Media Watch: 'Insane' piece on 'woke' Scotland in right-wing paper called out

GOOD evening and welcome to this week's Media Watch! 

Most often in this newsletter, we see our job as being to call out serious concerns over bias and misinformation in the mainstream media.

But there are times where we simply have to call out the downright absurd.

In the right-wing New York Post last week, former editor of Spiked Brendan O’Neill penned a comment piece in which he argues Americans should be more concerned about Donald Trump attempting to claim Canada as the 51st state.

He argues that Canada would be a “royal pain in the neck” for the US, adding it would be like “an overgrown teenager skulking around at the top of this mighty republic”. He insists we need to hear more from Republicans about how dreadful it would be for “loony left” Canada to become part of the US.

There is, first of all, a major issue here that an Englishman thousands of miles across the Atlantic Ocean is lecturing Americans on how they should feel about Trump’s territorial ambitions, as if they are going to affect him in some way.

But wait, there’s more. To prop up his argument, he claims the UK has its own “Canada situation” in Scotland, calling the nation a “woke carbuncle” on the UK.

“It’s like a boil of batty ideas that often drains the life force, not to mention the coffers, of our fine island,” O’Neill writes

“It’s fitting that, like Canada, Scotland is at the head of our nation, because it’s the source of many a political and financial headache.”

Donald Trump has been warned about 'loony left' Canada He goes on to say England “props up Scotland’s economy” and English people’s taxes “line their pockets and protect them from economic ruin”.

It’s worth pointing out that most taxes paid in Scotland are not devolved and are collected centrally by the UK Government by HM Revenue and Customs.

I could also cite all sorts of data which shows how much Scotland contributes to the UK. Scotch whisky, for example, contributed around £7.1 billion to the UK economy in Gross Added Value in 2022, with £5.3 billion generated in Scotland alone.

Last year, it was reported Scotland’s annual tax contributions to the UK had increased by £14.2 billion over the last decade.

But no, for O’Neill, Scotland is a bacterial infection.  

Amid his incessant moaning about Scotland being part of the Union, he then ironically goes on to complain about the SNP, a party who actually want to see the end of such a construct. Shouldn’t he be supporting them in their endeavour, perhaps?

He calls them one of the “loopiest, wokest political parties in all of Europe”, a “gaggle of turbo-smug sneerers up north seeking to disrupt our democracy with divisive ideologies”, and blasts them for standing against Brexit when the vast majority of Scotland voted against the idea of leaving the EU. What a crime indeed to stand up for what your country believes in.  

(Image: NQ) Earlier O'Neill (above) did say Scotland was full of “good people” but most people will surely have forgotten that small compliment by the time they get to the end of this piece of drivel.

It has received quite the reaction on Reddit, where people are calling it "absolutely f****** insane" while others have pointed out the irony of complaining about Scotland being part of the UK, while the UK remains reluctant to let the country stand on its own two feet.

This piece is so full of nonsense that I’m sure our readers will be inclined to completely ignore it if they come across it, but at Media Watch we felt inclined to inform you of it in case you fancy a bit of a laugh.