Recently, just for fun and to pass the time now that I’ve retired from political journalism, I thought I’d compile a totally definitive list of the 100 best arcade conversions (both official and unofficial) on the ZX Spectrum, to mark 30 years since the original Your Sinclair All-Time Top 100, also compiled and written by me, was published in 1991.
(Phew, made it with eight hours of 2021 to spare.)
There’s a whole torrid story attached to the undertaking, but meh, some other time. Here’s the entirety of the chart in one place. It takes about a thousand years to load as a single page because YouTube is such a big whiny baby, so I’ve split it into five.
We’ve had no takers from any Nicola Sturgeon loyalists for this yet, so let’s narrow our focus a bit and see if we can get some joy from the payroll vote.
The quote pictured below is an absolutely unequivocal statement, with no qualifiers or conditions, made during and with full knowledge of a major peak in the COVID-19 pandemic. The halfway point of the current Scottish Parliament is 9 November 2023.
So: I bet Pete Wishart £5,000 that he’s a liar.
I have the money, and on the £100K-a-year-plus-expenses wage he’s been stealing for most of the last 20 years (and let’s not forget the juicy £50,000-a-year Westminster pension he’s built up over two decades of totally failing to deliver the only thing he’s ever been elected to do), we damn sure know that HE has the money.
My bet is simply that there will NOT be a second indyref on or before that date.
Please, everyone reading this with a Twitter account, tweet this to Pete Wishart until he takes five seconds off from attacking real independence campaigners and gives us all his answer, and let’s see if he’s prepared to put a tiny little fraction of his money where his endlessly bloviating mouth is.
I’ve just remembered that I meant to leave this pinned to the front page when I shut Wings down as a blog, so here it is. It’s just a short one.
I am willing to bet anyone in the UK any amount of money of their choosing that there will NOT be a second independence referendum in Scotland while Nicola Sturgeon is First Minister.
If you still believe she’ll deliver one, now’s your chance to demonstrate your faith in public AND get yourself some free cash. (It’s a matter of public record that I’ve never failed to pay up on a losing wager.)
So come on, SNP loyalists and true believers, let’s see you. Put your name and the amount you want to bet in the comments below* and let’s find out how much you really trust her. This is an entirely genuine, serious offer and remains open to anyone** until such times as Nicola Sturgeon stands down as First Minister, even if that’s 20 years from now. Any amount you like. I’m waiting keenly for your responses.
.
*PLEASE DO NOT COMMENT EXCEPT TO TAKE THE BET.
**WAGERS FROM GERRY “THE WELCHER” HASSAN NOT ACCEPTED.
Craig Murray is due to be released from HMP Edinburgh a week tomorrow, having served half of an eight-month sentence for contempt of court via “jigsaw identification”. Our latest poll data from Panelbase, surveying 2000 Scottish voters last week, reveals that just a quarter of Scots think that such an offence merits imprisonment.
Readers may find the figures for male and female respondents of note. The full data tables can be downloaded here.
So, in accordance with the wishes of the readership (and despite rather peculiar claims on some sites that all polls in Scotland are now commissioned by Unionists), Wings has its first polling data for you in its present form, relayed without comment.
In association with Panelbase, this month we surveyed 2000 Scottish voters (double the normal sample size) on a couple of subjects. The first question was this:
“Barring unforeseen events, next year Nicola Sturgeon will overtake Alex Salmond as Scotland’s longest-serving First Minister. She took office in November 2014, in a Scotland which was evenly split on the constitution. (Average support for independence in polling was at 50%, compared to the current 48%.)
Which of the following, if any, do you personally regard as her greatest achievement in office?”
Right, as promised, one last piece of admin. (This post will be removed in due time.)
We left yesterday’s piece and the associated poll up for two full days to make sure the people who don’t read Wings at weekends saw it and had the chance to vote in it too. But in truth it was pretty obvious how the vote would go from about 20 minutes in.
When the Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts died last month, the first of their songs that popped into my head, for no particular reason, was “Under My Thumb”, a mildly controversial 1966 album track the band never released as a single in the West.
Its most infamous place in history, though, is this.
Until Watts’ death I was only very broadly aware of the events at Altamont Speedway in 1969, a free festival at a racetrack near San Francisco at which four people died in scenes of malevolent chaos and which is widely regarded as the grim headstone of the hippy era.
But on seeing the extraordinary footage above for the first time on the day of Watts’ death – taken from “Gimme Shelter”, notionally the official movie of the show, although the first two-thirds of it are actually a mundane travelogue of the preceding tour dates – I did some proper reading up on it.
And as I did, a horribly familiar feeling started to unfold.
For many years now, whenever I’ve done one of those “Which Political Party Should You Be In?” online quiz things, it always says that I’m a Green, which is weird because I really hate cyclists. Nevertheless, it was still the result when I did one most recently, just last month.
So I decided that for the first time in my life it was finally time to join a political party.
Northcode on The Grand Tour: “I was reading over a couple of comments I made earlier just to see how good they looked when published…” Jun 12, 02:54
Peter McAvoy on The Grand Tour: “Just read on BBC Scotland website that Alexander’s in Falkirk is under threat of closure and the manufacturing will be…” Jun 12, 01:53
James on The Grand Tour: “McShiteface; Obvious Yoon plant/bot. Scroll past.” Jun 12, 00:52
James on The Grand Tour: “The Site Prick is needing a reset again… “…Drill baby, drill – jobs and economic opportunities for Scots….” Meanwhile the…” Jun 12, 00:46
James on The Grand Tour: “Can’t even spell… To paraphrase a great writer; “Rude, arrogant and very very very stupid….” Oh well, “Caveman” by name….if…” Jun 12, 00:40
Hatey McHateface on The Grand Tour: ““Why is HateyMac thing still allowed” Because the SNP-led government of Scotland dumped the Hate Crimes Bill on us, along…” Jun 11, 22:48
Captain Caveman on The Grand Tour: “*So as I’ve said: grow up.” Jun 11, 20:50
Anne on The Grand Tour: “I’m getting fed up with the endless negativity .Why is HateyMac thing still allowed on wings? And why the negativity…” Jun 11, 20:50
Captain Caveman on The Grand Tour: ““One of the other symptoms apparent in those both arrogant and very very very stupid is rudeness.” As to the…” Jun 11, 20:49
Hatey McHateface on The Grand Tour: ““more stupidity than could fill an infinity of infinite universes” Classic NC! Inflated and exaggerated beyond reason and well beyond…” Jun 11, 20:25
Northcode on The Grand Tour: “Here are some more Scots wirds. Every word can be found in the two major historical dictionaries of the Scots…” Jun 11, 20:21
Northcode on The Grand Tour: ““a violent history, a fanatical religion, an impoverished culture, a “dark”, “backward” even uncivilised country.” It would seem those ‘Anglican…” Jun 11, 19:57
Hatey McHateface on The Grand Tour: ““divine intervention might very well light the path to Scotland’s liberation” Sure, NC, why not get down on your knees…” Jun 11, 19:43
Hatey McHateface on The Grand Tour: ““English culture, … is steeped, to a singular degree, in the bizarre belief that its own history, institutions and practices…” Jun 11, 19:39
sarah on The Grand Tour: “I can’t understand why Liberate Scotland don’t adopt the Manifesto for Independence. It looks logical and foolproof so what is…” Jun 11, 18:48
Captain Caveman on The Grand Tour: ““Scots is a braw langage by the wey” “Scots” is Gaelic. What you’re talking about here is a laughably badly…” Jun 11, 18:45
Robert McAllan on The Grand Tour: “Unless Alba, SNP and the other nominally pro Independence parties adopt the ‘Manifesto FOR Independence’ nothing changes and Scotland will…” Jun 11, 17:53
Mark Beggan on The Grand Tour: “Aye wee Mary Mcnobody is a front runner to take over from Mogadon John.” Jun 11, 17:34
David on The Grand Tour: “Starmer giving Gibraltar over to the EU. He’s an enemy agent of. Britain. A globalist traitor. Scots now have a…” Jun 11, 16:39
sarah on The Grand Tour: “What has happened, Willie? What was the “big decision”?” Jun 11, 16:29
MaryB on The Grand Tour: “Mairi McAllan can be relied on not to spill the beans about Alex S. She’s a Sturgeon protege and loyalist.” Jun 11, 16:25
sam on The Grand Tour: “See “The Eclipse of Scottish Culture” Turnbull and Beveridge. “English culture, or to be more precise, the public-school, Oxbridge, “Home…” Jun 11, 15:49
sarah on The Grand Tour: “Yes but – they’ll find someone worse, won’t they? Robertson, Sturgeon, all those up to their eyes in the fixing…” Jun 11, 15:46
sarah on The Grand Tour: “Indeed, Bill. I see Liberate Scotland as the answer. It can combine the independence vote in a wholly positive way.…” Jun 11, 15:36
panda paws on The Grand Tour: “I’m not sure Jackson Carlaw will lose Eastwood. I’m no fan of his but the SNP are putting up Kristen…” Jun 11, 15:24
sarah on The Grand Tour: “Was it because “he’s not DONE enough to PROGRESS independence” or merely “not mentioned independence enough so we’ll lose votes…” Jun 11, 15:09
100%Yes on The Grand Tour: “Is John Swinney going to be forced out of office.” Jun 11, 15:04
Northcode on The Grand Tour: “Aye, Sam. Indeed. But the ingles wi ther sinfu vogie hivna conseedert a muckle pouer than thersel greater even whin…” Jun 11, 14:21