An unforeseen emergency
A reader has sent us an interesting follow-up to yesterday’s article.
Let’s just check what we’re being told there.
Progress Scotland was incorporated in November 2018, although its existence was not announced until the following February. Its first accounts – for November 2018 to November 2019 – were published in May 2020.
But the next year’s accounts weren’t published for another 18 months, in November 2021. We have no information as to the reason for the six-month delay, but it might be reasonably hazarded that COVID had an impact.
The next set – covering up to the end of November 2021 – were due to be filed last August, but the company filed for the maximum possible extension, taking them up to last November. Such an extension is only supposed to be granted in the case of “an unforeseen emergency shortly before the deadline date”.
We don’t know what sort of unforeseen emergency befell either Progress Scotland or Angus Robertson in late August 2022 – Companies House does not record the fact – and the only significant event we can find involving him in that month was the absurd conviction of indy activist Dave Llewelyn for a caustic Twitter joke about Robertson and his wife (and for sarcastically quoting George Galloway’s own words back to him).
That was hardly an “unforeseen emergency” – the trial had been in June – and we’re not sure why it would interfere with an accountant’s preparation of the firm’s accounts, which are only six lines long and should take about 20 minutes. But in any event the extension bought them an extra three months.
Then, at pretty much the very last moment (just two days before the new deadline), the company suddenly decided to change its accounting year-end from November to May, giving it another six months to file the 2021 accounts.
Since Progress Scotland, as we noted yesterday, is a zombie company with no active directors and no employees, it’s difficult to see why it needs to change its trading year, as it’s not actually doing any trading any more. (The last opinion poll it commissioned was in October 2020, which was within the previous accounting year.)
But what’s abundantly clear is that for some unfathomable reason it really doesn’t want people to see its 2021 accounts, and is pulling every trick in the book to kick them as far down the road as it possibly can, even though micro company accounts reveal almost nothing in any kind of remotely normal circumstances.
We don’t know why it’s doing that. But we do know the date we’ll find out.
See you in six weeks, folks. It promises to be interesting.
Is there any other giggery-pokery that can be pulled to kick them further down the road?
No doubt they will get an extension to the deadline.
Ha ha he must be bricking it knowing you are just waiting!!!
It shouldn’t be possible for them to get another extension. 12 months from the end of the accounting period is the max, which got them to last November, then they changed the year-end which you’re only allowed to do once in five years. They should be completely out of road now.
Is it now just a shell of a company?
How do we live in a country where there’s only one actual, investigative journalist, exposing chicanery after chicanery?
And that one actual, investigative journalist has the temerity to not even live here, but in Bath?
How?
It seems like all the actions of a business that is going bust. If they go bust owing, say, £600k, the creditors have seen the last of it. Looking at you, SNP.
There is always the chance he just doesn’t submit them. What can they do. Fine him. We have been taken for mugs again by conmen and shysters.
A shower of cucking funts
No more please
Maybe there’s been some big item purchases to use up the cash there too?
How’s the book on Vienna selling? Did that cost a lot to publish?
Mrs R has also ‘stepped back’ from running Spey. Has anyone looked at its accounts? It has a managed account at HIE……… is its postcode listed correctly like at Sandstone?
If Rev Stu doesn’t win journalist of the year 2023, it will be a scandal.
From 2021 SNP accounts, page 17 (https://search.electoralcommission.org.uk/Api/Accounts/Documents/24333)
This particular line is interesting. It doesn’t appear in prior years.
“As a result of performing these procedures we have assessed the following areas as having a heightened risk of fraud; related party transactions and manual journal entries.”
Companies House records for Progress Scotland indicate that it does have an active director – Angus Robertson (https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/SC613656/officers)
In August 2022 Willie Rennie (of all the people) saught answers to the Gupta/Lochaber Smelt deal – their latest unaudited accounts were about to show a £4 million loss.
1 year earlier David Cameron was publically hauled over the coals for lobbying on behalf of Greenshill – a loan company that dealt extensively with Gupta before it went bust.
Not that any of this is in any way connected (I’ve no idea if it does or doesn’t). But lots and lots of unaudited accounts floating about at the moment.
Imagine I showed you my bank balance at the start of the year and the end of the year, what would it tell you.
Very little. I could have started with 1 pound and finished with 1 pound but in between hundreds of thousands of pounds, could have flowed in and out.
As long as at close of business on the 1st of Jan and 31st of Dec it is 1 pound then that is all you will see.
That folks is the equivalent of ‘micro accounts’. They tell you f**k all really.
So it is surprising they are trying to delay them. How could you fuck this up but then it is the SNP we are talking about here.
If for example you screwed up and the bank balance at accounting year end was very large instead of 1 pound you might be incentivised to push the accounting closing back a few months to give yourself time to make sure the bank balance was back to 1 pound again.
Maybe if you are unable to do that as you are being investigated you would find a way to buy some time, to kick the can down the road…
Stu has been front and centre in exposing the charlatans of the SNP. They took the naviety of the Independence movement and soaked it for cash. We have been left out of pocket but with vengeance in our hearts Get them out of power.
“Companies House records for Progress Scotland indicate that it does have an active director”
I should maybe have used a different word. What I mean is that Robertson declared he hadn’t actually worked for PS since May 2021.
On the 3 month filing exemption:
Historically filing exemptions were rare. But during Covid there was an automatic 3 month extension for all companies for deadlines up to April 2021.
Since then the situation is supposed to have reverted to the old request process where you have to provide valid reason. In theory Companies House review and approve/reject requests and they should be for a limited period. In practice they appear to be granting 3 months exemptions regardless. If you submit a request through the link below, whether citing Covid or another reason, the confirmation is coming through within minutes.
https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/extensions
So it was a very low bar for Progress Scotland to clear.
Unfortunately they may yet avoid filing anything at all by seeking to wind up/liquidate the the company.
@RevStu
Ta for the confirmation…
Accountancy rules always seem encased in smoke and mirrors, much like quotes from builders..
The best pickpockets in the business can be found clothed in the SNP banner.
Rev. Stuart Campbell says:
15 April, 2023 at 7:23 pm
“They should be completely out of road now.”
Not in a de facto banana republic.
A spouse’s change in name could give them another year or so extension.
See if they were allegedly getting SNP funds but actually producing regular pro Indy content you could maybe, maybe (not really but an argument could be attempted) make an argument for it…but it’s been half hearted at best.
But nobody can say this mob have even attempted to move the dial. Fluff at best.
As I have been saying, Rev. Stuart Campbell, don’t let any of the corrupt criminals get away with their crimes, whether they are in the SNP, the Scottish government, the Scottish parliament, the Scottish service, the Scottish police or the Scottish justice system.
Not to forget that bastard of a judge who whitewashed Sturgeon’s proven breaches of the Ministerial code.
An the corrupt parliamentary committee which let Sturgeon get away by lying through her teeth.
Get all the bastards jailed for their crimes.
I heard today
That the NEC were to declare the #snpeados were to declare themselves bankrupt
Watch this space
‘Is it secret, is it safe?’
It might be in Lord of The Rings.
But not when it’s Lord of the Wings.
“an accountant’s preparation of the firm’s accounts, which are only six lines long”
Companies are getting away with publishing next to nothing of their transactions?
There is no way of knowing where Progress Scotland’s funds were coming from and where they were going?
Given Progress Scotland’s political nature, that looks like massive political money laundering to me.
Has anyone accused Putin/Russia of intefering in Scottish politics yet?
It’s all just more fuel for the blaze, isn’t it?
I’ve never seen such anger on the Twitter.
It feels like a member of the family has been tortured and murdered and we’ve just found out for sure who did it. The SNP’s determination to plough on as if there’s nothing to see is just making it all worse. People are reeling as the scale of the treachery sinks in but all we get is pish about meetings about meetings about reports way off over the horizon. It’s just not working anymore and everyone knows it.
Whether people ‘like’ this place or not is neither here nor there but any objective analyst would note that Wings uses a certain style which is completely different to the Twitter Stu. The posts here can sometimes feel dry, almost emotionless, but that’s what gives them such power. It’s real journalism, centered on fact and detail, using the collective ‘we’ as an editorial voice (as if he has a team) whereas the Twittery Wings can be ‘offensive’ and bawdy and raw when he lets rip on something he feels strongly about.
That’s what really messes with the minds of the usual msm suspects such as Leask, Wishart et al – they hate him because he has that freedom and he uses it.
They don’t have such freedom, and even if they did, it’s doubtful that they would/could use it at all because they have trained themselves into a form of self-censorship which is, essentially, symbiotic: ‘I won’t mention that so long as you don’t.’
It’s also tacit, so they don’t ever have to say it directly to one another. They just know, from experience, where the parameters are. So they’re trapped. They can’t break away from it and say what they really feel about anything unless they use a pseudonym or branch off into writing fiction. Anyone who isn’t ‘one of us’ is besmirched, shunned. It’s a form of scapegoating. (If you didn’t see Stu’s recent series of tweets about his encounter with Ruth Wishart, go to his feed and have a look. Very illuminating.)
Wings is breaking story after story, leaving them in his wake. They could easily access the same information Stu has used for this latest embarrassment. But they daren’t look too closely because they don’t want the responsibility of having to break the story – that would be viewed as some kind of ‘betrayal’ by their peers.
But something has changed.
There was the open and generous tribute to Wings by Kevin McKenna last week. There was a tweet from that Prince Bob dude, praising recent posts. And the frequency of 5-Follower throbbers slagging off this place and/or making reference to Bath appears to have lessened (that may just be my feed because I’ve blocked so many of them, but even still, I’ve noticed it in the past few weeks).
They know that their jobs are on the line. They’ve known it for years, nay decades. The comments by Confused and Stuart MacKay on the previous thread re ChatGTP illustrate how seriously the news/information industries are being affected by AI and the implications for traditional journalists are grave. And that threat grows exponentially. Their time is running out.
I don’t particularly want to go into Asda and find Dani Garavelli working at the checkout, or see poor auld baldy Leask pacing around my local bowling club in a security guard’s uniform in the middle of the night. But that’s going to happen to a lot of folk who otherwise might make good journalists *if* they don’t wake the fuck up and start doing their job properly.
Whether they like it or not, that means reaching the standards now being set by this place.
Great work again, however they don’t have to file, if the company is genuinely a shell company they can ignore filing deadlines and wait to be struck off. Of course, if they do that and are still collecting money then they are trading illegally, and not just in terms of company house, but criminally.
I wonder how much the administrators will get for Sturgeons Imelda Marcos Jimmy Choo shoe collection? Must be worth a few Bob.
Why has Angus Robertson not issued a statement?
He only has weeks before the shit hits the fan. Why not go early and get positioned?
What about his mate Diffley was it?
Circles within Circles
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocracyuk/uk-increasingly-run-corporate-insiders-and-scotland-too/
After reading the sample of Angus Robertson’s Vienna book at Amazon it looks like he has a singular ability to write clunky and boring paragraphs. And the Kindle edition is hardly a bargain at a hefty £17.99.
I would say don’t give up the day job Angus, but, given the SNP meltdown, that advice might soon be overtaken by events.
Mac
Good thought Mac but perhaps the polis are in your tail and you are trying to maintain a good story for them using said accounts.
This is such a mess I can’t believe the security services are involved. It has to be down to ego, stupidity and corruption.
In filling out an expenses claim many years ago an old boss of mine said you have to be careful with the small numbers because they leave a trail of thoughts and behaviours. Just because they are small does not make them less relevant.
Sat the polis are looking at how some of the money was spent and they are looking at invoices, where does there lead.
Was the £600k used to set up the Robertsons wee companies. I wonder? Or to pay them for services rendered?
If you could get either an apology or an explanation from the Murrells, which would you opt for?
I put up a Twitter poll asking the same, just before 7 this evening. It’s only had 152 votes so far but how do you think it breaks down?
Apology, or explanation?
There can be only one!
(We already know that British royalty makes a point of never doing either.)
😉
https://twitter.com/ianbhood/status/1647298324012101632
We can only speculate, and I don’t even know if it would show up in the accounts, but my guess is that they wish to hide financial transfers between the SNP and Progress. It could be either way, from the misled subscribers to the SNP coffers, or alternatively from the missing ringfenced fund into Angus’ sporran. Either way, I surmise there will be a very cosy relationship between the two entities. We all know how Nicola would create jobs and salaries for her colleagues, especially the poor dears who had been voted out by the electorate. Most of the sacked NEC, for example, were back in control in no time at all with their fake job titles and ‘disabilities’.
An interesting comment from way back in February.
Etticus says:
26 February, 2023 at 1:18 pm
Also I’ve still got a response to my question about the alleged stramash involving Sturgeon and Anne Gloag.
If it turns out that Anne Gloag was the catalyst that got the SNP accounts forensically examined leading the police investigation into the SNP and that sturgeon tried to fit Anne Gloag up to silence her then Sturgeon could be looking at some serious jail time. It would also appear that if police scotland dragged themselves into this affair leading to the resignation of Ian Livingstone there could be a number of police officers going down for this as well.
No idea if any of this is true but nothing would surprise me. Be interested to know what anyone with their finger on the pulse thinks.
Can anyone explain to me why at a time like this Humza is proposing to force a by election in rutherglen.
They will be lucky to keep their deposit.
Many folk think she is a good MP
Labour will be putting a campervan in every leaflet
The Tories will be putting a police tent on theirs
Given SNP finances this is not the time to be forcing a by election
Perhaps I am missing something
Aww, FFS…
If you don’t do Twitter, fair enough, but please just have a swatch at this.
Warning: “Contains Image Of Pete Wishart”
https://twitter.com/Documark/status/1647348079752781824/photo/1
Well its a matter of time before the whole cabal including Robertson are found out.
This affront of an MSP us in New York at a Scots celebration hor US links in his cultural capacity.
No doubt the accounts of his shell company will never be fully produced.
The source of the funds deposited is open to wide speculation.
Surely Stu after your progressive investigative journalism real audits of this dubious company and possible police interest can take place.
Why would anyone associated with the SNP set up a polling company? If you wish to carry out a poll of the public just get into the streets, shopping centres and housing estates with questionnaires. Give the job to activists, that is why they are called activists.
(Of course it would not cost very much, paper and photocopier supplies and some biros.
Re the Anne Gloag enquiry.
It’s no secret the Gloag investments are connected significantly (and as far as I can see entirely legitimately) with mining in Africa and renewable energy, although it is very difficult to find exact details on internet.
The Guptas are also, very, very involved in mining concerns in Africa, along with many other ventures such as renewable energy.
Increasingly it looks, to my untrained eye, as if renewable energy in the ‘remote lending’ industry (Greenshill) bares striking similarities to Sub Prime lending, eg, the engineers can guestimate how much renewable energy a green field will produce per year, this amount can then be sold in advance, or borrowed against, but equally it can also be packaged up and sold serveral times over, (a bit like a second mortguage).
Something like the Rangers sale, financed on the promise of future ticket sales, relying heavily on the outstanding interest being repeatedly parcelled up and passed around, never getting called in in any given year.
When it comes to the Gloags, perhaps the most interesting thing is the Police Station where they were interviewed. They reside just outside Perth, and about 20 miles from Dundee…. and yet they were interviewed in West Lothian. Why?
It would have been a very simple thing for Perth Police Station to be used. In times of potential high profile cases, other custodies are taken elsewhere and the custody suite is locked down to essential staff only.
Police staff in West Lothian, don’t know Police staff from Tayside… or the Serious Fraud Office for that matter. It would be a very effective way to ensure there was no leaking of information at the Police end of things.
It might have served the British Establishment very well to have rumours running about some connection to the Gloags and the Murrells, if a far bigger and more serious enquiry was ongoing. Rather interesting that the source for those rumours appears to have started with Effie Deans and Murdo Fraser, and it dried up within days, never to be repeated.
The Gloags are well known in the Perth area…. very much a ‘I kent their faither’ type attitude. Most folk are surprised by the charges libelled, they don’t appear to be a good fit with what they know of the family.
Time will tell, possibly.
If there’s real criminality at play here, then there is a mechanism for reclaiming pensions from those involved if they’re in the public sector.
It’s hardly ever been used in Scotland but who knows how bad this is going to get…takes a quick peek at the Twitter…looks like Stuart Campbell knows and summer isn’t that far away…
https://pensions.gov.scot/nhs/employers/loss-rights-benefits
Who knows who the Scottish Ministers will be in a few months never mind a few years…
Ian Brotherhood says:
“If you could get either an apology or an explanation from the Murrells, which would you opt for?”
There has to be a third option, Ian, the most important one: justice!
“ Whether they like it or not, that means reaching the standards now being set by this place.”
Well said Ian and so , so true
Actually here’s a thought…SNP representatives have to pay a percentage of their public sector salaries to the SNP on pain of what exactly I don’t know but if the current perception is that the party looks like it’s been ‘captured’ in some indefinable non-allegation-y way, is a MP/MSP still going to be handing over that money to an organisation on the brink of bankruptcy? If the financial side of the SNP has been opaque, why would you still hand over your barely earned dosh as if nothing had changed in the last two months?
Maybe this was covered by someone in a previous thread…if so I apologise ‘reservedly’.
Three weeks until the “Get it right fuckin up ye Charlie ” rally.
What a contrast it will be on Saturday 6th May, with the streets of London decked in butcher’s aprons, and the streets of Glasgow decked out in Saltires.
It’s a kinda two pronged march.
One is showing the SNP that the indy movement is alive and kicking, and the other is letting the rest of the UK know exactly what we think of the king of england getting crowned.
Let’s hope the turnout does the indy movement proud.
https://caltonjock.com/2023/04/15/team-sturgeon-was-determined-to-get-alex-salmond-and-they-very-nearly-succeeded/
Good to see careerist poser-cum-wannabe-trougher Kelly Given poncing around in NY, taking selfies and thinking she’s important, or that the yanks truly care about Scotland. A vapid, narcissistic, self-serving manhater halfwit, full of Sturgeon misandry and bile, hopefully she will find that the gravy train has been totally derailed before she could and her slimy ilk can truly jump on. Horrible spawn of Sturgeon, a really unpleasant pile of vapidity – modern Scottish politics in a nutshell.
https://www.thenational.scot/comment/23438393.kelly-given-right-way-exist-authentically/
https://twitter.com/ChrisLawSNP/status/1646872679134162944
“Muscular unionism from the Tories sends out all the wrong messages about the UK…” says Chris Law MP.
No shit Sherlock.
What kind of message does it send out to witness a supine, snivelling and cowardly SNP which won’t defend the Claim of Right, and just laps up more gravy when Scotland is subjugated out of Europe?
What kind of message does it send out when the SNP cares more about it’s Pervert’s Charter than Scottish Independence?
Don’t talk to me about sending out the wrong message, you troughing tosser.
Unforcreen emergency. My arse.
Angus Robertson. Get him the the jail. Along with his wife.
Screw them. Two horrible bastards that should be locked away together.
Sturgeon hasn’t got Alex Salmond. She failed. She failed to kill off Independence. She failed.
It will be Alex Salmond who will lead Scotland to Independence while Nicola, scoops out her porridge on Cornton Vale under a saltire.
@Ian Brotherhood, 15 April, 2023 at 9:22pm
Excellent analysis!
Ian Brotherhood – I enjoy reading your posts and you’ve been here from the kick-off. Respect.
I really do hope that the end of the SNP does not become like their ‘campaigning’ for ‘independence’: an ever-reducing infinity.
I find it hard to disagree with this Times article…
https://archive.ph/51EvB
Breeks @2:36a.m.
….my thoughts exactly, well said
Ian Brotherhood
The issue with “journalists” who publish content about Scotland is that they are not actually journalists (in the dictionary sense).
They are political activists, who work to an agenda. In most cases they are unionist and therefore working against Scotland. Their approach to content is framed by their political views and also that of their employers.
Once that is understood you then have expectations set about what to expect in their output.
Any chance the deadline in August 2022 is related to the SNP auditors resigning the following month? Maybe Progress Scotland is where the unaccounted for £600K ended up?
Are all of the pieces of the jigsaw finally coming together? Why would the SNP want to give money to Progress Scotland around 2021? This is going to be like an episode of prisoner cell block H!
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/leaked-video-footage-shows-nicola-29721481
Geoff Anderson at 8:38
For those of us allergic to MSM webpages, “-shows-nicola-…. ” what?
It is my understanding that just before the May deadline, Progress Scotland will use the GRR Act to “transition” to another company called Angus Robertson Scotland Enterprises, to be known by its acronym.
That video is basically an order to keep your mouths shut and don’t ask any questions. She even looks shifty when she is lying.
I suppose if you were under an active investigation that might be one reason for wanting to delay the accounts.
If the police are looking into Progress Scotland’s finances then they won’t be looking at micro accounts that is for sure.
Reading wings’ tweets there this one caught my eye…
“SNP folks: you have no idea how much worse it’s going to get from here.”
I also very much enjoyed the guy who tweeted that Craig Whyte was interested in buying the SNP.
I never dreamed their comeuppance would come but this is f**king sensational and I still don’t even know the bad shit is yet.
The SNP are going to go to the wall. Like a run on a bank this scandal will accelerate their demise as donations and memberships further collapse and they have all those salaries and overheads to deal with… It is almost inevitable at this point unless some big mug donor saves them (for a while at least).
The SNP going bankrupt would be the dream outcome, it is perfect really. Probably the ideal outcome and I never even considered it before until very recently.
Absolute political annihilation. I’ll take that.
Archived for Rob
Leaked video footage shows Nicola Sturgeon knocking back concerns about SNP finances
https://archive.ph/1OBnF
Geoff Anderson @8:38
She was sitting at a distinct angle to her camera in that clip from the zoom conference. That’s the sort of body language someone would exhibit if they were consciously telling lots of porkies.
I also see the DR story about the Murrell’s Algarve holiday home shows the house has a satellite dish. Nice.
@ Rob
2 min NEC vid of Nicola Sturgeon from the unionist rag of a “new”paper article linked above can be seen here.
https://twitter.com/obadiahmurdoch8/status/1647447974115459072
Rob, here’s the archive link https://archive.is/1OBnF
It is about the leaked video of Sturgeon angrily demanding that NEC members dont mention snp money worries.
Humza had the honour of throwing the first jack at Rutherglen Bowling Club yesterday.
He won’t though be throwing the Jack (Alister) in their expensive wrestling contest over Section 35.
Geoff, Dan, FionaN, thanks folks.
Humza still FM then?
I really expected somebody might have formally challenged the fraudulently flawed process that put him where he is by now.
Let me guess. Everybody paralysed by the unspoken threat of having the ‘R’ word deployed against them.
Doesn’t Rutherglen fly an enormous Union flag from its Council building?
Or have they changed?
Humza Yousaf was so busy patting himself on the back and having his picture taken in various costumes and poses as the new FM he seemingly has no clue what is coming his way.
Sturgeon, Robertson especially must have known just how bad things were going to get yet they explicitly backed Yousaf. Yousaf was called the ‘continuity candidate’ over and over during the campaign.
So Sturgeon and Robertson must have known that continuity candidate label would become the kiss of death when all this scandal broke… they must have.
But they did it anyway because it was more important to have their ‘ally’ in the job when the shit hit the fan to save their skins.
What is likely is Humza Yousaf will be leader when the SNP go tits-up. And his backers knew it when they backed him for the job.
Continuity was the absolute worst thing the SNP could have ‘elected’ in their rigged election. That was the moment of final suicide, right there.
Sturgeon has literally destroyed the SNP. I always used to write that in a figurative way but no, I think now we are getting into literal territory.
Humza Yousaf appears to be a giant rube, a hand selected mug, who will be famous for all the wrong reasons.
I would not be so sure about getting more details in six weeks.
So long as the consequences for not posting are less that the consequences of posting the accounts, then guess what any politician would do.
At John Main….”Roaster?”
Is there any chance Humza will realise what they did to him and how they used him.
If he gets his own act together he could throw them under the bus
King Charles of the Glen?
https://archive.ph/jw0MD
Hope springs eternal in the Unionist breast.
SNP governments had long enough to set up a company registration system based in Scotland. Like much else in the autonomy line, including the important matter of independent broadcasting and media it has been signally «provincial» in outlook.
Independence support stays strong as suggested by the above article. The provincial old SNP has indeed run its course. The baton of succession is there to seize.
This «game of thrones» is just getting interesting.
@What Rot/Frank Gillougley –
Thanks aplenty!
😉
I remember some time ago, certainly before 2021, the SNP had written to us about increasing the amount we paid to our membership or paying the membership fee early.
I’ve just watched a video were Sturgeon is saying the party’s finances are ok and to stop talking about it. Then why would you go out and buy a new campervan in 2021?
The SNP can change its name but it can’t change its reputation, every single party leader including Mike Russell and Yousaf saying I/We didn’t know until now, makes the SNP situation even worse.
I know some on here think Kate Forbes was the right person for the SNP leadership job, all I can say on that, she wasn’t.
The SNP Membership including Indy Ross, Dave and now moped were all Sturgeonite fanatics.
Sturgeon legacy is what? She can claim to be the longest serving FM, she couldn’t hold a candle to Alex Salmond record and her only achievement will be the SNP finished for good as a party and yet the new elected FM hasn’t even suspended the Murrells sends all the wrong messages about his leadership and the running of the party. At this present moment for Humza it shouldn’t be friendship his focus should be trying to safe the party and its reputation and the Indy cause I don’t even think its crossed his mind.
RIP SNP you were never going to deliver Indy.
@Shug
“If he gets his own act together he could throw them under the bus” If it was a campervan it would have served some purpose.
I agree Humza is the fall guy and the Murrells are no friends to him. He was given the job knowing he’d fail and wouldn’t question what he was being asked to do because he isn’t his own man he’s just a tit.
Even in the animal World they know tempting dishes in the open everyone else is avoiding need careful thought. If you are fast, agile and intelligent the trap may be avoided.It is usually the dumbest who charge on.
Do you get it yet!
If you were Angus Robertson and you had a cash cow like Progress Scotland with active subscribers wouldn’t you do ‘work’ for them in order to extract cash?
Except that the monies extracted whether earnings or dividends would have to be declared. Meaning someone might ask questions. It is certainly a bit queer(old definition).
Rutherglen town hall always flys the Butchers Apron over its residents as
a reminder of who owns Scotland.
The council have had requests to have our national flag, the Saltire, flown on St Andrews Day and on Burns night but all requests have been refused.
Do you remember imbecile Brown’s speech that the Saltire does not belong to the independence supports but it’s the flag for all?
Well that speech and flag doesn’t fly does it.
Dorothy Devine @ 9.41:
“Doesn’t Rutherglen fly an enormous Union flag from its Council building?
Or have they changed?”
Sadly, no. They’ve replaced the old tatty one with a newer version to offend all and sundry. At least the so-called Tr@itors’ Tower is conveniently close by to remind us of the political situation.
Big Jock says on 14 April, 2023 at 1:57 pm:
“Ross- Well done…what kept you!”
You’ve got a nerve. Being a Unionist enabler you’re in no position to use sarcastic remarks to anyone. Under the last 4 Wings’ articles you continue to aid & abet the Unionists by posting direct links to their most powerful weapon, their media outlets, yet in all those btl comments, not once have you posted any link to the ALBA Party petition trying to get “ScotGov” to focus on indy as the priority. That goes for the other Unionist enablers too who are doing the very same thing.
If only certain folk would put half as much effort into promoting things like this rather than promoting Unionist outlets then maybe we could get somewhere. Or as someone recently said on here, do you prefer to be sitting around 10 years from now wondering who’s going to gift us indy? For those of you who haven’t done it yet and who believe indy should be the priority here’s the link to the petition.
https://www.albaparty.org/self_determination_not_gender_identification
The Murrells Algarve home
https://archive.ph/B2NaG
Sturgeon and Murrell’s luxurious villa in the Algarve complete with a big swimming pool. Now all they need is a huge fancy motorhome to go touring around Portugal..Oops.
https://archive.is/B2NaG
I firmly believe if the SNP collapsed it would be a moment of liberation for the independence movement.
Right now the independence movement is carrying the SNP like a heavy bag. It is a drag and it becomes heavier and heavier with every step…
And the suddenly you realize you can just let go, drop it, and that we did not die, the independence movement is still here, strong as ever, but now reborn and re-energized and not carrying the big bag of bloodsucking sleazy duds anymore.
It is time for the independence movement to sack the SNP.
It will also take the SNP comfort blanket away from the electorate and force them to make some hard choices about what they really want here.
In all this chaos I see, for the first time in many years, some real hope again here.
The problem is going to be the collateral damage done to the idea of independence by the SNP itself. Which is quite the turnaround from the party Sturgeon inherited from Alex Salmond.
All of this is also going to put the attempted stitch-up of Alex Salmond into a whole new context. When you think what he was put through by people like this… it is immensely disgusting. Some of them should go to jail for it for sure. Maybe more folk will look again it with fresh eyes after all this comes out. They should.
The SNP Review and Accounts for 31st December 2021 were signed off on June 30th 2022 by National Treasurer, Colin Beattie on page 20 and Johnston Carmichael on page 18. They are on the Electoral Commission website.
It can be deduced from the Accounts that the SNP at 31st December 2021 had net current liabilities of £ 245,583.
A significant part of the liabilities ( £ 760,628 ) is amounts owed by the SNP to the local branches.
It would be for a forensic accountant to find out everything, but some of the risks for the Accounts include the following.
The Report says 85 per cent of total income in 2021 came from the voluntary contributions of members and supporters. This may be at risk now of falling.
However, the SNP Party centre can protect itself from the branches and take or keep taken all branch monies as it has done before – For a period of three months from 1 April 2020, the payment of the branch dividend was suspended to help meet the party’s financial obligations. The suspension was
lifted on 1 July 2020 and the 25% payments to branches resumed.
It is not clear from the Accounts if Johnston Carmichael examined the basis for the SNP membership numbers. At page 11, the document says – ‘the overall number of members at year end was 103,884 (31 December 2020: 105,393).’
https://search.electoralcommission.org.uk//Api/Accounts/Documents/24333
It seems that the creditors and members may now be potentially further concerned ( 16 months on from the last Accounts data ) as the Herald website quotes HY and National Treasurer on finances today –
‘However he added to the confusion over the party’s finances by saying it would produce “qualified accounts”, meaning they would carry a health warning because of uncertainty over the figures, then later appeared to back away from the phrase.’
In the same article, National Treasurer Colin Beattie said the SNP was “having difficulty in balancing the books due to the reduction in membership and donors”
https://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/23458127.humza-yousaf-denies-snp-going-bankrupt-party-finances-strained/
Suppliers to the SNP may consider potentially starting to ask for cash in advance if they fear there is little or no money.
And the SNP Branches might ask for their money back, starting a run on the centre as the Accounts at Note 21 show Amounts owed to accounting units totalled £ 760,628
As stated in the Annual Review, the Party has 288 registered accounting units.
The Independence magazine makes a loss, income of £ 95,603 and costs of £ 99,746. This is a risk but it is not clear what the costs are.
There is a possibility that the SNP financial position might be at growing risk of being able to pay costs, including creditors, over the coming weeks and months if the current liabilities continue to exceed current assets. Overdraft facilities, loans and income maximisation techniques might be needed.
If the SNP follows last year’s timing, the Review & Accounts for year ended 31st December 2022 would be published on 30th June 2023.
This will be a challenge. There may be an increased risk that the going concern basis is more difficult for the National Treasurer to justify for the Accounts for the year ended 31st December 2022, particularly if recent events have further placed strain on the cash flow, income & expenditure account and Balance Sheet.
The potential auditors for Accounts to 31/12/2022 may also consider the appointment. They not be paid as the previous auditors asked for £ 57,235 which is over double the year before of £ 26,290. This is normally a sign to investors or members that the entity being audited has presented the auditors with many more risks as the work to assure and provide an opinion has doubled in cost.
It is likely that the SNP will need to seek donations, loans or income as quickly as possible or rapidly cut costs, if it is to remain solvent and balance the books as the National Treasurer admits.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ftzzd2uWAAEcOQl?format=jpg&name=large
Stop the «dreaming», the romantic «defeatism».
https://archive.ph/r0MFO
Smash the vile thing!
Investigative, journalism that eviscerates the charlatans with forensic accuracy. Never a fan of Twitter, but glad it led me to the Wings website. A point of clarification: Many commentators suggest that Sir Iain Livingstone has resigned when in fact he’s retiring after 31 years service later this year (he’s still very much at work) and undoubtedly steadied the Service after the previous incumbents. Iain planned to retire early six years ago as he could as an older recruit but with sudden gardening leave of Phil Gormley, stayed on through thick and thin. No aspect of Police Reform has been easy; most more complex than expected. Sir Iain was determined to get the budget settlement needed for year ahead before putting his notice in, which perhaps explains meetings with former Justice Secretary when a flat cash offer was on the table (which would have meant establishment dropping well below 16,000 officers – it was nearer 17,500 back on 1/4/13).
I know there’s a lot to criticise PolScot for and in recent public events the press office could do much better at explaining procedures, getting warrants (the content of which I very much doubt the FM has seen in detail), putting up a talking head etc. My limited experience of fraud investigations is that none progress quickly. I realise this will sound like being an apologist to many ears but the importance of the mission of Policing by public consent and support can’t be overstated.
Message to the First Minister.
«It is not the eyes that are blind, but the hearts»
The Qur’an 22:46
I see our esteemed and clean politicians and on their tax payer funded Jolly in New York to wave the Butcher’s apron at Tartan Day.
The gravy bus handmaiden Sally is there.
Pete Wishart is standing behind the union flag.
Ian Murray from Labour couldn’t even be bothered to wear a kilt. I can only assume the fat pig to his left is his partner.
And Nicola Sturgeon says, don’t mention the corruption. We need the money to keep flowing into our pockets. Nothing to see here. I’m talking to you Alison. Don’t you f*king mention a thing about it. Dae ye hear me? My love nest in Portugal is not gonna pay for itself now.
MAC
Looking at this viscerally, the independence cause has been «constipated» for years owing to a political diet lacking in militant, counter-establishment pro-activity from the SNP.
The Scottish body politic has been given a health restoring release. The «woke» bolus has been cleared. A good psychological spring clean effected.
Back on track. Everything to gain, nothing much to lose.
Kudos to the rev for drip feeding just enough petrol onto the SNP bonfire
But it does make you wonder what other skeletons are out there given the 8 years of La Sturgeon
During that period her cabal have systematically weakened all of the checks and balances
The media has been totally supine and the police forensically unobservant and uninterested
It is clear that Sturgeon et al have never been interested in independence, it’s just a drum to beat from time to time to bring in more funds to be misplaced or sucked off to cronies
It’s been a glorified crime syndicate, wrapped in a saltire and extends widely into public life
Makes you wonder why Salmond’s downfall was orchestrated, maybe he found out about it and had to go?
It’s hard to believe but one million allotments would only use 25,000 hectares of arable land. Scotland has 625,000 hectares of arable land, 25 times as much.
At WW2 level of nutrition, that 250sqm allotment could provide the vegetables needed for a family of four. That size is workable with a spade by an old codger as a hobby, so an absolute doddle for a youngster with a rotavator. The story of back-breaking toil if we were to dump supermarkets and the industrialised farming they depend on is a total lie. We can easily secure a “base-load” – to use energy jargon – of food, carrying on nonchalantly with current methods of meat and cereal production should we lack the wit to improve them.
Potential benefits, on top of independence (real meaningful independence) from corporate supply lines, are recovery of our nature and, for those who do the work, WW2 levels of body shape. As for “mentalelf”, that should benefit too.
Of course many would recoil in horror at the prospect of spending a few hours a week away from their keyboards, gaming consoles and telly remotes. The risk of broken nails and weather-tanning will put some off, and the very “idiocy of rural life” should keep the devout marxists away, hopefully. They are presumably well on with plans to deal with the problems coming their way. No doubt plenty are honing their on-screen skills in urban battle tactics.
A political scam. A financial scam. An indy scam.
The SNP are looking, talking and smelling an awful lot like a bunch of crooks.
The leaked video is from 2021. The same year her husband loaned the party £100k. Nothing to see here, move on.
@Mac 10.30 am.
I agree with all of that. We should put the SNP behind us and move on, and the sooner the better.
It’s a bit like that Simpsons joke where Milhous breaths in deeply to make his belly look slimmer than it really is, and Ranier Wolfcastle/Arnold Swarzenegger says, “I can wait, Fatty”.
Robertson still seems remarkably smug.
Does he believe it will be all right on the night.
I hope the police invlude the £1 mil loan/ grant or whatever it was handed to Linda Fabiani.
I believe it was tax payers cash, it may have been SNP.
Humza is quoted as having said the HPMA is a red line for the Greens.
WTAF do the Greens have on the SNP?
@ David Hannah
I read the house in Portugal previously belonged to Murrell’s parents so it may already be paid off and the intial purchase value could have been well below its current value. That being the case it may not require any significant funds other than cost of general upkeep and local taxes which come with folk owning property in a foreign country.
Plus as both Murrell and Sturgeon have been very well paid over the years it is certainly possible they could have accrued expensive assets legitimately.
The campervan and this Progress Scotland matter is interesting and may lead somewhere once investigations continue, but I find it hard to believe a couple both earning over 100k each for years would risk so much for such a (in the scheme of things) small amount.
Craig Murray and Stu have eluded to things being much bigger than what we are currently being fed in the media.
I posted the other day about Gupta / GFG Alliance and SIMEC’s proposed windfarm near Ben Nevis getting knocked back by Scottish “Government” ministers last year. Just wonder if “promises” were previously made in deals with powerful people, and when elements of any deals weren’t able to come to fruition someone got pissed off. That’s what happens in high stakes / value games.
Also still can’t get my head around the way the ScotWind
auctiongiveaway was handled.http://www.youtu.be.com/watch?v=VR6ECKmN-lY
A senior nationalist as quoted in the Sunday Mail:
“Humza has now inherited a hollow crown with a party in complete meltdown.”
@ fruitella the hun
No dig veg growing is your friend. 😉
One thing that is often overlooked in growing food is that the soil requires feeding with nutrients to sustain good crop growing viability.
I collect organic waste like leaves, seaweed, and even sheep or cow poop to add to my soil, to supplement what I produce on site in my own compost / wormery
Big Agra often use fertilizers created in the chemical industry because they have fucked their soil from years of heavy ploughing which macerated any worms and released sequestered carbon held in the soil. That style of farming is reliant on huge often subsidised energy inputs to keep it going.
https://twitter.com/shiny02/status/1647547455779610624?s=20
Who has got whom by the balls?
Someone must have a hold over Humza to make him do what they want.
But Humza must have a hold over Robertson, Sturgeon and Murrell for financial and other reasons. He will know the players in the Salmond stitch-up.
What a way to run a party and a government, fear of disclosure.
Potential for a lot more to come out when the first side blinks.
No matter what befalls SNP, Humza Yousaf guaranteed over £75k per year, for life, as a former FM, whether or not he throws anyone under the bus.
You wait for one FM, then three come along, in quick succession.
Next!
Dan,
Do you use herbicide or manual weeding or plastic sheeting? I happen to have a rotavator, purchased off ebay during 1st lockdown. Had to replace some bearings. It mechanically sorted a patch with docks, russian comfrey, and buried allsorts – wire, plastic, bits of rotted shed/greenhouse etc. Gives a tilth you can furrow with a spade. Not yet convinced by “no dig veg” as preferable, just easier, and so more desireable, for those not so blessed with contraptions.
Anyway, the assumption we cannot feed ourselves without imports and industrial farming is complete rubbish put out there, day in, day out, buy those who own the means of production, distribution and exchange.
https://twitter.com/Mercurius_Scot/status/1647500621803577344?s=20
Something like a correction…
Ottomanboi said something about the SNP having an autonomous Scottish system of company registration. This is hardly a stick to beat the SNP with unless you think any Scottish Govt should waste weeks if not months of parliamentary time substituting their own Holyrood act for the 2006 Companies Act and then having to go through another s.35 charade.
Actually stopping the absolute abuse of Scottish Limited Liability Partnerships was one thing Sturgeotti did right, however it took two years to do it and some of the criminality involved was off the chart.
Apparently this is one of David Leask’s areas of expertise when he’s not making an arse of himself reporting on domestic politics.
PHILM
We are led to believe the Scottish people are sovereign, that the Edinburgh «parliament» is as a consequence an agent of that sovereignty.
The SNP government’s fawning to Westminster has exposed that as a fallacy, has exposed devolution as an illusion and for what it was intended to be, an exercise in retaining effective power at the centre.
A sovereign people and their parliament could well act autonomously, unilaterally without the humiliating need to consult «the boss». Plainly the SNP leadership has no sense of irony.
Robertson gets ‘Winged’again.
@revstu I agree with cuillean Im blown away that you can pull this off with such frequency and competence. Revstu for first minister.
fruitella the hun says: at 12:41 pm
“Do you use herbicide or manual weeding or plastic sheeting?”
Soz for delay in responding but been busy today.
Have never used any herbicides. Now that my several veg beds are established I just control weeds by hand. Used to pull them out in an OCD like fashion, but apparently it is better practice to use a hoe and cut the tops off them and let them compost back in where they are, this also means the root systems aren’t yanked out disturbing the local soil system. Plus weeds like any plant will use up soil nutrients, so if you pull them out and discard them the soil will have lost those nutrients.
I do dig some weeds up from elsewhere on my property and neighbouring land such as large dandelion plants including the roots and put them in a big old pot on the woodburner and boil them up into a soup to kill the seeds, then once it’s cool it gets poured into the wormery so the wrigglies can chomp it all up into compost and worm piss.
That comfrey plant you have will make and excellent nutrient rich soup for plants. I have some growing wild nearby and harvest the huge leaves and stalks and chuck them in a barrel of water which turns black like baby bio plant food, then water plants with the solution.
Also add the as picked comfrey leaves and stalks to the wormery to keep it topped up with as much organic stuff as possible which includes tea leaves, ground up egg shells, and bits of plain corrugated cardboard, some grass cuttings, chipped up twigs and canes from my berry bushes.
I do have some membranes I recycled from somewhere and grow veg through holes in the sheets. Though also grow stuff without using a membrane.
I collect large sheets of plain cardboard such as bicycle boxes to cover the seaweed mulched beds over winter to protect them from the very hard frosts, and also to stop rain and snow melt washing nutrients out the soil. If I check under the cardboard there is an array of worms and various beasties doing their thing. Just the simple laying of cardboard protection clearly creates a habitat that supports an eco system that was not present with bare beds open to the elements.
Anyway, bedtime…
I’m just a dabbler at the moment. When the garden makes it to my top priority I’ll be exploring those methods you mention. Nevertheless, you can get a lot of produce with very little skill beyond common sense and nature does most of the work.
A better future is very possible. We need to think a bit more about what independence really means. It is not just a constitutional state of being, though that seems the extent of some campaigners’ ambition. Although initially it will appear to be a divisive process, it could entwine the jobs and environment strands rather than have them pulling in opposite directions as now.
I’ve grown tatties on my west facing kitchen window shelf. Got 14 baby tatties. Regularly grow fresh coriander, grown from coriander seeds bought from Matthews Foods.
Re: ‘the absurd conviction of indy activist Dave Llewelyn for a caustic Twitter joke about Robertson and his wife (and for sarcastically quoting George Galloway’s own words back to him).’ err… in the published story (see link in main piece above) Llewelyn’s behaviour was more serious and disturbing than you are suggesting, and most right-minded people would think it was correct that he was convicted.
That aside, please keep dishing the dirt on Robertson.
There is another way to hide the loot forever: they let the date slip past and then file for bankruptcy.
Without any legal representative, nobody gets in trouble.
Crooks do this every time.
No, if they went down an insolvency route and formally wound up the company, a liquidator, or the insolvency service, would look at everything. The way they can keep covering anything up would be to continue to file micro entity accounts with virtually no details…forever. If the company is basically doing nothing, and you have a basic level of knowledge, you don’t even need an accountant to file these and it can be done in a few minutes.