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Archive for the ‘leaks’


An Uncommon Occurrence 41

Posted on April 24, 2024 by

News reaches Wings this evening that Humza Yousaf has called an emergency meeting of the Scottish Cabinet at 10 o’clock tomorrow morning, just a couple of hours before FMQs. (This information has been confirmed directly to us by a source very close to a member of said Cabinet.)

An emergency Cabinet meeting is an extraordinarily rare event. As far as we’re able to establish there have only been two during the SNP’s time in power – when the budget failed to pass in 2009 and Alex Salmond’s administration had to decide whether or not to trigger a general election, and one the day after the Brexit vote to supposedly plan a second indyref (LOL). But in any case they’re extremely unusual.

The subject of the meeting has not been disclosed to us. It could, for example, concern imminent developments in Operation Branchform, or it could relate to the Bute House Agreement between the SNP and the Scottish Greens. The men in grey kilts may have come for the FM. Or Scotland could be about to declare war on Morocco or something. But we are told that the fact of the meeting taking place is a 100% certainty.

So no sleeping in tomorrow, readers. It’s probably going to be big.

The best form of defence 138

Posted on February 28, 2024 by

More than three months have passed since Alex Salmond launched a lawsuit against the Scottish Government for its grotesquely botched handling of false allegations of sexual misconduct against him.

With Scottish politics currently in a completely moribund state, as the party of government disintegrates shambolically and the main opposition party keeps its mouth shut and its head down in an attempt to not destroy its newfound and extremely fragile status as a credible alternative, one might imagine that the political media would be desperate for the case to get under way and provide them with some juicy content.

So it’s slightly surprising that none of them has noticed the latest development.

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Running interference 64

Posted on May 17, 2023 by

Alert readers will have noticed some interesting stories recently.

The Scottish Sun’s scoop on Monday evening – a few hours after we tweeted information from a very well-informed source about the Crown Office’s continued attempts to obstruct Police Scotland’s investigation into the SNP’s finances – would have come as no great surprise to Wings readers already familiar with the way the unaccountable, unanswerable body operates.

But we’ve subsequently noticed a number of attempts by various people to muddy the story by talking about a “draft” warrant request, implying that there was no improper delay. So we checked up, and thought you might like to know how the process works.

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Cleaning the stables 114

Posted on March 19, 2023 by

So we were a couple of days early on this one.

In fairness to the Scottish press, it’s had a lot of stuff to fit in recently.

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There Are No Rules 82

Posted on March 16, 2023 by

This is the SNP members’ website tonight.

Looks like anything goes, folks.

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A case of mistaken identity 243

Posted on March 22, 2021 by

Every Yes supporter in Scotland dreamed of having our own Mandela to lead us to freedom. Unfortunately, we wanted Nelson but we got Winnie instead.

And now our country is no longer a safe place.

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The House Of Secrets 393

Posted on March 08, 2021 by

We’re sure most alert readers will by now have seen the purported “leak” of the actual results of the SNP’s mystery-shrouded regional list selections. While the figures are highly believable, we haven’t yet been able to obtain any corroboration for them being anything other than a plausible hoax.

The SNP has of course denied them, but they also denied our recent leak from the party’s draft manifesto and we know for sure that that was real. The trouble with lying all the time is that nobody believes you even if you occasionally tell the the truth.

Of course, there would be an easy way to prove the numbers were a fake – release the real ones, which is in any case the most fundamental element of transparency in a democratic election. And whatever they are could hardly be any more embarrassing than the rumours, which have candidates topping the list (and likely to get seats) on a shocking 2.4% of the vote.

Heavens, even Annie Wells managed 8.6%.

But there’s a much more important reason the SNP will never release the real results.

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The last and final request 334

Posted on March 04, 2021 by

We thought readers might like a look at the draft SNP manifesto introduction (written, we hear, by Mike Russell) that’s currently being passed around branches for comment.

So here it is.

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Hiroshima Non Amour 303

Posted on January 08, 2021 by

Alert readers will undoubtedly have noticed a number of, to put it mildly, explosive-sounding developments this evening regarding the ongoing inquiries into the Scottish Government’s misconduct over false allegations against Alex Salmond.

Several reports have quoted extracts from the former First Minister’s submission to James Hamilton, who’s investigating the current First Minister over possible breaches of the Ministerial Code relating to the investigation of the allegations.

The submission – delivered on Mr Salmond’s birthday – has been widely leaked to the media but only selectively reported, and like others Wings has obtained a full copy.

We are advised that its contents do not contain anything which breaches or potentially breaches Lady Dorrian’s court order protecting the identities of the complainers against Mr Salmond, and as such there are no barriers to us publishing the entire document in the public interest, because its contents make some extremely grave and disturbing allegations against the current First Minister.

We therefore do so below.

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All the jolly boys and girls 377

Posted on November 11, 2020 by

As more and more information fights its way past the Scottish Government’s bouncers into the public domain, and the First Minister’s continued dogged insistence that she knew nothing about the false allegations against Alex Salmond until April 2018 looks more and more ridiculous, lots of things still aren’t clear.

One of them, of course, is who leaked the story to Davie Clegg of the Daily Record in August of that year, when the whole thing should have been confidential and passing it to the press was an unambiguously malicious and criminal act.

(The Information Commissioner’s Office investigated the leak but were sadly unable to locate any evidence. A second investigation is currently in progress.)

So let’s see what we know.

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Cracks in the fog 320

Posted on September 17, 2020 by

Over the last year or so, this site’s commentary on matters surrounding the attempted imprisonment of Alex Salmond over false allegations of sexual abuse has attracted a considerable amount of ire from a section of the readership, demanding “proof” of the involvement of the current First Minister.

Such proof has been impossible to provide for legal reasons. But it’s always been the case that the truth could only be suppressed for so long, and events in recent days have brought the first chinks of light through the wall of smoke and mirrors the Scottish Government has been attempting to surround the matter with.

So in our very lightest and softest shoes, let’s tiptoe through what is both a labyrinth and a minefield and see if we can make some of it a little easier to understand.

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The ordinary voter 196

Posted on January 06, 2018 by

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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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    • Aidan on The shifting sands of memory: “@Mia – the thing I like about you is even when your arguments get comprehensively debunked or disproven, you just…May 23, 14:22
    • James Cheyne on The shifting sands of memory: “Of the four nations left to be Colonised England is the last one, and that is now in progress. But…May 23, 13:50
    • Mia on The shifting sands of memory: ““Every true Scottish Indy supporter must avoid a second Indy Ref like the plague” Every pro-independence supporters must avoid at…May 23, 13:43
    • James Cheyne on The shifting sands of memory: “Strangely enough the people in Wales still feel, remember their annexation all these years later by England, Yet their hundreds…May 23, 13:42
    • Lorn on The Ace Attorney: “No, Katielass, it was, and remains, legal. That, believe it or not, may well become our way out of the…May 23, 13:13
    • Hatey McHateface on The shifting sands of memory: “Mia correctly concludes that every true Scottish Indy supporter must avoid a second Indy Ref like the plague. And she…May 23, 13:04
    • Hatey McHateface on The shifting sands of memory: “That’s a mighty smart seeing eye dowg you’ve got yourself there, James.May 23, 12:56
    • Lorn on The Ace Attorney: “They were not nutters: they were, mainly, members of the elite – aristocracy, etc – who had invested in Darien…May 23, 12:50
    • Mia on The shifting sands of memory: “Now, this is interesting. The following quote was taken from the article Gove ‘in agreement’ with Swinney over second independence…May 23, 12:48
    • Hatey McHateface on The shifting sands of memory: “Dunno about longer, but plenty are getting a lot denser.May 23, 12:47
    • Hatey McHateface on The shifting sands of memory: “I’ve asked Grok for a summary of your latest post, Barbs. Grok says: “The post is a free association, alliterative…May 23, 12:42
    • James on The shifting sands of memory: “That’s a very good point,Northcode.May 23, 12:12
    • Mark Beggan on The shifting sands of memory: “Is it me or are the paragraphs on here getting longer.May 23, 12:05
    • Alf Baird on The shifting sands of memory: “A very valid point, Northcode. Postcolonial theory (Fanon) suggests this transformation from an ‘independence movement’ to become a ‘national liberation…May 23, 12:04
    • Hatey McHateface on The shifting sands of memory: ““Leaving the false Union is, of course, the answer to almost every social and economic ill that Scotland is currently…May 23, 12:04
    • Hatey McHateface on The shifting sands of memory: “Much the same could be said for the Iroquois, Northcode. And they’ve been on the receiving end for more than…May 23, 11:59
    • Geri on The shifting sands of memory: “Scotland isn’t “self governing” ya plank. Does it’s votes count in Westminster? No. Can it collect it’s own revenues? No…May 23, 11:56
    • Mark Beggan on The shifting sands of memory: “Was Ally MacLeod a reincarnation of Charles Edward Stuart?May 23, 11:46
    • Northcode on The shifting sands of memory: “A small and inconsequential point, perhaps. But one I’d like to make. I do not favour the term ‘Scottish independence’…May 23, 11:33
    • James on The shifting sands of memory: “Discuss.May 23, 11:26
    • Captain Caveman on The shifting sands of memory: “@Alf Baird Wrong as usual. The “Scots” don’t purely comprise of Picts, but other ethnicities as well, most notably (but…May 23, 11:20
    • Mark Beggan on The shifting sands of memory: “If only Bonnie dick head had taken a bullet at Culloden.May 23, 11:12
    • sarah on The shifting sands of memory: “ON Topic: Leaving the false Union is, of course, the answer to almost every social and economic ill that Scotland…May 23, 10:54
    • Alf Baird on The shifting sands of memory: “Us Picts are still here, merely under a different name, i.e. Scots.May 23, 10:51
    • Northcode on The shifting sands of memory: “Good points well made and nicely summarised, James. One of the many notable things about the Scots is that we…May 23, 10:37
    • Mia on The shifting sands of memory: ““The British Empire, at its peak, encompassed a vast network of territories and dominions ruled by the United Kingdom. It…May 23, 10:32
    • Alf Baird on The shifting sands of memory: “Excellent summary of a colonised and therefore ‘doun-hauden’ (i.e oppressed) people, James. Albert Memmi explained the process whereby the colonizer…May 23, 10:19
    • James Cheyne on The shifting sands of memory: “One of the issues of a Colonised Country is the removal of its Culture, and their history, But along with…May 23, 09:40
    • Captain Caveman on The shifting sands of memory: ““Inbred foreigners” If we’re going back to Roman times as per Scot Finlayson’s post, the question is: who in Europe…May 23, 09:23
    • Vivian O’Blivion on The shifting sands of memory: “James Kelly, the Cumbernauld Copernicus dismissed four UK wide, Westminster voting intention polls in a row that put the SNP…May 23, 09:10
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