In an attempt to freshen up its usual panel of tired and tiresome politicians and pundits, last night’s Question Time (ostensibly from an oddly-vague location in “the North East”) featured moderately-known circus fortune-teller Gypsy Rose Petulengro, crossing her palm with silver for some analysis in a short break from one of her celebrated seances.
The clip above was her take on whether Nicola Sturgeon would resign if either of the current inquiries found that she’d systematically and repeatedly lied to Parliament and broken the Ministerial Code, and the strange thing about it was that for someone who was professing to be looking into the future, she didn’t even appear to know the basic pertinent facts of the present or the past.
Because while pretty much every journalist, pundit and legal expert reporting the case agrees that the amendment made to the Section 11 order protecting the anonymity of the complainers in the Alex Salmond case is an important and significant one, it hasn’t impressed the only person whose opinion actually matters: Andy Wightwash.
The Spectator’s application to the High Court for a variation of the anonymity order in HM Advocate vs Alexander Salmond has just finished. It seems to have been agreed by all parties that Lady Dorrian will now amend her order to read thus:
“An order at common law and in terms of section 11 of the Contempt of Court Act 1981, preventing publication of the names and identity and any information likely to disclose the identity of the complainers in the case of HMA v Alexander Elliot Anderson Salmond, as such complainers in those proceedings.”
We suppose this is a sort of compliment, in at least two senses.
The second of them, of course, being the sheer surprise of some people at discovering that not everyone is as cynical and devious as they evidently are themselves.
Once again we’ve clipped the entire question and “answer” so you can see nothing’s been taken out of context, but the important bit is from 2m 30s to 2m 53s.
Davidson’s question was quite complex but boiled down to why Nicola Sturgeon hadn’t properly recorded details and minutes of meetings on Scottish Government business, in direct breach of the Ministerial Code.
That’s a valid question in itself, to which there was no meaningful response, but it was what Sturgeon said right at the end that raised our eyebrows.
First Minister’s Questions was very interesting today. Ruth Davidson had some tricky ones which Nicola Sturgeon simply didn’t even attempt to look like she was answering, and we might come back to one of them in particular a little later on.
But Jackie Baillie’s were even more pointed, especially this one:
With our trademark scrupulous fairness we’ve included the full question and answer, and they raise a whole series of issues, but if you’re in a hurry the key part we want to talk about right now is between 0.18 and 0.26.
Sorry, folks, we had a minor medical emergency today (veteran readers can probably guess in which category) and haven’t been quite as on top of events as we’d like.
So terrible was it that the SNP had a backup plan to distract from it – a nonsense of a press release from SNP chief operating officer Sue Ruddick in which she made an allegation about a supposed “act of physical aggression” by Alex Salmond.
The following statement has been issued in response. It’s an eye-opener.
Committee on the Scottish Govt Handling of Harassment Complaints
Dear Ms Fabiani and Committee Members,
We have now had the opportunity to consult on Friday evening and over the weekend with our client on your clerk’s latest emails of Friday afternoon. Those followed the convener’s letter informing us that you do not intend to publish our client’s submission on the Ministerial Code, a submission which was sent to you on December 31st and which was carefully considered by this firm, and by Counsel, prior to submission.
Your latest communications and the decision not to publish exemplify the confusion and legal difficulties created by the Committee and which now plainly undermine the capacity of the Committee to fulfil the remit set by Parliament.
Geri on The Pit Of Vipers: “Begs the question of why yer still here eh? Only a complete loon hangs about a forum when they don’t…” Apr 21, 09:41
TURABDIN on The Pit Of Vipers: “NEVER offer a propaganda opportunity. https://archive.is/Cb73q” Apr 21, 09:13
Captain Caveman on The Pit Of Vipers: “It’s “take the piss out OF”, Rambo. Mind you, posting at a “mere” 10:30pm and reasonably succinct…? It’s almost “normal”…” Apr 21, 06:54
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on The Pit Of Vipers: “Young Lochinvar @ 20 April 9.41 pm: “Bottom line, a multiplicity of different languages are a barrier”. ——————— National borders…” Apr 20, 23:57
Geri on The Pit Of Vipers: “Defender of the faith LOL! A divorced adulterer… Possibly even murder in there too, definitely stealing & coveting too. They…” Apr 20, 23:54
Young Lochinvar on The Pit Of Vipers: “A murrain on their parties, their houses, their incomes and their legacies.. They persecute an innocent and think it justice!…” Apr 20, 23:37
Geri on The Pit Of Vipers: “Aye, he’s king. Only by consent of the Scottish people. He could possibly remain Head of State in an Independent…” Apr 20, 23:36
Young Lochinvar on The Pit Of Vipers: “Did they seriously say “defender of the faith”? That’s a church of England thing. Sums up how we got into…” Apr 20, 23:21
Angus on The Pit Of Vipers: “Colin Alexander, do you think the Scottish independence referendum was a good thing or a bad thing? Do you have…” Apr 20, 23:03
Angus on The Pit Of Vipers: “Is there any possibility at all of ever bringing the conspirators to justice? Can no one in the whole world…” Apr 20, 22:58
Angus on The Pit Of Vipers: “Alex Salmond, the greatest leader in Scottish history. Succeeded by the biggest betrayer in Scottish history, who turned Scotland into…” Apr 20, 22:43
Young Lochinvar on The Pit Of Vipers: “Jay Don’t hold yer breath; all three spoilers will no doubt be back.. As; GP cogently noted a while back…” Apr 20, 22:30
Jay on The Pit Of Vipers: “Beggan: waste of space, and for whom (by name of candidate(s) will you vote? Is Beggan a starmer? Seems no…” Apr 20, 21:55
Young Lochinvar on The Pit Of Vipers: “Von Trumphausen is still posturing about us and the Straits of Hormuz.. Remember Suez (same problem just the other end…” Apr 20, 21:51
Young Lochinvar on The Pit Of Vipers: “Fearghas Interesting hypothesis Fearghas but ultimately one I don’t hold with. If people spoke the same tongue we could relate,…” Apr 20, 21:41
Colin Alexander on The Pit Of Vipers: “Wiliam Wallace when accused of treason against the King of England, Edward I: “I cannot be a tray-tor, since I…” Apr 20, 19:14
Geri on The Pit Of Vipers: “Cynicus.. Mark Sedwell was. See the linked article above. Sturgeon & Mark Sedwell “decided that she should extend her stay”” Apr 20, 19:05
Young Lochinvar on The Pit Of Vipers: “Beggars old boy! What have I said that’s anti Semitic ya gas-lighter ye? If you can’t take what’s written in…” Apr 20, 15:58
Young Lochinvar on The Pit Of Vipers: “Aye Why didn’t Dorian Grey jail HER for that bit of blatant contempt of court eh? Sorry, my bad, forgot,…” Apr 20, 15:49
Mark Beggan on The Pit Of Vipers: “Billy Liar pants on fire.” Apr 20, 15:41
agent on The Pit Of Vipers: “During a COVID-19 media briefing, while referring to the complaints against Alex Salmond, Sturgeon stated: “The behaviour complained of was…” Apr 20, 15:31
Mark Beggan on The Pit Of Vipers: “Although it’s torture to listen to Starmer. I just need to hear him talk his way out of this. Then…” Apr 20, 15:23
Mark Beggan on The Pit Of Vipers: “Sturgeon is a wanker.” Apr 20, 15:19
Sven on The Pit Of Vipers: “Mark Beggan @ 13.18. Fairly uncontroversial statement that one Mark, but like saying that when it comes to inquiries Nicola…” Apr 20, 14:30
Mark Beggan on The Pit Of Vipers: “Your anti Semitic dribble is frothing over. Nothing like a reference about Judaism to weed out the anti Semitic arse…” Apr 20, 14:00
Alf Baird on The Pit Of Vipers: “Perhaps Alex Salmond’s biggest failing and that of the subsequent SNP elite too, including Ms Cherry, is their inability to…” Apr 20, 13:26
Anne on The Pit Of Vipers: “Colin Alexander Of course Alex Salmond wasn’t perfect ,nobody is . However he was a great politician and a true…” Apr 20, 13:21
Young Lochinvar on The Pit Of Vipers: “RK Maybe Special Branch. It was after all their founding role against the Irish.” Apr 20, 13:18
Mark Beggan on The Pit Of Vipers: “Starmer is a wanker.” Apr 20, 13:18
robertkknight on The Pit Of Vipers: “Indeed Alf… I think it’s safe to say that the SNP have more ‘plants’ than Dobies!” Apr 20, 13:17
