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Wings Over Scotland


Why we shouldn’t do walking away 107

Posted on March 04, 2014 by

When former chancellor Alistair Darling said the following during the currency row, he should have known better (and no doubt did):

“The nationalist threat to default on debt if they don’t get their way on currency is reckless. The impact of Alex Salmond’s default would be to say to the world that we cannot be trusted to honour our debts.”

The empirical fact is that an independent Scotland would not be defaulting, reneging on, or walking away from anything. That’s because the UK government has already taken full responsibility for all debt accrued up to the date of Scottish independence.

wienerkongress

So we can just forget about it, right?

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Agents on the scene 344

Posted on March 04, 2014 by

So, wow. Still in its first week, the Wings 2014 fundraiser broke £100,000 last night. We suppose that means we better start fleshing out our “stretch goals” a bit.

agents

And if you’re one of the 99% of readers who haven’t donated yet – perhaps because you’re wasting your money on trivialities like feeding your family or paying bills or something – this is where you can offer us some help that’s just as valuable instead.

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Remember what they think of you 114

Posted on March 04, 2014 by

Prominent New Labour writer Dan Hodges has a piece in the Telegraph today (because where else would a New Labour commentator have a column?) about UKIP now being an openly racist party. It contains the following passage:

“Last May Farage visited Edinburgh, where he was met by a small but aggressive mob of protesters. Eventually he had to be escorted from the scene by police for his own safety.

Directly accusing the SNP of being behind the protest, Farage described the protesters as ‘racist Nazi scum’. The incident was, he said, ‘deeply racist and displayed a total hatred of the English’.

And he’s right. He wasn’t targeted on the basis of his race, but on the basis of his nationality. And as he said, that was racist.”

We’ll leave aside that the protest was nothing to do with the SNP or Scottish nationalists, that it was organised by a radical left-wing group and that one of the two men arrested in connection with the incident was in fact English himself. None of those factual inconveniences are allowed to get in the way of Hodges’ bigotry.

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Damn that uncertainty 139

Posted on March 03, 2014 by

From today’s Press & Journal, for those of you outside Aberdeen.

pirates1

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The price of the BBC 204

Posted on March 03, 2014 by

We’ve been writing for quite a while now about the absurd-yet-deathless “Project Fear” scare story that an independent Scotland would lose access to BBC broadcasts (and thereby shows like Strictly Come Dancing, Match Of The Day, EastEnders, Doctor Who and, we dunno, Homes Under The Hammer or something), which was given another tired run-through last week by UK government culture secretary Maria Miller.

rte

We’ve pointed out in some detail that it was complete nonsense, because the BBC is a commercial organisation which would actively seek to sell the rights to its output to Scotland, but what we haven’t been able to do previously was put a figure to the likely cost. Thanks to an alert reader, though, we can now fill in that gap.

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The difference a day makes 96

Posted on March 03, 2014 by

Scotland on Sunday yesterday:

devosos

The Scotsman 24 hours later:

scotmanpowers

Rinse, lather and repeat for the next six months.

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The Eton Rifling 177

Posted on March 02, 2014 by

Heavens above. We thought that being reduced to sending out chain letters might have been some sort of rogue effort, but it seems “Better Together” really is as desperate for cash  as it’s appeared to be in recent months, with barely a week going by that we don’t get an email from Alistair Darling, chatting about some aspect of the debate before suddenly going “SO WE NEED MONEY! MONEY! SEND MONEY NOW!”

ccuk

But the piece above appearing in this week’s Sunday Times (where we initially missed it because it was in the “UK News” rather than the “Scottish News” section) was backed up by another piece of extraordinary panhandlery.

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The case as it is 72

Posted on March 02, 2014 by

If you missed it live, here’s the audio recording of the debate held at the Volunteer Rooms in Irvine on Friday. (The event wasn’t video-recorded, despite Clan Destiny Films having a high-quality camera team there, because the Labour MP for Central Ayrshire, Brian Donohoe, refused to give his permission.)

irvindebate

Click the image for the two-hour MP3 file.

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The meanings of life 81

Posted on March 02, 2014 by

This week’s edition of the Sunday Herald is a “referendum special” marking 200 days of the campaign to go (although actually it doesn’t have an awful lot more referendum coverage than a normal issue).

sh200

There are lots of things worth reading – as ever, we recommend spending a modest 69p for a digital copy via PressDisplay – but what really caught our eye were the two interviews with the heads of the Yes and No camps, Blairs Jenkins and McDougall.

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Pay your money, take your choice 83

Posted on March 02, 2014 by

This morning’s Scotland on Sunday:

devosos

Well, that seems clear.

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A tale of two cities 65

Posted on March 01, 2014 by

Yes Scotland campaigning today in Edinburgh:

yesedinburgh Read the rest of this entry →

New currency options explored 87

Posted on March 01, 2014 by

fiscalwings

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    • Mark Beggan on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “Don’t be like Sleepy Joe. Don’t eat the yellow snow.Mar 25, 14:43
    • Insider on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “Breastplate @ 2:10 pm Thank you for admitting you cannot understand even the most basic questions about Scottish Independence !…Mar 25, 14:38
    • Mark Beggan on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “The DuRan Dingdong Cult have been trying to fight this war like it’s 1979. Now all they have left is…Mar 25, 14:37
    • Northcode on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: ““…nobody ever says who will form an honest, competent Government.” Nobody can until Scotland is liberated and she regains control…Mar 25, 14:18
    • Mark Beggan on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “Your Party. A dirty old man and a rabid death cultist. Old Jeremy is all out of friends. They are…Mar 25, 14:14
    • Mark Beggan on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “Just flexing your lefty muscles with an afternoon antisemitic black Live matter rant. Isn’t it time you kissed the ground…Mar 25, 14:11
    • Breastplate on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “Insider, you’ve got me. I don’t understand the question or the answer, could you tell me please, pretty please, with…Mar 25, 14:10
    • Insider on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “Breastplate @12:18 No amount of bluster and attempted diversions on your part can disguise your comprehension problems or the fact…Mar 25, 13:48
    • Northcode on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “Endlessly recounting Scotland’s ancient constitutional past will not persuade those unpersuaded Scots who support the Union to change their minds.…Mar 25, 13:37
    • Captain Caveman on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: ““Are you dumb? Yer literally posting on an Independence blog” Heh!! Just when you think the irony-o-meter can’t be overloaded,…Mar 25, 13:21
    • Dan on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “Civic nationalism was never going to work in Scotland, because Hondas rust like fuck at the best of times; And…Mar 25, 12:55
    • Geri on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “I’m going to keep reminding you yoons what site yer actually posting on. Not only is it rude but it’s…Mar 25, 12:32
    • Dan on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “Damn it! Pity we’ve got the wrong sort of leccy up here… “The Grid cannae cope”… But Scotland is generating…Mar 25, 12:27
    • 100%Yes on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “Thank you.Mar 25, 12:25
    • Breastplate on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “Insider, I think there’s a bit of projection on your part, as you clearly have no idea what I’m talking…Mar 25, 12:18
    • Confused on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “blowing up ambulances is wrong – wherever it happens … https://archive.ph/M0H5A (who does this a LOT? and who started it?)…Mar 25, 12:14
    • Confused on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “assimilation? integration?? civic nationalism? https://x.com/RMXnews/status/2036058154530676736 – how’s that working out? and how can it work with : people who actively…Mar 25, 12:12
    • Geri on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “Are you dumb? Yer literally posting on an Independence blog that not only posted thousands of articles debunking yoons pish…Mar 25, 11:56
    • James Che on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “Why do scottish council or the rest of Britain for that matter pay Council tax, The council tax follows your…Mar 25, 11:36
    • Insider on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “Breastplate…. You appear to have SERIOUS comprehension problems ! Chas’s comment was.. “nobody ever says who will form an honest,…Mar 25, 11:23
    • James Che on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “Why not change the subject indeed, Why does Scotland pay The Standard Great Britain annual income tax, And Scotland pay…Mar 25, 11:17
    • James Che on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “North code, I know of many other issues and topics that relate to the people in general, however there is…Mar 25, 11:11
    • Breastplate on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “Chas, I understand that you find the concept of independence difficult so let’s come at it from another angle. If…Mar 25, 10:49
    • James Che on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “There are many ways to suck the finances out of Scotlands people. False Elections, Different added on income tax’s, Mineral…Mar 25, 10:35
    • Northcode on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “Oh, do shut up, you Inglis bore. Why are you even posting your Anglo-drivel here? The only comments I’ve ever…Mar 25, 10:23
    • Northcode on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “What if our roles were reversed and it were England governed entirely by Scotland and the Scots and not the…Mar 25, 10:18
    • Chas on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “The first sensible comment from you that I have ever seen. Well done.Mar 25, 10:00
    • Northcode on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “A word of advice, and I’m sorry to have to say this, James Che, but even I, a staunch supporter…Mar 25, 09:30
    • Chas on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “I worry about the mental health of the nutters who post the same tripe day, after day, after day on…Mar 25, 09:15
    • James Che on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “Scottish people pay the standard income tax as the rest of Great Britain, however they also have added on Scottish…Mar 25, 09:13
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