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The silent coup 124

Posted on November 04, 2022 by

In the 2021 Scottish Parliament election, the Scottish Greens received just 4.7% of all the votes cast. (255,314 of 5,419,544). The SNP got 44% – almost 10 times as many.

So we’re not sure how the Greens – a party that well over 90% of Scots don’t support – suddenly appear to be in charge.

Nor, perhaps more to the point, do we understand why.

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They’re taking you for fools 131

Posted on November 03, 2022 by

Blue-haired brain vacuum Kirsty Blackman in Westminster yesterday, during the SNP’s big showpiece “let’s pretend we’re doing something about independence” debate.

So presumably she’s made it a priority since being elected seven years ago, right?

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Serial Failure Fails Again 96

Posted on November 01, 2022 by

Kezia Dugdale, the hapless leader who took Scottish Labour to 14% in the polls, is one of the most extravagantly-paid people in Scotland who has no discernible talent or significance to public life whatsoever.

As well as being the Director of the John Smith Policy Centre (a job with no known responsibilities but which nevertheless pays around the same as being an MSP making laws in the Scottish Parliament) she writes regular columns in The Times and The Courier and is now, hilariously, the new Professor of Practice in Public Service in Glasgow University.

(A post with unspecified duties and unknown salary and which was also not, as far as anyone can tell, ever publicly advertised.)

We were bored so we thought we’d find out, via Panelbase, if her latest lucrative role was perhaps the result of a noticeably impressive performance in the first one.

Ah. Not so much.

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Truth in numbers 1,035

Posted on October 21, 2022 by

A year and a quarter ago, we contrasted the performance of the SNP’s last two leaders in terms of building support for independence. As the First Minister crows about how much better she’s been at staying in power than a succession of UK leaders, it seems only proper to bring the stats up to date.

(Click pic to enlarge.)

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I see you’ve had a change of heart 85

Posted on October 20, 2022 by

Do you remember, readers, how the next UK election was supposed to be a single-issue de facto referendum on independence if the Supreme Court ruled Holyrood didn’t have the power to hold one itself?

Well, it appears that policy has been abruptly and quietly ditched.

Because just a couple of hours ago SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford told BBC News that “I can assure you” the SNP “will have a growth manifesto” for the whole UK whenever the next election comes around, because in his view the UK economy hasn’t been growing enough for the last few decades and the SNP would have a plan to fix it. Because apparently fixing the UK is the SNP’s purpose now.

Guess we better hope for a good result from the Supreme Court, then.

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The totally normal country 104

Posted on October 14, 2022 by

Between recesses and the mourning period for the Queen, the UK Parliament has been sitting for just four weeks since the 1st of July this year.

In that time the government has somehow managed to lose three Chancellors Of The Exchequer and is about to engage its fourth in the alarming form of Jeremy Hunt, a man whose primary claim to fame and utility to the UK is as rhyming slang.

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Cursed By Stupidity 364

Posted on October 06, 2022 by

Honestly, readers, swear to God, all joking and sarcasm aside, when we saw this tweet yesterday we were wondering how on Earth some clever satirist had managed to hack Anas Sarwar’s account to insert the screenshot into it.

Because we didn’t believe that even Scottish Labour’s low-watt-bulb of a branch manager would willingly post something that made him look so much of an imbecile.

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The Neverending Mandate 605

Posted on September 28, 2022 by

This probably merits more attention.

Because the SNP are now openly, publicly telling you that they’re never going to achieve independence for Scotland, nor even make any meaningful attempt at it.

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The meaning of tolerance 761

Posted on September 23, 2022 by

The SNP have just revealed the agenda for their conference next month. As expected, and hilariously, it includes a proposal for a “code of conduct” as proposed by the Twitler Youth sturmjugend of the Aberdeen Independence Movement.

We can only salute their timing.

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Nicola Sturgeon: In Her Own Words 138

Posted on September 22, 2022 by

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You WILL mourn, peasants 299

Posted on September 19, 2022 by

An incomplete list of TV channels showing the royal funeral today follows.

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Getting nowhere slow 157

Posted on September 18, 2022 by

On the 8th anniversary of the indyref, and 16 months after closing down (although in fact we’ve averaged one post a week since then), Wings Over Scotland is once again getting more traffic than the next five biggest indy sites put together.

This isn’t a good thing.

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    • Morag on The Valley Of The Dolls: “This is why we pay you the big bucks.Dec 10, 00:48
    • Marie on The Valley Of The Dolls: “Scottish judges – what are they like eh? Third rate – that’s what they’re like.Dec 10, 00:37
    • sog on The Valley Of The Dolls: “I got as far as the ‘Assigned male at birth’ bollocks, and gave up. Anyone quoting that should be fired,…Dec 9, 23:24
    • Lorncal on The Valley Of The Dolls: “If you do, those spaces become mixed sex spaces, not single sex spaces. Would you allow women who have had…Dec 9, 23:08
    • James on The Long Walk To Freedom: “Good point, Northy.Dec 9, 23:02
    • Lorncal on The Valley Of The Dolls: “Because, Kate, we let them get away with the “stunning and brave” bulls**t instead of calling them out as that…Dec 9, 23:00
    • sarah on Off-topic: “NHS dentist, Tinto? No chance, I’m afraid. Though it sounds as if we have been let off lightly compared with…Dec 9, 22:16
    • Lorncal on The Valley Of The Dolls: ““… The argument was essentially of a man using the façade of gender reassignment for improper purposes, including for sexual…Dec 9, 21:55
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    • GM on The Valley Of The Dolls: “It will be.Dec 9, 21:25
    • Jay on The Valley Of The Dolls: “Sarah: Agreed that Rev Stu has conducted a masterly exercise of demolishing the position taken by the Tribunal, a wonderful…Dec 9, 21:16
    • Tracey on The Valley Of The Dolls: “Thanks for this. Excellently written and explained. I am glad I am already subscribed. You are worth it!Dec 9, 21:06
    • sarah on The Valley Of The Dolls: “You missed your calling, Rev. You could have been a senior judge in Scotland or England. There was a wonderful…Dec 9, 19:29
    • Hatey McHateface on The Valley Of The Dolls: “As always, a masterful analysis from Scotland’s greatest living journalist. Just one tiny quibble: “It’s not often you see a…Dec 9, 19:24
    • Hatey McHateface on The Valley Of The Dolls: “They’re aiming for the institutionalized watering down of women’s rights. It’s a war. The trannies are the leading shock troops…Dec 9, 19:21
    • Kate L on The Valley Of The Dolls: “Thank you for this breakdown, even though it may lead to a breakdown of my own. This is legitimately bonkers.…Dec 9, 19:20
    • agentx on The Valley Of The Dolls: “There will be an appeal from both sides and the decision will go to the higher courts. But please note…Dec 9, 19:18
    • diabloandco on The Valley Of The Dolls: “Excellent idea! The whole thing is stratospherically ridiculous.Dec 9, 19:17
    • Tinto Chiel on Off-topic: “Forgot to mention that thoughts of Gruinard Bay and its seals always make me think of the incomparable Julie and…Dec 9, 19:10
    • diabloandco on The Long Walk To Freedom: “I think I must have met that man in Edinburgh one lovely sunny afternoon in the gardens when a great…Dec 9, 19:07
    • Tinto Chiel on Off-topic: “I don’t give up, Sarah, I adapt 🙂 . Despite the best efforts of the security services, the Edinburgh Proclamation…Dec 9, 18:59
    • Hatey McHateface on The Long Walk To Freedom: “Fit’s a Clydeside Welder?Dec 9, 18:56
    • Hatey McHateface on The Long Walk To Freedom: “Ah, the fragrant James has dragged himself once again, out from under his stone. You can choose to believe that…Dec 9, 18:51
    • Craig on The Valley Of The Dolls: “Any chance for a copy of THAT dogs breakfast to be sent to the Supreme Court judges so they may…Dec 9, 18:46
    • twathater on The Valley Of The Dolls: “I would believe that judges decision had been made at the start of the tribunal , anyone who uses the…Dec 9, 18:32
    • Craig on Ain’t Got Time To Bleed: “Any reply from the “Big Fella”?.Dec 9, 18:29
    • 100%Yes on The Valley Of The Dolls: “Trying to fit a square into a circle is never going to work. I’m afraid the SNP and the Greens…Dec 9, 18:07
    • Iain More on The Valley Of The Dolls: “It is a toxic world for any white heterosexual males and females.Dec 9, 18:04
    • Vronsky on The Valley Of The Dolls: “It’s too easy to point out the madness, we need to understand that to your average politician this apparent silliness…Dec 9, 17:57
    • panda paws on The Valley Of The Dolls: “Indeed it isn’t. It is illegal for someone who in an official capacity knows another person has a GRC to…Dec 9, 17:44
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