The world's most-read Scottish politics website

Wings Over Scotland


Borrowing from Peter to pay Paul 73

Posted on December 13, 2022 by

The SNP love to indignantly tell everyone how healthy the party’s finances are these days, especially in response to impertinent queries about the infamous “ring-fenced” £600,000 for a second indyref that everyone now knows isn’t going to happen.

(We still await an update from Police Scotland on what has now been an 18-month formal investigation into the matter, on top of the 18 months that had already elapsed since Wings first broke the story. We imagine they’re very busy investigating the runaway epidemic of misgenderings and feminists putting ribbons on stuff.)

It rakes in £2.5m a year from membership fees as well as millions from the UK government, and only has to pay for about 20 staff and a modest office in Edinburgh. So why is it having to borrow almost £108,000 from its own chief executive?

(Click pic to enlarge.)

Read the rest of this entry →

Newspeak For Independence 275

Posted on December 12, 2022 by

Let’s be quite clear what this means.

It means that the new Westminster leader of the SNP thinks it’s “absurd” to even try to achieve independence while the UK is in a crisis.

Read the rest of this entry →

The first sighting of the kite 142

Posted on December 10, 2022 by

From tomorrow’s Herald.

We’re calling it now, folks. The SNP will not conduct the next general election as a de facto referendum. There’s a reason they’re stalling. They know they’re going to have to let you down gently. The softening-up starts here.

 

The Lady 92

Posted on December 10, 2022 by

Situation Vacant 131

Posted on December 09, 2022 by

This is real. Sounds right up our street, frankly.

We’ve got some pretty exciting ideas.

Read the rest of this entry →

Adult Human Female 48

Posted on December 09, 2022 by

To its eternal disgrace, the University Of Edinburgh is trying to prevent this excellent film from being shown in Scotland, as part of a systematic campaign of suppression and censorship that starts from the highest offices of the Scottish Government and works its way down through academia, the arts and the civic sector.

It deserves to be seen and supported.

Nobody does it better 111

Posted on December 08, 2022 by

There has of course been a lot of chat since last night about the latest Ipsos Mori poll putting independence on 56%, with the usual suspects getting over-excited.

It remains to be seen whether the figures represent a short blip of anger over the Supreme Court decision, a more sustained but still temporary period of Yes support like that of summer 2020 – spring 2021, or a permanent shift in public opinion.

So as such they’re actually relatively uninteresting, although the SNP’s plan to do absolutely nothing to take advantage of any momentum that might exist, and to wait several months before even having a strategy conference, remains disturbing.

But what actually caught our eye about the poll were a couple of questions nobody else has reported on.

Read the rest of this entry →

Tally-ho for the final chukka 123

Posted on December 07, 2022 by

Same energy.

Although to be scrupulously fair to General Sir Anthony Cecil Hogmany Melchett, he did at least actually launch an offensive from time to time, rather than just putting out occasional half-arsed discussion papers and press releases about it.

For English Gold 187

Posted on December 06, 2022 by

The SNP has for quite some time been a hollow shell of a political party. Like the Conservative Party, its members have been systematically stripped of all policy-making powers, with decisions of conference on major issues simply ignored and other policies pushed through (most notably “gender reform”) which have never been put in front of conference for debate at all.

The party is now primarily a vehicle for processing cash and funnelling it to carefully selected and ideologically vetted activists, mostly from the fundamentalist youth wing, who are given well-paid jobs working for MPs and MSPs or parachuted into council seats in return for their unquestioning loyalty to Nicola Sturgeon.

And at this, it must be admitted, the SNP is still a highly effective operation. Which is fortunate, because without UK government money it would be bankrupt.

Above are the Electoral Commission’s donation figures for the third quarter of 2022. They note that 100% of the SNP’s reportable income for that period came from the UK government’s coffers – a trait shared with Plaid Cymru, the SDLP and the DUP.

Given that three of those four parties are nationalists committed to removing various constituent parts of the UK, one might almost be tempted to commend Westminster’s generosity. But perhaps it knows exactly what it’s doing.

Read the rest of this entry →

Brace yourselves, everyone 117

Posted on December 05, 2022 by

It’s THAT day again.

Try to feign some interest, it’s only polite.

The way time flies 182

Posted on December 04, 2022 by

Can this really be six and a half years ago?

We suddenly feel very old.

Read the rest of this entry →

A Great Loss 220

Posted on December 03, 2022 by

  • About

    Wings Over Scotland is a thing that exists.

    Stats: 6,865 Posts, 1,234,244 Comments

  • Recent Posts

  • Archives

  • Categories

  • Tags

  • Recent Comments

    • Northcode on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “Time for a reminder: In braw rich Scots leid: Ther scarce be a wird pit doun here fae colonialists (unyonists…Jan 12, 12:34
    • Northcode on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “It’s hardly worth the effort, but let’s gie it juist wan mair try, eh? Defintion of the Scots word Plummet…Jan 12, 12:23
    • DaveL on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “What? You don’t like my suggestion? What’s wrong with you? Go on tell us about Stepan Bandera then…Jan 12, 12:06
    • James Cheyne on The shifting sands of memory: “There was always a reason why I chased and persued the treaty of union relentlessly, Perhaps a few more people…Jan 12, 12:01
    • Northcode on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: ““I’ll do the math.” 2+3 = 10Jan 12, 11:59
    • Hatey McHateface on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “@DaveL Why don’t you practise swinging your keyboard at arms length. Firmly grip your keyboard on the short side, really…Jan 12, 11:55
    • James Cheyne on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “And this is where it becomes very complicated for the Snp and the devolved governance. They either trust they are…Jan 12, 11:49
    • Hatey McHateface on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “@ Northcode says: 12 January, 2026 at 10:33 am “plomet (Wyclif), -ette (Caxton), plommet (1483), plummet(te (1494), ball of lead…Jan 12, 11:45
    • DaveL on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “Hatey, you could get the UK government to invite some of your Azov Brigade pals (the UK government loves them…Jan 12, 11:42
    • Hatey McHateface on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “@ Alf Baird says: 12 January, 2026 at 11:06 am “Scots language speakers, aboot twa million o us still” I’ll…Jan 12, 11:34
    • James Cheyne on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “Sarah, It will come to many eventually that they will have to make a decision on wether the treaty of…Jan 12, 11:23
    • Alf Baird on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “The reason the Scots language is of central importance to the matter of independence is because it is primarily the…Jan 12, 11:06
    • Willie on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “Just finished listening to the live stream of the court of session proceedings in the case of the proceeding relating…Jan 12, 10:52
    • Northcode on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “Scottish National Dictionary (pre 1700) PLUM(M)ET, -at, n. Also: plwm(m)-, plumb-, plomand -ett, -it. Only Sc.: The pommel or knob…Jan 12, 10:33
    • Hatey McHateface on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “@ Northcode says:11 January, 2026 at 10:43 pm “‘plummet’ means something other in the language of the Scots than your…Jan 12, 09:56
    • Hatey McHateface on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “An article about Homeless Project Scotland: https://unherd.com/2026/01/scotlands-rebel-homeless-shelter/Jan 12, 09:45
    • Hatey McHateface on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: ““disna bather lairnin ony o his host fowk’s languages, neither Scots nor Gaelic” Whoops! Correction required. “disna bather lairnin ony…Jan 12, 09:22
    • Hatey McHateface on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “Great news, sarah. Personally, I can’t wait until it becomes legal to march through Scotland’s streets, chanting about “rivers” and…Jan 12, 09:14
    • Cynicus on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: ““I might also take the opportunity to draw attention to a recent quality illustrated book investigating the Gaelic and Welsh…Jan 12, 02:42
    • Cynicus on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: ““there’s an oven ready and legitimate Stuart pretender Franz, Duke of Bavaria” ========== Be careful! The Crown Prince, Francis of…Jan 12, 02:18
    • Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “Northcode writes « Tho if a culture had the nature of a coloniser aboot it… then a wid hae nae…Jan 12, 01:20
    • Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “Alf writes: « The point, which you appear to have missed, is that our friend wha comes here tae bide…Jan 12, 00:59
    • Alf Baird on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: ““plummeting” The point, which you appear to have missed, is that our friend wha comes here tae bide notes he…Jan 11, 23:49
    • Northcode on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: ““You’re plummeting, Alf.” Only in your eyes, Gael. And only because Professor Baird challenges your false narrative on the importance…Jan 11, 22:43
    • Northcode on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “Dinna be daft, Alf. Us Scots fowk be ane o the wrechit o the Earth… ye micht as weel expect…Jan 11, 21:53
    • sarah on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “www.scotcourts.gov.uk/livestream/ – to watch tomorrow Monday 12th Jan from 09.30 the Court of Session case of Craig Murray applying for…Jan 11, 21:50
    • Tinto Chiel on Off-topic: ““So where is Scotland’s Atom Bomb moment?” At this rate, any century now. The British Brainwashing Corporation and MSM generally…Jan 11, 21:23
    • Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “You’re plummeting, Alf.Jan 11, 20:08
    • Alf Baird on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: ““I speak and read three forms of Arabic plus Syriac, French, English, some German, Spanish, Hebrew, Farsi and Turkish and…Jan 11, 18:30
    • Nae Need! on Off-topic: “I’m going to add The Alienist to my watch list. Thank you for the recommendation 😉 IMNSHU Pluribus is excellent.…Jan 11, 17:17
  • A tall tale



↑ Top