As we’ve repeatedly pointed out, Wings has made NO comments about the “workplace harassment” allegations made against Alex Salmond several years ago. We’ve only commented on the CRIMINAL allegations, and workplace harassment isn’t a crime. (It’s a matter for an employment tribunal, not the police.)
But the real question is WHY Andy Wightman is so doggedly attached to these two complainers that he’s determined to keep digging himself further into a hole of lies. And everyone knows what you tend to find when you start digging holes.
“Hello Stuart. We’ve been contacted by a reader who says he also contacted you about a post on the website in the early hours of Saturday. Referring to Nicola Sturgeon, the poster says “Decapitating this witch would stop the SNP dead in their tracks.”
Our reader, Ian Reid, an SNP activist in the Borders, has been a regular Wings reader but was taken aback by the language. He had hoped you would have deleted the post, but that hasn’t happened.
He has reported it to the police and given a statement to them.
He has also given us these comments on why the Alba Party should condemn this sort of material and cut its ties to the Wings site.
“Alex Salmond and the leaders of the new party need to separate themselves from that, they need to call it out. They seem to be trying to set themselves up as the moral guardians for women’s rights, which I absolutely support. At the same time, we’ve got somebody posting this on a blog that they clearly associate with and clearly use.
On the one hand, they’re talking about gender-proofing their policies, which is great. On the other hand, they’ve got this where a woman is being described as the devil herself, and where there’s a reference to decapitating the witch having a justifiable end.
That needs to be called out. The party needs to come out and say something about it. The best possible outcome would be that they do condemn it. It would be such a powerful message. Separating themselves from that cesspit would be a very politically astute thing for them. As long as they don’t, it’s colluding with it, it’s condoning it.”
This is for a potential story online and in print.
If you didn’t already know that the BBC were going to run a character-assassination hatchet job on Alex Salmond tonight (and another one tomorrow), you could surmise it easily enough from the state of the Scottish media in the last few days.
But it’s today’s Daily Record that dredges the depths of the journalistic sewer with a barrel and then scrapes the very bottom of it for the grubbiest, oiliest sludge it can find.
The BBC’s Reporting Scotland is, in our view, directly responsible for at least 80% of Yes supporters’ belief that the UK’s state broadcaster is biased against independence. Almost all of the worst examples of unbalanced or downright dishonest coverage over the last five years come from the flagship teatime bulletin.
Normally the amateur blogger, unqualified would-be economist and unsuccessful dog-food salesman that BBC Scotland and the Daily Record employ on a regular basis to openly troll Yes voters restricts himself, when attacking this site, to crude abuse or smear and innuendo like the below, tweeted on Holocaust Memorial Day last year:
It’s important to note, firstly, that the version of Sadiq Khan’s speech to the Scottish Labour conference he tweeted on Saturday morning simply flat-out said that Scottish nationalists were the same as racists and sectarian bigots. Its meaning was as clear as crystal to the Daily Record, a newspaper which is hardly hostile to Khan’s party.
“No difference” is a stark and unambiguous phrase. The speech did not contain the hastily-added qualifiers about “in this respect” and “of course I’m not saying the SNP are racist” which suddenly appeared when he read it out onstage that afternoon.
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.
Readers may be aware that Wings Over Scotland is (fairly remarkably, really) the UK’s second-most-read politics blog, behind the hardcore right-wing “Guido Fawkes”.
Our “competitor” isn’t a site we look at a lot – the comments make the Daily Mail readership seem like enlightened and thoughtful moderates – but last week someone asked us about a smear piece they’d run on SNP MP Corri Wilson, and we only just remembered today to check it out. Our initial findings weren’t well received.
It seems that Mr Fawkes and his minions aren’t too keen on scrutiny themselves.
Since the astonishing election of 56 SNP MPs to the UK Parliament last May, the Unionist media – suddenly deprived of a whole contacts book full of friendly Scottish Labour bench-warmers ready to feed it cosy stories over a boozy expenses lunch in Whitehall – has raked through every bin and gutter in the land looking for anything (however pathetic) that it can try to puff up, distort, and rope into service as “dirt” on each of the Nat members, in an attempt to discredit them and the party.
So let’s just have a little look in here and – YIKES!
The Scottish Daily Mail’s front page lead today is so galactically despicable that it’s easy to overlook another story that it bundles in with the same “SNP BAD” attack.
While excoriating Dr Philippa Whitford for having the sheer shameless gall to help save women’s lives in her holidays, the alleged newspaper also devotes a page-high article to an attack on another Nat MP, George Kerevan, for employing his wife.
Graham Fordyce on A Delicate Art: “But surely the legal anonymity order only applies to Salmond’s criminal trial? The Scottish Government has chosen (as oppose to…” Oct 26, 19:48
Campbell Clansman on A Delicate Art: “This cover-up release reminds me of an episode in Yes Minister where, to cover up an official’s misconduct, they redacted…” Oct 26, 19:43
Robert Hughes on A Delicate Art: “” Inquiries ” are almost never set-up to find truth or identify guilty parties . Their inordinate length is designed…” Oct 26, 19:39
Nae Need! on A Delicate Art: “We’ve had too many inquiries already have we not? They cost US money and they tie us (all interested parties)…” Oct 26, 19:24
Republicofscotland on A Delicate Art: “Lets hope it happens. “Calls are being made for Nicola Sturgeon to face a new inquiry into whether she broke…” Oct 26, 19:02
Robert Hughes on A Delicate Art: “I’m guessing you were a reader of the NME in it’s golden age , Mike – circa ’73 to mid-80s…” Oct 26, 19:01
Nae Need! on A Delicate Art: “No. People only, generally, understand what ‘specific to them’ lies they have been told, when the SPECIFIC to them truth…” Oct 26, 18:20
duncanio on A Delicate Art: “Another layer of a very rotten onion is peeled.” Oct 26, 18:14
Mike on A Delicate Art: ““…despite the fact that there is no ostensible reason why a civil servant seconded to a public Ministerial Code inquiry…” Oct 26, 18:04
I. Despair on A Delicate Art: “Another A500 owner here. I bought Amiga Format (covered some games but was more focused on other software like art…” Oct 26, 17:43
mike cassidy on A Delicate Art: “Lowell George knew my father” Oct 26, 17:42
Dan on A Delicate Art: “Cannae believe folk would still put direct links to the Daily Record what with all the antics of Murray Foote,…” Oct 26, 17:37
sam on A Delicate Art: “Very poignant to read again Gordon Dangerfield’s analysis of the actions taken against Alex Salmond. https://gordondangerfield.com/2021/08/12/liz-lloyds-interference-in-the-salmond-investigation-what-it-means-for-the-bigger-picture/” Oct 26, 17:34
Nae Need! on The Impostor: “Excellent ‘Toon, Chris. I was thinking along similar lines to you this morning . . . on my part it…” Oct 26, 17:26
Dan on A Delicate Art: “Archived link… Took ten seconds to find https://archive.is/ztOAX” Oct 26, 17:19
Nae Need! on The Impostor: “Very good point.” Oct 26, 17:18
Andrew F on A Delicate Art: “Would it really make any difference if everyone knew the name? I’ve long had the view that 9/11 was simply…” Oct 26, 17:18
Geoff Anderson on A Delicate Art: “https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/ministers-lied-nicola-sturgeon-evidence-33976469” Oct 26, 17:18
Nae Need! on The Impostor: “Spot on, Mia.” Oct 26, 17:17
Nae Need! on A Delicate Art: “Dan, if you look at Stu’s last paragraph, there’s a clue . . . my interpretation: the correct people have…” Oct 26, 17:08
Jon Drummond on A Delicate Art: “Yup. So obvious who it is. Always had my doubts about Chris Boyd…” Oct 26, 17:01
Nae Need! on A Delicate Art: “You have no idea how many times lately Begbie has popped into my mind. Sometimes I’ve felt like Begbie, and…” Oct 26, 17:01
Dan on A Delicate Art: “Pity Joanna Cherry, Neale Hanvey, or Kenny MacAskill didn’t take the opportunity to progress resolving this ridiculous protracted situation when…” Oct 26, 16:59
Garavelli Princip on A Delicate Art: “And I should also mention that Lloyd George knew my father – or was it my grandfather?” Oct 26, 16:58
Geoff Anderson on A Delicate Art: “Scottish Information Commissioner, David Hamilton’s statement in response to the Scottish Government’s recent disclosure of legal advice, complying with Decision 193/2024…” Oct 26, 16:58
Nae Need! on A Delicate Art: “That’s a good point. But personally, if I had been in their position, I’d have jumped ship ages ago. Life…” Oct 26, 16:57
twathater on The 24 Official Genders Of Scotland: “The CRINGING Scots BUT loves to quote numbers, if we had a proper SCOTTISH media instead of a bunch of…” Oct 26, 16:55
robertkknight on A Delicate Art: “No. Just ONE, and only ONE.” Oct 26, 16:53
Nae Need! on A Delicate Art: ““Carefully unclear”. I just love that phrasing. I’ve met tricky fuckers JUST like that . . . to be avoided.” Oct 26, 16:52
Tommo on A Delicate Art: “‘potential wider consequences’ eh ? Stay tuned indeed” Oct 26, 16:52