The world's most-read Scottish politics website

Wings Over Scotland


Author Archive


Taking the wheel 176

Posted on November 18, 2020 by

Some years ago, a friend of mine was on a car journey along the motorway, with their brother driving. The night before there had been a storm and high winds. The bad weather had continued into the morning before easing, but the wind was still strong.

They were chatting in the car and as they continued to chat, my friend noticed that further along, a motorway stanchion that holds the lights had fallen across their path. It was blocking two of the three lanes, including the one that they were on. Despite that, they continued to chat as if it wasn’t there.

The obstacle drew nearer and nearer. Finally my friend said to his brother, “Aren’t you going to drive round that light?” His brother swerved and made it into the unblocked lane with feet to spare.

I asked my friend why they hadn’t swerved sooner. “Neither of us could believe it was there”, he said.

Read the rest of this entry →

  • About

    Wings Over Scotland is a thing that exists.

    Stats: 6,990 Posts, 1,252,829 Comments

  • Recent Posts

  • Archives

  • Categories

  • Tags

  • Recent Comments

    • sarah on Faces In Sand: “Rev, David Henry suggests at 3.28 hours in the Sunday 18th October youtube of the SSRG conference that MI5 blocked…” Oct 20, 16:34
    • Geri on Faces In Sand: “It’s not such a bad idea to self delete themselves fae social media until the adults are back in room.…” Oct 20, 15:31
    • Captain Caveman on Faces In Sand: “”… modernism/neoMarxism/oppressor-oppressed nonsense that, if they had one critical braincell, they would question and refute. However, so powerful a hold…” Oct 20, 15:26
    • Northcode on Faces In Sand: “Sam, yes — the Knight case is an important moment in Scots legal history. It’s just not related to the…” Oct 20, 15:23
    • sam on Faces In Sand: “Northcode, For your information. Posted earlier further up the thread. In 1778 Scots law rejected slavery. The Court of Session…” Oct 20, 15:00
    • Northcode on Faces In Sand: “I’m not debating intent or moral responsibility. My point throughout has been purely structural: participation by elites is not the…” Oct 20, 14:41
    • Hatey McHateface on Faces In Sand: ““I daresay, this is actually quite amusing in its own right” Hmmm. Aren’t you an “outsider” though? This requires prior…” Oct 20, 14:27
    • Hatey McHateface on Faces In Sand: ““Something has happened to the last two generations” There’s a world of difference between destitute people who emigrate to make…” Oct 20, 14:24
    • Captain Caveman on Faces In Sand: “You’re tying yourself into knots again, aren’t you Northy? A right old cul-de-sac there. I daresay, this is actually quite…” Oct 20, 14:09
    • Hatey McHateface on Faces In Sand: ““thus establishing that no person could be held as a slave under Scots law” Fascinating. Take the underage Scottish lassies,…” Oct 20, 14:08
    • sam on Faces In Sand: “Robert Wedderburn was the illegitimate child of James Wedderburn and a black slave, Rosanna. His early life shaped his attitudes…” Oct 20, 14:03
    • Hatey McHateface on Faces In Sand: ““talking absolute pish” Naw. You just can’t bear to acknowledge that when hostile, armed aggressors are hundreds of miles into…” Oct 20, 13:59
    • Southernbystander on Faces In Sand: “Sure and I didn’t mean to do that but at the end of the day is not your analysis suggesting…” Oct 20, 13:52
    • Hatey McHateface on Faces In Sand: ““I’m describing why insider humour and outsider humour land differently — which is a descriptive point, not a moral one”…” Oct 20, 13:49
    • sam on Faces In Sand: “In 1778 Scots law rejected slavery. The Court of Session ruled in the case of Joseph Knight that Scotland could…” Oct 20, 13:47
    • Captain Caveman on Faces In Sand: “Not for the first time, Northy, you’re (disingenuously) trying to hide behind a dictionary definition of “sovereignty” to dodge the…” Oct 20, 13:44
    • sam on Faces In Sand: “Sir John Wedderburn fought at Culloden for the Jacobites, was captured and executed. His two sons who had fought with…” Oct 20, 13:42
    • Lorncal on Faces In Sand: “H McH: It is a strange thing that those of us, from previous generations, who emigrated to far-flung places perhaps…” Oct 20, 13:38
    • Northcode on Faces In Sand: “I’m not talking about absolution or moral judgement. I’m talking about the structural difference between elite participation and national sovereignty.…” Oct 20, 13:23
    • Spartan 117 on Faces In Sand: “Sorry, you’re talking absolute pish, as per. Have a nice day.” Oct 20, 13:22
    • Northcode on Faces In Sand: “It seems you both are responding to an emotional claim I didn’t make. I’m not arguing that Scots should be…” Oct 20, 13:05
    • Captain Caveman on Faces In Sand: “You’re applying a clear double standard here to absolve pre-1707 Scotland while holding England to a completely different metric. First…” Oct 20, 12:53
    • Hatey McHateface on Faces In Sand: “Sorry, Northy, but “only following orders” was debunked decades ago. I hope you’re not about to be indicted for something…” Oct 20, 12:33
    • Hatey McHateface on Faces In Sand: ““brainwashed us with being supposed to hate for, er, “reasons”” Check out Vinted. They’ll have plenty of pedestals to sell,…” Oct 20, 12:30
    • Southernbystander on Faces In Sand: “There are valid points here. It is interesting that in my experience jokes about (against) the English by non-English people…” Oct 20, 12:23
    • Northcode on Faces In Sand: “It’s also worth noting that imperial England recruited elites from many places — Ireland, Wales, India, Africa, the Caribbean, Canada,…” Oct 20, 12:18
    • Hatey McHateface on Faces In Sand: ““Essex humour is not tied to national identity” And there we see the core of the matter exposed. Northy is…” Oct 20, 12:12
    • Northcode on Faces In Sand: “Caveman, the point isn’t whether some Scots participated — they clearly did. The distinction I’m making is between elite participation…” Oct 20, 12:06
    • Captain Caveman on Faces In Sand: “I think the germane point is that Scotland – in conjunction with England – was a very willing, highly effective…” Oct 20, 11:28
    • Northcode on Faces In Sand: “Aidan, yes — elites on both sides participated in imperial expansion, and the effects weren’t evenly distributed across either society.…” Oct 20, 11:18
  • A tall tale



↑ Top