Politics in 2018 is almost impossible to satirise, and nowhere more so than in Scotland, where at least two of the main parties are currently campaigning on the principled policy of “any referendum we lose should be re-run, and any we win must never ever be held again because the decision was final”.
So it’s quite understandable that the Dateline 2018 team – Scotland’s only currently operating satirists of any kind (which is, madly, true) – opted not to bother with any Scottish content in their last series. But they’ve totally promised that they’ll absolutely definitely do some this time, honest, if you fund them for another one.
Yeah, we’d be sceptical too. But they only need £7,500 by tomorrow to carry on, and if they don’t reach the target you get your money back, so if you just got paid and can spare a couple of quid then fire it their way by clicking on the pic, because frankly we don’t like to think about what they’d get up to if we don’t keep them occupied.
As we’re writing this, our YouTube channel remains dead. We’re still trying to navigate through YouTube’s awful maze of robotic guards to reach a human being, and while at least two newspapers – The National and the Scotsman – have asked the BBC for a comment, none has been forthcoming.
The mainstream media’s attacks on this site in the last couple of years have included getting our Twitter account shut down in 2016, getting me arrested, having all of Wings’ electronic equipment confiscated by the police and now killing our YouTube channel full of crucial documentary evidence, most of which isn’t available anywhere else. (On top of an endless catalogue of smear stories and hatchet jobs, of course.)
Now, we’re not planning on going anywhere, but in the face of such a concerted and increasingly sinister assault aimed at silencing us, we also can’t make any guarantees that Wings itself will continue to survive. WordPress may prove as fragile in the face of malice as Twitter and YouTube have.
So in case we fall victim to another unexpected technical/censorship catastrophe, or suddenly commit “suicide”, you might want to strengthen the rest of the team.
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.
We’re at the halfway point of our 2018 fundraiser, and the all-sources total so far is a thumpingly impressive £103,266 in just two weeks. But while that’s a tremendous sum, it’s sobering too.
Firstly because with an average monthly readership of nearly 304,000 people it comes to an average contribution of slightly under 30p per reader. As with most crowdfunded ventures, fewer than 1% of the site’s users have actually backed it financially so far.
And secondly because for perspective, the average Scottish adult – independence supporters included – sends the BBC about £72 a year. (£323m from 4.5m adults.)
While obviously a minority of folk do boycott the licence fee, that still means that the average Wings reader gives the BBC 240 times as much money every year as they give Wings to fight it.
Just a quick one-week-on update: thanks to your incredible support, our fundraiser for legal action now stands at a phenomenal £14,683 including all sources. We’re well beyond the initial target of £5000, but since even a modestly-eminent QC costs slightly over £8 a minute, every extra penny helps.
The Yes movement, like almost all movements, is plagued with a small but incredibly loud faction of intolerant, destructive extremists. Alert readers will have noticed that this site has again been the victim of them this week, but we’re not alone. They’ve also gone after two print publications – The National and iScot – over their “transgressions” against the beliefs of these self-appointed arbiters of what people are allowed to think.
What those two outlets and Wings have in common is achievement.
robertkknight on The shifting sands of memory: “Scotland was effectively acquired, through hostile takeover, by England, who had threaten to cut off Scotland’s international trade through naval…” May 21, 23:38
Mia on The shifting sands of memory: “” the laws that were not compatible with the Treaty fell into desuetude” Sorry, Lorn but on this, I have…” May 21, 22:34
Hatey McHateface on The shifting sands of memory: “My reading is that it’s the settled view of many that because the majority of Scottish residents returned the wrong…” May 21, 21:50
Hatey McHateface on The shifting sands of memory: ““he believes that there was and is a Treaty of Union” No shit, Sherlock! That puts him in the overwhelming…” May 21, 21:38
Aidan on The shifting sands of memory: “The Union with England Act was passed by the Scottish Parliament prior to the amalgamation into the Parliament of Great…” May 21, 21:25
Andy Wiltshire on The shifting sands of memory: “Is it the settled view of most people on here that the independence referendum of 2014 was meaningless? And moreover…” May 21, 21:24
Lorn on The shifting sands of memory: “Ian: you kind of have to provide evidence that you ARE a colony, not just being treated as one. It…” May 21, 21:23
McDuff on The shifting sands of memory: “The western world is consumed with righting wrongs of the past so surely that must include Scotland. The Scottish people…” May 21, 21:16
Lorn on The shifting sands of memory: “PhilM: I don’t think Stephen Kerr is being mendacious; I think he believes that there was and is a Treaty…” May 21, 21:06
Lorn on The shifting sands of memory: “Actually, no, it’s not, Dec. The Treaty was real and very much based in legality. The Scots have never really…” May 21, 20:53
Lorn on The shifting sands of memory: “Mia: the laws that were not compatible with the Treaty fell into desuetude – which means that they were no…” May 21, 20:51
Hatey McHateface on Some Attention For James: “Uh oh, Barbie’s been allowed back into the community. Is it me suggesting we get vets to run the euthanasia…” May 21, 20:33
Hatey McHateface on The shifting sands of memory: ““We will have to use every ounce of ingenuity and courage to free ourselves” Sure, but you’ve missed the third…” May 21, 20:21
Mia on The shifting sands of memory: “@Geri They made several attempts at a union, but all monarchs failed until Anne. She seemed to have achieved what…” May 21, 20:21
Hatey McHateface on The shifting sands of memory: ““I wonder how the BBC will report the liberation of the Scots” Do you really? I’m thinking most grounded people…” May 21, 20:06
Hatey McHateface on The shifting sands of memory: “If you use AI to write it, you can use AI to summarise it. “We wus robbed” about covers it.” May 21, 19:50
JB on The shifting sands of memory: “Lorm @6:23pm As to “surrendering the fishing industry” on Monday, so far that is only a political agreement to surrender…” May 21, 19:48
Geri on The shifting sands of memory: “It’s my understanding there was no union or parliament of ‘Great Britain’ because it never happened. It was a wish…” May 21, 19:37
Northcode on The shifting sands of memory: “Mia, your comments are often a mammoth read but it’s always worth making that little extra effort to read them.…” May 21, 19:28
Geri on Some Attention For James: “You’d think by now the penny would drop at your end by now.. “Scotgov” is a colonial outpost, ya cretin.…” May 21, 19:23
Mia on The shifting sands of memory: ““A basic piece of research would dispel this immediately, the Union with England Act 1707 Article XXVV passed by the…” May 21, 19:18
Aidan on The shifting sands of memory: “A basic piece of research would dispel this immediately, the Union with England Act 1707 Article XXVV passed by the…” May 21, 19:02
Mia on The shifting sands of memory: ““the ToU is a fraud” There is indeed something rather iffy about the Treaty of Union and the way the…” May 21, 18:46
Northcode on The shifting sands of memory: “Replying to James Cheyne: 21st May @ 5:19 pm “Give us our Country back, you must be joking” I was…” May 21, 18:42
Lorn on The shifting sands of memory: “Agree with most of that, James. I would say that both the Queen and her English Commissioners did negotiate a…” May 21, 18:23
Alf Baird on The shifting sands of memory: “Perhaps Mr. Kerr and others of his ilk are suffering acute anxiety from discovery that there is no union; hence…” May 21, 18:15
