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Wings Over Scotland


The Thin Pink Line 278

Posted on February 26, 2023 by

The charity LGBT Youth Scotland is currently the subject of a live police investigation over its involvement in a second major child-abuse scandal in little over a decade.

So you’d expect Police Scotland to be taking that pretty seriously, right?

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If the shoe fits 191

Posted on February 25, 2023 by

Fingers on the pulse 110

Posted on February 24, 2023 by

BBC NEWS: [abysmal, unprofessional disgrace to broadcasting]

ITV NEWS: Hold our beer!

(Still not deleted/fixed seven hours later.)

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The Old Ways 159

Posted on February 24, 2023 by

Wings Over Scotland has been monitoring the BBC’s coverage of Scottish politics for over 11 years now, readers, and other than The Nick Robinson Incident we’re honestly struggling to remember seeing anything worse than this.

The Corporation’s “coverage” of Ash Regan’s campaign launch for the SNP leadership election ran for roughly seven minutes. And we suppose we should be grateful that it did at one point feature a brief, incidental cameo appearance from Ash Regan.

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Losing the plot 158

Posted on February 23, 2023 by

This is beyond insane.

Like, obviously Rangers aren’t better than Celtic.

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Tears Of Terror 171

Posted on February 23, 2023 by

We read some harrowing tweets this week from an Edinburgh SNP activist. Sensitive readers should look away now, as the following article contains potentially triggering information about the wild and lawless streets of [checks notes] Corstorphine.

Steel yourselves, folks. Unsettling images follow.

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Sunk costs 84

Posted on February 23, 2023 by

We got up this morning intending to do a funny little piece about how Humza Yousaf’s attempt to fiddle an online poll on The National had spiralled into farce last night, with rival teams of bots spamming the poll with over 400,000 extra votes in 12 hours.

But then something a bit more significant happened.

Because a compulsory strike-off notice being filed in the First Gazette is a warning that a company is about to be dissolved.

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The feather-light touch 132

Posted on February 22, 2023 by

Yesterday, readers, we warned you that “online newspaper polls are self-selecting and vulnerable to manipulation”. Here’s what that looks like in practice.

Let’s crunch some numbers.

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The White Flag Gang 139

Posted on February 22, 2023 by

It’s remarkable how openly a certain faction of the SNP is now declaring surrender.

And it’s becoming increasingly clear that the events of the next few days and weeks will not just determine the future of the independence movement, but whether in any meaningful, practical sense it continues to exist at all.

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A time of fear 136

Posted on February 22, 2023 by

The Indian Council of Scotland and the Muslim Council of the United Kingdom have this morning issued an extraordinary joint statement regarding their serious concerns about the SNP leadership contest. We reproduce it below at their request.

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A change of tone 111

Posted on February 21, 2023 by

Alex Cole-Hamilton, December 2022:

“I want to thank Beth, who’s compered and did that amazing speech at the start. Beth was with us in the public gallery of the Scottish Parliament throughout all of those late night sessions before Christmas, and you know, in the really dark hours and the really dark times we’d look up and see Beth and the people beside her.

And it was for Beth and for you guys that we were doing it, we were fighting it.”

Alex Cole-Hamilton, February 2023:

We wonder when Patrick Harvie, Ross Greer and Maggie Chapman will follow suit.

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The Hand Of The State 154

Posted on February 21, 2023 by

We’ve already noted how the Unionist press appears to be trying to influence the outcome of the SNP leadership election, but last night the big beast of Scottish media – the BBC – waded into the fray.

A major piece by the Corporation’s Scotland editor James Cook focused on interviews with two of the three contenders – excluding Ash Regan – on the basis that both had launched their official campaigns yesterday while Regan’s isn’t expected to be until later this week.

That’s fair enough. No problems there, right?

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    • Alf Baird on List Voting For Cretins: “Independence (i.e. decolonization) and ending ‘the scourge of colonialism’ is not merely about changing one government for another, it is…Jan 2, 23:44
    • Alf Baird on List Voting For Cretins: “We are talking of Northern Ireland, which is (still) a ‘devolved entity’. I assume you are you now going to…Jan 2, 23:24
    • Andy Ellis on List Voting For Cretins: “A future independent Scottish state would doubtless have much the same citizenship criteria as Ireland. Scotland as a devolved entity…Jan 2, 22:45
    • Andy Ellis on List Voting For Cretins: “Not the auld New Caledonia false equivalence again Alf. Dear oh dear. Scotland =/= New Caledonia. It’s not even like…Jan 2, 22:39
    • DaveL on List Voting For Cretins: “…are we there yet? Are we there yet? Drone drone drone. Call yourself factchecker? Change your name, ‘are we there…Jan 2, 22:30
    • DaveL on List Voting For Cretins: “Why have you called yourself factchecker? Surely with a name like that you’d be off quick sharp to find out…Jan 2, 22:25
    • Alf Baird on List Voting For Cretins: “This text is from Annex 2 of the 1998 Belfast Agreement, on the voter franchise agreed by UK and Irish…Jan 2, 22:19
    • David on List Voting For Cretins: “Needs a counter claim , continue with snp 1 and 2 . No voting Snp for number 1 abstain.Jan 2, 21:35
    • Northcode on List Voting For Cretins: “Excellent post, Alf…very interesting and informative.Jan 2, 21:09
    • BLMac on List Voting For Cretins: “I’ve finally cracked the conundrum! The SNP’s obsession with Gender Reform is the clue. They self-ID as an independence party…Jan 2, 20:37
    • Captain Caveman on List Voting For Cretins: “Your swearing black is white won’t save you or your ilk, Dave. Not interested in your ego-saving crass revisionism, projection…Jan 2, 20:34
    • Alf Baird on List Voting For Cretins: “Due to the usual tricks by the imperial power, France, New Caledonia applied the undernoted ‘secondary criteria’ in one of…Jan 2, 20:32
    • factchecker on List Voting For Cretins: “James said “Wanting other folk to do your research again, Yoon? How about….umm…”France”. Heard of it? You Inglis don’t like…Jan 2, 19:56
    • Dave Hansell on List Voting For Cretins: “Yeah, right. A media outlet which has pushed Establishment narratives since its first edition is ‘left-wing’. One notes that, woke…Jan 2, 19:16
    • Bob on List Voting For Cretins: “I’ve offered wondered: what’s the difference between the shadowy billionaires who fund Reform (Boo! Hiss!) and the shadowy billionaires who…Jan 2, 18:59
    • Northcode on List Voting For Cretins: ““…they will be disappointed because farage is part of the establishment and he thinks LEGAL immigration is acceptable…” Aye, TH.…Jan 2, 18:58
    • Northcode on The Gulf War: “I’ve just realised something germane to the ‘franchise’ argument RAGING (chortle) below the line here in this place. The Scots…Jan 2, 18:48
    • sarah on Off-topic: “You shouldn’t have mentioned the pastry, IB – it brought some sighs from my husband and recollections of his mother’s…Jan 2, 18:48
    • factchecker on List Voting For Cretins: “My dear twathater, it is the professor who is citing the Survey in support of his assertion. It is for…Jan 2, 18:40
    • Northcode on List Voting For Cretins: ““Please explain how the Survey defined a ‘Scot’, and how it sourced and assembled the data…” Folk are so lazy…Jan 2, 18:37
    • twathater on List Voting For Cretins: “Away and dae some research yirself ya lazy arse instead of asking others tae dae it , Alf isnae yir…Jan 2, 18:32
    • twathater on List Voting For Cretins: “Hear Hear Northy I too could be convinced by those criteria , but unfortunately the progressive , civic , DEI…Jan 2, 18:26
    • James on List Voting For Cretins: ““….give some examples of countries in the world where the franchise is based on something different that makes it “regular”….”…Jan 2, 18:25
    • Captain Caveman on List Voting For Cretins: “No Dave. You’re “living proof” of (yet another) Lefty attempting crass revisionism because facing up to reality has become too…Jan 2, 18:24
    • Northcode on List Voting For Cretins: ““… the tiny minority of ethno-nationalist bigots don’t get to decide…” I’ll have you know I’m over six feet in…Jan 2, 18:24
    • Northcode on The Gulf War: ““The right of peoples to self determination does not provide anyone with the right to… exclude minority ethnicities from participating…Jan 2, 18:15
    • Dave Hansell on List Voting For Cretins: “Only in your subjective opinion, Cave dweller. It says Daz on the side of buses, but they don’t sell soap…Jan 2, 18:14
    • factchecker on List Voting For Cretins: “Alf Baird says: 2 January, 2026 at 5:26 pm “if Scots can’t assemble a pro-independence majority from pro-independence native born…Jan 2, 18:08
    • Alf Baird on List Voting For Cretins: ““give some examples of countries in the world where the franchise is based on something different” You might consider UN…Jan 2, 18:05
    • Andy Ellis on List Voting For Cretins: “@ Alf 5.26 pm Thankfully Alf you and the tiny minority of ethno-nationalist bigots don’t get to decide who is…Jan 2, 18:04
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