This is the 5,000th post since Wings Over Scotland began in November 2011, which is just shy of two a day, every single day, since then. We wanted such a landmark post to be something serious and significant, but in light of the utter brain-melting futility of trying to write anything sensible about politics in the UK today that won’t be overtaken by ridiculous events within seven minutes, screw it, we’re going to this instead.
So we’ll see you all later this evening for the result of Theresa May’s confidence vote. What’s the worst that could happen?
We all knew this already, of course. Last year we commissioned a poll from Panelbase which found an enormous 41-point gap between Yes and No voters on immigration. But it was still nice to have it both confirmed and laid out so clearly by Sir John Curtice on Good Morning Scotland earlier today.
(About 1h 55m in. We’re having some trouble recording sound on our new PC at the moment, we’ll get you a proper audio link as soon as we’ve figured it out.)
It’s worth keeping to hand the next time some witless Scottish Labour goon tries to tell you that independence is bad because it’s “separatist” and that voting for the Union is the international-solidarity option. Because that’s a flat-out lie.
We now have the verdicts on Brexit from three of the UK’s four nations. The Scottish Parliament, speaking for the Scottish nation, voted overwhelmingly this afternoon to reject both Theresa May’s draft agreement and leaving the EU without a deal.
At a time of unprecedented political chaos and uncertainty, just about the only thing you can still count on is that for any given situation, senior Labour figures will issue proclamations both firmly in favour of it and stoutly opposed to it, usually the same day.
So the stories below, which are respectively from today’s Scotsman and today’s Times, won’t come as much of a shock to anyone.
But against the odds, we think we’ve made some sense of it.
All political discourse is plagued with genuine imbeciles, of course. But what’s far more depressing is when educated and normally perceptive people merely act like imbeciles for money, such as the case of Alex Massie in the Sunday Times today.
Because for the last two years, commentators who ought to know better have insisted in presenting Scotland’s choice as between Brexit or Brexit plus independence, and solemnly concluding that the uncertainties and risks of the latter being piled on top of those of the former prove that independence is no solution.
And we don’t care to have our intelligence insulted in that way.
If we were to write an article every time Murdo Fraser said something moronic, we’d have to rename this site Wings Over Murdo Fraser, and drink an awful lot of Red Bull to be able to cover it all.
Stuff like this, for example, is almost too easy.
43% (actually 45.3% excluding Don’t Knows) is considerably more than Murdo Fraser has ever achieved in an election, either himself or as part of a party. His average over the seven elections he’s contested and lost since 1999 is just 30.1%, and until a blip in 2016 it had been falling lower and lower each time, as people have watched how he performed as an MSP and got less and less keen on the idea.
That’s still actually slightly more than the 28.6% his party secured in Scotland at the last election, though, in what was nevertheless generally regarded as an unusually impressive performance. Two years earlier they gathered just 14.9% of the votes cast.
Yet neither Fraser nor the Tories disappear for a generation every time Scotland tells them to go and get stuffed. Fraser keeps trousering an MSP’s fat salary despite two decades of unbroken and unequivocal personal rejection from the electorate, even as he demands that the independence movement gives up after losing ONE vote.
But in his defence, his leader’s not setting him much of an example.
Aidan on Shield Of The Phantom: “Okay, but in his opinion on the subject Lord Hope of Craighead said explicitly that the treaty did extinguish upon…” Jan 30, 06:14
Young Lochinvar on Shield Of The Phantom: “AI; The nadir of the intelligent, talented, capable, skilled and thinking person IMO. Zero effort, zero time spent mastering a…” Jan 30, 01:30
willie on Shield Of The Phantom: “One thing to also consider is that with the rapid development of AI the industry needs two very key things…” Jan 30, 00:42
Alf Baird on Shield Of The Phantom: ““Over time their cultures merged.” Linguistic evidence rather suggests divergence. In most former Pictish areas from the lowlands to the…” Jan 29, 21:31
Saffron Robe on Shield Of The Phantom: “If a judgement is selective rather than objective, it ceases to be a judgement of law and becomes merely an…” Jan 29, 20:58
Lorna Campbell on Shield Of The Phantom: “Aidan: the Treaty could not have been spent on the accession of the two states into the one state, the…” Jan 29, 20:54
Cynicus on Shield Of The Phantom: “I have just encountered an “AI detector “ online: it is called justdone.com. I am afraid I cannot recommend it…” Jan 29, 20:32
Aidan on Shield Of The Phantom: “Do please tell us all about this sea power Northcode, is there any large-output tidal energy project anywhere in Scotland…” Jan 29, 19:46
Cynicus on Shield Of The Phantom: ““..the new evidence aqq A” ====== Sorry for this gibberish in my long post above. The phrase should read, “the…” Jan 29, 19:37
Northcode on Shield Of The Phantom: ““Scotland already possesses key competitive advantages in marine energy, including abundant natural resources and dedicated enterprise agencies. The country’s marine…” Jan 29, 18:50
sam on Shield Of The Phantom: “Gaels and Picts combined to face the threat of the Vikings. Over time their cultures merged.” Jan 29, 18:42
Cynicus on Shield Of The Phantom: “Lorna Campbell says: 29 January, 2026 at 2:12 pm “AI spews out according to that which you put in, Cynicus.…” Jan 29, 18:39
sam on Shield Of The Phantom: “It is not 25% of the Scottish population, It is a turnout of at least 50% of those registered to…” Jan 29, 18:36
Hatey McHateface on Shield Of The Phantom: “So you don’t even grant them the basic courtesy of calling our ancestors by their own names? Preferring to use…” Jan 29, 18:35
Northcode on Shield Of The Phantom: ““In summary, Scotland’s marine energy resources have the potential to significantly contribute to its energy output, aligning closely with the…” Jan 29, 18:34
Northcode on Shield Of The Phantom: ““Indeed so, these are immense energy surpluses that would be earning Scots around £100 billion a year…” Yes, Alf. The…” Jan 29, 18:27
Hatey McHateface on Shield Of The Phantom: “Some good points made by David Davis and yourself, factchecker. My view is that if people can’t be arsed to…” Jan 29, 18:26
Northcode on Shield Of The Phantom: “Long before the arrival of The Christ the sixteen tribes held sway across the northern lands. So effective were their…” Jan 29, 18:16
agentx on Shield Of The Phantom: “@ Saffron Robe – interesting – thanks.” Jan 29, 18:15
factchecker on Shield Of The Phantom: ““Our view is that a reasonable level for the threshold that determines a settled will is that at least half…” Jan 29, 18:00
Hatey McHateface on Shield Of The Phantom: “Oh, give it a rest, Alf. If Scotland has a renewable leccy surplus on one of those days when the…” Jan 29, 17:15
sam on Shield Of The Phantom: “5 Regional Assemblies During the second reading of the Regional Assemblies (Preparations) Bill 2002-03 the Conservative spokesman, David Davis, expressed…” Jan 29, 16:06
factchecker on Shield Of The Phantom: “The 2015 election was the one when Nicola Sturgeon specifically stated that a vote for the SNP was not a…” Jan 29, 15:16
Aidan on Shield Of The Phantom: “@Alf – so in a future independent Scotland electricity bills would amount to around 33% of GDP? Sounds like a…” Jan 29, 14:19
Aidan on Shield Of The Phantom: “Okay so yet more lying, I honestly don’t know what you seek to gain out of saying things that are…” Jan 29, 14:16
Lorna Campbell on Shield Of The Phantom: “That may be true, but, if you know anything about AI, it will try to find the answers to that…” Jan 29, 14:12
Hatey McHateface on Shield Of The Phantom: “@Lorna Globalisation has worked on the most stupendously successful scale for the Chinese. Just as it is currently working unbelievably…” Jan 29, 14:02
Alf Baird on Shield Of The Phantom: ““Are they acting in the interests of Scotland” If the SNP leadership were acting in the interest of Scots we…” Jan 29, 14:02
Alf Baird on Shield Of The Phantom: ““Wind power is so abundant in Scotland” Indeed so, these are immense energy surpluses that would be earning Scots around…” Jan 29, 13:58
Hatey McHateface on Shield Of The Phantom: “Gonna level with you, Confused, these days I really miss your antisemitism. What I’d love to know is why you’ve…” Jan 29, 13:54
