The world's most-read Scottish politics website

Wings Over Scotland


Across the road 230

Posted on November 30, 2019 by

The game is still on 126

Posted on November 29, 2019 by

Particularly alert readers may recall this excellent documentary from 2017, exposing how Labour’s PFI scandal has cost the Scottish taxpayer countless billions of pounds and crippled local government for decades with its extortionate financial legacy, as illustrated by the case of North Ayrshire.

Well, now there’s another one of it.

The title is self-explanatory, and it’s worth half an hour of your time.

The bidding war 330

Posted on November 27, 2019 by

Remember this, readers? What a long time ago it seems.

And we don’t just mean Ruth Davidson being in favour of staying in the EU.

Read the rest of this entry →

Selected voices 536

Posted on November 23, 2019 by

The Panel 426

Posted on November 19, 2019 by

This, frankly, is something that we should have done years before now. But it’s never too late to start.

One of the most annoying and undemocratic things about modern politics is the ease with which MPs and candidates can simply ignore the electorate. I’ve attempted to politely ask my own MP, Wera Hobhouse of the Liberal Democrats, a question on several occasions and had only dead air in response, and many readers report similar from their own representatives.

What that means, among other things, is that it can be impossible to have any idea what someone stands for on a given issue before you vote for them. And that’s plainly unacceptable in a democracy.

However, when there’s an election on, there’s something you can do about it.

Read the rest of this entry →

The fruits of apartheid 118

Posted on November 18, 2019 by

A new study reported at the weekend has found disturbing levels of sectarian beliefs among pupils at Scotland’s 357 Catholic schools. But there was an interesting twist – sectarianism was higher among the pupils who WEREN’T practicing Catholics.

Whatever could be the explanation?

Read the rest of this entry →

We are confused 100

Posted on November 18, 2019 by

We’ve just taken our first week off in eight years, and no sooner are we back than the whole world’s turned on its head. Because this is Brian Wilson in today’s Scotsman.

The only thing we don’t understand is: if a Holyrood majority for independence will be valid in 2021, why isn’t it valid now?

Read the rest of this entry →

Going native 213

Posted on November 16, 2019 by

The Secret History Of Ultimate 7

Posted on November 15, 2019 by

Ashby Computers & Graphics Ltd, better known under their trading name of Ultimate Play The Game, were the most reclusive and secretive videogame developers of the 8-bit era. Almost never doing interviews and giving very little away when they did, they preferred to let their stream of smash-hit games do most of the talking for them. The anti-Bitmap Brothers, if you will.

The games themselves were just as enigmatic, never really explaining your goal or even how to play. You'd be told the control keys, given a bit of cryptically florid plot waffle and left to get on with it.

But even now, 37 years after the last new Ultimate release, remarkably little is known about how they managed to arrive full-fledged on the scene, already making games that most other releases of the time paled and quailed beside.

And as I'd given myself the week off writing about politics and there wasn't a poker game on, I decided to spend last night having a bit of a dig.

Read the rest of this entry →

And they’re off 784

Posted on November 09, 2019 by

An all-time low 142

Posted on November 08, 2019 by

Try to ignore the “regional”, and the fact that it’s framed as the Tories vs Labour. This is a new full-sample (1060) poll from YouGov today, and wow.

(The left-hand bar in each pair is 2017, the right-hand one is 2019.)

And you thought Kezia Dugdale’s nadir of 14% would never be beaten.

Read the rest of this entry →

We are lost for words 295

Posted on November 06, 2019 by

It doesn’t happen often, but it has today. Because Nick Robinson said this:

You know, Nick Robinson. It was Nick Robinson who just complained about someone misleadingly editing an interview to make it look as though someone hadn’t answered a question. Seriously, the actual Nick Robinson.

We’ve got nothing, folks.

  • About

    Wings Over Scotland is a thing that exists.

    Stats: 6,886 Posts, 1,237,961 Comments

  • Recent Posts

  • Archives

  • Categories

  • Tags

  • Recent Comments

    • sarah on Looking up at the stars: “@ Marie: I’m so sorry – there is nothing worse than sibling disagreements. We had some in my family but…Mar 17, 15:06
    • Marie on Looking up at the stars: “I had a sibling ask me to stop feeding our late terminally ill mother because they were impatient to get…Mar 17, 14:54
    • Sven on Looking up at the stars: “Mark Beggan @ 14.04. That would have been before we elected so many of those turnips who have now taken…Mar 17, 14:38
    • sarah on Looking up at the stars: “O/T: Today’s the day to see how the Assisted Dying votes go at Holyrood. I wrote to all my MSPs…Mar 17, 14:36
    • Mark Beggan on Looking up at the stars: “‘Rigidity of thought ‘ Entrenched bitterness against their own kind. ‘All problems will be solved after independence.’ How many times…Mar 17, 14:04
    • Alf Baird on Looking up at the stars: ““Scotland will issue another framework on important issues, a starting point” Thankfully there is a published research-based ‘theoretical framework’ identifying…Mar 17, 13:54
    • Geri on Looking up at the stars: “Nope! Setting out a general framework of where we’d be starting from is very different from a political parties individual…Mar 17, 13:44
    • Aidan on Looking up at the stars: “Okay so now it’s exactly the opposite of what you were saying earlier, glad we ironed that one out.Mar 17, 13:03
    • Mark Beggan on Looking up at the stars: “St Patrick was the first illegal immigrant to enter Britain in a dinghy.Mar 17, 12:50
    • Lorncal on Looking up at the stars: “Dan: maybe you just don’t see others’ viewpoints as valid discussion issues? Wings is still, by far, the most influential…Mar 17, 12:50
    • Geri on Looking up at the stars: “Scotland was perfectly capable of writing a framework before. Even Wings wrote the wee blue book along with thousands of…Mar 17, 12:35
    • Lorncal on Looking up at the stars: “Anne: I honestly do not think that the vast majority of posters on here are Unionist trolls. It is just…Mar 17, 12:33
    • Mark Beggan on Looking up at the stars: “For Scotland to achieve independence now the supporters will have to vote for the Unionist party most likely to form…Mar 17, 12:24
    • Aidan on Looking up at the stars: “I’m not going through the bins sorry, but looks like you’re absolutely right, it ain’t from the Tay, perhaps it…Mar 17, 11:55
    • Aidan on Looking up at the stars: “It’s a great strategy from Geri, I love it. So when people ask perfectly reasonable questions in hustings/on the doorstep/in…Mar 17, 11:48
    • 100%Yes on Looking up at the stars: “Why does it bother you? Ignore them entirely, most people do and they’ll just go away.Mar 17, 11:33
    • Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Looking up at the stars: “(Another attempt at the Gaelic version, hopefully free this time from misformatting question marks after each Gaelic accent) COIRE A’…Mar 17, 11:23
    • Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Looking up at the stars: “CORRYVRECKAN George Orwell wrote his novel 1984 on the Island of Jura. I saw something about it on tv recently.…Mar 17, 11:07
    • Hatey McHateface on Looking up at the stars: “That which doesn’t kill you makes you strong, Anne. It never ceases to amaze me how so many pro-Indy Scots…Mar 17, 11:07
    • Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Looking up at the stars: “COIRE A’ BHREACAIN Sgri?obh Seo?ras Orwell 1984 air Eilean Diu?ra. Chunnaic mi pi?os mu a dhe?idhinn air an tv o…Mar 17, 11:05
    • Anne on Looking up at the stars: “This site isn’t what it was because of the increasing posts from unionist trolls but one area where Wings has…Mar 17, 10:22
    • Hatey McHateface on Looking up at the stars: “Ah hear it’s grand fer fleas oan dugs.Mar 17, 10:19
    • Hatey McHateface on Looking up at the stars: “Thanks fer the heids up, Geri. Ah’ll hae a wee wurd.Mar 17, 10:16
    • Geri on Looking up at the stars: “Spot on, Alf. Poor shitey will see this for himself if Reform win. Someone did a montage of him the…Mar 17, 10:13
    • Hatey McHateface on Looking up at the stars: “Sorry, Alf, but after that response from you, I can only hope and pray that you never actually read the…Mar 17, 10:02
    • Geri on Looking up at the stars: “I hate tae burst yer wee Yoon bubble but ye are aware Chucky has strong Islamic leanings? Or maybe that’s…Mar 17, 09:53
    • Geri on Looking up at the stars: “Look Shitey It’s not rocket science. In a referendum the question is posed to EVERYONE regardless of their preferred political…Mar 17, 09:47
    • Alf Baird on Looking up at the stars: ““the article’s author doesn’t account for Scotland’s exceptionalism” Scotland has suffered from Orwell’s thesis since long afore he wrote anything.…Mar 17, 09:18
    • Young Lochinvar on Looking up at the stars: “HMcH Oh, I get it. You start it, don’t come out best so revert to spellchecking sanctimonious teacher mode. Honestly!…Mar 17, 08:13
    • Hatey McHateface on Looking up at the stars: “An interesting article on why, after every political revolution, Orwell’s pigs eventually turn into the humans they overthrew: https://unherd.com/2026/03/trumps-betrayal-of-his-base/ Of…Mar 17, 07:59
  • A tall tale



↑ Top