Ridiculously, more than eight hours after voting closed in an all-electronic election in which “counting” should have taken a maximum of one second, and at 11.30pm, the SNP have released the results of this year’s NEC elections.
There are some big stories.
Alyn Smith is OUT as Policy Development Convener, replaced by Chris Hanlon.
We had, we think it’s only fair to say, extremely low expectations of Nicola Sturgeon’s keynote speech this afternoon to the SNP’s soporific, strangled 2020 non-conference. It seems that members felt the same, because 15 seconds before the speech began only 1,166 of them were logged in to watch it.
The speech she just delivered, though, limboed under those expectations in platform shoes and a stovepipe hat without even grazing the underside of the bar.
In a post last month we referenced a ZX Spectrum computer game from 1984 called “Worse Things Happen At Sea”. Today as we watched the First Minister on the Andrew Marr Show, we were put in mind of another nautical-disaster-themed one from a great deal nearer to the end of the Speccy’s life.
When’s a Plan B not a Plan B? Well, when it’s something that could and should have been done already, and won’t be anywhere near adequate even if delivered.
Yet that seems to be what some colleagues are now arguing for. It’s welcome that their thoughts are at last turning to the possibility of the Tories saying No to the Scottish people’s democratic vote. But it’s happening dangerously slowly as the dismantling of devolution and reintegration into the UK gathers pace. Which’s why the Yes Movement needs to act now, not after a Holyrood election.
This week on Wings has been altogether more navel-gazey than we’re comfortable with, as various SNP MPs have mounted a series of all-out personal attacks on the site before the weekend’s crucial NEC elections.
So we’ll have a proper article for you a little later on today, but in the meantime it’d be remiss of us not to tidy up the last fragments of shrapnel, so we’ll direct you to the right of reply to Alyn Smith’s column that The National kindly gave us today:
(Sadly they chose to disable comments, we’d quite have enjoyed the reaction from the few remaining diehard leadership loyalists still posting there.)
We couldn’t help but chuckle yesterday when the £100K-a-year Westminster MP and obsessive Wings Over Scotland reader “Pension Pete” Wishart announced – in the space of six minutes – that this site was simultaneously an irrelevance that nobody listened to, but also somehow one of the greatest threats to independence.
Wings Over Scotland marked its ninth birthday earlier this month. To be honest, we totally forgot about it until someone reminded us. Normally we mark the anniversary with a small reflection and taking of stock over how things are going, but this year we couldn’t be bothered – we’d already mentioned readership stats in August.
But today in The National we found out that we were apparently dead.
But reports of our demise have been, as the saying goes, somewhat exaggerated.
Stuart MacKay on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “This is a (very) long but, interesting read, https://sonar21.com/the-constitution-is-dead-long-live-the-constitution/ It gives you an insight on how constitutional-fundamentalists in America -…” May 18, 19:06
robertkknight on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “Back to business… youtube.com/live/Z2lVgoA6UHQ?feature=shared Fantastic and illuminating. Makes you realise, if you didn’t already, what a dead horse the SNP…” May 18, 17:02
diabloandco on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “Yeah Rev , take your own advice and ignore trolls. He’s obviously desperate for attention – a bit like Trump…” May 18, 15:17
Hatey McHateface on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “Well, James, I guess that 318 years and counting is a mere eyeblink in geological terms. In human terms though,…” May 18, 15:00
100%Yes on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “@ Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh Thanks, added your site to my bookmarks. It would help if Wings updated Pro-Indy bloggers on his…” May 18, 13:59
100%Yes on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “I believe David Henry was saying that the wording of the treaty of Union has recently been changed to say…” May 18, 13:44
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “If anyone has a problem with the above URL link, try this alternative path: SCOTTISH SOVEREIGNTY RESEARCH GROUP CONFERENCE (17…” May 18, 13:02
James Cheyne on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “100%Yes.. I will away and watch it just now, thanks for the information, I am looking forward to the piece…” May 18, 13:00
Stuart MacKay on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “Ha, ha the saga of Kelly-gate goes on and on and on. Now we have the prime antagonist lambasting the…” May 18, 12:17
Angry Weegie on Echoes from history: ““You know the next four words, right?” I (re)read “A Letter from Quebec” and it almost reduced me to tears,…” May 18, 12:17
Skip_NC on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “James Kelly as a spook-paid disruptor? No, I don’t see it. He’s just an overblown windbag. He’s been spouting the…” May 18, 11:55
James Cheyne on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “I actually think the union does not exist for Scots , for a multiple of reasons. However equally there are…” May 18, 11:36
Hatey McHateface on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “Hmmm. I see the opposite, Andy. Anybody wanting to damage Scottish Indy would be best to use a total nut…” May 18, 11:33
Hatey McHateface on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “Perhaps you could oblige us with your summary of their analysis of the great energy rip off. How does it…” May 18, 11:24
Hatey McHateface on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “Loving your double taps. How does it go again? One in the chest and one in the head? No doubt…” May 18, 11:06
James Cheyne on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “How do you hold onto the idea that it is a real union? It may once have been ( may)…” May 18, 11:03
Vivian O’Blivion on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “The appearance in the Hamilton constituency was touted in advance as “canvassing”. In the event, it was a photo opportunity…” May 18, 10:13
Andrew on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “I posted the same on the other website, but this is not what LLMs are suitable for. They are probabilistic…” May 18, 09:47
Andrew Abel on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “I posted the same on the other website, but this is not what LLMs are suitable for. They are probabilistic…” May 18, 09:47
100%Yes on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “Here is the video of the SSRG conference for those who are interested. The most important part is @ 1:45.17…” May 18, 09:24
Andy Ellis on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “I don’t doubt that the spooks take interest in the cause of independence, but if they’re using someone with the…” May 18, 08:58
MaryB on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “It seems to me that James Kelly is being paid by the spooks as a disruptor. Of course, that might…” May 18, 08:53
Bilbo on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “One consequence of Brexit has been changing the inflow of high levels of white East European legal migrants to the…” May 18, 07:26
Bilbo on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “As amusing as the article is, it does highlight the shortfalls in AI at this present time, namely it doesn’t…” May 18, 07:18
Jim Tadgercock on Barbie Stories: “Spot on mate all by design.” May 18, 06:53
Young Lochinvar on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “I see the Herald is leading with a picture of the selfie queen (SHE whose name shall not be uttered)…” May 18, 03:22
Young Lochinvar on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “I hate to direct anyone to the NatAnal rag anymore but a history search reveals a non paywall rendition of…” May 18, 02:55
