The party is now primarily a vehicle for processing cash and funnelling it to carefully selected and ideologically vetted activists, mostly from the fundamentalist youth wing, who are given well-paid jobs working for MPs and MSPs or parachuted into council seats in return for their unquestioning loyalty to Nicola Sturgeon.
And at this, it must be admitted, the SNP is still a highly effective operation. Which is fortunate, because without UK government money it would be bankrupt.
Above are the Electoral Commission’s donation figures for the third quarter of 2022. They note that 100% of the SNP’s reportable income for that period came from the UK government’s coffers – a trait shared with Plaid Cymru, the SDLP and the DUP.
Given that three of those four parties are nationalists committed to removing various constituent parts of the UK, one might almost be tempted to commend Westminster’s generosity. But perhaps it knows exactly what it’s doing.
We imagine people may wish to read the Alba Party manifesto.
It can be downloaded by clicking the link above. Had we formed our own party it’s pretty much the manifesto we’d have written, and we especially endorse the gorgeous pooch on the front.
We suspect he’ll surprise everyone and the information WILL be released, because according to analysis by Craig Murray it’s actually completely useless, and the Scottish Government has undeniably been red-hot when it comes to deluging the committee with vast screeds of junk documentation it hasn’t asked for and doesn’t want.
By coincidence, that same Craig Murray will go on trial in Edinburgh tomorrow for his liberty, for the crime of allegedly telling readers of his blog the truth about the shameful failed conspiracy to imprison Alex Salmond for crimes he didn’t commit – a conspiracy, remarkably, for which nobody has yet been held to account in any way despite the most obvious of grounds for suspicion of perjury, and which the Scottish Government is still frenziedly trying to conceal.
Speaking of liars, we thought it was probably time to update the list below.
There’s been a lot of talk in the last couple of weeks about the SNP NEC, the rather secretive body that controls the operation of the party (and therefore also in effect the Scottish Government).
Extraordinarily, even if you’re a party member there’s no way to access a full list of the 42-member committee – something which for pretty obvious reasons of basic political transparency and accountability ought to be recorded prominently on the SNP website, let alone available to rank-and-file members.
(Ordinary party members aren’t even permitted to see the minutes of NEC meetings, which are restricted to NEC members.)
In the light of several news stories today, we thought it’d be useful to keep a record of which organisations and individuals had now publicly expressed strong reservations or outright opposition to the Scottish Government’s alarming and deeply illiberal proposed new Hate Crime Bill, and which had expressed support.
We had an interesting exchange with Scottish Labour MP Paul Sweeney this week on the deathless lie that is the “fiscal transfer” – the £10bn or so that Unionists rather startlingly insist the rest of the UK generously donates to Scotland every year out of the goodness of its heart, just for the pleasure of our company.
As you can see, the debate was of a high intellectual standard.
It’s probably overdue that we start collecting these together. So here’s Sir John Major on the Andrew Marr show yesterday, explaining why a “once in a lifetime” referendum should in fact be held again because its outcome was determined by something that turned out to be untrue.
Which is, of course, totally different to Scotland being told to vote No in 2014 in order to stay in the European Union, because [REASONS TO FOLLOW AT SOME POINT]
Hatey McHateface on Looking up at the stars: “The “Keeping Faith With The Declaration Of Arbroath” bill. A selective variant of the assisted dying bill. Alert readers will…” Mar 18, 08:40
Sven on Looking up at the stars: “Northcode @ 08.25. You may be bored, Northy, however you succeeded in giving me a smile this morning at those…” Mar 18, 08:39
Northcode on Looking up at the stars: “The “Compassionate Killing” bill. The “Merciful Murder” bill. The “Bonnie Butcher” bill. What do these ‘better’ alternative names for the…” Mar 18, 08:25
Hatey McHateface on Looking up at the stars: “Fear the loon or quine watching you via the FPV camera on the drone they control. Wake up, Mark! It’s…” Mar 18, 07:54
Mark Beggan on Looking up at the stars: “Death is as natural as life. It’s the deal we made. Don’t fear death. Fear not living when you have…” Mar 18, 07:23
Hatey McHateface on Looking up at the stars: ““This, I hope, will also clear the minds of some posters” You should re-marry, Cynicus. That too has been described…” Mar 18, 07:17
Hatey McHateface on Looking up at the stars: ““He doesn’t speak for the majority” Good point, Geri, that’s your job, to bring the unelected, uneducated, hysterical POV to…” Mar 18, 07:12
Cynicus on Looking up at the stars: “Mark Beggan says: 17 March, 2026 at 4:39 pm “Maybe it was ST Brendan then.” ======== LOL Nice try, Mark…” Mar 18, 00:44
Geri on Looking up at the stars: “& who is he exactly? His party has FIVE MSPs. How many seats are list? FOUR. So they effectively have…” Mar 17, 23:33
Hatey McHateface on Looking up at the stars: “Perhaps some of the money saved will be spent on trans. Be honest here, sarah. Who do you think is…” Mar 17, 23:04
Hatey McHateface on Looking up at the stars: “Eh? Yousaf and his co-religionists allow pet dogs to suffer. Many of them would be happy to see all dogs…” Mar 17, 22:59
Hatey McHateface on Looking up at the stars: “@Geri Liam McArthur says the system “has been failing dying Scots for too long” and that many will feel let…” Mar 17, 22:54
sarah on Looking up at the stars: “Interesting to see the SNP names, 37 for and 22 against. Swinney and Sturgeon against, Robertson for. But anyway, a…” Mar 17, 22:50
Hatey McHateface on Looking up at the stars: “Election in May, x. Too close to the poll for the voters to develop the usual amnesia. They’ll bring back…” Mar 17, 22:47
Glenn Boyd on Looking up at the stars: “Notoriously Fuckwitted MSP Humza Yousaf just voted against the Assisted Dying Bill, joining forces with conservatives and religious maniacs. We…” Mar 17, 22:45
Hatey McHateface on Looking up at the stars: ““It doesn’t mean we want to spark up a euthanasia program for others” Naw? Are there two of you then,…” Mar 17, 22:43
George Ferguson on Looking up at the stars: “At last common sense returns to the Scottish Parliament. I recluse myself of Scottish Politics. Volunteering does more than anybody…” Mar 17, 22:30
agentx on Looking up at the stars: “MSPs have voted against the assisted dying legislation by 57 votes to 69 with one abstention.” Mar 17, 22:20
Hatey McHateface on Looking up at the stars: “Nobody else seems to be interested, so I’ll ask. Who are the actual lobster fishermen in Scotland’s case? What’s taking…” Mar 17, 21:23
Geri on Looking up at the stars: “Agent Then that should be investigated because the NHS is available to everyone. Not rushing through death by algorithm. In…” Mar 17, 21:17
Hatey McHateface on Looking up at the stars: “The voters of Scotland will punish them at the ballot box in May. Oh my aching sides 🙂” Mar 17, 21:16
agentx on Looking up at the stars: “One in three people died without adequate palliative care.” Mar 17, 20:54
agentx on Looking up at the stars: “MSP’s are elected to represent their constituencies. There have been a lot of very personal moving speeches but not one…” Mar 17, 20:38
Hatey McHateface on Looking up at the stars: “Typical, eh? Sir Rowland Hill claimed to have invented the penny post in 1840. The Douglas beat him to it…” Mar 17, 20:29
Hatey McHateface on Looking up at the stars: ““They hanged Nazis for this shit” They certainly hanged the gas chambers operatives. In this digital age, they might just…” Mar 17, 20:23
sarah on Looking up at the stars: “Has anyone heard an MSP suggest that they ask the voters to decide this matter? It really is not appropriate…” Mar 17, 20:10
Young Lochinvar on Looking up at the stars: “A lot on tomorrow so might not be able to post, so I’ll post this a little early. Happy anniversary…” Mar 17, 19:59
Geri on Looking up at the stars: “Willie, The Eppy class & the tech Mafia have direct links to the Nazis. The apples didn’t fall far from…” Mar 17, 19:52
Hatey McHateface on Looking up at the stars: “What about people who disagree with you, willie? Don’t you want them eliminated too? Man up and do it for…” Mar 17, 19:40
