In Your Name
Alert Wings readers will have noticed recent press coverage of events surrounding North Lanarkshire Council, centred around a scandal of sexual harassment by former council leader Jordan Linden.
Here we present the full story, directly from one of the SNP councillors involved.
PERSONAL STATEMENT OF CLLR PAUL DI MASCIO
I am no longer a member of the SNP Group in NLC, with immediate effect.
Having spoken up for victims of reported sexual attacks and for those others doing likewise, and sadly being silenced by the leadership team in North Lanarkshire, I have been expelled from the party Group following action raised by SNP Group leader, Tracey Carragher, assisted by the current business manager, Richard Sullivan, assistant business manager Anne Thomas and group secretary Margaret Hughes.
Whilst I was out of the country, an email was sent to me providing fourteen days’ notice of a disciplinary hearing, with the sanction of expulsion. With my out-of-office reply set for emails and voicemail, I did not receive it until my return to work, effectively giving me four hours’ notice of this expulsion disciplinary hearing.
When I complained about these actions and the lack of time to prepare for the hearing, four hours prior to time provided I was informed by Tracey Carragher that the meeting would go ahead regardless.
Having both supported and voted for the SNP all of my life, devoted to securing independence and having served as an SNP councillor for six years, holding numerous positions within and on behalf of the party, it saddens me to find the SNP Group in its current form, with leadership taking disproportionate punitive actions and individuals refusing to speak up or think for themselves in what should be an open and safe forum.
Meanwhile SNP HQ – in full knowledge of the circumstances due to correspondence sent to them, which remains mainly unanswered – promised investigations which have still not been carried out months later.
The atmosphere in North Lanarkshire SNP Group is completely toxic and there seems to be no room for individual reasoned thought. I have my integrity and I can hold my head high and sleep well at night. I will always stand up against bullying, for what is right, for justice and, most importantly, for those reporting or affected by sexual abuse or harassment.
Councillor David Crichton was also expelled and thus far, five other principled councillors who were being suspended have indicated their intention to resign from the SNP North Lanarkshire Group. This leaves the Group, so far, seven members down this week and ten members down in total under this leadership team and following the press revelations relating to Jordan Linden. Scottish Labour is now the largest group on the council.
My principles when I first joined the Party remain the same, primarily my absolute and unwavering conviction and belief in the cause of independence, trying to improve the lives of constituents primarily and of all in Scotland and, importantly, doing our utmost to remove poverty and discrimination from our shores.
I have put up with a lot over the past six years due to my personal integrity and the seeming lack of this quality of a number of the SNP North Lanarkshire Group, the leadership in particular and some individuals in internal positions in the party locally. There are still some good people within the Group and the overwhelming majority of people in the local party are very good people and I share their hopes and aims. I hope they will support me at this time.
I pray and will do what I can to effect and bring about the day when survivors of sexual abuse, no matter the environment that they are in, can feel safe in coming forward, are treated with dignity and respect, safeguarding is always in place, whistle-blowers are similarly treated seriously and with respect and will fight for the day when we wipe out sexual abuse for good.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Provided by Paul Di Mascio on behalf of all affected members: himself, David Crichton, Beth Baudo, Gerry Brennan, Greg Lennon, Barry McLuskey and Cameron McManus.
Having spoken up for victims of reported sexual attacks and for those others doing likewise and sadly being silenced by the leadership team in North Lanarkshire, two SNP councillors have been expelled from the party’s group on the council and five others, after being suspended, have resigned.
Councillors Paul Di Mascio and David Crichton have been expelled, four are on six-month suspensions and one is awaiting the same. The five being suspended – Cllrs Beth Baudo, Gerry Brennan, Greg Lennon, Barry McLuskey and Cameron McManus – have all now resigned from the SNP Group, meaning currently seven members have been forced out.
The most recent incidents were reported to North Lanarkshire SNP Council Group Leader, Tracey Carragher by a fellow councillor who named another then-fellow councillor as the assailant, as has been widely reported after other revelations were published in the press relating to then-Cllr Jordan Linden.
The complainant advised the new Group leader last August that he had also suffered under the hands of the same person and demanded discussion on the next steps. No action was raised, nor safeguarding put in place, and the alleged perpetrator remained a member of North Lanarkshire SNP Group until only recently, resigning when further revelations were published.
The expelled or suspended members had demanded an inquiry by SNP HQ into the North Lanarkshire SNP leadership team’s inaction, the full extent only becoming clear this year as no action was taken by the SNP Group leader Tracey Carragher last August when the victim presented himself.
The affected councillors have also been very vocal in their support of suspended member Greg Lennon who has been awaiting a hearing for six months on false claims, presumably designed to silence him for having been vocal with regards to the Jordan Linden revelations from the offset when they came to light in July/August 2022, along with Councillors Paul Di Mascio and David Crichton.
Ultimately, after headquarters had not progressed with any such investigation as had been requested and with Cllr Carragher repeatedly proclaiming the backing of SNP National Secretary Lorna Finn and local government convener Kelly Parry, Cllr Carragher has been in a position instead to sanction all seven councillors, forcing them out of the SNP council group with complete disregard for proportionality or natural justice of any kind.
All seven members are deeply saddened by these events but hold their personal integrity in too high regard to not have spoken up.
For clarity, the members of the North Lanarkshire SNP Leadership Team current and former over the period referred to who have enabled these sanctions are:
– Tracey Carragher, an employee of Fulton McGregor MSP.
– Alan Masterson, an employee of Jamie Hepburn MSP and Stewart McDonald MP.
– Richard Sullivan, an employee of James Dornan MSP and believed to now work for Anum Qaisar MP and Branch Convener of Airdrie & Shotts Branch (vice convener being Anum Qaisar MP).
– Margaret Hughes, office manager for Neil Gray MSP and Secretary of Airdrie & Shotts Branch.
– Anne Thomas, ex-British Transport Police and current Convenor of the Motherwell & Wishaw SNP Branch which includes Claire Adamson MSP and Marion Fellows MP’s constituencies.
TIMELINE OF EVENTS
SNP NLC GROUP FROM MAY 2022 TO PRESENT DAY
May 2022:
36 SNP Councillors elected. Historic administrative control of NLC.
Late July 2022:
Press articles regarding Jordan Linden and past alleged behaviours surface. This leads to then Cllr Linden’s resignation as council and Group leader, acknowledging in his resignation letter his inappropriate previous sexual behaviour and offering an apology. He remains as a councillor for Bellshill.
This results in loss of administrative control of the council and brings both NLC Group and the Party into serious disrepute. Group rules clearly state that disciplinary action may be taken against a Member who is “implicated” in illegal or serious activity that may bring the Party into disrepute.
Councillors Crichton, Di Mascio and Lennon, and some others, repeatedly sought Group discussion and resolution on the Jordan Linden issue and how the Group should best proceed and regain public credibility. On every occasion this request was quashed and aggressively obstructed by Group Leader Tracey Carragher, along with support from Councillors Kirsten Larson, Allan Stubbs, Claire Barclay, Fiona Fotheringham and others.
During a subsequent meeting to “elect” a new Leader, independently chaired by party official Kelly Parry, this quashing of discussion was again in evidence. Ms Parry properly conducted the election of Tracey Carragher as Leader and at that stage should then have left the meeting – Ms Parry is not part of our NLC Group and therefore should not have contributed further.
However, when discussion was again requested on the Jordan Linden situation and the loss of Council control, and his increasingly apparent Party protection over his actions, Ms Parry intervened and closed discussion, in open support of Cllr Carragher.
At this time the Group also suffered the defection of two long standing councillors to Scottish Labour. Both councillors cited as part of their reasons the refusal by HQ to address concerns raised previously.
Within 10 days of Jordan Linden’s resignation, the Group was then faced with further press revelations of Cllr Stubbs having been accused in an alleged theft of property from his employer, Police Scotland, with a report submitted to the Procurator Fiscal.
No discussion on this was allowed and the councillor in this instance has been protected despite the group’s rules about anyone “implicated in illegal or serious behaviour”.
30 November 2022
Email to Group from Tracey Carragher informing Group Members of Leader’s decision to suspend Councillor Greg Lennon. The wording of this email was prejudicial, discriminatory and sought to influence the outcome of proposed disciplinary hearing. Safeguarding issues were cited as the serious nature for suspension, which has already proven not to be the case.
Complaints consist of four emails, one of them anonymous. Three of these “complaints” were submitted in September 2022 but held without action or notification for 10 weeks. Two of the emails contain the exact same phrasing.
5 December 2022
Group meeting prior to arranged disciplinary hearing of 8 December.
Councillors Brennan, Crichton, Di Mascio, McLuskey and McManus all expressed grave concern as to the wording of the Tracey Carragher email sent to Group and how it demonstrated bias and prejudicial language. During this meeting Cllr Carragher merely commented that member concerns were “noted”. She also stated on several occasions that the wording of this suspension notification email had been approved by National Secretary, Compliance Officer and senior Party officials.
Councillor Stubbs sought to introduce other allegations to the complaint file against Cllr Lennon. These terms were never cited in any complaint and as such Cllr Stubbs was forced to retract these comments.
Cllrr Crichton, in an email to Lorna Finn (SNP National Secretary) and Tracey Carragher seeking confirmation of Cllr Carragher’s stated position re HQ involvement, subsequently received a reply from Lorna Finn which was clearly in contradiction to Cllr Carragher’s comments to Group members.
Cllr Carragher responded, claiming she had NOT stated her email had National Secretary approval. Subsequently, the existence of a recording of this Group meeting on 5th December was made known, revealing that her denial was untrue.
Debate over the importance of such a recording took over the Group narrative, deflecting it away from her deliberate attempts to mislead Group members and so prejudice the case against Cllr Lennon.
8 December – disciplinary hearing
Linda Fabiani (past MSP) appointed by Tracey Carragher as independent chair of the hearing.
At the meeting commencement Cllr Di Mascio read a statement to the Group on behalf of Cllr Lennon. It stated that a legal action had begun against the disciplinary action and that legal notice had been served to the National Secretary for a postponement in proceedings. It was made clear it may be unsafe to continue with the meeting at that time.
This was ignored by the chair and the meeting progressed. Cllr Carragher spoke, and was allowed by the chair to again introduce the spurious allegations previously made and retracted by Cllr Stubbs.
The meeting was subsequently halted within 20 minutes of starting upon receipt of an email by Tracey Carragher from the National Secretary, presumably stating that meeting should not be taking place.
12 December 2022
At a Group meeting Cllr Carragher allowed Cllrs Larson, Stubbs, Sullivan, Hughes and Thomas to attack Cllr Crichton and compel him to divulge who recorded the meeting of the 5th December, stating “standing orders should be checked to force David into telling us”.
Cllr Crichton replied that he’d already stated he did not know who had made the recording, and did not hold or distribute a copy of this recording.
18 January 2023
Cllr Crichton was invited to a meeting with Tracey Carragher and Alan Masterton (then Depute Leader) to discuss the events of the 12 December meeting.
Cllr Crichton raised Cllr Carragher’s misleading of Group members on 5 December, of the weakness in the complaint “evidence” against Greg Lennon, in the prejudicial nature of the Group email, and in the fact complainants should not be allowed to be part of a disciplinary process or vote.
All points were rejected by Tracey Carragher and Cllr Crichton was informed that he himself had broken Group rules and could face disciplinary action for including a suspended member in an email to Group members.
Cllr Crichton agreed he had sent such an email and stated he looked forward very much to his own disciplinary hearing being arranged on that basis, whereupon he was informed that “we don’t plan to do anything with that at present, David”, clearly a veiled threat.
27 March 2023
At 4.55pm Cllr Lennon entered the room for a Group meeting, resulting in Cllr Carragher leaving it along with Cllr Hughes and Cllr Larson. Eight members remained present. Two further members had been excluded from this scheduled Group meeting with, unusually no online access being allowed: Paul Di Mascio (injured) and Barry McLuskey (registered blind).
An alternate Group meeting comprising unknown attendees then appears to have been conducted in another room. Repeated requests for minutes and attendee list of this alternate meeting have been made to Group Secretary Cllr Margaret Hughes but have been ignored. A request for a copy of the previous Group meeting minute notes (recorded by the Group Secretary) was also ignored.
28 March 2023
Cllr Greg Lennon is removed by the leadership team from all committee involvement, supposedly following a vote taken at the alternate Group meeting on 27 March. Six other members subsequently resign their own Committee involvement in support of Cllr Lennon. No details of this vote are made available, and evidence that this covert meeting was quorate to vote on such a proposal has not been produced.
30 March 2023
Group email received from Lorna Finn, National Secretary, acknowledging the resignations of the seven Councillors from committee involvement and their right to do so, and the current Group disagreements. The email commits to an investigation of events, but states that those not wishing to accept majority decisions should consider their Party membership position.
Ironically given the events of 27 March, it also states that is not acceptable to put forward the pretence of there being two SNP councillor Groups in NLC.
During a full council meeting it becomes apparent that the intimated resignation from committee involvement had not been submitted by the SNP leadership team to council officers for full council approval.
It also appears a second unofficial group meeting was then arranged and convened by Tracey Carragher immediately following the full council meeting. Again, members outwith Cllr Carragher’s faction were actively excluded from this meeting.
One member did however stumble upon the meeting while it was in progress and became aware that Tracey Carragher was arranging retaliation for the events within the full council meeting, telling those present that her personal email contact should be used to discuss the plans rather than her council email.
WINGS SUMMARY: Several conscientious SNP councillors in North Lanarkshire attempted to raise concerns over the behaviour of Jordan Linden, but were systematically ignored, silenced and victimised by group leader Tracey Carragher along with other members of the SNP group.
One of the whistleblowers was suspended on trumped-up charges, after a secret vote in a secret meeting convened by Carragher and her faction, and now two more have been expelled and a further four suspended for six months for objecting to the cover-up. All seven councillors who raised concerns about Linden and were themselves disciplined as a result have now quit the party.
Although the matter has now been in the media for nine months, SNP HQ has stood by and done nothing. Although to be fair, they do rather have their hands full at the moment.
Standard behaviour of the in crowd in SNP since 2018.
I had similar behaviour at me from convener and vice convener a branch when I was secretary.
It was over me trying to encourage activism for independence.
The best I could advise those suspended and victimised is to resign and join Alba.
I did both .
Looks like the Sturgeon era of the rules be damned if we want and we can operate as a clique and ignore procedures and you little people can do nothing about it.
From historic control of the council they have now lost it due to arrogance and lack of probit and due procedure.
Scotland is being turned into a banana republic by these chancers and spivs.
This flies in face of natural justice. These councillors are to be commended for doing the right thing.
council meetings on videotape
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFQxiL8ElZA
r u a teamplayer
r u a stone, or a sponge
Nothing new here. This is the classic behaviour of a fanatical cult. Seen many times throughout history. Never ends well.
I miss the old days of politics; nepotism, bribery, religious bigotry.,
It all feels so much more unclean nowadays.
When an organisation or political party strays , for whatever reason, away from its original purpose corruption of ideals always follows.
The SNP strayed away from independence years ago. The current SNP leadership shows no sign of returning to its original ideals regarding independence. The SNP is a unionist organisation – a corrupted yet contented member of the british establishment.
The Yes movement must not be allowed to suffer because of SNP treachery.
Join/Vote Alba.
How far down this rabbit hole will we fall before the brain dead “Wheesht for Indy” wake up!
Disappointed to read this but not surprised. Considering Linden was never suspended and only recently was allowed to resign from the party. This of course stops any disciplinary action being taken.
They seem to have acted on this but dragged their heels regarding Grady, Linden and Gibson. It seems the SNP are more prepared to defend and look after perpetrators than victims.
Once again, the SNP seems unconcerned that they are losing long serving activists, in this case also councillors, due to their unwillingness to investigate allegations against perpetrators with proven misdemeanors.
SNP HQ and senior officers are destroying the SNP and the cause of Indy. They don’t seem to appreciate the damage they are doing to the electorate. Or perhaps they do and don’t really care!
The Nu SNP love a cover up. It’s the Sturgeon cabal philosophy.
We saw it with Ian Blackford gaslighting the male staffer that made a complaint about Patrick Grady.
And Derek Mackay who wanted to groom the school boy.
And their obsession with gender ideology. Male rapists in female jails for example.
The hundreds of thousands they give to former gay rights organisation Stonewall, now an extremist lobby group.
The curriculum they are imposing in schools such as the creepy schools sex survey.
And the SNPs obsession with gender neutral toilets in primary schools for example.
Can ye tell what it is yet?
Is this not the same council that had the convicted paedophile Mark Kerr sentenced?
North Lanarkshire. SNP paedophile association.
Absolutely sickened that I voted for the likes of Fulton McGregor in local elections in the past.
I’ll be reminding locals of this when elections come around.
“…it just feels kind of tragic for his career. His career’s been stopped in its path.”
There you have it. Under Sturgeon the SNP rapidly became nothing more than a band of careerists completely devoid of zeal for independence. A true liberation party isn’t interested in the careers of members. The SNP used to be like that. Not now.
Monkey see, monkey do. Just copying what the SNP does in Holyrood and Westminster.
Mark Kerr, who represented Kylsyth North Lanarkshire council. Caged.
It is as well. Shockeroonie.
North Lanarkshire SNP. Stronger for sexual harassers and paedos.
Sweeping it under the carpet since Sturgeon.
Kelly Parry is the partner of Owen Thomson who was sacked immediately after the coup in westminster and who was chief whip of the party at the time of the Grady abuse time.
Tracey Carragher is your classic Sturgeon snowball of Woman H, Liz Lloyd, Sue Ruddick and Leslie Evans.
I was wondering if we would get a picture of it and it was exactly what I expected. Hideous.
And here we go again.
Independence at any cost. Just shut up. Just stay silent. Fraud, incompetence, sexual crimes, bullying, harassment, cronyism, jobs for the boys, self advancement, lies, deflection, hate and billions wasted. Ferries not built, hospitals failing, every major project a shambles. The opposite of a democratic society. Jail your opponents, even if they’re advocating independence. But shut up. Say nothing. The SNP will deliver independence.
My arse.
The SNP cult have destroyed Independence. I’ve never believed that the majority of the Country don’t believe in self determination. I’ve never believed that the majority of Scotland are Unionists.
The SNP way of removing every check and balance, of shutting down any dissent, of hunting down dissenters and destroying them. Then avoiding any accountability when caught.
This is why we never got over the line. People see the cult.
They fear it.
A self determining Country, ruled by the people. Financially stable and confident in its place in the world. Raising living standards, generating wealth from its talent and assets, with the freedom to debate, discuss and resolve the issues facing every nation. A model society, providing a new enlightenment, especially for smaller nations.
All achievable. All within reach.
Stolen by the SNP, rotten to the core.
Food for thought. Our biggest trading partner after independence will remain England. I have no issue with actual reality. These are the issues an independent Scotland must deal with. The SNP tactic of making them utterly loath us is madness. They’re ordinary people, much like us.
The politics of division, as spewed out by the SNP, the politics of hate and avoiding accountability, the politics of blaming everyone else, the politics of secrecy, lies and cronyism has cost us our independence.
And it will continue to.
Independence is more than achievable, more than viable.
It’s the SNP cult that’s stopping it. It has been for a long time.
Remember during indyref, when we wondered if the unionist politicians were being intentionally awful to undermine Scots’ belief that we could govern ourselves?
Now that’s how I feel about the SNP. They’ll actually go out of their way to do the corrupt thing.
And, of course, they’ve weaponised the complaints procedure. If they don’t like you, they’ll suspend you until the disciplinary committee meets – which it never does. If they like you, you’re innocent until proved guilty when the disciplinary committee meets – which it never does.
The whole thing makes me weep.
Essentially over the last six or so years, the SNP has been hollowed out as a party of independence to be replaced by grifters, crooks and perverts. At the same time the party has turned into an incompetent mess barely able to govern with Scotland turning into a place where freedom of speech/association is under threat with civil rights for LGB people, women and girls, the disabled and anyone who doesn’t identify as Trans or ‘Queer’.
What is it exactly about the SNP (and the Greens) now that attracts so many sexual predators? Part of it is power but there has to be the fact the party makes it easy for members, staff & people loosely associated with them to abuse people. Meanwhile, the leadership turn a blind eye so abusers have a charter to do what they want.
There needs to be a complete investigation of Scotland’s political class as well as certain institutions paid for by the Scottish Government to give the answers it wants to hear. It’ll be hard as too many people have too much to lose but we need to flush out the bad smell which infects not just the SNP but all of the parties sitting in Holyrood. We need to ensure as well people like Jack Douglas and Tom Harlow are either in prison or returned to obscurity.
We could have had a great example of a well run country under the restrictions we have now & made the argument for independence but instead we’ve got a playground for crooks, thugs and perverts.
The SNP are rotten from top to bottom. They’re unsaveable and the only hope is Alba.
Talk about circling the pan… It can’t be far off the point Paul Gascoigne rocks up with a tinny, a fishing rod and some chicken in an attempt to save the SNP.
I know this Linden character’s name but I don’t know why.
Has he featured in Wings posts previously?
Is this forced deselection so they can themselves be selected?
Join Alba folks.
SNP HQ and senior officers are destroying the SNP and the cause of Indy. They don’t seem to appreciate the damage they are doing to the electorate. Or perhaps they do and don’t really care!
I don’t think they care. They’ve become so arrogant and presumptuous that people will vote SNP regardless as long at the carrot of independence is dangled in front of them.
Of course their arrogance looks to be why the party is crashing. Murrell and the party under police investigation was unexpected while it looks as if the party will lose at least 15-20 MP’s in next year’s Westminster election. I feel now the SNP as it is now needs to die in order for things to reset itself again. Part of the problem with that is we can forget about independence for a decade or two.
SNP leaders and officials obviously visit this site and probably do so.
Where is their response to try and justify these despicable allegations?
The party who targeted Alex Salmond and who broke the law to corner an innocent man
Now known to cover and protect the females who lied against him and now cover what
seems to be a more likely sex pest in their midst.
They now have no chance of winning control of that council and further handicapped the
cause for independence.
Tartanttetra, I agree.
To think all of this was happening under the nose of Nicola Sturgeon. And she couldn’t smell a thing. Aye right!
They think they are above the law. Murray Foote thinks he can influence police investigations. What grotesque spectacle the SNP really are. To use his words.
NLC. Scotland’s worst Coocil by far for half a century.
Tartanterra= Perfect summing up of the Snp.
Interesting to see the name Linda Fabiani turning up here.
Cenchos, Fabiani has experience in handling whitewashes.
If Fabiani was involved, then Sturgeon knew all about it. They talk.
Bunch of wrong’uns in the SNP. Who’d a thought it?
Many years ago I did a weekend course at Middleton Hall.
Working with Groups was the name of the course.
Tracey Carragher would have been held up as an example of the type of person who will hijack a group. A psychopath.
Jesus.
This is awful. What is going here?
Be sure, whatever is covered up has a way of coming to the surface.
In time.
“Having both supported and voted for the SNP all of my life …”
And only now does he discover that they are the Scot Nasties Party? Or should I say Partei?
This North Lanarkshire Shenanigans is similar to North Ayrshire in 2015 starting with the in NAC case the leader being out of the country,
2015 Sturdeon 2023 Yousaf
You can’t help but notice Team Yousaf’s Pals in the midst of it
Tartanterra,
“Independence at any cost”
That exposes your ignorance of what’s been happening these last 8 years.
If you had been paying any attention at all, you would have understood what has been happening but you haven’t and you don’t.
What seems important to you is to whinge about Scotland making its own decisions.
It seems the logical part of your brain is as talented as your observational skills.
Poor England, what did they do to deserve you sponging off them? Is it not about time you pulled yourself up by your bootstraps and stopped scrounging?
Tartanterra,
My apologies for jumping the gun, I thought you were advocating a perfect Scotland before independence but I have reread and see what you mean.
Breastplate says:
4 May, 2023 at 10:54 pm
Tartanterra,
My apologies for jumping the gun, I thought you were advocating a perfect Scotland before independence but I have reread and see what you mean.
You were right the first time,.
Tartanterra says:
“Independence is more than achievable, more than viable. It’s the SNP cult that’s stopping it. It has been for a long time.”
Excellent comment, Tartanterra. The SNP have become a party of deviants and could not have deviated further from independence if they had tried. In fact, they did try, they did everything they could to deviate away from independence which is why they’ve ended up as a party of deviants!
The SNP should rename itself the PPP. Nice snappy title for the Pervert Protection Party.
@shiregirl 10.35pm
If you read your comment as an actual poem, it’s really a knockout piece of work. Very existential.
I’m not being ironic.
It is not just a case of a failure of transparency, accountability and goood governance that the SNP ruling cabal, are guilty of. Its is also, as this and the case involving Patrick Gardy MP alleging sexually harrasing a staffer make clear, also about the SNP choosing injustice and over justice, supporting unfairness over fairness, time after time after time. It is absolutely despicable to support perpetrators of abuse and punish those who are its victims and or who are complaining about it. The SNP ruling cabal, is rotten to the core.
When I saw this in the Herald on Wednesday I knew that I had seen Linden before and it just clicked on me whilst reading this, it’s Booji Boy (one for the Devo(lution) fans).
I see that Bath has a ‘normous nob mown into its grass.
Good.
Since the SNP has abandoned its raison d’etre and is now a full -frontal devo party like SLab, why should members wheesht for Indy?
Seriously Nasty People
Other than wishful thinking, why do many believe SNP will deliver on self-determination? SNPs actions are contrary to the goal of independence.
There’s no indication of a genuine plan. Waiting for a magical figure of 60% to materialise out of the ether, while outlandish policies, deter any move toward that 60% polling figure. That type of initiative, only maintains the status quo, blatant abuse of the electorate, deliberate obstruction of the supposed goal of independence.
Further orchestration of the electorate, made more difficult, by previous lies.. Apathy inevitable. A one trick pony, has lost its way. The knacker’s yard awaits SNP.
Breastplate and Tartanterra,
I seem to agree with you, I think, perhaps.
The problem has been and remains the lightweight, lazy politicians who know that Independence espousal is the way to get elected by the mob which is easily aroused. Independence when there are such people making the decisions for the country will be disastrous. Hence the strength of the NO votes.
So far, the plan adopted by the SNP is to garner a preferably substantial majority for leaving the UK by letting life in Scotland become as bad as possible, with ‘It’s England’s fault’ as the excuse. Delusional- that’s how to make the NO vote even stronger.
Instead, a Government should be able to say ‘look how well Scotland is doing’. Hackneyed it may be but ‘It’s the Economy, Stupid’ remains the crux.
Only if a successful economy is created and demonstrates it can produce sufficient breast milk so that Barnett Formula becomes redundant will the NO become a YES.
Such an economic turnaround requires intelligent, experienced political leadership. It exists in the country but not in Holyrood amongst the parties who’s only manifesto is ‘Independence! Down with the English!’
Remember, the Union came about when Scotland was an economic basket case. Becoming another sinkhole is not the way to leave.
What I find incomprehensible is that these deviants hold so much power over the whole of Scotland , how have these evil self serving bullies become so powerful
Why have the people who have suffered the sexual advances of this obvious sexual predator not made representation to the police , it was the same with Grady in WM WHY was he not legally criminally challenged and investigated instead of being protected and cuddled by Blackfud and the other perverts and deviants, for him to be suspended and readmitted to the Sexual Nonces Party after a short period only highlights that sexual proclivities are more valued than starving kids and hypothermic pensioners
TBQH I will celebrate the demise and complete destruction of this nest of RANCID, FETID , BULLYING SEXUAL PERVERTS AND DEVIANTS and we must work to ensure that no group of fake scum politicians can take such a hold on Scotland’s governance as these unmentionables have done
How is it possible to have so many creeps, weirdos and perverts in one party?
Can you imagine if they were actually pushing for Independence and won. What sort of country would it be?
There’s nothing particularly sinister on how this happened/happens/will continue. If you’re a member of an under-represented group, shall we say, and are interested in a career in politics then the current leadership are disposed towards your candidacy. With no other commitments – family, business, etc. – you have the time to do what’s needed to get the job. Throw in a sense of self-entitlement and give them a bit of power and the “fun” starts. Since this is all about image, the people who opened the door to you are desperate to shut everything down lest their careers are affected, and here we are. It’s classic nepotism and corruption and it’s featured in Private Eye, every week for as long as I can remember.
Proof that Nicola doesn’t read books. I am reading the first Tony Hill book by Val McDermid “The Mermaids (sic) Singing”. Graphic stuff not for the faint hearted, but the point is the serial killer / torturer (spoiler alert) is a “trans woman”!!
twathater says:
5 May, 2023 at 3:32 am
What I find incomprehensible is that these deviants hold so much power over the whole of Scotland , how have these evil self serving bullies become so powerful…
Because we have society and Local Authority system which allows them to prosper.
Don’t forget, these shenanigans are going on with people in the same Party. What are the prospects of justice for a “little guy” ordinary member of society trying to pursue justice? I can tell you, from first hand experience.
These people are not answerable. None of them. Scottish, (and indeed UK Government too), is a racket, and has been for decades.
The entire system needs reform, and effective measures against corruption rigorously introduced. Did I say reform? It needs binned and re-invented from scratch. We could do worse than put Sara Salyers in charge of that particular project.
Unfortunately for Scotland, the institutionalised racketeering of Unionism and Scotland’s perpetual exploitation demands a system of government which hides information from the Scottish Public. Look no further than the McCrone Report as evidence of that, but then ask yourself whether the McCrone Report was a one-off or simply the tip of the ice berg.
We all know the answer to that one, don’t we? And on the subject itself… When Alex Salmond got the McCrone Report released, what actually happened to reverse the scandal? Not a damn thing. Despite knowing how much our robbed every day, there isn’t a single barrel of oil reclaimed. The theft goes on unabated. Consequences, there came none.
Just look at how the “system” has ostracised and neutered, or at least tried to neuter Alex Salmond, ALBA, and a host of other “rebellious” misfits who cannot be tamed, bought, or brought to heel by “the system”.
There is no limit to the magnitude of the lie, theft, or deception which can be suffered upon Scotland, because Scotland is mute and utterly powerless to extract any consequence.
Whether it’s our Local Authority swamped in corruption, we are powerless to contest it.
When our News and broadcasting is sheer propaganda, we have zero capacity to change a thing.
When “our” judges are complicit with the oppression of pro-Independence voices, whether that’s the Salmond Stitch up, Craig Murray going to jail on Mickey Mouse “jig-saw” evidence, or Scotland’s Constitution being defended by a Lord Advocate with even less belief in Scotland than Gauleiter Sturgeon, we the people, are singularly unable to hold them to account.
Alex Salmond couldn’t quite get Scotland over the line in 2014, but he did give us a wee glimpse of the “better” Scotland which is ours for the taking when we finally rid ourselves of these parasitic charlatans masquerading as Independence supporters and activists.
You know the irony in all of this? When Alex Salmond, (or whoever else it may be”, gets this situation by the scruff of the neck, he could bring in an illiberal political discipline to purge Scotland of these troughing shitebags that would make Blackbeard the Pirate blush, and I’d be cheering my lungs out.
Scotland the Nation is sick in both mind and body, but the disease is like AIDS, our blight attacks the body’s immune system and circumvents the defences which would otherwise attack and destroy the pathogens in the bloodstream which would do us harm or feast upon us.
I don’t care who you are or where you are. GET TO GLASGOW tomorrow. Assemble in strength and give back Scotland some hope and some dignity.
I don’t want to be remembered as the generation who nearly took back Independence.
If that drone attack on the Kremlin had been successful in killing Vlad we would be staring down the barrel of WW3 right now. That is how close we are right now.
Meanwhile look at the endless incompetent nonces we have got running Scotland oblivious in their perv bubble. It is like two different worlds. We are on the brink yet all the SNP can think about is trannies and stripping our civil liberties away. I am really starting to loathe them with a passion.
When you think of the decades of effort done by so many good people to build the SNP up, the betrayal of them all in 10 short years by this criminal cabal of utter cunts really is disgusting. What have they done…
I’d like to think they will face justice but this is Scotland and as we know Scotland does not do justice.
Bumsrush says
Remember, the Union came about when Scotland was an economic basket case. Becoming another sinkhole is not the way to leave
You should brush up on Scottish history before making such a terrible statement .You will find the situation between Scotland and England to be the exact opposite of what you state. England, as usual back in 1707 was utterly bankrupt in debt for £ miilions. Scotland was awash with cash, that is all England wanted. England has never in its history managed to stand on its own feet without plundering the resources of other countries.
AndyH says:
5 May, 2023 at 6:46 am
How is it possible to have so many creeps, weirdos and perverts in one party?
That’s politics, Andy.
However, what has gone seriously wrong with the SNP since 2015 is that the usual checks and balances designed to keep those power hungry “creeps, weirdos and perverts” under control were completely removed. Any normal, decent party members who spoke out were quickly silenced. The current disaster unfolding was inevitable.
Should this not be taken to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman? SNP’s and North Lanarkshire Council’s internal complaints processes seemed to have been exhausted so next logical step should be the SPSO. Especially since Sturgeon & Murrell have actively played a huge part in shielding a dangerous individual. No wonder the scummy skanky vermin are all deserting the gravy train. What else does Sturgeon have crammed in her closet?
A great sickness has enveloped the SNP in recent years. The SNP needs to be expunged from public life wherever it is found. They have form for this kind of stuff at WM to Patrick Grady and Patricia Gibson accusations.
@Luigi/Andy et al –
Why so many like-minded pervs in one party?
This is where it gets really hard to stomach…
If we accept that the financial shenanigans has at least partly been exposed and is sort-of being dealt with, we’re left with all the sex-related shitery to sort out. That’s where it gets nasty and it feels as if it could get much worse – worse beyond what most folk can even imagine.
We’ve all experienced workplaces, esp in the creative industries, where it helps if you have a particular sexuality. Obviously, gender comes into it too for some, and there have always been ways for like-minded folk to find one another. Now, it’s easy because anything goes and you can say that you identify as whatever you like and there’s a mandatory round of applause. But it wasn’t always like that – the secrecy (and real danger for some) was part of the excitement.
Have you ever gone into a new workplace and been ‘vetted’ by some of the staff? They have to know if you’re available so there are ways of checking you out without making it too obvious. First they’ll find out if you’re available (single) then straight or gay, and thereafter, who knows? Are you into this, that or the other? And if it’s the other then so-and-so may know someone who has parties and blah blah blah. As and when these characters get into positions where they are responsible for the hiring/firing then it obviously saves them a great deal of bother if they can recruit fellow travellers directly. Fresh meat if you like.
The flip side of that process is the one most of us are much more familiar with i.e. when it’s established that you’re not ‘one of them’ you cease to exist. You are cancelled. Simply because you’re not available.
Just as Grouse Beater has ignited another ‘blood & soil’ spat on Twitter by daring to mention a friend’s testimony re a highland trip during which he hasn’t yet met anyone Scottish, so it is with this uncomfortable truth – the gay/queer subculture which survived using secrecy, codes and disguise is no longer underground. But there have always been characters with very specific tastes who used that culture as cover, seeking more danger, more thrills, more extreme activities. At some point that, inevitably, starts to involve children.
And that’s where I fear this is all headed, and may help explain why it’s taking so long to prosecute. ‘As above, so below’, and as in the States, so here, just a bit later. What’s been happening there for years is beyond description and I won’t even dare post links. But there’s no logical reason to assume that it hasn’t been happening here for a long time. The fact that most decent folk can’t stomach the subject and instinctively recoil from any discussion is part of the reason they’ve been getting away with it.
“ Breeks @0734am “. Indeed “ the entire system needs reform” (as you say ).Nepotism is rife , our society has people in positions because of WHO THEY KNOW and not WHAT THEY KNOW . Swathes of our younger generation are discriminated against by employers because they “live in the wrong area or “ didn’t go to the right school” . Favouritism is rife in areas such as the civil service , local government and government agencies where “ family connections & cronyism are the norm . Instead of training our own local people for recruitment into high tech employment, companies continue to recruit from outwith the local area . Our universities now are money orientated and fee paying students are now preferred . Our institutions are riddled with members who signal with the required “ handshake”
As you say Breeks “ Scotland the nation is sick” , and has been for decades in my opinion .
Thatcherism introduced a “ greed culture “ in to our society . People nowadays are far less community oriented than previous generations who always put neighbourliness and friendliness ahead of material possessions. Happier days .
In microcosm:Decadence and decline before the inevitable collision with reality and the dole queue.
The whole of Holyrood seems to be full of creeps, weirdos and perverts. Pretty much all parties, the crony/nepotistic public payroll spads and party hangers on, the civil service and the media.
I don’t know if it is because it is just a pretendy parliament, with little real responsibility allocating the scraps from Westminster that has allowed it to become a public service playground, but it is seriously unrepresentative of the country at large and largely devoid of anyone with real world accomplishments.
Accuracy is important. Scotland was never an economic basket case. Instead the Scottish nobility were a basket case. having invested and lost most of their money in a failed scheme.
Remember the English at that time were also blockading trading routes around the coast.
Just had a look at carragher’s picture on the council page and right enough she displays a lot of the sturgeon markers. Sharpish suit, power hair cut, narrow lips
Yep classic fuckwit
So the SNP is washed up, busted destined for oblivion. A common tune played among the not so covert unionist voices who post on sites such as this.
The membership of the National party through their lack of oversight facilitated the current malaise. Membership action, that’s what being a member is all about, can restore the party’s raison d’être. Whinging in that very tiresome «Scotch defeatist» manner will simply continue the malaise. For unionists that amounts to slaughtering and dressing the turkey for their feast.
The turkey is certainly not dead, just needs better care and better nutrition.
Interesting to see the Daily Record trivialise the massive scale fraud police investigation, into corruption at the highest level in Scotland.
Since when did the Unionist rag work for the Sturgeon cabal?
Oh that’s right. It did when Nicola hired the architect of the Vow Murray Foote.
Now he’s using his newspaper to influence the police investigation.
When you lie down with dogs. Don’t be surprised if you catch flees.
They must be biting Murray Foote.
@Stuart MacKay 7.14am
A very clear explanation of what is probably the biggest problem in Scotland right now.
Thank you.
I’m the former Branch Organiser for Uddingston & Bellshill SNP. I left in disgust 4 years ago, so I know a lot about this from a historical perspective and this nonsense has been going on for years.
If anyone else wants further insight, I’d encourage them to look at @McMafiaWatch on twitter. The account stopped posting a fair while ago, roughly when a prominent critic within the party left the party and the country completely. No one knows for sure who McMafia Watch was/is, but they were quite obviously a party member with insider knowledge.
Jordan has lived a charmed life, so it’s good to see that finally his world is crumbling around him, as he deserves it. He was quite obviously being protected by someone high up in the party. The big question is who and why. You can almost certainly assume that he was a favoured individual because of his sexual proclivities, not his sparkling intellect.
https://twitter.com/Grouse_Beater/status/1654210250860273665?s=20
Stuart MacKay 7.14
“…classic nepotism and corruption…”
yes, indeed, and a good dose of hypocrisy to oil the wheels.
A tried and tested recipe.
Breeks @ 7:34 am
“Scotland the Nation is sick in both mind and body”
Well, here we must inevitably return to postcolonial theory and the well-trod decolonization template, which tells us that:
“Colonized society is a diseased society” (Memmi). And “whenever colonialism is imperiled it reaches for its roots – fascism” (Fanon).
And so it goes that “a nation which justifies colonization – and therefore force – is already a sick civilization, a civilization which is morally diseased, which irresistibly, progressing from one consequence to another, one denial to another, calls for its…. punishment.” (Cesaire)
As we see, the main work of a colonial administration is to bring in oppressive laws designed to hold back the independence movement and to haud doun the native people, to maintain the continued external plunder of their resources and to protect the interest of the colonizer.
This is done through “a very solid government organization and judicial system fed and renewed by the colonizer’s historic, economic and cultural needs.” (Memmi).
There is only one cure for ‘the colonial condition’ – liberation, also referred to as independence or decolonization.
The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal service keep saying this (of Operation Branchform):
“(we) continue to work with police in this ongoing investigation”, and: “It is standard practice that any case regarding politicians is dealt with by prosecutors without the involvement of the law officers.”
These two statements seem to contradict one another. I mean, aren’t policemen/women officers of the law? In which case, who are these other ‘law officers’ apparently not allowed involvement in Operation Branchform?
Any legal bod out there who can explain??
David Hannah says:
5 May, 2023 at 8:53 am
“Oh that’s right. It did when Nicola hired the architect of the Vow Murray Foote.
Now he’s using his newspaper to influence the police investigation.”
Sturgeon has used ‘won’t comment on an on-going police investigation’ on a number of occasions relating to this matter and the trials involving Alex Salmond,
Perhaps someone should bring MF’s ‘intervention’ in the Daily Record to the attention of the Constabulary because his comments in a public medium must be very close to contempt of court or some such.
There’s been a huge amount of gaslighting going on since 2015. Far more than usual.
Ordinary, decent people questioning dodgy Scottish government legislation and initiatives have been labelled racists, misogynists, transphobes, homophobes, environmental terrorists etc etc (you name it). Step out of line and you’re in trouble. This is neo-fascism, folks. The only way to face this is head-on, regardless of what they throw at us.
I’m glad that Scottish lawyers are making a stand against the highly politicised, rape trial without jury nonsense. Good on them. We should all be standing with them.
So in summary, not only were we expected to wheesht for indi, we had to wheesht for existing sex abusers, and wheesht for laws that would introduce and protect future sex abusers.
What a state the SNP are in.
I live in North Lanarkshire, the council is useless. It’s all jobs for the boys and back room deals. Remember the Mears debacle and the Reigart story? I grudge every penny of Council tax I pay. Every Councillor could be replaced with a goldfish and it would be an improvement.
@duncanio (9.39) –
Craig Murray made exactly that point via Twitter last night, observing that if he dared publish any similar statement he would find himself back in prison.
For those who may have missed it, this article is a keeper.
It also gives this place due credit for keeping abreast of the whole sordid affair surrounding ‘her’ departure.
https://thinkscotland.org/2023/04/can-yousaf-ever-come-out-of-sturgeons-shadow/
Ottomanboi says:
5 May, 2023 at 8:52 am
“So the SNP is washed up, busted destined for oblivion. A common tune played among the not so covert unionist voices who post on sites such as this.”
Change the record for fucksake! Blaming Tory Unionists for every bastard thing wrong with SNP.
Time does tend to fix everything. If you’re waiting for rebirth of SNP, good luck with seeing that, if over the age of 50.
More likely to see the end of SNP. What comes next has no relationship to that entity. Credibility sunk with the Party, along with the eejits, who blame others for that demise.
SNP has turned into the Scottish Labour Party.
Scottish Labour remember them?
for sturgeon from coldplay
I used to rule the world
Seas would rise when I gave the word
Now in the morning, I sleep alone
Sweep the streets I used to own……
My problem is that I don’t know what the terms sexual attack, sexual harassment actually mean and if they are crimes that should always be reported to the police.
I think I understand bullying and why that should be reported to HR or whatever the equivalent is in the SNP.
If a crime is committed against you at work are you free to get on your mobile phone and report it to the police or is there a requirement that you report it to HR?
I’m think back to when allegedly an SNP employee was raped at work. Was she required to report this to the SNP in order for them to decide what she should do?
@Alf Baird
Any indy campaign must appeal not only to patriotism but to another motivator: money.
The UK campaign focused on this with Project Fear.
There was no tangible immediate financial benefit for the working and middle-classes of Scotland to vote Yes.
The majority of the current Scottish elite (including the SNP) do not support indy for the same reasons as the elite in the 1700s. They are financially very comfortable under England’s rule.
The 2014 YES campaign largely went with “no changes” just an indy Scottish Parliament. E.g. Keep the monarchy, keep economic policy controlled by the Bank of England; keep the sharing UK resources etc etc. The only immediate difference would be a Parliament of Scotland instead of the colonial Scottish Parliament.
If we want a revolution, we must be revolutionary. Alba are starting to move slightly with talk of abolishing the monarchy which is a good start but again: how will the abolition of the monarchy benefit the masses?
Will any of the wealth amassed by the royalty be used to improve the lives of ordinary Scots? Or will it be like SNP reforms: give the poorest of the poor families a £250 benefit top-up but give the Duke of Buccleuch and other millionaire landowners millions for redundant grouse moors.
I can understand why they need ‘rape trials without jury’
This will be needed until such times as the population of Scotland get it into their thick heads that women have penises.
Accused introduced to jury:
This is Claire she is accused of rape.
Unenlightened jury immediately think ‘not guilty’ women can’t rape.
The good news about these juryless trials is they
‘require the consent of the accused to participate.’
The only reason I can see for the accused not to want a jury is that they are guilty and is a member of the same political party as the judge.
The question is in the event of ‘Claire’ being found guilty is where will she serve her sentence?
Obviously if ‘Claire’ is a woman she will go to the women’s prison.
If she has been a good little cult member and is found not guilty she will be free to enter women’s sports, changing rooms, refuses, toilets and even go for a smear test.
Transwomen are women and it’s time for the population of Scotland to get that into their thick bigoted, transphobic racist heads.
I’m working on it but I think I might need to go the rehab.
@Tom 9.31 am
Here’s a link that explains what and who Scotland’s law officers are,
https://www.parliament.scot/msps/ministers-and-law-officers/law-officers
You’ll see that the term ‘law officers’ has nothing to do with the polis. They’re actual key offices of Scotland’s state.
What interests me is what does ‘without the involvement’ really amount to in practice?
Scotland has two law officers.
This is a description of what ‘law officers’ in England do.
The UK government’s ‘law officers’ – the attorney general and solicitor general – are ministers who provide legal advice to their colleagues in government.
Our law officer couldn’t provide legal advice to her colleagues in government which I found very strange.
As a result we taxpayers had to pay out £millions so she could go to ask the Supreme court in England.
“Employee” of this MSP, “Employee” of that MSP.
That on top of the increasingly generous salaries and allowances that oor toon cooncillors now attract.
To do what exactly? Infighting like ferrets in a sack?
I’ve no doubt it’s exactly the same in Labour and the rest but as Independence supporters the corruption that is now the SNP is the greatest betrayal.
Silly Jordan.
Had he declared himself a trans woman and changed her name to Israel, she would have been double protected from the transphobes and anti-semites, and would be safe to fiddle and diddle all day long!
“At this time the Group also suffered the defection of two long standing councillors to Scottish Labour. Both councillors cited as part of their reasons the refusal by HQ to address concerns raised previously.”
Really? The councillors at the centre of the actual Monklands McMafia scandal are now being held up as paragons of virtue? Don’t make me laugh!
https://anindependentscotsman.wordpress.com/2022/08/13/the-snp-and-the-completely-preventable-loss-of-north-lanarkshire-council/
wullie says:
5 May, 2023 at 7:35 am
Bumsrush says
I was lucky enough to go to school before the SNP got its hands on education.
Scotland’s economy was indeed in a mess. The country had lost £150,000 (a massive blow to the Exchequer) through the Panama fiasco at the turn of the century, there was widespread poverty even by the standards of the times and the wealth of England by head of population was seven times that of Scotland.
Stuart Mackay and Ian Brotherhood answered the question of why and how these perverts gained and were able to utilise so much power over the people of Scotland and they did so with considerable diplomacy
A diplomacy grounded in fear in case the TRUTH should be considered hurtful or threatening , a fearful diplomacy that saying the TRUTH will automatically lead to accusations of all sorts of isms
BUT we the general public have brought this on ourselves by accepting the reverse bullying that continues to SILENCE other opinions, opposition and voices , the GRR bill is a PERFECT example of this reverse bullying where opposition to the lunacy eagerly embraced by a minority of deviants and perverts results in total warfare against science and biology and anyone who dares CHALLENGE the LUNACY is ostracised, ridiculed , demonised and threatened
Wullie says cont’d
As for the National Debt, England required Scotland to accept joint responsibility in return for a lifesaving payment of £398,000 (about £44,000,000 now).
England’s reason for union was primarily security, for Scotland it was the economy. There’s no shame in it, both countries needed it, both benefitted.
Her main crime is her inability to conjugate compound verbs.
Bumsrush:
You fail to distinguish between the private debt of Scottish investors in the Darien scheme and sovereign debt. The latter in Scotland was miniscule, whereas sovereign/state debt in England was massive, incurred because of England’s almost continously warlike behaviour in Europe. Its motive for the Union was very much economic AND political. Scotland continues to be the milch-cow which keeps on giving for its southern neighbour and our independence represents an existential threat to resource-poor England’s economy.
England (and Spain) conspired to strangle the Darien project of course and Scotland came under tremendous pressure from the crushing trade embargo of the English Alien Act.
The Scots “nobility” (great oxymoron) sold out their country to get their hands on the English bribe. No wonder the Act of Union had to be signed in secret in Edinburgh and the popular revulsion to it meant that Scotland was in turmoil for years afterwards, which eventually fuelled the various Jacobite struggles (inscription on Jacobite swords: “Prosperity for Scotland and No Union”).
Even Daniel Defoe, one of the main architects of the Union, admitted Scotland had suffered rather than benefitted from it.
But you know all this already, don’t you?
Tinto Chiel
No, I didn’t know such a spin could be put on such happenings but, as I said earlier, I was educated pre-SNP.
Here is a Scottish quote regarding the economic strength of Scotland at the time:
‘IT IS technically correct but highly misleading to say that Scotland had no national debt in 1707. England’s national debt, funding government expenditure by long-term borrowing through a central bank, was then unique. Like pre-1694 England, Scotland’s financial administration operated as a pay-as-you-go system, eked out by short-term loans. It worked well enough up to 1688 but then broke down, leaving an increasing burden of public debt. In 1704, outstanding debt for the period 1689-1700 alone was estimated to be about £110,000 sterling, a sum ?that exceeded a year’s normal revenue. From 1702, renewed war added to the debt, and ?by 1707 warrants issued by ?the Treasury were often little better than IOUs’.
I think you should have left it at, “No, I didn’t know” before you embarrassed yourself.
Source for your quotation?
I suspect your “such a spin” comment means facts as opposed to the usual condescending and ill-informed English crapola re the Union.
Here you are –
https://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/letters/unsustainable-debt-led-scotland-treaty-union-1541703
Tinto Chiel
Just to rub it in, here’s the C.V. of the author –
https://www.scotsman.com/news/obituary-dr-athol-murray-historian-scholar-and-former-keeper-records-scotland-253014
Still want to bluster?
I’m “technically correct” re national debt because I’m correct, full stop.
Re Dr Murray’s quotation, “England’s national debt, funding government expenditure by long-term borrowing through a central bank, was then unique” because it had to be to service the massive debts it had occurred through its expenditure on wars. And so, it was national debt of a whopping kind, not the relatively small private debt of wealthy Scottish individuals who sold out for a wad of English bane.
Forgive me if I don’t fall over myself to automatically accept the opinion of an English historian working in Scotland quoted in the ultra-unionist Scotsman newspaper. Scottish universities are full of such “historians” who punt the Unionist line and are awarded for it.
If you wish to read an account of the Union from a Scottish perspective, I suggest you read P.H. Scott’s “The Union of 1707: How and Why” (2006), which has an excellent chapter on The Equivalent by J.G. Pendrigh which you might find enlightening.
Even Sir John Clerk of Penicuik, former arch-unionist functionary under Lord Queensferry, finally admitted in his Observations (1730) the following:
Post 1707, “we were in a state of absolute bondage to England”. Of the Union, “not even one percent of the people approved.”
There was, “a moral certainty that England wou’d never allow us to grow rich and powerful in a separate state.”
Of Darien, “The English were so far from assisting us that they did all in their power to ruine us.”
In his “History”: “Scotland’s trade…. was sacrificed to English greed” and “Scotland was left by nothing but its name and ruled like a province of England.”
I could go on but sledgehammer and nut springs to mind. Sadly this realisation/epiphany came when it was much, much too late.
And so we go on.
‘I’m “technically correct” re national debt’ but you’re misled, comma.
Scotland had no National Debt because it still employed the hand- to-mouth system that had existed since Roman times, like the rest of the world. It had no financial backbone – ‘by 1707 warrants issued by the Treasury were often little better than IOUs’.
I’ll end now; you are clearly a true believer but I will read the texts you recommended.
“I’ll end now; you are clearly a true believer.”
And as are you in your own line.
Glad you accept (again) that Scotland had no sovereign debt.
And thank God from your perspective that England magically and exceptionally had no such hand-to-mouth existence, unlike the rest of the world by your analysis, and had unique “financial backbone” through long-term loans based on securities set against the future pillaging of Scottish resources.
There’s a reason that the English Treasury stopped issuing separate Scottish accounts in the early 1920s which clearly showed the disparity between taxes ingathered from Scotland and expenditure made there.
But then you know all this, don’t you?
@ Breeks 7.34am I as usual agree with most if not all you are saying , unfortunately I don’t have the faith that you and others seem to have that Alex Salmond is a great tactician , in the run up to 2014 during the debates he was caught wrong footed on a few occasions and quite honestly he failed abysmally to destroy Osborne’s and Cameron’s threat that they would NOT ALLOW Scotland to use sterling, his failure to address that aggressively and ridicule their bollocks weakened our case to the unconvinced
I find that our politicians are cowards when it comes to confronting the enemy, the excuse is always diplomacy and manners, unfortunately the enemy has no such reservations, they consider every nuance or utterance of anything remotely to do with independence as a blood sport and show no sign of compassion or empathy in their DEMANDS to destroy independence
I agree wholeheartedly with your proposal for Sara Salyers and SALVO to research and propose a better system of politics within Scotland for we will NEVER get a better system if it is left to politicians
I have already commented that I hold no faith in Cherry , Forbes or Regan because they have been complicit and cowardly by their silence in allowing the deviant and her disciples to sabotage numerous opportunities to forward independence, they don’t even have the integrity to legally challenge the fraudulent election of the cardboard cutout of the moronic Useless
I will not be attending the AUOB march tomorrow due to health reasons but I wish everyone participating an enjoyable collective happy day
What a total shower of shit they are. Not surprised in slightest and wasn’t ‘councillor’ Alan Stubbs reported recently as suspended from his other job for theft? https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/snp-councillor-reported-over-theft-from-police-station-58w3m996n
I suppose our area got off lightly in comparison to this travesty. We only had an SNP Councillor who in his 15 years in office never once attended a Community Council meeting, never once offered his apologies, never attended a community event and once didn’t even attend a Remembrance Sunday event he was earmarked for. Thank goodness he was booted out last year.
“ My principles when I first joined the Party remain the same, primarily my absolute and unwavering conviction and belief in the cause of independence”
And when you prioritise nationalism above everything else, you diminish the importance of a just society because of your obsession – thus inviting in the perverts, the abusers, and especially those who wish to crush women’s rights under the nationalist jackboot, and who exploit your obsession by supporting it for the fulfilment of their own agenda. Gender ID ain’t happening in England because it isn’t obsessed with one cause.
Having been 10 years a Cllr on NLC and from 2012-2019 an SNP member, the intake of elected members in 2017 wuith Linden and Co was utterly toxic from day one. Never have I met a more narcissitic calculating snotbag as Linden who walked in from day one and still a teenager, with a grandiose look over the group that said I am here to rule dominate and exploit you all for ME ME ME ME ME and ME and wqith the sing of power I shall be an MP. Cllr for not big enough for this inexperienced untalented but expert boot licker….. And everyone knew at that point about him sending pics of his dick to an under age lad at the grooming youth parliament and how that case went to ‘arbitration’ to protect the SNP Youth mobs reputation. Labour though knew all about it the day he was elected & kept their powder dry. Then there was Cllr Mark John Kerr the social media ‘expert’ who is now serving 6 yrs in jail for his sexual esploitations of under age lads. I resigned due to this toxic group. Btw Mr Independence Hepburn knew all about Cllr Mark Kerr’s sexual exploits/abuse before he personally pledged his support for the candidate who failed vetting so Hepburn put his career on the line to get Kerr nominated and Hepburn has come out of this unscathed. I left the chicancery of this group in 2019 sick of the incompetance, dodgy dealings and disgraceful mediocrity of them. Even Mrs Hepburn said she could never stand as a candidate for the SNP in NLC area as it was too toxic. But she has more honesty and principles than her self loving mediocre control freak husband. People like this destroyed the dream of Independence. A bandwagon of fools is what it became on NLC.
What is it with the .S.N.P. and attracting/enabling/protecting sexual predators? I’ve honestly lost count at this point of how many have been accused and or convicted during the last twelve month, (maybe Wings could compile a list).