The earth-shattering kaboom
We just put up a post, readers, but we’ve pulled it again because this has happened:
Because of this:
More as we get it, but this would seem to be an extraordinary move from the Tories if they weren’t pretty confident they had the backing of the other opposition parties. At a minimum it’s quite the scene-setter for tomorrow’s appearance of the First Minister in front of the Fabiani committee. We presume we don’t need to tell you to stay tuned.
[EDIT 6.50pm: Statements here and here. Kevin Pringle and Duncan Hamilton both explicitly confirm that Nicola Sturgeon’s statement about the nature of her meeting with Geoff Aberdein on 29 March 2018 was a lie. This could well be the end.]
[EDIT 7.05pm: Oh dear lord above, the legal advice is out too, and it is NOT good for the First Minister. We’ve only skimmed a couple of bits so far but it’s already terrible. The first extract below is from a letter from senior counsel Roddy Dunlop QC to the Scottish Government on 31 October 2018, and shows that Alex Salmond was entirely correct to say that the Scottish Government had been advised his petition in judicial review was likely to succeed months before the government finally conceded it.]
(“A very real problem indeed”, for any readers unfamiliar with lawyer-speak, translates directly to “IN THE HOLY NAME OF THE ONE TRUE JESUS CHRIST WHAT HAVE YOU DONE, YOU APOCALYPTICALLY BONEHEADED MORONS?”)
On 6 December 2019 we get an explicit statement that counsel have been advising that the petition should be conceded. It would not be for over another month.
(That month included the period of Commission And Diligence spanning Christmas, at what would likely have been dizzying cost even by lawyer standards.)
So John Swinney has blatantly lied about it this evening:
And this bit from 19 December 2018, referring to the Scottish Government’s repeated failure to disclose key evidence even to its own counsel, let alone the court, during the Commission And Diligence process, isn’t too pretty either, particularly paragraph 2:
Jeez
Definitely can’t keep up
Time for a wee tincture I think
A VoNC in the FM has no legal binding to compel her to resign though.
Can’t keep up. The dam is bursting.
What time is Nicola due to appear before the committee tomorrow & will there be similar methods to watch like there was with Alex etc?
Hope this gets past the cens… Holy fuck!
@scott
9am and should be on Scottish Parliament TV.
Well she holds those in her party to the highest of standards..
I hope it happens but…The Greens.
Where does she get her confidence from…she’s convinced she’s entirely innocent, it’s a set up and there’s absolutely no evidence?
Sad part is, if she does step down (or is forced to) her worshippers will blame a combination of AS/WoS and Westminster. Absolutely no chance of them accepting any possible wrongdoing from the great leader.
This was always in the pipeline, although it would have been perhaps more beneficial to the First Minister for it to happen after the election – all that efforts made to Cherry pick the upcoming candidates may have been in vain.
toast for breakfast
Your hard work and tenacity achieved this Mr. Campbell. Rather than go with the crowd you have told the truth and the truth always outs.
It’s a flood gate, and could n’t speculate as to the end game.
Implications for Holyrood elections and independence huge.
The Greens will distance themselves from any criminal actively, especially just before an election.
So Nicola,,,it looks like you’re on your own.
The legal advice – esp the later stuff – is explosive and entirely confirms what Alex said.
As well as resign, here’s hoping she apologises to Alex Salmond.
I feel that Sturgeon will just say her recollections were different and continue to deny she broke the ministerial code.
Given the SNPs continued poll lead, I guess she’ll just try and ride out the storm.
And your previous thread Rev needs to be taken all the way,,,and Woman H sent away for the full SEVEN YEARS.
Surgeon, Swinney, the whole fuckin lot of them want jailed.
But The Great Scot Public and NS Fandom will not accept Reality !
Good – let’s go get the crooks. Jail the bloody lot of them.
You would think Sturgeon is TOAST and will have to resign but as I’ve said many time’s she’ll bring the whole house down including of right to be Independent before she even considers on resigning.
Oh please please Jackie Baillie skewer her and show her up for the despicable person she is , then we can get on ridding Scotland of the 2021 parcel of rogues , weak pishart,John swindler jaiket shakey nail
It just shows you how far Sturgeon was willing to go to hide the truth.
Lifebelts on everybody. Dams going.Evans at best is gone. Others may follow.
Due process and the Scottish Parliament must be the winner in all this – if there are any winners.
Tbh, I’d go for a fulsome apology to Alex and the woman who have been used in all this (which some have, while others have been the users and abusers), as well as the taxpayer and public instead of resignation. But ONLY if the independence movement is ready to stand shedload of really strong list candidates in May. I no longer really care who leads the SNP so long as they have a serious, pro independence opposition in May.
If we can hold Scottish politics to a higher standard then that of WM (I’m thinking of Matt Hancock) then that’s a positive thing for the May elections. I’m not pretending that it’s positive for the SNP. They will have to pick up the pieces and regroup.
While it seems pretty obvious the First Minister misled the Parliament, wasn’t this entire fiasco pushed thru by Evans, and wasn’t she a Whitehall person?
Also, as much as I am angry at this saga, it is a bit rich for the tories to be demanding anyone resign.
They would have a bit more credibility had they been demanding Patel resigns for breaking the Ministerial Code, or Matt Hancock for breaking the Law.
And how many in Labour were demanding Tony Blair be held to account, and resign over his misleading Parliament?
To say nothing of Johnson doing the same thing routinely.
And the libs can’t say a word either, with them defending Alistair Carmichael, and then we had Willie Rennie defending David Steel.
So yes, with this fiasco, and it is a total disaster, and has potential to disrupt the Independence of Scotland, and I am appalled with those behind it, I also have no time for those anti Scottish politicians, and their crazed pro London supporters (most of whom wanted Alex Salmond jailed) trying to take the moral high ground here.
Reading Duncan Hamilton’s submission, it seems beyond doubt that the meeting between Aberdein and the FM on the 29 March was planned to take place, ie it wasn’t some chinwag after bumping into Aberdein in the corridor. Therefore, it was a Scottish Government meeting and there had to have been minutes taken, which would include the complainant’s identity and who at the meeting gave it.
Going to be tough for the FM to get out of that one.
At this juncture, Oliver Cromwell’s famous ‘In the name of God, go!’ is more than Nicola Sturgeon deserves for the opprobrium she has brought upon herself, Holyrood, Scottish politics and almost the Scottish legal system.
Far more apt would be the Glaswegian dismissal, “Bolt, ya radge!”
There is a gap in the legal advice. What were they getting told in November the month of the 17 unminited meeting which included Sturgeon and Evans. The ones where Evans burn the notebooks
The Sturgeonistas are having a breakdown on SM.
There will be a lot of SNP politicos considering their positions.
The careerists will be waiting to see what side they should take.
Hell mend them
Yesterday Swinney said he had decided to release the advice “to counter the false claims being made by some.”
Drain the bog!!!
As a spectator from the (Hopefully) safe distance of Wales I have to say I am open-mouthed;
Layer upon layer of shambolic and potentially ‘actionable’ ‘prejudice’;
Last minute disclosures not just from political party sources but from ‘State’ bodies such that it seems to me impossible to digest and take a rational view of the contents before your First Minister’s appearance tomorrow. Odd, that…
The only thing I think can be said with some certainty is that- while the learned members of the independent Scottish Bar have no doubt made agreeable fees from all this- they do at least seem to have behaved with proper professional detachment- government and legal system should be separate
For those who don’t click hyperlinks in the article!
https://www.gov.scot/publications/legal-advice-related-to-the-parliamentary-inquiry-into-the-scottish-governments-handling-of-harassment-complaints-sghhc/
Yes! Justice, perchance?
PS The legal advice page has a wee box at the bottom saying ‘Did you find this useful?’
You can say, ‘Yes’, ‘No’, or ‘Yes,but…’ and a wee box opens so you can leave a comment.
Yes! Ya f*cking belter!
Resign Sturgeon, ya crook!
I know in this household we will be glad to see the back of Nicola Sturgeon for good.
Paul Kavanagh is on the phone Stu, he’s asking you what you think the swithering undecideds will make of this.
Will someone please think of the swithering undecideds!!! Look at the polls… wait a minute…
Can’t even think of anyone at holyrood who is in anyway competent to take on the FM role..
I wonder who is still standing with Nicola…cos she’s about to fall!
You might find some SNP Mps vote to remove her. Why not. Surely if your boss is a rule breaker then you can vote with your conscience.
“This could well be the end”
I hope so, Sturgeon must go if there’s any chance for Scotland to leave this shitty union, and if its the Tories that brings it about so be it.
Time for the FM to retire gracefully “to spend more time with her family”
Do you think those pesky magpies will keep Nicola awake tonight?
We do know the “senior government official” was. Are we allowed to say who that was?
Scottie. Kate Forbes. Why not…She is the best in there.
I’m being kind when I say the Scottish Government and the SNP hierarchy have handled this very poorly indeed. I’m not sure this could have been handled any worse really.
Ah well, perhaps we can get a new SNP hierarchy and top civil servants and spads that can get a law through the Scottish Parliament that can retroactively bring the Lord Advocate to book.
X_Sticks
No, as she would obviously be named otherwise
Is the following possible?
. Sturgeon refuses to resign after personal VONC
. Government is defeated in VOC
. Sturgeon calls election, with her still as party leader
. committee is aborted since Parliament session ends now
. Election date remains May
. Scottish voters reelect SNP government
If your watching Alex
Enjoy !
Presumably the Sturgeonista loyal are either staying very quietly or beating themselves in to a lather insisting that “Nothing has changed. NOTHING has changed!” ? 🙂
I don’t think I can even be bothered to look, I’m just enjoying this bumper bag of popcorn.
Hubris and vindictiveness come to mind.
It has to be over now? Surely to God even this poor wee narcissist has to see that?
You have done us all a favour, Stuart – as has the brave Craig Murray.
We need to be shot of these corrupt bastards and get Indy back on the road!
Wow! I’m dizzy!
This is all going too fast.
Maybe I will watch tomorrow’s proceedings after all.
Could be time to finish my knitting or as they say in French le tricotage/le tricot.
je tricote, tu tricotes, il tricote, nous tricotons
Could end up with a lot of dropped stitches as I am not an expert ‘tricoteuse’ watching the the proceedings and knitting at the same time could be tricky.
Still a piece of knitting with lots of holes might not make a very good scarf but it could be something that could perhaps win the Turner Prize. I would call it ‘Nicky’s Evidence’
MikeD says:
2 March, 2021 at 6:52 pm
A VoNC in the FM has no legal binding to compel her to resign though.
And she won’t. She believes she is right, and the only choice to lead Scotland. No matter the evidence to the contrary, she will continue to convince herself she is right, because that plays to her intent, and personal ambitions, whatever anyone else in Scotland wants.
She is a political lightweight who will not go for independence because in her heart she knows she’s not up to the task, and it’s far easier to settle into a comfortable life in a perpetual state of devolution, no matter how small that becomes. It plays right into her limitations of being a mediocre fish in a small pond.
So When she goes what happens next
The FM could have won independence and immortality but instead, she’s going out in ignominy a mere footnote all because she didn’t want to risk Alex Salmond coming back and taking the leadership off of her.
I fucking despise Nic more than Thatcher for promulgating this pointless lockdown which destroyed my career and hasn’t saved a single life as demonstrated by Sweden.
Instead her policies have inflicted untold misery and death on the Scottish population.
Such a mess. Such an awful mess, and whilst I am not vindictive, and often feel sympathy for NS’s predicament, I recall that an innocent man could have been sent to jail for the rest of his life.
Like I say, such an awful, awful mess.
And no matter what happens tomorrow, just how can the SNP re-unite, when NS is still questioning the outcome? Alex Salmond is an innocent man and the SNP hierarchy really, really need to move on, and stop pretending that it is otherwise.
Salmond is right to seek the truth, but once it is over, all I really want the SNP focus to be on is independence – something that has been lacking for the past six years.
Do the SNP really need Alex to come back again to sort their party out? Lost count how many times he has. I’d back him.
Endgame
This, I’m afraid, is what happens when political parties are run by a small band of self-interested ego maniacs.
They become convinced that they are all-powerful and forget why they were put there in the first place. They put themselves ahead of the needs of their party and of the country.
Anybody on here want to see the Tories bring Nicola Sturgeon down?
Thank you, Rev. I doubt we would know much of this without you. I really hope Alex Salmond can take some comfort from this now.
I see that Stewart Macdonaldnnow comparing this to the Clinton emails scandal.
That Sturgeon takes as her inspiration a woman who was so bad that she lost an election to a man who seemed like a Rik Mayall character sums her up.
She is indeed a total fucking mediocrity. Absolute waste of space.
I will be amazed if Sturgeon resigns. It’s not in her DNA. I get the impression that she would rather bring the whole rotten edifice down around her than do the decent thing. The tragedy about all of this is that it has cast a huge shadow on the ability of the Scots to govern themselves. It will take a long time to get credibility back.
Big Jock 7:37PM
Please tell me you are not serious, 2 years as a Trainee Accountant with Barclays. After 42 years working in Finance for some of the biggest Global Companies Katie Forbes meteoric rise is only possible in a screwed up organisation. Being fair, Katie Forbes is a step up from the previous incumbant.
Just worth mentioning that NS wouldn’t have ‘allowed’ these documents to be released if she didn’t have a plan B.
Who will replace Nicola? That is the question now.
It’s really past time that Nicola resigns but I’m guessing she is finding out what “extreme professional embarrassment” feels like.
I’m sure the irony is not lost on her former legal advisors.
Surely Craig Murray has to get a Not Guilty result now ?
And imminently ?
Any bets on how quickly Sturgeon will resign now?
Surely, in light of this evidence, she cannot try to cling on?
Robert graham says:
2 March, 2021 at 7:40 pm
If your watching Alex
Enjoy !
Throughout this whole affair Alex Salmond has attempted to save the party and the cause from the consequences of this. He will take no enjoyment from this.
Yeah, thanks a bunch Stu! This medicine tastes awful and has some nasty side effects. Hopefully they won’t be long lasting.
Sturgeon won’t resign. She is casting a huge shadow over the credibility of an Independent Scotland.
Ode to Peter & Nicola
So long! And thanks for all the pish!
So sad that it should come to this.
Stu tried to warn us all, but, oh dear!
We may not share Stu’s intellect.
Which might explain the disrespect.
The Murrells are about to be destroyed.
There’s no point getting all annoyed.
So long! So long! So long!
So long! So long! So long!
So long! So long! So long!
And thanks for all the pish!
“While it seems pretty obvious the First Minister misled the Parliament, wasn’t this entire fiasco pushed thru by Evans, and wasn’t she a Whitehall person?
Also, as much as I am angry at this saga, it is a bit rich for the tories to be demanding anyone resign.”
FFS Gordon. Whataboutery is not the answer here.
“Paul Kavanagh is on the phone Stu, he’s asking you what you think the swithering undecideds will make of this.”
I expect he’s already halfway through a stinging polemic about how the Tories are bad.
As I recall from AS’s evidence within a big batch of documents released to the Committee recently was one which showed that L Evans met with one complainant and spoke on the phone to the other DURING the investigation. This was never disclosed to the Court. LE must have known that this information was fatal to the case and failed to report it. A firing matter if true.
The fury of SNG’s counsel is clear from the tone of their comments re the Investigating Officer’s late admission of detailed contact. Can’t imagine what they would have done had they known about LE.
When you fight a campaign it is not enough to rejoice at winning,you must have a plan to fill the power vacuum. Iraq surely is a lesson that need not have had to be learned.
The upper echelon of the SNP including elected leaders,selected leaders or plain pals but well paid pals and sycophants must be cleansed and replaced. To coin a phrase ,the SNP must be built back better.
WELL?
Absolutely damning, she must resign over this. Im fairly certain she expected to be found out eventually, ie after May, but she’ll hopefully be out by the end of the week. Swinney too, clean out the house. Next step find out who leaked to the DR and get them jailed, and then woman H for what seems clearcut perjury. Salmond must have justice.
@ zebedee at 7.39
The following has been posted, in all seriousness (I assume) in the comments on another blog, by someone who used to post here in the dim and distant past (and at that time appeared to be quite sensible):
Fairly comprehensive dossier published by the Scottish Conservatives which details the whole sorry saga and the basis of the VONC in the First Minister.
https://www.scottishconservatives.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Dossier.pdf
My article on Sturgeon’s actions during the court case:
Nicola Sturgeon – true friend of women?
https://scotland.substack.com/p/nicola-sturgeon-true-friend-of-women
Well that solid brass of neck of hers will need a lot of polishing tomorrow as she blusters and obfuscates this lot. Of course a committee who are informed, sharp and determined to get to the bottom of it would surely make mincemeat of her, but quite a few of them will be desperate to cover for her. Will be fascinating to see how it plays out. “I made some mistakes, but honest ones” haha.
Re: WGD
Nothing about today on his blog or twitter feed – all to do with Tories and Westminster
Big Boom! What a week! So far!
Toast served cold
.
Mike D
Your point is moot.
FACT…
I GUARANTEE YOU NICOLA STURGEON WILL GONE FROM THE OFFICE OF FIRST MINISTER WITHIN 65 DAYS.
Her time is up.
If she resigns before the Holyrood election of 6th May 2021 in 65 days time, Nicola Sturgeon may salvage a small part of her political legacy and reputation.
From the minute of the edit on this post by the Reverend Stuart Ulysses Campbell, Nicola’s political end is now in sight.
It’s like a huge weight of excrement is being lifted off of our shoulders.
Thank God Alex Salmond and Moira Salmond can see this.
JUSTICE HAS NOW STARTED TO BE SEEN TO BE DONE.
At last, the truth that Sturgeon and her cabal have tried so hard to suppress is unfolding.
MR Wolffe will have to go too. For him to stutter and splutter: that there are “no grounds” and all this is “baseless” is tantamount to MR Wolffe bringing the Crown Office into disrepute. He is very close to having a public petition launched, calling for him to be forever removed from public office and having what the Queen terms his honour, dignity and title of “Lord” being revoked.
As for Nicola Sturgeon, well I may not be Jackie Bailie’s biggest fan, but her calm, rigorous, polite yet persistent and articulate forensic questions are bringing a lot of folk from the whole political spectrum to laud her impeccable conduct in the Fabiani Inquiry. Jackie Baillie will be the one to watch at Nicola Sturgeon’s spit roasting.
Nicola, you have 65 days left as First Minister. God help you after that because there are now moves for the police to be required to investigtate matters. With respect to the letter from Police Scotland published earlier on Wings Over Scotland, whoever the anonymous author of the police letter is, their credentials as a police officer should be called into question.
Police Scotland are REQUIRED to investigate crime. Failure to do so is in and of itself a criminal offence in terms of NEGLECT OF DUTY. Anyone familiar with The “rubber healed squad” as so aptly portrayed by our very own Martin Compston will know that chief constable Iain Livingstone’s fancy polis hat as bedecked with a ton of silver threaded scrambled egg decoration is on a VERY shoogly peg.
The Scots, myself included, are thrawn. We were told that Scottish Independence was dead after we lost the 2014 referendum. Our thrawn nature issued the refoinder of electing a historic 57 SNP MPs to Westminster after that.
What do YOU think our thrawn nature will do when the vast majority of Scots find out that Nicola Covid-TV Queen Sturgeon is implicated in a joint endeavour to have an innocent man JAILED for FAKE charges because she wanted to politically kill him off.
God help you Nicola. In ordinary circumstances I would feel sorry for you.
#SturgeonToCourt
Hen, yer officially at risk of going the same way yon President Nicola Sarkozy of France has just gone. To jail.
Set the Nicola Clock: 65 days to go.
Then…
Going, going, gone.
—————-
MikeD says:
2 March, 2021 at 6:52 pm
A VoNC in the FM has no legal binding to compel her to resign though.
It appears that Nicola Sturgeon is going to continue with her “I forgot” meme which no-one is buying except for those who are paid to buy it.
Interestingly, I watched a film called “The Bedroom Window” the other night. The protagonist’s mistress witnesses an assault from his bedroom window and not wishing to compromise her, he lies to the authorities and says that he witnessed the crime. It ends up in court and when pressed about the inconsistencies in his story, his immediate response is to say that he forgot!
What is it with this government and legal advice? Their own lawyers are saying stop, the games a bogey. SG keep going.
These people are supposed to be the brightest and the best and they can’t see that a woman who took the first complaint, then wrote an HR policy about it, then tried to retrospectively use it against a person who no longer works there, could be biased.
SGs response: Get the pitchforks out
Keep punching the bruise.
Scotcon dossier would be even more impressive if they had managed to spell the very first word correctly: ‘Foreward’
I hope we are witnessing the final hours of Sturgeon and her colonial administrators’ regime.
Kaboom! Please let it be. Just surprised you can still type given the amount of abuse your dominant wrist has been subjected to over the past few weeks.
Astonished you can’t still see the elephant.
One for gonzo history. So close….
Will the Greens back Nicola? After all she is one of them deep down anyway. And if she goes then so might their chances of ever getting self-ID into law, which, as we know, is their real raison d’etre. They might decide it’s a good enough reason to support her for now.
I wonder if Sturgeon is still relishing the prospect of tomorrow. Think I’d already be a bottle of whisky down at this point.
Wee Willie says:
2 March, 2021 at 7:59 pm
Sturgeon won’t resign. She is casting a huge shadow over the credibility of an Independent Scotland.
This. But I live in hope she goes tonight or by e d of this week and save us and her the sheer embarassment and damage she has done to the SNP and everything else around her.
In external Counsel’s advice, several of AS’s arguments as petitioner in the judicial review are reckoned to be out of time. i.e. his hesitation in going to Court, in order to protect the SNP, and because NS had told him she would intervene re mediation (now affirmed by 2 witnesses) actually damaged his own case. This only helps to demonstrate his wish to save the party and ScotGov embarrassment, but they were too petty and vindictive and self-interested to do the sensible thing.
If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst into the sky that would be like the splendour of the Mighty One” and “I am become Death, the shatterer of worlds”.
Even if the FM looses the vote can see her staying to focus on Covid with some waffle about “the people of Scotland will decide if I can be trusted in May”
Ramp up the indy stuff, loyalists will rally round and if she gets a majority in May she can do what see likes.
Excited as we all are at these developments, let’s not forget the damage she has done to the independence movement.
I hope she rots in hell.
-Colin Alexander-
She will attempt to brazen in out, and this will completely undermine her in the election, where her position is nowhere near as strong as she thinks it is. She will lose. I hope you’re looking forward to a unionist grand coalition (screams).
This evening:
“Resign? why should I?”
“I will not be tendering any resignation”
“Well, I couldn’t care less if she’s just resigned – I’m not resigning”
At some point in the coming week:
“I’m therefore tendering my resignation, effective immediately” “I’d also like to apologise for being a complete failure – I thought I was better than him”..
Read the documents earlier. First reaction was “nope, I’m not reading this right, it can’t be..” Second reaction: “Jumping Jesus what did those morons think they were up to. They’re meant to be the f**king government!!” And my third reaction was; “Sturgeon, Swinney, Evans, Lloyd et al should be out of jobs and out of the party where applicable, right now.” It’ll be interesting to see what she does tomorrow. Normally I’d think she couldn’t be stupid enough to continue the personal attacks on Salmond and the “poor wee victims” approach. But now I ain’t so sure that she’s really very intelligent at all.
Just read the legal advice for the 19th of October. What a shambles. Would appear that the scogov has previous in not being able or unwilling to find documents pertaining to this case. God knows what Dunlop etc must’ve thought. It’s complete incompetence at best, extremely dodgy at worst.
I am amazed at people who say NS won’t resign!
How is she going to cope tomorrow under oath when asked about the meeting on the 2nd April. Is she going to say Duncan Hamilton has lied, Geoff Aberdein has lied, KevinPringle has lied in addition to Alex Salmond lying?!
Older readers my remember a character created by Les Dawson called Cosmo Smallpiece, who ended every sketch being hauled of stage left with a shepherds crook. This is the only way NS will leave the stage-forcibly.
Black Joan @ 8:21pm
External council using every trick in the book to “win” the case. Effectively Alex was a member of the public going up against the SG who have numerous people working for them and money ( our bloody money ) no object for legal advice and they still rely on dirty tricks to try and defeat him. Well he taught them a lesson in my view and lets us know the standard of the current crop Ministers and MSPs and those in the Civil Service.
Anyone been on to the Parliamentary wanker…sorry twitter of the year has to say?
The Bun Fight of the Vainities
Somewhere there is a discussion in respect to who will be the scapegoat(s)
Mr Murrells silence continues to speak volumes
Think what is still being hidden if this is what they released
@ Martin Morrison at 8.12
That’s a really good article; thank you.
Sylvia @8.29pm.
Sturgeon will just keep saying what she has said all along, its all a conspiracy regardless of the evidence, denial is the first stage.
Or maybe she’ll take the Scottish version of the fifth amendment and say nothing when asked about it.
If any of the current witnesses to the inquiry become private citizens again they would need to seek permission from the UK Government to break the terms of the Official Secrets Act if they are called under oat to discuss matters from previous employment. Such rules apply for all former Civil Servants & applies for a minimum of 2 years for lowest Grade to life for “Secret Squirrel” grade etc
UK Government have to abide by Scots Law when making their decision with regard to a Committee of the Scottish Parliament.
…and is subject to judicial review.
No Minister of the Crown(s) can be compelled to give evidence in matters for which they hold responsibility – Scotland Act 1998, except if the Court of Session rules otherwise.
Scots Law has the back of its citizens with regard to access to Justice in both Civil & Criminal cases.
It can be argued that the leaders of the institutions that legislate, prosecute and provide advice to the Government on behalf of the Crown have the back of all of us, only some of the time, and, only some of us all of the time, within the context of the here & now since forever, but every case is judged on its own merits.
This inquiry being used as proof that Scots Law is incapable of being enforced is another squirrel in the great constitutional debate.
It has always been enforced. Even before the Union of Parliaments became a thing. And every day since.
Scots Law isn’t broken. Westminster passed an Act of Parliament to ensure that would continue to be the case, but that bit was just to clarify the supremacy of Scots Law in Scotland.
Tory whispers of a new Act of Union would mean that all the laws of England would have to be repealed with one Act of Parliament under English Law, they’d then have to symbolically adopt Scots Law in its entirety as the ‘Law of the Land” to enable all previous laws of England to be cut and pasted over all previous Scottish Law and then renamed English Law. The Crown of England gives them that right.
Meanwhile, the Crown of Scotland is flicking the Vs from whichever part of Scotland it sits- “wondering if it should have given the power to the monkeys ” (sic) – Elvis Costello
Relax, and enjoy the procedures of a Committee of the Scottish Parliament, wherever you watch it from. Only Scots Law makes it lawful to do so.
This is not how we would have chosen the optics 2 months before an election.
However it is necessary and essential that we remove the cancer at the heart of the SNP. If we don’t then it really will be terminal.
Nicola needed to go because she lied to us about Indy ref 2. She became obsessed with self ID and micro groups in the party. She treated others like shit.But most of all she lied to parliament and tried to jail Salmond.
For some light relief look at Mhairi Hunter’s Twitter, apparently the Tories are being irresponsible by trying to get rid of the government during a pandemic, honestly wonder if that woman is an actress paid by Rev Stu to be a kind of parody Sturgeon loyalist. “If you gave her an enema she’d fit in a matchbox…”
Also, am I correct, does anyone know, that NS will be under oath at tomorrow’s hearing? And if so I take it lying under said oath would incur criminal penalties? Nicola in the unlikely event you are reading, please don’t do that to yourself, it’s over.
I’m reminded of what Alexander Solzhenitsyn wrote after his arrest and banishment to the Gulags for the crime of having an opinion..
“It is high time to remember that
we belong first and foremost to
humanity. And that man has
distinguished himselffrom the
animal world by THOUGHT and
SPEECH. And these, naturally
should be FREE. Honest and
complete OPENNESS – that is the
first condition of health in all
societies. He who does not wish
this openness for his fatherland
does not want to purify it of its
diseases, but only to drive them
inwards, to fester.
Rev… Outstanding work over the last 20 months, you sir, have my utmost respect.
Said this before, but once again I’m truly gutted at where we are now, the summer of 2014 seems so far away.
@Gordon Keane 2 March, 2021 at 7:21 pm
“While it seems pretty obvious the First Minister misled the Parliament, wasn’t this entire fiasco pushed thru by Evans, and wasn’t she a Whitehall person?”
Gordon. Hate to point out that you haven’t been very alert but Evans Husband is an SNP Activist and Evans was put in Her Job role by Sturgeon’s own choice alone.
https://theferret.scot/fact-check-salmond-probe-leslie-evans-westminster/
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/16602169.alex-salmond-probe-conspiracy-theory-mi5-debunked/
Does anyone expect her to resign before the vote of no confidence.
Good news for Craig Murray I would have thought.
If Sturgeon doesn’t resign should she lose a vote of confidence and if she tried to brazen it out by an ‘appeal to the people’, asking them to decide her fate, then we would be in very, very dangerous territory. The Scottish parliament chooses the FM, not the people, and she must be made to go if the parliament says she has lost its confidence.
In our system, the electorate should never be put in the position of being asked to re-elect a populist tyrant.
Yes, tyrant.
Go, look it up.
SUCCESSOR? Come on guys, assuming NS is brown bread, who realistically is it going to be? I’m gonna call it, and it ain’t good……Blackford, close enough to election to be parachuted in, as the others in HR are all tainted (Swinney), or imbeciles (the rest).
The wannabe speaker of the house doesn’t like it one little bit.
https://twitter.com/PeteWishart/status/1366831704367849480
If Nicola Sturgeon doesn’t resign now then she should be led away in handcuffs.
Think it will now get more viewers than the budget
Steve The Pirate says:
2 March, 2021 at 7:36 pm
I wonder who is still standing with Nicola…cos she’s about to fall!
Steve, get yourself over to Wee Ginger Dug.
Dr. Jim and the rest huvnae a care in the world. VONC, jings, just a mere bagatelle. Ms Nicola will turn up in her Superwoman cape tomorrow and slay them committee members.
That Joint Note is, albeit through the professional legal counsel tone filter, an incensed, furious, kicking tea-cups at the wall outburst.
Has Peat Worrier woken up yet? He’s had over three years of alarm calls so far.
She might not even turn up for the enquiry and just tell them that she forgot.
Anyway, I predicted here a week or so ago that the Greens will save her in a VONC, so watch this space…
She’ll never resign. Anyone thinking that she will is utterly deluded. The circus will continue and by May this will be long forgotten as lockdown will be coming to an end.
Can the Greens abstain on vote of no confidence?
It’s not just sturgeon that could be toast. I suspect that the tories might use this to engineer an impasse, and get holyrood suspended and direct rule reinstated.
I don’t think NS can bank on all SNP votes in any VONC.
Any SNP MSP with a thin majority, may well have to think about putting themselves first – May HR election looms.
Anyone who backs a liar cannot be trusted.
The Greens may be irrelevant.
I expect my MSP Richard Lochhead to VoNC on Sturgeon. I am writing to him to ask for that or I wont be voting for him in May. She isn’t fit to be FM of Scotland any longer. The longer she stays in the job the more she damages the Indy Cause. There has to be a clean out at the top as the whole edifice is now so corrupt its disgusting.
There are no winners in this fiasco.
AS has had 3 years of a living nightmare and his reputation will not be clear after this despite the truth coming out. NS followers will blame him for her downfall.
Scotland will lose its FM – whether you like NS or not, this is not a good thing to be brought upon Scotland, the election will be affected and what should have been a plebiscite for Indy will now amount to little more than an expensive round of musical chairs.
The reputation of the Scottish Government will be tarnished, the Scottish legal system compromised and WM will be laughing all the way home as no-one really suspects them of anything yet their fingerprints are across all of this.
We have to turn this round really quickly if we are to gain any advantage. A new leader needs to be standing by and a plan A ready to be put in place in days if we are to stem the damage.
I would be very surprised if Nicola were to go easily. Tomorrow is ‘budget day’ so already there is a massive squirrel in the viewfinder.
A Royal piece of bad news could put everything on hold for a few days with flags at half mast and always, bubbling away is Covid so staying focussed will not be easy – but a select few somewhere are going to have to do exactly that if the Phoenix is to rise again.
Sylvia 8:29
No, she wont be drawn, she will simply repeat – there is no evidence (over and over and over – a bit like COVID actually – until people believe it).
According to Twitter (font of all knowledge), her sister has compared her to Princess Di and Mary Queen of Scots.
Going by that school of thought, Pete Wishart must be Moses.
The keeper of the city keys
Puts shutters on the dreams.
I wait outside the Pilgrim’s door
With insufficient schemes.
The Black Queen chants
The funeral march
The cracked cross bells will ring,
To summon back the Fire witch…
On soft grey mornings widows cry,
The wise men share a joke.
I run to grasp dividing signs,
To satisfy the hoax.
The yellow jester does not play
But gently pulls the strings,
And smiles as the puppets dance…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukgraQ-xkp4
Hamish Kirk 7.10pm “reality” for a large percentage of the Scottish population is gogglebox corrie or eastenders.
She will brazen it out.
“Not to my knowledge”
“Let the people decide in May”
These will be her stock phrases, I really hope that the committee members are on the ball with this and she is left embarrassed and outed for the liar she clearly is.
New leader, clear out the wokes, and go forward with a clear remit to Independence.
Bob Mack; think what is still being hidden if this is what theyve released.
Good point. When it came out yesterday (?) that they were going to release the legal advice, it was difficult to believe as we knew it’d be game over. But as someone else says above, theres still a gap between what they have released (what was said in Nov). And there are still troves more that AS told them how to access last Friday.
I have to say, some of that lawyer speak is priceless. Some of it translates as ‘the lies you’ve told us and gotten us to tell the judge are as bad as it gets, but then it gets worse’. It responds to what can only have been this from the givernment side ‘ok, we’ve now been caught lying red-handed, but could you just lie for us a bit more so we can win’. It is yet more evidence (you wanted evidence Nicla) that these plotters would stoop as low as they needed to.
Any one of NS’s ‘breaches’ is a resignation matter. The list is lengthy and gets longer every time she doubles down. As Sylvia asks, how is she going to keep lying under oath tomorrow. Well she doesnt mind misleading Holyrood. I think she’ll just keep trying to brazen it out. And the reason is simple. Its why she has kept it going so long and is stooping as low as keeping up the slurs against AS or harming real, genuine, actual victims of sexual crimes. Because she, her husband, Leslie Evans and others around her we may or may not be able to name have absolutely no choice but to continue with their Plan A (ironically enough). For any of them to admit to anything, they all end up pensionless, fined, disgraced, paying hefty costs and likely in jail. They just have no option but to keep going until the inevitable end (police entering the buildings, removing computers etc).
I have no sympathy.
In this absolute clusterfuck,Scotland will have to show no mercy to the ("Tractor" - Ed)ous corrupt nest of scheming bastards!!!.So we can show our enemies and the rest of the world how we the Scots people will not put up with corruption and evil from any one,even from those who claim to speak for and claim to represent us. Memo impune laccetis.
Salmond asserted that the case was not conceded earlier, when the Govt. was advised that it could not win, in the hope that Salmond’s criminal trial would commence before the Judicial Review was concluded, therefore the JR would be subject to a ‘sist’ and would not see the light of day again in the event Salmond was convicted.
All the pieces falling one by one into place…
I’m sure the wagons will be circling right now figuring out how many sacrifices it will take to protect her. Showtime tomorrow
While looking for something earlier I came across this 2015 article, which points out the SNP never really experienced much sleaze.. A complete list of the politicians, Spads, etc she’s surrounded herself with over the last few years might lift the blinkers from those who refuse to see
https://iainmacwhirter.wordpress.com/2015/10/03/after-8-years-in-office-has-the-snp-succumbed-to-the-sleaze-disease/
Don’t see any way that James Hamilton could find in sturgeon’s favour after this.
He’ll have had much of this last year going by what Kevin Pringle stated.
Holyrood Committees.
2012, Trump: I am the evidence.
2021, Sturgeon: There is no evidence.
Unbelievable
The message from (Redacted) to the LA dated 6/12/18 ; the civil proceedings were F-all to do with the LA as (Qua) LA; his role is criminal (Unintentional comment honestly) whereas the Judicial Review is civil; he has to go too- he should have said ‘not my problem with this hat on’
Utter shambles
The January speech last year was when it finally dawned on me that the FM’s only plan was genderwoowoo and the stasi hate crimes. Anyone involved in promoting these policies must also be expelled from the party.
NS and the wokeratti have done enormous damage to the party. It isn’t a time for joy but a time to assess the damage and figure out what to do next.
P.S. I wonder if we’ll find out where the ring-fenced money went ?
Remember too, it’s the budget tomorrow, most stuff about Murrell/Holyrood will be buried, if it even gets published anywhere.
Nobody will know about it.
The Longest Night
By NS shit.
Do we presume that the committee didn’t ask for the documents from Salmond’s solicitors, as he advised, or might they surprise tomorrow? Or, did the Scot gov release this legal advice in an attempt to stymie even worse incriminating material coming out from that route? Questions, questions – they will keep coming. They must be desperate to stagger through tomorrow and then they will refuse to even discuss it any more. Can she filibuster for three hours, with the help of her stooges on the committee?
Stating the obvious, Alex and Moira Salmond can relax and hae a wee dram this evening. Their nightmare is over. And thank you Stuart for this welcome information this evening.
I just got censored at WGD. That is the third time in three days that has happened. That makes me sad actually.
Mist001 at 9:09 pm
Remember too, it’s the budget tomorrow, most stuff about Murrell/Holyrood will be buried, if it even gets published anywhere.
Nobody will know about it
Oh, I think you’ll be very surprised. And, it’ll be published in Wings Over Scotland – or don’t you think that’s relevant?
All I see from most people commenting here is like the back court gang of urchins who have ousted their enemies from the didgy dunny and are jumping up and down with glee.
No thought on how to sustain their win ! No plan for future governance of the back court!
For some here,of course, it is enough to strike what they hope is a fatal blow to independence but for the others,including me is the wish to see a rise in the urge for independence.
That requires wit and wisdom and dynamism . It requires a PLAN.
-Beaker-
Princess Di and Mary Queen of Scots? What, two unstable women, both quite willingly used by far craftier members of the English ruling class, then ruthlessly disposed of when they became a liability? Not a bad comparison then!
@Scottie Dog
Can’t even think of anyone at holyrood who is in anyway competent to take on the FM role..
Currently not a problem at Westminster – we can just use the dominatrix of all parliaments model.
@Clavie Cheil says:
2 March, 2021 at 8:58 pm
I expect my MSP Richard Lochhead to VoNC on Sturgeon. I am writing to him to ask for that or I wont be voting for him in May.
Please let us know his response as I have an interest.
CC @9:13
Wee Ginger Nikla Fanzine didn’t post my last contribution at all!
That, and being blocked by Weak Pishart, are undoubtedly my greatest achievements.
-Famous15-
Getting Joanna Cherry in, or maybe Kate Forbes although she is too young imo. Both would have solid appeal. Both non-woke.
To get rid of Sturgeon only to get Robertson would be crazy but I don’t think the membership would support that. Blackford or Yousaf would be electoral hemlock.
Having just read the Sturgeon spokesperson’s denial and evasion, it seems the plan is to stonewall in order to play out time, and thus limp towards the election. They will then claim that NS has a fresh mandate, the people believe her etc etc and the case is closed. But will it be?
Of course the tories have got a cheek with all this, opportunistic so & so’s that they are. But, when the tories, and Scottish british unionist tories at that, occupy the moral high ground, you have to know your goose is well & truly cooked.
Channel 4 Have sent Krishnan Guru-Murthy up to Scotland especially – don’t think this is going to get ignored over the budget ! https://twitter.com/krishgm/status/1366855246950133760?s=21
Furlough extended until end of September – hahahaha
funny – people still think this is about a virus.
Listen folks – anyone with money – spend it now.
Before the BIG BAIL ‘IN’
Sturgeon is a liability in an election. If there are any brains left in the SNP , then they will realise this.
NS. You thought you were untouchable. The wolves of justice are gathering!!!
Sturgeon – just go now! You are an embarrassment to Scotland and an embarrassment to democracy.
A Person @ 9.18 pm
I’m stealing ‘electoral hemlock’!
What’s still to come out – the content of the memory stick? I suspect AS may not rest until that’s in the open too.
It is difficult to see how she can survive this but on the other hand she will if the Brit Nat Press and Media still has her back and arse covered.
Sturgeon is probably hoping to hide behind the budget announcement and some Royal bad news as others have pointed out. It is now obvious even to the blind SNP sycophants that she has been hiding behind the Brit Nat Press and Media and Covid 19.
I don’t care a whit for the SNP under her leadership any longer. The damage to achieving Scots Independence in my lifetime which I do care about is incalculable. That I will never forgive. Sturgeon must go. Give us a leader who actually believes in Indy and who isn’t a corrupt tranny.
How can even most of the SNP back benches vote to prop her up???? I guess we will se who is as corrupt as her and her cabal soon.
Those who #standwithnicola shall #fallwithnicola
This is unbelievable from the Lord Advocate.
“Scotland’s most senior law officer has refused to say whether it would be a criminal offence for the Scottish government to withhold evidence demanded through a search warrant.”
https://twitter.com/thetimesscot/status/1366815322628632580
Can’t feel anything but sadness over this whole affair and the realisation now that I will never see Scottish independence in my lifetime.
“It is difficult to see how she can survive this but on the other hand she will if the Brit Nat Press and Media still has her back and arse covered.”
James Matthews just rather played it down on Sky. But it would still be unsurvivable in any respectable democracy, and I think it is in Scotland too. We shall see.
Resigning is too little too late.
The whole lot of them have to be prosecuted.
Justice must be done and seen to be done.
“”Paul Kavanagh is on the phone Stu, he’s asking you what you think the swithering undecideds will make of this.”
I expect he’s already halfway through a stinging polemic about how the Tories are bad”
Gordon Ross has done exactly that.
There are two possible outcomes.
1 Nicola resigns.
Time to start rebuilding.
2 Nicola does not
If you did not already think we had a problem, maybe you will now be convinced. For a small country to be governed well you need to work together, and sadly NS is as toxic and divisive a person as you could imagine. Look at the policies and the direction of the party.
With the Tories pursuing this it sort of blows one conspiracy theory out the water – the one where the unionists want to keep NS in place as she’s no threat to the union.
As for hiding behind the budget, it’s more likely that any bad news from the budget will be hidden behind any gleefully reported bad news from Scotland.
Has anyone popped their head around the doors of the “Hands around Scotland” Facebook group lately? It seems like the epicentre of the Nicola Worshipers cult. Oh boy oh boy
Not for me. If Sturgeon stays. The SNP are more stupid than I thought.
well, I asked myself –
Why would the Tories jump on a VONC just before the FM was about to perjure herself at the Committee?
I then suspect that Murdo’s little performance with Swinney earlier was staged – Swinney said the Legal advice would vindicate the Scottish gov’t, which it VERY clearly doesn’t. Sham.
The FM could have stepped down with dignity at any time – and Alex Salmond is still giving her that option, even though she doesn’t deserve the time of day – but no, no dignity in that woman.
So, what’s the chance the FM doesn’t appear before the committee because of this arsehole Tory VONC tomorrow? Gets out of perjury, defeats the VONC, and just does NOT have even the tiniest space in her diary to go before the committee before the next parliamentary term?
We’ll see, but I suspect I may be very displeased with all concerned. Democracy my arse.
The longer she stays the more anger she generates. How can she possibly think she can go into an election with this level of anger and distrust. Are the SNP insane.
Mist001 says:
2 March, 2021 at 9:09 pm
Remember too, it’s the budget tomorrow, most stuff about Murrell/Holyrood will be buried, if it even gets published anywhere.
Nobody will know about it.
___________________________
As a perfidious English, who loves Scotchland and would prefer that ye stay (but ye ought to go if ye prefer), I essentially have no dog in this race.
But — This Cannot Stand.
There is no way any right thinking and informed person the length and breadth of our (currently shared) country will tolerate this. We can all see now. Whether Scotchland gets its house in order or WM is forced to step in, this unedifying spectacle and trashing of democracy and the separation of powers is of vital importance to each and every one of us.
There will be no burying of this debacle.
I have never written to my MP. If it seems this will not be dealt with at the highest level, I shall be take this action and much more besides.
Love, England.
Sturgeon and her co-conspirators will need to be expelled from the party. What’s the mechanism for that?
James Chalmers Regius Professor of Law at @UofGlasgow interpretation of published legal advice is astonishing.
“Lawyers expressed reservations”
What I find equally inexplicable are people even some commenting on here just now that they are STILL willing to vote for these corrupt lying bastirts because they might still get us to independence
A wee heads up they have been LYING about getting independence TOO
I just watched the beeb NINE interviewing humza useless with not a hint on his smug face that Sturgeon did anything wrong, he even feels confident that the clueless Scots independence supporting IDIOTS will re elect them to HR, Sturgeon’s, Swinndler and humza useless’s HUBRIS knows no bounds
BUT if they are it won’t be with MY or my friends and families vote
Interesting post from the comments in the Spectator. Might explain quite a bit if true.
robertsonjames
I was reliably informed a decade ago when Salmond won his majority and an independence referendum first became unavoidable that the two leading figures in the SNP were at daggers drawn and had been for some time. My source is close to the top civil servants and several of the leading politicians in Edinburgh and I’m confident that this was true when he said it.
I was subsequently told when Salmond put Sturgeon personally in charge of the Yes campaign that this was what is colloquially known as a “hospital pass”. All the polls were horrible with the independence cause a good 25% behind at the time and Salmond fully expected they were going to lose, which was, of course, why he had to duck and dive under pressure from Cameron just to get on with it and eventually managed to put it off until as late as 2014, a full three and a half years after the election victory. But he still believed they were in for a sound beating whenever the vote finally happened and he wanted Sturgeon to be the face of the humiliating defeat. She apparently understood this malign intention very well indeed and was incandescent about it.
Of course, we now know that in the event she had a relatively good war. Yes still lost but during the campaign they substantially narrowed the gap and because of her leadership this achievement actually boosted her reputation inside the party, making it virtually certain that she would be Salmond’s successor when, exhausted by nearly two decades of leadership, he finally resigned
Interestingly the evidence document that’s just been released dated 29 December 2018 – here:
https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/correspondence/2021/02/legal-advice-related-to-the-parliamentary-inquiry-into-the-scottish-governments-handling-of-harassment-complaints-sghhc/documents/29-december-2018/29-december-2018/govscot%3Adocument/LPP%2B-%2Blegal%2Badvice%2B-%2BMinute%2Bof%2B29%2BDecember%2B2018%2B-%2B21%2BDecember%2B2020%2B4.pdf
Has previously been released to the Committee in redacted form as “Report prepared by the former DGODO ” – here:
https://www.parliament.scot/HarassmentComplaintsCommittee/General%20documents/DGODO_Report_(redacted).pdf
So you can look at them next to each other. Now why would the Lord Advocate [REDACT] himself (and the Director of Legal Services)from a document like this? That doesn’t seem very transparent to me.
Whats that phrase..Plausible Deniability
Cue a million Scots sighing tomorrow every time Nicola shuffles, shrugs and softly says
“Not that I recall”
Grahame @9.41
Had a peek at Hands Around Scotland. One wee soul is blaming everything on tactile voting.
Martin McDonald says:
2 March, 2021 at 9:48 pm
Sturgeon and her co-conspirators will need to be expelled from the party. What’s the mechanism for that?
Get them to post on Wings?
VONC – how many of the SNP MSP’s standing down this election are doing so because of dissatisfaction ?
Could they vote against Sturgeon ?
Is there any point at which the police might start making arrests for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice? This is heartbreaking, but we cannot live in a country that allows this kind of behaviour.
Gordon at 7:21
Gordon, There may be weight in what you say but,
Do 2/many wrongs justify further wrongs?
I will listen to NS tomorrow, listening carefully for evasion, distraction and bluster.
I dont see how, but maybe she has an ‘out’.
From here, it looks like she doesnt. Assumimg nothing substantional changes, then, surely, its time to recognise that the stables need cleaning.
Independence is an honourable cause and it can go on but, subject to something of substance truely surprising happening tomorrow, not with these …….. (words fail me).
Lets be clear, if Salmond’s version is upheld;
These women have deliberately abused sexual assault victims’ right to anonymity for political ends.
Please pause and think about that.
Is that the kind of Independence anyone wants for Scotland?
Boudleaux Merkin says:
Anyone who saw Alex Salmond’s face when the referendum result came in, anyone who listened to his speech, can verify that this is a load of bull….
Anyone who has met AS and been involved in campaigning under his direction will know that he has never hidden behind anyone, he never would and he never did. >
Alex Salmond has more integrity and honesty in his little toe than most people have in their entire body. And he would never have turned the indy movement over to Sturgeon had he had any inkling of her malicious intentions for the people of Scotland
I honestly think the UN should intervene in the corruption and the handling of Covid that has led to 123,000 dead citizens by the British Tory Gov in the failed state that is the UK.
What happens next? Greens help to VONC NS, then what? A leadership election I presume, who gets to elect the leader, is it the membership?
Thanks for educating me.
And thanks Revstu. I admit this is beyond entertainment, I suspect you may have heavily influenced this result.
If NS loses VONC she doesn’t have to stand down as leader and I doubt she will.
My guess is she would say ‘I’ll let the voters decide in May’
There is absolutely nothing the SNP members could do about it.
The only provision for a challenge is before National Conference in the Autumn. The time frame is laid out in the constitution it takes 3-4 months . So nomination period, campaign, voting, Leader announced in October.
Nicola will,stay leader until someone challenged her and wins
Fionan – that’s what you think based on his charisma, but judge him also by his actions; Aberdeenshire Council rejected Donald Trump’s golf course (on a site of special scientific interest – shifting sand dunes) and AS intervened and met with Trump, then railroaded it through on his behalf, brushing aside the democratic representatives of the people of Aberdeen. Martin Ford lost his job for doing it perfectly well, in fact, based on planning policy and the law he would have been negligent to vote in favour. Democracy is no match for Trump’s $$$$$.
I wrote to AS at the time, I got no response.
Yeah he’s a good politician and way better than NS, but he’s sleazy too.
Thanks Denise, that’s a big let down after reading the post – I thought “this was the end” and we might actually vote SNP this May.
Rab@ 8:10
colored pictures, they always help.
It’s the sense of betrayal I am struggling with. I feel like a wronged husband who was the last one to know. Of course, I confess, I knew they were rotten and did nothing about it. Swinney in particular, I have only myself to blame. I think the SNP are now a lost cause. Time to rebuild from scratch! My mum didn’t see Independence during her lifetime and neither will I. Next time don’t put your faith in politicians. Grassroots should take control of policy. I thought that was the job of the SNP. What a shower of seat warmers. Signing off and going on the drink!
Denise- Indeed they are already using the narrative “let the voters decide in May”. Humza was on The Nine spinning that line.
The problem is. It’s not a public vote regarding the MC breach. Its parliament that decides that. There are procedures. We elect governments, but we don’t control parliaments.
The worst outcome for the movement is Sturgeon still being there for the election. Sorry I can’t vote for the SNP with her in charge. Many neutrals will feel the same.
Tory Leopold Amery to PM Neville Chamberlain in the House of Commons 1940:
“You have sat too long here for any good you have been doing. In the name of God, go!”
Chamberlain did go…
Sturgeon refuses to accept her guilt.
Claims that it’s all a misunderstanding. Offers resignation to Holyrood.
Greens bottle it.
Sturgeon survives.
BBC’s reporting of it
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-56259056
Realistically a vote of no confidence, even Sturgeon couldn’t possibly brass neck that one and carry on.
The Greens apparently saying they want to wait till they hear NS’ evidence before they would support a VONC.
I’ve managed to read most of the stuff. Good god, what a mess. To accept that you should be governed by these people is unbelievable.
Salmond’s performance was the tipping point, as we all sensed last Friday, and Sturgeon is on the way out.
There’ll be no time for a leader contest before the election campaign. A Keith Brown interim leadership taking the SNP into the May election is a strong possibility, although hardly a cheering prospect for indy supporters.
Anything’s better than Sturgeon though.
Some one did a poem… and they mentioned Moses.
Below is a SONG
UBIQUITOUS
WE WERE AT, WE WERE AT, THE UBIQUITOUS CHIP
WHEN HE PUT HIS HANDS ON ME, BELOW THE HIP
MY ARSE BLOCKED THE STAIRWELL, NO LIGHT COULD THEY SEE
AND THE PEOPLE BEHIND ME, COULDN’T GET TAE THEIR TEA
WE WERE AT, WE WERE AT, THE UBIQUITOUS CHIP
WHEN HE PUT HIS HANDS ON ME, BELOW THE HIP.
CALL ME WHAT YOU WANT TO, A, B OR C
BUT THE JURY KNOWS ME AS BIG WOMAN G
WE WERE AT, WE WERE AT, THE UBIQUITOUS CHIP
MY ARSE BLOCKED THE STAIRWELL – FAE HIP TAE HIP
WHEN UP STEPPED A HERO, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH
AND WITH ALL HIS STRENGTH, GAVE A RIGHT GOOD SHOVE
WE WERE AT, WE WERE AT, THE UBIQUITOUS CHIP
WHEN HE PUT HIS HAND ON ME, BELOW THE HIP
I TOLD THE JURY, BUT THEY DID NOT BELIEVE
THEY SAID ‘NO HEN, HE DIDNAE, HE JUST GAVE YOU A HEAVE’
THIS STORY HAS A MORAL, I HOPE YOU CAN SEE
NEVER GET BETWEEN A SCOTSMAN AND HIS TEA
MY ARSE BLOCKED THE STAIRWELL FAE HIP TAE HIP
WHEN WE WERE AT, WE WERE AT, THE UBIQUITOUS CHIP
NOW I’D LIKE TAE GET PROMOTED, FOR IT HAS BEEN SPOKE,
OR ELSE I’LL SELF ID AS A BLACK, DISABLED, BLOKE
GIVE ME SOME BRASSO TO PUT ON MY NECK
BUT NEVER AGAIN, WILL I MESS WITH BIG ECK.
WE WERE AT, WE WERE AT, THE UBIQUITOUS CHIP
WHEN HE PUT HIS HANDS ON ME, BELOW THE HIP
I TOLD THE JURY, BUT THEY DIDNAE BELIEVE
NO HEN HE DIDNAE, HE JIST GAVE YOU A HEAVE
NOW YOU MUST NOT NAME ME, BECAUSE OF JIGSAW ID
TAKE A BLOODY GREAT JIGSAW, TO INCORPORATE ME
MY ARSE BLOCKED THE STAIRWELL, FAE HIP TAE HIP
WHEN WE WERE AT, WE WERE AT, THE UBIQUITIOUS CHIP
NOW I’M NOT TOO HAPPY AS YOU CAN ALL SEE
BUT IT COULD HAVE BEEN WORSE, HE NEVER TOUCHED MY KNEE
AND HE NEVER, EVER, PULLED AT MY HAIR,
AND UNLIKE H…. AT LEAST I WAS THERE.
MOSES FREED HIS PEOPLE WHEN HE PARTED THE SEA
BIG ECK DID THE SAME WHEN HE WENT AND SHOVED ME
MY ARSE BLOCKED THE STAIRWELL, NO LIGHT COULD THEY SEE
AND THE PEOPLE BEHIND ME, COULDN’T GET TO THEIR TEA.
WE WERE AT, WE WERE AT THE UBIQUITOUS CHIP
WHEN HE PUT HIS HANDS ON ME, BELOW THE HIP
I TOLD THE JURY, BUT THEY DID NOT BELIEVE
THEY SAID, ‘NO HEN HE DIDNAE, HE JIST GAVE YOU A HEAVE’
LA, LA, LA……
Sturgeonista loyal on WGD saying Kevin Pringle and Duncan Hamilton QCs statements amount to hearsay which is inadmissible!
How can anyone not read tonight’s disclosures and still believe there is no case to answer for the SG?
@Scot Finlayson says:
2 March, 2021 at 10:03 pm
“I honestly think the UN should intervene in the corruption and the handling of Covid that has led to 123,000 dead citizens by the British Tory Gov in the failed state that is the UK.”
In case you hadn’t noticed, this isn’t Twitter. That is the stock response, with a few variations, to the #ResignSturgeon trend at the moment.
I demand that the Greens change their name as it is not inclusive of the other colours in the rainbow. In fact, I deem it to be deeply offensive and one of the worst examples of hate speech.
Now remember this folks
The UK budget is on 2mor and we must tune in immediately when the wee man with ill-fitting suits comes on telly. You must not listen to NS giving her evidence because the yoon living in France has informed you, us pitiful jocks must listen to the masters in London.
Mist001 will be glued into it (uk budget)from France and will come on here and preach to us Scots how we’re too poor, too stupid to manage without his his beloved union.
Don’t forget now.
I could never forgive the likes of Davidson and Dugdale, but I am willing to forgive J Baillie if she asks some very hard questions to the witch tomorrow and is not fobbed off by her.
Very first post from Graham
Let’s hope that’s your Christian name and not your surname son .
Like many Trump charmed a whole lot of people he was another con artist just like our very own home grown variety the current one being a woman,
Let me guess you are a refugee from WGD Dr Jim who is no more a doctor than my cat , what about Hamish , or Petrified, Old Pete yeah always a charmer the others just follow the tune the louder ones are playing , just like parrots yack yack like nodding dogs
@ Charlie Roberts, re’As a perfidious English, who loves Scotchland and would prefer that ye stay (but ye ought to go if ye prefer), I essentially have no dog in this race.
But — This Cannot Stand.
There is no way any right thinking and informed person the length and breadth of our (currently shared) country will tolerate this. We can all see now. Whether Scotchland gets its house in order or WM is forced to step in, this unedifying spectacle and trashing of democracy and the separation of powers is of vital importance to each and every one of us.
There will be no burying of this debacle.
I have never written to my MP. If it seems this will not be dealt with at the highest level, I shall be take this action and much more besides.’
Any chance you could concentrate on the English Parliament at Westminster first. They have issues too, rather a lot of them, for some considerable time.
We’ll sort out Nicla and co, ta ever so.
Please, anyone, put the rev forward for the Private Eye Paul Foot award. Deadline 1st April ( really)!
https://www.private-eye.co.uk/paul-foot-award
Some papers are saying even this evidence is redacted. What else are they hiding?
Ubiquitous is a word you see everywhere these days
Looks like Sturgeon’s had her ubiquitous chips.
Jeezo, our local MP was only hectoring the other week that Nicola Sturgeon was the most honest, capable, trustworthy leader the SNP ever had and that he was making it quite clear that an6 member who did not support her was no supporter of independence.
Indeed a week later very same MP goes onto Twitter with a selfie proclaiming the tag line he “ was standing with Nicola” and that “ he knew where his loyalties lie ‘
He’ll not be so glib with the mouth now. So glowing in her praise as she gets exposed as a tawdry liar.
But there are many SNP MPs like him on the Westminster gravy train. No responsibility. Card board cut outs with absolutely no say, it’s a well paid sinecure, and independence would only end their paylola. No wonder Indy Lite Nicola was their queen.
Anyway, that’s the dross at Westminster. The dross at Holyrood is getting ready to be swept up here in the very near future – and starting with Nicola.
I should have said the very first post I read and not the first post on this thread
After reading a fe comments I can confidently say there are quite a few refugees and interlopers hanging around , a wee hint don’t make yourself known and draw attention to yourself by being so obvious sometimes subtle works better just a thought.
I agree with some comments she ain’t walking the plank because she’s being protected a good reliable asset , the kind a lot of folk trusted yeh you can’t beat the English for skulduggery I mean they have perfected it over centuries of use and refinement you have to be alert with these fkrs .
If the legal advice is this damning! how bad are the group chats, messages and texts we haven’t seen?.
Been calling this a shot shiw for a while, it’s sooooo much worse.
Boudleaux Merkin says:
2 March, 2021 at 9:49 pm
“Interesting post from the comments in the Spectator. Might explain quite a bit if true.”
Interpret that in the context that Sturgeon has done absolutely nothing to achieve independence in her six years as leader, given that Brexit meant a new referendum was justified and support for independence had a sustained majority for a long time following Brexit until last week.
Alex Salmond has always genuinely stood for independence whereas with hindsight one can say that Sturgeon has always been a fraud and only interested in power.
Just like the woke movement she has been promoting at the expense of independence.
Drew Hendry MP is standing for Nicola. So is Brendan O’Hara MP.
And that’s good because we now know these are two ranchers to kick out next time round. If there is actually a Westminster election again in 2024.
Its really hard to see how Sturgeon defends herself tomorrow.
However I suspect her defence will be a mixture of insisting the over riding concern was ensuring the complaints were fully addressed even it meant going to court against legal advice and losing.
I think she may try to explain that when she met Salmond in April that she was only aware of 2 complaints and thought at that point it was something that could be sorted by mediation.
Where she may try to get clever is by stating she became aware between April and December of other complaints(I believe the complaints post april were initially reported to the SNP not SG or the police) that ruled out her intervening , gave the impression that SG were facing their own Harvey Weinstien situation and in that atmosphere she felt it would have been unwise to fold the judicial review and not be seen to have taken all complaints to the full distance.
If she does that she may have some ability to claim the decision to break the minesterial code was morally correct. That wil put the Greens in a difficult position for a vote of no confidence as they are very much of the opinion that Woman must be believed except when the Women believe that a man in a dress is not a man.
The problem even with that argument is that Murrell, Evans, Lloyd and Ruddick are accountable to her. She would have to now in the light of the evidence available at the very least dismiss all of them. Their behaviour has been somewhere between gross incomptence at best, in all probability malicious and in some cases illegal.
She would also have to explain why in light of the evidence why she has not stated that Alex Salmond has been subject to an unfair process, malicious behaviour and apologise to him on behalf of her Party and Governments conduct towards him.
Very suspicious of Nicola’s motives in allowing these documents to be released, though delighted they are finally in the public domain.
She will have a rabbit to remove from the hat tomorrow.
She will evade resignation and claim that the voters will judge her.
The Greens should consider the damage she and her SG have done, and continue to do, to the standing of Scotland around the world. We used to have a reputation for probity – now we’re a laughing stock. Alex Salmond was correct in his assessment of the huge damage inflicted by the current leadership. The sooner she goes, the better, so that rebuilding can begin.
@ Daisy Walker says:
Any chance you could concentrate on the English Parliament at Westminster first. They have issues too, rather a lot of them, for some considerable time.
We’ll sort out Nicla and co, ta ever so.
___________
The UK parliament is a whole ‘nother kettle of fish.
Christ knows where to begin there. But currently, as it is Parliament for the both of us, Westminster is also a shared problem.
It is made harder to deal with now we have less support from Scotland too, but that is by the by.
I’m simply voicing my support for you, if you don’t want it that is fine, if perhaps a little churlish.
Perhaps I should ignore Scotchland as insignificant, or laugh?
Lots of love.
Let’s imagine the Salmond thing never happened. Right now would we be any closer to a referendum. Would we have been in May , with another 5 years of Sturgeon.
I like to think things happen for a reason. We needed shot of Sturgeon to get independence. We couldn’t have done it naturally as she walks on water.
So her own vanity and stubbornness will bring her down. So be it.
We move on from here and hopefully with an honest leader.
First post here Stu, may I say many thanks for keeping us all up to date, you deserve a medal/large cheque/column of your own
Ooft, what a debacle/ourach/fek up
Anyways, for my two pennence worth have just sent this to the SNP via their website (god knows, it’ll probably be ignored, but you can’t change things if you don’t stand up and be counted)
“As SNP voters all of our political lives since the Independence movement came to the fore, both of us are quite frankly shocked and in despair at the state of the Scottish Parliament as shown by recent events. You seem to exhibit no transparency and no accountability, two things which you as a party claim to be at the forefront of the Scottish Parliament. The NEC debacle, GR and HC bills have been without real ( or any public) scrutiny, and then to top it all the inquiry into the AS complaint exhibits a government that has lost its’ integrity. I strongly suggest that you look up the word integrity and assess the meaning and take it to your hearts, for, at the moment, you have none. We cannot and will not vote for a party that does not have integrity at it’s core. Remember, you don’t own Independence for Scotland, the people do and quite frankly, this last years since 2014, you have let us all down. You have created a laughing stock of Scotland, yes Scotland, the place the you claim to cherish and want to free. We are not free under you, you have pushed through many policies/poor/bad/outrageous judgments on our behalf without asking us first.You have no honesty or integrity and that is why we will not vote for you again until you regain our trust. We strongly suggest that this part of Scotland looks up integrity in the dictionary and makes rapid changes to reflect the meaning. Our vote will no longer reside with you. Our morals and integrity for Scotland prohibit us from doing so.
we’re a bit pee’d off right now, can you tell?
I just wonder if that Tory VonC was a tactical error. Too early. They might actually let her off the hook as it does look life utter opportunism. They should have let Labour and Jacqui Baillie lead off with it for all kinds of reason.
Bail Ins are coming. COVID is the excuse. All money will go to the bank, which will be bankrupt/toxic in the name of bonds/stakeholder shares.
move your money, spend it, who cares, just dont let the bank have it.
Now that Nicola’s enemies both inside and outside the Yes/SNP movements are sensing blood and the people who have been holding the line begin to break ranks, more and more information will start to be released and the truth will soon be out.
I think we are at the stage when the people who attempted to frame Alex Salmond will start to avoid eye contact with each other and start planning how best they can save their own skin.
The problem with joining a group of liars to conspire against someone is that you have joined people who will have no hesitation in throwing you under a bus if it helps to save their own skin.
There’s one thing Nicola has always desperately tried to avoid and that’s bad personal publicity directed at her, so, the next few weeks is going to be a nightmare for her as her honesty, credibility, and deviousness will be laid bare for all to see.
This is the woman who was so at ease among the people of Scotland and loved people taking selfies with her etc, and she now going to be the same woman who probably couldn’t attend an event any time soon (after Covid) because if she’s still here there will be a crowd of us booing her (at the very least)
Ah well, never mind!
Why do so many of you say. Its the Tories, WM, the xxxx tooth fairy!
Maybe they’re pitching in; that’s politics…
But, please, grow a pair.
This awful mess was made by NS team if not herself. Accept it. Deal with it. Move ON…
For the good of Scotland (and UK).
Robert graham says:
2 March, 2021 at 10:48 pm
After reading a fe comments I can confidently say there are quite a few refugees and interlopers hanging around , a wee hint don’t make yourself known and draw attention to yourself by being so obvious sometimes subtle works better just a thought.
I agree with some comments she ain’t walking the plank because she’s being protected a good reliable asset , the kind a lot of folk trusted yeh you can’t beat the English for skulduggery I mean they have perfected it over centuries of use and refinement you have to be alert with these fkrs .
———-
Perhaps consider not being so insular. Different opinions from different people and different walks of life allow us to gain a better, more rounded perspective on life.
She is most definitely walking the plank, because this mess is a disgrace and an affront to democracy.
I hope Scotland can sort it out, and you have my English support – whether wanted or not.
n.b.
ONE independence party will just repeat this same trajectory. Going forward, Scotchland needs a strong opposition that is for Independence too, I’d say.
Patrick Roden – I owe you an apology. They did put covid folks in care homes and I gave you a hard time for suggesting that (way back)…..I apologise, you were right, and I was wrong.
My only defence being, not to make people panic – I was wrong.
ahundredthidiot says:
Patrick Roden – I owe you an apology.
No problem my friend, I’d forgotten all about it tbh, but thanks for your apology, it’s much appreciated.
O/T Rev. Hope you’re in negotiation with Netflix for the mini series when this is all over!
Received for Sturgeon being so irritated already. Claims She was following internal government legal advice from the Lord Advocate who felt the case was sustainable even after receiving external counsels warnings.
Regardless, the buck stops with her. The only advice she should have followed was from those asked to present the case in court. She failed to do that.
Excuses not received. Initiated not irritated. Doh!
Almost all the posts in the National backing Sturgeon.
A unionist rag.
Humza on Newsnight seemed to confirm the plan is to ignore the criticism and censure, and get a fresh ‘mandate’ from the electorate, which will be trumpeted as an endorsement of her threadbare version of events. So, another two fingers to everybody and keep lying to the voters and hope they don’t notice anything. How encouraging. Who thinks any of this lot of pretenders and plotters could run a corner shop, never mind an independent country?
Dear Charlie,
Your help is akin to Greeks bearing gifts, but I accept that you probably don’t know why.
I’ll try and explain a litte.
‘The UK parliament is a whole ‘nother kettle of fish.
Currently MP’s from English seats make up about 59% of the ‘UK’ Government – although Boris prefers to call it ‘correctly’ the English Parliament.
Christ knows where to begin there. But currently, as it is Parliament for the both of us, Westminster is also a shared problem.
-As much as it is a ‘shared problem’ it is also one England imposes upon Scotland’.
It is made harder to deal with now we have less support from Scotland too, but that is by the by.
– Oh really – Scotland is not your voting Conscience – if you don’t like Tory Governments (red or blue) stop voting for them! The numbers have been crunched on here numerous times, so I really wouldn’t come away with the old cliche about ‘needing’ the Scottish Labour vote to get another Lab Government. Go and do your homework.
I’m simply voicing my support for you, if you don’t want it that is fine, if perhaps a little churlish.
– Your support, sounds awfully like interfering in Scotland’s devolved parliament. So be a dear and go and try and sort out Westminster, you’re closer to it, and you’re vote there (and here) counts more than mine (democracy English/British style).
Perhaps I should ignore Scotchland as insignificant,
or laugh?
– That’s pretty much the norm petal. We’ll get over it, its the interference that bugs us.
Lots of love.
And you my lovely.
Scot at 10:03
When I lived in Scotland, the people I met were rational.
The evidence is clea and a VONC is coming.
But what can be done if the Greens back Sturgeon Stu?
Does this mean that we go to the May elections with Sturgeon still in power?
*clear
wings should do a “highlights” program for when it gets like this so the lazy winger is not left out.
expect nicla to break the world record for saying “no comment” tomorrow
@Daisy Walker @10.28pm
Thanks for that and more power to your artistict talents.
@ Daisy Walker “Greeks bearing gifts”
– well that is charming, but you are entitled to your view.
Since England’s population is higher, it’s obvious there’s more English MPs. It is what it is. As I said, if you wish to go it alone, then ye ought to. I’d just be sad to see Scotland leave that is all.
You say imposed, I say 300 years of shared history and shared heroes. But that’s my opinion.
My vote alone is hardly relevant to the other millions of people in the country. I wouldn’t say ‘need’ Scottish Labour, I’d just say if you are in the Union (as you are currently), then it’d be nice if we all worked together.
Wouldn’t it be nice etc … But that’s by the by.
My vote does not count for more than your vote.
Interference? People were complaining the UK press was not taking enough interest in the story – Would you prefer the UK press/English people ignore Scotland? Something of a contradiction. Would you prefer Spectator had ignored this?
I am not England, merely one person.
I can easily ignore what is happening, but I value Scotland, think you are important, and wish to show moral support (as well as anything else I can do to help).
I realise some are so rabidly Nationalist that they despise everything English, but that seems rather shooting yourself in the foot. People all over the world will be interested in this, unfortunately. Consider not slamming the door on people who wish well, even if they are horrid English types.
Cheers.
p.s. Scotchland was meant affectionately, if a little cheeky. I apologise.
Guys. This isn’t a unionist conspiracy. MI5 don’t own Nicla or The National.
It’s a proper home-grown cock-up, with some notes of conspiracy and far too much cover up.
FWIW I’m pretty sure that NS is committed to Indy. She’s just shit at delivering it! Just like she’s shit at improving the NHS, or education or anything else important.
As for all the fitabooterie: This dyed in the wool Tory [who voted Labour in 2019] entirely agrees that Boris should have suffered the Full Mel Gibson for his treasonable actions in illegally proroguing WM, and Pritti Patel should have been barred from public office long ago.
But I’d rather live in a country, fully independent or otherwise, where senior politicians can get sacked for not declaring minor campaign contributions, inflating their taxi fare claims or “forgetting” about subletting some shitty office in Glenrothes.
Trying to get your former mentor and future rival rather eclipses all of the above.
Well done Rev Stu.
Scotland needs new parties: Both nationalist and unionist!
@Mike,
The good people of Englandshire need protecting from the corrupt right wing failed state that the self serving brexiteer Tories have made it.
Don’t be too overjoyed!
Would things develop to a State where the Tories
had a majority in Holyrood and Westminster?
That would be a horror worse than anything Stephen King
ever dreamed of.
Annie Wells Minister for easy arithmetic
Prof Bodkin in charge of mad scientists
Dame Lady Baroness of Ruthless
Laird Murder Fraser of Ibrox
Marquis Mundell of Beard Munchers
Count Carlaw Minister of Transport.
I’d rather face a firing squad than have that shit rule over me.
Anybody know if Lady Dorian is a fan of Scottish Opera in Glasgow?
Mum’s the word. Plenty of it, rolled on all over her oxsters. I think there will be a few sweaty spectators too, watching anxiously in anticipation of DCI Baillie getting a confession in the Box. If NS has read Margaret Heffernan’s seminal Willful Blindness, she’ll know what’s coming as an absolute minimum, surely.
Couldn’t watch Humza talk tripe on Newsnight, had to change channel.
Just off to start my19 hour shift down the pit this is my last offering tonight ohi no laughter or cheering yah unionist reprobates,
I guess by some of the comments some a bit eh suspect and by the looks of them really serious damage control.
Dilemma don’t vote for the SNP let in Unionists and No hope of Indy ref2
Or vote for the SNP get weird and wonderful candidates and legislation and a carrot of maybe sometime in the future a attempt to ask Bawjaws for permission to talk about holding Indy ref2
Decisions Decisions what to do ?
Let’s see what tomorrow brings it could all change
This aged well Kenny!!!
Given what Roddy Dunlop & Christine O’Neill wrote on 19th December, why on earth did it take weeks for this to be conceded? Words like “Dismay,” “Regrettable,” and “Real concern,” are pretty serious. “All that is bad enough,” at the start of paragraph 4 is the beginning of a metaphorical boot up the arse, though. (We can still say “Metaphorical,” can’t we?)
I suppose John Swinney had to say something in his letter to the committee releasing the evidence, but his notion that things have changed in the last few days and that advice is taken from multiple sources and supports the government’s position is simply not believable. Consequently, his position is no longer tenable. What has happened to him? He was not always like this. Very sad.
I will never vote for the SNP again until I see evidence of a wooden stake being driven into Sturgeon’s heart.
She is evil personified.
I’m trying to think of nice things to say about Sturgeon,,,but it just isn’t happening.
.
Liz, Andy Ellis and Grahame,
You guys are spot on.
The SNQ-Anons otherwise known as the Nicola Cult are going their fifty-shades-of-tartan-gammon on social media…
https://m.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=3836161326440670
They are utterly ignorant of facts and bereft of the ability to inquire as to whether Alex Salmond may be telling the truth.
Some of the Sturgeonite McWokeists are already virtue signaling with a few ready to nail themselves to the cross in order to get blessed Nicola’s stigmata approval. The ones who have not yet got their undergarments into a humongous twist are hastagging the hell out of…
#IStandWithNicola
#JeSuisNicola
#Salmond&Sex
I am sure some of their crap is actionable if Alex wanted to raise some legal funds to sue these ignorant people. Though I’d wait until faith in the Crown Office is restored and the Lord Clown is shifted.
Perhaps a rejoinder to the hashtag battle is a better idea…
#NicolaWheresOur£600000
#VousEtNicolaSarkozy
#SalmondWasFramed
This is actually incredibly sad as a lot of these people WERE decent SNP stalwarts.
Tonight they have decided to roast Jim Sillars at the steak.
Tomorrow I think it will be Nicola De La Toast on the menu.
I don’t think there is a section of Scottish society that Nicola Sturgeon hasn’t alienated in one way or another. She is a dead duck walking. Anyone who continues to support her really needs to give themselves a good shake and realise that malfeasance doesn’t pay.
PS. Lawrence, as a sadomasochist she would probably enjoy that!
.
P.S.
Trending….
Number 4 is… #ResignSturgeon
Number 5 is… #IStandWithNicola
I reckon the biggest trend will be for Stuart Campbell.
Stu,, if memory serves, you got close to 1,000,000 site views for Wings Over Scotland in January 2021.
Then over 4,000,000 for February 2021.
I predict the full population of Scotland (nominally) for March 2021.
In other words, Wings viewing figures will be 6,000,000 or more for March 2021.
Anyone up for a fiver bet? I bet Stuart/Wings will beat 6,000,000 for this month.
And the Piemonte, Blackford, as recently as yesterday saying move along now, nothing to see here?
Thon wee fat ten pie eating bastard should get his fvucking jotters as well.
Rotten, top to bottom.
Too late for Swinney, although he may get some respite by giving evidence for the prosecution.
Any SNP MSPs voting against the VONC will have their cards marked.
Out of 100 MPs/MSPs the good guy to wank ratio is brutal at the moment. When does the point in time come where they are past the point of forgiveness for not speaking out.
Well my FB page was busy tonight. No less than 37 Surgeon Cult worms crawled out from under stanes to unfriend me. I am fin.e with that. I am not fine with people who think it is okay to use the whole power of the State to jail innocent people.
Tomorrow NS is going to activate what I’m officially calling The Ultimate Curve Ball. That means something along the lines of I was forced to lie to protect the identity of complainers and thereby caught up in highly complex, unprecedented, and impossible situation as FM…
That situation is so complex and fraught with pitfalls that we can’t even discuss the precise nature of it… brilliant eh?
My guess is that tomorrow’s hearing will not be broadcast live. Some of it might be, but not all… if they go private, you’ll know I’m right.
In an earlier post I girned off about tories.
Look, I am as appalled as anyone at this scandal, and the attempt to have Alex Salmond jailed. I find that utterly reprehensible.
I am also not happy at the current SNP policy of seeking “permission” from London over a Section 30 which surely they must know by now, is never going to happen. Certainly not on any terms favorable to Scotland.
But at same time, I detest the outrageous hypocrisy of the tories. I see no reason why we shouldn’t be pointing that out.
Still, if Sturgeon must go, who knows, perhaps we might get someone who is prepared to really push for Independence, and it all backfires spectacularly on the lot of them who set this scandal up, which was to try stop Independence, for that is the only reason I can see for this affair, from the very start.
Gordon you have worked extremely hard to prove to people that Scotland CAN and SHOULD be independent, I and many others agree that the tories and others are doing the exposure for their own benefit and also their corruption is legendary and unchallenged
BUT it is NOT them who have created this reprehensible situation , and it is NOT them who tried to jail an innocent man with SPURIOUS UNPROVEN allegations, and it is NOT them who have marched us up to the top of the hill and back down numerous times, and it is NOT them who have decimated the YES movement by FORCING reviled egregious abhorrent policies against the objections of the majority of voters
No one wanted this situation, it has been forced on the people of Scotland by a corrupt and venal individual dictating her deviant policies under the mask and false promise of independence
We cannot enter into a new dawn of independence with a corrupt and despicable coterie of liars and scum and HOPE they will grow integrity and honesty where none exists
@Skip_NC – Swinney was always like that.
https://caltonjock.com/2021/03/03/leslie-evans-dismissed-a-civil-servant-who-bore-false-witness-against-colleagues-but-not-those-that-did-the-same-against-alex-salmond-double-standards/
Deeann’s dismissal was barely enough to compensate the male colleagues whose names she wilfully maligned, nor society who eagerly accepted her misleading statements as truth.
Her false victimhood began with what became popularly referred to as “the chair incident” in which she was widely portrayed as being punished by her male colleagues for speaking out against male bullies and misogyny, and perhaps as planned it became a “MeToo” sensation which morphed into the damaging Scottish civil service “chairgate” scandal.
Sturgeon needs to be sentenced to some serious jail time.
For those still posting or reading here whilst clinging onto some kind of “hope” you need to google malversation, its what the Spanish jailed the Catalan coup leaders with….
twathater
Absolutely. You cannot stress the importance of starting with as clean a sheet as possible. I’d rather wait another five or ten or whatever for a country borne of hope, aspiration and energy for change rather than waking up in the equivalent of Belarus.
For example, Portugal is still living with the legacy of Salazar. That is almost 50 years after the Carnation Revolution in 1974. All the major power brokers today grew up under that regime or were likely heavily influenced by those who did. The corruption, nepotism and corporate interests that flourished in the dictatorship is still with us. It’s a faint shadow of what it was but it’s still here. It will probably take another 30 or 40 years before it fades completely and the power structures are filled with people who had no direct or indirect benefits from such as system.
This is what we’re desperately trying to avoid and it’s way better to clean house now and be in better shape than try and clean up the mess after independence when their power becomes even more entrenched. In Europe at least, the difference between a well-run country and a badly run one is not that great but it makes a hell of a difference if you’re hoping to redress some imbalances, right some long-standing wrongs and make life better for everyone not just the privileged.
Gordon Keane says:
3 March, 2021 at 2:07 am
….it all backfires spectacularly on the lot of them who set this scandal up, which was to try stop Independence, for that is the only reason I can see for this affair, from the very start.
I don’t think that was the objective. The conspiracy didn’t originally set out to jail Salmond or wreck Independence. I think it was just an example of what happens when typical low grade Local Authority mediocrity gets promoted above it’s ability and power goes to their heads. Certain manipulative shit-stirrers decided they could gerrymander the chances of Alex Salmond passing vetting with a ‘secret’ black mark on his record.
It was an act of political arson I think, dull idiots playing with matches, when suddenly, their asinine endeavour is burning out of control, and suddenly they’re engulfed in a massive conflagration that’s burning down the house with them in it.
People were hurt by the blaze which escalated into a full-blown incident, but rather show some backbone and maturity to confess their malicious incompetence, the culprits have determined to keep their traps shut, deny everything, even though every man and his dog knows it was them.
The intriguing bit, the truly suspicious development, was why their lame smear designed to damage Alex Salmond, somehow escalated into the Frankenstein Criminal Conspiracy to have an innocent man branded a sex offender and sent to jail for the rest of his life.
That’s the point in the narrative, (I think), when the conspirators euphemistically ”didn’t want to go to the police”, but Evans decided she had something far too juicy to let go, and took it straight to Mi5 man Harvie at the COPFS. That, I think, is where ‘Operation Nasty’ evolved into ‘Operation Evil Conspiracy’, when Evans and ‘others’ saw the golden opportunity to damage and discredit Alex Salmond, destroy his legacy, and propel Scottish Independence into chaos and despair. Reason and logic be damned, they were going for it!
The truly troubling part isn’t why the enemies of Scotland might slaver and drool at the prospect of finishing off Alex Salmond and wrecking the prospects of Independence; that much can almost be predicted, but there’s an ugly stench of corruption and (t)reachery about how and why certain people in the SNP were so happy and enthusiastic to contribute to Alex Salmond’s witch-hunt. That’s where Sturgeon and Murrell have damning questions to answer, because they seem to be well and truly implicated in the worst of it.
And by “the worst of it”, I mean just that. Not merely a village idiots plot to injure someone’s career, but both active and passive complicity to see an innocent man go to jail for crimes he didn’t commit. That’s hardcore go-to-jail wrongdoing.
Don’t forget, there has been no retraction from the conspirators. No second thoughts or a moment of hesitancy. It was only the Criminal Prosecution and trial be jury which prevented absolute catastrophe for Alex Salmond, because the Conspirators themselves were all content to stand back and do nothing to prevent this hatchet job reaching its despicable conclusion and securing the criminal conviction of an innocent man on trumped up charges.
Heads will have to roll for all of this. Some heads which are downright evil, some heads which are stupid beyond forgiveness. Perhaps it wasn’t their intention in the beginning, but they have badly damaged the SNP, discredited the Scottish Government, shamed Scotland and truly jeopardised the prospects for Scottish Independence, and driven a wedge between the YES community which I fear is going to endure long after Sturgeon is gone.
The best leader we’ve ever had eh? I absolutely disagree. In fact, we should give Guy Fawkes a break and henceforth burn effigies of Nicola Sturgeon on bonfire night. Because this comment is just the Alex Salmond chapter… I’ve made no mention of the Wokeratti infiltration, the capitulation over Brexit, and abdication of Scottish Constitutional Sovereignty. All this, when she was meant to be on our side!!!
“Stuart MacKay says:
3 March, 2021 at 6:21 am
twathater
Absolutely. You cannot stress the importance of starting with as clean a sheet as possible. I’d rather wait another five or ten or whatever for a country borne of hope, aspiration and energy for change rather than waking up in the equivalent of Belarus.
This is what we’re desperately trying to avoid and it’s way better to clean house now and be in better shape than try and clean up the mess after independence when their power becomes even more entrenched. In Europe at least, the difference between a well-run country and a badly run one is not that great but it makes a hell of a difference if you’re hoping to redress some imbalances, right some long-standing wrongs and make life better for everyone not just the privileged.”
=======================================================
The SNP has always had to be cleaner than clean and whiter than white. Sturgeon has always known this. Heaven forbid that we become another class corrupted shit hole like Tory dominated England.
Ah well. Wednesday morning now and the new day begins.
And what will today bring. Well for me it brings the wonder of whether Nicola Sturgeon is going to carry on stand down. The evidence now revealed has shown beyond any doubt that First Minister Sturgeon personally together with her closest team of Deputy First Minister, other Ministers, part officials and aides are rotten and corrupt to the core.
The woman’s standing, her reputation is in absolute tatters. She is a disgrace, a stain on the whole of Scotland. As a lifetime SNP member approaching four decades I do not want Sturgeon and her cabal anywhere near our parliament. I want them out, and by out, I mean out.
Will she appear today. Will she refuse to stand down. Who knows. This is a woman with no morals, no scruples. A woman utterly malign in thought and deed. Truly the absolute filth you would wash off a public lavatory floor – this woman may not even have the decency to resign.
Her behaviour is truly like that of the last dying days of the Nazi regime where the Fuhrer refused to concede. And it is dying days. About that there is no doubt.
But out of these dying days great change can come. Germany recovered out of the chaos. And Scotland, and its unmet desire for independence will recover. This May can be our independence election and there is nothing to stop it.
The yes movement is still here, and there are good folks remaining in the SNP and beyond. We just need rid of Sturgeon, Swinney and the gang now to let us get on with it. The bunker is about to be breached.
Apologies if its already on the thread,but the meeting today is on BBC Parliament Channel starting at 09.00 today
@Al-Stuart:
#NicolaCeausescu
@Willie – Well said sir and I agree with all of that. One thing I would say though, and AS mentioned it on Friday, it is new leadership we need in all of our public bodies; clear-out the politically infested quangos and clear-out the corrupt legal profession too. The principal players are Sturgeon and Swinney, but it is not them alone.
Re today’s Committee meeting ,
The full meeting will be broadcast on Bbc Scotland channel 9 on freeview .
Breakfast ITV with Ian Blackford being questioned by Piers Morgan. Usual waffling and undying support for Nicola. Next up, Andrew Neil and others having a chat about it all.
@Beaker @ 6:22
Spot on!
singasongasingy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9S93bE06H0
Blackfraud defending the indefensible on Knob Morgan’s breakfast show .The final nail in the coffin of when the dust settles he is last man standing and becomes leader
In her foreword to the 2018 edition of the Ministerial Code, Nicola Sturgeon noted that it “sets guidelines for living up to the seven principles of public life: selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership” and said she would “lead by example in following the letter and spirit of this code”. From this morning’s Scotsman.
I don’t know if anyone saw the MSP from Dumbarton on TV last night: ‘I’ve been an MSP for 22 years and I have never seen anything like this…..’ Murdo Fraser too made Swinney look like a tool and yesterday’s debate.
The extent of the media interest and the fact that Alex Salmond was so convincing on Friday and his claims are proving to be entirely correct so far.
I think the portents are now good for Craig Murray and I do wonder where the SNP go from here. They have built a house of cards in Scotland and it is now collapsing. Like all these things, it happens very, very quickly.
Pretty obvious by now that Salmond would have been able to guess the name of one of the accusers since the event was first apologised for, so no reason to believe Aberdein had not misremembered who first brought her name into the conversation, or when – ie the corroborating evidence is hearsay – which, to be frank, still appears more than the Procurator Fiscal sought to provide in substantiation of Miss H story before allowing it to be ridiculed in court.
That said, hopefully somewhere amid all the mucking out she’s obliged to do, Nicola can still raise a smile at the idea of the Scots Tories dragging themselves into bed alongside Alex for their, unashamedly, nefarious purpose after all the innuendo they’ve enjoyed about him dragging everyone else into bed for his own.
Still time left for a call off.
The Spads will be frantically polishing her brass neck.
Time to make amends for yer 20 vote free years at the trough Murdo.
Swinney on Radio Scotland right now.
This is not just about the Sturgeon allegations, it is about the systemic abuse of power and the breakdonw of the rule of law.
It is not esoteric.
It is real.
In health, education, and in most other areas of the public sector, there is now an acceptance that corruption is part of our lives.
Scrutiny and accountability are suppressed to make the superficial ‘message’ look good, and the inevitable outcome is poor performance. Loyalty counts for more than competence these days.
As Capt Yoassarian says, we need a complete clear-out at the top and a change in organisational culture.
No more using indy as an excuse to cover failure.
Those who try to brush aside what happened to AS have not themselves suffered false allegations, the destruction of their careers, and an inevitable loss of faith not just in the system but in the country.
It is VERY painful.
https://www.tns2019.org/new-blog-1/2021/2/21/jaccuse
Well today is the day. The only question I need answered is whether Sturgeon was leading the plot to jail Salmond or caught up in something horrific and too big for her to control. None of her words will answer that directly but the first few minutes of the committee – her tone, line of defence and whether she attacks Alex will say it all. There’ll be no need to watch beyond if she continues to attack him.
Whoever is behind this plot is no friend of Scotland or independence. And between this and all her other divisive policies, everything points to Sturgeon being as rabidly anti independence as any unionist. If she isn’t then she’d be the worst, most incompetent leader we could ever have had. Only some humility and apologies could suggest that isn’t the case today. I won’t hold my breath. What a fucking depressing day.
Re Harassment and Complaints Committee ,
Public papers for today’s meeting ,
https://www.parliament.scot/HarassmentComplaintsCommittee/General%20documents/20210303SGHHCCommitteePublicPapers.pdf
.
Updates from the Committee pages ,
From the Judicial Review page ,
The Convener wrote to Levy & McRae requesting documents related to the inquiry on 2 March ,
2021 ,
https://www.parliament.scot/HarassmentComplaintsCommittee/General%20documents/20210302ConvenertoLevyMcRae.pdf
@TNS2019 – https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/subsidence-new-aps12m-school-sparks-investigation-1472499
I left this for you the other day, but a new post appeared an hour later and so you may have missed it.
I’m expecting the EIS to organize a meeting between myself, the EIS and the Health and Safety Executive in the next week or so.
The Scottish Government case will be presented by their Head of Building Standards.
After six and a half years of obfuscation and cover-up by the Scottish Government and their lawyers, that will expose this case to sun-light.
Ian@8.07
Swinney asked “Did the government withhold documents?” He replied “ There was difficulty in the supply of documents……”. Aye, you don’t say
” as she watches her bridges burn
from the point of no return ”
She can’t possibly survive this can she , can she ?
Nic ” Bananas ” Sturgeon aka The Teflon Con is or soon will be ( hopefully ) no more than an embarrassing interlude in Scottish political history .
Hopefully also , the devotees will emerge from their Cult Deprogramming Therapy stronger , healthier and wiser and we can all get on with the task at hand .
Freeing ourselves from the yoke of the ever-increasingly dysfunctional Union
Quick question. I’m hoping to watch NS at the Committee today. I’m outside the UK and need a VPN, and it appears that the Scottish Parliament Channel won’t grant direct access. I did access the feed through a third party provider and was able to watch AS evidence, but I can’t remember the name of the site. Can anybody help?
Just a couple of points from U.K. media this morning-
Liar Carmichael wasted £1 Million of tax payers on French Gate.
The press didn’t give him such a hard time, his fellow politicians
supported him lying and the parliamentary standards group stated
that he had done no wrong.
The allegation at this time suggests the Salmond trial wasted 600,000
but that would be a true cost if you consider the sum spent initially taking
the case forward until such times as it unable to stand.
If the topic was waste of public funds, Carmichael is way ahead of the race.
On that same topic, how about Grayling’s £50 for ships that didn’t exist or the real
big boy of the £10 Billion hand to Tory supporters in rogue PPE contracts,
£21 million to a Spanish PPE negotiator, Dido’s Billions for can’t track and can’t trace offering,
£100,000 for Bojo’s latest tart and her interior design plans for No 10, the £55,000 for a Tory events
man to try and put a positive spin on the track and trace disaster for a few weeks.
Please go on to compare the sex lives of Alex Salmond and serial adulterer Boris Johnson.
At least 6 kids, he won’t put a number on it, physically restraining his latest conquest in her own hone and refusing to leave, spending public funds on a blond America woman’s business while having an affair with her and having sex with a pigs head at university.
Alex, being supportive of Scottish independence finds his admitted to and apologised cuddle seems
to trump Boris in every twisted Westminster controlled media outlet?
I want my country to be free and operating with a media that is unbiased, truthful and accountable.
I’ve never know this to exist in Westminster’s UK
There is so much going on that folk may have missed this shameful piece by Angus Robertson in yesterday’s Edinburgh Evening News. His tongue is so close to Nicola’s backside that the “G” in his forename must be silent!
https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/opinion/columnists/alex-salmond-inquiry-i-stand-with-nicola-sturgeon-as-unionists-launch-hysterical-attacks-angus-robertson-3150572
David F I think it will be on youtube as it was on the day Alex Salmond appeared.
Effigy@8.41
Couldn’t agree more.
I’m usually no fan of Murdo Fraser, I do not agree with his political views very often, in fact they largely conflict with my own.
With that said his column in yesterdays Scotsman, and I say this reluctantly due to our differing political views, that I completely agree with his assessment of where Scotlands Political system needs to head.
I could repeat many of the points he made in his column here, but he pretty much covers everything that I would, so I would urge people to read his column instead: https://archive.vn/eNA1C
Effigy, the 600K refers to AS’s costs, which were awarded. There has never been a true accounting of all the internal cost incurred. LE was asked about this cost and she declined to cost it. Add to that the cost of the 22 man police unit for 2 years and counting. Craig did an estimate I recall, and that was up to £10M.
In any case, corruption is still corruption, even if it is homegrown and a wee bit cheaper. What is your own personal lowest value for acceptable corruption…?
Effigy@8.41
Let he who is without….
Ferries, bridge, airport , Bifab
MaggieC @ 3 March, 2021 at 8:16 am
So they have merely requested that AS lawyers provide info, rather than order them to supply info. So possibly that means the lawyers are not protected in what they can say?
i.e. by sending a request, not an order, they preclude the release of the info?
.
Los,
That’s a scarily close hashtag.
Meanwhile, did anyone watch Mr Wolffe and Mr Harvie giving “evidence” to the Fabiani Inquiry?
Mr “I didn’t’vread it and never have read it” Harvie was as much use as a secret squirrel who forgot where he hid his small nuts.
As an asides, how do Harvie, Dodgem & Wolffe, Solicitors and Ambulance Chasers get to give evidence safely, remotely and shielding, whilst Alex Salmond gets exposed to Covid Committee room 22 with some evil shit coughing in the background. I was definitely getting a Novochock vibe from that lot of Sturgeonite McWokeists. As Stuart Campbell wrote a few days ago: EVERYONE in that room is hostile to Alec and it was bloody clear he has a bad chest infection. Decency and humanity should have prevailed and allowed Alec to give evidence from the safety of his home via video link.
Meanwhile, Harvie and Wolffe were giving away elementary clues about ID in their amateur evidence presentation.
As Breeks hits the nail on the head, that is what happens when people get over-promoted and some start to believe their own hype.
As for Sturgeon’s evidence today. Frankly I cannae be bothered by the feckless wee nyaaff.
Life is too short to listen to that short erse drone on.
Probably better use of time to Hoover the cat and de-flea the dog, then scan through the meeting minutes than suffer the whining voice of Mrs Covid TV for 6 hours.
Alec was the personification of dignity, truth, honour, eloquence and bearing.
Today we get the diametric opposite. A panicky rattlesnake who has only SIXTY FOUR DAYS AS FIRST MINISTER, THEN SHE IS ON HER ERSE back to Dreghorn and relative obscurity.
Posted 8.15
So one new primary school has some subsidence in its playground and the
Tories, Labour and the teachers are up in arms?
Again this is a tiny drop in the ocean when compared to the shoddy PPI
initiative where Clerk of Works where dispensed with, no ties were used between
brick works and the interest rates agreed were horrific.
Many children and teachers were put in danger!
This one new school was built by approved architects and developers who used all approved
building technics and checks is now presented as being major when compared to a nationwide
scandal across the country.
Absolutely astonishing that this SNP built school and mole hill circumstance can be presented by
Westminster media as a mountain that could never be scaled.
Truth, reality and scale are all being destroyed by this deranged and distorted U.K. government and
those under its control.
They must be removed from Scotland at the soonest opportunity.
.
What a narcissistic little creep Nicola Sturgeon is.
From her saying she “relishes” what she is doing, to her weird vanity at NOT wearing glasses.
What is it with her using such a large font of print type on those pieces of paper that cause the distracting page turning at a rate of knots.
Aaaaannnnddd we’re into the softball questions. Quite different from Alex Salmond’s water-boarding by the Fabiani Whitewash Committee.
RELISH away Sturgeon, one way or another you WILL BE leaving Bute House in SIXTY FOUR days.
” Alan Mackintosh says:
3 March, 2021 at 8:58 am
Effigy, the 600K refers to AS’s costs, which were awarded. There has never been a true accounting of all the internal cost incurred. LE was asked about this cost and she declined to cost it. Add to that the cost of the 22 man police unit for 2 years and counting. Craig did an estimate I recall, and that was up to £10M.
In any case, corruption is still corruption, even if it is homegrown and a wee bit cheaper. What is your own personal lowest value for acceptable corruption…?”
=================================================
Unless they changed the rules recently then Police don’t overtime pay as they have to take time off instead. That basically means time off from investigating or preventing real crimes. Disgusting!!!
8.58
My point is Carmichael’s Million wasted doesn’t count
In U.K. media terms and if we run with your suggested
£10 million cost in the Salmond case is one hundredth of
the cost of rogue Tory contracts with £10 Billion.
Again something in Scotland classed as corrupt must
Out weigh Westminster corruption even when it’s 100 times greater?
Corruption abounds in the U.K.
it must be excised and the first step to break away from corruption HQ
in Westminster