Voting is now open in the selection contests to determine who the SNP’s candidates at next year’s election will be. Given the extremely dodgy secret-Survey-Monkey-ballot shenanigans recently adopted by the party NEC, we’re uncomfortably reminded of a famous quote attributed to Joseph Stalin: “it’s not the people who vote that count, it’s the people who count the votes”.
An excellent blog by the former SNP Trade & Industry spokesman Iain Lawson today highlights the near-impossibility of effecting change from within the SNP now, due to changes made by the leadership to eliminate the influence of ordinary members.
Indeed, so secure do the party’s controlling faction consider themselves that they now feel able to openly call their own supporters “bitches”.
But not quite SO secure that they still don’t want to cheat.
On Sunday we told you about Mridul Wadhwa, a man who deceived his way into a job at a rape crisis centre and now wants to be an SNP MSP, in a seat where the party supposedly has an all-woman shortlist. The story was picked up today by the Times.
But Wadhwa isn’t the only man trying to muscle in on a woman-only shortlist.
If there’s still anyone left reading this site who doubts that the SNP National Executive Committee is currently engaged in a coup against the membership of the party, meant to be a fait accompli by the time the NEC is up for re-election at the end of November, we’d urge you to read the extremely disturbing letter below from the Convener of the party’s Constituency Association (CA) in Dumbarton, which he’s attempting to circulate to local members against obstruction from the NEC (pictured), who have shut down the branch mailer system from party HQ to stop the CA speaking to its members.
(We first saw it on Iain Lawson’s excellent blog, and are carrying out the request for it to be as widely distributed as possible.)
It’s long, so we’ve highlighted a couple of passages of particular interest.
The battle to save the soul of the SNP – formerly a party of Scottish independence but now a career vehicle for intolerant science-denying cultists solely interested in social engineering – is already almost lost.
By delaying its online pretend “conference” until the end of November, the party has ensured that the chronically dysfunctional current National Executive Committee (NEC) controls the selection of candidates for next year’s election, and it’s using that power every bit as crookedly as anyone who’s been paying attention recently might fear.
Following the stitch-up of Joanna Cherry, the latest victim of the SNP’s woke cabal is Caroline McAllister, a woman who the party considers quite fit to be a councillor – and indeed the Deputy Leader of its group on West Dunbartonshire council – but who has suddenly somehow become unacceptable when she tried to seek nomination for the MSP seat currently held by Jackie Baillie of Scottish Labour.
At the climax of a popular and multiple-Oscar-winning movie from 1995, the Scottish leader William Wallace is portrayed heroically roaring the word “FREEDOM!”
We just noticed a finding from the most recent opinion poll that surprisingly seems to have escaped the attention of every Scottish newspaper except the Press & Journal.
As far as we can ascertain, the P&J was alone in reporting the obviously newsworthy fact that just a quarter of Scots believe the First Minister’s ridiculous cock-and-bull story about “forgetting” the occasion when she first heard that her friend, colleague and mentor of 30 years was facing charges of trying to rape some of her other friends.
But the figures are part of a wider and depressing trend.
We’ve just received the most extraordinary Freedom Of Information response from the Scottish Government, readers. Trust us, you want to go and make yourselves a strong cup of tea before you read it. Or get this guy to bring you one.
Back in the 1980s there was a hit game for the ZX Spectrum home computer called Worse Things Happen At Sea. In it you play a robot whose job is to get a heavily-laden cargo ship safely to port, except that more and more disasters keep befalling it.
It springs leaks, it veers off course, the engine overheats and the robot’s power runs down, until eventually the catalogue of catastrophes overwhelms the harassed metallic custodian and the boat slides down into the murky depths.
We wonder if that feels familiar to anyone at the moment.
We’re very busy today writing more FOI requests and the like, so we’ll just take a brief moment here to note that hiring super-expensive lawyers to object to the questions you’re being asked DEFINITELY sounds like the behaviour of people who are keen to co-operate fully and in the most transparent way possible with an inquiry:
The comments from committee convener and SNP MP Linda Fabiani (we guess she must be another of those MI5 plants/secret Unionists) are really quite extraordinary. In terms of Parliamentary language they’re only a hair’s-breadth short of an invitation to step outside and settle things with an old-school dust-up in the car park.
Cynicus on Looking up at the stars: ““St Patrick was the first illegal immigrant to enter Britain in a dinghy.” ====== St Patrick was born in the…” Mar 17, 16:11
sarah on Looking up at the stars: “@ Marie: I’m so sorry – there is nothing worse than sibling disagreements. We had some in my family but…” Mar 17, 15:06
Marie on Looking up at the stars: “I had a sibling ask me to stop feeding our late terminally ill mother because they were impatient to get…” Mar 17, 14:54
Sven on Looking up at the stars: “Mark Beggan @ 14.04. That would have been before we elected so many of those turnips who have now taken…” Mar 17, 14:38
sarah on Looking up at the stars: “O/T: Today’s the day to see how the Assisted Dying votes go at Holyrood. I wrote to all my MSPs…” Mar 17, 14:36
Mark Beggan on Looking up at the stars: “‘Rigidity of thought ‘ Entrenched bitterness against their own kind. ‘All problems will be solved after independence.’ How many times…” Mar 17, 14:04
Alf Baird on Looking up at the stars: ““Scotland will issue another framework on important issues, a starting point” Thankfully there is a published research-based ‘theoretical framework’ identifying…” Mar 17, 13:54
Geri on Looking up at the stars: “Nope! Setting out a general framework of where we’d be starting from is very different from a political parties individual…” Mar 17, 13:44
Aidan on Looking up at the stars: “Okay so now it’s exactly the opposite of what you were saying earlier, glad we ironed that one out.” Mar 17, 13:03
Mark Beggan on Looking up at the stars: “St Patrick was the first illegal immigrant to enter Britain in a dinghy.” Mar 17, 12:50
Lorncal on Looking up at the stars: “Dan: maybe you just don’t see others’ viewpoints as valid discussion issues? Wings is still, by far, the most influential…” Mar 17, 12:50
Geri on Looking up at the stars: “Scotland was perfectly capable of writing a framework before. Even Wings wrote the wee blue book along with thousands of…” Mar 17, 12:35
Lorncal on Looking up at the stars: “Anne: I honestly do not think that the vast majority of posters on here are Unionist trolls. It is just…” Mar 17, 12:33
Mark Beggan on Looking up at the stars: “For Scotland to achieve independence now the supporters will have to vote for the Unionist party most likely to form…” Mar 17, 12:24
Aidan on Looking up at the stars: “I’m not going through the bins sorry, but looks like you’re absolutely right, it ain’t from the Tay, perhaps it…” Mar 17, 11:55
Aidan on Looking up at the stars: “It’s a great strategy from Geri, I love it. So when people ask perfectly reasonable questions in hustings/on the doorstep/in…” Mar 17, 11:48
100%Yes on Looking up at the stars: “Why does it bother you? Ignore them entirely, most people do and they’ll just go away.” Mar 17, 11:33
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Looking up at the stars: “(Another attempt at the Gaelic version, hopefully free this time from misformatting question marks after each Gaelic accent) COIRE A’…” Mar 17, 11:23
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Looking up at the stars: “CORRYVRECKAN George Orwell wrote his novel 1984 on the Island of Jura. I saw something about it on tv recently.…” Mar 17, 11:07
Hatey McHateface on Looking up at the stars: “That which doesn’t kill you makes you strong, Anne. It never ceases to amaze me how so many pro-Indy Scots…” Mar 17, 11:07
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Looking up at the stars: “COIRE A’ BHREACAIN Sgri?obh Seo?ras Orwell 1984 air Eilean Diu?ra. Chunnaic mi pi?os mu a dhe?idhinn air an tv o…” Mar 17, 11:05
Anne on Looking up at the stars: “This site isn’t what it was because of the increasing posts from unionist trolls but one area where Wings has…” Mar 17, 10:22
Hatey McHateface on Looking up at the stars: “Ah hear it’s grand fer fleas oan dugs.” Mar 17, 10:19
Hatey McHateface on Looking up at the stars: “Thanks fer the heids up, Geri. Ah’ll hae a wee wurd.” Mar 17, 10:16
Geri on Looking up at the stars: “Spot on, Alf. Poor shitey will see this for himself if Reform win. Someone did a montage of him the…” Mar 17, 10:13
Hatey McHateface on Looking up at the stars: “Sorry, Alf, but after that response from you, I can only hope and pray that you never actually read the…” Mar 17, 10:02
Geri on Looking up at the stars: “I hate tae burst yer wee Yoon bubble but ye are aware Chucky has strong Islamic leanings? Or maybe that’s…” Mar 17, 09:53
Geri on Looking up at the stars: “Look Shitey It’s not rocket science. In a referendum the question is posed to EVERYONE regardless of their preferred political…” Mar 17, 09:47
Alf Baird on Looking up at the stars: ““the article’s author doesn’t account for Scotland’s exceptionalism” Scotland has suffered from Orwell’s thesis since long afore he wrote anything.…” Mar 17, 09:18
Young Lochinvar on Looking up at the stars: “HMcH Oh, I get it. You start it, don’t come out best so revert to spellchecking sanctimonious teacher mode. Honestly!…” Mar 17, 08:13
