We probably don’t push the annual Wings fundraiser hard enough. Sure, we tweet about it every few days, but other than that we pretty much leave it to get on with itself – we haven’t run an article about it since launching it nearly a month ago.
That’s partly because thanks to the phenomenal generosity of the approximately 1% of readers who’ve donated so far, we’ve very comfortably covered our basic outgoings for the next 12 months and then some – the vast salaries for myself and near-regular cartoonist Mr Cairns, of course, plus webhosting and various other operating costs (eg commission to the fundraising/payment processing companies), money for some more opinion polls and a boost to the Wings Fighting Fund.
But as it enters its last few days we’re going to nag you a bit now, because we don’t think there’s a better-value investment in the independence cause to be had anywhere.
Well, hopefully there won’t be too much of that, as we’ve got a sitter in to keep the Separats in check while we’re away. But activity on Wings will probably be a little sparse over the next few days, for hopefully-obvious reasons.
There’s a limit on how much we’ll be able to say about the case, and chances to post on the site will be restricted in general, but we’ll try to keep on top of any important events. Normal service will be resumed ASAP. In the meantime, behave yourselves.
Apologies for the shortage of content in the last couple of days, folks. The 10-year-old Wings PC has been wheezing and groaning and emitting smoke for a few weeks, but it’s now reached a point where we can barely keep it from crashing for five minutes at a time, and we’ve run out of sticking plasters (and stuff to delete on its tiny C drive to give it a bit of cache space and stop it falling over clutching theatrically at its throat).
(Don’t even get us started on a rant about all the idiot software that insists on stealthily clogging it up with mysterious useless bloat but won’t work anywhere but the C drive. Who knew it was even possible to hate iTunes any more than we already did?)
We ordered a new one a while back, but until it gets here we might be a bit light on anything that involves a lot of typing, linking or formatting. Please bear with us.
We happened to be looking at a couple of old articles this morning, and noticed that some of them had blank spaces where videos should be.
We didn’t think much of it at first, because people do sometimes delete old videos or shut down their accounts, but when we checked one of them we discovered it was hosted on the Wings Over Scotland channel.
The new crowdfunding platform we used this year is a curious and arcane beast, and as a result the honest truth is that we’re still not quite 100% certain what the precise final total (including “offsite” donations and a few that squeezed in after the technical deadline) is. But as best as we can make out, including everything, it’s this:
(Fundraiser page here, or click here to donate directly.) .
The current total stands at a phenomenal £128,600 – already the second-highest ever by a five-figure margin, and just £11,447 short of the all-time record.
Because we were genuinely concerned about this year’s fundraiser. It was coming off the back of our lowest traffic month in four years (February was absolutely dead in Scottish politics, and we had almost no internet for the last two weeks of it), and some other indy sites had had badly underachieving crowdfunders in recent months.
So it’s quite the pleasant surprise to be able to say that the total (direct donations as well as through the fundraising page) for the first 24 hours alone was… £72,429.
James Cheyne on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “Englands parliament will manage to end the so called union, merger annexation by its presumptive arrogance, It does not need…” May 19, 09:56
Hatey McHateface on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “If you say so, James. I’m not really understanding who is threatening who. YL Sah! seemed to be suggesting that…” May 19, 09:43
James Cheyne on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “If the Act of union was never signed does imply that the UK and intel are an illegal entity, that…” May 19, 09:31
James Cheyne on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “Your statement at 7.36 am regards resources and assets is helpful to the independence supporters in confirming that Scotland is…” May 19, 09:11
David on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “The haters gonna hate! It never fails to amaze me the amount of hate mail you get from all different…” May 19, 07:48
Hatey McHateface on Well, this is a little embarrassing: ““How about a draft constitution? A set of well defined rules” How about you explain why any Sovereign Scot should…” May 19, 07:42
Hatey McHateface on Well, this is a little embarrassing: ““these resources are only vulnerable if we are independent” It’s not exactly rocket science, YL Sah! At the moment these…” May 19, 07:36
Young Lochinvar on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “You are left to (academically) wonder how the comfortable status quo for UK/US might alter completely if; 1. Dump the…” May 19, 03:01
Skip_NC on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “Aw come on, I thought that was quite good for a Saturday morning before I’d had my coffee. In my…” May 19, 01:35
Iain M. Conochie on Well, this is a little embarrassing: ““This site uses cookies from Google to deliver its services and to analyse traffic. Your IP address and user agent…” May 18, 23:42
Stuart MacKay on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “This is a (very) long but, interesting read, https://sonar21.com/the-constitution-is-dead-long-live-the-constitution/ It gives you an insight on how constitutional-fundamentalists in America -…” May 18, 19:06
robertkknight on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “Back to business… youtube.com/live/Z2lVgoA6UHQ?feature=shared Fantastic and illuminating. Makes you realise, if you didn’t already, what a dead horse the SNP…” May 18, 17:02
diabloandco on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “Yeah Rev , take your own advice and ignore trolls. He’s obviously desperate for attention – a bit like Trump…” May 18, 15:17
Hatey McHateface on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “Well, James, I guess that 318 years and counting is a mere eyeblink in geological terms. In human terms though,…” May 18, 15:00
100%Yes on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “@ Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh Thanks, added your site to my bookmarks. It would help if Wings updated Pro-Indy bloggers on his…” May 18, 13:59
100%Yes on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “I believe David Henry was saying that the wording of the treaty of Union has recently been changed to say…” May 18, 13:44
Eagle on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “Kelly of course is so full of self righteous anger that he forgets that actually watching it and voting is…” May 18, 13:04
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “If anyone has a problem with the above URL link, try this alternative path: SCOTTISH SOVEREIGNTY RESEARCH GROUP CONFERENCE (17…” May 18, 13:02
James Cheyne on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “100%Yes.. I will away and watch it just now, thanks for the information, I am looking forward to the piece…” May 18, 13:00
Stuart MacKay on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “Ha, ha the saga of Kelly-gate goes on and on and on. Now we have the prime antagonist lambasting the…” May 18, 12:17
Angry Weegie on Echoes from history: ““You know the next four words, right?” I (re)read “A Letter from Quebec” and it almost reduced me to tears,…” May 18, 12:17
Skip_NC on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “James Kelly as a spook-paid disruptor? No, I don’t see it. He’s just an overblown windbag. He’s been spouting the…” May 18, 11:55
James Cheyne on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “I actually think the union does not exist for Scots , for a multiple of reasons. However equally there are…” May 18, 11:36
Hatey McHateface on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “Hmmm. I see the opposite, Andy. Anybody wanting to damage Scottish Indy would be best to use a total nut…” May 18, 11:33
Hatey McHateface on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “Perhaps you could oblige us with your summary of their analysis of the great energy rip off. How does it…” May 18, 11:24
Hatey McHateface on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “Loving your double taps. How does it go again? One in the chest and one in the head? No doubt…” May 18, 11:06
James Cheyne on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “How do you hold onto the idea that it is a real union? It may once have been ( may)…” May 18, 11:03