The Hate Crime Act has rather faded into obscurity after the furore surrounding its introduction, with the police apparently just trying to pretend it doesn’t exist by ignoring thousands and thousands of complaints, and the useless Scottish commentariat duly proclaiming as a result that it was all just a big fuss about nothing.
But as soon as everyone stopped looking at it, there it was.
In many ways, the fabricated, hysterical furore of Humza Yousaf Vs Elon Musk is the ultimate in summer-silly-season politics stories.
Absurdly plainly, the former First Minister ISN’T going to take any legal action against the billionaire owner of Twitter. He only likes bullying small nurseries, and even then he doesn’t follow through. He didn’t even sue us for calling him racist a few months ago, so there’s zero chance he’s going to square up to the world’s richest man.
Every now and again you’ll go to clean them up and find something that you’ve been meaning to write about in a quiet moment, and this certainly counts as a quiet moment in Scottish politics, so let’s do this one now.
Because the story above is from March, but we don’t think we’ve ever seen anyone anywhere talk about just how weird it is, or what it tells us about the 2024 SNP.
We’ve been off for a little break in the country, and as far as we can tell we’ve missed absolutely nothing in the moribund world of Scottish politics. We did, however, arrive back just in time for something mildly interesting, or at least revealing.
It’s the latest episode of a new podcast by veteran Scottish political journalist and broadcaster Bernard Ponsonby and jobbing opinion columnist Alex Massie, inventively titled The Ponsonby And Massie Podcast.
The first 35 minutes or so weren’t very noteworthy, other than the curious omission – when predicting the makeup of the next Scottish Government – of the idea of a Labour-SNP coalition, which to this site remains by far the most practical and logical outcome of the 2026 Holyrood election.
As we’ve repeatedly pointed out, Wings has made NO comments about the “workplace harassment” allegations made against Alex Salmond several years ago. We’ve only commented on the CRIMINAL allegations, and workplace harassment isn’t a crime. (It’s a matter for an employment tribunal, not the police.)
But the real question is WHY Andy Wightman is so doggedly attached to these two complainers that he’s determined to keep digging himself further into a hole of lies. And everyone knows what you tend to find when you start digging holes.
David Davis may be the last of his kind – a libertarian Tory from a council-scheme and grammar-school background, and also one of the few remaining big beasts occupying the political jungle of the back benches.
(He could in fact have been Tory leader, and would have been if David Cameron and George Osborne hadn’t teamed up to defeat him in 2005 after he won the first ballot.)
So on the rare occasions when he leads a Commons adjournment debate, as he did last Thursday evening, those with an educated eye for politics sit up and take notice.
In any functional nation, Friday’s revelations in Parliament by Sir David Davis would have been headline news. An extremely powerful figure, the then-First Minister’s chief of staff, was named and accused of conspiring with the Scottish Government, civil service and media to imprison an innocent man – the former leader of the country – on very serious charges of sexual assault, and of seeking to destroy his reputation by illegally leaking the false allegations to the press.
Liz Lloyd had never been publicly named as the suspect before that moment, so it was almost immeasurably bizarre that only two of Scotland’s newspapers (and two of its lowest-selling), namely The Times and – belatedly – The National, bothered to even report the accusation, far less spend any time seriously delving into it.
But it still wasn’t as odd as THIS response from a former Green MSP.
What on Earth is being suggested here? Let’s try to find out.
It’s both a comprehensive refresher of events surrounding the Scottish Government’s conspiracy to convict Alex Salmond on false charges, and a sharp reminder of why Scotland is, in truth, not yet a country in a fit administrative state for independence.
But one part in particular ought to be the headline news tonight.
Independence is dead as a political issue in Scotland for the next few years. This much should not be in any dispute. A Labour government with a crushing majority sits firmly in Westminster with absolutely no intentions of granting a second referendum, and the SNP has loudly and clearly abandoned any other strategy.
This fact is understandably painful and difficult to come to terms with for anyone who’s devoted the last 13 years (or more) to pursuing that cause and now isn’t quite sure what to do with theirself. But for those who still aren’t ready to face up to the unpleasant reality, there’s always the comforting world of fantasy.
Because there’s always money to be made from snake oil and pie in the sky.
agentx on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “It’s great to see that the Second City of the British Empire – Glasgow is hosting the Commonwealth Games which…” Jul 22, 17:28
Effijy on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “He will look well in beside Baroness Money Bags Mone and Wee Baroness Ruthless. The 3 prize monkey’s, Hear No…” Jul 22, 17:26
Nick on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “It’s called recycling! It’s what we do with the rubbish in this country these days!” Jul 22, 17:00
Alf Baird on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “There is a long history of elite Scots selling out their nation for English gold and status: HoC, speech of…” Jul 22, 16:31
Mark Beggan on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “It’s his payment for standing up against Mr Sausage. Although he had absolutely nothing to lose and everything to gain.…” Jul 22, 16:20
Nicky T Naquetti on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “New Mayor of Scotland? It would not surprise anybody if that Indian tranny from the Green Party ended up lording…” Jul 22, 16:05
Andy Wiltshire on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “Interesting. Were Private Eye one of the ‘Branchfoot’ offenders?” Jul 22, 14:16
Onlooker on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “Fuck that racist eighth-wit, hope he fucks off down to London and never comes back.” Jul 22, 13:50
desimond on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “And not just that….the rejected Anas is to be replaced on the list by the rejected Monica Lennon. Party Politics…” Jul 22, 13:30
100%Yes on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “The man has spent a carer of making gaffs. The SNP thought he was a ally. Here the a true…” Jul 22, 13:11
Rogueslr on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “Rev, you get name checked in the latest Private Eye, looks like they’ve lifted most of their coverage from Wings.” Jul 22, 12:59
duncanio on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “That’s British Labour all over: plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose” Jul 22, 12:35
Northcode on The Wheels Of Industry: “I’ve been thinking about ‘absent colonisers’. India, Kenya, Nigeria, Egypt and more are all former colonies of the British Empire…” Jul 22, 12:19
Alf Baird on The Wheels Of Industry: “The colonial-UK circus act re-opens with a new ringmaster: Scotland run by clowns at Westminster and its Holyrood department; colonized…” Jul 22, 11:13
Hatey McHateface on The Wheels Of Industry: “Clowns spread happiness and laughter to all postcodes. Perhaps hope as well.” Jul 22, 09:44
Captain Caveman on The Wheels Of Industry: “@Hatey I entirely agree with you. However, I’m not sure what this has to do with anything I said; our…” Jul 22, 09:40
Hatey McHateface on The Wheels Of Industry: ““longing for her to rise to the top” Havers, MH. Gingers are over-represented in Scotland and generally under-represented everywhere. I…” Jul 22, 09:04
Oneliner on The Wheels Of Industry: “It didn’t take Barnum long to send in the clowns.” Jul 22, 08:49
Minceheid on The Wheels Of Industry: “Hatey McHateface says: 22 July, 2026 at 8:09 am If nothing else, Mark, how can you NOT celebrate the return…” Jul 22, 08:22
Hatey McHateface on The Wheels Of Industry: “Nice try, CC. But if the immigrants have their way (for bloody obviously, it’s them who are behind the historical…” Jul 22, 08:16
Hatey McHateface on The Wheels Of Industry: “If nothing else, Mark, how can you NOT celebrate the return of the Ginger Growler? Back to the Housing role…” Jul 22, 08:09
Hatey McHateface on The Wheels Of Industry: “Handy place, the House of Lords. If some wrecking cants were to abolish it, somebody else would have to reconstitute…” Jul 22, 08:03
