The beam on Kate Forbes’ face was quite something.
She’d clearly been exhausted by the contest some time ago, and must have been dreading winning and having to continue fighting the assault from within her own party. Her evident delight and relief at her own failure was a revealing moment.
The great unknown in this election was just who the SNP membership was. No poll could tell us, and with over 50,000 people having quit the party in the last three years, nobody knew who was left. But we know now: idiots.
Today is the last day of Nicola Sturgeon’s record-breaking reign as First Minister of Scotland. In a few hours we’ll know who is to succeed her in the role. She was only the second SNP occupant of Bute House, and the legacy she bequeaths compared to the one she inherited from Alex Salmond is a matter of measureable record.
This is the second time Wings Over Scotland has asked Police Scotland a question through the proper official channels, only to read the response in the tabloid press before we’d heard it firsthand (which we still haven’t, incidentally, several days after the 28-day deadline expired).
But the sidebar piece in today’s Sunday Mail raises more questions than it answers.
We’ve been thinking about it since last night, and we’re not sure if Humza Yousaf now still has ANY of the policies he started the leadership election with.
But this one‘s got us extra-specially perplexed, since at the start it was pretty much the main unique selling point he was hanging his whole campaign on.
According to SNP President and acting CEO Mike Russell, SNP members are too thick to understand the concept of changing their vote, and integrity is “disruptive”.
We’re not very clear on why a revote would be susceptible to “hacking” in any way that the original vote isn’t, but we’re sure there’s a great explanation.
There can surely be no credible disputing that the SNP leadership election – and therefore that of Scotland’s next First Minister – is, to put it very mildly, under a cloud.
As things stand, whoever wins will be forever tainted by the process – easy meat for the Unionist opposition in the Holyrood chamber and the media and a potential legal challenge could cause untold further damage to the party.
With six days still left for voting, the case for a reballot – an administratively fairly trivial task in an election being conducted almost entirely online – is now unanswerable, and needn’t even involve a delay.
The SNP having a fondness for lying about their membership wouldn’t have come as quite such a shock to the Scottish press if they paid a little more attention to this website. Because we were pointing it out two and a half years ago.
It was in October 2020 that we told you how the SNP’s 2019 accounts revealed the party’s true membership figures weren’t the claimed 126,000 but more like 87,000.
You might think that Scottish political journalists would all be in a shark-like frenzy of excitement at the events of the last few days. But not over on The Guardian.
Apparently it’s all a bit too much for the delicate wee flowers.
Hatey McHateface on The Ever-Changing Lie: “Any accountants reading? Perhaps you could work out the compound interest that would have accrued if the money had really…” Jun 9, 19:39
Chas on The Ever-Changing Lie: “Nobody writes as much shite as you Alfie Boy. What a talent you have!” Jun 9, 19:38
Insider on The Ever-Changing Lie: “Alf says…. “A key impact of the pathology associated with colonial oppression, the ‘colonial mindset’, is regarded as ‘a disease…” Jun 9, 19:36
Hatey McHateface on The Ever-Changing Lie: “One of history’s most often repeated mis-quotes. He was, of course, referring to Sunlight soap, invented in 1884. In 1918,…” Jun 9, 19:28
Dan on The Ever-Changing Lie: “I think either would have a fair to middling better chance of telling us, rather than our own Crown office…” Jun 9, 19:27
Mark Beggan on The Ever-Changing Lie: “The Left wing mindset begins with a lack of personal hygiene. An uncomfortable urge to stick your nose into everything…” Jun 9, 19:17
Ex President Xiden on The Ever-Changing Lie: “There is more than that missing since Murrel started his thievery before the ‘ring fenced’ donations were taken in.” Jun 9, 19:14
Hatey McHateface on The Ever-Changing Lie: “Prior to colonisation, thousands of Scots women practiced witchcraft. At least, thousands of Scots women were dispatched in the most…” Jun 9, 19:04
BigJay on The Ever-Changing Lie: “I’ve just been reading about Louis D. Brandeis (1856-1941). What a fascinating life he led. Who, you may ask? Well,…” Jun 9, 19:04
Mark Beggan on The Ever-Changing Lie: “You need to refer to fanny the financial commissar” Jun 9, 19:00
Oneliner on The Ever-Changing Lie: “I’m fairly sure there would have been some parochial rape / murder / pillage on the Viking model. Although ‘hung;…” Jun 9, 18:09
Hatey McHateface on The Massive Face Of Truth: “Well, well, YL, you’ve surprised me again. First, for not knowing it’s a stick of rock. Second, for not having…” Jun 9, 18:03
crazycat on The Ever-Changing Lie: “They can identify them; when I sent them 2 reference numbers for donations I made in 2017, they knew that…” Jun 9, 17:56
Hatey McHateface on The Massive Face Of Truth: “Does he say what kind of vehicle? Surely the campervan will be coming up at auction soon.” Jun 9, 17:50
Hatey McHateface on The Ever-Changing Lie: “Who’s best to tell us where the missing money is, then, Alf? Cesaire, or Memmi?” Jun 9, 17:47
John Cleary on The Ever-Changing Lie: “And that is why you will never get her. It’s a protection racket. The racket collapses when it fails to…” Jun 9, 17:45
robertkknight on The Ever-Changing Lie: “For the sake of shits’n’giggles… Let us look at what that “quote” says… “We’ll use the money for the purpose…” Jun 9, 17:39
agentx on The Ever-Changing Lie: “Was there no crime in Scotland before colonisation?” Jun 9, 17:20
Alf Baird on The Ever-Changing Lie: “The psychodynamics of Scottish independence would seem important here, not least because colonialism ‘is based on psychology’ (Cesaire). A key…” Jun 9, 17:02
Glenn Boyd on The Ever-Changing Lie: “Really, they should have stuck to the Father Ted Defence: “Now Dougal, the money was just resting in my account!”” Jun 9, 16:27
Lynne on The Ever-Changing Lie: “Tied up in vehicles, cruet sets & other fancy goods, maybe…” Jun 9, 16:18
Iain More on The Ever-Changing Lie: “I wont be moving on until Nicola MI6 Sturgeon isin a cell” Jun 9, 16:08
lothianlad on The Ever-Changing Lie: “Well done for holding them to account Stu!! Without you, they would get away with this fully. Now they are…” Jun 9, 15:40
Anthony Little on The Ever-Changing Lie: “Indeed. It’s a question our “investigative” MSM seems to have overlooked. Online I’m getting SNP members simply wanting to “move…” Jun 9, 15:37
agentx on The Ever-Changing Lie: “Are the Electoral Commission going to publish that all the accounts submitted from 2010-2022 are fraudulent and insist that the…” Jun 9, 15:29
Andrew F on The Ever-Changing Lie: “Isn’t that bloke about to be sentenced? Hasn’t the media made a big point of banging on about how he’s…” Jun 9, 15:22
Randolph Kleinman on The Ever-Changing Lie: “I think “woven through the accounts” meant tied up in working capital.” Jun 9, 15:16
sam on The Ever-Changing Lie: “I think it is an admission that the funds were used improperly. The Electoral Commission might be taking note. Anyone…” Jun 9, 15:10
