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Wings Over Scotland



Against all the odds 49

Posted on September 29, 2018 by

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.

When we’re gone 203

Posted on July 29, 2018 by

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.

Read the rest of this entry →

A new record 211

Posted on April 07, 2018 by

So, yeah, this happened:

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:

£153,215

And, y’know, good heavens.

Read the rest of this entry →

The last stretch 81

Posted on April 06, 2018 by

With 14 hours to go:

Like, wow, readers 🙂

24 little hours 135

Posted on April 06, 2018 by

…is all you have to put up with before we stop nagging you for cash again for another year. The 2018 Wings fundraiser ends tomorrow morning, so this is your last chance to put a little of your money where our mouth is.

(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.

So one last time, we’re going to remind you:

– the average Wings reader gives the BBC £72 a year, and Wings just 43p.

– the Unionist “grassroots” organisations who we also have to fight are funded by Lords, Dukes, Earls, Countesses, Sirs and billionaires.

– we use your money to produce stuff that actually makes a difference, rather than just lecturing an internet audience that already agrees with us.

– we’re the only pro-indy site the Unionist/media establishment fears enough to constantly attack, smear and try to silence.

If any of that is worth anything to you, now’s the time to show it, folks.

The asymmetric war 614

Posted on March 20, 2018 by

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.

And as well as its own output, which is hugely financially incentivised in favour of the Union, the BBC is now using your money to directly fund Scottish newspapers hostile to independence by paying them to hire more reporters.

(It’ll then also massively amplify those hostile voices by featuring them on multiple daily “papers review” shows from which online media with readerships many times bigger are arbitrarily excluded, enabling the anti-independence outlets to dictate the political news agenda every day without having to sell a single copy.)

So, y’know, it’s a tough job.

Read the rest of this entry →

Let’s Build A Rocket 490

Posted on March 06, 2018 by

And fire it into the heart of the Union.

(Fundraiser page here, or click here to donate directly.)
.

2 days remaining. Running total (all sources) at 9am, Thu 5 April: £127,400.

Read the rest of this entry →

Turning wheels 38

Posted on July 31, 2017 by

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.

Click pic to go to the Indiegogo fundraiser page, or click here to use PayPal.

.

Actually doing it 217

Posted on July 29, 2017 by

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.

Read the rest of this entry →

Taking a stand 344

Posted on July 24, 2017 by

Click pic to go to the Indiegogo fundraiser page, or click here to use PayPal.
All-sources total as of 9am, Tuesday 25 July: £11,640.

.

Read the rest of this entry →

With our shield, or on it 212

Posted on April 03, 2017 by

Actually, mighty King Leonidas is understating here. It was 311% in the end.

Wings Over Scotland 2017 fundraiser total: £140,047.

Read the rest of this entry →

Levelling the field 387

Posted on March 03, 2017 by

timetogo3f

1 day remaining. Total at noon, April 2: £132,072 (Since last update: £975)
(Including non-Indiegogo donations via PayPal, bank transfer etc.)

  • About

    Wings Over Scotland is a (mainly) Scottish political media digest and monitor, which also offers its own commentary. (More)

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    • Anthem on The shifting sands of memory: “Yawn….May 21, 22:49
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    • 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
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    • 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
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