Scottish National Lobotomy

 

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  1. Geoff Bush says:

    Brilliant Bob – just wish you’d get off the fence a bit !

  2. Papko says:

    With YES at 60% and the night before the vote.
    The Scottish Tories will play this as their party political broadcast.
    And the Yoons will pour out their houses and roll down their glens as a second massive turnout, wins the day at the last minute once again.

  3. David says:

    Well that was a surprise

  4. Malky Mack says:

    Video not available??

  5. richard parker says:

    Refreshingly direct. I’m an anti establishment anorthern Englander and see both Boris and Nicola as pathetic little ‘Hitler types’ though they’ve not got the true authority of a real Hitler and played/bribed the scenes by the corporate agenda.

    1. Anna says:

      What are your reasons for seeing Nicola – as you call her – as a “pathetic little Hitler type”? Is it because she’s the First Minister, taking a firm line at the moment and, by the way, being supported by a big majority of the population in Scotland for doing so? Or do you have other reasons? Where is your evidence of control and bribery behind the scenes?
      These comments are easy for you to make but what do you have to back them up?
      Do you really feel comfortable about invoking Hitler in this context?

      1. richard parker says:

        Hi Anna,

        Waited to see Nicola appear on little England TV again. A one minute clip in which she used the phrases ‘in MY opinion’ and ‘I’ve told you that before’. Maybe she should imply a collective body by stating ‘in the opinion of our party ‘ or ‘ the SNP mentioned this before’ to temper her self importance. 1 o’clock BBC news for your reference, not that necessarily I believe what the BBC reports. Classic misleading speculation on the background of the Beirut blast before Nicola. Not news, speculation to imply corruption etc … Maybe some common ground on opinion of the BBC between us?

        1. Anna says:

          I’m sure we would agree on a great deal about the shortcomings of the BBC.
          Instead of a one-minute segment which you’ve seen, here in Scotland we get approx. 35 minutes of the daily news conference on Radio Scotland and it’s broadcast in its entirety on BBC Scotland. After NS’s daily update, there are often presentations by the Health Secretary or the Finance one or by the National Clinical Director or by the Acting Chief Medical Officer or the Chief Nursing Officer. These are followed by questions from journalists, many of which are openly hostile; all of these questions are answered either by NS or one of the other two folk present.
          How else would NS refer to herself as First Minister other than using “I”? As for her “self-importance” – I suspect you mean her confident delivery which I greatly appreciate and admire though I know that it grates on some folk who take exception to being told what’s what by a woman.
          I still think you need to be very careful about throwing “little Hitler” accusations about.

  6. John Cawley says:

    Brilliant! This guy simply illustrates what is missing from mainstream Scottish culture. We have a parliament, a party system and politicians absolutely untouched by satire. If you think that Frankie Boyle is the fearless anti-establishment voice speaking truth to power, you should check out Two Rivers Media, who produced his latest series. Alan Clements is the main guy (of Wark Clements) and a key investor is Sir Angus Grossart, the director of Charlotte Street Partners. Two Rivers Media made Children of the Devolution with Kevin Pringle and Andrew Wilson, CSP big noises and former employee Chris Deerin, as well as Malcolm Robertson’s pal Jack McConnell as another talking head. What subject did Children of the Devolution not discuss? Lobbygate – the first great scandal of devolved government in Scotland.
    We can’t expect Frankie Boyle to bite the hand that feeds him. We can’t expect the BBC to hold the powerful to account when they effectively have a production deal with Scotland’s largest lobbying company , so we need guys like Bonny Prince Bob to rip into the powerful. We need satire, we need radical art and we need a vibrant counter culture, otherwise we have guys like Marco Biagi, former politician and former lobbyist with Message Matters posing as a breath of fresh air in the middle of a square go between Joanne Cherry and Angus Robertson.
    BBC Scotland might try to fill a gap in the TV schedule with a satirical look at Scottish politics and culture. Maybe Shereen could present it and The Fat Cops could provide the music. It would be safe, pre-digested pap that wouldn’t frighten the powerful, just like the rest of BBC Scotland’s output. Nothing to upset Andrew Wilson, nothing that challenges the corporate capture of Scottish politics and culture. Print media is dying, so there’s not much scope for a Scottish Private Eye. BBC Scotland is the preserve of the establishment, so in the vacuum, voices like Bonny Prince Bob need to be heard. Well done, Mike!

    1. bonnie prince bob says:

      Thank you John, I could not agree more. BPB

  7. Alec Oattes says:

    All power to Bonnie Prince Bob and his views, democracy is not perfect, but when you are in power, all be it with very limited powers and working against the right wing media, you have to be careful and not frighten the people who have voted you in. It is easy to comment from the side lines, look what happened to the Scottish Socialist Party, a decent left wing, well meaning Group of individuals who were shafted by one Tommy Sheridan. The Scottish Cultural revival, music, theatre, literature that Prince Bob disparages which grew while Thatcher was in power, helped to keep the flame of Scottish Independence alive through those difficult times. If the Labour Party in Scotland wonder where things went wrong , I suggest the few remaining members/activists watch ” Once Upon a time in Iraq” courtesy of B.B.C. 4.

  8. Wul says:

    Well said! I’m into this.

    Two things making me feel very up for some dissent, discontent, malcontent etc. are the SNP’s despicable attempt to shut down Joanna Cherry ( do they think we’re f**kin’ idiots?) and the complete vacuum of mainstream cultural output that addresses the actual reality of living in Scotland. Where can we see ourselves? Nowhere.

    Maybe the wise thing is to ride the SNP taxi for a wee while, then, as we approach home, grab the steering wheel from whatever tool is driving, throw a boulder on the accelerator, crash through the front door of “Chez Independence” and torch the motor. Not sure what happens next, but we could ask the people.

    What do we get for our money though Bob? If you’re goannae ask for cash, you need to say what you’ll dae wi’ it. If it’s producing more satirical films or just balls-out shorts like this, then I’ll chip in. Or do you have wider “cultural” output in mind?

  9. SleepingDog says:

    There is one rather obviously-relevant cultural form that seems to be overlooked every time culture is addressed on Bella: near-futuristic science fiction (or speculative science fiction). This used to be fairly common on the BBC, but now British-set stories have to contend with the possibility of Scottish independence (and any fallout from excluding it). There are a number of science fiction novels I have read where an independent Scotland takes a different political route from remnant-UK (as a socialist state, perhaps), and some graphic novel/comic treatments. It is also possible to create an independent Scotland in some computer games (in Hearts of Iron 2 I liberated Scotland as the USSR, for example). Creating functional (or dysfunctional) Scottish systems and exploring these is possibly the best way to make them real in people’s minds, along with the challenges and threats, and potential solutions and countermeasures. Even small changes (like creating modern treason legislation that repudiates the idea that such offences derive from disloyalty to the hereditary monarch) could have large repercussions (which is of course why the British establishment work so hard defending the status quo, including, I assume, employing cultural/academic assets for that purpose).

    But we can go beyond modern constitutions in science fiction to imagine frameworks which address the deep problems of today and tomorrow, which will increasingly highlight how dangerously backward the UK (or British Empire) is. The graphic history The Many not the Few early on makes the point that popular revolutions are made more likely by the status quo failing conspicuously to cope with disasters and threats such as plagues. But I agree that making an Independent Scotland in the colour-changed image of the UK will be a tragic mistake. The ability to, say, endure a decade of illegal embargoes might be helpful.

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