The entire Scottish media and professional-politician community is currently in a self-righteous froth about a campaign ad being run by Reform for the Hamilton by-election targeting Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar.
Obviously none of the acres of press coverage trusts voters to see the ad and decide for themselves, because that simply isn’t how journalism works nowadays. You’re told that a bad thing happened – whether it be a campaign ad, a comedian’s joke or the supposed terrible abuse sent to a celebrity – and how outraged various pundits or other celebrities are about it, with the clear implication that you should feel the same, but you almost never get shown or told what was actually said.
So to start with, as a basic journalistic principle, here’s the ad itself in its entirety.
Now let’s look at what you’re being ordered to think about it.
Don Paterson is a celebrated Scottish poet, writer and musician. The essay below comes from a new anthology of Scottish writers called Irish Pages: Scotland, and is reproduced with his permission.
Remember The Vow? Most of us have tried to forget it. This was Westminster’s Hail Mary as polling day approached in the 2014 referendum; a vote that Yessers – people tend to forget this part too – initially had no real expectation of winning, until an inspirationally positive campaign saw the polls draw neck-and-neck.
Then lo! There it was, splashed across the Daily Record: a fancy-font promise from Westminster party leaders that if Scotland voted to stay within the UK, we would enjoy new devolved powers. There was some other waffle about defence and opportunities and having an equal share in the UK’s prosperity. But the message was clear enough. We would be listened to.
The Scottish Tory MSP reacted furiously to a story in The National which said Scotland had been absorbed into England by the 1707 Act Of Union, rather than becoming a “partner” in anything, and had ceased to exist as a state in international law.
Which was a weird response, because that’s been the official stated position of both the UK government and the Conservative Party for at least the last 12 years.
Despite everything, we almost allowed ourselves just the very tiniest little micro-flicker of optimism when we read Tommy Sheppard’s latest in The National.
Because that much is certainly true, and it’s uncommonly candid to have anyone in the SNP admit it. So what’s the answer?
(Kelly’s article is here. Link to Grok’s answer here. The ChatGPT analysis that triggered the article can be read in this tweet thread. A verifiable analysis by Grok of the debate, based on a neutral question, can be read here.)
The legal imprint at the bottom means that that’s official SNP election communication. One assumes it’s intended for leaflets to be put through actual voters’ letterboxes.
Hi! I noticed, with very considerable amusement, your complaint last night that I hadn’t made a “substantive reply” to the [EDIT] EIGHT posts (totalling nearly 11,000 words) of semi-coherent ranting about me that you’ve made on your site in the last eight days.
(I’ll be absolutely honest, I’ve only skimmed the last few.)
We both know the reason that’s so tear-streamingly comical, of course.
In so far as it’s worth talking about Scottish constitutional politics at all these days, it’s worth taking a moment to analyse the bloodless, anodyne nothingness spouted by the First Minister on The Sunday Show at the weekend.
That clip is less than three minutes long, but it’s so soul-crushingly boring and full of content-free drone and waffle that it’s almost impossible to sit all the way through it, so we’re going to translate and summarise it for you.
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.
Hatey McHateface on When the law breaks the law: “Decision day for Gorton and Denton. The Green Party are going all in with their attempt to get an MP…” Feb 26, 13:05
Cynicus on When the law breaks the law: “TURABDIN @8:57 ‘TRULY «THE LAW» is an ass, must it also look like one?’ ======= You reference “ass” twice. The…” Feb 26, 11:11
TURABDIN on When the law breaks the law: “TRULY «THE LAW» is an ass, must it also look like one?” Feb 26, 08:57
Hatey McHateface on When the law breaks the law: “UK population was around 59 million in 2000 and around 70 million in 2025. As you say, sam, absolutely scandalous…” Feb 26, 08:38
Hatey McHateface on When the law breaks the law: “Doesn’t matter how many reports you cut and paste, sam, without ethnic analysis they are meaningless. I fully recognise that…” Feb 26, 08:20
Hatey McHateface on When the law breaks the law: “Wow! Check out the proud, colonialist boasting from Bob. Off to Ireland to grift from them what his home country…” Feb 26, 08:07
Young Lochinvar on When the law breaks the law: “Dot B has been taken to court over failure to pay take away delivery charges. Ms B claimed she had…” Feb 26, 00:34
sarah on When the law breaks the law: “Mark Hirst has said that over £6000 donations have been received in the last week. That’s good but surely he’s…” Feb 25, 22:54
sam on When the law breaks the law: “Willie, Studies show that poverty can alter brain structures, particularly in areas responsible for higher cognitive functions. For instance, children…” Feb 25, 22:03
sam on When the law breaks the law: “Coroners’ reports in England have been found to misrepresent the total number of drug deaths. Research indicates that over 13,000…” Feb 25, 21:50
sam on When the law breaks the law: “https://www.health.org.uk/reports-and-analysis/briefings/uk-mortality-trends-and-international-comparisons “This briefing compares trends in mortality within the UK and with 21 high-income countries, based on new research by…” Feb 25, 21:43
willie on When the law breaks the law: “Ultimately if you live with a shortage of money, food, heating and lighting life becomes hard and stressful. Factor in…” Feb 25, 21:33
robertkknight on When the law breaks the law: “And what’s your point caller? Scottish and European me… Not British! (Only thing ‘British’ about yours truly concerns either geography,…” Feb 25, 21:28
sam on When the law breaks the law: “Scotland’s mental health problems are somewhat worse overall than in E&W. One in 4 Scots has a mental health problem-…” Feb 25, 21:22
sam on When the law breaks the law: “Mental health issues. England and Wales. “One in five adults (20.2%) in England are living with a common mental health…” Feb 25, 21:06
GM on When the law breaks the law: “Debatable, given the turnouts in EU elections. I voted remain because I thought England might vote to leave. Political ammunition,…” Feb 25, 19:54
sam on When the law breaks the law: “The first food bank in the UK opened in 2000. In 2026 there are about 2600 food banks. The main…” Feb 25, 17:25
Cynicus on When the law breaks the law: “Young Lochinvar 25 February, 2026 at 2:10 am CY…… ….You can take your choice but Unless you have an axe…” Feb 25, 17:24
sam on When the law breaks the law: “Child poverty in England is at 31 %. In Scotland it is 22%. Still too high but the difference is…” Feb 25, 17:14
sam on When the law breaks the law: “People in Scotland, a rich country with many resources, do not have healthy lives. The average period of good health…” Feb 25, 17:01
agentx on When the law breaks the law: ““The Scottish government has announced it will establish a Scotland-wide grooming gangs inquiry chaired by Prof Alexis Jay, who led…” Feb 25, 16:54
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on When the law breaks the law: “MP URGES LESSONS TO BE LEARNT FROM DETRANSITIONER HARMED BY ‘AFFIRMING CARE’ A girl ushered into social and medical treatments…” Feb 25, 16:22
Alf Baird on When the law breaks the law: “There is neither dignity nor morality in colonialism, whose very aim is ‘to widen inequality’ (Memmi) based on ‘hateful racism’…” Feb 25, 15:44
lothianlad on When the law breaks the law: “100% correct. I tried several times to get the SNP run council and the MP, MSP to have this recognised.…” Feb 25, 15:32
Hatey McHateface on When the law breaks the law: ““The responses showed an alarming amount of ignorance and a lack of concern” One interpretation, certainly. Other interpretations are possible,…” Feb 25, 14:12
sam on When the law breaks the law: “The neoliberal policies that Scotland in the UK has experienced since 1979 seem like a kind of colonialism, A rentier…” Feb 25, 13:47
Ian Smith on When the law breaks the law: “If 80% of people are Scottish or Scottish and British only, why is joining the EU so popular?” Feb 25, 13:22
Hatey McHateface on When the law breaks the law: “Nae fear o hoarse joabbies, TFIOD. Unicorn joabbies smell, taste and look indistinguishable frae Pick’n’Mix, richt doon tae the individual…” Feb 25, 12:55
The Flying Iron of Doom on When the law breaks the law: “Hatey McHateface says: 24 February, 2026 at 8:29 pm Unicorn Land. You know, I quite like that idea. My only…” Feb 25, 09:04
Hatey McHateface on When the law breaks the law: “I would expect a lot of support for an amended proposal, especially among those Scottish patriots who extol the virtues…” Feb 25, 08:41
