Any rational assessment of Scottish (or indeed UK or world) politics at the moment tends to be negative and depressing, so since it’s a new year we thought we’d make an extra-special effort at writing something positive.
Unfortunately that does require us to enter the realm of fantasy. But hey, everybody needs a little holiday from time to time, right?
Poor old Tommy Sheppard’s got a contract, so he has to keep talking. And this week he said something that, if anyone really thought the constitution was still a current live political issue, would have attracted a lot more attention than it did.
Because even the SNP are now saying another indyref is – at best – a decade away.
It’s funny, but even when you think about politics all day for a living, there are some thoughts that just never pop into your head, and then someone says them a decade later and you think “Oh yeah, of course, it’s obvious”.
Iain Macwhirter is almost certainly right about that in today’s Times. We all focus on how it would have saved Scotland from Brexit, which of course it would, but the truth is that it would have saved the rest of the country too, because the shock would have been so seismic that politicians would have been terrified to put power in the hands of the people again for many, many years.
And of course maybe you love Brexit, or maybe you just think it would have been wrong for the rest of the country to have been denied a vote on it, or maybe you think Nigel Farage would have stormed to victory and become Prime Minister as a result or something. But those are all separate arguments. What’s beyond any reasonable doubt is that for good or ill, that’s how it would have panned out.
So as time goes on, remember who’s responsible not just for Scotland still being in the UK, but also for the UK being out of Europe and for Nicola Sturgeon having been First Minister for the last eight years and our country being run into the ground by a bunch of crooked, hapless, gender-obsessed imbeciles.
Thanks again, No voters. Great victory you won there.
You can’t move on social media today without tripping over effusive tweets from SNP MPs and MSPs singing the praises of departed Westminster leader Ian Blackford and admiring all his achievements in the position over the last five years, although weirdly nobody has actually listed any of them.
Wings Over Scotland would like to pay its own tribute by remembering this line in the sand drawn by Blackford in August 2019 and on many other occasions.
Thank goodness he didn’t allow that to happen, eh readers?
Just for old times’ sake, during last night’s attempted coup in America we took a little dip back into the Yoonstream, the very special place on social media where the most deranged of Scotland’s Unionists hang out.
It didn’t disappoint.
Because 2020 is the maddest year in history, Ruth Davidson opened her contribution to Holyrood’s debate on the Brexit deal today with a lengthy quote from this website.
Because hey, why NOT, right?
Drew Hendry won a lot of praise from Yes supporters a few days ago when he seized the Mace in the Commons. It’s not easy to speak in the chamber at any time and doing so in the face of hostility from the Speaker is challenging indeed.
The institution of Parliament is, by its very design, geared towards control by the British establishment. Not only are all sides uniformly hostile, but even the staff and officials, usually so polite and deferential, turn on you. So it was an intimidatory atmosphere in which he acted and it can’t have been easy.
But the idea that Scottish MPs should routinely require to suffer the scorn and derision poured upon their nation and their people is long past its sell-by date. Much of the vitriol shouted wouldn’t be countenanced elsewhere and just because it’s supposedly Honourable Members who act in that manner doesn’t justify it. There comes a time when words aren’t enough.
If this site seems to spend most of its time being angry at the SNP these days, that’s because we are. And a large part of that is because there’s very little that hacks us off more than people insulting our intelligence.
Smith’s tweet is just a crassly offensive flat-out lie. This week’s vote is NOT about “EU membership”. The United Kingdom hasn’t been a member of the EU since 31 January. We’ve already left and there’s no going back. The vote is about whether we leave with a sliver of a trade deal slightly reducing the self-inflicted harm, or the total catastrophe of no deal at all, and it’s just crushingly embarrassing for all concerned that Smith thinks so little of his own supporters as to believe he can “frame” it otherwise.
Wings Over Scotland is a (mainly) Scottish political media digest and monitor, which also offers its own commentary. (More)
