We received two emails today, just a few minutes apart. There are a couple of notable things about them. The first came from Claire Somebody at the Crown Office.
The second one, even more thrillingly, came from Service Advisor 1989847 at Police Scotland, which we assume is some sort of advanced crime-fighting robot.
In one of those emails, readers, is a three-word phrase that raised our eyebrows just about right off our heads. Before we chat any more, see if it jumps out at you too.
Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service
25 Chambers Street
Edinburgh
EH1 1LA
4 June 2026
.
Dear Chief Constable and Crown Office,
RE: REQUEST FOR CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION — ALLEGED
MISAPPROPRIATION OF RING-FENCED POLITICAL DONATIONS
I write to request that Police Scotland/COPFS open a criminal investigation into the alleged misappropriation of funds donated to the Scottish National Party (SNP) on the basis that those funds would be held and applied for a specific, designated purpose.
If you subscribe to the theory that it’s better to fight 100 duck-sized horses than a single horse-sized duck, the SNP is knocking it out of the park today.
Because the papers just can’t make their minds up about the biggest story with which to attack John Swinney’s beleaguered party.
You’ve had a few pretty gruelling pieces to get through in the last week or so, readers, so here’s something a little more light-hearted.
It’s from an episode of Broadcasting Scotland on 27 November 2020, a month after we confirmed our big story about the SNP accounts and the missing fundraiser money. In it, snug-toed SNP MP Pete Wishart opines that there really is nothing to worry about, and we should all just put our trust in the party.
We’ll leave you to judge whose opinion stood the test of time.
On Sunday, Nicola Sturgeon told Laura Kuenssberg that the SNP’s accounts “went up and down” as her excuse for not noticing that hundreds of thousands of pounds had suddenly vanished from them overnight.
Several things leap out immediately from that clip.
One, there absolutely very much WAS “something glaringly suspicious in the accounts that I should have seen” – the party she led had raised almost £700,000 in two “ring-fenced” fundraisers that wasn’t there any more, which ought to have made its leader at least mildly curious.
And two, attempting to fob responsibility off onto the independent auditors simply won’t wash. It’s not their job to determine whether the SNP has kept its political promises or not, their job is simply to match up money coming in against money going out and produce a set of numbers to show what it all adds up to. It makes no odds to them if it was spent on a party conference, a fancy motorhome or a 50-foot golden statue of Danny La Rue. All they can see is numbers.
But even leaving those things aside, if we’re going to learn anything about how The Great Indyref Swindle got to this calamitous point unchecked we need to examine just how hard Nicola Sturgeon had to look the other way to fail to see what was going on literally under her nose and literally in her own back yard.
Mark Beggan on Wider Than A Mile: “The government is to introduce internet ban for under sixteens. May as well say goodbye to a few people on…” Jun 12, 12:37
James Che on Wider Than A Mile: “The evidence that the Westminster parliament was indeed the parliament of England was the Anglo/ Irish Agreement in 1800s and…” Jun 12, 12:35
Mark Beggan on Wider Than A Mile: “If you can’t beat them join them. Let’s talk about the past, let’s talk about Ireland! The Crumlin Road break…” Jun 12, 12:06
James Che on Wider Than A Mile: “Englands Westminster parliament cannot and could not consume a parliament of Scotland that does not exist as it was dissolved…” Jun 12, 12:05
Aidan on Wider Than A Mile: “I’m sorry I don’t follow this, what released Scotland from its oligations, what process was followed and what were the…” Jun 12, 12:05
James Che on Wider Than A Mile: “The deceit and hoax come about when Westminster pretends that it had…not dissolved the parliament of Scotland from a union…” Jun 12, 11:58
Mark Beggan on Wider Than A Mile: “Is this the article that allows you to read so far then wants money to read further? If Ireland sunk…” Jun 12, 11:52
Aidan on Wider Than A Mile: “Do you normally get like this when you lose an argument Northcode? No wonder you spend your whole time posting…” Jun 12, 11:49
Northcode on Wider Than A Mile: “Fuck off AI Dan… this place is for Scots who want England’s ‘raggedy arse kicked out of Scotland’ and yet…” Jun 12, 11:38
James Che on Wider Than A Mile: “Aiden, By dissolving the Scottish parliament so early on from what was supposed to create the united parliament of Great…” Jun 12, 11:34
Mark Beggan on Wider Than A Mile: “I think you need a woman James.” Jun 12, 11:33
Aidan on Wider Than A Mile: “That is factually incorrect though James, during the period 1707 – 1800 Scottish MP’s and peers sat in the GB…” Jun 12, 11:31
James Che on Wider Than A Mile: “Aidan, By 1801/1802 Scotland was not in the parliament of Great Britain at all, Due to the monarch of England…” Jun 12, 11:18
Mark Beggan on Wider Than A Mile: “Ireland is to busy getting butt fucked by Europa. That’s how they pay rent to Brussels.” Jun 12, 11:17
Aidan on Wider Than A Mile: “@Alf – using post-colonial theory and the colonial markers you’ve described, is Yorkshire a colony?” Jun 12, 11:04
Aidan on Wider Than A Mile: “The Treaty of Union creates a single parliament for Great Britain, and within that single parliament the arithmetic was such…” Jun 12, 10:51
Alf Baird on Wider Than A Mile: ““Perhaps we should go back to those halcyon, happy days when we weren’t colonised. How does 1996 sound?” Prior to…” Jun 12, 10:47
robertkknight on Wider Than A Mile: “Absolutely wrong! A united Ireland will fundamentally change politics in Scotland. There is a distinct probability that much of the…” Jun 12, 10:40
xaracen on Wider Than A Mile: “Aidan said; “You mean apart from Article 1 which does exactly that. Ultimately here you remain in a minority of…” Jun 12, 10:22
xaracen on Wider Than A Mile: “I said above, “nothing in it transfers, bequeaths or incorporates the ‘sovereignty of the English Crown in the brand new…” Jun 12, 10:17
Minceheid on Wider Than A Mile: “Red says: 11 June, 2026 at 10:25 pm Am I wrong? In a word, no; it’s all just common sense,…” Jun 12, 10:13
Northcode on Wider Than A Mile: “There are various extreme psychological pathologies at work in Scotland, but there’s one type the SNP often exploits more than…” Jun 12, 10:10
Aidan on Wider Than A Mile: “You mean apart from Article 1 which does exactly that. Ultimately here you remain in a minority of one, nobody…” Jun 12, 09:51
Hatey McHateface on Wider Than A Mile: “Just 5 more years, xaracen, and the millions of Sovereign Scottish voters will see the sense of your arguments. I…” Jun 12, 09:51
Hatey McHateface on Wider Than A Mile: “Please don’t use the racist term “fair” again.” Jun 12, 09:45
xaracen on Wider Than A Mile: “Everyone except you, Aidan! This is your usual English establishment tripe. Nothing in the Treaty of Union as written, signed…” Jun 12, 09:33
xaracen on Wider Than A Mile: “After the end of every session of the Scottish parliament it would host an additional mandatory session, held under the…” Jun 12, 09:14
Aidan on Wider Than A Mile: “That’s a very fair point Hatey” Jun 12, 09:14
diabloandco on Wider Than A Mile: “Thanks Fearghas, it’s why I come on here every time the RSPCA give us a new , expensive and horrific…” Jun 12, 09:05
Hatey McHateface on Wider Than A Mile: “You insist on spelling your name wrong, Aiden. So why should we believe anything else you write?” Jun 12, 08:16