The world's most-read Scottish politics website

Wings Over Scotland


Archive for the ‘scottish politics’


Ask and ye shall receive 165

Posted on February 07, 2014 by

Today, the Prime Minister of the UK, who wants Scotland to stay in the UK but won’t go there and make the case for it, asked the non-Scottish citizens of the rest of the UK to tell Scots how they felt about Scottish independence.

uktweets19

This is what some of them said.

Read the rest of this entry →

Taking no prisoners 114

Posted on February 07, 2014 by

Just to tide you over while we pop out to the shops, readers:

Can you tell we just recently got some good video-capture software?

Trading places 153

Posted on February 07, 2014 by

Sometimes it’s hard to shake the feeling that some sort of bizarre mass body-swap incident, such as those frequently depicted in comedy films like “Big” or “Freaky Friday”, must have happened in UK politics without anyone noticing.

Because on the day that David Cameron called on people elsewhere in the UK to plead with Scots to stay in the Union, English people are saying things like this:

(Warning: adult language.)

Read the rest of this entry →

The gift-horse dentist 209

Posted on February 07, 2014 by

We don’t entirely understand why the Times has this story as front page news, because it was covered in some detail in the Sunday Post a fortnight ago:

timesphone

But we couldn’t help thinking of the last time anyone tried something similar.

Read the rest of this entry →

Rare Pokemon captured 89

Posted on February 06, 2014 by

This sort of thing really shouldn’t be so startling and unusual that we feel we need to preserve it for posterity, but here’s someone on a BBC current-affairs programme giving a fair and balanced analysis of Scottish politics:

Based on the BBC’s track record this section will be missing when it goes out on the iPlayer, so we thought we better grab it while we could.

Read the rest of this entry →

Mindboggling things that happened today 89

Posted on February 06, 2014 by

This. This actually happened. We’re not making it up. Click it and see.

labtax

Go on, read it again. We dare you.

Read the rest of this entry →

Failure to engage 108

Posted on February 06, 2014 by

For some time now, we’ve been documenting a couple of intriguing aspects of the No campaign. One is its apparent shortage of grassroots activists, leaving “Better Together” to instead rely on the Scottish and UK media to get its message out. The other is a reluctance to engage in public debate with adults.

clintchair

Where BT has deigned to participate in public hustings at all, the bulk of the events have been those at schools and colleges. Invited to debate independence in front of crowds of grown-ups, the No camp is oddly reticent, as we discovered ourselves last year when we offered to pay for and set up a head-to-head, with a neutral and mutually-approved chair, between respective campaign figureheads Dennis Canavan and Alistair Darling, getting only abuse in response.

Of course, a bunch of evil cybernats such as ourselves might expect to be rebuffed. But what if the cuddly, respectable official Yes Scotland organisation had a go?

Read the rest of this entry →

100,000 green bottles 167

Posted on February 06, 2014 by

There’s a remarkable piece in today’s Scotsman that we had to share with you:

hadrian

And if you think that magnificent headline’s good, wait until you hear the rest.

Read the rest of this entry →

Coming to you live from 2019 139

Posted on February 06, 2014 by

Peter Arnott in The Global Dispatches, 29 January 2014:

“We have been tempted to believe in Scotland that our tactical pattern of voting one way in a Westminster elections and another in Holyrood elections would continue to shelter us from the worst neo-liberal excesses of Westminster – our parliament after all came into existence as a retroactive shelter from what was inflicted on us (and everyone else in non-Tory Britain) the last time the Conservatives were in power. 

We are still behaving as if this is the case even while history is whisking that carpet from underneath our feet.”

And that, readers, is why it matters that I live in England.

Read the rest of this entry →

Fear Factor Five 137

Posted on February 05, 2014 by

We do hope none of these shock troops get caught up and hurt in the lovebombing.

Scottish independence: Cable warns of VAT on food

Caroline Flint warns that independence would mean £875 on energy bills

Warning of risk to transport links after Yes vote

No camp in grocery price rise claims (NB unrelated to VAT)

RBS would move to London if Scotland breaks away

That’s all just today. Anyone sound frightened to you?

Read the rest of this entry →

The art of selection 172

Posted on February 05, 2014 by

Here’s the Herald today on YouGov’s latest independence polling:

“Support for independence has remained unchanged with one in three voters wanting Scotland to leave the UK, the latest poll shows. The YouGov survey put support for a Yes vote at 33%, trailing backing for No on 52%. A further 12% were undecided with the rest saying they would not vote in the referendum on September 18.

Our Uncle Billy 144

Posted on February 05, 2014 by

Yesterday, a wealthy American man who as far as we know won’t have a vote in the referendum expressed a personal opinion about independence which made the front page of half of Scotland and Britain’s newspapers, was trumpeted all over the TV and radio, and got “Better Together” very excited.

This morning some idiot based in Luxembourg honked about it on BBC Breakfast news, throwing in his own clueless and ill-informed (and of course, unchallenged) view. We’re having some difficulty working out why we’re supposed to care about either man’s position, or why they were given lots of free airtime to espouse them.

Read the rest of this entry →

  • About

    Wings Over Scotland is a thing that exists.

    Stats: 6,872 Posts, 1,235,667 Comments

  • Recent Posts

  • Archives

  • Categories

  • Tags

  • Recent Comments

    • Cynicus on A Stitch In Timing: “Young Lochinvar says: 7 February, 2026 at 10:58 pm ‘Or.. To quote English Henry VII (Tudor) marrying off his daughter…Feb 8, 01:02
    • James on A Stitch In Timing: ““…have campaigned for Indy all my adult life.” LOLZ. That right, aye?Feb 8, 00:03
    • James on A Stitch In Timing: “Oh dear. Poor “fact checker”…he doesn’t even know that it’s rugby union at Murrayfield next week, not rugby league. What…Feb 8, 00:00
    • James on A Stitch In Timing: “You joined the other team.Feb 7, 23:55
    • David Holden on A Stitch In Timing: “Sorry Alf still not sure what your point is and if you are implying I am a non native and\or…Feb 7, 23:35
    • Young Lochinvar on A Stitch In Timing: “Or.. To quote English Henry VII (Tudor) marrying off his daughter to a reluctant King James IV of Scotland; “The…Feb 7, 22:58
    • sam on A Stitch In Timing: “https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9780203788332/internal-colonialism-michael-hechter “…Hechter examines the unexpected persistence of ethnicity in the politics of industrial societies by focusing on the British Isles.…Feb 7, 22:10
    • Lorna Campbell on A Stitch In Timing: “James: the very fact that he was filmed lifting the sledgehammer and bringing it down on the back of the…Feb 7, 21:52
    • Young Lochinvar on A Stitch In Timing: “Woo hoo! Someone (Keir) has hit the defrost button and the Broontosaurus has been thawed out to save the (Labour)…Feb 7, 21:48
    • Hatey McHateface on A Stitch In Timing: “@James Cheyne Why don’t you re-post on some site read by our fighting friends in the east? I’m confident they…Feb 7, 21:38
    • Young Lochinvar on A Stitch In Timing: ““Fact”checker @ 7.43 Even for you it’s surprising you came out with this paper thin surrebutter! You’re the one (allegedly)…Feb 7, 21:22
    • Hatey McHateface on A Stitch In Timing: “Awww. I wanted an opportunity to enthuse about the health and fitness benefits of goose stepping. Stamina building too, and…Feb 7, 21:21
    • Hatey McHateface on A Stitch In Timing: “Language theory, and common sense, tells us that colonial and post colonial are different things. A science and engineering background…Feb 7, 21:03
    • DaveL on A Stitch In Timing: “Ask the Rev, his machine chose to protect you from having to answer to it.Feb 7, 20:56
    • Hatey McHateface on A Stitch In Timing: “What would a Yank like Hechter know of the Celtic Periphery? To many of the bulk of Scots residing in…Feb 7, 20:54
    • Hatey McHateface on A Stitch In Timing: “Were they about goose stepping by any chance? Relax. You’ve already covered that to the best of your ability.Feb 7, 20:42
    • Alf Baird on A Stitch In Timing: ““not sure what your point is” Postcolonial theory tells us that the more culturally assimilated native bourgeoisie, being “the most…Feb 7, 20:41
    • Hatey McHateface on A Stitch In Timing: “@Alf I never made the team either. You have my sympathy. Like you, I still remember how much it hurt.…Feb 7, 20:37
    • factchecker on A Stitch In Timing: “David, You are obviously not aware of the threat of cultural colonisation that we live under. Indeed, it may already…Feb 7, 20:00
    • Alf Baird on A Stitch In Timing: ““Of course it is only a half government” Its not even that. Whatever ‘it’ may be called, it is ‘managed’…Feb 7, 19:58
    • factchecker on A Stitch In Timing: “The ProfessorHechter is quoted as saying “Within the Celtic Periphery this also meant that the English held: ‘a disproportionate share…Feb 7, 19:43
    • David Holden on A Stitch In Timing: “@ Alf Baird 6.31 pm . I remember it well Alf also supporters of a certain football club that were…Feb 7, 19:21
    • Alf Baird on A Stitch In Timing: “Interesting, but lets not confuse colonialism with the class struggle. This from Professor Michael Hechter’s study of ‘The UK Internal…Feb 7, 18:41
    • Alf Baird on A Stitch In Timing: “You maybe don’t remember ‘Rugby Legends for No’, reflecting the more privileged culturally assimilated native groups greater propensity to oppose…Feb 7, 18:31
    • James on A Stitch In Timing: “See above, everyone. Another unionist Fanny.Feb 7, 17:59
    • DaveL on A Stitch In Timing: “Hey Rev, I’m wondering why two lengthy replies concerning fascism to Hatey’s post at 7.41pm on the 6th have been…Feb 7, 17:44
    • David Holden on A Stitch In Timing: “Not sure where your rant is coming from but it is so far off the mark I am beginning to…Feb 7, 17:38
    • Confused on A Stitch In Timing: “rugby is cringe. murrayfield, all those blazer cunts, all those private schoolboys banging heads, supported by new town stockbrokers giving…Feb 7, 16:51
    • Marie on A Stitch In Timing: “Well said. Agree with every word.Feb 7, 16:31
    • Andy Wiltshire on A Stitch In Timing: “The long arm of colonialism can even reach as far as Italy.Feb 7, 16:24
  • A tall tale



↑ Top