The world's most-read Scottish politics website

Wings Over Scotland


Kirsty Blackman’s Genitals 424

Posted on June 13, 2023 by

Some of you still won’t have seen them, er, we mean “this”:

While it may have been the funniest – and Joanna Cherry silently spoke for every sane person in the nation as it went on – remarkably it wasn’t even the stupidest or most offensive part of her speech to yesterday’s Parliamentary debate in Westminster Hall about the definition of “sex” in the Equality Act.

Read the rest of this entry →

The Queen Of All The Cretins 180

Posted on June 12, 2023 by

Nicola Sturgeon has not been charged with any crime. Yesterday she was arrested, questioned and released without charge pending further investigation. We do not even know which specific suspected crime or crimes she was questioned in connection with, so it is manifestly impossible to meaningfully speculate on her innocence or guilt (save of course for the fact that all are innocent in the eyes of the law until proven otherwise, something Sturgeon herself often appears to forget).

Nevertheless, in Scotland the Contempt Of Court Act 1981 applies from the moment a person is arrested, as the country’s most senior lawyer and its official prosecution service were both keen to remind people yesterday in the clearest possible terms, and it applies equally whether you’re asserting someone’s guilt or their innocence.

So you need to be a really extra-special class of boneheaded numbwit to do this:

Read the rest of this entry →

The topical news quiz 96

Posted on June 11, 2023 by

Your first question, Ian Murray: who is the First Minister and leader of the SNP?

Ooh, sorry, zero points.

Read the rest of this entry →

Now it’s all out 71

Posted on June 11, 2023 by

Welcome to Cell Club, Nicola.

Developing a complex 122

Posted on June 10, 2023 by

Wings two days ago: “The SNP wants to do a devo-max deal with Labour”.

The SNP today: “We’re prepared to do a devo-max deal with Labour”.

Read the rest of this entry →

The heavy lifting 83

Posted on June 10, 2023 by

The Next Government Of Scotland 115

Posted on June 09, 2023 by

Is pictured below.

We’re putting it here for the record.

Read the rest of this entry →

Surrender when you’re winning 161

Posted on June 08, 2023 by

Let’s start with what we know.

The SNP tell us that independence support is currently at 53%.

They tell us that most Scots want a referendum within the next year:

And we know that it’s absolutely unequivocally possible for the SNP and Greens to trigger a Holyrood election which would serve as a de facto referendum not only within a year, but within weeks. Scots could entirely realistically go to the polls this August or September, or even on the date Nicola Sturgeon promised less than a year ago.

So why are the SNP choosing this of all moments to give up?

Read the rest of this entry →

Far beyond the pale horizon 81

Posted on June 07, 2023 by

In fairness, on one level it’s really funny.

Assuming you’ve already resigned yourself to independence never happening, that is.

Read the rest of this entry →

Carrying the cans 126

Posted on June 06, 2023 by

Even for Lorna Slater this is jaw-droppingly dumb:

It takes Olympic-class stupidity to publicly put a figure to how much your staggering incompetence has cost Scottish businesses in the middle of an economic crisis.

Either the Scottish Government knew the DRS wasn’t compliant and was hoping the UK government would shut it down, so that it could attempt to clumsily extract some political capital from “interference” (in which case it’s directly responsible for those losses of hundreds of millions of pounds), OR it was so mindbogglingly inept that it genuinely intended the scheme to go into operation but failed to legislate it properly (in which case it’s directly responsible for those losses of hundreds of millions of pounds).

In either case, any minister with responsibility for the gargantuan shambles should – quite obviously – be out on their ears before FMQs on Thursday in desperate hope of avoiding the government being sued by the affected firms. But the SNP/Green coalition has as little shame as it has ability or dignity, so expect the clown show to continue.

The Hey Hey Hundred 4

Posted on June 05, 2023 by

The 16K ZX Spectrum was definitely the ginger stepchild of the family of micros that defined home computing in the UK in the 1980s. With far less memory available to coders (just 9K) than a 16K ZX81, the £125 cost of the entry-level model – shockingly the equivalent of £416 now – didn’t get you all that much bang for your buck when it launched, even by the standards of April 1982.

The vast majority of purchasers wisely chose to save up the extra £50 for the 48K version (£175, or a hefty £582 in 2023 money, although still peanuts compared to the Commodore 64’s launch price of £1,327 equivalent), and the 16K Speccy very quickly fell out of favour. In fact it was withdrawn from sale after barely over a year on the shelves, with old stocks cleared at £99.

(There are no official figures for how many of the 5 million Spectrums sold were 16Ks, but Home Computing Weekly reported in May 1983 that 300,000 machines in total were sold in the first year, and in August 1983 Popular Computing Weekly reported that the 48K had outsold the 16K by two to one, so we can make a reasonable guess at somewhere between 120,000 and 150,000 units of the 16K in the year and a bit it was on sale, or roughly 3% of all Spectrums.)

But even in its very brief life (the vast bulk of these titles were released in 1983), the 16K machine amassed a library of fun games that left the catalogues of many better-specced computers in the dust. And for no particular reason other than that 40 years have passed since it abruptly met its fate, we’re here to celebrate them.

So sit yourself down with one of the last cans of Lilt (or don’t, because it’s full of poisonous artificial-sweetener chemicals now), get ready to fondly remember a few old favourites, and hopefully also discover some lost gems for the first time.

Read the rest of this entry →

Spin the bottle 293

Posted on June 03, 2023 by

  • About

    Wings Over Scotland is a (mainly) Scottish political media digest and monitor, which also offers its own commentary. (More)

    Stats: 6,727 Posts, 1,215,178 Comments

  • Recent Posts

  • Archives

  • Categories

  • Tags

  • Recent Comments

    • Jay on Mad caps: “Vivian O’B, what is this ‘purple pish’ carry-on from you? I have read numerous comments from you but now have…Apr 7, 22:53
    • Aidan on Mad caps: “@Xaracen – you don’t personally rant and rave and that comment wasn’t aimed at you, whilst I don’t think your…Apr 7, 22:01
    • Xaracen on Mad caps: “Aidan said: “Exactly Robert – it’s full of people who rant and rave like you do. Nobody wants to be…Apr 7, 21:56
    • Aidan on Mad caps: “@Twathater (an interest way to project your self hatred but there we go) – I am delighted you aren’t responding…Apr 7, 21:31
    • sarah on Mad caps: “Crowdfunder for Independence Live – it needs a lot more donors. So far it has £900 of the £6500 target.…Apr 7, 21:04
    • Hatey McHateface on Mad caps: “Lots going on in plucky, wee Norway – the country that all sane and rational Scots hold up as the…Apr 7, 20:37
    • Hatey McHateface on Mad caps: “So you’re claiming that US soldiers on RF soil will be summarily dispatched. The RF won’t make any political capital…Apr 7, 19:53
    • PacMan on Mad caps: “The possibility might need to be considered that the higher percentage of support amongst younger voters in polls for independence…Apr 7, 19:49
    • Hatey McHateface on Mad caps: ““after 300+years of neglect and abuse Scotland and Scots are worse off than they have ever been” Here you go…Apr 7, 19:47
    • Hatey McHateface on Mad caps: “Calm down, Bob. This isn’t where you post your application for camp guard in the New Scottish Gulag you and…Apr 7, 19:38
    • PacMan on Mad caps: “To be fair, most of us where taken in by this be-Kind, inclusive, civic nationalism nonsense. Look where it is…Apr 7, 19:35
    • twathater on Mad caps: “@ Robert Hughes TBQH Robert I have more or less stopped responding tae these pricks , it is the same…Apr 7, 17:48
    • Jay on Mad caps: “I wonder what Belarusian govt would say if a US military vehicle drove across the border from Lithuania? Viv. OB,…Apr 7, 14:56
    • sarah on Mad caps: “Couch as in grass not as in putting ones feet up!Apr 7, 12:42
    • Mark Beggan on Mad caps: “Scottish media in panic about Universities and their subsequent bankruptcy. Page after page, comment after comment. Children are trapped in…Apr 7, 12:34
    • sarah on Mad caps: “The “age” question is interesting. Can you remember if younger people were very visible in the 2014 campaign? From memory…Apr 7, 12:03
    • agent x on Mad caps: “Not much in the Scottish press about Swinney’s trip to New York!Apr 7, 10:25
    • Vivian O’Blivion on Mad caps: “An excerpt from an article on the website of the Atlantic Council (see also Radio Free Europe); “Lithuanians paid tribute…Apr 7, 10:21
    • Aidan on Mad caps: “Exactly Robert – it’s full of people who rant and rave like you do. Nobody wants to be associated with…Apr 7, 08:56
    • Robert Hughes on Mad caps: “” it’s also that the campaign is too closely associated with anti-Englishness, sympathy for the Kremlin sometimes and increasingly wild…Apr 7, 08:25
    • Hatey McHateface on Mad caps: “Don’t overlook the ingrained antisemitism which a close read of the clannish, self-congratulatory backslapping posts reveals. But yes, if they…Apr 7, 07:14
    • Hatey McHateface on Mad caps: ““We voters would be in the driving seat – that would be wonderful” Would it though, sarah? In all of…Apr 7, 07:05
    • Aidan on Mad caps: “@Ian – as someone who is around half the age of the average suggested above, it’s not just that many…Apr 7, 07:03
    • Ian Brotherhood on Mad caps: “@Sarah (9.16) – Thanks for that and aye, totally agree, there’s nothing like meeting folk in the flesh. Sometimes they’re…Apr 7, 00:09
    • diabloandco on Mad caps: “IanB, I do hope so , I am definitely in need of meeting up with the cheerful , positive folk…Apr 6, 22:10
    • sarah on Mad caps: “MaryB, it is encouraging that you read para (a) the same way that I do i.e. that it empowers People’s…Apr 6, 21:27
    • sarah on Mad caps: “I miss the way btl was. It was always relevant to independence, and pleasant on a personal level. OK Robert…Apr 6, 21:16
    • MaryB on Mad caps: “Sarah @ 4.48 & Duncx I tried to post this earlier today, but it didn’t appear. So here it is…Apr 6, 21:07
    • Ian Brotherhood on Mad caps: “Hi D, Yes, it was good. Not just because the atmosphere was relaxed (because the Eagle Inn is Robert Slavin’s…Apr 6, 20:18
    • Tinto Chiel on Mad caps: “Had forgotten all about that, Robert. No idea what we were discussing. Love, Samantha 🙂 .Apr 6, 19:44
  • A tall tale



↑ Top