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The SNP and to a lesser extent Yes Scotland have a lot to answer for about the rise of Wings and his continued prominence. When he started he was filling a hole that one of those two should have done. Relatively simple fact checking and rebuttal of unionism in Scotpol.
Through 2013 and beyond the referendum for many he provided a service of sorts collating facts to counter falsehoods from the no campaign and it was quite clear the campaign was happy to let him do that despite his, shall we say, abrasive personality.
To call his journalism good would be an insult but he was good and going back through old speeches or government press releases for useful titbits. The campaign and the party should have seen this and moved that work in house as soon as they could.
This would have maximised its usefulness and minimised the chance of embarrassment from a loose cannon. Alas this did not happen and he was allowed to carry on. Unfortunately when the referendum passed there were fewer unionists to draw his ire and we all know where that lead.
I’m not saying he was anyone’s fault but we all, perhaps myself included even if I were only 18, should have seen the sort of person he was and foresaw what he could become. He built a following on being an asset before turning into what we all know today.
