The world's most-read Scottish politics website

Wings Over Scotland


Archive for the ‘scottish politics’


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 →

The ultimate weapon 204

Posted on February 04, 2014 by

It seems that today marked the official start of the much-vaunted “lovebombing” campaign aimed at persuading Scots to stay in the UK by showing them how much they’re loved by the people of England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The opening salvo did some unfortunate and costly collateral damage, but luckily the Union had a white knight following close behind to smooth over any injured feelings.

Would you like to meet him, readers?

Read the rest of this entry →

Lovebombing on the cheap 98

Posted on February 04, 2014 by

The Sun’s editions on both sides of the border today go in heavy with the results of a YouGov poll showing a dramatic turnaround in the percentage of English (and Welsh) people who want Scotland to leave the UK.

sunpolleng

Or at least, SOME of the results.

Read the rest of this entry →

An unexpected alliance 108

Posted on February 04, 2014 by

We’ve already mentioned this in passing, but it’s worth pulling out in its own right, because people hardly ever bother to click links in features and it’s kind of important.

Late last year we had a bit of an epiphany in terms of realising the implications of Scottish Labour’s draft proposals for giving more powers to the Scottish Parliament in the event of a No vote in the independence referendum. We suggested that the plans were in fact a trap, which would be a disaster for Scotland and see billions of pounds of cuts in the Scottish budget.

iandavidsonfacepalm

What we weren’t expecting was for Labour MP Ian Davidson to confirm it for us.

Read the rest of this entry →

A mixed day for Johann Lamont 178

Posted on February 04, 2014 by

There’s both good and bad news for the embattled Scottish Labour “leader” in today’s newspapers. But before we get to that, we’d like you to watch this.

The gent posing the rather lengthy question is Sean Clerkin, the man Iain Gray hid from in Subway. We must admit we’re not quite sure why he thinks Johann Lamont has anything to do with Atos sponsoring the Commonwealth Games – something which would presumably be a matter for the Scottish Government and/or Glasgow City Council, neither of which she controls – but the Labour MSP’s reaction is remarkable.

Read the rest of this entry →

A strange kind of positivity 171

Posted on February 03, 2014 by

We were a little perplexed this morning by the Daily Record’s banner headline.

recordbed

And not just because of the unusually generous use by the Labour-supporting paper of the term “SNP Government” (rather than “Scottish Goverment”) on a good-news story.

Read the rest of this entry →

Unleashing a firestorm 394

Posted on February 03, 2014 by

It’s not as if the Financial Times doesn’t have history with dropping great big payloads of high explosive into the middle of the independence debate late on a Sunday night. But a piece coming up in Monday’s edition (and online tonight) is going to choke a few breakfasts in London tomorrow morning.

Read the rest of this entry →

Stories of the week, 2-2-14 22

Posted on February 02, 2014 by

The top five most-read stories on Wings Over Scotland in the last seven days.

1. The honesty patrol
Cybernats!

2. The lonely hours
Cybernats!

3. Cybernat of the week
CYBERNATS!

4. The Mars bar at your seat
Idiot.

5. You’d need a heart of stone
Idiot whines about cybernats.

Eesh. Grim stuff. Let’s hope for a more pleasant week to come.

The crushing of a people 201

Posted on February 02, 2014 by

The following paragraph closes an article in today’s Observer.

“Kelly Gibson, 36, a homeless Big Issue seller on busy Sauchiehall Street, perhaps summed it up best: ‘I think that maybe we’ve got too much to lose. If they can’t explain to me how Scotland will be richer, how do I know that I will be better off?'”

We’re almost lost for words. But not quite.

Read the rest of this entry →

An impressive feat 218

Posted on February 02, 2014 by

It takes some doing to make even BBC News presenters look a little uncomfortable at the sheer depth of your ignorance when it comes to Scottish independence, so we probably ought to offer some sort of commendation to this guy:

Read the rest of this entry →

Our new theme music 153

Posted on February 01, 2014 by

imperial

Read the rest of this entry →

  • About

    Wings Over Scotland is a thing that exists.

    Stats: 6,903 Posts, 1,241,077 Comments

  • Recent Posts

  • Archives

  • Categories

  • Tags

  • Recent Comments

    • twathater on Pick Your Poison: “Alf / Dan, I got roasted by grousebeater for suggesting that Kenny MacAskill had ignored and rejected the hand of…May 8, 02:41
    • Geri on Pick Your Poison: “It’s not nonsense & Marie is correct. Every vote cast for this colonial outpost is a vote to maintain &…May 8, 01:30
    • Mark Beggan on Pick Your Poison: “If the SNP are skint where did they get the money to pay for so many leaflets?May 8, 01:03
    • Geri on Pick Your Poison: “Shiteface, So you admit Scotland only has a say in Westminster if it votes Unionist. Thanks for confirmation that we…May 8, 00:21
    • GM on Pick Your Poison: “I didn’t bother on the constituency either. It turned out there might have been a pro independence party on it,…May 8, 00:05
    • GM on Pick Your Poison: “Staff at polling station said turnout was vert good, surprisingly. I was extremely surprised as it is unusual for the…May 7, 23:35
    • Geri on Pick Your Poison: ““because the Kingdom of England just hijacks the Westminster elections as their own, thus simplifying the choices and reducing the…May 7, 23:18
    • Cuphook on Pick Your Poison: “I have the right to vote, but it’s not compulsory. And I don’t need your respect. My choice to not…May 7, 22:36
    • James on Pick Your Poison: “Well Northy…here we go…. The United Nations Has Received the Evidence: Scotland Is a Colony and the World Now Knows…May 7, 22:08
    • Wally Jumblatt on Pick Your Poison: “I was handed the peachy sheet for the List candidates, a rag, tag & bobtail sheet of non-people and fantasy…May 7, 22:06
    • James on Pick Your Poison: “To paraphrase a great thinker talking about Fish Face previously; not all people who vote “Reform” are racist, but all…May 7, 21:29
    • James on The value bet: “Excellent. Boxes full here as well. Hopefully ATLS will do weel! Soar Alba.May 7, 21:10
    • Chris Downie on Pick Your Poison: “At this stage, would it actually be better if the pro-independence majority was lost, so that minds could refocus and…May 7, 21:02
    • Geri on Pick Your Poison: “They’re read by the candidates throughout the count so they can all agree to discard them/proof they’re spoiled. It may…May 7, 20:51
    • Bilbo on Pick Your Poison: “I don’t know if I have understood Grousebeater correctly but is he saying that we should be voting for SNP…May 7, 20:33
    • Marie on Pick Your Poison: “If you’d read my original post you would know that I intend to vote on the list paper. That’s where…May 7, 20:30
    • Bilbo on Pick Your Poison: “@ Cuphook 7 May, 2026 at 12:22 pm Of course for those that support Reform and have made up their…May 7, 20:29
    • Rev. Stuart Campbell on Pick Your Poison: “One of you has a capital J, the other doesn’t.May 7, 20:28
    • Rev. Stuart Campbell on Pick Your Poison: “Even if lots of idiots vote SNP 1+2 it won’t be because that mad wee chimp told them to.May 7, 20:26
    • agentx on Pick Your Poison: “There is still time to go to vote.May 7, 20:15
    • agentx on Pick Your Poison: “Absolute nonsense. Go back to sitting on your hands and see how much that does for you.May 7, 20:11
    • Marie on Pick Your Poison: “agentx @7.10pm – The system is rigged. Candidates are bought. Candidates are captured. This isn’t the early 1900s. Our “elites”…May 7, 19:50
    • george wood on Pick Your Poison: “Seems to have been a big green turnout in my ward in Edinburgh Central. Maybe somebody should have taken Stu…May 7, 19:50
    • robertkknight on Pick Your Poison: “No idea. I exercised my civic duty and democratic right to vote in a manner whereby I declined to endorse…May 7, 19:46
    • Campbell Clansman on Pick Your Poison: “Asking for evidence is so 1990s. Just yell “Yoon!” at anyone who disagrees with you. That is (sadly) the intellectual…May 7, 19:39
    • Jay on Pick Your Poison: “With reference to comment from jay on 7 May 2026 at 12:41: I did not make that comment. Are there…May 7, 19:26
    • agentx on Pick Your Poison: “Women fought for years to get the vote and you want to just “sit on your hands”!May 7, 19:10
    • agentx on Pick Your Poison: “Is there any evidence anywhere that spoilt voting papers ever changed any Party policies whatsoever?May 7, 18:49
    • George Ferguson on Pick Your Poison: “Hi Alf/ Dan Mathematics and Statistics tells me that not one of these minor parties will get elected.The only plausible…May 7, 18:46
    • Potace on Pick Your Poison: “Didn’t vote. Just couldn’t be arsed and wasn’t giving that lot my vote. Fool me once…May 7, 18:42
  • A tall tale



↑ Top