The world's most-read Scottish politics website

Wings Over Scotland


Frustration in Parliament 68

Posted on January 06, 2014 by

Chapter 4 of “The Claim Of Scotland”.

claim4

Read the rest of this entry →

What did we miss? 98

Posted on January 06, 2014 by

It’s our own fault for reading a Brian Monteith column in the Scotsman, but:

“Am I the only person that finds it rather rich that Alex Salmond is so keen on debating the views of David Cameron, an Englishman with an English constituency, when he consciously arranged for the views of tens of thousands of people on the Scottish electoral register to be excluded from taking part in the referendum? Why did he not wish to hear their views?”

Hang on – Alex Salmond did what now? As far as we know, if you’re on the Scottish electoral register you get a vote in the referendum. What happened? Which “tens of thousands of people” are we talking about here? Shouldn’t this have been in the news or something? We hate trying to catch up after the holidays.

Muddying the waters 60

Posted on January 06, 2014 by

We were as perplexed as anyone by the bizarre YouGov poll commissioned by “Better Together” and released today, which reveals that the status quo they’re so strenuously campaigning for is the least popular constitutional option among Scots. As there’s no “more powers” option on the referendum ballot paper, and the official No campaign can neither define any such option nor pledge to implement one, it’s hard to understand what they get from asking a three-choice question about a two-choice vote.

muddywaters

Indeed, the survey’s result – 32% “more devolution”, 30% independence, 29% status quo – actually gives a higher Yes figure than some recent two-option polls. So what on Earth can the No camp be thinking?

Read the rest of this entry →

Borrowing Britain 51

Posted on January 06, 2014 by

It’s one of the weirder aspects of the independence debate that the No campaign constantly shrieks about how an independent Scotland might run a deficit, as if that was some sort of unusual and terrifying state unique to Scotland. So we thought it might be handy to keep this clip from today’s BBC Breakfast here for future reference.

Read the rest of this entry →

In all loyalty to the Crown 121

Posted on January 05, 2014 by

Continuing our daily serialisation of HJ Paton’s fascinating 1968 book “The Claim Of Scotland”, courtesy of splendidly alert and dedicated reader Wilma Watts.

claim3

Read the rest of this entry →

The No campaign for dummies 71

Posted on January 05, 2014 by

“Better Together” website, May 2013:

“In 500 days Scots will answer the most important question we have ever been asked. On all the big questions – on currency, on the EU, on pensions – the nationalists have shown they don’t have the answers to the questions that we and people all over Scotland are asking. 

Today we ask over 500 more questions. This list is by no means exhaustive – instead, it aims to demonstrate the range of different questions that still need answered. Many more questions already exist and as more of the big issues are debated more and more questions will arise. That’s why we will continue to ask the difficult questions.

It’s time we got some answers.”

Read the rest of this entry →

History and legend 114

Posted on January 04, 2014 by

The Claim Of Scotland chapter 2.

claim2

Read the rest of this entry →

Quotes Of The Year 2013: Box Set 48

Posted on January 04, 2014 by

We nearly killed ourselves this week compiling twelve “quotes of the year” articles for December 30 and 31, which required ploughing through over a THOUSAND posts (1,170 to be precise) looking for interesting or amusing word-nuggets. Unfortunately, everyone was on holiday or out having a good time, so hardly anybody read them.

bottlethis

So we’ve put them all together in a single ridiculously huge mega-post to give everyone who only reads the most recent article a chance to catch up. We’re nice that way.

And then on Monday, when we’ve all finally got back to having some sort of vague idea what day of the week it is again, 2014 starts in earnest.

Read the rest of this entry →

To our English brother 166

Posted on January 03, 2014 by

We’re enormously grateful to the alert reader who uncovered this little gem. “The Claim Of Scotland” is a book published in 1968 and written by one Herbert James Paton, a philosopher and a senior civil servant at the Admiralty and Foreign Office, who sadly died the following year.

claimofscotland

If you click the image above, you’ll find a scanned PDF of the foreword, contents and first chapter, which at just 14 pages is a modest task of reading. Prepare yourself to marvel at how little times have changed since this pre-North Sea oil age, and to smile ruefully at a few of the sentences you’ll encounter.

Read the rest of this entry →

Leading by example 237

Posted on January 03, 2014 by

Awesome start on healing those divisions, Johann.

johannheal

(From today’s Scottish Sun.)

Read the rest of this entry →

Brand re-imagining 321

Posted on January 02, 2014 by

Okay, readers, it’s time to speak your brains. We’ve been evolving the synergy of the Wings customer-facing recognition interface in line with the leading edge of the zeitgeist over the years, from our early crude banners through to the current clean and eye-catching style, and it’s time to pick the logo that’ll take us through 2014.

Give us your thoughts, whydoncha?

Read the rest of this entry →

The persistence of falsehood 137

Posted on January 02, 2014 by

“Gary Gibbon on Politics”, Channel 4 website, today:

“Peter Kellner of YouGov [..] says Scottish independence would wipe out the chances of majority Labour government for at least a generation and conceivably longer.”

Does he? Is he an idiot or something?

Read the rest of this entry →

  • About

    Wings Over Scotland is a thing that exists.

    Stats: 6,898 Posts, 1,240,159 Comments

  • Recent Posts

  • Archives

  • Categories

  • Tags

  • Recent Comments

    • Mark Beggan on How To Get Away With Crimes: “That’s a reality they don’t want to hear about. Flag waving and marching and blaming the English colonial fantasy. Is…Apr 24, 13:35
    • Sven on How To Get Away With Crimes: “Northcode @ 12.31. “What is the true nature of the prison ?” Many factors are involved, I’d suggest, Northy. A…Apr 24, 13:14
    • Lorncal on How To Get Away With Crimes: “H McH: when the time comes – and it will – there will be no choice. Either sink or swim…Apr 24, 13:11
    • Mark Beggan on How To Get Away With Crimes: “Some Scots are in a prison of their own making.Apr 24, 13:07
    • Northcode on How To Get Away With Crimes: “Scotland is England’s prisoner. In the year of our Lord, 1642, a chap called Richard Lovelace quilled oot these words…Apr 24, 12:31
    • lothianlad on How To Get Away With Crimes: “Stick with it Stu!! We need you! Thank you for all you do for whats right.Apr 24, 12:22
    • John H. on The Pit Of Vipers: “But he was eliminated in the end. It just took a while.Apr 24, 11:47
    • Captain Caveman on How To Get Away With Crimes: “@Hatey * applause * 🙂Apr 24, 10:54
    • Alf Baird on The Pit Of Vipers: “@ TARABDIN “what then the fate of peoples without sovereignty?” Indeed, the people and nation will ultimately ‘perish’ unless they…Apr 24, 10:13
    • Minceheid on How To Get Away With Crimes: “Hatey McHateface says: 23 April, 2026 at 7:15 pm Hmmm. Bananas don’t have cores. Plenty of people enjoy bananas so…Apr 24, 09:55
    • TURABDIN on The Pit Of Vipers: “@ Alf Baird »COLONIALISM is always a co-operative venture» (Fanon). A truism, how did the Brits & French etc hold…Apr 24, 09:51
    • Alf Baird on The Pit Of Vipers: ““our wee, pretendy parliament” Twas aye a fair description of a colonial administration, Hatey, also know as ‘indirect rule’ in…Apr 24, 08:44
    • Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on How To Get Away With Crimes: “Lorncal @ 23 April, 11.07 writes: « John Money was not “tragically misguided”, Fearghas. He was a PDfile » —————…Apr 24, 00:23
    • Lorncal on How To Get Away With Crimes: “Confused: that pilot would have been female with XX chromosomes – therefore, intersex or DSD. DSD people are still either…Apr 23, 23:22
    • Lorncal on How To Get Away With Crimes: “John Money was not “tragically misguided”, Fearghas. He was a PDfile and made those two boys (the twin brothers, both…Apr 23, 23:07
    • Hatey McHateface on The Pit Of Vipers: “I swore a solemn oath to respond to you only once in any 24-hour period. But I don’t mind breaking…Apr 23, 23:02
    • Hatey McHateface on The Pit Of Vipers: ““stop the Dog Whistle politics” What other politics would most of them have left if they stopped that? “we have…Apr 23, 22:52
    • Hatey McHateface on The Pit Of Vipers: “Cheers, YL. It’s good to be back. Thought I’d drop in to see how close we are to Indy. Damned…Apr 23, 22:43
    • Confused on How To Get Away With Crimes: “this is all a deep rabbit hole one thing we distinguished in the past was – transvestite – someone who…Apr 23, 22:35
    • George Ferguson on The Pit Of Vipers: “A pit of vipers is the strapline for this article. I just watched Question Time from Aberdeen, so an appropriate…Apr 23, 22:33
    • Confused on How To Get Away With Crimes: “psychopathy runs at 100% incidence in rabbis, imams, spooks, freemasons and city/wallst bankers.Apr 23, 22:32
    • Young Lochinvar on The Pit Of Vipers: “HMcH Please re-post once you’ve sobered up and can make your point with clarity. Thanks in advance.Apr 23, 22:29
    • Young Lochinvar on The Pit Of Vipers: “HMcH Welcome back! Shouldn’t you “be sorting out” a failed business you neglected by spending 24/7 on here, or, did…Apr 23, 21:52
    • Hatey McHateface on The Pit Of Vipers: “Big election in 2 weeks, Dan. You should be serious, mature, and focused on getting the voters out for your…Apr 23, 21:28
    • Dan on How To Get Away With Crimes: “A new fiscal year just starts and GERS takes an early hit, whilst Scotland dodges a bullet by having the…Apr 23, 21:27
    • Dan on The Pit Of Vipers: “Poundshop Ellis…Apr 23, 20:47
    • Hatey McHateface on The Pit Of Vipers: ““if true Scots in here want to indulge in some easy sport by destroying unionist ‘arguments’” True Scots enjoy the…Apr 23, 20:41
    • Aidan on The Pit Of Vipers: “What exactly has that got to do with me?Apr 23, 20:36
    • Young Lochinvar on The Pit Of Vipers: “AI Dun I see the latest polls (for what they are worth) have the Scotchland Conservative (and) Unionist (Members) in…Apr 23, 20:11
    • SilentMajority on How to tell when Kezia Dugdale is lying: “I guess it continues then….starting a new job, with new ‘friends’….then alienates herself on Day One by voicing ‘respect’ of…Apr 23, 19:45
  • A tall tale



↑ Top