The last faint hope of any remotely positive or at least interesting outcome of May’s election just left the building.
It wasn’t MUCH of a hope, and it’s absolutely no surprise in the wake of the comically shambolic, belief-defyingly inept farce that has been the birth of Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana’s fringe-of-the fringe party, but all the same its extinguishing means the next two months will be even more of a waste of time than they looked like being.
Frankly, readers, we may as well not bother having an election at all.
The number of parties who got MSPs elected at the last election is… five. (Though in fairness there are now six, Reform having a single MSP after Graham Simpson defected from the Tories. The Lib Dems are even outnumbered by independents, of whom there are seven.)
There is a not particularly funny joke that is sometimes told in legal circles about why a law student failed to finish his coursework – because he had no conviction. With rare exceptions lawyers aren’t renowned for their sense of humour but I can’t help thinking someone, at the highest levels of our justice system, is having a right laugh at my expense and those who have loyally supported me over the past six years.
I’m talking about the Lord Advocate, Dorothy Bain KC – a sitting member of the Scottish Government’s cabinet who was nominated by Nicola Sturgeon to that post in 2021, five months after I was acquitted.
For those unfamiliar with my case, I offer this brief summary. In March 2020 I made a short video on my mobile phone that was two minutes and thirty eight seconds in length. I hadn’t planned to make the video when I went out for a walk in a field near my home. But I was annoyed and wanted to articulate that annoyance, although at the time I recorded it I wasn’t intending for it to go much further.
Later that night, just before turning in, I uploaded it to my YouTube channel on a closed, unlisted link and then posted that link to my Twitter account that, at the time, had a modest 1000 or so followers. I then forgot about it.
Little did I know that short mobile phone video would result in me facing initially a criminal trial, then a five year legal battle in the highest civil court in Scotland and now, most likely, an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
So on the one hand there’s obviously very little point paying attention to the SNP’s regional list candidates for May’s Holyrood election, because as this website has comprehensively demonstrated over recent months, the chances of the SNP having any list MSPs elected are remote.
However, nothing is impossible, so let’s take a look at the B team, which also serves as a guide to the party’s upcoming talent taking its first steps towards the gravy bus.
This clip was broadcast on ITV News Wales this week.
It’s a staggeringly obvious mess for a whole raft of reasons – a number of completely spurious, illogical and unsupported claims are accepted as facts without any sort of challenge or balancing voice (which has been standard practice on ITV News for a while now across almost any contentious political topic) – but it led us to somewhere magnitudes of crazier still.
It’s almost – almost – worth voting SNP in May because of this:
Because it would be at least momentarily absolutely hilarious watching Swinney try to explain why his “100% guaranteed” second indyref didn’t happen if the SNP actually did get a majority on 30% of the vote (which is narrowly feasible on current polling).
gm on The View From Row Z: “I take it back, it appears to be perfectly normal for a KC to defend someone on legal aid. The…” Jun 1, 20:20
agentx on The View From Row Z: “Well your coalface acquaintance with decades of experience at the coal face of Scottish Criminal Justice, knows sfa. Murrell pleaded…” Jun 1, 20:08
Alf Baird on The View From Row Z: ““The mists are parting – it’s all becoming clear” Indeed, Uk***ne’s national elite opted to sacrifice their people and nation…” Jun 1, 19:49
Hatey McHateface on The View From Row Z: ““She is, of course, a nobody in England” Only, she’s not, just as she’s not a nobody in Scotland either.…” Jun 1, 19:23
gm on The View From Row Z: “I have no idea how it came about, what the rules are or whether it is the luck of the…” Jun 1, 19:22
Hatey McHateface on The View From Row Z: “Believe this or not. An acquaintance of mine, someone with decades of experience at the coal face of Scottish Criminal…” Jun 1, 19:13
Hatey McHateface on The View From Row Z: “I think I’m starting to see it, Alf. The mists are parting – it’s all becoming clear. Despite the complete…” Jun 1, 18:43
Hatey McHateface on The View From Row Z: “You leave your helmet alone, Wally W. If there was any justice in this world, you’d have long since gone…” Jun 1, 18:31
agentx on The View From Row Z: “Who exactly granted legal aid for Murrell when all we have been told is that he was rich enough to…” Jun 1, 17:49
agentx on The View From Row Z: “sorry – that “?” character should have been a tick. (Don’t know why it was not recognises as such)” Jun 1, 17:26
agentx on The View From Row Z: “He is incorrectly called a solicitor – he is in fact a senior counsel at the Scottish Criminal Bar. (Barrister)” Jun 1, 17:24
J Robertson on The View From Row Z: “Absolutely Ian . I would have hoped Kuenssberg would have called her out on her abject failure to discharge her…” Jun 1, 17:08
agentx on The View From Row Z: “Don’t forget Murrell is back in court tomorrow 2 Jun: “for a “narrative hearing” because the legal teams on both…” Jun 1, 16:49
Young Lochinvar on The View From Row Z: “Check out on YouTube; Nicola Sturgeons woes meets Gordon Browns cave. :-). 🙂” Jun 1, 16:46
Young Lochinvar on The View From Row Z: “Just read the most recent revelation in the Murrell Collection; 100+ toilet rolls bought just before Tricky Nicky (during early…” Jun 1, 16:18
Confused on The View From Row Z: “I think Peter Murrell always was a “patsy”, a “useful idiot”, first up, a convenient “beard” to hide that nikki…” Jun 1, 15:47
James on The View From Row Z: “Aye, Northy is a Pict….. And you’re a….”prick”. Wear your helmet with pride.” Jun 1, 15:17
Colin Alexander on The View From Row Z: “It may not (?) be a criminal offence for the SNP to spend indyref “ringfenced” money on other things. Criminal…” Jun 1, 15:05
agentx on The View From Row Z: ““You know how it is. You wake up and look out the bedroom window. You see a brand new Jaguar…” Jun 1, 14:59
Owen Mullions on The View From Row Z: “https://youtube.com/shorts/dorL_ib1_sc?si=XuCGCs2Y79v8b8Cy” Jun 1, 14:23
Alf Baird on The View From Row Z: ““they’re a bunch of crooks, spivs and chancers” Yes, as Fanon reminds us, a co-opted national party elite ‘behaves like…” Jun 1, 14:22
Luigi on The View From Row Z: “Och, don’t be too harsh on them. They are grieving, still in the denial phase. In their wee ginger bubble,…” Jun 1, 14:20
Dick Wall on The View From Row Z: ““Scotland owes him a debt”says The Daily Sceptic. I agree wholeheartedly. It is always instructive to ask yourself “Do you…” Jun 1, 14:18
Cringe on The View From Row Z: “55 minute version here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0np7qln” Jun 1, 13:53
Hatey McHateface on The View From Row Z: “Where you see “co-opted by colonialism”, Alf, I see “unfitted, morally and intellectually, to run an Independent Scotland”. Occam’s Razor…” Jun 1, 13:32
Alf Baird on The View From Row Z: ““It was always understood in the SNP, when Independence was achieved the SNP as a party would dissolve” Perhaps that…” Jun 1, 13:13
lothianlad on The View From Row Z: “The SNP apologists like the ginger ( give me a sub) dug and the weak whingy pop man are spineless.” Jun 1, 12:44
