Anatomy Of A Grift
It’s sometimes tempting to believe that transactivists, and in particular the extra-loud attention-seeking type, are simply mad and/or stupid. But that’s not always the case, because this sounds like some actually pretty cunning work.
(Click pic to enlarge.)
But let’s start at the beginning.
In May this year, the former Scottish Greens candidate Euan “Sophie Molly” Weddell posted a fundraiser page on GoFundMe, ostensibly to raise £8,000 for private surgery to remove the blocked kidney of his boyfriend Scott “Heather” Herbert.
Observers were immediately sceptical. The condition described is a very serious one, and it seemed highly unlikely NHS Grampian would “refuse to provide a surgery date”. But of course, the supposed reason was transphobia.
(Reading between the lines, it sounds like the actual problem was Herbert demanding to be illegally accommodated on a women’s ward.)
Secondly, the amount being sought was far too low for the likely actual cost of such a procedure, particularly given that Herbert previously, and quite infamously, had gender-reassignment surgery.
Indeed, Weddell himself said the cost was £18,000.
Thirdly, the proposed method of generating the cash – two 25km (16m) sponsored walks – was bizarrely and needlessly implausible, given that he’s in receipt of disability benefits and claims to have “mobility issues”. (Though he has no trouble stomping around at trans protests all over the country where he “destroys TERFs”.)
16 miles is a pretty testing trek even for a fully able-bodied person, but after a couple of weeks of “training” he declared himself ready. On the supposed day of the walk, 13 June, he posted some comically unconvincing “evidence” of having done the walk, consisting solely of very close-cropped pics of him standing near generic foliage.
It would have been farcically easy to post any amount of actual evidence. A vast number of free phone apps, for example, will track the number of steps you’ve done on any given day. (This is the one I use, but iPhones also actually have a built-in one in the preinstalled Apple Health app.)
The Google Maps recommended walking route from Aberdeen to Inverurie passes through a lot of nondescript countryside, but even in the more rural stretches there are scores of opportunities for distinctive and verifiable location shots.
He pulled the same routine on 11 July – this time with far fewer pictures – claiming that NHS Grampian were “forcing” him to “walk to complete exhaustion”.
But we digress. Let’s assume that the sort of gullible saps who’d be willing to donate to a pair of obvious skanky chancers like Weddell and Herbert in the first place, on the premise that it was for much-needed medical treatment, wouldn’t actually care if he did the walks or not, and move on.
Because as it transpired, the money wasn’t needed after all.
Mysteriously, NHS Grampian appeared to have suddenly gotten over their intense institutional transphobia and decided to go ahead with the operation after all, and Weddell announced that the money would be donated to an unspecified “worthy cause” of his choosing instead.
But hold on. As luck would have it, we know, very recently and from an impeccable source – no less than the Dean of the Faculty Of Advocates – that the law does not simply allow you to repurpose money that you raised for something else.
If it can’t be spent on the stated purpose, it must be returned to donors. If you didn’t specify a secondary purpose at the time you solicited it, you can’t simply keep it unless people actively ask for it back.
The fundraiser was very explicit about NOT having a secondary purpose.
(Those rules are for England and Wales, but Scotland is no different.)
You can’t just put an update on the website, where there’s no guarantee of who’ll see it. You have to contact EVERY donor personally, and then if they want to let you keep the money to pay for clothes pegs, ball gags, fake AK-47s and revolutionary berets, or whatever else might “support” Herbert’s “recovery”, that’s their affair.
We’ll find out next week, incidentally, whether that last pic – which appears to be either goading or threatening gender-critical campaigners Graham Linehan and Helen Joyce – is part of the reason Herbert is due to appear in court facing as-yet-unspecified criminal charges.
(Though it remains to be seen whether he actually shows up, or claims the operation as an excuse for not being able to attend.)
While it’s been widely reported that the summons concerns posts he made celebrating the death of former Tory minister Ann Widdecombe, speculation has been rife that other social media posts may be the real reason, and the police statement was decidedly ambiguous, referring only to “a post made online”.
Prior to the charging, media had reported a video in which Herbert and another member of his and Weddell’s “polycule” going by the name of “Poppybear Hackett” made apparently threatening comments.
In the last few days, “Poppybear” has apparently acrimoniously left the polycule and posted a series of cryptic social-media comments attacking Weddell.
(“Tabby”, incidentally, is the fourth member of the polycule, a large gentleman who goes by the name of “Tabitha”.)
A couple of the comments in particular jumped out.
We know that Police Scotland are interested in the events surrounding the fundraiser, because they called us last night to talk about it. And it certainly appears to be the case that it continued to solicit money after the point when Herbert knew he was going to get the operation on the NHS – donations were only paused the day after the op was actually carried out, and one presumes they had more than a few hours’ notice.
But even if it was raised in good faith, and the NHS’s offer to carry out the surgery arrived completely out of the blue – rather than having actually been known about or expected for some time – you still can’t just keep the cash by default, trusting that having already given it to you, people will go “Oh, just buy yourselves some nice stuff with it instead”.
It also doesn’t matter if GoFundMe say you can do that, because GoFundMe don’t write the law and aren’t lawyers. (They operate in 20 countries where the laws are all different.) They can say THEY don’t mind, but that doesn’t get you off the hook legally, as Lucy Connolly would attest.
Otherwise, anyone who wouldn’t be able to just get people to give them thousands of pounds for fun, but wanted some free cash anyway, could make up some spurious medical situation, pretend to do some activities, gather the money, then disclose the medical situation had been somehow magically resolved and walk away with the dough knowing that few people would bother with the hassle of asking for refunds.
Whether that’s what’s happened in this specific situation, we don’t yet know. It certainly sounds like all is not well in the world of the polycule, though, and if this rather murky matter isn’t cleared up then it has the potential to get a lot worse.
In reference why someone might get a refund from GoFundMe, on their website it states “The GoFundMe organizer may have decided to deactivate their fundraiser and refund all donors if funds are no longer needed.”
That makes it sound like GoFundMe has a process to automatically refund all donors.
Some SNP election slogans over the years:
Yes we can. Win the best for Scotland . 1997
Release our potential. 2003
Re-elect a Scottish Government working for Scotland.2011.
Stronger for Scotland. 2015
We will be going into the ladies toilets. present day.
Can you see where it might have gone wrong?
Science fiction story idea – I Have No Dick And I Must Steal
Personally I would stay well clear of the lot of them and not bother even checking what they are up to.
Do they live in a charity shop bin?
There is a ‘Welcome to Inverurie’ sign before the one in his photo, but it’s on a bend opposite the entrance to the M&S petrol station and not a good place to stop a car. Also, is he claiming that he walked along the A96?
And the photos of Stonehaven are taken from the lay-by above Cowie. Walking along the A90 to get there is risking your life. There are stretches you’d have to walk on the busy dual carriageway. No footpath.
Brilliant. Thanks Stu.
This nasty polycule of perverts has harassed us women in Aberdeen when we have done stalls and rallies. And after the Supreme Court the mayor of Aberdeen David Cameron let Euan Sophie molly use the womens bathrooms at Aberdeen city council. Cameron is snp. As is the council. Loads of us complained. But he got off with it.
Great work!
Cue three complaints to Avon and Somerset police . .
Three men living in a ‘polycule’? Or three men in a homosexual threesome? I wouldn’t grudge anyone an op, and I do believe that the NHS would have operated on him, anyway. Maybe he had to wait a bit – just like everyone else – or maybe he demanded access to a female ward, as you suggest, Rev, and the law ruled that out for him – rightly so.
These people deliberately maim themselves in pursuit of the entirely unattainable then demand that everyone dance attendance on them. Did his kidney issues begin and end with his ‘trans’ op and cross-sex hormones? It’s tempting to think so, but, perhaps, not, although urine infections are commonplace with this type of surgery, and can lead to kidney infection and chronic disease.
I sometimes wonder, would they have chunks cut out of their brains if they could get someone to do the ops? I honestly believe some of them would. At the end of the day, deliberately maiming yourself and not facing up to the repercussions must be stopped. Make them pay for their ops to change sex, and for their hormones, as a form of plastic surgery, rather than need. Intensive mental health counselling and therapy are also a must.
A round of golf can take 14,000/16,000 steps depending on the course played and the ability of the individual and his/her playing partner.
My next round will be on Friday and would welcome any sonsorship/donations that any one cares to give me. I promise that all funds raised will be utilised in purchasing necessary items after the game.
Beers and spirits are not cheap nowadays.
Maybe if you promise not to put holes where no holes existed before….
I ALWAYS replace my divots.
For those who are unsure, in golf, a divot is the clump of grass and soil gouged out AFTER the clubhead strikes the ball.
The word ‘Divot’ can also be applied to some of the posters on Wings who regularly enthrall us all with basically the same post, day after day after day after day.
I will leave it up to you to decide who falls into this category!
So what’s the name for the clump of grass and soil gouged out before the ball is hit?
Is it the same name for the clump sent flying by a swing that misses the ball completely?
Asking for a friend.
A sclaff.
Three of a perfect pair – of Sickos.
lolly-cule
I know this is clickbait but it’s not that unbelievable Sturgeon would join the Greens, or as they should be called the Genders, as the lot highlighted in this article no doubt supports that party.
link to archive.is
Sturgeon should join the greens and do something honest for once in her life.
It will get worse – Poppybear has an axe to grind.
They’re crackheads.
Every now and again we read of something going on in Scotland that makes patriotic Scots resolved to say “We’re British” the next time someone asks.
“Every now and again we read of something going on in Scotland that makes patriotic Scots resolved to say “We’re British” ”
Wrang again, Hatey.
Awbody kens thon gender ideology come oot o Anglo-American cultur an campuses fundit by jubous corporations an is uised tae mess up oor naitional culturs, aided by compromised political elites. Hits mair Anglo-Saxon cultural imperialism.
As Prof Edward Said wrote, “the only bulwark against cultural imperialism is national cultures”. Maist Scots fowk ken fine whit a laddie an a lassie is, we e’en hae oor ain wirds for thaim.
If people vote in left wing governments year after year in Scotland, they shouldn’t be surprised at the outcomes. No point blaming anything or anyone else.
You’ve got what you (repeatedly) voted for – democracy in action. My sympathies.
Don’t like it? Vote for a right wing government. Simples.
Well exactly CC, vote in the most unqualified, malevolent, fanatical people into power election after election and then blame the English for declining living standards, poor public services and this type of thing^^
You’ve changed your tune, Alf.
Only a couple of weeks since you (and your faithful sidekick Northy) were claiming that one of your “bulwarks against cultural imperialism” – the wearing of kilts and tartan – should be banned for Sovereign Scots who disagree with you.
As for the three enrapturing visions that form the subject matter of this article. It’s an article of faith with me that adults who choose to make grotesque spectacles of themselves can’t be allowed to shirk responsibility or deny agency by claiming “some other big barsturts made me do it and then ran away”.
Applies equally to getting somebody to hack bits off you, stealing cash so you can stockpile condiment sets and voting SNP 1&2 every election that comes around.
Scottish Exceptionalism manifests itself in many ways. Probably the most pathetic form is that which claims we’re so lacking in gumption that we can’t be held responsible for our own personal and collective disasters.
People are conditioned by their environment, Hatey. Thus, in a colonial society the oppressed colonized group tend to suffer from a colonial condition.
The result is a craving for the cultural illusion that is Britishness, as you appear to advocate here, in preference to that most terrible of all possible ailments, ‘Scottishness’.
And there we have the divide between pro- and anti-independence stances, and all due to colonialism:
link to yoursforscotlandcom.wordpress.com
These polycules sound great! How do you apply for a permit? Anyone in?
On the subject of grifts, think twice before signing up for boxing lessons with one of the perhaps 5 new instructors who could be touting for business in Scotland.
They’ll likely be one of the athletes who have disappeared now the Commonwealth Games are over.
They might be deported if Immigration ever catches up with them. So if you’ve paid up front, you’ll lose the lot.
Unless, of course, an unexpected by-election occurs, and one of them gets elected to office as a Green.
I am confused. Mr. Campbell posts a story showing that he is being disturbingly harassed by a mentally ill trans person, then his next story is about two grifting mentally ill trans people. Except that the latter story is nothing to do with him, and this is ostensibly supposed to be a Scottish politics site, or once was at least. Why does he noise up mentally ill people when he doesn’t have to, and draw their attention to him? His own actions are the reason why the first mentally ill man is attacking him in the first place! Why noise up more damaged people when you don’t have to, and they have nothing to do with Scottish politics?
Seems like weird masochism to me, cause and effect personified. This trans stuff long ago turned into some sort of strange, unquantifiable personal obsessive crusade for Campbell, and it can’t have had any other effect than to lose the site political credibility. To me, that is. Not that my opinion matters, but I really personally couldn’t care less about two mentally unbalanced creeps and what they do. Does not affect my life one bit, unlike Scottish politics. Handbags at dawn, ho-hum. Let them get on with it. Sure many here feel exactly the same way.
We’ve been covering this topic for eight years now, so it seems rather unlikely that there are many people here who feel as you do. I’ll write about whatever I like. I don’t see any chains holding you down, sonny.
Trouble is Stu that there aren’t that many people btl now…
That’s because 8 years of an awful lot of genderwoowoo focus with very few other topics regarding Scottish politics garnering little if any light or scrutiny has bored folk away.
Plus any attempt to discuss a subject btl just gets relentless trolling from obvious disruptors to the point few can even be bothered dealing with the shite from trolls that you would instablock on the likes of twitter. But guess that endless trolling keeps your site’s stats up these days so they get a free pass.
Plus for years you were regularly stating “nothing is going on in Scottish politics” when numerous other things up here were going on, including the significant rise in Reform vote share that should have been relatively easy to counter, makes some wonder if there are chains holding you down…
And FYI, I tend to agree with what Gene states in their post. Taking quite so many cheap shots at the mentally ill and having to put so much time and energy into dealing with their inevitable reaction seems like a rather unproductive venture.
Since we started covering gender, something like 5% of Wings posts have been on the subject, so the idea that we’ve been “focused” on it is horseshit. Nevertheless, the three most-read posts of the last three years, and a good chunk of the top 30, have been on the gender issue, so your implication that the readership isn’t interested is also horseshit.
I’ve mostly given up policing the comments, if people want to yell at each other there’s a limited amount you can do to stop them. On the internet in general nobody really bothers with comments any more. If people want an argument they go on Twitter, which is much better suited to the purpose.
There IS nothing of interest going on in Scottish politics. I don’t give a shit about “countering the rise of Reform”, it’s something that needs to happen to break the deadlock of useless parties with identical policies all existing in a cosy little bubble of pension-building, like lobbing a massive rock into a fetid, stagnant garden pond. It’ll make a terrible mess and it’s not a solution in itself, but it’ll be a good start on creating the conditions and the space for something better.
(You think Scottish Labour give a toss about never winning elections? They’re all getting paid 70 grand a year for life for a job with basically zero responsibilities and four months a year off. Why upset the applecart and suddenly increase your own workload 10x by being in government?)
Of all the many tedious aspects of politics atm, the childish and one-dimensional antipathy of many broadly sane people towards Reform is perhaps the most depressing. Do I want them in charge of anything? No. But are they the only means of delivering a huge shock to the unsaveably wretched status quo? Probably yes. “I hate the current situation but I’m just going to keep voting for the same old parties and somehow hope that changes everything” is a level of fucking stupidity that’d make a statue weep.
And if the only options for radical change are a bunch of golf-club bores or Trans Queers For Fucking Palestine, I’ll take the gammon over the quinoa every time. Gammon’s actually quite nice.
If you don’t like what I write about, I’m sure you’ll be very happy over at Wee Ginger Dug, being told the Tories are bad four times a week even though there are no Tories in power anywhere, nor likely to be for the next decade. Go enjoy the echo chamber, and achieving nothing ever.
Probably also worth pointing out that the trans issue IS one of the most important issues in Scottish politics, both;
– Directly, being the catalyst for the downfall of Nicola Sturgeon; and
– Indirectly, demonstrating how much of the Scottish public sector and political establishment has been refocused towards irrelevant, fringe, minority, graduate-class issues like this, and further demonstrating the types of people that have infected Scottish public service across a range of levels.
100%.
“I’ll take the gammon over the quinoa every time”
An unforgettable classic line!
Hoping I can re-use it occasionally with the appropriate citation, as in:
“Give me gammon over quinoa every time (Campbell)”
trannyism is deadly boring and only becomes interesting once you realise what it is all connected to; it is not an organic thing on its own
as for reform : it’s a sad thing about life, things can’t always get better, but they can ALWAYS get worse …
a reform govt is essentially a complete capitulation to the city; your govt is now a pirate haven, no rules, keep what you kill, all that shite
– even some “reformers” are starting to realise the con-job, the bait and switch, farage is running (e.g. farage likes immigrants as long as they are legal and pay taxes; paying taxes makes you english now; he is also no free speech advocate); hence the split of rupert lowe and his “restore” party. That is worth writing about, as are the real reasons for farage problems of late, especially since he looked to be a cert for next PM.
since there is no one to vote for, if you want to still do democracy (and any other road is … unattractive to say the least), then you need a new party, you need an “indy only” party (and STFU about all else). Any such party will start small, get the pish ripped out of it, and get early drubbings in elections; but everything has to start somewhere. Now, we had a great leader, Salmond, but he is gone, and even he couldn’t get Alba to critical mass, so maybe stop thinking about “leaders” as “messiahs”, and look to the local and grassroots. Leaders can always be bought, warned off, or done in.
twitter is the equivalent of throwing beer at people in pubs; people need to start reading books
the stodge of the uniparty is hardly to be applauded, plus you have to add-in a generalised incompetence across the board in the UK; but while this stops anything good happening, it may also stop a lot of bad happening. Farage and his lads will get in and decide to “remodel the house” with sledgehammers, without any care for what is “load bearing”. The NHS gets a lot of stick, justifiably, but just fucking wait till you get an “american style” system in place (the worst imaginable); if anyone wants to frighten themselves, go get a quote for private medical insurance. The free market can’t provide clean water in england (and are extorting burnham), now watch the hedge funds feed on the NHS; get one of those nature programs and see the dead carcass of a whale stripped clean, that is how it will go. Farage has a lot of plans, all of them bad, and he really means it.
As always, it needs to be pointed out that the alternative to the NHS needn’t be an “American style” system. It’s not a binary choice.
Other options exist, as in many of our European neighbours, which not only provide affordable health care, but provide far better health outcomes than our SNHS ever will.
Something that is a binary choice is the following: Generous, universal benefits and health care, or; Open borders.
The UK (Scotland too) has been trying to make both work together for all of this century. Hence why the NHS as originally conceived no longer works for ever increasing numbers.
“trannyism is deadly boring”
Yeah, it’s only “deadly boring” if you don’t have a wife, daughters, granddaughters, dear female friends; care little about women’s rights (and specifically, the right to safe, single-sex spaces including toilets, hospital wards, support groups and clinics); have no concern for children’s safety and what they’re being taught in our schools; don’t care about the immutable, objective truth.
So yeah, apart from that.
I must say Confused, you do always seem to get your knickers in a twist and get very defensive every time this comes up. Maybe Beggan was right about you and your proclivities.
“The NHS gets a lot of stick, justifiably, but just fucking wait till you get an “american style” system in place (the worst imaginable); if anyone wants to frighten themselves, go get a quote for private medical insurance.”
Ah the usual horseshit false dichotomy that gets rolled out by lefties every time this comes up. According to you and your ilk, the ONLY choices available are:
(1) The moribund, hopelessly inefficient NHS (which even you admit is shit), or
(2) The American private healthcare system.
That’s it.
Or, back on Planet Earth, we COULD adopt the highly successful hybrid private healthcare systems of most of our EU peers, which have vastly better efficiencies, outcomes and patient standards for relatively very little additional cost (if any in some cases).
The NHS is borne of moribund 1950s left wing ideology, so we should hardly be surprised that it’s crap – notwithstanding the many wonderful (and some not so wonderful) people working within it. The principle fault lies with the archaic Management System and corporate structure, but I wouldn’t expect you to understand that, obviously. For people like you, it’s all about what tribe you belong to (and have always belonged to), and empirical truths and performance matter not one jot. You’re a big part of the problem, not the impending (and much needed) solution. Move aside.
“Plus any attempt to discuss a subject btl just gets relentless trolling from obvious disruptors to the point few can even be bothered dealing with the shite from trolls that you would instablock on the likes of twitter. But guess that endless trolling keeps your site’s stats up these days so they get a free pass.”
Well, your definition of “troll” is “someone who disagrees with me”.
Like most left wingers, you have no trouble dishing it out, but when you’re met with a robust response, you collapse like a house of cards, crying “disruptor” and “troll”. Diddums.
Fair play to Stu, he allows free speech and dissent (within reason) on his board, and doesn’t “de-platform” or censure people who happen to have a right wing worldview.
Anyway, if you’re so bothered about trolling, maybe next time some brainless div comes on here posting “Prick!” in response to multiple posts for the umpteenth time, you’ll pipe up, yeah?
As Aidan states, the genderwoowoo is one of the most important issues in Scottish politics. I’ve never denied that and stated so on various articles long before most of these Johnny come lately disruptors rocked up.
It is so important in these times of shite political parties that it moved many gender critical women to do something about it, and when a couple took the huge step to stand for election so they could begin to try to address it, you gave them fuck all support or publicity. Go figure…
But there are undoubtably other issues that are also significant in Scottish politics that really do deserve some detailed scrutiny.
The whole NetZero ideology madness with all that entails is also running rife in a very similar way to the genderwoo.
Freeports are another matter.
Plus there is the ongoing and massive developments in the electrical energy sector in Scotland, funnelling very large amounts of power down south through various interconnects, which is a situation of exploitation all too similar to how the oil and gas industry went for Scotland.
These topics and the likes of BESS and Datacentres are also worthy of some of your forensic scrutiny and journalistic abilities.
I don’t want to be arguing and yelling at anybody btl, that shit can be done on twitter. But decent discourse is very difficult here now because you’ve all but given up policing btl, even though there is only a much smaller pool of commenters compared to what there used to be.
The other day there was an attempt to discuss food security, production and pricing and the potential to develop our own food industry so we would be less susceptible to external factors that could negatively impact us, such as war and climate change.
It gets absolutely nowhere because the same obvious disingenuous disruptors just jump in and shite all over it. That’s mostly the same folk that have come to support you on this trail…
So a serious question about turning grade A food producing farmland into a solar farm, gets trashed by the usual posters trying to argue about the longest river and terrorists building tunnels.
link to wingsoverscotland.com
“It gets absolutely nowhere because the same obvious disingenuous disruptors just jump in and shite all over it. That’s mostly the same folk that have come to support you on this trail”
What you mean is someone (me) disagreed with you. Welcome to the fucking internet Dan, if you want a situation where everyone hangs onto your every world like the gospel, go and start a religion. As it is you offered your view and I offered mine.
I love this term “disruptor”. Doesn’t sound at all like the way a communist dictatorship would label its critics. What is exactly is being disrupted here? The ever lengthening trail of posts by Alf Baird, all saying basically the same thing? James Cheyne? “James” occasionally interjecting “prick”?
Dan’s still grizzling into his coffee, I see.
Good grief, it’s so pathetic.
That’s it, off to the gulag for you CC, reckon you’ll get 5 years hard labour for:
– sewing discord
– disrupting
– diverting
– dividing
All very serious charges.
This comment trail is mildly interesting in terms of online space behavioural patterns.
Here’s my analysis.
Dan’s reply: the mature counterstroke.
Dan’s latest comment is mature, measured, and structurally accurate.
He does three things with his this comment:
He affirms Gene’s critique without escalating.
Names the gender fixation as important, but criticises Wing’s selective engagement.
Points out neglected political topics (NetZero, Freeports, energy exploitation, BESS, datacentres).
Calls out the degraded BTL environment with specific examples (food security thread derailed).
Dan’s, in my view, is the first reply in the thread that:
It’s a genuine attempt at discourse.
And that’s why it stands out in this comment trail.
Dan is operating at a higher level of discourse, trying to pull the conversation back toward political substance.
But — and this is the key — the btl ‘chamber’ can’t sustain higher levels of discourse anymore.
The resonance pattern – a term that originated in the field of acoustics – is now too degraded.
But what is a resonance pattern within a blog’s comment section, folk might reasonably ask.
The resonance pattern within a blog’s comment space refers to the alignment or synchronisation between the communicative acts of the commenters and the emotional responses of the audience.
Psychologically, this alignment fosters a sense of connection and shared understanding among a blog’s community, creating a powerful sense of belonging and emotional connection.
Something, I believe, that at one time existed in this BTL environment’s earlier days – now sometime ago.
Online public space resonance can be cultivated through various strategies, such as designing digital spaces that foster resonance, creating and curating relevant content, and implementing effective moderation and community management practices.
Resonance can be cultivated, but only in systems that possess structural integrity.
Once the chamber collapses, attempts at cultivation no longer produce coherence — they only produce noise.
“That’s it, off to the gulag for you CC, reckon you’ll get 5 years hard labour”
Ooh, well, I’m quaking in my boots let me tell you. 😀
I wonder if they’ll let me take my Champagne collection?
@Northy
Well, if the “chamber has collapsed” as you put it, maybe look to your own personal culpability in that, along with other commenters with whom you frequently agree and align yourself to (e.g. “James”).
The problem with people like you, Dan and Confused et al is that you are completely incapable of accommodating (less still genuinely debating with) other people who hold a different mindset and world view. You lot have zero gumption, resilience, staying power. The only tools in your toolbox are weak ad hom and mockery, and when that doesn’t work you try to pull the rug from under your opponents’ feet via censure, cancellation and de-platforming. When that doesn’t work (e.g. in this case), the default response seems to be a bout of sulking, running to teacher and accusing others of doing the very things that you yourselves endlessly indulge in (goading, belittling, trolling – ergo playing the man, not the ball).
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not claiming to be any saint – I’m more than happy to give at least as good as I get, and I don’t suffer fools. However, it is also true to say that I, and numerous others whom you routinely call out (Aidan, Hatey, Ellis etc.) have made concerted, substantive efforts to discuss and engage, expressing detailed views in a thoughtful manner.
I doubt it, they’ll probably make you drink “James’” bath water.
Arday is dead.
But as Northy’s post shows, pseudo-intellectual, pretentious gobbledegook lives on.
I’m confident my claim will resonate with some readers.
NO MORE EXCUSES AS EHRC SINGLE-SEX GUIDANCE COMES INTO FORCE
Government statutory guidance protecting single-sex spaces has now come into force.
After lengthy delays, an amended version of the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s (EHRC) Code of Practice for England, Scotland and Wales was approved in May and completed parliamentary scrutiny last month.
The guidance, which applies to services, public functions and associations, has been updated to ensure compliance with the Supreme Court’s ruling that ‘sex’ in the Equality Act 2010 refers to biological sex. Separate guidance for employers will be published at a later date.
CLARIFYING THE LAW
The document states that if “a service provider (or a person providing a service in the exercise of public functions) admits trans people to a service intended for the opposite sex” then it cannot rely on exceptions to sex discrimination laws and may be acting unlawfully.
“This means that if a service is provided only to women and trans women or only to men and trans men, it is not a separate-sex or single-sex service under the Equality Act 2010.”
In relation to the Act, it specifies that “a person’s sex remains their biological sex”, regardless of whether they have a Gender Recognition Certificate.
UPDATED POLICIES
Women’s rights group For Women Scotland said: “Today, the obfuscation and delay must end, and services must ensure that policies and training align with the law.”
The Women’s Rights Network posted on X: “No more poor excuses”, adding, “We look forward to reading through the new policies that will be published today.”
The Sex Equality and Equity Network (SEEN) in Health stated: “NHS Trusts and Health Boards have always been required to comply with the law. The updated Code should now leave no doubt about how the law applies in practice. Can we now see @NHSEngland updated policy on single-sex accommodation for patients, and when will it be published?”
A Government spokesman explained: “This is a complex area affecting millions of people, businesses and service providers across the country. That’s why we took the time to ensure the updated guidance is clear, robust and legally sound.”
He continued: “The code has now come into force, and we welcome the clarity it provides.”
(The Christian Institute, 05 Aug 2026)
link to christian.org.uk
Yay!
An entire new income stream for the lawyers.
A guarantee of continued employment for those grifters whose jobs rely on managing, administrating, litigating and adjudicating this madness on the public purse.
What? You think that with one wave of the government’s “magic wand” all of this is going to go away?
That’s not how things work in an anarcho tyranny.
Sorry Stu,
I cant be cunted even reading about these weirdos.
The time I have available in this world is far too precious to spend on men who believe they are women.
Saying rude things about the murdered Miss Widdecombe is rank bad manners but I’m damned if I see why it should be a crime.
As for this collection of horrors, if they hurry they might find academic posts at Cambridge await them.
Where were you yesterday then?
You could have piled in to say that expressing apathy about hotels being burned down isn’t a crime either.
I don’t agree about Cambridge BTW. That trio of weirdos are far better suited to panto. As a gruesome three witches, they’d put fear of death into the kiddies. And their parents too.
Fine line though isn’t there between incitement to murder and apathy to it possibly happening?
I assume you would agree that someone sending out a public message that actually incites murder should be a crime? Plenty of Islamists do that as well as far-right / white racist types.
Beyond that though I do think we sometimes lose sight of what matters more, i.e. not criminality but decency. Why would you show apathy to people possibly dying in a burning building, and say so to the world, or laugh about Widdecombe’s murder, in public, or call every non-Muslim a worthless kafir who deserves to die, and so on?
None of this stuff is any good for society and people doing it deserve censure, shaming and ostracisation. Yet in our desire for ‘freedom’ we always tend to downplay them, talk about defending their free speech rights, but very rarely focus on whether they should have said what they said. Sometimes you get the feeling people are defending the indefensible just because they don’t think folk should actually go to jail for it.
This stuff is not that simple – freedom of speech does not mean you should always feel free to say anything / what you want; this is partly what we mean by ‘society’, surely – some things are taboo for good reason and if those taboos all get ditched, what then (the law steps in of course)? It is like lesson one of growing up to be an adult and developing self-consciousness.
@ Southernbystander says: 6 August, 2026 at 11:17 am
The very concept of taboos becomes irrelevant in a multi-cultural context.
You will probably agree with me that cousin marriage and FGM should be taboo. The first because of the proven link with congenital abnormalities. The second because it abuses defenceless children and dooms the adults they become to a future of pain and life-threatening medical complications.
Yet both are practised and defended in the UK. Defended by those whom Professor Baird would support, citing that “the only bulwark against cultural imperialism is national cultures”.
Perhaps you would agree with me in wanting to live in an institutionally secular society that also protects the right of every citizen to privately follow the religion of their choice. How can we square that with people who believe the correct response to religious backsliding, or lack of “respect”, is death for the apostate or unbeliever?
In my view, part of the reason why this deterioration in our public life has gone so far is that so much of it has not been opened up to scrutiny. We see it here on Wings BTL where the calls for death to the English are both regular and largely unremarked.
Why shouldn’t people be free to incite anything online? There are more than adequate laws to punish those who can’t tell the difference between incitement and action. The real problem, in my opinion, is the lack of will on behalf of the authorities to enforce the laws that already exist against real criminality.
Isn’t it part of the responsibility of government to listen to citizen’s concerns and act to ameliorate them? How can government do that if citizens can’t state what they think, freely and openly?
“None of this stuff is any good for society and people doing it deserve censure, shaming and ostracisation”
Sure. But we can’t do that if their, e.g. antisemitism and calls for the deployment of gas chambers, are driven underground.
Last but not least. We have an unpopular WM government that got just one third of the national democratic vote, and has recently swapped Prime Minister on the say so of a rounding error of voters. That cipher has just fucked off on holiday whilst chunks of the country are struggling for water, there are nightly disturbances and riots, prices are soaring, the invasion boats continue to arrive, and The War continues to escalate.
I say that a wise government should permit angry citizens all the pressure relief mechanisms that keep them sitting at home, furiously pounding on their keyboards.
Because all of the alternatives are worse.
I’ve got a feeling that social media is going to change beyond recognition in 5 years time. This is going to occur through greater government legislation and also stricter censorship from the social media companies themselves.
The anti-migrant protests are not going away and the government will not tolerate this being driven by social media.
There is also the fact that unregulated social media is toxic in nature and people will move away from it. The social media companies can’t tolerate falling revenues so they will regulate the content posted on their platforms.
Hopefully that will happen and we can live in a more sane world where they loonies voices are silenced and the nonsense from them detailed in this article will be a thing of the past.
I think that anybody predicting anything for 5 years in the future really isn’t paying attention to the news.
But there’s no need for us to fall out over it.
I really hope you’re right, and 5 years from now, people’s biggest gripe will be the clamp down on social media.
At least you won’t be able to crow. Neither will I. Whoever is right, sites like this one will be no more than a fond memory.
Absolutely unrelated film title ideas:
Three Men and No Boaby
The Three Shamigos
A Fistful of Dilators
Spite Club
The Silence of the Ma’ams
Manos: the Hons of Fate
The Devil Wears Primark
Hell Comes to Froghall
Herbie Goes Bananas
For A Few Hormones More
The Ugly, the Ugly and the Ugly
Little Chop of Horrors
The Man Who Would Be Quine
Gorillas in the Haar
Local Zeroes
Gregory’s A Girl
Troonspotting
…and a sequel, Gorillas on the Piss.
At least the weirdo won’t have to worry about Polis Scotchland or COPFS ( Crown Office Procurator Fiscal Service ) chasing him to prosecute him for fraud or embezzlement, now every fuckwit that asks for donations to a RING FENCED charity or organisation under the auspices of a stated action or policy can just disregard what they collected the donations for and spend it on items that they believe they are entitled too , who wouldn’t want silver pepper grinders or numerous expensive coffee machines , they could even buy jewellery for boyfriends or girlfriends
IF they are questioned or charged with fraud or embezzlement on the misuse or misappropriation of donations they only have to whip out the sturgeon defence and all will be well
I think the Charity Commission is going to have a very busy time ahead
These 3 will be demanding Queer milk next
There’s an out of fashion female coded word I’d be happy to bring back for this cohort to help alleviate their dysphoria. That word is “munters”
I can only presume that these undead are just seen as ‘hermless’ which would explain why they haven’t been sectioned yet. Oh well, it takes every kinda people, I suppose.
Herbie goes a-courtin’
link to archive.is
My head has fallen off and I have misplaced it.
I have started a Go Fund Me account so I can get a new head along with a Farrari and a night out with Kyle Minogue.
Please help because if you don’t it violates my rights.
What’s the status of a new Wee Blue Book and revenues raised for producing it?
link to wingsoverscotland.com
link to donorbox.org
“Any money you send us will be split as usual between running costs, commissioning polls, a wage for myself and contributors like our magnificent near-weekly cartoonist Chris Cairns, and the building up of the Wings Fighting Fund with the aim of printing a million-plus copies of a new Wee Blue Book when a second referendum comes along, along with other major secret campaigning projects we’re working on”
I don’t think there’s anything to see here, funds were raised for a range of purposes and spent on those purposes.
I don’t much care what you think because even though you’ve quoted a section of text from the crowdfunder which includes “and the building up of the Wings Fighting Fund with the aim of printing a million-plus copies of a new Wee Blue Book when a second referendum comes along” you have in no way addressed what I asked in my post you responded to, and it’s doubtful you have access to Wings financial accounts to furnish an answer.
I simply asked what was the status of the revenues which were solicited (with a degree of urgency) well over 5 years ago which included funding production of the WBB2.0 which has not occurred.
A change of use of funds donated for a specific purpose surely requires consent from the individual donors if everything has to be exactly as per what Stuart expects of others.
You shit stirring again Dan?
Imagine my surprise.
You’re right, I don’t know exactly how the money was spent, maybe it was all spent on cat food. However, I think what you’re getting at is there has been no Wee Blue Book v2, and therefore given the fundraiser stated that ONE of the purposes the money was to be used for was the WBB, isn’t this the same as the SNP 2017 fundraiser or the Weddell fundraiser?
To which i think the answer is no. In both those cases the fundraisers were launched for a singular explicit purpose (using language such as “ring-fenced” and “exclusively for”), and then diverted for other purposes. In the case of the Wings fundraiser, it was raised to fund a range of purposes, rather than a singular purpose, and (as far as we know) used for those purposes, albeit that one of the purposes didn’t materialise (no 2nd referendum, therefore no WBB). I don’t see that redistributing the funds to the other purposes, is a breach of trust.
Mentally ill, delusional, perpetually-victimhood-angry, self-righteous = dangerous