The Backstabbers
Today is going to be by some distance the quietest one in Scottish politics this week, so I hope you’ll forgive me a personal indulgence, readers. Because while I just ignore unimaginably vast torrents of online abuse every hour of every day of every year, once in a blue moon some things get said that you just can’t let pass.
Paul Kavanagh made a lot of unpleasant personal-attack tweets yesterday off the back of an unpleasant personal-attack article on his blog, which I don’t propose to get into the many individual falsehoods and misrepresentations of here.
(While I believe his evidence in the Dugdale case actually did more harm than good, I don’t hold him responsible for that and I appreciated his willingness to try to help when others I’d considered friends had turned their back.)
But the comments above are too much to bear.
They echo a line that’s recently been going around the parts of the Yes movement that despise Wings for our “disloyalty” to the First Minister, or because I believe in women’s rights, or simply because Wings is a lot more popular and successful than them.
So just for the historical record, here’s a (very incomplete) list of the other indy groups we’ve supported with articles on the site, usually in order to help out fundraisers that were dying a death before we endorsed and publicised them, and were then saved by the generosity of the same Wings readers that most of these people now hysterically decry as Nazis, bigots, Unionists and MI5 stooges.
Several feature entities that beyond any reasonable doubt owe their entire continued existence to support from Wings when they needed it.
The ones in red, incidentally, are those that have subsequently joined the Wings lynch-mob, pouring abuse on myself, the site and its readers.
The People Versus Alistair Carmichael
Independence For Scotland Party
Many other fundraisers were plugged and linked on social media and on the Related Causes section of our Donate page. And we also raised almost £15,000 for a number of charities across (mainly) Scotland, as well as helping numerous people who I won’t name here (but including Paul Kavanagh) in various ways, financial and otherwise, that we never told anyone about or sought any credit for.
None of these things were “transactional”. We asked none of these people for anything in return for our help. (Though Wings has also directly funded Dateline Scotland, Greg Moodie and Lorna Miller by employing them to produce content for the site.)
I was happy to use the power and reach of Wings – and the kindness and trust of its readers – to strengthen the wider Yes movement, even to the benefit of people that I didn’t personally like (and in the case of Mike Small of Bella Caledonia had already endured quite a few screeds of private personal abuse from) but could acknowledge had an audience that perhaps Wings couldn’t speak to and thus still helped the cause. That view was and is not reciprocated.
(Though I should disclose that I did get free subscriptions to iScot for both me and my housebound stroke-survivor dad, who enjoyed and looked forward to it every month. After I expressed my disappointment when the mag ran one of James Kelly’s dozens and dozens of obsessed attack pieces over the idea of a Wings list party, editor Ken McDonald cancelled not only my sub – fair enough – but also my dad’s, which I must admit struck me as overly spiteful.)
That movement is now a toxic ruin of mutual hatred, mostly driven by careerism and naked jealousy. If there’s ever another indyref – and we don’t see any prospect of that happening for as long as Nicola Sturgeon leads the SNP – the idea of it all coming together in mutual support and tolerance as it did in 2012-14 is a bleak joke.
A whole new movement of new people will have to grow organically from nothing again as it did back then, and of course that also includes Wings. I know that I’d find it all but impossible to campaign for independence under the current SNP leadership, but as noted above I don’t expect that to be a dilemma I’ll ever have to wrestle with.
The future, though, is unwritten, and anything could yet happen. The past, however, is a matter of fact and I will not stand by and allow Paul Kavanagh, Bella Caledonia or anyone else to tell such despicable, contemptible, cowardly lies about it.
Telt.
Paul Kavanagh – the only person stupid enough to call the Rev. Stu “trans” in any context!
Although I think your commentary has been well over the top recently. I hope you can find solace in the fact that many people appreciate your work and hope you can keep calm and carry on.
It amazes me how utterly obsessed a lot of these people are with you. I can only assume it is a projection of all their deep frustrations and disillusions with the SNP and the indy movement – all conveniently projected on to you so they can deny the root cause of it all and not face up to what Sturgeon and co have done to the entire movement.
They are bitter and looking for a scapegoat. Had they the confidence in what they profess to believe and the indy movement, they would not need to concern themselves with Wings at all. The truth hurts and they can’t handle it. Where is their support for Craig or Gordon Dangerfield btw?
Well said, and leave him and the the Nicolytes to their perceived utopia.
I don’t get involved in these arguments between bloggers – I still read whatever I find interesting, whoever they’ve fallen out with.
However, I’m actually quite worried about Paul since his stroke. He seems angry all the time. For what its worth, he’s striking out at everyone from his twitter account; not just other bloggers, but ordinary individuals who disagree with him.
And after their gleeful reaction to Craig Murray’s recent misfortune, I’ll be giving Bella a miss from now on.
Incidentally, something has been puzzling me about Wee Ginger Dug – why does he ask for donations for his blog?
I can’t say I’m any sort of expert on these matters, but his blog looks like a bog basic WordPress free one, which comes with more free space to use up that most people will use in a lifetime, especially if it’s all text and few pictures.
So what’s this “need donations to keep the blog going” pish?
Or is he another of today’s people on the internet with a begging bowl next to all their social media accounts because they’ve no sense of shame and like waens are always looking for people to give them shit for free?
I am deeply disappointed to read Paul Kavanagh’s tweets about you. I knew Paul many years ago and thought he was one of the good guys, despite disagreements btl of his blogs. I guess I was wrong.
Crabs in a bucket. It’s a pity. You may be an irascible, mercurial bugger with no patience for stupidity, but you’re true, and you, sometimes very unfashionably, want actual independence for this country.
The problem with the Mike Smalls of this world are twofold; they cannot distinguish their opinion from the truth, and, deep down, in their heart of hearts. They’re jumped up petit bourgeois pseudo radicals. It doesn’t take much for the veneer to crack, I have found.
And all taking their cue from the behaviour of their beloved leader, who uses the power of her position to lash out and bully and fails to condemn those who threaten her enemies.
It must all seem rather lovely when (you think) you are on the same side as her.
But everyone will find out, sooner or later, that there is only one person on her side and everything else is, what’s the word, ‘transactional’.
Folk have selective short memories, when it suits them.
I’ve contributed to a fair few of the names on your list over the years. Innocent positive times compared to now. WGD can keep peddling to the National for subs. I’ll keep funding you if you can stomach this much longer.
As always, nice touch with the links. Cannae beat a bit of the auld Soul Train and The O’Jays.
“All the time they want to take your place
The back stabbers (back stabbers)
(They smilin’ in your face)
All the time, they want to take your place
The back stabbers (back stabbers)”.
“Although I think your commentary has been well over the top recently. I hope you can find solace in the fact that many people appreciate your work”
Wow, thanks for that extraordinarily back-handed “compliment”.
Given Mr. Kavanagh (who I used to really, really enjoy reading) used his output in the most transactional way imaginable- crowdfunding a house- he really does have a brass neck.
However I never attack anybody on this or any other site. It’s too easy, juvenile and pointless. I only say this in support of you and everything you’ve done. Your point about a new movement needing to grow, “including Wings” is heartening, especially the Wings bit.
There is a way to go and we need you to be part of it.
I contributed financially to Paul Kavanagh many times.
I notice a change in the content, quality and integrity of his articles around the time his new husband immigrated here to Scotland.
I made my last contribution to him, following his stroke, in order to contribute to his new house, and as a thank you for his previous work.
And I made allowances for him suffering a serious illness.
I wish I had not. His above comments show him to be a sleekit, 2 faced, ungrateful, wee beggar.
And since the previous ‘support’ he provided was given under oath, in a court of law – is he now suggesting he lied, or just ‘over egged it’ – where’s the integrity in that.
He very eloquantly spoke of the bravery of his first husband. Well, sadly, its not rubbed off.
A hollowed out, empty vessel, with no spine and deep pockets is all that is left. Good luck with the next begging campaign Paul. PS I no longer buy the National – hows the job security feeling just now too?
On the plus side, I have more to contribute to the upcoming legal funds of Craig Murray, and Alex Salmond. And a bit left over for Wings when the time comes.
Quite right to be so angry. Wee Ginger has become quite despicable. Even a few years ago when he did his round of talks in YES hubs, he was becoming a bit of a dinosaur. The talks never changed. Same old, same old.
Nicola Sturgeon has managed to create a huge rift in the YES movement which is unforgivable. Who knows what influences have been brought to bare?, I don’t care, she should have fought for Scotland. Wee Ginger supports every word this corrupt woman utters.
Paul should be ashamed!
Why’s The People Versus Carmichael getting the red pen treatment?
Jealousy is a powerful emotion. You have the ability to shine a light on the murkier areas of Scottish politics, and are not afraid to speak up. That is why you have so many readers.
Give a dog a bone eh!
link to en.m.wikipedia.org
What was that old rhyme again? ‘Hark! Hark! The dogs do bark?’
Some beggars really do dress themselves in other people’s velvet gowns.
Disgusted at WGD’s comments. Used to enjoy his blog but it’s become no more than a Nicla fan club. Bribery or blackmail??
Is the WGD blog the only one left that cannot see what’s actually happening or are there others I don’t know about?
Keep doing what you’re doing Stuart. Can only imagine the abuse you get.
As an aside, every time I go the Ghana Tourism Authorities Twitter and I see the pinned post ‘Great News’, it makes me think that either Ghana is open again or Pete Wishart or has been flattened by a bus.
Whenever someone projects negativity at another person, it comes back to them in spades. Maybe these backstabbers should reflect on that. They are the cause of their own demise.
Have never bothered reading many on the above list and see no reason to change on that score. I prefer to get my truth right here.
Bella and ginger are big supporters of the NS propaganda machine and as faithful lackeys to her, they both contribute to the lies and deceit.
I’m glad you took this opportunity to tell them publicly where they can shove it.
What is WGD going to say to his timid followers. When they find out indy ref 2 will not even be contemplated until autumn 2024 at best.
I find it really really sad that people like him. Encourage the cult to believe every word that comes out of SNP HQ. There are going to be an awful lot of angry people this year.
Mind you Sturgeon might have been toppled by June if the police actually do their work.
I know who leaked the story to the DR. I suspect 80% of the people on here do as well. It’s not exactly difficult to follow the trail.
You’re the only blog I read any more. I hope you will continue, somebody has to tell the truth. Politics is a dirty business and there’s really no place for all this hero worship if we want to create a grown up country.
hmmm, can’t use the greater than or less than arrows.
should read ‘or {insert some other pricks name} has been flattened by a bus.’
I think Stu can expect a lot more of this.
He will almost solely be attributed for any SNP election failure and thus for any indyref lost opportunity narrative attached to that.
Rev, as I have said before, I admire and appreciate you personally for the fact that you work from a sense of truth and justice.
Sadly you have suffered for it – police set onto you, defamed by Kezia Dugdale, and all the ungrateful indy people you have identified above.
I wish I could find the words to help you shrug off all these injustices, and convince you that there is a large number of Yessers who value everything you have done. And love you for it.
@TheDissident
That’s a great point – I’ve been astonished at people who are old enough to know better turning on folk they’ve followed for years over recent events.
I actually admire Alex Salmond more now than I did when he was First Minister. He made the different viewpoints of Yessers into a strength; he really believed in the Big Tent in the movement. I only appreciate it now that I have to contrast it with his successor, now any slight deviation is punished by casting out of the clique.
The shit is piling so high in Scotland that we need Wings to stay above it…
Support and solidarity, Stu.
The visitor numbers tell you everything you need to know, though.
Please do a fund-raiser, if for no other reason than to piss the wankers off.
You should take the abuse as a compliment of the highest order. I did a trawl of many of these sites, and was horrified at the unquestioning acceptance of another delayed Indy campaign, and the outright dropping of Indy by others.
Paul’s suggestion that he regrets his court appearance in your defense simply because he doesn’t like you anymore is contemptible.
Court and law are not a popularity contest or a test of loyalty. You go in, you tell the truth, you leave.
At least that’s how it’s meant to be.
“It’s Easier to Fool People Than It Is to Convince Them That They Have Been Fooled.” – Mark Twain
The Yes movement united for a common cause and seeing it drift away from them they need someone to blame. It must be Wings, the Torys, BritNats or whoever but it can’t be the party they gave all their trust – and donations – to.
At the moment they are like a computer going wrong. Maybe it can be fixed but the most practical answer is a complete reboot.
Stuart, don’t let the buggers get you down.
No longer Wee Ginger Dug sitting in his crowdfunded wee Hoose in the country won’t get a penny from my family again.
Wheest for Indy, no chance.
Keep up the great work!
Sturgeon has a big Lesbian/Gay following, the Dug is just another one for her list.
Throw in the Trans mob and you end up with a very colourful collection who are more Interested in fighting for their own personal oddities than Scottish Independence.
Women with Dicks using little girl’s changing rooms seems to be their number one priority at the moment.
What a vote winner that is…NOT!!!
Oh wow. Check out those MOVES! Hot Diggedy!!
What are the tax implications for the donations for WGD’s dacha? Anyone know?
I come here because I get information that stands up to scrutiny which is something sadly missing from most other sites. It saddens me to see others continualy attacking this site not on its content but its followers and on Stuart, surely the comparison between them and the MSM is not lost on them.
One theme I’m seeing in the Scottish Psychie (and I’m not qualified, its just an opinion).
Is we have gone from the Labour lump voters saying, ‘we need the broad shoulders of the big WM party to affect any kind of meaningful change’, to, ‘we need the broad shoulders of the biggest party in Scotland to get Indy for us’.
In both cases, it’s putting our power, into the hands of others, and change out of reach – always.
We need capable, electable candidates, standing on a mandate for Plebiscite Indy at the next GE, and we need to vote for them.
AFI – is getting there, but if you’re going to be an umbrella group, with a unifying message that all can rally round, the rallying cry has got to be catchy. That really needs to sharpen up.
ISP – came out all guns blazing for Plebiscite Indy Election – and then don’t bother to put it in their manifesto, and keep referring everyone to a Petition for same. Petitions don’t win prizes.
Never really understood what people saw in WGD.
He’s a mediocre writer who has absolutely nothing new to say and frankly hasn’t since 2014/15. He appears to have made a reasonable living out of punting the same pish out week in week out and fair play to him for that but why anyone listens to him is beyond me.
I read WoS because its not groundhog day every day – pretty much all the other indy blogs are exactly that with the possible exceptions of Scot Goes Pop and Munguin’s NR. The former because its one of the easiest places to catch up on polls and the latter because its not politics 24/7/365 🙂
Playing Devils Advocate, he (Paul) has had a stroke. This I’m afraid leads to sometimes severe emotional lability.
I contributed then Paul asked for funds to buy himself a new house more suited to his needs, because of his historical input to Independence.
However Paul has become a prisoner of his audience and in turn now needs their finance because of his obvious disability. Therefore he will pander to the prevailing viewpoint whatever that may be. If tomorrow his followers condemn Nicola then so will Paul. It keeps the finances coming in.
Remain true to yourself Stu. Never change. Truth is more precious than gold in the jungle of politics.
I’m disappointed in many pundits other than Paul, but their lack of success drives them onward to more and more vitriol hoping to garner a following of sorts.
Wee Ginger Dug now sadly has the grace of the canine who pisses on your leg whilst your not looking, where once he was inclusive and open to debate. Now his site is censored heavily because his contributors don’t like to read anything negative. Sad.
@1971Thistle: no tax on gifts, I think. Sadly.
They are telling you they would like to be as successful as you.
You can comfort yourself with the fact I have never read you stoking division or being fashionable. You just report things and frankly that is all that’s needed.
How unlike the home life of Scotland’s churnalists.
Disappointed in Paul. He should apologise.
Police Scotland how about investigating the missing £600,000 ? Mike Russell how about a comment about the missing money ?
I think the lord advocate should be jailed.
Sadly there’s a lot of jealousy in the Yes “movement”. I heard about some stalls not wanting copies of the WBB last time.
It seems like there’s a lot of “Naw – I want to be William Wallace” around.
Good point above about WGD asking for donations for his site. You can get a domain name for about £15 and host if for a year for a fiver. Maybe he feels he deserves to be paid for putting the time and work in for his “journalism” – whether you agree with that description or not. Sounds fair enough to me as the guy has bills to pay same as everyone else. Maybe better to be more up front about it though.
Especially sad about iScot magazine. I’ll be cancelling my rolling subscription. I have also chipped in to help it over the years along with a few others on your list, notably Aye Mail and Phantom Power. At least they haven’t turned on you.
You’re worth more than all of them put together. And fortunately you know it. Bleak times for people of principle as the truth deniers, careerists and tribalists make hay. Ach well it could be worse we could be them. I’ll take the pain of reality over comforting delusions any day of the week ?
Agree with all that Sarah says @12.03pm.
Thank you, Rev. Some people are just too small and doggedly blinkered to recognise excellence. Some people just cannot bear to read the truth.
Your work is worthy of the Orwell Prize. The author of Nineteen-Eighty-Four would surely agree.
Disgusted that iScot cancelled your Dad’s subscription.
He’s grifted his way to getting people to buy him a house, he can insult all he likes now.
You say ‘today is going to be the quietest day in Scottish politics by some distance this week’.
Does this mean tomorrow/the weekend is expected to be news-busy, or was there a ‘so far’ missing from the sentence? 🙂
Haven’t been an admirer of Paul K for some time. He majors on sweety-wife invective and minors on researched evidence.
He also shares just about every emotion, which not only over-personalises issues but seeks money and attention as though other people in worse situations aren’t as important. I didn’t know until now about your father, Stuart. PK made sure that everyone not only knew about every aspect of his stroke but also how bored he was with being in hospital. And of course he raised funds for his own cause of buying a house.
People weren’t forced to contribute but I felt an element of emotional blackmail creeping in. And did the world have to know as much as it does about other aspects of his life? It felt as if his relationship with his readers was part ego, part emotional prop. I stopped reading him in The National. And now I have stopped reading The National full stop!
Wings shows WGD up in terms of detailed research/ hard graft. I also greatly admire bloggers such as Iain Lawson and Barrhead Boy, and very much appreciate the work of Gordon Dangerfield and Grousebeater. From a combination of all these, not WGD, I derive reliable information about what’s happening in Scottish politics.
Paul has a very good point about you stuart Campbell like alex salmond you lost your damn mind you really need to stop attacking the snp right now because England rule cults job for them your so up your arse you cant even see it you raving lunatic.
I remember getting WGD through to give us a talk a couple of years back. He asked for his expenses soon after arriving.
At the end of his talk (but included in the talk) he added his “Maps of Scotland with Gaelic place names for sale”. He left us a number of those maps that he wanted our YES Hub to sell for him.
So when he talks about “transactional” he wasn’t slow at coming forward to make a few bob from the Yes movement.
Add hypocrite to Kavanagh’s character.
@sarah @12h08
I think taper relief would apply, no?
It was a bloody compliment!!
Rev. Stuart Campbell says:
25 March, 2021 at 11:53 am
“Although I think your commentary has been well over the top recently. I hope you can find solace in the fact that many people appreciate your work”
Wow, thanks for that extraordinarily back-handed “compliment”.
I thought, and in fact did initially misread the titles a jobbyjabbers instead of backstabbers.
However, on reflection, maybe both could be true. The vile hatred that is being spewed out, even in my own semi urban constituency is remarkable. Ant dissent, difference in view, criticism of the leadership focus is met with personal hostility from what could be described as the Nicola Fan Club is absolutely incredible.
This is a party no longer fit to form a government. And it won’t because based on my own area, the SNP vote is dropping fast. If things are in disarray now, just think what would happen were the SNP, unlikely as it now is to form a government. Outright civil war.
Thankfully there will be other candidates to elect to bring this absolute shit show to heel.
Meanwhile keep the informative constructive criticism up Rev. People want change and they DO want independence.
I remember getting WGD through to give us a talk a couple of years back. He asked for his expenses soon after arriving.
At the end of his talk (but included in the talk) he added his “Maps of Scotland with Gaelic place names for sale”. He left us a number of those maps that he wanted our YES Hub to sell for him.
So when he talks about “transactional” he wasn’t slow at coming forward to make a few bob from the Yes movement.
Add hypocrite to Kavanagh’s character.
Sorry about the double comment it was a twitchy finger
This is good to know – but depressing that Scottish people have so few allies and so many impostors who just want to milk us forever.
Ive only been reading Wings for the last year. It has been the best source of evidence backed information. Nicola’s attack dogs are all bark and no bite, don’t ever let them stop you doing what you do. Your doing Scotland a great service.
To be stabbed in the back by people we’ve supported is a bitter pill to swallow.
Alex Salmond knows all about that. Many of those stabbing him in the back wouldn’t be where they are today without his help.
How do these people sleep at night?
You may call a spade a spade & don’t suffer fools gladly, but I for one trust your input and motives. You’ve done a massive amount for the cause of independence, and your problem with the SNP is based on their failure to prioritise that and be true to the movement.
We get your frustration, because we feel it too.
You are invaluable Stu. Keep going.
Don’t care too much about the fight. I never read more than a couple of posts by WGD because i found them too soft and hypothetical. I prefer the hard facts of WOS.
But i had to see what this was all about and so skim read the linked post. This is stunning!
Stu is ‘wrong’ because ‘Nicola Sturgeon is still in office and the proof of the conspiracy always remains in a document which has yet to be made public. It’s in the nature of conspiracy theories that they cannot be disproved. ‘
Wow, how blind can you be.
The High Court in Edinburgh has confirmed the conviction of former British diplomat-turned-whistleblower Craig Murray on one of the contempt of court charges filed against him by the Crown. The charge related to Murray’s alleged “jigsaw” identification of the identities of protected witnesses in the trial of former Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond.
“The court has concluded that, having regard to the context in which the articles appeared, including the terms of the article of 18th January and the tweet referring thereto on the 19th of January, that the articles of 11th, 18th, 19th March, 3rd April and the tweet of 2nd April, must be considered to constitute contempt of court relating to material capable of identifying four different complainers. We therefore make a finding of contempt of court. The reasons will be issued in full, in due course. Those reasons have been shared in draft with Mr Scott and the Advocate Depute”, Lady Leeona J Dorrian said.
The hearing only lasted a few minutes and adjourned until 7 May, 10AM, so that the parties may file their respective submissions in relation to sentencing. Murray faces up to two years in prison and an unlimited fine.
Paul Kavanagh: “despite my misgivings I went to court and spoke up in his defence. I deeply regret that. Unlike Stuart Campbell I can admit when I was wrong…”
Isn’t that Contempt of Court?
😐
That about iScot cancelling both your and your Dad’s subscriptions… wow. Never mind spiteful that’s fucking childish.
It’s embarrassing the amount of them I’ve put money towards over the years which sucks given their current ongoing attitudes towards truth (AS,NS), reality (GRA, HCB) and you.
The one that I’m happy to say I’ve never contributed towards has been Bella Caledonia because from the off I’ve thought they were hand waving pretend intellectual wankstains and I’ve no time for that kind of person, whether they pretend to be on ‘my side’ or not.
(link to sputniknews.com)
the link to the news about Craig.
Wee question. Any reason my posts are now being pre-moderated?
I don’t remember saying anything too dubious?
“Wee question. Any reason my posts are now being pre-moderated?
I don’t remember saying anything too dubious?”
[kills self]
Mike Small could have a look in the mirror,and see what he actually is
I used to link various posts on an (English) forum from about 6 of those mentioned, in the time period 2012 to about 2016
This was critisised by the Local toerag(or SNP Convenor as he liked to be called)citing against policy!!!!
That did not happen
obviously it both for me in point out the Scottish perspective and opened them up to wider audience.
At the end up I stopped because they were boring
Mike Small wants to be the big fish, jealousy I suspect, is the motivation
There seems to be two clear camps now – one for Independence and another for Nicola Sturgeon. I wonder what it’ll take for the latter group to catch up with the former for them to see NS as the primary block to the one goal we do all share.
It’s a heartbreaking and difficult time for almost all involved. The fact we’re even here should mean SNP heads ought to be on the “proverbial” block. I suppose it says everything you need to know about them that that’s not the case at all.
It seems that some people have forgotten that to get a majority for independence, you need the support of people that you disagree with on other matters and may even bitterly disagree with on those matters. 50%+1 is never going to be achieved by insisting that all involved should be enslaved by conformity to the political orthodoxy of the day. Some talk a lot about being in favour of diversity while simultaneously trying to extinguish diversity of thought and silence the diversity of voices in favour of independence.
The more other issues that support for independence and the acceptance of that support is made conditional on, the less chance there will be of ever achieving it. I recall that this is called the “Buckaroo principle” in these pages.
Gave up on Paul Kavanagh about 3 years ago. Never really bothered with Bella Caledonia from shortly after first referendum. They are not missed – WoS would be missed very much.
“Your point about a new movement needing to grow, “including Wings” is heartening, especially the Wings bit.”
Sorry, I phrased that clumsily – what I really meant was that the 2014 generation of Yes activists probably all needs to piss off if there’s ever another indyref, including Wings. Personally I’d happily go the rest of my life without ever hearing from Lesley Riddoch or Gerry fucking Hassan or Elaine C Smith again, and I can only imagine that normal folk feel pretty similarly about it after years and years of the same old voices. Is Paul’s 2000th “the Tories are bad” rant going to change anyone’s mind that the first 1999 didn’t? I doubt it, and I don’t think I’m an exception to that principle either.
What’s to say Mr Wings:-) Human beings are futile at best and wicked at worst and we are in the worst of times.
Given that the Dug wrote a ‘defence’ of you in the ‘National’ I think we can easily make a judgement on the cause of loyalty and friendship. In fact if it weren’t so offensive it’s actually laughable and we ALL KNOW that the Ginger Dug has BOTH his eyes on the wallet.
Paul Kavanagh looks after himself and always did. My perception of him has never been positive, even when everyone else thought he was wonderful. He has none of your creative and research talents and always needs someone else to either lean on or blame – so don’t be upset by his sycophancy to a wicked cause.
I know it’s not really relevant but if I’m low I usually find relief in remembering that many people have it worse than me (I abhor the ‘count your blessings brigade’) Imagine how awful these ‘killing’ times have been for Mr Salmond and his wife. I’ve had an awful lot of shit in my life as did my poor mother who died when I was 7 months old and HER poor mother who ‘disappeared presumed dead’ when she was 10 months old. I think I’ve worked out how not to be bitter, but the pain of unnecessary hurt from people who ought to have better things to do with their lives, can almost destroy any prospect of hope.
Take care and rest and be assured that there is much ‘storge’ and thanks for all your efforts. Times will get better – even if they get worse before they get better.
Ignore all the shills – they are what they are and because they are crutches to Sturgeon they will be either broken or cast aside at some point.
“Mike Small wants to be the big fish, jealousy I suspect, is the motivation”
Of that I have no doubt whatsoever.
It has to be jealousy, that’s all. I don’t know the Rev personally, never had any dealings with him but unlike the majority of blog owners, he plays it completely straight, no fucking about, no ego or power trips which most blog owners and mods tend to have.
It’s come to a point where intelligent people have no time left for the stupid and the gullible, the ignorant and the craven, the opportunists and the ditherers.
We can’t carry you over the line, over and over again.
We’re tired of your shit. Either get off and start walking with your own legs, or be abandoned behind forever to rot in your own crap.
This is not a matter of rich or poor, privilege or disadvantage, or other accident of life.
It’s about a chronic state of wilful ignorance and pathological denial.
With all the empathy and compassion I owe to those that are victims of unfortunate circumstances, everyone else that doesn’t cut it will not get any more of my time.
Want a piece of me? DESERVE IT.
WGD has transformed some time ago into part get well soon card, part massage parlour for Nicola’s ego and part petted lip.
I don’t wish Paul Kavanagh any ill health in the slightest, I hope he gets better sooner rather than later physically and mentally.
Thanks for all your hard work, dedication and genuine patriotism, Stuart. At the end of the day – and when we’ve been dragged out of EU against our will etc, etc – and still not a sign of a referendum under this bogus crew, we’ll at least have a conscience. ‘We’ll’ being anyone with the balls to call out criminality.
I’ve often heard it said, have encountered it occasionally over my years, but some folk would indeed sell their granny for any old reason. The people stabbing you in the back can never be close to the man, the legend – yes, the legend – that you’ve become, and that’s probably partly their petty, wee problem.
Great Scot, mate, thanks for being exactly who you are.
“Isn’t that Contempt of Court?”
He doesn’t mean he lied (he didn’t). He means he regrets his decision to try to help, because I’m such an awful person.
My biggest regret long before Ginger came out with his abuse of you Wings, was the donation I made to help him with his house.. I always found him BORING to listen to, & also to read. I stopped reading his “blog” some time ago. And blocked him on Twitter, I can’t stand the man who I refer to as a creep, he uses social media & YES supporters to finance his lifestyle. He is a user..And always was.
Gave up reading WGD last year. No point really.
PK says his blog is to put a positive spin on Independence but actually all he does is put the negative spin on Westminster.
Well,Hold the Front Page, I know Bojo + Tories are corrupt, self serving bastards, otherwise I wouldn’t be supporting Independence.
They do seem very threatened by you but to this floating voter it lacks taste !
Think by the end of this process I might be less floating and more directed !
Bella Caledonia – Grousebeater is DYING. Mentioning him in that sarcastic tweetbis lower than fucking snakeballs.
I think the claims made against you are ridiculous and it is typical of Trans Activist & supporters & other left wings groups to project their own faults on to others. BTW I also remember you helping your friends fundraiser for their cat’s vet bill which i contributed to.
I no longer support the Indy cause because i think its a lost cause and will never happen. I dont want to waste my time chasing a rainbow when i could be doing better things. I have no problem with others supporting Indy if they tell the truth.
David Davis showed his support for Alex Salmond recently and you can be friends with people with different views and debate can be done respectfully. While i think many Indy supporters are good people, I also believe many in the movement are vile, delusional, cult followers, and very nasty. Every time i see someone say all tories are bastards or similar attacks or hatred of the British flag, the Armed Forces, attacking Vera Lynn, Captain Tom etc, I am glad I no longer stand beside those people. I suspect a large number of those views are from people with Irish backgrounds who are anti English for historical reasons and it is worth noting the largest areas for Indy support in 2014 were in Glasgow and Dundee.
I am a historian and the British Empire had faults as did all other empires. Scots played a very large role in the GB empire in Civil Service, Military, trade and politics. While we can learn from the past, it is the future that matters more. I don’t see any realistic plans by the SNP for a Referendum or for currency, economy, EU membership, jobs or austerity when paying share of UK debts. Also the last 13 years of SNP administration has been poor especially in education and health. If Indy supporters believe Scotland will be better off in the future, maybe start by doing a good job of running the country now. We know Sturgeon, Swinney and all the Cabinet lie so how can you believe their claims for the future?
“Rev. Stuart Campbell says:
25 March, 2021 at 12:30 pm
“Isn’t that Contempt of Court?”
He doesn’t mean he lied (he didn’t). He means he regrets his decision to try to help, because I’m such an awful person.”
“ooh you are awful, but we like you”
And that has never changed. Your crime is in questioning our glorious leader. You’d think that they’d see how worrying it is to see how much they are willing to accept for 5 more years of St Nikla.
Ungrateful, jealous, snide simpletons couldn’t hold a candle to you son xx
Stu, the first WGD link points to the same article as the iScot one above it.
Over the years, I have found your pieces overly puglistic at times, which no doubt rubs gentler flowers the wrong way, but I have always admired your logic and steadfastness. Anyone reading your work who believes you are some sort of fly by night, fair weather friend is an idiot.
Stuart – you are a flawed individual, but so am I, and so are many others. Let those who believe themselves to be without flaws cast their stones from their ivory towers.
Much as I wish you were an absolute paragon of virtue, I can accept the flaws for one very important reason. You have shown yourself to be, over many years, an insightful commentator with harsh truths and predictions which are typically very close to the target. Quite often, the truth is hard to bear, but that does not make it any less accurate.
Your forensic journalism is to be applauded and although I’ve had to swallow hard on some of the more contemporary musings, I’m still clapping for you. Keep it up!
The YES/Indy movement is broken and, as you say, “A whole new movement of new people will have to grow organically from nothing again”. This may, or may not come to pass, but I do not want independence at any cost. I abhor the victimisation of people who carefully speak up for the truth.
I believe that the SNP has no desire whatsoever for independence for Scotland and that they are NOT the vehicle for independence any longer and not deserving of my precious vote, which will go elsewhere.
You are due our grateful thanks Stu, for your bravery, for all you have done, for all you continue to do and for your support of those who are attacked for standing up for truth.
I am sure we will all continue to support this site as you support us.
The toxic SNP culture is set from the top. The followers curry favour with the leadership and become part of the bullying culture. They are emboldened because they know that NS sycophants have their back. They feel untouchable, part of the powerful clique. And so feel quite at liberty to trash everyone else. But they are no longer part of the independence movement. They are part of the SNP establishment.
All that is left of the independence movement is a small vilified, persecuted grouping that is trying to keep hope alive while the dream flickers and dies.
my mistake Stu, I see WGD is mentioned in the iScot one too
What an absolutely dispiriting read. That’s all.
Stu, anyone who knows me at all in real life knows I’m not a ‘follower’ by any stretch of the imagination. I regularly read sources I trust even if I don’t always agree with them & allow dissenting views to challenge my thinking whether I enjoy the experience or not. Several times in my life I’ve been persuaded to change my position radically on topics because people with evidence have convinced me of the strength of their argument. And it has nothing to do with liking them or not.
I’ve been reading your blog on a near enough daily basis since 2014 because I trust your output more than nearly anyone else involved in Scottish politics.
Please keep up the good work. And try to ignore the yapping of small dogs who wish they had a fraction of your talent & integrity.
“You’d think that they’d see how worrying it is to see how much they are willing to accept for 5 more years of St Nikla.”
Apologies for the above. Try again:
You’d think they’d realise that their willingness to accept so much for 5 more years of St Nikla is worrying to non cult members.
Well said Rev, they couldn’t lace your boots when it comes to telling the truth, as for iScot, what a truly despicable thing to do to your ill father.
I for one am more than happy to frequent Wing’s. It’s a unique site and very entertaining. The rest are pale imitations. The fact that his detractors howls of despair are loud and constant, shows us he’s over the target. Take heart from this fabulous blog,it far surpasses all others,and the MSM.
Rev, there’s a comment you need to take a look at on the government piece at 10:28am.
Fuxxake. I’ve donated to most of these folks, from
WGD to WoS.
I’m sick of all of this.
And I pretty much give up.
So where now for WOS ? Will wings be endorsing a list party ? Can wings influence isp & afi to pull together ? Short of alex salmond entering the Frey wings seems to be everyone’s (including) the snp msps collection point.i think the snp and greens are hitching together to sideline the list partys for this election thereby ensuring the status quo and no movement.Only way we can stop this is to have one list party to get behind and with the backing of wings an inbuilt audience and voting base to give the snp/greens a run for their (our money) . Nicola is a manager we require a leader.DONT GET MAD GET EVEN .
Rev. Stuart Campbell says:
That might be a little extreme!
The art of followship.
link to thenational.scot
After you! No, after you! No, after you….until hell freezes over.
Never read WGD. Cant even remember why, I think I just thought it was pish for some reason when I visited many moons ago.
In fact that whole list above is a list of sites I never visit.
Newsnet actually sounds vague familiar, I see it was a merger with that Bateman guy (a blast from the past name) who I’ve not read anything from since 2014 (presumably when he merged).
Bella Caledonia I read articles on now and then when people would link to articles on it on other sites, but not for many years, again probably since 2014. But even then I’d be amazed if it was more than half a dozen times.
So I went and had a look at WGD.
Wow, his entire article is one long whining bitch about the Rev. How old is this guy. He comes across as about 14.
Campbell did this and Campbell did that and Campbell said this so I said that, so I did…. paragraph after droning paragraph. It was like reading some greeting faced teenager.
I think someone said the guy was unwell but if you write something as snide as that you deserve all you get.
Paul Kavanagh is a sniveling cunt. I can see why his site is a mecca for thick wankers.
“Why’s The People Versus Carmichael getting the red pen treatment?”
Same reason as the others. (Specifically down to Tim Morrison.)
That is very worrying news about Craig Murray, even if it was expected. He can’t now use his website to launch a fundraiser, which will be a real problem.
I hope if he does a fundraiser for his legal fees, people on here will contribute to it and publicise it.
Stuart your contribution to Scotland’s quest for Independence shines a light into the dark side of deceit which has become a trademark of this current SNP Leadership hosted by Nicola Sturgeon and her husband in law Peter Murrell.
I note iSCOT are on your red list and as a consequence they will cease to be supported in this house. Following the antics of twa collie dugs on the Isle of Skye appears to be its strongest suite judging by space allocated in every edition. Might it be the case that Sturgeons camp followers are aw dugs?
Keep up the good work Stuart, it is essential, any future crowdfunder will be generously supported.
“Rev, there’s a comment you need to take a look at on the government piece at 10:28am.”
Sorted, thanks.
Dude, I will put my money where my support is, when its required. Keep the faith and we should re-group for when the time is right. I agree with you, its not any time soon. More’s the pitty.
“Bella Caledonia – Grousebeater is DYING.”
One man dying, one man probably being sent to jail, Mike doesn’t care so long as he can gloat and virtue-signal about it and try to make himself feel relevant.
Stay with it Rev – I may not always agree with your style of wording, but your analysis and presentation of narrative redolent with supporting evidence to back it is quite brilliant.
You are Scotland’s champion and tower over all in intellectual terms, moral integrity and honesty.
The problem is all politicians are dodgy – they lack critical facilities and ultimately can only be successful if they single-mindedly act to further their own self interest. Sad but true.
To get Independence we need a true leader to emerge – pygmies like Sturgeon and Blackford are not up to the task but their egos are full to busting, so are unable to reflect, learn and thereby become better leaders.
Please keep on doing what you do…. and don’t try to carry the YES movement. Leave those others to sink or swim.
The Yes movement, if there is such a thing, is in pause mode. Sturgeon started and encouraged the divisions and I suspect there is worse to come.
On the positive side, those within the SNP and the broader YES camp who are charlatans (e.g. Devo-Maxers like Swinney and Devo Whatevers like Pete the Slipper) will reveal themselves as such in due course.
Perhaps the best solution might be to recognise that the YES movement now needs to morph into a broader coalition which recognises and respects different political perspectives, not just the WOKE agenda promoted by Sturgeon and Harvie.
Therefore in the short term I hope ISP can gain traction by winning a handful of seats on the list – this will keep pressure on the SNP to stay honest at least with regard to independence and will allow the Independence movement to develop and mature.
I will probably vote SNP on constituency because he is a good candidate with a long pedigree in supporting independence. If the SNP candidate was a WOKE I would not vote for them and would rather spoil the ballot. ISP gets my list vote.
Just to put on record that my modestly successful blog Yours for Scotland has never required any financial support from anyone, before they say it because I am famously wealthy (that is a joke) but I have enjoyed good relations with the Rev Stu and have always found him helpful. I admire his journalistic ability.
I would warn WGD if he takes a dig at me I might compare my blog that runs without the need for money compared to his where only money could explain some of the outrageous articles he has authored defending the indefensible as he seeks to hold on to his Nikkla loyal readership.
Rev. Stuart Campbell says:
25 March, 2021 at 12:52 pm
“Why’s The People Versus Carmichael getting the red pen treatment?”
Same reason as the others. (Specifically down to Tim Morrison.)
Well they’re all private individuals and obviously very strong-willed and opinionated or they wouldn’t have done what they did. I don’t presume to speak for them but I know for a fact that some of those involved are still appreciative of your support. As a single-issue campaign group it never attacked anyone (unless you count Carmichael).
your words speak truth, unlike the fork-tongues …
link to youtube.com
I remember the Orkney appeal, looking back I wonder how much of the crowdfund came via WoS. It had to be a shock to Parliament that ordinary people could take a senior MP to court.
I think it was £200k raised. Perhaps one of the Orkney people might comment if they have an understanding of what proportion of that came via WoS. The original website seems to be down, or I might have asked there.
As Rev Stu indicates, this does feel like the beginning of the end of the 2014 Yes movement that was so inspiring. Personally I attribute that inspiration to Alex Salmond’s passion and dedication to the goal. The Covid Queen had big shoes to fill and choose self fulfilment over selfless aspirations demonstrated by of her predecessor.
We shall never achieve independence without acts of selfless conviction and well directed efforts. For those willing to look it’s very clear the Covid Queen will never get us there.
Very sad times, zero to gloat about by the anti-wings cabal.
Love your work Stu, for me you have my 100% support as long as you need it.
The arrival of The National really changed a lot of people. From having their own voice they saw the potential of a steady income and a way to increase their reach.
Unfortunately, the editorial line of The National has become one of unequivocal NS support so the tame bloggers had to find a way to be useful to that propaganda. Unless you have a bit more reach like Kevin McKenna (where his views vary depending on what paper he writes for) you are stuck churning out the same stuff for the troops.
Even Lesley Riddoch has tempered her output now that she is a regular with the Herald. And as for Ruth Wishart, well she is a product of the Scottish Press through and through and they all revert to type eventually.
a whole new movement of new people will have to grow organically from nothing again as it did back then, and of course that also includes Wings.
For what it is worth (Barrheadboy) I would much rather be in the trenches with you than any of those you have highlighted above.
… an irascible, mercurial bugger with no patience for stupidity …
That’s a keeper.
Galling as their ingratitude is Stu, it’s a back handed compliment really. None of them can hold a candle to this site: they envy and fear you in equal measure. The past few years have shown many of us the true character of these charlatans.
I think you’re right about the need for something new for the next independence campaign. I’ve long been if there opinion that it was a strategic mistake for the broader Yes movement to basically be in hock to one dominant party. Let’s face it, that approach has comprehensively failed. I now have my doubts we can even anticipate having an umbrella organisation for the next campaign. I’d find it next to impossible to campaign shoulder to shoulder with three kind of folk supporting Sturgeon and the current SNP.
The sooner we have a viable alternative the better in my view. Sadly, this won’t be the work of months, it will take years. We need to target 2026 for plebiscitary elections on the back of a new party committed to taking independence not asking for it, a party opposed to SNP gradualists, the HCB, self ID & the attack on self expression represented by the current SNP leadership.
Independence needs to be established on the right foundations. Looking at the current SNP ensuring a new party is not anything like them would be a good start. Whether it’s the ISP, a new party or just ensuring that existing parties sign up for acceptable practices and principles remains to be seen. I suppose we’ll have to await the outcome of 2021 elections for a steer on where to go next?
It seems that you don’t intend to give up on Wings just yet. Thank God for that. We need you more than ever now. Even WGD and your other critics will need you someday. They don’t realise it yet, but they will.
I can only imagine the toll it takes on your mental health reading the vitriol you are subjected to relentlessly, everyday. You must be incredibly resilient.
Having people you once regarded as friends treat you in this manner is the most hurtful – especially when you have plugged and helped them in their causes. Doesn’t matter how strong we are. It hurts and jades your perspective on who you can count as friends thereafter.
Bit different, however I had similar happen after a separation. People I counted as friends stopped getting in touch. Sides were taken. Cue the slaggin’ off and nasty comments. Was my judgement about my so-called friends characters way off? No. People change when they get jealous or angry and this was their issue, not mine.
Stay strong and don’t let them change you.
There was a period Rev where you seemed to have lost the plot. Banging on about trans rights etc. As information and events emerged over the last year, your seeming abrupt switch to an anti-SNP stance started to make more sense. Murray and Dangerfield added more perspective and slowly my own views, not on independence, but on the fitness of the people professing to lead us there, changed.
WGD made what at the time seemed the rational decision to stay in the tent, but the storm is just getting worse and the tent is leaking.
I like Bella for the ideas (if not the lack of subediting).
There’s other sites like Common Space, Business For Scotland, Tax Research, etc, that just don’t get enough publicity.
Right now Scot Goes Pop seems to be taking the most pragmatic approach to events and the forthcoming election. Am I going to vote SNP? Or unionist? It’s the dilemma New Labour voters had. Obviously I’m not going to vote unionist, but if I re-elect my current MSP it will be with all the enthusiasm of clearing up cat sick.
“There’s other sites like Common Space, Business For Scotland, Tax Research, etc, that just don’t get enough publicity.”
Common Space hasn’t existed for quite some time now.
If my Facebook feed is anything to by there is a concerted attempt by various Foote (sic) soldiers to distribute Sturgeon worship to increasingly lumpen eejits. It’s crossed over into my Celtic fan feed with both votes bollocks and the idea that Celtic fans need to get behind her because of course everyone who opposes Imelda and Ferdinand’s rule is a yoon.
I point out her less than even handed treatment of the Rangers riot and the role of Police Scotland in providing an escort. Goes quiet then. Or they come out with Sarwar is a Gers fan. As a Scottish patriot I don’t want Glasgow derby rivalry getting in the way of our destiny, and I’d love to see what other independently minded Indy supporters think of setting up a discussion. However ,the cynicism of the SNP who as their OBF legislation showed despise the working class culture and values of football is breathtaking.
Paul Kavanagh has been going through an extremely difficult time because of his stroke.
One reason people seek donations or subscriptions to a blog is that the time and effort required to do it well makes it hard to find an alternative source of income, especially if you’ve had a stroke.
Personally I attribute that inspiration [in the 2014 yes campaign] to Alex Salmond’s passion and dedication to the goal.
Yes, totally. When people talk of Alex being “difficult to work with” or a bully, I don’t doubt that. I suspect he doesn’t suffer fools and if you did something wrong you’d feel his temper. People who are very successful leaders are often like that.
But, as a member of the SNP under both his and Sturgeon’s leadership, the SNP (and Yes campaign) were brilliant and fun places to be. There was a huge openness, loads of debate, we were all learning vast amounts about politics and how to do it all the time. He was a brilliant leader, who took Scotland from a place where independence was a fringe lunatic position no one believed could happen to a place it so nearly did.
Under Sturgeon it’s the complete opposite – it’s a tiny minded, closed, actually scary place to be. People are hounded out the party for not toeing the leadership line on absolutely everything, however crazy or counter to your own interests it might be. The wider independence movement are slated and silenced. There is no debate and Sturgeon acolytes actually seem proud about their “no debate” line.
So I know if I had to actually work for either Nicola or Alex, it would be Alex every time. It’s patently obvious who the bigger bully is, simply from being a party member.
The SNP LT have us all in a big sack tied off at the top, like a bag o ferrets. No real purpose, just to fight amongst ourselves.
The only thing to do is gnaw our way out of the side and set off on our own..
Never having been any use at jigsaws, or even interested in them, I have been quite unable to identify anyone. A couple of days ago, looking for something else, I stumbled on a site which explicitly identified one of the complainers by name, giving the letter of the alphabet that related to her. I was so astonished I did not even take note of the website, and haven’t a clue how to navigate back there (computers, and how they work, are in the same category as jigsaws for me!).
Nor do I have any desire to find it again anyway. The issue doesn’t interest me, and I don’t need to know who any of the complainers were.
What does interest me is the question of selective prosecution. If the names of complainers are still being openly bandied about on the web today, so long after the trial, why is Craig Murray the only person being prosecuted?
I almost said ‘Why is Craig Murray the only person being prosecuted for it?’ – but if I had, the ‘for it’ would be wrong. As far as I understand it, Craig Murray never went nearly as far as the website I stumbled on the other day. He never did mention any name of any of the complainers, nor did he attach any name to a letter of the alphabet. All he is supposed to have done is to have said something or other through which some other people, if they were good at jigsaws, might use to guess who one or another or even three or four of the complainers might be.
Yet I would not be surprised if there are people who read all the articles in question which Craig posted on his blog who are still – like I was until I stumbled on that other blogsite, nothing to do with Craig Murray, the other day – completely in the dark about the identity of any of the complainers.
Granted the political implications of this and other selective prosecutions, this surely has to be a matter to be taken up with (and publicised by) Amnesty International and other relevant and high profile international bodies.
Even though I am lousy at jigsaws, I think I am beginning to identify a strong link between the inordinate and unusual delay in Lady D’s arriving at a judgement in such a simple matter and the fact that the sentencing will not take place until the day after the election. Can somebody please help me – do these two pieces somehow fit together?
(I have unfortunately forgotten the judge’s name, but I think it begins with a ‘D’. Maybe it’s better that I just stick to that alphabetical designation anyway, if only to spare Lady ‘D’ her blushes.)
sog says:
25 March, 2021 at 1:03 pm
“I remember the Orkney appeal, looking back I wonder how much of the crowdfund came via WoS. It had to be a shock to Parliament that ordinary people could take a senior MP to court.
I think it was £200k raised. Perhaps one of the Orkney people might comment if they have an understanding of what proportion of that came via WoS. The original website seems to be down, or I might have asked there.”
13.8% of donations came as a result of referrals from Wings Over Scotland.
“13.8% of donations came as a result of referrals from Wings Over Scotland.”
So nearly £30,000? Wow. I had no idea.
So where now for wings ? Will wings be endorsing a list party ? Can wings influence isp & afi to pull together ? Short of Alex salmond entering the frey wings seems to be everyone’s collection point I think the snp and greens are hitching together to sideline the list partys for this election thereby ensuring the status quo and no movement . Only way we can stop this is to have one list party to get behind and with the backing of wings an inbuilt audience and voting base to give the snp/greens a run for (our money) nicola is a manager we require a leader . DONT GET MAD GET EVEN .
It is refreshing to get some perspective on heated opinions and indeed stand back and look at the true picture. Your input and staunch support for the cause of independence is well appreciated Stuart and your commentary, especially in recent times has been invaluable.
Thank you
With regard to WGD, I never liked his writing that much as it seemed to always state the bleeding obvious. However, his stroke has brought some change in him as you would expect and apart from the problems he has documented he is now obviously much more irritable.
Does that give him the right to rewrite history? Not as far as I am concerned. The only good thing he had going for him was his brave choice to support the Rev and now that he has gone back on even that, well what can you say? He is not the man I thought he was.
If there is another IndyRef, campaigning will be so regulated and open only to those whose faces fit that grassroots organisations might as well not bother trying to join.
Will the Wee Blue Book be consigned to the bonfire by the NuSNP acolytes as only regulated reading material look like it will be allowed?
Willie @ 12:16
You seem to be capable of a bit of vile hatred all by yourself?
Stu may wish to delete this tweet as it relates a personal conversation.
Somewhere around a year ago I mentioned to Stuart that I was worried Paul seemed to be losing all perspective in matters touching on Nicola and her commitment to Indyref2, or lack thereof.
Stu steered me away from any criticism, and said I should be more understanding given various difficult personal circumstances Paul was experiencing and related financial difficulties. He was concerned to make every allowance possible. Stu also much later contacted me with the news of Paul’s stroke with a view to our doing anything possible to help. I think that is important background.
The ginger dug is a parasite. Anyone who crowdfunds their own wedding is little more than a common thief.
Haven’t posted for a while, Hotmail thing is an issue but main reason is that I’m so pissed off that Sturgeon appears to have got away with it. I cannot believe that we have a situation where thousands of people know exactly what she did, we all know she needs to go to jail and yet she has faced zero consequences for her actions and yet is still walking around free with imbeciles like ginger dug and the rest fawning at her feet.
It makes me sick to my stomach. I’m disgusted with the state of the country.
“The ginger dug is a parasite. Anyone who crowdfunds their own wedding is little more than a common thief.”
I was careful not to criticise Paul in the piece for stuff like that or for getting his readers to buy him a house, because the point about crowdfunders is that they’re ultimately self-policing. As long as you tell people what they’re donating for then it’s none of anyone else’s business.
And even in the case of someone like “Bonnie Prince Bob”, who I think is completely at it with his “election” crowdfunder, if people want to give him money when he hasn’t even said what he’ll spend it on then it’s their money, and nobody else, including me, has any place moaning about it. He’s said “Give me cash for whatever” they’ve said “Okay”, and my opinion has no role to play in the matter.
Obviously the SNP raising money for a “ringfenced indyref campaign fund” and then spending it on elections is another matter entirely.
Keep strong Rev – the truth will always prevail.
‘When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him’.
– Jonathan Swift
My point being that I found Stu’s attitude to Paul to be of toleration, understanding and kindness that it took a lot of abuse to snap.
Does anyone know what Craig Murray was actually found guilty of i.e. what specific article or thing he wrote that was deemed contempt of court. Obviously don’t repeat it but was it something in his First Minister satire piece for example or was it something else.
I ask because I read his stuff religiously during this all and try as I might I could not work out who the accusers were never mind which accuser was which alphabet woman.
So whatever they found him guilty of it must have been pretty flimsy is my guess.
Any chance, Rev of you going for a slot on the Edinburgh Fringe after COVID? I’d be buying a ticket!
Your is the blog I go to first every day.
I also read GB, Gordon Dangerfield, Ian Lawson, Barrhead Boy, Tommy Sheridan, as you all have something to say.
I stopped reading WGD a couple of years ago as I thought he had nothing to say of interest.
That he has now become vindictive is very sad, as someone else said, a stroke can change your personality.
I used to read Bella at the start cos they had some good articles on media, film and TV.
Can’t remember the last time I looked.
Yours is the only blog I have contributed to because it’s deserved.
There has always been something iffy in the Scottish psyche.
There is a lack of generosity of spirit which I have noticed before in many people.
Probaly none of us have fully escaped unscathed from 300 years of colonisation.
I hope you don’t give this blog up, though it would not surprise me if you took a long sabbatical
Certain people in the Yes movement have been posing as radicals for years, while grifting for ScotGov funding with stupid box-ticking exercises (“rate your project out of 10 in addressing the Climate Crisis” etc. etc.), and then curiously enough, writing red-tinted panegyrics for the SNP.
Peter Oborne, writing of New Labour, spoke of their “civil society complicity strategy” – funding for praise – and it was brought wholesale to Scotland. Before fundamental rights like free speech were at stake in our national debate, this all felt depressingly predictable. Now it’s enraging.
the king is dead, long live the queen
your RT interview with AS was the turning point, probably, for
many SNP loyalists
there was a paradigm shift in your content, too
blinkers were removed
the reality of the indy situation became obvious
NS nods to LE to enact retribution
as unpredictable as that seems, looking back it was quite likely
i sincerely hope that you continue after may 6th
i visit every day & would miss your analysis
however, i do appreciate what you are up against
respect
I still believe in independence. I believe the people of Scotland are sovereign and should have their own sovereign state where the government and parliament can be held accountable to the people.
My belief is the SNP no longer have any intentions of delivering independence. Their priority is power for themselves. They have become a corrupt party of colonial administration pushing their own agendas that’s nothing to do with independence.
Even worse, some of their agendas threaten our human rights and are a threat to the campaign for Scottish independence.
The SNP should be actively opposed by all legal means possible.
Credit to Stu, he’s decided to speak out rather than be popular with pro-SNP, pro-Sturgeon people.
So, it’s a shame when things get personal rather than sticking to debating the politics.
I often think it must be lonely in your shoes given the amount of crap you put up with daily, much of which we don’t have a clue about. I know it’s not much help but remember there are a great many of us who know how big the yes movement’s debt is to you. I just wish you weren’t so right all the time and we were on track to winning independence next year. But for me, it’s over now. I just want to have nothing to do with the lot of them. If the UK government decides I am not to be allowed to stay in Scotland after all, maybe it will be for the best. I am no longer a believer.
Sorry, I went all ranty (will I get the jail for saying my autocorrect changed that to randy?). I really just wanted to say thanks.
“robert alexander harrison says:
25 March, 2021 at 12:15 pm
Paul has a very good point about you stuart Campbell like alex salmond you lost your damn mind you really need to stop attacking the snp right now because England rule cults job for them your so up your arse you cant even see it you raving lunatic.”
Have you noticed Stuart, that your detractors such as the nutter above, are both illiterate and clearly deranged?
This is very reassuring.
Stu, I don’t read or participate in any of their blogs any longer ,as I don’t agree with the majority of what is said there any longer. As far as a long time Wings reader , there has been no one else out there spilling the beans like you, so a big ta from me. With regards to the organisations and individuals who have bitten the hands who fed them – that is their loss. As my old boy always said, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Don’t want you or my fellow wingers to change course one bit.
Craig Murray…
As you’ve popped up on here for some hopefully light relief, can I ask that you keep up your excellent work and make sure we’re all aware of how/when/what assistance can be given. Best…RK
What a week it’s been for treating justice and accountability like the height of shite!
I’m cynical by nature, but even I’m astounded by the sheer blatant and in yer face corruption of government and Scottish institutions.
Glancing through social media I can only hope the NS cult followers are bots. Coz if this is a reflection of the general public I think they’ve been rohypnoled by the NS propaganda!!!! Have people no critical thinking skills left in them?
NS seems emboldened, I dread to think what 5 more years of an NS government will bring.
Political persecution and corruption seems to be the new normal, and it seems like peeps want to vote for that – fucking bewildering!!!!!
H Scott says:
25 March, 2021 at 1:18 pm
Paul Kavanagh has been going through an extremely difficult time because of his stroke.
If I were to be a cynical person I’d suggest that WGD knows fine well that mentioning Wings drives up his readership and he’s become a shill in order to drive up his readership. Strokes can change people’s personality but in this case it’s changed very little that was of value in the man. he’s always been chasing the money.
REVSTU, Your work is invaluable to the independence cause. I genuinely find it hard to believe that so many have seemingly forgot the role you actively played on a daily basis refuting unionist lies. Day in, day out, you sytematically and methodically destroyed every single unionist argument against independence. Yet, seemingly iScot, James Kelly and Bella, have all decided to forget that.
I am always open to other view points. I don’t read Wings and nothing else, I read all the indy blogs and sources like the Torygraph and others. It is important to see how our opponents try to frame their argument. I do think you detailed forensic analysis and attention to detail, is way superior to anything else in the independence movement, and it is vital.
Of REAL genuine concern to me, is what Paul Kavanagh has said. I had the very highest respect for his views (even when I disagreed), and I enjoyed his humour – I have two of his books, signed by him. I just don’t understand how somebody such as that can be so quick to forget your role in indy 2014, and before. Is it really just because you think a woman is an adult human female (an actual fact, btw)? Are these people really soooo shallow, as to condemn you outright simply because you will not drink the anti-women and homophobic gender woo-woo Kool aid?
Of course I really do not think any of this nastiness within the movement would ever have come about, if the SNP had carried out their electoral mandates, keeping an independent Scotland within the EU. The endles do-nothing approach of the SNP leadership has left the indy movement squabbling among itself. To this day, some in the SNP hierarchy are still at it, with snidy conceited twitter postings mocking Craig Murray, Alex Salmond and youself. Mind, I am now solidy of the opinion, that a great many within the SNP hierarchy now serve England’s security services and NOT the people of Scotland.
It is all designed to keep stirring things. All designed to keep fights going. They don’t want us to get past the Alex Salmond nonsense, they don’t want us to focus on independence. ‘Divide and Conquer’, is what England does to keep its colonies, like Scotland. Perfidious Albion is the right name, perfidious indeed, lying, treacherous, duplicitous, cheating.
We cannot be free of them soon enough, them and their ‘Intelligence officers and covert human intelligence sources’ WITHIN the SNP, ‘scottishy’BBC and Crown office.
O/T Looking forward to watching our National Scotland football team play their game tonight, live on SCOTTISH Television..Makes having the TV licence all worth while..
Great to see The O’Jays – and those magnificent 70s afros!
It is interesting that the blogs and news outlets that provide critical, well-researched articles have large numbers of visitors and can stand independently.
The rest remain dependent on their benefactor.
PS
Rule of Law or rule of personality.
Which is the prefered route for the ‘Traditional Values’ cult spawning?
I do hope Craig Murray a once respected voice in the scheme of things doesn’t get too tough a time of it. You know what it’s like when you step out of line and get caught then refuse to accept responsibility or step back from the front.
Isn’t all this typically Scottish. Our history is absolutely littered with examples whereby we fought among ourselves and England took advantage.
No nation on earth has a greater history of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory – we reeally are a hopeless case.
And we will always, I fear, have “tractors” like Jack in our midst, who would rather be ruled by England than have us rule ourselves.
It suits the Tories to have Sturgeon in charge. She isn’t going to push for Independence the way Alex Salmond would; she is no threat to them, so, she will be kept in place.
They don’t have a “Scottish” Tory who could attract midges to a picnic, and “Scottish” Labour is a waste of space.
With the help of Sturgeon and Co, they have all but finished Alex Salmond – the one Scottish politician they really fear, now they are coming for the dangerous pro-Independence Scottish bloggers.
I would be extremely worried as to my personal liberty, if I was Stuart Campbell, but, he is still our best media hope of alerting Scotland’s people to the dangers of this Tory Government.
Keep fighting Stuart, we are still behind you.
I remember Paul some time ago talking about publishing a book and naming it Wee Ginger Book clearly an acknowledgement of the contribution the Wee Blue Book made in 2014, what short memories some people have.
Don’t let these people get to you Stu keep doing what you’re doing,I used to be a big fan of Paul but if he’s happy to sit back and say nothing when an innocent man is falsely accused and his life all but destroyed because it’s inconvenient to speak up he’s no friend of mine or the independence movement.
And of course they will come back to apologise on the back of the
proof that you just posted?
They will come on hear to read about what they don’t know and
what they don’t want to know.
The Rev is hated as he records their marinations and holds them up to
be accounted for them.
That’s cheating in their corrupt immoral political circles.
I don’t agree with everything that the Rev posts but I must say I’ve never
encountered anything that I would call a lie.
I dream of having a Scottish government I could one day say that of.
Anyone posting on any well know public forum who has been critical of Nicola Sturgeon and / or supportive of Alex Salmond over the last few years will have been attacked and smeared. I have experienced it personally and I am 100% positive so will you.
The first example I saw of it was some old SNP hand who was starting to grumble about NS’s strategy getting immediately called a misogynist and being ruthlessly smeared. That was the beginning of it for me at least and it just got worse and worse.
There is something about the so called ‘progressive / woke’ crowd that makes extremely vicious. It is always play the man and not the ball, every time, without fail.
Even if you experience it mildly it is very unpleasant. Like being surrounded by a pack of bullies. But none of us I think can possibly imagine what it must be like to be SC.
The level of abuse and spite is quite breathtaking. I actually don’t understand where it comes from. I read the articles on here and they contain nothing to merit this.
If you try to pin them down it comes down to vague complaints about telling the odd person to fuck off BTL. They really cant come up with anything tangible…
It is weird phenomenon and I saw the same thing with Alex Salmond as well. Some folk could never cut him a break no matter what he did.
I suspect this is because they are both very effective in what they do, and that inherently bugs them.
I’d forgotten most of those sites existed, must be years since I looked at any of them, Scot Goes Pop excepted.
I don’t really have anything in common with most Yessers these days, other than Yes. They venerate Nicola, they are in hysterics over Janey Godley, they defended Flow Job, etc etc. I look at them the way I used to look at New Labour people – except they never really sanctified Blair, they were just happy he took them where they wanted to go anyway. He wasn’t their God.
You wouldn’t be human if you didn’t feel embittered by the response you’ve received, from people you considered friends. I hope the knowledge that your work is truly valued by your readership makes up for things somewhat.
@Mac, 1:31
this article gives a summary
link to sputniknews.com
A fu**ing disgrace to give the judgment today but to give the reasons later. After an eight week wait for a 90 minute hearing. Just part of the vindictive torture. nothing to do with justice!
Hey look – some real journalism: link to consortiumnews.com
When I look back on campaigning for the 2014 referendum I see them now as days of innocence. Any unpleasantness seemed to come from the other side and it felt good to be on the same side as such optimistic, well-intentioned people in a movement set on the betterment of the country.
Unhappily, with the SNP ensconced as the governing party and MPS in WM, the upbeat outlook began to dissipate and as time passed my misgivings and suspicions increased and I found that only a few sites actually gave voice to my own unease and actually had the evidence to support that.
With the Salmond affair, it is as if we have been ricocheted back to the mood music of 2014 but this time the outpouring of vitriol and malice has come from many of those who had been on our side back then. As independence supporters, all idea of collegiality has gone out of the window and many are focussed almost solely on loyalty to Sturgeon.
I have never given unquestioning loyalty to any politician and it mystifies me why these people are so invested in Sturgeon that they are blind to any evidence which would besmirch the Glorious Leader. The Unionists used to accuse us of being ‘cult-like’ and now Sturgeon supporters seem to vindicate that idea.
Many of the people who used to exhort us to be polite to Unionist supporters as ‘just because we have different opinions we can still disagree civilly’ seem to have abandoned that when it comes to other independence supporters who are critical of the SNP.
We have become the enemy and therefore they can turn their fury on us. All I feel now is the same revulsion I used to feel for the dishonest propagandising of the Unionists. Just as I won’t vote for the SNP then I won’t read the copy of Sturgeon loyalists and I find their fanatical loyalty and demonising of those who disagree with them hypocritical and downright ugly.
The level of abuse and spite is quite breathtaking. I actually don’t understand where it comes from. I read the articles on here and they contain nothing to merit this.
I think there are two categories:
The first are people who never actually read anything and just let others tell them what to think. These are the same people who’ll denigrate Wings, Salmond and JK Rowling, based on those they see as leaders telling them not to read those sources and also giving them a false idea about what they say. Trans rights activists are the most bonkers for this – they genuinely have no idea what people like JK Rowling actually said, but believe they are monsters because of what someone else told them they said. They have zero critical faculties at all and are just cult-like zombies. You’ll see them now demanding things like “Salmond must stop attacking Nicola” despite the fact he literally hadn’t said anything about her.
Then there is another group who, I suspect, are jealous. They see others who are successful and better than them and there is just a venomous spite and desire to take them down. Some probably also see their comfortable way of life threatened if there is a change of leadership or real focus on independence.
Fuck ’em, Rev, they’re a set a cunts.
They wont even make a footnote in Scotlands history.
Regarding the comment about this being the quietest day this week Stu – has that got anything to with Mark Hirst’s continuing forecast of sunshine for this week?
Also can you advise why I also appear to be in pre-moderation jail?
Garavelli Princip says:
25 March, 2021 at 1:38 pm
“robert alexander harrison says:
25 March, 2021 at 12:15 pm
Paul has a very good point about you stuart Campbell like alex salmond you lost your damn mind you really need to stop attacking the snp right now because England rule cults job for them your so up your arse you cant even see it you raving lunatic.”
Have you noticed Stuart, that your detractors such as the nutter above, are both illiterate and clearly deranged?
This is very reassuring.
Garavelli Princip (Great name/handle if that’s still a thing!). Posters who use lower case for proper names show a special strain of numptiness. ?
Is this the quietest day in Scottish politics this week?
I spent some happy time this morning trying to write a headline in my head. My best effort is:
“Brave Scottish health staff cruelly denied fair wages by Tory toff Boris weep at the open-handed generosity of the Scottish NHS’s friend Saint Nicola”.
I think this latest move a master stroke. Although I loathe and detest St Nicola as much as anybody else on this blog, credit where credit is due. None of the mass of disinterested voters in Scotland are thinking about Alec Salmond’s new court action right now.
Garavelli Princip says:
25 March, 2021 at 1:38 pm
“robert alexander harrison says:
25 March, 2021 at 12:15 pm
Paul has a very good point about you stuart Campbell like alex salmond you lost your damn mind you really need to stop attacking the snp right now because England rule cults job for them your so up your arse you cant even see it you raving lunatic.”
Have you noticed Stuart, that your detractors such as the nutter above, are both illiterate and clearly deranged?
This is very reassuring.
Garavelli Princip (Great name/handle if that’s still a thing!). Posters who use lower case for proper names show a special strain of numptiness. ?
The independence movement as represented by the SNP ought never to got into bed with the LGBTQ+, neo-feminist and « gender » politics crowd. They have contributed nothing barring a few votes here and there but have done wonders for UK Unionism by fudging and obscuring the National party’s foundational rationale.
Effectively this is London rule via the nation’s bedrooms.
They need to be politely shown the front door.
Had to laugh at the end of “The Achievers” article linked above:
“What all of the above also have in common is that they’ve been the subject of vicious attacks from the “radical” elements of the Yes movement”
The more things change, the more they stay the same!
cirsium says:
this article gives a summary
———–
Cheers, so it was jigsaw identification (but it does not say where and how most probably to avoid repeating it).
So that is pish. You could not jigsaw identify anyone based on what CM wrote. Nor this site for that matter.
As someone who does not know I was trying my best to work out who was who but it could not be done.
The First Minister satire was before Salmond was charged. I re-read it recently and with hindsight it was brilliant considering when it was written. I missed about 80% of the satire first time around. It is only now with knowledge from other areas that appreciate it more.
If this is it, then it is pathetic. When you think of all the really bad stuff that has happened, that journo-wally posting the name of one of the women (resulting in the secrecy order), Dani whatsherface identifying one woman using a jigsaw of about two pieces, that scandalous Herald hatchet job by Derek Mackay that was clearly designed to influence the jury, the leak to the Daily Record… and none of that faces any legal penalty.
Yet mild mannered arch criminal Craig Murray in his wooly jumper is getting jailed for something that he is not even guilty of and for reasons we all know are political. He simply supports the wrong side, like wings, like Mark Hirst, like Salmond himself.
To lose CM’s site is a huge loss. If this place went down we’d be pretty much in the dark.
@James Caithness says: 25 March, 2021 at 12:16 pm
I remember getting WGD through to give us a talk a couple of years back. He asked for his expenses soon after arriving.
At the end of his talk (but included in the talk) he added his “Maps of Scotland with Gaelic place names for sale”. He left us a number of those maps that he wanted our YES Hub to sell for him.
So when he talks about “transactional” he wasn’t slow at coming forward to make a few bob from the Yes movement.”
O Tempora! O Mores!
I remember reading years ago when Leslie Von Goetz (aka Leslie Greene) stood for the Legalise Cannabis Campaign’s flag of convenience CLEAR, and she was scandalised to be offered “expenses” for attending some hustings or candidate meeting – she’d cut her electoral teeth in a different era when “expenses” were paid by your party or organisation, or more often than not your own pocket! In return for others donating their time to listen to them blah-blah, a cup of tea and a biscuit more than sufficed.
It used to be that the number of candidates for a by-election or general election constituency could be determined by the quality of the local Conservative Club and Liberal Club, who always held a hustings. Even though the audiences would inevitably be rather partizen, the spreads afterwards were to die for (and if there were CPGB candidates, half the biscuits would end up in their pockets!)
It’s jealousy, pure and simple. You are an investigative journalist and they will never be what you are. Before there was an internet they would be sending their little articles to the Sunday Post in the hope of being published. They don’t appear to have grown out of that wee parochial mindset.
If I want to read an article where there are links to back up everything that’s said, I come here.
If I want to read an article that has been very well researched and is well written, I come here.
If I want to read an article about what’s really going on in Scottish politics, without any hero worship involved, I come here.
You have never been more needed than you are now. We need your truth and honesty and the minute you start a fundraiser, I will be more than happy to contribute. Thank you for everything you do.
Rev Stuart ,
As I’ve said before we thank you for your honesty and integrity in your reporting of the “ facts “ .
If others cannot accept the truth that is their problem and no-one else’s .
Also thank you for all your support for Alex Salmond .
#IStandWithRevStuart
#IStandWithAlexSalmond
The ruling bodies, and much of the favoured membership, of the SNP now comprise such a collection of irreconcilable odd-bods that the Party has had to prescribe imaginary monsters simply to detract its own members from falling upon each other in an orgy of subjectivity.
Such a structure can only be maintained for so long, however, before the acidic small-mindedness necessary to such a state of affairs begins to erode the entire structure from the inside out.
Mac says:
25 March, 2021 at 1:31 pm
‘Does anyone know what Craig Murray was actually found guilty of i.e. what specific article or thing he wrote that was deemed contempt of court. Obviously don’t repeat it but …
‘I ask because I read his stuff religiously during this all and try as I might I could not work out who the accusers were never mind which accuser was which alphabet woman.
‘So whatever they found him guilty of it must have been pretty flimsy is my guess.’
Thanks Mac. What you say there confirms what I thought would probably be the case for many, when I wrote @ 1.19 above the following:
… I would not be surprised if there are people who read all the articles in question which Craig posted on his blog who are still … completely in the dark about the identity of any of the complainers.
Thank you also to Craig Murray (@ 1.28 and 1.29) for supplying that very informative background information re the support and sympathy Stuart Campbell very generously provided to Paul Kavanagh. I hope you are OK, Craig, after this morning’s episode. Keep strong – Scotland needs both you and Stuart Campbell more than ever.
The struggle is not just for an independent Scotland, but for an independent Scotland that is really worth having. Not the nightmare authoritarian and intolerant (and non-independent) version of Scotland that now displays itself ever more openly, and of which there will be so much more if no one opposes it.
There is a pattern with totalitarian regimes. The more they get away with imposing themselves, the more openly they will do so, and the more brazenly they will bare their fangs, in order to make everyone afraid of them. They are also generally intent on denying reality, in one way or another. And they have to become increasingly authoritarian and intolerant – and downright unjust – in order to do so.
Unreality, of whatever kind, but especially once it has become an ideology that is determined to reign over (and rein in) a whole society, can only impose itself by force. It cannot argue its point, because if it attempts to do so, the falsehoods and internal contradictions on which it is based will become obvious to more and more people, until it all comes tumbling down.
Alas, we seem to be on the cusp of such a thing. I would never have believed it could happen here, in Scotland, and most definitely not in this way – but I do now. This is where we now are. We have to find the way to resist lies and falsehood.
There are lessons to be learned by those of us wanting genuine independence, which cannot be obtained without including genuine freedom, regroup. The desire for independence must be broad-based, and in no way restricted to, or identified with only one political Party. Political Parties can too easily be infiltrated and manipulated for other ends. There must also be clarity, across the board, on the fundamental freedoms and rights of citizens that will form the basis of the independent nation to be born.
In this regard, although it is only just beginning, AFI seem to me to be on the right track. An independent Scotland will require people of sound judgement and independent mind. It won’t be a matter of everyone being whipped into all saying the same thing, at the same time. We ought to be able to look forward to an independent Scotland where diverse views and standpoints are not only tolerated, but can be freely expressed and argued for.
As I said, many thanks for what both of you, Craig and Stuart, do for this. Please don’t get discouraged. The present crisis in the independence movement even has a good side insofar as it helps us to sharpen our understanding of the kind of independent Scotland we want, and of what can go wrong. This latter alerts us to the kind of measures that will need to be taken to avoid this, and make sure it does not happen again. It will be no bad thing to shed some of our previous naivety. The better we are attuned to reality – and not just to ideas or idealism – the quicker we will be able to achieve independence.
With all due respect to AS, and the phrase he used, independence is not just a dream. it is, and has to become a realistic and realisable reality. This provides the background against which present difficulties must be seen, understood and accordingly acted upon. We’ll be the better for them, after we have overcome them. Which we will, although it is still likely to be a rough ride before we get to that point.
What I find utterly depressing is that the tone and demeanour of the Sturgeon Shills is as offensive and frightening as that of the far right Unionists. I had always been proud that the Independence movement was a body of kind, happy, hopeful and well-meaning people.
In life back stabbers go but truth tellers stay !
The SNP bought off with colonial administration lifetime careers.
Indy campaigners then being employed by the SNP.
The SNP funding unionist media.
Pro-indy freelance writers then getting regular columns from the Unionist media and toning down their criticism of the SNP and joining Wheest for indy.
Others being jailed, prosecuted or suffering ad hominem attacks by the SNP Scottish colonial Establishment and their allies.
The Empire Strikes Back.
Jontoscots20 says:
25 March, 2021 at 2:20 pm
Garavelli Princip says:
Garavelli Princip (Great name/handle if that’s still a thing!). Posters who use lower case for proper names show a special strain of numptiness. ?
Indeed so Jontoscots – that is why I merely cut and pasted his numpty use of it from his post.
JGedd,
I think the fanaticism that consumes and encompasses many of the Nicophants is derives from the zealotry of a convert.
Many of the people coming to the Yes Movement used Nicola Sturgeon as a convenient excuse to hide their shame for being a former No and to switch sides. These people had vilified Alex Salmond for years, they still do.
Alex Salmond’s resignation allowed them to blame him and not themselves for arriving late to the independence struggle.
The reason that they gave for changing was Nicola Sturgeon, not the actual arguments for self determination so they have nailed their colours to the mast of HMS Nicola and will go down with that particular ship.
All in my own opinion of course.
I’m prepared to bet money that if Craig had a jury trial, he’d be walking a free man.
The 3 judges approach just leaves us thinking this is political.
Very sinister indeed.
Craig will you be appealing?
If you need a crowd funder please let us know.
That’s them telt. Just try rise above it, Rev, although I know it’s not easy. You’ll be proved right in the end. I have not the slightest doubt. This time is nothing like the hope and determination that there was pre 2014, and I, for one, have not forgotten your place in that hope and determination. The fact is that the SNP has changed beyond all recognition. It is not the same party. Too many me-ists. Same with the ultra socialists (and I don’t mean Tommy Sheridan and a few others): full of the brown stuff and not giving a toss about the rights of others; science deniers; all kinds of entryists and blood suckers. They think they’ve won. All they have done is open up the door wide enough to let the real vicious carpet baggers in. When that happens, none of them will be around too long. They think they are untouchable. They are very, very mistaken. Oh, and we are not going to get independence, referendum or no referendum. The SNP is now the party of devolution, and, if that gets too hot, the party of capitulation.
Rev., regard the spite you are being subjected to as you would if being cat-called playing footie or rugby by spectators. You are on the field of play, they can only watch and envy, or admire.
WGD and Bella are not for me. I subscribe to The National but I’m beginning to find it dull, predictable. I’m down now to just 3 columnists I read. And ‘m not inclined to read the daily 2 to 3 pages about Celtic, 1 to 2 pages about Rangers.
As for your “style”. I’ve following Wings from the beginning, so I suppose I must like Wings. Constancy to purpose, we need your journalism, and truth.
@holymacmoses says:
25 March, 2021 at 2:31 pm
“What I find utterly depressing is that the tone and demeanour of the Sturgeon Shills is as offensive and frightening as that of the far right Unionists. I had always been proud that the Independence movement was a body of kind, happy, hopeful and well-meaning people.”
You obviously never went along to a Wallace Day Rally in Elderslie. Some of the perma-clenched teeth specimens on display there had nothing to do with ill fitting dentures.
Wait a minute here…
So this guy (WGD) asked his readers to pay for his wedding and buy him a house?! And they did?!
ooooooooh man alive, my sides.
If I understand the Rev at all, he is just as upset and disillusioned at the degeneration of the SNP and thus the indy movement as the rest of us. The difference between him and these other bloggers is that he confronts what has happened and speaks out about it, trenchantly and powerfully. Most importantly, backed up with sources and facts, many of them deliberately kept out of the public gaze.
For that he is invaluable to the indy movement, revealing what a lot of them don’t want to know, and want to wish away as lies or attempts to harm the movement. But of course honesty and truth are far more important than happy clappy attempts to paper it all over and pretend it’s all fine, one last push etc. They can’t handle it, and I can understand the crushing feeling that the dream is probably over for the immediate future. But far better to face up to it, in order to move forward.
In that sense, the last paragraphs about building a new movement are right in my opinion, and also the requiem for the 2014 generation is on the button. Their time may be over, they are all very comfortably ensconced in the establishment with their gold-plated jobs and salaries. Nickla will probably scarper as soon as she can, having got away with it, and some nonentity with the same bully programme will take over. But better to recognise all that, and not spend your time fulminating and raging about it, and trying to blame the brave handful of people who have kept us informed of what is actually happening. Without people like Wings and Craig we wouldn’t know half the skullduggery that is going on, and we have to be grateful for that. Screw those who can’t handle it.
I finally got the abandon the antediluvian hotmail message. Some of us are just glacially schlow! It must be exasperating. Apologies.
As for the ungrateful wretches? Let the plodders plod, or the dead bury their dead, Stuart, whichever you prefer. Rise.
Just popping in to say I still support Wings and read every day.
Keep telling truth to power Stu and let those who decry you live with their own conscience.
Take care
Aye Mac but he managed to get some nice suits out of it.Much the same as Patrick Harvey.
None of these guys get their suits from charity shops. I’ve certainly not been so lucky to find £500+ suts in any charity shop in Ayrshire I van assure you!
Remember when we only used to have to argue with unionists, because they were ill informed about Scotland.
We now have to argue with so called independence supporters , displaying the same level of myopic ignorance.
It’s now a two pronged attack of the ill informed fundamentalists, against ourselves. I am thinking back to my past, and there were moments that I was taken in by the SNP. Times when I trusted them , when the evidence was contrary to my faith in them.
However there were always parts of me that questioned some of their motives and strategies. I gave Nicola a good shot. I gave her the benefit of the doubt. She let me down to often. Now I see her for what she is. To believe in her with all the evidence that is out there , is akin to believing the King Herard is the tooth fairy.
What is the background to Bonnie Prince Bob? (For the life of me I cant stop saying Side Show Bob. I think it is the hair.)
I have to say I am naturally suspicious of someone who says, ‘Capitalism is bad, give me your capital’.
@ Nana: nice to hear from you. I see you can still tell the wheat from the chaff!!
1971 Thistle, you raise an interesting point re taxation. One might argue that contributions to a blog or other site are gross income and should be taxed, subject to deductible expenses. Consider the Guardian, which is owned by Scott Trust Limited. They ask for contributions when you read an article. Although neither their accounts nor Guardian Media Group’s make specific mention (as far as I can see) I would expect they include such contributions in gross income. Indeed, the Guardian pays tax when it makes a profit.
I would say that, here in the USA, contributions to a blog or other website run by a professional journalist would generally be included as gross income. The tests over here are the author’s motivations and why people contribute. If the author seeks to make a living and if the contributors contribute because they value the service that is provided, it is akin to purchasing a newspaper. The fact that it is on the honour system is, in most tax jurisdictions, irrelevant.
Having said all that, one might argue that the contributions to the house purchase was a set of gifts from people who seek to assist a fellow human being recovering from a serious medical emergency. I do not think that is unreasonable. He could just as easily have set up a Gofundme page. I doubt it would have been quite as successful, though.
There are other technical issues that arise, but they are perhaps a little meaty to discuss on a blog not dedicated to taxation. However, as noted above, there are ways to argue that some of the monies received are not subject to tax on income or chargeable gains and, as a tax professional, I would be content to make such arguments on behalf of a client, if supported by the facts of the particular case.
I see an imperial master’s general has just been found guilty of embezzlement. I wonder if he’ll go to jail ?
P.S. I regard using capital letters on someone’s name as optional. If I don’t regard as dubious or deceitful then you get capitals, hence Salmond and sturgeon.
P.P.S. Has polis Scotland started investigating the leak or the missing £600,000 ? Has Mike ‘el presidente’ Russell commented yet ?
P.P.P.S. In light of the craig murray decision. Has anyone any esteem for Scotland’s judiciary ?
I think the lord advocate should be jailed.
Just as a normal person I’m going to bed now and trying to forget the abuse which has happened. Cheers nicla and everyone else that has been abused, not by Alex. I really hate nicla more than I did thatcher
TRUTH BE TOLD
If the SNP do get a majority in May, if after 5yrs we still haven’t been given a referendum who’ll be singing on the same list in favour of the SNP. I’ve noticed a lot of people are making money and a career from supporting Independence who aren’t really F*cking bothered if or when it happens.
“Nazis, bigots, Unionists and MI5 stooges.” = Democrats first everything else second/disagreeing with St. Nic.
The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.
I am enormously grateful for your journalism.
Like many progressive all consuming ideas this current mob will eat each other. Reign of Terror, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Franco, – Natural selection seems to favour cannibalism when only dogma counts. Stand clear.
Re Craig Murray, we obviously haven’t seen the full judgement but based on what we know, I’d assume that Dani Garavelli and others listed here link to wingsoverscotland.com would also be found guilty. However, in contempt of court cases do judges decide who gets prosecuted or the COPFS? I’m assuming the latter. Very odd that those MSM journalists haven’t been charged.
Indy first, all else second.
Indy is not, never has and never will be about one person. The cult of Nicola is embarassing. Her cultists are irrational and sheeplike. Even her biggest detractors can see her qualities. She is and has been able to attract people to Yes who may have been undecided/Salmond haters/’Scottish’ Daily Mail readers etc. But at the same time she has cast out Salmond and caused a massive split in the Yes movement. She has squandered a series of mandates, majorities and favourable circumstances we’ll likely never see again. She’s made catastrophic strategical errors like making a section 30 the gold standard or campaigning next to Alastair Campbell to overturn the democratic will of English voters. These things arent really open to debate. Her motivations for doing so certainly are.
If Salmond announced tomorrow he was now a Unionist, I’d still believe in self determination for Scotland. If Rangers banned the UJ and said ‘saltires only from now on’, again, it wouldnt make a difference to my clear belief that Scotland should be a normal country that makes its own decisions.
You can’t keep a good man down. Good news from Craig:
“I intend to stand on the basis that every vote to put me into parliament is a vote for Independence: not a vote for a referendum, a vote for Independence.”
Given the dark forces at work in our country, you have to ask the question: are they waiting to see if he is elected before passing sentence? Nothing is beyond these people.
5yrs have passed since we left the EU no attempt has been made to rejoin the EU. The SNP are supposed to be a party dedicated to the EU project, well you wouldn’t have thought it when Ian Blackford is stating well have a referendum sometime in the middle of the next parliament. Well if the SNP stood by Ian Blackford word Scotland would have been out of the EU for nearly eight years and counting.
Staurt keep up the good work we need someone to keep Independence on the table because if you didn’t we’d all be voting for the SNP to govern and these on the this list would be happy with that.
“This is Microsoft here and we detect that your computer has been hacked”
Sorry ,which Microsoft office are you phoning from?
“Reading”
Oh. How do manage to get to work through all that snow?
“Yes it is so difficult, now could you log in to your PC and tell me what you see”
Snaw,snaw.
Your point , writer.
WHEN YOU KNOW YOUR BEING SHAFTED, DO YOU STILL FEEL CURIOUS AND WANT TO ENGAGE IN THE HOPE THAT YOU CAN TRAP THE BASTARDS?
Frazerio- Correct.
This is where part of the movement has gone wrong. They are not following a movement, they are following a personality. Nicola is in temporary charge of the political arm of independence , the SNP.
She has been found to be tactically inept, naïve, and now corrupted. So when you invest everything in that person , you become that person. You take any criticism personally , rather than seeing it from a third party perspective.
It explains the defensive position now adopted by her cult.
The difference with these toe-the-line bloggers and Stu is that Stu fights truth to power and has a hide like a rhino.
These other so called independence bloggers want to court the powers that be in the independence movement and get cushy guest articles in the National and such like. Mavericks like Stu and Craig Murray don’t need nor want those kind of ties. They want to be free thinking.
I’d much rather read a blogger that’s not beholden.
Seems like the happy clappy days of 2014 are long gone – but I think Stu, Craig Murray, Dangerfield, Iain Lawson, Mark Hirst, are on the right side of history on this.
Our support for Wings, and the reality it brings, remains undimmed.
Signed,
Scottish Linux users in Europe.
Maybe not too quiet. Kirsty Blackman has made an impressive bid for the Most Stupid Thing Ever Said On Twitter award today:
link to twitter.com
Joanna Cherry taking a sabbatical due to health reasons, she did say previously that she might leave the SNP and drop out of politics altogether.
Mind you the genderwoowoo brigade, the Sturgeonistas, and a few other want her head on a plate for having the audacity to stand up for women and Scotland.
I actually said on twitter the other day that Paul was an excellent writer (which I still believe)
However as mentioned above recently his attacks on non Sturgeon sycophants have become more snd more shrill.
I certainly won’t be buying anymore of his books etc, if he wants to cosy up to the Wokes
Thats his decision, I think he will live to regret it.
You have got to hand it to the spooks they have managed to split the Indy Movement whether Little Miss Blinky Is batting for the other side (in more ways than one) or just a stooge , history might tell. But what I do know is that she has split the Indy Movement and it or the SNP wont recover until she is gone.
I guess the best to hope for is she is implicated or at least collateral damage in the fore coming court case.
Whilst im on , thoughts with Craig Murray and his family today,
I contributed to WGD’s crowdfunders. Bought his books. Went to his talks. Gave the late Ginger (no a wee dug ava), doggie treats. After all, anyone who rescued a dug must hae a soul?
WGD is an excellent wordsmith. A mercurial wit and some articles are a linguistic tour de force.
But I seriously baulked at WGD’s most recent crowdfunder, for he and newly-wedded American husband, to buy an Ayrshire rural retreat, wi a gairden, forbye. I did not donate.
Fine. No-one was forcing me to.
But that fundraiser seriously disturbed me. It reeked, to me, of entitlement. There was a guy (two guys) boldly begging folk to live in a nice hoose, wi no stairs! I know Kavanaugh suffered a stroke but, hey, come on!
Imagine the pelters Stu would get, if he’d asked us to buy him a new hoose!
What disturbed me was the thought that some of the many guid fowk donating to Kavanaugh’s hoose, would no hae siller o’er spillin fae thur pootches. I imagine many who kindly donated to Kavanagh’s new hoose, were possibly a lot older and frailer than he & his husband and maybe finding THEIR close stairs a trial, too. But were they wanting the world and its mither, to buy them a new hoose or quietly getting oan wi things?
To be honest, my own pride would have stopped me ever putting a begging bowl out for myself the way this man did. He didn’t bother Kavanaugh ava.
Can anyone think of a more ‘transactional’ and self-centred crowdfunder, than one to award yourself and partner, a new fucking hoose?
So I have lost faith in Kavanagh, Bella and the SNP ‘wokes’ and some others forbye.
But I have not lost faith in Wings, Stu, or you.
And so long as you never give me a bum steer, (as so many others on the Yes side have) I never will.
According to a recent poll, 80 odd % of 20-30somethings belive in an Indy Scotland.
Despite busy lives and often just getting by day to day clinging to the edges, they need to put heart, soul and the fire into campaigns to build the vibrant nation they aspire to.
Its not just about flags, its the boring stuff like play schools, bins getting emptied and taxes as well as stuff like currency, defence, and governance.
Just how do we enthuse them to get involved up to the oxters in the gritty-grotty when all they see is sniping and backbiting? Easy for the young careerist Tory with entitlement, education, privilege and money behind them. They are immune from grinding horror of daily graft.
What are the career paths for young Indy supporters to the rarified and febrile airs of politics if all they see is disharmony from their own?
Disagree with you Stu on crowdfunders being nobody else’s business.
This is what informing folk is about.
For example. The Youtuber…Thunderfoot; is well known for busting ideas which are busy collecting massive crowdfunds. For ideas which are scientifically impossible.
He has proven this numerous times.
Though he deals with relatively unequivocal scientific phenomena….He is interfering in the business of crowdfunders.
In the case of someone crowdfunding for a house or wedding etc…..Though we may not be able to offer as many, or any facts……Why not inform folk of your views on the person and their character?
No different from any formal and informal character recommendations you might make in many circumstances.
Tamson…
It used to be said of Glasgow that you could put a red rosette on a donkey and it’d get elected.
The same can now be said of Aberdeen, only the rosette has changed to yellow/black.
Kenny MacAskill, on why a Green vote is a wasted vote if you want independence.
link to archive.is
@ Mac says: 25 March, 2021 at 2:55 pm
“What is the background to Bonnie Prince Bob? (For the life of me I cant stop saying Side Show Bob. I think it is the hair.)
I have to say I am naturally suspicious of someone who says, ‘Capitalism is bad, give me your ‘Capitalism is bad, give me your capital’.”
Here we go again!
[7 Inch Radio Edit] Right, from the top – link to imgur.com
The same person who called Wings Over Scotland a ‘Snake Oil Selling Charatan Piss Artist’ three years ago now wants WoS readers and supporters to vote for him on May 6th 2021.
[Album length version]
His “hard-hitting campaign” video showed he’s nothing but a charlatan looking to blag money for his “other” (ie. “Make me a celebrity!”) projects – same stunt Mark Thomas did decades back.
It starts with a full 2 minutes 57 seconds of waffle before he get to the point of his supposed campaign (ie. “Robertson’s a big jobby, vote for me!”.
The first twenty seconds of his campaign video goes as follows:
“‘Un Nin’een Sevvny Three, John Paul Sattra wrote a seminal essay entiled ‘Elections: A Trap For Fools’. In it, he explained why votin’ fur bourgeois polli’ikal par’ies is a trap, becuz bourgeois polli’ikal par’ies only represent the interests o’ Private Cap’i’al”
Quite aside from John Paul Sartre’s irrelevence today, 99% of viewers will have turned off after “seminal” and “bourgeois” and thought “tech college gadgie who after one term thinks he’s Citizen Smith!”
As for “Five decades later, and the fact that your teenage daughter thinks that selling explicit images of herself on OnlyFans is a legitimate career path perfectly illustrates the moral bankruptcy of neo-liberal capitalism.” – most under 30s will fall around laughing “OK, boomer!”
Nothing quite says “sad aged misogynist technophobe” than saying “scary new tech’s entrapped your precious daughter into a world of sin”.
It takes him a full 1 minute 20 seconds to actually start talking about Edinburgh Central – only to slag off all its “middle class wankers” (and thinks saying “middle class wankers” ad nauseum is edgy), private school types and anything to do with Hearts – a full minute of him alienating anyone in those categories OR have family, friends or relations under those categories who may have been willing to hear him out over Robertson.
By the time he finally gets to what he stands for, it’s 3 minutes 48 seconds later – by which time most will have clicked away. It’s pretty obvious this is simply a publicity stunt like the Al Murray Pub Landlord one, except in this case to publicise a no-mark, not a genuine candidature even for any sort of protest vote.
Elections have long been plagued with people like Bonnie Prince Bob abusing the system to take advantage of the free leaflet drop all candidates are entitled to, but nowadays some just want the mentions in the press and online media from being a candidate and don’t even bother with taking advantage of the free leaflet drop anymore. They see it as £500 well spent in order to get the sort of media coverage that would have cost thousands for no return. Rules have been tightened up against “advertising”, but there’s only so far you can go in a democracy – the rest is down to expecting people to respect the “spirit” of elections (ha!).
Rory Bremner going all philosophical.
“RORY BREMNER ‘Brexit totally makes the case for #Indyref2… I’m mortified and sorry that events two years later (which I voted against) made my 2014 argument obsolete.'”
link to twitter.com
Paul Kavanagh and Mike Small simply don’t have the intellectual capacity, talent or steely strength of character required to affect change by means of their journalism. It is this shared lack of capacity, amongst their many other failings, which fuels their irrational prejudice regarding Wings and its peerless editor.
Wow, I’m shocked at iScot. it is so disappointing to see that so many have taken this stance.
It’s either jealousy or they’ve just all been brainwashed, maybe even a bit of both.
You’ll always be my go to sight for information, actually I only read you, Grousebeater, Ian Lawson, Barrhead Boy and Gordon Dangerfield.
F..ck them all.
Big Jock and Frazerio
I read an article recently about the Trumpists unquestioning devotion to Trump being akin to a cult or a weird new religion. Blind obedience and the leader can do no wrong. That is understandable in the bible belt of America but in Scotland? I can barely believe the things I’m reading and hearing now. My relationship with certain old friends has come under something of a strain as they now are of the “I’m with Nicola” fraternity.
Over at WGD where I occasionally look in out of curiosity and a kind of fascination, people I liked and respected in the past have been completely sucked in by Sturgeon, and won’t let anyone upset their dream of independence under Nicola, turning on anyone who tries to point out some facts to them.
This can only end badly when they realise that independence isn’t coming any time soon.
As usual, not much for me to add other than my support for Wings because of the Rev’s uncompromising stance on honesty. The same goes for Craig Murray – the judgment is as dodgy as hell. I’m ready with money whenever it is needed. The Supreme Court has been mentioned – let’s see how the Scottish legal system is viewed by the best judges in the UK!
The thing I find difficult to reconcile with all these bloggers who now demonise Wings is their complete lack of support for Alex Salmond. You know, the only First Minister who actually produced a referendum.
To all the SNP MSP’s retiring at the end of the term, you lot kept your mouths shut to all the illegalities lies and deceit within your party and the Scottish government.
Not one of you had the courage to whistleblow for the good of Scotland and Scots, you’re all a bloody disgrace to Scotland, I hope your consciences gets to all of you, and you feel really bad about what you didn’t do.
Good riddance to the lot of you.
Aileen Campbell
Bruce Crawford
Roseanna Cunningham
Linda Fabiani
Jeane Freeman
Richard Lyle
Angus MacDonald
Alex Neil
Gil Paterson
Gail Ross
Michael Russell
Stewart Stevenson
Maureen Watt
Sandra White
Re Joanna Cherry, she recently retweeted an article about the psychology of bullying.
The Degradation Ceremony.
Sad to say this is exactly what happened to her from her so called colleagues.
Shame on them except they don’t do shame.
link to twitter.com
John – I have had to burst a few peoples bubbles when they have stuck up for Nicola , expecting me to be a nodding dog. Given my background as a previous 32 year member, they expected me to be one of the cultists.
I probably said more than I should have said regarding Nicola. It was just after I watched her 8 hours of absolute bullshit at the enquiry. Someone messaged me to say she was blowing them away. I said that’s not what I am watching.
Of course they weren’t watching it. They were getting Humza’s interpretation on Twitter feed. If I wasn’t actually watching it , like them , then I would have fallen for the invention of truth.
It’s the same for the Salmond case itself. They haven’t the first clue about some of the ridiculous charges, because they haven’t read it.
Like unionists relying on BBC and the Telegraph, they are relying on Sturgeon friendly bloggers and Twitter feeds. They aren’t getting the truth.
Like I said before. The ignorance of the Nicola cult is now exactly the same as the intransigent ignorance on the unionist side.
So glad I am not part of either.
I cancelled iScot a year or so ago and received a phone call from Ken McDonald shortly after asking why I’d done so. The real reason was that I didn’t find the magazine that interesting, apart from the occasional article, but I felt rather put on the spot and being a ‘kind’ female pleaded poverty (lie)instead. He argued that it was a small business and every purchaser counted…so I relented and renewed my sub. Now I’ve decided to cancel for good. It is indeed mean to have stopped your Dad’s free copy, absolutely heartless.
What a git.
Andrew Davidson says:
25 March, 2021 at 12:25 pm
Wee question. Any reason my posts are now being pre-moderated?
I don’t remember saying anything too dubious?
Reply
If your’re using a hotmail URL that will be the cause. If you don’t wish to go into moderation use another URL
Hotmail URLs are being moderated at this time due to a specific troll.
“Given the dark forces at work in our country, you have to ask the question: are they waiting to see if he is elected before passing sentence?”
I have to admit that such thought crossed my mind. Well, that and the main one that could dramatically change the circumstances for the Lord Advocate and the bullies in COPFS: if Sturgeon and her chosen successor fail to gain a seat in the upcoming election.
No doubt the reasons for the verdict in CM’s case will (in due course) be given as redacted, redacted and redacted. The legal system has dug a huge hole for itself over the AS case generally and this was an opportunity to start digging itself out. No surprise that it’s been missed. Meanwhile the complainers are free to continue saying whatever they want about whoever they want from behind the cloak of anonymity.