The world's most-read Scottish politics website

Wings Over Scotland



The comfort of lies 197

Posted on June 09, 2020 by

More great news, right?

Except, sadly, it’s completely untrue.

Read the rest of this entry →

The Toady And The Trap 291

Posted on January 09, 2020 by

Anyone who’s followed the UK political media over the last decade or so with specific reference to Scotland will know that in a very crowded field, the standout poster boy for arrogant, condescending metropolitan cluelessness is the Independent’s chief political commentator John Rentoul.

For reasons which escape us, Rentoul – who was born in India and as far as we know has spent not a single day of his life resident in Scotland – identifies as Scottish. And yet he doesn’t appear to even recognise the concept of Scotland as a political entity, and today he demonstrated that fact in a manner so stark and striking that it’s worth recording for posterity.

Read the rest of this entry →

The contaminant 123

Posted on September 27, 2019 by

Remember this guy? Go on, give it a minute, it’ll come to you.

He popped up today to chuck in his tuppence-worth about inflammatory language in politics, and how – like everything else bad – it all started with vile cybernats in 2014 (because as you’ll of course remember, it was Yes supporters who never shut up about “surrendering”) and has now sullied even the dignified halls of Westminster.

We wonder how that can have happened.

Read the rest of this entry →

Accentuating the negative 155

Posted on September 21, 2019 by

(Editor’s note: as a result of this cartoon, Mr Cairns has been sent on mandatory administrative leave of absence to let’s call it a “health spa” for the next two weeks. While he’s receiving let’s call it “therapy”, fill the gap by purchasing the latest volume of his works, which is guaranteed not to contain this one, we can only hope and pray.)
.

The Charlatans 172

Posted on August 07, 2019 by

Honestly, readers, our job is like shooting fish in a barrel sometimes.

Gosh, whoever would take such a scandalous and unprincipled position?

Read the rest of this entry →

Standard Wales Check #2 394

Posted on July 28, 2019 by

We’re being somewhat generous with the numbering here, to be honest, but you’ve got to start the official count somewhere, right?

Alert readers will recall that current Scottish Labour policy is to enshrine in law the right to a free bus pass for all Scots over the age of 60:

This time last year, for example, their transport spokesman Colin Smyth specifically and indignantly condemned any possible suggestion by the dastardly SNP of perhaps increasing the qualifying age from 60 to state pension age (currently 65 and due to rise to 68 and beyond), saying:

“Sadly, the scheme is now under threat with SNP ministers refusing the rule out increasing the age citizens can qualify for a pass in a bid to try and save money. Ordinary people in their 60s should not be paying the price of Tory austerity because the SNP refuse to use the powers of the parliament to fund our services properly.”

A commendably unambiguous and righteous position. Indeed, the North British branch of Jeremy Corbyn’s socialist party announced at this year’s conference that if elected they’d not only keep the threshold at 60, but would extend free bus travel immediately to everyone in Scotland under 25, and then swiftly to everyone of any age.

So we can safely assume that in Wales, where Labour have been in power for all 20 years of the devolved Assembly, all those things will already be happening, because otherwise it’d just be embarrassing.

At the very least, we can be certain that there’s no chance of the qualifying age going up from 60 to state pension age, because we already know that Labour regard that as a scandalous and unthinkable moral outrage.

Read the rest of this entry →

All hail the new Britain 69

Posted on July 24, 2019 by

Let the bells ring out and rejoice.

Still, at least the Record hasn’t been so completely lacking in self-awareness as to point a finger at others in Scotland and say something like “far too many people who should know better are complicit in the tragedy”.

Read the rest of this entry →

Hitch a ride on the turning tide 167

Posted on July 11, 2019 by

Things were different in 2009.

Of course, they meant if they LOST the first one. But readers might feel that a certain degree of irony has perhaps manifested itself since then, particularly in terms of people knowing “what they would be in for” after June 2016.

So just to recap the UK government’s rules for the Yes movement:

 – If you win, you don’t really win and you have to go again in case things change.

 – If you lose once, that’s it forever, no matter how much things change.

Always remember what we’re dealing with, folks. The rules are always whatever they say they are, regardless of what they might have said a minute ago, and no matter what happens we’re swimming against the sea.

Little red dots #2 128

Posted on April 02, 2019 by

Billions of years from now, when the Sun finally dies and expands to swallow and burn up the Earth in a final cataclysmic explosion, the very last thing to turn to dust and atoms will be Scottish Labour’s brass neck.

Coming from The Eternal Abstainers themselves that’s already quite a breathtakingly hypocritical claim, but if you look at last night’s results closely it gets a lot worse.

Read the rest of this entry →

Not YOU, Scotland (part 784) 68

Posted on March 08, 2019 by

The Foreign Secretary in September 2018:

And after an apparent change of heart in March 2019:

What an absolute Hunt, eh readers?

Brass neck gleaming 261

Posted on January 08, 2019 by

Wow. That’s Monica Lennon sat directly behind him, by the way.

That must have taken some amount of polishing.

Read the rest of this entry →

A different kind of beat 105

Posted on November 22, 2018 by

So this was in the Times football section today:

And you find yourself thinking, “Well gee, why might THAT be, Alex?”

Read the rest of this entry →

  • About

    Wings Over Scotland is a thing that exists.

    Stats: 6,865 Posts, 1,234,109 Comments

  • Recent Posts

  • Archives

  • Categories

  • Tags

  • Recent Comments

    • twathater on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “@ Aiden 7.07pm you and others including Stuart Campbell talk of coordinated action to bring down the snp, in your…Jan 9, 02:11
    • Young Lochinvar on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “H McH @ 7.15 I am not adverse to analogies or metaphors, but: 1. The mature tree would have to…Jan 9, 00:44
    • Alf Baird on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “Postcolonial theory is actually a reflection of what happens during the period of colonialism. It is essentially looking back, after…Jan 8, 22:16
    • PC Foster on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “Amen to thatJan 8, 21:58
    • Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “THE TIME MACHINE by H. G. WELLS Beginning of Chapter 4: « In another moment we were standing face to…Jan 8, 21:49
    • DaveL on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “I’m still getting a good laugh at your yappy wee sidekick Insider by the way with his “listen son…” “hey…Jan 8, 21:23
    • DaveL on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “In a land of a million Hateys and Alf the boss had been bombing and slaughtering them for eight years…Jan 8, 21:03
    • DaveL on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “Hatey doesn’t believe silence speaks volumes at all. He’s certainly never tried it, It’s likely not in the nazi playbook.…Jan 8, 20:53
    • Hatey McHateface on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “Naw, Alf, I’m not about to take lessons from the kind of people who would be implacably hostile to me,…Jan 8, 20:25
    • Alf Baird on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: ““Recognised as alien, foreign imports by everybody else in Scotland” That sounds awfu like British Exceptionalism, Hatey. Intellectual excellence is…Jan 8, 19:53
    • Hatey McHateface on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “Shakespeare, Huxley, Wells. Not one of them penned a single word of Scots in their entire life. Sure you’re OK,…Jan 8, 19:20
    • Hatey McHateface on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “Depestre and Senghor. Acknowledged as Scots in these tourist shops on the Royal Mile that will run up an over-priced…Jan 8, 19:14
    • Aidan on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “@TH you acknowledge the SNP tree has to come down BUT you’re avoiding the kind of coordinated action required to…Jan 8, 19:07
    • Hatey McHateface on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “Not quite sure what you’re saying there, sam, unless it’s that the descendants of the people who were there hundreds…Jan 8, 19:02
    • Hatey McHateface on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “Bwuhahahahahaha! Hey! This is fun. Must do more. They do say laughter is the best medicine. “They” being the people…Jan 8, 18:48
    • Hatey McHateface on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “The whisky experts talk of the legs of a dram. You must be seeing raised right arms in your whiskey.Jan 8, 18:24
    • twathater on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “@ John Main 7.15am REAL independence supporters know that the big tree snp has to be chopped down to ensure…Jan 8, 18:18
    • Marie on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “If you are not allowed to own your own thoughts and express your own opinions then you do not live…Jan 8, 17:51
    • Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “HOME SECRETARY FACES LEGAL ACTION OVER HATE CRIME POLICING Free speech campaigner Harry Miller is seeking a judicial review on…Jan 8, 17:04
    • Alf Baird on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: ““It’s a rotten system and should be called out whenever it happens” Indeed, and many people in Venezuela, Greenland, in…Jan 8, 16:20
    • factchecker on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “James Cheyne says: 8 January, 2026 at 12:09 am The biggest offence is calling it Scotland parliament. A fair point.…Jan 8, 16:18
    • James on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “Maybe it’s a Scottish yin heading for Westminster?Jan 8, 15:00
    • sam on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: ““Search Assist Early Inhabitants of Greenland Initial Settlement The first humans are believed to have arrived in Greenland around 2500…Jan 8, 14:02
    • James Barr Gardner on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “Why has The National showing a different oil tanker to all the other papers ? The oil tanker in most…Jan 8, 13:15
    • Northcode on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: ““The propagandist’s purpose is to make one set of people forget that certain other sets of people are human.” -…Jan 8, 13:10
    • DaveL on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “You’d be Hatey too eh. Anyone else?Jan 8, 12:55
    • DaveL on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “I’m just laughing at you ya cunt. You’d be Hatey eh. Laughing! Anyone else?Jan 8, 12:50
    • TURABDIN on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “GREENLAND INDEPENDENCE. from WIKI. «A 2025 poll showed that a majority 84% of Greenlanders would support independence from Denmark, with…Jan 8, 12:49
    • Chas on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “I had high hopes for the Alba Party when it was formed. It seems my optimism was misplaced. Would it…Jan 8, 12:42
    • willie on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “Never a truer word spoken by Alf Baird when he says colonialism is force. Just look at the history of…Jan 8, 12:22
  • A tall tale



↑ Top