The world's most-read Scottish politics website

Wings Over Scotland


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.

Read the rest of this entry →

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.

Read the rest of this entry →

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.

Read the rest of this entry →

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?

Read the rest of this entry →

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.

Read the rest of this entry →

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.

Read the rest of this entry →

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.

Read the rest of this entry →

Darwin’s Failures 305

Posted on August 20, 2020 by

The BBC ran a completely insane story this week about a transman (ie a mentally ill woman) who almost died of kidney failure because she didn’t tell her doctors what sex she really was. The standout paragraph was probably the one pictured below, in which the atom-brained narcissist imbecile explained to a startled nation that apparently having a mental disorder also changes your physical biology:

(Also, y’know, “cute and awesome!” is definitely how men talk.)

But anyway. When we commission opinion polls, we’ve often noted that in any given poll you can expect around 5-10% of respondents to vote for even the most seemingly ridiculous options – either as a “joke”, or because they’re too dim to have understood the question, or whatever.

And last week we thought we’d put that to the test.

Read the rest of this entry →

  • About

    Wings Over Scotland is a thing that exists.

    Stats: 6,991 Posts, 1,253,428 Comments

  • Recent Posts

  • Archives

  • Categories

  • Tags

  • Recent Comments

    • Captain Caveman on Vibecoding A Better World: “Heh, hark at you “Blockheaded Bracegirdle”, aligning yourself with “James”, a numbskull abusive troll whose entire contribution here is shouting…” Nov 3, 19:26
    • Hatey McHateface on Vibecoding A Better World: “If you mean Mark Beggan, he’s sorely missed. They weren’t gibberish BTW. They were clever, witty and often very funny.…” Nov 3, 19:06
    • Bilbo on Vibecoding A Better World: “James, you should be grateful that there are only 3 of them now. Thankfully that halfwit who was flooding BTL…” Nov 3, 18:42
    • Hatey McHateface on Vibecoding A Better World: “Believe it or not, James, no word of a lie, I was just thinking about you. I was wondering if…” Nov 3, 16:33
    • James on Vibecoding A Better World: “Four piles of steaming unionist shite in row there from the the three ‘all day, every day’ charlatan snake oil…” Nov 3, 13:40
    • Hatey McHateface on Vibecoding A Better World: “@Aidan A good synopsis. Brexit taught those with eyes to see two things: 1) It’s a lot more difficult to…” Nov 3, 13:35
    • Aidan on Vibecoding A Better World: “Let me guess Alf, the plan is; A) build an enormous port in the middle of nowhere; B) watch the…” Nov 3, 13:06
    • Aidan on Vibecoding A Better World: “It’s a odd situation re Scottish independence, it enjoys significant support within the general population, but; – in my view…” Nov 3, 13:05
    • Captain Caveman on Vibecoding A Better World: “I can relate, believe me. Your principal problem is this: the Indy Movement is mainly comprised of lefties – the…” Nov 3, 12:23
    • Hatey McHateface on Vibecoding A Better World: “@CC We would have to study the writings of the post colonial boys and who wants to do that? My…” Nov 3, 12:01
    • Captain Caveman on Vibecoding A Better World: ““Every geriatric Scottish arse from John O’ Groats to Gretna going unwiped forever” Perhaps the Prof has a greater personal…” Nov 3, 11:16
    • Hatey McHateface on Vibecoding A Better World: “A nice photo from the hated Mail Online this morning: https://www.dailymail.com/debate/article-16259803/DANIEL-HANNAN-Picture-sums-entire-migrant-industry-regards-taxpayers-country.html Seems like some bint in the HoC announced yesterday…” Nov 3, 10:42
    • Hatey McHateface on Vibecoding A Better World: ““we know from postcolonial theory” Of course we do, Alf. Such a shame we still know SFA about what to…” Nov 3, 10:26
    • Alf Baird on Vibecoding A Better World: ““tell the current collection of clattering clownwits infesting Holyrood to not bother coming back from their holidays” The Rev makes…” Nov 3, 09:48
    • Hatey McHateface on Vibecoding A Better World: ““I see you’re a fan of Better Together” For myself, I’m a fan of Plausible Divorce Plan, although I do…” Nov 2, 17:39
    • Northcode on Vibecoding A Better World: “I think a further clarity intervention is needed about dates. James Che’s narrative blends two unrelated historical facts into a…” Nov 2, 15:53
    • Northcode on Vibecoding A Better World: “For even more clarity… Queen Anne’s proclamation dissolving the Scottish Parliament was issued in April 1707, not in 1752. Anne…” Nov 2, 15:16
    • McDuff on Vibecoding A Better World: “My mistake just testing.” Nov 2, 14:05
    • Chas on Vibecoding A Better World: “How interesting. I have never read interpretations of 300+ year old stuff before. But only if we discount the exact…” Nov 2, 13:53
    • James Che on Vibecoding A Better World: “Indeed a clever attempt north code, Except England did not update its Calendar year until 1752 to be in line…” Nov 2, 13:25
    • Dan on Vibecoding A Better World: “@ Northcode at 11:04 am You don’t have waffle some word twisting shite on here. Over the course of the…” Nov 2, 13:03
    • Hatey McHateface on Vibecoding A Better World: “Cheers, sarah. There was me reading about the Scottish Men’s Curling team’s European Championship triumph on the BBC website and…” Nov 2, 12:55
    • sarah on Vibecoding A Better World: “European championship, not World.” Nov 2, 12:31
    • sarah on Vibecoding A Better World: “Thanks for reporting this achievement. And making clear that once again the BBC has worked to hide a Scotland triumph.” Nov 2, 12:19
    • McDuff on Vibecoding A Better World: “Scotland’s men pick up a gold at the world curling championships and es far as I can see it has…” Nov 2, 11:13
    • Northcode on Vibecoding A Better World: “Alf’s argument frames Scotland’s economic condition through a mythic lens of colonial underdevelopment. In its historical and economic framing, these…” Nov 2, 11:04
    • Northcode on Vibecoding A Better World: “For clarity… James Che’s argument rests on a mythic moment they place in 1606, where they believe the Scottish Parliament…” Nov 2, 10:28
    • Alf Baird on Vibecoding A Better World: “Yes of course “a radical change in the political (and colonial) landscape” is absolutely critical for recovery and development of…” Nov 2, 10:24
    • Hatey McHateface on Vibecoding A Better World: “@Aidan The laughable aspect to this is that there are plenty of Scots, myself included, who would love Scotland to…” Nov 2, 10:20
    • Aidan on Vibecoding A Better World: “Well done Izzie, you’re exactly right. If Nicola Sturgeon had been first minister between 2014 and 2023 Scotland would be…” Nov 2, 10:15
  • A tall tale



↑ Top