We’ve had another email from the Crown Office. Stand by for a surprise!
Well, that seems fair enough: other than the fact that almost £700,000 in “ringfenced” fundraiser money is (still) visibly missing, and the fact that the First Minister of the country and the leader of the party the money was entrusted to has publicly admitted it was misappropriated, there’s insufficient evidence that anything untoward happened to it. Panic over, everyone. Nothing to see here. Carry on with your day.
It’s sometimes tempting to believe that transactivists, and in particular the extra-loud attention-seeking type, are simply mad and/or stupid. But that’s not always the case, because this sounds like some actually pretty cunning work.
Ever-alert Wings readers will be aware that for the past three and a half years or so I’ve been the target of a campaign by disgraced former policeman Lynsay Watson, who over that period has relentlessly attempted to get me arrested, prosecuted and imprisoned for knowing – and saying – that human beings can’t change sex.
(As we’ll learn during this article, I am far from unique in that experience.)
Watson has made numerous ludicrous, vexatious complaints to various police forces about me – a particularly memorable one being when he reported me last September for “perverting the course of justice” because I’d tweeted a link to a fundraiser for someone being persecuted by another transactivist – as well as trying to extort tens of thousands of pounds from me with threats.
Yesterday, though, he finally found some police officers gullible enough to listen.
We’ll be honest with you, readers, if we were in a situation where a lawyer was issuing statements for us, this isn’t what we’d want to hear.
“If my client had been charged, she’d be in prison right now” is a worrying distance short of a vote of confidence in your client’s innocence.
But the statement Aamer Anwar put out for Nicola Sturgeon last night – her FOURTH in 48 hours, despite saying on Monday morning that she’d be making no further comment on the Peter Murrell case – had rather more wrong with it than even that.
Attending the Civic Justice Centre in Manchester as part of an ongoing attempt to persecute the feminist journalist and author Helen Joyce, Watson was intercepted by Greater Manchester Police and arrested in connection with allegations of harassment of several people, one of whom was myself.
Watson had been evading justice for a long time. He provides false addresses to the police and courts (which is a crime in itself), and despite numerous criminal complaints against him he manages to dodge arrest because police forces endlessly ping-pong the complaints between each other (“He lives in YOUR area!” “No, yours!”) and allow him to repeatedly arrange voluntary interviews which he never turns up to, stalling and hiding until the six-month limit on harassment cases times out.
So Cathy Newman of Channel 4 News got herself a scoop last night.
And to be honest, readers, we were a bit confused. “Gender critical views” are not only lawful things to hold and express, they’re one of a small subset of opinions that are explicitly protected as such in law. And why would a man very occasionally airing some lawful and protected views on social media be a news story? You might as well run “BREAKING: Premiership footballer discovered to enjoy cheese-and-ham toasties”.
It seems that it’s fine to farm important judgments out to mysterious shadowy figures who just make important chunks of them up out of thin air, and then issue them in your own name. Back in your boxes, plebs.
Hatey McHateface on Spot The Problem: “Oh give it a fucking rest, Northy. This has already been done to death. The Scottish Parliament can remove the…” Aug 27, 16:03
Aidan on Spot The Problem: “So what you’re saying is that because it’s politically explosive Holyrood could never remove the Lord Advocate, but somehow the…” Aug 27, 16:00
Andrea on Spot The Problem: “Reverend, is there going to be yet another letter from yourself or is this the end of the line? Maybe…” Aug 27, 15:52
panda paws on You’ll Have Had Your Supper: ““…raised which is funded by the U.K. taxpayer” Nope. The UK taxpayer can’t pay its own bills, far less subsidise…” Aug 27, 15:46
James Che on Spot The Problem: “The referral to the Supreme court is under the Crown of England under the The UK parliament which Scotland holds…” Aug 27, 15:20
Alf Baird on Spot The Problem: ““The crown applies only to England under the Westminsters parliament acts” This should seem obvious, James, but is taking time…” Aug 27, 15:17
Northcode on Spot The Problem: ““In the structure you have described “Westminster” plays no role at all.” Apart from the fact that the structure was…” Aug 27, 15:11
James Che on Spot The Problem: “Tommo, Well done for checking out Scots laws, seeing as the money spoke of is mainly Scots finances that were…” Aug 27, 15:10
Alf Baird on Spot The Problem: ““There a name for that” Prof Elkins refers to Anglo-imperial rule over annexed territories as ‘legalized lawlessness’. Westminster and its…” Aug 27, 15:06
James Che on Spot The Problem: “Aidan, Scotland has never throughout history made a treaty of union with the Great Britain parliament or with the parliament…” Aug 27, 14:59
James Che on Spot The Problem: “North code. Scotland has never entered into a treaty of union with the Great Britain parliament at any time in…” Aug 27, 14:35
Tommo on Spot The Problem: “The offences of ‘misfeasance/misconduct in public office’ do not, as I understand it, exist under Scots law; however ‘Scots law…” Aug 27, 14:32
James Che on Spot The Problem: “Stu, This is the complicated position you are having to deal with when it crown to the crown offices and…” Aug 27, 14:19
willie on Spot The Problem: “So let me get this right. The COPFS commits murder but the system is if it decides to do nothing…” Aug 27, 14:19
Spartan 117 on Spot The Problem: “If you believe any of that, you must be incredibly naive. Fabians have infiltrated every strata of the state apparatus…” Aug 27, 14:18
agentx on Spot The Problem: “additional information: ” The appeal announced today by the information commissioner relates to a judgment made by the Court of…” Aug 27, 14:15
Aidan on Spot The Problem: “In the structure you have described “Westminster” plays no role at all. It is the Scottish FM and the Scottish…” Aug 27, 14:13
Northcode on Spot The Problem: “Aye, Alf. The Lord Advocate’s authority is enshrined in the Scotland Act 1998, and the Lord Advocate exercises these responsibilities…” Aug 27, 14:05
agentx on Spot The Problem: ““Watchdog goes to Supreme Court over secret Whatsapps in Sturgeon row Scotland’s transparency watchdog is to take the Scottish Government…” Aug 27, 14:05
agentx on Spot The Problem: “The Fabian Society does not advise all the governance of Great Britain or Crown officials, as it is not an…” Aug 27, 13:52
James Che on Spot The Problem: “It is not surprising that most people outside of Scotland think the Scottish government is actually a Scottish government. But…” Aug 27, 13:42
Aidan on Spot The Problem: “It’s nothing to do with the way Westminster runs Scotland. Scottish law has never provided for private prosecution (unlike English…” Aug 27, 13:42
Michael Bruce on This Other Earth: “To be fair, crimes that come with a public and unambiguous admission of guilt are notoriously difficult to prosecute.” Aug 27, 13:41
John Cleary on This Other Earth: “Hi Robert. Would that be the first ring fenced fundraiser in 2017 or the second ring fenced fundraiser in 2019?” Aug 27, 13:33
Alf Baird on Spot The Problem: ““the Crown Office IS at least theoretically accountable to Parliament” Aye, an in Ashis Nandy’s ‘subtradition’ colony that has ‘digested’…” Aug 27, 13:29
James Che on Spot The Problem: “Aidan, What you say is true, This is the way Scotland is run by the Westminster parliament legislation and Statues…” Aug 27, 13:24
James Che on Spot The Problem: “The Fabian Society are not in only one governance of Westminster due to being under the Westminster parliament of Englands…” Aug 27, 13:15
Alastair on Spot The Problem: “So the Crown as in the English Crown and its structures – the Scottish Crown has not been passed -…” Aug 27, 13:15
James Che on Spot The Problem: “This Fabian Society think tanks for the governance of Great Britain is where the ideas are formed on more than…” Aug 27, 13:08
James Che on Spot The Problem: “The Fabian Society are the think tanks advising all the governance of Great Britain and Crown officials under employment ,…” Aug 27, 13:03