The weekend just past saw a convulsion as big as any we can ever recall witnessing on Yes social media, triggered by a series of tweets by Nicola Sturgeon which caused an extraordinary negative reaction out of all proportion to their ostensible content.
The reason was that the First Minister – who had remained silent about countless episodes of hideous misogynistic abuse aimed from her own side at MPs and MSPs like Joan McAlpine and Joanna Cherry – had chosen to suddenly leap into action in defence of the toxically divisive horror that is Glasgow councillor Rhiannon Spear after Spear had been widely criticised for making blatantly false claims in a video promoting her attempt to be selected as the candidate for Argyll & Bute.
(Sturgeon had no such public condemnation for the torrents of abuse the SNP Twitler Youth then unleased on Kirsten Thornton, the female SNP activist and Generation Yes founder who’d pointed out Spear’s untruths.)
The move sent the party’s woke and sane factions into a frenzy of bloodletting which in itself will have little if any impact on the wider electorate, but nonetheless threw into sharp relief the life-and-death battle currently going on for the SNP’s soul.
And since that’s related to what we’ve been writing about on Wings for the bulk of this year, it seemed worthwhile to get some things down on the record once and for all.
Super-veteran readers may recall the story of Scorpion Software, the amateur games development collective I formed with a pal in the early 1980s to create largely rubbish games mostly written in BASIC for the ZX Spectrum and the Dragon 32.
If you read the 2008 retrospective linked in that paragraph, you’ll note that it offers a bit of constructive self-critique on some of the games we produced, and the other day I accidentally stumbled into following my own advice.
Just two days ago the Electoral Commission gave us a fourth supposed date for the publication of the SNP’s 2019 accounts: having first been due out in early August, they then told us to expect them in early September, and then last week, and then in “the next three weeks”, ie the middle of October.
But someone gave us a tipoff that we might be able to request them via Freedom Of Information, since ostensibly the only holdup was that the EC wanted to wait until ALL of the main parties’ accounts were ready and publish them all at once for tidiness.
So we sent one in, and we just got a very quick reply.
During a debate on the UK government’s recent decision to abandon the notion of gender self-ID, SNP MP Anne McLaughlin told the Commons chamber that it was still the Scottish Government’s “strong commitment” to go ahead with highly controversial reform of the law BEFORE next year’s Holyrood election.
But that isn’t what Scottish voters were told earlier this year.
The SNP have historically been swift to suspend any party members when there’s any hint of inappropriate conduct, never mind even a whiff of illegality. It’s been that way since 2015, with the axe falling on elected members as well as candidates in target seats and critical elections, and ordinary activists.
Not even a by-your-leave, let alone an explanation, is afforded – just suspension with immediate effect. And that’s all well and good, some might say. No hint of impropriety should attach to the party and making a virtue of acting swiftly can be both necessary and appropriate.
So why then no action against the Chief Executive?
The Electoral Commission appears to have missed yet another deadline for publishing the SNP’s 2019 accounts (we’re waiting on them to return our phone call), so we’ve got a moment to talk about something else relating to the party’s finances.
[EDIT 12.56pm: the Commission now “hopes” to have the accounts published “in the next three weeks” along with those of the other main Westminster parties.]
The Scottish press covered itself in as much disgrace over the publication of the will of lottery winner Colin Weir after his tragic death last year as it had done during his life. Pretty much every paper in the country ran lurid headlines about how he’d “blown” or “burned” (translation: spent) half of his £80m share of the 2011 jackpot in nine years.
Weirdly, the Scottish Sun and the Daily Mail stood out for (mainly) respectful coverage focused on the fact that Colin Weir had in fact used most of the money on good causes and generous support for friends, family and strangers.
(Also, both of the Weirs were fairly old and already in quite poor health when they won the money, so why wouldn’t they spend it? You famously can’t take it with you.)
But the Mail was almost unique in the fact that its headline mentioned something that seemed to stand out as the most obviously newsworthy aspect of the will.
Senator Claire Chandler is a Liberal Party member of the Australian Parliament. Some recent experiences she’s had send a very serious warning about the likely outcomes of the Scottish Government’s wildly unpopular new Hate Crime Bill. She’s graciously allowed us to publish this column she wrote on the subject.
Early this month I received a letter from Tasmania’s Anti-Discrimination Commissioner directing me to attend a compulsory “conciliation” conference with somebody offended by my comments about the need to protect women’s sport and women’s toilets and changerooms. You can watch them here:
Ironically, the complaint against me was about an opinion article I wrote about free speech. You can read it here and make up your own mind whether bureaucrats at the Anti-Discrimination Commission should be able to censor any Australian citizens for this kind of public policy discussion.
Following up this morning’s article, we’ve been trawling through the Publications/FOI section of the Scottish Government website to see which other articles might be being hidden from its search function. We found quite a few, and you’re never going to guess what the common factor in all of them is.
We’ve given you a wee clue with that picture, though.
As a right-of-centre English conservative, there are Scottish National Party concepts I haven’t so far been able to comprehend. Perhaps it’s because I don’t follow Nicola Sturgeon and Ian Blackford. Should I keep an eye on what The Scotsman is saying?
SNP leaders talk in the same sentence of a “free” and “independent” Scotland having a future as a member of the EU. My grasp of those words is not theirs. Distinguished lawyers – be they Remainers, Leavers or Don’t-Care-Just-Pay-My-Billsers – all agree that a series of European Court of Justice decisions have established the unqualified supremacy of European Union laws – disguised as “Regulations and Directives” – over the national laws of EU states.
Young Lochinvar on The Final Robbery: “You would think so. Plus the video of her telling people not to question the finances; is that not effectively…” May 25, 17:35
Minceheid on The Final Robbery: “The only problem with replacing Swinney is, who do you install in his place? It’s not as if there’s a…” May 25, 17:22
Mark Beggan on The Final Robbery: “If only the Muppets had been investigated as much as Mr Farage. This would never have happened. This would never…” May 25, 17:07
Mark Beggan on The Final Robbery: “Ok @Fakename. Never by a second hand car.” May 25, 17:05
100%Yes on The Final Robbery: “Joanna Cherry has called for John Swinney to be replaced as Scotland’s First Minister and leader of the SNP. Swinney…” May 25, 17:04
Gordy on The Final Robbery: “Perhaps he fancies being bummed senseless in the showers in the bar L” May 25, 16:57
agentx on The Final Robbery: ““Lynsey Bews BBC Scotland political correspondent The list of items bought by Murrell also includes DVDs of the first few…” May 25, 16:50
sam on The Final Robbery: “Yes, fat finger. He began embezzling in August 2010, as far as the charges made show,. I was curious that…” May 25, 16:50
robertkknight on The Final Robbery: “And….. Rev Stu… you’re a credit to your profession, unlike so many lazy barstewards whose dead tree scrolls aren’t worth…” May 25, 16:50
100%Yes on The Final Robbery: “Both my wife and I regularly donated to SNP and Indyref2.” May 25, 16:49
Effijy on The Final Robbery: “The marital home must be worth about £450,000 so he would get half of the equity. If the mobile home…” May 25, 16:48
Ex President Xiden on The Final Robbery: “Nicola Sturgeon, John Swinney, Colin Beattie, Kirsten Oswald, Murray Foote, David Leask, Tom Gordon, Mike Russell, Callum Steele, Pete Wishart,…” May 25, 16:46
Alf Baird on The Final Robbery: “Well, postcolonial theory (Fanon) warns us that a dominant national party elite that has been ‘co-opted by colonialism’ quickly opts…” May 25, 16:46
Insider on The Final Robbery: “Mark Beggan says: 25 May, 2026 at 4:39 pm “The truth is like the sun. You can shut it out…” May 25, 16:43
Al-Stuart on The Final Robbery: “. Seriously well done on your forensic research Stu., I see that the Scot-Grifts-Cash chancer Jimmy The Crowdfund Weaver is…” May 25, 16:42
Insider on The Final Robbery: ““Mickey Mouse First Minister Mickey Mouse Governing Party Mickey Mouse Parliament Mickey Mouse Judiciary Overall… A big black rat infested…” May 25, 16:41
Mark Beggan on The Final Robbery: ““The truth is like the sun. You can shut it out but it ain’t going anywhere…”” May 25, 16:39
agentx on The Final Robbery: “Nemisis Benn says:Jeremy Thorpe admitting all sorts of things under oath knowing that he would be immune from future prosecution…” May 25, 16:32
Al-Stuart on The Final Robbery: “. Seriously well done on your forensic research Stu., I see that the Scot-Grifts-Cash chancer Jimmy The Crowdfund Weaver is…” May 25, 16:30
agentx on The Final Robbery: ““The 18 June polls in Aberdeen South and Arbroath and Broughty Ferry have been triggered after the two MPs in…” May 25, 16:28
Blackhack on The Final Robbery: “I’m positive that the money spent in Estee Lauder Cosmetics, and Shetland Jewellery were not for him…. So should she…” May 25, 16:26
Jon Drummond on The Final Robbery: “Lying grifting charlatan bastards. Everyone one of the Scottish Nonce Party and those who follow them; may they rot in…” May 25, 16:19
Young Lochinvar on The Final Robbery: “So where is the £600,000 raised by public donation for independence? Will we ever know?” May 25, 16:16
Frank Gillougley on The Final Robbery: “What I find unbelievable is how did he think that he’d get away with it? What on earth was he…” May 25, 16:15
robertkknight on The Final Robbery: “Mickey Mouse First Minister Mickey Mouse Governing Party Mickey Mouse Parliament Mickey Mouse Judiciary Overall… A big black rat infested…” May 25, 15:59
factchecker on The Final Robbery: “The BBC reports “Murrell’s clothing purchases included £75.55 on a men’s “slouch pouch onesie”.”. I don’t even want to think…” May 25, 15:56
Young Lochinvar on The Final Robbery: “What by election?” May 25, 15:55
Ian Smith on The Final Robbery: “I almost fell off my chair the other week when I saw Colin Beattie getting reelected. Criminal or off the…” May 25, 15:55
Owen Mullions on The Final Robbery: “The mere sight of that narcissist swanning about on holiday boils my piss. Even now the cultists are sending her…” May 25, 15:50
