Is the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service of Scotland institutionally corrupt? I don’t believe so, but it’s certainly a troubled organisation.
The cost and reputational damage to it from the Rangers FC case are of a magnitude never seen before, and the actions in the Alex Salmond case and related actions by the Lord Advocate and Crown Agent have called its independence into question.
There must be structural change and individuals must be held to account.
I had hoped that Stewart Stevenson, the new National Secretary and convener of the Conferences Committee, would be similarly inclined.
In summary, my endeavours have been ignored.
In the three months since our election (supposedly more than halfway towards a spring conference), and despite repeated emails, documents and requests for meetings, the Conferences Committee has never been convened.
As a result I have resigned from both the committee and the SNP, and the reasons for my doing so are outlined below.
For the record, we thought you should see what the Scottish Parliament considers to be the appropriate treatment of an “Urgent Question”.
For a little over eight minutes, the Lord Advocate was allowed to ignore and avoid a series of questions put to him regarding the abjectly corrupt Crown Office’s recent interference with the work of the Fabiani inquiry by redacting evidence which in no way identified anyone as a complainer in the trial of Alex Salmond.
By the committee’s rules, if it’s not on the committee website then it doesn’t exist, and the redacted parts are – belatedly – no longer on the website. (As far as we can make out the unredacted version was finally removed around midnight last night.)
Farcically, she also denied even knowing that this question from James Matthews of Sky News was about Geoff Aberdein, who is the subject of all the redacted sections, which are all about the meeting Matthews was asking her about.
The First Minister is a liar and has all but given up on even the most token pretence otherwise. She is a disgrace to Scotland.
If we can somehow find the time amid the relentless blizzard of current Scottish political activity, we’re going to put together a list of all the legitimate and important questions that Alex Salmond’s lawyers have asked the Fabiani inquiry which haven’t even had the courtesy of a reply, let alone a satisfactory one.
We fully anticipate that the contents of the letter below, sent today, will be on that list.
FOREWORD: SNP MPs writing for this website about anything, especially a Plan B for independence, shouldn’t be controversial. We as a party should welcome diversity and inclusion – as indeed we do by giving quotes to every daily UK newspaper and broadcaster, as well as occasionally providing articles and financial help for them.
I for one would prefer it if people would get over posturing about the messenger and deal with the more important message. So let’s get to it.
It really can’t be overstated what extraordinary tweets these are.
That’s the editor of the conservative, ultra-establishment Spectator openly linking to a document that the Crown Office – the agent of the Queen herself – has threatened to prosecute the Scottish Parliament for publishing, and which has officially been deleted but is for some reason actually still available on the Parliament’s website.
The Spectator is giving the Queen the finger. And that’s not even the mad bit.
The Scottish Government and Nicola Sturgeon have tonight embarked on a last-ditch desperate throw of the dice to undermine and sabotage the already-compromised and endlessly-obstructed Fabiani inquiry in its impossible quest for the truth.
Having previously deployed her paid mouthpiece Rape Crisis Scotland last week, the First Minister – who’s spent the last six months insisting that she’d save her comments for her appearance at the inquiry – suddenly popped up on BBC and STV (but not, curiously, Sky News) to issue a challenge full of gunfighter bravado to her predecessor.
James Che on The Modern Politician: “Scotland has not had a monarch of Scotland because Scotland was dissoled from the treaty in 1707. The monarch of…” Feb 16, 12:14
Hatey McHateface on The Modern Politician: “Ye missed ane, Northy: 11. Repatriation (if Reform get their way) of all holders of alien, abusive, foreign, beliefs. As…” Feb 16, 12:08
Hatey McHateface on The Modern Politician: “Aye, sam, nae doot whitsoeever that thinking aboot the stuff that happened in 1608 keeps maist daecent, richt-thinking Scots awak…” Feb 16, 12:02
sam on The Modern Politician: “From an interview with Iain MacKinnon https://www.inmotionmagazine.com/global/mackinnon-iain-intview1.html#Anchor-Part-11481 “(But,) there’s a key difference in between what happened in Scotland and what…” Feb 16, 11:39
Alf Baird on The Modern Politician: ““I found Doun-Hauden by Alf Baird, tho – a must read for all indigenous Scots who want to know how…” Feb 16, 11:32
sam on The Modern Politician: “Iain MacKinnon -historian. “There you have the complexity of the fact that there was internal colonizing, as well. Some of…” Feb 16, 11:28
James Che on The Modern Politician: “Scotland has not had a monarch of Scotland since the year 1707.” Feb 16, 11:21
James Che on The Modern Politician: “That is why in Hansard it is often said, ” wether there is a treaty or not” when they speak…” Feb 16, 11:20
James Che on The Modern Politician: “One day, the penny will drop, Scotland cannot legally do UDI from the 1707 treaty of union that Englands Great…” Feb 16, 11:14
James Che on The Modern Politician: “England parliament transferred into the parliament brand Great Britain removed it very foundation creation to be the parliament of Scotland…” Feb 16, 10:57
James Che on The Modern Politician: “Catch’d Scotland, Except they didn’t, I been trying to explain why for years, When you dissolve only one party in…” Feb 16, 10:43
Alf Baird on The Modern Politician: “Actually the native language spoken in Timor Leste is known as Tetum, and today both Tetum and Portuguese comprise the…” Feb 16, 10:42
Northcode on The Modern Politician: “A list of the top ten imports the Scots just can’t live without; ‘gifted’ to them by their friendly neighbour,…” Feb 16, 10:09
Hatey McHateface on The Modern Politician: “Oh dear, Alf! Freudian slip or just a long overdue admitting that for all your huffing and puffing, the majority…” Feb 16, 08:41
Hatey McHateface on The Modern Politician: “Ah, C’moan noo, Northy. Ye’re turnin it intae a hoat war jist by bletherin yer screeds o’ hoat air a’…” Feb 16, 08:33
Willie on The Modern Politician: “A cold war between Scotland and England is a very good way of putting it Northcode and that is so…” Feb 16, 07:57
Northcode on The Modern Politician: “Two hundred and fifty years… that’s roughly how long, in total, Scotland and England have spent warring with each other.…” Feb 16, 06:31
Alf Baird on The Modern Politician: ““Timor Leste is a Portuguese speaking democratic republic recognized by the UN, and Indonesia from which it split” Scotland is…” Feb 16, 00:03
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on The Modern Politician: “Thanks TURABDIN. In a footnote to the article by Poncarová to which you refer (link posted by me above at…” Feb 15, 22:50
Lorna Campbell on The Modern Politician: “H. McH: yes, I have often thought about that, too. Independence for so many former colonies ended up in conflict…” Feb 15, 21:23
Lorna Campbell on The Modern Politician: “H. McH: what you don’t get is that these men do not just want to be women facsimiles, they claim…” Feb 15, 20:54
Onlooker on The Modern Politician: “Fourth Scottish church to burn down in six months. As Harry Hilll would put it: “What are the chances of…” Feb 15, 20:47
willie on The Modern Politician: “All prosecution is in the name of the Crown. Quis custodiet ipsos custodes, or as they say in Glasgow, -…” Feb 15, 20:03
Saffron Robe on The Modern Politician: “That’s very much the heart of the matter, Colin. As a conscientious Scot, I could not in good faith serve…” Feb 15, 19:06
Xaracen on The Modern Politician: “The relevant prerequisites for that assessment haven’t been met yet, sam. Scotland needs to be recognised as a territory by…” Feb 15, 19:06
Peter McAvoy on The Modern Politician: “I shared the views of many who opposed Thatcher at the time. Something seldom mentioned at the same time the…” Feb 15, 18:27
sam on The Modern Politician: “Betraying the namr. More outsider than insider. Heir, when it comes to royalty, is who is in line to succeed…” Feb 15, 18:21
Sven on The Modern Politician: “Heir; A person entitled to the property or rank of another on their death. A person who inherits or continues…” Feb 15, 18:15
TURABDIN on The Modern Politician: “@ANDY ELLIS, Timor Leste is a Portuguese speaking democratic republic recognized by the UN, and Indonesia from which it split,…” Feb 15, 17:45
