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Wings Over Scotland


Eight weeks later 50

Posted on February 07, 2014 by

From Oddschecker. Click to enlarge.

oddscheck

Proves nothing, of course. But the trend’s the thing, readers.

Ask and ye shall receive 165

Posted on February 07, 2014 by

Today, the Prime Minister of the UK, who wants Scotland to stay in the UK but won’t go there and make the case for it, asked the non-Scottish citizens of the rest of the UK to tell Scots how they felt about Scottish independence.

uktweets19

This is what some of them said.

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Taking no prisoners 114

Posted on February 07, 2014 by

Just to tide you over while we pop out to the shops, readers:

Can you tell we just recently got some good video-capture software?

Trading places 153

Posted on February 07, 2014 by

Sometimes it’s hard to shake the feeling that some sort of bizarre mass body-swap incident, such as those frequently depicted in comedy films like “Big” or “Freaky Friday”, must have happened in UK politics without anyone noticing.

Because on the day that David Cameron called on people elsewhere in the UK to plead with Scots to stay in the Union, English people are saying things like this:

(Warning: adult language.)

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The gift-horse dentist 209

Posted on February 07, 2014 by

We don’t entirely understand why the Times has this story as front page news, because it was covered in some detail in the Sunday Post a fortnight ago:

timesphone

But we couldn’t help thinking of the last time anyone tried something similar.

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Rare Pokemon captured 89

Posted on February 06, 2014 by

This sort of thing really shouldn’t be so startling and unusual that we feel we need to preserve it for posterity, but here’s someone on a BBC current-affairs programme giving a fair and balanced analysis of Scottish politics:

Based on the BBC’s track record this section will be missing when it goes out on the iPlayer, so we thought we better grab it while we could.

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Quotes of the day 93

Posted on February 06, 2014 by

This afternoon we reluctantly watched some of the House Of Commons debate entitled “Scotland’s Place In The UK”, because it’s our job. It was as dispiriting as its arrogant and presumptuous title suggests, and we could bear no more by about a third of the way through and went off to do something less annoying, like thread a muddy needle under a stroboscope while wearing boxing gloves and listening to One Direction.

Nevertheless, we managed to pick out a few choice lines at the time, and a few more from Hansard this evening, with our blood pressure soothed by merely having to read, not watch, Labour, Lib Dem and Tory MPs alike braying and hooting throughout, behaving with a lack of dignity and class that would have shamed a chimp’s tea party.

scotplace

(Or as Labour’s Willie Bain put it, “the best of the House of Commons”.)

The winner is below.

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Mindboggling things that happened today 89

Posted on February 06, 2014 by

This. This actually happened. We’re not making it up. Click it and see.

labtax

Go on, read it again. We dare you.

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Failure to engage 108

Posted on February 06, 2014 by

For some time now, we’ve been documenting a couple of intriguing aspects of the No campaign. One is its apparent shortage of grassroots activists, leaving “Better Together” to instead rely on the Scottish and UK media to get its message out. The other is a reluctance to engage in public debate with adults.

clintchair

Where BT has deigned to participate in public hustings at all, the bulk of the events have been those at schools and colleges. Invited to debate independence in front of crowds of grown-ups, the No camp is oddly reticent, as we discovered ourselves last year when we offered to pay for and set up a head-to-head, with a neutral and mutually-approved chair, between respective campaign figureheads Dennis Canavan and Alistair Darling, getting only abuse in response.

Of course, a bunch of evil cybernats such as ourselves might expect to be rebuffed. But what if the cuddly, respectable official Yes Scotland organisation had a go?

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100,000 green bottles 167

Posted on February 06, 2014 by

There’s a remarkable piece in today’s Scotsman that we had to share with you:

hadrian

And if you think that magnificent headline’s good, wait until you hear the rest.

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Coming to you live from 2019 139

Posted on February 06, 2014 by

Peter Arnott in The Global Dispatches, 29 January 2014:

“We have been tempted to believe in Scotland that our tactical pattern of voting one way in a Westminster elections and another in Holyrood elections would continue to shelter us from the worst neo-liberal excesses of Westminster – our parliament after all came into existence as a retroactive shelter from what was inflicted on us (and everyone else in non-Tory Britain) the last time the Conservatives were in power. 

We are still behaving as if this is the case even while history is whisking that carpet from underneath our feet.”

And that, readers, is why it matters that I live in England.

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It’s nice to be noticed 206

Posted on February 05, 2014 by

Apologies to readers who had difficulties accessing any Wings pages this afternoon. Everything seems to be currently behaving, but we’ve had an email from our webhosts (who also, on a different server, host the Conservative Party website, trivia fans):

“The server where your site is hosted is still under a DDOS attack so you may experience some issues with the site today. We’re working on remedying that.”

It’s an interesting development in the light of this recent news, although we’re sure it’s just coincidence – after all, it’s not like a popular Scottish independence website could pose any sort of perceived threat to the British state or oh yeah right.

Incidentally, we had nothing to do with choosing the name, but the server used for Wings Over Scotland, which remains under attack as we write, is called “Truth”.

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    • diabloandco on The Marshalling Plan: “The MSM doesn’t do anything worthwhile or honest .Feb 3, 21:38
    • Del G on The Marshalling Plan: “So you explain how voters can play the system, and how unionist voters can combine to poke a stick in…Feb 3, 21:31
    • Southernbystander on Shield Of The Phantom: “I would recommend the first two essays actually – the one by McGinn is as you would expect a bit…Feb 3, 20:53
    • Confused on The Marshalling Plan: “one way Farage could boost support for reform would be to toughen up the stance on immigration; the voters would…Feb 3, 20:48
    • Confused on The Marshalling Plan: “all these little flamboyant screeds I have put together about farage – its not me “making shit up” with a…Feb 3, 20:45
    • Confused on The Marshalling Plan: “oil and gas was a disaster for Scotland as it allowed the thatcherite neoliberal wrecking ball to be applied EVERYONE…Feb 3, 20:44
    • Willie on The Marshalling Plan: “Just been reading details of the emails between? Mandelson and Epstein during the Gordon Brown years. Mandelson’s interactions were not…Feb 3, 20:40
    • Alf Baird on The Marshalling Plan: “The LS mandate offered is pretty clear and unambiguous, and fundamentally different to the SNP’s continued neutrality on independence. Voting…Feb 3, 20:11
    • Skip_NC on The Marshalling Plan: “Hatey, next time you open your mouth, put some food in it. It’s better than letting your belly rumble.Feb 3, 19:41
    • Skip_NC on The Marshalling Plan: “I agree that ISP is pro-independence but why on earth do you think Alba is not?Feb 3, 19:39
    • Colin Alexander on The Marshalling Plan: “Alf Baird So, it’s a plebiscite: Aye or no to independence? So, they aren’t seeking election to the gravy train…Feb 3, 19:38
    • Duncan Strachan on The Marshalling Plan: “Wally anither exactly. Destroy the ballot. Make sure we do.Feb 3, 19:33
    • Duncan Strachan on The Marshalling Plan: “Effijy Exactly. vote reform? F off, vote Unionist nup. Vote that dog swiny, forget it. Go and destroy the constituency…Feb 3, 19:25
    • Duncan Strachan on The Marshalling Plan: “Aye.I refuse to vote for that swiny. He is the worst thing to happen to Scotland. I will be destroying…Feb 3, 19:14
    • Alf Baird on The Marshalling Plan: “Polls are intentionally excluding the Liberate Scotland alliance parties in their offer of options to surveyed voters. If independence voters…Feb 3, 17:52
    • PC Foster on The Marshalling Plan: “sam says: In moving towards Scottish independence is it better to have a Reform government in UK/England and weak/no Reform…Feb 3, 17:27
    • Hatey McHateface on The Marshalling Plan: “@Skip_NC The way I see it, the establishment of the wee pretendy parliament as a device to sink Indy was…Feb 3, 14:08
    • Hatey McHateface on The Marshalling Plan: ““is it better to have a Reform government in UK/England and weak/no Reform in Scotland?” Before we can answer that…Feb 3, 13:49
    • Hatey McHateface on The Marshalling Plan: ““There isn’t one ordinary Scot who benefited from oil in Scotland” Grade 1, 100% pure, gold-plated, shite. I personally know…Feb 3, 13:40
    • James Cheyne on The Marshalling Plan: “The only way to save Scotland, its resources , mineral wealth and assets is for Scotland to recognise that it…Feb 3, 13:26
    • James Cheyne on The Marshalling Plan: “The only way to save Scotland, its resources , mineral wealth and assets is for Scotland to recognise that it…Feb 3, 13:19
    • James Cheyne on The Marshalling Plan: “I am not daft enough to blame Alex Salmond for all the woes of Scotland, he did some good things…Feb 3, 12:52
    • 100%Yes on The Marshalling Plan: “There isn’t one ordinary Scot who benefited from oil in Scotland the only people to have benefited was London and…Feb 3, 12:45
    • James on Shield Of The Phantom: “YL; Well said.Feb 3, 12:27
    • sam on The Marshalling Plan: “In moving towards Scottish independence is it better to have a Reform government in UK/England and weak/no Reform in Scotland?Feb 3, 12:18
    • Colin Alexander on The Marshalling Plan: ““Let’s just remind ourselves of something Alex Salmond did, he made the Scottish parliament a parliament”. Really? How? With Trumpian…Feb 3, 12:16
    • James Cheyne on The Marshalling Plan: “Alex Salmond did not make the devolved parliament in Scotland a Scottish parliament, just for clarity, It remained under the…Feb 3, 11:15
    • James Cheyne on The Marshalling Plan: “Westminster own the devolved government sent to Scotland, its under their caveats and reservations in the Scotland act, The DHondt…Feb 3, 11:02
    • sam on The Marshalling Plan: “https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/steve-bannon-boasted-about-farage-ties-exchange-epstein “Newly released files show Epstein and Bannon messaging each other on 10 March 2018, arranging to meet in Paris.…Feb 3, 10:38
    • Skip_NC on The Marshalling Plan: “Hatey, well yes, Reform will change things in that they will happily abolish parliament. As I have been focusing on…Feb 3, 10:22
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