We’ve had plenty to say already this week about the amendment that will be debated at Holyrood this afternoon. So instead we’re going to present you today with the case for each side, as made by two Scottish women on Twitter in the last few hours, and let you decide for yourselves whose argument is the more compelling.
First up, in favour of the amendment, is Scotsman writer Gina Davidson.
The media is focusing on Murrell’s continued evasion of the question of his WhatsApp usage (Murrell bizarrely states he has several messaging apps installed on his phone but uses none of them), but there’s a much more interesting revelation in the second of the letter’s two sections.
This is a direct, unambiguous and categorical statement from the First Minister that the investigation into the false allegations against Salmond was a Scottish Government matter that was absolutely nothing to do with the SNP.
In his evidence to a Holyrood inquiry today, having been asked about some troubling WhatsApp messages concerning the case from 2018 which appeared to suggest the possibility of a conspiracy against the former First Minister, Murrell told members of the committee “I’m not on WhatsApp, it’s not a social media platform I use”.
Alert readers will have noticed a very careful use of the present tense there.
We’ve now filed a formal complaint with the Scottish Information Commissioner about this, because what we’d forgotten last week was that our original request was actually sent in September and it’s now been almost 60 working days with no sign of a proper response, not the 20 it’s supposed to take.
Because for some reason the Scottish Government REALLY doesn’t want you to know what the First Minister and Geoff Aberdein talked about in March 2018, and we think that you probably should.
Alert readers will recall the deranged open letter released by a group of transactivists last Friday, in a nakedly transparent attempt to influence the SNP’s NEC elections that weekend which backfired on them horribly (and amusingly) when the party’s members instead kicked out three-quarters of the committee’s woke faction and replaced them with feminists, socialists and above all advocates of actually achieving independence.
If you don’t have the time to read Alyn Smith’s astonishing response to the SNP NEC election results in today’s National, we’ve edited it down to 10 seconds for you.
We had, we think it’s only fair to say, extremely low expectations of Nicola Sturgeon’s keynote speech this afternoon to the SNP’s soporific, strangled 2020 non-conference. It seems that members felt the same, because 15 seconds before the speech began only 1,166 of them were logged in to watch it.
The speech she just delivered, though, limboed under those expectations in platform shoes and a stovepipe hat without even grazing the underside of the bar.
In a post last month we referenced a ZX Spectrum computer game from 1984 called “Worse Things Happen At Sea”. Today as we watched the First Minister on the Andrew Marr Show, we were put in mind of another nautical-disaster-themed one from a great deal nearer to the end of the Speccy’s life.
We couldn’t help but chuckle yesterday when the £100K-a-year Westminster MP and obsessive Wings Over Scotland reader “Pension Pete” Wishart announced – in the space of six minutes – that this site was simultaneously an irrelevance that nobody listened to, but also somehow one of the greatest threats to independence.
One of them, of course, is who leaked the story to Davie Clegg of the Daily Record in August of that year, when the whole thing should have been confidential and passing it to the press was an unambiguously malicious and criminal act.
robertkknight on All The Dirt From My Eyes: “D’Izzie… Let me use a word you might understand… “Scunnered”. Over 400,000 people are so scunnered by Sturgeon, Murrell and…” May 27, 18:32
twathater on No Money Back, No Guarantee: “And as if by magic Northcode just to confirm the degeneration of the auld empire that you so eloquently expressed…” May 27, 18:12
Tenruh on All The Dirt From My Eyes: “You’ve got to wonder did he already know from the outset that there never was going to be a referendum?…” May 27, 18:08
Strathglass on All The Dirt From My Eyes: “One begins to wonder if the principal reason Murrell and others were so frightened of Alex Salmond returning to frontline…” May 27, 18:02
Mike on All The Dirt From My Eyes: “It’s a sad reflection on the state of Scotland that Sturgeon has been allowed to walk Scot free in all…” May 27, 17:44
Mark Beggan on All The Dirt From My Eyes: “Amelda Murrell will probably be running a sweepstake with the inmates tobacco rations.” May 27, 17:42
agentx on All The Dirt From My Eyes: ““The Presiding Officer (Kenneth Gibson) The next item of business is an urgent question in relation to Peter Murrell. As…” May 27, 17:39
Young Lochinvar on All The Dirt From My Eyes: “Bet sneaky Pete is finding consolation in jail listening to Jimmy Nails song “Ain’t no doubt”. Probably sings along to…” May 27, 17:26
Nemisis Benn on No Money Back, No Guarantee: “It is a given (by admission, not proof or evidence) that Murrell stole significant sums from the SNP for over…” May 27, 17:16
James Jones on No Money Back, No Guarantee: “It’s sad to see some people here trying to blame the Union for this. The reason the rest of the…” May 27, 17:14
Iain Ross on All The Dirt From My Eyes: “If I were the head of a political party, like JS is, and had been made aware that £c660,000 of…” May 27, 17:13
Geri on All The Dirt From My Eyes: “Good grief! I’ve never been arrested but surely tae fck the police don’t let suspects go home & they can…” May 27, 17:13
Aidan on No Money Back, No Guarantee: “You’re lying again, the GDP per capita in Scotland is around 75% of Denmark, not 50%. Scotland is overall a…” May 27, 17:05
TURABDIN on All The Dirt From My Eyes: “PETTY & not so petty crime in the piss pot of contemprary politics. When democracy goes wrong the answer is.…” May 27, 16:51
diabloandco on All The Dirt From My Eyes: “Did you have to? I have a revolting image now stuck in my head , putting me off my tea!” May 27, 16:46
Alf Baird on No Money Back, No Guarantee: ““it is about 20% higher in Sweden” GDP per cap in Denmark, which has a similar population to Scotland, was…” May 27, 16:40
MaryB on All The Dirt From My Eyes: “Izzie, as an independence supporter, I don’t now see how trying to sweep this, and the Alex Salmond issues, under…” May 27, 16:40
Wally Jumblatt on All The Dirt From My Eyes: “Wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest to find that whoever wrote SNP’s articles of Association / Constitution / whatever, that…” May 27, 16:35
agentx on All The Dirt From My Eyes: “There are calls for an inquiry. “John Swinney has resisted calls for an investigation, saying the matter is being handled…” May 27, 16:34
Captain Caveman on All The Dirt From My Eyes: “Some wag described it as “Mein Kampfervan” the other day, which did raise a smile 😀” May 27, 16:16
agentx on All The Dirt From My Eyes: “Will Murrell turn up to the sentencing hearing dressed in tight pink leggings, claim he is trans and end up…” May 27, 16:12
Rev. Stuart Campbell on All The Dirt From My Eyes: ““This Practice Note outlines the Scottish procedure for obtaining a civil recovery order in the Court of Session under Chapter…” May 27, 16:07
agentx on All The Dirt From My Eyes: “When you are arrested in Scotland, a police officer must inform you of your rights under the Criminal Justice (Scotland)…” May 27, 16:07
agentx on All The Dirt From My Eyes: “Police Scotland’s Standard Operating Procedure governing the arrest process as the following: “I am arresting you under Section 1 of…” May 27, 16:05
Izzie on All The Dirt From My Eyes: “I cant see the point of all this. We all want Scottish Independence. Murrel is vonvicted Sturgeon is history we…” May 27, 16:04
agentx on No Money Back, No Guarantee: ““JOHN Swinney will request a Section 30 order from the Prime Minister when they meet in “the next few weeks”…” May 27, 15:46
lothianlad on All The Dirt From My Eyes: “As a compromissed asset of the british security services, she will feel protected and may well avoid jail time. That…” May 27, 15:44
Northcode on No Money Back, No Guarantee: “Oh, My God, AI Dan… that was one of the most interesting posts I’ve ever read in this place. There…” May 27, 15:23
Morgatron on All The Dirt From My Eyes: “Camper Van!! you just couldn’t get a more apt name for a mode of transport for they two other than…” May 27, 15:12
Northcode on All The Dirt From My Eyes: “To be honest, and I rarely am, If I thought the English colonial state was protecting me in perpetuity from…” May 27, 15:07
