Only an idiot would try to write anything today about the epic mess currently unfolding in British politics. You’d barely get to the end of typing a sentence before events had rendered it obsolete. But there’s one thing we’d really like to know, which bewilderingly nobody is mentioning.
The primary root cause of Brexit was idiots complaining about immigration. The core supposed aim of leaving, no matter what anyone said, was to reduce the number of foreign people coming to live and work in the UK. The issue of immigration regularly topped polls of what voters were most concerned about, and a 2017 study showed it was the biggest factor in the Leave vote.
But yesterday the UK government, after two and a half years of quite spectacularly inept negotiation, produced for the approval of the electorate a Brexit deal which did precisely NOTHING about immigration, and nobody in the media even mentioned it.
Ever aware of its need to deliver informed enlightenment to the populace, the state broadcaster has recently put up a “BBC Brexit Jargon Buster” page on its website. We’re not sure it was meant to be quite this candid.
This piece ran in the Telegraph – a newspaper with no Scottish edition and almost no Scottish sales – on Friday. Click to enlarge.
Our favourite line is:
“Think of what the UK would be like without the vast wealth generated by the 44bn barrels of oil pumped from British territory over the last 40 years.”
(Curiously, this is a rather different line to the one Critchlow took during the indyref, when he was the Telegraph’s full-time business news editor penning a string of articles about how bankrupt an independent Scotland would be despite possessing an asset that’s now apparently big enough to prop up an economy 12 times Scotland’s size.)
It’s worth keeping in mind whenever Unionists tell us (a) how volatile and worthless and used-up oil is, (b) how much Scotland depends on the kind benevolence of the UK to survive, and (c) why we can’t have another referendum until years after Brexit.
Wings Over Scotland is seven years old today (the period of time defined by the Good Friday Agreement as a “generation” in terms of referendums), and it doesn’t feel like a day over 25. Can we hurry up and have another indy vote before the entire country burns to the ground around our ears, please?
There was a certain uncomfortable 2018 inevitability this morning over the fact that where people were offended, arrests would follow.
And the burning of a cardboard model of the Grenfell Tower last night was certainly right up near the top in the pantheon of cretinously offensive things. Many victims of the appalling tragedy, which killed 72 people and injured many more, still haven’t been properly rehomed almost a year and a half later.
We’ve been through all the papers and there’s still absolutely no Scottish politics news, so we’re going to take a moment out for one of our brief but always-popular tangential forays into the world of football. All the usual disclaimers apply.
Because the parlous state of current Scottish journalism can’t just be observed on the politics pages, with all their partisan spin, quarter-truths and hackery. Sometimes you get a better idea of it by stepping back and looking at the broader picture, and rarely is that picture more clear than when it’s a picture of “Rangers”.
The Daily Record devoted only a tiny corner of its back page on Thursday to the club’s latest financial reports, and the bulk of the text was devoted to Dave King enthusing about what great news it all was.
Pretty much every other piece of coverage to be found in the Scottish press was the same, shrugging the figures off as of no notable significance and all someone else’s fault anyway (in this case former manager Pedro Caixinha, even though one must suppose he didn’t spend any more money than the board told him he could), and we waited in vain for any in-depth analysis in the Sundays.
And we couldn’t help thinking we’d been here before.
DaveL on The Nobodies: “You just can’t shut up can you? You just spew any old rubbish that comes to mind. Who’d be Hatey?…” Jul 31, 03:11
Young Lochinvar on The Nobodies: “HMcH @ 10.54 I’m afraid I’ll just have to take your word for that. Voice of experience an’ that.. PS…” Jul 30, 23:21
Young Lochinvar on The Nobodies: “Between holidays and Mrs YLs big birthday I haven’t had a chance to see Odyssey yet, which I am looking…” Jul 30, 23:05
Hatey McHateface on The Nobodies: “Dinna fash, Auld Lochnagar. Wi a’ the glesses ye raise tae em, some loss o’ faculties is tae be expected.” Jul 30, 22:54
Hatey McHateface on The Nobodies: “Cheers, Alf, that’s me convinced. I’ll buy that bridge off you now. Remember your quoted price has to include postage…” Jul 30, 22:43
Alf Baird on The Nobodies: “““Want me to describe how”” Just to keep you happy, Hatey. ‘Burnham’s government is even more zion*st than Starmer’s’: https://dearscotland.substack.com/p/burnhams-government-is-even-more” Jul 30, 20:36
agentx on The Nobodies: “https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/angela-constance-must-explain-snp-37491884” Jul 30, 19:44
Dan on The Nobodies: “After 6 years I wonder if this book is still doing the rounds. https://wingsoverscotland.com/brenda-isnt-a-sheep/” Jul 30, 18:02
Young Lochinvar on The Nobodies: “Errata Bell O the Brae.. My bad..” Jul 30, 18:01
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on The Nobodies: “NI FESTIVAL CANCELS WOMEN’S RIGHTS GROUP OVER GENDER-CRITICAL VIEWS An arts and culture festival in Northern Ireland has cancelled a…” Jul 30, 17:43
Young Lochinvar on The Nobodies: “Driving up the High Street in Glasgow today reminded me to mark the anniversary of the Battle O Bells Brae…” Jul 30, 17:41
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on The Nobodies: “SCHOOLS MUST STOP PROMOTING ‘DAMAGING’ BOOKS BY LGBT ACTIVISTS TO KIDS Parents and campaigners are urging schools to stop using…” Jul 30, 17:31
agentx on The Nobodies: ““‘Queer Milk’ charity gets public money to promote chestfeeding For Women Scotland campaign group describes the taxpayer support as ‘nauseating’…” Jul 30, 17:11
Hatey McHateface on The Nobodies: “Aye, Dave, we’ll be independent by Xmas. And because you’re so confident, you’ll be laying down some big bets at…” Jul 30, 15:37
Hatey McHateface on The Nobodies: “Aye, Confused, it’s just as well that one Scot is better than ten English. What with them outnumbering us by…” Jul 30, 15:06
DaveL on The Nobodies: “Check out the colonialists! This post really got them excited Aiden factchecker wee Adolf. I think they must’ve wet themselves…” Jul 30, 15:05
MaryB on The Nobodies: “Surely, this chest feeding practice is challengeable in law? It’s child cruelty to feed these babies an inadequate diet. Human…” Jul 30, 14:50
Hatey Mchateface on The Nobodies: “Cut Northy some slack, CC. He’s providing lots of reasons why the more prosperous regions of Scotland, e.g. the Northern…” Jul 30, 14:36
Confused on The Nobodies: “Scotland’s status has long been pored over by academics, we may have even coined the phrase “stateless nation”. Much navel…” Jul 30, 14:30
Confused on The Nobodies: “https://x.com/KevorkAlmassian/status/2077142696817573985” Jul 30, 14:26
Hatey McHateface on The Nobodies: ““Craig Murray is proposing the physical seizure by civilians of key state assets and confrontation between the police/army” He’s maybe…” Jul 30, 13:57
Captain Caveman on The Nobodies: “Sigh. Where to start eh? “You compare Scotland only to places that suffer more, as though injustice must reach a…” Jul 30, 13:55
Hatey McHateface on The Nobodies: “The Claim Of Right belongs only to the people who voted Yes. Do try to keep up! I bet you…” Jul 30, 13:51
Hatey McHateface on The Nobodies: “Haud Oan, we’re still waiting to hear from you how Scotland’s destiny is controlled from Tel Aviv. I’m more than…” Jul 30, 13:41
100%Yes on The Nobodies: “https://joansjigsaw.uk/2026/07/30/the-height-of-grotesqueness/” Jul 30, 13:36
Aidan on The Nobodies: “It wouldn’t be legal of course, and Craig Murray is proposing the physical seizure by civilians of key state assets…” Jul 30, 13:34
Hatey McHateface on The Nobodies: ““A nation becomes sovereign because its people recognise themselves as one” Oh aye, like in 2014. Erm. Cue “we wus…” Jul 30, 13:32
diabloandco on The Nobodies: “100%yes , where did you read that ? If verified then you are absolutely correct the SNP need removed to…” Jul 30, 13:23
factchecker on The Nobodies: “Sarah claims “John Swinney could, based on the SNP/Green majority, simply inform Burnham of the date of independence and then…” Jul 30, 13:04
100%Yes on The Nobodies: “The Scottish government is giving public money to fund a “Queer Milk Group” in which male transvestites meet weekly to…” Jul 30, 12:59
