The world's most-read Scottish politics website

Wings Over Scotland


The definition of insanity 278

Posted on October 08, 2018 by

A famous quote commonly attributed to Albert Einstein (and hotly disputed, as always, by point-missing Quote Nazis), runs that “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results”.

It’s been bouncing around our heads for the last couple of days, because with the SNP annual conference in full swing in Glasgow, Scottish political pundits have taken it upon themselves to start issuing bizarre assertions/advice about the party’s strategy for securing a second independence referendum.

This version, from the Herald’s cut-price David Torrance knockoff Mark Smith today, is no more than we’d expect from that source:

But we were a lot more surprised to see the notion also being taken up by someone we’d previously credited with a lot more insight and intelligence.

Read the rest of this entry →

The Unofficial Idiot World Championships 91

Posted on October 08, 2018 by

Alert readers will be aware that while the absolutely mind-numbing empirical stupidity of Scotland’s latest batch of Unionist MPs and MSPs is a recurring theme on Wings, we’ve never attempted to place it on any sort of formal footing. And to be honest, that sort of laziness on our part is no longer sustainable.

Because folks, look at the pure state of this:

Ladies and gentlemen, we give you the inaugural Thickest Politician In Scotland.

Read the rest of this entry →

The Slide 239

Posted on October 07, 2018 by

Especially alert readers may have noticed that we’ve had a new page on Wings for a while, maintaining a current list of Scottish newspaper circulations.

We were just checking it today and noticed that – seemingly unreported anywhere – the Scottish “regionals” had had their biannual figures published, so we thought we may as well keep you updated.

Read the rest of this entry →

Grapes are the sourest fruit 218

Posted on October 06, 2018 by

Tens of thousands of people had a party in Edinburgh today.

They caused no trouble, spat on no priests, and everyone involved had a ball.

And for some reason that really, really upset Unionists.

Read the rest of this entry →

Ship of fools 179

Posted on October 06, 2018 by

The Ungrateful Nation 253

Posted on October 05, 2018 by

The plugin which normally embeds our Twitter feed on the Wings front page still isn’t working (doubtless because Twitter have made yet more spiteful and idiotic changes to their API), so those of you who don’t use the social media platform may have missed out on a gem this morning from everyone’s favourite Labour ultra-moderate.

Phew! Saved from economic devastation! Sounds like a narrow escape!

Read the rest of this entry →

The fine art of self-delusion 172

Posted on October 04, 2018 by

When the news is slow, we sometimes steel ourselves and go for a little paddle in the Yoonstream – a private collection of the most unhinged hardcore-Unionist accounts on Twitter – and see what they’re getting themselves all worked up about.

For a good few months now, they’ve all been posting mad graphs like this:

And we’re not quite sure why.

Read the rest of this entry →

Anatomy Of A Thicko 93

Posted on October 04, 2018 by

For our money – and by an admittely wafer-thin margin over the likes of Annie Wells, Miles BriggsAlex Cole-Hamilton and James Kelly – Tory list MSP Jamie Greene is still the lowest-watt bulb in the Scottish Parliament’s festival of lights.

(Our alerter readers may have spotted that that’s an official watermarked Scottish Conservatives pic, so that’s them making him look as intelligent as they can.)

But being really properly brainless isn’t just a matter of not knowing which powers are devolved before you attack the Scottish Government for your own UK administration’s failings or not being able to do basic arithmetic.

To stand out as especially doltish in a group of epic dolts like the current Tory cohort in Holyrood, you also need to be incapable of following simple logical trains of thought. So let’s see if we can illustrate with a topical example.

Read the rest of this entry →

Half the news fit to print 188

Posted on October 03, 2018 by

It’s probably time we started collecting all the media articles from the last couple of weeks about our ongoing legal battle with former Scottish Labour branch manager Kezia Dugdale, because it’s getting increasingly hard to plough through them all.

The story that Labour were pulling Dugdale’s legal funding was first broken by the Huffington Post on 19 September. Below is all the coverage we’ve found between then and now (most recent first). As best as we can recollect, incidentally, we’ve been asked for quotes for TWO of these stories.

Read the rest of this entry →

One tired eyebrow 536

Posted on October 01, 2018 by

We honestly don’t think they even see it, folks.

We truly don’t.

Cutting your losses 123

Posted on September 30, 2018 by

We’d hoped not to have to write any more about this for a while, but a story broke this evening on left-wing Labour website Skwawkbox that we thought those of you not on Twitter would want to see.

Following a previous piece casting huge doubt on Dugdale and the Scottish media’s version of events, the site got hold of a letter (dated yesterday) from Labour’s general secretary Jennie Formby to Mary Fee MSP, who’d sent a complaint about the party’s decision to stop funding Dugdale’s legal costs.

And it’s quite the read.

Read the rest of this entry →

The So Solid Crew 73

Posted on September 30, 2018 by

Three days ago, the Daily Record’s political editor and Kezia Dugdale’s chief media cheerleader Davie Clegg tweeted that Scottish Labour had “expressed full support and solidarity” for their former branch manager in her court battle with this website.

It seems fair to say that the tweet hasn’t aged well.

Read the rest of this entry →

  • About

    Wings Over Scotland is a thing that exists.

    Stats: 6,858 Posts, 1,233,235 Comments

  • Recent Posts

  • Archives

  • Categories

  • Tags

  • Recent Comments

    • James on A matter of class: “Dan; yip, Unionist Troll Central on here now, both attack and concern varieties…They’e f*cking endless. Tragic.Dec 28, 17:54
    • Northcode on A matter of class: “Alf Baird @2:40 pm “I was long resistant to suggestions that Scotland has been colonised. But as I read Alf…Dec 28, 17:51
    • sam on A matter of class: ““Even the name ‘British Empire’ is fake, a disguise for a locus of power in London which in which the…Dec 28, 17:41
    • Mark Beggan on A matter of class: “Q.What do you call a person who likes to spend other people’s money? A. A socialist.Dec 28, 17:29
    • Andy Ellis on A matter of class: “….feel free to banish me from this shithole you’ve allowed to be filled with trolls for evading your ridiculous moderation…Dec 28, 17:25
    • Mark Beggan on A matter of class: “Child: When I grow up I want to be a socialist. Parent: You can’t do both.Dec 28, 17:18
    • Andy Ellis on A matter of class: “I particularly liked the conclusion: The Nationalism of the Scottish National Party is not based on ethnicity but territory, it…Dec 28, 17:17
    • Dan on A matter of class: “Or alternatively, to do a way with endless yak, jist go with the simple abbreviated version in the dictionary. colony…Dec 28, 17:02
    • Captain Caveman on A matter of class: ““Some of the many things said about the English is that they treat nothing seriously and the men are sublimated…Dec 28, 16:48
    • sam on A matter of class: “https://journal.thenewpolis.com/archives/1.1/Saville-Smith.pdf “The matter is settled, Scotland is not a Colony because it was part of an Incorporating Union. But what…Dec 28, 16:27
    • Andy Ellis on A matter of class: “You may be right. Reform’s rise seems mostly to be cannibalising disillusioned Tory voters and the hard core brexiteers though:…Dec 28, 16:21
    • James Cheyne on A matter of class: “Xaracen, I take on board you’re excellent analyses of the position of Scotland territory and Sovereignty still belonging to the…Dec 28, 16:14
    • TURABDIN on A matter of class: “Some of the many things said about the English is that they treat nothing seriously and the men are sublimated…Dec 28, 16:13
    • Captain Caveman on A matter of class: “In actuality, Andy, I believe British nationalism is enjoying quite the renaissance of late, most notably in the form of…Dec 28, 15:19
    • Alf Baird on A matter of class: “““The intellectually low lumens” (wattage at a push) … metaphor to compare intellect to the brightness of light” Yes Northcode,…Dec 28, 14:40
    • Mark Beggan on A matter of class: “For those who can. I hope you are feeding the wee birds this winter. They also need fresh water at…Dec 28, 14:35
    • Northcode on A matter of class: ““Of course your keyboard being all sticky can’t help either.” Intellectual my perfectly smooth and rounded porcelain buttocks, Andy Inglis.…Dec 28, 13:47
    • Andy Ellis on A matter of class: “I’ve thought for a long time that the chief reason the British nationalist project is “going down the pan” was…Dec 28, 13:20
    • Alf Baird on A matter of class: “The ““Scotland as colony” narrative – is perfectly legitimate”, especially so for those having studied postcolonial theory in depth, then…Dec 28, 13:11
    • Andy Ellis on A matter of class: “@ Northcode Correction: “que the inevitable…” should, of course, read as “cue the inevitable…” I guess that’s what happens when…Dec 28, 13:05
    • Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on A matter of class: “Book review I did a few years ago which may be of interest to some – ‘CANADIAN GAELDOM: FADED FOOTPRINT…Dec 28, 13:00
    • Northcode on A matter of class: “Correction: “que the inevitable…” should, of course, read as “cue the inevitable…”Dec 28, 12:17
    • TURABDIN on A matter of class: “@ ANDY ELLIS, ENGLAND OR UK is going to the dogs, finished according to taxi drivers and Hampstead dinner party…Dec 28, 12:11
    • Northcode on A matter of class: ““Your contribution is little more than we’d expect from the intellectually low voltage usual suspects in here…” “The intellectually low…Dec 28, 12:03
    • Xaracen on A matter of class: “@James Cheyne; 1- The 1707 Treaty did not expire with the Irish treaty in 1800! Technically, the English/Irish agreement wasn’t…Dec 28, 11:56
    • Andy Ellis on A matter of class: “@ Alf 11.33am I happen to agree with the OP, however my contributions being directed towards addressing the wall to…Dec 28, 11:49
    • Alf Baird on A matter of class: “A point to note is that “Your contribution” to the subject matter of the article itself is non-existent, your purpose…Dec 28, 11:33
    • Andy Ellis on A matter of class: “@ Northcode 10.51 am Your contribution is little more than we’d expect from the intellectually low voltage usual suspects in…Dec 28, 11:12
    • Northcode on A matter of class: ““Oor Scots language is wha we are, aye Scots, an the verra grund o the independence/leeberation muivement” Aye, Alf, yer…Dec 28, 11:08
    • Mark Beggan on A matter of class: “We are not Unionists we are Fascists. Do try and keep up with the world around you.Dec 28, 11:06
  • A tall tale



↑ Top