Alert readers will recall the deranged open letter released by a group of transactivists last Friday, in a nakedly transparent attempt to influence the SNP’s NEC elections that weekend which backfired on them horribly (and amusingly) when the party’s members instead kicked out three-quarters of the committee’s woke faction and replaced them with feminists, socialists and above all advocates of actually achieving independence.
If you don’t have the time to read Alyn Smith’s astonishing response to the SNP NEC election results in today’s National, we’ve edited it down to 10 seconds for you.
We must admit, the terrible people that we are, we’ve been enjoying watching today’s extended meltdown by the SNP’s woke faction about last night’s NEC election results. Because it appears their egos are so huge that they’re not even smart enough to play dignified to spoil our schadenfreudish fun. It’s been full-on public tantrums.
Ridiculously, more than eight hours after voting closed in an all-electronic election in which “counting” should have taken a maximum of one second, and at 11.30pm, the SNP have released the results of this year’s NEC elections.
There are some big stories.
Alyn Smith is OUT as Policy Development Convener, replaced by Chris Hanlon.
We had, we think it’s only fair to say, extremely low expectations of Nicola Sturgeon’s keynote speech this afternoon to the SNP’s soporific, strangled 2020 non-conference. It seems that members felt the same, because 15 seconds before the speech began only 1,166 of them were logged in to watch it.
The speech she just delivered, though, limboed under those expectations in platform shoes and a stovepipe hat without even grazing the underside of the bar.
In a post last month we referenced a ZX Spectrum computer game from 1984 called “Worse Things Happen At Sea”. Today as we watched the First Minister on the Andrew Marr Show, we were put in mind of another nautical-disaster-themed one from a great deal nearer to the end of the Speccy’s life.
When’s a Plan B not a Plan B? Well, when it’s something that could and should have been done already, and won’t be anywhere near adequate even if delivered.
Yet that seems to be what some colleagues are now arguing for. It’s welcome that their thoughts are at last turning to the possibility of the Tories saying No to the Scottish people’s democratic vote. But it’s happening dangerously slowly as the dismantling of devolution and reintegration into the UK gathers pace. Which’s why the Yes Movement needs to act now, not after a Holyrood election.
This week on Wings has been altogether more navel-gazey than we’re comfortable with, as various SNP MPs have mounted a series of all-out personal attacks on the site before the weekend’s crucial NEC elections.
So we’ll have a proper article for you a little later on today, but in the meantime it’d be remiss of us not to tidy up the last fragments of shrapnel, so we’ll direct you to the right of reply to Alyn Smith’s column that The National kindly gave us today:
(Sadly they chose to disable comments, we’d quite have enjoyed the reaction from the few remaining diehard leadership loyalists still posting there.)
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on The Last Marble: “Link to source of Joanna Cherry quote above – https://x.com/joannaccherry/status/1954107324638880232” Aug 11, 01:06
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on The Last Marble: “Extract from Joanna Cherry’s sustained broadside against Nicola Sturgeon (from 8 Aug Scottish Daily Mail page image featured on Joanna’s…” Aug 11, 00:33
sarah on Snowflake Patrol: “Well done for putting time and money into trying to protect our youngsters, George. Your daughter is completely right to…” Aug 10, 21:47
Marie on The Last Marble: “Yet it was an ITV journalist (Peter Smith) that made her out to be a laughing stock on ITV news.” Aug 10, 21:28
sam on The Last Marble: “For Liberate Scotland?” Aug 10, 21:23
sarah on The Last Marble: “It is especially galling given that every journalist in Scotland knows what really happened, including the un-reported defence evidence that…” Aug 10, 21:21
Iain More on The Last Marble: “I see the Alphabet Wokist Quisling Sturgeon getting a lot of Media time on ITV. Nauseating! Disgusting! Stomach Churning!” Aug 10, 21:06
sarah on The Last Marble: “I agree, sam. It is amusing [sort of] and punchy – a very clear illustration of Scotland’s [and Wales and…” Aug 10, 20:37
sam on The Last Marble: “Off topic. My missus received this link and we watched it. It is a short video on the Free Scotland…” Aug 10, 19:53
Izzie on The Last Marble: “Can anyone enlighten me as to how this advances the cause of a free and independent Scotland?” Aug 10, 18:53
Lorn on Snowflake Patrol: “No, James, I know you did not say that Scotland was subsumed. Professor Black said that recently. I agree that…” Aug 10, 18:17
Lorn on Snowflake Patrol: “Correct, James. They just banked on no one up here knowing that or, failing that, not caring.” Aug 10, 17:53
TURABDIN on The Last Marble: “A REVIEW «An amazing achievement. Nicola Sturgeon manages to write dispassionately about her life’s passion, and mindfully about experiences that…” Aug 10, 16:47
Hatey McHateface on The Last Marble: “Discountable. Remainderable. Pulpable. Recyclable. You overlooked these, TURABDIN. Frankly, somebody’s made a big mistake. The only hope for decent sales…” Aug 10, 16:05
Iain More on The Last Marble: “Callum says: 10 August, 2025 at 8:30 am Sturgeon and her coterie of sycophants deliberately tried to put an innocent…” Aug 10, 15:53
sam on The Last Marble: “Doon the stank? Broomielaw?” Aug 10, 15:52
Hatey McHateface on Snowflake Patrol: “The sound of one hand clapping.” Aug 10, 15:52
James Barr Gardner on The Last Marble: “Wee Johnny’s lost his jaurie……..” Aug 10, 14:59
James Cheyne on Snowflake Patrol: “At the moment only one bank benefits from being the bank of England, just as the benefits of being the…” Aug 10, 14:28
James Cheyne on Snowflake Patrol: “TURABDIN, However, I agree with you that Scotland often seems to be the brains in general, while Certain parts of…” Aug 10, 14:14
TURABDIN on The Last Marble: “«SUCCESSFUL, REMARKABLE, great skill, unflinching honesty. triumph, truly searching, truly frank, compelling, clear-eyed, self-critical , riveting, deeply human, enlightened, enthralled.…” Aug 10, 14:14
James Cheyne on Snowflake Patrol: “TURABDIN. The bank of England had stronger connections to the East India Company first. And for all that is still…” Aug 10, 14:08
Mark Beggan on The Last Marble: “Frankly my dear I don’t give a dam. By Virago Curmudgeon” Aug 10, 13:25
Northcode on The Last Marble: “Sturgeon – no, not that one, this one; Theodore Sturgeon (1918-1985) was an American writer, mostly of fantasy and science…” Aug 10, 13:07
TURABDIN on Snowflake Patrol: “WHAT SCOTS DO FOR OTHERS, «William Paterson was a Scottish trader and banker. He was a founding member of the…” Aug 10, 12:59
Confused on The Last Marble: “this is unintentionally funny in all the wrong places https://archive.ph/XOZ9e – also, oddly revealing, in a between the lines sort-of-way…” Aug 10, 12:40
Sven on The Last Marble: “Oneliner @ 11.25. Well, I’ve long thought her a bit of a (pantomime) horse’s ass.” Aug 10, 12:25
James on Snowflake Patrol: “Probably got a job with “Aidan” and the 77th in “Fifeshire”.” Aug 10, 11:58
James on Snowflake Patrol: “Three in a row – Bingo!” Aug 10, 11:56
James on Snowflake Patrol: “Aye, they Yoons don’t like it up ’em!” Aug 10, 11:55
