PRO-independence blogger Stuart Campbell has raised over £71,000 in less than 24 hours to keep the Wings Over Scotland website running for another year.
Originally aiming to raise £50,000, the fund has exceeded expectations.
The Bath-based blogger wrote: "When we did our 2018 crowdfunder, more than 14 months ago, we said "this is probably the last time we’re going to ask you to put your hands in your pockets". This is one of the very rare occasions that one of our predictions has turned out wrong.
"We said it because Brexit was supposed to be signed off by the UK Parliament last October, giving the EU a few months to ratify the withdrawal agreement and have the UK leave by March 29 this year, and so we expected that one way or another the chips would be down and we'd all know where we stood on a second independence referendum (and hopefully be campaigning in it).
"Alert readers may have spotted that that didn't happen."
The first 24 hours of this year's fundraiser have surpassed last year's all-time day-1 record by around £4,000 🙂 https://t.co/mxTr7z4OP3
— Wings Over Scotland (@WingsScotland) May 14, 2019
He continued: "Any money you send us will be split as usual between running costs, commissioning polls, a wage for myself and contributors like our magnificent near-weekly cartoonist Chris Cairns, and the building up of the Wings Fighting Fund with the aim of printing a million-plus copies of a new Wee Blue Book when a second referendum comes along, along with other major secret campaigning projects we're working on."
At the time of writing, the fund had reached £71,485.61.
People who donate can expect rewards ranging from a credit card tool to a hip flask.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel