Alex Salmond will be laid to rest in the green turf of Aberdeenshire today in a quiet and dignified private ceremony. (A public celebration of his life will take place next month.)
Most of Scotland’s press and commentariat beclowned itself shamefully after his death just as it did during his life, but below is a (regrettably short) collection of those who did otherwise and who deserve to be noted honourably beside the man himself.
Wherever you find giants, you also find parasites, bottom-feeders and carrion. When a mighty lion dies in the jungle, tiny creeping crawling maggots and insects and bacteria feast gleefully on its corpse for many days.
Which naturally brings us to the Scottish media.
The above paragraphs of cowardly innuendo and baseless speculative smearing were penned by Severin Carrell and Libby Brooks in the Guardian on Monday. (They’re not from the ironically-headed “Appreciation” that the same two hacks wrote for Sunday’s Observer, in which they audaciously claimed that Salmond’s success was down to Nicola Sturgeon).
They sneakily imply that Salmond was guilty not only of the sexual assaults of which he was cleared in court, but also of an unspecified number of unnamed others, and make assertions of “disturbing evidence about his personal conduct” without specifying what that evidence or conduct might have been.
We’ve just watched the BBC’s new documentary, and we’re confused.
You can see both episodes on iPlayer now, or on TV tonight and tomorrow, but there’s no mistaking what’s being advertised – a personal drama between the two biggest players in Scottish politics in the last 300 years.
In many ways, the fabricated, hysterical furore of Humza Yousaf Vs Elon Musk is the ultimate in summer-silly-season politics stories.
Absurdly plainly, the former First Minister ISN’T going to take any legal action against the billionaire owner of Twitter. He only likes bullying small nurseries, and even then he doesn’t follow through. He didn’t even sue us for calling him racist a few months ago, so there’s zero chance he’s going to square up to the world’s richest man.
Every now and again you’ll go to clean them up and find something that you’ve been meaning to write about in a quiet moment, and this certainly counts as a quiet moment in Scottish politics, so let’s do this one now.
Because the story above is from March, but we don’t think we’ve ever seen anyone anywhere talk about just how weird it is, or what it tells us about the 2024 SNP.
We’ve been off for a little break in the country, and as far as we can tell we’ve missed absolutely nothing in the moribund world of Scottish politics. We did, however, arrive back just in time for something mildly interesting, or at least revealing.
It’s the latest episode of a new podcast by veteran Scottish political journalist and broadcaster Bernard Ponsonby and jobbing opinion columnist Alex Massie, inventively titled The Ponsonby And Massie Podcast.
The first 35 minutes or so weren’t very noteworthy, other than the curious omission – when predicting the makeup of the next Scottish Government – of the idea of a Labour-SNP coalition, which to this site remains by far the most practical and logical outcome of the 2026 Holyrood election.
The 2005 election was the last time the Daily Record and the Scottish Sun both endorsed the same party at a UK general election. So, y’know, something is going on.
The Observer, for example, blamed the stat on “neo-Nazis”.
But even if that were true, it wouldn’t of course disprove the claim. A stopped clock is right twice a day, and something isn’t intrinsically false just because a neo-Nazi says it. Hitler had some pretty messed-up ideas but the world didn’t become flat just because he said it was round.
The video below, which we just found today, is taken from a promo by the American news channel CNN in 2017. It’s deeply ironic now, because CNN has been thoroughly captured by gender ideology. But it’s the reason Wings Over Scotland won’t change what or how we write, even if it means we have to shut our doors.
The truth is everything. Non-negotiable. No matter what. It’s as simple as that.
McDuff on Anatomy Of A Lunatic: “My sentiments exactly Lorn. I loathe the SNP with every fibre of my being and I hope history will record…” Jun 26, 10:19
Alf Baird on But Don’t Give Yourself Away: ““we Scots were always in the vanguard” Yes indeed. Imperial powers have always ‘used’ colonized peoples as ‘the foremost part…” Jun 26, 10:01
Chas on But Don’t Give Yourself Away: “I suspect that it is not the words that you use but simply the overall ‘content’ of your posts which…” Jun 26, 09:02
Hatey McHateface on But Don’t Give Yourself Away: ““Everyone’s on board with that right?” Sure. There must be a lot of UN staff twiddling their thumbs now that…” Jun 26, 08:36
Hatey McHateface on But Don’t Give Yourself Away: “But … but … Surely as a result of Brexshit we’re all trapped on this tiny island, unable to travel…” Jun 26, 08:22
Alf Baird on But Don’t Give Yourself Away: “Anti-colonial literature is essential in any colony if the people are to understand their ‘condition’.” Jun 26, 08:11
Hatey McHateface on But Don’t Give Yourself Away: “You had better have a word with whoever it was that told you that, Anthem. You can put them right.…” Jun 26, 08:07
Aidan on But Don’t Give Yourself Away: “It’s a surprise, I didn’t think that i deserved that praise. Perhaps naively I didn’t think that the staff at…” Jun 26, 08:02
twathater on But Don’t Give Yourself Away: “I wrote a similar comment on the fact that everyone from anywhere is now telling Scots what they can and…” Jun 26, 02:44
Anthem on But Don’t Give Yourself Away: “Sure about that? I heard it was the English that conquered NI.” Jun 26, 00:22
PhilM on But Don’t Give Yourself Away: “I’m thinking of retiring to France soon and when I do I’m going to be welcomed by universal acclaim as…” Jun 25, 21:14
Hatey McHateface on Holiday Relief: “I’m disappointed, NC, I expected your dog to bark in Scots.” Jun 25, 20:48
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Holiday Relief: “Northcode, a peace-token, with respect and paragraphs… About a year ago I picked up for £4 in a second hand…” Jun 25, 20:25
Northcode on Holiday Relief: “woof woof woof” Jun 25, 20:11
AndrewR on Anatomy Of A Lunatic: “Hatey – “BTW. You seem to have an inaccurate picture of what I support and don’t support.” Sorry, huge apologies,…” Jun 25, 20:05
Hatey McHateface on Holiday Relief: “Too bad, Fearghas. You’ve failed Northcode’s ideological purity tests and now you must be reclassified yoon. You too Sven. You…” Jun 25, 19:52
Chas on But Don’t Give Yourself Away: “794th time. Inching forward to the big 1000. Gaun yersel Alfie boy.” Jun 25, 19:32
Hatey McHateface on Anatomy Of A Lunatic: ““I find myself looking for Hatey’s reactions” Then you must be on the wrong forum. Because of the lack of…” Jun 25, 19:31
Northcode on Holiday Relief: “I don’t detect much in the way of respect emanating from your comment… so let’s not bother with that particular…” Jun 25, 19:21
Hatey McHateface on But Don’t Give Yourself Away: “Isn’t NI hoaching with yoons? In the event that demographic change forces unification of the island of Eire, won’t many…” Jun 25, 19:15
Anthem on But Don’t Give Yourself Away: “I agree totally. Even though the tools are there to dismantle this disgusting, corrupt organisation, the streets and voices are…” Jun 25, 19:04
Hatey McHateface on But Don’t Give Yourself Away: “Shame. We’ll never know just how good it was. Anyhoo, Xaracen already has today’s Stellar Post Award, although Confused has…” Jun 25, 19:03
Ian McCubbin on But Don’t Give Yourself Away: “Northern Ireland has no resources do England wants rid of it and it’s people too costly to keep. Contrast that…” Jun 25, 18:51
100%Yes on But Don’t Give Yourself Away: “I have no doubt in my mind that Swinney is happy for the Holyrood MSP’s to be sacrificed the same…” Jun 25, 18:17
James Jones on But Don’t Give Yourself Away: “NI would be looking for reunification, not independence. Eire would have to be willing. Would they? Perhaps, but it’s complicated.…” Jun 25, 18:11
AndrewR on But Don’t Give Yourself Away: “not for publication I think I was just modded, for my email about Hatey. Thankyou! Again. He can look after…” Jun 25, 17:55
Callum on But Don’t Give Yourself Away: “GTF Seamus GTF Scotland 1 & 2 for me in 2026 for any party that backs national elections as de…” Jun 25, 17:46
Alf Baird on But Don’t Give Yourself Away: “This fits well with what postcolonial theory tells us about the decolonization process: https://yoursforscotlandcom.wordpress.com/2024/05/25/the-three-phases-of-decolonization-lessons-for-scotland/” Jun 25, 17:26
Frank Waring on But Don’t Give Yourself Away: “Why not organise to have a true independence referendum in, say, 18 months, and raise the money to pay for…” Jun 25, 16:50
