Independence transcends ...

Nicola Sturgeon was being more than a little disingenous today when she admitted to a limited amount of politicisation of her daily "Covid" briefings on the basis that she's only human. In fact she has regularly used the platform to denigrate the Westminster Government and favourably compare Scotland with England, which would maybe not be political if she was a member of any other party but, as the leader of the SNP, this is highly political. It has also been highly effective as the latest opinion polls on support for independence demonstrate. Hence the reason that Nationalists have been howling with rage over the BBC's announcement that they would no longer automatically screen the daily briefings on TV. Sturgeon has been wise enough to distance herself from the criticism but her deputy John Swinney no doubt spoke for her when he voiced his concern over the BBC's decision.

The problem, as Calton sees it, is that those who don't want to see the UK broken up and Scotland plunged into poverty still seem to ascribe some basic moral decency to Sturgeon. They don't realise that when she said "independence transcends" she meant that it transcends EVERYTHING. Not just economics but morals, decency, honesty, integrity. Everything. Nicola Sturgeon would let your Granny die of Covid in a care home if it furthered the cause of Scottish independence ... except she's already tried that and it didn't work. She has no sense of shame and no decency. If she seems to be doing a mea culpa it's only to avoid admitting even bigger failures. This is what Nationalism does to you. It causes women to cover up for sex pests in case it damages 'the cause' and it causes other women to knife them in the back in case they damage 'the cause'. Nothing matters but independence and while Nicola may not have been "enjoying" Covid, she has used the higher profile it has given her to drive a wedge between Scotland and England and increase support for the only thing she really cares about. 

It's time to take the blinkers and the gloves off if we are to defeat the poison of Nationalism in Scotland. No more Mr Nice Guy.

The BBC is all at sea over gender

Some folk think the BBC is biased. Calton thinks it is just plain bonkers. Nowhere is this more evident in its attitudes to gender. Today, John Beattie introduced us to Tom Daley's "husband" in Australia, swiftly followed by the presenter back home falling over himself to apologise for referring to another male presenter as "her". Earlier in the week Kaye Adams hosted a discussion on young people accepting their bodies, which is fine, except that when it comes to young people accepting their gender and genitals, Kaye would be one of the first to be advocating hormones and surgery rather than acceptance, judging from previous comments she has made. Well guys and girls, you can't have it both ways. If a man can have a husband, what's the big deal about referring to a man as "she"? If the answer to not being happy with your body is hormones and surgery, why should that be restricted to unhappiness about gender?

It's not surprising that young people today are confused about their gender and their sexuality given the way the BBC is promoting ideas such as "gender fluidity". It'ssad that so many of them hate their bodies, including their gender, and want a quick fix for their perceived problems. It is utterly tragic that adults who should know better are not helping them to accept themselves as they are, not only in terms of body shape and appearance but also gender. Because the fact is, our sex is written into our chromosomes. It's as fundamental as that and we change it at our peril. Calton is particularly concerned with plans being put forward by the Scottish Government to allow any man to self-declare as a woman. This will put women and girls at risk by allowing men into women's changing rooms and other safe spaces. And when it comes to sports, only those who are XX should be allowed to compete in women's events. Not XYs, even if they have artificially lowered their testosterone and grown their hair long.

Biased Broadcasting Corporation scorns Christian license fee payers

This morning's discussion on BBC Radio Scotland's Morning Call was on whether or not the TV licence fee was worth it. After having heard yet another instance of biased reporting on Radio Scotland's Newsdrive this afternoon, Calton would have to say no, the licence fee is not worth it. (Not that he pays it, the eyrie thankfully not being on TV Licensing's database and him not having a TV anyway.) In a item about a proposed conscience clause for Northern Ireland's equality legislation, both presenter Laura Maxwell and interviewee Eamonn Mallie were clearly opposed to any attempt to accommodate strongly-held religious beliefs within NI's equality law and no other viewpoint was put across. Mallie is entitled to air his views but he should have been balanced by another interviewee who supported the clause. Maxwell, as newsreader, was not entitled to air her personal views. Newsdrive should not be a vehicle for presenters to put forward their personal opinions. They are there to present the news in a balanced, non-biased way, bearing in mind that they are being funded by over 90% of households via the TV licence and not all of those households agree with their trendy-lefty PC views. Mallie should have been challenged on the very slanted and inaccurate way he presented the story. Instead of doing this, Maxwell was only too happy to support him in his biased report which was, quite frankly, bigoted against Christians. The sooner supporting the BBC financially becomes a choice for viewers and listeners, the better.

Taking the heat out of the independence debate

Calton would like to apologise for the lack of posts recently but it has just been too hot to blog. Summer has finally arrived. The result of the Donside by-election was disappointing, not so much because the SNP managed to hold on to the seat - no surprise there - but because the four 'main parties' took the top four slots. An upset by one of the smaller parties would have been nice. As it is, the result gives the BBC the justification to carry on largely ignoring minority parties, which is a pity.

Bill Clinton has brought some much-needed words of wisdom to the independence debate while speaking at the Scottish Business Awards in Edinburgh. Hopefully his warnings will cool off the intemperate behaviour which has unfortunately characterised the debate so far, to the detriment of Scotland's future, whichever way the vote goes. His call for respect by both sides is particularly pertinent.

What about the penguins?

OK, Calton is aware that we are now into the silly season, in spite of the fact that he has the central heating on again tonight, but please, someone tell him that it's not true that the SNP are considering censuring the BBC over Question Time? Really? Because they included Nigel Farage and George Galloway? Mind you, the SNP have form when it comes to complaining to the BBC. Calton was not aware until this evening that Douglas Hurd had written a book about rabid Nats which was turned into a BBC programme in the 70s, provoking much complaint from the SNP. Some things never change. As far as Question Time goes, Calton thinks it entirely reasonable to include UKIP, since their candidate in Donside is doing better than the Libdems. Next time, Dimbleby should include one of the inmates of the penguin enclosure at Edinburgh Zoo, since they also have done better than the Libdems. If the criterion for inviting people on to QT is that they have MSPs in Holyrood, all that does is perpetuate the same old, stale old, dysfunctional system. It's time the minority parties were given a voice and it's time the SNP remembered that it's not so long ago that going from 2 to 7 MPs was considered a good result for them.

Brian's boring debate

The Scottish Parliament was designed to give small parties a chance of being represented. Unfortunately someone forgot to tell the BBC, which only invited what it saw as the "four main parties" on to the panel of the hustings for the Donside by-election held yesterday under the banner of Brian's Big Debate. Really, Calton would have thought that an experienced political journalist like Taylor should have known better. The excuse was that a "main party" was one that currently had seats in Holyrood. What happened to the Green candidate in that case? And, given that the Libdems are trailing UKIP in the polls, can we really continue to treat them as a "main party"? It's time that the SNP, Labour, Conservatives and Libdems were given a good old kick up the backside - Calton is tired of the same old arguments being trotted out again and again and he is glad to hear that Nigel Farage is planning another trip to Scotland. Yes, sometimes Farage is inexcusably rude but he is also a breath of fresh air compared to the politically-correct, lily-livered liberals and socialists who currently comprise a fair number of our elected representatives. Here's hoping UKIP kick at least one of the "main parties" into touch in Donside.

No need for name-calling

It is neither helpful nor appropriate for a BBC presenter to label a high percentage of Britain's Catholics, Evangelicals, Moslems and Jews 'neanderthal' as John Beattie did today on his Radio Scotland program when discussing attitudes to homosexuality. Like it or not, all three of the world's main monotheistic religions teach that homosexual acts are wrong. Like it or not, many people are faithful followers of those religions. Calling them 'neanderthal' is just as bad as calling homosexuals 'perverts'. It's also lazy. Giving someone a negative label means that you can treat them as less than human and ignore their views. It's intolerant and it ignores the fact that, in the discussion today, it was plain that abuse towards gay sportsmen was most likely to happen in a football stadium, not in a church, synagogue or mosque. That, in Calton's experience, is generally the case. When he worked in a male-dominated environment, the gay-bashers were not the guys who went to the weekly workplace Bible study but the heterosexual blokes who wouldn't be seen dead in a place of worship (unless you count pubs in that category). It's time the biased broadcasting corporation stopped taking cheap pot shots at religious people and started investigating the real reasons behind abuse of homosexuals. It's a far from simple issue but one thing is certain - calling people names does not promote understanding.

PS. Calton does not think anyone should have to suffer abuse for their sexuality or their religion.

A year in posts

Today is the 1st anniversary of this blog. It has been quite an eventful year, with issues such as independence, the state of the EU and same-sex marriage dominating the political headlines. All of these issues and more have been covered by Calton over the course of the last 12 months and it is interesting to see which posts have attracted the most attention. By far and away the most popular in terms of hits has been It's raining, for reasons which remain inexplicable to Calton. Aye right Willie! has also been popular, which is more than can be said for the Libdems generally. Posts on the Biased Broadcasting Corporation got a lot of hits with the latest post being picked up by other BBC-monitoring websites, showing that Calton is not alone in his concerns about Auntie.

One of Calton's favourite blogs is Archbishop Cranmer and Calton's post in support of His Grace proved popular, dealing, as it did, with issues of free speech and the threats thereto. As a blogger, free speech is something very dear to Calton's heart because, without it, this blog would cease to exist. Doubtless some SNP supporters would think that a good thing. Calton did not set out to write an anti-SNP blog, however the heads of Scotland's current ruling party have got so inflated recently that it is hard to resist the temptation to stick a talon in and pop them. It is also impossible to let their deluded assertions go unchallenged because the stakes are too high.

Last, but not least, on the year's roundup, posts on the Farepak scandal received a fair number of hits, showing that it is still a live issue 6 years later, more's the pity. If you have a burning issue you'd like to see covered, feel free to email Calton (his address can be found under 'profile') and he will give it his consideration. Comments on posts are always welcome, provided they are civil. (Cybernats take note.)

More from the Biased Broadcasting Corporation

Calton was frankly horrified to hear questioner Stephen Bedford ask 'does Israel deserve a future' on Radio 4's Any Questions? program last night and equally horrified that the BBC should allow such an obviously biased question. (For those who didn't catch it, fast forward to 12 minutes in the iPlayer version, unless you want to listen to a ten minute discussion on the election of Police Commissioners in England.)

To suggest that any nation does not deserve a future is tantamount to advocating genocide and Calton is wondering if, in fact, the question constitutes a hate crime under our new legislation on such matters. Perhaps someone should phone the police and find out. What is encouraging is that all four of the panel stated quite clearly that Israel has a right to exist and two at least were just as shocked as Calton was at the way in which the question was framed. In these days of heightened tension in the Middle East it is quite reasonable to question whether the actions of Israel or any other nation are legitimate or proportionate, however, questioning a nation's right to continued existence is not reasonable. Nor is it helpful.

Yet another example of BBC bias. Shame on them.

PS. It also didn't escape Calton's attention that Jonathan Dimbleby gave the number of Israeli strikes on Gaza but omitted to mention the number of rockets which have been fired into Israel from Gaza. Calton was just so incensed last night that he forgot to mention it!

Open season on Christians at the BBC

Libby Purves is entitled to her opinions on assisted suicide and other matters and she is entitled to air them on Radio Scotland. What she is not entitled to do is label as 'bigots' those who happen to disagree with her. Such ignorant and inflammatory language does nothing to further reasoned and rational debate and Calton is surprised that Kaye Adams let Dr Purves get away with it unchallenged. Maybe he shouldn't be, given that Kaye very quickly stepped in to shut up a caller who was making remarks which might have been offensive to homosexuals recently but let the following caller indulge in an extended rant against Christians without any attempt to curtail him. Yet another example of the open season on Christians at the Biased Broadcasting Corporation, where some are clearly more equal than others when it comes to being protected against offence.

The Biased Broadcasting Corporation

While the rest of us are still awaiting the outcome of the Scottish Government's consultation on same-sex marriage, Fred MacAuley has obviously decided what it is going to be, with his talk of Susan Calman's 'marriage' on MacAuley and Co this morning. (In point of fact, Susan Calman has entered into a Civil Partnership with another woman. Same-sex couples cannot currently get married in Scotland.) Now, Calton may be being a bit naive here but isn't the BBC supposed to be impartial and unbiased? Is it really appropriate for a BBC presenter to be preempting the result of a public consultation by the Scottish Government? If Fred wants to champion gay marriage in his own time, fair enough. To do so on air, on the BBC, without opportunity for a balancing view to be put before the audience is not acceptable or, to put it another way, not 'British' but biased.

Softly, Softly

Calton used to think that 'Softly, Softly' was the title of an old police TV series. Now it's the way the BBC treats truculent young men who swear at conductors and get thrown off trains for their pains. Every effort is made to allow said young men to air their side of the story, all in the interests of 'balance'. This morning on the Call Kaye Radio Scotland program we were invited to feel sorry for such a young man, who could clearly be heard on a YouTube video being abusive to a man who was just doing his job. Well, Calton for one has no sympathy for the foul-mouthed lad and every sympathy for the conductor and the last thing we need is for the BBC (which is supposedly a public service broadcaster) to be giving lads like him the oxygen of publicity - it just encourages them to carry on their abuse. It's at times like this that Calton wishes there was still a jail on Calton Hill - and it wouldn't be the Big Man who ended up in it if Calton had his way.