You’ve had a few pretty gruelling pieces to get through in the last week or so, readers, so here’s something a little more light-hearted.
It’s from an episode of Broadcasting Scotland on 27 November 2020, a month after we confirmed our big story about the SNP accounts and the missing fundraiser money. In it, snug-toed SNP MP Pete Wishart opines that there really is nothing to worry about, and we should all just put our trust in the party.
We’ll leave you to judge whose opinion stood the test of time.
On Sunday, Nicola Sturgeon told Laura Kuenssberg that the SNP’s accounts “went up and down” as her excuse for not noticing that hundreds of thousands of pounds had suddenly vanished from them overnight.
Several things leap out immediately from that clip.
One, there absolutely very much WAS “something glaringly suspicious in the accounts that I should have seen” – the party she led had raised almost £700,000 in two “ring-fenced” fundraisers that wasn’t there any more, which ought to have made its leader at least mildly curious.
And two, attempting to fob responsibility off onto the independent auditors simply won’t wash. It’s not their job to determine whether the SNP has kept its political promises or not, their job is simply to match up money coming in against money going out and produce a set of numbers to show what it all adds up to. It makes no odds to them if it was spent on a party conference, a fancy motorhome or a 50-foot golden statue of Danny La Rue. All they can see is numbers.
But even leaving those things aside, if we’re going to learn anything about how The Great Indyref Swindle got to this calamitous point unchecked we need to examine just how hard Nicola Sturgeon had to look the other way to fail to see what was going on literally under her nose and literally in her own back yard.
To tell you the truth, readers, we’re suffering from a little bit of option paralysis at the moment, although happily not in the same way Peter Murrell is.
The endless torrent of revelations following on from Murrell’s conviction a week ago isn’t just fascinating in its own right – it also forces numerous historical issues to be seen in a new light. At any given second there are half-a-dozen different articles we could be writing, but also so many to read that it’s hard to find the time.
We suspect this matter is going to run and run all through the summer silly season because there are simply so many angles and so many unanswered questions.
Sadly, this turned out to be prescient this morning.
Laura Kuenssberg did give Nicola Sturgeon an uncomfortable time in their interview on her Sunday programme on BBC News, but when confronted with the one gaping open goal that Sturgeon has no answer for – and even when Sturgeon TWICE set it up on a plate for her – Kuenssberg failed to knock the ball into the empty net.
That doesn’t – by some distance – mean there was nothing of interest to note, though, so let’s take a walk through (the first instalment of) what was said.
Now that Nicola Sturgeon is finally free of her gruelling MSP workload, which could give her anything up to two extra hours of spare time a week, she might like to start making a proper dent in the contents of her fully-loaded bookshelves.
The multi-statement meltdown that has been the unravelling of Nicola Sturgeon this week has been quite something to behold. Last night, for example, we swear our Twitter feed presented these two tweets one after the other.
We’ll be honest with you, readers, if we were in a situation where a lawyer was issuing statements for us, this isn’t what we’d want to hear.
“If my client had been charged, she’d be in prison right now” is a worrying distance short of a vote of confidence in your client’s innocence.
But the statement Aamer Anwar put out for Nicola Sturgeon last night – her FOURTH in 48 hours, despite saying on Monday morning that she’d be making no further comment on the Peter Murrell case – had rather more wrong with it than even that.
So, having made a statement on Monday morning which asserted that she wouldn’t make any further statements, then making another statement on Monday afternoon, Nicola Sturgeon and her solicitor issued a third statement in 36 hours last night.
And while we acknowledge that this is a very high bar to clear, it contained one of the most troubling and blatant lies she’s ever told.
And as the Nicola Sturgeon Loyal, led by her most faithful of lieutenants, set out to try to take control of the post-conviction narrative, let’s take a look at just what a boatload of bare-faced bullshit the above is.
There will be no trial, no cross-examination, no explanation. The people of Scotland, the members and supporters of the SNP, the wider Yes movement, none of us will ever know what really happened. Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?
Despite what you or we might think, in the eyes of the Scottish Football Association this ISN’T a pitch invasion. This is simply what a football match in progress looks like.
Because according to the absolutely extraordinary statement they’ve released this evening, that was game time. The clock was still running, nothing was being added to account for the fact that there were thousands of thugs rampaging across the field, and the game was still happening in that moment, until it was ended four seconds later.
Lorncal on The Wheels Of Industry: “Too many Scots, even those who profess themselves to be independence supporters, worry about other peoples to the detriment of…” Jul 21, 21:09
Colin Dawson on The Wheels Of Industry: ““Were they just waiting for all the momentum and impetus of Brexit, COVID, May, Truss and Starmer to die down…” Jul 21, 20:49
Alf Baird on The Wheels Of Industry: ““You can’t really imagine a spongebrain like Sturgeon, Swinney or Useless penning something of that calibre, can you?” Certainly no…” Jul 21, 20:46
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on The Wheels Of Industry: “PDF of Herman Dooyeweerd’s book: ‘ROOTS OF WESTERN CULTURE’ https://vcho.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Roots-of-Western-Culture-B-Vol-15.pdf” Jul 21, 20:38
Southernbystander on The Wheels Of Industry: “But you said they are accountable only to parliament. This is not true. If they break rules seriously enough then…” Jul 21, 20:15
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on The Wheels Of Industry: “« STOIC philosophy (influenced by semitic thought) had introduced into Greek thought the idea of the natural freedom and equality…” Jul 21, 19:57
Mark Beggan on The Wheels Of Industry: “And it never will. The Hope King? I thought Andy Burnham was the Oasis drummer.” Jul 21, 19:36
Hatey McHateface on The Wheels Of Industry: “Ach, Mark, you’re sore cos the hope hasn’t reached your postcode yet. Give it a day or two.” Jul 21, 18:10
TURABDIN on The Wheels Of Industry: “in the UK parliament is sovereign not the people. there is no concept of popular sovereignty within the Anglo-British (unwritten)…” Jul 21, 18:04
Mark Beggan on The Wheels Of Industry: “They can always be found around children. It’s clear now that Trans is a shield for abusing children. Fully supported…” Jul 21, 17:32
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on The Wheels Of Industry: “GIRLGUIDING STAFF STILL FEAR VOICING GENDER-CRITICAL VIEWS Girlguiding staff are still afraid to air gender critical views due to the…” Jul 21, 16:24
Mark Beggan on The Wheels Of Industry: ““A communist slop of low caliber, low IQ, feckless, unprincipled clowns.” The new Labour administration. Being a government take 2.…” Jul 21, 16:08
100%Yes on The Wheels Of Industry: “Is it plausible if asked by the police, I had a whole in my purse and the I lost the…” Jul 21, 15:51
robertkknight on The Wheels Of Industry: ““I don’t think it’s feasible or reasonable to disenfranchise the non-Scots in Scotland”. The British Government had no problem disenfranchising…” Jul 21, 15:09
factchecker on The Wheels Of Industry: ““As British MPs are not deputies, that is representatives of the people but accountable only to parliament and its notion…” Jul 21, 15:02
Vestas on The Wheels Of Industry: “I remember Gordon, he used to be quite active BTL here at one point in time (2014-16??). Maybe getting himself…” Jul 21, 14:40
Hatey McHateface on The Wheels Of Industry: “Professor Baird lacks a time machine so we have to deal with Scotland as it is today. I don’t think…” Jul 21, 14:31
Hatey McHateface on The Wheels Of Industry: “I maintain a balanced neutrality on that question by being very careful to not read anything written by Sturgeon, Swinney…” Jul 21, 13:57
robertkknight on The Wheels Of Industry: ““You should be able to rely on the support of near 50% of Scots”. Point of order… 52.7% of Scots…” Jul 21, 13:52
Hatey McHateface on These Words Are My Own: “Missing a trick there, Northy. Demand billions in compensation from the Scots for the genocide of the Picts.” Jul 21, 13:51
Hatey McHateface on The Wheels Of Industry: “Sorry, Alf. If you think the UN should prioritise “being out of the game” over being blown to bits in…” Jul 21, 13:46
Northcode on These Words Are My Own: “Southernbystander. You’re right, that the practical side matters more than the abstract principle. When I talk about “sovereignty of the…” Jul 21, 12:19
TURABDIN on The Wheels Of Industry: “BURNHAM became Brit PM by a system that is not directly accountable to the people, it was a internal westminster…” Jul 21, 12:15
Southernbystander on These Words Are My Own: “Yes this is all possible and the sentiment is sound, though as others have asked what does deriving sovereignty from…” Jul 21, 11:17
Oneliner on Progressing To Oblivion: “Angus Robertson was a member of the Defence Select Committee. Imagine how disturbing that must have been for his fellow…” Jul 21, 10:39
BLMac on The Wheels Of Industry: “Do any of these polls restrict their canvassing to the only people who should be allowed to have a say…” Jul 21, 10:29
Alf Baird on The Wheels Of Industry: “We know that denial is part of the colonial condition, so no surprise you twa canna, or rather winna see…” Jul 21, 10:11
100%Yes on The Wheels Of Industry: “Swinney Speaking to the Press Association at Bute House, said he wanted Burnham to devolve energy and economic powers to…” Jul 21, 09:58
robertkknight on The Wheels Of Industry: “The biggest trick the colonial oppressor ever pulled was to convince the oppressed that their presence was entirely benevolent in…” Jul 21, 09:47
