Brace yourselves, everyone 117
Posted on
December 05, 2022 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
Archive for the ‘uk politics’
The way time flies 182
Posted on
December 04, 2022 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
Can this really be six and a half years ago?
We suddenly feel very old.
Fear Of Failing 255
Posted on
December 02, 2022 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
Word reaches us, readers, that Nicola Sturgeon was “furious” when she joined the most recent meeting of the SNP’s Westminster group by Skype. Her rage was driven by the suggestion that the party should trigger a Holyrood election to act as a de facto independence referendum, a policy we’re reliably told is supported by a number of MPs who are too scared of being browbeaten by Sturgeon in front of their colleagues to actually speak out in favour of it.
(We won’t mention their names at this point.)
Our source mentioned to us that they seemed to remember an interview in which the First Minister had revealed a possible reason for her extreme antipathy to the idea – one for the BBC’s extensive and rather good three-part documentary “Yes/No – Inside The Indyref”, which was broadcast in August 2019 and never seen again.
It’s not available on iPlayer or YouTube, but fortunately we happened to still have the show recorded on our Sky+ box, so we went to check, and lo and behold our source’s recollection was correct. Apologies for the slightly wonky quality of this video, as we had to record it off the TV screen.
We’ve transcribed it below.
Triumph Of The Won’t 49
Posted on
December 02, 2022 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
You can’t move on social media today without tripping over effusive tweets from SNP MPs and MSPs singing the praises of departed Westminster leader Ian Blackford and admiring all his achievements in the position over the last five years, although weirdly nobody has actually listed any of them.
Wings Over Scotland would like to pay its own tribute by remembering this line in the sand drawn by Blackford in August 2019 and on many other occasions.
Thank goodness he didn’t allow that to happen, eh readers?
One more to go 130
Posted on
December 01, 2022 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
…until we can all start actually trying to achieve independence again.
(Unless they replace him with Kirsty sodding Blackman or something, obv.)
The end of the process 201
Posted on
November 29, 2022 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
Five and three quarters years ago.
If anyone knows when “this process” will have ended and we’ll get our choice – or indeed what she achieved for Scotland in the Brexit negotiations – do let us know.
How you do it 175
Posted on
November 29, 2022 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
It’s more than two years now since we published this article, but it’s worth quickly going over it again, because there’s nothing on Earth more tedious than boneheads on social media going “Oh, you slag off the SNP but what’s YOUR plan if you’re so clever?”, who haven’t bothered to read any of the dozen times we’ve already answered that question since 25 months ago.
This is it. This is our plan. Try listening this time, thickos.
But not yet, Lord 131
Posted on
November 27, 2022 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
The SNP have been all over the place since Wednesday’s judgement of the Supreme Court. Astonishingly, the party hadn’t prepared an agreed line in the event of the Court ruling against it, with the result that various party figures had popped up with all sorts of different versions of what a supposed plebiscite election would mean.
The closest things to an “official” position were when the SNP’s Policy Development Convener Toni Giugliano, and former Glasgow city councillor and Nicola Sturgeon’s mouthpiece Mhairi Hunter (who’d dismissed the whole idea of a plebiscite election as “impossible” earlier this year), both suggested that a victory in a plebiscite general election would simply amount to another mandate to demand a Section 30 order.
The party’s Depute Leader Keith Brown, on the other hand, had claimed that winning such an election would produce independence by itself. But lest any Yes supporters get over-excited, on TV this afternoon Brown declared that the matter would have to wait at least a couple of years.
Why? Because apparently the SNP can’t be bothered with the paperwork.
The snake that ate its own tail 230
Posted on
November 27, 2022 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
It’s nice to see the British media (and perhaps, if we might be allowed to dream for a moment, the law) catching up with Michelle Mone.
It’s such a shame nobody did any proper investigative journalism into what a crooked, venal chancer she is before now – seven years ago or even four years ago, say – or the country might have been saved a few billion quid. Ah well, you live and learn, eh?
Where there isn’t a will 138
Posted on
November 25, 2022 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
Let’s get straight to the point: this is a straight-up categorical lie.
Since Wednesday’s events there’s been a lot of chatter and confusion on social media about whether the Scottish Government has the ability to trigger a snap Holyrood election and use it as a de facto plebiscite on independence.
The short answer, as we told you yesterday, is “officially no, in practice yes”. But that needs a bit of further explanation, so as usual let’s do the job of actual journalism that nobody else in Scotland can apparently be bothered to.
