Free Money with the Reverend Stuart Campbell: an update on how to collect your winnings

Seriously, folks, I've never steered you wrong on a bet recommendation about Scottish politics, and 5/4 on Angus Robertson is absolutely free money. pic.twitter.com/cGvR1ZzIBD

— Wings Over Scotland (@WingsScotland) April 15, 2026

Now, for full disclosure, I did actually agree with Stew that Angus Robertson was the likely winner in Edinburgh Central, but unlike Stew I made clear that there was a plausible path to victory for both Labour and the Greens, and I certainly wasn't so idiotic as to go around telling people to bet the house on Mr Robertson winning.  Although the numbers are dwindling, Stew does still have a few sheep-like followers who adhere to his every utterance as if it's the Word of God, so it's actually highly likely that people took his advice and put money on Mr Robertson.  We can only hope that nobody is waking up this morning to the loss of their life savings.

So the Edinburgh Central prediction now joins the vast collection of Stew Predictions That Were Wrong, and given the way he made it, it's perhaps the crown jewel of the lot.  (My previous all-time favourite was "we're calling it now, Humza has lost" during the 2023 SNP leadership election.) But it doesn't end there, because he made other predictions about the Holyrood election that also proved to be hopelessly wrong.  I can maybe let him off the hook with his claim the other day that Iris Duane had no chance of being elected, because it was ambiguously worded and possibly referred to the constituency contest only.  But for the following he has no alibi:

* In an effort to convince people not to vote SNP on the list, he claimed a year ago that the SNP were nailed-on to win at least 65 constituency seats, he provided a map of the 65 he was referring to, and he challenged anyone to demonstrate which of those 65 the SNP might not win.

In the actual result, the SNP took 57 constituency seats.

* He said a year ago that the SNP were guaranteed to win zero list seats, and that anyone who voted SNP on the list could therefore know with absolute certainty that their vote would be wasted.

In the actual result, the SNP took one list seat - meaning the SNP have taken at least one list seat in all seven Holyrood elections since the start of devolution in 1999.

* He later modified that prediction to say there was a chance of the SNP winning one list seat, but only if they lost to Fergus Ewing in Inverness & Nairn.

In the actual result, the SNP defeated Fergus Ewing in Inverness & Nairn, but still took one seat on the Highlands & Islands list.

So what was Stew's sheepish reaction to his latest bonanza of hapless wrongness?  Yup, you've guessed it, folks, the opening words of his blogpost this morning were (and what else could they be): "Well, we told you so."

It's an art form in its own way.  Dear old Stewie.