The Herald has the barest skeleton of a report, while you have to turn to page 14 of the Daily Record for a similar piece that conveys the basic facts with nothing at all about the significance of the ruling, and STV News – embarrassingly – just runs an agency release despite having the estimable Colin Mackay and Bernard Ponsonby on its staff. (They also had nothing on air last night.) Maybe they were busy.
The Scottish Sun is by far the best of the print media on the subject. It first ran a extensive but very strangely-timed article that included reporting of actual events at the hearing but NOT the verdict, even though the court delivered its judgement mere moments after hearing the counsels’ submissions.
(The piece finishes “The appeal at the Court of Session is expected to last one day, with a written judgement taking weeks or months”.)
It followed up a couple of hours later with another substantial story including the reactions of the Scottish Government and the Scottish Information Commissioner (the opposing parties at the hearing). But the only actual analysis was done by the BBC.
To the surprise of most of those watching, including ourselves, the Court Of Session delivered its judgement immediately at the end of today’s hearing, after only the most cursory of conflabs between the three august panel members.
The short version is that the Scottish Government lost, and must now comply with Wings reader Benjamin Harrop‘s FOI request regarding evidence that was supplied to independent adviser James Hamilton during his inquiry into the unlawful investigation of false allegations against Alex Salmond.
The Scottish Government will make history tomorrow. For the first time ever since the advent of devolution 24 years ago, it will take the Scottish Information Commissioner to the Court Of Session to prevent disclosure of information.
On the bench will be the full firepower of the inner council of the Scottish judiciary. The Lord President himself, Lord Carloway, will be presiding (and presumably lording) over the hearing. Joining him on the bench will be a former Lord Advocate, Lord Boyd, and a former Solicitor General, Lord Pentland – pictured below, and of whom readers will last have heard here.
To use the legal parlance, that’s a big-boy lineup.
To present their case, the Government are fielding not one but two King’s Counsel – James Mure KC and Paul Reid KC.
This top legal talent does not come cheap and nor does a Court Of Session hearing. So what is this vital information that the Scottish Government – which as recently as May this year pledged to “ensure that we are the most transparent Government on these islands” – is trying so desperately to hide from the Scottish public, at the Scottish public’s very considerable expense?
The average prison term for rape in Scotland is just under seven years. So we really don’t want to think about what Andrew “Amy George” Miller did to the poor young girl he abducted to get 20. (Indeed, strictly speaking 28.)
Miller wasn’t charged with rape, the 11-year-old was described as “safe and well” when the police found her and she was missing for just over one day. Miller also entered a guilty plea. So our blood runs cold at the thought of what must have happened in those 27 hours to nevertheless attract such a huge sentence, and we hope never to know.
As alert readers will have noticed, Wings has been perusing the SNP’s Governance And Transparency Review over the last couple of days, a document which tentatively attempts to discern just how big a mess the party’s previous leadership has left it in.
The paper has now also reached the mainstream media.
Wings already touched on that particular aspect of the party’s mismanagement back in August, but in the light of the report now formally acknowledging the problem it’s worth taking a moment to establish just how astonishingly bad it is.
These are strange and grim times for the Scottish independence movement, but we never thought it’d ever get so strange that we’d be quoting Effie Deans.
Since pretty much day one, Wings has said that the only honest and honourable way to campaign against independence would be for Unionists to say Scotland isn’t a country, but a mere region of the UK. But they lack the courage to admit what their true beliefs are, and so they fall back on fear and lies disguised as concern, all cloaked in “proud Scot” protestations.
While that might be a miserable way to conduct yourself, it’s understandable, because the moment that you acknowledge Scotland as being a country, all the debating lines against independence crumble to ashes. They’re powerless in the face of the principle that countries should choose their own governments, for good or ill, because that’s what democracy is, and few people are willing to stand openly against democracy.
And what Effie Deans’ concession of this site’s cornerstone argument reveals is that Unionists finally feel safe against any threat of independence in the foreseeable future, and with good reason.
Yesterday we took an extensive tour of all the red flags in the SNP’s 2022 accounts, which show a party in very deep financial trouble. But there was one part we left out because it deserves a post of its own.
It starkly exposes how a party chose to hold an event for around 800 members in a venue with a capacity of 15,000 and then went to a lot of effort to disguise how empty the space was, rather than, for example, just hiring somewhere of an appropriate size (and cost) in the first place.
(Look how far into the hall the stage has been placed, leaving half the arena vacant, to then be hidden behind a giant screen and curtains and banners in order to give a false impression of how full it is.)
But what’s more symbolic is that there are almost no people in it.
Blunt Gaper on Not So Octopus: “Too long. With the implosion of Your Party concentrating the nutter vote firmly in Green hands Q Manivanman is my…” Apr 10, 20:44
Black Joan on Do You Believe In The Westwood?: “Great work. Thank you. As someone has already pointed out, a “Charles” Rennie has crept into the text, when the…” Apr 10, 19:37
Alf Baird on Do You Believe In The Westwood?: “What do we expect when the colony advertises and recruits for all its top jobs in the metropolitan capital of…” Apr 10, 19:11
Northcode on Not So Octopus: ““This song is brilliant lol” Brilliant, indeed. Professionally produced anti-Trump Persian propaganda. Clever rap rhetoric wrapped in visual rhetoric and…” Apr 10, 19:08
Northcode on Not So Octopus: ““The knives will no doubt be out for him cause the Union fears him.” Aye, Geri, there’s no doubt about…” Apr 10, 18:47
Insider on Do You Believe In The Westwood?: “quote….. “A row has broken out over public funding of almost £2 million for LGBT Youth Scotland, a teenage gay…” Apr 10, 18:32
twathater on Not So Octopus: “Well said Young Lochinvar you are a seer who has described the beggar admirably” Apr 10, 18:24
Karen on Do You Believe In The Westwood?: “Well done again Stu! They force all the women out so the nonces (and their handmaidens) are all that’s left.…” Apr 10, 17:28
Cynicus on Do You Believe In The Westwood?: ““Do You Believe In ThelRev Stuart Campbell?” ====+ ChatGPT is having an AI hallucination -or HAD one. It identified our…” Apr 10, 16:28
Carol Sadler on Do You Believe In The Westwood?: “Hmmmm.Rminds me of that AI Jessica Foster influencer thingy.It’s got/had nearly 2 million followers who thought it was real.” Apr 10, 15:47
dawninnl on Do You Believe In The Westwood?: “Hi Rev, a gremlin has written Charles Rennie in the text, while the 2 quoted records say James Rennie. Please…” Apr 10, 15:47
James on Not So Octopus: “Jesus wept. Humpty & Dumpty out again. Distract, divert, derail. Rinse and repeat.” Apr 10, 15:39
peter on Do You Believe In The Westwood?: “I wondered if the original report of the appointment was dated 1st April. But no it was dated 20th March.” Apr 10, 15:23
Mark Beggan on Do You Believe In The Westwood?: “The situation in Scotland now is like a rotting tooth. All you need to do is go to the dentist…” Apr 10, 15:16
Confused on Do You Believe In The Westwood?: “It comes full circle – the nonces were using AI to create AI slop kiddie porn – now the nonces…” Apr 10, 14:45
Lorncal on Not So Octopus: “Geri: no, I didn’t say that. I said that we have to clear out all the DEI, HR, charity sectors…” Apr 10, 14:33
Heaver on Do You Believe In The Westwood?: “Pretty sure you’ve only scratched the surface here Stu. Some day a Mikael Blomkvist is going to lay bare the…” Apr 10, 14:25
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Do You Believe In The Westwood?: “A stomach-churning glimpse into the hideous human cess-pit over which Redactor-in-Chief Swinney now presides post amnesiac Sturgeon’s tenure.” Apr 10, 13:47
freshmint on Do You Believe In The Westwood?: “His left ear appears to be lobed while his right ear isn’t. Can’t be too many people around with that…” Apr 10, 13:47
Lorncal on Do You Believe In The Westwood?: “Looks like an AI-generated image of what a human male might look like if you’re trying to get a hang…” Apr 10, 13:45
Jennifer Livingston on Do You Believe In The Westwood?: “I have never been exposed to a “were were” before. What do you know that I don’t? Is it something…” Apr 10, 13:43
Mark Beggan on Do You Believe In The Westwood?: “Ban the lot. Problem solved. Pull the cash and watch them dash for cover.” Apr 10, 13:42
J Robertson on Do You Believe In The Westwood?: “His bio ( such as it is ) bears the hallmark of carefully curated crap” Apr 10, 13:42
lothianlad on Do You Believe In The Westwood?: “your last few articles highlight the levels of brit state interference in scottish politics. The SNP is utterly complicit!” Apr 10, 13:40
lothianlad on Do You Believe In The Westwood?: “Well Done Stu!!! yet again, the scottish govenment SNP brit friendly weirdos are being exposed. Thanks to you!. their brit…” Apr 10, 13:37
Rab Dickson on Not So Octopus: “I am almost sure that there would have been a few absolutely delightful people in the Nazi Party in 1930s.…” Apr 10, 13:11
M.E. on Do You Believe In The Westwood?: “Nono you got it wrong. He’s clearly an android. He’s Tim *Westworld*.” Apr 10, 13:07
