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Wings Over Scotland


Let’s Not Make Some Plans 47

Posted on June 13, 2025 by

At first, this merely sounds like the worst day out ever.

But for supporters of independence, in fact it’s even grimmer than that.

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The Grand Tour 153

Posted on June 10, 2025 by

Lacking anything better to do on a grey and cloudy day in Bath, we thought it might be a lark to go through every Holyrood constituency in Scotland and contemplate where it might go in next year’s election, based on the current state of polling.

And just to make things interesting, compared to our last assessment we’re going to give opposition parties the (often considerable) benefit of the doubt in a few seats for the sheer heck of it, and see if there’s any even slightly plausible outcome that means the SNP might win some list seats if all their voters vote for them on both ballots, or if they’ll waste a million votes for nothing and get dozens of Unionists elected like they did in 2021. [SPOILER: don’t prepare yourself for a surprise.]

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Two Of A Kind 58

Posted on June 09, 2025 by

Humza Yousaf, March 2024:

Actual result: Labour 37, SNP 9, Lib Dems 6, Tories 5. The two horses in the two-horse race finished second and fourth, and won just 19% of seats between them.

And here’s John Swinney a week and a half ago:

The two horses finished second and third.

The matter of whether Yousaf and Swinney are a pair of massive liars, or are simply hopelessly out of touch with political reality, is one we’ll leave to your own judgement.

What We Don’t Know Now 69

Posted on June 08, 2025 by

One of the very few phrases universally recognised in Scotland but which will draw blank looks anywhere else in the UK is the dry, dark “Well, ye ken noo”. Until recently it had no equivalent that we can bring to mind in the rest of the English-speaking world, although arguably that gap has now been at least partly filled by the acronym “FAFO”.

(We try not to swear on the site, so let’s say it stands for “Fool Around, Find Out”.)

So now the smoke has cleared, the troops have departed the battlefield and the winner is enjoying the spoils, what did we find out on Thursday night, and what didn’t we?

Let’s assess the scene.

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The Jokers 144

Posted on June 06, 2025 by

In the end, the people of Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse made fools of us all.

Because nobody, but nobody, saw that result coming.

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Ball Of Confusion 18

Posted on June 05, 2025 by

We must admit, we don’t quite get what the Daily Record is trying to achieve.

Having already told its dwindling band of readers that voting for both the SNP and Labour is the only way to stop Reform in today’s Hamilton by-election, for the last two days it’s deployed some random loony in a hard hat and the vegan former Rangers captain Graeme Souness to the same ostensible end.

Souness, famously a supporter of Margaret Thatcher and the Conservatives, tells Record readers today that they must vote Labour in order to prevent Thatcher’s right-wing heirs from winning the seat – even though Labour are dead, plucked, stuffed and cooked geese in the eyes of the bookmakers and voting for them only increases the chances of both Reform AND the SNP.

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Why genocide is brilliant 84

Posted on June 04, 2025 by

Wait, not genocide. Biscuits. We’re thinking of biscuits. Sorry about that.

As you were, everyone. Mmm, biscuits.

And No Great Mischief Should They Fall 131

Posted on June 03, 2025 by

A few weeks ago we had a thought. And it seemed quite an interesting thought, so we decided to commission a poll on it from our old pals at Norstat.

63-37? Well, there’s your clear and overwhelming support.

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Here And There 12

Posted on June 02, 2025 by

This is what Labour say in Scotland:

And this is what they say elsewhere, when they think nobody in Scotland is looking:

One day someone’s going to tell them about the internet, and our life’s going to get a lot more difficult. Until that day, though, let’s just enjoy the laughs.

A Butterfly On Absinthe 115

Posted on June 02, 2025 by

If you’ve been reading Scottish social media or the Scottish press for the last year and a half or so, the following graph is going to come as a bit of a shock to you.

But there it is all the same.

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The Flip 77

Posted on June 01, 2025 by

We’ve just taken delivery of some REALLY interesting polling results, readers, but it’s going to take a while to fully analyse and write them up, so in the meantime let’s look at some slightly less interesting ones which came from the same poll – the Norstat one commissioned by the Sunday Times and published today, which we hitched a lift on.

The headline figures show an eight-point Yes lead, which is nice, although it’s also entirely abstract since the SNP has no current policy for translating independence support into actual independence (or even another referendum about it).

All the same, it seemed a good time to assess the wider picture.

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The Outsiders 67

Posted on May 31, 2025 by

If you’re a fan of lazy, superficial political analysis from the mentally unwell, you might have read this week about John Swinney’s great strategic triumph of having “coaxed” an “endorsement” out of the Daily Record for Thursday’s by-election in Hamilton.

And if so, you might be forgiven for thinking that that analysis looks pretty stupid now.

(Holiday Boy is still jetting his way around the globe, and indeed will be for the next few weeks, so in the absence of cartoons what else can we do but look at comics?)

But what, if anything, do those front pages tell us?

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    • Confused on Let’s Not Make Some Plans: “Scotland in 2050 will be Willy McWonka’s Hielan Brigadoon Golf Resort Gated Community, and we, the Scots, if we are…Jun 13, 20:50
    • Tommo on Let’s Not Make Some Plans: “‘(If nothing else, we suppose that’s a strong show of optimism from Swinney, who’s already 61 and will be some…Jun 13, 20:27
    • Bob on Let’s Not Make Some Plans: “I love the 12 mugshots: but what would Jon Snow say? (or, for that matter, Humza Yousef?)Jun 13, 20:11
    • agent x on Let’s Not Make Some Plans: “Sarah – have you read this response to the petition? https://www.parliament.scot/-/media/files/committees/citizen-participation-and-public-petitions-committee/correspondence/2024/pe2135/pe2135_c.pdf PE2135/C: Implement the International Covenant on Civil and Political…Jun 13, 20:03
    • agent x on Let’s Not Make Some Plans: ““On the 17th June, a conference at the Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh will ponder the challenges and issues that will…Jun 13, 19:52
    • sarah on Let’s Not Make Some Plans: ““What can ordinary independentistas do?” Talk to friends and family about Liberate Scotland so their candidates will receive votes in…Jun 13, 19:42
    • James on Let’s Not Make Some Plans: “Absolutely spot on!Jun 13, 19:30
    • James on Let’s Not Make Some Plans: ““House”!Jun 13, 19:27
    • James on Let’s Not Make Some Plans: “Unionist Prick Bingo; three in a row – “HOUSE”!Jun 13, 19:25
    • James on Let’s Not Make Some Plans: “Lol….good post, Breastplate. The yoons ate ramping it up on here, new ‘names’ by the day amongst the same old…Jun 13, 19:23
    • James on The Grand Tour: “Agreed, aLurker. Northcode’s excellent points were proven almost immediately by five posts from the usual Yoon suspects. The arrogance of…Jun 13, 18:55
    • Ian McCubbin on Let’s Not Make Some Plans: “Deals for the favoured in SNP, the top grifters. It’s a disgrace. But what can ordinary independendistas do? Voting is…Jun 13, 18:38
    • wullie on Let’s Not Make Some Plans: “An occupying foreign power could not do a better job of destroying the country and looting its resources. In my…Jun 13, 18:19
    • Effijy on Let’s Not Make Some Plans: “Rebrand as the New SNP. Your independence party gearing up for the next millennium. The Westminster parties, Tory, Labour and…Jun 13, 18:17
    • ScottieDog on Let’s Not Make Some Plans: “They’re on course for a win next year, why would they change anything. More gravy. Some of them might even…Jun 13, 17:52
    • twathater on Let’s Not Make Some Plans: “I notice at any mention of SALVO or Liberate Scotland the FRANCHISE fanny and his fellow YOONS,Aiden,private clansman aka corporal…Jun 13, 17:47
    • sarah on The Grand Tour: “I agree, Mary – the whole independence movement should get behind the two prongs of Liberate Scotland for the 2026…Jun 13, 17:17
    • aLurker on Off-topic: “Hi folks. I am mostly a lurker, hence the moniker. But I was prompted to respond by Northcodes post today:…Jun 13, 17:11
    • robertkknight on Let’s Not Make Some Plans: “To all those SNP faithful/sheep out there, a quote from Johnny Rotten… “Ha ha ha… Ever get the feeling you’ve…Jun 13, 16:59
    • Hatey McHateface on Let’s Not Make Some Plans: “Wearing a baseball cap is a clear sign you’re adopting the colonialist mindset of the oppressor. Fits wrang wi a…Jun 13, 16:55
    • Hatey McHateface on Let’s Not Make Some Plans: “Could it be the UN have other things on their mind? Serious things? Important things? Matters of life and death…Jun 13, 16:50
    • Hatey McHateface on Let’s Not Make Some Plans: “Bad day for you is it BP? I’ve noticed you’ve resorted to playing solitary buzzword bingo. Or as our host…Jun 13, 16:48
    • factchecker on The Grand Tour: “James says ‘There are some very interesting figures within Scotland’s ‘deficit’, for example: the figure of £9.1bn under the name…Jun 13, 16:44
    • Onlooker on Let’s Not Make Some Plans: “What the fuck does the weirdo Cherie Blair have to do with anything? is she going to have a rebirthing…Jun 13, 16:40
    • Young Lochinvar on Let’s Not Make Some Plans: “Dull as dishwater. At least Broontosaurus isn’t attending- perhaps they are having difficulty with his defrost setting in time for…Jun 13, 16:38
    • Captain Caveman on Let’s Not Make Some Plans: “So basically you couldn’t answer a single one of his points and resorted to weak insults. Standard. I suppose it…Jun 13, 16:33
    • Andy Ellis on Let’s Not Make Some Plans: “Isn’t a more likely explanation simply that Salvo isn’t in fact making much impact either in the popular consciousness of…Jun 13, 16:32
    • Andy Ellis on Let’s Not Make Some Plans: “If that was true – and I’m not at all sure there is a scintilla of evidence for it -…Jun 13, 16:28
    • PhilM on Let’s Not Make Some Plans: “Well I don’t have two brass farthings to rub together but if I did, I would be salivating at the…Jun 13, 16:25
    • Peter McAvoy on Let’s Not Make Some Plans: “They can start by keeping Alexander’s open and working.Jun 13, 16:09
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