ONE of the surprising things about the publication of the Sustainable Growth Commission’s report yesterday was the willingness of some pro-Union pundits to say that, actually, gosh, really, well, ahem, this isn’t bad.
They didn’t, of course, go overboard and say it was a comprehensive piece of work that really puts the Unionist side on the back foot – which it does – but the response from the “Yoondits” was muted, apart from one usual suspect who insisted that the lack of a press conference to mark the report’s release signified that the SNP didn’t really believe in it.
The truth was it was simply a lesson learned from 2014’s White Paper launch – you don’t stick out a 354-page report and expect even the most dedicated of Unionist journalists to digest it in 10 minutes. Give them a chance to read it, was the party’s view, and then deal with the criticism because you’re going to get it in the neck anyway. And so it proved.
The Mail Online wrote about Nicola Sturgeon’s “bid to revive floundering Scottish independence campaign” – floundering? When Yes still has 45 per cent support and more in the opinion polls and put 60,000 people on the streets of Glasgow demanding independence? Aye, we’ll take that sort of floundering any day.
The online Sun – English version – had “Nicola Sturgeon’s Last Stand” and said the “desperate SNP say they will bribe migrants to move to Scotland”. The online Sun – Scottish branch edition – didn’t appear to know what to say ...maybe they couldn’t get old Roop on the line. Therein lies a clue to the Unionist media’s problem yesterday. For once, they were struggling to find something to print that was anti-independence.
Some did try. User comments on the story about the report on the BBC website included: “The SNP are like sex pests, it doesn’t matter how many times you tell them no, they just won’t go away.”
And this: “We are staying in the UK and leaving the EU. Get yer blue face paint on and dust off the CU Jimmy wig sweetheart, nobody cares what Strugeon (sic) has to say anymore except the nightcrawlers.”
Or this: “150,000 SNP scroungers who have never worked a day in their lives are bleeding us dry.”
Yes, that reasoned debate was on the licence-payer funded BBC whose motto is Nation Shall Speak Peace Unto Nation. Mmmmm.
The Commission’s chairman, Andrew Wilson has done a tremendous job pulling his group together and producing a readable report. The National can reveal that he had some serious help late on from a one-time very, very senior figure in the Scottish media who was once a promising editor.
It also helps that Wilson is well liked by many journalists. Chris Deerin of the New Statesman said in his online response that he counted Wilson as a friend, before admitting he rather liked the realism of his chum’s report.
Deerin wrote: “From this 2014 “No” voter, who remains less than reconciled to the approach of Brexit, the response to this is a straightforward ‘Hallelujah’.
“Undoubtedly, diehard Unionists will find easy targets in the Commission’s findings and throw them back in Sturgeon’s face, but that would be a mistake.”
Indeed it would.
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