The world's most-read Scottish politics website

Wings Over Scotland


Author Archive


We need to talk about BBC Scotland 178

Posted on March 05, 2015 by

In modern Scotland, you’ll struggle to find a politician from any party who won’t agree with two propositions: that Scotland is a nation and that devolution has, on balance, been a positive experience.

Debates about Scottish nationality are rare these days too. A substantial majority of Scots define themselves as “Scottish only”. Even UKIP has quietly ditched its plan to abolish Holyrood and now talks of forming a government.

But for all this consensus, Scotland’s inability to fully represent itself on the airwaves and onscreen remains one of the most critical issues we must now face up to.

bbcscotland6

The referendum created an eclectic range of alternative media. But, whether we like them or not, large media institutions like the BBC maintain a reach both online and offline that only a very select number of new platforms can begin to rival.

No single project can address this problem. Only a systematic renewal of Scotland’s media landscape will change the current reality of managed decline.

Read the rest of this entry →

  • About

    Wings Over Scotland is a thing that exists.

    Stats: 6,931 Posts, 1,244,813 Comments

  • Recent Posts

  • Archives

  • Categories

  • Tags

  • Recent Comments

    • Spartan 117 on Response Level Upgrade: “Thanks Mark. Gave me a chuckle!Jun 15, 15:42
    • Spartan 117 on Response Level Upgrade: “I also played midfield briefly in my 20s, for whatever relevance that is. I’ve nothing against Fitba’ and wish our…Jun 15, 15:30
    • Hatey McHateface on Response Level Upgrade: “The “cup marks” the Picts left on their sacred and symbolic liths were pictorial representations of winning set piece tactics.…Jun 15, 14:59
    • Hatey McHateface on Response Level Upgrade: “If you’re saying that Scottish culture consists of cash-strapped Scots scrimping and doing without to richly reward prima donnas, their…Jun 15, 14:51
    • Hatey McHateface on Response Level Upgrade: “Good one, Northy. Football is like politics right enough. A zero sum game. One side is victorious, the other is…Jun 15, 14:35
    • Hatey McHateface on Response Level Upgrade: “How many years (and how many World Cups) is it since I twigged that your typical self-identifying Indy supporter would…Jun 15, 14:27
    • Southernbystander on Response Level Upgrade: “The English stopped believing the England team are just an underachieving heavyweight long, long before 2014, like when the team…Jun 15, 14:27
    • Northcode on Response Level Upgrade: “Albert Einstein (yes, really) — played as a youth in Munich Einstein wasn’t a competitive player, but he did play…Jun 15, 14:17
    • Hatey McHateface on Response Level Upgrade: ““The Scottish accent is the most trusted in the world” Of course, it can only be trusted where it is…Jun 15, 14:14
    • Alf Baird on Response Level Upgrade: “All you folks seek to do is de-base Scottish culture. But we know, ‘that is how colonialism works, by de-basing…Jun 15, 14:12
    • Captain Caveman on Response Level Upgrade: “Yawn. More verbose, witless, irrelevant drivel. My original comment stands. You bore me beyond belief.Jun 15, 14:05
    • Northcode on Response Level Upgrade: “Aye, Confused, there’s a fair bit of clutchery goes on in this place at times. This: “Football is a politico-philosophical…Jun 15, 14:03
    • sam on Response Level Upgrade: “Add Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to the listJun 15, 13:46
    • sam on Response Level Upgrade: “In the national Library of Scotland – “Forty years of Shite: The Complete and Utter Awfulness of the England Football…Jun 15, 13:44
    • Northcode on Response Level Upgrade: ““Gah, you’re such a witless troll, Northcode…” Gah… the sound of an Anglo’s patience snapping like a twig (a point…Jun 15, 13:30
    • Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Response Level Upgrade: “Thanks, Cynicus. Greatly appreciated.Jun 15, 13:11
    • Cynicus on Response Level Upgrade: “Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh says: 14 June, 2026 at 12:24 am If “even Homer sometimes nods” (recent exchange on Wings thread), then…Jun 15, 12:43
    • Captain Caveman on Response Level Upgrade: “Gah, you’re such a witless troll, Northcode, you’re not even remotely good at it. Deliberately misquoting someone..? Lawks! Anyone would…Jun 15, 12:41
    • Mark Beggan on Response Level Upgrade: “Are Police Scotland guilty of misinformation? Deliberately and with intent to hide the truth.Jun 15, 12:36
    • sam on Response Level Upgrade: “Scottish fans are more engaged than English fans. Scotland’s top-flight league having the highest attendance per capita in Europe at…Jun 15, 12:33
    • Mark Beggan on Response Level Upgrade: “A large number of heterosexual males gathered together scares the shit out of them.Jun 15, 12:32
    • Confused on Response Level Upgrade: “oh aye – Albert Camus was a goalkeeper. as was Niels Bohr. morons.Jun 15, 12:31
    • Confused on Response Level Upgrade: “one of the drawbacks of these times is an epidemic of a powerful mind virus – english-cunt-itis – to be…Jun 15, 12:23
    • Confused on Response Level Upgrade: “I detect a lot of middle class handbag clutching going on; football is the dance of the working class, and…Jun 15, 12:21
    • agentx on Response Level Upgrade: “Scotland (and their fans) are only at the World Cup because they are a colonised nation. Isn’t that how the…Jun 15, 12:18
    • Mark Beggan on Response Level Upgrade: “There was a young man called Spartan. Who couldn’t understand what was happenin. With a rant and a rave He…Jun 15, 12:13
    • Mark Beggan on Response Level Upgrade: “They’re having fun Northy. Remember fun? Laughter, comradeship, male bonding (not the arse bandits), unity, national pride ( not the…Jun 15, 12:03
    • Northcode on Response Level Upgrade: ““The Scottish…are held in the highest regard around the world…” Finally, we agree on something, AI Dan.Jun 15, 11:52
    • Northcode on Response Level Upgrade: ““Yelling Nae Party Withoot Sco’Lan’ and getting pished just screams Wee Man Syndrome…” Ach, dinnae be a snob, Spartan 117.…Jun 15, 11:38
    • Aidan on Response Level Upgrade: “The Scottish and the English are held in the highest regard around the world, Northcode, as you’d understand if you…Jun 15, 11:30
  • A tall tale



↑ Top