Wherever you find giants, you also find parasites, bottom-feeders and carrion. When a mighty lion dies in the jungle, tiny creeping crawling maggots and insects and bacteria feast gleefully on its corpse for many days.
Which naturally brings us to the Scottish media.
The above paragraphs of cowardly innuendo and baseless speculative smearing were penned by Severin Carrell and Libby Brooks in the Guardian on Monday. (They’re not from the ironically-headed “Appreciation” that the same two hacks wrote for Sunday’s Observer, in which they audaciously claimed that Salmond’s success was down to Nicola Sturgeon).
They sneakily imply that Salmond was guilty not only of the sexual assaults of which he was cleared in court, but also of an unspecified number of unnamed others, and make assertions of “disturbing evidence about his personal conduct” without specifying what that evidence or conduct might have been.
Everyone even remotely connected to Scottish politics has known for months that the below is the case. It’s an open secret.
But what’s playing out right now is something much bigger than the fate of one or two or three individuals. It’s the entire future of the credibility of Scotland’s justice system.
When times are quiet in Scottish politics, as they currently are, our favourite genre of story is “mainstream press belatedly catches up with Wings Over Scotland”. And so to this morning’s front page splash in the Sunday Mail.
The rumour mill has been grinding about Operation Branchform developments again in the last few days, although we’ve seen too many false dawns now to get overly excited about that. But the Mail’s story sounded awfully familiar.
While we get on with some tinkering behind the scenes in the absence of any Scottish political news – we have an exciting new comment system and the Contact form finally works again! – readers may wish to enjoy the full marathon three-and-a-quarter hours of last month’s fun indyref anniversary event at the Glasgow Science Centre.
I’m writing to implore you to stop doing press interviews.
Each time you do, it feels like yet another slap in the face from Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre and Rape Crisis Scotland.
To be honest, I didn’t even know who you were until a few weeks ago. When the report into ERCC came out and Mridul Wadhwa resigned, I thought I could put this whole experience behind me.
Last week however, I heard on BBC that you “unreservedly apologise” for the failing at ERCC. It is honestly laughable. I have had no such apology. In fact, quite the opposite.
Scotland’s energy rip-off continues unabated, and its impact on Scotland is merciless. GB Energy is to put up a plaque on an office in Aberdeen whilst Scottish pensioners can’t afford to put on the heating. Oil continues to boost the UK coffers as a senior British business figure calls Scottish renewables “a golden ticket for UK growth”.
But as Scottish pensioners freeze, Scottish industry’s being devastated, and workers are being made redundant.
Hatey McHateface on When the law breaks the law: “Unicorn Land. Immensely popular with the youngsters, whilst staying true to our rich, cultural heritage. Maybes a nod to our…” Feb 24, 20:29
agentx on When the law breaks the law: “FGS – no-one wants fun and enjoyment and jobs in Scotland. Misery rules OK?” Feb 24, 19:51
Scot Finlayson on When the law breaks the law: “They should never have kept with the name `Flamingo Land`, Loch Lomond Leisure or Eagles View Holidays. we need to…” Feb 24, 19:39
Hatey McHateface on When the law breaks the law: “Behold! The other pole of the Baird/Northy axis appears. As if from nowhere. Alert readers will be verifying Northy’s claims.…” Feb 24, 19:34
Hatey McHateface on When the law breaks the law: “Hate to break this to you, Alf, but no kid learns to speak their parent’s language in school. No force…” Feb 24, 19:23
Northcode on When the law breaks the law: ““In the 2022 census, 1,508,540 people reportit that they cuid speak Scots, wi 2,444,659 reportin that thay cuid speak, read,…” Feb 24, 19:06
Alf Baird on When the law breaks the law: “Postcolonial theory is quite clear about the immense importance of indigenous language of the colonized people and the effect of…” Feb 24, 18:57
agentx on When the law breaks the law: ““airbrushed out of Anglocentric British history.” ————————————————- If it was airbrushed out how do you know about it? Contradiction of…” Feb 24, 18:27
agentx on When the law breaks the law: “Yeah can’t have people enjoying themselves in Scotland or creating jobs.” Feb 24, 17:58
Hatey McHateface on When the law breaks the law: “If you’re right, Alf, as Scots speakers are a mere 30% of the population, then obviously Indy is doomed. The…” Feb 24, 17:31
Hatey McHateface on When the law breaks the law: “MSM still all in a lather over the Davidson story. It’s unbelievably entertaining to see the Wokists putting their own…” Feb 24, 17:16
Hatey McHateface on When the law breaks the law: “@Jay Sorry, just noticed your cry for help. Don’t feel bad that you’re unable to contribute anything of merit to…” Feb 24, 17:00
Alf Baird on When the law breaks the law: ““None of the statistics …can be sensibly interpreted without first being broken down into ethnic categories.” The same may be…” Feb 24, 17:00
Hatey McHateface on When the law breaks the law: “There’s a rumour they’ve been taking lessons from Your Party. The one with Corbyn, the Sultana bint, and noo oor…” Feb 24, 16:30
100%Yes on When the law breaks the law: “Plans for Flamingo Land resort at Loch Lomond rejected! At last the SNP does something right for Scotland.” Feb 24, 16:03
Young Lochinvar on When the law breaks the law: “Happy anniversary of the battle of Roslin 1303. 3 victories for the price of one, yet another airbrushed out of…” Feb 24, 15:41
agentx on When the law breaks the law: ““More than 3,000 pages of internal Scottish Government emails and legal notes — now dubbed the “Salmond Files” — have…” Feb 24, 15:37
bobo bunny on When the law breaks the law: “The prosecution of Alex Salmond, the ongoing protection of the alpabetties and the jailing of Craig Murray tell all you…” Feb 24, 14:59
bobo bunny on When the law breaks the law: “Shows you how Tas, Corri, Kenny and Neale run Alba if they could not be arsed to consult with other…” Feb 24, 14:55
Young Lochinvar on When the law breaks the law: “Trade Envoys: investigate the lot of them! Watch out “Beefy Botham”! Numbers 32:23 an’ that..” Feb 24, 14:34
DMcV on The Future Is Yesterday: “So, the SNP won’t bring Independence, per NotRev’s monomania; who can? ALBA? Who will disaffected ALBA voters, dozens of them,…” Feb 24, 13:18
Hatey McHateface on When the law breaks the law: “Don’t tell him, Sara! With due acknowledgement to the immortal words of Captain Mainwaring.” Feb 24, 12:10
Hatey McHateface on When the law breaks the law: “I found a FOI request online from which I post a fragment: “As stated in my original response of 16…” Feb 24, 12:06
100%Yes on When the law breaks the law: “James Kelly, asking for Sara Salyers to a video debate. If I was Sara I would turn him down, better…” Feb 24, 11:55
Hatey McHateface on When the law breaks the law: ““Have your own fun constructing narratives” It sure beats working towards Indy. I believe the Germans use an observation that…” Feb 24, 11:50
Hatey McHateface on When the law breaks the law: “Awa an shite, SR. If you don’t share something approaching contempt for foreign, alien values and systems than you have…” Feb 24, 11:42
Hatey McHateface on When the law breaks the law: ““You will have to ask that son of Scotland, Dòmhnall Iain Trump. He is protecting most of them..” Why don’t…” Feb 24, 11:30
Hatey McHateface on When the law breaks the law: ““At one time folks would respond to allegations of their being a huge crime syndicate influencing and controlling western governments…” Feb 24, 11:24
Cynicus on When the law breaks the law: “Willie says: 24 February, 2026 at 9:05 am “I prefer the nomenclature of Randy Andy and Handy Mandy. “ =======…” Feb 24, 11:13
