you ever get a chance to read The National, you’ll see that it isn’t big on humour.
For the sake of sanity, I really hope that whoever wrote it was trying to be funny.
As an aside, I not that the article mentions the controversial TTIP agreement. Something that puzzles me about the EU debate is that BREXIT proponents ( from left and right) suggest that a benefit of leaving the EU is that the UK wouldn’t have to sign up to this. But the UK would presumably have to negotiate a separate trade deal with the US, which would surely insist on. TTIP as a precondition of any agreement.
Am I missing something ?
In other news……
Celtic win 10 consecutive Champions Leagues
Scotland qualify from the Group stages of a World Cup
That’s almost as outlandish as Scotland actually qualifying for the group stages of a World Cup.