More wasted days
Lady Dorrian’s full judgement and reasoning in respect of last week’s hearing involving The Spectator has been published on the Scottish Courts website.
It contains nothing that those who listened in on the case by telephone last week didn’t hear for themselves – it’s simply an 11-page summary of what was debated in court and casts no new light on what Lady Dorrian said at the time.
We’ll be very interested to see whether or not The Spectator – or perhaps more to the point its lawyers, who we must presume had vetted and cleared the initial publication just as Alex Salmond’s lawyers had – now feels able to restore the redacted paragraph that it removed after what it can now be publicly revealed was a threat from the Crown Office (a threat also received by this website).
The magazine’s response today is non-committal on the subject.
While it is this site’s belief that the paragraph in question DOES NOT identify anyone as a complainer – the Crown Office has not communicated which “other evidence” it feels could be combined with the paragraph, which makes no reference whatsoever to the criminal case, to provide identification – the restoration of the missing paragraph would certainly appear to provide circumstantial evidence to that effect, something which would be entirely due to the intervention of the Crown Office.
But overall, the needless delay in publishing this document has merely run down the clock on the inquiry by another week – time that it can ill afford – without providing any real additional clarity.
(We’re a bit puzzled as to why The Spectator’s counsel appears to have given up so easily on the second element of their application, which sought to specifically permit the publication of both Salmond and Geoff Aberdein’s written evidence.)
The fact that the judgement wasn’t released yesterday probably means, at a minimum, no more evidence sessions until next week, as the committee generally only meets on Tuesdays. We hope that doesn’t become a crucial issue, but we fear that the written judgement is sufficiently tepid that the crooked SNP members of the committee, and the spineless Andy Wightman, will use it to justify rejecting Salmond’s evidence and therefore hearing from him in person, rendering the entire undertaking moot anyway.
Press conference it is, then.
What’s more to the point is: can this information, redacted paragraph or not, be made public and relied upon by Alex Salmond when he appears before the Inquiry?
In light of Lady Dorrian’s judgement, as a soveriegn citizen of Scotland I now expect the committee to re-evaluate all of the evidence that has been redacted and republish unredacted evidence as soon as possible as it is imperative not only to the confidence of the committee themselves but also the confidence of the Scottish Parliament and the confidence of the electorate.
This abject dereliction of duty and getting to the truth behind the matter cannot go on.
We all need to have a full understanding in what went so wrong with this government and civil service policy, if that means the committee now need request a delay to the incoming Scottish Parliament elections then so be it, justice not only need to be done, but needs to be seen to be done.
Why does this Committee only meet on one day a week? Anyone would think they didn’t want to get to the bottom of this affair.
“Why does this Committee only meet on one day a week?”
Well, clearly the SNP members are all busy with indyref planning, lolz.
So a free press now means ‘free to publish articles without censorship’ but liable to be jailed at the whim of the Crown Office if the latter doesn’t like the political views of the journalist.
Well, my reading into that, is that Lady Dorrian’s changes are still open for interpretation depending on what side of he fence you sit.
The SNP led committee, in my opinion, is still not going to allow Alex Salmond’s or Geoff Aberdein’s evidence to be seen.
And that might very well be that.
Maybe the Speccy jumped in first, to stop others seeking ‘clarity’.
A voice from the ships bridge suddenly cries out:
((((( YOUR MAJESTY, MAY FAST APPROACHING, DEAD AHEAD! )))))
There you go…
link to spectator.co.uk
For those not subscribed:
Last week, The Spectator went to the High Court in Edinburgh to seek clarification on the publication of Alex Salmond’s written testimony to the Parliamentary Inquiry into how the Scottish Government handled complaints against him (nothing to do with the criminal trial). We published his evidence on our website in January as a public service. By contrast, and to our surprise, the Inquiry decided that it was unable to consider this evidence, apparently due to a court order protecting the anonymity of complainers.
We welcome Lady Dorrian’s written judgment today which confirms that – as we always believed – the court had no intention of obstructing a legitimate parliamentary inquiry established to investigate government behaviour and hold it to account. We believe there is no reason why all key and relevant evidence should not now be published.
It is right, of course, that none of the complainers should be identified: this is a matter of basic decency as well as observing a court order. But both Parliament and the Press do have a duty to scrutinise evidence from all sides and to inform the public on issues of national importance. We respect the importance of striking the correct balance between the freedom to publish important information and providing anonymity for complainers.
The court judgment clearly says that it is for the Parliamentary Inquiry to decide how to proceed. As we argued after the initial judgment last week, the Scottish Parliament was created to bring transparency and scrutiny to devolved government. It is now for the Inquiry to put that into effect. Anything less would be an affront to the accountability of government in a democratic society — and render the Inquiry null and void.
“It is now for the Inquiry to put that into effect. Anything less would be an affront to the accountability of government in a democratic society — and render the Inquiry null and void.” Andrew Neil
The Spectator thinks the information should be published with suitable redactions where necesary. We’ll see if Andy Wightman agrees, or not.
Turning into quite a VIP in legal, journalistic and governmental circles, isn’t he.
mountain shadow says:
16 February, 2021 at 3:57 pm
The SNP led committee, in my opinion, is still not going to allow Alex Salmond’s or Geoff Aberdein’s evidence to be seen.
Alex Salmonds lawyers sent correspondence to the committee on the 11th stating they were waiting on the written judgement from the court.
ref: link to parliament.scot
Pending that judgement they state: “We hope immediately thereafter to be in a position to re-submit both Mr Salmond’s submissions on the Ministerial Code and his final submission.”
I would not discount Alex Salmonds evidence yet, nor Geoff Aberdeins’ as they both seem extremely relevant to the entire fiasco.
What needs to be seen in my opinion is the committee actually doing their job and not sandbagging the inquiry at every opportunity.
Presumably Lady Dorian never intended that the order preventing identification of complainers should be used to prevent investigation of potential wrongdoing by others in their place of work. That would seen particularly unreasonable where the activity under investigation occurred before the complaint was made.
She appeared to say as much last week
committee meeting tomorrow (Wednesday 17) @ 5pm
Now we have Dorian the turncoat, and the ultra woke Harvey pile in on Mackay’s Twitter. We have the goods on those two as well and they know it.
Both are up for reelection soon, we can end their time slurping at the taxpayers trough in May, it must be done.
link to twitter.com
The Fabiani Inquiry is meeting in private tomorrow to consider it’s Work Programme.
Oops wrong thread feel free to delete my 4.20pm comment Rev, apologies.
So enough in the judgement for the committee to refusing publishing both pieces of evidence.
This rendering it almost pointless.
Has anyone else detected a slight shift from the pro NS brigade to pinning some of the blame on to the civil service? (Eg Mairi Hunter)
Is that now their expected out – that Leslie Evans has to take the fall and go?
Hopefully someone furth of Scotland will find out the whole sorry mess and publish.
This cannot be allowed to stand.
P.S. Where is the ring-fenced money ?
Alex Salmond should attend the committee and read out both his and Geoff Aberdein’s evidence at the start of the session. There is nothing to stop him doing this now.
Rev Stu-
Do you still anticipate Sturgeon’s resignation? Not seeing it myself at the moment.
Has it all boiled down to just a time wasting exercise, the committee and COPFS in cahoots, to run the clock down to the point of no return, and what of Mr Hamilton, and his eagerly awaited report?
I wonder what the object of the exercise really is ,so far most people have gathered its playing for time , one up 5 min to go keep the ball in your opponent’s half it works ,
The inquiry set up to fail with strict time limits and even sometimes baffling narrow limits to what can be asked of civil servants all who seemed to have collective amnesia .
What would be the point ? , is it to absolve the entire shit show and all involved of any blame and say well we had a exhaustive Inquiry and ithas been found no single person was to blame lessons will be learned and changes made .
End of Whitewash statment next item of business
The rumor of Lawyers , civil servants and everyone involved going on a world cruise is strongly denied and what was it Nicola said utter rubbish there is no cruse , eh frank get the sunscreen i am out of here christ I need a break .
If the committee does not publish Geoff Aberdein’s and Alex Salmond’s evidence submission then the following must happen.
1.All non SNP committee members resign the day before Nicola Sturgeon’s interview.
2. The media publish both the evidence documents on the day of the Nicola Sturgeon interview.
That should clarify the SG mess and Nicola Sturgeon’s lies.
@Robert Graham – If the Inquiry is wound-up, and it might be, then it will be wound-up in disgrace.
The press will take-over and Alex Salmond’s evidence ‘will see the light of day’ – maybe not a Holyrood Inquiry, but at a press conference.
Reason, logic and fairness are conspicious by their absence in the ongoing ‘Salmond trial’. I said to the wife after Dorrians judgement last week, its obvious they dont want the Salmond or Aberdein testimony at the inquiry under any circumstances. No amount of court judgements or judges rulings even going as far as a judge calling the opinion of the inquiry “absurd” will make them decide to admit the testimonies. As soon as either is allowed, the dam bursts. Its jail time for the perjurors, liars, abusers of high office, misappropriators of ring-fenced funds, wasters of police time and malicious prosecutors. The testimonies of Aberdein and Salmond just cannot be allowed under any circumstances.
The needle returns to the start of the song and we all go along like before
And we’ll all be lonely tonight and lonely tomorrow??
When does James Hamilton QC publish his report?
Running down time
link to en.m.wikipedia.org
This is like watching two juggernauts going head to head on full power.
Something had to give.
They’re letting the time drain away, which means it’s no longer Scotland’s Watergate but Sluice-gate.
No Princess Nicola will be absolved
No further work will be done joe public will just have to suck it up as just one of these things that happen
ALL BECAUSE NICOLA IS AND HAS AND BEEN PROTECTED by the establishment she poses NO threat to them in fact she’s their best asset way better than Tory Davidson because the mugs trusted her
sorry about the caps ,old age and bloody angry
Hmmm an Inquiry that meets once in a blue moon and stops working after a couple of hours when they do rarely show up for work.
And they are running out of time you say.
Amazing! Who could have seen that coming.
We always seem to be waiting on something to happen out with our control.
That is the most frustrating thing about Scottish Politics.
We are never in control.
During the Treeza May government we were waiting on the next big EU meeting coming up. Those meetings that were going to decide the outcome of Brexit never happened.
Brexit went on and on and on.
We are going through the same process here. Meeting after meeting after meeting.
And still we are no further forward.
With the Holyrood election fast approaching, we will be hearing ‘No more time for any meetings, it’s time to get out there and vote”.
Playing right into Sturgeon’s dirty little hands.
I’m really confused. The invention of jigsaw identification seems to have been an excuse not just to clarify what would be a breech of reporting restrictions but to go further than the law allowed.
As such it seems that the order was illegal as first worded and any prosecution pending should now be dropped with compensation given to those who were taken to court under it.
The more substantive point is that whilst I could ask for a list of who worked with and for Alex Salmond at the time of the 2014 referendum I couldn’t be answered due to this order not simply because of it but because one of those names would have to be redacted which in turn means all of them would have to be. Even asking the question might get me in trouble.
Well, combine that rather non-committal judgement with the BBC scare story and you have, hey presto, (adopts pompous voice) we can’t do anything that might identify the poor harassed complainants. Job done. No change in anything, least of all in the rather unique inquiry which refuses to inquire into anything.
This whole farce and travesty of justice is because of anonymity of women complainers of alleged sexual assaults. Time to end anonymity.
link to twitter.com
I don’t do Twatter but I do click the links on this site
I quite liked this , have another wee donation , keep up the good work , if it wasn’t for the good folk like you , eejits like me wouldn’t have a clue what’s really going on
The Spectator has a tone of justifying the dismantling of the Holyrood experiment, and of negating recent Independence gains;
The court judgment clearly says that it is for the Parliamentary Inquiry to decide how to proceed. As we argued after the initial judgment last week, the Scottish Parliament was created to bring transparency and scrutiny to devolved government. It is now for the Inquiry to put that into effect. Anything less would be an affront to the accountability of government in a democratic society.
Negating recent independence gains; wonder who should carry the can (or kick the can down the road) for that?
The SNP is poisoned, from the inside out, I couldn’t vote for a Unionist party.
Interesting that this written judgment comes so (relatively) quickly, while Craig Murray has now been waiting 3 weeks for his own judgement on a very closely related matter. What’s going on?
So, wtaf?
I’m pissed off.
Granted I’ve not managed to read all of it, but from that I’ve read of the published evidence so far, and the analysis provided by others (e.g. Gordon Dangerfield), it seems that at least two SG officials had involvement in the policy formation; even if only in terms of acting as go betweens to Sturgeon.
One of those would seem to be Sturgeon’s “chief of staff*”‘, Liz Lloyd (which I believe we got from Evans testimony), I can’t recall who the other was – possibly a private secretary, or junior official.
However it seems that neither has so far submitted evidence, nor been called upon to testify. Since we’re now in another delay phase, and after todays order variation, whatever evidence they provide should obviously be safe to take and publish.
As such rather than compel AS to apply now, how about compelling those two?
* When did we adopt this term from the USA? I seem to recall a recent PM having a “chief of staff”.
A good while ago now well before 2014 I recall having a chat with an English colleague who quite candidly confessed that he was very envious that we had the SNP to vote for instead of the stale and corrupt parties on offer down south, Labour, Liberal, Conservative.
(This was of course pre Sturgeon era when the SNP had a pulse, was vibrant and energized and dare I say it, exciting.)
Funny how quickly that was snuffed out looking back with hindsight and how now the SNP is now just another waste of time party same as the others.
Sigh. We handed the crown jewels over to a thief.
‘It is for the Parliamentary Inquiry to determine how to proceed.’
It couldn’t be simpler. Allow Alex Salmond and Geoff Aberdein’s submissions, free from any information which would allow jigsaw identification of the complainers.
OPTION 1: It is for the Inquiry team to get that done. If it continues to be stymied by Andy Wightman and the SNP members, then the Inquiry should be wound-up. Stop wasting everyone’s time.
OPTION 2: Delay the May election until this is satisfactorily resolved.
Well PayPal’s decided my postcode doesn’t exist after 50 odd years , I’ll try again through the gin posting
@JB John Somers has testified, but perhaps not quite truthfully.
See link to gordondangerfield.com
We’re a bit puzzled as to why The Spectator’s counsel appears to have given up so easily on the second element of their application, which sought to specifically permit the publication of both Salmond and Geoff Aberdein’s written evidence.
The Spectator being a right wing extremist rag is only involved
in this to weaken any ideas of an independent government.
The second element could well have put Alex Salmond in a good light,
proved him to have been innocent while confirming the fact he was targeted.
They and their Union would be happy to condemn an innocent man
if he threatens the right of the rich to keep one hand in Scotland’s pocket
with the other on its throat.
The Spectator would never indulge in anything pro Scotland!
I would be up for a delay to the Holyrood election.
A May election is what Sturgeon wants.
Put it off until September.
Not a solicitor, but the addition of ‘as such complainers in those proceedings’ seems to suggest that all individuals involved, in their professional capacity, in the Scottish Government’s handling of harassment complaints and the subsequent judicial review can be named and their actions examined.
In the event that any of those individuals were complainers in the case of HMA v Alexander Elliot Anderson Salmond they can still be named as above, as long any information that might identify their separate role(s) ‘as such complainers in those proceedings’ is redacted.
@ Anonymoose 3.44pm I agree and echo your statement , the PROBLEM is we plebs ONLY have one way to show our fury and outrage at this pish and that is NOT to vote for these CORRUPT VENAL bastards. YET we have people still willing to swallow their dignity and integrity and vote for these scumbags fully knowing that to do so endorses and facilitates much more of this evil lunacy for years to come
There is justifiable outrage within these pages on a daily basis, everyone on here is sickened and disgusted by this whole situation but is unwilling to do the necessary to STOP this cabal of lunatics running the asylum, the excuse is ALWAYS that to oust these fuckers and their mental deranged policies it will damage our chances of independence , is that true , are these fuckwits really going to get us independence or is it conditional on GRA and HCB first and being ruled by a shower of deranged chicks with dicks as Blackman and her cabal want , are they even for independence or do they just want to RULE a deviant sexual country where you can be whatever form of sex that you want to be on whatever day you choose and ANY opposition will be punished
NOT IN MY NAME I REFUSE TO VOTE FOR THESE LUNATICS to ruin my country
ISP get a plebiscite mandate manifesto front and centre NOW
I’m not convinced appearing before the committee is a great idea. They committee have one thing they can agree on and that is Alex Salmond is the baddie.
The inquiry report if they ever do report will smear AS and in other respects be a damp squib like all other inquiry reports.
The only hope is James Hamilton – his report must be soon. I imagine that he will report breaches of code and NS will brazen it out and the MSM will help her. I don’t think they plan to unleash anything I think they are happy to keep NS in place.
So unless there is a miracle we are totally stuffed.
An SNP majority or minority with Greens and another 5 years of soul destroying crap…….
The Yes movement has had its energy and hope sapped. It’s divided and leaderless. The SNP as a party of independence has run its’ course. There is zero chance of the SNP ever leading us to independence. The independence first members have left and anyone that speaks out is marginalised. A new independence party is needed to replace the SNP. I don’t think ISP or AFI are nearly strong enough.
Wings – you should have started your party. It would have given us a chance.
We have 3 years until the next UK GE. Enough time to withhold support from the current woke MSPs (the SNP would likely form a minority government, which really is Nirvana for NS and Westminster) and mobilise ourselves to elect true independence supporting MPs, on a manifesto of independence via Westminster and the UN?
Just a thought….
Question arises whether its woman’s logic, judge’s logic, or simply intentional absence of any logic (ie from agents of disinformation) that would refer to unambiguous statute in relation to VICTIMS that infers the polar opposite of the decision arrived at.
– ie pursuant to the judgement of the jury being that the witnesses, without doubt, had NOT BEEN VICTIMS of sexual offence(s) in the complaints heard, those hitherto anonymous witnesses ought now to be able to be named in Scotland, as in England.
zebedee at 16 February, 2021 at 5:45 pm
Thanks, I’d managed to miss that one – so one to read up on.
That still leaves Lloyd yet to provide her input.
Daisy Walker @ 12.31 pm on previous post ,
You wrote ,
“ Also, I understand that advice was saught from Police Scotland at the Harassment stage? Where was that information disclosed, and what month/year did that advice/corrispondence take place. “
.
This is from the Written Evidence page and may help you with the dates that you’re looking for ,
Written submission from Police Scotland 20th January 2021 ,
link to parliament.scot
Denise @ 6:01pm, that got me thinking. Let’s say James Hamilton delivers his report in early-mid March and it concludes that NS has misled Parliament. Will NS stand up and say “Let the people decide?” It would be very high risk but it would also come with very high rewards if the voters give her the mandate she seeks.
This will fester until March:
GB News, Andrew Neil’s right-leaning 24-hour TV channel is due to launch at some point in March.
It’ll be a BritNat FOX News.
How do you get brand exposure for a new product like that?
By relentlessly monstering the SNP and Scottish Government – go for the big exclusive that others haven’t touched!
GRA, HCB, Corrupt Scottish Parliament and Institutions.
EsssEnnnPeeeBaaaad on steroids all the way to the Holyrood Election.
And the worst thing is that it is all Sturgeon and the “Wheesht for Indy” sycophants fault.
NS is already issuing instructions re Covid for the rest of the year, so I assume she thinks she’ll still be in charge
We’ve to forget holidaying abroad according to the wise one.
What was the point of being vaccinated, if she thinks nothing will change for another year, she’s using psychological pressure on us, if people can’t see any hope for another 10 months, it will affect our mental health.
She wants us locked down forever. This is more to do with preventing mass protests on the street as anything.
For the 1st time today, though, there were more complaints about this than I’d seen before.
People are getting fed up
Neil McKay? Try reading his article entitled “PTSD and me”
It’s enlightening about who thought he was” a good man”
link to twitter.com
Loads of quotes there, that can be added to the WOS “About us” page.
8=)
@Skip_NC
I’m pretty sure that’s exactly what she will say.
O/T
THIS is a real leader:
link to twitter.com
With the news about Gareth and everything else going on in the movement I’m finding it hard not to just walk away right now. I’m honestly wondering if Scots have it in them to attain their independence.
I look at some of the truly awful human beings attacking Wings, Joanna Cherry and those behind throwing Gareth out of the party, and I’m not even sure I want to be part of a country with folk like that in it, still less risking them actually being in power.
The movement seems to have lost its way. I feel like the guy in the cartoon of human evolution turning round to the earlier species and saying:
“Go back: we messed up everything”. 🙁
@Jockanese Wind Talker – I think you’re bang on the money there, Jock. I’m not a fan of Andrew Neil. It’s about time we cleaned out the pig-sty of Holyrood and St Andrews House instead of leaving it to him.
Sadly, I don’t see NS being forced out any time soon. I speak to friends and family regularly and they accept everything the MSM says, be it about covid, the Gers stats, or about how great the First Minister is doing. The Mainstream media would need to change their tune regards Sturgeon but clearly they’ve been told to go lightly on her, for whatever reason.
Thus, barring a major faux pas from NS we are stuck with her. Even an Alex Salmond press conference won’t be enough as the MSM will simply put it to the back of the news schedule, or frame it in a way that makes Salmond look like he’s trying to explain away his ‘guilt’ (even though there is none).
So if NS is entrenched as leader and is making no moves to force independence, then the movement for Scottish freedom is pretty much dead in the water. The only chance might be that NS is removed by her own MSPs, but this won’t happen as they enjoy their nice wages and pension too much to rock the boat. Alternatively, the ISP might begin to take the pro-independence vote off the SNP, but this too is very doubtful.
In my opinion, the ISP are virtually unknown outside these pages. Ask your friends and family, and barely one in twenty will have heard of them, let alone think of voting for them. Unless a big hitter joins them and fronts the party, they won’t even register at May’s election.
So, barring miracles, it’s the political doldrums for the forseeable future 🙁
I remain unconvinced that Fabiani’s committee; her crack team of laissez-faire investigators, delving into the murky world of Sturgeon’s MacAliphate, currently policed by the Hate Cleric of Pollock & financed by Ethics Graveyard Ltd of Musselburgh, would have proceeded otherwise, regardless of Lady Dorian’s conclusion.
Nah, the whole process is flawed, crooked and organised to fail. Just like the terminally delayed transfer of Disability Benefits. Or the overblown Calmac ferries contract. Or the movement of frail, old people from hospitals into care homes with foreseeable, yet still fatal consequences.
At least the captain of the Titanic, when he realised that the situation was hopeless, had the honour to accept his responsibility & accompany his ship & his cold, lifeless passengers still on board, into the terrifying abyss.
But not this lot.
Soon, there’s elections to be won. And success there means there’s more money to be had. And disproportionate privileges to extract. And abuses of power to exercise.
These sniveling politicians don’t give a fuck about you. Or me. Just themselves. You see, they’re in a club. And they ain’t giving up membership without a fight. And they’re using every means at their disposal to keep it that way.
Imagine for a moment being that one individual who, if they did the right thing, could flip this entire fiasco on its head, possibly initiate a clear out & help begin the process of rooting out the embedded, self serving corruption at the very heart of Scotland’s governance.
And then thinking, nah, it’s too much bother, I might get some abuse on Twitter.
Dornan is part of the establishment.
Nuff said
Dorian
-Liz-
I have thought that it is NS’s response to Covid, not the Salmond fiasco, that will do for her.
Let’s face it most people don’t know much about Salmond although awareness is growing.
NS is imposing harsh restrictions on everyone. Now, if you have a dependable salary from the public sector or a big company, and a good home life, you’re okay. But if you’re self-employee or work in an industry like hospitality etc, you’re seriously suffering. And the latter category includes a lot of SNP voters- young folk and working-class folk.
So there they are, skint, maybe in a bad home environment and there on TV is Nicola Sturgeon whose tone and attitude is completely arrogant and dismissive. She did it the other day- somebody said, “when will pubs reopen” and she sneered back, “you know, this isn’t just about going for a pint”. No it certainly fucking isn’t pal, it’s about hundreds of thousands of jobs. And the (financially secure) media class are all over Twitter fawning over how wonderful she is (actually her response has been virtually the same as Johnson’s). But while this middle-class love-in is going on many ordinary folk are sitting at home quietly terrified that they’ll soon be insolvent and seething that they’re being asked to give up so much by this arrogant woman.
I have no doubt we’re about to see her umpteenth “I’m With Nicola” campaign. And many of these voters will see that and just switch off. No, they won’t vote Tory, but they might just not vote at all. Many people are now just sick of her. Perhaps this is even a case of h fortunate timing for her as people’s patience with restrictions has run out, but there it is. I live in Glasgow and am from an ordinary background, and anecdotally, that’s what I’m finding. It began in October- just about when support for the SNP started to stagnate as identified by John Curtice.
I have a feeling that Nicola Sturgeon believes the hype that she is Scotland’s National Aunty, protecting us all from covid. That I think would be a fatal mistake.
If anyone wants an illustration of how scared the establishment was of Fabiani and her committee, please have a look at James Wolffe’s first appearance. (I can’t remember when it was and can’t find it on Youtube)
He looked as if he’d seldom had so much fun – the smile barely left his lips the whole time and occasionally developed into actual laughter.
He knew then what we know now – the entire thing is a fucking joke.
Andy @ 6.57
Aye man , I feel ye .
Alex n Gareth n people of similar calibre , the soul of the Movement , have been betrayed , slandered , demonised and put through the kind of hell the perpetrators could not withstand an hour of without bleating their attention-seeking bogus victimhood to all n sundry .
Optomism is hard to summon amidst the blizzard of bad faith n mindless fuckery we’re enduring , but we can’t give up , we can’t let the clowns steal the show , we have our own high-wire acts .It’s only Intermission , the show will continue anon .
@A person, that is interesting.
I’ve seen that response as well from others on twitter being sarky, can’t you go without a bevvy.
But as you say, they’re not seeing the full picture.
I was really pissed off when she was joking about home hair cuts at her daily sermon.
Last time my hairdresser was open, he said he didn’t think his business would survive.
The rules make no sense. If the supermarkets are open, there is no reason why other places can’t also
Had you properly understood the wording of the amended order you would have known this days ago. The spectator lawyers have managed to work it out, eventually. And can I suggest you review postings from earlier today on an earlier article. One contains a direct link to a photograph and the full name of a certain person. I am not a fan of your site but I do not think you should be carrying the can for someone else’s apparent contempt. I know you will not publish my critical post but at least review your postings.
“Had you properly understood the wording of the amended order you would have known this days ago. The spectator lawyers have managed to work it out, eventually.”
I’m really not sure what you think I said about it that’s contradicted by anything I said today, since I literally said that today’s judgement added nothing to what we heard last week.
As for the supposed contempt, I’ll remove anything untoward that I see, and have been doing so, but you’re going to need to narrow that down a bit for me.
-Liz-
Thank you.
I make a point of avoiding discussing politics with friends, family and colleagues, but I detect a real anger and resentment towards the government in general. For example I was chatting with a friend, who I know voted Yes and who votes SNP, saying I hoped “they” opened up things here soon, and he replied, “if that f***ing b***h [virtually spat] refuses to open things here so she can whine on TV then let’s us all just drive over to Carlisle and go out there”. Not very nice language but the sentiment comes from an understandable frustration, fear and resentment of the perception that Sturgeon seems to be enjoying her moment in the limelight.
@A Person
Yes my son and his pals hate NS
They hate her tone, my son says at least Johnston sounds sorry when he tells you about the restrictions. NS sounds like she’s loving the power.
@Robert Hughes 7.31pm
Aye, it’s a sair fecht right enough. Maybe I just need some distance right now?
I hope things improve and turn out for the best, but I’m rapidly losing faith. Things seemed so hopeful when I moved back from England in 2018, but now….? I just can’t stomach much more.
The movement seems lost to me: too many seem blissfully ignorant, and the small minority of truly awful human beings seem to have the whip hand. The Scotland they want to construct isn’t one I’d relish being part of.
‘Alex Salmond is to submit a new dossier of allegations against Nicola Sturgeon to a Holyrood inquiry on Wednesday, and hopes to be able to discuss his claims publicly next week.
The former First Minister is expected to make a new submission to the parliament committee investigating a unlawful civil service probe into sexual harassment complaints against him, which his lawyers believe will be fully complaint with a revised court order put in place during his trial.’
From Dan Sanerson of The Daily Telegraph about an hour ago.
Old Alex is still marching. Thank God.
@Liz, A Peron, Andy Ellis et al –
For quite a while now I’ve been wondering how many comments about the FM are simply not submitted, to this place, Twitter or elsewhere. I can’t be the only one who now sees red every time her voice comes on radio. We’ve long since passed the point where ‘reasonable’ discussion can be had about someone whose behaviour is so utterly rank.
It’s different, cursing about Tories. That’s evergreen whack-a-mole territory for most Scots. But this person and her coven have set good friends at one another’s throats and sabotaged the best chance of independence in over 300 years. The damage she has done already (and this is aside from any Covid-related fallout) is irreparable.
I will never ever forgive her for what she’s done.
Never.
-Denise-
Very interesting as we have three sons all early to mid twenties all work or have worked in hospitality. All really hacked off with Scottish government and dying to get back to work.
I hate to say it, as I can’t stand the guy, but you do have a point about Johnson at least pretending to be sorry about closures. It’s like she just doesn’t have a clue about how hard it is.
This, plus GRA, plus HCB, plus a party activist base disillusioned by Salmond trial, could give them a shock. This is why I have been boring on in these comments, predicting that the SNP, while they will be the largest party, will lose to a unionist majority. Get ready for First Minister Sarwar! Aaargh!
This is always worth a read.
https://
theorkneynews.scot/2021/02/15/game-over/
The pesky Spectator again – ‘The SNP’s education ‘stitch-up’
‘For anyone who assumes the SNP government’s secrecy and obstruction is limited to inquiries into itself and its past leaders, the fate of a major report into Scottish education is an instructive tale.’
link to archive.is
@ Maggie C
Re link to parliament.scot
Can’t get this to work – it says not archived.
-Ian-
Only a minority are on Twitter, of those that are most avoid politics, and of those that are political many are actually very right-wing. “Yes Twitter” is actually a very small bubble and it simply doesn’t reflect public opinion. Probably at most ten thousand people talking to one another- with vigorous disagreements between them. So all this talk of Scotland United behind its beloved leader? I don’t buy it. More people in Scotland probably read the Racing Post.
My evidence can only be anecdotal of course, but it’s not like I’m reporting that members of the Edinburgh New Club are disgruntled with Sturgeon because their members can’t visit their shooting lodge. I live in Glasgow G13, a very average area of our largest city, I would say I was pretty ordinary and so are my friends and family, most I’d say are Yes voters, and most are now losing patience with these restrictions, and are quietly raging. And most are not anti-lockdowners or anything, they’ve just had enough.
Daisy try this link:
link to parliament.scot
Andy . 7.48
Yip , all of that . Been thinking I might check-out for a while too , get a bit of mental RnR , get out the plough of despond n’all . Trouble is , the unfolding drama is pretty compelling n engages our morbid imagination , rubbernecking , the human instinct to view carnage , even if it repels as much as fascinates us I suppose .” All this ” of course has a direct bearing on our own futures so we are invested in it emotionally , we care about outcomes and where we’re headed as a country/nation .
Anyway , hang tough amigo
New Zealand covid deaths – 26
Australia covid deaths – 909
Scotland covid deaths – 6715
New Zealand closed borders 19th March 2020
Australia closed borders 20th March 2020
Scotland, Feb 15th 2021, Sturgeon “does not rule out closing border”.
Can anyone come on here and defend Sturgeon? Anyone?
I’m not going with much of the comments tonight.
There is no doubt about congregating causes the virus to spread.
The virus kills.
The NHS has reached breaking point at different times in different areas.
Can you imagine you or your family struggling for breath and there is no one
anywhere to help.
Lockdown has without doubt reduced the number of cases, hospital admissions and deaths.
Lockdown has a financial cost but more lifespan less money works for me!
At this time we don’t know the success levels of the different vaccines,
we don’t know how many more mutant strains there will be as we seem to have
one from China, South Africa, Brazil, Kent, and Nigeria.
Open the pubs etc and we go straight back to where we were. No doubt!
There have been lots of grants and furloughs and extra benefits it’s been as good as it can be.
Remember the 140,000 U.K. deaths so far started with one man with one strain
returning from a Skiing holiday.
Justice delayed is justice denied.
And I agree with others. The SNP Government are inhumane.
@Ian B 7.51pm
“We” dun fucked up I reckon. Those of us who are horrified at what the SNP has become have missed our chance. I feel desperately sad for my country, and for those who I fear are going to suffer and struggle for longer than they had to. The rot in the SNP is just too deep, and we’ve run out of time to do much more than watch as the next five years unfold I reckon.
We had a small window of opportunity to do something in time for #HR2021, and collectively it looks like we’ve failed. It’s pointless trying to render the SNP fit for purpose. Time to take a pause, regroup and plan for what we do in the next 5 years. The best way to ensure these roasters don’t win is to deprive them of power in 2026. I look forward to rubbing their noses in it relentlessly.
@Craig Murray – come on, time to get the finger out. Otherwise you might have to rename Now Scotland to When Scotland. Maybe it’s all happening on twitter but you could stick your head in here now and again just let the rest of the population know what’s going on.
Since appealing to antiquated concepts like the rule of law and decency is not having much of an effect on getting Holyrood cleaned up and gunning for freedom then it’s time to try something else. I think @A Person is on the right track that covid-fatigue will be Big Sister’s undoing – which with a bit of luck will take the rest of the sisterhood, self-id’d or otherwise with, her.
I think the whole thing has ground people down and there’s not much appetite for stirring it up. Though that doesn’t mean that people aren’t angry about it – especially since the statistics though a wee bit less shite than England are pretty grim all the same. The Tax Research UK blog had a good piece on Brexit, link to archive.is, which is doing to grind people down even further – I’m sorry to say.
So instead of trying to reform the SNP maybe it’s time to simply route around the damage and get the grass-roots part of Now Scotland up and running and agitating for change and putting a significant amount of daylight between independence and the SNP and maybe even political parties in general. With a bit of luck it might be possible to create enough desire that would overturn the political order and flush out the stables once and for all. Revolution is certainly not on the cards, but just wanting get out of this paralysing mess and make something better for a change could be enough to get people moving.
Add in the .pdf at the end of the link, that fixes it – remember the dot befor the pdf.
Effijy
For sure congregation kills but blindly following Boris has a pretty appalling death toll associated with it as well.
Instead of shutting everything why aren’t the stores open 24 hours – spread the load and you lessen the risk. Google already knows how busy a store is and whether there are queues outside. Why did nobody think of getting that data to show people when it was a good time to go shopping.
Here in Portugal, dentists, hair dressers, cafés etc were all able to open with restrictions – though the insanity of opening things at Christmas put an end to that. The construction industry never stopped. If the effort was put in on track and trace it would have been possible to find out what worked and what didn’t without too many casualties. Sadly, the people in charge are simply not up to a task like that so everybody has to suffer for their incompetence.
I’m not saying everything could be roses but this “muddling through” attitude is killing a lot more than hope.
-Effijy-
It’s not really even to do with people’s opinion on lockdown one way or another.
In my opinion, lockdown at the moment, while we vaccinate as many people as necessary to control the virus, is needed, as was the lockdown in March to June of this year. However, there is no denying it is having a seriously bad effect on the independent sector of the community- the self employed, small business owners and the like, as well as certain industries like tourism, hospitality and events. Those of us who live on what money is available in our small business account, or who are paid per job or per hours worked on a zero-hour contract. In other words the working and lower middle class- the precise groups that form the backbone of SNP support. Times are very hard indeed for many.
Many desperate people see NS on television, blatantly enjoying the limelight, pointlessly continuing restrictions for a week longer than England as a wee bit of red meat to the more gullible members of our movement, attacking those who have the temerity to ask when they can return to work, and being lauded for it by well-paid folk who get their salary paid into their account once a month. Is it any wonder people are furious?
Maybe Malcolm and Moira from Bearsden who are getting a juicy salary, working in the spare room and spending more time in their big garden approve of NS’s handling of covid but when push comes to shove are they going to vote Yes? I doubt it.
So I myself am not saying end lockdown now or anything like that, although maybe others think that, I am just saying that the idea that everyone in Scotland loves Nicola because of her handling of covid is nonsense and this hidden swell of resentment and anger could produce a nasty surprise for the SNP in May.
After watching the FM performance today I suspect there won’t be an election in May
Daisy Walker
Thanks for the Orkney News link – that cheered me up. A bit like reading Paul Kavanagh before he caught Nicola-itis.
The Ghana Tourism Authority?
It’s now starting to sound like an episode of Yes, Minister!
🙂
I have a close family member who is self employed
with a small independent business who has lost income
but various grants have added up to £40K.
They have paid lots in tax in previous years and worked excessive hours
building their business and does need money now to keep it ticking over
but I can’t feel sorry for someone bringing in £40K in a bad year.
Getting 80% of my wage when on furlough was very fair.
English journalists following our own story are saying, “just bide your time”.
Meaning?
They are waiting for the right moment.
But to do what?
Something is going on in the background.
link to tns2019.org
-Effijy-
Okay, that doesn’t sound too bad, but the guy who cut my hair in the two weeks barbershops have been open in the last four months told me that he was ineligible for furlough and had exhausted his savings. The only time I have taken a taxi in the last year the driver was a sound tech at a big venue who had to drive a taxi to make ends meet as he had no other income. I can think of a few bars, restaurants etc that have shut down for good. And when my wife and I came down with covid ourselves at the start of January (I advise you not to get it!), the mechanism for applying for the £500 loss of earnings grant was a nightmare and we gave up, luckily we have some savings in reserve. Of course these people are raging!
As I say. I, personally, at this moment, considering that we have a vaccine, think that lockdown is necessary. But NS’s attitude is so high-handed that it is pissing people off. “Why, don’t you care about others? Are you just interested in going to the pub?”. As I said in my earlier example of my friend who wants an outing to Carlisle, people are beginning to think she is just doing some of it for the sake of it. On television every day (no other leader has done this), the face of covid, and being congratulated for it by an out-of-touch, middle-class bubble (“the chattering class”) on Twitter and in Scotland’s worst-selling daily newspaper. In a way it’s almost unfair as people will just take out their resentment on her but politics isn’t fair. I just don’t believe her landslide is inevitable- remember what happened to Hillary Clinton!
Liz says:
16 February, 2021 at 6:42 pm
NS is already issuing instructions re Covid for the rest of the year, so I assume she thinks she’ll still be in charge
We’ve to forget holidaying abroad according to the wise one.
What was the point of being vaccinated, if she thinks nothing will change for another year, she’s using psychological pressure on us, if people can’t see any hope for another 10 months, it will affect our mental health.
She wants us locked down forever. This is more to do with preventing mass protests on the street as anything.
For the 1st time today, though, there were more complaints about this than I’d seen before.
People are extremely fed up.
EFA..
Update on Peoples Action on Section 30
Dear Backers,
I am writing to advise that there will be a hearing in the #PeoplesAS30, likely on Friday. The Court of Session wishes to be addressed with regards to a motion we have put forward for “urgent disposal”. In simple terms, it’s a motion to expedite the case through the Inner House of the Court of Session for the purposes of having it dealt with before the election.
The hearing will likely be before Lord Malcolm.
I shall write to you again in the coming days as I know more.
Martin
Aye well if she’s so certain she’s going to win she’d do well to remember that pride comes before a fall. I remember that numpty Ed Milliband wrote a victory speech for the 2015 election because “there’s no way I’ll lose” whereas Cameron was nervous so went hell for leather and won.
I’m sure a lot of readers here skip past my efforts. C’est la vie.
In relation to links like,
link to parliament.scot
I posted this on 5th February.
———————————————–
The problem with the links that end with “.pdf” is that, in most cases, for some reason, the WOS blog doesn’t include the “.pdf” as part of the link – it is in black (plain text), whereas everything before the “.pdf” is in blue, showing an active link.
If someone clicks on the link, the blue part will appear in their browser’s address bar but the PDF document will not be displayed. Probably see an “Error 404” or “Not in archive”.
All they have to do is add
.pdf
to the end of the url in the address bar, then refresh the page or tab. The page (the PDF document) will then display correctly.
link to wingsoverscotland.com
@Andy Ellis (8.19) –
‘Time to take a pause, regroup and plan for what we do in the next 5 years.’
More power to ye for having a positive outlook. A lot of us are struggling to even feign as much right now.
We need some good news.
‘Now Scotland’ seems to have got off to a flyer and it’ll be interesting to see their stats after, say, a month (only approx a fortnight away now).
It seems that we, the ‘ordinary’ citizens of Scotland, have sussed what’s happening. Unfortunately, we don’t have a solitary institution we can trust. You couldn’t make it up! (Er, well, actually…)
Sturgeon is going to blame Covid and Westminster for EVERYTHING under the sun during her campaigning speeches.
No one will be out and about spreading the word about how evil she is.
If you had the power to keep you enemies locked up, then you would do it.
And that is exactly what Sturgeon is going to do.
She will also use the “Saviour” of beaten and abused women everywhere.
So her plan is simple,
Stay out of the road.
Blame Covid.
Blame Boris Johnson.
Play the “Saviour” of abused women.
Sprinkled with promises of Independence.
Election won!!!
We need a really huge earth shattering piece of News against her to knock her off her campaign bus.
Craig
Liz L invite to Mr Aberdein 3 weeks before the “popped in” meeting with NS type news should be enough.
Hamilton knows, and i think he will do the right thing.
o/t
I just listened to Peter Bell on a Livestream he hasn’t changed since the last one I switched off from , I really think he’s confused he rubbished any thoughts of any other Independence supporting party on the List , totally discounted any of the Arithmetic involved as pie in the sky , argued sticking with this current leadership would work , fk me he seems to argue two opposing opinions as being normal , sticking with the current management isn’t working aye but stick with them regardless, this is the same SNP who despite it being doomed to failure keep pushing section 30 then won’t allow any Plan B when it’s refused , Their plan B is to keep pushing Plan A and he says stick with them bloody stupid thinking , the loss of thousands of votes voting SNP 1-2 goes right over his head as does other Indy parties to keep the SNP on track is beyond him he’s right and the rest stupid .FFS
Whilst we are all writing this and writing that, a dear Man is breathing his last. Grouse Beater was shafted by nicla. I for one won’t forget and will not forgive. Line in the sand, line’s drawn and all that. We need to stand up, UP.
Independence is what we want and need and we actually need to DO IT. ONE WAY OR ANOTHER. God Bless Gareth XXXX
link to caltonjock.com
Swinney once told him he was impressed with what Tony Blair had done with the Labour Party – creating ‘new’ Labour and turning the former party of the working class into a clone of the Tory Party. Swinney’s vision was the creation of a ‘new’ SNP, which under his ‘leadership’ would move away from its traditional moderate, centre-left position to a moderate, centre-right position.
Lots of discussion above on COVID restrictions. North Carolina has about twice the population of Scotland. We have had 826,340 cases up to yesterday and 10,562 deaths. According to the Scottish Government website, Scotland has had 193,148 positive tests and 8,726 deaths.
So, although we have had more cases in NC, our death rates are better – a smaller proportion of people with positive tests have died and our per capita deaths are lower.
Or maybe NC has just tested people more aggressively, which has resulted in fewer deaths per capita. NC is well spread out but our major conurbations are much like the central belt.
For a sense of the sort of “restrictions” we must face, see link to nc.gov
I am a tax accountant in public practice. I have been open and seeing clients since this started, except for two weeks when my wife was tested (negative, as it turned out). My barber opened months ago. There are restrictions on hospitality businesses, but they are allowed to operate. My wine merchant has been doing curbside pickup for months – a sensible precaution. Grocery stores are doing much more business in curbside pickup than they have ever done. Yes, you have to place an order two days before, rather than the night before, but a little planning goes a long way. Maybe the 10 million tests in a state of about 10.5 million people has something to do with our ability to be open for business.
Is life wonderful? No. It would be nice to feel safe to eat out, rather than getting a takeaway. We’d love to attend the North Carolina Symphony in person, instead of watching the livestream. But, all in all, it is not bad. Businesses are surviving. Many will close, but many of those are likely to be accelerated failures, especially in the restaurant industry.
It seems to me that Scotland has handled this quite miserably. It is the electorate’s duty to hold the government to account. You have a chance in May to do just that.
Liz L invite to Mr Aberdein 3 weeks before the “popped in” meeting with NS type news should be enough.
I fear your kidding yourself if you think the electorate will be remotely interested in a dry “broke the ministerial code over a 3 day date confusion”. The opposition parties will hammer it and the media might halfheartedly run it, but the electorate will shrug their shoulders. A fuller version of the story coming out might capture imaginations but it’s hard to see how that will happen before May. The media will absolutely not run with that – they might want to destroy both NS and AS but if they can only get one they’ll save NS and carry on going after AS.
“I fear your kidding yourself if you think the electorate will be remotely interested in a dry “broke the ministerial code over a 3 day date confusion”.”
For the thousandth time: the opinion of the electorate isn’t worth a bollock on this subject. The electorate don’t write the Ministerial Code. But we already know that the large majority of voters think she should resign if she’s broken it.
@boris (10.01) –
Many of us were there at the SECC way back in whenever, at the rally to tell Blair ‘Not In Our Name’. Biggest gathering I’ve ever witnessed and there’s scant footage of it to be found anywhere.
That was the day Tommy Sheridan said ‘Strathclyde Police canny count!’. It was also the day we discovered the SNP leadership’s stance on invading Iraq because right up until that moment i.e. when Swinney condemned what we’d all known for months was going to happen – did we find out his position.
When it comes to fence-sitting, he makes Henry McLeish and Gerry Hassan (sorry, Professor Gerry Hassan) look like mercurial zealots.
@ Brian Doonthetoon.
Thanks for that, got the info now.
Out of interest can anyone remember what month Peter Mundell sent the whatsapp messages about havinng AS reported to the Met – the more fronts he’s firefighting on the better’ messages?
The problem with the updated timeline/report is that there is evidence everywhere. Motive, ability, opportunity, and a trail of evidence listing same.
I’ll keep going, so that there is a record of it all in one place, but bloody hell, how much evidence do our fellow yessers need.
Sorry if I’m droning on about resentment of NS over covid but one other thing has occurred to me. Twitter is only used by a small proportion of people and most who engage with politics are rabid partisans who can’t bear to hear anything bad about their team. But most people are on Facebook and it tends to be fairly apolitical. Now, look at some boring post from some boring site like Glasgow Live or whatever, reporting NS’s latest covid sermon. The comments are mainly hostile. This is a much better barometer of **real** public opinion.
And while the vast majority of our decrepit press is irrelevant, it’s worth noting that the Sun, the biggest-selling paper, has become markedly hostile to Sturgeon recently. The Sun is known to try and pander to its readers, ie it’s an paper with it’s finger on the working-class pulse. Remember it’s been strongly pro-SNP for a while now.
Facebook and the Sun- and, for all the sneering it gets from the select few, this blog, with far more visitors per month than any Scottish paper- aren’t bad measures of public opinion in Scotland. A Scotsman or Times journalist drool some praise over Sturgeon’s “seriousness” on Twitter and being endorsed by their mates is really only slightly more representative than me talking to my friends and family!
The fix is in. The technocrats have won.
Daisy Walker @ 8.01 pm ,
This is the link to the written evidence page ,
link to parliament.scot
.
If you scroll down to the * written evidence received * section it’s the second last submission on that section ,
Written submission received from Police Scotland 20th January 2021 .
Hi Daisy Walker (How’s Daisy BTW?).
You could find this useful, particularly right at the end.
link to thecourier.co.uk
I am probably kidding myself Cath, but that wee snippet of information, with legal witnesses to the fact, is a slam dunk for ‘breaking the ministerial code’, and even the most intellectually challenged amongst our people are bound to question why that matters.
Dominoes will start to topple.
I hope.
🙂
Ian Brotherhood @10:22
“..and Gerry Hassan (sorry, Professor Gerry Hassan)..”
You should have deleted the comma Ian.
Hi kapelmeister.
“comma” comment.
11/10!
MaggieC – please read what I type here!
Daisy Walker read it and got it!
link to wingsoverscotland.com
Alex Cole Hamilton apologies for causing fear distress and lasting harm to a Scottish minister for swearing because the same government minister was kicking the can of children’s rights down the road maybe if she was better at her job he wouldn’t have lost the bloody place , if someone being angry upsets her so much she’s in the wrong job she’s using the swearing bit to divert attention from what caused the outburst in the first place , you really have to wonder about the quality of some of these Government ministers ,for the money she’s on I would get into a slanging match every fkn day no fkn problem sweetheart,get a grip the indignation and the water works won’t work
boris says:
16 February, 2021 at 10:01 pm
link to caltonjock.com
Swinney once told him he was impressed with what Tony Blair had done with the Labour Party – creating ‘new’ Labour and turning the former party of the working class into a clone of the Tory Party. Swinney’s vision was the creation of a ‘new’ SNP, which under his ‘leadership’ would move away from its traditional moderate, centre-left position to amoderate, centre-right position.
I can quite believe the prim but dim swinney would hold that opinion.
It looked like a winning position, so why not double down?
His leadership was marked by two things, a loss of seats and a collapse in membership.
Such characters are not discouraged by failure, they are driven to heightened, cynical mediocrity.
ps boris, as you know well;
there is no such thing as a moderate centre right position.
It is both a contradiction in terms and outcomes.
Robert Graham @10:59
Aye, Tumshie Todd, anither of Sturgeon’s underperformers.
Rev has mentioned in the past that less than 1% of WOS readers ever comment. (I can’t remember the exact number but I’m sure it was less than 1%.)
So, for every comment that appears here, a potential 99 comments simply never happened, were never written? There’s surely a huge number of comments which were written but never posted. And so it goes on…
We can only grasp at the outlines of ‘majority opinion’ from day-to-day, but we can have at least as good a stab at getting to ‘the truth’ as any mass-media organ, print or broadcast. They have their agenda, aye, and we have ours. That’s allowed, isn’t it?
But when those failing media outlets start to vilify the citizenry, claiming the moral high ground as if it was their own personal property? Blaming *us* for choosing who to read?
Nah – unacceptable.
@Whorattledyourcage,
McKay did a story on his daughter. It was a nationwide publication. I would not have done that as a father.
Stu didn’t do the story. McKay did.
re Nicola Sturgeon and Covid.
If you ask the ordinary person in the street, they will tell you that they are sick to death of the those bending the rules.
A prime example is travel. All people in Scotland are stuck with a 5 mile travel rule yet people are flying in and out of the country and bellyaching that they now have to quarantine when they travel back.
On the whole, NS’s daily briefings are now becoming irrelevant. The road out of the lockdown with vaccinates are too hyped up. As well as the double standards I had mentioned of people doing what the majority of us who play by the rules only dream of, people are counting down the clock as to when the lock down will be lifted.
NS should have realised that once the vaccine is being rolled up, we have entered a new phase of the handling of the pandemic and stepped aside and let the health professionals do the daily briefings.
-PacMan-
Not quite sure what you’re meaning. We are all sick fed up of the rules and resentful of how Sturgeon is grandstanding. That doesn’t necessarily mean that we are breaking them.
I see that Ursula von der Leyen has shot down the prospect of Scottish participation in Erasmus.
I don’t know the in’s and out’s of the reason for this but it does sound like the biggest issue is to do with funding.
I assume it is due to it being a reserved matter where the Scottish government couldn’t financially contribute to Erasmus due to it being a reserved issue but surely the SG could have forced the issue which I’m sure would have went down well with the mothers and fathers of the Tarquins and Sengas of Morningside & Kelvinside?
It does seem another example of the falseness of the so called gradualist strategy of the SNP.
The Crown Office Procurator Fiscal Service is in trouble again ,
“ Judge says case against ex-Rangers advisor David Grier not fit for court “
“ A judge has concluded there was no “probable cause” to prosecute a business expert during a fraud probe relating to the sale of Rangers. Lord Tyre ruled that prosecutors had no legal basis to bring David Grier to court following an investigation into business activities at the club. Lawyers acting for the lord advocate had argued that the court should throw out Mr Grier’s £5m compensation claim. But Lord Tyre’s decision allows his claim to continue.
link to archive.vn
And here’s the link to Mark Hirst’s fundraiser page for anyone who hasn’t donated yet and is able to do so ,
link to civillibertyscotland.com
“ In May 2020 Scottish prosecutors charged journalist Mark Hirst for comments he made arising from the Alex Salmond trial. Mark’s trial took place on the 7th of January 2021 where he was acquitted after the Court ruled “there was no case to answer”. Now Mark is taking action against Scotland’s prosecuting authority, the Crown Office by bringing a “malicious prosecution” case against them. “
“ A legal fund, by way of a crowd-funder, is being established to support this action BUT unlike other crowd-funders if the case is successful, as we believe it will be, and costs and damages are awarded against the state prosecutor any donation made to this fund will be repaid. “
A Person says: 16 February, 2021 at 11:42 pm
Are you or people you know flying abroad for holidays? Are you or people you know hiring restaurants for celebrations?
The media is awash of celebrities and rich folk doing what the rest of us can’t or won’t do because we are sticking by the rules.
Sure folk are sick of Sturgeon’s grandstanding but they are fully aware of what is going on in the wider world where ones are flouting and bending the rules.
I’m not defending Sturgeon in any way. In fact, in the wider picture, she is becoming pretty irrelevant.
The OOYA diversion is often used by shoplifters (remember shops?) when detected by store detectives in flagrant criminal acts.
It goes like this;they pretend injury by the store detective and shout OOYA loudly and cause a hostile crowd to gather and thereby escape.
Germaine to this story is a refinement where they pinch their own child and both parent and child shout OOYA,and get a really angry crowd to gather.
Diversion by using the misfortune of your child is disgusting whatever your origins or beliefs.
PacMan says:
16 February, 2021 at 11:45 pm
I see that Ursula von der Leyen has shot down the prospect of Scottish participation in Erasmus.
I don’t know the in’s and out’s of the reason for this but it does sound like the biggest issue is to do with funding.
The ins and out are because we left the eu.
If you don’t like it, it’s because we, did not leave the uk.
UDL did not shoot anything down, she just said it’s not possible.
International agreements are not devolved.
The very idea that we could cut a deal for our little jocastas and jeremys is wishart level nationalism.
Brian Doonthetoon @ 10.53 pm ,
Brian , Please don’t think that I was ignoring what you had written at 9.15 pm re the * pdf * missing at the end of links , but the reason I gave the link to the written page was that only some links work directly to the Committee information when it’s published .
It’s as if the Committee are making it difficult to share the links and I wonder why that would be ? .
@A Person, 7.18
(actually her response has been virtually the same as Johnson’s)
It is the same. The FM is following SAGE advice like Johnson. I have written confirmation of this fact from the Scottish Government’s COVID enquiry unit. So instead of working as if living in the early days of a new nation and making use of local Scottish expertise in public health and medical science to deal with the crisis, instructions are taken from Westminster and look at the mess.
I remember Edwin Morgan’s poem on the opening of Holyrood
“What do the people want of the place? They want it to be filled with thinking persons as open and adventurous as its architecture.
A nest of fearties is what they do not want.
A symposium of procrastinators is what they do not want.
A phalanx of forelock-tuggers is what they do not want.
And perhaps above all the droopy mantra of ‘it wizny me’ is what they do not want. ”
“We give you our consent to govern, don’t pocket it and ride away.”
Yet that is what has happened so at this point in time, I would repeat Oliver Cromwell’s address. “You have sat too long here for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!”
-PacMan-
No, we are losing out, not just financially but also “missing out on life”, although our losses haven’t been as bad as many others. Yet as you say the rich and powerful are partying away. Which begs the question, why the fuck can’t people go to work?!
-Cirsium-
The fact that she pretends otherwise, mainly by imposing petty restrictions like “no alcohol in pubs” (thereby preventing them from trading profitably), just makes my contempt for her grow even deeper, which I didn’t think possible
Lot of Yoons on here nowadays. Sad.
“Let’s go to Carlisle for a night out”.
Yeah. Let’s catch Covid.
I was repeating what somebody had said to me. Not what I would do myself. Although that person was himself a long-term Yes and SNP voter.
Sorry, that’s what people are saying, and pretending otherwise isn’t much use.
I thought it was indicative of the resentment being built up.
Daisy Is this what you were looking for?
link to parliament.scot
Frazerio says: 8:11pm
We in NZ are back in lockdown Auckland is at level three where the new cases have been detected. The rest of us are on level two.
Level one is normal living .
We have six new cases. Three from one family that was detected a few days ago, hence the lockdown. Three more today two at a college. One in government Isolation.
So we have five within the community. Hopefully we will get things under control within a week or two.
link to stuff.co.nz
For anyone who feels they need time out occasionally for some rest & relaxation away from the turmoil of the stress you are going through. Save this link & watch the Americas cup racing here in Auckland NZ. “If you like racing you will enjoy this”
By saving the link you will be able to watch after reading & posting to Rev Stu’s postings.
Cheers from NZ
link to google.co.nz
re: A Person
I’m not disagreeing with what you saying. The point I’m trying to make is that the rich and powerful are doing one thing and we are told to do the opposite. That isn’t going to make a consensual buy in to following the rules a workable solution. For all her faults, you can’t blame Nicola Sturgeon for that.
All hopes of getting out of the current health crisis is through vaccination. However, that is in danger of the UK having a haphazard approach to quarantining incoming visitors that could potentially spread Covid variants that the current vaccines are not as affective with.
That could mean that we are back to square one with more lock downs which I doubt very much people will follow without coercion of some sort. Even with that, will people here blindly accept another year of lockdown?
-PacMan-
I’m not really discussing the rights and wrongs of Scotland’s coronavirus strategy though. All I am saying is that, as far as I can tell, there’s a very large groundswell of anger in the community at large, among exactly the type of people that tend to be SNP voters, about the sacrifices being imposed upon them by people in a more privileged position. You can take your own view as to whether the balance struck has been reasonable and I’d like to think that most people see it in a sliding spectrum of trade-offs; the point is, it’s there. It’s exacerbated by the tone Sturgeon uses, the perception that she’s enjoying the limelight, and the drooling support she’s getting from other privileged people, as shown by my Yes-voting friend who described Sturgeon in vicious terms. It almost reminds me of the groundswell of support for independence that was perceptible in late 2013 before mainstream discourse talked about it.
I have been boring people on here for months with my prediction that this will dampen turnout among previously-reliable SNP voters, and that, coupled with a demoralised activist group and unionists flinging mud about various subjects, will mean we lose the handful of seats which give nominally pro-Indy parties a majority. It’s really a very easy majority to lose and the assumption that it’s somehow in the bag strikes me as foolish in the extreme.
And pointing out these facts doesn’t make me a unionist, thanks very much to those making that implication, if you want to believe that anybody who’s dissatisfied is automatically hostile, you’re taking the Pension Pete mentality.