Funographic failings and Iain Gray.

It has to be said, there's been a seismic shift in attitude and latitude towards the Scottish branch of the Labour Party from the Scottish branch of The Sun tabloid. This past week or so we've seen The Sun indulge in Labour kipperings on everything from Jim Devine and the failings of Scottish Labour general Secretary Colin Smyth and soon to be, if rumours are too be believed, ex-MP Gordon Brown.

To the outing of Holywood stalwart Brian Cox as a closet Eck's Man

Which saw him reveal his true thoughts on Iain Gray and the dogs dinner that Labour in Scotland have become.

However, today, Andy Nicol the journalist responsible for most of these stories ( and a none too shoddy novelist) more or less hammered the Saltire to the Sun masthead when he mocked Iain Gray and the Labour Parties pathetic, written on the back of a fag packet manifesto.

 

It's a rare condition for SNP/Independence supporters to find themselves indulging in a spot of schadenfreude at the expense of the all mighty Labour Party, particularly when it comes in such a high circlation blatt as the Sun, circa 330,000 papers sold per day. Whilst support in the form of the old 'enemy of my enemy is my friend' school of thought is to be welcomed, it has to be with accepted with extreme caution and with it a reminder of these words.

"Vote SNP today and you put Scotland's head in the noose."

That front page was the most disgraceful bluntest propaganda by so-called journalists seen since Devolution. It was an offence against democracy for members of the Scottish press to crow bar their blatant and crude beliefs into an attempt to influence the Scottish public. 

Lest we forget, over one million people in Scotland, who buy the three best selling papers, the Record the Sun and the Daily Mail, were told that a vote for the SNP would cost tax payers £5000 per head, income tax would go up 3 pence, hundreds of thousands of jobs would be lost. All these lies were presented as actual fact, straight from Labour's election leaflets dreamed up by the likes of John McTernan and co. 

The SNP government won by the slimmest of margins in the face of relentless negativity from the Scottish media, wur ain couthy State Broadcaster, postal vote irregularities and of course electronic ballot counting, complete with extremely complex ballot papers, all administered by Westminster. In our favour then and now is the online presence and technology. Last time around the campaign was all about the SNP's then revolutionary electoral software 'Active8' which utterly trumped Labour's own electioneering babbage machine, which couldn't differentiate between tenements and houses...Online, there were a few blogs about, but mostly the disgruntled with access to a computer logged on to fulminate on the pages of the Scotsman and the Herald. My abiding memory of the 2007 election was updating the Hootsman forum as the results came in and announcing to those readers around the world that the SNP had done it. This time, we're completely blogged up. The excellent Newsnet goes from strength to strength and garners amazing numbers of readers that have trounced the online presence of both the Hootsman and the Herald, all without selling out to some shady corporation. They cater to pro-Independence supporters and present them with the news in a radically neutral style, albeit from an SNP supporting stance, hey if the Record can do it... Then there's Twitter.


Stepping into the world of the Twitteratti during this election run up has become fairly interesting. I'm on there under @MarkEMacLachlan alongside sundry others from the Scottish blogosphere. Interestingly the funniest and most compelling tweets come from the likes of non-bloggers like @grahame_case, @GML1320 , @CSbungo, @bcnsco , who also has an excellent Youtube page as does @baronsarwar , and his eponymously titled Youtube page.  

I've never met any of these folk in real life, at least I don't think I have, but there is no doubt in my mind that they are are mobilised and are handing Labour their collective arses on a plate. @ScottishLabour like much of their policies and attitudes are still stuck in the past and have not cottoned on to the fact that 140 characters is more suited to wit and whimsy than worthy leaden phraseology crimped from the diaries of Harold Wilson. 

This move away from Labour by the Sun is hopefully something we'll see in other areas of our media. Mayhaps Scotland will only be free when the last Labour councillor is choked to death with the pages of the Daily Record.


Addendum:

I've just heard on Twitter from several sources that Iain Gray was forced to abandon a photocall at Glasgow's Central Station this morning and flee in a taxi, after being confronted by anti-cut protestors...Couldnaemakeitup.


Here's the video of it after being re-imagined by the splendid Bcnsco