The entire mainstream Scottish media has picked up this afternoon on our intriguing scoop from yesterday about Peter Murrell lending the SNP £108,000 last year.
(The official SNP line is that it was for “cash flow reasons after the 2021 election”, although that doesn’t explain why less than half the money has been paid back more than 18 months later. Surely the party’s had enough cash flowing back in since then?)
And it’s enlightening to see how Scotland’s “proper” journalists handle such things.
Or possibly the other way round, we’re not sure. All we know is that we’re always surging upwards and forwards but somehow never actually getting anywhere.
A week ago, readers, I had not the slightest interest in bringing Wings Over Scotland back full-time. I had my Twitter account again and was having fun and I was happy with that. It scratched the itch of being able to engage with politics (and people) without the depressing business of wading in it for work.
And then I witnessed the quite extraordinary sight of an elected member of Parliament, in the shape of the SNP’s pico-witted ambulant brain vacuum Karen Adam, publicly gloating about having managed to shut down the voice of someone critical of her party.
At the same time, an extremely minor blogger (the word “rival” would be to over-dignify them) re-opened hostilities in his campaign of self-declared “open warfare” against this site, with a rapid succession of posts (just a few of dozens) forming such a demented scattershot tirade that to patiently debunk all of it would have taken until Christmas.
And I’ll be honest, folks, it all pushed my buttons a wee bit. It really shouldn’t have, but it was properly outrageous and I’m occasionally human, so I thought “Sod it, if I’m going to have to put up with all this crap anyway I might as well make it worthwhile”.
Wings Over Scotland has been produced for free for the last three and a half years. Our last operational fundraiser was in May 2019. Then again, we’ve been retired for nearly half that time, with only occasional new posts.
But Scottish politics has never been in a more dire state than it is now, with the SNP stolen from its members by a tiny cabal not interested in independence but only in power for its own sake and the “queering” of Scottish society, while the opposition is a worthless ragbag of hapless incompetents and the media is a national embarrassment.
Good heavens, readers. We’re afraid we’ve rather been forced into yet another post this month on our decreasingly-dormant website.
As many of you have already noticed, just a week after being unsuspended by Twitter (to surprisingly unanimous approval in the media from friends and enemies alike, and from some startlingly unexpected sources), early this afternoon the @WingsScotland account was kicked out again. According to the only email Twitter have sent us the reason for the sanction was “ban evasion”, which is perplexing since they’d just lifted the ban and there was nothing to evade.
But the plot subsequently thickened as a procession of SNP types claimed to be responsible, all triumphantly waving completely different supposed offences, none of which we’ve heard anything about.
Naturally we’ve enquired of Twitter what’s going on, and will update you as necessary. But to be honest with you, folks, if the SNP are this desperate to silence our voice, maybe it’s time we thought about returning for good.
Is it time to blow three-and-a-half years of dust off the old Fundraise-O-Tron and get back to work properly? Or should we stay in peaceful retirement and just stick a post up once in a while when we feel like it? What say you, chums?
How long this situation will last is unknown – New Improved Elon Musk Twitter is still stuffed with all the same activist moderators it was before, and we don’t doubt that the SNP’s purple-haired sturmjugend will even as we speak be engaged in an obsessive frenzy of malicious reporting and complaining to try to have us shut down once again.
Someone had to remind us that today is Wings Over Scotland’s 11th birthday.
In a grim indictment of Scotland’s once-vaunted political new media, a site that’s been officially closed since May 2021 is still far and away the most-read in the country, despite that readership now being mostly angry overgrown children squabbling with each other in the comments. People would apparently still, by a vast margin, rather read that than endure the tedium of Bella Caledonia or Believe In Scotland.
We’ve said pretty much all that there is to be said about that miserable state of affairs already, so we won’t repeat ourselves. God help the independence movement.
One might almost imagine that once every Parliament, a drawing of lots is conducted at The Times’ offices in Scotland and the loser is obliged to write this column, on pain of a ceremonial debagging and a jolly good paddling with an old cricket bat from all the other chaps in the newsroom.
Perhaps the fear is playing tricks with Alex Massie’s memory.
Hatey McHateface on The plainest sight: “Channelling my inner Braveheart here: FFFFRRRRRREEEEEEEEEDDDDDOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!! From the Scots who shame, abuse and oppress us all.” Mar 16, 13:29
sarah on Meet The FILTH: “Good man, twathater. It is difficult sometimes as I know well but we must try to overlook personality differences and…” Mar 16, 12:53
Anne on The plainest sight: “It’s good that you overturn these stones Wings,so many turn a blind eye . I feel sick” Mar 16, 12:41
sarah on The plainest sight: “What more can we do to make the government, councils, police, schools etc etc understand this subject and then act?…” Mar 16, 12:40
sarah on Meet The FILTH: “@ Socrates MacSporran: Totally agree – Holyrood currently is only a pretendy wee parliament. And why didn’t the 56 MPs…” Mar 16, 12:29
Hatey McHateface on Meet The FILTH: “MSM reporting The Donald has been “consulting closely with the UN and taking direction from that international body” overnight. Haha,…” Mar 16, 11:48
Hatey McHateface on Meet The FILTH: “Agreed 100% Sven. In retrospect, a golden age. Of course, Alex Salmond was very much a “broad kirk” politician. He…” Mar 16, 11:37
Hatey McHateface on Meet The FILTH: “Bob ripping the “pro-war vampiric bloodsuckers” new ones here. Then hoping for blood to be spilled a couple of posts…” Mar 16, 11:24
Hatey McHateface on Meet The FILTH: “Here you go YS: [See what I did there? ]” Mar 16, 11:14
Robert Hughes on Meet The FILTH: “Hi T.C . Yea , I think it’s going to take some kind of genuine , deeply-felt patriotism to create…” Mar 16, 11:03
socratesmacsporran on Meet The FILTH: “Holyrood is a nice wee “Pretendy Parliament”, Billy Connolly got that right, because “Power devolved is Power retained” – Westminster…” Mar 16, 10:46
Tinto Chiel on Meet The FILTH: “Agree with much of that, Robert, particularly your final paragraph. Since party politics is clearly irretrievably corrupt and the SNP…” Mar 16, 08:28
Yoon scum on Meet The FILTH: “You do know you are part of the problem? As I bet you do not have the balls to question…” Mar 16, 07:56
Yoon Scum on Meet The FILTH: “I am told that leaving the union will result in a dramatic improvement in the quality of politicians elected in…” Mar 16, 07:44
Yoon Scum on Meet The FILTH: “As someone who try to see the good in everyone Which is bloody hard with manky I will say the…” Mar 16, 07:40
Yoon Scum on Meet The FILTH: “far right boot licking English cap doffing cunt here How long do I have to sell up the house and…” Mar 16, 07:38
Robert Hughes on Meet The FILTH: “” trough ” gluttony” Mar 16, 07:38
Sandy Howden on Meet The FILTH: “The seat to look out for is in Midlothian where an almighty battle is about to take place. Colin Beattie…” Mar 16, 07:31
Sven on Meet The FILTH: “George Ferguson. Whilst I agree entirely with you on the disastrous state of an SNP devolved administration, since 2014, this…” Mar 16, 07:29
Robert Hughes on Meet The FILTH: “I’ll join with Ian B & Robert ( aka Twathater ) in praising your positivity and patience in the face…” Mar 16, 07:07
twathater on Meet The FILTH: “Well done Sarah in NOT letting the naysayers beat you down, you have explained the aim of the Liberation movement…” Mar 16, 03:46
twathater on Meet The FILTH: “I posted this response on the previous post re your previous comment,as you are still carrying on regurgitating your usual…” Mar 16, 03:28
twathater on Signal and noise: “Bastard TAX John MOAN I wouldn’t expect anything less of a response from you, you are well known by everyone…” Mar 16, 03:01
Young Lochinvar on Meet The FILTH: “Oh well, I’ll ask as everyone else is flirting round the subject like moths and a light bulb.. Did she/it/…” Mar 15, 23:45
Cynicus on Meet The FILTH: ““I’d be willing to give Stephen Flynn the benefit of the doubt” ========= Why? What makes this shifty snake-oil salesman…” Mar 15, 23:33
Andy Storrie on Meet The FILTH: “Fcuk sake, Campbell. Support for breaking free from the failed state, disloyal, unrecognisable, hostile UK is riding at over 50%!…” Mar 15, 22:23
Young Lochinvar on Meet The FILTH: “KT Because they hedge their bets thereby sidestepping nasty surprises on the constituency vote wher voters give them a clear…” Mar 15, 22:14
Young Lochinvar on Meet The FILTH: “I’d imagine blow-ins would be welcome to stay or blow-out as takes their fancy. Just don’t expect us all to…” Mar 15, 22:08