On the run
Boris Johnson infamously once hid in a fridge to avoid any awkward questions. Nicola Sturgeon prefers a different kind of small rectangular space, but it’s the same move.
Well done to the Times for attempting to ask one of the obvious questions arising from the events – do the Murrells have a joint bank account? – and we hope someone will ask the others soon. (Why such a specific amount? Why hasn’t it all been paid back yet if it was just a June-2021 cash-flow matter? Why can the Times STILL not credit where they pinched the story from?)
But it wasn’t the only thing the SNP ran scared from today.
Since there isn’t going to be an independence referendum before the next election – something this site has been trying to tell you for years – we have no issues with the Scottish Government reallocating the money supposedly earmarked for it to a good cause like the Fuel Insecurity Fund instead.
But it’s still hard not to feel a pang at the SNP officially signing the formal surrender document on the policy they’ve been unequivocally and categorically insisting they’d deliver for the last three years.
We must admit, though, we’re quite looking forward to Comical Pete’s explanation. We suspect there’s rather a lot of stuff that’s above his pay grade. And given how lavishly he’s been rewarded for his 21 years of achieving sod-all, that’s no small feat.
Yon Wishart is a balloon of the first order.
Just a quick reminder that if Peter Murrell is in some kind of trouble as far as making the loan goes, Sturgeon, even if they do have a joint bank account of even if she put money in his account, she will probably be untouchable. In most areas of law, a spouse cannot be a party to a conspiracy with the other spouse. It’s Murrell’s name on the loan and only he will be held accountable in law (if it ever comes to that which it probably won’t).
That being said, Don Sturgleone’s language is curious – “that is the position” – which to my ears sounds like, “this is the agreed lie and you’ll get nothing more”. Nothing like “it was just a short-term thing” or “you can’t spin a simple fact” or similar. No, “that is the position” and if we keep to these words we won’t get tripped up. “Press ground floor, Press ground floor, Press ground flooooorrrrrr!!!!!!!!”
If you apply the SNP accounts to the same rigour of the share value of an Independent Company. Standard performance indicators, one of which was mentioned by a previous contributor, current assets vs current liabilities and also the 10 quick look indicators, with a view to investment. You would come to the conclusion the SNP are a Penny share company and worthy of investigation. Lifts are a cold place to hide, better off in Portugal.
Wonder what the next excuse will be… needing to concentrate on a Joint Bid for Euros
There will be chaos soon with Scottish Labour getting Unions like GMB causing havoc for Councils who can of course raise Council Tax but darent go mad so focus turns on Scots Govt to solve issues and find cash
If Teflon Sturgeon senses any danger to her shiny veneer reputation. She would jail her own mother, if it got her off the hook.
Morrell will be binned like all the others who threaten her public image. Messy divorce incoming.
Any footage of her escape into the back-stairs?
On a slightly different note, good to see John Spinney denying someone in the Government on his behalf was behind the leak this afternoon. Senior figures in this Gov would never authorise such a thing, would they?
So glad I blocked PW a year or 2 ago, he’s so full of mince …..
It does make you wonder if Pete has been stuck in a Groundhog Day-esque loop for the past four-plus years and the SNP today have finally been forced to smash the alarm clock and break his cycle, it certainly has that look to it.
If anyone should be really, really angry about the SNP’s about-face today, it should be Pete Wishart as they’ve made a complete and utter fool out of him with all his years spent asseverating on Twitter about having a referendum on the SNP’s watch.
I don’t believe Nicola Sturgeon.
You don’t donate £100,000 to your employer.
The SNP sure know how to lift a missing ring fenced 600K out of the pockets of the yes movement that’s for sure.
Neil in Glasgow says:
15 December, 2022 at 10:38 pm
On a slightly different note, good to see John Spinney denying someone in the Government on his behalf was behind the leak this afternoon. Senior figures in this Gov would never authorise such a thing, would they?
——–
That was Swinney very publicly lining up a scapegoat in the Scottish Parliament chamber for all to witness, quite a moment to watch as it’s not often you can witness a Minister, the Deputy First Minister no less, publicly putting a knife in anothers back to cover his own tracks.
If they’re throwing in the towel and reallocating the £20 million that was set aside for indyref2, then surely they must also reallocate the ringfenced money?
No comment on that?
https://archive.vn/Z04kA
The former first minister said on Thursday: “The people of Scotland were promised a referendum next year, no ifs no buts, and there is a clear democratic mandate for one.
“Today, the Scottish Government have flown a white flag on that constitutional imperative when they should have been flying a Lion Rampant.”
He argued that the Sturgeon administration’s decision to “concede there will now not be an independence referendum is even more bizarre, considering that only yesterday the SNP led a debate at Westminster calling for one“.
Garrion
Balloon?That seems quite understated , and quite insulting to the balloon.The post explains quite a lot.
It’s difficult to detect sentient activity in the great drummer. On a more serious note he actually seems to be suffering from some form of dementia. Maybe his SNP colleagues are too polite to say anything. Is retirement an option?
Repeal the Gender Recognition Act 2004
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/628382
Don’t forget to sign.
It does make you feel better if you do something even if it’s just signing a petition.
H
Thats the thing with smug BASTARDS the more they get away with the more the tracks have to be covered , I only hope she is found out pronto and any privilege she has is removed as soon as possible. She is a soulless empty vessel
Sturgeon, leader of the Scottish Transhumanism Party which masquerades as a Scottish Independence Party. Do not be deceived as to her true agenda.
The £20 million should have been kept to collapse Holyrood and fund the same campaign for a defacto Holyrood Independence referendum.
Scotland needs the big hitting party, on board, the SNP to push the Independence cause.
It’s so frustrating.
What are the SNP flock going to say about another Indy fund being spent on something other than a referendum campaign?
Will be fun reading the National comments section in the morning.
(That’s if the National even bothers to report it.)
How long have they had the £600k?
How much interest could have been earned on that amount over that period of time.
Should the amount they are looking for not be £600k + interest.
Or would that be one of the perks of the job where the £600K deposited in your investment account until there is a referendum when you return the £600k and keep the interest.
Everyone of those SNP MPs could be heroes. They would go down in history as the the revolutionaries if they thought about something bigger than themselves. They should be working to build the new Scottish State. To hell with the money in Westminster, think of something bigger.
Sturgeon bears the brunt of everyone’s frustration, mine in particular. She’s stymied Independence for far too long. Nothing more than bitterness and resentment sets in. Brings out the worst in people.
Another Scotland is possible. Another legacy is possible. The SNP do not care about Scotland anymore. It feels that way.
It seems strange that now that the polls are consistently showing support for a new Indyref the SNP is going out of its way to collapse support for it.
It would be sickening if it wasn’t so expected.
@ Wilson McBride: “what are the SNP flock going to say about another indy fund spent on something other than a referendum..”
They will nod wisely in agreement just as they did when she said: can’t because – brexit vote, brexit agreement, brexit effects, covid, covid effects, covid recovery; can’t be illegal/wildcat, must be s30…”
When is the penny going to drop with the thick as shit SNP members that Sturgeon has been leading them a merry dance.
When you hear what they have to say, it’s frightening to think people are actually that thick.
After those couple of poll results the other day, the SNP flock were posting triumphantly about how “now is our time” or “here we go” or “bring it on”.
And you are saying to yourself, “bring what on”?
The remaining gullible SNP members seem to have serious mental health issues.
And anyone outside their demented circle is a dyed in the wool Yoon.
There is just no talking to them.
So a loan turned into a ‘personal contribution’??
Have the SNP not got a good old fashioned Book Keeper?
Someone who watches every penny that is taken in, and watches every penny that is taken out.
Or do things like that not happen any more?
Sarah 11.21pm
It’s as if every remaining member of the SNP is a direct clone of Pete Wishart.
Cosy Slipper Pete i’m thinking must get all his facts
from Paypal Paul who endlessly recites the same Sturgeon worshipping drivel.
Sturgeon promises then Sturgeon demolishes.
douglas leighton says:15 December, 2022 at 10:58 pm
Balloon?That seems quite understated , and quite insulting to the balloon.The post explains quite a lot.
It’s difficult to detect sentient activity in the great drummer. On a more serious note he actually seems to be suffering from some form of dementia. Maybe his SNP colleagues are too polite to say anything. Is retirement an option?
——————–
Drummer ? Not a Big Fan then , Wishart was the Keyboard player.
Wonder what interest rate PM is charging for the loan. Could be a nice little earner for him.
Comfy Pete is cunt
AW NAW an there wis me gettin aw ma flags an banners ready fur ra march up the hill tae the promised land
Can swinney tell us how much dosh we’ll be getting cause John main and Chas are chompin at the bit
Maybe nikla can pey peto back the dosh he is due seein she’s got aw that spare money sloshin aboot,
is that £20 million six hundred thousand we’re aboot tae share , aw wur aw gonny get pished
What are cosy Pete’s pronouns? Good guy or wank? 😉
https://archive.vn/QO6el
Why is The National calling these people Independence Supporters?
They all suffer a nosebleed if somebody uses the “I” word too often, and they’d put Independence on hold in a heartbeat.
If they want Scotland’s poor to be helped and better looked after, then they should get off their bone idle arses, get Scottish Independence over the line and put a permanent end to Scotland’s gratuitous exploitation, interminable economic plunder and chronic underinvestment. Get rid of the parasite sucking the life from our veins!
These fucking insufferable charlatans and their SNP Fanzine aren’t Independence supporters, they’re bourgeois tosspots who only play at being radical, and their courage and enthusiasm suddenly deserts them when they’re actually asked to do something… like actually deliver Independence.
The SNP are the biggest political flops I can physically bring to mind, and NEVER has a nation besides Scotland had it’s vitality as a Nation sold down the river TWICE by the same despicable parcel of political fucking rogues who don’t possess a morsel of courage or integrity between them.
Sturgeon, and Sturgeon’s apologists everywhere, you fucking disgust me. You are ("Tractor" - Ed)s to this country, T R A I T O R S.
Here’s your chance to help the needy… Pay Pal Paul wants a new laptop for Christmas to keep up the sterling work he does keeping Imelda Sturgeon in the lifestyle she’s accustomed to…
https://weegingerdug.wordpress.com/2022/12/15/tech-disaster/
I am so fucking angry with these slithering cnuts and belly crawlers that it wouldn’t be healthy for me to write it down.
Is the “loan” tax avoidance?
Is it a scheme to get below the loss of tax allowance at £100k?
Personal allowance reduces by £1 by every £2 you exceed 100k.
This is the tip of the iceberg in my view.
Does he have a car paid/owned by the SNP? Do the SNP make a pension contribution for hime? Does he have BUPA cover?
This is Party in which the members do not know what the employees earn. A Party in which Peter Murrell decides what access is granted to the books.
That very, very specific loan amount suggesting to me that a threshold had to be achieved for some reason.
One would have to presume that the up-and-coming SNP special conference on the supreme court ruling is going to be about anything other than Independence?
If I was an educated man, I would say Mr Murrell going to lend the Yes movement £20million and take it as an interest free loan, he’s a gem of a man!
I wonder if the £20million that’s been set aside for the Referendum 2023 is destined to head the same way as the £600K referendum fund.
On a more serious note, when I think of people like myself who been loyal supporters and members of the old SNP for 33yrs or more, and I know of people who left the SNP their houses in their wills, if these people where alive today what would they think, because they never gave their houses and even their entire estates to the SNP to stand up for the Union, it was always to secure Independence. Just remember everyone SNP left us we didn’t leave the SNP.
Lets all wait and see what Union Pete has to say about the referendum now.
Pete Wishart has spent years belittling, condascending and deriding anyone and everyone asking even the simplest of questions of him and the party. In fact he has been a nasty, sarcastic and vitriolic dick for most of this time. Wallowing in hiw own smarm. He wont accept any responsibility for this. He will simply reframe the whole thing and continue his gaslighting.
Pishy Wishy is the gift that keeps on giving
I notice that the figure given for the FMs salary is incorrect. Scottish ministers have not taken a pay rise since 2008.
@ twathater says:16 December, 2022 at 3:38 am
Thanks for the name check!
Seems bleedin obvious to me that in the middle of a skint crisis, some efforts by the Indy movement to show Scots voters how they will be personally better off post-Indy will pay dividends. After all, if we do get anywhere near Indy, plenty of people will be telling us how ruinous it will be for our finances. Why not occupy that battlefield now?
Just as it seems bleedin obvious to me that some efforts by the Indy movement to increase the appeal of Indy to more Scots voters by toning down the personal hobby horses, such as republicanism, EU membership, defense by disarmament, revenge for 1707, etc. will also pay dividends.
Swinney absolutely useless on BBC Breakfast.
Attacking him on tax rises he failed to mention how 52% of us pay less tax than we would
if we lived in England?
He was attacked for failure in NHS waiting times.
He did explain how we perform better than anywhere else in the U.K.
The BBC guy attacked him again saying things have got worse on his watch.
He just took it gulping.
John, Come back and attack the absurd bastard for claiming that being the best in the U.K.
isn’t good enough. That we do well with Westminsters budget cuts that we have the most remote areas in the U.K. to support with health care.
Are the BBC suggesting Scots should vote Tory for the 2nd best NHS service where over 7 million are on waiting lists for treatment, or perhaps the 3rd best NHS service where Labour have been running it for 23 years.
How about attacking the Unionist propaganda with both barrels for once John.
For pity sake stand up for Scotland.
Effijy says:
16 December, 2022 at 8:15 am
Swinney absolutely useless on BBC Breakfast….
….For pity sake stand up for Scotland.
Swinney has been utterly useless for a long time, never knowingly one to stand up for justice either. You can be sure he has “nothing to add to the answer you’ve been given”.
Ain’t that right Swinney?
He only looks after himself.
Rev wrote: “We must admit, though, we’re quite looking forward to Comical Pete’s explanation.”
And that’s something we are never going to get because that’s one of the reasons Pete ‘Cosy Feet’ Wishart removed himself from the frontline crossfire. Avoidance! He’s a self-serving liar and a coward.
Who is telling the truth? Sturgeon stated that her husband made a personal contribution as a supporter of the party, yet the £107,620 is clearly shown as a loan from Peter Murell to the SNP on the Electoral Commission site. A loan is not the same as a personal contribution.
@PhilM
Now that MSM are reading above the line, perhaps they’ll have a gander deeper down and give us the (ahem) owners’ favoured position on that other potential queen, the Princess of Thailand.
Cant be covid (because Siam didnt go to Qatar) which risks leaving the blame on vaccine or novichok style psy op (ie to blame the vaccine) – both of which might have been avoided had the titter files gotten more traction earlier in the week, etc, etc, etc
At John Main on 16 December 2022 at 8:04 am:
Talking of “personal hobby horses”, and this is coming from someone who agrees with the general idea of what you’ve been bumping your gums about repeatedly:
Who, *exactly*, are you expecting to produce this case?
I know you’ve stated “the indy movement” but that’s quite a very broad field but surely, for someone who rants on and on about this, you have some further ideas on the matter? If so, let’s hear them, who do you suggest should be producing this case? Can you be more specific?
Are you referring to WOS? The SNP? Alba? Wingers? Who? Such a case, if you want it to be taken seriously, has to come from someone (or some organisation) with the financial experience and qualifications to produce this detailed work you keep demanding.
It’s a simple question and given you’ve been harping on about it for yonks you should have no problem educating us all on it. And remember, i’ve always agreed 100% with where you’re coming from – appeal to the greed/money/selfish side of human nature, if done right it’s a big vote winner, so i’m interested in what you have to say. Very interested! So let’s hear it!
Why am I not surprised about the open admission that the fabled 2023 Indyref2 is not going to happen?
Because I’ve been in the belly of the beast, for years, and I’ve seen how well below average is the IQ of too many representatives (at all ranks) of what has now become the Saint Nicola’s Party.
You can’t manage a difficult, complex and contentious issue like working to take a nation out of a malicious Union that lasted 300+ years with the likes of Cosy Slippers calling the shots.
What surprises me is the equally depressing stupidity of the Scottish electorate that would continue to vote for such low quality specimen.
History repeats: Scots are so desperate to grasp anything to hold their hopes afloat that they vote for the most useless fearties. It was Labour a handful of decades ago, it briefly was the RealSNP led by a clever one (the one that achieved the most!), then it’s the Saint Nicola’s Party now, living, or better squatting, on that legacy.
But as Labour died in Scotland, the Saint Nicola’s Party will die as well. The latter has followed the same exact path of the former, so the expected consequence is the same.
Scots used Labour for the first attack to the BritNazi Establishment fortress, slamming it against the drawbridge. The drawbridge fell but Labour broke, and got left to the wayside.
It was the RealSNP’s turn, and this time the full frontal attack severely dented the door. But the consequences were the same: the machine got mangled and the BritNazi Establishment poured poison onto it.
We’ve built another machine already, and it’s time to leave the broken down carcass of the Saint Nicola’s Party behind.
This time the BritNazi Establishment fortress’ door goes down. But remember: we need very, very clever people at the lead, because when we’re in there’s no time for dilly-dallying. We need to be ready to strike a mortal hit to the heart of the beast as soon as.
We need proactive, forward thinkers, not timid, reactive fearties.
100%Yes says on 16 December 2022 at 7:26 am:
“I wonder if the £20million that’s been set aside for the Referendum 2023 is destined to head the same way as the £600K referendum fund.”
I doubt very much that will happen because that would invite Westminster into proceedings and Westminster is a totally different kind of experienced beast compared to the impotent and corrupt SNP amateurs & their Scottish legal system friends.
Unless it’s a very risky and dodgy strategy to shout, *again*, “oh look at big bad Westminster and the Tories.” Given the SNP’s history of blunder after blunder under Sturgeon & Murrell i suppose anything is possible.
Or, as some in the ‘Yes’ movement believe, if Sturgeon is a Westminster stooge then she could use that as an offering to her masters that would enable them to justify shutting Holyrood down. How’s that for a conspiracy story?
But then again when it comes to the current SNP Scotland has learned never to discount anything, no matter how absurd it seems. LOL! 😉
So, independence via the SNP is gone, its dead, finished no more pretence from them.
Surely now the majority of the indy masses know this, including the Yes groups, the grassroots and the SNP membership, and Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp, they surely will no longer support the SNP and instead support a real independence party namely the Alba party.
Now that Swinney has formerly hammered the final nail into the independence coffin, surely any SNP MSP who isn’t a spineless/gutless trougher will speak up and jump ship from the NuSNP, the same applies to the SNPs MPs.
I never ever want to hear or read any SNP MP MSP who doesn’t jump ship, talk about pushing or Scottish independence again, for we’ll know it’s all lies.
Didn’t someone invent the slogan «Scotland Free in 2003», also btw my birth year in «liberated» Iraq.
Something of an annus nefastus for the spirit of freedom on the whole.
Referendum…..what timewasting bores, liars, cheats, frauds those politicians and their tedious posing.
Nota bene, O Citizens!
Hmmm… never thought there was a connection between the missing 600k of ring fenced funds (where ‘ring fence’ here apparently means ‘cloak of invisibility’) and the 107,620 pounds of deferred wages/employee loan (delete as appropriate) from Peter Murrell but perhaps there could be…
I wonder if the timing of the loan and the police investigation could be connected.
The missing 600k might be missing but it is not a mystery why. It was spent. It was intermingled with the regular funds after it was (fraudulently) raised and used to cover other expenses.
Including presumably Peter Murrell’s big fat salary. It had to be used for that in part at least as it was famously ‘interwoven’ into all the other funds, they said so themselves.
So clearly any salary Murrell was paid during that period had to have some of the 600k ‘interwoven’ into his big fat pay check.
So if you were then under police investigation for fraudulently raising the 600k and you had paid a sizeable chunk of the 600k to your self as wages you could see how that might start to look bad and smell worse.
So what might you do to mitigate that smell.
You might either return the wages paid for the entire period the 600k was being spent or defer future wages to reinstate the monies your were paid from the 600k. As sign of good faith you understand to show nothing dodgey was going on…
This is essentially the Father Ted, ‘the money was only resting in my account’ defence. lol.
It would be every difficult to say exactly how much of the tainted wages were paid from the missing 600k as it was interwoven. So you would probably just repay the whole tainted whack during the entire period (where the 600k was being spent/depleted) at least initially to be on the safe side…
So there could be some connection to the missing 600k of ring fenced funds….
And then add in the reluctance to share the financial statements and the mass resignations of people involved in their oversight… a lot of alarm bells are ringing at this point.
Someone should ask Mr and Mrs Murrell some hard questions about the ungodly stench emanating from their activities.
Effijy says:
16 December, 2022 at 8:15 am
“Swinney has been utterly useless for a long time, never knowingly one to stand up for justice either.”
I have direct personal experience of Swinney. He is a bully and he is corrupt. Every civic institution that he can get his hands on has been not-so-much tainted as despoiled by his toxic influence. The leaderships of the education and care regulators, the SQA etc have all been disgraced when scrutinised by external organisations like the OECD.
Swinney has contempt for the rule of law and the justice system and has ruined this once respected nation of ours.
The joyous nationalism of 2014 has been replaced by a nastiness and a negativity that will persuade many to opt for No rather than Yes.
That opportunity, thanks to Sturgeon and her malevolent sidekick will not arise any time soon.
Not really a budget, is it? About 99% of it is accounted for before it leaves the UK Government bank account, going to the exact same places that the money went to before they built the fake parliament for the fake government.
The pattern Wings referred to in terms of SNP election strategies isn’t really a strategy either. It’s the absence of a strategy.
Basically it’s all based on polls that they commission, polls that we never get to see. The goal is to find out what’s worrying people most and make a manifesto out of those concerns. It’s all very short-term thinking and people tend to be most concerned about whatever the MSM tell them to be most concerned about.
Everything is fake in this country, nothing is real. It’s all built on and dependent on ‘bad faith’ and denying people access to basic truths and freedom of expression.
On Covid, the vaccines, the dames being caused by Brexit and the war in the east, the rancid royals, independence, nuclear weapons, and now this gender stuff, your opinions are basically classified as controversial and unwelcome — in some cases disloyal, seditious, and almost criminal — if they are at odds with the MSM narrative.
All the lies and spin in the world won’t heat people when they’re cold, feed them when they’re hungry, free them when they’re colonised, or calm them when they’re angry.
dames = damage
Grrr
Hatuey says:
16 December, 2022 at 10:49 am
Not really a budget, is it? About 99% of it is accounted for before it leaves the UK Government bank account, going to the exact same places that the money went to before they built the fake parliament for the fake government.
Not really a budget… Does it take into account the £80 billion being extracted from Scotland’s oil fields between now and 2028?
That’s £16 billion a year for 5 years, for our oil alone, yet Scots are chitterin’ in poverty and can’t even eat, and Scotland’s T r a i t o r s in “Government” run up the white flag on Independence.
Burn in Hell SNP.
Viscount Ennui says:
16 December, 2022 at 10:44 am
I have direct personal experience of Swinney. He is a bully and he is corrupt.
Me too. No disagreement from me.
What’s the chances glen Campbell headed on the belief, the unionists decide it is a leak and he that calls it a leak changing the story from more money for the NHS to government leaks.
Do I smell shite
BBC making up its own stories
To be fair,Pete did play the 4 chords required in Runrigs 16 to the bar, disco beat version, of ” Loch Lomond” with great musicality.
Viscount Ennui…
Always thought there was more, and not in a good way, to Swinney’s playing of the Igor character to Sturgeon’s Dr Frankenstein. Just a feeling…
Well, Stu thank goodness for Wings. People are angry with this cabal in this NuSNP in Holyrood. You fight our corner well. Thank you!
Those who might seek to take advantage are in Sturgeon’s opinion women so she is correct no man will take advantage.
It looks as if these ‘women-only spaces’ could end up being very dangerous.
What to do? ‘Men only spaces’ sound like a better option.
Yeah I’ll be using the men’s changing room at the gym it’ll be safer.
Don’t forget to sign the petition if you don’t believe a man can change sex.
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/628382
Ringfencing, its even got its own wiki page.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ringfencing
“In business and finance, ringfencing or ring-fencing occurs when a portion of a company’s assets or profits are financially separated without necessarily being operated as a separate entity.”
Ringfencing is to ‘financially separate’ funds and is therefore the literal opposite to ‘financially interweave’ funds.
Separate versus interwoven
Apart versus intermingled.
See the fundamental and core difference there Peter?
So if you raise funds for an express purpose, and furthermore promise to ring fence the monies raised, and then interweave and intermingle the funds raised with other funds, and then just spend the money raised, on everything but the stated thing that you expressly raised those funds for… that has to be a crime. Even a child, especially a child, could see this.
But instead of a child we have Police Scotland. stitch-up’s, hair-pinging, jailing journalists and a politically weaponised judicial system.
And who did that again… oh yes the wife of the man in charge of the organization that fraudulently raised the 600k to be ring fenced and then brazenly just spent it on other shit, including his own wages. It is almost like he knew he could get away with it eh. One hand washes the other…
Shug says:
16 December, 2022 at 11:04 am
BBC making up its own stories
As per usual.
Look no further than today’s report on the Stretford and Umston by-election, where they cherry picked Sir John Curtice’s words to make it read as if he was saying it was proof Labour were well on course to win the next GE.
They omitted entirely the part where he said “the Conservatives would definitely lose the general election, but Labour would still be somewhat short of the 326 mark.”
Judging by the complete collapse of the LibDem vote in a “monkey’s reflex voting red rosette” seat (so tactical voting can be ruled out), that the Guardianista classes couldn’t be arsed voting bodes ill for Sir Keir Of Fartinatrance getting his majority from anything other than an SNP coalition still – and so long as the Tories have that bogeyperson of self identified gender to point to at election time, Labour’s chances of winning next time still look precarious.
corrado Mella@9.07am
A worthy contribution.
Regarding this post it is blindingly obvious that Mr Wishart(previously key board player) is some kind of dim anomaly that keeps pushing the same button (repeating the same delusional tripe) with no effect.I find it difficult to believe that his SNP fraternity are not aware of the disrepute he drags them into. How can his candidacy be endorsed through a series of elections . This requires the collusion of the party leadership and also points to a general deficit of ability within the ranks of the WM party group. Explanations for this sad state are difficult, but the comfortable life that is part of the Westminster package seems a distinct possibility. Comfort begets complacency. Obviously Wishart is shamelessly impervious to criticism.
Another factor in this state of affairs is the possibility that other elected members in the group are disinclined to rock the boat lest their own performance is brought to the attention of a wider audience.Rocking the boat might result in the shaking out of others and the judgement that poor calibre representation is better than none. The whole setup is a formula for political stasis, but this is hardly a revelation. FPTP + the Westminster privilage system is very prone to this kind of inhibitory influence.
Observing this condition through the WOS columns I have dared to think that the current head butting approach is simply not working and I found myself thinking the unthinkable. That difficult to swallow position was caused by the realisation that there is no argument(no matter how coherent or compellingly logical) that the establishment of the UK will concede.
In effectI began to think that the political stasis must be tackled by breaking the process down into a series of attainable objectives . One of these objectives has to be the removal of very low calibre players on the indy field. Wishart springs to mind but others come to mind. A campaign from the terraces ought to make a difference.
The big change required is the current leadership whose performances falls very short of acceptable. This issue is clouded by the current leader’s confident /professionalised rhetorical performances within the parliament and in the media.
However there is a real weakness She has pinned her political colours to the mast of transgenderism which is an untenable and now waning campaign with the demolishing of the “mermaids’ organisation, Stonewall and the discrediting of the Tavistock (concerned with the gross intrusion of drugs and surgery into the lives of children).
Sturgeon’s and other’s gross failure on this policy, concern her failure to properly comprehend the ontological intricacy of human sexual and psychological development, involving extremely complex genetic, and epigenetic processes combined with currently only partially understood homeotic genes. Her attitude has been akin to taking a political sledge hammer to a delicate symphony, rather reminiscent of the action of the Nazi regime and its adoption of the spurious eugenics movement of the 20’s and 30’s. To me this behaviour condemns her political judgement as gross and ignorant. It really is time for a radical housekeeping of Scottish politics.
The inevitable intermingling of the political leadership and the executive function in a spousal relationship, and administration of the party is a blatant incipient corruption. The mingling of personal and ‘political’ money is ringing bells very loudly and indicating clearly the unfitness of the current incumbents. My view is that the current situation is politically adulterous and honest players would have distanced themselves from such an arrangement at the earliest opportunity in order to dispel any suspicion. Such One can only assume that the failure to take action is in itself indicative of some level of impropriety.Such arrangements are reminiscent of Tammany Hall or central American regimes driven by graft and corruption.Of course, in itself, the situation may be blameless but it is hard to believe that two such politically alert individuals are not aware of the appearance this creates The arrangement calls into question the accountability of the two individuals, and the possibility of them reducing accountability below the acceptable level of transparency in modern democratic to their mutual advantage.
Hatuey @ 10:49 am
“Not really a budget, is it? About 99% of it is accounted for before it leaves the UK Government bank account, going to the exact same places that the money went to before they built the fake parliament for the fake government.”
You are absolutely correct Hatuey, same ‘illusion’ every year:
Total budget £60bn 23/24
of/which –
Health 19.1bn 32%
Local Gov 18.3bn 30%
Other 22.3bn 37% (econ, educ, just, agri, culture)
sum 59.7bn 99.5%
Yes, Holyrood is basically still a spending department of Westminster as was the former Scottish Office pre-dev and with more or less the same responsibilities.
Most of the £60bn ‘budget’ is spent on wages and ‘operating costs’ for public and semi-public sector workers, of which well over 10,000 ‘elites’ (maistly unionists) will be on salaries of over £100,000/yr – i.e. £1bn+ for oor ‘meritocratic elite’. Private school fees necessary to prepare our future overseers are not cheap – nae state schuils fer thaim.
The SNP MSP’s are basically presenting each year a colonial budget over which they have limited real control or influence – relative to an independent Scotland where Scots would have control over Scotland’s lands, massive resources and international trade and all related tax and ownership matters. Treated as a colony we ‘are out of the game’ internationally.
So it might as well still be Jack McFlannell and New Labour in charge of this ‘fake government’ as maist o the money sent up fae London aye gaes tae exactly the same places onywey – meantime Scotland remains bled dry of its wealth resulting in very limited opportunities, inequality and an impoverished future for most Scots – i.e. our perpetual colonial legacy.
Mac @ 10.29.
Like you I wondered if there was a connection between the missing £600,000 and the loan/donation/contribution by Peter Murrell. I can’t work it out. What would be interesting would be to know how the part repayment of the loan was made, and to whom – perhaps just a paper transaction.
Has a deal been done with the police? Along the lines of ‘pay it back and you can be cautioned’ instead of a court case.
There will always be speculation as to what has gone on unless and until there is full transparency from the SNP. I’m not holding my breath.
Yep, Mac,
If any of us lesser mortals tried to misappropriate even a wee amount of ring-fenced funding, we would be in serious trouble. For making 600K effectively disappear, someone should be locked up. Alas, the bigger the crime, the more chance of getting away with it.
Pete Slippers claim to fame is that he got rid of English votes.
If only he had we wouldn’t have had English votes for Brexit
English votes for UK Prime Minister English votes for pretty much everything here in Scotland.
It’s amazing the mountain of crap you can hide behind a “Wheesht for Indy” banner. There has to come a tipping point when folk have just had enough of this nonsense.
The Related Party Transactions and the resulting conflict of interests in the PM/NS set up are enormous. Like the Convener of a local authority being married to the CEO, or the Chairman of a public company being married to the CEO. It just would not be allowed – one of the parties would have to resign. This caused issues during the infamous visit to the PM/NS house of Alex Salmond to discuss the sex allegations. Was he there on government business with NS, or on party business with PM? No one was sure. And of course the biggest beneficiary of SNP money is their highest paid employee – PM which leads extra juice to the missing £600K story.
Once again nothing suprises me with the NuSNP SHOWER OFF SHITES
Tick tock goes the Murrells clock.
Nobody has answered the question that a Yoon asked . Are the 25 civil servants that were working on the independence referendum been relocated to other tasks.
If they have then Scotland will not be prepared to become an independent country any time soon.
So Nicola has no intention of making the next GE a defacto Indy referendum.
Fail to prepare! Then prepare to fail.
“Scotland’s first minister has insisted that a legal referendum is the only way for the country to win independence…”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-50002776
“The Scottish Government’s decision to concede that there will now not be an independence referendum is even more bizarre considering that only yesterday the SNP led a debate at Westminster calling for one.” (Salmond)
http://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/23194399.salmond-accuses-snp-ministers-flying-white-flag-indyref2/
Not so long ago, politicians like Sturgeon would resign when it became clear that they had failed to achieve major policy goals. For the SNP, on paper at least, policy goals don’t get any more major than independence.
She made a terrible and huge mistake when she proclaimed that the only legal route to independence was through the section 30 process and a referendum. By her own standard quoted above, whatever we might think of that standard, by proposing to use a General Election as a defacto referendum, she is now embarking on an illegal route to independence.
That’s diabolical on so many levels. She should resign immediately and she must know it. Everybody who knows anything about politics knows that her position is completely untenable today. It isn’t debatable or a matter of opinion. Reallocating the £20 million indyref budget is the clearest admission of failure imaginable for her and her government and she simply must step down.
Natalie McGarry got 2 years for £20k, so £600k should be 60 years. What am I missing?
More and more noise about privatising the NHS. This is what will happen if you do, from personal experience of the inhuman Yank model:
https://whorattledyourcage.blogspot.com/2019/11/coming-soon-to-hospital-near-you.html
Ruth Bennett @ 1:04 pm
Talking of “conflict of interests” and “biggest beneficiary of SNP money”
Coinciding with the SNP’s carrots & blind alleys cunning plan these past 8 years, the biggest single funder of the SNP now appears to be the British State – Short money. ‘He who pays the piper…..’
Such is the Manichaeism nature of colonialism.
I struggle with the idea SNP members of parliament think they will get returned given Nicolas performance.
I know of several branches where the paper numbers look good but the activists have left in disgust and anger.
They must know if she puts all the eggs in a plebisitary election the shit storm about perjury, conspiracy and missing cash with a few personal indiscretions on top for icing will be released.
They can’t all be so daft as to believe her line
https://wingsoverscotland.com/on-the-run/#comment-2720692
Excellent post Hatuey.
I couldn’t understand why there were posters here
extolling the virtues of a defacto referendum instead of calling for her resignation.
@ Stoker says:16 December, 2022 at 8:59 am
I have had a busy day, so apologies for the delay in responding.
I was going to list a few ideas:
1) The policy by which ownership of Scotland’s resources gets effectively transferred to the people of Scotland is undoubtedly complex.
2) Financials experts can sort out the details, no doubt involving government asset-backed borrowing, purchase from current owners, external investment (strictly controlled, hopefully), etc.
3) Experts in communication and explanation can phrase the policy in a way understandable to all voters.
4) Communication and repetition ensures that ordinary Scots know what is going to happen, how it is going to happen, and can confidently expect to benefit.
5) Given 1) to 4), getting Scots to vote for it is easy.
Anyways, I just read the new thread. Forget all of the above. It ain’t gonna happen.
The UK has Scotland “baked in” for the forseeable future. That is why the markets can make long-term predictions on the UK economy, the Pound, interest rates, government borrowing, etc. etc. Scotland’s de facto one-party state has capitulated to that reality by developing an alternative reality (happy place) of its very own.
iScotland is going nowhere until at least the next GE, probably in 2025. Read “The Invalid Women” thread to understand why.
WhoRattledYourCage says:16 December, 2022 at 2:04 pm
More and more noise about privatising the NHS. This is what will happen if you do, from personal experience of the inhuman Yank model:
https://whorattledyourcage.blogspot.com/2019/11/coming-soon-to-hospital-near-you.html
————————————–
Not new though is it ? https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1214498/general-election-news-nicola-sturgeon-nhs-deal-us-firm-contract
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/homenews/19762205.snp-president-michael-russell-advocated-health-care-privatisation-book-written-party-donor/
Karen says:16 December, 2022 at 1:52 pm
Natalie McGarry got 2 years for £20k, so £600k should be 60 years. What am I missing?
——————————————-
Commonsense, knowledge, Legal training.
Effijy says:
16 December, 2022 at 8:15 am
Swinney absolutely useless on BBC Breakfast.
Attacking him on tax rises he failed to mention how 52% of us pay less tax than we would
if we lived in England?
————————————————————–
Perhaps but £20 a week extra (or is it a month) in pockets in Scotland doesn’t make a huge difference but for propaganda though its huge.
Breeks says:16 December, 2022 at 11:03 am
Hatuey says:
16 December, 2022 at 10:49 am
Not really a budget, is it? About 99% of it is accounted for before it leaves the UK Government bank account, going to the exact same places that the money went to before they built the fake parliament for the fake government.
Not really a budget… Does it take into account the £80 billion being extracted from Scotland’s oil fields between now and 2028?
That’s £16 billion a year for 5 years, for our oil alone, yet Scots are chitterin’ in poverty and can’t even eat, and Scotland’s T r a i t o r s in “Government” run up the white flag on Independence.
————————————-
No idea where you dug up those numbers from but that’s the projected value of oil recovered before taking off the cost of recovering it ie NOT “Profits” or the even smaller amount of “Taxes from Profits” https://www.holyrood.com/news/view,john-swinney-calls-on-george-osborne-to-reduce-tax-for-the-oil-and-gas-industry_6490.htm
John Main says: “Anyways, I just read the new thread. Forget all of the above. It ain’t gonna happen.”
Yip! So depressing! Sturgeon & Murrell really need to be held responsible for this. They’ve used and abused indy support to further their own pervy interests. And unless we make sure a substantial number of their Westminster lackies are going to be ousted then absolutely nothing will change.
I will never in my life vote for a Unionist party/politician but that doesn’t mean we can’t have a big hand in who doesn’t get elected. We need to get a ‘Boycott Westminster Elections’ campaign up and running pronto or absolutely nothing will change.
Oh why, Mr Salmond, did you ever think that Skank Sturgeon was a fit and proper person to be handed the reigns? Especially when you knew she was in a relationship with someone you deeply distrusted. And then she married that very same creep in 2010. I know they say ‘love is blind’ but that wasn’t meant to mean you, Mr Salmond, as the observer.
Yeah! Think i agree, John, we’re well-and-truly fucked for the foreseeable unless some major surprise is sprung from way out left-field. Somehow i very much doubt it though. I’m contemplating taking a big step back from it all, and i have *never* thought or felt that way in 40-odd years of fighting for indy.
The whole situation is deeply depressing and i’ve truly experienced a level of hatred for the Murrell’s that i never believed possible. I detest them far more than i ever hated Thatcher & Ruth Davidson put together. And that’s saying something.
@John Main 5:19pm
I agree with your analysis. People can only see what is in front of them. And the GRR is a game changer. I retain my stance of being a principled Independence voter. But the SNP are making it very difficult to maintain that stance. I have no convictions, no speeding fines and even no parking fines. An atypical Scottish male if you look at the stats. If this Bill passes I am back to the seventies on the streets in Northern Ireland where gratuitous violence was the norm. So why are the UK Government not intervening to prevent the madness? They should give notice they will strike the leglisation down the same day.
Well if that is the Murrels definition of a “contribution “ I hope they don’t contribute to any charities.
Ruby: “I couldn’t understand why there were posters here
extolling the virtues of a defacto referendum instead of calling for her resignation.”
It is the thing that will sink her but there’s no contradiction in extolling both, her resignation and a defacto referendum.
She should never have said the only legal route to independence was through a section 30, though. Even if she believed it — especially if she believed it — she should never have said it.
She’s a total amateur standing on a mountain of humiliating and shocking failures as if she is some sort of successful politician; the only reason she has been allowed to stand there like that is because she was a useful idiot and patsy for British State interests, keeping the Scottish rabble in line on behalf of the colonial masters.
George: “I retain my stance of being a principled Independence voter. But the SNP are making it very difficult to maintain that stance.”
You don’t need to. I don’t think it would be ethical to vote for the SNP as it’s currently configured, even if you are doing so on the basis that it will help achieve independence.
I say that with respect to the dishonesty, the bumbling failures of which there are many, and the complete disregard they exhibit towards women that this gender reform stuff implies, and much else. It’s not a moral or ethical position to suggest we turn a blind eye to all that for the sake of independence — it just isn’t.
Here’s the thing, though, hinted at the other other day by Alf Bair; independence isn’t the be all and end all that some on here and the wider independence movement would have you believe it is.
There are plenty of independent countries out there that are every bit as compromised, undermined, and corrupted by powerful external forces than we are right now. Formal independence actually guarantees nothing in terms of being free of external influences.
What’s more, it isn’t ridiculous to suggest Westminster might play a bigger part in fleecing us, manipulating us, and influencing the decision-making of our politicians after we achieve independence. There are plenty of examples.
Everything comes down to us and what we are prepared to accept, what we prioritise, and what we aspire to. And if I’m honest, I’d say people generally need to wise up because how we go into all this, the decisions we make now, and what we are prepared to accept today, could very well determine how we proceed after independence and come back to haunt us.
Starting off on the journey of a new independent country with someone like Sturgeon at the helm is, in my opinion, a recipe for long-term misery and disaster. I won’t vote for that. Not under any circumstances will I vote for the SNP until I am satisfied that root and branch reform has been demonstrated. Replacing her with someone like Angus Robertson simply won’t cut it.
Alf Baird*
@Hatuey 12:08am
When I said I am a principled Independence supporter I meant it in the abstract. As in, why wouldn’t anybody vote for control of their in own affairs?. Sturgeon is a protected special asset. That is clear to me, after 30 minutes of digging out my old MBA books to analyse their accounts of the past 4 years. A busted flush of an organisation. If I voted in an Independence vote tomorrow. I would say Yes and immediately leave the country. Anyway I prefer to talk about the fitba. I put a pound on 3 two France at 40 to 1. My prediction and my bet!
hilarious: “If I voted in an Independence vote tomorrow. I would say Yes and immediately leave the country.”
Okay, you’re right, back to the football.
My vote and my prediction is Argentina to win. I think they want it more. I also think that guy Mbappe and also Dembele have been rotten so far — both of them were terrible against England which is why it was only 2-1.
I think Argentina to win 3-2 could be a good bet but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was one of those boring goalless games and goes to penalties or there was only 1 goal in it. I’ll probably put a fiver on 3-2 just for the odds.
We can assume Messi will try his hardest, you can count on that, and that could make the difference.