Not in the News -24th of August Edition

Welcome to another edition of our weekly series looking back at the stories which the main stream media in Scotland didn't offer much attention to, and comparing them to those that hit the front pages. Our last edition can be found here.

 

Bankers' Loyalty

A prime example of why it is better to build an economy on real goods and commodities was revealed this week as a number of US Banks threatened to re-locate from the City of London to locations within the EU.

  

With it appearing increasingly likely that Westminster will leave the EU (and have to negotiate a free-trade agreement that will not have favourable terms for Scotland), the American Banks are making contingencies to move operations to Dublin and/or Frankfurt. With independence, Scotland could also enjoy some benefit from the Bankers' flight from London, but re-industrialising our country will be the priority.

And of course, there are others who are looking to re-locate to Scotland.

 
Two wrongs make a far right!

You can read the story of Yvonne Hama, who appeared on the front page of the official no campaign website, here. It so shocking that even the BBC had to report it!

 

But none of that stopped Ms Hama from starring in the no campaign TV broadcast a day later. It's #hamatime!

Go Westminster! (Seriously, just go away and stop interfering)

Everyone in Scotland who is reading this article will be pleased to know that the tax they pay is contributing to the 'no' campaign! HM Government has been paying for better together adverts on various websites in an attempt to prevent a Yes vote in September's referendum.

 

This story appeared on aworkingclassman.com, whose evidence comes from Google Adwords used on their site. It was confirmed that this process has continued into the final 28 days of the referendum, which is in direct contravention of the Edinburgh Agreement. The real question is whether or not the Electoral Commission will record this expenditure as part of the no campaign budget and act on this breach of election rules. We don't have high expectations.

 

Vote Yes and we'll punish you (vote no and we'll really punish you!)

Westminster's idle threats against Scottish Independence have been around since the start of the referendum campaign, but their very geniune signals of intent following a 'no' vote have become much clearer during the past week. The Times, the Herald, the Telegraph, the Scotsman and even the BBC are highlighting the coming cuts (although they use the estimate of £4 billion per year rather than the more likely £7 billion figure).

And these extra cuts are likely to come about despite up to 1,000,000 being unable to afford adequate housing with 100,000 of them being deemed too poor for even minimum standards. Instead of looking at money that is being wasted, it is those who have the least that will bare the brunt of future London budgets.

 

Vote Yes and Westminster will have to cut off its own leg to scratch us, vote no, and we'll be left defenceless to resist their austerity programme (as well as the demand for a pound of flesh from voters in England).

  

The missing 8 billion barrels of oil - Let's 'Frack' this case!

If you have any interaction with the Main Stream Media in Scotland, then you will have come across the name Ian Wood. This week, he claimed that there is just 15,000,000,000 to 16,500,000,000 barrels of oil left in the North Sea, which is much lower than the amount in Scottish Government's White Paper on Independence (24,000,000,000 barrels). The fact that this was significantly higher than the OBR's estimate of 10,000,000,000 barrels wasn't as widely reported.

So what do other experts in the field believe? Well the UK Government's own Department of Energy and Climate Change put the oil reserves at 35,000,000,000 barrels, and N-56, a think tank with members that operate in the North Sea, has estimates closer to 60,000,000,000. You can also read the reply to Mr Wood by economist and former advisor to Labour and Conservative Secretaries of State for Scotland Donald MacKay here.

 

Finally, and perhaps most significantly, in February of this year Ian Wood wrote a report saying that he believed there to be around 24,000,000,000 barrels left in the North Sea (yes, the same Ian Wood who, with no new information being presented to him, now believes that 8 billion barrels worth of oil has magically disappeared). He also advised young people to get involved in the North Sea industry as it can offer them 'a job for life'. Let's hope that none of them were silly enough to listen to him!

 

While nothing has changed with regards to the amount of extractable oil, a new feature is UK Government contracts for fracking becoming available. Mr Wood's company, the imaginatively titled 'Wood Group', is heavily involved in fracking, and Westminster will be handing out lucrative licences in various locations across Scotland and the UK. If the Wood Group were to receive enough of these, then Mr Wood's grandchildren would certainly be thankful for a no vote!

 

 

But the central question remains: do you believe the Scottish Government's position that we will have a massive windfall for numerous decades to come, a position based on record levels of investment by numerous oil companies as well as the evidence presented above, or Westminster's predictions that it will all be gone the moment we become independent. Here's a final bit of evidence to consider before you decide.

 

Things I don't know because I trust the BBC...#YesBecause!

The whole #YesBecause trend of twitter seemed to pass the BBC by this week. There were some fantastic messages of hope and optimism (as well as a few cheeky replies!) which helped to highlight the causes that we are campaigning for. It was fantastic that #YesBecause was seen around the world and it came just 1 day before Yes Scotland announced that 1 million voters in Scotland had signed the Yes Declaration.

Of course, there were a few #nobecause messages:
 

 

Remember to check our next 'not in the news' to find out what else I wouldn't know about if I trusted the BBC!

 

Silence in Unison

"SNP under fire for 'scandalous deceit' on future of NHS" was the headline in the Daily Express this week as the Yes Scotland campaign highlighted the threats to our health service. So it was no surprise that the controlled media in Scotland offered very little coverage to the warnings of NHS privatisation made by trade union group UNISON.

 

 

As you should know by now, if you want the facts, you need to look online. Our favourite article on this topic comes from Wings over Scotland with "More lying nationalists".

  

Join us again on Sunday for our next look at what's 'not in the news'!

Drew
 
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Not in the News -17th of August Edition

Welcome to another edition of our now weekly series looking back at the stories which the main stream media in Scotland didn't offer much attention to, and comparing them to those that hit the front pages. Our last edition covering early August can be found here.

 

The £1,000,000 questions - Who wants to be in an independent Scotland?

In August it was revealed that the UK Government had spent £1 million on surveys and polls regarding Scottish Independence. The results of these polls was kept secret from the public with the findings being restricted to a handful of individuals in the 'no' campaign.

Our thanks to Cathy Newman of Channel 4 news for reporting this story.

 

Rules are for other people

It is well known that the no campaign has paid 'volunteers' during the campaign to hand out their leaflets, yet the Electoral Commission (who are supposed to provide oversight) have done nothing. Is this because they aren't technically breaking any rules? Wings over Scotland checked the guidelines:

Rules are for other people it seems.
 
Threat! Chaos! Emergency!

These are some of the words that didn't appear in Mark Carney's speech on the 13th of August, although you could be forgiven for thinking that they were if you follow the controlled media.

This was not the scene at the Bank of England

The Governor of the Bank of England reported that his organisation had considered the effects of Scottish Independence as well as the threats made by the Westminster parties to block a formal currency union. Mr Carney did suggest that uncertainty was concerning the markets, but the only way that can disappear is if there were pre-negotiations between the two sides. And remember, only 1 side is refusing to pre-negotiate.

 

No threat, no chaos and no emergency (and soon no Westminster politicians!)

 
Deja vu all over again

The Conservative Party has managed to prove the infinite monkey theorem! The questions sent to MP David Mundell by Cammy Young, Mr Allison, Arthur Langcake, Neil Calvert, Pat Caultay, Hannah Macgregor and Mrs Douglas, were exactly identical to the questions sent to MSP John Lamont by Edna Tait, Andrew Meldrum, Karen Hume, Craig Wood, Rachael Hamilton, Moira Hughes and Trevor Adams (with even the order of the questions being the same!).

  

To make the co-incidence complete, the replies were identical too (except Mr Lamont avoided some of Mr Mundell's spelling mistakes!).Great minds think alike? (or at least use the same pre-prepared responses).

 
Maybe we need to call Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency to check this out!
 
Things I don't know because I trust the BBC...Healthcare Privatisation!

This is a new series that we're thinking of including the our Not in the News blogs. Our first entry looks at Healthcare Privatisation, with the SI 257 amendment being a good example. The BBC has offered scant comment and for the life of us we have no idea why...

 

 

Protecting Socialism from within the House of Lords (for the bargain price of just £300 quid a day plus expenses!)

John Reid, also known as Baron Reid of Cardowan who once claimed for pouffe cushions and a glittery loo seat amongst other essential expenses, told voters that the Yes campaign was pretending to stand up for ordinary workers. He sited SNP plans to cut corporation tax as proof that they support big businesses (these are obviously different from when the government he was part of reduced taxes for larger firms whilst simultaneously raising them for small businesses).

 

Of course, if you don't like SNP policies, then don't vote for them. Unlike at Westminster where the same two parties share power between them, Holyrood uses a democratic system. No-one is guaranteed to be in office, and we certainly won't have unelected Lords talking to us about principles.

 

What the Daily Mail didn't report!

The Daily Mail isn't a friend to the independence movement, but they did provide even more reassurance over pensions. It was confirmed that a Yes vote will have no effect on the pensions of the Scottish employees of the 'newspaper'. We found this out because one of their staff members anonomously asked the tabloid's pension provider. Funny that this wasn't featured in any of their editions.

 

  

Of course, the Daily Mail knows what Westminster will do with pensions, and their value, but won't report that Scotland's pensioners would be better off independent.

 
Oil oil everywhere (except in the mainstream media!)
North Sea Oil reality
North Atlantic Oil reality
West Coast Oil reality

Join us again on Sunday for our next look at what's 'not in the news'!
Drew
 
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Not in the News - Early August Edition

Welcome to the ninth of our bi-monthly series looking back at the stories which the main stream media in Scotland didn't offer much attention to, and comparing them to those that hit the front pages. Our last edition covering late July can be found here.

  

Don't make the games political, or we'll make it personal

The Commonwealth Games were a fantastic event for Scotland. There were numerous trade deals signed which will generate more wealth and jobs for our country, and we proved to ourselves that we can produce a fantastic squad of athletes capable of competing with anyone.

 

Unfortunately, some of our athletes received bullying from UK organisations.

 

 

With a Yes vote, no Scottish athlete will ever be threatened for taking their own flag onto a podium (whether they choose to represent Scotland or the UK). This is one of the key aspects of independence: independent nations are equal nations. There are no second class national flags amongst independent countries.

 
Statistical Gymnastics (the BBC in Scotland is full of nincompoops!)

When it comes to manipulating figures, the BBC deserves a gold medal! We mentioned in our last edition of 'Not in the News' that the BBC had quickly altered figures on their website which originally showed Scotland as a net contributor to the UK. Now, thanks to Scott Minto of Wings over Scotland, we know how they are 'justifying' this change.

 

The scam starts like this: the actual export figures for Scotland in 2012 (the most recent year for which figures exist) were £98,100,000,000 (ninty eight billion, one hundred million pounds). With this figure, Scotland is clearly an net contributor, which is why the BBC had to change it. But how do you change reality? The BBC followed 3 easy steps:

 

1) They excluded oil and gas from Scotland's figures (but not from the UK's). This is immediately biased as the equivalent action of removing funds generated by financial transactions in the City of London are never done or considered. The excuse offered is that there hasn't been a formal agreement yet between the Scottish and Westminster Governments regarding marine territory, although this type of thing is covered extensively in the 'Delimitation of the territorial sea between States with opposite or adjacent coast' and other international agreements. It is also Westminster who refuses to pre-negotiate. The BBC's solution is to assume that Scotland will have no rights anywhere (which is ridiculous).

  

Despite removing one of our most valuable revenue streams, Scottish exports would top £73,700,000,000 per year, which would still show us as net contributors. Something else needed to be done to talk us down.

 

2) The BBC excluded all exports from Scotland to the rest of the UK. No reason is given for this. The total affect of this change is to artificially lower our exports by £47,700,000,000 per year (down to £25,900,000,000). Yet even this figure would be too high for the BBC to use, so 1 more excerise in statistical gymnastics was required.

 

3) The 2012 figures, which are the most up-to-date, were replaced with the lower 2010 totals. The only possible reason for selecting 2010 and not 2011 or 2012 is to artifically put down Scotland's economic performance to fit into the BBC's narrative of lies.

Three unjustifible changes - assuming that Scotland has no oil or gas whilst predicting full UK control and no adjustments to the more volitile City money, the exclusing of all Scottish exports to the rest of the UK (but not the same in reverse) and the misleading of people by selecting out of date figures from a previous year - have been made by the BBC.

 

Yes Scotland is not competing against a no campaign, it is competing the Westminster mouthpiece known as the BBC. They are lying to you and have done so for quite some time. Don't trust the BBC.

 
Sidestepping parliament and the people

On the 29th of July, CND (the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament) reported that David Cameron had signed a secret, decade-long nuclear agreement with the Government of the United States.

 

This was done without the opportunity for Parliament to discuss the terms which will not be disclosed to the public or MPs. This is how democracy works at Westminster. You can read more about this story at Newsnet Scotland.

 
The Times they are a lyin'

The Times newspaper: Making up Usain Bolt quotes so the no campaign doesn't have to. The Main Stream Media: Mo power, mo power, mo power, mo nonsense!

 

According to unionist newspapers, this is someone who doesn't like Scotland

 

Do you hate or despise independence?

On the 11th of July popular independence site 'Wings over Scotland' revealed the 16th questions being asked of Scots ex-pats living in the United States. These included such balanced questions as: "Do you think that the Scottish Government has any real idea of the financial and economic costs of ending the Union?" and "Are you more persuaded by the analysis and concerns of The Banker magazine or assured by the statements of the Scottish Government?" (you can look at each of the questions, along with their preambles, here).

 

The poll was organised by The Friends of Scotland who claim to be non-political organisation. They sent the survey to just 300 people. With the biased nature of the questions revealed in advance only a desperate rag would try to present their results as any kind of serious analysis.

 

Oh Daily Record, who included it on their Scotland now site. Oh Scotsman, who advertised their rival's website just to let their readers see the results (but not necessarily the questions). Oh Press & Journal, who decided to ignore journalism and follow their tabloid peers.

 
It's hard to keep track of London's expenditure

Keeping up-to-date with all of the non-Barnett expenditure that the UK lavishes on London and the South East of England can be quite tricky (see one of our attempts here), but considering that this one project alone is likely to cost Scotland over £19 billion we thought we would mention it.

 

"Once the Galactic Railroad is complete in London, we'll consider replacing the broken 'give way' sign near Tomintoul."

'Plans afoot for £200bn orbital railway!' was the headline in the Mail online. Unsurprisingly, similar plans for cities and towns in Scotland have not been announced. But don't worry, London expects another £1,300,000,000,000 (with over £120,000,000,000 coming from Scotland). And there are suggestions that they are going to get their wish.

  

Plans to have 39.7% of all UK state investment spent where just 13.14% of the people live are being made. If we're independent, then we can prove to those outside of London that there is an alternative.

 
On the Bonnie or Fracked Banks of Loch Lomond

The international media recently highlighted the expansion of fracking licences across the UK to include national parks and places of outstanding beauty. We now have confirmation that the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs national park is going to be targeted.

 

Those opposed to fracking, which is also known as hydraulic fracturing, do so for both environmental and economic reasons. It triggers earthquakes, poisons water supplies, causes illness and loses money (lots of money). Fracking isn't required in an energy rich country like Scotland but will be forced upon us anyway if Westminster remains in charge.

 

And Westminster isn't likely to change their minds over the process. The blue side is being paid by the fracking companies, and the red side are happy to expand fracking further. There is only one certainty: vote no and Scotland will be fracked!

 
Crude attempts at silence

BP have been examining the potential for vast quantities of oil in the waters west of the Shetland Isles for quite some time. They announced in June that they were excited about the Clair field in particular.

 

Following an analysis of the initial (but as yet not publicly announced) results, Prime Minister David Cameron hurriedly visited the Shetland Islands (something that his predecessors had not done in over in over 30 years). He said little to the press and no further comment has been offered by No 10. Workers are not due to return to the site until after the referendum.

  

This has led to speculation that BP may have found one of the largest deposits of oil in the world.

 

We know from past experience that Westminster has lied to the people of Scotland about our resources. From the McCrone report which was classified for decades as 'top secret', to the cover-up of oil discovered on the west coast of Scotland, and mis-information regarding a future's fund similar to that which Norway has. Even international magazines recognise that the UK Government is lying.

 

Questions remain as to just how much wealth Scotland has. But the UK Government don't want you to know before you vote. Perhaps because the answer would guarantee a Yes.

 
What was once deleted is now un-deleted

Anti-independence comedy troope the Confederation of British Industry were embarrassed yet again in August (just as they have in April [twice], May, June and July). Emails which were thought to have been deleted have been uncovered by the Electoral Commission and finally revealed.

 

For context, here is a quote from a spokesperson for the confederation from earlier this year:

"The early conversations that took place between the EC and the CBI were at relatively junior official level and confined to narrow compliance issues," CBI statement

 

So let's take a look at who the 'relatively junior' officials were:

  

Iain McMillan, Director of the CBI in Scotland

David Lonsdale, Assistant Director of the CBI in Scotland

 

I guess the CBI consider a director (and his assistant) of its (admittedly very small) Scottish branch to be nothing more than a junior official. For once I think I may have to agree with them.

 

But where is the BBC in this story? As paying members of the anti-independence group they would have better access to information than most. Why is there no mention of this story on their news website? It's not as if they haven't highlighted the CBI in the past or stressed the importance of the views of these junior officials...

 

I guess they will keep us waiting until Friday the 19th of September.

No vote guarantees a raid on our troops' pensions

The UK Government will tax service personnel more for their pensions as a result of changes to the tax system from April 2017. The rules surrounding the introduction of a flat rate pension system means that those on a second state pension will no longer receive a rebate on their national insurance (potentially affecting anyone who is a state employee). This will cost the average Army private £162 a year in additional tax.

When victory is recorded as defeat

Amongst undecided who watched the STV debate between First Minister Alex Salmond and Alistair Darling MP, the Yes side won by 54% to 46%. So who does the newspapers and the BBC declare as the winner? Alistair Darling!

 

The excuse the controlled media gave for claiming that Alistair Darling won is because of a snap opinion poll by ICM. This opinion poll showed what you would expect - those thinking of voting Yes at the start backed the First Minister and those intending to vote no before the debate supported Alistair Darling. But they asked more people who were already committed to voting no than voting yes.

 
Our favourite quote came from Wee Ginger Dug:

"But for the most part the currency question is technocratic pseudowaffle. It’s one of those practical problems to which there is a practical solution. And there are several solutions, ranging all the way from a formal currency union to sticking the UK national debt up George Osborne’s arse and setting up a new Scottish currency, and all points in between. My personal favourite is the sticking it up George Osborne’s arse option, mainly because I’d like to see the look on his face. You can probably tell I’m not primarily motivated by economic arguments there."

Which is why you should read sites like Newsnet Scotland, Wings over Scotland, SCOT goes POP! and National Collective.

 
We don't need Westminster's approval

Contrary to suggestions made by the mainstream media, Scotland does not need Westminster's approval to use the pound or any other currency.

 

These countries share the same currencies, some officially, others unilaterally

Our most popular blog, 'So who else can't use the pound?', goes into detail about how and why we don't need permission from George Osborne or anyone else from Whitehall. Quite frankly, if you believe that Westminster would hurt businesses in England just to spite us, then why on earth would you want them making decisions over Scotland?

 
Why my juggling has prevented atomic war

I have been juggling for a number of years. There has been no nuclear wars during that time. Therefore, my juggling is the reason why there has been no nuclear wars.

 

This is how I learned to juggle

That is the argument put forward by Annabel Goldie MSP. Voting against the removal of nuclear weapons from Scotland alongside her Tory, Labour and Liberal Democrat allies, the representative for the West of Scotland said:

"The fact is that since acquiring Trident, and its predecessor, Polaris, we have had four decades of non-nuclear conflict." Annabel Goldie, presumably being serious

It feels almost embarrassing to point out that non-nuclear states have also avoided nuclear conflict during that time.

 

We have already looked into the reasons why Trident does nothing to keep us safe and is a complete waste of money. We have also examined NATO membership, and why the power to decide what alliances we make will be up to voters in Scotland. For unionist MSPs to actively vote to keep weapons for mass destruction stored a few minutes away from our largest city (and for Scots to continue paying for the things) is abhorant.

 

But after a Yes vote, these parties will change and start acting in Scotland's interests.

 
FREEDOM (of information)!

Our freedom of information request found the the UK Government's leaflet 'What staying in the United Kingdom means for Scotland' had no BSL or audio versions. You can read the full story here.

 

The BBC, which used the low number of orders for the BSL version of the White Paper to attack the Yes campaign, has, as of yet, not given the same attention to an even worse example by Westminster. We can only speculate as to why...

"I say the BBC is biased!" "And I say the BBC is incompetent!" (at least they agree the BBC is full of nincompoops!)

All aboard the love boat

Love is in the air as 200 people who aren't able to vote in the referendum told us that we should vote no because they care so much about us. You can check out some of their personal messages below.

 

First on the list - Piers Morgan:

"OK, Scotland, you've had your fun. Now just quietly vote 'NO' and we'll say no more about it." Piers Morgan, 8th of August

David Starkey:

"If we decide to go down this route of having an English national day, that means we become a feeble little country, just like the Scots and the Welsh and the Irish." David Starkey, BBC Question Time

 

Rob Liddle:

"The only reason any people remain in Scotland is on account of the extremely cheap alcohol available in supermarkets, plus a ready supply of heroin for when the alcohol runs out...Soon Carlisle and Berwick will resemble those awful UN transit camps you used to see in Rwanda; in this case the inhabitants would be millions of displaced, grey-eyed Jocks pleading for a fix of lager or subsidised methadone." Rob Liddle, Sunday Times

"Love us (or else!)" no campaign 'celebrities'

We can't wait to see what plan Ronnie Corbett and Barbara Windsor have to create a more democratic system, what Dan Snow and Dame Vera Lynn proposed to do about the 1 in 5 children in Scotland who live in poverty, or what Mick Jagger and David Bowie think about tax avoidance (I suspect we may have to wait some time for that last one).

 

Post script - we understand that Mick Jagger will be releasing an album to support the 'no' campaign. Songs include: 'Sympathy for Westminster', 'Tory money is on my side', 'I know it's only child poverty (but I like it)', 'Under our thumb', '19th September Nervous Breakdown' and finishing with 'It's all over now'. The album will be called 'Tax Exile on Downing St'.

 
The Scotsman is telt!

We just wanted to point people towards the fantastic letter by broadcaster Derek Bateman for the editor of the Scotsman "newspaper". It is definitely worth a read!

Wings gives you no bull!

Popular online blog Wings over Scotland has produced its long awaited 'Wee Blue Book'! Digital versions can be downloaded from its website in an easy read format for laptops and smart phones (click here). On its first day it achieved over 100,000 downloads. A physical version will also be coming soon.

  

It is a fantastic read and covers the main issues of the referendum campaign. Short and sweet, it is bound to be a big help to those who are looking for more information (and we know they won't find it in the newspapers - as seen here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and above).

 

Occupancy rates at over 1,000,000%! 999,000,000 people at risk!!!

Another case of the BBC attacking the Scottish NHS with exaggerated figures. The reason why? Newsnet Scotland covered that back in 2012.

 
Join us again near the end of August for our next look at what's 'not in the news'!
Drew
 
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FREEDOM (of information)!

We at Sign for Scotland have been busy making our first freedom of information request. On the 5th of July we sent a message to the Scotland Office asking them how many BSL copies of their anti-independence leaflet 'What staying in the United Kingdom means for Scotland' had been issued (the one that was sent to every household in Scotland at our expense).

 

This was inspired by the BBC's FoI request made in May regarding the number of copies of the White Paper on Independence that had been ordered in BSL. The answer (which we didn't receive until today - the 8th of August) might surprise you:

 

'What staying in the United Kingdom means for Scotland'

Number of BSL copies: 0 (zero)

Back in May, John Denerley, from Deaf Connections, stated that the number of BSL copies of 'Scotland's Future', the White Paper on Independence, had been "...ridiculous, shocking, and frankly embarrassing...". We wonder if the BBC will seek a similar quote from him regarding the UK Government's 0 availability (there wasn't even an option on-line to view or request a BSL version).

 

As reported on Newsnet Scotland, the information from the Scottish Government's White Paper has been available in a number of locations and formats. At that time, the BSL summary of Scotland's Future, which is over 2 hours and 20 minutes long, had received over 500 plays, and videos from ourselves and Scottish Deaf Independence had received even more.

But the UK Government's lack of consideration for the Deaf isn't the main issue. The topic that should be our focus is in regards to the BBC. Three questions emerge:

 

First - Did the BBC make a Freedom of Information request regarding Deaf access to the UK Government's referendum material as they did for the Scottish Government's?

 

Second - If not, why not? Freedom of Information requests are not difficult and had produced a story that featured prominently on their news website and was commented on widely. If they did, then why did they withhold this information from the public, and who was involved in the decision?

And finally - Now that they are fully aware, will the BBC give this story the same prominence as they gave to their anti-independence report? If not, why not?

You can view the Scotland Office's full response below. Despite the date showing as the 28th of July, we only received this letter by email today after requesting an update earlier this week. As of yet, no physical copy has been delivered.

 
Unlike the BBC, we are happy to offer them the right of reply to our article.
Drew
  
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The World at War

On the 28^th of July 1914 the world witnessed the start of the First World War.

 

The horror of this conflict remains with us to this day.  A conservative estimate counts the loss of life to have been over 16 million, with a further 20 million wounded.

 
The civilian dead made up approximately 7 million of this total although this disregards those who were conscripted, and those who volunteered under false pretences.  These numbers mean little until we consider that every one of them was a human life, with family, friends and loved ones.  These were people who were sent into a nightmare and never returned home.
 

This was a war which hit Scotland hard.  Scots suffered more than 25% of total British casualties, a number far greater than our share of the population.  Indeed the tremendous cost we paid inspired the American Government in 1927 to gift a memorial specifically to recognise the tremendous sacrifice of Scottish Regiments.  You can still see ‘The Call’ in the west end of Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh.  It has a simple inscription which states:

“If it be life that waits, I shall live forever unconquered.  If death, I shall die at last, strong in my pride and free.”

It’s a shame that the Government in Westminster didn't hold the same value to our regiments.

 

Prime Minister David Cameron wants to mark the hundredth anniversary of Britain’s formal entry into the war with “a commemoration that, like the Diamond Jubilee celebrations this year (2012), says something about who are as a people.”  I don’t want to commemorate the beginning of the Great War ‘like the Diamond Jubilee celebrations’.
 

David Cameron wants to mark the anniversaries of certain battles, such as the Somme and Gallipoli, and his intention is to spend part of his £50 million ‘commemoration’ budget in educational programmes for school pupils in England to learn about the “sheer scale of sacrifice.”  I don’t see much focus on the reasons for this violent and senseless conflict, or thoughts on what could have been achieved if this war had never taken place.  The estimated financial cost of $186,333,637,000 alone could have achieved so much.

Last November we ran our serialisation of General Smedley Butler's brilliant book 'War is a Racket'. It examined how war generates obscene profits for a handful of people and offered ways to prevent most conflicts from starting or escalating. The themes explored in 'War is a Racket' and other titles should form the basis of any study of the First World War, and the 136 other conflicts Scotland has been involved in under Westminster rule, yet they are ignored in favour of war advocates.

 

 

It is the end of a war that should be remembered and I hope that amongst the pomp and ceremony that is certain to dominate these commemorations that we’ll remember those who lost their lives in this needless and senseless conflict and aspire to keep our youth from experiencing such horrors.  I hope none of us sees another ‘Great War’, but that will be difficult when our leaders don’t understand the first.

Drew
 
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