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Archive for November, 2016


New Labour Pundit Of The Year 144

Posted on November 10, 2016 by

Regular readers of this site will be impressed, if perhaps less than astonished, at the new high score achieved this week in the timeless game of McTernan Predicts:

mcternanpredicts15a

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Please be wrong 627

Posted on November 09, 2016 by

It’s 4.36am. I’m going to go to bed in a minute. I’m hoping that I get up in a few hours and laugh at this, delighted at my own unfounded pessimism.

trumpcall1

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Colour blind 330

Posted on November 08, 2016 by

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Love Factor Five 336

Posted on November 07, 2016 by

Half a decade ago today, on 7 November 2011, Wings Over Scotland was born.

fivecakeb

And since we don’t generally do stat posts any more (the last proper one was a year ago), we hope you’ll forgive us a small indulgence to mark the milestone with a light sprinkling of facts and figures.

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The angry saboteurs 281

Posted on November 06, 2016 by

There are three separate articles in today’s Sunday Times on the same subject, all containing the same information, of which the below is the most concise.

timeschina

So let’s recap the events, shall we?

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Sailing away from the truth 213

Posted on November 05, 2016 by

There’s a very interesting blog by Douglas Fraser on the BBC website today, pointing out exactly how vague and non-committal yesterday’s “announcement” by UK defence secretary Sir Michael Fallon regarding the long-awaited order of a reduced number of Type 26 frigates for the BAE shipyards in Govan was.

It might explain this extraordinary interview Fallon (alongside a very bad-tempered and unnamed PR goon), gave to Bernard Ponsonby on the evening’s STV News.

What actually happened yesterday was the removal of the threat of blackmail against a Yes vote that had been made against the yards in 2014, and endlessly exploited by the No campaign. The UK government stalled desperately to keep the orders as a bargaining chip in the indyref, not anticipating the prospect of a second one.

But they can’t be delayed forever, and once the orders are in place any possibility of cancelling them is effectively at an end, for a whole slew of mainly extremely obvious reasons. After Fallon had scurried away from him in fear, Ponsonby revealed what the Secretary of State had tried to avoid admitting:

“BAE confirmed to STV News that there is nothing in the contract that would prevent work continuing on the Clyde in the event of a Yes vote in another referendum.”

But Fallon’s toe-curling evasiveness, which finally saw him reduced to hiding behind the skirts of a sour-faced PR woman, had already made that fact clearer than any straight answer could ever have done.

Fork handles 121

Posted on November 05, 2016 by

readeroffer

The Some Arsehole Doctrine 226

Posted on November 04, 2016 by

Yesterday we drew attention to a disgracefully untrue claim made by the leader of the Ruth Davidson No Surrender To A Second Referendum Party at the day’s FMQs.

Davidson had attempted to pass off the personal views of just THREE members of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors as representing the official position of the august and 125,000-strong body. It’s the sort of bare-faced lie we’re sadly accustomed to hearing from opposition leaders in the chamber, but it was also an illustration of a much wider and depressingly-growing phenomenon.

arseholegulls

Let’s learn about it together.

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RICS rolling 391

Posted on November 03, 2016 by

Here’s Ruth Davidson at FMQs today, telling the chamber that “last week the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors said the real problem facing investment and jobs in Scotland was [Nicola Sturgeon’s] threat of a second referendum”.

Would you like to know how many actual people that was, readers?

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God have mercy on us all 336

Posted on November 02, 2016 by

Following our news report at the weekend that Kezia Dugdale had gone to the USA to help Hillary Clinton, a concerned reader etc etc with inevitable results etc.

mctrumpnan

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Delivering for indy 44

Posted on November 02, 2016 by

Anyone who’s donated to this site’s fundraisers in the past will be familiar with the excellent work of AyeMail, the not-for-profit fulfilment company set up to help all sorts of pro-independence groups raise money by taking care of all the tedious admin and letting them get on with their campaigning.

ayemail1

They’re also raising money themselves at the moment, both for their own costs and to produce a series of projects to help groups strapped for cash. They’ve got almost 60% of their target in the bag already, but with only a day to go they’re running around £5000 short of being able to do everything.

They provide a hugely valuable service and resource, producing tangible and practical benefits for the Yes movement – Wings would be utterly lost without them – and if you’ve got a couple of quid spare for the cause you couldn’t find a better use for it.

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Opposition For Cowards 201

Posted on November 01, 2016 by

Just over three and a half years ago, we ran an article about how being an opposition MP or MSP is the cushiest gig in politics. You get all the pay, benefits, holidays and status, but you don’t have to actually do very much except whinge about how rubbish the government is, which most people are happy to do for free as a hobby.

Most of the time you don’t even need to turn up at your workplace.

emptycommons

(Sure, there are all your constituents to deal with, but if you’re not in power all that really amounts to is forwarding their letters to the government and demanding action.)

Tomorrow, the Holyrood opposition will give us a virtuoso demonstration.

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    • Young Lochinvar on Empty hands and empty heads: “Used to be an ok paper. Greg Moodie, grown ups writing articles, heck even a bit of a laugh from…Apr 10, 01:42
    • Peter McAvoy on Empty hands and empty heads: “When will these people realise that they wrecked politics and society when they allowed the trans lobby to hijack and…Apr 10, 01:36
    • Lynne on Empty hands and empty heads: “I wonder how many ‘young people’ read The National.Apr 10, 01:18
    • Mark Beggan on Empty hands and empty heads: “Jamie Greene should stay in bed. Every day he wakes the Tories get further to the right.Apr 10, 01:15
    • SuperTonkatsuFighter on Empty hands and empty heads: “So… “Rebellion”, according to the SNP, means bowing and scraping to the EU?Apr 10, 00:12
    • sarah on Empty hands and empty heads: “@ KT Lorimer, David Holden and Rev. Thanks for the information on the Brechin event and Lindsay Bruce’s Ayemail -…Apr 9, 23:24
    • Morgatron on Empty hands and empty heads: “Has nothing to offer just like her namesake Sweet Fanny.Apr 9, 23:09
    • Rev. Stuart Campbell on Empty hands and empty heads: “Correct.Apr 9, 22:30
    • Young Lochinvar on Empty hands and empty heads: “It would have been quicker just to say she is a full on Roaster.. Care in the community has so…Apr 9, 22:17
    • Young Lochinvar on Empty hands and empty heads: “You’ll lose your CIA sh1tstirring stipend for talking like that McCarthyismface-bot..Apr 9, 22:13
    • Vivian O’Blivion on Empty hands and empty heads: “It’s just a sub-sample. Westminster voting intention, More In Common, field work 4 – 7 April, sample population 124 Con…Apr 9, 21:18
    • Frazerio on Empty hands and empty heads: “Rev, was hoping for some excoriating urine extraction in your blessed style of the defection of leading Scottish tory Jamie…Apr 9, 21:02
    • Cee Bee Beaumont on Empty hands and empty heads: “100% correct.Apr 9, 20:59
    • Cee Bee Beaumont on Empty hands and empty heads: “Ah, Karen Adam. I like to look at who is trying to sell me swampland whenever I hear a new…Apr 9, 20:55
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    • Hatey McHateface on Empty hands and empty heads: “Breaking News Now: President Trump raises China’s tariffs to 125%. President Trump lowers everybody else’s tariffs to 10%. Breaking News…Apr 9, 19:38
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    • Yoon Scum on Empty hands and empty heads: “If you think that the SNP wouldn’t grasp indy with both hands if they thought going UDI would work then…Apr 9, 18:33
    • David Holden on Empty hands and empty heads: “The WBB distribution was handled by ayeMail an organisation set up the a guy called Lindsey Bruce. They also handled…Apr 9, 18:31
    • Skip_NC on Empty hands and empty heads: “YS, you are President Trump and I claim my free pair of Foster Grants.Apr 9, 18:27
    • Yoon Scum on Empty hands and empty heads: “After indy will you be 100% happy with Scotland having zero border controls? And anyone who comes into the country…Apr 9, 18:12
    • KT Lorimer on Empty hands and empty heads: “On Wednesday the 23rd of April I4I, ISP, ALBA, NSP and the SNP are meeting “around the table” to discus…Apr 9, 17:45
    • Lorn on Empty hands and empty heads: “I’m no spring chicken, but, boy am I f*****g angry, raging. It’s women like Ms Adam who make me want…Apr 9, 16:42
    • Oneliner on Empty hands and empty heads: “I’m liking ‘vacuous honking foghorns’ To think all those years ago when I listened to the radio and didn’t know…Apr 9, 16:39
    • sarah on Empty hands and empty heads: “Rev, how did you get your Wee Blue Book out for distribution? Why I ask is that we need a…Apr 9, 16:34
    • MaryB on Empty hands and empty heads: “Karen Adam is typical of the NuSNP. She probably got onto the candidate shortlist because of a disability. The type…Apr 9, 16:29
    • Cath on Empty hands and empty heads: ““The original anti-establishment group” Aye, until you kicked all the real anti-establishment people out the party, tried to jail them…Apr 9, 15:48
    • Xaracen on Mad caps: “Chas said; “Is that the cranks who are going to the UN with some daft petition?” No, Chas, it’s a…Apr 9, 15:47
    • Effijy on Empty hands and empty heads: “To be fair to her she must have seen how absurd lies in Indy Ref 1, Brexit and 14 years…Apr 9, 15:35
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