Now don’t get us wrong, readers. We’re sure that gormless Tory MP Ross Thomson is not, repeat NOT, permanently binned off his tulips on methamphetamine. He just has an unfortunate habit of photographing that way.
So when an alert reader sent us a link this morning to an extraordinary interview in which the Brexiteer claimed to have “killed indyref 2” in 2017, we didn’t automatically dismiss it as the drug-addled rantings of an ego-crazed madman.
Today, on the shortest day of the worst year in recent memory, the people of Catalonia will vote in an election under the control of a brutally repressive government which has unjustly dissolved their devolved parliament, imprisoned their democratically-elected leaders, viciously beaten hundreds of voters for no crime other than trying to vote, and banned almost all types of expression of public support for Catalan independence, including outlawing colours of the rainbow.
All this has happened within the borders of civilised free Europe, and the other nations of that great continent have largely either turned a blind eye to Catalonia’s suffering, or actively sided with the Spanish regime. Many people fear that today’s election will be rigged, or that if pro-independence parties win the result will simply be ignored and the election re-run until the “right” result is arrived at.
The UK media has barely acknowledged the election is taking place, even though it appears that many of the most cherished and fundamental human rights and freedoms of the West are at stake in it. (Or perhaps precisely for that reason.)
(And if that seems overly melodramatic, ask yourself who would ever have imagined a 21st-century democracy sending in riot police, in full view of the eyes of the world, to literally drag blood-soaked elderly women out of polling stations by the hair?)
All we can do is watch and hope that justice prevails, and that the darkest hours do prove to be those that come before a bright new dawn.
The media is aflame this morning with discussion of the agreement between the UK and EU with particular regard to Ireland, in which the UK essentially concedes just about everything including free movement, the thing most Brexiters voted Leave for.
We’ve largely avoided analysis of the Brexit negotiations here on Wings up until now, because there’s been a raft of people who are far more expert on the subject than us doing it at enormous length, very little of it directly concerned Scotland, and so nobody really needed our tuppence-worth. But this one’s big.
Yesterday’s Daily Record (which would increasingly be an accurate three-word name for the paper) ran an innocuous piece of page-filler fluff rubbish, and for once we’re not talking about a David Torrance column.
It featured the “psychic” predictions of a man who, the Record told us – no fewer than FIVE times in the opening few lines – previously predicted Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election, and who had a track record of “incredible accuracy”.
There was a nice moment at yesterday’s Scottish Independence Convention.
It was widely appreciated by Catalan people, none of whom (so far as we could see) took the expression of solidarity as implicit support for Catalan independence, only for freedom and democracy. But someone wasn’t quite so happy.
This is the former Labour UK government minister, socialist and internationalist Brian Wilson in the Scotsman today, gloating and crowing that the democratically-elected government of Catalonia has been deposed and imprisoned (the latest in a series of arrests and jailings of leaders of the independence movement) for seeking to discover the will of the Catalan people in a referendum, in accordance with the mandate they were elected on – an act Wilson somehow contrives to describe as “tyranny”.
Wilson, whose Twitter avatar is a picture of himself with Fidel Castro, asserts that the Spanish government’s literally fascist coup and oppression of its people is a “lesson for Scotland”. We doubt we’re alone in finding that view chilling.
We’re not a Catalonian-politics website and we don’t even have an opinion on whether Catalonia should be independent, but sometimes it’s easier to understand the workings and failings of the media if you watch how it behaves on a subject you’re not directly and closely involved with. Last week was one of those weeks.
He was brought on to give voice to what has become the universal UK-media spin on events in Catalonia – that both sides are to blame, that the Catalan government was provocative and irresponsible to call an “illegal” referendum, and that the only way for the area to achieve independence is through the 1978 Spanish constitution, despite it expressly forbidding any such action and its cornerstone of existence (also known as the “Preliminary Title”) being “based on the indissoluble unity of the Spanish Nation”.
So in the striking absence of any useful information in the press, we thought we’d do a little digging and see how that might work.
Rev. Stuart Campbell on The Rorschach Test: “Um, that’s what a sex offender is.” May 13, 23:13
Hatey McHateface on The Blindness Of Hatred: “Oh shit. If Sturgeon opposed it, that means that assisted dying will have to become the official policy of Wings…” May 13, 22:34
diabloandco on The Blindness Of Hatred: “I have never understood those who think it’s fine to watch someone going through agony begging for death to release…” May 13, 22:27
Hatey McHateface on The Blindness Of Hatred: “The runaway monkey takes time out from scratching beneath his pelt to tell the world that if I’m against assisted…” May 13, 22:24
Xaracen on The Blindness Of Hatred: “@Aidan; you said, “the problem with your argument is that it isn’t supported … by the treaty of union” My…” May 13, 22:00
twathater on The Blindness Of Hatred: “@ The bastard tax MOAN 13th May 7.15am I will gladly step forward as a guinea pig johnny boy right…” May 13, 21:18
Owen Mullions on The Blindness Of Hatred: “I don’t know about religious fanatics but Sturgeon opposed it and the only religion she seems to believe in is…” May 13, 21:18
Dan on The Blindness Of Hatred: “FFS John Hatey Main, if death means folk won’t have to endure reading your endless hypocritical dross, then that’s quite…” May 13, 21:17
Confused on The Blindness Of Hatred: “Harold Shipman visionary maybe time for a pardon and that lass Letby which is just coincidence terrible times for all…” May 13, 20:53
Captain Caveman on All Or Nothing: “Not merely obnoxious, but utterly repugnant and supremely incompetent. Seriously, no fair-minded arbiter could deny this assessment: the SNP make…” May 13, 20:51
Aidan on The Blindness Of Hatred: “@Xaracen – it was me, and the problem with your argument is that it isn’t supported either by the treaty…” May 13, 20:20
Hatey McHateface on The Blindness Of Hatred: “Only ever on Wings BTL, folks. Read how death changes your life for the better. To be scrupulously fair, I…” May 13, 20:15
Glenn Boyd on The Blindness Of Hatred: “At Last!Legislation that will change lives for the better, assuming that it is not butchered on route by some of…” May 13, 19:57
Dougie4 on All Or Nothing: “As an Englishman, I’ve always assumed the SNP’s underlying strategy was to be so obnoxious that the English voted for…” May 13, 19:55
Hatey McHateface on The Blindness Of Hatred: ““abusively undemocratic, egregiously unconstitutional, and must constitutes a fatal breach of the Treaty” That’s great news, Xaracen. Why don’t you…” May 13, 19:43
Former President Xiden on The Blindness Of Hatred: “Assisted dying bill past first stage today you say, blimey some on here are still debating laws from the 17…” May 13, 19:35
Hatey McHateface on The Blindness Of Hatred: ““That should get rid of a lot of old NO voters” Let me correct that for you, x: “That should…” May 13, 19:33
agent x on The Blindness Of Hatred: “Assisted dying Bill passed at first stage. That should get rid of a lot of old NO voters!” May 13, 19:12
David Holden on The Blindness Of Hatred: “Green shoots of recovery. Things may be starting to change in the Indy movement. Here on a pile of rocks…” May 13, 18:57
Stevie Fake on The Blindness Of Hatred: “On possible miscalls in the opening constituency map I feel like if the Dumfries and Galloway seats have stayed SNP…” May 13, 18:29
Xaracen on The Blindness Of Hatred: “@James Cheyne; I don’t ‘square’ the voting system at Westminster at all, James; it is illegitimate and inappropriate because it…” May 13, 18:11
ross on The Blindness Of Hatred: “on a vote share of circa 30% there are plenty seats more up for grabs than you are making out…” May 13, 17:09
Owen Mullions on The Blindness Of Hatred: “Day 5 of James ‘I’m not obsessed’ Kelly posting about Rev Stu rather than independence. Thankfully, Eurovision should take his…” May 13, 16:28
agent x on The Blindness Of Hatred: ““some of my posts are being delayed or not appearing at all,” ——————————————————– As you seem determined to take over…” May 13, 16:19
Ben on The Blindness Of Hatred: “I cannot imagine ever voting in a general election again, I am sick of being lied to, a person can…” May 13, 15:44
James Cheyne on The Blindness Of Hatred: “Stu. Is everyone having problems posting today, or just a few, do you know,” May 13, 14:18
James Cheyne on The Blindness Of Hatred: “Amthem some of my posts are being delayed or not appearing at all, but I did respond to your last…” May 13, 14:13
James Cheyne on The Blindness Of Hatred: “Anthem, It is the ability of Westminster having two two governing bodies over Scotland bringing in two tiers of laws…” May 13, 14:05
James Cheyne on The Blindness Of Hatred: “Xaracen. How do you square the voting system for Scots to have representatives in the parliament of Great Britain, Westminster…” May 13, 13:42
Anthem on The Blindness Of Hatred: “But surely Westminster/English based parties can’t vote on Scottish only matters. As in the similar unwritten rule in Westminster? If…” May 13, 13:34