Readers may be aware that Wings Over Scotland is (fairly remarkably, really) the UK’s second-most-read politics blog, behind the hardcore right-wing “Guido Fawkes”.
Our “competitor” isn’t a site we look at a lot – the comments make the Daily Mail readership seem like enlightened and thoughtful moderates – but last week someone asked us about a smear piece they’d run on SNP MP Corri Wilson, and we only just remembered today to check it out. Our initial findings weren’t well received.
It seems that Mr Fawkes and his minions aren’t too keen on scrutiny themselves.
Ever since Scottish Daily Mail political editor Alan Roden jumped ship to go and rearrange the deckchairs for Labour, his former paper has very noticeably toned down its hysterical “SNP BAD” content. We can go through the Mail for days on end now without finding some ludicrously distorted misrepresentation or screaming outrage piece about how a Nat MP found 20p down the back of their sofa without declaring it to HMRC or such.
To be honest, readers, we gave up on taking any notice of David Torrance‘s mundane attempts at trolling in the Herald some time ago. But some alert readers pointed us towards this week’s column, suggesting that it was a bald rewriting of history some way beyond their usual bland irritancy.
This was the passage they objected to:
It’s a patronising piece of “shut up and eat your cereal” condescension for sure. But to be fair to Torrance, it does also happen to be true. Wait, not true. The other thing.
The starting pistol hasn’t actually been fired on the two-year Brexit process yet, but now we have a clear statement of when it will be: this morning on The Andrew Marr Show, the Prime Minister pledged that it would happen before the end of next March.
(We might end up broke, in other words, but at least we’ll be good old British broke, with none of those awful smelly foreign Euro-Johnnies around to see it.)
And nobody was getting a sick note.
And for supporters of independence, that’s about as good as news gets.
Low-wattage Labour list MSP Neil Findlay (rejected by the electorate of Almond Valley by a thumping 8,393 votes in May) puffed himself up to maximum socialism this week and attacked the SNP’s rather more popular Paisley MP Mhairi Black over a Scottish Daily Express story about travel expenses.
It might have been an idea if he’d read the piece all the way to the end.
You can see the full unedited Kezia Dugdale interview with Gordon Brewer on today’s Sunday Politics Scotland at this link, so you can verify that the shortened edit below isn’t misrepresenting anything. But if you don’t have time or attention span for the full 20 minutes, this’ll give you the gist without all the desperate waffling.
We think readers will agree that there can no longer be so much as a scintilla of doubt over whether Kezia believes Jeremy Corbyn can lead Labour to victory.
This is the longest piece of continuous TV exposure Kezia Dugdale will get between now and next year’s crucial council elections. Judge for yourself whether she seized the opportunity, readers.
A Sunday Times/Panelbase poll released today put Scottish Labour’s support at 16%, with the SNP on 50% and the Tories on 21%.
We’re sure that the media will pin Dugdale down over this weekend and we’ll get a detailed and convincing explanation of exactly what it is that she thinks changed about the fundamental nature of Jeremy Corbyn over that solitary month.
It’s long been a bone of contention for Scots – and not just nationalists – that the UK government, by common agreement, wasted the vast wealth windfall of the North Sea on funding Margaret Thatcher’s 1980s programme of deliberate de-industrialisation, mass unemployment, huge tax cuts for the wealthy and bribes to the working class in the form of Right To Buy.
It did so rather than investing the proceeds in a sovereign wealth fund, as demanded by the SNP (and some elements of Labour) and practiced in Norway, whose fund – only set up in 1990 – is now a literal embarrassment of riches.
But the reality is even worse than that. Because according to a 2015 report by the National Resource Governance Institute that’s just come to our attention, the truth is that if the UK had managed its North Sea treasure better, it could have done both.
Cynicus on Strike A Pose, There’s Nothing To It: “AlMac says: 1 July, 2026 at 12:41 pm “……the 75-minute video is starting to look attractive when faced with 8000…” Jul 1, 15:59
Insider on The Fast Track: “Alf, Since you’ve made a complete fool of yourself trying to quote Orwell….how about trying Einstein next ? “Nationalism is…” Jul 1, 15:52
robertkknight on ACC Houston, We Have A Problem: ““ACC Houston, We Have Eh Problem” surely? Waiting staff in restaurants must love him…” Jul 1, 15:40
Cynicus on ACC Houston, We Have A Problem: “Incidentally, Peter Bell lavishly praises the Rev. in his piece, “ Solid Fog”, a few days ago. He is excoriated…” Jul 1, 15:13
sarah on ACC Houston, We Have A Problem: “I meant to say that the title gave me a chuckle. I daresay they are enjoying it at Police Scotland…” Jul 1, 15:10
lothianlad on ACC Houston, We Have A Problem: “Honestly STU, Your dilligence must be making them really nervous. Well done for your persistance.” Jul 1, 15:00
Captain Caveman on The Fast Track: “@Alf “Orwell was around slightly before postcolonial theory had really developed” Good grief, first you’re name dropping Orwell left, right…” Jul 1, 14:59
Hatey McHateface on The Fast Track: “That narrative would be more compelling if we didn’t have the example of the EU referendum to dispel it. There…” Jul 1, 14:06
Hatey McHateface on The Fast Track: “Chronology tells us that colonialism developed millennia before Fascism. But we don’t let awkward facts get in the way of…” Jul 1, 13:57
Hatey McHateface on Strike A Pose, There’s Nothing To It: “Shakespearean tragedy! WTAF are you on about! It’s a comedy the likes of which not even The Bard could have…” Jul 1, 13:52
Cynicus on ACC Houston, We Have A Problem: “Thanks for doing that, Rev. Like Peter Bell, many of us prepare reading transcripts of testimony to video. The services…” Jul 1, 13:45
Peter McAvoy on Strike A Pose, There’s Nothing To It: “Is it just me or does the term crown agent sound like a medieval tyrants minion or dystopian fiction.” Jul 1, 13:40
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on The Fast Track: “« The purpose of NEWSPEAK was not only to provide a medium of expression for the world-view and mental habits…” Jul 1, 13:34
Hatey McHateface on Strike A Pose, There’s Nothing To It: “First, a majority of the voters have to care. This is where I think all the barking up the colonialism…” Jul 1, 13:26
Alf Baird on The Fast Track: ““‘Notes on Nationalism’” The colonized native only becomes a nationalist ‘to free his people’ (Fanon). National liberation cannot come about…” Jul 1, 13:08
AlMac on Strike A Pose, There’s Nothing To It: “Yes thank you for that Mr Angry – it was intended as a humorous response to Wing’s Twitter suggestion that…” Jul 1, 13:06
Hatey McHateface on The Fast Track: “Orwell defo an improvement over all those third-world racists, such as Fanon, etc. We could even make a half-decent case…” Jul 1, 13:01
Alice Timmons on Strike A Pose, There’s Nothing To It: “Stuart, I sincerely hope you are taking VERY good care of both your health and personal safety. It unfortunately seems…” Jul 1, 12:57
AlMac on Strike A Pose, There’s Nothing To It: “That question mark was a smiley face when typed – I’m not asking if the transcription is TLDR. However the…” Jul 1, 12:41
Spartan 117 on Strike A Pose, There’s Nothing To It: “It’s a transcript of an interview. If you don’t have the intelligence to read the article, don’t bother commenting.” Jul 1, 12:38
Campbell Clansman on Strike A Pose, There’s Nothing To It: “They decided there was no provable case of fraud on the part of the SNP. Let’s face it: as long…” Jul 1, 12:26
Spartan 117 on The Fast Track: “You have correctly identified the Professional Career Politician, the scourge of the current age.” Jul 1, 11:54
Spartan 117 on The Fast Track: “I’m sorry for your loss, NC. Condolences. I don’t think I could disagree with anything you’ve said there.” Jul 1, 11:52
Captain Caveman on The Fast Track: “I note you haven’t deigned to respond to my earlier critique as regards your misappropriation of Orwell despite his published…” Jul 1, 11:51
Iain Ross on The Fast Track: “The other significant issue is that, according to Mr Swinney, the two sums involved (c£460,000 embezzled by Murrell and c£660,000…” Jul 1, 11:50
