tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19208183.post5951091633323090588..comments2023-10-22T14:14:16.419+01:00Comments on J. Arthur MacNumpty: A fourth birthdayWillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10978812670312106107noreply@blogger.comBlogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19208183.post-14452293888775908622009-11-28T14:49:56.919+00:002009-11-28T14:49:56.919+00:00This comment has been removed by the author.Scottish Unionisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01349256080122114023noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19208183.post-26226869025565213642009-11-28T11:12:37.118+00:002009-11-28T11:12:37.118+00:00Scottish Unionist,
Montague will not thank you fo...Scottish Unionist,<br /><br />Montague will not thank you for this support. He might accept donations to his legal fund, however.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19208183.post-44503328862223950082009-11-28T02:12:34.833+00:002009-11-28T02:12:34.833+00:00This comment has been removed by the author.Scottish Unionisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01349256080122114023noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19208183.post-81162393951209551842009-11-26T22:53:07.035+00:002009-11-26T22:53:07.035+00:00You'll have noticed Montague Burton deleted hi...You'll have noticed Montague Burton deleted his comments. And his blog. Now why would Wardog's champion do that?<br /><br />Next!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19208183.post-26719291244053203152009-11-25T20:36:45.599+00:002009-11-25T20:36:45.599+00:00Excellent post. I agree with quite a lot of point...Excellent post. I agree with quite a lot of points made. I can see where Wardog is coming from, even if i can't condone the coice of language.<br /><br />Happy blogging anniversary.Allanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13574173214924437278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19208183.post-55366742283357229442009-11-25T13:18:40.534+00:002009-11-25T13:18:40.534+00:00What's your view on Labour thuggery in Renfrew...What's your view on Labour thuggery in Renfrewshire.<br /><br />http://www.paisleydailyexpress.co.uk/2009/11/23/paisley-councillor-s-behaviour-is-unacceptable-87085-25217378/<br /><br />It seems that this fellow has previous.<br /><br />http://findarticles.com/p/news-articles/daily-mail-london-england-the/mi_8002/is_1998_Jan_5/survive-labours-lazarus-lord-provost/ai_n35945801/<br /><br />http://findarticles.com/p/news-articles/daily-mail-london-england-the/mi_8002/is_1997_Sept_24/comrades-arms-sleaze-report/ai_n35787926/Alecnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19208183.post-34126049709644329972009-11-25T02:53:01.214+00:002009-11-25T02:53:01.214+00:00I haven't really read your blog as much as I s...I haven't really read your blog as much as I should have because basically there are only so many blogs you can look at in a day if you are also contributing to your own. Ones that are not updated daily tend to be left behind because you have to wait for them to load and it's the same post as three days ago. It of course depends what you blog. You tend to wait until you have a serious point to make while I comment on current affairs which is a lot easier. Maybe if I could type quicker, I could be bothered writing a diatribe. :-)Dark Lochnagarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09086636653505467565noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19208183.post-56255179230070796522009-11-24T17:22:53.710+00:002009-11-24T17:22:53.710+00:00You take life too seriously..
remember it's ...You take life too seriously..<br /><br /><br />remember it's joke just a jokeNikostratoshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06581441869560921339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19208183.post-22938934026955755542009-11-24T13:24:03.289+00:002009-11-24T13:24:03.289+00:00very thoughtful post,
Wardogs plight a real shame...very thoughtful post,<br /><br />Wardogs plight a real shame. But we should all learn from it and move on.<br /><br />Expressing opinion has always come with a price, especially non Labour ones in Scotland.<br /><br />One rider: just as there is no one "blogger" community or "cybernat" one, there aint a single Scottish journo one either. They are quite a diverse bunch.Alan Smarthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08238599957331198637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19208183.post-19819981657923966142009-11-24T13:09:07.469+00:002009-11-24T13:09:07.469+00:00A hearty happy birthday to you. I have previously ...A hearty happy birthday to you. I have previously posted my appreciation of your blogging output and I would like to add a few observations on what you said this time.<br /><br />I share your worries about what happened to Wardog with regard to ‘are you no longer allowed to have an opinion and a job’ (and if I were Wardog I would be investigating my legal recourse against my employers for their alleged knee-jerk public response to journos’ enquiries.<br /><br />I couldn’t help noting that the one attempted justification for the attacks on Wardog was made by and ‘Anon’; and wasn’t it a suspiciously well-detailed (exhaustedly so) treatise?<br /><br />I do wonder about the motives and morals of the journos involved in this and other cases of persecuting bloggers. The unpleasant truth is that many conventional journos and presenters are just plain scared of the power of bloggers and just want them removed from the scene. Even otherwise highly regarded journos such as Ian McWhirter can seem to lose their generosity and sense of balanced judgement when it comes to blogs and bloggers.<br /><br />There again, the bile that passes through the Scotsman comments section is truly at times awful – the Herald for awhile was equally bad but pre-registration seemed to calm that down. But what is this telling us? Perhaps that the genteel but manipulative spinfest that passes for ‘official’ politics is now utterly discredited and out of touch with the language and other nomenclature used by the those in real society? For example, how many readers read Wardog’s (wrong-headed) description of Jim Murphy in the context of what that video footage was allegedly showing and thought “yes you’re right, he is a bit of a …”<br /><br />And anyway, for me on the very rare occasions I have scanned conventional print media of the likes of the Daily Mail, I find some of their content to amount to no more than bile (maybe their journos are really bloggers disguised as journos?). <br /><br />I go along with your not blogging-everyday-for-the-sake-of-it. I know it’s supposed to be a golden rule of blogging that you do so to retain visitors. But my own judgement is that return visitors can be assured so long as the posts are of quality (such as yours), and so long as the blogger is not giving off signals that it is just a wee bit of egotism from them when they can be bothered.<br /><br />I can appreciate the problems of motivation and the resources demands on you. What about if you decided on a far less volume, but with predictably regularity in addition to your Sunday Whip? i.e. your Whips and then a piece every second Tuesday or something like that? <br /><br />Twitter so far as I can see is going to remain that – just twittering. <br /><br />I see an interesting dynamic at work inthat Twitter will cut out many of the more facile and self-preoccupied type of blogs – meaning that the blogshere might be left even more of a market place for the more thoughtful/stimulating/informative/entertaining, or whatever, value-adding type of blog. <br /><br />Anyhows, I have tentatively at times mulled over the possibility of entering the world of blogs with one of my own – so I’ll have to read up on some SAS’s urban deep camouflage techniques first, lest I become persecuted by the journos<br /><br />I really do hope that you will feel able to carry on with what I believe is a unique and uniquely <br />valuable blog.Ted Harveynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19208183.post-49963045824902273212009-11-23T23:20:01.506+00:002009-11-23T23:20:01.506+00:00Will, I think you're right about the profaniti...Will, I think you're right about the profanities in question, but the problem in that regard seemed to be with Wardog's part-time employer, and bringing the institution he worked for into disrepute, sort of thing.<br /><br />Any action in defamation - very unlikely from a politician in relation to something said on a blog, or they'd never be out of the courts - would have been founded on the allegations regarding the conduct of the politicians rather than the language per se.<br /><br />If you read the column in the NotW - which makes painful reading - there Euan McColm essentially says that Wardog was lying and couldn't substantiate the claims.<br /><br />Thus it's conceviable that Wardog could sue the NotW if he could substantiate his claims.<br /><br />Other than that it's just the usual court of public opinion sort of thing conducted via the press, which basically portrayed Wardog as a hate-filled cybernat, but juxtaposed this with his real life respectable persona.<br /><br />A salutary lesson for extreme blogging.Stuart Wintonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02772436419630464325noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19208183.post-65580575374890038332009-11-23T21:06:43.339+00:002009-11-23T21:06:43.339+00:00Hey Will, that's really something. Congrats.Hey Will, that's really something. Congrats.James Highamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14525082702330365464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19208183.post-44893744204679479872009-11-23T20:44:26.208+00:002009-11-23T20:44:26.208+00:00Thanks to (almost) all for the kudos - as I said, ...Thanks to (almost) all for the kudos - as I said, I'll probably be continuing in some form, albeit a quieter one until my blogging mojo has returned. As things stand, I don't feel I currently have the time to put into bloggery the effort required to get the results I want, but remember that I've given myself an 18-month timeframe (which affords me with lots and lots of wriggle room!). And if I still can't motivate myself after a year and a half, then the blog will pretty much deserve to be killed off!<br /><br />So we'll see what happens: hopefully something will get my motor running and we'll be back to how things should be very soon. Or I'll trundle to the Christmas break, enter January rested, and ready to start again.<br /><br />In terms of Wardog, I've said all I want to say, about him, about the situation and about the Scotsman.com/blogosphere crossover (and I recommend this post by <a href="http://www.christianjones.net/2009/11/blogging-stupidity.html" rel="nofollow">Chris</a>) though I'm advising commenters that if you object to Wardog using the C word, then at least apply the principle both ways and have the decency to asterisk it yourselves - I'm looking at the anonymous commenter who presented us with the word in full despite slagging Wardog off for deploying it.<br /><br />Finally, in terms of the legality of the C word as it's been deployed, I suspect (though I'm no lawyer) that anyone bringing an action would have to prove that the bloggers intended to allege that the journos/politicos in question were integral parts of the female anatomy. If lawyers can't prove that they meant it literally, we're stuck in the metaphorical use of the word, and so in the realm of opinion and comment, where my understanding is that it becomes easier for the defence teams. Publicly voicing your dislike of someone is not, the last time I checked, an offence.Willhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10978812670312106107noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19208183.post-64377809953022898812009-11-23T20:31:04.782+00:002009-11-23T20:31:04.782+00:00You gotta keep on keepin on dude.
It's good st...You gotta keep on keepin on dude.<br />It's good stuff, folks wouldn't read it if it were shite.Eddie Trumanhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/eddietruman/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19208183.post-48819563979709494432009-11-23T02:33:47.566+00:002009-11-23T02:33:47.566+00:00I enjoy your posts Will and do appreciate your Whi...I enjoy your posts Will and do appreciate your Whip posts in particular.<br /><br />I will not comment on Wardog's demise as I feel enough has been said, some of it quite inaccurate of course.subrosahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00151702590329788260noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19208183.post-20773343510024260612009-11-23T02:31:13.422+00:002009-11-23T02:31:13.422+00:00I've just come across your blog, Directed here...I've just come across your blog, Directed here by Oldnat. I hope you don't give up I've only just found you!Snowthistlenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19208183.post-91617698440970960602009-11-23T01:31:56.342+00:002009-11-23T01:31:56.342+00:00I enjoy reading your blog, but unless you're m...I enjoy reading your blog, but unless you're making a living from it like Iain Dale, then it should never become a chore for you.<br /><br />There are always the general political blogs like Blether with Brian where you can post, as and when, if you decide to give up this blog.<br /><br />In the meantime, I'll log on to read what you write.oldnathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14472618583129398722noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19208183.post-85601712235215507082009-11-23T00:50:59.663+00:002009-11-23T00:50:59.663+00:00Happy 4th Blogiversary and thanks for another inte...Happy 4th Blogiversary and thanks for another interesting article. With luck you'll still be around to celebrate your 5th.<br /><br />As someone who will in a few months be celebrating his 8th blogging anniversary I know how difficult it is to keep going. For the first couple of years there were hardly enough hours in the day to put down all the thoughts and opinions I wished to record - since then I've gone through various hiatuses, even going so far as to formally close the blog about 2 years ago, but that only lasted for about 7 weeks until I felt I just had to write about something that had wound me up. Now I write at my own pace, just for me and for anyone else who cares to read; if I don't feel in the mood to write for a few days, or even a week, then I don't.<br /><br />So in summary, just write as often as you feel comfortable with - I just hope it won't be too infrequently.<br /><br />Best regards,<br />BillBillhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10393265755614039206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19208183.post-30356109842927174102009-11-23T00:26:42.088+00:002009-11-23T00:26:42.088+00:00Wardog wasn't hounded by people in some concer...Wardog wasn't hounded by people in some concerted, establishment orientated smear.<br /><br />Here's what happened: Wardog posts some defamatory comments about the Scottish secretary. <br /><br />A news of the world journalist emails him to ask if that is appropriate, given his position at the uni.<br /><br />Wardog posts the journalist's email, along with a series of sneering comments, accusing the journalist of being mental and saying that if he thinks cunt is inappropriate, then he should hear what he says to his students.<br /><br />Tom Gordon of the Sunday Herald reads the blog - journalists often surf the blogosphere - and thinks, hang on, didn't murphy just open a new block at the uni where Wardog works. That's a story.<br /><br />Tom Gordon phones Wardog, looking for a comment.<br /><br />Wardog posts a sneering attack on Gordon.<br /><br />Tom Peterkin of Scotland on Sunday reads this and thinks, hang on, there's a story here.<br /><br />Wardog's employers are approached for comment. They launch an investigation.<br /><br />The result - a column in the news of the world on the matter and news stories by Gordon and Peterkin.<br /><br />Now, this is not an attack on opinions. It's a challenge to bloggers, many of whom launch vicious, defamatory attacks on journalists, accusing them of being labour stooges, to back up their claims.<br /><br />Wardog had nothing to back up:<br /><br />his allegation that murphy was a cunt who barged past MPs to get on TV<br /><br />his allegation that Richard Baker assaulted an elderly person<br /><br />his suggestion that Willie bain had been less than honest over his council tax.<br /><br />His blog was not an opinion, it was a series of defamations that would not have made it past a newspaper's lawyers.<br /><br />Freedom of speech is not freedom to describe people as cunts, thugs and crooks.<br /><br />Bloggers should play by the same rules - in fact the law demands it - as the journalists they routinely attack.<br /><br />Tonight, two blogs are running stories attacking peterkin and McColm of the screws as cunts. Completly actionable, of course, and here's hoping they sue them.<br /><br />And - crucially - guaranteed to keep the focus on Bruce Newlands aka wardog, who probably wishes he'd never started this war.<br /><br />There is an old adage about never picking fights with people who buy ink by the barrel. It's all well and good being a martyr to the independence cause, but these people are finding there are legitimate consequences to their actions.<br /><br />Expect more journalists who've been defamed by these people to bite back.<br /><br />Expect bruce newlands to remain the focus of newspaper enquiries while his supporters continue their defamations.<br /><br />But don't believe this is politically motivated.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19208183.post-91917708017884015262009-11-22T23:44:50.047+00:002009-11-22T23:44:50.047+00:00I'd be sorry to see you go, your blog inspired...I'd be sorry to see you go, your blog inspired me to start putting my modest thoughts up there in bytes. However your erudite post encapsulates the dilemma I suspect all bloggers feel - post or not, for the sake of it or the passion of it. Your disappearance would be big loss to the Scottish bloggysphere.<br /><br />Incidentally I believe Wardog has resigned his lecturing position at RGU. Is any blog worth that price?Tridenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10283513703332082614noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19208183.post-14466305458176619382009-11-22T22:09:30.604+00:002009-11-22T22:09:30.604+00:00Yours is one of the very best blogs which I look f...Yours is one of the very best blogs which I look forward to every week. You provide thoughtful and erudite analysis and opinion on the political events of the day so please don't go - Scotland needs you at this time!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19208183.post-28679318669285009822009-11-22T21:56:40.597+00:002009-11-22T21:56:40.597+00:00Happy birthday - and here's to many more of th...Happy birthday - and here's to many more of them.BellgroveBellehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02011429534354744636noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19208183.post-28582593265156328802009-11-22T21:19:26.013+00:002009-11-22T21:19:26.013+00:00Compelling reading.
Not really sure how to respon...Compelling reading.<br /><br />Not really sure how to respond, except to say good luck whatever you decide to do, and happy birthday in the meantime!Stuart Wintonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02772436419630464325noreply@blogger.com