Yet even after our extensive revelations about his past last week, not a single MSP has disassociated themselves from him. And now we find ourselves in a position whereby in order to protect other women, we’re forced to direct people’s attention to something we really wish we didn’t have to.
On January 22nd the violent, abusive transgender activist Jack Douglas, who now uses the name Beth and the Twitter username “pickle_bee” (slang for “somebody who likes dick”), threatened that feminist campaigner Kellie-Jay Keen’s imminent “Standing For Women” event in Glasgow was going to be disrupted by the “furry” community, who happen to be hosting a gathering at the Crowne Plaza that same weekend.
“Why? What possible grudge could furries have against women?”, a friend giggled, as I related this news to her. But to answer that we have to know who these people are.
Man, we wish we hadn’t used this headline up two days ago.
BBC Scotland’s Debate Night programme last night was rather peculiar. It took place in a mostly-empty studio, but clearly not due to COVID precautions because the people who were there were all jammed tightly together in the middle. (In fairness, given BBC Scotland’s audience ratings they may still have outnumbered television viewers.)
On an all-female panel it featured, “by popular demand”, someone presenter Stephen Jardine described as “one of our best-loved comedians”, a former electrician called Susie McCabe, who we’d never heard of in our lives. (She apparently presented the channel’s Hogmanay show, something no sane adult has watched since 1982.)
She made one particular contribution that set social media aflame.
We’ve asked Alex Cole-Hamilton for comment several times without reply. (Although there has been an unverified third-hand answer via Willie Rennie and a Twitter user.)
Wings Over Scotland makes absolutely no assertions about why MSPs wouldn’t want to very clearly and unambiguously disassociate themselves from such an unpleasant character after information about him had been brought to light in a widely-read (over 200,000 views) article which was trending on Twitter all day yesterday.
For the avoidance of doubt, we have no information about any interactions between Douglas and any MSPs that we’re keeping secret. But we’re not the least bit surprised that people have started wondering what possible reasons a whole string of male politicians could have for not wanting to upset a male prostitute, particularly given the long and sordid history of male politicians and male prostitutes in the UK.
To quash such speculation, we once again urge all MSPs who have associated with Beth Douglas to clearly and publicly disavow him and assure voters that he will no longer shape or influence legislation passed in the Scottish Parliament.
Last week he was prominent in a protest outside Queen Elizabeth House against the UK government’s S35 intervention over the Gender Recognition Reform Bill. He spoke alongside MSPs including Patrick Harvie, Karen Adam, Ross Greer, Paul Sweeney and Alex Cole-Hamilton, who lavished fulsome and effusive praise on him, going so far as to say that it was for Douglas personally that MSPs had pushed the bill through.
The final result of our Twitter poll from yesterday was pretty conclusive.
(It was also by a distance the biggest response we can ever remember getting for one – normally our Twitter polls get around 3,000 votes.)
But of course Twitter polls aren’t scientific – they’re self-selecting and they draw from a biased sample, in this case people who follow Wings and are more likely to agree with us on most things. So we need a bit more data for a better picture.
…by which we mean “IQs in the history of the Scottish Parliament”.
Put a cushion on your desk before you start listening to this, gang, or you might hurt your jaw. Because surely nobody quite as paralysingly, catastrophically thick as this clueless, bumbling, deranged and dangerous imbecile has ever been allowed to make the laws of Scotland before. We wouldn’t let her make orange squash, to be honest.
And yes, we’re including Kezia Dugdale and Jamie Greene in that reckoning.
(The largest number that said No, around 118,000, didn’t tick the boxes of either transwoman, transman or non-binary, nor wrote in their own. An unknown number of these may have been rejecting “gender” altogether. 30,000 ticked “non-binary” and 18,000 wrote in a gender because they were REALLY special.)
But, as we’ve been told times out of number, we must accept what people say about themselves. So 48,000 transwomen it is. So few. So vulnerable. And that number got me thinking.
Alert readers of Wings will know that I have a fondness for sweet and fruity things, and a particular favourite of mine are Tropical Vibes still lemonades. (NB Other drinks are available, this site is in no way sponsored by or financially affiliated to Tropical Vibes.)
I especially like their Ocean Blue variety, a deliciously sharp and tangy refresher which contains real blueberry juice.
(Although we’re not sure how “new followers” is being calculated there. We actually have more than 500 extra followers since 8pm – we can only assume that it’s only counting those who right-clicked and followed from that specific tweet.)
And part of the reason is that it’s plain that almost nobody knew about the report, even though it came out three months ago (when Wings was still in retirement). We had to dig deep to find any media coverage of it at all, and what there was was cursory at best, and sometimes a lot worse.
100%Yes on The End Of Law: “The Scottish prison Service has been given a golden opportunity to protect the women held under there care, from both…” Jun 20, 19:08
Heather McLean on The End Of Law: “What is the actual point of the Scottish Government? Under the SNP they’ve managed to f**k almost every area supposed…” Jun 20, 19:03
Red on The End Of Law: “If we had a Save Our Scotland party to vote for, we can put these people in jail where they…” Jun 20, 19:01
Marie on A Fishy Tale: “Tea Towels??? That wasn’t you out on manoeuvres the other night in Leith by any chance? What an irresponsible disgrace…” Jun 20, 18:06
Mark Beggan on The End Of Law: “Are we breaking the law if we consider Trans men as nothing more than dangerous mental health cases supported by…” Jun 20, 17:42
Alf Baird on The End Of Law: ““our wee country has been stolen by arrogant gangsters” That’s a useful alternative definition of colonialism, Rev, and you are…” Jun 20, 17:36
sam on The End Of Law: “From Murray, Blackburn, MacKenzie, MBM Policy blog “We welcome today’s ruling in the Outer House of the Court of Session…” Jun 20, 17:13
I. Despair on A Fishy Tale: “Pyla Shyte.” Jun 20, 17:12
Captain Caveman on A Fishy Tale: “Seriously, does anyone believed that “most” (or indeed “hardly any”) British homes will be “under water” in 20 years due…” Jun 20, 17:09
Captain Caveman on A Fishy Tale: “I don’t think it’s a “fake war” but I deffo don’t think “we” should be paying untold billions towards something…” Jun 20, 17:07
Hatey McHateface on The End Of Law: “Ship them to some of the unoccupied St Kildan islands. They can build their own prisons.” Jun 20, 17:05
Hatey McHateface on A Fishy Tale: “I guess half a reply is better than no reply, Alf. Care to do the tea towel wearer voters next?…” Jun 20, 16:59
robertkknight on The End Of Law: “Banana Republic! If one in five male prisoners are guilty of sex offences, and one in twenty female prisoners are…” Jun 20, 16:37
Alf Baird on A Fishy Tale: ““why we’ve just voted for a Tory” For the colonialist the choice is an easy one; they seek to maintain…” Jun 20, 16:31
Aidan on The End Of Law: ““Considering” in this instance means finding a way to circumvent the judgement, but without doing it in a way that…” Jun 20, 16:08
Hatey McHateface on A Fishy Tale: “In about 20 or 30 years, most of our homes, jobs, infrastructure, etc. will be under water. So yes, we…” Jun 20, 16:07
Hatey McHateface on A Fishy Tale: “Easy there, Lewis! Whatever we might think of Fanon, Memmi, Cesaire, Elkins and the Jonesy boyo, we can all agree…” Jun 20, 15:52
Young Lochinvar on A Fishy Tale: “It’s termed alarmist catastrophism. In about 20 to 30 years or so it’ll be some other subject and so on..” Jun 20, 15:47
Hatey McHateface on A Fishy Tale: “Does anybody know if you can still see through a window after spraying it from an aerosol can of paint?…” Jun 20, 15:34
Lewis E. See on A Fishy Tale: “Postcolonial theory is circular-reasoning garbage and Frank Fanon was a crank.” Jun 20, 15:33
MaryB on The End Of Law: “Shouldn’t the ruling be overseen by the Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Justice, Neil Gray MSP? Shouldn’t he make sure that…” Jun 20, 15:29
Hatey McHateface on A Fishy Tale: “The US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand have some of the best pipe bands on the planet. Ditto Scottish dancers,…” Jun 20, 15:28
Spartan 117 on The End Of Law: “Errr, ok. This is utterly bizarre. This broken and corrupt state is a law unto itself.” Jun 20, 14:57
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on The End Of Law: “The third last word of the third last paragraph of SPS Chief Executive Linda Pollock’s ‘NEWS FOR STAFF’ is clearly…” Jun 20, 14:55
Spartan 117 on A Fishy Tale: “100% facts, good post. Net Zero is a nilhistic cult and a scientific fallacy. Miliband hitched his wagon onto it…” Jun 20, 14:55
Ex President Xiden on The End Of Law: “Linda Pollock is under the delusion that those who work in the prison service share her values.” Jun 20, 14:50
sarah on The End Of Law: “Could this article be placed as an advert in the press? I know the MSM won’t write the proper story…” Jun 20, 14:46
Southernbystander on A Fishy Tale: “Interesting comment. Is not one obvious answer that many might be at best ambivalent about independence? Being a proud Scots…” Jun 20, 14:45
Casper on The End Of Law: “I think, we should start voting for Tories…until SNP start clearing out the rats on the ship…” Jun 20, 14:43
Knuckle_Heid on The End Of Law: ““the admissions practice remains in place” What? What are you talking about?! This is unbelievable – why can’t they just…” Jun 20, 14:35