That got us to thinking about which leaders in the Scottish Parliament era have made a significant difference (in either direction) to the fortunes of their parties, and from there it was pretty short work to illustrate it in the form of a graph.
Lacking anything better to do on a grey and cloudy day in Bath, we thought it might be a lark to go through every Holyrood constituency in Scotland and contemplate where it might go in next year’s election, based on the current state of polling.
And just to make things interesting, compared to our last assessment we’re going to give opposition parties the (often considerable) benefit of the doubt in a few seats for the sheer heck of it, and see if there’s any even slightly plausible outcome that means the SNP might win some list seats if all their voters vote for them on both ballots, or if they’ll waste a million votes for nothing and get dozens of Unionists elected like they did in 2021. [SPOILER: don’t prepare yourself for a surprise.]
Warning: despite the quite zingy title this is actually going to be a very dry stats post, readers. It is, on the other hand, based on a man having something disturbingly close to a complete psychotic mental breakdown, so there’s always that for a bit of colour.
Because the paragraph above, and in particular the highlighted part, is without a doubt the most dishonest, diametrically false and wildly extreme lie about Scottish politics that we’ve ever seen anyone tell in the 13.5 years of Wings Over Scotland’s existence.
Because, for startlingly obvious reasons, even the SNP hasn’t had the brass neck to do a general fundraiser for this election, with the police’s inquiries still going on into the whereabouts of the cash from their last big appeals.
But in fact the party has managed to wring over £100,000 from the most gullible of its remaining supporters in the days since the election was announced. It’s just been a bit more subtle about it.
(Including but not limited to International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia; International Pronouns Day; International Transgender Day Of Visibility; Transgender Awareness Week and of course the whole of “Pride Month”, which is now an almost entirely trans-focused event).
Citizens of Scotland and the UK were solemnly instructed to “remember the many trans people whose lives have been tragically cut short by violence”, although weirdly none of the politicians issuing the orders actually named any.
However, since we’re endlessly being told that trans people are the most marginalised, oppressed and vulnerable members of our society, and that an actual “trans genocide” is currently in progress, we expect there have been loads.
Today is the last day of Nicola Sturgeon’s record-breaking reign as First Minister of Scotland. In a few hours we’ll know who is to succeed her in the role. She was only the second SNP occupant of Bute House, and the legacy she bequeaths compared to the one she inherited from Alex Salmond is a matter of measureable record.
The SNP having a fondness for lying about their membership wouldn’t have come as quite such a shock to the Scottish press if they paid a little more attention to this website. Because we were pointing it out two and a half years ago.
It was in October 2020 that we told you how the SNP’s 2019 accounts revealed the party’s true membership figures weren’t the claimed 126,000 but more like 87,000.
Willie on The Long Walk To Freedom: “Information delayed is information denied is an apt line. But as we can see that is only one of the…” Dec 8, 01:37
Mark Beggan on The Long Walk To Freedom: “Where did you get your professorship? Tehran. An academic versed in colonial studys would know all the aspects good and…” Dec 8, 00:31
BLMac on The Long Walk To Freedom: “It’s about time someone in another country, eg Australia or USA revealed the names of the perjuring Alpha-Betties.” Dec 8, 00:06
Alf Baird on The Long Walk To Freedom: ““the truth is not just being delayed. It is being denied.” Should we really expect anything different in a colony?” Dec 7, 21:55
James on The Long Walk To Freedom: “Baiy and switch? Vote Yoon, because, you know, reasons. Nice try.” Dec 7, 21:12
Confused on The Long Walk To Freedom: “just asking. I thought I had “seen this before” somewhere and was wondering if it was new. All keep up…” Dec 7, 20:31
GM on The Long Walk To Freedom: “John Smythe, the people assisting him and Benjamin Harrop are all on the same path but aye, what do you…” Dec 7, 20:19
Confused on The Long Walk To Freedom: “How does this relate to https://johnsmytheinvestigations.wordpress.com/2025/10/03/foi-202500456798-selective-redactions-on-james-hamilton-correspondence/ and are you the same GM?” Dec 7, 19:00
Dan on The Long Walk To Freedom: “Stated this a few years back, but probably need an updated version of this old article, and it would likely…” Dec 7, 18:56
factchecker on The Long Walk To Freedom: “David, to use your image, we’re getting our faces hit with a broken bottle right now. They’ll keep getting hit…” Dec 7, 18:42
factchecker on The Long Walk To Freedom: “Dan, I agree with you about Labour’s record in the past. I’m just suggesting the only scenario I can see…” Dec 7, 18:30
Hatey McHateface on The Long Walk To Freedom: “There you go, factchecker, Dan says no. I’m afraid things still have to get a lot worse in Scotland before…” Dec 7, 18:18
David Holden on The Long Walk To Freedom: “An epic article in both length and breadth. A few reads will be required but after one pass I was…” Dec 7, 18:17
Dan on The Long Walk To Freedom: “Lolz, you maybe laid that voting initiative on jist a wee bitty too heavy. Aye, coz previously Labour in Scotland…” Dec 7, 17:39
factchecker on The Long Walk To Freedom: “Not a fact, this time – a personal thought. NUSNP has shown itself unworthy to govern the Scottish people consistently…” Dec 7, 17:08
Effijy on The Long Walk To Freedom: “I can’t digest such beating about the bushes, trees, and gorse. My conclusion, the SNP is rife with corruption and…” Dec 7, 16:16
James Cheyne on The cost of failure: “Also forgot to mention the destruction of infrastructure like roads, trains, water supplies, localised businesses, NHS, and other public services.…” Dec 7, 16:13
James Cheyne on The cost of failure: “Charles ( not the 3C one) Forgot to respond regards your comment Who will be the members of the new…” Dec 7, 16:04
James Cheyne on The cost of failure: “Charles ( not the RC one). If there was a Scottish parliament in reality, there would be no Parliamentary union…” Dec 7, 15:51
Morag on The Long Walk To Freedom: “We can only be grateful for people like yourself who are prepared to do this, and dogged and persistent enough…” Dec 7, 15:01
James Cheyne on The cost of failure: “Confirmation can be found in records that it was “The Great Seal of England ” that was used on the…” Dec 7, 14:04
GM on The Long Walk To Freedom: “Thanks Benjamin. I’ll look forward to your next post.” Dec 7, 13:46
GM on The Long Walk To Freedom: “Good work. I look forward to further information being released, eventually.” Dec 7, 13:36
duncanio on The Long Walk To Freedom: “The process is indeed the punishment. Much kudos goes to Benjamin Harrop for his tenacity and diligence in trying to…” Dec 7, 13:12
James Cheyne on The cost of failure: “The union of crowns only came into official bieng due to the articles of the treaty of union, Prior to…” Dec 7, 12:41
Hatey McHateface on The cost of failure: “Naw, James. It’s a little known fact that many people want to pay lots more tax. That’s why they move…” Dec 7, 10:23
Hatey McHateface on The cost of failure: “So long, Cynicus. Shame you never managed to deal with the substance of my assertion, that the son of some…” Dec 7, 10:11
