By Rab Bruce’s Spider

Every Yesser knows by now that the BBC is little more than a propaganda outlet for the UK Government and the maintenance of the status quo. However much the Tories bash the BBC as being too left wing, anyone who has followed the anti-Yes utterances of the BBC knows full well that we will never get a fair hearing from the State propaganda outlet. I very rarely listen to any news or current affairs programme on the BBC because I just get too wound up listening to the bilge they are pumping into our houses under the guise of impartiality.

However, I did have the misfortune to hear a little bit of BBC News on the TV the other day when they were highlighting that Scotland is out of step with the rest of the UK in insisting on a 10 day isolation period for anyone testing positive for Covid. The rest of the UK, we were told, has reduced this to 7 days, while the USA has gone as low as a 5 day isolation period. Now, this is factually correct but, as so often with the BBC, context was sadly lacking. There was no mention that the UK and the USA have death tolls from Covid which are among the highest in the world, so perhaps citing them as evidence of good practice when it comes to pandemic control is not the smartest thing to do. But by missing this out, the BBC was able to portray Scotland as the guilty party when, in fact, there is scientific advice that 10 days is the minimum we should adopt. Indeed, I saw a news article from CNN stating that Taiwan has utterly rejected the US advice because they know that covid can still be infectious for up to 10 days. I should possibly not add an anecdote here, but if it's good enough for Alex Massie to use unverified speculation, then I can probably get away with it, especially as this is not speculation, albeit it is only one incidence. It concerns a young couple I know. The young woman contracted Covid ten days before Christmas and so both went into isolation, taking care to remain apart as much as possible. They hoped that they would still be able to attend a family Christmas meal on Boxing Day after her 10 day isolation had ended. The young man kept taking Lateral Flow tests during this period and was negative right up until the 10th day when he tested positive. If Scotland’s rules had been relaxed to 7 days, both of them would have attended a large family Christmas and spread the infection even further. That’s why Scotland really ought to stick with the 10 day isolation period, and I hope that Nicola Sturgeon sticks to her guns on this point.

As for the BBC, their biased reporting has manifested itself in other ways recently. Someone on social media pointed out the vast difference in media reporting between the Ghislaine Maxwell trial verdict and the Alex Salmond case. While Maxwell has received coverage which has often been sympathetic despite the sickening nature of the crimes she was found guilty of, Alex Salmond has been vilified despite being found not guilty. The cynics among us might suspect that this treatment might relate to their respective positions vis-a-vis the Establishment. One was very much a part of the elite, while the other wants to dissolve the Union to allow Scotland to become a normal country. The BBC, who have featured programmes damning Alex Salmond, even went so far as to interview Jeffrey Epstein’s lawyer as a so-called independent commentator on the Maxwell trial verdict. They have admitted they were wrong to do so, but how many times have we seen the BBC mistakenly broadcast opinions and comments, then admit a mistake once the message has been delivered? It’s such a common tactic, and usually involves any admission of error being far less prominent than the original claims.

So let us be in no doubt at all that the BBC will be against us if and when IndyRef2 comes along. It is, after all, part of their remit.