Coming Yet
The dogged persistence of alert Wings contributor Benjamin Harrop with regard to the Hamilton inquiry has been truly heroic, and today it has borne fruit in dramatic style.
The 10-page adjudication from the Scottish Information Commissioner that you can download by clicking that image is a somewhat labyrinthine (but fascinating) read, but the upshot of it is that the Commissioner has now ordered the Scottish Government to release all of the legal advice it was given with regard to its refusal to publish the written evidence submitted to James Hamilton for his inquiry into the events around the alleged conspiracy to falsely convict Alex Salmond of sexual assaults.
(See, even that one-sentence summary was quite hard going.)
But why does that matter and what does it mean?
While this judgement does not in itself compel the Scottish Government to disclose the actual evidence – that judgement is still in process – the order to release the legal advice is in itself very significant, as the Scottish Government has a well-documented and dreadful record when it comes to listening to its own legal advice on this subject.
The legal advice will therefore be extremely interesting in its own right. But today’s judgement would also appear to be a very encouraging sign with regard to the decision over publishing the Hamilton evidence.
The Commissioner has expressly found the matter to be of such great public interest that it outweighs the normal exemptions allowing the Government to refuse FOI requests, and it’s to be hoped that that logic extends to the written evidence in the same way. That decision should arrive quite soon, and it should (and will) be making some people very nervous indeed.
Wow! Well done Mr Harrop, Wings and all other doughty fighters for truth.
There is a rumour that [REDACTED], along with [REDACTED] and [REDACTED] are looking at countries without an extradition treaty. Further, numerous [REDACTED] and [REDACTED] are a bit concerned. Most of all, the [REDACTED] are quaking in their shoes. It’s all because someone wouldn’t take no for an answer. That should inspire all of us to do things rather than just talk about it.
What are the odds they will wat the full 42 days allowed for an appeal even if they do end up releasing it without appealing? That would leave us waiting until 21st October…
Small step but it’s in right direction.
Sometimes, Stu Campbell, I think you’re a right pain in the arse. Other times, like this, I think you’re a bloody hero and everything else is forgiven.
So what happens when ScotGov refuse to release the legal advice because that’s what’s going to happen?
Back to the court of session which ScotGov control?
I think we’re near the point where Westminster are going to have to intervene in the Scots legal system due to embedded corruption/bias at the highest levels.
If that happens then game over for separate Scots legal system as they’ll be there forever. At this point in time I’m unsure whether that’s a bad thing as clearly the Scots legal system is currently dysfunctional to say the least.
I’m a yoon and I agree Stu is a right pain in the arse and the country is a better place because of it.
A pity there are not more pain in the arses in the mainstream media many of whom who only feel able to criticise Sturgeon well after she has resigned.
I am imagining long ago the SNP promised to be the most open govt ever?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-29942740
I love the smell of accountability in the morning…
Like air bubbles ascending from deep waters, the truth always surfaces.
“Sometimes, Stu Campbell, I think you’re a right pain in the arse. Other times, like this, I think you’re a bloody hero and everything else is forgiven.”
To be fair, all the credit for this belongs to Benjamin, so I’m still just a pain in the arse.
Well done to David Hamilton who has already acted like a new broom sweeping up the role of Information Commissioner.
Vestas @ 2024 at 1:04 pm
“If that happens then game over for separate Scots legal system as they’ll be there forever. At this point in time I’m unsure whether that’s a bad thing as clearly the Scots legal system is currently dysfunctional to say the least.”
Colonial institutions have to put on the act of serving twa maisters, but in reality the interest and being of the colonized is sacrificed to the colonizer (Cesaire). In a colonial society only the colonizer’s values (and laws) are sovereign (Memmi).
I think we’re near the point where Westminster are going to have to intervene in the Scots legal system due to embedded corruption/bias at the highest levels.
There’s not a chance in hell Westminster were not involved in this particular piece of corruption. Or, at the very least, encouraged and turned a blind eye. There is no “Scottish” civil service: it’s the UK one operating in Scotland. Leslie Evans reported to the UK gov. She also line managed the Crown agent at the time all this was passed to them.
I don’t doubt for a second if/when this does come out, the media, unionists etc will make out it was all Sturgeon and the Scottish legal system and try to end both our law and government. We can’t let them off the hook. Scotland is not an independent country. It doesn’t have ‘arms of state’: the UK does have them and they operate in Scotland.
“The Commissioner therefore requires the Authority to disclose to the Applicant the information requested (subject to such redaction as is permitted by paragraph 69 of this Decision) by 26
October 2024.
Enforcement
If the Authority fails to comply with this decision, the Commissioner has the right to certify to the Court of Session that the Authority has failed to comply. The Court has the right to inquire into the matter and may deal with the Authority as if it had committed a contempt of court.”
—————————————————–
That’s clear enough – well done Benjamin Harrop.
Living in Vichy Scotland means we are benefitting from the ancient Chinese “blessing” of ‘may you live in interesting times’.
Only here the persecution isn’t for those who are on the wrong side of the racial theory but those on the the science side of biology.
At the present time, the air is thick with the sound of chickens coming home to roost.
It’s way past clucking time!
Honest John will already be working out how to fudge/ neuter this into bland nothingness..
“To be fair, all the credit for this belongs to Benjamin”
Correct. His multiple-tweet is on my site. (The Commissioner deserves a pat on the back, too.) What needs emphasised is that ScotGov has already spent £25,000 keeping the information under the public’s radar, and is likely to drag Benjamin back to the courts when they appeal. Let’s hope we see the desired outcome.
Yes well done Mr Harrop – here’s hoping the Scottish government complies with any future orders – from the Scottish Information Commissioner.
Kudos to Benjamin Harrop [and the very modest PITA].
Hope Salmond takes the Pronoun mob to the cleaners with a civil suit.
Watch your back Mr. Harrop…..the SNP has form for using their private Police and Cult Mafia.
Yer teas oot cranky!
Anyone running a book on which of the alphabetties will claim whistleblower protection first.
There is only one ticket so form an orderly queue ladies.
The more they delay the pending cases the deeper in the hole they get, the more control westminster and the uk committee have over them.
Pass the popcorn
If only we had more Benjamin Harrops and Stuart Campbells we would be independent by now or at least be receiving TRUTHFUL information on which you can depend and be reassured
Thanks also to Mr Hamilton who has persevered in trying to bring some HONESTY and INTEGRITY into the SP
THIS all encompassing escape hatch of “NOT IN THE PUBLIC’S
INTEREST” has been utilised each and every time by the Scum Nonce Party in government to hide away and conceal all of their illegal and corrupt antics from the voting public in the event that the people will realise the EXTENT of their corruption and illegality
NOT IN THE PUBLIC’S INTEREST, should only ever be acceptable and used in relation to the safety and security of the people,it should NEVER be acceptable to be used by ANY politician or political party in government to avoid scrutiny or cover up corruption, misdeeds,misconduct,sexual accusations,lies or incompetence,The PUBLIC are the paymasters and have the RIGHT to information that impacts them or affects them
WELL DONE, Benjamin Harrop and Rev Stuart Campbell!
Benjamin, your persistence has paid off. The ScotGov will do everything in their power to resist the information being published as the following story will attest.
In Dec 2020 I made a Subject Access Request (SAR) under existing Freedom of Information (FOI) legislation to the Data Information Officer (DIO) of the of the SNP at HQ. After a lot of waffle, I was fobbed off with trivial information. At the suggestion of a sympathetic member of the SNP, I was referred to an anonymous SNP MSP and the Scottish Information Commissioner (SIC). (This was three years go before David Hamilton was appointed.)
The MSP appointed a senior caseworker to work on my case and the SIC took up the case, but through the UK Office near Manchester (ICO) by which I had two officers working on my FOI case. That changed things! A more than 100-page dossier was provided but it did not contain the data I required.
The ICO persisted and said they were not “satisfied”. Eventually the SNP HQ admitted they did NOT “hold” specified information! It had been clearly destroyed although created a few years before or supplied by me!
So, I hope that Ministers will not “destroy” information, although a clever ruse might be employed to cover up evidence of corruption.
In my own case I am completing a book about my experiences with the SNP HQ, but I’ll send a manuscript is sent to the Rev, to ensure that any “intel” is distributed to Wingers, gratis!
Vestas said;
“At this point in time I’m unsure whether that’s a bad thing as clearly the Scots legal system is currently dysfunctional to say the least.”
To paraphrase Alex Salmond, the Scots legal system has not failed, its leadership has failed.
@ twathater at 5.58: “not in the public interest should only ever be used in relation to the safety and security of the people ..not to avoid scrutiny of government etc”.
You are completely right. Why and who in the legal establishment allowed such misuse?
Sturgeon and Murrell will be on the run.
She’s gone quiet recently hasn’t she?
Shifty Nicola Sturgeon, cat got your tongue?
Well done, Messrs Harrop and Campbell. I think we’re going to discover that the legal people warned them and they did not listen, just as they refuse to listen to any legal advice. As far as I am aware, because it was stated at the time, Whitehall also warned them not to touch this issue of Salmond with a bargepole. The ‘Scottish’ civil service appeared to have eschewed that advice, too. Almost everything they touch is tainted by illegality. They listen to the wrong people. Nothing to be done with such a lame horse but to put them down – i.e. get them out of Holyrood and Westminster.
The problem is that we cannot afford to have Labour take over in government here, too, or we will rue the day. The SNP needs to go, but we need to have something else to put in its place or we sink. Removing only the top echelon will not work. The only way that the SNP can ever redeem itself is to come clean, jettison the parasites, food-draggers and devolutionists and unite under a renewed YES movement/constitutional convention BEFORE 2026.
Outstanding journalism from Wings Over Scotland.
Sturgeon can’t hide. She can’t hide from Wings Over Scotland.
Send the cops around!
Getting the popcorn and champagne ready.
For the truth.
The truth around the Salmond conspiracy. Will see the light of day.
Hand over the £3 million Sturgeon – the Judas!
Firstly, well done Mr Harrop, Wings and the info commissioner.
As I said before, I think we are fast reaching the stage where those NOT involved in the plot must expose it, fully. Otherwise they will be implicated in helping with the cover-up.
This plot makes ‘Watergate’ look very, very tame. They plotted to send Alex Salmond to jail, where he would probably have died. Foreign journalists must be getting interested.
This is not going away.
I also note that no one in the nuSNP is smearing Salmond anymore. I do hope all those that did malign him suffer significant consequences.
I wonder if ITV might be persuaded to follow up their excellent Alan Bates vs the Post Office with Alex Salmond vs the Scottish Government, the Scottish Civil Service, the Scottish Police and the COPFS?
Bravo
As the court date nears, suspect that SNP will offer Salmond a huge “out of court settlement” in respect of his civil action (to be funded by the taxpayers natch), plus a Non Disclosure Agreement.
STV are reporting this story!!! [on their facebook anyway, 6 minutes ago.].
It’s now on the STV news website.
Remarkable how the MSM are always at least 10 hours behind Stuart Campbell when they choose to green light a scoop.
Well done Benjamin – Good work!
Neil Singleton
I’d be more than surprised if he accepted a non disclosure. Salmond is not someone I’d put money on being silenced. I’ve heard that before about him too from Geoff Aberdein that’s he’s like a dug with a bone when he’s a point to prove. He’d certainly want the public to know the truth. Those bastards nearly had him jailed. Its far too serious to walk away with a gag order.
Geri @ 10.07
Spot on!
Neil singleton
Do you think he would take it?
I dont.
Salmond is fighting for his integrity so heads on spikes only accepted. Full vindication.
The party will need to deal with the outcome what ever happens and they really dont have the required ability
Everyone has a price, even Salmond.
I see in amidst all of this, Humza Yousaf has come out and girned off about Salmond.
“Yousaf Accuses Salmond of Abusing Power in Office”
On BBC News Scotland Online.
Dunno why Yousaf has decided to go with this now, but it does him no favors!
Clearly, the anti Salmond group are not for giving in. We wonder why?
Poor Alex. It looks like the BBC is running another smear campaign against him with this upcoming documentary.
Sturgeon and her ilk will be behind bars by the end of the year.
Set the truth free.
Gordon Keane:
Just read it and in typical BBC fashion they ensure nobody comes out looking good.
No mention of the particulars of ScotGov biased approach (they would be short stroking over it any other time).
Waste of time reading I suppose but it all certainly lends credence to the various conspiracy theories surrounding SHE who must not be named and her intimate coterie of perverts and cling ons.
I said to my wife back in 2014 that Salmond had better be squeaky clean or Brit MSM / institutions would drag him through the mud.
They didn’t so presumably couldn’t.
It took Sturgeon, her pet perverts and UK Govt appointed civil servants to do the dirty during the period of the SNPs abandonment of independence campaigning (under SHE who must not be named) to do it, complete with complicit legal powers such as breathy Bain (or whoever was pet solicitor then)s crew..
Its really not that difficult to work out if you can add 2 and 2 together and make 4..
Special place in hell and all that.
A win-win for unionists, eh? This would show the collusion of the Scottish government in the Salmond fit-up, which is also a revelation of the deranged SNP infighting. Suits the English government down to the ground to have this stuff come up, because it damages the (already pretty much dead) SNP and makes the Scottish government look like amateurs and backstabbers unfit to run the country. Which is true, if we’re being honest. The SNP indeed are subterfuge amateurs compared to the Machiavellian, mendacious inbred Westminster scum, of course, and it’s embarrassing to see how a once-mighty SNP have been comprehensively destroyed in a mere decade. Pity Salmond handed the reigns to the Dreghorn Intellectual. Things might have been so much different. Oh well.
The perils of Penelope Pitstop and the Ant Hill Mob.
I think there was a BBC programme last night which, yet again, smears Salmond.
@ Gordon Keane
” “Yousaf Accuses Salmond of Abusing Power in Office”
On BBC News Scotland Online.
Dunno why Yousaf has decided to go with this now, but it does him no favors! ”
Presumably for the same reason Johnny ” Eraserhead ” Swinney came out with the risible fiction that Stoogeon was so inflamed with passion for Independence she had to be dissuaded from her intention to muster the troops on Glesga Green as a prelude to invading Angloshire with her Tartan Tranny Army ; ie a co-ordinated , pre-emptive ploy to burnish The Fraud’s ” Indy ” credentials in the face of incoming legal Exocets .It was only the promise of a Vogue front-cover/feature that calmed her pro-Independence fervor . Nae kiddin’ Johnboy .
No surprise that this despicable attempt to thrust another dagger into Alex’s back whilst pushing the ludicrous narrative of St Nickers as the Boudicca of Bute Hoose has come from her two continuity-of-failure successors – MESSrs Tweedle Dim n Tweedle Dumb . We can expect more of the same .
Still , I’ll be very surprised if Sturgeon is actually charged with anything and has to face any consequence for her – undoubted – involvement in what is ( at least should be considered ) the gravest , blackest event in Scottish Political history .
Unless , of course , it suits the UK ( Dark ) State that she goes down with the fast-sinking HMS SNP . My guess is she’ll already have boarded the lifeboat provided by her handlers . She can still be an ” asset ” in the planned destruction not only of the SNP ( this is already fait accompli ) , but of Scottish Independence as an achievable ambition .
Hope I’m wrong about that .
Justice , real Justice needs to be served , not * just * for Alex personally , for the integrity/credibility of our Judicial/Legal system and the psychic health of Scotland as a whole also . This stain need to be removed n sunlight to pierce the gloom those conspiring fuckers have laid over our country and our aspiration-to-Liberation .
Hmm, currently 6.4GW of leccy power showing as being exported from Scotland to England on this informative site relating to power generation.
GB Grid demand is at the moment 25GW and Scotland being approximately 10% of population will be using around 2.5GW of that, so able to power ourselves and still able to export well over twice what we are using.
https://terravolt.co.uk/uk-grid-visual/
And power companies have already racked up 2.5 million quid in curtailment charges today. IE. Being paid not to produce power.
https://wind-curtailment-app-ahq7fucdyq-lz.a.run.app/
I don’t see it as a win-win for unionists.
Significant amount of their support was those who saw through the SNP very early, and their support for unionism was not so much a love of British unity and the strength of its institutions, but a recognition that for everything that was wrong with Westminster and its innate preference for the Home Counties, this was in spades for nation’s largest gay disco at Holyrood, and the rise of the east Central Belt.
The key is how to turn Scotland into a normal, decent country and not a woke cabal’s plaything.
Fergus Ewing on Radio Scotland today in fine form. Wings getting a couple of mentions as the place to get the truth.
I would have really liked more info about this.
I would have posted a link to the programme and the time Fergus Ewing was on & what was said about Wings.
I may do that now.
Ian Smith @ 8:28 am
“I don’t see it as a win-win for unionists”
Thar isna ony ‘unionists’ in a colony, anely ‘colonialists’.
Decolonisation (i.e. independence) and hence Liberation is the only key “to turn Scotland into a normal, decent country”:
https://salvo-cor.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/THEORETICAL+CASE+FOR+SCOTTISH+INDEPENDENCE.pdf
https://tinyurl.com/2s47x54p
Fergus Ewing at 2.36.31
Talk about Humza Yousaf 1.12.25
Morning Stuart
Your review of the Salmond-Sturgeon documentary on Twitter is very interesting.
I don’t know if I can bring myself to watch it.
Great that you have watched it so I don’t have to.
It’s a busy news day today you might have to send your assistant to check on the bears,swans & feed the squirrels.
Do you know if the egg that you helped rescue successfully hatched?
Lots about the heating allowance today.
During the Indy Ref when Ian Davidson was chair of the Scottish Affairs Select Committee there was a discussion about the heating allowance in the event of Scottish independence.
He was totally opposed and very angry about the idea of pensioners in iScotland getting the heating allowance from his beloved Westminster.
I think this was tied up with idea of iScotland having the choice like Ireland of being allowed dual nationality. That too was strongly opposed.
Wasn’t it the case back then that all British citizens got the heating allowance.
Ian Davison can sleep easy now because that particular problem looks as if it might be solved.
News just in…
Man living in the most brittle of glass houses throws stone.
Newsnight last night had our ex leader of the labour party in Scotland and now head of some dodgy department in Glasgow uni, pontificating on the actions of those in power at Westminster and those once in power at Westminster.
I wonder that anyone bothers watching the BBBC for political info these days – I hasten to add I caught it by accident and was transfixed by the imbecility aired.
@Dorothy Devine. Yes, I saw it as well. The cringe was off the scale. Just words with no substance.
Tick Tock Liars!!
Justfound out about this Saltire Intranet thing. It is used like WhatsApp. Evand Blogs on it..but strangley not updated since 2018?
https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/foi-eir-release/2018/03/foi-18-00443/documents/foi-18-00443-permanent-secretary-saltire-blogs-pdf/foi-18-00443-permanent-secretary-saltire-blogs-pdf/govscot%3Adocument/FOI-18-00443%2B%2BPermanent%2BSecretary%2B%2BSaltire%2Bblogs.pdf
Been looking at various FOI. Saltiire etc stuff. t is obvious without makng excuses for any SNP ministers, that the UK Civil Servants are running our government. Ministers rely on them to give accurate, truthful, sound legal & policy advice. Whether through deliberate malice or plain ignorance or lazyiness etc. It is they who read & respond to eevry email, every FOI, every policy research result etc. How they interpret it back to- if they even do- to minister is questionable. Civil Servants told Swinney he could withhold information. FOI shows he was ADVISED by SpAds. erm Secretary gows to London every week to comapre note with other Perm Secs & UK Gov. (Relying back SNP plans?) Typical management..delegate responsibilities. However, it explaiins something… NS, JS etc could not use the defence ‘Big Boy done it & ran Away..it would show who was running whose office and who was stupid enough to let them!