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:
But we couldn’t help thinking of the last time anyone tried something similar.
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.
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.
(Or as Labour’s Willie Bain put it, “the best of the House of Commons”.)
The winner is below.
This. This actually happened. We’re not making it up. Click it and see.
Go on, read it again. We dare you.
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.
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?
There’s a remarkable piece in today’s Scotsman that we had to share with you:
And if you think that magnificent headline’s good, wait until you hear the rest.
Peter Arnott in The Global Dispatches, 29 January 2014:
And that, readers, is why it matters that I live in England.
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”.
We do hope none of these shock troops get caught up and hurt in the lovebombing.
Scottish independence: Cable warns of VAT on food
Caroline Flint warns that independence would mean £875 on energy bills
Warning of risk to transport links after Yes vote
No camp in grocery price rise claims (NB unrelated to VAT)
RBS would move to London if Scotland breaks away
That’s all just today. Anyone sound frightened to you?
Here’s the Herald today on YouGov’s latest independence polling:
All absolutely true. But is it the whole truth?
Yesterday, a wealthy American man who as far as we know won’t have a vote in the referendum expressed a personal opinion about independence which made the front page of half of Scotland and Britain’s newspapers, was trumpeted all over the TV and radio, and got “Better Together” very excited.
This morning some idiot based in Luxembourg honked about it on BBC Breakfast news, throwing in his own clueless and ill-informed (and of course, unchallenged) view. We’re having some difficulty working out why we’re supposed to care about either man’s position, or why they were given lots of free airtime to espouse them.
On the eve of Wings Over Scotland’s 2000th post, we thought we’d celebrate.
Because today we learned something strange.
Wings Over Scotland is a thing that exists.
