Common Space, like Bella Caledonia is one of those niche independence sites which seems to garner more attention from the press than it deserved. In recent weeks its output had caused some ripples within the independence movement- for all the wrong reasons.
Just a few weeks ago Common Space trumpeted the arrival of a new Scottish Labour website, Red Robin. When challenged about this on social media the site editor, Angela Haggerty defended their article and claimed it was posted to raise awareness of site, not to promote it. I’ve read the article and it looks to me very much like a PR job for Red Robin. You can read the article for yourself HERE. She then went on to make a rather snide, in fact an utterly bizarre attack on the blogger GA Ponsonby, claiming he was “crazily-obsessed” with her. She provided no evidence to back that up. If anything Mr Ponsonby is meticulous and tenacious in his arguments, and almost always provides references for his claims. The article which provoked her ire can be found HERE.
Yesterday Angela Haggerty posted an article on Common Space explaining why they had closed down their comments section. It certainly wasn’t through volume of traffic, as comments were, as far as I could see on the occasions I visited the site, few and far between. Could it be anything to do with the recent Red Robin article (amongst others)?
45 minutes after posting notice that comment was no longer permitted, Common Space then published an opinion piece from British nationalist Labour MSP James Kelly, the face of the campaign to remove the anti bigotry laws which were introduced by the SNP a number of years back. For me, that is the last straw. There have been one or two vehemently anti SNP columnists within Common Space and I can understand and accept that. The independence movement isn’t all about the SNP, and for one reason or another many of us have left them, while retaining support for independence. But this is something else. This isn’t constructive criticism from inside the movement, it’s now an open group of fifth columnists who are pushing a pro-Corbyn, Labour agenda. It seems to me that having hitched their wagon to the Indy movement in 2014, some of those who have carved out a space in the media have now decided to head for pastures new, in Jeremy Corbyn’s British Nationalist Labour camp.
When the next fundraiser goes out for Common Space they will be raking around in their collection tin to find some old bottle caps and a couple of Euros. Meanwhile their editor has announced she is departing the formerly strongly pro-indy Common Space to take up a the editorship of the formerly strongly pro-indy Sunday Herald. Will the Sunday Herald now fully suit and go full Corbyn? Time will tell.
An Independent Scotsman 