We received two emails today, just a few minutes apart. There are a couple of notable things about them. The first came from Claire Somebody at the Crown Office.
The second one, even more thrillingly, came from Service Advisor 1989847 at Police Scotland, which we assume is some sort of advanced crime-fighting robot.
In one of those emails, readers, is a three-word phrase that raised our eyebrows just about right off our heads. Before we chat any more, see if it jumps out at you too.
Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service
25 Chambers Street
Edinburgh
EH1 1LA
4 June 2026
.
Dear Chief Constable and Crown Office,
RE: REQUEST FOR CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION — ALLEGED
MISAPPROPRIATION OF RING-FENCED POLITICAL DONATIONS
I write to request that Police Scotland/COPFS open a criminal investigation into the alleged misappropriation of funds donated to the Scottish National Party (SNP) on the basis that those funds would be held and applied for a specific, designated purpose.
If you subscribe to the theory that it’s better to fight 100 duck-sized horses than a single horse-sized duck, the SNP is knocking it out of the park today.
Because the papers just can’t make their minds up about the biggest story with which to attack John Swinney’s beleaguered party.
You’ve had a few pretty gruelling pieces to get through in the last week or so, readers, so here’s something a little more light-hearted.
It’s from an episode of Broadcasting Scotland on 27 November 2020, a month after we confirmed our big story about the SNP accounts and the missing fundraiser money. In it, snug-toed SNP MP Pete Wishart opines that there really is nothing to worry about, and we should all just put our trust in the party.
We’ll leave you to judge whose opinion stood the test of time.
On Sunday, Nicola Sturgeon told Laura Kuenssberg that the SNP’s accounts “went up and down” as her excuse for not noticing that hundreds of thousands of pounds had suddenly vanished from them overnight.
Several things leap out immediately from that clip.
One, there absolutely very much WAS “something glaringly suspicious in the accounts that I should have seen” – the party she led had raised almost £700,000 in two “ring-fenced” fundraisers that wasn’t there any more, which ought to have made its leader at least mildly curious.
And two, attempting to fob responsibility off onto the independent auditors simply won’t wash. It’s not their job to determine whether the SNP has kept its political promises or not, their job is simply to match up money coming in against money going out and produce a set of numbers to show what it all adds up to. It makes no odds to them if it was spent on a party conference, a fancy motorhome or a 50-foot golden statue of Danny La Rue. All they can see is numbers.
But even leaving those things aside, if we’re going to learn anything about how The Great Indyref Swindle got to this calamitous point unchecked we need to examine just how hard Nicola Sturgeon had to look the other way to fail to see what was going on literally under her nose and literally in her own back yard.
Mark Beggan on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “Remember what happened to the last Charles when he tried to impose the Jiggery Popery on the Scots. It ended…” Sep 20, 19:01
Aidan on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “So TH LOVES benefits but HATES business. Is that because a private employer is likely to frown on drunken ranting…” Sep 20, 18:54
Southernbystander on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “Yes, the island group was ‘colonised’ but in the basic sense of the word in simply colonising an uninhabited place,…” Sep 20, 18:32
twathater on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “So in FACT you are NOT a factchecker YOU are just another LIAR posting LIES in the manner of the…” Sep 20, 18:22
twathater on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “And let us NOT forget Dan the amount of “IN WORK BENEFITS”being paid out by successive governments People who are…” Sep 20, 18:16
Hatey McHateface on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “It’s Sunday, Alf. Take the night off, why don’t you. If you give it a rest until the morn, maybe…” Sep 20, 18:13
100%Yes on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “Salmond wasn’t perfect and some of the crap that came out of his month I questioned. Salmond isn’t a hero…” Sep 20, 18:02
Hatey McHateface on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “If you think Scotland has been a republic for a number of years, and you think the union is a…” Sep 20, 18:02
Hatey McHateface on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “I’ve been critical of you before, Bob, but fair’s fair. You got the capital ‘S’ spot on there when you…” Sep 20, 17:58
robertkknight on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “A quick search shows no opinion polls in Scotland during the period 1980 to 2022 (Elizabeth’s death) showing a majority…” Sep 20, 17:27
James Che on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “Colin Alexander, I apologise for your misspelt name above, the tech equipment is old and pleases it self. My apologies.” Sep 20, 17:05
Colin Alexander on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “My view is that the core foundation of the Scottish independence cause is Scottish sovereignty – the sovereignty of the…” Sep 20, 17:00
James Che on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “Robertknight. Indeed the monarchs popularity is waning down south, he too seems to be afflicted as a king gone mad…” Sep 20, 16:55
James Che on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “Colon Alexander. I have no idea why Alex Salmond favoured the English monarch when talking to him he never explained…” Sep 20, 16:35
robertkknight on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “The SNP has never been Republican in its outlook, despite the feelings amongst a sizeable minority of members. The popularity…” Sep 20, 16:22
Colin Alexander on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “Did Alex Salmond ever give a credible explanation for swearing fealty to King Charles, despite the King’s UK Govt refusing…” Sep 20, 15:59
Alf Baird on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “I think we will find that in a colonial society, and based on the hoax of ‘union’, it is a…” Sep 20, 15:51
robertkknight on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “Ah, quite possibly an acolyte of the Esoteric Order of Saint Nicla of Thames House and no doubt a fully…” Sep 20, 15:26
Hatey McHateface on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “If Indy is a matter of great urgency, Alf, why don’t you apply your efforts to doing something useful and…” Sep 20, 15:14
James Che on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “All backed by the Westminster governance sent to Scotland to govern Scotland perchance,” Sep 20, 14:04
Oneliner on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “There are some of the mindset that a pejorative is only valid if it comes from HQ.” Sep 20, 13:47
Alf Baird on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: ““politicians are now starting to wake up to another aspect of this rotten Scottish Government” It is a great hope…” Sep 20, 13:45
David Blake on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “The more they come up with desperate stuff like this, the more it feels there must be something really nasty…” Sep 20, 13:40
Alf Baird on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: ““Scotland’s national situation” Returning to postcolonial theory (Fanon etc), as we must, reveals that a colonised people: – are ‘out…” Sep 20, 13:38
Spartan 117 on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “@Hatey, there’s a lot to unpack there. Firstly, the term “warmonger” was used as a statement of fact rather than…” Sep 20, 12:56
Hatey McHateface on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “@DaveL says: 20 September, 2026 at 12:25 pm “I must admit his reply at 8.54am is a step up and…” Sep 20, 12:39
sarah on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “Douglas Chapman: I suggested in a previous comment that perhaps the reason why the SNP-run Scottish executive had made so…” Sep 20, 12:38
Hatey McHateface on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “Then again, Spartan, Scotland’s a wee place shortly to be Independent and walking alone on the world stage. Free to…” Sep 20, 12:35