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The shoogly peg 1,141

Posted on October 07, 2017 by

The enemies of achievement 365

Posted on October 06, 2017 by

Sometimes it’s hard for Yes supporters in Scotland not to be a bit jealous of Catalonia.

Despite their would-be nation being only a little bit bigger than Scotland, and despite being faced with very real physical and legal intimidation, the Catalan independence movement regularly manages to put hundreds of thousands of people on the streets.

Yes marches and rallies in Scotland, by comparison, often struggle to get attendances numbered in the hundreds, largely because squabbling factions refuse to get along with each other and by far the biggest entity in the Yes movement – the SNP – wants nothing to do with them.

Marches don’t win independence, of course. But what does?

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Reader’s digest 478

Posted on October 04, 2017 by

All anyone will remember of Theresa May’s speech to the Tory conference:

Have I Got Evasion For You 377

Posted on October 03, 2017 by

We referenced this a few days ago because we definitely remembered it happening, but we’d been unable to actually locate the evidence, and at Wings Over Scotland that sort of thing bothers us. After a very considerable amount of effort we’ve now tracked it down, so we’re bunging it up here to preserve it for the record.

(At that point host Frank Skinner gave up and moved on.)

It’s from one month after the indyref, and the interesting thing is that Robinson is twice given the opportunity to respond to Skinner’s question about whether he thought that the pro-Yes supporters had any sort of fair point about his alleged bias, and both times – rather than, say, just dismissing it with a quick “Of course not” – he ducks it.

Readers can, as always, make their own judgements.

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The accidental truth 278

Posted on October 02, 2017 by

Amid the horror of events in Catalonia yesterday, the Prime Minister of the UK – quite unintentionally – said something during an interview on the Andrew Marr Show which was highly pertinent not only to the Catalan referendum but to British domestic politics too. We thought it needed saving for the record.

We couldn’t agree with her more.

Homage To Catalonia 484

Posted on October 01, 2017 by

We’ll be keeping this post updated throughout the day with news as it comes in.

Remember as you look at these images: this is a modern European state reacting to an entirely peaceful democratic movement and process in 2017.

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Place don’t close until they wanna leave 110

Posted on October 01, 2017 by

What’s going on in Catalonia today:

This site can’t claim to know enough about Spanish and Catalan politics to have an opinion about whether independence for Catalonia is a good idea or not. All we can say is that democracy is a good idea, and the draconian and extreme attempts of the Spanish government to suppress the referendum – ludicrously under-reported in the UK media, particularly broadcast media – are a terrifying throwback to its fascist past. We very much hope they don’t succeed.

Keep the red fists flying 192

Posted on September 30, 2017 by

Here’s to you, Mr Robinson 357

Posted on September 28, 2017 by

It’s always interesting to make the news.

But the BBC man seems a little confused.

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The papier-mache press 108

Posted on September 28, 2017 by

As readers who were once children will probably recall, papier-mache is a substance in which incredibly flimsy material – such as tissue paper or newspaper – is turned into something rather more hard and durable by dint of combining multiple layers of it with a simple flour-and-water solution.

What’s less well-known is that the process also happens IN newspapers.

For a case study, let’s look at this article in today’s Times.

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Nothing like the truth 178

Posted on September 27, 2017 by

The Scottish Daily Mail almost explodes with fury over new crime statistics today:

Which is weird. Because there’s less crime in Scotland than there’s ever been at any time in modern history. How do we know that? Because the Mail tells us so.

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From March to September 48

Posted on September 27, 2017 by

It’s embarrassing to even have to point it out, to be honest.

Yet just six months later, with nothing having changed, everything had changed:

But when it comes to Unionist politics in Scotland, embarrassment is the default state.

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