WE all get things wrong from time to time. Sometimes it’s a tyop typo, sometimes it’s something that makes you want the ground to swallow you whole.
Step forward Times journalist Alf Young, who embarrassingly hit out at Fiona Hyslop for last year missing a ministerial task force on migration.
Young – a visiting professor at the international Public Policy Institute at the University of Strathclyde – was correct to point out that this fell under Hyslop’s external affairs brief.
He was also correct that she missed the meeting.
His contention, however, that this means she is an “occasional attendee” is wide of the mark.
READ MORE: Tory prompts Twitter fury with outrageous claim about Scotland
He was corrected by the Culture Secretary, who took to Twitter: “Alf Young has based a whole article today on the basis I didn’t attend one meeting of the Ministerial Population Task Force I chair and continue to chair – my mother had died the day before that meeting.”
. @heraldscotland Alf Young has based a whole article today on basis I didn’t attend 1 meeting of the Ministerial Population Task Force I chair and continue to chair- my mother had died the day before that meeting.
— Fiona Hyslop (@FionaHyslop) February 26, 2020
Ouch.
The problem is… she too got some things correct but one crucial piece of information wrong: the publication.
The column had, in fact, been published in The Times.
Ouch.
It encouraged a Twitter pile-on, including from some senior political figures, before Hyslop corrected her error.
Apologies to @heraldscotland Alf Young’s article is in The Times @magnusllewellin https://t.co/sk6GYfALbV
— Fiona Hyslop (@FionaHyslop) February 26, 2020
This included Education Secretary John Swinney, who hit out at the "utterly shocking and indefensible" standards.
He too erroneously tagged The Herald but has since deleted the tweet.
The Scotland editor at The Times, Magnus Llewellyn, then replied giving an explanation for the quote, downplaying the significance of the quote which had caused an uproar:
Fiona: I am sure Alf Young was not aware of your bereavement. However, his column is not based on you or your attendance at a ministerial task force meeting. It focuses more on the reasons why talented young Scots still choose to leave the country.
— TimesEditorScotland (@magnusllewellin) February 26, 2020
The Jouker has proofread this article several times and is still terrified there is an error somewhere...
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