DownFall Does Scottish Independence II

January 17, 2012 at 12:17 am

…and so it all went wrong. In the blink of an eye a perfectly close-to-the-knuckle joke has cost Tom Harris MP a completely non-job as Labour (who they?) Twitter Tsar (what that?).

Microdave reacted quickly in the Comments here and by that point events were already…eventing…

So let us consider two things..secondly the Telegraph report on the affair but first – the pisstake of the pisstake.

Let’s give it a large “meh, you idiot” to the glory that is…

…and then from the Telegraph to give some context:

Labour MP, Tom Harris, has been forced to resign as the party’s new media adviser after creating a spoof video comparing Adolf Hitler’s final days with Alex Salmond’s machinations over the referendum on Scottish independence.

Tom Harris, who had a popular blog, uploaded to the internet a parody based on the 2004 movie Downfall, which shows Hitler ranting at generals and senior Nazis in his bunker during the collapse of the Third Reich.

Note that by “popular” the Telegraph means “he’s a dick and is only watched to see how stupid he can get” rather than the usual definition of ‘popular’ which is defined as ‘looked at by people who aren’t rubberneckers at car crashes’.

The Glasgow South MP used the clip, which has previously been spoofed to mock a series of high-profile figures, to poke fun at Mr Salmond’s secrecy over the referendum.

He also mocked the First Minister for refusing to sack his parliamentary aide, Joan McAlpine, who last week suggested that any political parties that oppose the Scottish National Party are “anti-Scottish”.

The spoof was posted on Saturday and titled ‘Joan’s Downfall’, but Mr Harris was forced to quit his new media post last night following talks with Johann Lamont, Labour’s Scottish leader.
In a statement, he said: “The video I posted has been a well-worn joke used to parody a range of public figures.

It’s probably worth reproducing the Telegraph article in full (read it here with some beautiful comments below)…it is a gem of a mainstream media post simply because it manages to avoid calling Tom Harris a bell-end to his face. This blog has no such scruples.

Anyway:

The video features the voice of Hitler, with Mr Salmond parodied in subtitles. It begins with Nazi officials planning the First Minister’s “coronation” after his referendum victory.

In a cheeky reference to Mr Salmond’s weight, it states that the Stone of Destiny, used to crown British monarchs, will need to be “widened and strengthened.”
His generals then tell him about Miss McAlpine’s comments “that if you don’t vote SNP, you hate Scotland”.

The Fuhrer asks all those who have written something similar on internet blogs and websites to vacate the room, leaving only six people remaining.
His temper then violently erupts as he complains he has spent millions of pounds trying to bury the SNP’s “reputation for tartan jingoism”.

In a reference to a recent £1 million donation to the SNP from a couple who won £161 million on Euromillions, he asks: “How many more lottery wins will we need to make people forget this mess? Never let them know what we’re thinking!”
David Cameron’s intervention last week finally forced Mr Salmond to name his preferred date for the referendum after months of silence.

In the video, Hitler rants: “First we’ve got Posh Boy driving his tanks onto my lawn and then I have to tell the whole country the top secret date for my secret referendum.”
In a reference to Angus Robertson, the SNP’s Westminster leader and referendum campaign director, a general says: “First Minister, you and Angus couldn’t have kept it secret for much longer anyway!”

But a furious Hitler responds: “It was nobody else’s business! It’s my referendum – mine! MINE!”
A secretary is then seen comforting a colleague, portrayed as Nicola Sturgeon, Mr Salmond’s deputy, saying that at least she does not have to defend Miss McAlpine on the BBC’s Question Time.

Hitler concludes by saying: “The irony is Joan is right. How can you be properly Scottish if you don’t support me?” He then tells his generals to order Miss Sturgeon to go on Question Time instead of him.

An SNP spokesman called the clip “silly and negative”.