Having never been part of a political party, an area where Wings lacks expertise is in understanding the nuts and bolts of their operation, and how a party’s rules can be used to usurp their members’ power. We’re delighted to have someone equipped to provide a valuable insight into how that’s happened to the SNP in the last two years.
The following line is still a definitive statement in the SNP constitution:
“National Conference is the supreme governing and policy-making body of the Party.”
But in practice it is no longer the case. The 2018 redraft of the constitution centralised power in the Leader and in the NEC. The party Leader has sole and total power over policy – both in the manifesto and in government – and the NEC has sole power over who represents the party and what they are allowed to say.
So in effect, since 2018 the party elite – not the membership – has ruled the SNP.
Something most people don’t know about the infamous Spanish Inquisition is that it was never the Catholic Church that actually executed heretics. Particularly if a prisoner had refused to confess their vile heresy even under torture, the Church instead handed them over to the “mercy” of the state to deliver their end.
So SNP MP Kirsty Blackman (or as we understand some are already calling her, “the Tiny Torquemada“) would have fitted right in with it.
Or more likely, they just wanted to try to bury all of their skeletons at once in a single giant avalanche of crookedness. But either way, enough is enough. Criminals accused of perjury don’t get to decide if they’ll answer for their lies or not.
The Fabiani committee has the power to compel witnesses to attend. They must now use that power without further delay, or they must call on the police to arrest the SNP’s chief executive immediately and drag him into an interview room by his ears if need be with a solicitor in attendance. (Doubtless also paid for by SNP members.)
Scotland is not GoodFellas. Nobody is above the law. Stop this damn rot now.
The reaction to it was absolutely explosive. Half of the Parliamentary SNP spent the whole night running around social media frantically firefighting their own members, who were absolutely furious about what they’d just discovered. Poisonous abuse from the party’s woke faction poured out like never before. We got called every kind of bigot under the sun by SNP officeholders.
(The article, of course, made no mention of any sort of bisexual people, Jewish people, trans people or women as a group, let alone actually being prejudiced against anyone. Ironically just about the only kind of prejudice that wasn’t alleged was ageism, possibly because it might have looked a smidge too ironic coming from a bunch of bedwetting children whose core ideological stance is that anyone over 29 is a Nazi.)
But there was one thing you DIDN’T read amid the torrents of hate.
You didn’t read anyone saying a single word of the post was untrue.
We don’t yet know what happened regarding the supposed definition of transphobia – our source thinks that it may have been postponed due to not being able to get the required 2/3 vote for an emergency agenda item.
But we know that something even madder DID happen.
There’s still a day and a half of January 2021 to go, but it’s already been the busiest month for traffic on Wings Over Scotland in several years, despite endless claims from detractors (both Unionists and Pete Wishart types) that we’re in tragic decline.
And since Saturday afternoons are the one quiet moment we get these days – and it’s not like we can go out for a nice walk in the sunshine or have a potter round the shops – we thought we’d take a deeper look into the stats.
Cynicus on Anything But That: ““Just how many times have hearings been postponed,..?” ====== The number of The Beast?” Sep 11, 15:23
agentx on Anything But That: “Murrell “The proceeds of crime action against him was set to call on Monday, September 14. But a high court…” Sep 11, 14:26
sarah on Anything But That: “@ 100%Yes:TASP hasn’t attached the video, so far as I can tell. Have you managed to find it somewhere else?” Sep 11, 14:18
sarah on Anything But That: “@ Fearghas M: one has to ask why isn’t the Scottish executive following the example of Wales in requiring all…” Sep 11, 14:14
sam on Anything But That: “Keep up at the back. “stop interpreting a man’s words we CAN ALL READ FOR OURSELVES” Northcode was doing a…” Sep 11, 13:48
Alf Baird on Anything But That: “Once you begin considering our nation through a perspective of colonialism everything starts to make a lot more sense: www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYXR4s8RavE” Sep 11, 13:45
Insider on Anything But That: “100%Yes says: 11 September, 2026 at 10:45 am “I like listening to Alf Baird and to be honest I could…” Sep 11, 12:36
sam on Anything But That: “It was hostile. The Aliens Act used to get the Commissioners to sign up to negotiate the deal threatened about…” Sep 11, 12:20
Hatey McHateface on Anything But That: “One point where I have to agree with Confused. Trump could declare Scotland Independent. I seriously wonder why SALVO isn’t…” Sep 11, 12:11
Alf Baird on Anything But That: “Yes indeed, colonial denial is soon enough forced to shift to such desperate denials as Cesaire’s ‘the moon is made…” Sep 11, 12:01
Hatey McHateface on Anything But That: “Come oaf it Confused. You’d fight tooth and nail against any policy that attempted to make the UK, or Scotland…” Sep 11, 11:55
Captain Caveman on Anything But That: ““Stop interpreting a man’s words by reading” Yeah, perish the thought eh. Idiot.” Sep 11, 11:26
Captain Caveman on Anything But That: “Maybe some people don’t like what they’re hearing, as due to the bigotry openly on display? An intense dislike of…” Sep 11, 11:24
willie on Anything But That: “To change the dial just a little but how many people know that in May this year the Standards Commission…” Sep 11, 11:19
Confused on Anything But That: “trumpton calling … sargon calls for the anglo pak union www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9BLYgbR9sA – this is progress, the way of the future;…” Sep 11, 11:17
Confused on Anything But That: “you can never win a game which is controlled by your opponent, which is why you need external support to…” Sep 11, 11:16
Confused on Anything But That: “Quit it northcode – stop interpreting a man’s words we CAN ALL READ FOR OURSELVES (thanks sam) – and your…” Sep 11, 11:14
100%Yes on Anything But That: “I like listening to Alf Baird and to be honest I could listen to him until the cows come home.…” Sep 11, 10:45
Captain Caveman on Anything But That: “Well said Northy: the truth matters. How much better would the world be if the sanctity of the truth was…” Sep 11, 10:36
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Anything But That: “HIISTORY OF GAELIC-MEDIUM EDUCATION Informative but sobering 2023 audio interview – « Donald MacNeill, chief executive of Comunn na Gàidhlig…” Sep 11, 10:17
Northcode on Anything But That: “I agree, Hatey — independence has to be a broad kirk, rooted in democratic legitimacy and grounded in reality rather…” Sep 11, 10:15
sam on Anything But That: “Northcode, You say: “He did not classify Scotland as a colony under international law. He did not argue Scotland is…” Sep 11, 10:09
Hatey McHateface on Anything But That: “Indy built on truth – amen to that. The first truth is that Indy has to be the “broad kirk”…” Sep 11, 09:50
Northcode on Anything But That: “For clarity, and because Professor Black’s work is often invoked in different ways, here is my understanding of what he…” Sep 11, 09:27
Chas on Anything But That: “I am absolutely gutted by your response. Well, not really. Who I donate to is none of your business. It…” Sep 11, 09:25
100%Yes on Anything But That: “Chas@11 September, 2026 at 8:08 am I’ve donated to Savlo and Liberation Scotland, we all know why we are donating…” Sep 11, 08:52
Hatey McHateface on Anything But That: “Does the professor also subscribe to the “And With One Bound Scotland Was Free” notion, or does he admit that…” Sep 11, 08:23
Chas on Anything But That: “Did you pay your own costs? Or did you rely on the donations from the mugs, sorry supporters of your…” Sep 11, 08:08
Alf Baird on Anything But That: ““The story of the 1707 Union is not one of a voluntary, mutual partnership. It is a story of annexation,…” Sep 10, 21:42
Alf Baird on Anything But That: ““The evidence points to only one conclusion: Scotland was annexed into a continuing English state.” (Prof Robert Black, ‘The Takeover…” Sep 10, 20:35