Wings Over Scotland

Nail. Head.

Be great if Dross could be given a free transfer.

I’m sure the English FA would be delighted to have him. They are very welcome to him and I can hear the melody of ‘ he’s coming home, Dross is coming home ‘

Wouldn’t wish him on any other European nation though.

Alistair Gibb @ 7.34am . Brilliant, I believe his middle name to be Tibbs.

Who is that meant to be?

Doesn’t look like anyone I’m aware of.

Sorry, Tubbs. Fat fingers.

Having seen him recently, albeit mercifully briefly on telly, for me, Douglas Ross has all the gravitas of a supercilious, pontificating first-class knob end.

Can’t say fairer than that.

I thing Chris caught The Linesman well there. He definitely looks like a rabbit caught in the headlights.

Back in the 50’s and 60’s, a young guy was growing-up in Knightswood, Glasgow. We’ll call him George. He lived near the Forth and Clyde canal and was from an ordinary family. He decided to go to Stathclyde University to study engineering where he proved to be an exceptional student who found it all very easy. He went on to Stanford University in the USA and he was an exceptional student there too.

He returned to Glasgow where he went on to become Professor of Civil Engineering at Strathclyde University and quickly turned Strathclyde University into one of the number-one univesities for engineering, certainly in Scotland. He became Chairman of the UK Institution of Civil Engineers and, due to his association with the United States, became a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers. During the 19th and 20th centuries, Scotland used to produce the best engineers in the world and it is fair to say that he is one of them.

George retired and I believe he now has a farm somewhere in Argyll. He is nontheless one of the most respected figures around and he still retains the respect of engineers all over that UK and USA. By the way, his favorite subject was hydrology ‘the movement of water through soil’. Sounds easy, doesn’t it?…believe me, it’s not.

I’ve been telling the story over the past few months of a new school which was built 7-years ago. A civil engineer told them at the time: ‘this will never work; this site is full of water and shifting sand; stop now and get it checked or you will all make fools of yourselves’. He was sacked and they just carried-on. They were the Scottish Government and so they can do that. We’ve all seen it at the Fabiani Inquiry; they just do whatever they like and don’t answer to anyone.

Anyway, it started sinking soon after it was finished and so the civil engineer contacted the American Society of Civil Engineers and asked for their opinion. More than 40No of the best engineers in the world responded and said ‘this will never work; this site is full of water and shifting sand; stop now and get it checked or you will all make fools of yourselves’. 3No members of the UK Institution of Civil Engineers work for the Scottish Government. They responded by saying ‘We’ve checked this school and it’s OK…end of story…go-away…we won’t talk to you any more’. That was in 2016.

So, 40No of the best engineers in the world say that the school will never work and 3No employees of the Scottish Government say it is OK. We have a dilema, don’t we…the Scottish Government don’t respond, the civil engineer’s MSP is the forensic MSP from Dumbarton and if she cannot get anything done then no-one at Holyrood can. Time’s marching-on. What do we do?

Well, the civil engineer contacted the UK Institution of Civil Engineers and asked them to investigate. He reckoned that a number of delinquents at the Scottish Government were just saying: ‘we’re all members of the UK Institution of Civil Engineers’ in order to excuse their malfeasance. If true, then that is pretty bad, so much so that it will get you serious jail time in most countries in the world. They responded within a week. Who could investigate such a vexed subject that the Scottish Government wished to ignore? What about George? That sounds like a great idea, doesn’t it? He’s retired and so has no vested interests and if George runs the rule over this school and expresses an opinion, then no-one will argue. There’s one problem, of course…we are a fortnight away from a Holyrood election. Should that make any difference? Surely not?

If George gives it the thumbs-down, then it is extraordinarily bad news for the Scottish Government. If he has a sense of humour he may well be thinking: ‘what a bunch of delinquent arseholes the Scottish Government are…I’m glad I retired to the farm when I did’. Will he support the Scottish Government or will he support the Americans? Fascinating, isn’t it. How long will it take him to check?…I’d guess, less than a day.

One difference I have noticed between America and Scotland. The Americans investigate and prosecute every time. In Scotland we redact and cover-up….every time. It takes George a day to reach an opinion, which is the opinion of a world-renowned engineer ; how long do you think it will take John Swinney and the Lord Advocate to reach an opinion? If we had more folk like George around today, they wouldn’t be calling us ‘a banana republic without the bananas’, would they. Who needs Holyrood…just ask George.

@Willie. “And a good day for some Alba campaign work.”

Alba seem dead in the water, with 1-2% in the opinion polls (Panelbase excepted). They will be lucky to win even 1 seat.

I am not expressing an opinion, merely stating the facts.

Was the backlash against the super league genuine grass roots or was it coordinated `astroturfing` financed by Premier league,

that`s what thoughts go through my head after reading Wings for 7 years.

anyhoo,

Definition — Astroturfing is the practice of masking the sponsors of a message or organization (e.g., political, advertising, religious or public relations) to make it appear as though it originates from and is supported by grassroots participants.`

this `astroturfing` covers the transcult movement,

supposedly a wee group of the chronically offended rainbow nose ringers but in reality the transcult is financed by billionaire misogynists and paedophiles,

hiring Dentons ,the biggest law firm in the world, would not come cheap.

When Captain Yossarian goes for a squirrel, he goes big!

I think Independence and Holyrood elections should be the focus. School, Road, Harbour, Airport etc etc – the standard of construction is an Engineering issue.

daodao – Keep drinking the Kool-Aid.

If sturgeon the liar is paying you – I’d ask for the money upfront.

@Captain Yossarian,

surprised there are no cats, big mousers, involved in your story,

anyhoo `astroturfing` as i said `corporate` to look like grass roots.

@Captain Yossarian
I know standards are different here but quakes do happen. In 1906 a quake hit San Francisco, they had built on foreshore and reclaimed land. It liquified in the quake. All over the place people took notice.

I used to live in South Dunedin, NZ down by the beach on a former salt marsh. No buildings over 2 stories are allowed and they are rare. A wooden old hotel/pub is one such. The schools are made of wood so lightweight.

WHEN a quake hits that school that land will liquify and turn to quicksand in the blink of an eye. It happened in Christchurch NZ in the recent quake, sandy mud started coming up out of the ground, houses sank or cracked beyond repair though litigation is ongoing about that.

Christchurch is built on old alluvial gravels. It was thought safe from quakes, no close fault lines. Only very recently has ground penetrating radar become strong enough to peer through many metres of gravel to the bedrock, which found a network of fault lines. The rest is, fatal, history. Parts of Christchurch are now Red Zones, returned to nature or made into parkland. Not safe to build or live on, not any more.

Standard modern construction techniques here make schools much heavier than old NZ wooden schools. Dept of Education standard techniques. Painted teal.

We humans live such short lives, records don’t go back far enough. The Great Glen is a major fault line. A fairly quiet one, but it can still move, occasionally big time. Intervening mountains will absorb some of it south of the Highlands but enough? That all depends.

In the second, fatal Christchurch quake the quake waves were lined up wtih the granite Port Hills the city buts up against. An old volcanic plug. They hit it and were reflected back, the waves destructively interfered with incoming waves causing troughs to be lower, peaks to be higher. Destruction in Christchurch goes in lines marking the peaks of this.

In the later Kaikoura quake which almost cut NZ in half, it did wrt rail. A series of faults over a couple of hundred km unzipped faster than the speed of sound. The seabed lifted up up to 9m as though the rocks are plastic. They can be. The hills fell down though, on the main road and the rail line, blocking river valleys, creating unstable new dams.

The earth is unquiet, those who think they live in quiet places can be given rude awakenings. It is wise to consider the possibility when deciding where and how to build. But then the UK is a country which builds houses on known flood plains.

@Muscleguy – I remember seeing a photo of the NZ earthquake and the liquifaction it caused. The photo showed an underground drain and all of the manholes pushed straight out of the ground so that they were lying on top of the road. As you say, the effects of water can either takes years to manifest, or can be immediate.

Could we not get some CIVIL engineering done to these rainbow ratbags on twitter?

The cartoon as usual is amazing. Really well drawn with lots of detail. It’s a work of art.

I can’t say more because I know absolutely nothing about fitba.

At this moment in time Sturgeon is more of a threat to Scotland than Douglas Ross.

And yet the dumb, Perverted SNP 1 brigade want us to vote her and her cronies back into power, to finish off what they started.

I would rather she was defeated at the Polls.

Her biggest fans are the Salmond haters amongst us, who where hoping for a conviction in the courts.

Vote for any Party other than the SNP in the Constituency Vote.

And I have to agree with the post above, this election has come along too soon for the fledgling ALBA Party.

Looking like low single figures for the amount of MSPs.

But whatever happens, we must not vote Sturgeon and her nodding dogs back in to power.

The best we can do is dump the SNP at the next Westminster election.

And then in 2026 ALBA will be better placed to take on the roll of being Scotland’s true Indy Party.

Salmond should take a back seat, because he has no chance of escaping the muck that the yoon media are throwing at him.

A new face should be getting set up as we speak.

And don’t say Cherry, she has transformed herself into a Westminster trougher.

We need to start being honest with ourselves.

Sturgeon has stolen our greatest chance we have ever had of becoming an independent nation.

And I curse that Bastard for her actions over the past five years.

Rot in hell Sturgeon.

I was an engineer and lived near Knightswood and studied at Strathclyde
University and when we had a similar problem we sought engineering answers from a company in the Netherlands,the land where little boys dream of holding back water with a finger in the dyke (no tittering at the back) and for a very reasonable price sooked all the water out with powerful pumps and the ground down to the.rock strata was like concrete and they maintain observation to this day.

Google on Dutch Dewatering.

Did anyone else notice the return to Wings by all the Salmond haters once all the inquiries were finished with.

They were over the moon that their lying little hero Sturgeon had survived all of the inquiries and came out the other side without a scratch on her.

They were so overjoyed.

Now the Sturgeon fanatics return here to tell us to vote the SNP Bastards back into power for ANOTHER five years of torture.

You know who you are, and so do I.

I will call you out in my own time.

Conspicuous by your absence.

The standard of engineering in Scotland is an absolute disgrace.

If ordinary members of the public had an inkling of the build standards they would be outraged.

It doesn’t take much recollection to realise that in building construction schools were built with walls that weren’t properly anchored and fell down, a billion pound hospital had cladding: windows: ventilation: heating services : water services problems, the Glasgow Art School burnt down whilst being renovated due to a previous fire, and these are just a few headline examples.

But it is the same in civil engineering. The quality build standards on the M73/M74/M8 were an absolute third world disgrace. Bridges where the protection system fell off, drainage that wouldn’t work, attenuation ponds that didn’t flow and a bankruptcy in the middle the works are still not, all these years on completed.

And ditto the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route where the amount of remedial works due to bad works, bad design was absolutely incredible. Of course another bankruptcy in the middle of that but no wonder with the contractors running hundreds and hundred of millions over budget. But yes, a lot of re-work that would astound the general public if they knew.

Or the new Queensferry Crossing. An engineering beauty. But does anyone have a clue as to the build quality – design issues. Of course they don’t.

And then we turn to the industrial engineering type contract at the Polmadie waste to energy incinerator. Don’t even ask about that because that’s another absolute disaster.

But these are just examples and the big question is why the construction – civil engineering industry now has such poor standards.

A complex issue to maybe understand since engineers at the granular level are mostly capable and skilled. But at the corporate level and at the procurement level and entirely different story.

The rise of PFI procurement perchance. It has changed the landscape of procurement and delivery and not for the better. But hey, what do the punters know, or do they even care. Sometimes I wonder.

And as for the SG they just spin and spin and spin.

Famous15
It seems that civil engineering is no different from politics.
There is a wide range of opinion out there.

willie says:
24 April, 2021 at 10:08 am
The standard of engineering in Scotland is an absolute disgrace.

If ordinary members of the public had an inkling of the build standards they would be outraged.

Reply

“The Chinese Spamming” continues.

@Famous 15 – Excellent advice came from an engineer in the Netherlands. He was fairly pessimistic about the success of this building. He advised sooking the water out of the ground too.

The true Salmond haters haven’t even got the balls to tell us they are Voting SNP 1 AND 2.

So they post the lie that they are Voting SNP 1 and ALBA 2.

What a waste of air these Bastards are.

Gordon says:
24 April, 2021 at 10:09 am
Says Ruby aka SNO 1 AND 2.

Don’t annoy numbnut.

Reply
?????? ??????

Ruby
Maybe he was referring to the Scottish National Orchestra
Are they still going?

Andy Ellis,
I believe it is the case that no matter if Alba had started 3 months earlier, for example, they were always looking at having to build upon this election.

For those who keep asking, are we there yet?
We’ve only just got in the car and yet to start the engine. We have 5 years to go to get Alba where we need it, so buckle up for a longer journey.

And if ever there was an example that woke up the public for a little while it has to be Grenfell in London, and maybe the Cameron House at Loch Lomond.

At Grenfell we know the story. Deficient fire standards, often produced by the industry producing the defective or misused / defectively designed cladding system and all wrapped up with inadequate supervision and overview. But post Grenfell it came to light that there were many many more building with defective and dangerous cladding systems.

So how come. Eighty were torched in Grenfell. An absolute third world horror story in a so called first world country.

But on a lesser scale what about Cameron House. two young men burned to death in a luxury five star hotel that turned into an inferno within minutes of an ash bin igniting paper in a reception cupboard.

Like Grenfell the fire spread ferociously up through cavities through the well understood ” chimney effect ” and into the floor and roof space where the timbers were soon ablaze.

Identified as a fire risk in a safety audit why was nothing done stop the storing of hot ash in a cupboard. More importantly again, why, given the hotel construction and the lack of fire stop, was the hotel given an operating certificate. And why did it take THREE YEARS to get the results of the fatal accident enquiry.

SNP government spin, spin, spin. Nicola Sturgeon’s government have blood on their hands.

But again, do the public really care. I wonder if they do. The dead in Grenfell and here at Loch Lomond are, save for their family and friends, long forgotten. The Cameron House is now all but rebuilt, ready for opening. In fact approval to rebuild and the start of rebuild was quicker than the enquiry into the fatal fire. Tells you all about how money talks with the SG and their corporate friends.

Standards, what standards, when there’s money changing hands.

Andy Ellis,
I meant add that I agree with you and that others bemoaning low polling percentages should have more patience and realistic outlook of where we are and where we want to get to.

Can any one of the SNP 1 Brigade tell me how Voting SNP 1 is going to move the Indy debate on one iota forward, with the prospect of only having about three MSPs from the ALBA Party?

This is another SNP fanatics con trick. They are conning the hard of thinking among us to vote SNP.

Sturgeon will never open up the Indy debate and anytime ALBA try, Sturgeon will
Go off on another Salmond rant about him not apologizing to the women he abused, end of Indy debate.

Do not vote SNP.

Their destruction has to start now.

Whilst being civil to our engineer pals I am sure it’s tangential to our purpose here. But guys it’s really interesting stuff send us a short link and I am sure many of us will read further. What I won’t read further is numpties who just D’Hondt get the tactic of SNP 1Alba 2. Some are genuine in their angst about voting for Sturgeon others though are suggesting those of us making that reasonable calculation are New SNP drones or worse rainbow roasters. These are the roasters who have put a leaflet through a door or engaged in a constructive conversation. So please put that on another forum as well.

Yossarian: “the forensic MSP from Dumbarton”

Comedy Gold.

@Willie – I’ll tell you an interesting thing about the Grenfell fire: When Thatcher first became PM she was taken on a visit to the Building Research Establishment (BRE). At the time, it was world-leading in its research and was government funded which made it completely separate from the interests of ‘for-profit’ business. Thatcher privatised it straight away and that changed it to a body which just traded on its reputation for quality and impartiality. It really didn’t have these qualities any longer. They started approving things which a few years previously they would never have approved. Aluminium composite panels and phenolic foam insulation are amongst them.

It was the BRE who issued ‘Agrement Certificates’ for Grenfell cladding. The materials were OK according to them and if it was OK with the BRE then it was OK with Building Standards too. Materials no longer had to be ‘non-combustable’; they only had to ‘not support combustion’ which is a completely separate and much more subjective criteria. The disaster which followed was in many ways inevitable and I know many who were uncomfortable about using these products. I remember seeing a panel of phenolic foam burn on an open fire and it was alarming. How the BRE could certificate that as ‘not supporting combustion’ is really the cause of this needless tragedy.

What we are seeing from the Scottish Government just now are dishonest and unaccountable people who are hiding from the truth. I went to the American Society of Civil Engineers who are the best engineers in the world and I sent their opinions off to John Swinney over 3-years ago. The best he could come-up with was ‘everyone who needs to know about this knows about it and no-one agrees with you’…’I’m not speaking to you any more’. The American engineers cannot believe the arrogance of it. What should take days, takes 7-years in Scotland.

We’ll soon know what George thinks.

Capt Yossarian
“The best he [John Swinney] could come-up with was ‘everyone who needs to know about this knows about it and no-one agrees with you’…’I’m not speaking to you any more’.”

Ha! Word for word what I got from him.

He is the antithesis of what an ‘effective contributor’ and a ‘responsible citizen’ should be.

A blight on the educational landscape of the nation.

link to tinyurl.com

Lady in Red!

@ Captain Yossarian

Over the months you’ve been commenting btl, you regularly elude to a school built on watery ground having issues, I can’t recall you actually mentioning the specific school in question.
If the risk of it sinking is real then I suggest it is your civic duty to inform the public of said school so parents can send their bairns to the school with hard hats and buoyancy aids.
And to be on the safe side, maybe push for mandatory swimming lessons and Bronze Medallion lifesaving courses for all attending pupils.

A potential knock on benefit of these activities might be that the kids actually put down their fuckin smartphones for long enough to gets some exercise, and the mouth to mouth resuscitation practical might also stir the loins of the bairns so Scotland can begin to increase its population growth rate again, so it isn’t just filled with old grey reekin of pish wrinklies with not enough young folk to pay taxes to fund and carry out looking after us!

I recall a while back the new secondary school in Duns was built on a wet area of ground. It was still there last time I drove by, but that was pre lockdown…

SNP must be totally broke cash wise too.
My are has some Digital Billboards and all
sorts of unionist shit is on it from Scot business
better in U.K., the Royals, DRoss himself and
Labour nonentity back door Kelly.
Our local SNP MSP is a side street paper billboard.

Absolutely no expense spent!

@Gordon

I’ve read wings for years and only started posting when I started to realise that the lying criminal Nicola Sturgeon was going to get away with her crimes. A process that should have ended with her being convicted of perjury and perverting the course of justice fizzled out to nothing because of the corrupt SNP controlled criminal justice system. It turns my stomach that they lying bastard is even allowed to stand for election.

What I didn’t expect after months of forensic reporting by Rev Stu demonstrating in great detail her crimes was for sturgeonite SNP trolls to actually have the brass neck to come on here and defend the bastard Sturgeon and effectively undermine and call Rev Stu a liar. Then again I should have known better just now morally bankrupt these people are. The SNP1 “one more time” “elect her to hold her feet to the fire” is nothing but complete and utter bullshit. The idea that you punish a confirmed liar and criminal by re-electing her and giving her the levers to control the legal and justice system is certifiably insane and only a complete and utter moron should believe such nonsense.

As for Alba, the idea is good but the execution is poor. Salmond should have moved sooner, or at least got his groundwork done far in advance so it wasn’t such a rush job. Also the idea of re-electing a person he has called corrupt and a liar is absolutely fucking nuts. It completely undermines his credibility in my eyes and I’ve supported the man for over 25 years. It’s nothing personal against Salmond as I said the same about the carpetbagging opportunist Tommy Sheridan and the former Lib Dem Craig Murray, I also have a lot respect for Craig but the way he ripped the scab off the festering Sturgeon regime and then told people to vote for her was utterly insane. Craig should have put the white suit on and taken on Angus Robertson on an anti-corruption ticket, why he never did that and instead chose to back someone who looks like he lives in a shop doorway is beyond me.

So much lost opportunity, it’s actually painful thinking about it. One can only hope that Alba gets I a ducks in a row and decides to properly take on the New SNP next election.

Shocked. 11.29

Excellent post.

Lots of unanswered questions there that have to be answered before we can move on.

I see someone ‘s multiple personality disorder is not getting any better. Acht well time yet I suppose.

Actually might pick a burd up at meet today. You’re quite welcome to come along and give us your speil on Glasgow Southside. Don’t be surprised if someone rips you a new arse to go along with your others.

Have a nice day e’all

OT — There is a headline on Sky News ( I know!!) just now regarding GRA and an ongoing case down South that may be worth reading. I don’t want to post the direct line but it’s the first story on their website just now.

Definitely the ALBA party for the List.

Stu 12.22.

link to archive.ph

@Dan – Agreed.

@SkipNC 12.28 pm

I’m unconvinced 2024 Westminster elections (assuming that’s when they are) will provide the necessary impetus. If Alba stand candidates against the SNP it risks splitting in the pro-indy vote and letting more yoons win seats. If it is couched as a plebiscitary vote by the pro indy parties, whereby >50% of Scots voting for pro-indy candidates translates to a mandate for indy, then I’d be all for it.

Much depends on what happens to the SNP as a party post May, whether Sturgeon and her cabal retain power and what (if any) progress they make. If they stay in power and don’t deliver a referendum and perform badly in general then it’s possible they may be ejected. If they aren’t however, it’s difficult to see how they will make common cause with Alba or anyone else to do anything different than keep on banging the S30 Gold Standard referendum drum?

Alba should certainly be ready to take advantage of changing circumstances, but it things don’t fall to our advantage the truth is we have to prepare the ground for the hard slog of taking on the SNP head on and aim if not to actually replace them, to at least make it abundantly clear to the SNP that it have no plausible route to independence without co-operation.

Alba doesn’t need to be the biggest pro-indy party, it just needs to be big enough to hold the balance.

Shall we now have a chat about the Great British Bakeoff or the merits of artificial grass?

Skip past the idiots who are posting guff like Captain Yossarian. When morons like Muscleguy get hooked he has done his job.

Interesting comment from Shocked re Joanna Cherry. I do hope she is well.

The apparatus of the British state is not kindly disposed to those who make it appear foolish.

Please watch and share this….we need to get the New Media out there to make up for the msm blackout of the ALBA Party #ALBA2 #WomenWontWheesht link to youtube.com

TheSNPleftme so I’m gonna campaign day and night to get them re-elected. Lol!

Andy Ellis @ 12.50PM
I think it’s fair to say that the SNP will be finished by the next WM election.

Even the most ardent party faithful by them will have had to face the realisation that they ain’t going to deliver independence – by that time they’ll have spent all their energy on warping the meaning of women and hoping we’re still in a pandemic.

We just need to ensure the independence movement still has a political arm in Alba that can capitalise on independence voters to sweep the WM and HR elections in 2024 and 2026.

Wherever Alba is most likely to pick up seats in this HR21 election is where energies need to be focused. Get the word out as Alba need some seats to build its future base. Can someone crunch some numbers?

Apart from that, need to expose the Greens as the weirdos that they are. And it pisses me off no end that their green policies are as weak as piss.

We’re up to the wire here – it really requires people power to try to get Alba over the line. Do whatever it takes
– speak to people, educate them
– get campaign material out there even if it means printing it at home
– share. share, share on social media (i know it can be manipulated on who can see posts but still gotta try)

If I can get my little old 80 year old maw over the line to vote Alba (who didn’t vote yes in independence), then we can all get folks on board. MSM can’t compete with that.
Get talking folks.

And get ALBA campaign material visible in houses and streets. The more visibility, the more the brand is recognised, then more people will mark the X – herd mentality – age old marketing strategy.

Andy Ellis,

The point of the Westminster elections is that it makes bugger all difference to Scotland if the SNP or the open Unionists get elected.

If there ARE Westminster elections in Scotland in 2024 that will already prove the SNP have betrayed the people and wasted yet another mandate. We will have no choice but to stand against them.

@Craig Murray 3.13 pm

I tend to agree that there is little point to Westminster elections. Time will tell how Alba approach them I suppose. I don’t share your confidence (or hope?) that anything substantive will happen between May’s elections for Holyrood and the next Westminster elections however.

Of course it is always possible that there will be some political earthquake in the meantime as I have often caveated my own – admittedly – “glass half empty” outlook. In my defence, I’d say that given the apparent supine nature of the SNP rank and file membership, and their total inability to bring about any meaningful change in the party over the past few years, I see very little realistic prospect of “events” handing us an earlier opportunity than the 2026 Holyrood election.

I’ll happily eat my words if I’m proven wrong, but given current circumstances it’s not unreasonable for Alba to be targeting a 5 year timescale to build up its support and voter base and prepare to try and force the hands of the gradualists to make the 2026 elections plebiscitary. It’s going to take at least a few years for a decent percentage of SNP and Green voters to realise they have been had, and to realise the demonisation of Alba by the devolutionary gradualists, misogynists and men’s right activists in the SNP and Greens are as big an obstacle to achieving indy in the short to medium term as the British nationalists.

On the whole “trans”/LGBTQI+ (etc…) thing, stumbled across another piece to the puzzle.

Obviously it’s a global rather than local phenomenon.

There’s a ‘pdf’ easily found called “GlobaTrends_2040” put out by the CIA (at least the “DNI” under which they supposedly operate). It involves the usual mix of projection and wishful thinking but at around page 74 there are some interesting points:

“The expansion and increasing prominence of identity groups demanding recognition and rights are forcing an increase in debate about the social and economic foundations of societies. Intensifying and competing identity dynamics are likely to provoke increasing political debate and polarization, societal divisions, and in some cases, unrest and violence. ….
Publics increasingly will depend on their favorite gatekeepers — such as news media outlets, social media platforms, and trusted voices of authority — to sift truth from fiction. Efforts to arbitrate controversial content, such as flagging or removing demonstrably false claims, are unlikely to be effective in changing beliefs and values aligned with one’s closely held identities, however. Identity-based beliefs tend to eclipse truth-seeking because of the overriding need to belong, obtain status, understand the social world, maintain dignity, and feel morally justified.”

Very interesting to see the CIA’s take on it.

.
The True Golden Midas Touch Award Goes To…

The top website accessed from the Scottish Government computers…

Wings Over Scotland: 1,100.

The Winner as reported in the Glasgow Herald is…

Wings Over Scotland

Source: link to archive.is

It looks like you don’t even need to go to the “pdf”, the same content is online:

link to dni.gov

The people saying Alba left it too late are forgetting that Alex S had to wait for the findings of Hamilton and the Fabiani whitewash to reach a conclusion.

Had NS resigned, it would have been a different ball game IMO.

Also those talking about polls, forget them. ScotGPop always used to talk about the importance of previous results for waiting – tbh, I don’t understand exactly.

Then some polls have apparently only been asking about constituency voting intentions, no mention of list.
Another point a huge number in the Asian community have moved to Alba, that is very significant.

I recognise faces that I used to campaign with for NS.
I was astonished to find one lady, I won’t name – speaking at the Alba women’s conference.
She was a massive NS fan until very recently.

I don’t believe they will do great but I do believe this is the start of the future.

I mean Chris, sorry

The only desirable result is a strong ALBA presence holding the balance of power.

The vast majority of Wings reasders don’t post comments.

I hope they will be sensisble enough not to fall for the lies of the Sturgeon-Murrell-SNP apologists who have hijacked Wings over Scotland.

It is not necessary to vote SNP 1 to help ALBA. ALBA’s chances are not affected by the constituency vote:

Paul Cockshott says,

“There is a misaprehension that failure to vote SNP 1 will affect the number of Alba seats. It will not. The number of Alba seats depends only on the percentage of votes Alba gets on the list. Failure to vote SNP 1 just alters the number of SNP Tory or Labour constituency seats. If Sturgeon loses to Sarwar then that does not affect Albas number of seats, provided Alba gets some 6% or more on the list. If the divisor for the SNP falls by 1 that for Labour rises by 1 in compensation. The voting system is cleverly designed to give proportionality i n a way that is independent of which parties win in the constituencies.”

‘crazycat’ has also posted something similar.

Vote wisely, not blindly to avoid five more years of the same and worse.

ALBA’s presence will have no effect whatsoever if the ‘Supermajority’ consists of a corrupt lying criminal SNP majority together with the Green perverts.

Deny the SNP a majority if you genuinely want independence and vote tactically to get rid of Sturgeon, Swinney. Yousaf and Dempsey-Robertson once and for all.

Yes Captain Yosarian, the privatisation of the Building Research Establishment was the start of a process that put building construction and civil engineering on a downward quality spiral.

There is always a man who can and will do it cheaper cutting costs and quality standards in the pursuit of profit and the whole Private Finance Initiative, in conjunction with the privatisation of standards has been a key driver in where we have ended up.

Large design build own and transfer schemes or DBOOT as they were once called delivers public assets through the vehicle of a Special Purpose Company set up to build and operate the facility whatever it may be for the specified operational concession period.

This is quite a different proposition from the traditional procurement approach where a designer or architect designed on behalf of a client and a separate contractor employed by the Employer built the works. But now fund, design, build and self certify as to completeness is all rolled into one – with the client ( ergo the taxpayer ) simply a bystander renting the facility for the concession period until handed over.

It therefore doesn’t take much savvy to realise how this pushes the design and quality envelope to the margins that a commercially connected party will sign off on. ( Think of the designer and certifier being paid by the Contractor who is being paid by the corporate ghost that is the Concessionaire or Special Purpose Vehicle and you get the picture. Not a healthy environment for quality – but a healthy environment for the big money masters of the universe indebting countries and states for decades with PFI ( or Scottish Futures Trust ) debts.

But do the people care. Do they heck. For them maxing out on the most expensive store card, or side street lender is no concern to the average taxpayer. Crikey even Dan @11.06 makes light of a school built on bad ground being an opportunity for swimming lessons. A bit of dark humour maybe but not so funny if people bought new houses finding them only tears later ( sorry years later ) to be falling down because of substandard building quality. But don’t laugh – lots of new, expensive flats bought with expensive mortgages, now have the problem of being built with dangerous cladding.

Interesting how a number of commentators with an interest and knowledge of the built environment are commenting in some detail with examples of the absolutely poor infrastructure build that has appertained these last years.

Maybe this gives rise to a wry joke about having the excitement of living in a new flat where there are fire guards ( new flats on the Clyde! ) or the even blacker joke about about folks not being able to sell because nobody will buy a house that the banks will not lend on because of poor fire safety construction. That’s a real he-haw laugh – its happening now, and not a cheep from the Spin Mistress Sturgeon herself and her government that let it all happen.

Yes Captain Yossarian there is a lot lot wrong and no willingness by our corporate enthralled government to do anything about it.

And we used to laugh at construction in Spain forty years ago!

I hope people reading this blog will not fall for the lies of the Labour activist who has hijacked this website to campaign for Anas Sarwar.

He has multiple accounts. He’s not difficult to spot.

He is the type of person who gets very abusive if you don’t agree with him.

Liz says:
24 April, 2021 at 5:21 pm
Ruby I think all people on WoS are smart enough to make up their own minds.

Reply
Is that your way of telling me to shut-up?

I wasn’t referring to people on WoS.
Perhaps you should re-read my post. Cheers

Not sure if I agree with you regarding everyone on WoS being smart.

Sure there are some very smart well informed people on WoS but there are also a fair number of bampots, trolls & nasties.

Dorothy Devine says:
24 April, 2021 at 8:35 am
I’m sure someone with great talent could give us a version of “I am a linesman for the county …..” suitably doctored as a tribute to Dross.

How about this Dorothy:

I am a linesman for this country
And I creep the back roads
Crawling in the rain for a lying overpaid toad
I hear him bawling down the wire
I can hear his Old Etonian the whine
And the Nairn Tory linesman
I’m just toeing the Tory line

I know I need a long vacation
And you know I’m a right pain
But I’ve got my orders from down south
Or I’ll never stand the again
And I need you more than you need me
And I want you to vote to betray your own country
So please vote for me.

Please!

With apologies to Glen Campbell (No not that one)

Some FACTS to protect decent genuine independence supporting folks from the lies of the Sturgeon-Murrell-SNP apologists who have hijacked Wings over Scotland to get their Saint Nicla re-elected:

Anas Sarwar needs no campaigning on Wings over Scotland. He is on the top of Labour’s Glasgow region list and will get elected no matter what.

And I am sure the Rev. Stuart Campbell has not hijacked his own website:

Rev. Stuart Campbell says (Scheming on a mirage),

“It’s much the same as the Glasgow Southside situation. You’re not choosing between Anas Sarwar and Nicola Sturgeon – Sarwar is top of the Labour list so he’s getting in no matter what happens. What you’re effectively doing with your constituency vote in Glasgow Southside is choosing between two SNP MSPs – Sturgeon or Roza Salih. If you’d prefer Salih, vote Sarwar on the constituency paper.)”

Rev. Stuart Campbell says (Rallying to the banner),

“If you believe Sturgeon is a block on independence it’s a very rational position.”

Kcor says:
24 April, 2021 at 5:50 pm
Some FACTS to protect decent genuine independence supporting folks from the lies of the Sturgeon-Murrell-SNP apologists who have hijacked Wings over Scotland to get their Saint Nicla re-elected:

Anas Sarwar needs no campaigning on Wings over Scotland. He is on the top of Labour’s Glasgow region list and will get elected no matter what.

Reply

Really smart people on WoS would have recognised that my earlier post was a wind/up a flamebait!

A very successful flame-bait!

I caught him hook, line & sinker. 🙂

Airpunch! 🙂

Fuck this election campaign is boring and depressing.

Is Alex going to pull a rabbit out of the hat?

@ willie at 4.52pm

My comment was made in dark humour. Of course I am far from happy with shoddy workmanship and poor enforcement.
But that’s what we get when all those with control and power earning the big bucks wear pristine ironed shirts and ties rather than boilersuits.

Meanwhile… I see the First Minister has called for an inquiry into allegations of the Prime Minister’s “contracts for cronies, donations for decorating and text messages for tax breaks”.

Contracts for cronies, un minuted meetings and conspiring by text messages are something that would never happen up here…

Apologies for spelling

Captain Yossarian

Engineers’ self-respect is entirely based on the idea that if you have to cover your arse they’ve done a bad job. Lawyers on the other hard, covering your arse is their job.

Never mind, Scotland will get the government they deserve on may 6th.?

Willie
And then there is the fiasco over the construction of hospitals….

@Stuart Mackay – ‘everyone that needs to know about this school does know about it and no-one agrees with you’ – that’s the standard response issued to you by all Holyrood parliamentarians and their lawyers.

Now if you go to the American Society of Civil Engineers or the UK Institution of Civil Engineers, you get an entirely different response. They look at this very, very carefully because they know it is serious. No lawyers are involved.

We have produced many great engineers and our reputation overseas is still fabulous. I don’t think you can say that about our parliamentarians or our lawyers, can you.

Ruby says:
24 April, 2021 at 9:33 am

“Muscleguy says:
24 April, 2021 at 9:21 am
@Captain Yossarian

Any reason why you two couldn’t start your own blog instead of piggybacking on this one?”Any reason why you two couldn’t start your own blog instead of piggybacking on this one?”

Ruby says:
24 April, 2021 at 9:51 am

“PS Muscleguy did you not leave Wings in the huff a couple of weeks ago? Is this spamming an act of revenge.”

Guys, don’t you realise Wings has already been hijacked by the Ruby/Mia/AYRSHIRE ROB/Breeks/Famous15 Sturgeonist brigade?

Stop disrupting their vote SNP 1 re-elect Sturgeon mantra or they will condemn you to hell.

Mikey d says:
24 April, 2021 at 6:39 pm

“Never mind, Scotland will get the government they deserve on may 6th.”

As a whole, yes, definitely.

Although many who don’t deserve it will nevertheless get it because of the Saint Nicola cultists whose presence we can see here day and night, day in day out.

@ Scozzie says:
24 April, 2021 at 2:36 pm

Andy Ellis @ 12.50PM
I think it’s fair to say that the SNP will be finished by the next WM election.

Even the most ardent party faithful by them will have had to face the realisation that they ain’t going to deliver independence’

I’m not so sure the party faithful will face the realisation that the current SNP is not going to deliver.

Sadly, I think, like New Labour before them, they are going to blame Alba for causing a split (which they haven’t) but I’m not seeing any realistic weighing up of facts with this section.

We can only do what we can do.

Captain Yossarian

To a large extent you can put it down to “managerialism” infecting government. When Thatcher started the drive to make more business-like I’m sure they had no idea that all they’d end up doing is importing more bureaucracy and the associated jargon.

Now everything is “stakeholders” this and “critical path” that. You hear the words come out of their mouths but the expression on their faces show clearly they haven’t the faintest clue what they are saying.

It’s a massive cargo-culting exercise where they believe that if they speak the language of business then they must be as efficient as the most efficient business. It’s the same story in the universities (at least here), funding is tight but millions are spent getting scientists to jump through hoops to justify why they should get a few thousand.

The attitude the like of Swinney demonstrates is just the cherry on top of the rotten cake. He probably wouldn’t recognise a school if it fell on top of him, metaphorically speaking. But yet he maintains this holier than thou attitude that he walks on water and is utterly infallible. We got the same with Labours PFI. Perhaps politicians should be licenced like engineers and hence become liable for their decisions. What a breath of fresh air that would be.

Would anyone like a wee bit cheerie, maybe even a wee laugh…

Cast your mind back to the heady days of the Indyref – remember how the BBC ignored the hundreds of Yes Campaigners in favour of a close cropped shot of 2 or 3 No supporters, with large banners and no view of the surrounding apathy?

Remember that…. Well,

Now contrast and compare, baring in mind its the second weekend before the election…

First have a wee look at todays Alba Twitter feed, then have a wee look at SNP Twitter Feed.

And then see if you don’t find yourself going Haaaaaaa, haaaaa, haaa.

Those 12 thousand new recruits are very, uhmmm, slim, to the point of invisible.

Just been looking at the political donations raised by the parties through Crowdfunder for this election.

SNP – £194,151
Labour – £59,641
Alba – £55,855

No surprise that the SNP in existence for eighty years and the lead in the minority government just finished.

No surprise Labour at £59,641. Albeit at only 30% funding of what the SNP secured the money raised very much reflects the Labour party’s out of favour popularity.

But look at Alba. Out of nowhere and in a couple of weeks with a party now only four weeks old since launch, it has secured nearly as much as the Labour party.

Quite incredible really and shows the level of support lurking to support Alba. And that’s with the establishment and the media censoring and blacking out Alba coverage.

Just another indication of the underlying support for the nascent Alba.

A fantastic result much needed. Change is coming. The people are going to speak.

RE: support for ALBA.

I think a lot of peeps are gonna be surprised/shocked on the 7th/8th of May, when the results come through.

Me too BDTT,
I can’t believe there’s not gonna be at least a bit of a showing from Alba.
It just doesn’t sit right with my gut feelings about what’s happening