The world's most-read Scottish politics website

Wings Over Scotland



Quoted for truth #6 17

Posted on February 04, 2013 by

This came out quite a few days ago, but didn’t get the attention it merited. Once again, we invite readers to ponder the “invisible hypothetical” of whether the Scottish media would have shown such complete disinterest in a piece of investigative journalism which revealed an elected representative of the SNP and some of its prominent activists discussing their own party’s complete uselessness.

We do accept that Scottish Labour being in shambolic disarray isn’t exactly hold-the-front-page stuff, and is in fact somewhere on a par with “Rain forecast for Hebrides” or “Scottish rugby team beaten at Twickenham”. But clearly the bar for headline stories is rather lower than it used to be, so you’d think it’d at least get a passing mention.

Read the rest of this entry →

Quoted for truth #5 29

Posted on January 18, 2013 by

An unnamed SNP spokesman on STV News:

“We have no wish to comment on Cllr Matheson’s private life. The issues which are important to the city are Labour’s scandalous £500,000 pay-off to a supposed anti-poverty boss which has been condemned by the charity regulator, the closure of day centres for adults with learning disabilities without consultation, and their incompetence over plans to redevelop George Square.”

Still, we’re sure that free wi-fi will be along any day now.

Quoted for truth #4 46

Posted on January 18, 2013 by

Joyce McMillan in the Scotsman today, as the Scottish press is finally, after three days, shamed into acknowledging what happened on Tuesday.

“What I see at Westminster now is not an alternative politics that avoids the pitfalls of nationalism, but an instinctive, backward-looking British nationalism that is even worse: a farrago of double standards about Westminster and Holyrood, and of reactionary nonsense about the nature of national identity in the 21st century, combined with a complete vacuum of progressive policy, and an instinctive willingness – on the part of the Labour Party – to side in this debate with what is perhaps the most privileged and reactionary government the UK has seen in a century.

The truth is that the tone of the No camp’s response to the independence debate has – in too many cases – been so reactionary, so negative, and so fundamentally disrespectful of the Scottish Parliament as an institution, that I now find it hard to think of voting with them, no matter what my views on the constitution.

And this, for me, is a new experience in politics – to enter a debate with a strongish view on one side of the argument, and to find myself so repelled by the tone and attitudes of those who should be my allies that I am gradually forced into the other camp.”

We’ll have more on that subject later this morning. Don’t miss it.

Quoted for truth #3 36

Posted on January 07, 2013 by

John Harris in the Guardian today:

“[six years ago] to be living on an estate, and in receipt of benefits, and possibly out of work, was to not just to be fair game for Oxford undergraduates, the future king and a certain kind of TV comedian, but the butt of a huge national joke. Some of us wondered where exactly what was briefly known as ‘The New Snobbery’ was headed.

We now know. Its cultural aspects were merely the tip of the iceberg – as the Labour party engaged in the rebranding of social security as ‘welfare’ and its ministers raged against ‘benefit cheats’, something poisonous was being embedded at the core of our national life.

While the Conservative party grimaced through a fleeting modernisation, it sat there, ready to be picked up by a Tory-led administration and taken to its logical conclusion.”

And, of course, by Scottish Labour.

Quoted for truth #2 32

Posted on January 06, 2013 by

Sometimes other writers say things better and/or more concisely than we could hope to, which is great as it’s a real time-saver for us, so we might make this a regular strand. Today’s QFT is from an excellent Iain Macwhirter piece in the Herald (as, coincidentally, was the first one), which is worth reading in its entirety, but from which we especially commend the following passages (our emphasis as ever):

“But supporters of independence hope that voters will eventually come to realise that, in a sense, they have no option but to go for broke in 2014. Scots will be the laughing stock of every stand-up comedian in Britain if they bottle out of self-government.

“Anyone who believes that the UK Government is itching to give the Scottish Parliament more economic powers than those in last year’s Scotland Act really hasn’t been keeping up. The review of Barnett that will follow the implementation of the Scotland Act will be an opportunity for the Coalition to answer the charge that Scotland has been getting more than its fair share of public funding. With the threat of independence removed, the UK will no longer feel any need to placate Scottish demands for what many English voters believe is special treatment.

Okay, it’s not quite as snappy as “Vote No, Get Nothing”, but it does have the benefit of being actually slightly more true.

One more than you 17

Posted on May 11, 2012 by

We don’t know if anyone still reads the BBC’s “Blether With Brian” column since the Corporation banned Scottish readers – uniquely in these islands – from posting comments on it, nor can we normally think of a reason why anyone would. It’s generally the blandest-possible summary of events people have already seen for themselves, with no effort to impart any sort of insight or analysis.

However, once in a while the understated approach yields a more profoundly powerful result than screeds of polemic, and we can think of no way to better illustrate the bizarreness of Johann Lamont’s chosen line of attack at yesterday’s First Minister’s Questions than to simply relate the events as they transpired, in the most neutral and factual manner, as the national broadcaster’s Scottish political editor does today.

How to decide who has won an election? The customary method is to count the ballot papers – and to award victory to the one with the most votes. Now the Single Transferable Vote in multi-member constituencies adds a degree of sophistication to that. But, still, the spoils tend to go to those with evident popular support.

This, apparently, is an old-fashioned outlook. Just so Twentieth Century. At Holyrood, Labour’s Johann Lamont suggested another test might be used instead. The SNP, she said, might have won the council elections “on the arithmetic”. But “on the politics” they “got stuffed.”

It is difficult to be entirely certain, but I suspect that most political leaders would probably settle, on balance, for winning “on the arithmetic”.

Stranger still was Brian’s citation of Fat Les in support of his assertion, but other than to wistfully dwell for a moment on our long-held dream of Scottish fans repurposing the song in question with the words “Irn Bru” replacing the title, we’ll let that one pass.

If we had a hammer 4

Posted on January 14, 2012 by

…we would give it to Ian Bell, for he’s hit the nail so hard on the head in today’s Herald that he must surely have broken his own. As we’ve said before, we don’t make a habit of reproducing stuff from behind newspaper paywalls, because as journalists ourselves in our day jobs we support the idea of paying for quality journalism, and at just 75p a week a Herald online subscription is very fairly priced, unlike some.

But Bell’s piece today (which also indirectly addresses the hysterical, hypocritical faux-outrage over Joan McAlpine’s “anti-Scottish” comments) is more important than that, and deserves a nationwide audience who can be directed to it time and again over the next two and a half years. Read it below, and then please consider whether for Scotland’s sake you can afford NOT to support one of its few remaining outlets of decent, honest and reasonably balanced writing about politics.

Read the rest of this entry →

  • About

    Wings Over Scotland is a thing that exists.

    Stats: 6,785 Posts, 1,221,337 Comments

  • Recent Posts

  • Archives

  • Categories

  • Tags

  • Recent Comments

    • Sven on Too Tight To Mention: “Castoreum comes from Beavers’ Butts, eh. If it’s used in Nutella then perhaps an association of ideas led to Mr…Jul 4, 20:32
    • diabloandco on Too Tight To Mention: “Dan and Sarah , spare a thought for those of us who pick both fruits 2 at a time every…Jul 4, 20:04
    • Alf Baird on The Con Merchant: ““So which colonising strand really presents the biggest threat?” Important question, Hatey. Our friends Memmi, Fanon and Cesaire appear unanimous…Jul 4, 19:58
    • Anthem on Too Tight To Mention: “Lies, deceit, yes, we know.Jul 4, 19:38
    • Anthem on Too Tight To Mention: “Mark. We don’t want you or your ilk. What’s so hard to understand?Jul 4, 19:34
    • Alf Baird on Too Tight To Mention: “Great journalism by Craig Murray, Liberation Scotland’s ambassador to the UN. Meanwhile faux independence ‘leader’ Swinney has signed Scotland up…Jul 4, 19:31
    • Hatey McHateface on The Con Merchant: “He’s back! He’s sober? He’s fretting about shirt lifters! He’s taken near 12 hours to put that effort together :)…Jul 4, 19:06
    • sarah on Too Tight To Mention: “Dan, I think the Rev has shown us over the last few years through his coverage of “Pride” events, that…Jul 4, 19:04
    • Andrew scott on Too Tight To Mention: “#mark Agree he is as boring as fcuk with all his historical dribblings Usually NOTHING TO DO WITH THE REVS…Jul 4, 19:03
    • Alf Baird on Too Tight To Mention: ““A Government created from all the dregs of it’s own community.” We cannae expect much from a colonial administration run…Jul 4, 18:57
    • Young Lochinvar on The Con Merchant: “In reply to P3nisbreath McP3nisbreathface @ 7.30am. Bzzzz- wrong! Do not pass go, do not collect £200. I was going…Jul 4, 18:52
    • Dan on Too Tight To Mention: “OT. I’m fucking sick of eating strawberries. About a pound in weight a day for weeks has really torn the…Jul 4, 18:19
    • Captain Caveman on The Con Merchant: “My word, Northcode, you’ve suffered *three centuries* of oppression…? Crikey, keep quaffing the (still warm) Miso Mushroom Dragon Rolls says…Jul 4, 18:16
    • Hatey McHateface on The Con Merchant: “For you to be repeatedly re-incarnated as the same brutalised, shackled victim, over and over for 300 years, you must…Jul 4, 18:13
    • Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on The Con Merchant: “Alf, identifying the language you champion with Pictish is semantic porridge stirred backwards and spiked with hallucinogenics. The truth is,…Jul 4, 18:08
    • Northcode on The Con Merchant: ““This permanent victimhood must be so exhausting” I am looking out of my study window here in my NoHo penthouse…Jul 4, 17:53
    • agent x on Too Tight To Mention: “sarah says: So raise the subject with friends and family. Try to keep it positive e.g. “the SNP needs help…Jul 4, 17:49
    • Mark Beggan on Too Tight To Mention: “For he who dwells in the past has no future.Jul 4, 16:56
    • TURABDIN on Too Tight To Mention: “The SNP acknowledged the «authority» of the British state when its mps took their seats in London. That was an…Jul 4, 16:55
    • agent x on Too Tight To Mention: “Chas says: 4 July, 2025 at 4:38 pm A question for Wings supporters-is there any one who actually reads the…Jul 4, 16:52
    • Hatey McHateface on The Con Merchant: “And now, NC, you’re just having a laugh. The only places speaking in Scots was ever banned was in schools.…Jul 4, 16:51
    • Mark Beggan on Too Tight To Mention: “For those who dwell in the Scottish past would do well to remember who won and why.Jul 4, 16:50
    • Chas on Too Tight To Mention: “A question for Wings supporters-is there any one who actually reads the repetitive mince that Cheyne posts umpteen times everyday?Jul 4, 16:38
    • Mark Beggan on Too Tight To Mention: “Shine on Harvey Moon.Jul 4, 16:37
    • Mark Beggan on Too Tight To Mention: “What part of Scottish politics is fucked do you not understand. Yes Westminster will step in and on the stupid…Jul 4, 16:35
    • Wally Jumblatt on Too Tight To Mention: “-they should unfreeze enough of his assets to let him fund his own defence. Is he being charged with unlimited…Jul 4, 16:12
    • Northcode on The Con Merchant: ““As for the people banning it in Scottish schools being English – get a grip. They were as Scottish as…Jul 4, 15:18
    • Anthem on Too Tight To Mention: ““Ignited and united by the greed, deceit, and interference from Westminster”. There,fixed that for Mark. Do keep up.Jul 4, 15:13
    • James on Too Tight To Mention: ““Whitehall has created it’s very own Frankenstein government for Scotland…” There. Fixed that for you.Jul 4, 14:51
    • Southernbystander on The Con Merchant: “I read Alf’s last post and it was nearly all easily understandable to an English speaker who has lived in…Jul 4, 14:46
  • A tall tale



↑ Top