Fun with numbers
As a corollary to this piece from earlier today, here’s a nice simple picture.
Alert readers will already have spotted the problem with it.
Because what it appears to show is that over the last six years the SNP’s income from membership fees went down when its supposed number of members went up, and vice versa. And, y’know, obviously that’s the opposite of what you’d expect.
(Incidentally, if you were wondering why we’ve used a figure per-5%-of-members, it’s just because the child’s-graph-creation-for-dummies tool we use doesn’t allow for a double Y-axis and we wanted to make the comparison as visually clear as possible.)
We told you back in March, when the SNP finally admitted it had been lying about its membership numbers, that the discrepancy in its accounts created by the admission would have to be resolved. But now its auditors have told us that they can’t do that.
And in simple terms, that means that the SNP’s accounts for at least two years and quite possibly more simply cannot be trusted, and that’s likely to have repercussions.
All of this, remember, is entirely separate to, and in addition to, the issue of whether there’s been embezzlement or fraud relating to party funds, campervans and all the rest of it. This is basic making-the-numbers-add-up stuff, never mind WHAT the money was spent on.
We already know, by their own admission, that the SNP lied about their membership. And somewhere along the way, if the graph at the top of this article is ever going to make sense – as ultimately by law it must – we’re going to have to find out what else they’ve been lying about.
As you would say “Alert readers may notice” an interesting phrase you used Rev “what else they’ve been lying about?”
Would that not require the removal of a super injunction to protect some specific individual’s anonymity? 🙂
The arc of truth is long but ultimately justice prevails.
I await the ‘fun with pictures’ featured tomorrow morning.
I’ve seen him on twitter so he can’t be on holiday again?
SNP arithmetic:
1+1 = 11
2+2 = 22
3 + 3 = 33
….
Nothing that the SNumPty high heidyins say or have said can be trusted.
The job of auditors is to identify misrepresentation in a Company’s accounts — or so I thought.
I invested a silly amount of money in Carillion shares after reading that year’s Company Report. I was hugely impressed by the reported profits and the very large dividends that they were paying out.
It turned out that the accounts were total bullshit. The Company was logging current “profits” on multiBillion dollar eight year long contracts in the Middle East before so much as bucket of sand had been dug.
I almost threw a shoe at my telly when one of the financial progs was interviewing a representative of the auditors (one of the Big Four). The rep had the audacity to say that when an auditor audits an account they do so on the presumption is that Fraud is not present in the accounts!
Putting my tin hat on for a second it’s pretty clear the SNP is just a front now for British interests, the funny money comes in, the show continues, no probing questions will be asked, as a result no lies will be told. Seriously, who benefits the most from the current and in my view, orchestrated implosion, of the largest threat to the integrity of the UK?
Stu send me a email, twitter PM’s doesn’t work for you
The ‘O’ created by the chart, highlights the years 2017 to 2020. Was Sturgeon and some members of the SNP carrying out extramural, and somewhat expensive, activities during that period, I wonder?
BTW is the campervan still being held by the police – or can Petesy take his Mum to Blackpool in it?
I’d expect a delay, perhaps up to a year, before member was contributing beyond their basic membership fee. Similarly when members leave. The “loss” of revenue is likely only the books in the following year when they should have renewed, but did not.
If revenue is actual revenue before any paws have put claim to it then the graph makes no sense. It’s possible there is a “cost of membership” factor, e.g. mailings etc. that increases costs as membership increases, but assuming these figures are accurate that’s not what’s being shown. Is revenue accounting for branch revenue before tribute is paid to HQ for example?
So how much creative accounting has been going on. With deferrals and the like it all might legit. But then again…
Rev. how come everyone, even the die-hard yoons, are being told that 1+1=3 and you’re the only one that’s saying. “Wait a minute…”
I’d stock up on popcorn since we’re likely seeing the start of something interesting but given the rest of the world is coming apart at the seems, I’m getting rather tiring of eating little else.
Might be legacies and SORP. Some charities report on income they know about in that accounting period, that they don’t actually have. So if someone leaves a legacy and they know the value (or estimated residuary) they will report this.
Alistair White @ 6:56 pm
“it’s pretty clear the SNP is just a front now for British interests”
Yes, the role of the dominant national party elite in running a colonial administration is mainly “to protect the interests of the colonizer” and to “feather its nest” (Memmi), a realisation which soon “sickens the people” (Fanon) when no progress is made towards liberation.
But the problem of a colonial society seeking decolonization is wider than simply its corrupt political leaders as colonialism is “always a co-operative venture”.
The bourgeoisie running the civil service and most institutions in the colonies, before independence, “is a true branch of the bourgeoisie of the mother country, that derives its legitimacy, its force and its stability from the bourgeoisie of the homeland” (Fanon).
And when colonialism is imperiled “these civil servants very soon began to sabotage the national economy and to throw its structure out of joint”
Alistair White is right.
It really is in Britain’s interest, all of us, that Britain is protected from counter-democratic disruption of the democratically expressed will of the people Scotland, as shown in the 2014 “once in a lifetime” referendum.
We, the people of Scotland, settled that matter in 2014.
That’s all.
Until “a generation” later.
The losers will be be back, quite legitimately, circa 2034.
Until then, just snooze.
Then off the tap. No short money for Peter Murrell and Nicola Sturgeon’s first class lifestyle.
We’re suffering here each and every day.
My own suspicion is that dodgy as feck auction they had figures in here somewhere.
I wonder what other artefacts have been purchased alongside the camper. Art? Collectors items? Perhaps one day it’ll be displayed – The Murrell Collection…
It makes you wonder how much creative accounting was going on around their £615,000 refit of their rented office in Gordon Lamb’s House in Edinburgh in 2020.
£385,520 spent on additional furniture, fixtures and fittings, and £229,750 on office and computer equipment.
https://wingsoverscotland.com/homework-exercise/
That’s an awful lot of stuffed white and broon envelopes by anyones account.
All of which by the way, appeared to be a very public attempt to mask (or throw up a deliberate smokescreen around) the whereabouts of the missing donations to the apparently invisible to accountants “ringfenced” indy ref fighting fund.
I do wonder if Police Scotland are looking into all of that too, if they aren’t, they damned well should be.
I can’t get my head round all this complicated economics so let’s see if I have this.
Say I owned a members only jigsaw identification company where members paid a subscription and sent me a picture of a puzzle which I would then identify for them. Ok if I wanted to borrow money the more member subscriptions I had the better it would look. And if my membership was in fact going down quite a bit it wouldn’t look so good.
Then one of my members gave me a wad of cash which was ringfenced for a new puzzle museum.
If I borrowed that cash just temporarily until my membership recovered and showed it in my accounts as subscriptions would that be wrong? If anyone asked would it be ok to say that I know beyond any doubt that I was innocent of any wrongdoing? If I can get this bit put to bed I can then think about my new van/puzzle museum.
Yip the current SNP is nothing more than a gravy train now, self interest, and the interest of the foreign country (England) comes before that of Scottish interests.
We need to make sure that the current SNP MPs/MSPs are removed from office, we must vote them out at every turn, they are now no better than the Westminster branch offices in Scotland of London Labour/Tories and Lib/Dems, these branch office MPs/MSPs can’t serve two masters, currently they serve a foreign country’s parliament.
As for the degenerate Greens, who couldn’t find their own arses with both hands, well it goes without saying get all of them out for the sake of your children and grandchildren and REAL women folk.
Vote Alba, Join Alba.
@ScottieDog LMAO at The Murrell Collection. Chapeau, sir.
The police arrested and released Sturgeon and Murrell pending further investigation.
Does anyone know what the police are actually investigating?
O/T
The Rev has made the news about his bank account being closed:
https://archive.is/qC7Xs
Remarkable case of smoke and mirrors here…
I get £600,000 from donations, which I’m only supposed to use for a specific purpose.
I get £200,000 from members, which I can use how I see fit
I therefore artificially inflate income from members, via “ghost” memberships, to quietly siphon off the £600,000 and use it as I see fit, telling anyone who asks that the £600,000 is still there, it’s just you can’t see it. (If needs be, I can make the £600,000 magically reappear through use of a bank overdraft facility which I’d prefer not to use as it’s costly).
Magic!
Alistair White says:
30 June, 2023 at 6:56 pm
Putting my tin hat on for a second it’s pretty clear the SNP is just a front now for British interests, the funny money comes in, the show continues, no probing questions will be asked, as a result no lies will be told. Seriously, who benefits the most from the current and in my view, orchestrated implosion, of the largest threat to the integrity of the UK?
I’d go and lie down in a darkened room to sober up, if I were you
It’s becoming quite obvious that the £660+K donated by Independence supporters in Scotland has disappeared. I’ve noted some comments by SNP members (not on this website) saying that it was donated by SNP members so it isn’t anyone else’s business! Are they so thick that they can’t believe that donations were made by people who believe in Independence and, at that time, believed in the SNP, although they were not members of the Party.
I bet that, every day, people are losing trust in the SNP. Humza Yousaf’s presentation at his “Convention” was pathetic.
I notice that he loves getting his picture in the Press, but I haven’t seen one of him queuing up to see “The Declaration of Arbroath” at the Museum of Scotland. In fact, I doubt if he has read it, or the Claim of Right, etc. He is too excited – he wants to get dressed up in a kilt (he has no entitlement to wear) so that he can fawn over the Anglo-German King, who’s coming to Scotland to pretend to be King of Scotland. Yousaf has arranged for the Stone of Scone and the Scottish Crown (without asking the permission of the Scottish people!) to be placed in St Giles Cathedral for the pretend coronation. Humza loves being First Minister but does he realise how many Scots are scunnered by his fawning to an English King, who will never be King of Scots!
Anonymoose @ 8.24pm
Yep that really stinks to high heaven and hopefully someone reminds the police to look into all of that expenditure for a small office and staff. Looks like the same scam that Peter Murrell set up with the FAKE Independence Merchandising Company that also included computer equipment and FAKE Data that the MP’s and MSP’s paid for from their expenses to launder £hundreds of thousands into the party funds – quickly shut down when word of this got out. The cheap Database that this money was to pay for was called Broadsword.
The amazing thing is the Labour party was pulling the same scam back then with their cheap Database called Excalibur and they apparently laundered over £20 million into their party through their scam. Willing to bet the other parties had similar scams going as well.
Funny how the Scottish Police and Crown Office were NOT interested in investigating this back then re the SNP citing lack of evidence even though I presented them with the evidence that was in the SNP accounts and MSP and MP expenses via Scottish Parliament FOI. The Metropolitan Police were not interested in that massive Labour Party scam as well. It is strange that they are interested in investigating the SNP now.
What a co-incidence that both parties FAKE Databases were named after swords and both had the exact same idea of a scam.
It’s amazing innit.
SNP gets to diddle the books & public funded accounts while police Scotland set up a two year investigation, erect tents & give it a fancy name for the papers..
Yet Stu can’t get into his bank account (without any notice) cause of the Trans police.
LMAO if it wasn’t so tragic!
With the huge amounts of missing cash (and members), still unresolved, and shocking revelations continue, it looks like there will soon be enough dirt to write a Wee Blue SNP Fraud book?
A timely article with the cash vs members comparison showing exactly how there is a problem with the accounts.
Out simply the graph of elevated member income against collapsing member numbers reveals the problem.
This is a party now principally funded by the Westminster short money. That together with bribery, blackmail and some other establishment techniques is how the estaishment has Hollowed out and taken control of the SNP.
The control of the NEC and the estrangement of branch and members was no accident either. It is all part of colonial rule.
Anyway, articles like this one bring into sharp focus and widen awareness of what has happened to the SNP.
Continuing good stuff Rev Stu. Exposes what we need to deal with.
They do not seem very good at getting value for money. They list fundraising costs of £272,907 for 2021, but only raised £437,920. So62% of the funds raised went on raising the funds.
Shows it all very dodgy money transactions going on at membership plummeted.
Natalie McGarry received a 2 year prison sentence for embezzling £25,000 from independence promoting charities. She said she wasn’t good with paper trails. It looks like much more than £25,000 is missing from the absent paper trails of the SNP. What fate awaits those responsible?
Auditors don’t have record of income. The plummeting membership was only discovered recently.
Big cash ‘donations’ can have been covered up by inflating membership numbers and pretending that’s where it came from. Without receipts or records of member income, that’s not hard, until you get caught…
Assuming they had stayed artificially high, this graph wouldn’t look bad. But now it does.
Next question is who donated the theoretical cash, where did it come from and was there a quid pro quo. Some may guess at the answer and it might not just be the ancien regime that benefitted.
The £600k might be the reason for the initial knock at the door, but once you’re in, a lot of things might become apparent…
Can I put scenario out there which may partially explain the discrepancy between member numbers and income? A few years ago the SNP sent out requests to members to increase monthly subs in order to paraphrase “help keep the SNP ready to fight an independence referendum”. The question is, how many members did double their subs in the vain hope that said referendum would be forthcoming?
Galloway Lass mentions our Anglo-German King. Well King Charles III’s ties with Scotland are in his DNA, as he is descended directly from James VI of Scotland through his grandfather King George VI. He can also trace his ancestry through generations of Scottish nobility back to the 14th century and Sir John Lyon, Thane of Glamis, who married King Robert II’s daughter. So lots of Scottish DNA, quite a bit more that Humza Useless has.
When I look at that graph is says to me the SNP have lost members with discounts on membership, hence the increase in income per member average. On the opposite side an increase in discounted members brings the average income per member value down like at the start of the graph.