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Wings Over Scotland


Now You See It 150

Posted on July 01, 2023 by

Fun with numbers 35

Posted on June 30, 2023 by

As a corollary to this piece from earlier today, here’s a nice simple picture.

Alert readers will already have spotted the problem with it.

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Fun with words 61

Posted on June 30, 2023 by

This is, strictly speaking, semantically, true:

It is, however, as the famous phrase goes, not the whole truth.

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Unserious People 189

Posted on June 29, 2023 by

Tuesday’s front page headline in The National was roughly the political equivalent of introducing yourself to your new next-door neighbour by saying “Hi, nice to meet you, I’m Jimmy from No.22 and it definitely wasn’t me who killed your cat last night”.

Humza Yousaf’s great masterplan of an independence strategy is imploding faster than the OceanGate Titan, and scarcely any less disastrously. And unless you’re one of the colleagues, family or friends of the tragic victims on board the doomed vessel, it’s even more painful to watch.

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The Burning House 503

Posted on June 26, 2023 by

This one goes out to all the “rebel” MSPs at the SNP desks in Holyrood.

Because it’s nearly time for you to choose whether you want to fight, or die meekly.

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The Cassandra Crossing 114

Posted on June 25, 2023 by

24 hours on, pretty much everyone seems to have come to the same conclusion (with the assistance of briefings from the FM himself) about Humza Yousaf’s “independence strategy” as the one Wings saw immediately yesterday, namely that he’s taken Nicola Sturgeon’s flawed version of a de-facto referendum and made it even less credible.

In as far as they’re talking about it at all, anyway.

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The Final Burn 118

Posted on June 24, 2023 by

The word “packed” is working very hard here.

Because the video Riddoch tweeted tells a rather different story.

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Going Nowhere 63

Posted on June 24, 2023 by

Kiss With A Fist 56

Posted on June 23, 2023 by

We’ve seen some hilarious demands for “unity” in the independence movement in the last couple of years, almost all of them from the most divisive figures ever to wave a wee plastic Saltire (Pete Wishart, Neil Mackay, Wee Ginger Dug etc etc).

But this effort from the SNP’s new airhead mascot takes the shortbread.

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The queen is dead 131

Posted on June 22, 2023 by

Winnie Ewing, who has sadly passed away a few weeks short of her 94th birthday, was the second SNP politician I ever heard of.

My dad met her, and would speak of her with Billy Wolfe, the party leader who was also his employer at a forest machinery company in Bathgate (and our family friend), during her second term as an MP in the UK Parliament.

She now joins my dad and Billy as people who worked for the cause of independence but died before it came to fruition, after many wasted years under the leadership of Nicola Sturgeon.

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Spoiler Alert 295

Posted on June 20, 2023 by

Still wondering what Humza Yousaf’s going to say to the SNP’s pretend “conference” on independence strategy this coming Saturday? Well, wonder no longer, because this morning he told Sky News.

In other words, he’s waving the white flag and praying for a miracle.

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Yellow for timewasting 351

Posted on June 18, 2023 by

Well, no wonder they’re having trouble shifting tickets.

Because that’s all you’re getting for your tenner, SNP members.

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    • Captain Caveman on Faces In Sand: “I think the germane point is that Scotland – in conjunction with England – was a very willing, highly effective…” Oct 20, 11:28
    • Northcode on Faces In Sand: “Aidan, yes — elites on both sides participated in imperial expansion, and the effects weren’t evenly distributed across either society.…” Oct 20, 11:18
    • Aidan on Faces In Sand: “Absolutely Northcode – but a more succinct way of putting it is that English and Scottish elites both working together…” Oct 20, 11:07
    • Northcode on Faces In Sand: “Aidan, yes — that’s broadly correct. The same class distinction applies in England: imperial agency sat with elites, not with…” Oct 20, 10:54
    • Captain Caveman on Faces In Sand: “Awesome Spartan! 🙂 Truth be told, a Capri is a Cortina in drag and all mouth, no trousers. But it…” Oct 20, 10:51
    • Rob on Faces In Sand: “I do find it entertaining as I am another of those “middle class unionist” that seem to draw ire from…” Oct 20, 10:47
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    • Aidan on Faces In Sand: “@Northcode – it wasn’t just the Scottish elites that participated in colonialism, but also your argument above is generally true…” Oct 20, 10:31
    • Spartan 117 on Faces In Sand: “Correct Captain. Humour however is lost on the professionally offended puritans who can’t think for themselves and are *told* to…” Oct 20, 10:26
    • Northcode on Faces In Sand: “Scotland did not have colonies. Scottish elites participated in the British Empire – ordinary Scots did not benefit from it.…” Oct 20, 10:21
    • Spartan 117 on Faces In Sand: “I get your argument Northcode, however selective outrage ends up eating itself. In my view, nothing is beyond critique or…” Oct 20, 10:13
    • Northcode on Faces In Sand: “You’re not engaging with the point I made — you’re engaging with a version of “Old Northy”, perhaps nostalgically, that…” Oct 20, 10:10
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