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Wings Over Scotland


The Hand Of Friendship 34

Posted on September 23, 2024 by

We’ll be honest, folks, we’re not 100% sure this is how you build unity.

But what uplifting and powerful alliances might we be missing out on?

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The Triple Whammy 94

Posted on September 22, 2024 by

Scotland’s energy rip-off continues unabated, and its impact on Scotland is merciless. GB Energy is to put up a plaque on an office in Aberdeen whilst Scottish pensioners can’t afford to put on the heating. Oil continues to boost the UK coffers as a senior British business figure calls Scottish renewables “a golden ticket for UK growth”.

But as Scottish pensioners freeze, Scottish industry’s being devastated, and workers are being made redundant.

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Say What You See 142

Posted on September 20, 2024 by

Don’t say we don’t tell you, readers.

Because we do tell you.

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10 Years On 58

Posted on September 19, 2024 by

For all of those who couldn’t make it to Saturday’s sold-out event at the IMAX:

As for the next 10 years, that’s another question.

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An unduly restrictive view of salvation 88

Posted on September 18, 2024 by

Earlier today we heard from the SNP’s depute leader Keith Brown that the party now accepts there will never be another UK-sanctioned independence referendum.

And this afternoon in the chamber the SNP also voted against the only alternative.

Alba MSP Ash Regan laid down the above motion, which supports what as far as we knew was still the SNP’s official policy in the absence of another Section 30, in so far as they even know what their policy is.

Today that motion was voted down by 125 votes to 1.

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Objection Sustained 41

Posted on September 18, 2024 by

This must be some kind of mistake.

Because we’re sure you’ve spent the last decade telling us that just couldn’t happen.

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A Brief History Of Hope 168

Posted on September 14, 2024 by

The Land Of Immunity 101

Posted on September 12, 2024 by

Astonishingly, there isn’t a single word of apology anywhere in this statement.

There isn’t a scintilla of contrition, not the tiniest glimmer of admission of culpability or responsibility. There isn’t even a weasel-worded expression of “regret”.

Rape Crisis Scotland is unfit for purpose, and its CEO must resign.

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The Tartan Messiah 42

Posted on September 11, 2024 by

Well, Shauny‘s knocked it out of the park.

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After the swarm 72

Posted on September 11, 2024 by

On 15 October 2012, I signed the Edinburgh Agreement with David Cameron to secure the independence referendum of September 2014.

On the same day Peter Kellner of the polling company YouGov wrote one of his condescending commentaries from London dissing any hope for the Yes campaign.

“However, from Salmond’s point of view, it is about the only thing going for him. Indeed, were he to be given a truth drug, he might well curse the fact that the SNP won last year’s Scottish elections outright, and thus found himself in a position to keep his promise.

He would surely have been much happier remaining the leader of a minority government, unable to get his independence legislation through Holyrood. Then he could have railed against the Scottish satraps of the Britain-wide parties for silencing the voice of the Scottish people.

Instead, by winning an outright majority, he has shot his own fox. Rather than shed crocodile tears for his inability to call a referendum, he must now put the issue to the test.

As a shrewd and intelligent man – indeed, one of the shrewdest and most intelligent in British politics – he must know that his mission is impossible, that in two years time his country will vote to remain part of the United Kingdom, and that far from being achieved, independence will be deferred for at least a generation.

All YouGov’s evidence from the past four years is that independence is a minority passion north of the border. Even as the SNP was surging to victory last year, Scots told us by two-to-one that they wanted to remain within the UK.

The SNP won because most Scots thought it had governed their country well, because they liked Salmond, and because they thought the Scottish Labour Party was useless – not because they wanted to sever links with London.”

Kellner’s view was almost universal, and not just among the London pack of journos and politicians. Most, if not all, of the Scottish media agreed with him.

However, by September 2014 things looked very different.

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A False Labelling 78

Posted on September 10, 2024 by

We’ve just watched the BBC’s new documentary, and we’re confused.

You can see both episodes on iPlayer now, or on TV tonight and tomorrow, but there’s no mistaking what’s being advertised – a personal drama between the two biggest players in Scottish politics in the last 300 years.

But that’s not what you get.

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Coming Yet 63

Posted on September 09, 2024 by

The dogged persistence of alert Wings contributor Benjamin Harrop with regard to the Hamilton inquiry has been truly heroic, and today it has borne fruit in dramatic style.

The 10-page adjudication from the Scottish Information Commissioner that you can download by clicking that image is a somewhat labyrinthine (but fascinating) read, but the upshot of it is that the Commissioner has now ordered the Scottish Government to release all of the legal advice it was given with regard to its refusal to publish the written evidence submitted to James Hamilton for his inquiry into the events around the alleged conspiracy to falsely convict Alex Salmond of sexual assaults.

(See, even that one-sentence summary was quite hard going.)

But why does that matter and what does it mean?

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    • Dan on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “@ Aidan Seeing as you’re the smart arse with all the answers, then why don’t you tell me how confident…Jul 23, 17:00
    • Lorn on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “Indeed! I hear you’re a racist now, Ted. The moronic idiocy of these people is beyond satire. Almost said ‘suture’…Jul 23, 16:32
    • Northcode on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: ““You are Northcode, why are you referring to yourself in the 3rd person?” The answer to this question can only…Jul 23, 16:31
    • Lorn on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “Sex is established at conception via the man’s sperm, albeit it takes a wee while to show up, with all…Jul 23, 16:29
    • Young Lochinvar on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “Latest breaking: My little Pony, pIssed at all the attention Barbie has been getting has secured a gig as Glasgows…Jul 23, 16:24
    • James Barr Gardner on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/may/14/green-party-germany-paedophiles-80sJul 23, 16:22
    • Lorn on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “crazycat: had these men never been allowed to bring their fetish into the public space, into workplaces and elsewhere, we…Jul 23, 16:18
    • Aidan on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “@“Northcode” you are right about there being no such thing as debate in this place, but that’s a bad thing,…Jul 23, 15:57
    • Lorn on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “You believe what you like, Dan. I have been a nationalist, not just an independence supporter, my whole life, but…Jul 23, 15:49
    • Aidan on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “@Dan – again your not wrong, the conservatives were ideologically against it on television but did very little to stop…Jul 23, 15:45
    • Mark Beggan on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “They have.. Super Mario that’s me.Jul 23, 15:37
    • Northcode on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “Aidan says some stuff about NOT suppressing folk’s views: “I’m not calling for anyone’s views to be suppressed…” Aidan says some…Jul 23, 15:31
    • James on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “Is there any software that will replace you?Jul 23, 15:19
    • Dan on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “@ Aidan Yawn, even AI can work out this basic stuff. “,i>The saying “Never interrupt your enemy when he is…Jul 23, 15:16
    • James on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “But no-one at all laps your Daily Express unionist shite up.Jul 23, 15:14
    • Mark Beggan on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “Does anyone have software that will replace the word colonial with the word banana?Jul 23, 14:50
    • Aidan on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “@Dan – I’m well aware of that, and well aware that the nuSNP see gender (and the stuff that is…Jul 23, 14:39
    • Aidan on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “I’m not calling for anyone’s views to be suppressed. I’m suggesting the quality of debate might be improved if reasonable…Jul 23, 14:29
    • Dan on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “@ Aidan Be more alert! Have you not noticed you’ve been regularly posting on a site that highlights the rather…Jul 23, 14:14
    • Rob on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “I don’t think the gender woo woo was really imported, the idea maybe but the distance that the SNP and…Jul 23, 14:13
    • Northcode on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “To quote Northcode. “There’s barely a comment posted here by a unionist (colonialist?) that is anything other than childish insult,…Jul 23, 13:58
    • Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “Regarding the colonialism question, the following Vimeo discussion with Bill Rolston will be of interest to Scots, even though its…Jul 23, 13:57
    • Mark Beggan on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: ““heroically restrained” Ok Dorothy We’ve heard enough.Jul 23, 13:37
    • Aidan on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “Professor Baird may have spent a lot of time on the subject, but that in itself isn’t a validation of…Jul 23, 13:27
    • Aidan on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “@Dan – you’re obviously right, but at the moment there is no place more supportive of this kind of stuff…Jul 23, 13:18
    • Aidan on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “Of course we always have the option of scrolling on by, but to ignore the endless tide of incoherent waffle…Jul 23, 13:06
    • Mark Beggan on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “And your going to colonial hell as a punishment for being a gibbering auld dafty.Jul 23, 13:04
    • Dan on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “Lorn says: “I want independence, have wanted it from around the age of 11 to now, and I’m no spring…Jul 23, 12:52
    • Northcode on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “Alf Baird puts forward a coherent and convincing argument based on sound and methodical academic research. He’s written several papers…Jul 23, 12:51
    • GeoffC on Everybody’s Normal Nowadays: “Aye, some queer thinking around….Jul 23, 12:28
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