Dead Wings Farce

It’s with some sadness to see that the Bath-based blogger who has been marinading in his own bile for a decade or so has today announced his own retirement (‘The Ship Song‘). I doubt very much this is true at all but his latest *explosive* blog is quietly hilarious. Presumably his role in the utter farce of the Alba Party has led him to be broken by reality. He must have realised that all of the things we have said about the echo chamber of his sub-culture were 100% correct and that the electoral consequences of a Block List meeting Society wouldn’t be pretty.

That must have been tough.

Some highlights:

“So what’s coming now is five miserable years of deja vu. A Holyrood with a pro-indy majority but no will to do anything with it, just like the one we’ve had since 2016 when Sturgeon lost Salmond’s majority and became beholden to the foul, racist, misogynist paedophilia sympathisers and enablers of the Scottish Greens…”

“The price that’ll be paid for Nicola Sturgeon’s betrayal of the SNP for the sake of her personal career will be years and years in the wilderness for the independence movement. The 80 years of work by her predecessors leading to the high water mark of 2011-14 have been turned to ashes and it takes a while for anything to grow back from ashes.”

“I’m already 53 and the men in my family rarely get much past 70. I don’t intend to waste the rest of my life waiting for that to happen, and unlike some I’m not prepared to lie to people in the meantime for the sake of a paycheque ”  [er, um … don’t know what to say about this industrial levels of self-deception]

Paul Kavanagh – someone who defended Stuart Campbell from accusations of rampant homophobia like a human shield for many years is ” only, and by a distressingly narrow margin, the very lowest of the grotesque, grifting, self-serving sewer scum that now infests every level of the independence movement”.

Sweet.

It goes on:

“Can you imagine going into a second referendum with nothing to offer as persuasion to undecided voters but Pat Kane, Lesley Riddoch, Gerry Hassan and Elaine C Smith again? Christ have mercy on our accursed souls.”

[I’m not sure what thought-crimes Pat, Lesley, Gerry and Elaine have done to receive such vitriol, other than campaign tirelessly – often for many many years before Campbell appeared, but it doesn’t really matter …].

“It was only the creation of the Alba Party that offered Scotland one last-ditch chance of salvation.”

Aha!

How did that go?

“The party intends to carry on, which with the deepest respect and regret I consider a futility. We learned last week that Sturgeon has simply done too effective a job of poisoning its name and in particular that of its leader. ”

*sad face*

The one thing that’s consistent with all of these people is there is NEVER any personal responsibility for anything. It’s quite at thing.

We’re reaching a crescendo now …

“So, since I haven’t actually spelled it out yet: Wings is over. We’ve said everything there is to say …”

Well, it’s quite a claim and I don’t believe it for a microsecond but it’s worth archiving under R for Ridiculous Things Stuart Campbell Shouldn’t Have Said.

At least, as he pretends to bow-out it’s good to know we’ve been living rent free in his head as he chooses to use his supposedly last blog to make the claim that we are funded by MI6. To prove this exclusive scoop he links to the British Council profiling some Neu!Reekie! poetry.

“So unfortunately you’ll have to wait for someone else to report on Bella Caledonia’s links (via its “poetry collective”) to the British Council, an organisation identified by the Sunday Herald a few years earlier as a wing of the British security services.”

Crumbs, we’ve been rumbled.

“It’s the analysis.”

After scattering about a load of wildly ridiculous conspiracies and smearing a whole load of very decent people he then says: “There also remains the question of what should be done with the money left in the Wings Fighting Fund (still a not-insignificant sum) …”

[No Shit Sherlock]

Having been on the relentless grift for almost a decade Stuart bows out in a sea of well-practiced disinformation, hate, blame, narcissism, conspiracy and farce.

There are some positives. Campbell is apparently “afraid to live in Scotland” because of, er, misogyny. Really.

Anyway what a load of shit. The disciples comments are worth it if you need a lift at the end of lockdown.

 

 

 

 

Tags:

Comments (60)

Leave a Reply to Del Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.

  1. david says:

    The thing is, pure jobbies want independence too. If only wanting Scottish independence was a sign of the elect, and you knew that anyone supporting it was a good soul. Now where will they congregate? Selfishly, I preferred a coalescence rather than a scattering as it made navigation easier.

  2. John Mooney says:

    Scotland is well rid of this grifting “CHANTY RASSLER” as my old Granny would say,a sad pathetic troll of a man,good riddence to bad rubbish!

    1. James Mills says:

      John , he didn’t even live here . He has spent the majority of his adult life away from these shores ( thankful for small mercies !) .
      His acute political analysis led him to support ( by his own admission ) the Libdems . Let him now turn his blogging skills to reviving that dodo party .
      Unfortunately he will probably not find as many mugs to contribute to his ‘fundraisers’ for this Herculean task .

      Good riddance !

      However , like the liar Bojo The Clown , this REV is not a man of his word and will no doubt be back rattling his begging bowl under the noses of the easily bemused who think insulting all and sundry is a good way to persuade folk to your political viewpoint !

  3. Wullie says:

    Time for the Harpic, clean round the bend.

  4. Izzi says:

    Am I wrong but didn’t this site signal a farewell some years ago? I am no fan of Stuart Campbell but he had his place in the movement.

    1. I’m not writing his farewell, he is

    2. Lorraine Fannin says:

      Being divisive, and insulting, is not the way to achieve independence. The movement needs to convince the doubters, not the certain supporters, and this kind of mud-slinging won’t hell. I disagree that the Yes movement needs it right now.

  5. Alan says:

    You would have done well to take the high road and leave well alone. It is depressing that the Indy movement seem to be rapidly descending into a bile-fest. If Scotland ever wins its independence one wonders where the maturity will come from to shape a country that is fairer, more democratic, and respectful of all its citizens.

    1. Alison Roe says:

      Agreed. Too much sanctimony going around these days. What happened to live and let live? Or actual tolerance?

    2. Alison says:

      Agreed. Too much sanctimony going around these days. What happened to live and let live? Or actual tolerance?

      1. James MacPhee says:

        Live and let live… Alba was ruined by Stu, Lawson, Findlay, Kerr, Thompson, it could have been a great thing but Alba did nothing about the vile spew these characters littered social media with… so look to them…

        1. Diane Knox says:

          Well said

    3. Izzi says:

      Well said

  6. james gourlay says:

    I take it you didn’t like him and he didn’t like you. Who’s producing the bile now?

    1. No bile here, just exposing his

      1. Iain says:

        Ah, the terrible ‘other’.

        The only thing being exposed is your ain grudge, however merited.

        Best let other folks words speak for themselves.

        1. James Mills says:

          As a blogger he was incredibly thin-skinned and could not tolerate dissent from HIS view . Hence so many posters were blocked – leaving only the acolytes to support his increasingly bizarre rants . Some of whom have already appeared here bemoaning his demise . Sad !!!

  7. James MacDonald says:

    He appears to be the alter ego of George Galloway. Jean Paul Sartre would have condemned them to spend eternity in a cell with Alan Cochrane.

  8. Graham Hewitt says:

    There’s something quite depressing in the way some people choose to ignore glaring personal flaws (to put it politely) in many of our so-called leaders, politicians, bloggers, influencers, journalists etc. People like Trump, Johnson, Salmond, Campbell, and others who have been elevated far above their pay-grade despite, or perhaps (depressingly) because of their lack of integrity, decency, honesty, social conscience and other “old fashioned” values and despite the documented evidence of their bad behaviour and ill-will towards anyone who doesn’t do homage to their ideas and their demands.

    No need for anyone to have a moral compass any more, just tune in and be told what to think by someone who’s obviously so much smarter than you, no need to bother your silly little head with thinking for yourself, just sit in the echo chamber and repeat the mantra of who’s good and who’s bad and wise up on the latest conspiracy coming to get you.

    1. James Mills says:

      and for Campbell , such a good money spinner too!

    2. Blair says:

      It may seem that these people have been elevated far above their pay grade but the truth in the case of Boris, Trump and probably the rest is that they are under performing their earning potential by being in the wrong job. There is nothing wrong about us using their talents because the majority believe that our government machine and it’s systems can cope when it is obvious that it cannot.
      Margaret Thatcher said that the government machine was broken it still is and career politicians and those in positions of power have been playing our broken government system for decades.
      Just look and see how many public sector workers earn more than the Prime Minister or how many career politicians end up in the House of Lords still able to claim expenses for popping in through the door.
      We have the Conservative and Unionist Party who actively underfund and undermine all types of unions just because they can because others will bankroll their lifestyles for a favour or an honour.
      Our United Kingdom does not need levelling up or down it just needs our Westminister Government Machine adapted and reconfigured for unions in the digital age.
      If Scots are looking for more power and another referendum then they should be building a UK wide movement for a fully elected House of Lords incorporating the Treasury and all the current UK reserved powers. Anyone serving in the House of Lords should be limited to a maximum 10 years.
      The Challenge to Scottish Tories will they back the change and help build back better now Boris needs help with what is really a complex and challenging task beyond his skill set. The challenge to the SNP and Nicola Sturgeon can they handle 3-phase power.
      The seeds of real change depends on us.

    3. alwayswrite says:

      Campbell hasn’t been elevated above his pay grade,he’s just an obnoxious blogger,

      Salmond however is a totally different creature,just like Craig Murray,he’s basically a dangerous fool playing the old game of,
      ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend ‘ in other words they trott off to the kremlin propaganda channel RT to spout toxic drivel

      What was it the former first minister said on his opening RT programme?

      He’d cancel Brexit!

      Wow,he’d basically act like a fascist dictator,overturning UK democracy,salmond claims the kremlin doesn’t tell him what say,well they don’t need to when dealing with useful idiots

      Think about it,Salmond works for the kremlin and Putin a man who basically wants to destroy the UK and the EU, a miserable nasty fascist,and Salmond thinks it’s ok,so does Murray who’s actually infinitely worse

      Forget about his recent court case for me this is his real crime

      Murray and Salmond aren’t anything more than dangerous fools who would destroy Britain and the EU Putin must be smiling with high profile idiots like these doing the donkey work

  9. ed mccabe says:

    Well, lots of people read his blog. He wrote entertainingly, insultingly and with intelligence. I think that he’s right in that new faces will be needed next time round. You don’t have to agree with him to appreciate his output.

    1. “lots of people read his blog” isnt a defence.

      1. James Mills says:

        Writing ”insultingly and with intelligence ” appears to be a little contradictory . His intelligent put downs invariably amounted to ”Now F*ck Off ! ”

      2. carthannas says:

        This, to me anyway, seems like a statement of fact rather than a defence. Not one you’re likely to be able to rely on any time soon.

        1. Jeffrey Archer sold a lot of books. Lots of people read Alex Jones.

          1. carthannas says:

            I’m not as familiar with Mr Archer as you apparently are, so can’t comment. I understand, however, that Ms Jones’s book is a very useful and funny book on parenting which probably explains her readership.

          2. Alex Jones is the host of the very popular and weird and far-right Infowars https://www.infowars.com/

    2. Grant says:

      Agree strongly!
      Bella could learn, at least, from his always structured and referenced approach, in contrast to the playground piece that this originated from.

  10. Derek says:

    He gave a reason for these observations:-

    “Paul Kavanagh – someone who defended Stuart Campbell from accusations of homophobia for many years is ” only, and by a distressingly narrow margin, the very lowest of the grotesque, grifting, self-serving sewer scum that now infests every level of the independence movement”

    I note that you haven’t mentioned this. I have no way of discovering whether it’s true or not – short of phoning him (and I don’t have his number), but you could’ve put his comments in to give context.

    I don’t subscribe to a tribe; I’m for independence so I go where it’s being discussed, including here and there. I don’t like the “People’s Front Of Judea” approach.

    …and relax…

    D.

  11. Alice says:

    Right guys shoot out at the Indy Bloggers corral has now ended ….can we get on with a civilised debate on the way forward to Independence …Thanks

    1. Lorraine Fannin says:

      Totally agree.

  12. Lorna says:

    Do you think that’s a world record in Dummy Spitting?

  13. Alan Crerar says:

    Perhaps if he and his (is co-conspirators too strong a word?) pals spent as much of their energy attacking Unionism as they did attacking the SNP, perhaps they’d have had more electoral success. Did Alba do anything at all to bring No voters or Non voters round to Indy, or were they happy simply leeching a few votes from the SNP?
    What is strange is that his Wings blog went from forensic analysis of current polls and Yoon lies to howling at passers-by like some spittle-flecked lunatic street-preacher given the body-serve by lunchtime shoppers. When did that happen? Within a couple of weeks of his interview on Alex Salmond’s RT interview, actually. Puzzling or what?
    Meanwhile, his fighting fund is going spare apparently? Really? Can I have my tenner back, then?

    1. Philip Maughan says:

      Stuart Campbell forensically dismantled many Unionists until about 2017. That was when Nicola Sturgeon, after fighting a diligent campaign to get the least worst Brexit option of staying in the single market and customs union, then jumped on board the Stop Brexit bandwagon. This at a time when the Tories had a wafer thin majority and a weak leader in Theresa May and in defiance of the democratic wishes of English voters. At that point Stuart Campbell believed (as did I) that Scottish Indy was an open goal which should have been pursued with vigor. Instead NS put independence on the back burner (hiding behind Theresa May’s refusal of a Section 30 order and her ‘now is not the time’ mantra). As well as pursuing the Stop Brexit agenda, NS then started promoting trans rights and independence was kicked further into the long grass. Add to that the cancellation of annual conferences, the unwillingness to debate alternative independence strategies, the closing down of the independence unit, whose task was to develop a strategy and tool kit for independence, obstruction of Martin Keatings’ legal action to clarify whether the Scottish Parliament could call a referendum unilaterally, the defenestration of Joanna Cherry and finally the terrible treatment of Alex Salmond, not just the internal harassment procedure which was deemed unlawful, but his removal from the SNP’s history section on their website and refusal to allow him to present a cheque (I forget what for) inside Bute House, forcing him to make the presentation outside in the rain. Given all this, I find it completely unsurprising that Stuart Campbell turned from supportive of the SNP to frustrated, to disenchanted and finally raging with anger at the way in which the SNP has ceased to be a serious party of independence and become obsessed with identity politics. I now believe it is highly unlikely that there will be an independence referendum any time soon. Indeed if the Tories call a General Election in May 2023 as is being speculated, that will kick indy further down the road. The SNP could well lose vote share in that election due to voter disgruntlement at the lack of progress towards independence and the economic consequences of Brexit having been normalised by then. Meanwhile the Tories, who in all probability will win the election, will be able to say that support for independence is diminishing and feel justified in refusing to sanction another referendum. Finally, NS has asserted that any referendum is on the back burner until Covid and it’s economic consequences are behind us. I always thought that one crucial reason for independence was to take control of all the economic levers in order to make decisions best suited to Scotland’s needs. So why on earth would we want to place the major burden of Scotland’s economic recovery on the UK Government? Given all the foregoing, I can completely understand Stuart Campbell’s wish to throw in the towel with so little prospect of independence in the forseeable future.

      1. florian albert says:

        I largely agree with your analysis as to how we got to where we are today.

        However, there is one piece missing; the influence – or, more accurately – lack of influence of Wings of Scotland. Stuart Campbell has been conducting a ‘crusade’ on the
        issues you mentioned. The election results from last week show that the voters are not much interested.
        Judged by numbers, ‘Wings’ is the biggest Scottish blog; a fact that Stuart Campbell has been known to mention. His political influence has been shown to be, in the short term at least, minimal.
        I concluded long ago that the political influence of the written press was hugely exaggerated. It looks as though online commentators, above and below the line, will have to accept that they count for less than they might hope.

        1. Niemand says:

          Bit hard to say though without a control. The SNP may have done a lot better.

          I think what he has done is cement a significant anti-SNP minority of independence supporters into a group who may never vote for them again. And then you have the fact that the SNP are still the only real show in town re independence. So they get the votes but possibly increasingly grudgingly given what people now know due to the likes of Campbell. What did fail was ALBA (for now) but I am not at all sure that is much to do with Wings.

          I also agree with Philip’s analysis which has a great deal of well-reasoned sense to it. The issue of the Brexit vote during May’s tenure sort of passed people by given their were so many, but it was crucial. I remember the Labour amendment that included a customs union – it was the softest Brexit vote at Westminster during this time and I think it lost by about two votes. Had it gone through the whole thing would have been over there and then and we may never have got Johnson. I was livid when I saw the whole SNP, and virtually all LibDems and Greens vote it down yet most Remainers just shrugged their shoulders saying the only thing is to stop Brexit (even revoke it). I though that pathetic because what was blindingly obvious is that in reality they voted for a hard Brexit, which is what we got and was also pretty obviously the for opening door for Johnson. I thought that unforgivable wrecking hubris and still do.

          1. Drew Anderson says:

            I think you’re significantly overstating the impact of indy bloggers.

            Relatively speaking, few of the general public know of many, or any, independence bloggers; fewer read them regularly and fewer still comment, never mind take part in discussions over the merits, or otherwise, of any given party.

      2. Hamish100 says:

        The Rev will never deliver Independence at any time. What are the 1.5% going to do?

  14. Andrew Fraser says:

    I must admit – I used to be an avid Wings reader during and after the referendum. At the time it felt like a great source for information lacking elsewhere ie. Wee Blue Book. Over the years though it became quite unbearable to read and he has since fallen well off my radar. Thankfully, there are a whole host of influential bloggers/journalists to take pick from these days; Yourselves, Lesley Riddoch, Paul Kavanagh….

  15. Jennie says:

    It may be that there was a genuine need for the Alba party but if so, the time for it was emphatically NOT a mere six weeks before an election. The utter naiveté of that move, the lack of understanding of the way politics work and the way voters – people – decide who to vote for …one assumes that was a function of both Salmond’s and Wings’ egotism .

    More to the point, pressing for a second referendum during the Brexit débâcle and the pandemic is actually what would have killed independence for a generation.
    It’s not about what those two egotists want, it’s about international realpolitik. Scotland will need to rejoin the EU as soon as possible,
    which means a) having all the EU countries supporting our application and b) being one step ahead of the Westminster based disinformation brigade – and so endless hours of quiet diplomacy have been ongoing.

    Wings and Salmond seem to live in a saltire-bedecked dreamworld. Sturgeon doesn’t. I was not a fan initially but her handling of the last few years’ relentless challenges has been tireless and, yes, exemplary. Neither of them could have done anything like as good a job, they don’t have the stamina (” sleepy cuddles”, anyone?) and that is probably what hurts their egos the most.

  16. emm see says:

    He was the only blogger out of the lot of you whose sole raison d’etre was to tell the truth, and expose and explain any and all barriers to independence.

    He wasn’t in it for a personality contest. He was about telling the fact checked, backed up, forensically-referenced indisputable truth – something none of the rest of you come close to doing.

    He was about telling the truth, and ONLY the truth, and none of the rest of you are fit to lace his boots.

    1. Alec Lomax says:

      “What is truth?” – Pontius Pilate.

    2. James Mills says:

      Truth ? Ask the families of the Hillsborough victims about his ”Truth ” !

    3. Elizabeth says:

      “Was” being the operative word! He “was” everything you said, until he came up with the List votes only party plan.
      He took his idea to the SNP who said it wouldn’t work and that’s when the wheels fell off the wings bus!
      He became vehemently anti SNP and instead of the truth, we got his opinion.
      I gave up reading that blog then.

  17. ed mccabe says:

    If we are to win Indy 2 then we need to be open to No voters. We need to listen, understand and perhaps agree with some of their points. The indy movement needs diversity of thought. Differences of opinions are good. This was a blogger that people read. More so than all the rest put together. His facts, I think, were indisputable. His opinion and conjecture were just that. You don’t have to agree with the opinion and conjecture, but his fact checking was second to none. There is no reason why indy supporters should be fighting each other. The time would better be spend (IMHO) on street stalls, posting positive stories about indy and keeping the focus on positive messages. There are only so may hours in the day. Let’s use them positively.

  18. Alec Lomax says:

    A nation yawns.

  19. Alec Lomax says:

  20. IAN smith says:

    He shouldn’t go out in the rain too much,he might drown with the size of the bottom lip he’s got!

  21. heilan' loon says:

    Ach wings might be finishing, but Bella Caledonia will stll not be anywhere near teh top of the pile of indy supporting sites,

  22. carthannas says:

    Bella Caledonia Editor
    13th May 2021 at 4:09 pm
    Jeffrey Archer sold a lot of books. Lots of people read Alex Jones.
    Reply
    * carthannas 
13th May 2021 at 6:14 pm 
I’m not as familiar with Mr Archer as you apparently are, so can’t comment. I understand, however, that Ms Jones’s book is a very useful and funny book on parenting which probably explains her readership.

    * Bella Caledonia Editor 
13th May 2021 at 6:41 pm 
Alex Jones is the host of the very popular and weird and far-right Infowars https://www.infowars.com/

    Ooh, really? I didn’t know that!!!

  23. John Charity says:

    Bella Caledonia Editor
    13th May 2021 at 4:09 pm
    Jeffrey Archer sold a lot of books. Lots of people read Alex Jones.
    Reply
    * carthannas 
13th May 2021 at 6:14 pm 
I’m not as familiar with Mr Archer as you apparently are, so can’t comment. I understand, however, that Ms Jones’s book is a very useful and funny book on parenting which probably explains her readership.

    * Bella Caledonia Editor 
13th May 2021 at 6:41 pm 
Alex Jones is the host of the very popular and weird and far-right Infowars https://www.infowars.com/

    Ooh, really? I didn’t know that!!!

  24. Del says:

    He can live in Scotland. All he has to do is change his name. Oh wait … he already did 🙂

  25. Hamish100 says:

    I suppose I should be honoured to have been banned by Campbell. For some to put him up on a pedestal is rather bizarre. He allowed tories, unionist bloggers and downright trolls to effen bee and c ( thanks Matt McGinn) and worse, but couldn’t take criticism over his stupid remarks over the Murrells. He gave an open door to the unionist press as the Independence movement got tarred with the same brush. He even made Dugdale appear as a victim.
    He is a maverick and if I was an Alba supporter I would be annoyed that the vote unionist get Sturgeon out brigade, apparently given the nod on WoS, scuppered Salmond’s plan of snp 1, Alba 2 tactic. Alba was also undermined therefore. Why?

    If you want Independence then the path is clear that it does not lead to Bath.

  26. Anagach says:

    “So what’s coming now is five miserable years of deja vu. A Holyrood with a pro-indy majority but no will to do anything with it, just like the one we’ve had since 2016”

    I look forward to this being wrong. But I’d not put money on it. Wings and Alba represent a small but growing group who are impatient and consider ‘waiting for 60%’ or even 70% in polling to be completely the wrong approach.

  27. D says:

    Wow. Slow news week. Nearly 10 days since this was posted and it’s still on your front-page.

    1. Hamish100 says:

      …and yet you read it!! Lol

Help keep our journalism independent

We don’t take any advertising, we don’t hide behind a pay wall and we don’t keep harassing you for crowd-funding. We’re entirely dependent on our readers to support us.

Subscribe to regular bella in your inbox

Don’t miss a single article. Enter your email address on our subscribe page by clicking the button below. It is completely free and you can easily unsubscribe at any time.