Lies, damn lies, and Politicians In the last week, in something of a panic, the British Establishment have been attempting to stop the Scottish people from voting yes in the referendum by every gimmick and trick in the book, but their main target is the ‘fear’ factor. This massive attack is so extensive that it is impossible to deal with every aspect of it but I will deal with just a few: If we dare to vote yes we are told that RBS, Standard Life, Clydesdale Bank and other private banks and financial businesses will leave Scotland. The implication being that this will hit Scotland’s wealth and we will all suffer. The economic reality is that banks do not create wealth. Manufacturing, shipbuilding, farming, whisky production, oil production, all create wealth. Banks don’t; they merely get involved in its distribution. One thing the new Scotland will badly need is banking reform so the question about change in the banking system is one which must be addressed. However if every single private bank left Scotland tomorrow it would not alter Scotland’s wealth producing potential by a single pounds worth of production. Gordon Brown tells us that when Dr Philippa Whitford warns us that our NHS is in danger if we stay in the UK she is putting over a big lie. Quite apart from why Dr Whitford would be motivated to tell the Scottish people a big lie, we can look carefully at the case she has made and it is absolutely sound. If we stay in the UK our health service will be under attack from the effects of the Barnett formula and more significantly from TTIP. The case is indisputable: any ‘Devolved’ Scottish Government which did not introduce “competition” into its Health Services could be challenged in court by private American Health Companies. The only way we can protect the NHS, particularly from TTIP is to vote yes and give our NHS ‘constitutional’ protection as the Scottish Government wants to do. If there are lies being told about this issue it is not Dr Whitford who is telling them it is Gordon Brown. What the real questions are may be: Why is he lying to the Scottish people? Who is he really representing? The biggest agent for spreading the lies and distortions however, is the BBC, at the head of the media circus. It is constantly day by day, hour by hour pumping out propaganda for the UK establishment of which it is an integral part, and truth is its first casualty. Let me illustrate this by just one clear example, from the hundreds available. On BBC News Sept 11th Alex Salmond held an international new conference and Nick Robinson of the BBC was given the first chance to raise a question. He raised a number of what would be described in court as leading questions, one of which was factually incorrect in relation to taxation. Alex Salmond responded in detail to his questions, pointing out his error on taxation. Robinson disliked the response he had and put some additional points in, which again Alex Salmond responded to before he went to another reporter. All of the above was recorded and is available. On the evening news that night Robinson claimed that Alex Salmond “did not answer his question”. That was a direct and blatant lie. He clearly did not like the answers he got, but to claim that there was no answer was a lie. Yet Robinson is there and paid by the people from all over the UK to give us accurate and honest reports. The BBC has abandoned any pretence at neutrality in this referendum and is seen, the world over, as the mouth-piece of the UK establishment. None of this will of course matter in the longer term because the Scottish people will see through all this nonsense and will vote yes. However Jim Sillars is right. These politicians, news-reporters and pretend ‘economic advisors’ who are attempting to corrupt our democratic system can’t assume that they can attack people in that way and then avoid the consequences of their actions. Andy Anderson
Posted on: Tue, 16 Sep 2014 11:44:00 +0000
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