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Wings Over Scotland


The Faction Factory 246

Posted on November 23, 2020 by

Sometimes, despite everything, you just have to laugh.

No matter how black and rueful a laugh it might be.

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Any minute now 129

Posted on November 22, 2020 by

From 2016 (and another classic in the “missing words” category).

We were keen to read the article, obviously.

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New military spending plans revealed 139

Posted on November 21, 2020 by

Hate in numbers 190

Posted on November 20, 2020 by

The Scottish Parliament will today almost certainly pass a dangerously misleading and inaccurate motion to mark “Transgender Day Of Remembrance”, and in doing so will join countless other institutions across the UK captured by trans ideology to the great detriment of women’s rights, freedom of speech and general sanity.

So we thought we’d mark it with a very short fact check.

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The state is not her 224

Posted on November 19, 2020 by

One of the dumber things we see regularly posted on social media is that Yes voices should stop criticising the First Minister because her leadership is the only reason Yes is now consistently ahead in the polls and we would have no chance of winning a new referendum with someone else in charge.

This is obviously nonsense, because Nicola Sturgeon was SNP leader and FM for five years in which support moved barely a single millimetre, until COVID-19 came along. Our current lead is due entirely to a tiny invisible virus and a giant Etonian buffoon.

But you know us, readers – we like to check.

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Taking the wheel 176

Posted on November 18, 2020 by

Some years ago, a friend of mine was on a car journey along the motorway, with their brother driving. The night before there had been a storm and high winds. The bad weather had continued into the morning before easing, but the wind was still strong.

They were chatting in the car and as they continued to chat, my friend noticed that further along, a motorway stanchion that holds the lights had fallen across their path. It was blocking two of the three lanes, including the one that they were on. Despite that, they continued to chat as if it wasn’t there.

The obstacle drew nearer and nearer. Finally my friend said to his brother, “Aren’t you going to drive round that light?” His brother swerved and made it into the unblocked lane with feet to spare.

I asked my friend why they hadn’t swerved sooner. “Neither of us could believe it was there”, he said.

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Almost there 38

Posted on November 18, 2020 by

We genuinely empathise, anonymous senior Scottish Tory.

If only there was some solution available.

Mushroom food 594

Posted on November 15, 2020 by

We were going to write a post about today’s Sunday National front page lead story, but it would just have been an angry rant, so instead we’ll let our readers make their own judgements on how convinced they are by this bloviating guff:

Try to keep it clean, folks.

The generations game 202

Posted on November 14, 2020 by

The surrender of power 143

Posted on November 13, 2020 by

On 18 September 2014, Scotland had control over its future. Scots could choose their own path, or continue to have decisions imposed upon them. Those of us supporting the former came close but not close enough. As a result, Scotland exited the EU against its will, is once more under the heel of a right-wing government and now finds its Parliament under attack from London.

Yet the dream has never died and demands for the right to choose our own destiny are growing. Scotland needs to be in the position it held on 18 September 2014, when power lay with its people. It’s their democratic right to decide, so why would you ever cede that power?

Yet tragically that’s what’s being done.

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All the jolly boys and girls 377

Posted on November 11, 2020 by

As more and more information fights its way past the Scottish Government’s bouncers into the public domain, and the First Minister’s continued dogged insistence that she knew nothing about the false allegations against Alex Salmond until April 2018 looks more and more ridiculous, lots of things still aren’t clear.

One of them, of course, is who leaked the story to Davie Clegg of the Daily Record in August of that year, when the whole thing should have been confidential and passing it to the press was an unambiguously malicious and criminal act.

(The Information Commissioner’s Office investigated the leak but were sadly unable to locate any evidence. A second investigation is currently in progress.)

So let’s see what we know.

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The limits of accountability 166

Posted on November 10, 2020 by

The SNP has still not provided any sort of meaningful answer, either to this site or to anyone else, over the missing £600,000 from the party’s accounts that was supposedly “ring-fenced” for a future independence campaign and not under any circumstances to be spent on normal party politics.

Enquiries from members and even elected representatives have met with a wall of silence for months, so we were more than a little surprised to be forwarded a recent email exchange in which the SNP’s chief executive had engaged in discussion on the subject with someone who isn’t even in the party.

We thought you’d be interested in reading it.

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    • Hatey McHateface on The Only Notes That Really Count: “I was looking forwards to the bit about the green cheese. Still, the day is yet young. Try not to…Jul 10, 13:42
    • Hatey McHateface on The Only Notes That Really Count: ““Profound changes to ethnicity were observed across both nations and all cities in the decade up to 2020” There you…Jul 10, 13:38
    • Mitch on It just takes a beat: “There’s a time limit on judicial review so be careful offering them unlimited time to respond.Jul 10, 13:33
    • Jeremy Dawson on It just takes a beat: “see paragraph 25 of Dunlop’s advice.Jul 10, 13:33
    • Dave on It just takes a beat: “I certainly hope so!Jul 10, 13:32
    • duncanio on It just takes a beat: “If the allegations of embezzlement are true, and even if not all donors claim money back or don’t receive it…Jul 10, 13:12
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    • Rob on The Only Notes That Really Count: “I think the SP made a complete arse of it without any assistance from Westminster. Blaming them for everything is…Jul 10, 13:00
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    • 100%Yes on The Only Notes That Really Count: “You’ve had the effect the SNP hoped no one would notice and just move on. Well done Wings. But like…Jul 10, 12:47
    • 100%Yes on The Only Notes That Really Count: “SNP offer refunds for people who donated to ‘ring-fenced’ indyref2 fund.Jul 10, 12:44
    • sam on The Only Notes That Really Count: “Yes, it is. https://academic.oup.com/eurpub/article/35/2/235/8008562?login=false “Profound changes to mortality trends and inequalities were observed across both nations and all cities in…Jul 10, 12:17
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    • Southernbystander on The Interests Of The Many: “James – you will have noticed I am English living in England so that is what I mean by ‘we’…Jul 10, 11:31
    • Aidan on The Only Notes That Really Count: “The second element of the Ghosh test is disapplied yes, the point is the test used to determine whether a…Jul 10, 11:06
    • agentx on The Only Notes That Really Count: “It’s all England’s fault.Jul 10, 11:04
    • Willie on The Only Notes That Really Count: “Id say you should join You were defrauded, the fraud clearly caused you distress since you were upset enough to…Jul 10, 10:43
    • sam on The Only Notes That Really Count: “I think the referendum fund raising kicked off in March 2017. Were the Weirs paid back their loan in 2018?…Jul 10, 10:41
    • Alf Baird on The Only Notes That Really Count: “The usual caveat from postcolonial theory applies, following on from the increasingly dubious events over the last decade or so,…Jul 10, 10:35
    • crazycat on The Only Notes That Really Count: “@ Aidan at 8.04 That’s covered in paragraphs 19-24 – Ghosh does not apply. I’m not a lawyer, but it…Jul 10, 10:19
    • Jay on The Only Notes That Really Count: “The sooner, the betterJul 10, 10:00
    • laukat on The Only Notes That Really Count: “Wee question – I donated but got my £25 refunded in 2019. In theory that’s a couple of years where…Jul 10, 09:44
    • GB on The Only Notes That Really Count: “Me tooJul 10, 09:21
    • Hatey McHateface on The Only Notes That Really Count: “Any suggestions for the timeline over which all of this will work out? It’s looking like many of us will…Jul 10, 08:46
    • Dave Albiston on The Only Notes That Really Count: “Does anyone have the timeline of when: The Weirs called in their loan The referendum fund was announcedJul 10, 08:46
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