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The art of the filibuster 249

Posted on January 10, 2016 by

This is what a man who REALLY doesn’t want to answer a question looks like.

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The shifting foundations 201

Posted on January 08, 2016 by

As we noted on Tuesday, Scottish Labour’s opening election salvo for 2016 has been to blame the Scottish Government for unaffordable house prices.

scotsmanhousing

Of the 450 most obvious flaws in that argument, not least the extraordinary efforts a 13-year Labour government went to to keep the housing bubble inflated, the one that caught our eye was that in the past three years we were regularly told of one thing that definitely WOULD bring prices down dramatically, but which Labour pathologically fought every step of the way.

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Some very brief thoughts on RISE 394

Posted on January 07, 2016 by

(And the rest of the “pro-indy left”.)

If you’re primarily or solely contesting regional seats, and you’re chiefly (as seems to be the case) targeting people who are going to use their first vote for the SNP, “Vote for us so that we can provide strong opposition to the SNP” is a pretty weird pitch.

You’re basically asking people to use their second vote to cancel out their first. And that’s quite a tough angle to be trying to sell them. Just saying, like.

The judgement of silence 220

Posted on January 06, 2016 by

We suppose we shouldn’t technically be surprised that today’s newspapers carry no analysis whatsoever of Kezia Dugdale’s big speech yesterday detailing Scottish Labour’s first big election pledge – a £6000 handout to first-time home buyers.

slabhouse

After all, current polling suggests Scottish Labour have about as much chance of exerting any influence in the next Scottish Parliament as Lemmy has of posthumously winning the Eurovision Song Contest, so it doesn’t really matter if Kezia Dugdale promises every voter a free unicorn made of diamonds and glitter.

Still, if only for the mental exercise, it’s worth taking a look in detail.

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Kezia For Independence 149

Posted on January 05, 2016 by

The tweets below are all genuine, and taken from the Scottish Labour Twitter account earlier today during its live-tweeting of Kezia Dugdale’s speech. We’ve rarely heard a more compelling and concise argument for a Yes vote. We take our hats off to her.

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Clickbait corner 68

Posted on January 05, 2016 by

It’s always good to see someone take a strong moral stand.

dhgg

When indeed, eh?

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The sewer press 261

Posted on January 05, 2016 by

So, this appeared in the Herald today:

beggherald1

And that’s a problem, because it’s a complete and utter lie.

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Meet the new year, same as the old year 94

Posted on January 05, 2016 by

As politics wakes up from the holidays, any readers still bothering to gaze at the pages of the Scottish media could be forgiven for a crushing sense of deja vu.

2016papers

In more senses than one.

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Towards a better, kinder 2016 343

Posted on January 03, 2016 by

The Herald columnist Iain Macwhirter has had some wise words to say on the subject of social media in the past few weeks, most recently on New Year’s Day:

imac1

The month before, though, he’d been even more to the point.

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Answers without words 167

Posted on January 02, 2016 by

We tweeted this proposition last night (the quote comes from a blog post yesterday by Scottish Labour madcase and all-round comedy relief Ian Smart):

rdfm

We thought you might enjoy some of the responses as much as we did.

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A whole new world 201

Posted on January 01, 2016 by

bullpress

Order “Welcome To Cairnstoon”, Chris’ compilation of Wings cartoons and more, here.

The Slightly Tubby Quiz Of The Year 567

Posted on December 29, 2015 by

It’s time to find out just how alert you really are, readers.

jcarr

The answers to each of the 24 questions below about Scottish politics in 2015 can be found in Wings articles. But no Googling – we’ll know.

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    • Hatey McHateface on Whatever Can Have Happened?: ““unless you class biblical names as Scottish” Superb ignorance of our historic Scottish Christian heritage there. Every now and again,…” Oct 1, 10:33
    • Hatey McHateface on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “C’moan, Bob, now do the bit where they all awarded themselves medals. Come tae think on’t, that might be the…” Oct 1, 10:19
    • willie on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “Yes, some interesting comments and speculations why Big John has shifted position and now wants an independent enquiry. One thing…” Oct 1, 10:02
    • sam on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “Long ago I knew the name Mina as the name of a woman who was of Scottish origin. It seems…” Oct 1, 10:00
    • robertkknight on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “Jeez… The Rev was simply quoting from Winnie Ewing’s speech at the opening proceedings in 1999, and whilst some may…” Oct 1, 09:42
    • Spartan 117 on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “Sorry Alf, that’s complete and utter pish. You can’t accept the simple truth (Occam’s Razor applied) that we’ve been shafted…” Oct 1, 09:35
    • diabloandco on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “I support Chas and I think the clue might be in the word temporary. Rachel wasn’t that Scottish either unless…” Oct 1, 09:28
    • Hatey McHateface on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “Noo, noo, CC, nae need tae be sae harsh. “Mr” Lavrov will be a bit of an expert on taking…” Oct 1, 09:25
    • John McNab on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “Your writings are almost always entertaining and absorbing, meenister, but when you come away with such achingly pretentious nonsense like,…” Oct 1, 09:17
    • Aidan on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “@CC – Lavrov and his boss “P” enjoy a favourability rating of around 3% in the U.K. So tying the…” Oct 1, 09:15
    • John McNab on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “Render unto Césaire, that which is Césaire’s.” Oct 1, 09:12
    • Captain Caveman on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “Yeah, because “Mr Lavrov” is such an impeccable, credible, neutral source with no axe to grind at all, eh Alf……” Oct 1, 08:58
    • Hatey McHateface on Whatever Can Have Happened?: ““Most folks here now understand” Where’s “here” then, Alf? Wings BTL, or Scotland, or the inside of yer heid? Loving…” Oct 1, 08:57
    • Alf Baird on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “The “the HR government” is merely an arm of the England-as-UK government Hatey. As well as ‘justice’ system questions this…” Oct 1, 08:08
    • Hatey McHateface on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “Could have been worse. He might have wanted to call it after some rubble-strewn shithole in the ME. Plenty would.…” Oct 1, 08:02
    • twathater on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “I received an email from CHAS , Childrens Hospice Appeal SCOTLAND from their Chief Executive Rami Okasha stating , “I…” Oct 1, 02:18
    • BLMac on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “No doubt the result of any enquiry (it may just be another carrot for the remaining gullible SNP members) will…” Sep 30, 23:16
    • charlie on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “Time to start kicking the can down the road, slowly and judicially with only the public paying.” Sep 30, 22:38
    • Hatey McHateface on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “@ am firinn says:30 September, 2026 at 8:58 pm “Exactly what legislature do you think passed the Scotland Act 1998?”…” Sep 30, 21:32
    • am firinn on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “Exactly what legislature do you think passed the Scotland Act 1998?” Sep 30, 20:58
    • am firinn on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “Remind me what institutions “Scotland” had to raise against these sections in 1998?” Sep 30, 20:57
    • Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “Apologies to Mark Beggan. I was 2 minutes later than you.” Sep 30, 20:05
    • agentx on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “Adopting Alternative International Frameworks The review is explicitly tasked with examining alternative Law Officer models used in other jurisdictions. The…” Sep 30, 19:57
    • Hatey McHateface on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “And he’s back. And he’s put the cracked record on again. Readers new to this saga might not know that…” Sep 30, 19:37
    • Ross on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “Playing devil’s advocate… Who will the Lord Advocate be accountable to if not the Govt? The Parliament?” Sep 30, 19:34
    • Hatey McHateface on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “When required to register for the daily attendance allowance. Just like in the HoL.” Sep 30, 19:07
    • Hatey McHateface on Whatever Can Have Happened?: ““This really is a “made in England” problem” Of course it is. How many times must we be told? Scotland…” Sep 30, 19:05
    • Alf Baird on Whatever Can Have Happened?: ““which is what puts the Lord Advocate above the law” Indeed, which also tells us that it is not the…” Sep 30, 19:04
    • agentx on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “No major institutional or governmental objection was raised by Scotland against section 44(1)(c) of the Scotland Act 1998, which makes…” Sep 30, 18:36
    • am firinn on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “It’s all very well the Scottish Government consulting on this. However, s44(1)(c) of the Scotland Act 1998, which establishes that…” Sep 30, 18:01
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