If there’s ever been a (branch office of a) political party that could somehow manage to blow it in Scotland against the burning trainwreck in a ditch full of sewage that is the SNP right now, it’s definitely Anas Sarwar’s hapless Scottish Labour.
Honestly, this stuff is comedy gold. But in a winner-takes-all dumb-off with Humza Yousaf’s SNP, it’s way too close to call.
One year ago today, Nicola Sturgeon suddenly resigned as First Minister. And what a spectacular 12 months it’s been for the Yes movement since her departure.
We long ago ran out of words to express the magnitude of the contempt in which the SNP now hold the people of Scotland. Which is unfortunate, because this probably calls for the invention of a whole new scale.
Shall we go through just a few of the more crassly insulting holes in this pitiful excuse for a cover story, just to pass the time while we wait for the former First Minister to appear before the COVID inquiry? We don’t know about you, but we’ve got nothing better to do.
There are many people in the world deserving of sympathy at the moment, readers, but spare a thought in your busy day for Scotland’s Lord Advocate, Dorothy Bain.
Just two and a half years into the post (most incumbents post-devolution have served around five), she’s already had to deal with a lot of what sports people call “hospital passes”. But she’s about to find herself in another nasty spot not of her own making.
We make no apology for returning once again to the depressing subject of the Scottish Government’s proposed new law to ban “conversion practices”, because it provides such an illuminating microcosm of how far a once competent and widely-respected administration has fallen since 2015.
Emma Roddick, who is piloting the bill towards the statute books in much the same way that Mohamed Atta piloted American Airlines Flight 11 towards the World Trade Centre, is a 26-year-old who by her own admission suffers from a serious and debilitating mental illness that any sane country would regard as an insurmountable bar to political office.
After yesterday’s disturbing article about the indoctrination of Scottish schoolchildren into transgender ideology via the Scottish Government’s proposed new “conversion practices” legislation, Wings was contacted by a number of current Scottish teachers telling us we had no idea how far it had already gone.
The message below was by no means untypical:
“This stuff around the UNCRC has been a concern for a while. Some of the articles seem to be being interpreted in ways they were never intended. It has become a vehicle for activist teachers to push their own agendas, all the while hiding behind ‘children’s rights’.
Getting certified is being pushed heavily in every school. Headteachers seem to be under a lot of pressure (coming from Scottish Government) to get it all implemented. We’re currently working towards silver.”
It’s from a 2018 BBC3 documentary called Becoming A Trans Man – Leo. The 15-year-old child in the video plays with a Rubik’s Cube as Wolton, who was 31 at the time, enthusiastically grooms her into transitioning into a “man”, advocating chest binders, a double mastectomy and the irreversible mutilation of her genitalia (“Lower surgery – you want that”) that will, Wolton confirms, lead to her permanent sterilisation, as well as the destruction of her future adult sexual function.
The BBC presents it as a heartwarming tale of friendship.
The Herald has the barest skeleton of a report, while you have to turn to page 14 of the Daily Record for a similar piece that conveys the basic facts with nothing at all about the significance of the ruling, and STV News – embarrassingly – just runs an agency release despite having the estimable Colin Mackay and Bernard Ponsonby on its staff. (They also had nothing on air last night.) Maybe they were busy.
The Scottish Sun is by far the best of the print media on the subject. It first ran a extensive but very strangely-timed article that included reporting of actual events at the hearing but NOT the verdict, even though the court delivered its judgement mere moments after hearing the counsels’ submissions.
(The piece finishes “The appeal at the Court of Session is expected to last one day, with a written judgement taking weeks or months”.)
It followed up a couple of hours later with another substantial story including the reactions of the Scottish Government and the Scottish Information Commissioner (the opposing parties at the hearing). But the only actual analysis was done by the BBC.
To the surprise of most of those watching, including ourselves, the Court Of Session delivered its judgement immediately at the end of today’s hearing, after only the most cursory of conflabs between the three august panel members.
The short version is that the Scottish Government lost, and must now comply with Wings reader Benjamin Harrop‘s FOI request regarding evidence that was supplied to independent adviser James Hamilton during his inquiry into the unlawful investigation of false allegations against Alex Salmond.
The Scottish Government will make history tomorrow. For the first time ever since the advent of devolution 24 years ago, it will take the Scottish Information Commissioner to the Court Of Session to prevent disclosure of information.
On the bench will be the full firepower of the inner council of the Scottish judiciary. The Lord President himself, Lord Carloway, will be presiding (and presumably lording) over the hearing. Joining him on the bench will be a former Lord Advocate, Lord Boyd, and a former Solicitor General, Lord Pentland – pictured below, and of whom readers will last have heard here.
To use the legal parlance, that’s a big-boy lineup.
To present their case, the Government are fielding not one but two King’s Counsel – James Mure KC and Paul Reid KC.
This top legal talent does not come cheap and nor does a Court Of Session hearing. So what is this vital information that the Scottish Government – which as recently as May this year pledged to “ensure that we are the most transparent Government on these islands” – is trying so desperately to hide from the Scottish public, at the Scottish public’s very considerable expense?
Alf Baird on A Stitch In Timing: ““pushing a certain mindset that brooks no dissent” Which, in a colonial society can only be a ‘colonial mindset’, because…” Feb 6, 10:36
Willie on A Stitch In Timing: “Yes Barely Bare how could very substantial damages be paid in the failed Rangers prosecution but denied tp Mark Hirst.…” Feb 6, 10:29
Alf Baird on The Marshalling Plan: “As Fanon wrote: “We have seen that inside the nationalist parties, the will to break colonialism is linked with another…” Feb 6, 10:18
TURABDIN on A Stitch In Timing: “INDEED all a matter of timing…Swinney was a guest of Mandelson, oops! If Starmer gets the shove so must Swinney,…” Feb 6, 09:51
Hatey McHateface on A Stitch In Timing: ““we need UN or other international observers here in Scotland. Judges are it seems, like political masters, rotten to the…” Feb 6, 09:26
Hatey McHateface on A Stitch In Timing: “It’s all mystifying. Mr Dangerfield could see himself, prior to starting the action, that the Lord Advocate’s immunity to prosecution…” Feb 6, 09:11
DaveL on A Stitch In Timing: “I was put in mind of ex Lord Advocate James Wolfe and his malicious prosecutions concerning the football people too.…” Feb 6, 03:38
Cynicus on The Marshalling Plan: “‘On 16 March John Swinney will give a keynote address followed by a panel with Kate Forbes and “networking with…” Feb 6, 01:42
Cynicus on A Stitch In Timing: “barelybare says: 5 February, 2026 at 10:24 pm “Is Gordon Dangerfield still the solicitor?” =========== “I would like to offer…” Feb 6, 01:24
willie on A Stitch In Timing: “Sold a bummer by the judiciary it seems. Or was it more the case that the assurance that Section 170…” Feb 6, 00:24
barelybare on A Stitch In Timing: “I am having trouble understanding how Section 170’s imprisonment condition could cause Mark Hirst’s action to be thrown put, but…” Feb 5, 23:56
Jay on A Stitch In Timing: “Re-read Rev. Stu’s article. Think i have the answer.” Feb 5, 22:54
Jay on A Stitch In Timing: “Is ‘The.Ciminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995’ legislation prepared and passed by the Parliament in Westminster? Which Parliament can enact amendments…” Feb 5, 22:31
barelybare on A Stitch In Timing: “Is Gordon Dangerfield still the solicitor? This blog post https://gordondangerfield.com/2022/02/27/mark-hirst-v-chief-constable-and-lord-advocate/ nearly 4 years old(!) suggests he felt assured that Section…” Feb 5, 22:24
GM on A Stitch In Timing: “I agree with with everything you wrote there Lorna. (Although It is just plain wrong that the legal process can…” Feb 5, 22:14
ALANM on A Stitch In Timing: “The treatment of Enoch Burke at the hands of the Irish State is evidence enough for me that Scotland had…” Feb 5, 21:22
Campbell Clansman on The Marshalling Plan: “THIS is the real SNP–shaking down people who want to do business in Scotland. At £750 per person: “The SNP’s…” Feb 5, 21:10
Campbell Clansman on A Stitch In Timing: “Mark Hirst HAS been punished. Not with imprisonment, but with the malicious prosecution itself, and the 4-year legal fight (undoubtedly…” Feb 5, 21:05
J Robertson on A Stitch In Timing: “Completely agree Lorna” Feb 5, 20:52
Young Lochinvar on A Stitch In Timing: “The Royalty, Scottish nobility, the Church of Scotland and the Scottish legal community; the main players in 1707 of ensuring…” Feb 5, 20:33
Lorna Campbell on A Stitch In Timing: “Dear Lord, will people stop trying to blame everything on England and take responsibility for what is happening in Scotland?…” Feb 5, 20:32
Hatey McHateface on A Stitch In Timing: ““It’s like someone committing a vile and vicious murder and then when found guilty the judge says there is nothing…” Feb 5, 20:28
J Robertson on A Stitch In Timing: “If it has taken in excess of 4 years to bring a case for malicious prosecution to court this is…” Feb 5, 20:16
PC Foster on The Marshalling Plan: “So heartening to see the EHRC intervene in the way that they have.” Feb 5, 19:34
Hatey McHateface on The Marshalling Plan: “Here’s one you can write on the side of a bus, BB: “Just 3 months left to save our NHS”…” Feb 5, 19:08
Hatey McHateface on The Marshalling Plan: “Ah, c’moan noo, Fearghas. Take away his antisemitism and what’s he left with? Just rabid anti-Englishness, enthusiasm for gas chambers,…” Feb 5, 19:02
Willie on A Stitch In Timing: “The decision shows you vicious, malicious politically motivated prosecution can be mounted against selected individual and thereafter, when the prosecution…” Feb 5, 18:53
Disgruntled of Dumbarton on A Stitch In Timing: “I thought the HRA meant judges could turn the law as written on its head if it breached someone’s human…” Feb 5, 18:04
Tartan Tory on The Marshalling Plan: “Yes Iain, I will be voting for an English Nazi party. I’ve spoiled all my votes for almost the past…” Feb 5, 17:50
