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Wings Over Scotland



Introducing… the Union Jocks 148

Posted on May 28, 2013 by

The No campaign makes for some unlikely bedfellows.

unionjocks2

We’d like you to meet our new favourite patriots.

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A reader writes 75

Posted on April 16, 2013 by

We were dismayed to hear this morning that the Scottish Parliament had wussed out on holding a debate on Margaret Thatcher’s legacy which had been scheduled for the day of her funeral (though not during it). But we were immediately cheered up again by this indirectly-related reader comment:

“By the way did I hear correctly that the funeral is supposed to have a Falklands theme? Would it therefore be bad taste to suggest putting Thatcher into a General Belgrano-shaped coffin and have it sunk into the grave by a hearse disguised as HMS Conqueror?”

Now THAT we’d pay money for.

But firstly 40

Posted on April 15, 2013 by

It’s Monday morning, so rather than have an “And finally…” tonight we thought we’d cheer you up ahead of the grimmest day of the week with a couple of completely genuine unPhotoshopped images from this morning’s BBC Breakfast.

thatcherkorea1

We’d love to imagine this was a satirical “accident”.

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Never the twain shall meet 46

Posted on March 27, 2013 by

A keen-eyed viewer alerts us to the alarming fact that the Herald appears to have been letting Magnus Gardham write its leader column with his crayons again:

eastlothian1

(Online version since fixed, print version preserved for posterity.)

Confused Unionist Of The Morning 244

Posted on March 25, 2013 by

tramtwat

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Opening your mouth and removing doubt 47

Posted on March 16, 2013 by

A couple of paragraphs in a Vince Cable story (to over-dignify the piece in question) from today’s Scotsman are quite amusing if you swap the order they come in.

“The first day I took up my job as the chief economist at Shell I was given a plaque which had an Arabic saying and when I pressed for a translation, they said ‘All those who claim to predict the future are lying, even if they are later proved right’.”

Righto.

“Business Secretary Vince Cable last night warned that an independent Scotland’s reliance on revenue from oil would result in savage public spending cuts or tax rises, as he addressed the Liberal Democrat Scottish conference.”

Oops!

Let’s twist again and again 77

Posted on March 13, 2013 by

Veteran readers of this site will know how hard it is to nail Scottish Labour down on a policy for just about anything. So when we suggested earlier today that the party DID have a (sort of) firm policy on something – namely calling on the Scottish Government to bring forward legislation to stop people being evicted over bedroom-tax arrears – we probably shouldn’t have been surprised to be contacted within minutes by a Scottish Labour press officer angrily insisting that it didn’t.

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Good morning, Unionists 46

Posted on February 21, 2013 by

This guy’s on your team. Congratulations on that.

farage1

(We’re particularly impressed by the attack on Nicola Sturgeon, just days after a poll found her to be the most popular politician in Scotland, and probably Britain. Genius.)

At the last Scottish Parliament election, UKIP secured 0.52% of the vote, a little over half the share achieved by the Scottish Senior Citizens Unity Party. We’re not sure why the press doesn’t give their leader, whoever it is, more front covers.

Ask Wings Over Scotland 31

Posted on February 16, 2013 by

We note with interest a letter in the Scotsman today:

“This debate about the word “separation” is annoying and a distraction from the real issues. I am waiting for some answers from the SNP about the potential shape of an independent Scotland. This is a waste of time.

J ADAMS
Harrison Gardens
Edinburgh”

We’re not in the SNP, Mr Adams, but we’re happy to help you out anyway.

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Better Together leaked posters #10 43

Posted on February 01, 2013 by

Seems to have been a small typesetting error on this one.

Better Together in the EU 159

Posted on January 23, 2013 by

We’ve got a bit of a dodgy Freeview picture this morning thanks to the weather, but we THINK this is what we just heard on the news from all the Tories (and others) who want the UK to leave the EU, but Scotland to stay in the UK.

Thanks to many alert viewers for sending in some we didn’t quite catch.

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Probably a coincidence 49

Posted on January 20, 2013 by

Alert readers might have noticed that this morning we tweeted a link to a post on the Facebook page of Labour For Independence. It was a retort to a sneering claim from Anas Sarwar that the group had “one or a maximum of two Labour members” and was in fact a front for the SNP, and it responded by printing a list of 13 named Labour Party members who were active in the group. One of them stood out a little.

Now, we have absolutely no idea if that Alex Foulkes is the same Alex Foulkes who’s the son of arch-Unionist peer and Nat-basher Lord George Foulkes. We’re sure there are lots of people called Alex Foulkes in the Scottish Labour Party. But given that Lady Judy Steel (the excellent wife of Sir David, another prominent No voice) came out for independence a while ago – prompting a slightly misjudged joke from Murdo Fraser last week – it’d be a moderately amusing development if it was.

After all, if the leading lights of the No campaign can’t even convince the closest members of their own family to back the UK, how the heavens are they going to be able to sell the ailing Union to the rest of Scotland?

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    • Dan on The Shortest Day: “@ AIdan The residents of my village are for the most part appreciative of my efforts to interact and educate…Aug 30, 18:21
    • DaveL on The Shortest Day: “Away back to your whinging and moaning about posts you don’t like but can do nothing about. Beg Stu to…Aug 30, 18:21
    • Dan on Spot The Problem: “Just noticed the site bawbag and keen typist swerved addressing the main points of my post, and instead tried to…Aug 30, 17:55
    • Aidan on The Shortest Day: “Okay – it was first published in Jan and then republished in another journal in May. Either way, it came…Aug 30, 17:50
    • sam on The Shortest Day: “Chas seems to be one of those proud Scots who think that Scotland never could manage its own affairs. He…Aug 30, 17:41
    • Saffron Robe on The Shortest Day: “Good comment, Sam — thoughtful and forward-looking. An independent Scotland would be a nation reborn and, more importantly, revitalised.Aug 30, 17:40
    • Saffron Robe on The Shortest Day: “They may be long dead, but that doesn’t alter the fact that our ancestors never voted for the Union. Our…Aug 30, 17:34
    • Mark Beggan on The Shortest Day: “On a lighter note. Has anyone else seen Useless’s new attempt to reinvent himself as a Leader advisor! whatever the…Aug 30, 17:17
    • Chas on The Shortest Day: “Strange response Dave. Does the ‘L’ represent loony?Aug 30, 17:13
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    • Mark Beggan on The Shortest Day: “Why don’t you ask the people of Ulster about that one. I’m sure they will be very interested in what…Aug 30, 17:02
    • Young Lochinvar on The Shortest Day: “HMcH The supplanting of the name Scotland in lieu of Alba (basically the landmass north of the Forth – Clyde…Aug 30, 16:51
    • Hatey McHateface on The Shortest Day: “Good post, Northy. Lacking only references to and quotes from the post colonial boys (Fanon, Memmi, Cesaire, etc.) to make…Aug 30, 16:47
    • Hatey McHateface on The Shortest Day: “I’m sure something happened in 1066 that made the “English” of 1018 a different people/race/tribe/dynasty from the “English” of 1067…Aug 30, 16:39
    • Young Lochinvar on The Shortest Day: “MB “He (Cnut) became King” Should read “He became King of England”. As for never being beaten, dying at 40…Aug 30, 16:36
    • TURABDIN on The Shortest Day: “everywhere fools, useless idiots and referendum freaks. Scottish democracy is a grotesque inarticulate Frankenstein monster best not viewed in daylight.…Aug 30, 16:10
    • Mark Beggan on The Shortest Day: “@ young Lochinvar It is artistic licence. Loosely based on history. Uhtred spanned four kings and fought in about eighty…Aug 30, 15:58
    • Young Lochinvar on The Shortest Day: “MB Errr, that’s a no. No matter how much you wish it so..Aug 30, 15:31
    • DaveL on The Shortest Day: “If it was up to Chas we’d still be living in caves. “What? Build a shelter? Best not, we don’t…Aug 30, 15:09
    • Mark Beggan on The Shortest Day: “No Lochy I was there., I remember distinctly Uhtred kicking the shit out of the Scot. I can still see…Aug 30, 15:01
    • sam on The Shortest Day: “The first paragraph of Aidan’s post is irrelevant. “Growth in a time of Debt” was published in January 2010. George…Aug 30, 14:49
    • Mark Beggan on The Shortest Day: “That was a worthy effort Northy. The psychiatrists just give him 100mg of largactil three times daily.Aug 30, 14:44
    • Young Lochinvar on The Shortest Day: “One to celebrate; On this month in history (best reckoned as August 1018) the Scots under Malcolm II “Forranach” (the…Aug 30, 14:42
    • Aidan on The Shortest Day: “Why be so equivocal Alf, why not; Do you want: – to be tortured in the fires of hell for…Aug 30, 14:19
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    • Northcode on The Shortest Day: “No, James, I didn’t. Yours is a classic example of someone mixing historical grievance, constitutional myth, and modern legal reality…Aug 30, 13:43
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    • James Che on The Shortest Day: “Alex Salmond like other politicians never read the details, and the SNP today ignore that the old parliament of England…Aug 30, 13:25
    • James Che on The Shortest Day: “North Code. You sadly missed the point on the Scotland act and the 2014 referendum. It is not up to…Aug 30, 13:00
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