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Better living through higher prices 331

Posted on March 28, 2023 by

Well, we’re off to a flying start.

This is certainly what the public want. So let’s see his plans.

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The beginning of the end 361

Posted on March 27, 2023 by

The beam on Kate Forbes’ face was quite something.

She’d clearly been exhausted by the contest some time ago, and must have been dreading winning and having to continue fighting the assault from within her own party. Her evident delight and relief at her own failure was a revealing moment.

The great unknown in this election was just who the SNP membership was. No poll could tell us, and with over 50,000 people having quit the party in the last three years, nobody knew who was left. But we know now: idiots.

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The Hollow Crown 197

Posted on March 27, 2023 by

Today is the last day of Nicola Sturgeon’s record-breaking reign as First Minister of Scotland. In a few hours we’ll know who is to succeed her in the role. She was only the second SNP occupant of Bute House, and the legacy she bequeaths compared to the one she inherited from Alex Salmond is a matter of measureable record.

So let’s see the final scores on the doors.

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The Smell Of It 113

Posted on March 26, 2023 by

This is the second time Wings Over Scotland has asked Police Scotland a question through the proper official channels, only to read the response in the tabloid press before we’d heard it firsthand (which we still haven’t, incidentally, several days after the 28-day deadline expired).

But the sidebar piece in today’s Sunday Mail raises more questions than it answers.

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Humza’s Sneaky Peek 85

Posted on March 24, 2023 by

Wait what now?


And how would he know that, exactly?

Spinning the wheel 439

Posted on March 22, 2023 by

We’ve been thinking about it since last night, and we’re not sure if Humza Yousaf now still has ANY of the policies he started the leadership election with.

But this one‘s got us extra-specially perplexed, since at the start it was pretty much the main unique selling point he was hanging his whole campaign on.

Maybe you can help us out, readers.

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Fantasy Island 202

Posted on March 21, 2023 by

We can’t even satirise this stuff.

We might have a day off.

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The Final Insult 183

Posted on March 20, 2023 by

According to SNP President and acting CEO Mike Russell, SNP members are too thick to understand the concept of changing their vote, and integrity is “disruptive”.

We’re not very clear on why a revote would be susceptible to “hacking” in any way that the original vote isn’t, but we’re sure there’s a great explanation.

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The Casting Vote 150

Posted on March 20, 2023 by

There can surely be no credible disputing that the SNP leadership election – and therefore that of Scotland’s next First Minister – is, to put it very mildly, under a cloud.

The list of let’s call them “irregularities” is almost endless. The artificial truncation of the contest, against the SNP constitution; the packing of the hustings with Humza Yousaf supporters; candidates being denied any knowledge about the size of the membership until voting was under way, and then the party’s press chief and CEO both resigning over lying about it; the apparent existence of 6000 more ballot papers than the party has members; one of the Scottish Government’s most senior officers being improperly seconded to the Yousaf campaign (and then also resigning as a result); numerous documented examples of non-members being given votes while fully-paid-up members weren’t; we could, frankly, go on and on.

As things stand, whoever wins will be forever tainted by the process – easy meat for the Unionist opposition in the Holyrood chamber and the media and a potential legal challenge could cause untold further damage to the party.

With six days still left for voting, the case for a reballot – an administratively fairly trivial task in an election being conducted almost entirely online – is now unanswerable, and needn’t even involve a delay.

Only one person stands in the way.

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Cleaning the stables 114

Posted on March 19, 2023 by

So we were a couple of days early on this one.

In fairness to the Scottish press, it’s had a lot of stuff to fit in recently.

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Astronomical numbers of boots 131

Posted on March 19, 2023 by

The SNP having a fondness for lying about their membership wouldn’t have come as quite such a shock to the Scottish press if they paid a little more attention to this website. Because we were pointing it out two and a half years ago.

It was in October 2020 that we told you how the SNP’s 2019 accounts revealed the party’s true membership figures weren’t the claimed 126,000 but more like 87,000.

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Quiet Times For Scotland 56

Posted on March 19, 2023 by

You might think that Scottish political journalists would all be in a shark-like frenzy of excitement at the events of the last few days. But not over on The Guardian.

Apparently it’s all a bit too much for the delicate wee flowers.

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    • Red on Cowering From Destiny: “Data centres employ tiny numbers of people. They only need a handful of junior techies (not very well paid IT…” Sep 24, 20:39
    • Aidan on His Majesty’s Loyal Sabre: “Aye so that’s it then Alf – Scotland is geographically contiguous with rUK and therefore cannot be an NSGT.” Sep 24, 20:25
    • Red on Cowering From Destiny: “I’m glad someone else agrees Susan Aitken could benefit from losing weight. Fascist!” Sep 24, 20:04
    • Alf Baird on His Majesty’s Loyal Sabre: ““land border between England and Scotland” Indeed there is such a border, and that’s no doubt why the geographic area…” Sep 24, 19:57
    • Wally Jumblatt on Cowering From Destiny: “AI jobs won’t go to Scots? We get everywhere around the world and rise to high levels cos our talent,…” Sep 24, 19:10
    • Campbell Clansman on Cowering From Destiny: “The SNP’s leadership is for Leftism, first and foremost. Indy is NOT their number one priority.” Sep 24, 18:47
    • Spartan 117 on Cowering From Destiny: ““Enjoy watching a stand alone England ruled by Trump style absurdity and corruption” You seem to miss that we’re already…” Sep 24, 18:21
    • Colin Alexander on Cowering From Destiny: “A Freedom of Information (FOI) response from the Electoral Commission about the SNP indyref and indy booklet fundraisers monies and…” Sep 24, 18:19
    • Captain Caveman on Cowering From Destiny: “Tsk tsk, Spartan. Oh dear! It would appear that you are FAR RIGHT. Take yourself off to the reprogramming booth…” Sep 24, 18:17
    • Frank Gillougley on Cowering From Destiny: “All smoke and mirrors as per the usual… And ‘we’ go round and round and round in the circle game.…” Sep 24, 18:15
    • Spartan 117 on Cowering From Destiny: “Blimey, and I thought *I* was being sarcastic. Well said Red. We think alike.” Sep 24, 18:07
    • Aidan on His Majesty’s Loyal Sabre: “Thank you Northcode – great post above” Sep 24, 17:59
    • Spartan 117 on Cowering From Destiny: ““What’s not to like?” We can’t have the little people happy and *enjoying* themselves, can we. No, instead we *really*…” Sep 24, 17:59
    • Red on Cowering From Destiny: “We’ve got to keep Farage out, because he wants to reduce immigration and also enforce border laws, and that’s what…” Sep 24, 17:40
    • Ross on Cowering From Destiny: “They can hardly appear to welcome a Reform govt. Or indeed want one as it would be bad for everyone.…” Sep 24, 16:50
    • MaryB on Cowering From Destiny: “There’s a new Facebook called ‘whynotscotland.com’ looking at all the reasons to support independence. (Not to be confused with Why…” Sep 24, 16:26
    • Captain Caveman on Cowering From Destiny: ““Farage is a disruptor and represents a significant threat to The Blob of Fabians, Scroungers and Crooks, which the SNP…” Sep 24, 16:16
    • Spartan 117 on Cowering From Destiny: “Farage is a disruptor and represents a significant threat to The Blob of Fabians, Scroungers and Crooks, which the SNP…” Sep 24, 15:50
    • Northcode on His Majesty’s Loyal Sabre: “Aidan’s breakdown of the salt-water rule is exactly right, and it dovetails with the UN procedural constraints I set out…” Sep 24, 15:36
    • Aidan on His Majesty’s Loyal Sabre: ““Everyone knows Scotland is geographically separate from England” – Really Sam, everyone knows there is no land border between England…” Sep 24, 15:21
    • Aidan on His Majesty’s Loyal Sabre: “The analysis you have provided there is wrong Alf, in respect of the four examples you have given each time…” Sep 24, 15:10
    • Lorncal on Cowering From Destiny: “Spot on, Turabdin. Take all autonomy away from the local areas. It is at this level that resistance is often…” Sep 24, 14:58
    • Lorncal on Cowering From Destiny: “Until a majority of Scots get it through their brain box that independence and only independence has any chance of…” Sep 24, 14:54
    • Northcode on His Majesty’s Loyal Sabre: “The UN doesn’t treat Scotland as a colony procedurally, and has no mechanism to do so without UK permission. That’s…” Sep 24, 14:47
    • sam on How To Create Racists: “Which “sam” said that. Not me.” Sep 24, 14:41
    • Willie on Cowering From Destiny: “NHS England is this year being abolished. No if, no buts. Privatisation is coming. All the benefits of the corporates…” Sep 24, 14:41
    • Northcode on His Majesty’s Loyal Sabre: “I’m not disputing that the wider decolonisation literature can be used to frame Scotland symbolically. The “decolonise scot” material is…” Sep 24, 14:31
    • Mark Beggan on Cowering From Destiny: “‘sign some form of legal agreement.’ How about on the back of a cigarette packet or a napkin. Nothings new.…” Sep 24, 14:02
    • Captain Caveman on His Majesty’s Loyal Sabre: “Hey Fatso, you don’t even have a mind, pal – open or otherwise! Sheesh, bloody cheek honestly. 😀” Sep 24, 13:34
    • TURABDIN on Cowering From Destiny: “Centralization by sleight of hand boundary reordering. Autonomy max regions for example, from which a geologically diverse country might benefit….never…” Sep 24, 13:31
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