(Running) away from the numbers
There’s a strange new affliction affecting the SNP: fear of figures.
Now, we should say that we don’t believe for even a second that the SNP has actually had 10,000 new members in the last two days. It’s ridiculous to the point of insulting. But purely for the sake of argument, let’s imagine it was true.
Why would you say it like that?
Because it’s such a strange framing. Lots and lots of SNP accounts have trumpeted all these supposed new members, but by the most extraordinary coincidence not a single one of them has presented them in what you’d think would be the most obvious terms – what the party’s supposed total new membership is.
Because that’s how the party, and Robertson himself, USED to do it:
But now when people – even elected SNP representatives – ask, there is no answer.
It ought to be something they’d be keen to brag about. According to the party’s most recent accounts (the same ones that apparently have £600,000 in ringfenced indyref funding “woven through” them despite the party only having £97,000 in the bank) it had almost 126,000 members before this new surge.
So why wouldn’t you say “Amazing, our membership is now 136,000”? Why be so coy about such a huge number? Why not proclaim the fact that you now had 3.4% of the total electorate signed up? There’s a neat selling point in the fact that that’s exactly twice the figure (1.7%) of the three main Unionist parties combined. Why so shy?
The reason, of course, is that the SNP’s membership is nowhere near 136,000 or even 126,000. Those same accounts accidentally revealed that at the end of 2019 the actual membership was nearer 87,000 (because two branch levies of £1 per member, which can’t be evaded, raised a total of only £174,000).
And we’d bet solid money that the figure has dropped substantially since then as the party has stumbled from one divisive civil war to another. But because the party has locked itself into that lie, it can no longer afford to even give any clues as to what its true membership is, so Angus Robertson has to describe the supposed new recruits in fractions not of the SNP membership but of the Tories, Labour and Lib Dems.
But those aren’t the only numbers the SNP are scared of.
The astonishing tweet above was MP Anne McLaughlin’s response to some people making the incredibly basic request that they actually be told HOW MANY votes had been cast for candidates in the party’s regional list selections, not just who the party had fiddled to come top of each list with its illegal discrimination policy
(A category which happened to include McLaughlin’s partner Graham Campbell, who she brought to the SNP by “horizontal recruitment”.)
Even the candidates themselves weren’t given any information about how the rankings were arrived at or how many votes they got or which ones had registered themselves as beneficiaries of the illegal discrimination policy.
(Amazingly, one councillor claimed the party now provided “more info than it ever did before”. Since literally the ONLY piece of info it provided this year was the rankings, that’s actually not arithmetically possible.)
Publishing vote numbers is the most elementary aspect of democracy. It’s a matter of public record exactly how many people voted for Anne McLaughlin to elect her in 2019.
(6000 fewer than when she first won the seat in 2015, despite having to fight off twice as many competitors that year.)
But if you ask how many her boyfriend got – or whether he came top on actual votes or was elevated to the top of the list purely because he’s black – that’s a “conspiracy theory” and as ridiculous as demanding to know what she had for breakfast.
The SNP is now so paranoid about people knowing the truth that that same boyfriend recently said simply retweeting a link to this site should be an expulsion offence.
It’s slightly ironic because Campbell has been a member of more parties than some people have had hot dinners. He’s contested elections for Solidarity, the SSP, the TUSC and been a member of RISE before he finally stumbled into a shot at the gravy train with the SNP.
Although McLaughlin did her best to get his snout into the trough anyway.
Her reward was a string of scandals, something Campbell seems to attract.
Currently an SNP councillor for the Glasgow ward of Springburn/Robroyston, Campbell ranked 84th out of 85 Glasgow councillors for attendance between 2016 and 2019.
So goodness knows how few meetings he’ll show up to if he gets elected as a list MSP for Lothian, a region he doesn’t live in. But what we’re pretty sure of is that it’ll be a number Anne McLaughlin and the SNP won’t want anyone to know about.
Bullseye !!!
The SNP is going to get fucking lumps knocked out of it come May.
It’ll be interesting to see what the msm does, closer to the time, but then, how much influence does msm have these days?
Open, democratic, transparent , honest and overflowing with integrity.
Dear Lord.
1+1 = Whatever suits your needs.
Total chancers, the lot o them!
“Lies, damned lies & statistics” or in this case “lies, damned lies & obfuscation”.
A funny scenario would be Robertson fails to win the constituency and by some miracle SNP win a list seat that goes to Campbell not Robertson.
I would laugh
I used to hate the red tory slogan -“If you have nothing to hide. You have nothing to fear” when they wanted to introduce identity cards.
As a measure of how corrupt the SNP have become I am now nostalgic for those days when a party would drop a policy no one agreed with.
I do hope someone sues regarding the list. It might be the final financial straw.
This equates to financial income, if it’s so vague I wonder what HMRC would make of it?
We’ve got to get Alex back in front of a political party.
So Graham Campbell turns out to have been a Socialist Workers Party thug as well? Seems to be quite a few SWP getting into the party since Nicola took over, including a certain Aamar Anwar, who I seem to remember used to regard the SNP as “Tory scum” (young Anwar tended to use the word “Tory” for all his political opponents, rather ironic considering he was original one himself).
I have just resigned as an SNP member in Central Edinburgh.Nobody will tell me the Lothians voting results and Stockbridge ladies toilets are now full of men with Primark dresses on but of course that is SNP policy.
It is nothing short of a disgrace that we have a Glasgow Councillor top of the Lothians list,a Horizontal recruit ,well that is at least a first!
His attendance record of 84th out of 85 Glasgow Councillors for attendance is a joke!
There seems to be a historic tendency for problems with Cllr Campbell and i am sure they will get well aired during April month.
It is a real problem for “Oor Angus” as he is second on the list and he is no shoe in and that is for sure.
Actually if there are any gamblers in the City, Angus is not even quoted as the favourite for that seat!
In the meantime i have sent Cllr Campbell a map of the Lothians and a timetable for the trains between the 2 cities but he will probably use a Parliament limo!
I could honestly weep at what the SNP have become in the past couple of years.
Especially for all the great folk I know who gave their heart and soul to the party, working for decades for no reward.
Just to see the SNP, at the point it should be about to achieve its primary aim, become the career vehicle of choice for people who have no interest in independence.
I suspect the dramatic fall in the numbers of eels in Scottish rivers is simply because many of the slimy bottom feeding critters wriggled out of the water and now Self ID as politicians.
IMHO – The Labour party in Scotland were & are parasites on the backs of the workers – I truly despise them. Now the SNP have overtaken them & I despise the SNP even more – a level I did not think possible – the SNP are truly, truly parasites on the backs of Independence supporters – IMHO & experience.
My wife has told them straight to stop sending begging letters and that she has no intention of voting SNP in May, but there persistent even after saying they’ll stop but they never do, now we know why funds are very direr.
It’s really sad that the SN P have attracted all these what we used to call ” Chancers”. They are about self interest and self promotion only. They probably don’t give a dawn about Independence and never will unless it enriches them in some way.
I for one am not going to help them.
Tractor production is up comrades..
Ugh. The nepotism, troughing and contempt for voters from Anne McLauchlan and her boyfriend, Gravytrain Campbell, have completed the new-labourisation of the SNP. Who on earth in senior party ranks thinks the electorate will be impressed by this? Such poor judgement. I weep for what the SNP has become.
Reference to the Jam there I think…
Asking for the `figures` or `clarity` is now seen as an attack on The Party,
facts and science have been replaced by `feelings and rainbows`
recite after me 2+2=5 or i`ll lock you up for `misthoughts`.
Who in their right mind would think that Graham Campbell makes a suitable candidate? The ratbag is only interested in the pay and perks and has a record of one failure after another. WTF was the vetting committee doing when it approved him? I only hope he’s not a relative, Rev!
The really impressive thing is how they’ve all got Twitter accounts and have known the FM since she was 16.
Just how indoctrinated do you have to be to believe this crap?
Right. How many of those allegedly 10,000 new members the SNP has got are integrity initiative, MI5s and unemployed people hired by the British state to maintain the illusion the SNP is still viable and of course to ensure that, should an imminent vote on SNP leadership took place, the bobby price or any other equally compliant puppet without any rush for independence, gets the post?
Considering the healthy war chest the British state must have prepared to “save the union”, how much in the grand scheme of things could be those 10,000 new registrations?
As far as I can see from their website, it is only 1 pound per month. Well, 30,000 pounds will keep those “members” for 3 months, just until the election passes, and hopefully a leadership election takes place to propel the bobby price to the seat. 30,000 pounds to get the puppet the British state wants controlling the SnP seems like the bargain of the century to me.
I read that text from Robertson and cannot help but laugh at his stupidity and transparency. I have watched Sturgeon’s absolutely dire performance in front of the committee. Hell it was dire, particularly when compared with the stellar performance of Mr Salmond, even unwell as he was. The fraud Sturgeon bored us with 8 hours of vacuous waffle and deflection but gave nothing of substance. All while Fabiani quickly removed the dentures of those unruly committee members who actually had the audacity of wanting to scrutinise the fraud.
I have also read the legal advice evidence released so far. From what has been released, it is evident that not only Sturgeon’s government allowed an unlawful procedure to go through but actually allowed an unstateable case to continue beyond the point it was reasonable, never mind justifiable to do so, using taxpayers’ cash as a disposable asset for political a political gamble that failed and exposing both government and external counsel to embarrassment and reputation damage.
That together with the way Sturgeon has been alienating yes supporters with her total disregard for our mandates, freedom of speech and females’ rights, makes me question what kind of people has recently joined the SNP in the present circumstances. Could it be
a) individuals who do not want independence and realised that in order to ensure Scotland remains in the union, Sturgeon’s eviscerated SNP is the way to go
b) British state employees and activists getting in position to ensure the next puppet is voted as leader of the party
c) yes supporters absolutely disgusted at what the fraud has done with the party and who are hoping to get a vote to chuck Sturgeon, the bobby price and their entourage of psyops trolls masquerading as genderwoowoos out.
There is no way I believe that after that dire performance of Sturgeon and the evidence released so far, 10,000 people can suddenly develop confidence in this eviscerated party and the fraud to deliver independence.
So any desperate attempt by the interested parties like Mr Robertson here, to show of the number of new recruits as an endorsement to their dishonesty and failure, being that 10,000 or even 1,000,000 (I mean 3,000,000 pounds, what is that for the British state after wasting millions in Mr Salmond’s police man-hunt?), just comes across as another big fat and clumsy squirrel, albeit not as photogenic and nice to look at as the beautiful, graceful ones Mr Campbell likes to capture in equally stunning photographs.
Transparency doesn’t exist anywhere in U.K. politics.
There are less than 80,000 SNP members which is a significant
Number but at one point their inaction and woke policies saw 50,000
Members leave them.
On another matter, I’ve just seen a video live from Ibrox, home of
Rangers FC. Absolutely nothing to do with football or bias to any
football team but way are the police there in good number stopping
traffic from injuring several thousand Rangers fans who will have travelled
far and wide without face masks to be at a closed ground during lockdown?
Some people have been fined £1,000 for walking in parks more than 5 miles from their home.
Just how blatantly corrupt can the Scottish Police become.
No doubt it will become a similar situation to when they watched Orange Unionist thugs beat up
Independence supporters in George Square.
Could the Chief Inspector remove his sash and apron, put down his Union Jack and explain
why these thugs can break the law whenever they like?
Christian Allard claimed just this morning that SNP membership is over 120,000.
link to twitter.com
Anyone want to buy a bridge?
A little bit of time spent on social media will show that some of these “new” members are no such thing. They are existing members.
Twitter has duly responded with pictures of movie stars (deceased), world leaders (likewise) and even graveyards all proclaiming that they have joined the SNP.
Added to the ham-fisted “I’ve known Nicola Sturgeon since she was 16” spam, the SNP is making an arse of itself on social media.
Hahaha enjoyed reading that. Horizontal recruitment, nice gig if you can get it!
‘Building a Better Scotland’
How dare you! Anyone who criticizes Graham Campbell is racist of course. Carpetbagging entryist play socialist.
They obviously have the same problems with arithmetic as they do with grammar!
They are so corrupt now that they must constantly evade the truth.
As regards the membership, they are avoiding giving the absolute number and only playing about with relative numbers. This is because the absolute number would be shocking and contradict their narrative entirely. When challenged they simply resort to name-calling.
If you don’t want to see Sturgeon’s smug face celebrating a big win in May, then don’t give SNP either of your votes.
She won’t be getting another vote from me. I refuse to endorse a corrupt Party. One that treats it’s members like plebs.
When I was still an office bearer, I asked my SNP MP how many members we had and he said he didn’t know. That’s when I knew he was a liar too.
Please, let’s show them what we think of their brand of politics. No votes SNP.
She has no interest in independence anyway. So nothing to lose except Sturgeon and her clique.
Re the SNP’s flight from the numbers, I used to work for a major company that was all about numbers, but only when the numbers were saying what they wanted to hear. Once they did some daft staff opinion survey and the numbers were absolutely grim. They dealt with this by including a summary, under the numbers, saying everything was great. The problem was that the company was a bank and numbers are something the staff dealt with every day. But this habit of just shrugging off the facts, and essentially lying, appears to have consumed the SNP as well. The bank in question no longer exists in any meaningful form which should be a warning to others.
@PhilM
The Jam’s cynicism is so perfect for our current times:
‘Cause we’ve all grown up, and we’ve got our lives
And the values that we had once upon a time
Seem stupid now, ’cause the rent must be paid
And some bonds severed, and others made’
Or perhaps more pointedly from recent events:
“As I was standing by the edge
I could see the faces of those who led pissing themselves laughing,
Their mad eyes bulged, their flushed faces said
‘The weak get crushed as the strong grow stronger’.”
I’ve received several other more explicit video clips
by WhatsApp depiction now 10,000 Rangers fans outside
Rangers Ibrox park. There are now several hundred police
Officers there.
As they are loyalists, the police have no problem about blocking off
roads for them without notice, ignoring them travelling outside their local
area, not socially distancing, not wearing face masks, setting off incendiary
devices in public and singing sectarian songs.
Members of my family support Rangers so fair play to them winning the league
after so many years but the way the Police in Scotland select how the law is applied
is absolutely sickening.
How can their commanders even pretend to be law officers?
There’s a simple explanation for the membership inflation – the higher it is, the greater the number of members that have resigned and the more the ranks of the other parties are growing.
Throwing in the #BothVotesSNP reveals this to simple be a panic play. Since they’re used to dividing an isolating the membership, the hope is that painting a rosy picture might just sway the undecided from hitting the resignation button.
Such a lackluster and lazy effort. God alone knows what exciting slogans they’d come out with for a referendum, should that misfortune ever befall them.
link to m.youtube.com
Only Rangers video I can send you from a few minutes ago.
I just can’t believe 10k of people would join the SNP after that masterclass in obsfication.
It’s simply not credible.
@Ian 6 March, 2021
“Christian Allard claimed just this morning that SNP membership is over 120,000.”
Was he counting these ones too ? link to thetimes.co.uk
I suspect the new members have names like Biffo the Bear and Dennis Menace. Lure the gullible.
Ach well. If they’ve got that many new members I’ll just join another party instead.
Jesus fucking Christ, I’m going to have to stop reading this site as this several-times-a-day deluge of insanity is doing my head in.
At least even Spear had the good sense to delete her tantrum tweet. This one is appalling. It’s the ultimate Glasgow Labour “well, who else are you going to vote for?” attitude. Un-fucking-believable.
Are these people in for a great big fucking surprise on Election Day?
SFA should threaten our loyalist friends with having their title annulled (and same with any other team) if their fans turn out like this and risk public health. No more tolerating these dumb, selfish c@nts.
@Beaker 6 March, 2021
A little bit of time spent on social media will show that some of these “new” members are no such thing. They are existing members.Twitter has duly responded with pictures of movie stars (deceased), world leaders (likewise) and even graveyards all proclaiming that they have joined the SNP.
Added to the ham-fisted “I’ve known Nicola Sturgeon since she was 16” spam, the SNP is making an arse of itself on social media.
Seems not only the SNP is trying to do that , Foreign Actors seem keen to join in any future Indyref ..why ? link to thetimes.co.uk
Yet they’re likely to have a majority after the elections. I doubt those of the anti-SNP ilk and the rhetoric they post does their cause any favours. They need to be far less cynical and reactionary, and more proactive. It’d make for healthier debate.
They are now like every unionist party, corrupt, pathetic and with no moral compass. ISP and AFI for list has to be. Put it out folks.
It’s reverse Trumpian language they use now. Like what he says at rallies.
“You know what they say” is one of his favs
On apologies
During a September 2015 appearance on “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon,” Donald Trump was asked if he ever makes apologies. He responded:
“I think apologizing’s a great thing, but you have to be wrong. I will absolutely apologize, sometime in the hopefully distant future, if I’m ever wrong.”
The SNP are never wrong- remember that!
They must think we’re 8 year olds. Disgusted what they’ve become.
Campbell’s story has eerie familiarities with that of Michael X, an “interesting” character from the 60s; X, styled himself on Malcolm X and promoted the philosophy of black power and radicalism – he was, in fact, a psychopathic thug and criminal who had been a debt collector for Peter Rachman.
– not saying Campbell is that bad, but the grifting and opportunism seems to be similar; he has been in a lot of parties.
He seems quite lazy, but no doubt will be quick enough with the racism accusations if you pull him up about it.
When I was a Branch Organiser every penny had to be accounted for and all spending had to be signed off on by several of us not just one individual. We knew we had to be above reproach in everything we did. The present SNP is totally out of control in that respect. We had to be better than the Yoons in everything. The present SNP are behaving with the same arrogance and disdain that the Tories have for the Scottish Nation.
@John Martini 12:39pm
Hahah, have a beer!
It is indeed sad times. Manipulation of the system for friends and family or anybody loyal to her Highness, Queen of Gravyland.
There must be a section of the NEC that produces delicious thick gravy all day and night long. Chef Abacus Robertson then serves it for NEC breakfast until it’s oozing out of their pores. The train arrives in the afternoon, powered by the same delicious thick gravy, serving gravy pie with mash and veggies covered in rich thick gravy, just in case they’ve not had enough, while taking them to all regions of Scotland in search of more gravy.
Yours truly
Bobby Bisto
How long till the unionists leak the WhatsApp messages
According to the SNP website you can get a “lifetime” membership for 625 pounds.
It would be pretty handy if the “ring-fenced” missing money suddenly re-appeared in the books thanks to about 10,000 newly invented “members” taking out such a membership.
Anne makes quite an impression in that photo with the urine coloured hair and matching teeth.
Graham Campbell, wow, he is an absolute beaut. Looks very spendy with other people’s money.
These list votes are clearly rigged. Someone should raise a legal challenge just for the lolz.
I guess releasing numbers, compete with turnout %, would also tell us how many members there were during the selection process?
Apparently Graham Campbell failed vetting last time.
link to twitter.com
Andrew F. is that 625 pounds in weight?
Since it’s the “honest” SNP, can we verify whether the 7000 ‘new’ members are actually ‘new’ memberships, or ‘renewed’ memberships… because I seem to remember SNP members being asked to pay their membership renewals several months before they were due after a begging letter from Peter Murrell. So might not this produce a ‘flurry’ of new memberships?, (especially if the advance renewals were counted beside the existing membership still with a few months to run).
I hasten to add, I don’t know the origin of the 7000 figure. Perhaps it’s legit, I don’t know, I’m just asking the question. But it would seem against the run of play because the impression I get is that SNP is currently haemorrhaging support, and long term memberships are not being renewed.
A couple of things strike me about the way anyone online who raises questions about the SNP get shouted down (virtually) by SNP supporters. 1984, “The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”
The other is their recent appalling handling of online activity, especially on Twitter. Perhaps the appointment of Murray Foote (he of the “VOW”) is reaping the whirlwind many people expected. Just who is he working for? The “I knew 16 year old Nicola” guff was cringeworthy. Who in their right minds thought this was a good idea?
SNP PR was always poor, but it has plumbed depths I never thought it capable of. I’m not sure it will recover in time for May 2021.
What is horizontal recruitment?
Is it like being a hooker for Jesus?
When asked about independence Ms Sturgeon is reported to have stated very clearly that she had no recollection of supporting independence and added that she couldn’t be sure if independence was now – or had ever been – SNP policy. If it was then she had no doubt this was due to the inappropriate behaviour of her predecessor, Alex Salmond. All she’s ever wanted to do is support victims in their efforts to become survivors.
Ha, ha Mac.
The idea isn’t unknown. Here in Australia a few years ago we had a situation where one of the dodgy mega-unions who do deals with major retail employers to keep wages down did a deal whereby every new employee of the big retailer would automatically be “signed up” as a union member (without their specific knowledge) and the employer would pay their “dues” to the union.
So, lets say a “good samaritan” wanted to help out the SNP in un-weaving the hidden money. One way might be to suddenly “sign up” about 7,000 members at about 625 each (they don’t necessarily need to know they’ve been signed up), and bingo the $$ are back in the coffers.
Just an idea.
I’m going to hazard a guess that Anne McLaughlin’s breakfast consisted of 10 jam doughnuts, 3 chocolate eclairs, 2 croissants, 4 glasses of original recipe Irn Bru and a bacon buttery!
So you can’t say ‘bum chum’ now?
So if I was to make a fish attractant out of the gluteus maximus of a passing jogger I would have to remain long-winded about it?
Wings: “But because the party has locked itself into that lie, it can no longer afford to even give any clues as to what its true membership is, so Angus Robertson has to describe the supposed new recruits in fractions not of the SNP membership but of the Tories, Labour and Lib Dems…”
There it is again; the sewer of lies. They’ve turned lying into a process;
1) They lie rather than admit the truth.
2) Someone questions the lie and they cover it over with another lie.
3) Challenge or try to validate the new lie (or lies) and you’ll soon find yourself in a sewage processing plant with Satan telling you “it’s your word against his (or hers)…”
Now we are aware of all the corruption in snp and deep state interference along with crown office obfuscation and media propaganda.
We need to talk about an immediate solution for the yes independence movement,
We need to discuss our situation before May, and the way forward for the next year, this has been orchestrated to leave the independence movement high and dry,
And it has successfully succeeded,
Where do we go now, who has a plan B.
I don’t know where the SNP gets the 7000 figure or the 7500 that I have heard some of its alleged supporters claiming. I am just back from my daily walk and met two long serving Party members who tell me they tore up their Party Membership cards this week and will never leaflet or canvass or volunteer to do anything for the SNP as long as Sturgeon is Leader. My gut is telling me the SNP are losing members and not gaining them.
Knowing what we know now, voting for the SNP means you associate yourself with their actions.
This I cannot do. No votes SNP.
Really good stuff Rev Stu. Your continuing output of high quality, well researched, and well presented is very much appreciated. It is certainly brining to light that which otherwise would be hidden.
The SNP is now a very dark hole, and it’s getting darker.
So keep shining a light Rev Stu.
The National newspaper is also saying that many folk have signed up to its subscription as well.
I to believe the SNP membership is well below 87,000, so much so that, that is the reason there’s so much secrecy surrounding membership numbers, and why the bellowing from the rooftops that the SNP membership has risen has to be done to give off the impression that the party’s image hasn’t been damaged by the scandal created by Sturgeon and her clique.
Now it looks like the party is becoming secretive about figures altogether, not an image that you would want to portray, it will surely have a Streisand Effect on its membership.
“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
No quote could describe better the utter shit show the Sturgeon led SNP has become.
A lot of people resigning memberships in the hope that this will somehow turn Sturgeon into an honourable and decent person who is fit to lead our country to independence, but as this article shows it’s a hollow gesture as the party leadership could not give a fuck and they will lie to coverup the truth. The fact is that resigning your membership is a meaningless exercise unless you back it up with the one thing that they really are scared of; withholding your vote until the corrupt bastards who have wrecked the SNP and turned it into a laughing stock are gone.
When I talk about withholding your vote I don’t just mean still voting SNP in the constituency and someone else on the list because this in itself will also achieve nothing. The SNP get the vast majority of their seats from the constituency vote and the list is virtually meaningless to them anyway. So voting SNP 1 and A N Other 2 means that all your doing is ensuring that the corrupt bastard Sturgeon, who has ruined our party and corrupted our country will get back in again. And if she gets back in again it is only going to get worse, a lot worse.
The only option is no votes for the SNP and if you can’t bring yourself to vote for another party, spoil your ballot or don’t even bother. In no circumstances must anyone vote SNP in the constituency vote, you could maybe persuade me that a list vote could be justified but at the moment I don’t think they even deserve that because this is about saving out country from institutional corruption. In some cases (tin hat on) there could be grounds to vote for what we refer to as a unionist candidate on the basis of their record as an actual MSP, so for ex if I lived in the right place I could vote for Jackie Baillie because the truth is she has shown Sturgeon up for what a lying wee shit she is and if it had not been for her I doubt we would have heard the half of what sturgeon has been up to, but as I said if you can’t do that then don’t vote at all.
The talk of giving bloody noses to the party leadership etc is not the answer, the only answer is to ensure that the current party leadership is gone, the whole lot of them are rotten. As for the rest of them, well if any of you watched the salmond inquiry sessions you will have noted just how absolutely hopeless they are, just nodding donkeys who do as they are told and don’t ask any questions. Alex Salmond absolutely destroyed the lot of them, it must break his heart to see what the SNP have become.
-Panda-
Aye, fucking “horizontal recruitment”. Roger-Moore-as-James-Bond called, he wants his sleazy euphemisms back!
Not the quantity but the quality.
All redolent of the thousands allegedly joining the Labour party under Corbyn.
Didn’t do it much good.
Rather adolescent ‘mines bigger than yours’ stuff.
There are now more SNP members than there are members of the SNP.
The Whitehall friendly Jimmy Wales, Wikipage on the SNP has its membership at just under 126,000. Of course Wikipedia cannot be believed on a whole host of info edited by the elusive Phil Cross.
link to wikispooks.com
Picking up on some of the earlier comments I can only but echo the various reports of long term members tearing up their membership card.
In my own very local patch I know of around twenty very long term members who have over the four weeks torn up their membership, with many many more disengaging from all participation with the party. Things are not a happy ship.
Quite a contrast with what I believe is the utter bullshit of meteoric membership increases. The SNP leadership know they are in trouble. They know the membership has halved over the last eighteen months and is falling further. They know the party is bankrupt. Very much explains why 7,000 new members have been magicked up of an evening.
Vote em out in May, it’s the only way, to get our party and our movement back on track.
Her strategy is to appoint bame and disabled candidates who can’t be criticised. Any attack on them will be labelled a hate crime.
If they lose it will be a sign that scotland is a far right trumpian MCqanon state.
John Swindle says part of Salmond legal advice ‘disproves’ claims about Scottish Government. False.
John Swindle says no minutes were taken at a meeting between the Scottish Government and their legal counsel. False.
Just waiting for him to lie about the numbers now too.
James Che. says:
6 March, 2021 at 2:04 pm
Where do we go now, who has a plan B….
The Scottish Elections in May, the “Constitution” of Holyrood and Scotland’s Devolved Government, including the De Honte Elections and List Seats, the current SNP Scottish “Government” and the notorious Section 30 road block is all codified by the 1998 Scotland Act.
Scotland could, if it so desired, bulldoze all this Devolution malarkey, and every single component of the Scotland Act as an unconstitutional colonial encroachment of the Scottish Nation’s Constitution which enshrines Sovereignty upon the people, and thus the people can decide how Scotland is governed.
If Holyrood and Sturgeon’s SNP implodes under the weight of it’s corruption, then Scotland has the option of reverting to it’s factory settings, or like booting up a computer in Safe Mode, you can reset Scotland one layer of coding at a time, beginning (I suggest) with the defining principle that the people of Scotland are sovereign.
As we develop our wider Constitution, and broach the subject of how our Sovereign People are governed on a day to day basis, we can add whatever codification Scotland needs, a democracy with a parliament etc, but scrupulously avoid adopting any residual principles or ‘rights’ imposed upon Scotland from Westminster.
Step 1. We affirm we are Scottish and Sovereign by recognising the 1320 Declaration of Arbroath as our rudimentary Constitution.
Step 2. We advance to 1328, and reaffirm the 1328 Treaty of Edinburgh / Northampton which declares ”Scotland, so defined, “shall belong to our dearest ally and friend, the magnificent prince, Lord Robert, by God’s grace illustrious King of Scotland, and to his heirs and successors, separate in all things from the kingdom of England, whole, free, and undisturbed in perpetuity, without any kind of subjection, service, claim or demand”.
Step 3. We affirm our sovereign status before the International Community at the UN, and demand they recognise the Treaty of Union which formed the United Kingdom has been breached, following Scotland’s unlawful and unconstitutional colonial subjugation, and has ceased to exist, and that Scotland’s Constitutional emancipation from a broken and corrupt Union no longer fit for purpose will be ratified in due course by democratic elections and / or ratification plebiscite to be held in due course.
Step 4. Scotland holds elections to create a National Government which swears allegiance and fealty to the sovereign people of Scotland, and denounces and rejects any and all fealty extended to Westminster as illegitimate and unlawful, and I would suggest this Constitutional edict would also go out of it’s way to formally render the Devolved legislature of Holyrood obsolete and defunct.
Scotland is a sovereign Nation, and has never stopped being a sovereign Nation despite suffering three Centuries of colonial imposition and effective occupation by a sovereign usurper, and a bogus Union which fails all Constitutional benchmarks of legality, and was only created and only survives through a myriad of unwritten and bogus conventions, every single one of which is the Constitutional inferior to the Constitutional Sovereignty of the Scottish people.
Whoops. Sorry, I missed out the bracket to close the italics emphasis…
I’m old enough to remember Wings writing articles like this about Scottish Labour. So bitterly disappointing that the SNP are repeating the same hubris fuelled mistakes.
Richard Murphy has got a post in Naked Capitalism (quite a popular blog)
link to nakedcapitalism.com
O/T.
50 times Sturgeon stonewalled the Salmond Inquiry in one day.
link to mobile.twitter.com
Is this “horizontal recruitment” connected in any way with “horizontal jogging?” I think we should be told.
Looking forward to the next SNP leadership campaign where people will be harangued on twitter for daring to ask what the numerical result actually was.
Scot Finlayson says:
6 March, 2021 at 12:50 pm
“recite after me 2+2=5 or i`ll lock you up for `misthoughts`.”
In room 101 with 24 hour Bob Marley records playing.
Speaking of porkies from the SNP.
Both Swinney and Sturgeon, in connection with the legal advice. The First Minister while under oath.
Article in The Times.
link to archive.is
Seeing the appearance of people in Effigy’s video link, no doubt there will be a rise in Glasgow Covid cases in a week or so.
To people complaining that the SNP are now a mirror image of the old corrupt Labour party, just remind yourself where most of these people came from (and I include their electorate): Labour.
Hello!
Breeks, thank you indeed, what an inspiration to hear someone who actually has a future plan,
I am fed up to the back teeth hearing the same old story, the snp are broke, the snp are done for, the snp didn’t have a plan B,
All the while I was becoming disheartened at the lack of a forward plan, as many many others are,
At least that is a plan B by for those that wish for independence of Scotland.
You and I are well aware that There will be those secret unionist that try tear this apart and down grade it, or try to change the status quo of the union,
But that would break the treaty of the union as it stands, which I would happily encourage.
We need to be independent to hold our own governments feet to the fire at close range.
Be lucky if there are 50k members left, even including the latest influx. They are so obvious and must think we are all stupid. Unbelievable end of a party.
Brian Doonthetoon says:
6 March, 2021 at 3:09 pm
Seeing the appearance of people in Effigy’s video link, no doubt there will be a rise in Glasgow Covid cases in a week or so.
———–
Ah, but they wulnae care Brian cos they “ur the peepul”.
All fur the fleg an that- the union fleg.
Brain cells= zero
Horizontal recruitment followed by vertical deployment (parachuted in somewhere).
I see Angus Robertson’s wife (bythespey) has congratulated councillor Campbell on his twitter thread today. Nothing from Angus though, as @Denise said the Glasgow Councillor could be elected instead of him. Just as well he did not need an endorsement from a famous SNP figure.
O/T I’ve just gone past the SNP constituency office shared by Humza Yusaf. There were dozens of posters tied to the shutters with messages against the Hate Crime Bill and the Gender Recognition Act. It is encouraging to know that try as it might, the SNP is unable to shut down the voice of opposition.
The SNP are becoming more and more like North Korea with their deception and lies.
Next they will have Alex Salmond carefully removed from all photos and party history.
The great leader Sturgeon has always been our dear, noble leader.
We need demonstrations once covid restrictions ease outside Hollyrood.
They say power corrupts. In the case of the SNP it certainly does.
Has anyone seen this?
link to twitter.com
Mike @3.44pm.
Its already happened.
link to edinburghnews.scotsman.com
.
B L Panda,
I was trying to understand this new “Horizontal Recruitment” term Colin Campbell used.
Is it one of these Holywood casting couch interview euphemisms?
I thought the new McWoke SNP policy was to discourage copulating your way to the top of an organisation?
For what it’s worth, the deja vu here is overwhelming. New Labour arrogantly assumed Scotland belonged to them. Within a handful of years Labour had gone from ruling Scotland to having that ONE fat wee Union Jack suit wearing NO-mark Murray as the single Labour MP in the country of Keir Hardies birth.
Reading all of the Tweets and Twats on Anne MacLauchlan’s Twitter feed I would wager the Sturgeonite SNP are doing one super efficiently.
Destroying a once decent and honourable political party of principle. Turning the McWoke SNP into a refuge for gravy-train trougher’s such as Colin Campbell.
FFS, Campbell and his horizontally thin brain cannae understand what roaming charges are. That rent-dodging clown trying to get the taxpayer to pay his £5,000 mobile phone bill does’t auger well for when he is horizontally promoted to the job as Scotland’s Finance Minister with Anne MacKauchlin as his horizontal deputy.
Jeezo Stu., I’m off for a lay down. This Sturgeonite McWoke corruption WILL all come out one day in a similar manner to how it was proven the Establishment infiltrated rebunlican Ireland’s organisations. The British State playbook from Northern Ireland/Eire has been dusted off. It’s Scottish edition is in full swing. All scheduled to spill into the Mainstream Media from 28th April 2021 so that the McWoke SNP do a 2007 election losing “Jack McConnell”…
That means the McWoke SNP will lose Holyrood control on 6th May 2021 by ONE VOTE. Maybe a few more for the sake of appearances.
The Establishment may need a couple of extra days and extend the vote count in order to fix any anomalies and make it look legit.
So around 11th May 2021 we will be back to a Holyrood governing LibLab Scottish Executive.
There will of course by be a Tory presence, but hey, we live in HORIZONTAL TIMES. So all Unionists will embrace that and govern Scotland together: horizontally. Politicians love getting horizontal. It’s about the one thing they all agree upon.
At least in this likely scenario, the Establishment get to throw Nicola and fat baldy beardy Penfold under the proverbial Sturgeon Bus.
I was in the same branch as Anne in Denniston back in 2012/13, strange bunch, I remember her saying she would join the greens once this was all over. (lot of odd comments about her boyfriend as well)
I wish she had joined then, if a lot more had taken that option we might of saved the party from it’s current loop fest. but in all fairness a lot of the blame for the direction has to land with Salmond as well, he engineered a lot of the policy’s that have sunk us into this morass. There was also some close associates of Sturgeon there then, he was a bit sycophantic to say the leased, high camp to be honest. Anyway, except for an older lady that had been campaigning for years, and a very nice person, the rest of the branch seemed very baffled, as to why I should think it odd that the party didn’t support a Scottish currency, or why I questioned the need for a referendum if I was already voting for a party that’s main policy was independence, like the Rev. back in the day they were shocked by such a notion. How times have changed. It used to be free at 50, (MPs that is) the only way past this is to get a multi party movement like in Catalonia, at the moment the SNP is acting just like New Labour.
I saw the horizontal recruit appearing on Frankie Boyle’s Tour of Scotland, whining about the same batiments of colonial slave master infrastructure in which he encouraged squatters occupation. Perhaps this was the Glasgow councillor’s contribution to the establishment of the Pot Hole in nouveau culture. I’m seriously considering moving to Edinburgh in order to not vote for this List D candidate.
I am going to go Foukes now.
“They are trying to lose the election and they are doing it deliberately.”
You do have to admire Mr Campbell’s gentle, diplomatic, bridge-building political demeanour online, though:
link to mobile.twitter.com
How could a political party that has been grown through the energy, dedication,thoughtfulness,integrity and belief of it’s activists and members be so thoroughly overtaken and infiltrated by people whose interests are prioritised by the management over their prime reason to exist
It defies logic and rationality
The msm obviously holding fire on sturgeon and all this sh*t till nearer mays election, then they will give it both barrels for the plebs who read their pish to say….um no votin fur thae chancers, i’ll vote labdemtory chancers instead. Msm job done.
Know what worries me? A lot of the wrong people will wake up late in the day to the fact that ‘both votes SNP’ isn’t the way to go – and will vote Green.
I can see a nightmare situation of a minority SNP gov dependent on the Wokus Dei Greens.
All these micro parties and independent Indies need to get their shit together fast. Twitter and onine isn’t enough – need bi names, need to on the telly and on the doorsteps(when/if allowed).
Thats a nasty tweet from Graham Campbell. Not appropriate.
Olga Pasportnkov strikes me as an honest woman. I hear Mr murrell is fond of toad in the hole. I am partial to some welsh rarebit.
ALANM says: “When asked about independence Ms Sturgeon is reported to have stated very clearly that she had no recollection of supporting independence and added that she couldn’t be sure if independence was now – or had ever been – SNP policy.
Wonderful. I shall steal it often.
Ever get the feeling you been cheated..
How can you ban language, words? How’re words offensive? And why should I have to tolerate YOUR interpretation? I’m the one using the word. ASK me how I’m using it, don’t TELL me. And if you don’t like the way I’m using it, so what? It’s my right. It’s my freedom of expression. Without that, we’re nothing but slaves. My language, now f*ck off!!!
They’re looking more and more like Labour.
A political party that seeks to conceal from its own members its decision-making processes, its funds and its membership numbers isn’t a political party in any normal sense of the word. They just want a supporters club to give them subs, everything else is run by the ‘committee’ behind closed doors. About as undemocratic as you could get. The penny will eventually drop with those who are being shamefully suckered by the bosses.
Can we make Freedom of Info Requests to ask for the voting numbers?
“Can we make Freedom of Info Requests to ask for the voting numbers?”
No. The SNP isn’t subject to FOI.
The natives are indeed becoming restless, again.
“You can not run away from yourself:”
link to youtube.com
Wee Chid knows, good title call.
The microphone is yours, cheers to your Saturday nights.
Snp like bit coin rollercoaster ride
@Athanasius
Typical fabians. A wolf in sheep’s clothing.
Is the SNP hierarchy scared or in awe of England and the English establishment?
If so it should rebrand as Scotch Cringe party.
Getting the Brit out of the Scottish head may possibly require ‘surgery’.
Step forward the surgical team….
link to caltonjock.com
The rules of conduct pertaining to Special Advisers created a conflict of interest when Liz Lloyd, Special Advisor and Chief of Staff to the First Minister convened a second meeting with Mark at which she briefed him about a sexual harassment complaint that had been lodged against him by a Party member. She went on to advise his position as a minister of the government was no longer tolerable and he would need to resign. The conduct of Liz Lloyd breeched the ministerial code applicable to Special Advisors and should have resulted in her immediate dismissal.
Who is the Toni Giugliano guy, he seems to have just appeared as our local SNP candidate ? another of Sturgeon’s Fallschirmjager parachuted in ?
Hope he has moved here and not been breaking any Covid rules coming down from Glasgow as his Feb. FB photos imply.
Seems to be claiming all sorts of successes around Vale of Leven Hospital which, love her or hate her, Jackie Baillie has been fighting successfully to keep open for decades.
link to democratonline.net
Has there been an updated “Scotland Future” white paper released or is SG just going to wing it ?
Useful to be reminded of Campbell’s back story in the Afro Caribbean Network and the King Street scene. Glasgow is absolutely hoaching with these nepotistic quango-hustlers, a problem that was always going to metastasize in the SNP and obviously now has. It’s a shame because he has a certain amount of talent and didn’t need to go the route of the wokie gravy train. Interesting that Cat Boyd has followed a different trajectory out of RISE and is actually being quite critical of Sturgeon on Twitter.
Who is Napoleon, who is Squealer, and who is old Boxer as he gets carted off to the knackers yard.
And further afield who is Mr Pilkington.
The book was certainly written with the SNP in mind. Meanwhile will we ever see Candyfloss Mountain so promised under the current regime.
It is utterly preposterous that there were thousands of people who were keen to join the party, but just held off to see how brilliantly NS managed to parry questions with I cannot remember, I don’t know, I could not have any motive to take down a rival, then immediately swarmed the hotline.
I’m not saying it could not be technically correct by holding up the collection of new subs or some other technical leave and rejoin measure. But your head would need to button up at the back to believe it was rooted in a genuine reality.
Could it be
10,000 members left the SNP over the last few years but still remained on their database
with the quick click of the mouse all these members become ‘new’ members and all get a letter with an application for a postal vote from SNP.
Meanwhile thousands gather outside Ibrox, Sturgeon’s seat, without masks. Corrupt inept Police Scotland issue usual shite statement about “we’ve told them to respect ScotGov guidelines” etc. Mass gatherings are illegal as is not wearing masks etc. Pictures coming from the scenes show all of this happening as Police Scotland proudly announce ‘No arrests have been made’.
I’ve respected every lockdown/Covid regulation until now. Some of us haven’t been able to see family, some have even lost relatives but these bastards allow this? How many were allowed to travel over from Norn Irn? They can ram their regulations and their corruption right up their corrupt arses. Ineffectual weak corrupt spineless leadership is not how i envisaged an independent Scotland. Sturgeon’s administration has shamed all Scotland.
They are all crooks. The snp has become what the Tories were/are.
@Ruby,
As far as I can tell the SNP postal vote letters are using the voters roll. I got one although I have not been a member at my current address and my friend got one and they’ve never been a member or communicated with the SNP at all.
It’s been so long since I socialised with anybody/thing I think I need to re-access where I am at.
Looks like there are some exciting new options to consider.
link to twitter.com
Did that campbell dude. NOT YOU STU go on bleating on about colonialism only to now bum suck to sturgeon and her colonial administration.
How the money train beckons the greedy!
Wasnt there a book written about a cabin regarding such individuals??
@Liz 3.49 pm
Some interesting stuff on that profile!
They never had 5000 or 7000 or 10,000 or anything like that signing up in two days.
It’s utter nonsense and they have no shame now on anything. TrumpSturgeonism.
Betsy says:
6 March, 2021 at 5:44 pm
@Ruby,
As far as I can tell the SNP postal vote letters are using the voters roll. I got one although I have not been a member at my current address and my friend got one and they’ve never been a member or communicated with the SNP at all.
Reply
You are your friend might find that you are ‘new’ members of the SNP. 🙂
Your names specially selected from voters roll and put onto list of ‘new’ SNP members. 😉
Would it not be better if the postal vote applications came from the Scottish Government? SNP letters might end up in the bucket unread.
Dan says:
6 March, 2021 at 5:50 pm
It’s been so long since I socialised with anybody/thing I think I need to re-access where I am at.
Reply
I know how you feel. It’s been so long I can’t remember.
I think I was ‘Super Straight with the occasional headache’ but now I could be ‘Super Past It’
Born ‘Super Incontinent’
Wife and I jacked the SNP in run up to Xmas 2019.
Both still getting mail and email with our membership numbers on it.
Talk about bunker mentality. They are going to be hurting come May – I might even wager a fiver on a unionist coalition government (sorry – executive).
Wonder if Murray Foote is behind all this misinformation and propoganda that is coming from SNP,
there is nothing on this earth that has less morals or honor than a Daily Record political journalist.
” Betsy says:
6 March, 2021 at 5:44 pm
@Ruby,
As far as I can tell the SNP postal vote letters are using the voters roll. I got one although I have not been a member at my current address and my friend got one and they’ve never been a member or communicated with the SNP at all.”
————————————————————————————————
I got one but then I am former member and they will have me on record as having voted SNP religiously as well. Dont know about the electoral roll as my mother got same communication and she passed away three years ago. I think the database might be outdated a little. Maybe all those new members they got are deid.
It was great to see the Rangers fans send a big FU to Evil Edna and her criminal lockdown.
Oh well who am I to question if there has been a surge in membership in just 2 days.
Usually any increase I have seen in the past , follows some kind of event , The days after the 2014 saw a big increase , and after the almost total wipeout of Unionist parties, days after the contrived walk out in Westminster, I am wondering what exactly happened to start this sudden I want to be in the SNP urge oh well maybe the change in the Weather who knows I can only take them at their word after the last few weeks building trust is a good idea , they wouldn’t do anything stupid would they nah they have learned their lesson haven’t they ? .
The walk out wasn’t planned by the way it happened by accident , the speaker John Berco made a mistake while Blackford was making the usual arse of himself but on this occasion he was right it was the speaker who lost the place and Blackford got into a argument with him and Blackford was told to sit down he refused and was told to get lost , so the other SNP MPs just joined in , but it wasn’t planned , no great protest against Westminster rule , it was never repeated.
Woohoo , not that anyone cares bar me but I’ve selt ma hoos and goat a weeer wan , expect a bung mr c
Chief Superintendent Mark Sutherland insulted our intelligence
and destroyed the integrity of the Police by saying-
“I would remind supporters that in line with current Scottish Government coronavirus guidelines, all gatherings are currently prohibited and we would urge members of the public to comply with these restrictions.
“Our priority is public safety and an appropriate policing plan was in place and officers engaged with those present to explain and encourage compliance with restrictions.”
So standing by and watching a whole series of laws being broken on a massive scale
was better that trying to stop the spread of a killer virus?
He is no more a law enforcer than Kray Twins.
Just watched the video footage of masses of unmasked Rangers fans telling the world to stick coronavirus dafety measures up their arse.
Spread the disease wide and far guys. And you’ve got Police Scotland’s approvals.
Meanwhile some poor wee bastard going a walk up the mountains gets done for reckless and culpable,
Silly Question while I am waiting on me dinner
The SNP gets a thumping great majority in the next Holyrood election a majority never before seen
Eh
What’s next
Anyone know
Cos fkd if I know what they intend to do with this lumping great majority
Again anyone know ?
Willie Rennie says disillusioned SNP voters should vote LibDem.
Okay Willie give you my vote on one condition will you take us to independence. No of course not.
Well fuck off then.
Apologies to church going folk for rough language.
To put it bluntly there is no law in Scotland. Our rotten and corrupt Police Scotland shows us that.
Big Big Indy March needed. If Rangers can do it, then so can Indy supporters who would unlike Rangers fans – a) wear masks and B) socially distance.
Fjcking Police Scotland would have the tear gas and baton charges out for that, and it wouldn’t just be Manny Singh that would get the jail.
Ruby says: at 6:09 pm
“I know how you feel. It’s been so long I can’t remember.
I think I was ‘Super Straight with the occasional headache’ but now I could be ‘Super Past It’
Born ‘Super Incontinent’”
I can’t say I was born superstraight as had quite bandy legs as a young un. Fortunately the pins sorted themselves out though, and by puberty I no longer looked like I had just got off a horse.
As I sup an ale and reminiscence back to those teenage years, is a nookie badge still a thing?
What was that all about, sucking on someone’s neck like a vampire till it left a mark.
I tried all sorts to explain away these recurring “injuries” to my mum that at the time seemed totally viable possibilities.
Incidents such as falling off my bike, a branch hitting my neck whilst playing in the park, slipping down the banking when fishing and my tackle bag strap rubbing my neck.
Was the nookie badge phenomena simply because girls were malnourished back in the 70s and needed to feed on hosts for essential nutrients.
@ Carol Neill at 6.36: Congratulations on your house sale/purchase. I know that sense of relief – took me 3 years to sell my mum’s house! Enjoy your new hoose.
Effigy
Regarding Rangers fans, being realistic, what do you expect the police to do?
You would need the army to disperse such numbers.
Absolutely no chance of them doing anything.
I remember Boris bought water cannon to disperse rioters in London but the woke brigade banned their use.
Lol Dan re the hickies or love bites as they called them.
I remember coming hame just b4 the bells wan new year. Wis at a works end o year drinks and some older wumen sucked the life oot o me.I wiz 18 year old fit thing lol
Ma da went ballistic and tried to stop me going oot after bells.
Na yir aw right faether cam doon fella.
Perhaps the total membership figure has been unfortunately redacted?
poor wullie, absolutely brainwashed by sturgeons covid propaganda campaign, stop watching TV dude.
The argument that the unstated policy of the SNP is to retain power but not push for indyref2 is becoming more compelling by the day but I am intrigued to know what WM thinks of the whole debacle.
Contributors to this page seem to think that there are high level connections through LL and that WM is keed to retain Sturgeon ahead of any more passionate advocate for independence (JC/AS for example). Which remains hypothetical but compelling nevertheless.
What has added weight to that argument is the stance taken by SG to the S30 case. Why on earth would they block a ruling on the legality of a unilateral referendum (unless they thought that the determination would be that SG cannot do this and that such a ruling would rob the SNP of its electoral raison d’etre).
It does seem strange that so many senior figures are leaving HR at just the time that public opinion appears to back a serious push for independence.
Do they know something that we do not?
The risk for WM in playing this game is two-fold.
1. Passions stoked-up by a frustrated separatist lobby could boil-over into civil disobedience and even violence. I sense that already. Politics has become very bitter and statements are now driven by hatred in a way that did not happen before.
2. The core functions of government and parliament become so rotten that Scotland descends into the banana republic that we reference in our rhetoric but which has not quite arrived.
I am puzzled by the lack of engagement in what is currently happening by the WM policy makers. Are they quite content with what they see?
But the most convincing argument for me is the lack of any clearly stated policy on the currency, the economic argument for independence, the absence of genuine work towards a coherent foreign policy, etc, etc.
It is as if they do not care.
BTW – I am pro-indy but voted no in 2014. Why? Because of the amateurish performance of Swinney in selling a convincing economic strategy.
Please do not label me a (“tractor”) for wanting answers. There are many like me out there. The SNP cannot rely on sentiment alone.
link to tns2019.org
Grouser @ 3:39
See posters on office of Humza Yousaf
link to twitter.com
Pete,
I expect to Police to Police.
To uphold the law
To prevent to spread of Covid
To call in the riot squad if necessary
To nip potential danger bud
Are we saying that if you get enough law breakers it’s fine?
TNS2019 @ 7:30
“I am pro-indy but voted no in 2014. Why? Because of the amateurish performance of Swinney in selling a convincing economic strategy.”
Not sure many would buy that reason for voting to give Scottish sovereignty to England’s Tories to do with us as they please. Are you sure it wasn’t something to do with your national identity?
On the matter of Scotland’s post-colonial development opportunities this might be of interest:
link to scotlandspeaks.com
Another WTF moment:
Scotland’s chief law officer ordered search of top civil servant’s office for Salmond complaint documents
The documents relate to the legal challenge by Mr Salmond of a government investigation into harassment complaints against him.
link to news.sky.com
Alf Baird says:
6 March, 2021 at 7:51 pm
TNS2019 @ 7:30
Not sure many would buy that reason for voting to give Scottish sovereignty to England’s Tories to do with us as they please. Are you sure it wasn’t something to do with your national identity?
Truth is, that may well have come into play in a sub-concious way. But I left England in 1982 and have been very happily domiciled here ever since.
Love Scotland, but it has become tainted of late for reasons I do not need to discuss.
Robert Graham 6.55
If elected
They will ask for a Section 30
Westminster will say no
Then they will spend five years
Travelling the gravy train
While experimenting on Scotland with hatecrime-backed genderwoowoo
And PoliceScotland are well prepared to assist in that experiment
link to twitter.com
If SNP was going from strength to strength and its membership was positively thriving, it would gladly publish its membership total to best demonstrate and communicate such a commendable status to Scotland.
The fact that it is completely ignoring (even mocking & belittling) public requests for full membership transparency (a fundamental prerequisite for an informed public), speaks volumes.
“Love Scotland, but it has become tainted of late for reasons I do not need to discuss.”
And Tory/New Labour England since Thatcher 40 years ago isn’t incomparably more tainted? Fuck you.
saw this link to archive.is
Scotland’s chief law officer ordered search of top civil servant’s office for Salmond complaint documents
The document that reveals the remarkable tactics of trans lobbyists
link to spectator.co.uk
@Willie says:
6 March, 2021 at 6:54 pm
“Meanwhile some poor wee bastard going a walk up the mountains gets done for reckless and culpable,”
That’s because someone in the mountain rescue got life changing injuries as a result.
Q. What do Santa Claus, the England cricket team’s batting ability, the wit of Pete Wishart and the 10 000 new SNP members have in common?
A. That’s right. All non-existant.
A reply to my email re Hate Crime Bill
Thank you for your email regarding the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill.
As you might be aware the Bill was scrutinised by the Parliament’s Justice Committee, of which my colleague John Finnie MSP is a member, and it was clear during its deliberations that there were serious concerns regarding the balance between protections for those who may be victims of hate crimes and protections for freedom of speech. These concerns meant that John met with the justice spokespeople from all the other parties to discuss these issues fully on a number of occasions, to ensure that these concerns were properly balanced, with protections for both potential victims of hate crime and for freedom of speech.
The Scottish Green Party will be voting for the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill at Stage 3, we are satisfied the correct balance has now been struck in this Bill.
Thank you again for your email.
Kind regards
Mark Ruskell MSP
Why does anyone think voting Green is a good idea?
Dan says:
Was the nookie badge phenomena simply because girls were malnourished back in the 70s and needed to feed on hosts for essential nutrients.
Reply
Ha! Ha! Ha! Love bites! I remember them.
That is a way for girls to brand you to let the other girls know you are taken.
Who would want to go out with a guy covered in ‘love bites’?
Had a male friend who took me home for the week-end. His mother kept giving me funny looks because some girl had branded the idiot with numerous love bites. It looked as if someone had tried to strangle him. The mother thought I had done them, she arranged for a cousin to share a room with me to ensure I didn’t leave the room in the dark of night. She wanted to protect her son from the vampire he had brought home for the week-end. That was very embarrassing. He thought it was funny and refused to tell his mother that I hadn’t given him the love bites or tried to strangle him.
Amazing the things that are discussed on WOS. Will it be ‘slipping the mitt’ next?
It’s really disappointing to witness The National’s apparent unwillingness to flex its ‘investigative journalist muscles’ over this big SNP secret membership mystery (issue), and help better inform the Scottish public (potential SNP members/voters, & National subscribers).
No wonder the public value Wings over Scotland as an essential Scottish information resource.
You know, in reference to Nicola Sturgeon, and all the self-serving hucksters now filling the SNP like rats onto a sinking ship, as my pal would put it: “It’s easy to shine in shite.”
@Dan says:
6 March, 2021 at 5:50 pm
It’s been so long since I socialised with anybody/thing I think I need to re-access where I am at.
Looks like there are some exciting new options to consider.
link to twitter.com
* * *
The only problem is Campari Withace will have his census form asking him to be more precise, since they no longer accept gender on the basis of an enormous chopper …
(Gets coat)
O/T another example of the gap between Scottish Government rhetoric and Scottish Government actions
link to theorkneynews.scot
The Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd is owned by the Scottish Government. The building to host a central control tower was constructed before an Impact Assessment was carried out. So much for Island Proofing.
Rob 8.12.
Important Spectator piece. Concluding words worth repeating:
‘No policy made in the shadows can survive in sunlight. ‘
Thanks Alf Baird.
This is the type of aspirational thinking that should be powering indy in place of the sterile stuff we are currently getting: link to scotlandspeaks.com
@rob,
thanks deffo worth a read,
i think Stu had mentioned that there is some very big money behind the trans activist movement,
`Dentons` the lawyer firm that made the `transactivist war manual` has over 10,000 lawyers on its books,
and Thomson Reuters Foundation that requested them to produce it is part of the multi billion The Woodbridge Company who used to be Thomson Company who owned The Scotsman paper,
both Denton and The Woodbridge Company/Thomsons are originally Canadian.
@John 8-10pm
Lets hope they used the additional spacing in certain words or there might still be documents they have not yet found!
Effigy
I`m sorry but not all police officers are as you describe. I know a police officer and is a fervent indy supporter as are many of his colleagues and is not a football supporter. Its difficult for the ordinary guys on the line being outnumbered facing a hostile mob.
As always its the very senior officers who are the problem as the Ibrox lot should have been arrested as soon as they assembled unlawfully.
Its those at the top who went after Salmond, Murray and Hirst.
McDuff.
I haven’t said anything different.
The Police on the ground just follow orders.
The Senior police in Scotland are corrupt to the
Core as far as I’m concerned.
From the George Square incident after Indy ref 1
to the manner in which the hounded Alex Salmond
to accepting the life saving lockdown rule book they
tossed into their unionist dust bin.
I believe the 2nd in charge is a female unionist that appears
in the daily hail most weeks since she stated she would never
support a Scot Gov instruction to close the border to halt the Kent
Variation of the virus travelling up here.
It seems it’s England’s Contaminated citizens right to come up here and infect us.
Corruption at the top soon trickles down but not the other way around.
‘Scotland’s chief law officer ordered search of top civil servant’s office for Salmond complaint documents.’Whoa! Talk about a police state!
link to news.sky.com
Actually, sorry, wrong end of the stick with the one above. Still interesting as Hell, though.
I’ve been informed that Nicola Sturgeon has just been on TV venting her anguish at the sight of Thousands of Rangers Fans breaking the Lockdown Rules at Ibrox today, demanding an explanation from Rangers …
A Rangers Spokesman has commented by replying….
*They can’t recall the incident..
*Nothing happened to the best of their knowledge
*They have no knowledge of the incident
Now the second part is a bit of a joke but why would Nicola ask
Rangers about law and order on the streets outside their stadium?
Afraid to say boo to her Police partners in the Salmond crime?
*We can’t answer that question
* We don’t know
* We were not aware
* We don’t recall
* Oh we’d need to check the detail
* We’re not 100% sure
* We can’t recall any incident
If it’s good enough for her then it’s good enough for us ….??????????
https://www.barrheadboy.com/scottish-prism-the-dogduck-bloggers-jason-michaels-iain-lawson-4th-march-2021
Nice discussion here, I particularly enjoyed “One of them [complainers] is an elected parliamentarian and another is a family friend.”
Say what’s that game called where there are many pieces in a box and the solution is the picture on the front?
@McDuff 6 March, 2021
“As always its the very senior officers who are the problem as the Ibrox lot should have been arrested as soon as they assembled unlawfully.”
1:At other Anti lockdown or BLM Protests in Scotland do you have evidence of everyone present being arrested as soon as they assembled ? If not why would you expect it to happen here ?
“Its those at the top who went after Salmond, Murray and Hirst.”
You really think so ? Surely its far more likely the Crown Prosecution Services will have executed warrants for arrest that the Police have then executed. Its quite something to think a small number of Senior Police Officers have some sort of personal vendetta against the people involved.
Graham 6 March,
“Say what’s that game called where there are many pieces in a box and the solution is the picture on the front?”
Is the answer “political jenga” ?
Asking for facts and figures makes everything a conspiracy?
Whatever happened judging people on their actions? Graham Campbell took his works mobile on a trip abroad which his partner was invited to. Left the data roaming on causing the taxpayers thousands.
The same guy hardly turns up to council meetings to represent people that has put faith in him as a voice.
Is Graham Campbell the right person to be standing in Edinburgh considering he rarely appears in council meetings in Glasgow? SNP: You racist! Sit down and shut up peasants, we’ll tell YOU what to think, how DARE you question us!
It’s the same message, same sounds as watching Labour implode in 2014.
Ruby says: at 8:39 pm
“That is a way for girls to brand you to let the other girls know you are taken.
Who would want to go out with a guy covered in ‘love bites’”
Hmm, think we best be careful on this subject, as in today’s #MeToo climate, this reads like many charming but emotionally and sexually immature teenage boys trying to cope on their journey through puberty may have endured historical acts of violence against them from the mouths of more sexually mature girls. Outrageous!
SNP LoveCrime Bill (amended to include retrospective incidents) incoming in 3, 2, 1…
A young innocent petal of a lad called
AyrshireRobRedacted appears to have already indicated he has been a “victim” of such an assault.@Don
Great answer!
@Dan (7.10) –
‘Was the nookie badge phenomena simply because girls were malnourished back in the 70s and needed to feed on hosts for essential nutrients.’
Aye, they needed the salt, the puir sowels…
The writers of the original Star Trek heard all about it and used it to create a wonderful story, all the poor ‘extras’ being nookie-badged to death by a shapeshifting hairy monster with a perfectly round mouth. Forget the name of the episode (it may have been a two-parter!), but someone will know – there’s always a Trekkie around!
😉
Dan
Ha ha . I might just say it was a sitting Msp. That would set them aff lol
@Scot Finlayson 6 March, 2021
“Wonder if Murray Foote is behind all this misinformation and propoganda that is coming from SNP”
Do you think Murray Foote just came himself a job as an SNP advisor and he just snuck in with no-one noticing who he was ?
Or that the job offer to him was made from and sanctioned by the head hondos at the very top of the party maybe ?
“there is nothing on this earth that has less morals or honor than a Daily Record political journalist”
Well now, lets think for a change …has Murray Foote been asked to appear at any Holyrood inquiry for wrongdoing ?
Is identifying as a ‘blue nose’ considered to be a gender?
@ Ian Brotherhood
Aye, coos in the field often have a mineral brick they lick.
They do say love is a chemical attraction. I’m wondering if I got so much attention because when other lads were huffin glue or puffin on a ten deck of Peter Stuyvesant, I was blowing every spare penny I had on Toffee Crisps, Lion and Star Bars, Topics, Aeros, or even ScotMid Chocoblock when times were hard.
I’m now wondering if the girls didn’t fancy me at all, and were only latched onto my neck like a lamprey because I tasted good or they were just diabetic and were hypoglycemic.
Downer 🙁
Ian Brotherhood
“The Man Trap” episode?
link to memory-alpha.fandom.com
What I find insulting about Graham Campbell. Is that he chooses to lecture Scottish people(I say that because he’s English)on the wrongs of imperialism and statues, street names etc.
The very same statues and street names we have wanted rid if since our birth. But he has just discovered in his short time in Scotland as if it’s news.
I don’t like the narrative of ” our history”. It’s not my history , not most folks on here. Our ancestors were just as exploited by the rich , as his were. We were all exploited by the slave masters. Sure some peasants might have been working for them, but they lived in squaller and died at 40.
The majority of Scots were exploited by England, rich landowners, the military and slave masters.
“But because the party has locked itself into that lie”
The party has locked itself into numerous lies to protect the corruption and criminality of those at the top of the SNP, the Scottish government and the civil service in Scotland.
Someone outside Scotland, please publish all the lies that the corrupt criminal Lord Advocate, the supposed enforcer of law, prevents the people of Scotland knowing.
Y’ken, we, who live, work and subsist in this fair land, are being taken for fools, by those who believe themselves to be our “betters”.
They’ve dangled the carrots – but they ran out of carrots at the end of January 2020. If Carlsberg grew carrots, they would have come up with a better selection than NS’s “speech” at the end of that month.
I hate to type it but the SNP has become the Labour Party of (up to) 2015.
ISP – wind your necks in and get on board with AFI! Save these otherwise wasted pro-indy votes on the list.
And Tommy S – for all the publicity it would generate, stand in Glasgow Southside! We’ll have your (financial) back.
I’m thinking of voting for a virtue signaller who projects their insecurities and failings on other people and who fabricates a shield of verbal virtue to hide their own failings. Anyone have any suggestions?
If I was a younger man I would stand against the SNP candidates here in Greenock and Port Glasgow area
And I am confident I could be the MSP for my area and do a hell of a lot better than that nipple McMillan that we have now
No to independence back in the lead in the latest poll.
That tells you all you need to know about the floating voter and who they believe.
Well fucking done Nicola.
@mike cassidy (10.31) –
The very one!
Hoots Trekster!
😉
Corruption in the police is as a direct consequence of a single police state. Elementary my dear Watson.
Stoker says,
“Ineffectual weak corrupt spineless leadership is not how i envisaged an independent Scotland. Sturgeon’s administration has shamed all Scotland.”
They must not be allowed to get away with it. Justice will only be served when the corrupt criminals spend a long time behind bars.
Scot Finlayson,
“i think Stu had mentioned that there is some very big money behind the trans activist movement”
There is very big money behind everything that is going on to destroy decent societies everywhere around the world, to be replaced by very weak, divided and unprincipled societies which can be easily controlled and blackmailed.
Covid has been a perfect excuse for everything.
The utterly corrupt legal profession want to get rid of juries, the only part of the system that can save innocent persons from going to jail.
Help!!!
Can anyone (WRYC perhaps?) remember the name used by a lot of writers, approx 15/20 years ago, esp in Scottish ‘radical’ Arts, indy publications etc, when they wanted to remain anonymous?
I’m as sure as I can be that it was Paula-something.
Sorry to be so vague but anyone who knows what I’m on about will know what I’m on about…
😉
Even James Kelly can’t put a brave face on this.
We are going back the way. Nicola is a liability. I said before that the Covid bounce had a shelf life with undecideds. Now after Sturgeon’s lies last Wednesday no are back in the lead.
She needs to go for the sake of Scotland.
link to scotgoespop.blogspot.com
Don
We know the Crown office is bent but it must have been very senior people at the police who decided that ordered SIX officers to shake down Mark Hirst, or travel to London to try and get anything on Salmond. The police at the very top entered into this with enthusiasm or they could have raised their concerns if unhappy at the obvious harassment of these individuals.
Sorry Ian, no idea. Any idea of the publication(s)?
” Don says:
6 March, 2021 at 9:50 pm
@McDuff 6 March, 2021
“As always its the very senior officers who are the problem as the Ibrox lot should have been arrested as soon as they assembled unlawfully.”
1:At other Anti lockdown or BLM Protests in Scotland do you have evidence of everyone present being arrested as soon as they assembled ? If not why would you expect it to happen here ?
“Its those at the top who went after Salmond, Murray and Hirst.”
You really think so ? Surely its far more likely the Crown Prosecution Services will have executed warrants for arrest that the Police have then executed. Its quite something to think a small number of Senior Police Officers have some sort of personal vendetta against the people involved.”
—————————————————————————————————————
Some folk seem to forget that it is the Procurator Fiscal who decides what can and cant be prosecuted and not the Police. The police really cant arrest and charge Salmond without the say so of the procurator fiscal. The CPS in Scotland is quite corrupt obviously as they went after Salmond with the most ridiculous of cases that should never have gone to Court.
@Ian Brotherhood
The only Person I can remember is Paula Rose of that name who used to post here in its early days
What happened to Paula Rose?
Dan says:
I’m now wondering if the girls didn’t fancy me at all, and were only latched onto my neck like a lamprey because I tasted good or they were just diabetic and were hypoglycemic.
Downer. 🙁
Reply
Don’t believe Ian Brotherhood he’s just jealous that you got so many ‘nookie badges’.
Believe me I’m the one who knows all the ‘girl secrets’.
They fancied you and wanted you to wear their ‘nookie badge’ to let others know you were taken.
I’d better watch what I’m saying I could be chucked out of the ‘Sisterhood’ for revealing ‘girl secrets’ and then where would that leave me if I were to be charged under the ‘SNP LoveBite Bill’ for historic abuse of teenage boys.
ScotMid Chocoblock? Is that cooking chocolate? That’s no good for a hypo.
How did things go for you later in life when you became a straight legged man?
Been looking/ laughing at this “once credible Scottish Independence site” from the side lines for a while.( used to be daily and yes I championed it and took a lot of sh*t for it)
Normally a quick look at the title post, then scroll half a dozen comments, then scroll to middle, then to the end.
Cabal, Sturgeonista, woke, wokerati or some other trendy word of the moment for the “gullible clueless” garbage is posted.
Its time to change the name to either “Yoons over Scotland”, or
“The Daily Mail Bitter wee Unionist Garbage Over Scotland”.
Or simply get a grip.
Tell me, did a wee lassie laugh at you when she pulled the legs off your Action Man when you were a wee boy? I left out Barbie Doll incase I get accused of being woke.
(whatever the FK that means)
Vote for a Yoon party if you like. Who cares.
Feel free to respond, I don’t give a sh*t.
SNP 1 Tick Tock.
Sturgeon now has a ready made excuse for not delivering Indy 2. She needs 5 years to build support back to 60%.
Don’t forget. The lady will not take ownership of this. The headless chickens in the SNP will blame Salmond.
Remember people saying that yes was now the default, and it could only go up!
You fucking blew it Sturgeon. If you had the referendum when we were ahead it could have been so different.
No strategy, no urgency and no fucking clue.
I think PR got assimilated into the borgen. Seduced in by activists fighting over who got to be his ally.
😉
WhoRattledYourCage says:
6 March, 2021 at 11:45 pm
“Sorry Ian, no idea. Any idea of the publication(s)?”
I wonder if he is referring to Radical Scotland that stopped publication in 1991 I think. I remember buying that in the 1980’s.
Gary – Good luck, but your leader is destroying Indy.
I suspect there is a lot of anger on the SNP side. They look to blame us for pointing out their failures.
You choose to live in the wee Sturgeon bubble. But I prefer reality.
Nobody’s keeping you Gary.
Find a proper SNP blog mate, you’ll have a great time, with your own kind.
Regarding being sent postal vote applications: I was sent one by Fergus Ewing, yet my only previous contacts with him were emails about GRA and HCB. A bit cheeky I say. THEN I got another one from NS. They shouldn’t be allowed to harvest info like that – I’m not on the open register.
Gary45%
“SNP1 Tick Tock.”
For what? Another unemployed mandate?
iScotland says:
6 March, 2021 at 1:23 pm
“Yet they’re likely to have a majority after the elections”
Not a chance. They are behind their polling from this time in 2016. After this 6 year shit show of lies, spies and survival of the feckless, the SNP will be fortunate if they can get 42/43% of the vote.
A “majority”, lol, mibbee the 250 000 new members will tip it that way.
There will be a few surprising results.
I’m going to be bold and suggest that Murdo Fraser will finally get his seat at the expense of John, arse shagging for 12 year olds, Swinney.
I’ll be cheering for a Tory for the first time in my life.
Yet. If the SNP got rid of Sturgeon, Evans, Murrell and the other patchwork of fraudsters.
All they need to is get an interim leader, on a ticket of cleaning the party. That would bring us guys back to at least voting SNP. It can be done.
It would require the heavyweights in the party to stand up to her.
@WRYC, cynicalHighlander, Iain More –
Thanks for feedback. Much appreciated.
It was a name used for stuff like music/art reviews, or general polemic. Places like Variant, The Glasgow Keelie etc. Certainly Scottish, and probably West-Coastish. It was cited in a wiki-type article about ‘artists using one name’.
Definitely wasn’t Paula Rose.
One of those ones – it’s on the tip of your memory but you just can’t get it…
Will let you know if I find it, but in the meantime thanks again.
😉
” Davie Oga says:
7 March, 2021 at 12:16 am
iScotland says:
6 March, 2021 at 1:23 pm
“Yet they’re likely to have a majority after the elections”
Not a chance. They are behind their polling from this time in 2016. After this 6 year shit show of lies, spies and survival of the feckless, the SNP will be fortunate if they can get 42/43% of the vote.
A “majority”, lol, mibbee the 250 000 new members will tip it that way.
There will be a few surprising results.
I’m going to be bold and suggest that Murdo Fraser will finally get his seat at the expense of John, arse shagging for 12 year olds, Swinney.
I’ll be cheering for a Tory for the first time in my life.”
——————————————————————
Despite the anger that I feel towards the SNP and Sturgeon in particular right now I will never ever cheer for a fuckin Scot hating Tory. I will never forgive the murder by remote control they performed when Thatcher in particular destroyed whole Scottish communities. I lost one friend to suicide after he lost his job through no fault of his.
It seems to me that Boris Johnson and his crew are as bad as her and could turn out to be even worse. No I will never cheer a fuckin Tory on. Never never never!!!!
@Mountain shadow says:
6 March, 2021 at 11:07 pm
“No to independence back in the lead in the latest poll.
That tells you all you need to know about the floating voter and who they believe.
Well fucking done Nicola.”
No doubt Angus will have another poll at the ready.
Iain the Tories are scum and represent the worst kind of Brit/Scot, house Jock sycophants.
Murdo probably sings the Sash and wears union Jack boxers. So no , even Humza is preferable.
We are angry at Sturgeon because she is supposed to be one of us. Yet she has turned on us, the movement and Salmond. That’s a special kind of anger we feel about her!
Beaker.So independence drops 5% from the last poll, but 10000 members join the SNP!
I am checking for the buttons at the back of my heid.
Liz says:
6 March, 2021 at 3:49 pm
Has anyone seen this?
link to twitter.com
Dishonest, incompetent, and lacking empathy.
Spots and leopards
“Big Jock says:
7 March, 2021 at 12:46 am
Iain the Tories are scum and represent the worst kind of Brit/Scot, house Jock sycophants.
Murdo probably sings the Sash and wears union Jack boxers. So no , even Humza is preferable.
We are angry at Sturgeon because she is supposed to be one of us. Yet she has turned on us, the movement and Salmond. That’s a special kind of anger we feel about her!”
——————————————————————————–
Aye we are supposed to be better than the Tories. My father lost two brothers to diphtheria in 1930s Tory ruled UK. The Tories would drag us back to that place. My father left the Labour Party the day Blair became leader of it. Labours loss was the SNPs gain and the gain to the cause of Scots Indy. He would kick the shit out of me if he saw me cheering on a Tory. Sturgeon let us down and is letting us down but cheer a Tory on – never.
From the above mentioned CeltAtLarge twitter post:
link to pbs.twimg.com
If that report is accurate, about alleged professional misconduct it makes for an interesting timeline (taking Wikipedia dates):
1992 Bachelor of Laws (Hons)
1993 Diploma in Legal Practice
1995 Legal traineeship completed
1995 Solicitor in Stirling
1997 Solicitor in Glasgow
1998 (December) report suggesting professional misconduct, cleared by Law Society, and “quickly left the legal profession”
1999 (sometime after May) MSP
That seems to be a remarkably short career in the legal profession. 3 years as a Solicitor?
Given the suggestions about the leak of the AS investigation being a timely distraction, possibly to squash the above story which the same paper had, then that could lead one to draw inferences about the party ultimately responsible for the leak.
Not that I’m accusing anyone in particular of said leak, as such inferences may not actually lead to the real guilty party.
Gary 45%
There will be no majority. It could have been different if the party did the needful a year ago.
I fully expect the SNP to destroy any possibility of independence for a decade or two at this point.
If Stu’s still here in five years, maybe you’ll be back to convince us that 2026 is the mandate of mandates election, and they really, really mean it this time.
On the Rangers gathering. As a Celtic fan I might be tempted to say (aologies to Radiohead) “ arrest that fan his Hitler hair do and butchers apron waving is making me feel ill”. But , as a football fan Indie seeker and lockdown sceptic I might say well done ,even gaun yirsels. In fact it’s what historians would call a “Jaquerie” a spontaneous outburst against authority, an exuberant celebration of the power of crowds. Obviously Public Health Police State Scotland aren’t very good at policing that kind of thing. But lifting Salmond friendly journos, well that’s why they are there. I am really sorry I supported the formation of Plod Scotland. Like the rest of our country it needs to be radically de-centralised. But we’ll done The Rangers!
I truly do not understand the mentality of some SNP supporters. “I support a party which represents a tiny minority of Scottish people. We want independence. You want independence. But you criticise my party, and are not part of it. Therefore you are insincere in your beliefs, and are a unionist, diametrically opposed to what you say you believe in.”
I have to say, it’s some of the defensive, pigshit-thick, idiotic rhetoric I have ever heard in my life: “We want the same thing, only your way of getting there is different from mine, so you’re against what you say you want, and mine is the only credible way of getting there.” Incredible. Like something an arrogant, naive, deluded, obnoxious teenager would come up with. You don’t get the non-SNP faction calling members unionists, though you do get some calling the SNP high heid yins unionists.
I confess, al this breaks my heart. The bifurcation of the Scottish population who want the same thing, or say they do, into he-said-she-said mindless angry baying factions is down to the first minister, and has to be one of the most back-asswards ways of uniting people for a common goal I have ever heard of. Shaking my head sadly, as ever.
If the name was used in the Variant
The Variant archive is here
link to variant.org.uk
Few Paulas in the Valiant archives (sorry, I am a total research junkie, always at it): Paula Larkin (by far the most mentions), Paula Caffrey, Paula J Masood.
@Gary45% says:
7 March, 2021 at 12:00 am
“Been looking/ laughing at this “once credible Scottish Independence site” from the side lines for a while.( used to be daily and yes I championed it and took a lot of sh*t for it)”
Have you been keeping up with current affairs? We have a government that is effectively out of control.
Then there is what can only be described as – and I am being generous – a half-arsed social media campaign consisting of “I’ve joined the SNP” and “I’ve known Nicola since she was 16”. I’ve had emails from Nigerian royalty that are more credible.
I don’t know what the hell the SNP are playing at, but whatever their original strategy was, it is out of control, and they are desperately fire fighting. The only problem is they are using petrol to douse the flames.
Paula Meadows was the name.
“Murdo probably sings the Sash and wears union Jack boxers. So no , even Humza is preferable.”
Not a great argument that, is it,… unless you’re willing to contemplate scenarios wherein the sort of songs he sings or boxer shorts he wears matters.
But if those are what you consider to be Murdo’s flaws, it would be only fair to include a couple of Humza’s flaws too. Let me know if you need any help.
The claim that 10,000 new members just signed up on the basis of Sturgeon’s non-performance at the Parliamentary Inquiry is absurd. They lie about everything else so why believe them now? If the SNP is so flush with new members why is it begging existing members to renew their membership months early?
The truth of the matter is that the SNP’s income comes from the membership in the form mostly of subscriptions, donations and legacies from deceased members. As of 31/12/19 the SNP owed 357K in unpaid election bills against 97K in the bank. In addition they owed the Branches 582K which is mostly the Branches’ 25% share of 2019’s subs. They were relying on using 2020’s subs to pay these bills as well as all their wages bill and the other running expenses.
That just might have been possible had the membership remained at the same level in 2020. Clearly that has not happened – they not only stopped paying the Branches’ share of 2019’s subs they are also begging members to pay their renewals months early. This is not only evidence of a desperate cash crunch but it’s also robbing tomorrow’s income to pay today’s bills – a recipe for disaster. The most obvious reason for this cash crunch is that members have been resigning in droves in disgust at the current leadership, not “fundraising has declined because of Covid” as Beattie and Murrell would have you believe.
Faced with a drastic decline in income any competent management would take action to reduce expenses, specifically the SNP’s bloated wages bill. Getting rid of Sue Ruddick and cutting Pete Murrell’s salary would be a good start. Not the SNP. Not only haven’t they reduced personnel they’ve now put Marco Biagi on the payroll as well.
The other action which a competent management would take is to increase income, which in the SNP’s case means to convince previous members to rejoin and new members to sign up. Once again, not the SNP. No action is taken to address the concerns of the members or to persuade former members to rejoin.
The conclusion we can draw from all this is that Pete Murrell, Nicola Sturgeon, Colin Beattie et al are incompetent and are driving the SNP into the ground. Does anybody know who is overseeing the management (or in this case mis-management) of the Party?
The NEC stand in relation to the SNP as does the Board of Directors in a public company: the members/shareholders’ representatives appointed to oversee the management of the operation. It is the NEC that should be approving the Head Office’s operating expenses budget, revenue budget and election spending budget and monitoring the monthly financial results against budget. Yet AFAICS the Sturrell regime gives the NEC the mushroom treatment – keeps it in the dark and feeds it bullshit – and expects it to rubber-stamp whatever the Sturrells want. Anyone with insider knowledge care to enlighten us? Does Murrell or the Treasurer present up-to-date financial reports to the NEC on a regular basis?
.
Gary45% says:
7 March, 2021 at 12:00 am
Been looking/ laughing at this “once credible Scottish Independence site” from the side lines for a while.( used to be daily and yes I championed it and took a lot of sh*t for it)
Gary this must be eating you alive.
I was once like you. I believed that Tony Blair and New Labour were the real deal.
It is an undeniable fact that Tony Blair created the Scottish Parliament.
Yet his entire legacy, everything he touched is dust and excrement trodden under foot.
I sympathise with your torment Gary. I can even understand your rant on here.
But sadly you know in your bones and your soul and your DNA that what Stuart Campbell and Alex Salmond’s says is true.
Why else would you come back and reveal how bitter and twisted you have become?
You have been done up like an Arbroath kioper by the psycho narcissist from Hell. Nicola Sturgeon became so “friendly” that she fancied the actress Sidse Babett Nudsen could swap cosies and role play with each other…
link to archive.is
Gary, you’ve hitched yourselves to the wagon of a psycopathic liar who cannot admit to the world what she really is.
There is only one of two options for you Gary45%
A). Welcome back to Wings Over Scotland. Open your eyes, study the facts and vote for Alex Salmond, Kenny MacAskill, Joanna Cherry or whomsoever the leadership politician is that can deliver the IndyRef2 plebiscite.
OR…
B). You can fuck off. Stop trying to be a master-baiter troll. Stop wasting peoples’ time. Limp back off to the Scottish Lemming Party and prepare to jump off of that cliff into the Woke infested waters and prepare to go the way of New Labour.
Gary I’ve seen bent, corrupt politicians before. New Labour were stuffed rotten with them. Were you as,eep when New Labour arrogantly took the Scottish electorate for granted and were booted out of office so quickly that the entire party is still in a state of denial.
I was a lot younger when Tony Blair won the 1997 UK General election. But I still spent between £500 and £800 each year supporting New Labour. Especially when New Labour gave us Holyrood.
But then the lies started dripping from Anthony Lynton Blair like a festering disease.
New Labour got rumbled. Those that called out the illegal war in Iraq, and dodgy dossier were ridiculed and shunned. Alex Salmond was principled enough to see the lies from Blair and name him in parliament. Alex got shunned in the U.K. House of Commons and slaughtered in the media.
Yet Alex was right about Blair and he is absolutely correct about Sturgeon.
So in 2007 I trusted Alex Salmond and voted for his SNP. I would still vote for Alex Salmond. That’s the killer question for you Gary, the one that blows you out of the water…
Would you vote for Alex Salmond now Gary?
You know you would.
Which means in your heart of hearts you know Stuart and the vast majority here have seen Sturgeon for what she is. An actress playing the part of Sidse Knudsen and fictional Danish First Minister.
As with the cult tv series Borgen, there was something rotten in th state of Denmark.
Now we have caught it from the political pox ridden midden fae Dreghorn.
There is something wrong with the State of Scotland. It’s name is Nicola Sarkozy Sturgeon and she is headed in the same direction as that disgraced former French political leader.
Yet you and your ilk don’t want to believe that she is on her way out. Either with dignity in a resignation speech at the front door of Bute House, or in handcuffs under police caution shuffling out the back door.
Gary do you and your friends think this won’t happen?
Just look at Nicholas Sarkozy.
Enough?
Don’t know if people are aware. Liz Lloyd was once married to
Ed Miliband.
Gregor says:
6 March, 2021 at 8:08 pm
If SNP was ….. is completely ignoring (even mocking & belittling) public requests for full membership transparency (a fundamental prerequisite for an informed public), speaks volumes.
I keep thinking the same about Sturgeon. At some point she must realise she is as big a liability for Scottish Independence as she is for ‘whatever’ interest it is motivates her. Sadly, it seems like she has zero fks to give about Independence, but whether it’s Transactivism, or just her own self serving advancement, she is presiding over a bin fire which is escalating to threaten to wreck all her interests.
The cold fact begins to emerge that the only interest which can be properly described as thriving under Sturgeon’s reign is the deconstruction of the YES Movement’s cohesion and unity, and you have to ask, whether a person who is ok about that is a true believer in Scottish Independence or a person who is content to see it smashed.
Angus Robertson has two go fund me pages on the go. One for $5000 & another for $10.000. $15.000 pounds is a lot of money.
Is he collecting extra cash for the SNP because they are skint?
Angus is looking for campaign funds kiwilassie, as the party don’t have two bent coppers to rub together.
Well, as a Lothian resident I will not be voting SNP on the list. I will see who the other candidates are but it will be a pro-indi party.
My concerns are for Highland voters who will put their crlss against SNP on the list without really knowing the type of character who is top.
She is worse than Rhiannon Spear, who although is a total nightmare, is at least predictable. Emma Roddick will not see out her first term as she is going to cause controversy after controversy. She only seeks attention and once befriended, she will do everything to hurt those who help her. She was chucked out after only a few weeks working for the party in Holyrood. She would spend her day watching TV and sleeping, she was self harming at work, having an affair with a married unionist journalist, fabricating stories and taking it to the whips, taking personal data then passing it onto the press, drinking all night then turning up to parlieny stinking in the same clothes as the night before. After being turfed out she went on to become a Councillor for Inverness taking over from Richard Laird who she described as being Batman to her Robin, knowing too well the reasons for his departure.
There is no doubt she has mental issues which are linked to her behaviour,however she is going to be an absolute nightmare in Holyrood. She will have few friends after betraying those who reach out to her, no loyalties and she no doubt employ super nutters like Ron McWilliam to run her office. She will be the party’s biggest ever embarrassment. The party rrally has to have a rethink here, not only for the party’s reputation but for her own mental health.
she is on her way out. Either with dignity in a resignation speech at the front door of Bute House, or in handcuffs under police caution shuffling out the back door.
This is the tragic thing. Alex has given her numerous chances to back down from where she was – from mediation rather than losing the judicial review, to a ceremonial sacking or two on losing it, a year of silence after the trial where she could have used covid exhaustion to step away quietly. And finally last Friday there was an olive branch: quiet, dignified and no personal attacks on her at all, not even saying she should resign. If she had any care about the independence cause, she’d have taken one of those chances and resigned with dignity and her – and the SNP/indy movement’s – reputation in tact, probably enhanced. But then, if she cared about those things she wouldn’t have been in this situation. It’s like watching a Shakespearean tragedy play out in real life.
Apparently there are two polls one of which has deeply questionable methodology. Nevertheless the trend is obviously not very good for independence.
More interestingly, trust in Her Majesty has declined substantially. But I would bet my leg that Sturgeon will run her umpteenth “I’m With Nicola” crusade plastered with pictures of herself. She can’t help it, it’s a huge amount of narcissistic supply. The weird, genuinely “cult-like” (oh, how we laughed when unionists called us that) behaviour shown in the past few days is an indication of that; personally I think such behaviour is itself likely to turn off many swing voters.
Stuart says:
“The most obvious reason for this cash crunch is that members have been resigning in droves in disgust at the current leadership, not “fundraising has declined because of Covid” as Beattie and Murrell would have you believe.”
Take a look at the hashtag #SNPLeftMe for a glimpse of the number of women who have quit over genderwoowoo
Stuart also says “No action is taken to address the concerns of the members or to persuade former members to rejoin.”
Not quite true. A very small group of members who’d left or threatened to leave got a special video appeal from NS herself and Joanna Cherry sacked from the front bench to tempt them back.
Not us boring old ordinary women though.
Davie Oga says:
7 March, 2021 at 12:57 am
Liz says:
6 March, 2021 at 3:49 pm
Has anyone seen this?
link to twitter.com
Great find! As you say, once a lying, corrupt, untrustworthy, psychopathic piece of shit always a lying, corrupt, untrustworthy, psychopathic piece of shit.
Seems Sturgeon only avoided being struck off by offering to quit and as someone else said, her legal career was very short. I had heard rumours that she was fired for general incompetence and untrustworthiness but this is far far worse. This is so bad it’s the sort of thing that if it was known would kill any political career before it even started!
And if this is the story that was hidden in exchange for the leak of the Salmond story her we have another example of Sturgeon lying under oath and even worse her instructing that the law be broken and the Salmond story leaked to save her own skin. Another criminal offence to add to the already long list?
Is this something you could look into Stu?
I imagine the law society will have all the details stored in a filing cabinet somewhere. They might even be available online somewhere.
Where were the SNP recruiting sergeants when the Rangers fans were massed outside Ibrox. They could have signed them all up for less than the maximum £10,000 fine and there funding woes would have been fixed.
Very poor strategy from them
You can now be certain, the Unionist mainstream media will have the few good, digging-up dirt journalist they still employ all over this story.
The Holyrood Election campaign, which was always going to be a really-dirty fight, just promised to get a lot dirtier and more-difficult for the Dear Leader. Rank Bajin and her faithful steed El Fidelo (or wee Peter as we know him), could be getting run out of town come May.
The ministerial code has been hogging the headlines, but what’s happening on the civil service equivalent?
LE is a serial offender who alone must be well into double figures breach wise.
JM, SR, & LL all heavy abusers.
Where accountability?
Liz says:
6 March, 2021 at 3:49 pm
Has anyone seen this?
link to twitter.com
I am awaiting some form of due diligence on this before acceting it as fact.
If it is true then it is VERY damaging to NS. But I am wondering why it had not been picked-up by journos.
Shocked says:
7 March, 2021 at 8:19 am
And if this is the story that was hidden in exchange for the leak of the Salmond story ….
I can’t keep up. I thought the leak to the Daily Record was a knee jerk reaction to the Government’s public statement being blocked by a legal injunction the day before the Records’s scoop, and helped along by the ‘cosy’ relationship between a certain SNP staffer and a Reporter for the DR. Whatever the law says, or indeed, even if none of it was true, Alex Salmond must be publicly smeared as a cornerstone of the conspiracy to destroy him.
This whole dark episode is not just screaming out for a judge led Inquiry, but a comprehensive Criminal Inquiry with multiple people being interviewed under caution and matters taken to a criminal prosecution wherever there is evidence of conspiracy, perjury, contempt, and perverting the course of Justice.
What exactly are we waiting for? If we need external investigators because Scotland’s Police, Lord Advocate and COPFS are compromised by their direct involvement in the Conspiracy, then let us take that on board, and bring in support from Europe, most obvious candidate being Ireland. If there isn’t an existing capacity to hold elements of Scottish Society to task, then isn’t it high time we created one?
Huge If True,
Would also give a motive for her desperation to stay in the position of FM – she has no career to return to and the SNP don’t nominate to the House of Lords.
Breeks says:
7 March, 2021 at 8:19 am
“ I thought the leak to the Daily Record was a knee jerk reaction to the Government’s public statement being blocked by a legal injunction the day before the Records’s scoop”
Jackie Baillie brought up the idea of the Salmond leak being a spoiler for a scandalous story about NS in the evidence session. I might watch back and see how the blink rate was affected…..
Dear Rev
WOS has become required reading for everyone in Scotland and you are prividing a much-needed platform and safety valve for the national voice. Have you ever considered running an Agony Aunt Column too for for people distraught at what is happening to the SNP?
DEAR REV lacks sufficent gravitas and I think it could be a DEAR BISHOP section.
I for example am writing to you in this vein in the hope that you can help me.
I am in my early 50’s, slightly bald, with a Degree in Feminist Studies, at 16st slightly overweight for my height (5ft) and generally considered quite attractive.
I am also a committed Nationalist much to my husbands chagrin, and am a keen admirer of Nicola Sturgeon. I understand that in the 1990’s there was a group of female MP’s known as ‘Blair’s Babes’ and I now wish to become a member of ‘Sturgeon’s Stunners’.
However despite my best efforts I have had no luck in being selected as a Candidate for Holyrood. At my local SNP Constituency Association meeting the Chair fainted when he saw me and I was shown the door by a brutal, male chaivinist hall porter.
How can I make the SNP hierarchy realise that I have a huge contribution to make, particularly in my wigs and special Maureen Watt power-styled outfits?
Yrs
Arabella (formerly Barry) Biscuit- Barrel.
“Plough on regardless”
Standing back from the detail of what has been happening, and assuming that no new independence party will emerge over the next few weeks, the question is how long the current state of affairs can be allowed to go on.
NS has been damaged and damaged very badly. There is no mechanism for retrieving her reputation and the real danger now is that:
NS = independence
NS = zero integrity
Independence = zero integrity
If I were a brand manager at this point and my portfolio included the SNP, I would be urging the party to re-structure and ‘re-identify’ its leadership. There is a real risk of a ‘Ratners effect’ damaging the whole indy movement.
In any other party, the grandees would have taken NS aside and ‘informed’ her that her time is up because the stroy has become about her and not the wider cause.
The problem of course is that the CEO is PM and thus we have not only a huge conflict of interest, but a power vacuum beneath the current top echelon.
So, even if NS were to go, who is going to replace her? Years spent suppressing dissent within the party has meant that potential candidates have either been marginalised or have left.
I respect the views of those who say that we must stick with the SNP to ensure a huge majority in May and that independence will come as a result of that electoral success, but I disagree on two grounds.
1. I will not entrust my votes to an intrinsically corrupt party
2. NS is not going to deliver indy. There is no plan.
Perhaps the time is right for Jim Sillars, KMcA, AS, JC, and others to form that new party we need. The SNP left them rather than v.v. but they have the credibility and gravitas to take a huge chunk of SNP support as a foundation for a future movement.
The current push to present the SNP as a cult built around the figurehead could backfire massively if the general public begin to see her as ‘shoddy goods’.
Just ask Gerald Ratner about that.
Kiwi lassie, are you sure? There is more than one Liz Lloyd. I think there was one that was a spad for Blair, is that the one you mean re Miliband?
@Breeks,
Apparently Jackie Baillie made some suggestion during Sturgeon’s ‘performance’ on Wednesday that the Daily Record had agreed to drop ‘a story’ about her in exchange for the Salmond leak.
Needless to say, Baillie gave no further details and Sturgeon played dumb.
In other potentially un/related news, I have also seen reference to George Galloway hinting at ‘something big’ coming down the tracks? We’ll see.
We are well past the point at which even the most ridiculous rumour can be dismissed out of hand.
@Breeks,
Apparently JB made some suggestion during Sturgeon’s ‘performance’ on Wednesday that the Daily Record had agreed to drop ‘a story’ about her in exchange for the Salmond leak.
Needless to say, JB gave no further details and Sturgeon played dumb.
In other potentially un/related news, I have also seen reference to George Galloway hinting at ‘something big’ coming down the tracks? We’ll see.
We are well past the point at which even the most ridiculous rumour can be dismissed out of hand.
“Only Nicola can deliver independence!”.
This was, of course, never true. She could be the one – as the undisputed leader of the political arm of the independence movement – been the one to put us in position and been the most prominent position to persuade others once we were in a campaign.
But it was always going to be a collaborative effort.
The other argument has been the almost equally vacuous “the SNP are the only vehicle!”. Based on the real political context and polling this, while not strictly true, could be modified to “easiest, quickest and most convenient given the current position”.
But those polls suggest that this is no longer the case; certainly that we are heading for a situation where they will be unable to deliver on their own. Moreover, her own means of pursuing it are slow by design so they are no longer *necessarily* the quickest or most convenient means of achieving it either (at least by themselves).
Given this new-ish situation, there is space for pro-Indy opposition as it should be dawning in folk that the selling points of “only, quickest, most convenient” attached to the largest party may be melting away. Is anyone going to seize the day and step into this space?!
Sarah Smith cannot help herself – lying through her teeth about how impressive Sturgeon’s performance was on Wednesday. Boosting Sturgeon and down-playing Salmond.
The protection of the Dear Leader in the media continues – for now.
For what it’s worth I had professional dealings with the Stirling law firm, Bell & Craig at the time Sturgeon was employed there. Didn’t know anything about the professional misconduct charge but did learn that she was considered to be ‘useless’ and was quickly dispensed with.
SNP are the Labour Party.
Just read an excellent 10 min. Succinct piece by grousebeater on where we are at the moment called ‘where the buck stops’. Don’t know how to archive and don’t want bludgeoned to death by the lovely Dan at this ungodly hour.
The SNP and the Tories serve the same banking cartels under a “” Common Purpose ” moving in” Lockstep”with the IMF They are Fascists I could not vote for anyone in Holyrood For me the voting system plays our enemies game.
Socrates. Same with BBC Scotland. They are just reporting Swinney’s press releases. Nothing to see.
My question is how deep this wormhole goes? It is The Matrix.
The SNP has been cooped by MI5. No no. Don’t thank me.
Pete- So Sturgeon has a track record of failure. That makes sense. A good prosecutor would have torn her to shreds on Wednesday.
We had sock puppets instead!
Pixy – That wouldn’t surprise me.
What we do know is that the Daily Record are getting fed stories from SNP HQ. They are covering up Sturgeon’s personal life. Sturgeon gave funding to MSM while chucking bloggers under a bus.
Murray Foote of DR is now running the PR and press releases. BBC are being kind to Sturgeon.
Lesley Evans is at the heart of the cover up. Sturgeon won’t sack her. Because Evans could be a whistleblower if sacked.
The whole thing is rotten.
The Dissident says:
7 March, 2021 at 9:10 am
@Breeks,
Apparently JB made some suggestion during Sturgeon’s ‘performance’ on Wednesday that the Daily Record had agreed to drop ‘a story’ about her in exchange for the Salmond leak.
Needless to say, JB gave no further details and Sturgeon played dumb.
In other potentially un/related news, I have also seen reference to George Galloway hinting at ‘something big’ coming down the tracks? We’ll see.
We are well past the point at which even the most ridiculous rumour can be dismissed out of hand.
Jackie did and having watched it again this morning and observed the look on Jackie’s face I think she knew all about sturgeon almost getting struck off and deliberately drew Sturgeon into either admitting it or perjuring herself yet again. It seems that Sturgeons “masterful performance” was an example of someone flat out lying for 8hrs and being so arrogant and deranged at her own intelligence that she thought she’d get away with it… mind you as she has rigged the inquiry make up they will likely clear her albeit the world will see what a piece of work she is.
In addition the connection between team Sturgeon and the Daily Record stinks and you can tell that Davie Clegg, who is now of course at the Courier, is hiding something. Clegg or the leak on team Sturgeon need to be sweated in a police interview under caution.
I’m sorry folks but Hairy Black is such a boiler.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the extra SNP members are those that have signed up 3 months earlier after being sent the begging letters.
I’m sure they could spin it that the extra funds could be equivalent to extra members, well for 3 months anyway but that’s plenty of time to give the impression that the SNP is going from strength to strength.
It would be essential to see the before and after figures to verify what they’re saying is an honest representation of an uplift in membership.
I’m playing catch-up so apologies if this has already been suggested.
TNS2019 @ 8:57 pm
“This is the type of aspirational thinking that should be powering indy in place of the sterile stuff we are currently getting: link to scotlandspeaks.com ”
Very kind of you to say so. Having studied many former colonies maritime/trade policy initiatives, these proposals do not seem overly ambitious, and are an essential remedy to ongoing mismanagement and apparent incompetence reflecting external interference in Scottish affairs.
Holyrood seems to be basically driving a second layer of colonialism (i.e. oppression) in which British state actors still rule the roost aided by a daeless SNP elite who have no interest, passion or guts for independence.
I am also sympathetic to your TNS cause, as are many others I’m sure.
“the leak of the AS investigation being a timely distraction”
I think the suggestion that the leak of AS investigation to the newspaper was a distraction, is in itself the actual distraction.
This new material about Sturgeon is either a red herring/dead cat or a warning.
When you look at the timelines, it is clear as day that the objective of the new complaints procedure and the leak were part of the same: a deliberate plan to smear Mr Salmond to eject him from the SNP and stop him returning to politics.
Why ejecting him from the SNP? Well, I think what Sturgeon has done to the SNP in the following 3 years speaks for itself: she has hollowed the party out and has totally destroyed it as a viable pro independence party. There is no way this fraud would have ever got away with it if Mr Salmond was still in the party.
The leak to the newspaper in 2018 came immediately after Mr Salmond’s lawyers communicated to Evans their intention to request an interdict. It was Evans’ intention to release an statement to the press to kick start the smearing exercise against Mr Salmond, but Mr Salmond’s lawyers pulled the rag from under her feet. A couple of hours later, along comes the leak.
Coincidence? I don’t believe in coincidences. The interdict might have been another battle loss, but somebody had a war against Mr Salmond to win, hence the leak.
The leak to the newspaper was a direct breach of the confidentiality laws and hence a criminal offence. Mr Salmond announced during the questioning that he thinks he knows the identity of the leaker. The leaker knows he knows and so do those desperately protecting the identity of the leaker.
Also, didn’t a few days ago Mr Salmond announced that he intended to report the breach of confidentiality by one of the civil servants releasing the name of one of the original accusers to Geoff Aberdein? There are leakers all over the place. Or are there? Are there many individuals within the Civil service in Scotland so ready to break the law and their own code of practice by release confidential material to the press for political motives or are we talking about just one corrupt to the core, unprincipled and untrustworthy individual that is leaking like a sieve?
It is obvious we are now being given this new sensationalist crap to distract us and to obfuscate, as they have been doing every effing time a particular civil servant is on the ropes. Sht, that civil servant must be worth their weight in gold judging for how the press, COPFS and the Scottish government rush like headless chickens to cover this civil servant’s arse every time is exposed. Are there any chances this particular civil servant is an MI5 plant? I mean, if something has been clear all over this case is that the SNP, the SGov, the civil service and COPFS are infested with them.
This thing of Sturgeon is not enough for her to resign but it is shocking enough to attract attention and distract from something worse, which I think it is the objective here. These are desperate last barrel shots.
What is really interesting though is that this points to the fact that Sturgeon might not have the cleanest of the pasts. In other words, this may also be a “warning” shot to Nicola Sturgeon that there is plenty more dirt from where this come from ready to make its way up to the surface unless she follows the script.
One thing I am convinced of: the leak of Mr Salmond’s case to the press had nothing to do with Sturgeon’s past and everything to do with a plan whose main objective was to destroy Mr Salmond’s reputation. Now, that is not to say that the participation of Sturgeon in this conspiracy may have been unwilling and started because of something from her past that remains hidden and is threatening to come up.
Time will tell. It always does.
Times reporting Geoff Aberdein’ s unpublished evidence says
“In another twist, Sturgeon now faces questions about whether her administration was involved in a cover-up. In unpublished evidence, details of which have been shared with The Sunday Times, Aberdein claims he was asked by a member of Sturgeon’s government to alter his account about harassment complaints against Salmond.
Aberdein, who helped to broker talks between Salmond and Sturgeon, alleges the government official asked him to change his story, as he prepared to make a press statement in January 2019 — warning him that not doing so could damage the official’s career.
Aberdein’s proposed comments, seen by members of the Holyrood inquiry, could also have undermined claims by Sturgeon about when she first learnt of allegations against Salmond — bolstering claims that she misled parliament. Aberdein claims the official asked for the change after he shared with the Scottish government a copy of a media statement he, Aberdein, planned to make.
Aberdein’s statement suggests that the official knew of complaints against Salmond some time before the date that Sturgeon claimed to have been first told. Aberdein claims that, after seeing the proposed statement, the official asked him to say that they had only a “suspicion” of complaints.”
Pete
I have personal experience there.
About twenty odd years ago I bought a new build house on a small development of about eight houses. About six months later I get a bill from the builder for £200 for water connection. the solicitor who handled my sale was on holiday so when I got to the office it was Sturgeon I saw.
She sat at her desk with a scowl and never smiled once. I explained the situation and said that i would not pay this demand as surely it must have been covered by the solicitors at the exchange of contracts. You would have thought she had swallowed a wasp. When she spoke it was with a patronising nastiness, ` didn’t you check the paperwork` was her reply. Suffice to say you can imagine my reaction.
I recounted this many times to people long before Sturgeon became prominent and it is no surprise that she is what she is today. She definitely has a problem.
Another set of numbers they’ll be running away from. In fact if anyone wanting to jump a list next time wants to use it I am sure we would all believe Sturgeonisttas have Dyscalculia
link to apple.news
Just hearing that the SNP are sending out Postal Vote forms.
And telling you to copy them off and pass around friends and family.
Another set of numbers they’ll be running away from in Times today. In fact if any Sturgeon devotees want to jump a disabled list next time am sure we would all buy Dyscalculia as a disability.
link to apple.news
People have been asking, not just why, but when did Nicla get nobbled?
If this is true,
link to pbs.twimg.com
And given that instead of being disciplined she was allowed to resign, then perhaps that is the when of it.
Leverage.
I wonder what glowing references she was given to see her off on her new career, and who – connected to the SNP – provided them.
One thing is for sure, it explains in a ‘let me be clear’ kind of way, why she doesn’t like Joanna Cherry QC MP.
The SNP is finished. Even Sturgeon going won’t save it. The Sturgeon effect has made sure that any replacement to her will have the same approach. The polls last night show the yes vote declining and the SNP vote declining to a level where its now 50/50 if they get a majority and as more revelations come out this can only go one way.
That is a shocking state of affairs when the election is being fought when Brexit and the actions of the UK Governements covid falures are still fresh. Couple that with the most incapable PM ever and you have to think if we can’t make headyway during that when will we ever?
We desperately need a pro-indy list party lead by someone with political gravitas to at least generate a pro-indy majority and put Independence front and centre. Otherwise we will not see Indepdence in the next 10 years.
Covid: Shropshire hospitals ‘discharging patients who then infect their families’
06 March 2021 Shropshire
Postal votes being pushed- secure votes early before the real shit comes out.
Jontoscots20@1:36
Interesting times when it takes a former England captain to remind us Frenchmen that being Scottish is never quite as bad as we’re sometimes led to believe..
link to twitter.com
Effigy. It is NOT the law to wear a face mask in public. A year on and people are still falling for Tory propaganda.
Frank Gillougley says:
7 March, 2021 at 9:21 am
Just read an excellent 10 min. Succinct piece by grousebeater on where we are at the moment called ‘where the buck stops’. Don’t know how to archive and don’t want bludgeoned to death by the lovely Dan at this ungodly hour.
Reply
Why would you need to archive?
I agree the alleged info on NS needs checked.
Interesting someone mentioned a warning shot.
I and the OH received PV forms with a photo of herself.
I used to be a member, the OH never was.
This is the typical dirty tricks we used to get from SLAB.
I know the new poll was not weighted but we should be much further ahead.
Was this also a warning shot to rally the troops?
Good article from Ian mcwhirter. Well worth a read.
link to archive.vn
The SNP seems prisoner to the notion of Führerprinzip. The perception of the leader as the anointed one, the herald of the new dispensation, the one without fault is dangerous.
The current leader has played now you see it now you don’t games with independence as if the idea were her property. She ought to have been reined in years ago but surrounding herself with castrated males none possessed the capacity to remind her of her political mortality.
If she goes down she and her acolytes are capable of dragging the cause of independence down with them in a tawdry pastiche of Götterdämmerung.
Let her go into the twilight but make certain independence is not in her baggage.
Ruby 10.38
Yes of course all i had to do was copy clip the address thing as it wasnt from a paper. i had meant to write archive/link
Well, if you have the time/patience could you direct me please how to archive an article from a paper and i promise never to ask again.
link to grousebeater.wordpress.com
but it doesnt go blue for me before i post
i see it does now
doh
Read a post on twitter, it said the drip feed of incidents will cause the most damage to the FM, took note and that is what I am seeing now. It was never going to be the one big story, many little ones, day after day will bring the FM down,its happening. It was a tweet from Mark Hirst.
I am hearing of this marathon 8 hr forensic investigation The First Minister was subjected to , I at a stretch probably watched on and off a max 2 hours if it was just a extended version of the bit I watched I suppose I didn’t miss a lot .
I watched Smith of BBC Scotland on the Andrew Marr program and her glowing opinion of Nicola Sturgeons performance making reference to the clarity in the way it was delivered , fk I must have missed a lot more than I originally thought , I would go back and check but I have more important stuff to catch up on I can’t remember what but I will probably think of something , anything .
I can’t see any evidence that Team Sturgeon are basing their belief on and,are clinging too that they are on the march that’s guaranteed to be a winner, the first step is a majority in Holyrood then followed immediately by Indyref2 ,
I seem to remember being here before I know the memory is a bit wonky now but I am sure I have heard this tune before , ah well it’s said the old ones are the best ones I don’t have time left to keep playing the same tune it’s getting a bit boring ,
SNP sending out postal votes to everyone on the electoral roll?
Is this Government business or SNP business?
Is it Government business being sent out in SNP envelopes with covering letter from SNP?
Pixiewine,
Who said you had to wear a mask outside?
You should have one on when you stand shoulder to shoulder with hundreds of others.
You should maintain social distancing and you shouldn’t set off incendiary devices in a crowd.
Are you trying to justify the actions of the mob or just
implying that 120,000,000 people have encountered Covid
just to trick a few people?
Is Gary 54 still doing tick tock videos?
Frank Gillougley says:
7 March, 2021 at 10:49 am
Ruby 10.38
Well, if you have the time/patience could you direct me please how to archive an article from a paper and i promise never to ask again.
Reply
Go here:
link to archive.is
type in web address. Usually pretty straight forward.
This morning when I tried to archive ‘Iain Macwhirter: Salmond blasted a blunderbuss, Sturgeon applied a subtle knife”
I got this
link to archive.is
I couldn’t get past the survey.
I did read the article on Press Reader using my Library card.
Worth a read.
I’m experimenting to see if Press Reader articles can be archived
First attempt got this
link to archive.vn
A recap, for those who still believe in Nicla.
Leslie Evans – Permanent Secretary to the First Minister, took it upon herself to re-write, from scratch, new Procedures to deal with employee complaints of harassment in the workplace.
This new policy – owned completely by LE, and absolutely nothing to do with NS, because you know, that’s the Government works isn’t it, any old civil servant can just up and make new policy! – would be deeply impractical and fundamentally unlawful for the simple fact it was to be Retrospective and act upon a person no longer in their employment environment! And it would write the First Minister out of any presiding role – cause you know, people who reach the heights of power, just love it when the people below them start taking those powers away – not!
Then, from the start of Nov – end Dec 2017 – at least 3 times a week they held meetings, which NS attended, specifically to discuss the new policy, AND NO MINUTES OF THOSE MEETINGS have been found or disclosed!
The first 2 complainers lodge formal complaints under the new policy in Jany 2018, and in February 2018 the New Policy is officially launched. No colusion there.
Judith MacKinnon meets with one of the complainers the day before they lodge their official complaint (either the 15th or the 22nd Jan 2018) and FORGETS all about this meeting – when disclosing relevant facts – TO THEIR OWN GOVERNMENT LAWYERS.
You know that its REALLY, REALLY, REALLY BAD – WHEN YOU HAVE TO LIE TO YOUR OWN DAMNED LAWYERS.
Then, in spite of warnings and legal requirements, THEIR OWN LAWYERS have to get the Permanent Sectretary’s office officially searched, in order to recover the relevant documents – at which point the Judicial Review case folds, because THEIR OWN LAWYERS can’t trust them.
On top of that, they fail to disclose, in the execution of a legal Warrant (that should never have had to be issued) 40 documents that would have been pertinent to Alex Salmonds defence in both civil and criminal procedings.
4 years down the line, and 1 year into the official inquiry into this and the First Minister appears to give evidence, which amounts to ‘Alex Salmond is a monster, I can’t remember, nothing to do with me, I know nothing, I’m the victim here’.
When this all first became public, all the Yessers said, we’ll need to see what the evidence tells us, I don’t believe that, or I hope the allegations are not true.
Alex has more than cleared his name, over and over.
The incompetence and corruption Nicola Sturgeon has presided over is only just starting to come to the surface.
If we are lucky, and dedicated, it will highlight and lead to fundamental changes in the infrastructure between COPFS, Police and Government. Particularly now that Malicious prosecutions are a thing.
I struggle to see how the current SNP MSP’s however well intentioned are going to come out of this untarnished, unless they start to act with integrity.
And we are running out of time to save our country, save our devolution.
Ottomanboi @ 10:44 am
“Let her go into the twilight but make certain independence is not in her baggage.”
Fear not, for Scotland’s national independence is firmly in our minds and in our national consciousness, and it is who we are. I don’t care what is in NS’s baggage when she and her tyrannical clique and their colonial mindset soon departs, but she won’t be taking my national consciousness with her.
Hello Effigy. I don’t think its possible for a football crowd to maintain open order. As you no doubt know a football match is quite a passionate business. It’s surely difficult to remain conscious of two metre distancing. I wonder when it ends.
Why is Craig Murray’s result taking so long. I’m wondering if it is because Mark Hirst’s was resolved so quickly and that in consequence has an action for malicious prosecution pending.
Is the idea to delay Craig’s result of not guilty in order to suggest it wasn’t as clear cut as Mark’s thus inhibiting Craig from also taking out a similar action. Just pondering.
Effigy says: 10:36 am
“Covid: Shropshire hospitals ‘discharging patients who then infect their families’
06 March 2021 Shropshire”.
Best news I’ve heard for weeks. Thanks for update Effigy
Go Covid!!!
I wonder how long it would take to spread right across that sewage farm they call engerland???
Robert Graham, Sarah Smith is full of shit. I, sorry to say, watched the whole thing. It was a compote of non-answers/ bad man/ cant recall/did I mention the bad man/ faux almost tears/ defensive body when faced with JB or MF.
If you did want to see anything of import, I would scroll through the thing til you reach JB’s or MF and occasional from AW. Avoid any thing from the SNP bods. JB had short sharp incisive questions and MF did a good attempt at the Aberdein/D Hamilton/K Pringle corroboration.
Lawrence 11.21
Lawrence Lawrence Lawrence lol
@mike cassidy (1.53), WRYC (2.11) –
Didn’t mean to send anyone off on a wild goose chase, sorry!
Dug out a pile of old magazines, Variants, West Coast Mag etc, and found it. It wasn’t ‘Paula’ anything (I was probably thinking of Paula Larkin sure enough!) It was ‘Karen Eliot’. I dare say it’ll ring a bell now.
It was Variant No. 5, Summer/Autumn 1988.
Re, Postal Votes,,, totally agree with others, that Sturgeon wants your vote early, before the really bad stuff comes out.
Though we don’t really hold fast on polls, the latest showing a fall in support for independence, Sturgeon’s 50 refusals to answer, didn’t help the cause any either.
link to mobile.twitter.com
@mike cassidy, WRYC –
link to en.wikipedia.org
Drip, drip, drip……..
link to archive.vn
re: Police and Rangers Fans @ Ibrox
I don’t pretend to understand legal matters but it sounds like under the relevant legislation, the Police can only either give fines or escort individuals from scene to their place of occupation:
link to legislation.gov.uk
Given the numbers from this scene, it’s isn’t possible and would inevitably turn into a riot.
link to skysports.com
given the guaranteed spread of infections, look like the lock down restrictions for Glasgow and west of Scotland at least, won’t be lifted as quickly as planned.
Frank Gillougley says:
7 March, 2021 at 10:49 am
Ruby 10.38
Well, if you have the time/patience could you direct me please how to archive an article from a paper and i promise never to ask again.
Reply
Sorry my earlier post was a pretty rubbish explanation on how to archive.
1. Go here: link to archive.is
2. In the red box that says “My url is alive and I want to archive its content” copy & paste in the web address of the article you want to archive.
The Iain MacWhirter article would be:
link to heraldscotland.com
3. Sometimes the article has already been archived so you get the message article archived ‘5 hours ago” or however many hours ago it was first archived.
4. If it hasn’t been previously archived it spins around saying ‘Loading’ the page turns green & loads of text etc appears after some time (it various- might be quick might be slow) then the article will appear.
5.The link that appears in the navigation/address bar is the archived link.
ie link to archive.is
Republicofscotland 11.38am
That is the best video I have saw regarding Sturgeon and her memory loss.
This video has to go Viral,,, (around the World.)
Please send this video o to Family and Friends, the same way Sturgeon wants yyto pass on her Postal Vote forms.
(And I don’t care who the source of the video was.
F*****g Brilliant!!!
I find this link really hard to read, particularly over the background photo. The long sentences and small font also contribute. Could someone re-format please, it’s beyond my numpty skills…
link to twitter.com
2nd attempt to archive
Iain Macwhirter: Salmond blasted a blunderbuss, Sturgeon applied a subtle knife worked:
link to archive.is
PS Frank Gillougley
When you see the ‘archived already some hours ago’ message you get the option to ‘save again’ which is what I did to get the above to work.
SOG says:
7 March, 2021 at 11:54 am
I find this link really hard to read, particularly over the background photo. The long sentences and small font also contribute. Could someone re-format please, it’s beyond my numpty skills…
Reply
Image converted to text using Google Drive. Does a pretty good job.
FIRST INTERESTS: Judge recommended for judicial role by Nicola Sturgeon – found First Minister committed three counts of professional misconduct – in Law Society probe of Ms Sturgeon’s failure to provide legal service protections for domestic violence victim
AN INVESTIGATION has established Scotland’s First Minister – Nicola Sturgeon – was found to have committed THREE counts of professional misconduct by a solicitor she later recommended for the position of a Sheriff within Scotland’s powerful judiciary – currently led by Lord President – Lord Carloway.
The findings of professional misconduct by Sheriff Pasportnikov against the First Minister – were the result of a complaint lodged by a client to the law firm where Nicola Sturgeon worked at the time – Bell & Craig solicitors.
The complaint against Nicola Sturgeon involved the currently serving First Minister’s failure to provide adequate legal services to a victim of domestic violence.
And, the issues in relation to Ms Sturgeon’s failure to provide adequate legal services only came to light after Ms Sturgeon suddenly left the law firm and the client was forced to go to another solicitor – who discovered legal aid forms had not been sent to the Scottish Legal Aid Board – despite assurances the legal aid application had been submitted.
In response to the complaint – the Law Society of Scotland appointed one of their case managers – a solicitor and now Sheriff – Olga Pasportnikov – to investigate.
In a five-page report, dated Dec 1998, Olga Pasportnikov said: “The complaint in this case has been identified as professional misconduct by breach of code of conduct and conduct unbecoming a solicitor.”
Pasportnikov identified 3 counts ‘of professional misconduct by breach of code of conduct and conduct unbecoming a solicitor’.
They were: failing to raise interdict, misleading client about legal aid application & failing to properly consider her financial circumstances
Among ‘circumstances which have been ascertained during the course of the enquiry’ were the legal aid form had been completed and signed by the client and the client’s employers but not sent.
Despite the findings of Sheriff Pasportnikov, and her identification of multiple serious issues where she concluded Ms Sturgeon’s failure to provide competent legal services qualified as professional misconduct – the Law Society of Scotland concluded there should be no further action and Nicola Sturgeon left the legal profession.
Announced on 31 July 2015 – Olga Pasportnikov was appointed by the Queen following a report to the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon – by the Judicial Appointments Board for Scotland.
Ms Pasportnikov, a University of Dundee graduate, was admitted as a solicitor in 1991. She worked mainly in private practice before joining the Law Society of Scotland in 1998. She has been with the Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service since 2003, and is also current convener of the Fife Young Carers Management Committee.
The First Minister has statutory responsibility for making recommendations to Her Majesty the Queen and is required by statute to consult the Lord President of the Court of Session before making her recommendation.
The Judicial Appointments Board for Scotland is an independent’ advisory public body with the role of recommending individuals for appointment to judicial offices within the Board’s remit including judge of the Court of Session, chair of the Scottish Land Court, sheriff principal, sheriff, and summary sheriff
It has now transpired this story was filed with a Scottish newspaper in June 2018.
The report on Nicola Sturgeon’s failure to provide adequate legal services to a victim of domestic violence, and the findings of professional misconduct against Ms Sturgeon by currently serving Sheriff Olga Pasportnikov had support from one editor to be published – until an assistant editor at the same newspaper voted the story down.
Some weeks later, the same newspaper was leaked details of the harassment complaints against Alex Salmond and the investigation by Police Scotland which subsequently led to Mr Salmond being charged with 14 offences, including two counts of attempted rape, nine of sexual assault, two of indecent assault, and one of breach of the peace.
Mr Salmond appeared in court on 21 November 2019 and entered a plea of “not guilty”.
At the subsequent trial, Mr Salmond was cleared by a jury trial – heard by Scotland’s Lord Justice Clerk – Lady Dorrian.
The information came to light after Justice Committee Convener Adam Tomkins (Scottish Conservative) & former Scottish Government Legal Affairs Minister Annabelle Ewing (Scottish National Party) made a motivated and concerted effort to close down the same Judicial Interests Register petition which Nicola Sturgeon has opposed and sought to close – throughout her term as First Minister
The Justice Committee hearing of 2 March 2021 can be viewed here: Register of Judges Interests Petition PE 1458 Scottish Parliament Justice Committee 2 March 2021
This is the same Judicial Interests Register petition the First Minister has tried to undermine and block since Ms Sturgeon became First Minister.
Ifa Register of Judges’ Interests did become a requirement – Sheriff Pasportnikov who found Nicola Sturgeon guilty of professional misconduct may be forced to list that fact and other details of her service to the Law Society of Scotland.
The Judicial Office have not replied to requests for media comment.
The Judicial Office for Scotland were asked the following questions:
A currently serving Sheriff – Olga Pasportnikov – conducted an investigation of complaints lodged about Scotland’s current First Minister Nicola Sturgeon while she was a solicitor at a law firm identified as Bell & Craig
Ms Pasportnikov was, as the Judicial Office will be aware – a case manager for the Law Society of Scotland from September 1998 to March 2003
In a five-page report released in December 1998, Olga Pasportnikov said: “The complaint in this case has been identified as professional misconduct by breach of code of conduct and conduct unbecoming a solicitor.”
Olga Pasportnikov found Ms Sturgeon guilty of 3 identifiable counts of professional misconduct:
They were: failing to raise interdict as instructed, misleading client about legal aid application, failing to properly consider the client’s financial circumstances
Events then saw the Law Society clear Ms Sturgeon, who quickly left the legal profession.
Noting Ms Pasportnikov currently declares her time at the Law Society of Scotland on her Linkedin page as a “case manager” – along with other career attributes including a term at the Crown Office as a Procurator Fiscal Depute, and her current role as a serving Sheriff
Does Sheriff Pasportnikov have any comment on the following questions:
why she does not list her role of investigating complaints against solicitors?
why she found Ms Sturgeon guilty of 3 identifiable issues of professional misconduct?
why no regulatory punishment took place upon Sheriff Pasportnikov’s findings?
Does the Judicial Office have any comment on the above events and any comment on the impact of a currently serving Sheriff with a long history as a solicitor, prosecutor and now a judge – having found Scotland’s current First Minister Nicola Sturgeon guilty of three counts of professional misconduct to which no sanction was ever applied by legal regulators and never declared in any register of interests?
I can only presume the gun being held to heads is not a metaphorical one.
Well Sturgeon is obviously arithmetically challenged, so maybe scared of the numbers, as evidenced by here referring to the 29th March as being 3 days before the 2nd April.
What is more amusing (and maybe speaks to the stubbornness mentioned in a prior posting), is that someone must have pointed out the error to her, and yet still still persisted in stating it as 3 days before. I noticed at least one case of here changing her phrasing around the two meetings, but not to state 4 day gap.
Hi Kiwilassie at 7:01 am.
You typed,
“Don’t know if people are aware. Liz Lloyd was once married to Ed Miliband.”
There are two Liz Lloyds –
link to en.wikipedia.org
link to twitter.com
The second has never been married to Ed Milliband!
Ruby 11.55 and before
Thanks Ruby, really appreciated.
Will study and practice and get it ingrained.
Brian Doonthetoon at 12.53
Even the first one wasn’t married to Ed Miliband!
He is described as her partner; the mention of her marriage in 2002 is presumably to someone else, because EM’s own wikipedia entry gives that year as the date he met his now-wife Justine Thornton.
@Pacman
I wouldn’t pretend to know much about medical or police matters but since the most vulnerable 20% were reported to have been vaccinated 21 days ago, there ought soon to be very few in that category that can either catch covid or die within 28 days of a positive test for it so, criminality notwithstanding, any medical aspect to the crisis must be over.
If ‘horizontal recruitment’ is a new euphemism for ‘bumping uglies’, then, given the near-sphericality of that lady, one wonders what constitutes ‘horizontal’?
Ian Brotherhood, it wasn’t a wild goose chase at all. It was fun, cos I am a research junkie. And it clued me up to some old Scottish political writing and mags I was not aware of before, so thanks for that.
Apparently a huge 50 of the 10,000 are in my constituency. So the other 95.5% must be in the rest.
Invitation to an adoption meeting for the candidate this morning. Ten quid a pop. Very short of money. In previous elections, this was free to all.