The world's most-read Scottish politics website

Wings Over Scotland


Archive for the ‘stats’


A flash of perspective 131

Posted on June 23, 2014 by

Professor Patrick Dunleavy of the London School of Economics, a man with absolutely no dog in the Scottish independence fight, has now published his detailed assessment of the set-up costs of an independent Scotland.

He puts the actual additional cost – that is, what Scotland would have to spend that it wouldn’t have to spend anyway if it stayed in the UK – at around £200m. That’s the total, not every year, and is somewhat below the UK government’s own “estimate” of £2.7bn, issued just three weeks ago to widespread derision.

For comparison purposes that’s very roughly what Scotland spends on the upkeep of Trident nuclear submarines every year (our share of the £2.24bn annual cost), but as the Unionist parties constantly complain that Scotland’s savings on Trident get spent several times over by Yes supporters, we thought we’d come up with an alternative.

Read the rest of this entry →

Lies and replies 260

Posted on June 18, 2014 by

We suppose, then, that we’d better deal with the UK government’s bizarre propaganda booklet that’s about to slither through every letterbox in Scotland at taxpayers’ expense whether they like it or not. We’ve been having some fun with the cover image in the last couple of days, but astonishingly enough this is the real version:

pishflet1

To be honest, readers, we’re still kind of rubbing our eyes in disbelief at that one. But the McTrapp Family above (who are these implausibly happy children? Where, who or what are they running from? Are they trespassing? Where are their parents?) aren’t even nearly the weirdest thing about the pamphlet.

Read the rest of this entry →

Better ourselves 225

Posted on June 16, 2014 by

In the course of debunking some No-camp myths about “high taxes” and the cost of living in Scandinavian countries, we’ve often mentioned that in addition to average real incomes being far higher in places like Norway and Denmark (even after adjusting for the cost of living), that average is itself misleading, because the poor distribution of wealth in the UK means that it’s artificially inflated by the incomes of the super-rich.

spiritlevel

Now it’s possible to actually put figures on that.

Read the rest of this entry →

Stories of the week, 15/6/2014 59

Posted on June 15, 2014 by

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

1. Voters less ordinary
Housewife turns out to be activist. What could go wrong?

2. Inaudible mumble amplified
A good week to bury someone calling a million Scots racists.

3. Becoming the story
Smearing the messenger.

4. To the editor of the Scotsman
Standing by for developments.

5. The unacceptable face of politics
Grumpy-Looking Man confronts Not Quite All There Woman.

This week’s theme: CYBERNATS! (Again.)

Stories of the week, 8/6/2014 84

Posted on June 08, 2014 by

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

1. OBAMA INTERVENES IN REFERENDUM
All two words of it. We’re not sure how to feel about that.

2. It’s about democracy, stupid
A more eloquent response from American Scot Jean Muir.

3. What Alistair Darling said
We’re still waiting for the New Statesman to release the tapes.

4. Zombies walk the Earth
The reason Labour have shoved Anas Sarwar off onto a bus.

5. How times don’t change
You’d already forgotten the Strathclyde Commission happened, hadn’t you?

This week’s theme: spot the sensible.

Stories of the week 1/6/2014 27

Posted on June 01, 2014 by

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

1. An actual letter from America
A fresh perspective on NATO and nukes.

2. The news less fit to print
The media tries to pretend there isn’t a blue whale in the room.

3. Unrestricted warfare
Just your standard No camp make-people-think-their-child-will-die stuff.

4. A day of shame
On which we learned that 10% = 30% and 4 = 1.

5. Friends and enemies
Anas Sarwar claims the BNP and Britain First for team-mates.

This week’s theme: spin so intense it alters gravity.

Your love keeps lifting us higher 244

Posted on June 01, 2014 by

Readership stats for May, if you like that sort of thing.

Read the rest of this entry →

A good point well made 245

Posted on May 26, 2014 by

We’re rather kicking ourselves for not having spotted this one when it was staring us in the face, so kudos to Welsh professor of political science Roger Scully for the catch.

In the 2009 European elections, UKIP got 16.5% of the vote in the UK as a whole, and 5.2% in Scotland – a gap of 11.3%. In this year’s election the tallies were 27.5% in the UK and 10.5% in Scotland – a gap of 17%.

fraserukip

In other words, despite all the bluster from Unionists about how Scotland can no longer claim to be different to the rest of the UK in terms of supporting Nigel Farage’s party, in fact the degree of difference has substantially increased, by a whopping 55%.

It just seems worth pointing out.

Not scared yet? 286

Posted on May 25, 2014 by

Recently we’ve been documenting a bizarre attempt by the No camp to terrify Scots with the thought that in order to continue to pay for pensions and public services and whatnot, an independent Scotland would need, um, almost exactly the same amount of immigration it has now. (Particularly alert readers may even recall when we pointed out that the UK parties used to have the exact opposite viewpoint.)

And it seems our critiques have already hit home.

Read the rest of this entry →

Bleeding obvious confirmed 173

Posted on May 24, 2014 by

For quite some time now, and in particular since the turn of the year, this site’s been pointing out two things about polling for the 2015 UK general election.

locshare

One is that Labour’s lead has been in steady decline since 2012. The other is that the polls present a falsely optimistic picture for Ed Miliband’s party, as ultimately a significant proportion of UKIP support is likely to vote tactically, because only two people have a chance of becoming Prime Minister and only one of them is promising what UKIP supporters want above all else – a referendum on leaving the EU.

Pleasingly, on one level at least, today we were proved right.

Read the rest of this entry →

Well, this should be interesting 244

Posted on May 22, 2014 by

An email we just got from the Office for National Statistics:

“Hello! The ONS is launching a compendium of statistics on 5 June which enables people to compare stats for Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland across subjects such as their economies and populations.”

We’re not entirely sure where they even got our address, but our curiosity’s piqued.

Stormy weather 434

Posted on May 20, 2014 by

In our poll results earlier today, we found out what Scots thought about the past and the present. But we also asked them to look ahead at the sort of Scotland (and UK) they see developing over the space of the next decade.

stormy

Here’s what they thought.

Read the rest of this entry →

  • About

    Wings Over Scotland is a thing that exists.

    Stats: 6,776 Posts, 1,219,747 Comments

  • Recent Posts

  • Archives

  • Categories

  • Tags

  • Recent Comments

    • Rev. Stuart Campbell on The Grand Tour: “AFAIK Alba aren’t standing in any constituencies, but even if she does I’d be surprised if she held it.Jun 11, 12:43
    • Hatey McHateface on The Grand Tour: ““bent on the continued subjugation of the Scots and the theft of everything they own” Hide your wallet, NC. That’s…Jun 11, 12:31
    • Skip_NC on The Grand Tour: “No. On those numbers, the SNP lose 7 to Labour, make a net gain of one from the Tories and…Jun 11, 12:25
    • Northcode on The Grand Tour: ““De-basing an entire national/ethnic group/culture is how colonization ‘works’…” England would have the Scots believe they are useless and that…Jun 11, 12:08
    • Alf Baird on The Grand Tour: ““Slag off some minorities” De-basing an entire national/ethnic group/culture is how colonization ‘works’ (Memmi). In other words, making ‘a people’…Jun 11, 11:52
    • Hatey McHateface on Two Of A Kind: “Great post, NC. Good to see you are not living in fear today. “New Caledonia and French Polynesia” Great choice…Jun 11, 11:26
    • TURABDIN on The Grand Tour: “A.I. BOTS are prey to «hallucination», sometimes with serious consequences but humans do it far better. https://archive.is/3WRmr Aberdeen South…beware!Jun 11, 11:26
    • Hatey McHateface on The Grand Tour: ““not because they are worth voting for but more as a protest vote” Ah, come on now Rob. Their “secret”…Jun 11, 11:18
    • Hatey McHateface on The Grand Tour: ““elected an MP who stated he would keep the refinery open” As in “would like to” or “will” keep the…Jun 11, 11:11
    • Jock McTavish on The Grand Tour: “LABOUR GAINS: 7 (all from SNP), net +7 SNP GAINS: 3 (all from Con), net -7 Should that be net…Jun 11, 11:06
    • Northcode on Two Of A Kind: “This from Justice pour Tous Internationale (JPTi): To help better understand the process, we want to explain how the United…Jun 11, 11:00
    • Rob on The Grand Tour: “While I am not a reform voter nor likely to be I do think you are underestimating the effect they…Jun 11, 10:38
    • Louise on The Grand Tour: “F.Y.I. The candidate for Cunninghame South is now Patricia Gibson.Jun 11, 10:33
    • Skip_NC on The Grand Tour: “My guess is Alba will let Ash Regan stand in the constituency, if she wishes. It will either be a…Jun 11, 10:33
    • GM on The Grand Tour: “It is one thing shunning the SNP and another thing voting for a Scottish rep of an English party in…Jun 11, 10:16
    • Karen on The Grand Tour: “The useless Mairi Gougeon is not re-standing in Mearns, I am hopeful Conservative Tess White will win, as she is…Jun 11, 08:35
    • ScottieDog on The Grand Tour: “Actually quite depressing. With these majorities you can see why there’s such an air of entitlement. Why on Earth would…Jun 11, 08:33
    • Hatey McHateface on The Grand Tour: ““Slag off some minorities” No need to stoop to that. Use facts, evidence and examples to show that some minorities…Jun 11, 07:48
    • Joan Savage on The Grand Tour: “Do you think Ash Regan will retain her Constituency seat in Edinburgh East? Given that her considerable majority was gained…Jun 11, 07:34
    • Iain More on The Grand Tour: ““Anyone voting SNP on both ballots, then, for any reason, is unequivocally a moron.” They are worse than morons. Anybody…Jun 11, 02:16
    • Wullie B on The Grand Tour: “I think you might have a pleasant surprise from Banff and Buchan, believe it or not, between the fishing and…Jun 11, 00:25
    • Heaver on The Grand Tour: “Slag off some minorities. That’ll get you noticed. Works for Farage.Jun 10, 23:55
    • Willie on The Grand Tour: “Interesting day tomorrow in parliament. Will the vote on the decision released late tonight by the Scottish Government be enough…Jun 10, 23:49
    • Eddie Munster on The Grand Tour: “Alba are list only so to not split the indy vote, they’ve been saying that for a long time now.…Jun 10, 23:41
    • Andrew D on The Grand Tour: “Just so you know, this is the first political *anything* I’ve read about Scotland in ages because I’ve entirely given…Jun 10, 23:24
    • Bill Cowan on The Grand Tour: “ALBA a complete no-show? And what of the combination of all the other Indy parties, groups, and individuals, Liberate Scotland?Jun 10, 23:12
    • Jim Anderson on The Grand Tour: “S Gethins is earmarked to replace the useless Shona in Dundee East.Jun 10, 22:40
    • George Ferguson on The Grand Tour: “Excellent analysis Stu as usual. I can’t disagree with any of it. Slightly disconcerting to me trying to stand as…Jun 10, 22:22
    • sarah on The Grand Tour: “Rev, I take it that you don’t think that ANY SNP candidate can lose Edinburgh Eastern, given that Ash Denham/Regan…Jun 10, 21:57
    • KEITH HYND on The Grand Tour: “Even if the SNP were the only option on the ballot paper I still wouldn’t vote for them. They need…Jun 10, 21:50
  • A tall tale



↑ Top