The world's most-read Scottish politics website

Wings Over Scotland



They don’t believe you exist 191

Posted on February 27, 2014 by

Our old pal Euan McColm of Scotland on Sunday and ThinkScotland (also a stalwart of BBC/STV punditry, and formerly of the disgraced News Of The World) thinks you’re all just a figment of our imagination, readers.

mccolmfund

If you’re not following, the implication (also made by James Mackenzie of “Better Nation”) is that we’re taking the money out of the fundraiser as soon as it comes in, then paying it back in ourselves as a new donation to artificially inflate the total.

(Although we’re not quite sure WHY we’d be doing that, as it would only result in us losing a sizeable chunk of the money we already had in commission every time we “recycled” it, and it would dissuade people from donating because they saw we’d already hit our target, and finally it’d mean that we then had to fund all the things we promised to do without actually having the money to pay for them.)

We’ve offered to show Mr McColm the books, on the condition that he writes an article for Scotland on Sunday or the Scotsman, openly and directly accusing us of what he implies in the tweets above. Let’s see how that goes.

T plus one 147

Posted on February 27, 2014 by

Right, back to normal service after this. But it’d be remiss of us not to carry an update on the astonishing progress of our second annual fundraiser in its first 24 hours. Launched at 10am yesterday with an ambitious goal of £53,000 in 34 days, the Indiegogo appeal sits, as we write these words, at £70,493 after just one.

gob1

That’s not even the whole story. People who can’t or don’t want to use Indiegogo have also donated a further £14,349.50 – £10,000 of that coming in one donation from a single inconceivably generous reader – making the current running total £84,842.50.

In one day.

Where do we even start with that?

Read the rest of this entry →

Eight hours, 24 minutes 438

Posted on February 26, 2014 by

madeit

We’ll have some comment on that for you when we’ve prised our jaw off the floor.

Our end of the bargain 851

Posted on February 26, 2014 by

It’s time to finish the job.

Just over a year ago now, the readers of Wings Over Scotland quietly revolutionised the independence campaign. When we launched the first ever formal public fundraising appeal for a Scottish political website (indeed, as far as we know the first for a politics site anywhere in Britain), your response was incredible.

2014fundraiser1dClick to go to this year’s fundraiser

Our £30,000 target was smashed, enabling the site to become a full-time professional concern, and others followed in our footsteps. By our reckoning around £150,000 was raised in 2013 for various pro-independence sites and projects, including the Common Weal and “Scotland Yet”, a full-length documentary currently being produced by Jack Foster and Christopher Silver, makers of “The Fear Factor”.

Now we need to do it again.

Read the rest of this entry →

Just passing this on 59

Posted on December 17, 2013 by

Because it’s aimed at you. (As judging by the increase in donor numbers set against the number of clickthroughs we registered from yesterday’s piece to the benighted Yes Scotland fundraising page, there’s no mistaking where the money came from.)

yesthanks

Bella and Newsnet both now over £10,000 too, even though it’s barely over a week until Christmas. Take a moment to give yourselves a wee pat on the back, readers.

Jingle Tins 328

Posted on December 16, 2013 by

Now, we’re not putting ourselves up as some sort of expert fundraising authority just because we’ve run a few successful ones, but you didn’t have to be a genius to slap your forehead with your palm last month when the official Yes Scotland campaign AND two of the country’s biggest pro-indy websites (as well as a couple of smaller ones) contrived to launch appeals for very large amounts of cash not only all at once, but in the weeks leading up to Christmas when everyone’s budgets are stretched to the limit.

Bella Caledonia

Newsnet Scotland

Yes Scotland

(To give plenty of notice so that hopefully this sort of thing doesn’t happen again, our second annual Wings fundraiser will be in late February and March 2014.)

Still, we are where we are, and all three are now entering their final phases some way short of their targets. That’s not necessarily a big deal – the Scotland Yet one looked like failing by a big distance at this stage (as did the Common Weal’s before it), but reached the finishing line after a big boost from generous Wings readers.

But time’s getting tight, and the Herald has already had a bit of a sneer about the response to the Yes Scotland pledge drive, so if you can spare a quid or two for any or all of the three, we’re sure it’d be both appreciated and well used, especially in the context of the grisly collection of Tory millionaires, bankers and spooks who just handed “Better Together” another million and a half quid.

Read the rest of this entry →

Fighting nightmares 63

Posted on November 11, 2013 by

We usually make several tweets about other people’s pro-independence fundraisers, but don’t post them on the main site for several reasons – chiefly that there’s always one going on somewhere, and we don’t want readers to feel unable to visit Wings without being constantly pressured to put their hands in their pockets.

We’re going to have an exception for this one, though. Jack Foster and Chris Silver created the brilliant “Fear Factor” mini-movie (as well as some shorter clips previously), and they want to step things up a gear by making a full-length film about independence in time for the referendum.

We’d very much like that to happen. Jack and Chris are the indy movement’s Adam Curtis, and we’re absolutely certain that their movie would be a fantastic piece of work capable of winning hearts and minds and making a real difference.

They need just over £11,000 in a week – peanuts for the level of quality they produce. The Common Weal fundraiser recently cleared that sort of sum in that sort of timespan, and with much less clear and visible goals, so we hope and trust that it’s achievable. Visit the site to find out more, and please help if you can.

Let’s do a thing again 245

Posted on August 21, 2013 by

Okay, the verdict of the readers was pretty unequivocal, with an almost four-to-one majority in favour of going ahead with another opinion poll right away. So let’s get fundraising again. Click the pic to go to the Indiegogo page. (As before, if you can’t use IG for any reason, there are other donating options.)

yesno

We’re only running this one for a week, so if you weren’t part of the fun last time, don’t miss out on this second exciting opportunity to be relieved of your cash. All the cool kids are doing it! You want to be cool, don’t you?

Let’s get a thing done 0

Posted on July 22, 2013 by

Okay, it seems safe to say already that reaction to the idea is very positive, so why waste time? The new fundraiser page is now live. The more money we raise the more questions we can ask, so let’s see what we can find out.

[EDIT: Base target crushed in 70 minutes. Wow. But keep it coming, folks, because we’d love to get to 10 questions, which will take a total of about £3,600.]

For the sake of tidiness, comments on this post will be closed – please carry on commenting and suggesting questions in the original thread.

Let’s do a thing 442

Posted on July 22, 2013 by

Recently we’ve seen quite a few people on social media wondering why there hadn’t been any opinion polls on independence published in a while. We thought it was a bit curious ourselves, so we rang a few polling companies with a view to commissioning our own one, but Panelbase told us they were doing fieldwork on one as we spoke, to be published roughly a week today (they’re every two months).

pollsbbc

But even though we don’t need to do one on the straight Yes/No thing now, that’s no reason why we can’t take it upon ourselves to ask a few other questions.

Read the rest of this entry →

Late delivery 24

Posted on July 18, 2013 by

We blame the inefficient private-sector monopoly (ie me). But we think we’ve finally ironed out various technical and procedural hitches, and are finally ready to send out the special rewards for the most generous contributors to the excitingly successful fundraiser we ran back in, er, well, let’s call it “Spring”.

If that wasn’t you, don’t click below or you’ll only be sad.

Read the rest of this entry →

We haven’t forgotten 88

Posted on April 25, 2013 by

You’ve probably noticed there’s been quite a lot going on here recently, but we’re not neglecting the wonderful people who contributed to our hugely successful fundraiser.

hamishthanks

The first version of our Credits page is now live.

Read the rest of this entry →

  • About

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

    Stats: 6,718 Posts, 1,214,085 Comments

  • Recent Posts

  • Archives

  • Categories

  • Tags

  • Recent Comments

    • Yoon scum on Signal and noise: “He’s if I put my sauce in https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/foi-eir-release/2023/08/foi-202300359025/documents/foi-202300359025—information-for-release—2/foi-202300359025—information-for-release—2/govscot%3Adocument/FOI%2B202300359025%2B-%2BInformation%2Bfor%2BRelease%2B-%2B2.pdfMar 15, 07:20
    • Yoon Scum on Signal and noise: ““Anthem says: 14 March, 2025 at 9:31 pm Yoon Scum. That’s your belief and you’re welcome to it. Almost 50%…Mar 15, 07:20
    • Ian Brotherhood on Signal and noise: “Sorry Sarah, didn’t see your reply until now. I suppose we could ask it about what it does know about…Mar 14, 23:42
    • Alf Baird on Signal and noise: “And with a decent franchise.Mar 14, 23:39
    • Anthem on Signal and noise: “GF. On the SNP, aye. On Independence naw. Events dear friend, Events.Mar 14, 22:11
    • Anthem on Signal and noise: “Sorry, but I think you are wrong. Scotland, as a nation, is older and has more independent history than England.…Mar 14, 21:44
    • Anthem on Signal and noise: “Yoon Scum. That’s your belief and you’re welcome to it. Almost 50% of the country don’t.Mar 14, 21:31
    • George Ferguson on Signal and noise: “@Sarah 6:47pm I know nobody wants to admit the ba is burst on Scottish Independence and the SNP.Mar 14, 20:11
    • sarah on Signal and noise: “This is extraordinary, IB. It comes across as rational, reasonable and informed – some MSP/MPs could do with Grok’s assistance.…Mar 14, 19:40
    • sarah on Signal and noise: “O/T and funny! Jim Sillars says that Sturgeon once said [in her usual charming and polite manner] to Margot Macdonald…Mar 14, 18:47
    • william campbell on Signal and noise: “It was pathetic to watch FM question time a couple of days ago. There she sat gurning behind Mr continuity…Mar 14, 18:46
    • Mia on The tint of rose: ““You’re (I feel deliberately now) misunderstanding Clause XXV” Now you are using the strategy of dishonesty to get around this,…Mar 14, 18:14
    • George Ferguson on Signal and noise: “After decades of Irish Republic strategy and many people dead. The Irish after all their Britnat hatred have handed over…Mar 14, 18:05
    • Xaracen on The tint of rose: “Aidan said; “@Xaracen – there is no distinction between constitutional law and domestic law, constitutional law is domestic law by…Mar 14, 16:40
    • George Ferguson on Signal and noise: “@Sarah 4:02pm Sure a 25% turnout but you can’t argue with the consistency of the SNP. Freebies that other people…Mar 14, 16:37
    • sarah on Signal and noise: “25% turnout. It’s not apathy, it is frustrated fury – a 75% vote for None of the Above.Mar 14, 16:02
    • Aidan on The tint of rose: “@Mia – again you’re (I feel deliberately now) misunderstanding Clause XXV. At the point at which the Treaty of Union…Mar 14, 15:57
    • George Ferguson on Signal and noise: “So my latest by election results are in, a wee council by election. An SNP win. Labour second and Reform…Mar 14, 15:32
    • Mia on The tint of rose: “@Aidan You said: “The treaty explicitly provides for the new parliament of Great Britain as the national legislative body” Nope.…Mar 14, 15:22
    • Young Lochinvar on Signal and noise: “Yes indeed. One to add to the risks section though; All the paid grifters who have made a cosy career…Mar 14, 15:19
    • Mia on The tint of rose: “@ Aidan You say: “It does not say anything about limiting the powers of the new parliament” And it does…Mar 14, 15:15
    • Mia on The tint of rose: “@ Aidan you say: It’s 180 degrees the other way” I disagree. It is as it is. You say: “The…Mar 14, 15:13
    • Mia on The tint of rose: “@ Aidan I have tried to reply to your comment several times now, but it comes back as being in…Mar 14, 15:06
    • Ian Brotherhood on Signal and noise: “Wow, yon ‘Grok’ is impressive. It answered this question in approximately 3 seconds. If you were a supporter of Scottish…Mar 14, 14:44
    • Aidan on The tint of rose: “No Mia, it’s 180 degrees the other way. The treaty required the two separate parliaments each to dispose of incompatible…Mar 14, 13:49
    • Mia on The tint of rose: ““If the authors of the ToU intended to impose that significant restriction, they would have done so explicitly” And they…Mar 14, 13:17
    • Young Lochinvar on Signal and noise: “Aha! Press reporting that SHE whose name shall not be uttered is still under investigation in Branchform. “Timing” again anyone?Mar 14, 13:09
    • Aidan on Signal and noise: “A combination of very little going on in the pro-Indy front, and the deluge of cranks and trolls who, like…Mar 14, 12:38
    • Aidan on The tint of rose: “@Mia – no it doesn’t stand to reason at all, that implication would have an enormous impact on future union…Mar 14, 12:31
    • Chas on Signal and noise: “Very few comments being posted on Wings nowadays. Even the nutters and cranks who posted umpteen times, every day, now…Mar 14, 11:36
  • A tall tale



↑ Top