Wings Over Scotland isn’t the only website dedicated to scrutinising the truthfulness of things claimed by politicians and media pundits. There’s the widely-respected and diligent FullFact.org, there’s Scotland’s own The Ferret, and there’s the BBC’s Reality Check (which frequently takes the more unconventional approach of, er, not making a finding either way about what the reality of things is).
And then there’s Channel 4’s FactCheck, which we’re going to generously assume had a liquid lunch yesterday and was a little under the weather.
Because not only is the conclusion that it reached on the subject of an independent Scotland having to use the Euro utter nonsense that’s been debunked roughly 1000 times in the last six years, it doesn’t even agree with itself.
This was the Scottish Tories two years ago, when Scotland’s economy registered a small downturn for a single quarter, which was definitely the SNP’s fault:
Shall we find out what actually happened, readers?
Several media outlets today relate a story from BBC Scotland’s fascinating three-part documentary of the indyref, revealing that secret UK government polling in the first week of September 2014 gave Yes a lead even bigger than the famous 51-49 one published by the Sunday Times on the 7th.
And naturally we couldn’t help wondering what might have caused it.
Dr Craig Dalzell of the Common Weal is a very sharp guy we’ve run several pieces by on Wings, and he’s currently appearing all over the place with a highly accessible and concise explanation of how an independent Scotland could sensibly run its economy.
If you haven’t been able to make it out to see him, a quiet Sunday might be an ideal time to catch up with it.
So, some official and very brief Wings analysis, because we just watched an army of pundits on the TV all missing the bleeding obvious and talking as if a delay to Brexit was now a done deal.
After tonight’s series of votes in the Commons, all five of which were technically won by Theresa May, there are three possible outcomes. Let’s whizz through them all.
Guy Verhofstadt, leader of the ALDE group in the European Parliament (essentially the Euro Lib Dems), is by no means our standard go-to guy for political guidance. Like most European politicians he’s been criminally silent on the outrages being perpetrated by the government of Spain, and in general he’s a bit neoliberal for our tastes.
But his speech from yesterday is powerful stuff.
As we write this, the UK’s parliament is blundering through a third successive day of toe-curling farce on the floor of the Commons, aimed this time at securing some sort of extension to Brexit to avoid a disastrous no-deal in just 15 days’ time.
It may yet be that such a request will be issued and the EU will grant it, dragging out the whole awful mess for God knows how much longer. But judging by the tone of M. Verhofstadt’s impassioned, exasperated address in Strasbourg, we wouldn’t like to have money on it. It appears that an entire continent has had just about enough of us.
For some time, most polls for “Who’d make the best UK Prime Minister?” – the stat that really decides who wins general elections – have shown a solid lead for “Don’t know”, narrowly ahead of Theresa May and a long way ahead of Jeremy Corbyn.
It’s a prime symptom of a UK-wide contempt for politicians the magnitude of which we’ve never seen in our lifetime, and Scottish voters are in no way immune.
We loaded this question from our latest Panelbase poll in the party leaders’ favours, because you don’t have to think any of them is doing a GOOD job to say that one of them is doing the BEST job out of the four. Everything is relative – and we also didn’t ask the question specifically about Brexit.
But even with those get-outs, “They’re all useless” came out on top by a clear seven points over Nicola Sturgeon, and the rest weren’t even at the races.
Tonight sees what’s likely to be a highly-charged Scottish Cup quarter-final replay at Ibrox Stadium. Defeat will effectively end the losing side’s season, and games between the participants, Aberdeen and Rangers International, have tended to be fierce affairs ever since the latter club was formed in controversial circumstances in 2012, with this season’s clashes already having seen numerous red cards.
(Mainly for the home team’s temperamental striker Alfredo Morelos.)
Football authorities will be hoping for a minimum of flashpoints on the field which might lead to repeats of shocking recent scenes of abuse and violence from spectators, which have prompted the nation’s media to wring its hands in theatrical angst and demand that something be done.
The public’s view on the subject, meanwhile, has remained absolutely consistent.
Sundays have been the low point of Scottish political journalism for a while now. Traditionally a day when newspapers are heavy on comment and light on news (because politics tends to happen on weekdays), they unleash all the weary old dinosaurs who’ve been driving away readers for the last 30 years.
So you really have to stand out to be noticed for especially appalling hackery on a Sunday, which is probably why nobody from Scotland On Sunday wanted to have their name on this toe-curling piece of second-hand, lifted-from-another-paper garbage.
Professor Ronald MacDonald, you say? That name seems to ring a bell.
Mark Beggan on Anything But That: “Food for thought. It is not a case of if but when will Reform take power and when they do…” Sep 4, 04:11
GM on Anything But That: “Well, you are a Pict? Probably.” Sep 4, 02:50
GM on Anything But That: “Unless of course they are actually lining us up for a vote we are in an utterly dire position to…” Sep 4, 02:08
GM on Anything But That: “By the way, the people I see on the street, actually sleeping on the street I have never seen drunk…” Sep 4, 01:27
GM on Anything But That: “67% of all available housing must go to immigrants(not people seeking refuge or folk from abroad who have found themselves…” Sep 4, 01:13
James on Anything But That: “Better a Pict than a “Prick” though eh, SP?” Sep 3, 22:33
James on Anything But That: “Hey everybodee… England gets the revenues. Scotland gets the nukes! Yaaaaaay! Rejoice!” Sep 3, 22:22
Hatey McHateface on Anything But That: “I asked Google: “how many countries or peoples can be described by specific English words by those who hate them”…” Sep 3, 21:29
agentx on Anything But That: “what is it in your Indigenous language?” Sep 3, 21:24
Hatey McHateface on Anything But That: “Well, you are a Pict. A thousand year old, space traveling one at that. Whether in reality, or just self-identified,…” Sep 3, 21:12
Northcode on Anything But That: ““…you hate the English.” They hated me first! But, seriously, I don’t hate the English… I don’t hate anyone. I…” Sep 3, 20:28
Aidan on Anything But That: “We get it Northcode, you hate the English.” Sep 3, 19:49
Northcode on Anything But That: ““… yet the two nations and peoples can be friends now.” Setting aside this logic falling victim to the fallacy…” Sep 3, 19:23
Aidan on Anything But That: “Yeah again I think most people can get over the events of 300+ years ago. Within some people’s lifetimes, the…” Sep 3, 18:47
Northcode on Anything But That: “… or even “Keyboard Tourettes” for those who think the possessive term is misplaced. Perhaps i do suffer from keybored…” Sep 3, 18:32
agentx on Anything But That: “@ Marie – I live overlooking Gareloch and have fished there with my sons and eaten mackerel that we caught.…” Sep 3, 18:30
Northcode on Anything But That: “For the pedantic, “Keyboard Tourets” should read “Keyboard Tourette’s” Thair – sortit.” Sep 3, 18:29
Northcode on Anything But That: “Keyboard Tourets The term “keyboard tourettes” is not officially recognized, but it describes a phenomenon where individuals, often in online…” Sep 3, 18:08
TURABDIN on Anything But That: “WW3 & the AI loonies….. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/sep/03/peter-thiel-argentina-javier-milei?CMP=share_btn_url El Niño too.” Sep 3, 18:04
Hatey McHateface on Anything But That: “How odd that you don’t want to pose the question in Scots, Northy. Got to say, I’m pissed that according…” Sep 3, 17:50
Hatey McHateface on Anything But That: “Benefits to who?” Sep 3, 17:34
Hatey McHateface on Anything But That: “I have this theory, Northy, that you spout shite in inverse proportion to the likelihood of Scotland becoming independent. On…” Sep 3, 17:32
Northcode on Anything But That: “Westminster is nervous… and for good reason. The main event that could trigger a great upsurge in Scottish demand for…” Sep 3, 17:29
Marie on Anything But That: “Alf Baird @ 4.06pm – thanks for the link. I was in Helensburgh last month and looking out at Gare…” Sep 3, 17:21
Northcode on Anything But That: “It was always England’s empire. You never hear of Britain’s “Green and Pleasant Land” or “There’ll Always Be a Britain”…” Sep 3, 17:13
James Barr Gardner on Anything But That: “The fact that most smaller nations in Europe operate on consensus politics seems to have escaped Swinney’s vision, his view…” Sep 3, 17:07
Stevie on Anything But That: “The SNP disgusts me – nothing new then” Sep 3, 16:44
Hatey McHateface on Anything But That: “Now, now WWW. Use its proper name. 8 Ace.” Sep 3, 16:34
Hatey McHateface on Anything But That: “So it’s the English empire now, Alf? What you doing here? Channeling your inner Trump? He likes to rename stuff…” Sep 3, 16:31
Alf Baird on Anything But That: ““I don’t think many Scot’s see themselves as downtrodden natives or Scotland as a dystopian occupied territory.” Scots, and yersel…” Sep 3, 16:06
