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Alistair McConnachie

It's time Scot Media Woke Up to AUOB's Lies


AFFG Inverness 28-7-18. Help us hold the Thin Red Line

It's time the Scottish mainstream media woke up to AUOB's lying political agenda – and we're going to help them!

Saturday 4th May 2019 will see the first of 8 marches this year by the SNP/ScotNat group "All Under One Banner" (AUOB). It's in Glasgow and the organisers have, as usual, been vastly inflating the numbers they expect – claiming 100,000 are likely to attend. That is, of course, complete nonsense on stilts!

Their stupid exaggerations have even caused themselves problems with the authorities, who are concerned at handling such apparently huge numbers on the day.

However, what is irritating to us unionists is the extent to which the Scottish mass media – by which we mean the daily newspapers and TV/radio stations – do not challenge their ridiculous figures, but allow them to stand without question.

By so doing, they are enabling AUOB's lying political agenda!

We first realised there was a problem back at their Glasgow march on 5 May 2018. A Force For Good was there with our Thin Red Line, advocating for the Union, as the march passed.

A photograph which appeared the next day in the Sunday Herald, which featured our group on the front page, so enraged the SNP and the Scottish Nationalists that a subsequent boycott of the newspaper, led by Alex Salmond, brought it down in September.

At that march, AUOB claimed – at various times – anything between 60-90K. This was in a march which took only one hour to pass, and in which the vast bulk of people passed in the first half hour. We had over-estimated 8-10K maximum, and likely far, far fewer.

What shocked us was that the media wasn't interested in contesting AUOB's ridiculous figures, even though on the face of it they were absurd!

We realised something had to be done.

This got worse the next month at Dumfries on 2 June 2018. There they claimed 10K in a march which only lasted 25 minutes! We estimated at the very most 3K as they passed our point – although we had no video evidence.

From then on we started to film them for a more detailed count per head.

Here's what we found.

At Inverness on 28 July 2018, AUOB claimed 14K. The real figure which we filmed and counted was 3,386. Our report and the video evidence is available here.

At Dundee on 18 August 2018, AUOB claimed 16K. The real figure which we filmed and counted was 3,538. Our report and the video evidence is available here.

At Edinburgh on 6 October 2018, AUOB claimed 100K. The real figure which we filmed and counted was 12,789. Our report and the video evidence is available here.

So, it's no surprise that AUOB is up to its lying tricks again, and claiming that "100,000" will turn out in Glasgow. We'll be there and we'll be filming them and counting them and we'll be posting the evidence publicly.

We'll have the correct figure by the evening. Please watch this Website, and our Facebook and Twitter pages.

Why Does AUOB Lie about Numbers?

Some people say that it is a good thing if the Scottish Nationalists are over-estimating their numbers and are actually smaller than they mislead themselves to think they are. We disagree. It is not a good thing at all.

The organisers of AUOB can read and accept our above statistics and evidence as well as anyone else. The difference is that they know they are lying, and they are doing so as part of a deliberate political strategy.

Here's the fact of the matter: They know that virtually all people, on both sides, will simply accept what they read and are told, without question. Very few of us examine these things in depth. Therefore, if acceptance of these lies gradually becomes the norm, then nationalists will become invigourated at their puffed-up size, and our side will become demoralised at the apparent weight of the opposition; and people with no strong feelings either way will tend to side with those who appear to be the biggest.

It is wrong that they are lying. Lies are being written into history and will mislead future generations, which in itself is a very serious thing. It is certainly something we would never consciously do. But they are doing so as part of a deliberate political strategy.

The least we can ask is that the Scottish mainstream media does not go along with the lie and enable this devious agenda!

We want to ensure that 2019 will be the year when the Scottish media will start to challenge AUOB's lies, based upon the video evidence which we will provide.

NOTES FOR JOURNALISTS

Our Count Protocol

1- We count every adult on the road (unless they are simply crossing over the road)

2- Our presumption is always to be generous. We do not want to under-estimate. For example, if we can't tell if it is 1 or 2 people behind a flag, we go with 2. If we can't tell if it is 3 or 4, we go with 4, and so on.

3- We count people on the pavement only if they are clearly part of the march, such as dressed for the occasion/carrying a flag.

4- No children who look 14 or under are counted, since they are only there because their parents have brought them along. However, the video evidence usually shows that there are only a few of them anyway, so if you want to count them in too, you will find it doesn't make much difference to the overall figure.

5- The handful of Marshals standing next to AFFG, are added in.

6- If the "Bikers" are leading the march then we count them in. If they are travelling a different route then we do not count them in.

Counting Tips

We count the entire march, head by head. You can do so too by occasionally pausing the video which we post to YouTube and embed in an article on this Website.

If you simply want to confirm that we are in the approximate ballpark, then here is what you can do: You can count the first 5 min period and multiply it by the appropriate factor based upon the length of the march. That is, if the march takes 60 minutes, multiply your figure by 12.

That will be over-estimating the numbers since the beginning is the busiest part, and as the march goes on there are usually several periods when the march is quite sparse, or when the road is virtually empty (because it is being held up by police to allow traffic and pedestrians to cross).

Alternatively, count several random 5 minute periods throughout the march, and take an average, then multiply it by the relevant factor, or count several random 1 minute periods, find an average, and multiply by the relevant factor.

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