On 5 April 2021, I sent a short and simple Freedom Of Information (FOI) request to the Scottish Government asking for:
“All written evidence to James Hamilton’s QC investigation into the FM under the ministerial code. This includes evidence from the FM, her chief of staff Liz Lloyd and any other individuals within the Scottish Government who have submitted evidence.”
Over four and a half years later, because of the government’s pathological aversion to transparency and accountability, we’re still not there.
But we’re inching closer.
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Category
analysis, corruption, investigation, scottish politics
For several years now, this site has recorded how the SNP’s continued existence is now entirely dependent on UK state funding. The party would simply go bust without Westminster money. And how precarious a position that puts it in is sharply illustrated by the latest release of donations income from the Electoral Commission.
In a 12-month period running up to the last UK general election, the UK state gave the SNP a little over £1.3 million.
In the corresponding period for the last year, after the party was reduced to just nine seats, that figure plunged to just over £0.4 million, a drop of over £0.9 million.
And that’s money the SNP can’t afford to lose.
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Category
analysis, corruption, scottish politics, uk politics
For lack of anything more interesting to write about, we thought we might do a monthly rundown of polling in the leadup to next year’s Holyrood election, with seat projections from a neutral source, in the shape of the newish Devolved Elections website.
And very quickly, things got a bit weird.
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Category
analysis, psephology, scottish politics
We’re just putting this here for the record, really.
It’s a “debate” from the Scottish Parliament last night, on a motion from Patrick Harvie complaining that vulnerable children aren’t being pushed into a programme of lifelong medicalisation, sterilisation and mutilation quickly enough.
The motion completely ignored both the findings of the Cass Review and the Supreme Court judgment in For Women Scotland, but not a single MSP spoke in opposition to it. (Jenni Minto, the Minister For Public Health And Women’s Health, actually broke down in tears at the end because she wasn’t managing to get children’s futures permanently destroyed with sufficient urgency, mainly because the UK Parliament took legislation out of Holyrood’s hands to protect them.)
The list of those who spoke in favour of child harm was:
Patrick Harvie (Scottish Greens)
Paul McLennan (SNP)
Mercedes Villalba (Labour)
Maggie Chapman (Scottish Greens)
Elena Whitham (SNP)
Monica Lennon (Lab)
Rona Mackay (SNP)
Jenni Minto (SNP)
We hope one day they’re held publicly accountable for their actions.
Category
comment, scottish politics, transcult, video, wtf
Disgraced ex-policeman and notorious vexatious serial complainant Lynsay Watson is having quite the meltdown on the groomer-and-paedophile haven Bluesky tonight.
Let’s listen in.
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Tags: and finally
Category
scottish politics, transcult, uk politics, wtf
To be honest, we’re mainly putting these here so you don’t have to keep looking at that picture of Alan Cumming.
But they also show what you can achieve, whether in football or politics, if you actually attack rather than being content to endlessly shuttle it all sideways and backwards until you get beaten without even taking a shot.
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Category
comment, football, scottish politics, wtf
We’ve just been leaked the SNP’s first poster roughs for Holyrood 2026.
One more push, everyone!
Tags: and firstly
Category
comment, scottish politics
Posted on
November 07, 2025 by
Grok
It’s Wings’ 14th birthday today, and to be entirely honest with you, readers, like a lot of teenagers we’re having a bit of an existential crisis. It’s quite difficult to see any point in being a Scottish political journalist for the next five years, because it’s just going to be one depressing Groundhog Day after another.
So rather than moan on as usual, today we’re handing over to a precocious new talent whose enthusiasm can’t be dimmed. It’s one that garnered a lot of attention this week by delivering a comprehensive and very entertaining spanking to SNP MP and devoted friend of the site Pete “Cosy Feet” Wishart.
Wishart threw such a petulant strop that he accused a code algorithm of defamation and threatened legal action against the inanimate collection of 1s and 0s.
With skills like that already placing it well beyond the abilities of most of the Scottish political commentariat, we thought we’d give it a tryout and ask it to take a look into the country’s future.
The following article is completely unedited other than a bit of formatting, though we did ask it (with only partial success) to tone down the haggis-and-bagpipes stuff slightly from its first draft. Ladies and gentlemen, we give you Grok. Unlike most journos, it provided links and it did write its own headline.
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Category
analysis, scottish politics
This really is an extraordinary headline, for multiple reasons.
Because what actually IS “the rise of Reform”?
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Category
analysis, idiots, scottish politics, uk politics, video
We’re important!
Something to look forward to there, then.
Category
apocalypse, comment, scottish politics, wtf
Perhaps the key graphic from last night’s by-election in Caerphilly is this one (green means Plaid Cymru in the context of Wales):
In the end, Plaid won pretty comfortably in what had been predicted to be a very tight contest between them and Reform, with a majority of almost 4,000. But Plaid aren’t going to be the next government of the UK, so what’s the real story?
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Category
analysis, comment, idiots, scottish politics, uk politics
