The brick wall
I was until this week a member of the SNP’s Conferences Committee. After being elected last November I sought to fulfil my “manifesto” pledge — that is, to attempt to restore the power of the membership, which has been systematically eroded by the party leadership over the last two years, through conference, the proper constitutional vehicle for all internal party democracy and governance.
I had hoped that Stewart Stevenson, the new National Secretary and convener of the Conferences Committee, would be similarly inclined.
In summary, my endeavours have been ignored.
In the three months since our election (supposedly more than halfway towards a spring conference), and despite repeated emails, documents and requests for meetings, the Conferences Committee has never been convened.
As a result I have resigned from both the committee and the SNP, and the reasons for my doing so are outlined below.
In December 2020, I emailed Mr Stevenson with the aim of seeking an early meeting of the Conferences Committee. I attached a “starter paper” to assist the Committee, setting out its constitutional remit and role, and indeed those of conference itself. For example, the Conferences Committee has the right to set the agenda for conference, set criteria for resolutions and so on.
I received no reply. I was told informally that Mr Stevenson wanted to hold the first meeting of the new NEC before convening our committee. So we duly waited until the meeting of the NEC took place. There was no contact afterwards from our convener. I heard, again informally, that he was occupied with complaints.
I contacted him on 7 January, offering unpaid assistance in terms of complaints investigations or systems for managing them, even on a temporary basis. (Within my professional experience I’ve worked as a corporate complaints officer and developed exemplars in complaints handling for the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman.)
Again I received no reply to my email.
On 26 January, I and another member of the Conferences Committee wrote to Mr Stevenson expressing concern at the lack of action. We outlined the strategic planning process that should be taking place, including a review of the success (or otherwise) of recent conferences by consulting party members, building in improvement to future conferences, and ensuring the Conferences Committee was fulfilling its remit.
We asked Mr Stevenson to reply within seven days. He did not reply.
At this point, a group of us invited all members of the committee to an informal meeting on 11 February which was attended by six people. The others, including Mr Stevenson, either did not reply to the invitation or responded rudely to this attempt to make the committee function.
For the meeting, I provided the roles and remit paper, and a diagram of a strategic planning model. For example, if the NEC is accountable to conference, as it’s meant to be, what mechanisms are in place to facilitate accountability? At present no proper minutes are produced, simply a list of bare decisions.
Unlike councils where I have worked, the electorate are denied access to meetings. SNP members do not know, for example, which members of the NEC have voted for decisions against legal advice.
At the very least, the NEC could be required to deliver a report to conference which could be interrogated by members at the event, from which the media were excluded. This is just one example of the kind of improvements to accountability and democracy I and some others hoped to implement.
We decided, however, that the priority was to actually hold a spring conference, that constitutional requirements such as the “remit back” that had been omitted from the 2020 conference should be adhered to, and members given a genuine opportunity with an appropriate timescale to submit resolutions, have them considered, and receive the courtesy of a response – which does not happen at present.
We were also keen that equitable platform opportunities should be allocated to speakers at conference. We duly sought to have an item about this placed on the NEC agenda for 20 March. Our request was ignored by the convenor of the NEC.
I have since heard that there is no plan to hold a conference before the election – only a rally. I assure SNP members that the Conferences Committee they elected has not been consulted about this, or indeed any forward planning for a conference.
The SNP constitution requires two conferences to take place during each year. (This requirement was waived in 2020 due to coronavirus.) You may form your own views about the respect or otherwise that has been and is being shown to the committee, and therefore to SNP members.
This personal, blighted experience of attempting to make the committee functional adds to my understanding of problems within the party that are well documented elsewhere. I have no faith that mechanisms for ensuring the probity of conference will be adhered to or that the reformers on the committee will make any headway.
As a lifelong supporter of independence and despite having been an active member of the SNP (since leaving a professional role where political activity was embargoed), with deep regret I am now seeking alternative opportunities to work for independence.
I felt that I owed these facts to the SNP members who had voted for me and were contacting me on a daily basis seeking information. I was careful to focus on facts and was fastidious in avoiding detail about the behaviours of particular individuals.
Inevitably I’ve received some unpleasant messages from people unwilling to accept my decision to leave the party and to blame my departure for any ill that now befalls it.
What some don’t seem to understand that even if I am replaced by a “woke” member it will make no difference, as the power-wielders will not respect any rules or protocols that would allow even a majority reforming committee to function – hence the events of the last three months. This is particularly the case when the National Secretary is the convener of the committee and colludes with the leadership.
The SNP has been stolen from its members.
Joan Hutcheson was until this week a member of the SNP’s Conference Committee.
Is the SNP a functioning Political Party or is it heading into the failed category?
SNP – Scotland’s New Problem
Jeezo, I feel for you Joan and the members.
Jesus fucking Christ……..
Its an autocracy now isn’t it…….
Joan, given your experience and integrity, perhaps the ISP would be a viable new political home for you?
I wish you well, whatever you decide to do.
Thank you for your courage in speaking out. You are clearly very loyal to the cause and it is the party that has deserted its founding mission.
I like principled people.
This is the dire straits we are in. Ignored and fed lies. The party is in tatters and skint.
At least we know who to blame. ( and it most certainly isn’t Joan).
I think Mike Russell and Stewart Stevenson should resign. As for the rest – I think they’re heading for the pokey.
Thanks Joan it’s clear the leadership only want power and to decide who they should cede any power to. Ordinary SNP Msps need to speak out if they disagree if they don’t it will be taken as collusion if they speak out now they are likely to be re elected afterwards will be too late now is the time to speak up
Every article on WoS I think it canny get any worse, how wrong I am. Dont think we are anywhere need the dregs yet.
Joan Hutcheson seem a asset to any political party and if you asked me the SNP have taken her for a fool she a credit to her country and her people and I thank her for all she has done, the fight for Independence is still on its just going to be lead by someone else who is interested in Independence from what Jason is saying we only need to wait two weeks.
Stewart Stevenson suffers from recurrent inertia.
He had to resign as transport minister when some snow fell.
Joan desperately tried and was ignored. Best to walk away. At least now your head will mend from constantly smacking it against a brick wall. The Murrells dictatorship continues unabated to destroy everything in its path including itself
You’ve got it in one : it’s an autocracy, destroyed from within by a corrupt leadership and woke entryists. RIP SNP.
I can only assume snp msps and mps are on a last hurrah they know they are on there last guaranteed election win .so will turn tory and raid the public purse and get whatever they can while they can and I’m sure secure a sizeable bonus from the westminster war chest as they walk out the door,a parcel of rogues 2.0
Joan, thank you for trying to make it work and for the revelation above. You have just the sort of knowledge and skills the party needs. To allow you to walk away is unforgivable.
I’ve read elsewhere that there appears to be a culture of non reply within the SNP. How on earth was that allowed to flourish? I never tolerated that while I was employed and think it the height of ignorance.
Good luck and best wishes for your next (hopefully more productive) venture.
The SNP just don’t communicate. They don’t sort anything out. Everything is kicked into the long grass. It’s been going-on for years and is now endemic.
Blogs have been complaining about it too for years. That has recently (within the past week or two) been taken-up by main-stream media and so something will be done about it now.
There is an arrogance about the SNP which has alienated most Scots and will see them wither as a party. I have no doubt that a few are heading to jail.
MP’s were jailed for much less than this during the WM expenses scandal.
Scottish National Politburo
Are they actually trying to throw the election?
Joan as an office holder in the ISP I am quite sure with your experience and roles you would be welcomed into the party and asked what contribution you would like to make.
I’m always hesitant to use this word because it is often applied maliciously, but the people running the SNP at the moment really are ("Tractor" - Ed)s. There is no other way to describe it.
You have not left the party joan.
The party has left you.
Meanwhile Mike Russell et al tweet blaming everything and everyone else. NOTHING TO SEE HERE they exclaim. EVERYTHING’S FINE. The entire party is dying on its arse
Stewart had a reputation for being an “expert” on party procedures. That fact makes this story even more shocking. He knows exactly what has taken place and remains silent.
His failings are not from a lack of knowledge, they are despite having significant insight.
Unfortunately many years of closing ranks to protect the Party from external threats have left him blind to the rot on the inside.
To Joan
Thank you for shining a light on this cesspit. It is why I left. It is impossible to recover the Party now because they have closed every route previously available to members.
A clique run by the Murrells now dictate direction (or lack off).
People like Stewart and Mike Russell know what is happening and yet they say nothing.
Dramfineday, re. The culture of non-reply
Too true. My emails to both my MSP and my MP have never been replied to.
I am a party member.
The party has abandoned any pretence of democracy.
Ever Decreasing Circles.. the next conference will be in a broom cupboard at this rate.
It’s extremely public-spirited of you to write this piece Ms Hutcheson and I’m sure all sensible members of the SNP will be grateful. It is, I’m sure, a decision you won’t regret and one that will help hasten the downfall of the current ‘owners’ of your Party. I am not a member and never have been a member of any party, but being a political animal, I am aware of how much such affiliations have meant to many of my friends, whichever tenets they adhere to.
Scotland needs people like Joan!
There are 4 parties in Scotland trying to stop her from shaping an independent Scotland.
The leading party in all this appears to be the SNP.
Do you think as low as 99% of SNP member or Wings supporters
would rather have an experienced intelligent hand like Joan’s on the tiller
rather than the screaming psychopath like Leeza the trany who is held in high esteem.
Brave and genuine independence supports are now coming out fight.
The flood gates are opening.
an informal meeting which took place on 11 March
I’m losing track- is that March 2020?
Why don’t people just appear at a lot of these things and cause as much disruption as possible, no shouting or violence please, just the usual stuff so that they cannot get any of their agendas through.
People could just walk around with flags and banners, calling for truth and accountability, and if they call the police that would be good, as it would show the displeasure of people who really do care about independence
This is really sad, Joan. You have used all your professionalism and experience of how things should be done to try to steer them back on course but to no avail.
It does look like the party grew too big, too quickly and they could not cope. People took advantage and the gatekeepers grew paranoid and dysfunctional.
Oh well. Time for a new party.
The quicker we get to the end game the better for this country of ours. I suspect the vast majority of SNP members or public in general are even aware of what’s going on.
Thanks for trying Joan. Don’t blame you at all from walking away and at least you tried. As for those blaming you – let them bloody try getting somewhere with this lot.
If they are not actually trying to “throw” the election, it’s difficult to know how much more they could be doing to give the impression that they are.
Many thanks to Joan for speaking out (and on a proscribed website, too.) Would that a lot more elected representatives had such moral courage.
Sturgeon’s people are copying her authoritarianism and her discourtesy. Fish rots from the head.
Stewart Stevenson joins James Wolffe as two folk who should be respected leaders of Scots, but who are in fact no more than nervous lickspittals. Change is coming.
I have a trans nephew who is a total delight and entirely happy in his new business which he set up since his ‘conversion’. He feels he has the rights of any human and demands no more than that. MOST trans people I know are lovely (often shy) human beings. The faction around Nicola Sturgeon do NOT represent the ordinary folk and should not be confused with them
‘At this point, a group of us invited all members of the committee to an informal meeting which took place on 11 March and was attended by six people.’
– ?
Thank you for taking the time to do this Joan. It is a sorry state of affairs set in a context of ever increasing unscrupulous practices from the SNP. Utterly despairing.
None of this is surprising. Our local branch was renowned for ignoring the constitution and failing to produce accounts.
Don’t think it’s just YOUR branch that is rotten. This goes from the branches right up to HQ.
You do realize that this accumulating shit( for want of a better description) will in all fairness fuck up McSturgeon,s alleged future employment with the United Nations or anywhere else. I could be terribly wrong but who in their right mind would want to employ McMurrel or McSturgoen after their track record. Last thing anyone needs is another gang of Sturgeonites, the clan of inept incompetence/ii/aye aye/ nod and a wink!
“The SNP has been stolen from its members.”
Yes Joan, that is exactly what has happened.
Worse though, it was stolen by the very person that we entrusted it to as leader.
Nicola Sturgeon did not just back stab Alex Salmond in the worst manner imaginable, she back stabbed all of us in the worst way imaginable.
I am so sorry to hear this, Joan but sadly not at all surprised. That the SNP should treat a member with such skill and experience in an appalling and unprofessional manner just highlights the crisis in leadership style and the disgraceful behaviours of certain elected officials in the SNP.
So much has been happening (IS happening!) in recent times I have really wondered whether to end my membership – the only thing stopping me from doing so is the knowledge is that there are many, many dedicated members like you still there and somehow we can turn things around. I don’t know how much longer I can do so.
I got confused about the timeline. Is it 2019 to 2020?
Wow. Thank you, Joan, for making these valiant repeated attempts and for setting out your reasons here for this difficult but principled decision.
I am not an SNP member (as parties each have an exclusive-membership rule – something I think should be changed!) but over the years I’ve been gladly voting SNP for the cause of independence.
This is no longer my intent. That’s due to the flagrant abuses that numerous individuals have documented: unsound policies and actions; failure to make progress, plan, or show any real inclination to pursue independence – even opposing Martin Keating’s case; and disappearance of the ‘ring-fenced’ Indy campaign donations, which I consider amounts to fraud and embezzlement.
As someone with disabilities and with a disabled wife (main-breadwinner), both of us employed part-time, particularly galling to me has been the reprehensible deferral to some future year of Scottish Government handling of benefits here,
instead still entrusting these to the scant mercies of the DWP – a body whom the UN reporter rightly called out as inhumane and wilfully harmful to those whom it is tasked to serve.
This (to me) appalling dereliction of duty can be laid at the doors of Shirley-Anne Somerville particularly, as minister responsible; of the First Minister; and of this whole SNP Scottish Government collectively.
Any of these failings, alone, would suffice to make me distrust the SNP. Together, they make we wish for its disbandment.
Oh, to have a credible Scottish Independence party to give my constituency vote to!
This isn’t trying to throw an election. It’s trying to discredit and destroy the vehicle for Independence.
We all know what’s going on within the NEC and the party at large, these are a given, but what I regret is that when the Party collapses – as collapse it will – we’ll not know who amongst the members are electable in the NEXT indy party.
Anyone remaining in this stinking syndicate of crime is tainted, whether by actual participation or by their complicity (silence, at this catastrophic end game, is complicity) – could you trust, for example, Timothy Rideout (where’s he been lately?!) in a newly-formed Scottish Independence Party?.
I trust Tommy Sheridan, Mark Hirst, Stuart Campbell and a few others. The SNP are finished, totally infiltrated/populated by types who DON’T want to be negotiating on our behalf – but at least Scottish independence is now normal for this country.
Salmond’s book will say so much, an essential go-to for future independence parties – and identifying those bogus actors within.
At what point does NS admit things are not going well with the SNP?
Alyn Sith was on BBC GMS this a.m. He came across as slippery and kept trying to revert back to ‘conspiracy theories’ and protecting the women.
He could not admit any of this looked bad for the Parliament or that it was being handled badly. They all know NS is losing control. It is the last days of Rome.
This party is finished, any hope of saving it before next term surely has to be lost with this admission from Joan. Realistically how long is it going to be before the SNP are in a place to win our votes again? The likes of Joan, Angus Macneil etc would be better served cutting their losses just now and laying the foundations at either ISP or a brand new party altogether as I can’t see the SNP coming back from this within the next parliament
@James
“Are they actually trying to throw the election?”
Yes they are.They are literally burning the house down with no fire station in sight.
Neither do I get answers from MSP or No I voted for.
Whatever happened to good old fashioned “Bread and Circuses”?
‘opps’ ‘or MP I voted for.’
The Murrells can see the walls coming in. So they have adopted a defensive position. They are hostile to everything outside their tiny bubble.
As the wagons are being circled , they are desperately trying to pretend it isn’t actually happening. They live in an altered state , where as long as they don’t look at the elephant , it will eventually disappear.
Except that Elephant is charging head on towards them , and like the Titanic. The lights are about to dim just before the ship splits in two and goes down forever.
Kenny,
The SNP are not finished, why would they be?
Parties have been purged before. To say the party is finished is nonsense, it is just requiring a thorough cleansing.
Big Jock,
Didn’t realise it was an elephant the Titanic hit.
Every day’s a school day.
holymacmoses says:
25 February, 2021 at 10:27
Was just thinking that most people who genuinely want to transition are usually very quite about it and accept that they cannot change their biological sex. Thinking in particular of composer Angela Morley
link to en.wikipedia.org
I hate to think how much of a backlash these unassuming folks are going to suffer because of the shenanigans of the outspoken justice warriors who so readily take up any cause to compensate for their guilt at being privileged in an unfair society.
Quickly, Joan or Stu, correct the dates from March to February.
Same thing happening to snp as happened to labour destroyed from the inside (many of whom came from labour) and the science deniers all doing a great for people working for the state and against Scotland – divide and conquer – a well known tactic which works. Many are willing participants and many are just being used as destroyers wether they know it or not and would be very upset to realise it.
This is evidenced by the way the court system is going after only one side of the indy debate and actively encouraging the other side to print disgraceful articles eg the expose the day before the AS trial, or the Garavelli articles or indeed the Kirsty Wark trial report – and heaven help us the Nicola Sturgeon breaking her own rules at Covid briefing to rail against the behaviour of AS and deny the courts finding of not guilty to all charges – to try and compare AS to Weinstein or any of the others in the MeToo outings is just laughable. I defy you to line up 100 men of an older generation and find not silly, even inappropriate behaviour which should not have happened but heaven help anyone now who falls in love with someone from their workplace when it all goes pear shaped.
When you think of what WM gets away with – losing all the files on sexual abuse, accidentally shredding expenses papers (Tony Blair) illegal war (Blair), sending staff to purchase sex toys, breaking the law over contracts (Handcock), breaking the ministerial code (pritti patel), worrying about a princess (rightly) but sending bombs to use in proxy war, I could go on and on but that does not mean what is happening in Scotland is not a disgrace – it is and has to be thoroughly investigated with the judge led enquiry with ALL the information, ALL the whatsapp details etc and the sacking and possible charging of not just a few people.
Is there any good news coming out from the SNP camp these days?
More and more it sounds like a leadership turning in on itself. Key representatives in Holyrood and Westminster are sidelined or frozen out, the ex-leader has been threatened with jail. Members are ignored, their own party structures and member-led decision making processes dismissed. Grass roots organisations avoided.
Where is the SNP headed?
You know, a piece like this lifts my heart. When the time comes, Scotland will need people with relevant life experience to take it forward. We have that, but their voices have been drowned out by a leadership that prefers superannuated seat-warmers.
As a Radio Times advert might say, other Scotlands are available. We just have to move the argument from their ground to ours. When we do that, with the support of those with relevant, real-life experience that can be easily adapted to running an independent country, we will win.
I think the SNP will split into two parties. There is nothing wrong with having a selection of indy parties. We will have the SNP and a new independence party. If is as likely Nicola is forced out. Then there will be a battle for the hearts and minds of the party.
That is bound to create divisions and resignations. The radicals will join a new party with possibly Salmond as the leader.
Elected in November, resigning now? I am sorry but with that sort of staying power you’ll never achieve independence…
My membership has been paid by direct debit for several years. It is due for renewal in June. Yesterday I cancelled the direct debit so that the party will actively have to ask me to renew. The jury is out on whether I will renew or not. Covid makes it impossible to go to branch meetings and make a fuss (Zoom meetings are not the same and they can shut you up simply by muting you).
I always had a lot of time for Mike Russell – seemed to me a decent and sensible man. I can’t believe he would accept this sort of nonsense. I think he should speak out. If not today, certainly after the evidence sessions have been completed.
Interesting that we get the first defence line “It is about the Women”. The moment it goes out we have the Insiders producing cut and paste tweets.
The the second line is rolled out by Nicola “Conspiracy Theory”. Once again the inner circle rush to give it traction. We have the Wokerati pushing the Rightwing Conspiracy tripe about Wings to match Nicola’s claim.
The central organisational hallmark identical to the Vietnam model.
The same style of blurring the story.
If the leadership actually cared about Scotland they would resign because they have become the story.
We don’t trust her!
Jason – It’s hard to find good news on the SNP.
When last night we had to listen to Herr Alyn Smith spouting his platitudes and denials. There seem to be so many like him , that are bought and sold. The party is full of nodding heads , not thinking minds.
link to telegraph.co.uk
‘Scotland needs better political options’ – I think we can all agree on that.
Spot the Spook….the hot must have for independence gamers.
It just keeps getting worse. I have no idea why anyone would vote SNP, the party are such an embarrassment. I’ve never voted for them neither do I know anyone who has ever voted for them. This debacle with Mr Salmond would be cringe worthy if it wasn’t so serious. Independence at any cost it seems, by the party itself and a lot of members/voters. That in itself has caused me many restless nights lately.
The Scots as a breed were never like this, maybe it’s these arrive in Scotland from anywhere in the world and you’re Scottish types that are keeping them in power, maybe the corruption runs right through the voting system. Well done to Joan and others who are speaking out at this time. Sadly everyday voters don’t and never will know the half of it.
Scotland is pretty well fucked.
It’s either dictatorship from London or dictatorship from Edinburgh.
Where the fuck do we go from here?
We need a miracle.
The incompetence and dysfunctional nature of the SNP may explain why its leadership has no appetite for independence.
Even these sad characters must have enough self awareness to admit to themselves that they couldn’t run a real Country.
But maybe this trauma will energise the ordinary independence supporters to bypass the SNP and organise an alternative effective instrument to commence independence.
All clouds and silver linings etc. 🙂
It is not enough to throw the election.
Much better to destroy the party from within, so that it cannot mount an effective come back in time for the GE.
It is not enough to throw the election and destroy the party… much better to ensure that in addition to those things, the corruption is such, that they can close Holyrood.
In 2007 Alex Salmond disconnected COPFS from Scot Gov and removed the Lord Advocate from being a minister. This was to comply with EU law.
In 2015 Leslie Evans came to work for NS
In December 2015 57 out of 59 Scottish MP’s voted NOT to bomb Syria – AS (once again) a powerful moral voice and vote in that.
In 2016 NS re-installed the Lord Advocate as a Minister….
Does anyone know when the Rangers Malicious Prosecution began?
Folk have (quite rightly) been saying, this is not a Westminster plot – but with this new information, including the involvement of MI5 David Harvie – I’d suggest it is both, and that NS has been played beautifully by them.
If someone says they have never voted SNP. Why are they on an independence supporting website?
The Spooks are out today.
Sturgeon’s Normalised Putsch?
First may I say i am english lived in scotland for 40 years ( no intention to return ) and do not wish for scottish independance. But i do fear for the rank & file members and some officals of the SNP. I have watched the comings & goings over the last few months, read Wings & Murray with interest but often with sadness. I may not agree with your independence stand but everyone has a right to freedom of speech on any subject and I have no doubt that sometime in the future a referendum will take place. But and its a big but, I fear this is not the case over the AS case. I look on with utter bewilderment on what appears to me to be a cover up – if Sottish Gov, SNP officials, civil servants etc etc have nothing to hide – then present the evidence for all to read and digest, without this I think the SNP as a potent independence party is doomed. Nearly lastly I very much doubt if westminister, even with Skye’s fat controller huffing and puffing will they allow a referendum. To achieve that may I suggest that the SNP Gov gets its act together and then push hard really hard for one. And that my “friends” depends on you. Take back to ownership of your party if you are a SNP member. Sorry for the rant from a sad fearful countryman.
“ Nicola Sturgeon urged by 120 SNP women to condemn threats made against Joanna Cherry “
“ Nicola Sturgeon has been urged to publicly condemn the abuse and threats received by SNP MP Joanna Cherry and tackle the “distressing, hostile, and unjust environment” some female members claim to have experienced in her party. “
link to archive.vn
Link to The Women’s Pledge Group petition and can i ask anyone who’s not signed it yet to sign it now please ,
“ More than 4000 sign the SNP Women’s Pledge , 4,369 have signed. Let’s get to 5,000 “ .
link to secure.avaaz.org
Sad state of affairs but on the plus side Joan Hutcheson will now not be at risk of liability when the SNP go bust due to excessive debts like the rest of the NEC almost certainly will be, especially if the lack of liability insurance is true and no protection is in place for NEC members they could potentially face personal liability!
link to yoursforscotlandcom.wordpress.com
Folks, try and avoid the direct link to the Torygraph from Fannybawz Knowsitall at 11:07 am. The clown’s already been papped off here previously under a different Moniker. It thinks we need the Torygraph to tell us we need better political options.
Another thing yous have probably noticed is that it tends to hog the threads a lot. And if i’m correct in my belief then it’s been papped off here under a few names.
In order: –
‘I received no reply.’
‘Again I received no reply to my email.’
‘He did not reply.’
‘The others, including Mr Stevenson, either did not reply to the invitation or responded rudely to this attempt to make the committee function.’
‘Our request was ignored by the convenor of the NEC.’
‘Inevitably I’ve received some unpleasant messages from people unwilling to accept my decision to leave the party and to blame my departure for any ill that now befalls it.’
This is the only way that Sturgeon’s officials and acolytes can deal with intelligent, articulate, knowledgeable people, such as Joan.
Ignore them and/or issue childish insults – because they are far too dim to engage with them in debate.
BTW, thank you Joan for your efforts and your exposing of the reality. There needs to be a whole lot more like you. Those sitting watching all of this and staying quiet are the worst of the lot. Thank you Joan!
Anyone remaining in this stinking syndicate of crime is tainted, whether by actual participation or by their complicity (silence, at this catastrophic end game, is complicity) – could you trust, for example, Timothy Rideout (where’s he been lately?!) in a newly-formed Scottish Independence Party?.
I could, he’s hardly popular with the leadership and openly contemptuous of the favoured (wilson, higgins etc).
He talks well and and is quite forthright about the currency question*
*A problem of perception more than anything.
@Alibi
I’m all for forgiving and moving on but the hypocrisy around AS is staggering. Yes, Mike Russell has resurrected himself but like all organisations there are skeletons. He has never overtly condemned AS like others but has he ever come out and defended him?
link to archive.is
link to archive.is
Re the Rangers malicious prosecution…
Whitehouse and Clark became administrators of Rangers in February 2012, less than a year after the club was bought by Craig Whyte. The club was purchased by a consortium led by Charles Green but went bust that October.
Whitehouse was first arrested in November 2014 then again in September 2015.
If memory serves NS was ‘acting First Minister at that time, as AS had stood down after Indy Ref. Correction she was formally made up to FM in Nov 2014…
Another day,another comments section filled up by the green ink brigades links to unionist newspapers.
I will politely decline.
I resigned from the SNP after 6 years of membership. I feel cheated, and the current way the party seniors are operating, has me looking for somewhere else to vote.
So, according to comments, we have NS as a power-crazed egomaniac who’ll have to be dragged out of Bute House kicking and screaming, and also as someone who’s deliberately trying to throw the Holyrood election?
Can’t both be right.
Ignore them and/or issue childish insults – because they are far too dim to engage with them in debate.
No doubt F Robertson will agree to lend her expertise to replace the loss of this member.
Constitutional matters are unnecessary luxuries to her.
ScotsRenewables 10:47 am
The SNP are not finished, why would they be?
Parties have been purged before. To say the party is finished is nonsense, it is just requiring a thorough cleansing
Okay. I’ll give you the floor;
will this purged party be squeaky-clean?
led by a strong, squeaky clean, individual?
Not being confrontational, SR, I’m looking into the future. I now have a deep mistrust of anything SNP (well-done, team-Murrell) Cherry? Perhaps, but only if a cast-iron guarantee of a plebiscite the minute the polls crept above 50%
I had a dream about this current political situation a couple of years ago, the SNP had split into the Heedrum Hodrums and the Fee Fi Fo Fums and things were very unpleasant. Crickey it all appears to be happening now! I am not a nationalist but would like to live to see a strong alliance of democratic states in the British Isles, yes England, Scotland, All Ireland, Wales and the remaining Imperial skin tags, some years away at least I suspect. Formidable combination, especially if allied with Canada and the South Pacific nations as is being mooted.
The current ruling set up in Scotland seems to be based on Terror and Bribery, the Famine and Fornication comes later (source After Dark – a brilliant and informative TV concept) and where there are Terror and Bribery, corruption is omnipresent. All this missing money not used for Covid19 and emergency payments? A honey pot to fund the proposed referendum or breakaway campaign? Or simply unaccountable money diverted to wherever? Westminster will demand a full accounting, If you are a nationalist are you a heedrum hodrum or a fee fi fo fum? Or leaving by the backdoor beanstalk asap? Scotland, like her dysfunctional Health Boards and other institutions may need put in special measures? Well done the UK government for their far sighted prison building program.
So, according to comments, we have NS as a power-crazed egomaniac who’ll have to be dragged out of Bute House kicking and screaming, and also as someone who’s deliberately trying to throw the Holyrood election?
Can’t both be right.
Yes they can, if she can hold off the malcontents (who seem to be few) and end up as the largest (but minority) fish in the westminster catch net, she will be ideally placed to avoid any activity over independence and oversee the further diminishing of holyrood.
Double bubble for her.
I think people should give up on the independence or referendum plan for now. Fix Holyrood first, create real accountability, a better system for selecting and sacking MSPs. We all voted for Sturgeon and the rest so the blame is partly on us. We need to be sure who we vote for in future (of every party) will do what they were elected to do. Alex Salmond must take his share of the blame too, while he is innocent, his behaviour hasnt been something to be proud of and he put Nicola as his deputy and successor.
I am 52 and disabled and dont think there will be independence in my lifetime, and i am okay with that because its not about me, or you. Its about future generations but we need to stop the Woke indoctrination that is currently in our schools and universities which has been encouraged by the SNP, Greens, liberals and some members of Labour. Just like women’s rights, some things are more important than Independence. This 300 year old Union has survived until now, it can surely wait another 10, 20 or 50 years until the time is right.
link to youtube.com
Aye and you should see what some other SNP councillors have been getting away with elsewhere in these demented lands, with apparent immunity and protection from on high.
If we’re gauging a future SNP efficacy and/or transparency on Twitter account popularity (“I’m with Nicola!”) then we’re totally doomed.
I don’t much care how many followers I have – or how many I’m losing – I care about Scotland’s independence, it’s always been about this, since before followers were the litmus test of how corrupt we’re allowed to be.
This is rather depressing stuff.
And as we approach the May elections too.
And yet, the Unionists are loving every minute of this Salmond saga.
The big problem we have there is we have to vote in SNP or we get landed with mad anti Scottish creeps like MP DRoss or some equally anti Scottish Labour cabal.
We can’t let that happen.
But I am also bitterly disappointed there has been precious few SNP elected politicians both at Edinburgh and at London, who have stood up and challenged all this before now.
Also, that those who could have set up an alternative Party didn’t, and we are faced with no choice come May as far as the Constituency votes go.
We just cannot have any other Government elected, but an SNP come May.
It would be good if SNP members were able to force change before May, but it looks too late now.
However, after that, something must be done.
Many will be voting SNP in May for the last time!
Dave Beveridge @11:26am
“So, according to comments, we have NS as a power-crazed egomaniac who’ll have to be dragged out of Bute House kicking and screaming”
Why does Sturgeon even want to remain as FM, other than for the attention and money? She has achieved very little as FM and has done nothing to advance the cause of independence. If you aren’t going to do anything with power, why have it?
@Joan thanks for your efforts and input.
I’m similar, was WO in a branch, only because I wanted some input into GRA reform, we decided to formally complain to Christina McKelvie, re the definition of woman on the boards.
Emailed officially as WO, she never replied.
Tried again with formal communication to HQ saying GRA reform needed to be shelved until more information was distributed to members, so we could have a discussion, no reply.
I twice emailed SS re Kirsty Blackman breaking the code of conduct in respect of Joanna C, no reply.
I therefore resigned as WO & SNP member.
Othereise you’re just banging your head against a brick wall.
IMO the eyes on the prize people are partially to blame. It’s now too late.
Murrell has one important task and that is to keep his wife in the top position. Any person who shows the slightest danger will be drawn down to the extent of maybe many years in prison. Yes who is the most outstanding M.P in the SNP lot in Westminster cast aside from front bench and not allowed to stand in as a MSP in Holyrood. This woman was a danger to the Murrells who as MSP could well be the next First Minister. There is an old saying, which the Murrells should remember…. if you do take a shot at the king make sure you don’t miss
Joan, this was a brave piece to write. You will be treated as a pariah now. Come and join the Saving Scotland party where you will be most welcome!
As an active supporter of Independence for over 30 yrs the thuggishness of some new councillors in 2017 within NLC’s group was toxic beyond description. A handful used the party for their own ambition, muscled their way in and added to a few who were already toxic in their unprofessional behaviour. 3 members of one family on the planning committee looked bad enough. But a new councillor shouting at the head of planning ‘You better up the price on ma cooncil house Doll’ was outrageous given Shirley Bell Head of Planning had nothing to do with repurchasing old stock. I complained and I was told off by the captured weak leader. But the real erosion of my trust was the obsession at keeping things quiet to protect the party regarding allegations about one Cllr’s behavior in 2015 prior to his election. Accusations of sexual abuse of a 15 yrs old boy arose during the campaign to elect Stewart McDonald in early 2015. The person accused was a party member and activist and the young boy had been with him daily during the campaign. It was known about but kept hush hush for the sake of the campaign! He was not suspended and remained an SNP member throughout despite the involvement of Police SCotland. After possible charges were dropped the activist, now a councillor, went for vetting and failed! Jamie Hepburn then used his influence with HQ and got the guy, who had grovelled to Jamie, put on the list to stand and he was duly elected. Given everyone is entitled to a fair trial and presumed innocent until proven guilty I will say no more given this is now sub-judici.
I cannot support a party that is corrupt at the top and thinks of its public image and shallow popularity only. Cult of the personality, top down authoritarian abuse of law, suppression of party democracy and the treacherous pursuit of AS to keep him from threatening the elite few has brought Scotland into disrepute and may put back the cause of independence far more than Westminster ever could. NS is not Scotland nor the SNP. If anyone will lead Scotland to independence it will be AS himself.
Joan-Hutcheson
Thanks for your post & sorry you have been treated so badly.
Good god! I didn’t things could get any worse but they have.
If this government was a business it would have gone into liquidation many months ago.
For the life of me I don’t know how all you guys cope. What comes at you, re government etc is endless & it’s all negative.
You’re living under constant stress & it doesn’t seem to be abating for you.
This isn’t a normal way to live.
If only you had achieved independence in 2014. Alex wouldn’t have stepped down & you guys would be forging your own path with good governance.
Who would have known that you would get a FM that is so screwed up with her own life. Only to find out after she screwed the country.
So she’s a lesbian & her husband is a homosexual, or is he a Woke? A man who dresses as a woman!
There sexuality shouldn’t come into it. The fact they are hiding it, affects the way they conduct business.
It’s obvious they are rubbish at it, given the mess they have on their doorstep at this moment in time.
Fraser – Precisely. The Murrells eliminate all threats.
Jo Cherry ,Kenny McAskill, Alex Salmond. Look at those three names, and the class and intelligence speaks volumes. It’s like comparing a Ferrari with a Skoda.
Astonished says:
25 February, 2021 at 10:01 am
“This is the dire straits we are in. Ignored and fed lies.
I think Mike Russell and Stewart Stevenson should resign. As for the rest – I think they’re heading for the pokey.”
Heading for the pokey? Maybe if we had a functioning legal system with honest police force, Crown Office, and prosecution service.
As things stand, they will get away with it. The SNP is a busted flush – I write this as a member of over 30 years.
Giesabrek @ 11:40 am
Why does Sturgeon even want to remain as FM, other than for the attention and money? She has achieved very little as FM and has done nothing to advance the cause of independence. If you aren’t going to do anything with power, why have it?
You’ve answered it yourself! Attention, money, its own sake.
Being cheered to the rafters by a standing-room only crowd at the Hydro can be a bit addictive for a certain personality type. I’m not sure how she’ll cope when the party’s over.
O/T
Thanks to Alan on the now locked previous post. I checked out the grousebeater transcripts of the trial as suggested and I now know exactly the charges made under each alphabet accuser.
Without getting back into it we were pretty close.
(I think they may have re-ordered the accusers into chronological order for the trial. i.e. using the dates of the alleged incidents, not the dates the accuser came forward. Not sure and not that it matters much.)
When you see it all summarized you can see how most of it was a pile of exaggerated nothing. But then there are couple left over that really look dodgy at this point. I wont repeat the alphabet letters in question, you know who they are.
Could it have been yesterday I saw Stewart Stevenson described as an Alex Salmond supporter? I have never met Stewart Stevenson. Acquaintances who have, have been scathing about him, though I never had cause to think him other than pro-indy.
Is he just not up to the job in the NEC, or worse?
Confusion well sown.
Apologies is this has already been mentioned as well as in advance, my ignorance of legal matters.
My from understanding, in Scots law there is a not proven verdict which means there is a degree of guilt but not enough to give a guilty verdict.
There has been accusations flying about about that verdict. If Salmond had done any wrong doing then a not proven verdict would be given. Alex Salmond was found not guilty of all charges, therefore these accusations are false and just attempts to smear.
Kenny. 11.37.
Absolutely. Very important point.
Twitter politics and its implications and impacts on democracy and society really need to be discussed and examined at some lengths.
And yet a quick glance at social media and the faithful refuse to question anything that is going on. Anyone that questions the mantra of both votes SNP either doesn’t really support indy or is a tory. I realise that social media is a tiny window into the thoughts of people in Scotland however will be one of the few campaign tools during the election campaign.
As for organisations that would take NS when she does decide to move on, her evangelical support of identity politics can pretty much guarantee her a role at the UN.
Re trans people. The aggressive cabal surrounding NS are mainly young white men.
Fiona R, Kirsty B, Christina McK, SAS, are heterosexual women, AFAIK.
Most of them care nothing for genuine trans people, some are deranged, some are disruptive and some are NS worshippers.
It’s about money and power.
The big TRA push from the US, is funded by big pharma.
Follow the money.
Gordon Keane says: 25 February, 2021 at 11:39 am
Give SNP the first vote and a pro-indy party the second vote.
In that way, the SNP doesn’t have a majority and have to go into coalition. That coalition will a be pro-indy one. An added bonus is in doing so, unionist deadwood are removed from Holyrood.
In that way, the SNP will have to moderate their policies and shelve their more controversial ones.
I have went from oh well the membership will soon sort any problems out , and I moved to if by the looks of it the members ( I used to be one) if the members i.e. that’s what the party is it’s members are being prevented by the current management from exercising their rights then as has been stated this party has been stolen high jacked by certain individuals .
The more I learn about this version of the SNP and how they operate reinforces my decision to remove any financial support , and now any support or defence for what they are doing ok it wasn’t much in the great scheme of things but it was willing and honest support .
I listened to a short piece on LBC Radio the James O’Brian show this morning that featured a short report about the current situation in Scottish politics, a presenter apparently from Glasgow gave a summation of events ok fine , the only thing missing was the relevant facts about the obstruction and interference that has happened , this was specifically promised by Nicola Sturgeon wouldn’t happen no impediments would be placed in the way of the committee.
That’s a Lie and most people here know she was and continues to Lie its there for all to see pages on pages stacked high with blacked out text all over them explain the no interference Nicola , a open inquiry it’s not Spec savers you need it’s a bloody Interpretation of what you say and what you and your government does that leaves a bad taste in people’s mouths ,
Hearing one of the branches in the highlands have lost their entire committee which stood down recently en masse and resigned from the party, yet no videos showing support from the party stewards, (I won’t use the word leaders as leaders lead, the present lot don’t) like it did when a couple of dozen Transnazi activists left and joined creepy Pat Harvey
Is there a process for removing people from these positions (didn’t the vote count take hours instead of minutes) but the leader from a political party or does the leader have control over that too
I think, unfortunately, that Joan has given up too easily. I am on the Policy Committee and we have been proposing the next conference to be in late May / early June. We saw no point in an online event in April. You can’t be deciding policies 3 weeks before an election. So usually these type of pre-election events have been essentially an election rally. That does not work as a virtual event. The media will ignore it entirely. So a ‘Manifesto Launch’ with some keynote speeches by Ministers is more appropriate. However, Nat Sec does need to get on with things. I don’t know about complaints – Member Conduct Committee has yet to meet so nothing has been referred to it to consider.
Stop being so pessimistic everyone. Things are happening behind the scenes and those of us appalled at the events being played out will find our happy home soon. Then we need those who remain in the SNP to steady their ship to keep the constituency seats. We will sweep to victory on the list seats and obtain the supermajority we need to allow us to collapse the parliament and call a plebiscitary election at a time of our choosing after a ground campaign even better than 2014. Then we are the masters of our own destiny.
They have turned our all welcome party into an exclusive club.
Thank you so much for speaking out. You at the very least have a backbone. I won’t forget those who remain silent, and I’m pretty sure now I’m not alone in that any more.
The name SNP means nothing, but the people who created and built it would I think, now take a wrecking ball to it freely and willingly.
The ideal lives on but the vehicle has broken down.
PacMan as you say I can’t see any other way out of the political straitjacket we are in , it’s a situation most people find themselves in , but people remember , never again , this can’t be allowed to happen again , a lot of people will grudgingly cast their vote for a party they don’t trust and have lost faith in , it won’t end well,
I hope the predicted success by the SNP isn’t going to be used as a endorsement of their direction of travel and the methods they are using to keep people who ask uncomfortable questions quiet.
Joan, thank you for highlighting your misgivings about the lack of democracy in the SNP. I also resigned from the SNP yesterday and the lack of democracy in the party was one of a number of reasons for resigning. I posted my resignation on my Facebook page yesterday and created quite a stoochie. I was described variously as a Yoon and much, much more. This was all water of a ducks back to me. Many of the commentators have no idea who I am and that I am a dedicated supporter of independence for Scotland.
I had an article published last year entitled “Why I support Independence for Scotland” and thought it might be helpful to give a link to that article which I might say got some positive comments. So here it is:
link to yoursforscotlandcom.wordpress.com
Thank you Joan for your courage, and for the clarity of your writing. For a brain-fogged individual like me it was easy to follow.
I hope you are a catalyst and beacon for more to follow.
The SNP does not sound or feel like a political party leading us on a triumphant march towards independence. In fact anything but.
2103-14 right up to the day the result of the referendum was announced was all positivity.
Not now.
I’ll not be voting SNP for the first time in 20 years. And i’m doubtful I’ll even be voting Yes If we ever get a second chance. At least not with the SNP as it’s currently operating and the rest of Scottish politics as moribund as it is.
Thanks Joan you are a woman of integrity and will be much needed in the battle for independence.
I think we need to pause and consider the volcano that has erupted underneath Scotland and it’s establishment.
The criminal acts perpertrated on Salmond, Murray and Hirst by the SNP government aided by the Crown Office and it would seem the police. The cover ups by these same people to pervert the course of justice.
And the sheer silence by the vast majority of MP/MSP’s at these outrages is both disappointing and sickening.
But the betrayal of independence and the hopes of a people is something that will not be forgiven.
I still can’t believe all that has happened.
Joan ,
Thank you for this article , Unfortunately for the party’s sake until we get rid of Nicola Sturgeon and Peter Murrell and quite a few others we will never get independence for Scotland . They’ve destroyed the party compared to what it once was under Alex Salmond and other previous leaders .
It’s time for them all to go and we can least try to get the party back on track , hopefully the next week will expose the corruption within the Snp and the Scottish Government .
.
#IstandwithAlexSalmond
Looks like the state police have neither the time nor the inclination to investigate an open and shut case of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. I suppose they’re too busy interviewing Alex Salmond’s old school chums to see if any of them want to make a complaint about being pushed in the playground back in the 1960’s.
Big Jock… I’m a big fan of Skoda’s. Reliable, economical, value for money. Just so you know.
2014
18/9/14 Indy Ref 1 Scotland votes 55% – 45% to remain part of the UK.
19th September 2014 AS announces he is stepping down and Nicola Sturgeon is his successor.
November 2014 Nicola Sturgeon made leader of SNP and FM of Scotland
Re the Rangers malicious prosecution…
Whitehouse and Clark became administrators of Rangers in February 2012, less than a year after the club was bought by Craig Whyte. The club was purchased by a consortium led by Charles Green but went bust that October.
Whitehouse was first arrested in November 2014 then again in September 2015.
2015
7th May 2015 UK GE – SNP win 56 seats and a mandate ‘to hold a second Indy Ref should Scotland be taken out of the EU against her will’ AS is re-elected to Westminster. The Yes movement is delighted at this, the wily experienced fox, in WM, free to make contacts, while the protégé at Holyrood has an experienced team to get established on the Home Front. Tactically it seemed ideal.
1st July 2015 Leslie Evans becomes Permanent Secretary Scotland, selected by and reporting directly to Nicola Sturgeon – about10 – 15 years earlier she was involved in local Edinburgh politics and instrumental in presenting a falsely altered report that led to a community charity that trained video editing skills being deprived funds. Local SNP activists were aware/involved in complaints against her for this reason. SNP vetting does not appear to have worked with regards her being hired.
(In due course she becomes Crown Agent/MI5 – David Harvie’s line manager, and also the person responsible for the Redactions at the Scot Gov Inquiry into the Judicial Review ‘unlawful/tainted by apparent bias’ committee.)
September 2015 The Sunday Times prints a story about MP – Michelle Thompson – intimating dodgy property transactions against her – these turn out to be unfounded.
Michelle is ‘persuaded’ to resign the SNP whip. Nicola Sturgeon the Feminist FM is noticeably silent with regards any form of support for her.
December 2015 WM votes to illegally bomb Syria. 57 out of 59 Scottish MPs vote against.
————————————————————————————————————
2016
5th May 2016 – Holyrood Election
23rd June 2016 Brexit Referendum
17th December 2016: Herald
“NICOLA Sturgeon’s top aide became involved in a story about
MP Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh being chased by the taxman,
according to a leaked email.
Liz Lloyd, the Chief of Staff to the First Minister, used
her government account to email the SNP press office at
Westminster within hours of the story breaking in two
tabloid newspapers.”
IN THIS YEAR: FIRST MINISTER NICOLA STURGEON – REINSTATES THE CROWN PROSECUTION FISCAL SERVICES HEAD – LORD ADVOCATE – TO MINISTERIAL POSITION (removed by AS in 2007 as a conflict of interest undr EU law…). Who knew, certainly not due to public pressure.
————————————————————————————————————
2017
16th March 2017 Terrible May officially rejects NS S 30 / IR2 request. ‘Now is not the Time.’
4th May 2017 – Scottish Local Elections
8th June 2017 – Terrible May calls a GE and wins.
AS loses his seat.
NS takes IndyRef2 off the table. Now is not the time.
A marked difference in her attitude is seen.
‘Not until the Terms of Brexit are Known becomes the mantra.
13th June 2017 Not sure if this is correct date?- Ref-Scot taken down at £482,000 of £1 million target – no accounts published for same – which is a contravention of Electoral Commission rules, and extremely bad practice.
Terms and conditions of the fund raiser were that it was specifically to be Ring Fenced for the next Indy Ref, and not used to fund day to day SNP party expenditure.
The Brexit deadline time line is I think November 2018 ish.
Mark MacDonald MSP in Aberdeenshire area, faces allegations Mid 2017 of sexual harassment. Full enquiry revealed he had texted a female co-worker using the word ‘dingied’ and auto correct changed it to ‘fingered’ – in his text he told her of this and made a joke that it was a good thing he’d checked before he sent it. Forced to resign Nov 2017
July 2017 (source Civil Service World) HM Revenue and Customs confirm the go ahead on a new Civil Service Hub to be built at Waverly St, Edinburgh to staff 11 Civil Servant departments – 3,000 positions. 20 year lease taken out. Artisan the contractor.
August 2017 Police Scotland drop / close the enquiry into Michelle Thompson MP (she lost her seat in the GE earlier). No charges ever brought against her. It took Police Scotland from Sept 2015 – August 2017 to establish she had not committed any crime!!!
**** check date/yr 30th August 2017 Permanent Secretary Leslie Evans meets with Civil Servant Unions to attempt to gain support against AS.
Both Pete Wishart – October 2017 and Tommy Shepherd (Tommy did this in a public talk, as far as I can tell he was the first person to run this up the flagpole, since then he has kept his head down on this subject (his background is old/new labour) start to talk about ‘not until after Brexit and the hard effects are felt, should we go for IndyRef2’. PW is fully supported in this view by John Swinney.
October 2017 ScotGov begins review of complaints policy.
Aamer Anwar makes allegations of ‘ticking time bomb’ ‘catalogue’ of sexual harassment at HR.
Complainer H makes first disclosure of her allegations of sexual assault at the hands of Alex Salmond to her boyfriend. This is thought to be her current partner and a politician within SNP hierarchy.
31st October 2017 Scot Cabinet meet to discuss Parliament announcement re new actions on sexual harassment in light of #METOO movement. John Swinney later does a speech in Parliament re same.
31 October 2017 Daily Record / David Clegg receive a tip off from Scot Gov regarding sexual offences allegedly committed by AS during his time in office. David Clegg is known associate of Liz Lloyd – close member of NS staff. David Clegg openly reports this tip off (and the date of same) in the latter part of 2018 when the Alex Salmond issue goes public following another leak.
31st October 2017, well before the “concerns” of Woman A and B in the civil case had even been communicated to anybody in Government or Woman H –
Ms Anne Harvey’s private phone was inundated with text messages asking for information on Mr Salmond. This suggests the fishing expedition had started in earnest well before Woman A and B from the original case or Woman H.
Anne Harvey worked alongside Alex Salmond over many years and became a vital defence witness. She knows of and was friends with at least one of the complainers.
NOVEMBER 2017
Around this time (possibly a month or 2 earlier) Angus Robertson drafts and introduces new NEC procedures within the structure of SNP which effectively remove democratic choices about policy and candidate selection away from the members and concentrates it within the SNP HQ.
Multiple candidates from GRA supporters installed into places on NEC.
Rumours abound that AS has the backing to take over the Scotsman newspaper.
There are also rumours he is not happy at lack of Indy progress being made by NS and is intending to return to front line politics.
The witch hunt against Mark McDonald – forced to resign – now appears unwise, as it has opened up an MSP vacancy in Aberdeenshire…
5th November 2017 woman H reports her complaint to SNP Ian McCann ‘we’ll sit on this in case we ever need to deploy it’. Her evidence at the criminal trial was comprehensively disproven…
8th – 10th November 2017 women A and B (civil procedings) talk to Scot Gov staff and express ‘concerns’
Retrospective Policy re-written. January 2018 A and B formally register ‘complaints’ under new procedures.
I left the party in 2016 after the initial power grab. The SNP are a party that has a leadership out of control and if Ian Lawson is correct will be broke very soon. The SNP are just Scottish Labour all over again but where they have excelled is they have become this in 5 years where as Labour took 80 years.
Even Ron Swanson would run that ship better..
Remember it’s First Ministers questions at 12.30 pm , Hopefully some other Msp will ask a question about the whole debacle regarding Alex Salmond’s evidence to the Harassment and Complaints Committee being published then redacted ?
@de Valera
“I will politely decline.”
That’ll be like your namesake, who, with his ‘palace’ dwelling bishops in their silken slippers, declined to take Ireland towards modernity, choking the full democratic potential of the Irish people for several generations. Wrong site, bud, wrong site all together.
Joan Hutcheson deserves a lot of praise for stepping up and giving SNP members and supporters a glimpse into how the party has decayed from within. What a hollow shell it now is, commandeered by a small group of apparatchiks for the leader, who consider themselves sole arbiters of policy, a thought police for the inner circle.
Joan’s experience might be a small part of the overall picture, but it chimes with all the other accounts of lack of any real debate or opportunities to influence policy. And it isn’t just ineptitude, though there’s plenty of that, it’s deliberate stifling and shutting down of differences of opinion. This isn’t a political party in any normal sense of the word, it is a fan club where you join up only to worship the Golden Calf, and any dissenters will be expelled, silenced and traduced.
So what is the point of paying your dues, campaigning for them and believing in them? None, it would appear, save keeping people in power who have demonstrated their utter disdain and disinterest in you, and millions like you. Ever get the feeling you’ve been had?
As we start to get ready for the election a party that goes on a message of cleaning up Holyrood, cleaning up civic Scotland and kicking the identity politics into touch will do well. The problem is that it will never be the SNP or Greens that would go down that route.
Tom Arthur, on Twitter, is still clinging to the belief that the Lord Advocate has always been part of the cabinet, wonder if he’ll be asked to correct his untruth from yesterday.
Also sharing Leask’s Kremlin-backed cybernat gibberish, as is master-strategist Ross Colquhoun.
Enjoy First Minister’s Questions, those who’ll be watching. Hopefully the website doesn’t go on the blink.
your being shafted Scotland
and many still fail to see it
A man in his basement in Bath has more credibility than your Government
When this is over Stuart should given his rightful place in the history books and possibly a statue somewhere in a prominent position
Joan, you did your very best and I am desperately sorry.
My plan was to hold on to my membership to hopefully (imminently) vote for a badly needed new leader.
In other words the triumph of hope over experience.
That’s it though. There really is no point. The SNP have no interest in its members beyond us being the chumps to shoehorn them into power.
In any case its beginning to sound like it won’t be the members who’ll be doing the voting. Angus Robertson anyone?
Bye bye SNP.
Thanks Joan for your honesty – it’s so important that people see what’s really going on behind the scenes.
The timing of the collapse of the SNP is heartbreaking – if they were in a better state, independence would already be here, or nearly here.
It is so depressing that after the NEC votes at the end of November things just haven’t changed. I was so so hopeful that enough decent people like yourself had been voted onto the NEC and could turn things back around. But it seems those at the top have such a tight grip on control that there’s no way round it, no matter whether they’re completely in the wrong constitutionally.
Perhaps an ‘SDP/Liberal’ solution might be the best option for us now. If one of the new Indy parties can get enough big hitters (an Indy Gang of Four 🙂 ) and enough publicity, that will give disaffected SNP supporters (and others) a new home with policies they can support. That would force the SNP to sort themselves out and get back to policies which most people actually support. The alternative for the SNP would be to decline until they disappeared. And later, when the two parties realise they have so much in common, they merge – and like the old Liberal party, the old SNP is reborn*. Or, if we already have Independence, then people choose which party best fits their beliefs and parties survive or fail based solely on that.
For May, it is too late and I personally think we still have no option but to vote for the SNP on Constituency seats because not to will just feed the Unionist line that we don’t support Independence – or worse it could also allow Unionists to take over Holyrood. Not ideal, and I know many will disagree (and I understand why). But for the List votes, the more people who vote for NON-SNP Indy parties the better. I liked Kenny MacAskill’s idea that a vote for any Indy party in the List is effectively a vote for Independence. It doesn’t matter if they don’t win seats, it’s the total votes that matter as it shows genuine support for Indy but also shows the SNP that the Constituency votes were only lent for the sake of Indy and not support for their policies.
*I know the SDP/Liberal comparison isn’t quite the same, but you get the jist.
I have a reminder set for FMQs at 12:30
For the first time in my voting life I Ruthless and the opposition party leaders have had a bad night and are really fkn grumpy and hit Nicola Sturgeon right between the fkn eyes and goad her into totally fkn loosing it .
A very very disappointed previous SNP member and supporter
Big Jock says:
25 February, 2021 at 11:12 am
If someone says they have never voted SNP. Why are they on an independence supporting website?
Well bizarrely the “owner” of the website has been public in saying he has never voted SNP!
Ruth D straight in there
I didn’t leave the SNP the SNP left me.
Mrs Murrell not happy answering questions .
@Maggie C
Ruth Davidson ‘straight’ – well now.
Your experience is deeply disappointing for you and the wider independence movement Joan as it reflects the growing malaise infecting the SNP with the stench of arrogance and entitlement, which gripped New Labour, clearly taking hold in the higher echelons. Whether the membership can ever wrest control back is a point requiring debate but in the immediate term unless a credible alternative is launched to justify our constituency votes we may have to metaphorically, sometimes literally, hold our noses and vote SNP with our first vote but give our 2nd votes, the regional list vote to AFI with their sole focus on advancing the cause of independence. Here is former SNP MSP Dave Thompson with 55 years membership of the SNP explaining why he left last year to set up Action For Independence. I hope you will listen and consider getting involved as you are obviously a talented individual and committed independence advocate link to sptnkne.ws
Josef Ó Luain.
You have your wish, Varadkar’s Ireland is now very ‘modern’ and it’s just like everywhere else, a province of the US cultural sphere.
Definitely not a model for Scotland, especially as Bute House seems to consider it so.
Cudneycareless & Big Jock – fair to say that WoS is a democracy supporting site. That’s what led me here. I’m a floating no, open to being convinced – genuinely open – but only on economic grounds. Not in the least bit emotional about flags of any colour – all about risk, reward and a realistic timeline for the stages – and the building blocks of economic success. SNP are doing that cause real damage.
Interesting to read about the lack of responses Joan received in her attempts to move things forward. Others btl have commented of their similar experiences at different levels.
IIRC in my capacity as a Party member, a Branch Office Bearer, a YES activist, and a Community Councillor, I managed to accrue a dozen emails that failed to get a response or even acknowledgement from those supposedly higher up the Party chain.
That says it all for me and really have to question why there is such a failure in ability to communicate within the Party.
Tim Rideout suggests Joan has stepped down prematurely. Why should she continue to commit time and effort when her input isn’t even acknowledged by those she is supposedly elected to work with.
And where’s the ring fenced monies?
AndyH says: at 12:17 pm
“Even Ron Swanson would run that ship better..”
Indeed, I’ve been re-watching Parks and Recreation and pretty much at the point I wish I could vote for Ron!
Just watched the usual daily statement on the Plague.
Nicola Sturgeons facial expression is of someone totally removed from current events it’s like she playing two parts in this Pantomime very confident in her reply to Ruthless,
Now Alex Salmond is dangerous and deluded a total basket case I was surprised she didn’t call for him to be Sectioned and locked away , oh I forgot her Government has attempted to have him removed permanently and they failed.
She’s taking the Piss and it’s nothing to do with her and her government has no involvement I really don’t know who she thinks she’s fooling it certainly isn’t a whole lot of Independence supporters
NS won’t want to move on until the next step in her career is assured – shes still quite young and sees herself in a senior international role. She will also want to annoint her successor – otherwise her stubborness and ruthlessness won’t allow her to walk away willingly.
Ex SNP Councillor @11:42am
Gonnae put some para breaks in these long posts if you want folk to actually read the content.
FMQs. Sturgeon’s first answer to J Baillie is the most laboured piece of shite straw manning I have ever heard.
Allium says:
25 February, 2021 at 12:49 pm
NS won’t want to move on until the next step in her career is assured – shes still quite young and sees herself in a senior international role. She will also want to annoint her successor – otherwise her stubborness and ruthlessness won’t allow her to walk away willingly.
You’re writing as if she has a choice. I don’t think there will be choices available very soon – not if there’s any justice in this world
Methinks the First Minister doth protest too much.
She is trying as hard as she can to deflect – but, apart from the nodding dogs behind her, I don’t think she is convincing anyone.
Then Baillie piles-on as well, and, again she is floundering to deflect.
Scandalously, she still fails to acknowledge the Not Guilty Verdicts handed down to Alex Salmond.
Socrates MacSporran says:
“Scandalously, she still fails to acknowledge the Not Guilty Verdicts handed down to Alex Salmond.”
Her position is exactly the same as that of the so called Scottish Press and Media. Traitors the lot of them.
I have been hinting at his behaviour for a number of years now, ie ( he is not working for us and the independence movement) This is the man that continued my homelessness that the council created, while he was busy having meals and happy meetings with opposition councillors.
Not being in the position to fight the corruption in court I continued to be homeless for nearly six years in total,
There is another snp member locally too I wouldn’t trust, birds of a feather, running around with tories and labour doing very little for the locals unless the locals are rich. I had a shortcut to the position this man took politically.
I still have all the paperwork.
Snake oil politicians.
Thank you for speaking out.
It is a shame you resigned because people like you if you could work together could bring the SNP back from the bring once NS and clan are gone.
Thanks for your efforts
Sturgeon talks about the great engines and people of the Scottish legal system while refusing to accept the verdict of a Scottish jury.
A FM that does not in good faith accept the verdict of a jury because that verdict does not suit them has no business at all being FM.
@ Josef Ó Luain
Fair comment on the long fellow.
I should have made it clear that I took the name from an article I read many years ago written by the late Margo Macdonald which contained the rhyme:
Under Mr. De Valera, Ireland changed its name to Eire, but Britain strictly keeps its name, it’s still called England just the same.
It made an impression on me and began my interest in Ireland. The first nation and hopefully not the last, to excuse itself from the UK “union”
If you want to see an Independent Scotland, listen with an open mind.
“For 50 years Dave Thompson carried his SNP membership card with pride and even served as an MSP before resigning to set up a new party: Action for Independence. Tommy talks to Dave about the need for a new party and how the current voting system in Scotland punishes the pro-independence movement. Could an alternative party pave the way for Scottish independence?”
link to sputniknews.com
Please stop using this nodding dog description.
If someone is suffering a serious illness they deserve support and respect
regardless of any political view point.
Thank You!
Ahhhh FFS, they’re now quoting ‘reds under the bed’ Leask…
link to twitter.com
(Now blocked)
How did it come to this.
Answers by Nicola Sturgeon at FM Questions often consisted of I’m not going to answer now I will answer the committee. Is she expecting some protection from Ms Fabiani?
If anything shows how corrupt the SNP now are it’s that they’re parroting the MI5/ CIA line that “it’s the Russians!”
Asp, what do Wingers think of today’s poll? Done up to Sunday, 52% on constituency, 47% on list, 48% Yes, 44% No, 8% Undecided (52-48 excluding undecideds)
If you’re not with us you’re a Russian bot according to the nocolati
Why do people insist on saying they’ll vote SNP in May Elections (or every other one after that), when they want rid of the current SNP Leadership?
The long haul is for a competent Scottish Government running an independent Scotland.
The last thing I want is wee Nico and wee Petra claiming they have a mandate, because people voted ‘SNP’.
You have to throw them out first, and that means voting for the best candidate standing for the seat, not the party apparatchik.
Someone just got eviscerated at FMQs.
ScotsRenewables says:
25 February, 2021 at 10:48 am
Big Jock,
Didn’t realise it was an elephant the Titanic hit.
Every day’s a school day.
hahahahahah!
Let me explain, if nobody else will.
The SNP as a party is essentially dead. The brand is irretrievably damaged. It’s going to get worse, not better.
Sturgeon had her last chance in November. She could have walked away and allowed us to repair the damage, move on, and win the election on a strong pro-indy platform. That window has now closed. It’s closed because Sturgeon and those around her put careers before everything.
It’s going to get very destructive but in a zero sum game that’s not a bad thing…
It’s time for a new dawn.
After months of mulling this AS verses NS case over, it occurs to me that besides destroying the independence movement, there is a much bigger stake at play here, it appears that the lord advocate may deliberately being bad at his job,
Why?
Perhaps the reason is to change Scots law, to weaken the legal system within Scotland to bring it into line with England’s,
It must be a big worry and a thorn in the side that Scotland with its own laws could possibly legally get around the independence issue.
It begs the question to all Scots why a lord advocate whom is supposed to be of high intellect is making such public and costly mistakes,, and so involved with bringing down not only AS & NS but greatly bringing into question Scots law.
true scot says:
25 February, 2021 at 12:44 pm
Cudneycareless & Big Jock – fair to say that WoS is a democracy supporting site. That’s what led me here. I’m a floating no, open to being convinced – genuinely open – but only on economic grounds. Not in the least bit emotional about flags of any colour – all about risk, reward and a realistic timeline for the stages – and the building blocks of economic success. SNP are doing that cause real damage.
—————————————————————–
Beats the hell out of me how anybody considers themselves a “floating no” and would only vote for Scottish independence based on the economic benefits and in the same breath call him/herself a “true scot”
genuinely baffled
Ooft that was some PMQs, Nicla clearly rattled by that one.
The soon to be ermine Davidson, almost but not quite using that parliamentary priviledge at its full power.
Maybe someone could lend her some damp start so she fires on her full complement of cylinders next time, states more than a token line from blocked evidence and gets the FMs’ knees quivering along with her wavering voice.
Jackie Baillie looking for the FM to state things in Parliament she then has to swear to under oath whenever she appears at the committee, whether true or false – because if they are false, she has lied not only to the committee, but to parliament again!
The surprise of this weeks match was Willie Rennnie going for the jugular and not doing his trademark fumble of scoring an own goal!
I wonder what treats we’ll have at next weeks match.
@LaingB French, 10.30
You do realize that this accumulating shit( for want of a better description) will in all fairness fuck up McSturgeon,s alleged future employment with the United Nations or anywhere else.
Criminality or incompetence are no barriers to future employment at international institutions. Christine Lagarde, white collar criminal, is head of the IMF and Ursula von der Leyen, incompetent Minister of Defence, is head of the EU Commission.
Stoker says:
25 February, 2021 at 11:22 am
“Folks, try and avoid the direct link to the Torygraph from Fannybawz Knowsitall at 11:07 am. The clown’s already been papped off here previously under a different Moniker. It thinks we need the Torygraph to tell us we need better political options.
Another thing yous have probably noticed is that it tends to hog the threads a lot. And if i’m correct in my belief then it’s been papped off here under a few names.” -Seconded-
Iain More
25 February, 2021 at 1:02 pm
I see you managed to get one through. It’ll be changed, no doubt. Never mind, good while it lasted.
I wonder if Wings has gone out for a walk…
Sturgeon is guilty of both weakness and hubris.
Weakness in giving in to the excesses of Wokus Dei
Hubris in thinking she could get away with her weakness.
Think Jackie Baillie – Sturgeon questioning next week is going to be really interesting.
Sorry to keep going on about this pish
She has been coached and prepared I actually think she believes what she is saying is true, Jackie Ballie it getting to her , she is ruffling the princesses feathers.
The Joan or Ark act it’s fkn working dear
So Sorry I ain’t convinced with the act
My wife who has no interest in politics quite innocently said to me ….. Alex Salmond has to go back to court on Friday I thought he was found not guilty and that was the end of it.
I think this may be the thoughts of quite a few people with no interest in politics and wondering what all this about.
apologies re my post 1.43. Christine Lagarde used to head the IMF. She now heads the European Central Bank.
@ Daisy Walker at 11:11 am
Rangers bother started about 2012 , the prosecutions were about 2015/6
There is a blog titled Rangers Tax Case it was a bit like the Gordon Dangerfield analysis but about Rangers
link to rangerstaxcase.wordpress.com
@James Che. says:
25 February, 2021 at 1:33 pm
After months of mulling this AS verses NS case over, it occurs to me that besides destroying the independence movement, there is a much bigger stake at play here, it appears that the lord advocate may deliberately being bad at his job,
Why?
Perhaps the reason is to change Scots law, to weaken the legal system within Scotland to bring it into line with England’s
—–
You mulled it over for months and that’s your take?
It isn’t even possible, under the Articles of Union.
I despair…
Fishy Wullie – yes I understand. I’m not trolling this site, but I did arrive here more due to growing horror at the abuses of power than through support for independence. But I’m open to being convinced. Having said that, – maybe posting here is not a great idea. Adios.
I think I get it now.
A Member of the Scottish Parliament is forced to stand down, for what is a trivial offense. This is the time of Me Too, when every man is guilty of rape, and every woman is to be believed.
Ms. 1 fears that this may be an opportunity for Alex Salmond to get back into Hollyrood. So she makes a charge of sexual harassment, just so that it is on the record for vetting purposes. We know this because this is what she said to the court.
Nicola and Liz get to hear about this. They look at each other and ask “….Do you think there might be any others?”
A fishing expedition ensues. They get two nibbles. Ms. 2 and Ms. 3.
Heavy investment is made into encouraging a concrete complaint.
They will be told harrowing tales about Ms. 1. They will be told how she needs their support.
They want to support their sister.
Judith McKinnon holds their hand all along the way. She writes their story. She hands this story to Leslie Evans, who nods gravely and pronounces Mr Salmond guilty as charged.
She passes the dossier to the police, who refuse it.
She announces that the report will be put on the record, meaning it is available under FOI
Meanwhile Ms 1 has quietly slipped away.
Mr Salmond seeks an injunction and a judicial review to protect his reputation.
“Someone” leaks the report to the Daily Record. Everybody knows.
Maximum damage to the reputation of Alex Salmond.
SNP government try to bleed him dry. Try every dirty legal trick in the book. Keep on going even though told they will lose by their own briefs.
Fearful of losing the judicial review, a second front is opened. Preparations had been made since December 2017, when Police Scotland were approached for the first time by Judith McKinnon.
An array of evidence is compiled. Police Scotland were pressurized to open an investigation.
The significance is that if Alex Salmond had been charged by the police, the judicial review would be “sisted”. It would have been closed down and buried (rather like the Board meeting of Anglia Television got buried) and there would have been no defeat for Sturgeon and her gang.
With pressure, and a slow increase in the number of charges, the police did open an inquiry.
At that point the charges amounted to Ms 2 and Ms 3, together with the Whatsapp gang.
You see how important Ms 2 and Ms 3 are to the plot? Without them there is nothing.
We know they were reluctant to go to the police.
We know they were betrayed by their sister, Leslie Evans, who took the material direct to the Crown Agent against their explicit wishes.
Now we learn that they were “instructed” by the Lord Advocate, or by something acting through the offices of the Lord Advocate, to make their statements to the police. Not unlike the actions of Malcolm Wall at Anglia Television. (see link to wingsoverscotland.com )
Yes, there are animals involved here. But the animal is not Alex Salmond.
Those two women have been betrayed, used and abused by Sturgeon and her gang. Pretty much like the Lloyds Names were betrayed, used and abused by Archer and her gang.
Will nobody help them? They must be terrified.
Daisy Walker says:
25 February, 2021 at 12:13 pm
—
If you want to publish a novel, I don’t think this is the place.
Take it Humza was watching the redacted version of FMQs
“FM taking no prisoners here.
The Oppositions’ smears falling flat on their face. Anyone listening to this will have heard wild conspiracy theories being repeated verbatim by Ruth Davidson & Jackie Baillie. Your reminder that assertion is not evidence.”
Its so sad to see hard-working dedicated members like Joan leave. When we think back to those heady days of 2014/2015 and members numbers continuing to rise. Although we just lost the referendum, with the landslide victories, the optimism that we were going to get independence soon was there.
Now stories of MPs, MSPs, members etc, being ignored and shoddily treated.
The fact is Alex Salmond did things, he got us that referendum. Nicola Sturgeon has pottered along wasting time and using up the good faith place in her. But at the same time ramming laws down our throat that we don’t want, getting people’s backs up.
What an opportunity wasted.
@ Scott,
It’s not a novel, its a timeline, and as new information comes to light, it gets added. So that folk can get an overview, place the smaller shennanigans in place, along with the bigger ones…
So if folk wonder about Leslie Evans… they can look and see when she joined Scot Gov? – About 7 months after NS was made FM.
Or if folk wonder when NS reinstalled the Lord Advocate into Cabinet – they can see 1/6/2016.
About 17 days BEFORE the Brexit vote.
Or when did Westminster decide to build their civil service Hub in Edinburgh? (2015 after the GE when SNP got 56 seats)
And when was the building completed – 2017 – 2 years later.
Appreciate its not everyone’s cup of tea, in which case feel free to scroll on by.
@Daisy Walker says:
25 February, 2021 at 3:41 pm
My point was that it takes about a fortnight to scroll past long-winded posts, which aren’t going to be read my many because they’re so long, regardless of quality of content.
@ Scott.
I don’t presume to speak for the many, or the few. Feel free to scroll past my long – winded posts.
My short posts don’t hit and miss. Just so you know.
LaingB French says:
25 February, 2021 at 10:30 am
Quote
“You do realize that this accumulating shit( for want of a better description) will in all fairness fuck up McSturgeon,s alleged future employment with the United Nations or anywhere else. I could be terribly wrong but who in their right mind would want to employ McMurrel or McSturgoen after their track record. Last thing anyone needs is another gang of Sturgeonites, the clan of inept incompetence/ii/aye aye/ nod and a wink!”
With respect I think you need to delve deeper into those organisations!
The Murrells and their acolytes will fit right in there!!
Wee Monkey
Perfect candidate material for the UN.