When I entered front line politics in 2012 as an SNP councillor, I was clear that my guiding ambition was to play a full part in the restoration of independence to Scotland. Over the past 10 years that commitment has only strengthened as the need for independence has grown ever more urgent. From oil and gas, to wind, tidal, wave and hydro Scotland’s vast energy resources keeps the UK powered and Her Majesty’s Treasury pumped full of cash.
Make no mistake, Scotland IS the broad shoulders of the UK.
Our reward for that vast contribution of energy, food, drink and water? To be fleeced of those resources, charged for transmitting our energy, denied access to associated revenue and berated, and ridiculed in the “mother of all parliaments”.
But it’s the social injustice that results from this distortion of governance that is finally beginning to dawn on many as the cost-of-living crisis deepens and more Scots find they are paying through the nose for energy when Scotland produces far more than we could possibly need.
When I rose to my feet on Wednesday 13th July, I had no doubt about the words I was going to say. I had no doubt about who I would be speaking to, and I had no doubt about who I was speaking for.
By now Wings readers will likely have already seen today’s events in the House Of Commons, where Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle completely lost his rag at Alba MPs (and Wings contributors) Kenny MacAskill and Neale Hanvey for protesting against the UK government’s refusal to respect Scotland’s mandate for an independence referendum.
‘Get them out’ demand Tory benches as Speaker Lindsay Hoyle orders ALBA MPs Neale Hanvey and Kenny MacAskill out of the chamber for heckling Boris Johnson. #pmqspic.twitter.com/RiADdSwKZA
Every one of the SNP’s MPs, meanwhile, sat meekly on their hands and didn’t squeak a single word of protest even as the Speaker flagrantly disregarded the House’s rules and subsequently improperly suspended the two Alba members for a week.
You know how the SNP are always going on about how bad the Tories are and how urgently we need to get rid of them? Well, it turns out they don’t want that to happen for at least a couple of years. They just want a different Tory as Prime Minister, even though they keep telling us that Boris Johnson is the greatest recruiting sergeant for independence there could be.
I am living for the day when someone in the Scottish media finds some courage from somewhere and asks Nicola Sturgeon, because she’s going to blink so fast her face might catch fire. But that phone will just keep on ringing until someone answers.
The trans-sex-role-stereotype movement has put what would have been concealed and kept behind closed doors on centre stage. This is why normal, decent men look aghast at other men’s behaviour while many women sigh with an ‘oh, this again’.
The woke bloke contempt for women is clear and abusive behaviours are on full display. Reading through Lundy Bancroft’s pivotal work “Why Does He Do That? Inside the Minds of Angry and Controlling Men”, the full cast of characters is present on Twitter, in the news and in our political parties and institutions.
We’ve observed that over the last few days a number of Unionists, led by tuba-honking dunderhead Blair McDougall (the man who turned a 30-point No lead into a 10-point one, who lost Labour 5000 votes when he stood in East Renfrewshire in 2017 on the basis of being the guy who saved the UK – trailing in an embarrassing 3rd in a seat where Jim Murphy had once won over 50% of the vote – and who is probably more responsible than any other individual for the utter destruction of Scottish Labour as a political force), have revived the ancient “Better Together” scare story about pensions in an independent Scotland.
For many years now, whenever I’ve done one of those “Which Political Party Should You Be In?” online quiz things, it always says that I’m a Green, which is weird because I really hate cyclists. Nevertheless, it was still the result when I did one most recently, just last month.
So I decided that for the first time in my life it was finally time to join a political party.
Craig Murray, a former ambassador to Uzbekistan, the father of a newborn child, a man in very poor health and one who has no prior convictions, handed himself over to the Scottish police last Sunday morning. He becomes the first person ever to be imprisoned on the obscure and vaguely defined charge of “jigsaw identification”.
Murray is also the first person to be jailed in Britain for contempt of court for their journalism in half a century – a period when such different legal and moral values prevailed that the British establishment had only just ended the prosecution of “homosexuals” and the jailing of women for having abortions.
Although we’re retired we already wrote this, so we may as well put it up for the 99.9% of Scots who don’t read the comments on David Leask‘s columns in the Herald.
It’s a claim he’s been banging on about since at least 2014, without ever providing a scrap of evidence to support it (his standard modus operandi), and yesterday was no exception. So let’s show Little Dave how proper big-boy journalists do it.
Saffron Robe on Nicola’s Summer Reading List: “Do not say, “I did not do it,” when you know you have done wrong, for “ill-gotten gains have no…” May 31, 13:13
Confused on Nicola’s Summer Reading List: “I sometimes see Brookmyre walking about; he is a local. “your books are shite” I banter in passing, listing a…” May 31, 12:56
Captain Caveman on Nicola’s Summer Reading List: ““Reading shite crime novels gives middle class pricks a vicarious dark streets of Scotland fix, whilst making them feel as…” May 31, 12:51
TURABDIN on Nicola’s Summer Reading List: “SCOTS BORN could be around 100k mark as census returns may be conservative owing to family data withheld. Second &…” May 31, 12:50
Hatey McHateface on Nicola’s Summer Reading List: ““I suspect those ‘customers’ who once supported the SNP in their many thousands have just silently abandoned it” I guess…” May 31, 12:44
Rob on Nicola’s Summer Reading List: “I do not have a problem with gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transexuals or “queers” per se. As long as it is…” May 31, 12:24
findlay on Nicola’s Summer Reading List: “Could that be described as assisted suicide? However, as far as I know, it’s still a crime to lend assistance…” May 31, 12:20
TURABDIN on Nicola’s Summer Reading List: “the ULTIMATE QUEER list, a few you might actually have heard of, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/independent-pride-list-2026-lgbt-changemakers-alan-carr-b2981863.html Nae Nicola! Maybe next year hen, Next…” May 31, 12:18
Northcode on Nicola’s Summer Reading List: “Silent churn is a business term mostly used by sales and marketing professionals. The silent churn of unhappy customers is…” May 31, 12:15
Mark Beggan on Nicola’s Summer Reading List: “Story circulating that Alex Salmond paid £500 pounds out of his own pocket to cover a theft by Murrell many…” May 31, 12:12
Mark Beggan on Nicola’s Summer Reading List: “It will be easier to get rid of queers from positions in civic society than it was to force them…” May 31, 11:55
David Lindsay on Nicola’s Summer Reading List: “The Crown Prosecution Service will not be seeking the extradition of Kenneth Law, despite his 79 known victims in the…” May 31, 11:52
robertkknight on Nicola’s Summer Reading List: “A glance to the right of this webpage displays just some of the ‘Jam Tomorrow’ front pages of that rag…” May 31, 11:51
Rob on Nicola’s Summer Reading List: “It seems that the SNP have forgotten the original brief for the party, upon independence the party was supposed to…” May 31, 11:51
Rob on Nicola’s Summer Reading List: “Has she ever heard the saying, “when you are in a hole stop digging?” The whole story from her seems…” May 31, 11:43
Hatey McHateface on Nicola’s Summer Reading List: “Smart, successful politicians should organise their own assassinations.” May 31, 11:42
Hatey McHateface on Nicola’s Summer Reading List: ““I feel I’m being tried for a crime I didn’t commit” Un be fucking lievable. When is somebody gonna confront…” May 31, 11:39
findlay on Nicola’s Summer Reading List: “Sometimes life is just one steep learning curve, and I imagine she’s learning, just a little bit, about how she…” May 31, 11:36
Hatey McHateface on Nicola’s Summer Reading List: “There’s some 90,000 Scots already living in London, CC, making it the fifth most populous Scottish city in the UK,…” May 31, 11:27
Hatey McHateface on Nicola’s Summer Reading List: “I guess she’s not yet sweating, then. And these days, it’s Mr Mountbatten-Windsor. Leave your glengarry undoffed, willie!” May 31, 11:10
Owen Mullions on Nicola’s Summer Reading List: ““I feel I’m being tried for a crime I didn’t commit” wails a tearful Sturgeon. She doesn’t do irony doesn’t…” May 31, 11:08
Terry on Nicola’s Summer Reading List: “Ha ha. Well done You deserve a laugh and praise after your tireless pursuit of the truth. The whole of…” May 31, 11:04
Cynicus on Nicola’s Summer Reading List: ““ Sturgeon’s interview with Laura Kuenssberg will come to be seen alongside Prince Andrew’s interview with Emily Maitlis.” ========= Are…” May 31, 10:59
Captain Caveman on Nicola’s Summer Reading List: “Well, it would’ve been quite amusing if she had in fact chosen that most beautiful English city – the Roman…” May 31, 10:48
TURABDIN on Nicola’s Summer Reading List: “Independence movements eventually take the violent route. The mainstream Scots independentists appear rather squeamish/nervous in that regard. Fanon ultimately reached…” May 31, 10:47
Ex President Xiden on Nicola’s Summer Reading List: “Well there you have it. In an interview with Laura Kuenssberg this morning, wee Nicola reveals she is in fact…” May 31, 10:44
willie on Nicola’s Summer Reading List: “And here’s a prediction. Sturgeon’s interview with Laura Kuenssberg will come to be seen alongside Prince Andrew’s interview with Emily…” May 31, 10:28
willie on Nicola’s Summer Reading List: “Just watched Laura Kuenssberg’s Sunday morning interview with Sturgeon. Pinnochio would be hard pressed to come up with the whopper…” May 31, 10:21
Hatey McHateface on Nicola’s Summer Reading List: “If Fanon, Memmi, Cesaire, Elkins and the Jonesy boyo don’t explain the “colonial condition of Scots”, Alf, why do you…” May 31, 10:09
Hatey McHateface on Nicola’s Summer Reading List: “They’re also reporting a surge in donations to the SNP, as the faithful rush to make up the shortfall caused…” May 31, 09:52