Mike Russell, currently at the centre of controversy over his appointment as chair of the Scottish Land Commission, hit the political big stage during Scotland’s first ever SNP administration under Alex Salmond, whom, in turn, Mike had previously seen into office as Salmond’s campaign manager.
In 2007 he was appointed as Minister for Environment, then in 2009 he became the Minister for Culture, External Affairs and the Constitution, and his conventional ministerial career concluded when he went on to replace Fiona Hyslop as Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning until the end of 2014.
Following the 2014 independence vote, the pre-referendum era ended with Salmond’s dignified (albeit temporary) stage exit; Nicola Sturgeon took the helm and began to reform what had been left to her by her predecessor.
A core pillar of Sturgeon’s centrist reform was the construction of an almost entirely opaque ivory tower of power from which both SNP and the state would run their covert affairs with subversive, centralizing, strong-arm granularity, cleverly camouflaging its sinister implications from the public through cult-of-personality media management.
Instrumental in this, among a very few select others, was Mike Russell.
It’s rather apt that this happened on the last day of the calendar. Because it truly is the rock-bottom moment in the grotesquely sullied history of the Scottish National Party.
We’ve heard that line somewhere before, haven’t we?
So, just a quick one, because we’ve got Christmas shopping to do:
Since continuing to fight for the GRR was famously a “red line” for the Scottish Greens in terms of the Bute House Agreeement, do we think that the Greens will now withdraw from the governing coalition, sacrifice their ministerial cars and salaries and influence, and return to the back benches for the next two and a half years until they can try to form an alliance with Labour?
James on Search And Replace: “Larry, Curly & Moe; all day, every day. *yawn*” Jul 8, 16:16
James Barr Gardner on The Interests Of The Many: “All this SNP information was on “SAGE” for the Police investigating a doddle to interrogate those who donated and those…” Jul 8, 16:15
sarah on The Interests Of The Many: “O/T: Clacton by-election. Surely this is a good opportunity for a Scottish independence candidate/party to stand? Their platform could be…” Jul 8, 15:29
lothianlad on The Interests Of The Many: “This is the scrutiny that is so needed. Well done Stu and your team. There is no doubt in my…” Jul 8, 14:44
MaryB on The Interests Of The Many: “Count Binface is really Jon Harvey, a Corpus Christie, Cambridge graduate.” Jul 8, 13:59
Hatey McHateface on The Interests Of The Many: “Football’s all very well, TURABDIN, and some people are enjoying Wimbledon, but the greatest televisual spectacle of the moment is…” Jul 8, 13:37
Hatey McHateface on Search And Replace: “At least nobody’s popped up to say there was a boy developed a car that ran entirely on water, but…” Jul 8, 13:33
TURABDIN on The Interests Of The Many: “OVERHEARD in a shop today. Old Man…….Trump just wants to set the world to right. Young Man…Yeah, but he should…” Jul 8, 13:05
Captain Caveman on Search And Replace: ““The irony of you popping up when people are complaining about things that weigh too much isn’t lost on me…” Jul 8, 12:54
100%Yes on The Interests Of The Many: “Its a common name in Scotland but not so common in Bath.” Jul 8, 12:53
Captain Caveman on Search And Replace: ““ – the “safety” of the big fucking stupid car only applies as long as there are no big fucking…” Jul 8, 12:53
Aidan on Search And Replace: “The irony of you popping up when people are complaining about things that weigh too much isn’t lost on me…” Jul 8, 12:24
Karen on The Interests Of The Many: “How amusing that the current SNP treasurer is called Stuart Campbell McDonald. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuart_McDonald_(Scottish_politician)” Jul 8, 12:04
Aidan on Search And Replace: “Let’s just ignore all the data showing the huge improvements in vehicle safety attributed to vehicle design in favour of…” Jul 8, 11:54
James on Search And Replace: “Aw, you’re insulting horses arses, Confused. Poor cut’n’paste Adrian is just trying to join in. The other one is dribbling…” Jul 8, 11:54
Confused on Search And Replace: “Hey Dan, the practical man, hope you are having a great time. How stupid are these fucking tits, determined to…” Jul 8, 11:23
100%Yes on The Interests Of The Many: “The Nasty party (SNP) isn’t going to be able to USE the public purse to fight this one.” Jul 8, 11:01
C MacKay on The Interests Of The Many: “Today,8 July the Herlad (sic) reported the donors are going to sue demanding repayment.This looks good” Jul 8, 10:47
C Mac Kay on The Interests Of The Many: “Today,8 July the Herlad (sic) reported the donors are going to sue demanding repayment.This looks good” Jul 8, 10:46
Southernbystander on The Interests Of The Many: “Anyone know what Count Binface’s stance on the Union is? Looking through his election materials I can find nothing, but…” Jul 8, 10:37
Cynicus on The Interests Of The Many: “I supported Count Binface in the Makerfield by-election. Although he didn’t win against the Establishment candidate, he came a mere…” Jul 8, 10:28
robertkknight on The Interests Of The Many: “Thanks Rev for posting on X… https://archive.is/bv9J5 TBH I’m surprised Nicla’s fanzine had the guts to publish such heresy.” Jul 8, 10:26
Cynicus on The Interests Of The Many: ““I doff my hat to the Rev…. chapeau ?“ ======= Any bareheaded readers should don a hat so they can…” Jul 8, 10:16
Captain Caveman on Search And Replace: “Yes absolutely, there’s a world of difference between personal choices affecting only you, and making sweeping (objectively misguided, misconceived and…” Jul 8, 08:41
Aidan on Search And Replace: “Of course there’s nothing stopping Dan driving a Hillman Imp if he wants to. There’s one for sale on the…” Jul 8, 08:12
Captain Caveman on Search And Replace: “Yes, precisely Aidan: such enormous strides in road safety and crash survivability are the (priceless) dividend of research, progress and…” Jul 8, 07:48
Aidan on Search And Replace: “I’d point out that the basic Mini weighs 1,160kg, the higher 1750kg weight is probably for the countryman which is…” Jul 8, 07:16
Captain Caveman on Search And Replace: “Ah, impotently throwing insults around, blatantly ignoring points raised and refusing to address them – and posting more mince I…” Jul 8, 06:25
Peter McAvoy on The Interests Of The Many: “I thought it was worth mentioning the Daily record Tuesday 7th July. Humza Yousef warned Scotland can no longer pretend…” Jul 8, 01:53
Dan on Search And Replace: “Aye, Sam, the dickhead troll jist has to try to find an angle to kick off and create discord and…” Jul 7, 22:07
