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The Big-Stats Quiz Of The Year 168

Posted on December 27, 2016 by

So called because doing it makes our traffic figures get larger 😉

jimmycarr

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The Slightly Tubby Quiz Of The Year 567

Posted on December 29, 2015 by

It’s time to find out just how alert you really are, readers.

jcarr

The answers to each of the 24 questions below about Scottish politics in 2015 can be found in Wings articles. But no Googling – we’ll know.

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The Slightly Overweight Quiz Of The Year 144

Posted on December 30, 2014 by

A traditional brainteaser to test your Alert Reader Quotient for 2014. All the answers can be found somewhere on Wings (though not always in the obvious places).

quiztime

Using the Search facility is cheating.

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Why we shouldn’t do walking away 107

Posted on March 04, 2014 by

When former chancellor Alistair Darling said the following during the currency row, he should have known better (and no doubt did):

“The nationalist threat to default on debt if they don’t get their way on currency is reckless. The impact of Alex Salmond’s default would be to say to the world that we cannot be trusted to honour our debts.”

The empirical fact is that an independent Scotland would not be defaulting, reneging on, or walking away from anything. That’s because the UK government has already taken full responsibility for all debt accrued up to the date of Scottish independence.

wienerkongress

So we can just forget about it, right?

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Wrong number 123

Posted on February 23, 2014 by

To cut a long story short, Wings readers, it turns out that by a freakish coincidence I have a fax number only one digit different to that of Alistair Darling’s constituency office. Attached below is a document I unexpectedly found in my in-tray this evening.

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A little bit of history repeating 96

Posted on February 15, 2014 by

Sometimes you have to wonder if the Scottish Wars of Independence are actually over. Throughout many long centuries, Scottish independence was seen by England not just as a threat, but as something that wasn’t actually legal.

balliol

Throughout the medieval period, the argument revolved around homage – which Scottish King had done homage to which English king, hence confirming the fact of feudal overlordship and thus the Scottish monarch’s subordinate position. When that was denied, violence was the usual result. And in his own only slightly more modern way, George Osborne this week declared the same war once more.

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Casting the clout 71

Posted on January 20, 2014 by

The latest in the UK government’s “Scotland Analysis” series of independence briefing papers was released this week on the back of William Hague’s visit to Glasgow.

haguealexander

At 119 pages, the EU and International Issues paper is nobody’s idea of a slim pamphlet, but it’s remarkably light on meaty content.

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The immigration falsehood 111

Posted on January 10, 2014 by

It says something about the baleful influence of the right-wing press (not to mention Tory, UKIP and Labour politicians desperate to seek its favour) that some people in Scotland mention immigration as a reason for voting No.

migration

Of the many scare stories originating south of the border, this one is among the least applicable to Scotland. (But is still perpetuated in the media because no major Scottish newspapers are actually owned here.) Scotland needs immigrants, and without sustained immigration over the next half century, we could be in trouble.

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The Schengen deception 97

Posted on December 07, 2013 by

Whenever the hoary old story about passport checks along the border with England is dug up for another run-around (roughly once a month, as far as we can tell), the Schengen agreement usually features as the justification. Here’s a typical example:

“If an independent Scottish state were required to join the Schengen area as part of its EU membership, it would therefore have to implement the border and immigration policies required by the EU. As the UK has no intention of joining the Schengen area, this would involve border controls between Scotland and the continuing UK in order to meet EU rules protecting the security of the Schengen area.” (III 3.46)

And from there it’s only a small step for Project Fear to get to this:

“Joining Europe’s borderless Schengen area could open Scotland’s border up to mass immigration.”

This, as Theresa May knows full well, is utter rubbish. It relies, as so many of the No camp’s arguments do, on normal people’s lack of knowledge of obscure and complex laws (see also: the currency issue). So let’s cut through all the mumbo-jumbo and jargon and lay the plain and simple facts out for the record.

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For use as required 69

Posted on November 29, 2013 by

With our compliments and best wishes.

djletter

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Fear cuts deeper than swords 81

Posted on November 12, 2013 by

Last month saw a return of one of the No camp’s favourite scare stories – that an independent Scotland would be unable to defend itself against terrorists. (As usual, no consideration was given to the notion that a Scotland with a non-aggressive foreign policy would be far less likely to be the target of terrorism in the first place.)

fearcuts

An unusually balanced and thoughtful piece in today’s Scotsman trashes the UK government report’s findings on purely practical and technical grounds. But there are rather more inspiring and positive reasons for doing so too.

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No place like home rule 164

Posted on October 30, 2013 by

If there’s one phrase that has long bedevilled the Liberal party and its descendants, it’s ‘home rule’. What are we supposed to understand by it? And perhaps more to the point, what do modern Lib Dems understand by it?

grimond

If you go back in Liberal history to the time of the great William Gladstone, ‘home rule’ meant something. It meant the principle of self-governance for Ireland, with certain powers reserved to Westminster.

Gladstone’s idea of home rule was very similar to what we now call Devo Max. And when Gladstone stood up for this principle and fought to drive it through parliament, he was attacked in terms we recognise only too well today.

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

    Stats: 6,718 Posts, 1,213,997 Comments

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    • sarah on Signal and noise: “The problem is that most people haven’t heard about Salvo and the Liberation Movement. Even an ex-MSP of the Highlands…Mar 12, 22:03
    • lindsay on Signal and noise: “By extension this has to be the best discription ever of what today passes as Scottish “parliament”Mar 12, 21:55
    • Nae Need! on Signal and noise: “Of course there’s only ONE side cloaking the debate. The ones wearing cloaks, real and figurative.Mar 12, 21:40
    • Nae Need! on Signal and noise: “Couldn’t agree more, Lorn.Mar 12, 21:35
    • sarah on Signal and noise: ““Because it’s a waste of time. You cannot declare independence…unless you’ve had some sort of democratic event demonstrating that it…Mar 12, 21:28
    • Nae Need! on The evolution of fairness: “I don’t agree with everything you say, but I do agree with some. See the last sentence, can we change…Mar 12, 21:10
    • Mark Beggan on Signal and noise: “All aboard!! The last train to Wokeseville leaving from platform Scotland. All aboard!Mar 12, 20:58
    • Mark Beggan on Signal and noise: “Generations of inbreeding.Mar 12, 20:48
    • Nae Need! on The evolution of fairness: “IF there are any changes they’ll be the type of changes that remain the same.Mar 12, 20:42
    • Nae Need! on The evolution of fairness: “Undoubtedly. There is always more. This is the REDACTED parliament, after all. But I don’t think it’s what YL says.…Mar 12, 20:36
    • Southernbystander on Signal and noise: “Yes I am sure you are right that in fact it is a very narrow set of ‘communities’ being referenced…Mar 12, 20:35
    • Nae Need! on The evolution of fairness: ““I cannot understand why Stuart Campbell has chosen to ignore organisations like SALVO and Liberation.Scot consisting of dedicated independence supporters…Mar 12, 20:14
    • George Ferguson on Signal and noise: “Agreed. Young people have no understanding of Scotland of the past. Social migration was there for working class Scottish people…Mar 12, 20:13
    • Hatey McHateface on Signal and noise: ““transgender and nonbinary people contribute immensely to the wellbeing of Scotland’s communities” You need to focus on the communities that…Mar 12, 19:52
    • lorn on Signal and noise: “The ‘trans’ lobby utilizes these individual cases at huge public cost in order to wear down women. Simple as that.…Mar 12, 19:49
    • Nae Need! on The evolution of fairness: “They’re not stupid. They are richer. And the deal they made with their ‘lack of conscience’ bothers them not one…Mar 12, 19:49
    • Nae Need! on The evolution of fairness: “Indeed. It’s certainly interesting (to me, at least) how Tommy has been scrutinised by both Peter A Bell AND Wings…Mar 12, 19:33
    • Nae Need! on The evolution of fairness: ““And they would turn Scotland into a extreme left wing authertarian hellhole And they would make trump look like an…Mar 12, 19:29
    • sarah on Signal and noise: “OK that’s me put off my dinner. Holyrood is sickening and Sturgeon having the gall to open her mouth and…Mar 12, 19:22
    • lorn on Signal and noise: “The rights of these men to enter female spaces? Is there such a right? Don’t think so, Scott K.Mar 12, 19:19
    • Lorn on Signal and noise: “That Vic Valentine, Scottish Trans Manager, Equality Network, stated that his organization makes sure that people in public and private…Mar 12, 19:15
    • Southernbystander on Signal and noise: “‘The Parliament believes that transgender and nonbinary people contribute immensely to the wellbeing of Scotland’s communities’, say the Greens. Eh?Mar 12, 19:11
    • Chris on Signal and noise: “Without wishing to stress the obvious here, but isn’t the simple way to stop this nonsense to elect more Tory…Mar 12, 19:08
    • Hatey McHateface on Signal and noise: “The entire stooshie is looking and sounding most unfortunately WHITE, WHITE, WHITE. I’m not a big fan of the BROWN,…Mar 12, 18:28
    • twathater on The evolution of fairness: “To use your example of IT being a waste of time, you used your knowledge and dedication to produce the…Mar 12, 18:14
    • agent x on Signal and noise: ““Speaking to reporters ahead of the debate on a rare appearance at the Scottish Parliament, Ms Sturgeon said: “I think…Mar 12, 17:52
    • KT Lorimer on Signal and noise: “The tranny dickheads are still in charge SNP amendment passed all is well in la la land.Mar 12, 17:40
    • A2 on Signal and noise: “At least misogyny and transmisogyny are seperate things now… progress!Mar 12, 16:30
    • KT Lorimer on Signal and noise: “No they are not – this is nothing to do with people who have been diagnosed with dysphoria and chose…Mar 12, 16:25
    • Yoon Scum on Signal and noise: “Let us have a moments silence In memory of the braincells that died trying to grasp the concept of the…Mar 12, 16:04
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