The world's most-read Scottish politics website

Wings Over Scotland



How it happened 421

Posted on November 06, 2024 by

So it looks like the USA has elected a mad orange rapist convicted of 34 felonies who could yet be in jail by the time of his inauguration. (He would remain President even if that happened, which would be really funny.) And we can’t even blame them for it, because the alternative they were offered was, remarkably and stupendously, worse.

Wings called it like we called Trump’s first victory (and most other things). We tweeted this last year when thinking about the upcoming election. It’s a variant on something we wrote about on Wings eight and a half years ago. We’re posting it again now in the desperate hope that one day, maybe, far in the future, someone will actually listen.

But, y’know, we’re not holding our breath or anything.

Read the rest of this entry →

The Cuckoos 122

Posted on July 05, 2024 by

Don’t say we don’t tell you this stuff, readers.

Because we always do.

Read the rest of this entry →

End Of Part One 131

Posted on July 05, 2024 by

Well, we hope you all listened to us in January and got your bets in.

Enjoy your winnings. Because the real work starts now.

Read the rest of this entry →

Developing a complex 122

Posted on June 10, 2023 by

Wings two days ago: “The SNP wants to do a devo-max deal with Labour”.

The SNP today: “We’re prepared to do a devo-max deal with Labour”.

Read the rest of this entry →

If you want to know 174

Posted on February 20, 2023 by

…always stick with Wings, readers.

If you need ill-informed guesswork, that’s what the Scottish MSM is for.

Read the rest of this entry →

The Switch 418

Posted on March 23, 2021 by

We were reminded this week of the amount of stick we got when we wrote these words almost five years ago, right after the 2016 Holyrood election:

(The rest of our post-match analysis wasn’t too shabby either.)

But readers, we have to grudgingly admit: we’re only NEARLY always right.

Read the rest of this entry →

The empty omelette 198

Posted on December 11, 2020 by

For much of last year, this site advocated a rational but unpopular position – namely that the SNP, which at the time held the balance of power in the UK parliament, should offer to support Theresa May’s soft-Brexit deal in exchange for the transfer of powers to hold a second independence referendum.

The logic was clear – nothing was ever going to stop Brexit from happening, but passing May’s deal would save the UK from the catastrophe of a no-deal. Everyone would be a winner – England and Wales would get what they voted for, Remain-voting Northern Ireland would get special terms that kept it in the EU in all but name, and Scotland would get the chance to stay in the EU as an independent nation.

“But no!”, everyone screamed at us. “We can’t possibly do any sort of deal with the Tories or we’d be electorally crucified and lose the referendum, you idiots!”

Record scratch, jump-cut to the present day.

[Pause for long, weary sigh.]

Read the rest of this entry →

Things we told you would happen, part 99 200

Posted on December 19, 2019 by

Or to be more precise, wouldn’t happen.

It sucks being right all the time. But at least now, as we asked for, the lie is over. So that’s a good thing. We suppose we should celebrate, but we don’t feel much like it.

Read the rest of this entry →

Three years and a month 205

Posted on July 23, 2019 by

29 June 2016. Don’t say we don’t warn you, readers.

And this was February of the same year, when Barack Obama and David Cameron were still in charge of their respective nations:

You’ll always read it here first, folks. Even when you don’t want to.

The long drop 171

Posted on April 16, 2019 by

Almost exactly two years ago, this website suggested that it might not be the smartest idea for Labour to go along with Theresa May’s call for a snap election. (Under the Fixed Term Parliaments Act, it couldn’t have happened without Labour’s support.)

And it occurred to us today that if they hadn’t, the current government would only have a maximum of one year left to run.

Read the rest of this entry →

To James Kelly MSP, our congratulations 572

Posted on April 02, 2019 by

So there was a football match at the weekend.

At least three people were stabbed, one very seriously, in violent incidents the likes of which haven’t been seen around Scottish football for years.

But it was probably just a random, unforseeable one-off, right?

Read the rest of this entry →

New Labour Pundit Of The Year 144

Posted on November 10, 2016 by

Regular readers of this site will be impressed, if perhaps less than astonished, at the new high score achieved this week in the timeless game of McTernan Predicts:

mcternanpredicts15a

Read the rest of this entry →

  • About

    Wings Over Scotland is a thing that exists.

    Stats: 6,863 Posts, 1,233,835 Comments

  • Recent Posts

  • Archives

  • Categories

  • Tags

  • Recent Comments

    • DaveL on And every day was exactly the same: “Quite attached to the ‘rules based world order’ you say. That shows how attached you are to western hegemony/ideology because…Jan 5, 02:04
    • Young Lochinvar on And every day was exactly the same: “Get a room you two! YOU are amongst the most prodigious creators of spoiler (going nowhere) BS AI reliant rubbish…Jan 5, 00:54
    • Alf Baird on And every day was exactly the same: ““Oman, UAE and Singapore aren’t democracies …” The matter of economic success of ex colonies was the main issue, not…Jan 5, 00:03
    • Northcode on And every day was exactly the same: ““Oh, get the fuck over yourself, you arrogant dishonest prick!” A tame exclamatory, Xaracen… you used the temperate obscenity “fuck”…Jan 4, 22:58
    • Alf Baird on And every day was exactly the same: ““There is nothing in the least bit bigoted about ANY native wanting to defend his nation from unwarranted, unlawful, and…Jan 4, 22:36
    • Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on And every day was exactly the same: “KAFKA: THE TRIAL (Chapter 1 ARREST) « Somebody must have made a false accusation against Josef K., for he was…Jan 4, 22:29
    • Jay on And every day was exactly the same: “Your comment 3:39 on 4th Jan. finds fault with Alf Baird’s comment (shortly preceding) by referring to the issue of…Jan 4, 22:20
    • Alf Baird on And every day was exactly the same: “Yes James, the “hateful racism” of colonialism (Cesaire) inevitably shows through whenever the colonizer, always with great relish, endeavours to…Jan 4, 22:08
    • DaveL on And every day was exactly the same: “Hi Hatey, you’ve still not informed us about your man Stepan Bandera. I noticed they had a torchlit parade in…Jan 4, 22:02
    • Northcode on And every day was exactly the same: ““So there you have it, the ongoing oppression of native Scots is largely a consequence of privately schooled Anglicised sadomasochistic…Jan 4, 21:54
    • Alf Baird on And every day was exactly the same: ““Dae masochism next” Kipling, brought up initially in India and then sent to private school in England, imagined British society…Jan 4, 21:27
    • Andy Ellis on And every day was exactly the same: “And yet here you are for some strange reason giving us the benefit of your dazzling insight. I doubt my…Jan 4, 21:13
    • Andy Ellis on And every day was exactly the same: “@ Xaracen 8.08 pm Wind yer neck in ya bigoted piece of work. I didn’t say ALL Scots were bigots.…Jan 4, 20:58
    • Ross on List Voting For Cretins: “Which other pro independence party is likely, on current polling, to achieve more than the 1 list seat though? Every…Jan 4, 20:49
    • Xaracen on And every day was exactly the same: “@Andy Ellis; Way to go to miss the point, prick. Your attribution of bigotry to Scotland’s people in the context…Jan 4, 20:08
    • Hatey McHateface on And every day was exactly the same: “The greatest living half-Scot, President Donald J. Trump, continues to expand the American language: Trump said under Maduro, Venezuela hosted…Jan 4, 19:54
    • Hatey McHateface on And every day was exactly the same: ““Note the curtness of my response (a single sentence) set dow above this observation” I’m seeing what you’re about, Northy.…Jan 4, 19:18
    • David Holden on And every day was exactly the same: “Hard to wade through the comments at the moment as life is too short. Dr Ellis seems to be trying…Jan 4, 19:14
    • Hatey McHateface on And every day was exactly the same: “Wow! Assertions, propositions, veracity, premises. Check out the big vocabulary on Brad, sorry, Northy. But tell us true, Northy, as…Jan 4, 19:08
    • Northcode on And every day was exactly the same: ““…when you give someone enough rope…” It isnae rope ther needin, James, it’s mair ‘bullets’… fir ther nivver feenisht shootin’…Jan 4, 19:00
    • Northcode on And every day was exactly the same: ““A wholly unsuprising lack of originality on your part.” This assertion has been noted and immediately dismissed due to its…Jan 4, 18:50
    • Hatey McHateface on And every day was exactly the same: “Xaracen expressing his inner James there. Such lack of magnanimity and uncivil rudeness from someone forever telling us Indy is…Jan 4, 18:46
    • Andy Ellis on And every day was exactly the same: “@ Xaracen QEDJan 4, 18:46
    • Andy Ellis on And every day was exactly the same: “I am really liking thon Northierthanthou moniker… I might use it. A wholly unsuprising lack of originality on your part.…Jan 4, 18:36
    • Andy Ellis on And every day was exactly the same: “You patently don’t know what paranoia even is James. The block function I mentioned wouldn’t stop you posting your superabundance…Jan 4, 18:27
    • Northcode on And every day was exactly the same: ““What can be asserted without evidence can be similarly dismissed Northierthanthou!.” I am really liking thon Northierthanthou moniker… I might…Jan 4, 18:15
    • Hatey McHateface on And every day was exactly the same: “I make it 11, James. Could I be paranoid? Or maybe just colonised?Jan 4, 18:13
    • Xaracen on And every day was exactly the same: “Andy Ellis said; “at least you’re not a sweary, moronic nativist bigot” Oh, get the fuck over yourself, you arrogant…Jan 4, 18:08
    • James Cheyne on And every day was exactly the same: “Paranoia is a peculiar illness. Including this present post I have posted 10 times on different topics Compared to Andy…Jan 4, 17:41
    • James Cheyne on And every day was exactly the same: “North Code, Alf Baird, I think it is very nice and thoughtful of Colonial mindset posters to help us prove…Jan 4, 16:57
  • A tall tale



↑ Top