The Times Online - A Mission To Misinform The People Of England About Devolution - Bill Pickering As An Example...

Is Times Online, in the wake of its recent Populus Poll on devolution, and its shrieks about how successful devolution has been for Scotland, and how everybody supports it, being rather biased in its comments threads?

Comments published seem very few, and a deluded Scot often seems to be allowed the last word.

Take this:

"Dave, I'm afraid you're just plain wrong - the UK Government's own figures show that Scotland is a net contributor to the Union.

Granted, it receives a superior grant than many of the English regions, but Northern Ireland gets even more, as does old London town.

Bill Pickford, Arisaig, Scotland"

Click on the red text to go to the Times article and the comments thread.

From The Guardian:

Tax revenues from Scotland almost match the country's £49.2bn a year public spending - although only if all North Sea oil and gas revenues are attributed to Edinburgh, a controversial allocation.

Click on the red text for the article.

And so it should be "controversial" - some of the oil and gas is England's.

The Tax Payers' Alliance found:

North Sea Oil has not funded the Scottish spending gap, despite Scottish Nationalist claims to the contrary. In only five of the last 23 years have North Sea Oil receipts exceeded the cost of higher funding paid to Scotland. Even with current high oil prices, the income from the Scottish share of North Sea Oil only just covers the spending gap, and North Sea Oil output is projected to fall by 50 per cent by 2020.

Click on red text for more.

And why should Scotland claim any of the oil for itself? This is supposed to be a "union" - surely resources are supposed to be SHARED?

And what's this "superior grant" Mr Pickford refers to? Scotland benefits from the Barnett Formula, whatever varying levels of public spending across England, England does not.

But Bill Pickford clearly does not know that. And yet The Times allows this man the final word in the comments thread.

And as for "English regions" - what the heck?!!

Perhaps I'm being a little hasty. But several people, including myself, have contributed to this comments thread to correct Mr Pickering. And the comments have, so far, been unpublished. Not even one of them has appeared.

Times Poll On Devolution Is Seriously Flawed And Highly Misleading...

The Times has carried out a survey on attitudes to Scottish devolution south and north of the border, and its headline trumpets:

70% of Britons support devolution for Scotland, poll suggests

Well, I hate to be a party pooper, but as 42% of those surveyed in England desire an English Parliament, and 52% believe that Scots constituency MPs should not be voting on English matters, the poll hardly suggests that everything in the garden is lovely. Also, consider the facts that only 911 people were surveyed in England and Wales (together) compared to 500 in Scotland - suggesting, as usual, that Scots' opinions are far more important than those from elsewhere in the UK.

And when you consider there are around 60 million people in England, as compared to around 5 million in Scotland...

But, apart from all this, the Times poll strikes us here at WENAP as another prime example of the media in England seeking to hide the facts about devolution - the headline suggests that everything in the garden is rosy, and as the media fails to inform people in England about the detrimental effects of devolution on its citizens, surely the poll is a complete and utter farce?

This particular quote from the Times reveals how absurdly ill-informed the majority of people are, thanks to the likes of the Times and the BBC:

It [the survey] found that 65% of people in Scotland and 73% in England and Wales believed relationships between the two countries have not changed since before devolution a decade ago.

And what about this? -

The Times newspaper survey found 70% of people north of the border and 70% in England and Wales thought devolution had been good for Scotland.

We believe that devolution has been good for Scotland - unfairly so - but that doesn't mean we support the current situation, and the Times headline states: 70% of Britons Support Devolution For Scotland. This is completely skewed and misleading.

Also, if the survey was about "relationships between the two countries" - our emphasis - meaning England and Scotland - why on earth were people in Wales surveyed on this point? What position are they in to judge?

Until the media in England opens up about the facts regarding devolution, then all such polls are a waste of time.

But, even taking that into account, we are surprised and gratified that 41% of those polled in England desire an English Parliament and 52% do not want Scots constituency MPs voting on English legislation.

Read the full Times report here.

Daily Mail Deceives Public Over Caroline Flint's Role

I noticed whilst reading this Daily Mail article by James Chapman -

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=512354&in_page_id=1770&in_page_id=1770&expand=true#StartComments

that the paper has not mentioned ANYWHERE that Caroline Flint's authority is not UK-wide - that she is only housing minister for England.

Several people that I know of wrote to the Mail yesterday pointing this out, as I did myself, but none of the e-mails have been published. Today I have sent this:

Ms Flint is not responsible for housing policy in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, which have their own devolved governments/assemblies. So why isn't this pointed out? This newspaper's staff are either trying to deceive the public into believing that devolution has made no difference, and so bolster up New Labour's Unionist lies, or your so-called "journalists" are simply thick.

Whatever the truth, this article is garbage, the fact that Caroline Flint only has control of England's housing should be pointed out as a matter of course.

I have written before with this point, but you haven't publish it, and I am now advertising that fact on my blog.

It really is time the corrupt British Press was MADE to tell the truth about devolution.