Indyref for Eejits #9: Bumper Bawbag Edition

Me. this morning.

Jesus of Nazareth.

I made the mistake of tuning into the Morning Call phone-in today, hosted by Kirsty Wark on BBC Radio Scotland. For the first time ever I tried to call in, about twelve times, but it wouldn’t even ring. So we’re doing this instead.

“I’ve done my research,” said one person (I’m not going to listen to the show again on the iPlayer for names because it’s getting enough of my attention as it is), “and I know we could be forced into the using the Euro, which is what Salmond wants anyway, and we’ll be ruled from Germany.”

Look, it’s fair enough that people just don’t know these things (even after “research”). People are busy, and expect to be spoon-fed the information. But this is BBC Radio Scotland. And that was four wrong things in one sentence. There are, what, 150 days until the referendum, and the BBC (the flaming BBC!) are still letting people say on national radio that Scotland could be forced into the Euro when THAT IS IMPOSSIBLE. It takes a minute on Google to determine that.

“Joe McBloggs from Auchenshoogle has texted that a yes vote would see us swapping Westminster rule for Brussels rule.”

This is another argument that occurs often, yet was demolished years ago. But with only 150 days until the referendum, the BBC (the bloody BBC!) are still letting people say on national radio that this would happen, without any challenge whatsoever.

“I’m voting no because I like being British.”

I almost threw myself out the window at that point. There are, what, 150 days until the referendum, and the BBC (the god-damn BBC!) are still letting people say on national radio, without challenge, that Scots will no longer be British after a Yes vote when THAT IS IMPOSSIBLE. There should be a surprise question on September 18th after the Yes/No one just to see the answers given: “What is the difference between Great Britain and the United Kingdom?” Even Google doesn’t know – type “Great Britain” into Google Images and the very first image is one highlighting the United Kingdom instead:

Is it the UK? Is it Britain? No, it may as well be Superman!

Well, if you don’t count Orkney and Shetland and a few other little bits I suppose.

Again, I understand that some people just can’t be bothered (even when there’s a vote on your country’s independence coming up) to figure these little things out. But after a solid two years of coverage the BBC (the FUCKING BBC!) are still facilitating the confusion that many have over this referendum. Things don’t have to be dumbed down, but they can easily be presented in concise sentences or bullet points so that much of the confusion evaporates. Then the voter can move onto a different topic.

• Scotland cannot join the Eurozone even if it wanted to, because it doesn’t meet the criteria and couldn’t possibly for many years.
• The UK government makes many major decisions for Scotland that Europe has no involvement in. So if Scotland were independent then the Scottish government would make those major decisions for Scotland without Europe’s involvement.
• If you live in Scotland and want to call yourself British after a Yes vote you can, because you will still live on the island of Great Britain, in the British Isles. You can call yourself Brazilian if you want too – I don’t really care.

Note to self: Don’t listen to Morning Call again. Ever.