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Wings Over Scotland

Here come the monsters again 472

Posted on February 27, 2018 by

If you’re a person (unemployed or working) subsisting via state welfare in the UK, there can be no more genuinely, blood-runs-cold, terrifying phrase in the English language than a Tory saying they’ve come up with “fresh thinking” on poverty and benefits.

Because – and if you’re only going to trust us on one thing in your life, trust us on this – it never, ever means your life’s about to get better.

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Category comment, media, scottish politics

Yet another metaphor 236

Posted on February 26, 2018 by

…for the relationship between the four “partner” nations of the UK presented itself at the weekend when BBC anchorman John Inverdale asked the Scottish rugby pundit and former international Andy Nicol “what does this do for self-belief from a Scottish perspective, Andy?”

Which was clearly pretty ironic in itself:

But alert readers may recall how that “epitome of Better Together” worked out.

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Category comment, history, scottish politics, sport

The tunes of glory 228

Posted on February 25, 2018 by

After Scotland’s rugby team sent proud Edward (Jones)’s army homeward with some well-skelped erses from Murrayfield yesterday, it seemed like an opportune moment to reflect on this from just 12 years ago.

The full story is below.

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Category comment, history, music, scottish politics

The tea party 151

Posted on February 24, 2018 by

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Category comment, europe, uk politics

The makings of a deal 374

Posted on February 22, 2018 by

A timely reminder about how much 85% of British people (or to put that another way, English people) really value the rest of the UK.

“Lead us, Scotland, don’t leave us!” is going to be a pretty hard sell next time.

Category comment, disturbing, europe, scottish politics, uk politics

From the archives #8 156

Posted on February 21, 2018 by

It’s still thin, thin gruel for Scottish politics in the press – everyone’s desperately trying to pretend income tax is a story again today – so while we do some research it’s back to the vaults for more ironic historical chuckles we go.

Tags:
Category history, scottish politics

Foote replaced by Dick 455

Posted on February 19, 2018 by

Last week, just a day after we highlighted the disastrous sales collapse of the Daily Record during almost certainly the most tumultuous and eventful seven-year period in Scotland’s peacetime history, the paper’s editor-in-chief Murray Foote apparently took the Scottish newspaper industry by surprise by suddenly resigning his position.

(We’re sure, incidentally, this is entirely unconnected with the recent advertising of some senior media vacancies in Scottish Labour.)

Rival hacks dutifully issued a series of glowing tweets about what a smashing guy Foote was and how much he’d improved the paper during his 27-year tenure there in various positions, most recently editor-in-chief, group editor and deputy editor.

So even though Foote accused this site of “debasing public life” with “sewage politics, conspiracy theories, hatred and paranoia” when we forced his paper to reluctantly and belatedly correct a massive front-page lie, we thought we’d join in the salutes.

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Category comment, media, scottish politics

Really smart and very stable 290

Posted on February 17, 2018 by

Tags: ,
Category comment, world

The seven-year ditch 266

Posted on February 15, 2018 by

Presented without comment, covering a period of THREE major national referendums, EIGHT elections (UK, Scottish, EU, council) and of course the death of Rangers.

What we’re saying is, it’s not like there wasn’t any news.

(Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)

Tags:
Category media, scottish politics

Power retention 66

Posted on February 15, 2018 by

We still have no reliable internet, just occasional five-minute bursts or a shonky 4G phone connection, but there’s a BT Openreach man in the garden and as soon as he gets hold of a different kind of all-terrain BT Openreach man we’re hopeful that the problem will finally be fixed by the end of today, after two weeks.

In the meantime, we couldn’t help but be struck in passing by the collapse of talks on reopening the Northern Ireland’s devolved Assembly, which has now been closed for over a year following the failure of an election to deliver a workable administration.

If there’s a better illustration of just how limited the powers of devolution in the UK are than the fact that the region seems to have muddled along just fine for 13 months without the parliament, we’re having a hard time thinking of what it might be. The old saying that “power devolved is power retained” has never been more visibly true.

If Scotland wants to thrive, it can only do so with all the meaningful powers of a nation under its own control, and at the end of the day there’s only one way to get those.

Category comment, scottish politics, uk politics

Riding the rollercoaster 367

Posted on February 13, 2018 by

…with the Secretary of State for Scotland.

Boo! But wait!

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Category comment, europe, idiots, scottish politics, uk politics

From the archives #6 193

Posted on February 12, 2018 by

Just the one time, though, apparently.

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Category history, scottish politics

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