The world's most-read Scottish politics website

Wings Over Scotland


Archive for September, 2013


Think of a number 104

Posted on September 30, 2013 by

Sorry, folks. We haven’t quite managed to get going today. We’ve got a cold, the weather’s grey and miserable, and watching the TV feels like being stuck in a bad dream you can’t wake up from, as the Tories look for new ways to be evil and Labour’s response isn’t to condemn their grotesque, neo-feudal plans for the people of Britain, but to say “Hey, you’re stealing our ideas!”

(The ever-delightful Liam Byrne, there, apparently totally unashamed to say that “this announcement is little more than reheating of a Labour scheme – ‘Work for your Benefits’ – which the Tories scrapped when they came into power”.)

cpcdavidson

Beset by this avalanche of vile, spiteful idiocy (all of which was allowed to pass unchallenged by a subservient BBC), our germ-weakened mind has reeled like a punch-drunk boxer. But we’re not yet quite so addled and bewildered that the likes of Ruth Davidson can get anything past us.

Read the rest of this entry →

A quick reminder 64

Posted on September 30, 2013 by

This man only controls the finances of Scotland because Scotland is part of the UK.

norsefire2

Never forget that if you listen to Labour and vote No next September, there’s (at least) a 60% chance that he’ll control the finances of Scotland until 2020. Ready to risk it?

The power of six 303

Posted on September 29, 2013 by

Below is the text of a letter sent by Alex Salmond, the First Minister of Scotland, to the UK Prime Minister David Cameron today, setting out six reasons why the PM should take part in a live debate with the FM on the subject of Scottish independence.

Read the rest of this entry →

Phoning it in 119

Posted on September 29, 2013 by

The strain of keeping up a three-year campaign of fearmongering and bile is starting to tell on the stout media defenders of the Union. This week the Telegraph’s blustering “Scottish Editor” Alan Cochrane flopped out a particularly limp effort on the subject of the scare du jour, an independent Scotland’s defence.

typhoon

Never one to shy away from the sort of hyperbole you’d normally associate with some anonymous Twitter loony, Cochrane leapt straight in by dismissing the SNP’s proposals for Scottish defence as “the most ludicrous of all” of their policies, rating them 11 out of 10 for madness. But it was his attempts to put some numerical meat on the bones of this bold assertion that showed up just how lazy the Unionist narrative of Scottish inadequacy has become.

Read the rest of this entry →

A welcome home 29

Posted on September 28, 2013 by

Nice of them to lay this on today.

Read the rest of this entry →

Journey to the Yes side 189

Posted on September 28, 2013 by

As far back as I can recall, I haven’t believed in anything.

I’ve had no over-riding passion for change, I’ve felt jaded and disconnected from the establishment, from the institutions. Westminster and the political scene of the UK was framed by a “they’re all the same” mentality. All I saw was greed and corruption in people who didn’t represent my view of the world, but that’s just how it is, right? It’ll always be the same, we can’t change it.

apathy

But maybe we can.

Read the rest of this entry →

Make yourselves useful 251

Posted on September 27, 2013 by

One thing we noticed over the last week or so was the near-total lack of campaigning on the streets of Scotland’s cities and towns, from either side. So if you were inspired by the rally and fancy making a more active contribution, why not pop to your local printers, make a few copies of this excellent wee leaflet, and get busy?

You can get 1,000 A6 copies printed for £22 here (5,000 for £40). Hand ’em out or just leave them in strategic locations (with permission, of course). Let’s get the word out.

ayer0

Right-click the image to get the full PDF version, ready for printing.

Buy one, get nothing free 70

Posted on September 27, 2013 by

We’re genuinely baffled by Ed Miliband’s big conference showstopper announcement this week that a Labour government would freeze people’s utility bills for a year and a half. Channel 4’s Fact Check is extremely sceptical that it can be done at all. The energy companies are predictably furious and making all manner of dire threats.

freeze1

But what we really don’t get is what the point of it is.

Read the rest of this entry →

Devo-max Supporters For Independence 88

Posted on September 27, 2013 by

I believe in representative government. I believe people should be able to vote for the person/party whose stated priorities and policies most closely reflect their own.

I believe a party that is elected on a manifesto should have a legal obligation to act in line with that manifesto. I believe that if politicians lie to the public or Parliament, they should face criminal prosecution.

liarclegg

I don’t believe any of those things are unreasonable. And they’re also the main reasons I’ve been convinced to vote Yes in the independence referendum.

Read the rest of this entry →

Inspection report 198

Posted on September 26, 2013 by

ASSESSOR: Rev. S. Campbell

DATE: 19-25 September 2013

LOCATION: Scotland, various

sky

Read the rest of this entry →

On holiday with foreigners 108

Posted on September 26, 2013 by

It’s amazing what a trip away can do: refresh, educate, put a new slant on an old debate. I was in the US recently. The first thing I learned was before departure, and I pass it on as a tip: if you’re going to the US, fly from Dublin, not a UK airport. Apart from being about half the price – presumably because they have control over their airport taxes, so can adjust them to compete with Heathrow – it makes life far easier.

customs

When I last flew to the US from a UK airport, long before 9/11, we were held in a bleak corridor without any amenities for well over an hour before being processed through immigration, where we were interrogated about the purpose of our visit, what address we were staying at, and where we were going exactly. It put me off re-visiting the States for a long time.

Flying from Dublin is a different experience.

Read the rest of this entry →

Quoted for proof 154

Posted on September 26, 2013 by

Because we keep telling you what a No vote really means:

“That is why I am talking quite passionately about getting English Labour MPs back up the road and for me, sitting down with Neil [Findlay] and Richard [Simpson] and Rhoda [Grant] and others and saying, let’s get health policies that can be consistent across England, Scotland and Wales.

Wouldn’t that be a good thing, pulling in the same direction as opposed to pulling our separate ways?

Devolution, in its early days, was about doing something different and it needs to enter a different phase where we start talking again more about a UK-wide policy because in the end, that helps everybody.”

That’s Labour’s shadow health secretary Andy Burnham talking to Holyrood Magazine this week, in comments strangely unpublicised in the rest of the Scottish media.

Read the rest of this entry →

  • About

    Wings Over Scotland is a (mainly) Scottish political media digest and monitor, which also offers its own commentary. (More)

    Stats: 6,758 Posts, 1,217,899 Comments

  • Recent Posts

  • Archives

  • Categories

  • Tags

  • Recent Comments

    • Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “GLASGOW DAWN (For my brother Stuart, 21 March 2009) Were they not great those hours we spent up in your…May 17, 15:31
    • Ebok on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “I think Rev, that you are attacking the system from the wrong angle and playing by the rules of the…May 17, 14:39
    • Willie John on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “Anybody got any tips on how I can read the whole saga without joining twitter/x? (Which I politely decline to…May 17, 14:27
    • Skip_NC on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “Stu, despite your obvious-self confidence, I am amazed that you actually had a debate on this issue with Scotland’s foremost…May 17, 14:14
    • Jon Drummond on Barbie Stories: “Yes, I remember Zambonini. Just posted pice of her drunken socialising. Lips hanging of her skull with a hundredweight of…May 17, 14:00
    • Jon Drummond on Barbie Stories: “Holy Mother of Christ. How the SNP (NuSNP) have fallen. Her only life/work experience is stocking the printer with with…May 17, 13:51
    • lothianlad on Barbie Stories: “The SNP have been infiltrated, and are now utterly discredited.May 17, 13:15
    • socratesmacsporran on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “The only two things that stop me sending a STOP DIGGINGMay 17, 11:00
    • ScottieDog on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “There are complex algorithms used in portfolio investment decision making, yet research concluded that the use of simple hueristics such…May 17, 10:21
    • MPW on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “I asked if he could provide a link as stu had done, he delete the post. Therefore I believe stu…May 17, 10:03
    • Martin on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “Kelly is a seriously smelly guy. He needs his hard drive checked.May 17, 09:55
    • Andy Ellis on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “It says a lot (none of it good) about any pro-independence person who is involved in Scottish politics at the…May 17, 09:39
    • A Browne on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “I fixed on of the ‘Anonymous’ comments: AnonymousMay 17, 2025 at 8:56?AM The problem is that at the moment young…May 17, 09:23
    • duncanio on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “Having re-converted to the SNP perhaps he feels the need to go full-on anti-Wings to prove his credentials as a…May 17, 09:06
    • Patsy Millar on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “Oops!May 17, 08:57
    • Young Lochinvar on Barbie Stories: “Remember what generations before achieved with little but rural community spirit or in the factory cities; a ball or balled…May 17, 01:54
    • Andrew scott on Barbie Stories: “Ok to that Two useless peas in a podMay 16, 22:25
    • McDuff on Barbie Stories: “I just despair.May 16, 21:27
    • Shug on Barbie Stories: “There can only be plants in HO letting these head cases through and giving them the Ok to produce such…May 16, 20:56
    • Onlooker on Barbie Stories: “No, that was Kelly Given.May 16, 20:50
    • Dan on Some Attention For James: “@Stu So jist the usual short dismissive response then, avoiding addressing any of the aspects mentioned. Re. Stuff you did…May 16, 20:18
    • agent x on Some Attention For James: “Vivian O’Blivion says: The two dual-fuel ferries built for CalMac are approaching five times their contract price and are almost…May 16, 19:20
    • Dan on Barbie Stories: “Previous. https://wingsoverscotland.com/fashion-and-crisis-hits-new-york/May 16, 19:00
    • Jim Bo on Barbie Stories: “Wow, SNP certainly have a type don’t they.May 16, 18:50
    • Andrew scott on Barbie Stories: “Is this not the nitwit who appeared on tv banging on about global warming after She had FLOWN to some…May 16, 18:49
    • Bilbo on Barbie Stories: “I’ve done a quick internet search for her age but can’t find a definitive answer. I’m assuming that as you…May 16, 18:45
    • Captain Caveman on Barbie Stories: “Feels like the SNP are trolling Scotland at this point. Fertile ground for Reform. Bring it on.May 16, 18:11
    • twathater on Some Attention For James: “@ Jon drummond 3.34pm either you have NOT been paying attention or reading the comments BTL but Dan has never…May 16, 18:04
    • Confused on Barbie Stories: “She’s perfect Makes you wish you had a spare cage in your sex dungeon. Or maybe, what the hell, move…May 16, 18:00
    • twathater on Barbie Stories: “And this fuckwit was picked as a candidate for a once serious political party, they really are TROLLING the Scottish…May 16, 17:42
  • A tall tale



↑ Top