Alert readers will undoubtedly have noticed a number of, to put it mildly, explosive-sounding developments this evening regarding the ongoing inquiries into the Scottish Government’s misconduct over false allegations against Alex Salmond.
Several reports have quoted extracts from the former First Minister’s submission to James Hamilton, who’s investigating the current First Minister over possible breaches of the Ministerial Code relating to the investigation of the allegations.
The submission – delivered on Mr Salmond’s birthday – has been widely leaked to the media but only selectively reported, and like others Wings has obtained a full copy.
We are advised that its contents do not contain anything which breaches or potentially breaches Lady Dorrian’s court order protecting the identities of the complainers against Mr Salmond, and as such there are no barriers to us publishing the entire document in the public interest, because its contents make some extremely grave and disturbing allegations against the current First Minister.
TO: Douglas Chapman MP, National Treasurer, SNP DATE: 8 January 2021
Also sent by email
Dear Douglas,
Congratulations on your recent election as the SNP’s treasurer. You may or may not be aware that in October 2020 this site asked your predecessor in the role, Colin Beattie, some questions on the subject of the supposedly “ring-fenced” indyref fighting fund that was created by donations to two separate fundraisers in previous years – referred to collectively by the party as the Referendum Appeal Fund or RAF.
We did so on behalf of numerous SNP members and non-members who had donated to the two appeals and were concerned as to the whereabouts of the monies.
No meaningful reply was received either by Wings or several individual donors who also contacted Mr Beattie asking the same questions, and a number of those people (as well as some of your elected colleagues) have asked us to put the same questions to you publicly, now that you’ve had a few weeks to settle into your new position and are understood to be interested in finding the answers.
The former SNP, and now independent, MP Margaret Ferrier was today arrested and charged with culpable and reckless conduct, a crime carrying a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, for making a return train journey between Glasgow and London in September last year, two days after taking a coronavirus test.
This site has no comment to make on the charges, as it’s a live criminal matter, but a couple of troubling questions do arise from their existence.
So, for the historical record: I have no belief whatsoever, earnest or otherwise, that I can get rid of Nicola Sturgeon in the next four months.
I’m an idiot with a website. I have no power. I haven’t been elected to anything and I’m not the commander of an army. Information to which I’m privy would get me put in jail if I published it, and would in itself have no power to remove Nicola Sturgeon anyway. The only people who can bring that about between now and May are Sturgeon herself or, collectively, the Scottish Parliament.
This site has for some time called for Sturgeon to resign because it is our belief that she’s going to have to anyway, on account of events over which we have no control or influence. Because of that it would be the responsible and conscientious thing for her to quit early enough that the SNP/independence movement had a chance to deal with the issue of her succession and regroup in plenty of time for this May’s election.
The remaining window of opportunity for that to happen is now getting very narrow. And the enemies of independence will be beside themselves with delight about it.
Because 2020 is the maddest year in history, Ruth Davidson opened her contribution to Holyrood’s debate on the Brexit deal today with a lengthy quote from this website.
Dr Tim Rideout is one of the most serious and respected people in the Yes movement and the SNP. As convener of the Scottish Currency Group he’s presently engaged in trying to solve the party’s self-inflicted weakness over its lack of a coherent currency policy, and he’s sufficiently highly rated by SNP members that earlier this month he was elected to the party’s Policy Development Committee.
So you might think he was entitled to a view on, well, development of policy.
With precisely the grim level of cynicism we’ve now come to expect as standard, the Scottish Government has released a key document relating to the Salmond inquiry two days before Christmas, hoping it’ll be buried in the ongoing coronavirus-and-Brexit-related implosion of the UK.
The document, which contains legal advice relating to the judicial review brought by Salmond regarding the Scottish Government’s investigations into false allegations of misconduct against him, is extremely heavily redacted. But a few interesting passages remain, so let’s have some fun.
We woke up this morning intending to write about something else, readers, and then we saw perhaps the most horrifying thing we’ve ever seen in the two years since we first started taking an interest in transgender ideology.
It’s only tangentially related to this site’s purpose, but the truth is that as human beings we cannot stand by and watch this happening without at least trying to use whatever platform we have to raise awareness of it.
(The black bars on images in this article were added by us.)
Last week the High Court in England ruled that children under the age of 16 were not medically competent to consent to treatment with so-called “puberty blocker” drugs of the type that were used to “chemically castrate” the computing pioneer Alan Turing for being homosexual (a crime in the UK in the 1950s), which is believed to have led to his suicide by cyanide poisoning at the age of 41.
On 8 December this site ran an article about the Chief Executive Officer of the Scottish National Party, Peter Murrell. It has recently been drawn to our attention that the piece contained a serious inaccuracy, which we would like to remedy.
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.
This site and other gender-critical voices are regularly accused of being “obsessed” with trans issues, even though the subject has been mentioned in fewer than 0.7% of Wings posts. But this week the SNP’s transgender faction – when it hasn’t been STILL raging about its battering in the NEC elections – has been swamping social media with organised complaints about a tiny prospective legislative change that they themselves insist doesn’t actually matter at all.
Rape Crisis Scotland, who are almost entirely dependent on the Scottish Government for funding, have chosen this evening to wade into the debate over the wording of a new law which is intended to lessen the trauma of people (nearly all women) who’ve been raped. We can only speculate as to whether they were pressured to do so, but the intervention seems likely only to pour petrol on the fire.
Marie on The View From Row Z: “She claims to be serving a sentence. Nope – that sentence starts when she’s in a prison cell. Best place…” May 31, 18:25
David Lindsay on The View From Row Z: “If Nicola Sturgeon is “serving a sentence for a crime [she] did not commit,” then is she serving it on…” May 31, 18:16
Jon Drummond on The View From Row Z: “Regarding the pepper grinder I can assure everyone that Sturgeon has never had a “sausage” supper in her life. Maybe…” May 31, 18:14
The Friendly Sassenach on The View From Row Z: “John Crace in the guardian put it like this… https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/may/31/nicola-sturgeon-interview-peter-murrell-snp-politics-sketch” May 31, 18:06
Peter S on The View From Row Z: “A word to the wise, hen – when you’re in a hole, for goodness’ sake stop digging !” May 31, 18:05
James on The View From Row Z: “Blamed for a crime I haven’t committed But it was ok to try and get Salmond sent down? I can’t…” May 31, 18:04
Victor Clements on The View From Row Z: “The really obvious missed opportunity today was when Sturgeon said words to the effect that “at that point, the people…” May 31, 17:48
Rev. Stuart Campbell on The View From Row Z: “The 2021 accounts list no motor vehicles under expenditure, and the “miscellaneous” entries don’t include the campervan.” May 31, 17:12
Karen on The View From Row Z: “Oh yes, I meant to say, hubby pointed out flying AA down to London on a Sunday must have been…” May 31, 17:12
David Blake on Marvola The Memory Woman: “Small technical question? When someone is interviewed under auction,, arenythe defence entitled to a copy of the tape? Even if…” May 31, 17:10
Karen on The View From Row Z: “1. You’re retired? Wow, you produce error-free great stuff nearly every day! 2. Why is Laura wearing lavender? 3. At…” May 31, 17:08
Rev. Stuart Campbell on The View From Row Z: “I did pull him up on that 😀 https://x.com/WingsScotland/status/2060847209914999278” May 31, 17:08
Campbell Clansman on The View From Row Z: “With her lies Sturgeon climbed to the top of the (Holyrood) political heap. Lies have been the secret of her…” May 31, 17:00
Spartan 117 on The View From Row Z: “Dig, dig, dig. Nothing to see here. Look, over there, a squirrel, another indy ref! Some more red meat to…” May 31, 16:56
J Galt on Nicola’s Summer Reading List: ““The Demons” comes to mind – although that may give them more dignity than they deserve – a shame Dostoyevsky…” May 31, 16:38
Graham on The View From Row Z: “My wife teased me for buying salt & pepper grinders for just under £200 a couple of years ago, but,…” May 31, 16:37
Andy Wiltshire on The View From Row Z: “She claimed she didn’t even recognise them.” May 31, 16:35
Andy Wiltshire on The View From Row Z: “An interview was probably only granted on the proviso that it would be undertaken by a London bod who didn’t…” May 31, 16:32
alan_b on The View From Row Z: “The camper van is listed in the balance sheet as a fixed asset, presumably at current (second hand) value. The…” May 31, 16:31
GeoffC on The View From Row Z: “She loves the tax regime she helped introduce in Scotland, she’s decided to live in England…..” May 31, 16:30
robertkknight on The View From Row Z: “I’m afraid that the coffee went all over the keyboard the moment I read the contribution from Sam Taylor in…” May 31, 16:30
Nemisis Benn on The View From Row Z: “To be quite clear, I have no wish to even think of taking sides, be it this woman’s or her…” May 31, 16:29
Shibboleth on The View From Row Z: “I don’t know all the various financial positions in this squalid affair, but am I correct in assuming that Murrell…” May 31, 16:07
crazycat on The View From Row Z: “The National’s article from 28/10/20 claims that “the SNP has e-mailed all of its donors in a bid to “quash…” May 31, 16:03
Neil Mackenzie on The View From Row Z: “Have the books that so many people weren’t allowed to see been seen, yet?” May 31, 16:03
Jeremy Wickins on The View From Row Z: “The only thing I’m willing to cut Sturgeon some slack on is the cruet set – until the week, I…” May 31, 15:56
duncanio on The View From Row Z: “By 1. Signing off the accounts 2. Shutting down questioning and scrutiny of the books 3. Raising money for a…” May 31, 15:48
