Alert readers will of course be aware that one of this site’s most frequently-recurring themes is “phantom news”, whereby events or unpleasant opinions that newspapers or broadcasters really want to have happened are conveniently brought to life, either by some random nobody on the internet, or an unnamed “source” or “insider”.
So when Nicola Sturgeon did something today that nearly everyone in the Northern Hemisphere knew she was going to do sometime soon, but wasn’t expecting just yet, there wasn’t time to prepare actual real people with the required quotes.
In the modern media world, though, that isn’t a problem.
Our attention was drawn today to hardcore shrieky Loyalist nutter collective Scotland In Union releasing “new research” on an independent Scotland’s finances, which in fact came out last year but which for unknown reasons they’re touting again now.
Commissioned by the loongroup from a London-based thinktank that we’d never heard of by the name of “Europe Economics”, it predictably produces a doom-and-gloom conclusion that independence would have cost over £10bn in the first year.
There are so many gaping chasms in the logic we could hardly stop laughing for long enough to type, but one in particular was worth wiping the tears from our eyes for.
We were very pleased to hear Gary Robertson challenge Kezia Dugdale on the curious matter of Scottish Labour’s membership and income figures on today’s Good Morning Scotland. Dugdale flapped and dodged and waffled for as long as she could before diverting the topic onto federalism, and eventually managed to wriggle away from the subject without any sort of proper answer (through no fault of Robertson’s).
Almost a year ago we ran a short piece mocking a Scotsman headline which claimed that “THOUSANDS” of people had signed a Tory anti-referendum petition, when the actual number was a strictly-accurate-but-pathetic TWO thousand.
We didn’t think that could ever be beaten for technically-true hyperbolic exaggeration, but we’d reckoned without the bold boundary-pushing ingenuity of the Daily Express.
Hundreds of thousands? How many hundreds, exactly?
There’s a truly abominable piece of hatemongering in today’s Times. A grotesequely dishonest Nat-bashing smear job based on stupendously misrepresented fragments of quotes, it’s penned by Patrick Harkness, someone who the paper identifies as “a past co-chairman of the RSE [Royal Society of Edinburgh] Young Academy of Scotland”.
For some reason it’s chosen to leave a few lines off his CV.
It’s a well-known fact, of course, that 87% of all statistics are made up. But as this site regularly observes, if you’re the Scottish opposition and media there’s no need to invent fake ones when you can twist the real ones to present an image completely at odds with the reality.
The Sunday Times today has some fine examples of the craft of massaging figures for the purposes of deception. It carries two separate scare stories on the NHS, both of them using figures which aren’t based on any sort of news, but on opposition spin on existing stats. One comes from the Tories, under a dramatic headline:
The banner is pulling a classic trick – the £685m figure is actually the total sum spent in a decade, not the single year that most people would assume (since there’s no good reason to measure spending in decades, so headlines usually don’t do it). But remarkably it’s just about the most honest thing in the paper’s health coverage today.
Figures released yesterday indicated that the number of full-time teachers employed in Scotland had risen by 253 over the past year, despite budget cuts imposed by the UK government’s austerity programme. This obviously presented the Scottish media with a dilemma: how could such statistics be presented as an “SNP BAD” story?
Luckily, we’re dealing with experienced professionals here.
We often say here on Wings that our job is to teach people to instantly recognise the sneaky tricks used by the media to try to create false impressions without saying things that are technically untrue. (Because despite the tiny size they’re allowed to print corrections at, they’re still rather embarrassing.)
A key technique is to look at a headline or story and immediately ask what you’re NOT being told. So here’s an easy example from today’s Scottish Daily Mail.
Hatey McHateface on Yelling at the tide: “You remind me of the people who claim to believe that the killing of one woman as she interferes with…” Jan 23, 11:07
Northcode on Yelling at the tide: ““… speaking, reading and writing only in Scots…” Who do those folk who believe an independent Scotland would insist that…” Jan 23, 10:56
Hatey McHateface on Yelling at the tide: “The calls for the slaughter of English cants crop up beneath just about every article, willie. It’s beyond credibility you…” Jan 23, 10:49
DaveL on Yelling at the tide: “Ah Wee Adolf McHateface, there you are, you’ve been quite subdued just lately. What was it got you all upset…” Jan 23, 10:21
TURABDIN on Yelling at the tide: “THE THREE R’s…..revolution, revolt or resistance….Scots do have choices other than to capitulate to the «motherhood and apple pie» schmues…” Jan 23, 10:20
TURABDIN on Yelling at the tide: “ORGANIZED THUGGERY…..whether in the name of fascist corporatism, hallucinogenic woke or faux messianic americanism we all know it when we…” Jan 23, 10:19
willie on Yelling at the tide: “And meanwhile, no word from the judiciary, or comment from the Scot Gov on the grave concerns about a judge…” Jan 23, 10:17
willie on Yelling at the tide: “Here Hatey you’re off on the big rant this morning. Prof Baird is a Scot who supports the maximisation of…” Jan 23, 10:07
Northcode on Yelling at the tide: ““A Glasgow choir will aim to ‘bridge the gap’ between queer and Gaelic identity when practises begin next month… The…” Jan 23, 09:09
Hatey McHateface on Yelling at the tide: “All very well, Fearghas, but which is it gets us the most disposable dosh, the biggest house, the fastest car,…” Jan 23, 08:09
Cynicus on Yelling at the tide: “Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh says: ‘Josephine Bartosch commented that the cyber-attack has “stripped away the chintzy veil of victimhood that has long…” Jan 23, 02:38
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Yelling at the tide: “« Marx’s secularisation of the messianic seems to me to be accurate and precise, up to this point. But can…” Jan 23, 01:07
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Yelling at the tide: “Thanks TURABDIN. Good SPECTATOR article by MARY WAKEFIELD. “And look at Professor Gordon: they’re right to be scared. It’s not…” Jan 23, 00:09
Dave G on Yelling at the tide: “@Alf Baird 5:05pm Have you considered seeking professional help?” Jan 22, 22:55
Alasdair Roy on Yelling at the tide: “These positions as President of the Employment Tribunal (Scotland) are dangerous, especially given the backgrounds of these women. They carry…” Jan 22, 21:52
Alf Baird on Yelling at the tide: ““Which is precisely why there is no few dozen Scots prepared to organise themselves for Indy.” Och aye thar is:…” Jan 22, 20:34
Hatey McHateface on Yelling at the tide: “He also said a few pertinent things about the prognosis for small countries now that it’s finally becoming clear to…” Jan 22, 19:42
Hatey McHateface on Yelling at the tide: “What I know, Alf, is that our inalienable right to self determination needs but a few dozen of us to…” Jan 22, 19:32
Hatey McHateface on Yelling at the tide: “Aye, ah bet it’s an English cheese tae. Cheddar or Stilton. Haud oan though. Fit nationality were they Fanny and…” Jan 22, 19:23
sam on Yelling at the tide: “Link https://murrayblackburnmackenzie.org/2025/12/12/statement-on-the-closure-of-our-petition-pe1876-on-recording-sex-accurately-in-cases-of-rape/ “We would like to thank Tess White MSP, Carol Mochan MSP, Michelle Thomson MSP, Ruth Maguire MSP, Rachael…” Jan 22, 17:32
sam on Yelling at the tide: “From MBM Policy on 12/12 /2025 “Statement On Wednesday 10 December the Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee closed our…” Jan 22, 17:29
Alf Baird on Yelling at the tide: “What we do know is that current “Diversity” policy totally ignores and is definitely not about prioritising the rights or…” Jan 22, 17:05
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Yelling at the tide: “TRANS ACTIVISTS HACK FREE SPEECH GROUP IN IDEOLOGICALLY DRIVEN ATTACK A free speech organisation has been hacked by a trans…” Jan 22, 16:07
David Rodgers on Yelling at the tide: “Fair points but I will take independence first – woke or no woke.” Jan 22, 16:03
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Yelling at the tide: “HEALTH SEC CHALLENGED OVER ‘IDEOLOGICALLY DRIVEN’ PUBERTY BLOCKER TRIAL ******* QUOTE: “… It is important to reiterate that gender incongruence…” Jan 22, 15:50
Michael McCoy on Yelling at the tide: “Brilliant! Unbelievable that this is necessary but thank god, someone is prepared to hold these chancers to account. Well done…” Jan 22, 14:38
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Yelling at the tide: ““Cha ro-innleachd cianalas.”” Jan 22, 14:10
sam on Yelling at the tide: “From the For women Scotland website. “Ahead of the judicial review of the Scottish Prison Service Policy for the Management…” Jan 22, 14:01
sam on Yelling at the tide: “Copy of letter sent on 6/1/2026 by For Women Scotland to John Swinney. Dear Mr Swinney, Thank you for your…” Jan 22, 13:52
