Rape Crisis Scotland, who are almost entirely dependent on the Scottish Government for funding, have chosen this evening to wade into the debate over the wording of a new law which is intended to lessen the trauma of people (nearly all women) who’ve been raped. We can only speculate as to whether they were pressured to do so, but the intervention seems likely only to pour petrol on the fire.
In his evidence to a Holyrood inquiry today, having been asked about some troubling WhatsApp messages concerning the case from 2018 which appeared to suggest the possibility of a conspiracy against the former First Minister, Murrell told members of the committee “I’m not on WhatsApp, it’s not a social media platform I use”.
Alert readers will have noticed a very careful use of the present tense there.
We’ve now filed a formal complaint with the Scottish Information Commissioner about this, because what we’d forgotten last week was that our original request was actually sent in September and it’s now been almost 60 working days with no sign of a proper response, not the 20 it’s supposed to take.
Because for some reason the Scottish Government REALLY doesn’t want you to know what the First Minister and Geoff Aberdein talked about in March 2018, and we think that you probably should.
We don’t normally like to devote much time on Wings to things that have been more than adequately covered elsewhere in the media, which is why you haven’t read much here about eg the Internal Market Bill. Unlike some we don’t see much point spending our limited human resources telling people stuff they already know and agree with.
But we’re going to make an exception for this next thing, which was already covered pretty well by Susan Dalgety in last week’s Scotsman, because (a) a lot of our readers, quite reasonably, will have an instinctively adverse reaction to either anything printed in the Scotsman or anything written by Susan Dalgety, and (b) a number of people have asked us to amplify this issue because it’s so important and so awful.
As well as the SNP NEC elections, the weekend saw the election of the first committee of a new grassroots independence organisation which is unfortunately and hopefully temporarily going by the stupendously terrible working name of “Yes Alba”.
15 people were elected to its ruling body by the votes of hundreds of delegates, with the top-ranked picks including SNP MP Angus MacNeil and former SNP MP George Kerevan. The majority of the successful candidates (eight) were female, even though there were no quotas or women-only shortlists imposed, and a wide range of ages was represented from young activists to former UK ambassador Craig Murray.
(We have no idea about any of their sexualities or gender identities, and also no interest in knowing, because those things have not the slightest bearing on their ability to fight for independence and are frankly none of our damn business.)
But that wasn’t good enough for Team Woke.
On a day when Joanna Cherry had a grown-up, reasoned and constructive column in The National calling for unity in the pursuit of independence, the outpouring of snide, sour sneering from a faction still raging with bitterness about being routed on the SNP NEC is instead curdling Twitter even as we speak.
And embarrassingly, not a single one of them has actually bothered to check even the most basic facts.
Alert readers will recall the deranged open letter released by a group of transactivists last Friday, in a nakedly transparent attempt to influence the SNP’s NEC elections that weekend which backfired on them horribly (and amusingly) when the party’s members instead kicked out three-quarters of the committee’s woke faction and replaced them with feminists, socialists and above all advocates of actually achieving independence.
If you don’t have the time to read Alyn Smith’s astonishing response to the SNP NEC election results in today’s National, we’ve edited it down to 10 seconds for you.
Willie on Anything But That: “Nutzlose Essen or Useless Eaters was a term in the 30s to describe certain classes of persons. But using the…” Sep 2, 15:41
Young Lochinvar on Anything But That: “HMcH Maybe explains why he didn’t receive his invitation, doesn’t spell his name right.. Double a’s, I ask you! 🙂” Sep 2, 15:28
Willie on Anything But That: “Guarantees from John Swinney, either in public or in private are as good a bit of used toilet paper. A…” Sep 2, 15:26
Willie on Anything But That: “Guarantees from John Swinney, either in public or in private are as good a bit of used toilet paper. A…” Sep 2, 15:25
TURABDIN on Anything But That: “ANYTHING BUT WHAT & WHY. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/sep/02/uk-datacentres-ai-boom-foi-environment” Sep 2, 15:17
lothianlad on Anything But That: “Just read that twat from scot goes pop ( what kind of a frucking name is that anyway) saying the…” Sep 2, 14:49
Young Lochinvar on Anything But That: “PS At the Dan Sahf reception following the viewing they were treated to Dan Sahf cuisine; pie mash and jellied…” Sep 2, 14:40
Hatey McHateface on Anything But That: “That’s another diplomatic slur. It’s King Haakon VIII.” Sep 2, 14:32
lothianlad on Haven’t had a dream in a long time: “I find it hard to forgive the record and the unionist media!! They are looking to survive when independence happens!…” Sep 2, 14:31
lothianlad on Anything But That: “When they skipped the lite fandango, they didnt know the cartweels would make them fall so hard! the time to…” Sep 2, 14:29
Hatey McHateface on Anything But That: “Ochone, Spartan! Professor Baird has a special beef with the Gaels. But he’ll tell you himself.” Sep 2, 14:26
Billie on Anything But That: “Back in 2024 there was a man who secured the required signatures to lodge nomination papers to contest the coronation…” Sep 2, 14:21
Spartan 117 on Anything But That: “Thanks YL. Must admit, I giggled at that.” Sep 2, 14:17
Young Lochinvar on Anything But That: “I see the famous Bayeux tapestry is out on loan and will be viewed today by T’ King of Oop…” Sep 2, 14:11
Spartan 117 on Anything But That: “Are we talking Lowland Scots or Broad Scots here? Something we, er, “Teuchters” as you lowlander plastic Scots call us,…” Sep 2, 14:10
Hatey McHateface on Anything But That: “It is odd, TURABDIN. Somebody on here is forever claiming that every English defeat gets airbrushed out of history.” Sep 2, 13:49
Hatey McHateface on Anything But That: “As always, Alf, I question your “abeelity” to make yourself understood even to a majority of your fellow Scots when…” Sep 2, 13:33
Mark Beggan on Anything But That: “Aye Hatey all that could be said has been said. The Leftys are self combusting at an incredible rate. General…” Sep 2, 13:00
TURABDIN on Anything But That: “The English establishment today celebrates an artefact depicting their conquest by a foreign «power», Normandy. Eccentricity is a national trait…” Sep 2, 12:49
Lorncal on Haven’t had a dream in a long time: “You may be right, H McH, that Balkanisation would occur. That is a risk we have to take. Throughout English…” Sep 2, 12:31
Chas on Anything But That: “Hatey Why respond to an obvious nutter? Nothing you say will ever change it’s deranged mind.” Sep 2, 12:05
Alf Baird on Anything But That: ““Aye you spooks based at Vauxhall Cross” Aye James, aw thay skivers aye lat ken thairsels as suin as thay…” Sep 2, 10:36
Minceheid on Haven’t had a dream in a long time: “Hatey McHateface says: 2 September, 2026 at 9:05 am MH. Indeed, nothing wrong. But mind, you’re on Wings BTL. That…” Sep 2, 10:13
Hatey McHateface on Anything But That: “As Dan says, consumption of oil and gas is very much not living in the past. And indeed the North…” Sep 2, 10:00
Captain Caveman on Anything But That: “Honestly Spartan, I’ve gotta say I think it’s all the preserve of the Bacofoil headgear wearers! 🙂 It does provide…” Sep 2, 09:44
Hatey McHateface on Anything But That: “The repeat prescriptions must be coming through like clockwork, CC. Shame. But that’s just me being selfish. Although the “episodes”…” Sep 2, 09:32
Spartan 117 on Anything But That: “CC – joking aside, I’m convinced there’s a couple of 77th accounts trolling here. They’re pretty active on politics blogs/comments…” Sep 2, 09:30
Hatey McHateface on Anything But That: “That’s a new one, James. So if we Scots don’t vote the SNP into power, who do we vote for?…” Sep 2, 09:25
Spartan 117 on Anything But That: “Hatey – why? There is indeed plenty of Oil & Gas (plus coal), largely squandered by decades of dreadful short-sighted…” Sep 2, 09:24
Dan on Anything But That: “Re. Accusations of living in the past… Alert readers can view this linked to site of the GB Grid, and…” Sep 2, 09:23
