Last week SNP MP Fulton MacGregor told Newsnight that the grotesque, draconian Hate Crime Act was necessary because “hate crime is a major problem across Scotland”, which “wreaks havoc on individuals, on communities and on families”.
If there have been stories of rampaging mobs terrorising gay people, of a wave of violence against Sikhs, or widespread arson campaigns against Italian chip shops, they’ve escaped our attention.
But of course, the onscreen discussion focused mostly on the group that the Scottish Government is obsessed with to the exclusion of all others – transgender people.
Welcome, readers, to what may be the final week of Wings Over Scotland.
We’ve been covering the Scottish Government’s horrific, draconian Hate Crime Act for almost four years now. But until this month, we hadn’t felt directly under threat by it. Wings is – sorry if this comes as a shock to anyone – based in Bath, in England, and we couldn’t see how the Scottish police could come after us.
Many things about the session are disturbing, not least the incredibly one-sided nature of both the witnesses and the committee, none of whom seem to have even a token interest in challenging the claims of the witnesses, however absurd or contentious (eg that praying for someone is basically a form of torture).
This is so freaky I had to check they weren’t quoting each other. It’s like a game show.
Just a couple of nice well-brought-up Hutchesons’ Grammar boys in smart suits, there, thinking the same, speaking the same, saying the same, and angling for the same job. (Which one of them now has, and the other may have soon.)
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.
The Scottish Government’s website about its controversial and extremely disturbing new “conversion practices” legislation assures citizens that the proposal was formed after consultation with an “Expert Advisory Group”.
But all of a sudden it doesn’t seem to want you to know who they were.
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.
Confused on The Long Walk To Freedom: “just asking. I thought I had “seen this before” somewhere and was wondering if it was new. All keep up…” Dec 7, 20:31
GM on The Long Walk To Freedom: “John Smythe, the people assisting him and Benjamin Harrop are all on the same path but aye, what do you…” Dec 7, 20:19
Confused on The Long Walk To Freedom: “How does this relate to https://johnsmytheinvestigations.wordpress.com/2025/10/03/foi-202500456798-selective-redactions-on-james-hamilton-correspondence/ and are you the same GM?” Dec 7, 19:00
Dan on The Long Walk To Freedom: “Stated this a few years back, but probably need an updated version of this old article, and it would likely…” Dec 7, 18:56
factchecker on The Long Walk To Freedom: “David, to use your image, we’re getting our faces hit with a broken bottle right now. They’ll keep getting hit…” Dec 7, 18:42
factchecker on The Long Walk To Freedom: “Dan, I agree with you about Labour’s record in the past. I’m just suggesting the only scenario I can see…” Dec 7, 18:30
Hatey McHateface on The Long Walk To Freedom: “There you go, factchecker, Dan says no. I’m afraid things still have to get a lot worse in Scotland before…” Dec 7, 18:18
David Holden on The Long Walk To Freedom: “An epic article in both length and breadth. A few reads will be required but after one pass I was…” Dec 7, 18:17
Dan on The Long Walk To Freedom: “Lolz, you maybe laid that voting initiative on jist a wee bitty too heavy. Aye, coz previously Labour in Scotland…” Dec 7, 17:39
factchecker on The Long Walk To Freedom: “Not a fact, this time – a personal thought. NUSNP has shown itself unworthy to govern the Scottish people consistently…” Dec 7, 17:08
Effijy on The Long Walk To Freedom: “I can’t digest such beating about the bushes, trees, and gorse. My conclusion, the SNP is rife with corruption and…” Dec 7, 16:16
James Cheyne on The cost of failure: “Also forgot to mention the destruction of infrastructure like roads, trains, water supplies, localised businesses, NHS, and other public services.…” Dec 7, 16:13
James Cheyne on The cost of failure: “Charles ( not the 3C one) Forgot to respond regards your comment Who will be the members of the new…” Dec 7, 16:04
James Cheyne on The cost of failure: “Charles ( not the RC one). If there was a Scottish parliament in reality, there would be no Parliamentary union…” Dec 7, 15:51
Morag on The Long Walk To Freedom: “We can only be grateful for people like yourself who are prepared to do this, and dogged and persistent enough…” Dec 7, 15:01
James Cheyne on The cost of failure: “Confirmation can be found in records that it was “The Great Seal of England ” that was used on the…” Dec 7, 14:04
GM on The Long Walk To Freedom: “Thanks Benjamin. I’ll look forward to your next post.” Dec 7, 13:46
GM on The Long Walk To Freedom: “Good work. I look forward to further information being released, eventually.” Dec 7, 13:36
duncanio on The Long Walk To Freedom: “The process is indeed the punishment. Much kudos goes to Benjamin Harrop for his tenacity and diligence in trying to…” Dec 7, 13:12
James Cheyne on The cost of failure: “The union of crowns only came into official bieng due to the articles of the treaty of union, Prior to…” Dec 7, 12:41
Hatey McHateface on The cost of failure: “Naw, James. It’s a little known fact that many people want to pay lots more tax. That’s why they move…” Dec 7, 10:23
Hatey McHateface on The cost of failure: “So long, Cynicus. Shame you never managed to deal with the substance of my assertion, that the son of some…” Dec 7, 10:11
Hatey McHateface on The cost of failure: “I’ve reached the conclusion The Jews, or one of them, are to blame for you too, Confused. That explains your…” Dec 7, 09:56
Cynicus on The cost of failure: “Hatey McHateface says: 6 December, 2025 at 7:26 pm “Nobody is going to claim a McTavish born in Islamabad to…” Dec 7, 00:28
Confused on The cost of failure: “Farage tries to get back in with the jews, issues a statement : – my own grandfather (sniff) … DIED…” Dec 6, 23:14
James Cheyne on The cost of failure: “Dan, Good to see others keeping an eye on whats going on behind scenes, Just wondered if the re-population of…” Dec 6, 22:10
