The average prison term for rape in Scotland is just under seven years. So we really don’t want to think about what Andrew “Amy George” Miller did to the poor young girl he abducted to get 20. (Indeed, strictly speaking 28.)
Miller wasn’t charged with rape, the 11-year-old was described as “safe and well” when the police found her and she was missing for just over one day. Miller also entered a guilty plea. So our blood runs cold at the thought of what must have happened in those 27 hours to nevertheless attract such a huge sentence, and we hope never to know.
This really is grim, folks. Remember the days when there had to be overflow rooms for the leader’s speech at the SNP conference, in venues holding thousands? Now they can’t come close to filling 750 seats in a 2000-seat arena.
The reception afforded to Sturgeon yesterday, who left the party in the pile of wreckage that the hapless Yousaf is still trying to stumble through, was a symptom of desperate people clinging forlornly to the shadow of better times, like an abandoned dog seeking the last bits of warmth and scent from its owner’s chair.
But those days are gone, never to return. This is the barren, foreboding autumn of the SNP, the cold ground thickly carpeted in the lifeless, crumbling and silent remains of lost members fallen from branches.
We thought this was overdue an update. It’s got about 16 new front pages on it, one whole new row and a handful of newly-rediscovered replacements. It really is worth taking a few minutes to peruse it properly (click on the pic to enlarge it) to get the full effect of eight wasted years of deja vu disappointment.
It’s not even The National’s fault. They’re a business, they’re simply trying to sell a few papers to a diminishing audience of endlessly gullible eejits. The real fault lies with the halfwitted SNP members who just keep on doggedly failing to learn a single lesson, and repeatedly vote to carry on doing what they know doesn’t work and never will.
As alert readers will have noticed, Wings has been perusing the SNP’s Governance And Transparency Review over the last couple of days, a document which tentatively attempts to discern just how big a mess the party’s previous leadership has left it in.
The paper has now also reached the mainstream media.
Wings already touched on that particular aspect of the party’s mismanagement back in August, but in the light of the report now formally acknowledging the problem it’s worth taking a moment to establish just how astonishingly bad it is.
The writing, we mean. Because it’s not until you see it baldly written down in black and white that it really hits you how insane it is.
The SNP has 44 MPs now, and has not managed to enter independence negotiations.
Winning 29 seats would represent a LOSS of 15, or more than a third.
And they’re about to stand up in front of voters and insist that that would somehow compel the UK government to hand over what they’ve been flatly refusing since 2016.
(It’s all pretty academic anyway, obv, as we’ll be amazed if they get double figures.)
The very last shred of credibility has left the building, readers.
Labour won far more handsomely in last night’s by-election than anyone – and we very strongly suspect that includes themselves – expected. If the swing of over 20% was to be repeated nationwide next year (which it won’t be, but we’ll get to that in a minute), the SNP would be reduced to six or seven seats, as Wings has predicted for a while.
From the abject pit of despair of 2015, when Labour lost 40 of its 41 MPs in Scotland, let’s look at how the party has powered back to recapture the hearts of voters.
Hatey McHateface on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “So unkind, YL. I’ve merely observed, on several occasions, that your finest work is published after 2 AM. If you…” Jun 29, 07:33
Hatey McHateface on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: ““it’s little wonder they’re unable to grasp postcolonial theory” Of course, you, Alf, Northy, and many others on here all…” Jun 29, 07:19
Hatey McHateface on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “Ah, c’moan noo. If we all lost our jobs, just because we turned up at work with a transponder aerial…” Jun 29, 07:11
Young Lochinvar on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “HMcH Tried to reply earlier, it just didn’t appear, and I know posts at this time upset you so very…” Jun 29, 01:01
Saffron Robe on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “Excellent comment, Achnababan, which I wholeheartedly agree with. However, I wouldn’t say that there is a significant number of MSPs…” Jun 29, 00:15
Oneliner on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “How naive. So the Holyrood spad who was caught with a transponder aerial in his gusset was acting independently. Where…” Jun 28, 23:56
Rob on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “We are descending down the conspiracy rabbit hole now.] If you raise something the “british state” doesn’t like you will…” Jun 28, 23:24
Hatey McHateface on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “The references to Scotland’s illustrious history as a Kingdom under a long and noble line of Scottish Kings and Queens…” Jun 28, 22:16
Hatey McHateface on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “Whispers in the shadows. “The swirl of a cape. Masked figures, partially seen in the gloom beneath smashed streetlights. The…” Jun 28, 22:07
sarah on Off-topic: “@ Tinto, I thought Cape Verde’s example was an obvious one for Scotland to follow – their defenders and midfield…” Jun 28, 22:00
Young Lochinvar on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “Tomorrows anniversary of note; Battle of Buittle (near Dalbeattie) in 1308. Bruce’s fortunes were on the up and the fictional…” Jun 28, 21:54
sarah on Off-topic: “Definitely fewer summer birds here near the head of Loch Broom but on the other hand a huge increase in…” Jun 28, 21:53
sarah on Off-topic: “Thanks, aLurker. I too am a supporter of the Manifesto for Independence and cannot see why it wasn’t adopted across…” Jun 28, 21:36
Alf Baird on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “This fits with postcolonial theory on how colonialism is enabled and protected, where the national party elite is ‘co-opted by…” Jun 28, 20:25
GeoffC on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “We shall keenly await Murrell’s book titled “I Was The Scapegoat; Clearly”.” Jun 28, 20:24
Hatey McHateface on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “Enough already, Alf! I get it. We Scots can’t do anything because we’re pre-ordained to be doomed. We need others…” Jun 28, 19:55
Alf Baird on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: ““form an anti-colonialism party” Postcolonial theory predicts the political process in a colony always fails the people, Hatey. Which is…” Jun 28, 19:35
aLurker on Off-topic: “Hi all! 😉 Grand to see youse are all doin awa this fine mid summer. There has been a noticeable…” Jun 28, 19:21
Hatey McHateface on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “@ Jay says: 28 June, 2026 at 6:18 pm Ref. my post 7:30 on 27th., there’s a school of thought…” Jun 28, 19:00
Hatey McHateface on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “Slap some micro-panels on the top of your tinfoil hat and you’ll get enough current to power a personal cooling…” Jun 28, 18:33
Hatey McHateface on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “Back in May, I did seriously hope you might learn a new tune for the next 5-year Hollyrood cycle. More…” Jun 28, 18:23
Jay on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “McHateful, ref. your post 7:30 on 27th., if Northcode were able to pose sufficient threat to a scheme pursued by…” Jun 28, 18:18
Luigi on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: ““So why was NS not prosecuted?” A more plausible answer may have been “Because I was instructed by my masters,…” Jun 28, 17:40
Lee Floyd on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “I’ve said many times before. This site is unquestionably the finest investgative journalism provision anywhere in the UK. If only…” Jun 28, 16:41
robertkknight on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “https://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/taking-action/simple-procedure/guide-to-simple-procedure/ You don’t need a fraud case to cause the SNP some fully justified inconvenience… Be certain you have proof…” Jun 28, 15:28
Alasdair Roy on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “However unpopular it may be with my fellow followers on this site I cannot see a prosecution on the missing…” Jun 28, 14:50
Stuart Swanston on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “The Crown Agent used many more grammatically correct complex sentences to say as little as the Deputy Chief Constable. That’s…” Jun 28, 14:19
Alf Baird on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: ““the British State is controlling Scotland” Indeed so, and as you imply, colonial institutions are a central feature of control…” Jun 28, 13:43
aLurker on Off-topic: “Hi Sarah. I’m a rare visitor to WoS these days, but great to see youse still alive and kicking. I…” Jun 28, 13:35
sam on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “https://www.fraudadvisorypanel.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Fraud-in-Scotland-4th-ed-July2020.pdf “Common law fraud Common law fraud is the common‘catch all’ for most fraud prosecutions in Scotland. Fraud is committed…” Jun 28, 12:41
