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Wings Over Scotland


Trump’s Card 292

Posted on December 14, 2024 by

Keeping the fire burning 66

Posted on December 12, 2024 by

Since it was founded back in November 2011, Wings Over Scotland has been solely financed by its readers. The site has never carried any advertising, we have no secret corporate backers, everything we do is funded by transparent voluntary donations and subscriptions, mostly of a few pounds a month.

We have the freedom to write what we believe, thanks to you, our readers. And since those earliest days, opponents have tried to end that freedom by blocking our funding.

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The Wage Thief 385

Posted on December 09, 2024 by

6 November 2024 was a normal sitting day in the Scottish Parliament, so we shouldn’t be surprised that Nicola Sturgeon spent the previous evening in London, watching a special screening of a dreadful BBC Three sitcom about – of course – drag queens.

But remarkably, though she must have been puffy-eyed and weary, the 6th was one of the few days when she did actually manage to turn up at Holyrood to do her job.

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Take your partners 163

Posted on December 07, 2024 by

The New Britain 562

Posted on December 03, 2024 by

So things are getting pretty strange.

Polling in Scotland, the UK and Wales in the last few days has shown Great Britain taking a fairly heavy swerve to the right after just five months of Sir Keir Starmer’s government. Labour now lead Reform (who have five seats to Labour’s 411) by just three points in the UK and are even more remarkably now in THIRD place in Wales, a country where the party has won every single election for over 100 years.

Scotland, meanwhile, is heading for a hung Parliament in 2026 in which – as this site has been telling its readers for the last year and a half – the only possibility of a stable administration will be an SNP-Labour coalition.

We live, as they say, in interesting times.

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What Went On 468

Posted on November 28, 2024 by

The proceedings at the Supreme Court this week were a tough follow even if you could get the court’s abominably bad livestream to work. They’re all archived here now, but non-lawyers will probably glaze over quickly during the nine hours of intense legalese.

We’re not allowed to clip up any illustrative sections, on pain of possible contempt of court, so perhaps the best way to explain the key parts of what happened in a vaguely comprehensible way is by showing you some commentary from social media.

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A Personal Best For Kezia 255

Posted on November 25, 2024 by

Credit where it’s due:

17 months is the quickest she’s ever caught up with us.

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The Unbargain Bin 215

Posted on November 23, 2024 by

Telling the truth by mistake 73

Posted on November 22, 2024 by

The Scottish Government has finally, and reluctantly, published its submission for next week’s crucial Supreme Court hearing on the definition of the word “woman”.

Many expert observers have already noted that the document flatly contradicts the Scottish Government’s previous repeated and strenuous assertions that a Gender Recognition Certificate confers “no new rights” on trans people, and have published extremely detailed assessments which are frankly all but impenetrable to non-lawyers but basically conclude that the Scottish Government’s position is a mess.

Our favourite line, however, is this one.

So if you’re obliged to have a 50/50 sex balance in your boardroom, you can do it by hiring a man with a GRC saying he’s legally female, or by hiring a woman.

We believe that the young folk nowadays call that a “self-own”.

The Long Unravelling 400

Posted on November 18, 2024 by

You’ve got to admit, that’s a zinger.

Craig Whyte is a man who knows all about financial doom looming on the horizon of a once-powerful institution. But it doesn’t take an expert with lived experience to spot what’s coming down the line for the SNP.

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The Way Forward 212

Posted on November 17, 2024 by

As a lifelong political geek and former SNP and Alba Party member, I’ve spent years supporting Scotland’s independence movement. However, over the last few years, I’ve watched the campaign (as opposed to support for independence) wither away. Being a Scottish nationalist has become increasingly disheartening, like watching someone you love succumb to a slow, debilitating illness. In frustration, I switched off from my homeland and turned my focus to the drama of US politics.

Over the last three years I immersed myself in it, watching both left and right-wing outlets. I became so hooked and invested that I jumped on a plane to Washington DC for the 2024 election. I canvassed with DC Democrats in rural Pennsylvania (that’s me third from the left in the pic below), attended Kamala Harris’s concession rally, and went to Trump’s only watch party in DC.

My journey led me to believe that Scotland’s independence campaign could learn a great deal from Trump’s victory and the Democrats’ failure.

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The People You Most Suspected 364

Posted on November 12, 2024 by

We’ll give you three guesses as to the highly controversial and extravagantly taxpayer-funded organisation that has its rainbow fingerprints all over this story, readers.

But you’re going to have two to spare.

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    • Mark Beggan on The Shortest Day: “@ young Lochinvar It is artistic licence. Loosely based on history. Uhtred spanned four kings and fought in about eighty…Aug 30, 15:58
    • Young Lochinvar on The Shortest Day: “MB Errr, that’s a no. No matter how much you wish it so..Aug 30, 15:31
    • DaveL on The Shortest Day: “If it was up to Chas we’d still be living in caves. “What? Build a shelter? Best not, we don’t…Aug 30, 15:09
    • Mark Beggan on The Shortest Day: “No Lochy I was there., I remember distinctly Uhtred kicking the shit out of the Scot. I can still see…Aug 30, 15:01
    • sam on The Shortest Day: “The first paragraph of Aidan’s post is irrelevant. “Growth in a time of Debt” was published in January 2010. George…Aug 30, 14:49
    • Mark Beggan on The Shortest Day: “That was a worthy effort Northy. The psychiatrists just give him 100mg of largactil three times daily.Aug 30, 14:44
    • Young Lochinvar on The Shortest Day: “One to celebrate; On this month in history (best reckoned as August 1018) the Scots under Malcolm II “Forranach” (the…Aug 30, 14:42
    • Aidan on The Shortest Day: “Why be so equivocal Alf, why not; Do you want: – to be tortured in the fires of hell for…Aug 30, 14:19
    • Chas on The Shortest Day: “Stu. What about starting a ‘crowdfunder’ to get some medical help for Che? If this was a success and the…Aug 30, 14:12
    • Alf Baird on The Shortest Day: “Yes James, if Swinney were really our national liberator he would select a referendum question befitting the reality of the…Aug 30, 14:03
    • Northcode on The Shortest Day: “No, James, I didn’t. Yours is a classic example of someone mixing historical grievance, constitutional myth, and modern legal reality…Aug 30, 13:43
    • Mark Beggan on The Shortest Day: ““What we’ve got here is failure to communicate.” – Captain, ‘Cool Hand Luke’ That is exactly what we’ve got here…Aug 30, 13:29
    • James Che on The Shortest Day: “Alex Salmond like other politicians never read the details, and the SNP today ignore that the old parliament of England…Aug 30, 13:25
    • James Che on The Shortest Day: “North Code. You sadly missed the point on the Scotland act and the 2014 referendum. It is not up to…Aug 30, 13:00
    • Mark Beggan on The Shortest Day: ““Same Shit Different Day” was specifically written for you James. You own that one.Aug 30, 12:59
    • Mark Beggan on The Shortest Day: “There are some men who think they are women and some women who think they are men. There are even…Aug 30, 12:52
    • Aidan on The Shortest Day: “The really incredible part of the story is how David Cameron/George Osbourne, when divising economic policy in 2008/9, were able…Aug 30, 12:24
    • Chas on The Shortest Day: “Easy answer Sam. Who will do the how’s and when? The SNP? Are there people waiting on the periphery ready…Aug 30, 12:24
    • sam on The Shortest Day: “https://russincheshire.substack.com/p/the-spreadsheet-that-broke-britain?r=lwml0&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web “In 2013 Thomas Herndon, an unsung, 20-something economics student from Massachusetts, was handed a homework assignment. He was tasked…Aug 30, 11:57
    • Aidan on The Shortest Day: “It’s nonsense to suggest that this single paper was the entire basis for the post-2010 coalition economy policy, not least…Aug 30, 11:47
    • Hatey McHateface on The Shortest Day: “You barsturt, CC. I really didn’t want to know that! Another fondly remembered experience from the past that the young…Aug 30, 11:46
    • factchecker on The Shortest Day: “Perhaps that’s because that’s how democracy works in the 21st century. The reason we (the people of Scotland) were not…Aug 30, 11:43
    • Hatey McHateface on The Shortest Day: “Sure, Bob. If you tell us you don’t celebrate Christmas either, we’ll believe you. After all, that was never a…Aug 30, 11:41
    • Knuckle_Heid on The Shortest Day: ““….Good Governance in Scotland….” er, you what, Dave? As has long been documented on WoS, since 2015 your “Government” has…Aug 30, 11:38
    • Hatey McHateface on The Shortest Day: “Respect to you, Northy, for daring to utter some of the truths that most won’t. It remains but to add…Aug 30, 11:36
    • sam on The Shortest Day: “It can’t be said with any certainty what any independent country will look like as time passes. Within my considerable…Aug 30, 11:33
    • Dan on The Shortest Day: “robertkknight says: at 10:37 am “It’s raining outside…” https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyrv84yd9ko #WetterTogetherAug 30, 11:26
    • Aidan on The Shortest Day: “Good man Spartan! I’m guessing you have your PPL? It’s something I’d love to do, particularly in Scotland where we’re…Aug 30, 11:17
    • robertkknight on The Shortest Day: “…and it’s NOT a “holiday weekend” in my country.Aug 30, 11:04
    • 100%Yes on The Shortest Day: “Oh dear, it’s now dawned on the zombie SNP membership. I’m not laughing I’m applaud you’ve been taken in so…Aug 30, 10:58
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