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Wings Over Scotland


Last nights of the proms 49

Posted on September 05, 2020 by

Selling the jerseys 308

Posted on September 03, 2020 by

Let’s be clear about something straight away – we’re NOT about to write an article in defence of Tony Abbott. He IS a sexist, a misogynist and a climate change denier (and a homophobe), and as far as we can ascertain he’s NOT actually all that good at trade either. So even though the bar for improving the competence of the UK government is astonishingly low, we don’t want him in it any more than anyone else does.

But this is still an incredibly brainless thing to say:

And it explains a lot about what’s gone wrong everywhere.

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Expressing a preference 310

Posted on September 02, 2020 by

Throughout the summer, the Scottish Government has been talking consistently about its goal being the “total elimination” of the coronavirus, and specifically contrasting that with England’s approach of merely “suppressing” it.

In the “framework for decision making” published in late April, the administration stated bluntly that There is no such thing as a level of acceptable loss from the virus. But then yesterday something changed.

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Blah, blah, blah 246

Posted on September 01, 2020 by

Oh, is it that time again? Gosh, it seems to come round quicker every year.

So forgive us if we feel like we’ve heard this song already.

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The blockage 278

Posted on September 01, 2020 by

Well, imagine our surprise.

If only we’d been telling you for the last two years, eh?

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For certain purposes 132

Posted on August 31, 2020 by

We suppose we should be happy to learn that Scottish Government ministers are at least still sometimes capable of understanding that men and women are different and there are times when it’s inappropriate for men to be in women’s spaces.

We just wish they didn’t keep reminding us of something so much.

We really hope the 27% of Scots who already think the Sun revolves around the Earth isn’t getting bigger.

By gaslight 200

Posted on August 29, 2020 by

The distant choir 258

Posted on August 27, 2020 by

During the 2014 indyref, the astonishingly vast imbalance of the mainstream Scottish media was partly compensated by a huge rise in new media, with dozens and dozens of sites filling the gaping chasms where printed and broadcast media would have been in any country with a press worthy of the name at such an exciting time.

The subsequent shrivelling of that presence has been one of the least observed and explored phenomena of the six years since the referendum, and especially since the SNP’s election victory in 2016. The incredibly wide-ranging, mutually-supportive pro-Yes new media is now down to a tiny handful of outlets, most of which are barely read (and most of which would celebrate if the others burned down in a chemical fire).

There are many and varied reasons for this worrying situation, but before we get into those let’s have a quick look at who’s still who and what’s still what.

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GERS Day for Mercy 196

Posted on August 26, 2020 by

Last week, in the biggest city in Scotland, a young mother was found dead next to her starving infant child, because Scotland’s economic, immigration and welfare policies are decided hundreds of miles away in a foreign country by a party that Scots haven’t voted for in 65 years but which has ruled Scotland for 42 of those years anyway.

There’s other stuff about GERS too, but that seems the important bit.

The gums of the tiger 572

Posted on August 23, 2020 by

The Sunday Times carries a quite surprising story today. (And that’s not just because the person in the picture isn’t actually Liz Lloyd at all.)

We’ll pause for but a brief moment to contemplate the assertion that this unelected, unaccountable civil servant might be “the second most powerful woman in the Scottish government” and then move on to the interesting bit.

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The second opinion 149

Posted on August 22, 2020 by

You Are The Boris Johnson 174

Posted on August 21, 2020 by

Much as we might wish otherwise, we haven’t been able to help noticing other pro-indy websites doubling down on the “BOTH VOTES SNP, TRUST IN QUEEN NICOLA, THE 10TH MANDATE IS THE ONE THAT’LL WORK!” routine lately.

And however much we’ve tried to get people to grasp the seemingly-obvious fact that Boris Johnson is not looking at this debate from the same viewpoint we all are, reality doesn’t seem to be getting through to everyone yet.

So we thought we’d try a new tack.

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    • Bilbo on Yelling at the tide: “@ Main Got some shares in your portfolio of certain American Pharmaceutical companies?Jan 24, 00:11
    • Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Yelling at the tide: “Regarding Norse pronunciation effects on Gaelic, the late Professor Derick Thomson wrote: « In phonology Scottish Gaelic differs from Irish…Jan 23, 23:08
    • Hatey McHateface on Yelling at the tide: ““Or am I missing something?” That’s my conclusion. Only one reply – this one. Please don’t shoot the messenger.Jan 23, 22:48
    • Hatey McHateface on Yelling at the tide: “Sorry, Sven, too late in the day for yet another language. Besides, Hobbit Boy beat you to it.Jan 23, 22:43
    • Hatey McHateface on Yelling at the tide: ““how many woman think Trans woman are woman” I wonder how many women (and men) think the plural of woman…Jan 23, 22:41
    • PC Foster on Yelling at the tide: “Lorna – I could not agree with you more- I will not vote nationalist until the woke/trans are well defeated…Jan 23, 22:12
    • Bilbo on Yelling at the tide: “Trumps only interest and only audience is the people of the United States of America.Jan 23, 22:01
    • Run the Border on Yelling at the tide: “You would get a more coherent set of responses from a formal complaint about your energy supply. This is a…Jan 23, 21:53
    • Run the Border on Yelling at the tide: “Happy to write.Get the Rev to organise it.Jan 23, 21:41
    • Marie on Yelling at the tide: “Oh that fool will still be calling Donnie the worlds greatest living half Scotsman. Pitiful really.Jan 23, 21:40
    • Bilbo on Yelling at the tide: “I wonder how many woman think Trans woman are woman as well?Jan 23, 21:21
    • Hatey McHateface on Yelling at the tide: ““While social media is much maligned, it does give us a more realistic viewpoint of American society” No shit, Sherlock!…Jan 23, 21:19
    • Sven on Yelling at the tide: “Kundi foroyskt vera upprunaliga skotska máli? ?” (Could Faroese be the original Scots language ?). Or mayhap it was Norn.…Jan 23, 21:18
    • agentx on Yelling at the tide: “Sturgeon issued a statement on Friday evening, saying: “I understand Ms Darroch’s determination to get answers, and my thoughts are…Jan 23, 21:18
    • Lorna Campbell on Yelling at the tide: “David Rodgers: as a male, a man, that is your privilege. It is not mine or that of every woman…Jan 23, 21:16
    • Hatey McHateface on Yelling at the tide: “The SG foresee the day, when Scotland leads the world in woowoo and every Scot is trans, when babies will…Jan 23, 21:05
    • Lorna Campbell on Yelling at the tide: “Precisely, Ian. Feed in what you want to be regurgitated as ‘fact’ and you have the kind of dog’s breakfast…Jan 23, 21:00
    • Bilbo on Yelling at the tide: “American values that depends on the right to carry guns doesn’t work in every county that doesn’t have that right.…Jan 23, 20:49
    • sam on Yelling at the tide: “The SED [Scottish Education Department] was initially presided over by the Committee of Council in Education in London and had…Jan 23, 20:25
    • Lorna Campbell on Yelling at the tide: “It was illegal, James, from the moment only Scotland, Wales and NI devolved. England should also have devolved in keeping…Jan 23, 20:24
    • Bilbo on Yelling at the tide: “I see that it is trending in the UK MSM about Trumps inferred comments towards British soldiers in recent conflicts…Jan 23, 19:51
    • Southernbystander on Yelling at the tide: “These baby boxes seem incredibly cruel. How have the SG got away with providing boxes to stuff a baby in…Jan 23, 19:48
    • Bilbo on Yelling at the tide: “Increased standard of livings but better quality of life?Jan 23, 19:47
    • Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Yelling at the tide: “« Gaelic culture reached its zenith in Scotland during the eleventh century, when the borders of the kingdom were extended…Jan 23, 19:23
    • Northcode on Yelling at the tide: ““Scots has faced every pressure a language can face, and yet it’s not only still here—it’s growing.” – from “How…Jan 23, 18:14
    • Hatey McHateface on Yelling at the tide: “That’s OK though, sam. The “Education (Scotland) Act 1872” was undoubtedly enacted by some big, bad, English barsturts who then…Jan 23, 17:50
    • Hatey McHateface on Yelling at the tide: “So what they say about incest is true. Crivens, help m’boab!Jan 23, 17:45
    • sam on Yelling at the tide: “Wuz that yer Da n Ma? Interested? https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/scots-languageJan 23, 17:41
    • Hatey McHateface on Yelling at the tide: “Great post, Alf. And here was me thinking the people of these islands had always enjoyed quite a privileged and…Jan 23, 17:40
    • sam on Yelling at the tide: “Linguistic professors, McLeod and Jones of Edinburgh University chart the decline of the use of Gaelic language. “In the mid…Jan 23, 17:32
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