The world's most-read Scottish politics website

Wings Over Scotland

← Previous Entries

When Tories tell the truth 147

Posted on January 19, 2021 by

There’s a most revealing article by George Osborne in today’s Evening Standard. It’s well worth a read in full – it’s not very long – but this is the key passage:

The deathless defenders of Plan A will of course continue to shriek that “he’s a Tory so he must be lying”. And if any of them can ever actually manage to tell us what Scottish voters can possibly DO to Boris Johnson if he keeps refusing, we’ll be all ears.

But since they never seem to be able to do that, we’re going to thank Mr Osborne for that unusual outbreak of honesty, and for admitting that a simple point-blank refusal of democracy is the Tories’ best and only strategy to keep Scotland in the UK. Because for as long as the SNP don’t have a Plan B, it’s the only one they actually need.

Read the rest of this entry →

Tags:
Category comment, scottish politics, uk politics

Quoted for truth #83 120

Posted on January 08, 2021 by

Agreeing with Tom Gordon from the Herald is a position that we really don’t like to find ourselves in, readers. But we can’t find fault with a single word of this column.

We could quote almost any of it, and we recommend digesting the whole thing, but this is as good a passage to pick out as any:

For most of this site’s existence it was the Unionists who were denying the obvious realities staring them in the face. It’s a source of great discomfort to us that many on the Yes side are now picking up the habit too. But we are where we are.

Tags:
Category comment, media, scottish politics, uk politics

The irrefutable argument 140

Posted on July 05, 2019 by

We haven’t done a good old-fashioned Quoted For Truth in quite some time, but on occasion someone else makes a point in a way that just can’t be improved on.

We’ve always known/said that this is THE core case for independence, of course, but sometimes seeing it from another country’s perspective brings the message home.

Tags:
Category comment, scottish politics, world

One last thing to remember 74

Posted on March 09, 2016 by

The BBC’s Brian Taylor on GERS:

briantaylorgers

As we have, of course, noted before.

Tags:
Category comment, scottish politics

Presented without comment 166

Posted on February 28, 2016 by

A little snippet from a corner of today’s Scottish Mail On Sunday.

smosdavidson

Tags:
Category scottish politics

The cost of everything 70

Posted on February 06, 2016 by

From an excellent letter in today’s Herald by Chris McLaughlin of Giffnock:

oftri

The only fault in Chris’ logic is that he’s a bit too generous to Labour.

Read the rest of this entry →

Tags:
Category comment, scottish politics

Quoted for truth #82 149

Posted on August 07, 2015 by

Frank Cottrell Boyce in the Independent, 7 August 2015:

“Only 25 per cent of the population earns more than £30,000 a year. Most media commentators (including me) do. For people like me, the country basically works. Politics doesn’t affect me. Politics, for me, is about how other people are treated. It’s easy inside my echo-chamber to believe that I am the norm, or the middle. Easy to forget that there are voices outside.

To people in my position, austerity can be read as regrettable but pragmatic. But to my friends and family, who live outside the bubble, it’s not regrettable, it’s terrifying. It’s also not pragmatic. The crackpot, gimcrack ideological nature of austerity becomes more apparent the closer you get to the point of delivery.”

Read the rest of this entry →

Tags:
Category comment, uk politics

A revealing turn of phrase 79

Posted on March 25, 2015 by

From an editorial leader in this week’s London Evening Standard:

“The man likely to lead the SNP in Westminster, former party leader Alex Salmond, has made it clear that he is contemplating keeping a minority Labour government in power on a case by case basis. ‘If you hold the balance, then you hold the power,’ he said yesterday.

His price: an end to austerity and to Trident.

Labour leader Ed Miliband has come out fighting against the threat.“

Seems to sum it up pretty well.

Tags:
Category comment, uk politics

Something worth remembering 237

Posted on March 19, 2015 by

From politics.co.uk this morning:

“Those hoping that a Labour government would look very different from the current Conservative-led government are likely to be disappointed.

Asked by the Today programme what he would reverse from Osborne’s Budget yesterday, Ed Balls replied that there was nothing.

Tags:
Category audio, comment, uk politics

In through the out door 59

Posted on February 12, 2015 by

The Daily Mash, 12 February 2015:

dmash

Because a good satirist can sometimes make a point better in seven sentences than idiots like us can in a 1000-word article, and make it funny at the same time.

Tags:
Category scottish politics, uk politics

The Legacy 234

Posted on December 21, 2014 by

Iain Macwhirter in “Disunited Kingdom” (Cargo Publishing, 8 December 2014):

“It seems clear that the newspapers allowed their editorial agendas to get in the way of their communication with their readers. And this has had very serious consequences.

There is now a very large body of people in Scotland who are deeply disillusioned with the press, to such an extent that they simply no longer believe what is written there.

Look at any of the internet sites related to the Yes campaign and you will now find, not just criticism of mainstream media but a complete rejection of it, as if it were the propaganda arm of a foreign power.

This degree of alienation from the press, shared by hundreds of thousands of Scottish voters, is unprecedented and should be causing alarm, not just in editorial offices, but in the political parties which are also losing their ability to communicate. “

It’s a difficult assessment to dispute.

Read the rest of this entry →

Tags:
Category comment, media, scottish politics

The man who should know 117

Posted on December 15, 2014 by

The Times, 14 December 2014:

“Scottish Labour has an ‘intellectual deficit’ because it is filled with ‘time-servers’ given seats to keep them quiet, according to Paul Sinclair, who served alongside Johann Lamont, the Scottish Labour leader, and at the heart of the ‘no’ campaign against Scottish independence.

In an excoriating attack on the moribund state of Labour north of the border, Mr Sinclair said that the party will pay the price in May.”

As someone who wrote Johann Lamont’s speeches for the last three years, on this occasion we’re going to defer to Mr Sinclair’s superior expertise.

Tags:
Category comment, scottish politics

« Previous Entries

  • About

    Wings Over Scotland is a (mainly) Scottish political media digest and monitor, which also offers its own commentary. (More)

    Stats: 6,670 Posts, 1,202,732 Comments

  • Recent Posts

  • Archives

  • Categories

  • Tags

    and finally and firstly arithmetic fail braveheart klaxon britnats captain darling cartoons Chris Cairns confused cringe crybabies dateline debates Devo Nano Douglas Daniel Federalists Unionists and Devolutionists flat-out lies foreigner watch from the archives fundraisers galleries hamish hypocrisy liars light-hearted banter lizards memogate misinformation one nation perspectives poll project fear project feart qft Scott Minto smears snp accused soapbox the positive case for the union The Vow ticktock toldyouso too wee too poor too stupid unionist of the day vote no get nothing

  • Recent Comments

    • Young Lochinvar on The Long Unravelling: “The “Supreme Court” was a creation of Teflon Tony and crew and obviously post dates the Act of Union so…” Nov 21, 02:33
    • Young Lochinvar on The Long Unravelling: “That wee bone however would have momentous impact in an election or referendum. Ask politicians who seek recounts. Just saying.” Nov 21, 02:15
    • Young Lochinvar on The Long Unravelling: “Gloriana; you are simply mendaciously playing arithmetical sophistry using figures for polls, figures as voted and figures per capita to…” Nov 21, 02:10
    • Young Lochinvar on The Long Unravelling: “Good points. Can you do the same for Westminster?” Nov 21, 02:02
    • Michael Laing on The Long Unravelling: “Have you really got nothing better to do with your time than endlessly churn out tedious, insulting, infantile bilge, Faceache?…” Nov 20, 22:15
    • Confused on The Long Unravelling: ““chortle” but postgate was a socialist and subtly, not preachy, wove these themes into his work … (starts thinking about…” Nov 20, 22:08
    • Confused on The Long Unravelling: ““rab clark”   dont be afraid of your FREEDOM  www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVw7fzIP6cQ” Nov 20, 22:06
    • Michael Laing on The Long Unravelling: “It’s almost like the independence party has been infiltrated, dismantled and neutralised by agents of the UK state.” Nov 20, 21:59
    • Dan on The Long Unravelling: “Plus the clangers are unfortunately now tainted in my mind because of all the racket created by all the folk…” Nov 20, 21:40
    • sarah on The Long Unravelling: “A detective inspector on the case has said the same – that it was NOT R—-n agents.” Nov 20, 21:34
    • Dan on The Long Unravelling: “It’s complex. The Clangers was broadcast on the BBC so naturally you have to consider whether the storyline is an…” Nov 20, 21:33
    • Aidan on The Long Unravelling: “You need to go back and read the Opinion of the committee, particularly the last paragraph under the title “Background”…” Nov 20, 21:16
    • Hatey McHateface on The Long Unravelling: “Yeah, I’ve noticed that on TV booze adverts too. If you can just catch the small print at the bottom,…” Nov 20, 21:14
    • Hatey McHateface on The Long Unravelling: “Jeezo, Ros. Not only are you destroying CM’s rep, now you’re going for Mark Hirst too. Soon Indy will have…” Nov 20, 21:02
    • Hatey McHateface on The Long Unravelling: “Never heard of him, but tell us, how does he spell “Scotland”? Can he get that right? Help us decide…” Nov 20, 20:52
    • willie on The Long Unravelling: “To change the topic if I may can I just say that this evening I chanced on a full page…” Nov 20, 20:52
    • Hatey McHateface on The Long Unravelling: ““jenno-side” Naw. 36 deid ain’t “jenno-side”. In the SS, you’d have been thrown out if you couldn’t exterminate 36 in…” Nov 20, 20:48
    • Confused on The Long Unravelling: “do the clangers remind you too much of beavers? I saw this and thought of you  www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NlQiQfC4zQ” Nov 20, 20:43
    • Confused on The Long Unravelling: “getting the support of a half scottish golf nut who owns a lot of property here -should- have been a…” Nov 20, 20:37
    • Republicofscotland on The Long Unravelling: “Craig Murray, already blew the bullshit Skripal nonsense official English narrative out of the water – this is just the…” Nov 20, 20:29
    • Confused on The Long Unravelling: “slightly accidental post; but that ridiculous war is past its sellby date, it jumped the shark a long time ago…” Nov 20, 20:28
    • Republicofscotland on The Long Unravelling: “When Jefferey Sachs choses to speak – you’d do well to listen to his words. Scroll down a wee bit…” Nov 20, 20:18
    • Zander Tait on The Long Unravelling: “You do know your Time Machine YL.” Nov 20, 20:16
    • Xaracen on The Long Unravelling: “Your analysis of the matter is inept. The committee clearly took the view that the provisions of the Treaty’s Article…” Nov 20, 20:14
    • Republicofscotland on The Long Unravelling: “The evil monsters, that are committing jenno-side in the Levant region, just bombed the ancient city of Palmyra (sssyr-ia) -…” Nov 20, 20:06
    • robertkknight on The Long Unravelling: “The MAGA hat waving Raspootyn apologists are out tonight I see. Obviously never spoken to a refugee from east of…” Nov 20, 19:55
    • Hatey McHateface on The Long Unravelling: “Jeezo, how old are you? Mentally, I mean. It’s only 30 years or so since we pushed them back out…” Nov 20, 19:55
    • Hatey McHateface on The Long Unravelling: ““I’m pro Minsk Accords” You sure? According to Pres P, the Minsk Accords no longer exist. “residents of the Donbas…” Nov 20, 19:43
    • Hatey McHateface on The Long Unravelling: “Wow, Confused, that’s some post! You do know, don’t you, that Napoleon and the Wehrmacht both invaded R and marched…” Nov 20, 19:20
    • Robert Hughes on The Long Unravelling: “ahahahaha ! fckn brilliant , ma man . But yr forgetting ….whilst the Big R has been the graveyard of…” Nov 20, 19:16

  • A tall tale



↑ Top