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Live chat update 31

Posted on March 17, 2025 by

So as promised, and having now spent 11 months trying to get answers any other way, this afternoon we had a live chat with controversial charity LGBT Youth Scotland.

Below is how it went.

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The Unquestionables 21

Posted on March 17, 2025 by

In April last year we wrote to LGBT Youth Scotland asking them to explain why they were conducting activities in primary schools (and even with pre-school children) about sexual matters despite only having a remit to work with young people aged 13-25.

We received no reply, so we contacted the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, who sent a rather sniffy acknowledgement saying:

“If your concern leads us to making inquiries with the charity, we are unable to update you on the status of those inquiries. For more information about what to expect after you submit a concern, read our guidance on how OSCR deals with concerns and inquiries.”

That link, you’ll be amazed to hear, leads to a dead page.

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The thickness of blood 227

Posted on February 15, 2025 by

Much of Scotland, and indeed the rest of the UK and beyond (the story below ran in the London Standard), has been grimly gripped this week by the ongoing and scarcely believable trainwreck that is Sandie Peggie Vs NHS Fife.

The tribunal has now overrun the time allotted to it, and will reconvene for another 10 days in the second half of July, ramping up the already considerable costs incurred by NHS Fife, which is in the middle of a huge financial crisis.

According to legal experts, there is little doubt about the law surrounding the dispute. NHS Fife is clearly and unambiguously in the wrong – Dr Beth Upton, the transwoman at the centre of the problem, is legally as well as biologically male, and had no lawful entitlement to be in a female changing room. The authority also appears to be in very considerable potential trouble over failing to disclose key documents and evidence when ordered by the original judge.

So it seems remarkable that the board of NHS Fife is allowing the case to continue rather than immediately conceding to save money and any more public humiliation of both itself and its staff, like the hapless nurse manager Esther Davidson who endured a very uncomfortable two days in the witness box this week, and the clearly manifestly incompetent Equality And Human Rights Lead Officer, Isla Bumba, who yesterday deleted her LinkedIn page after being identified as the person who gave Davidson incorrect and unlawful guidance.

(Bumba is a 29-year-old immunology graduate and former bartender who ditched the challenging and gruelling field of vaccine development for a rather cushier number in pronoun-policing for £40-47,000 a year, somewhat more than the £31,000 average wage for staff nurses like Sandie Peggie, who’s been in the profession for longer than Bumba has been alive.)

Readers may reasonably wonder if the makeup of the board might offer some clues.

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Bricked-up windows 98

Posted on February 11, 2025 by

Readers may have noticed recent speculation in the media (based on the wording of a press release) that Police Scotland had ended their investigations regarding Operation Branchform. As it happened we’d already submitted a Freedom Of Information request aimed at finding that out, and the response arrived this evening.

You can read it below.

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Nicola’s Non-Truths 167

Posted on January 13, 2025 by

Peter Murrell really ought to have seen the writing on the wall a while ago.

But at least it’s in keeping with her track record.

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Eyes Full Of Beams 204

Posted on January 09, 2025 by

The National carried a strange article yesterday, apropos of seemingly nothing, about a Brussels-based political thinktank supposedly linked to the right-wing Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orban. The piece actually originated on superwoke “fact-checking” site The Ferret a couple of days earlier, and professed to expose how the thinktank was “stoking Scotland’s culture war”.

Alert readers will already have pricked up their ears at this point, because “culture war” is a radical-left dogwhistle term used to obscure, belittle and dismiss groups (largely though not exclusively comprising left-wing feminists) fighting for the safeguarding of children and the protection of women’s and LGB rights.

And sure enough, nothing’s different this time.

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The Cost Of Truth 509

Posted on December 17, 2024 by

The Scottish Government just issued another response in the long-running Freedom Of Information battle with alert Wings reader Benjamin Harrop over its conspiracy to frame and imprison the late Alex Salmond on false charges. Here’s a genuine extract.

Yeah, definitely nothing to hide here.

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The Long Unravelling 399

Posted on November 18, 2024 by

You’ve got to admit, that’s a zinger.

Craig Whyte is a man who knows all about financial doom looming on the horizon of a once-powerful institution. But it doesn’t take an expert with lived experience to spot what’s coming down the line for the SNP.

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The Mandalorian Candidate 141

Posted on November 04, 2024 by

To be honest, readers, the peculiar events of yesterday continued to nag at us all day as every news broadcaster in Scotland and beyond leapt eagerly on the ludicrous non-story from the Herald On Sunday’s front page. (It was even the #2 item on BBC Radio Wales, inexplicably).

For such an absolute nothingball of scurrilous sub-gossip to so dominate the entire news media was just too strange to ignore. We cannot remember the last time a low-grade freelancer managed to sell the same story to FOUR major Scottish newspapers – who normally, remember, only want exclusives for their big front-page splashes – let alone a crummy opinion columnist (not even an actual news reporter) who’s only been back in journalism for five minutes after a 15-year break as a failed PR guru.

(Once they’d all run the shoddy hatchet piece, TV and radio then had all the excuse they needed to blare it across the airwaves. “Oh, it’s not us inflating and amplifying this garbage, guv, we’re just reporting what the papers are saying.”)

So in our eternal quest for enlightenment and understanding we thought we’d see if we could find out a bit more about the little-known but recently-revived sleeper assassin with the ironic name: Carlos Alba.

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A Delicate Art 255

Posted on October 26, 2024 by

Redaction is a tricky business, and comes with numerous pitfalls even if you’re being careful, which not everyone is. If you’re involved in creating a document you know will have to be redacted, there are a variety of safeguarding approaches you can adopt.

When I worked on a videogames magazine called Amiga Power in the 1990s, we ran a fun comedy feature about censorship. But because the company that published the magazine had had some unfortunate mishaps in the field, we took extra care by typing all the “offensive” words as random-length strings of Xs when we wrote the article.

And it was lucky that we did, because as you can see in the feature’s strapline, the art department misaligned the red redaction bar on some of them, and if there’d been a sweary in there it would have been easily identified.

Another way to go is to simply slap down some black ink and hope for the best.

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Things happen slowly 102

Posted on October 06, 2024 by

When times are quiet in Scottish politics, as they currently are, our favourite genre of story is “mainstream press belatedly catches up with Wings Over Scotland”. And so to this morning’s front page splash in the Sunday Mail.

The rumour mill has been grinding about Operation Branchform developments again in the last few days, although we’ve seen too many false dawns now to get overly excited about that. But the Mail’s story sounded awfully familiar.

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A Danger To Women 52

Posted on September 23, 2024 by

As we write this article, Sandy Brindley (on the left of the picture below) is still in post as the CEO of Rape Crisis Scotland.

For as long as that remains the case, rape victims in Scotland will not be safe.

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    Wings Over Scotland is a (mainly) Scottish political media digest and monitor, which also offers its own commentary. (More)

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    • JockMcT on Live chat update: “THIS is sturgeon’s legacy!Mar 18, 15:59
    • JockMcT on The plainest sight: “Please tell me that c*nt is in jail, or preferably dead?Mar 18, 15:52
    • sarah on Live chat update: “A JOB at The NATIONAL for you, Rev! On their facebook 20 hours ago they said they are looking for…Mar 18, 15:40
    • Aidan on Live chat update: “Yes Andy – it’s the fault of the people pointing this out. If everyone just ignored abuse and sexualisation of…Mar 18, 13:47
    • Lorn on Live chat update: “Of course there is lawlessness, Hatey. We see it every day. The rules are not strictly applied anymore. However, this…Mar 18, 13:20
    • Young Lochinvar on Live chat update: “I saw in the press Angela Constance (with John Swinney deep in thought behind her) debating strangulation during sex.. The…Mar 18, 12:28
    • Robinovski on Live chat update: “Castrated first would be a welcome boost. At least that would help out a good few of them that say…Mar 18, 11:34
    • Stevie on Live chat update: “I haven’t much to say other than they make one sick and these pdf files should be imprisoned. Fkn preverts.Mar 18, 11:24
    • Robinovski on Live chat update: “I’m just wondering what the best way is to get the list of schools that are currently signed up to…Mar 18, 10:42
    • Marie on Live chat update: “Deflection. Shame on the SNP for handing over so much ammunition to people like that.Mar 18, 10:41
    • Andy Storrie on Live chat update: “Never forget that this shite didn’t become an actual thing in society until dicktards like Lord Rothermere and Paul Joseph…Mar 18, 10:25
    • Marie on Live chat update: “It was the treatment of Joanna Cherry that made me realise that there was something very toxic at the heart…Mar 18, 09:34
    • McDuff on Live chat update: “Unbelievable. Has society sunk so low that it not only tolerates these people but actually encourages them. As for the…Mar 18, 09:08
    • sarah on Live chat update: “Lorna Campbell has a very good article on the Rev’s theme of the lack of accountability, lack of truthfulness, and…Mar 18, 08:48
    • sarah on Live chat update: “That is a good idea. The Rev’s platform is read by what 40,000 people? If many of those could join…Mar 18, 08:43
    • Cuilean on Live chat update: “‘I will ask the info box team to check’. Clearly the ‘info box team’ told the ‘Youth Worker’ to end…Mar 18, 08:17
    • Hatey McHateface on Live chat update: “Thanks PhilM, but I’m gluten intolerant. In other news, anybody who can’t see the epidemic of lawlessness that goes for…Mar 18, 05:35
    • Skip_NC on Live chat update: “Every political party with a youth wing has an age range of 14 or 16 up to 25 or 30.…Mar 18, 00:46
    • PhilM on Live chat update: “Why don’t you get a sandwich board and try and rationalise with the general public about what you believe is…Mar 18, 00:26
    • Young Lochinvar on Live chat update: “Disclosure certificates. That is indeed the crux of the matter, the protection in place to protect the vulnerable. Do these…Mar 18, 00:06
    • sarah on Live chat update: “No, you are not alone in thinking that, Mia. It is only people in power who seem to think it…Mar 17, 23:15
    • Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Live chat update: “« All we need now is an answer to why they keep doing it anyway. » _______________ Chief-Redactor-and-Keeper-of-State-Secrets John Swinney is bound…Mar 17, 22:57
    • James Barr Gardner on Live chat update: “As they come across as bragging about having been to 40 Primary Schools, would they disclose the names of these…Mar 17, 21:30
    • McDuff on The Unquestionables: “Well done Wings for again exposing the sickening state of the Scottish establishment and their unaccountability to anyone. I cannot…Mar 17, 21:20
    • James Barr Gardner on The Unquestionables: “In Scotland, there is no legal requirement for schools to sing “God Save the King”. As such your child has…Mar 17, 21:01
    • Hatey McHateface on Live chat update: “To be fair, it’s a rare day in Scotland when any Scot out and about in any of our towns…Mar 17, 20:54
    • Jon Drummond on Live chat update: “It is unbelievable that NuSNP have enabled all their Nonce Mates to abuse our children at our expense. No wonder…Mar 17, 20:15
    • Lorn on Live chat update: “Yes, job well done, Rev. The reason they avoid questions is the same reason why they defy the law. They…Mar 17, 19:29
    • Lorn on Live chat update: “No, Mia, you are not alone in thinking that.Mar 17, 19:15
    • mike cassidy on Live chat update: “No There is something in-your-face wrong about a group with ‘youth’ in its name that is involved with people over…Mar 17, 19:15
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