26 Apr 2009

God is a Wee Bald Guy from Ayrshire - if you work at Scotland on Sunday

Scotland on Sunday is this morning leading with an article in which tycoon billionare, Sir Tom Hunter mumbles something about the Scottish Goverment cutting income tax by 3p. "It has got to be good", he answers to a question from an SoS reporter.


This has sent SoS's editors and top scribes into overdrive - the scoop of the century? Certainly compared with Guido's hyped-up blog expose of a little bit of high jinks in high places, ( that's the one SoS totally missed) Here though the authoritve, real journalistic community - the voice of the nation ( well the EH1 bit) - hits back with this fine stuff.

SoS.... "say no to drugs" - please stop taking those mind altering chemicals.

Lets start with basic facts: A a cut of 3p would lose the Scottich Government about £1,000m per year in lost revenue. So where will these billion pound worth of cuts now required come from?. And how could Eck then still bleat on about the "viscious" £500 million ( near non existant) "cut" impossed by Darling?
And the idea that the UK Treasury, any Treasury, would sit back and allow rich English folks to move their tax base to Scotland to take advantage of our lower rate is a fantasy. Pure fantasy - stuff so unrealist JK Rowling would not put in her next Harry Potter book, if there ever is one, An internal tax haven? When they, ( and the entire G20!) are at last trying to clamp down on the offshore ones.

Sir Tom Hunter blows his nose and SoS would run it as a lead story.

But Tax cuts? Even the Tories in the face of the UK's £175bn fiscal deficit and rising, have all but admited any tax cuts for the forseeable future are an impoosibilty

But here is SoS peddling it a a realistic Scottish only policy choice. Desperate stuff journalistically. "Rio Ferdinand shagged three hookers" would be a more newsworty headline - and he probably did. Yet it's us Bloggers that make things up, hype, publish tripe!
Thsi Blogger preducts, guarantees, there will be no Tartan Tax cut.
When Tavish Scott and his Scot Lib Dem panto sidekick Jeremy Purvis raised this very same issue at Holyrood during the Scottish Budget Debate in February, other MSPs did not know whether to laugh or cry, Fellow Lib Dem MSPs headed for those hills. And the whole infantile idea was quickly buried by Tavish in round two of the Budget Bill negotiations. But the SoS has revived THE BIG IDEA !

I say SoS , because look at what Tom Hunter actually told them on their promting - "It has got top be good,," Of couse it would be - in a theoetical bubble. But then examine the consequences, the reality. Did your sleauth journo not think to ask Sir Tom, about the consequenses, as every political party - SNP, Lab, Conservatce and Green had done relentlessly the Lib Dems, to the point of demolition, only a few weeks back at Holyrood?

Why not? Probably as the repoorter feared, - all but knew - what Sir Tom would have said; Near exactly what I've just said above. What Alex Salmond, Ian Gray, Anabell Goldie, Partick Harvie near every MSP, left, right and centre said a few weeks back, and said so effectivey that even Tavish has belatedly began to agree with them.

But that would have gotten in the way of this "scoop"

And, oh to be a billionaire. I could say anything and be on the front page of SoS. and half of the rest of them every week. An end to this tiresome blogging, thinking. Retire and let these trained, professional, investigative journalists Margo so admires get on with it.

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