I'm insulted

First of all, I am pro-independence but I am a Green. I've never voted SNP and will always be suspicious of their intentions until they tell me how they see their role after independence. But...

Let's set this out properly: on Thursday evening, Nicola Sturgeon, leader of the SNP, appeared on TV in a 'debate' with six other party leaders. She put on a good show - either because she's clever and a very good manipulator of the media or because she's a wonderful politician. How you see her depends very much on how you view the SNP and where in the UK you are watching. The 'debate' ended at 22.00. Immediately, people furth of Scotland sent in tweets wishing they could have her as a UK politician/asking how they can join the SNP/commenting on how well she and the other two women on the panel spoke.

The next day - THE NEXT DAY - the Telegraph, a London-based, Tory-supporting newspaper, published a memo claiming Nicola Sturgeon secretly supports the Tories (cue the old Scottish fear that the SNP are really Tartan Tories) and thinks Ed Milliband (to whom she has previously extended the hand of friendship) is not capable of being prime minister. Nicola Sturgeon and the French ambassador deny she ever said this.

Frankly, I'm insulted. The UK press is a living example of the old quote from the works of Humbert Wolfe:

You cannot hope to bribe or twist, thank God! the British journalist. But, seeing what the 
    man will do unbribed, there's no occasion to.


Really, do the members of the UK press think the voters are so stupid we'll fall for this? And then I think back to the aftermath of Thursday's 'debate' when members of the public were so pleased with the performance of Nigel Farage, were so disparaging of the efforts of Leanne Woods and Natalie Bennett and declared the evening had no overall 'winner' (what is this - a third year debating group?) but was a tie between Cameron and Milliband. I noticed Clegg got no mention at all, his reward for keeping the Tories in power for 5 years.

Maybe it's true: we get the government we deserve. I only hope that Thursday evening showed there could be more to politics than middle-aged white men shouting at each other.