The world's most-read Scottish politics website

Wings Over Scotland


Author Archive


Snowflake Patrol 91

Posted on August 08, 2025 by

We’ve written a couple of articles about the media coverage of this already, but as the slow summer season continues it’s worth taking a little time to have a proper look at the source material, because it’s your cash that’s being spent on it, and used to shape public policy in Scotland.

And it’s very hard to overstate both what a waste of money, and what a colossal insult to every woman in Scotland, it represents.

Read the rest of this entry →

The Churn 96

Posted on August 07, 2025 by

A little over two years ago, three SNP MSPs contested the leadership of the party in the wake of the sudden resignation of Nicola Sturgeon. All were full of grand plans and dreams for the future of the party, the nation and the independence movement.

None of the three is leader now, and in nine months’ time none of them will be SNP MSPs. Indeed, it’s overwhelmingly likely that none will be an MSP at all.

And that, readers, is not a sign of a party – or indeed a Parliament – in good health.

Read the rest of this entry →

Trying To Understand 29

Posted on August 06, 2025 by

It can be very hard to follow the arguments of people trying to convince you to vote for the SNP on the regional list at next year’s election. Here’s one just a month ago:

So that’s clear – indy supporters MUST IGNORE the “siren voices” telling them to vote for smaller indy parties, because they can’t win any seats and therefore to vote for them is to “throw away” your list vote.

And this was them just two weeks ago, strenuously insisting that the small parties were a busted flush and there was no chance of a “non-SNP route to independence”:

So it was a bit confusing to read this yesterday:

Because all of a sudden, it seems that you CAN vote for the smaller indy parties, regardless of whether they win seats or not, because the list vote will actually be a de-facto referendum and the votes will still count. And indeed, apparently you SHOULD do so, because an SNP-only route – the thing which was the only hope a fortnight ago – is now “totally unachievable” and ONLY working in concert with the smaller indy parties can succeed.

Heavens, what huge transformative event did we miss?

Read the rest of this entry →

The Deafening Echo Of Nothing 137

Posted on August 03, 2025 by

These two Sunday front pages three weeks apart sounded awfully similar.

But it turned out to be a lot worse than we thought.

Read the rest of this entry →

The Changemakers 35

Posted on August 03, 2025 by

When we get bored in the summer silly season, we often start poking around in stats. This week we’d been pondering the complete waste of everyone’s time Anas Sarwar’s four and a half years in charge of Scottish Labour have been, and the open goal he’s missed in failing to capitalise on a period of constant chaos and turmoil for the SNP.

That got us to thinking about which leaders in the Scottish Parliament era have made a significant difference (in either direction) to the fortunes of their parties, and from there it was pretty short work to illustrate it in the form of a graph.

It rather leaps out at you, doesn’t it?

Read the rest of this entry →

The Empty Hearse 207

Posted on July 30, 2025 by

There’s been a very unfortunate typo here.

“Scotland’s independence” should read “SNP’s gravy bus”.

Read the rest of this entry →

From May To July 102

Posted on July 29, 2025 by

Oh, it’s a long, long while.


They have little to offer, but the songs they sing.

Scotland’s Saviour 72

Posted on July 28, 2025 by

No, wait, hear us out.

It’s not what you think.

Read the rest of this entry →

Everybody’s Normal Nowadays 370

Posted on July 22, 2025 by

At some point, we’re all going to have to have a discussion about the word “normal”.

Because suffering from a debilitating mental illness that supposedly causes you to commit suicide if medical professionals don’t pump you full of wrong-sex hormones and/or mutilate or remove healthy and functioning parts of your body, and which affects no more than 1 in 300 people, is NOT, in fact, “completely normal”. Nor is having a physical disorder affecting less than 1 in 5,000 people. They’re the exact opposite of that. They’re extremely abnormal.

(“Abnormal” is not an intrinsically pejorative term, it’s a simple neutral statement of fact, meaning something that’s uncommon or unusual.)

But that’s not the main problem with NHS Fife’s “LGBTQI+” website.

Read the rest of this entry →

The Pillars Of Sanity 162

Posted on July 19, 2025 by

For the combatants in the gender wars, it’s been quite a spring and summer here in the TERF Island theatre of battle.

In February, polling company YouGov revealed the vast extent to which public opinion has shifted around the issue (significantly though not entirely in the wake of the Cass Review last April), which we reported on via a snazzy Stalingrad metaphor. But just as with Stalingrad, it was only the precursor to the recapture of territory on an epic scale.

So let’s recap what we’ve won and what it means.

Read the rest of this entry →

Points Into Prongs 82

Posted on July 18, 2025 by

You might think you’ve heard this tired old song before.

But wait! This one’s streamlined! Come back!

Read the rest of this entry →

According As We Need Them 262

Posted on July 13, 2025 by

We’ve said it for a lot of years, but “1984” really does contain a complete explanation of every aspect of modern life, and especially politics.

So let’s look at today’s Herald On Sunday, and in particular its “special report”.

Read the rest of this entry →

  • About

    Wings Over Scotland is a thing that exists.

    Stats: 6,860 Posts, 1,233,503 Comments

  • Recent Posts

  • Archives

  • Categories

  • Tags

  • Recent Comments

    • robertkknight on The Fear Of The Briar: “The National? Is that still in print? Who buys that pi$h FFS? And a guid New Year tae ane an…Jan 1, 02:33
    • Rob on The Fear Of The Briar: “When has Scotland given mandate after mandate for independence? There was one referendum and it was naw. Voting for the…Jan 1, 02:13
    • Al-Stuart on The Fear Of The Briar: “. Oh Stuart Campbell, I just love the forensic analysis and fact-rich way in which you write. Your logic unassailable.…Jan 1, 00:23
    • Ian Brotherhood on Off-topic: “Good to see a wee flurry in this place! Just a few minutes to go and those big bad bells…Dec 31, 23:55
    • DaveL on The Fear Of The Briar: “@ Alan Scott. You’re living in southern England so which set of muppets do you mean when you say ‘our…Dec 31, 23:39
    • Alf Baird on The Fear Of The Briar: “There is no ‘United Kingdom’, its a myth. Scotland was annexed by England and the English crown rebranded as ‘UK’.Dec 31, 23:37
    • Northcode on The Fear Of The Briar: “One last dig at the SNP before the bells ring in the new year. The desire of the Scots for…Dec 31, 23:32
    • Tinto Chiel on Off-topic: ““My husband is the only other person who talks of those wooden stairs to Bedfordshire!” Age-related I suspect, like Lobey…Dec 31, 23:14
    • Alan Scott on The Fear Of The Briar: “Can you explain why leaving the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland will improve the calibre of our…Dec 31, 22:57
    • sarah on The Fear Of The Briar: “Hi, aLurker: the Inverness event on 7th February is a possibility for me. Though as you suspect, I’m no Spring…Dec 31, 22:48
    • sarah on Off-topic: “My husband is the only other person who talks of those wooden stairs to Bedfordshire! We too will be wending…Dec 31, 22:34
    • sarah on The Fear Of The Briar: “You’d put off restoring Scotland as a country just because of the current batch of MSPs? You’ll never get a…Dec 31, 22:29
    • Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on The Curious Fringes: “‘ST PATRICK’S BREASTPLATE’ (The prayer as recorded is dated on linguistic grounds to the early 8th century.) « Crist lim.…Dec 31, 22:23
    • Tinto Chiel on Off-topic: “@Sarah: something else for your Hogmanay hootenanny and to prove Julie Fowlis is trilingual: www.youtube.com/watch?v=tu_3-VDi7wY Going up wood hill to…Dec 31, 22:15
    • sarah on Off-topic: “Hi everyone, sorry to arrive so late at the party. My excuse is that I am still writing my annual…Dec 31, 22:05
    • alan scott on The Fear Of The Briar: “That National poll looks like a lot of nonsense to me. When the evil Toaries are in power some polls…Dec 31, 22:03
    • Northcode on The Curious Fringes: “Thanks, Sam. A terrific description by Liz Niven on the power and range of the Scots leid. Of course I…Dec 31, 21:48
    • Tinto Chiel on Off-topic: “My comment is now in moderation…..Dec 31, 20:53
    • Tinto Chiel on Off-topic: “Yes, I will raise a glass for Alex as well, Marie. Haven’t opened my Christmas bottle of Aberlour yet but…Dec 31, 20:52
    • Marie Clark on Off-topic: “Thanks for that Tinto. I just love Auld Lang Syne to its original tune and we don’t get to hear…Dec 31, 20:32
    • Watching from afar on The Fear Of The Briar: “Does anyone have confidence in the calibre of Scottish politicians to run a menage let alone a nation in the…Dec 31, 20:16
    • Northcode on The Fear Of The Briar: ““…I dread to think what would become of Scotland if we ever got independence under the incompetence of the SNP…”…Dec 31, 20:15
    • Tinto Chiel on Off-topic: “For all old-timers and “Lurkers”, IMHO the best version of an old classic (forgive the SaTC references): www.youtube.com/watch?v=foZG74PSl2A May The…Dec 31, 20:12
    • Tinto Chiel on Off-topic: “Dan said: “The site has been allowed to be overrun with trolls, constantly interrupting and goading folk, and it is…Dec 31, 19:57
    • aLurker on Off-topic: “I only popped in to leave a New Years greeting and find myself surprised and pleased that there is still…Dec 31, 19:33
    • Alf Baird on The Fear Of The Briar: “Scotland is to England and Farage what Alaska is to the USA and Trump. Similarly, both territories were ‘procured’ by…Dec 31, 19:27
    • Alf Baird on The Curious Fringes: ““a solid 3.6% of Scots believe we will be Independent by 2031” More importantly, polls indicate at least 50%+ of…Dec 31, 19:14
    • 100%Yes on The Fear Of The Briar: “Yes Heather, there is a lot of people who claim to be Indy supporters promoting misinformation about the state of…Dec 31, 19:05
    • aLurker on The Fear Of The Briar: “Hi Sarah Aye it would be great if ALL of the REAL independence politicos would get together and try and…Dec 31, 18:33
    • ScottieDog on The Fear Of The Briar: “It’s not just the finery they’re preserving. When the edifice collapses, all the skeletons come out the cupboards. The British…Dec 31, 18:27
  • A tall tale



↑ Top