Bath, readers – which some of you may be aware isn’t even in Scotland – is a pretty darn pleasant place to while away your days, all things considered. Packed from head to foot with gorgeous Georgian architecture the colour of set honey and nestling amid a clutch of lush green hills, it’s like a miniature version of Edinburgh in sandstone.
It’s big enough to be lively and have plenty of culture, with theatres and museums and venues and galleries and cinemas both multiplex and arthouse. Countless movies and TV shows have been shot here, from contemporary episodes of Roald Dahl’s Tales Of The Unexpected to a whole string of period costume dramas, and the “Little Theatre” cinema seen in Wes Anderson’s “Fantastic Mr Fox” is based on our real one.
It’s also very handily placed. Situated on or close to two main railway lines, you can hop on a train and ten minutes later be in Bristol, an ugly and unlikeable but still vibrant and eventful city. 30 minutes takes you to the classic English seaside resort of Weston-super-Mare, or the unfairly-maligned Swindon. Stretch it to an hour and you can be in a whole other country, in Barry Island or the impressive Welsh capital of Cardiff. 90 minutes gets you to London, and a couple of hours will see you in any of a bunch of places on the south coast (my personal favourite is Weymouth), all direct. You can even get straight to Edinburgh or Glasgow with only a single change of train at Bristol.
Having a car unlocks lots of other magical and fascinating places that are well within daytrip distance, like the ghost villages of Tyneham and Imber, the striking Cheddar Gorge, Longleat safari park and the world’s greatest museum ever, the batshit-mad Oakham Treasures, as well as Lacock, a quaint 13th-century townlet entirely owned by the National Trust, which gets invaded by Nazis every year.
(If you love a stately or historic home, you can join the Trust and visit somewhere new within 40 minutes’ drive just about every week for a year. Then you run out.)
I still don’t like JK Rowling, for reasons I set out earlier this week. I certainly never in a million years imagined I’d ever find myself in a position where I respected her 50 times more than I do Nicola Sturgeon.
My legal team and I have just received, unexpectedly early, the sheriff’s verdict in my defamation case against Kezia Dugdale. The short and paraphrased version is that yes, she did defame me by inaccurately calling me a homophobe, but because she’s an idiot who doesn’t know what words mean, she’s allowed to, so we lose.
It’s always nice to see Michelle Mone in the news again, especially when the Tory peer crowbars an attempted intervention into Scottish politics into everything she does.
And since there’s not much else going on, it seemed like a good excuse to have a wee delve into what she’s been up to lately.
I apologise in advance to readers for the personal indulgence of this post.
Some months ago, quite coincidentally, I happened to avail myself of Twitter’s archive function, which allows users to download their entire tweet history. For various reasons I’ve been looking at it recently, and until I did I’d been unaware that it records not just a user’s own tweets, but also the tweets from other people that they’ve retweeted.
I’ve collected some of Wings’ tweets and retweets – in reverse chronological order – below. (Famously, of course, RTs aren’t necessarily endorsements, but you can decide on the underlying tone for yourself. Each of them links to the original tweet so you can see the whole conversation, or click on the links being referenced.)
They’re all on one subject, by way of illustration, because Twitter is a transient medium full of people all too eager to jump at the slightest excuse to make spurious and hateful allegations about everything (and anyone) under the sun to serve their own agendas, and for the sake of the future of human discourse it’s worth remembering that nothing exists in isolation or free of context, and we shouldn’t jump too easily to conclusions.
Great news, readers! After years of requests, it’s now finally possible to possess and cherish your very own adorable cuddly toy version of Wings’ symbolic embodiment of benign and welcoming independence, Hamish the lion!
This site is still hampered by the consequences of TotallyUnbelievableMadnessGate, so until normal service is resumed here’s a quick recap of a few stories from the last few days you may have missed.
Since it now looks increasingly like we might be doing this indyref thing all over again pretty soon, we thought you’d like to meet our Fulfilment Department:
This short video by the ever-excellent Phantom Power Films takes you to the heart of AyeMail, who not only handle the delivery of immaculately-packaged donor perks for pro-indy fundraisers and things like the Wee Black Book, but also produce a growing range of merchandise direct, ensuring that as much money as possible stays within the Yes movement.
If you want some stuff made for Indyref 2 – This Time It’s An Emergency, we can recommend their various services without hesitation.
*No payments or incentives of any kind in either direction were solicited or received for this endorsement.
Alf Baird on Faces In Sand: ““I’d call the legal mechanism a referendum. Like 2014.” That was an opinion poll using a local government franchise not…” Oct 24, 00:05
factchecker on Faces In Sand: ““You get repeatedly told indy is a matter for the people of Scotland, yet find there is no “legal mechanism”…” Oct 23, 21:54
TURABDIN on Faces In Sand: “Andy (duck n dive, never a straight answer) Burnham thinks we all ought to stock up on food and, in…” Oct 23, 19:39
Bilbo on Faces In Sand: “What seems to be missing from these conversations of seasonality of our foodstuffs which is grown locally and doesn’t need…” Oct 23, 19:14
Confused on Faces In Sand: “of course there is no such thing as “equal partner in the union” – that’s the BULLSHIT THE ENGLISH TELL…” Oct 23, 18:54
Confused on Faces In Sand: “I think a good exposition for prepping is shown in trainspotting, when renton is getting off the skag www.youtube.com/watch?v=pm4fsi6OvFI note…” Oct 23, 18:52
Aidan on Faces In Sand: “Yes Dan – humanity is off down the pan because we buy food from Spain rather than growing it in…” Oct 23, 18:41
Dan on Faces In Sand: “Ach, what does food self-sufficiency and being better insulated from outside events matter anyway… https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckr5yz2pqqppo It’s recommended to have 3…” Oct 23, 18:05
Captain Caveman on Faces In Sand: “@Dan That is not a manifesto for independence, it’s a collection of bullet point assertions and facts (the veracity of…” Oct 23, 17:57
Captain Caveman on Faces In Sand: “I can only speak from personal experience. I (or the missus) has had Evoques, Range Rover Sports and a full…” Oct 23, 17:52
Dan on Faces In Sand: “CC says: “People love to moan about Land Rover stuff, possibly with justification, but whenever anything’s gone wrong they’ve always…” Oct 23, 16:18
Northcode on Faces In Sand: “It’s easy to mistake a list of social, economic or cultural problems for proof of colonisation, but that isn’t how…” Oct 23, 16:15
Dan on Faces In Sand: “Chuckle at site prick Main complaining that I counted coal in the resources list. https://wingsoverscotland.com/return-of-the-fear/#comment-2778087 A day later site prick…” Oct 23, 15:48
Dan on Faces In Sand: “Yawn at CC’s no credible plan bs… If it’s a credible enough strategy for the UK to be run with,…” Oct 23, 15:42
Hatey McHateface on Faces In Sand: ““Much of it was faulty” An oft-repeated statement, but I have yet to identify what it means. My best guess…” Oct 23, 14:39
Spartan 117 on Faces In Sand: “To be honest I’m not sure many people *need* it explained to them, because the facts are blatantly obvious to…” Oct 23, 14:32
Hatey McHateface on Faces In Sand: ““Half or more of the population living in or close to poverty levels” Ah Alf, as an academic you’ll understand…” Oct 23, 14:22
Hatey McHateface on Faces In Sand: “What you write is all true, Northy, but where’s the fun in being all grown up when we can be…” Oct 23, 14:11
James Che on Faces In Sand: “North code, Regards Scotlands Constitutional position in a modern democracy it is to realise there is no requirement for Scotland…” Oct 23, 13:15
factchecker on Faces In Sand: “I know there is not an equal union. It would be both stupid and undemocratic. More importantly, nobody has been…” Oct 23, 13:09
James Che on Faces In Sand: “North Code. Again appreciate your response and keeping the debate polite and clean, They are not actually my own personal…” Oct 23, 12:37
Captain Caveman on Faces In Sand: ““Independence would bring political responsibility closer to voters, strengthen democratic legitimacy and allow Scotland to adapt its institutions over time…” Oct 23, 11:24
Northcode on Faces In Sand: “James, I haven’t replied to you. My earlier comment was a general observation about the modern independence argument, not a…” Oct 23, 11:10
James Che on Faces In Sand: “Alf Baird, I suspect that the non – treaty of union issue and Colonisation issue will merge, for they become…” Oct 23, 10:53
Lorncal on Faces In Sand: “MaryB: they also infected people already in hospitals by placing them in wards with uninfected patients. I remember the huge…” Oct 23, 10:48
James Che on Faces In Sand: “North code. Thank you for your reply, I will answer your points one by one if I may. Firstly, We…” Oct 23, 10:43
Alf Baird on Faces In Sand: ““A convincing case for independence doesn’t need the colonial frame” How else can we explain to Scots: – the ‘union’…” Oct 23, 10:20
James Chey on Faces In Sand: “Fact checker. You are entirely correct in stating that there is no equal union, What you omitted by default through…” Oct 23, 10:10
Northcode on Faces In Sand: “I’ve been thinking about why the “Scotland is a colony” argument is actually counter-productive. A convincing case for independence doesn’t…” Oct 23, 09:43
James Che on Faces In Sand: “North code, Did not have time to respond fully to you yesterday, Which and what Sovereignty works nowadays and where…” Oct 23, 09:14
