One of the stranger criticisms regularly levelled at this site is that we don’t attack the SNP/Scottish Government enough.
That’s weird firstly because it’s not like there’s currently a shortage of hostile media scrutiny of Nicola Sturgeon and her colleagues, and secondly because we’ve never in our four-year life claimed for a moment to be neutral.
What Unionists insisted was the biggest and most important parliamentary transfer of powers to a devolved government anywhere in the world was squeezed into five and a half hours of debate time in the House Of Commons tonight, approximately two hours of which were taken up by Westminster’s farcical voting system.
Of the remaining three and a bit hours, a third of the time was taken up by the three MPs you can see video of at the bottom of this post. We know it’s a lot to ask to watch an hour of politicians deliberately trolling Scotland, but if you didn’t see the debate live it’s about the minimum you need to get an accurate sense of the tone.
At the end of it all, a small number of things had been decided.
The tiny number of people who watch the BBC Parliament channel is undoubtedly a blessing to the parties of the Union. We’ll be bringing you some eye-opening excerpts from today’s Scotland Bill debate later, but as a taster here’s one brief exchange.
Alberto Costa, the Scottish-born Conservative MP for South Leicestershire (of whom we’ll be seeing much more in a bit), is heard loudly expressing his satisfaction that not a single Scottish MP of any party (nor indeed any from Wales or Northern Ireland) has been permitted to sit on the Joint Committee discussing the government’s plan to scrap the Human Rights Act, although six unelected peers do get places.
When challenged, Costa explains that he’s happy about it because it’s a matter reserved to the “United Kingdom Parliament”. The fact that he apparently doesn’t consider any Scottish members elected to that parliament to have any business with its affairs is perhaps rather more revealing than Mr Costa intended it to be.
Last Friday’s article on the limitations of GERS caused quite a stir among the stout defenders of the Union, as social-media users may have noticed over the weekend.
Amidst the wildly-flailing fury-storm of shouty, abusive responses which pathologically evaded addressing the article’s point, the one vaguely factual argument raised was the notion that an independent Scotland wouldn’t be able to make significant savings on its current (notional) £3bn defence budget because NATO supposedly requires all member states to spend 2% of their GDP on defence.
When it comes to Scottish Labour’s great brainwave about “restoring” Tory tax-credit cuts, the madness just won’t stop. Here’s Magnus Gardham, formerly political editor of Scotland’s staunchest Labour paper the Daily Record, in the Herald today:
So, it’s our birthday. It was exactly four years ago today, on the 7th of November 2011, that Wings Over Scotland published the first post of what was supposed to be a pretty insignificant spare-time blog picking out interesting politics stories in the day’s Scottish media and challenging any inaccuracies in them.
It’s been such an exciting, action-packed week for Scottish Labour since a dynamic and thrusting PPB launched the 2015 branch-office conference that we worried there might be a danger people had forgotten it already. So we’ve brought it back for a curtain call, in a version a bit more appropriate for what remains of their core vote.
This is amazing, readers. It’s an extract from this afternoon’s The Big Debate on Radio Scotland, in which a journalist – the BBC’s Gordon Brewer – finally gets round to asking someone from Scottish Labour how they can make the extra £500m they need to fund their tax-credits “policy” while keeping all taxes the same.
You might have to listen through a few times to get your head round it, because that really is what a grown woman actually tried to get away with in front of a live audience.
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sam on When the law breaks the law: “Coroners’ reports in England have been found to misrepresent the total number of drug deaths. Research indicates that over 13,000…” Feb 25, 21:50
sam on When the law breaks the law: “https://www.health.org.uk/reports-and-analysis/briefings/uk-mortality-trends-and-international-comparisons “This briefing compares trends in mortality within the UK and with 21 high-income countries, based on new research by…” Feb 25, 21:43
willie on When the law breaks the law: “Ultimately if you live with a shortage of money, food, heating and lighting life becomes hard and stressful. Factor in…” Feb 25, 21:33
robertkknight on When the law breaks the law: “And what’s your point caller? Scottish and European me… Not British! (Only thing ‘British’ about yours truly concerns either geography,…” Feb 25, 21:28
sam on When the law breaks the law: “Scotland’s mental health problems are somewhat worse overall than in E&W. One in 4 Scots has a mental health problem-…” Feb 25, 21:22
sam on When the law breaks the law: “Mental health issues. England and Wales. “One in five adults (20.2%) in England are living with a common mental health…” Feb 25, 21:06
GM on When the law breaks the law: “Debatable, given the turnouts in EU elections. I voted remain because I thought England might vote to leave. Political ammunition,…” Feb 25, 19:54
sam on When the law breaks the law: “The first food bank in the UK opened in 2000. In 2026 there are about 2600 food banks. The main…” Feb 25, 17:25
Cynicus on When the law breaks the law: “Young Lochinvar 25 February, 2026 at 2:10 am CY…… ….You can take your choice but Unless you have an axe…” Feb 25, 17:24
sam on When the law breaks the law: “Child poverty in England is at 31 %. In Scotland it is 22%. Still too high but the difference is…” Feb 25, 17:14
sam on When the law breaks the law: “People in Scotland, a rich country with many resources, do not have healthy lives. The average period of good health…” Feb 25, 17:01
agentx on When the law breaks the law: ““The Scottish government has announced it will establish a Scotland-wide grooming gangs inquiry chaired by Prof Alexis Jay, who led…” Feb 25, 16:54
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on When the law breaks the law: “MP URGES LESSONS TO BE LEARNT FROM DETRANSITIONER HARMED BY ‘AFFIRMING CARE’ A girl ushered into social and medical treatments…” Feb 25, 16:22
Alf Baird on When the law breaks the law: “There is neither dignity nor morality in colonialism, whose very aim is ‘to widen inequality’ (Memmi) based on ‘hateful racism’…” Feb 25, 15:44
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Hatey McHateface on When the law breaks the law: ““The responses showed an alarming amount of ignorance and a lack of concern” One interpretation, certainly. Other interpretations are possible,…” Feb 25, 14:12
sam on When the law breaks the law: “The neoliberal policies that Scotland in the UK has experienced since 1979 seem like a kind of colonialism, A rentier…” Feb 25, 13:47
Ian Smith on When the law breaks the law: “If 80% of people are Scottish or Scottish and British only, why is joining the EU so popular?” Feb 25, 13:22
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Hatey McHateface on When the law breaks the law: “I would expect a lot of support for an amended proposal, especially among those Scottish patriots who extol the virtues…” Feb 25, 08:41
Hatey McHateface on When the law breaks the law: “@Cynicus That’s an empty slogan that doesn’t stand up to thoughtful assessment, parroted by the dense. History is written by…” Feb 25, 08:01
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Cynicus on When the law breaks the law: “Here you go https://archive.is/AkJ3C History, remember, is written by the winners. The winner here was NOT The Bruce but his…” Feb 25, 00:50
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