The Fall Of Saigon
When the Faculty Of Advocates – the most senior body of lawyers/QCs in the country – is handing out barely-veiled smackdowns like this to the First Minister, then you know you’re in some pretty uncharted jungle.
Nicola Sturgeon’s Scotland is a rogue state.
Because the FoA weren’t alone in their outraged response to the First Minister’s attack on Alex Salmond and the jury in his trial yesterday.
(The attack itself also backfired somewhat.)
It came as the news broke of yet another attempted interference by Sturgeon and her government in the legitimate business of the impossibly-hamstrung Fabiani inquiry, and yet another lie from the SNP leader was exposed.
On a day when she’d taken such a hideous battering at FMQs that even Willie Rennie was managing to score dunks on her.
And the best the SNP could muster by way of a distracting squirrel was punting a truly, bone-jarringly grim piece of barrel-scraping in The Times from David “Reds Under The Bed” Leask and Stewart “Hero Of The Ukraine” McDonald.
And the actual “story” buried in amongst Leask’s trademark gish-gallop of baseless innuendo and hysterical, wholly unevidenced assertions? Two accounts which were supposedly “linked to the Iranians” in some unspecified way had been retweeting Craig Murray’s blog, like thousands of people do every day.
Wow, hold the front – well, actually, hold a very small corner at the bottom of page 46, if that story about the parrot doing fart impressions falls through.
You can call us biased, readers, but we think it’s just a smidge more significant that the country’s most esteemed senior counsel – Roddy Dunlop QC, Dean of the Faculty Of Advocates and the very same man the Scottish Government had hired to fight Alex Salmond’s judicial review before he told them that if they didn’t completely concede the case he’d walk away because they were asking him to do something grossly unethical – is administering a full-scale public arse-booting to the leader of the country.
In normal times, any one of these stories would probably merit a post by itself. But the Scottish Government is falling apart at such speed now that we have to bundle them all up together because by the time we’ve finished writing even a piece as short as this one, God alone knows what else might have happened.
But with the real offensive now just a few hours away, we suspect the FM is nervously checking the number of helicopters left in Vietnam.
The fall of Saigon right enough.
Keep on shovin it right up them, Stu. And while I’m here please consider paying yourself a bloody wage man. It’s payday the morn for me. Expect a bung.
I’m waiting for the announcement that she’s been offered some international (UN maybe, or Scandinavian, or something a la Kezia/John Smith type) job and she’s resigning. Meanwhile, do ANYTHING to pass the time till the bolthole is ready so she can jump before she’s pushed.
Not long now till Tiger Lily’s gone.
With a whimper.
I say,
Not since the days of Russ Abbott and his, “See you Jimmy” character has such an abject mockery been made of Scotland, Her People and the Institutions of Law and Democracy.
Now good day to you.
Craig Murray’s blog is blocked in Russia, btw. No idea why but it was the one Scottish/U.K. site I could never get over there. So it’s highly unlikely to be Russians blogging it.
I think it’s fair to say she’s had a bad day at the office. You could almost feel so…naw.
I thought 2020 was a surreal experience. It’s normal 9 to 5 compared to this week.
And it’s only Thursday.
Anyone care to predict the next 24 hours?
I think the only Huey that the First Minister will be screeching at will be found in the nearest WC cubicle to her office, and somehow I don’t think it will be a Bell UH1 “Huey” helicopter she’ll be gurgling at in the cubicle.
Is Alex Salmond appearing before the Holyrood Inquiry tomorrow Friday 26? Thanks.
For the last time and say it slowly, (Herald, Tom Gordon) this is not the Alex Salmond Inquiry. The Committee is investigating the Scottish Government’s illegal, unfair and biased handling of complaints against the former FM (including a criminal leak of the details to the Daily Record to avoid an interdict) that was conceded on judicial review and wasted at least hundreds of thousands of pounds. Or that’s the theory.
How long before prorogation proceedings are enacted? Sad, disgraceful days, indeed.
I think the only thing Nicola hasn’t tried on is holding her head in her hands and greetin for sympathy but y’know there is always next week
Long past time to go.
The wokeratti must be shitting themselves. If we expel a goodly number of the genderwoowoo roasters then we might salvage the May election.
Sturgeon tried to take down Salmond but messed it up so appallingly that she as merely created a mountian of grief for herself and her co-conspirators. In her apoplexy and frustration she is not only prepared to lay waste to any or all principles of a modern democracy she is also losing her political judgement (see yesterday’s strop). Mr. Salmond (the actual victim here and still her political superior) will play her like a fiddle! Or should I say a barrel organ – the wind up kind. lol!!
Haha Murray Foote on twitter completely misunderstands Faculty of Advocates statement, or pretends to.
And yet again she chose to put Alex Salmond at the centre of her defence. For the thousand time, you cloth-eared tinpot mini Madam Mao, Alex Salmond is innocent, and your opinion about him is just that, an unevidenced irrelevant opinion, and secondly THE INQUIRY IS NOT ABOUT HIM, IT IS ABOUT YOU AND YOUR COLLEAGUES AND YOUR POTENTIAL MALFEASANCE IN PUBLIC OFFICE. Get it right, you twisting, slithering LIAR. And stop the insulting pretence that there is no evidence – there is only a deliberate refusal to allow the evidence to be viewed and debated by YOU, 59 times. Quite treating like us ignorant, pliant idiots you patronising, obfuscating DECEIVER.
Oh, and remember your high minded pledge not to use the covid briefings for political purposes? Well, that was another fat lie, wasn’t it? There are no depths you will not stoop to, in order to save your skin, and screw Scotland.
Graeme Hampton
Holding her head in her hands – aka The Ally MacLeod approach.
Except, she was never as good a manager as Ally.
Apocalypse Now
I can’t wait for this pot to finally boil over!. Hats off to you Sir for keeping us all duly informed.
I’ve only recently found this site. Poor wee Nicola must wonder what’s coming next. Keep up the good work.
Josef Ó Luain says:
25 February, 2021 at 6:12 pm
How long before prorogation proceedings are enacted? Sad, disgraceful days, indeed.
Don’t write this off just yet. If her stint in front of the loaded commitee doesn’t go well, shutting Holyrood may well be the last trick up her sleeve.
And for all those folk mumbling “It can’t happen”, or “They’d never get away with it”, look at what’s happened so far, including the disgust of the Faculty of Advocates, and other legal minds.(Those with at least some degree of integrity.)
I would put NOTHING past the Murrells and their pet political and british civil service reptiles.
Good evening my fellow comrades. I wander if our great leader Vladimir Putin knows the whereabouts of the missing 600,000 rubles?
Graeme Hampton- You made me laugh x
Sturgeon’s idol Clinton often used and still does blame Russia for all sorts of domestic troubles, the Russophobe Stewart McDonald whose Twitter page is laden with anti-Russian garbage, is of course doing Westminster’s bidding for them, it looks like the “Russia/Iran did it bollocks” has now found its way via BritNat hacks possibly coaxed from South of the border and embraced by Sturgeon and her clique in a last ditched defence, to show its all a conspiracy against her by Alex Salmond’s RT followers.
Socrates @6:19
“Holding her head in her hands -aka The Ally MacLeod approach.”
And like Ally, she can’t rely on Masson.
Damned by her very own words- the verdict of the court about Salmond has been denied by her, not accepted at all so she deserves all that is coming to her. She has used her position to still hurl accusations at Salmond and- ‘his behaviour’.
I would suggest her behaviour is much worse – she probably wont go to jail for her behaviour but she was quite prepared to send Alex to jail. She is not alone in the way she has treated the verdict of the court and there are a good few others inside the SNP and the media newsprint and TV who should be going with her even possibly to jail.
I for one don’t want an independent country that is just as corrupt as Westminster.
Wow, only one person has dug this hole. The only amazing thing is that she failed to notice that it was for herself.
Aye but kapelmeister,
Ally was a likeable character, a wee bit out of his depth in the Scotland job, but someone who even up till his death, still had the respect of a lot of Scottish football fans.
@Stu,
You should have a look at timeline of Murray Foote Twitter esp an exchange between him, Farquarson ,McTiernan and McDougll. Amazing.
To be fair to the First Minister at FMQs, she did manage to remember that 29th March is 3 days before 3rd April.
When she was asked about the reopening of places of worship on 5th April, missing Passover 27th March & Easter 4th April, her brain was close to exploding when having to work backwards to imagine being able to accommodate attendance for them.
But nothing to see folks, as Frank Drebin would say.
JohnK @6.11pm.
John.
AS far as I know Alex will appear tomorrow.
Who needs judges and juries in Sturgeon’s Scotland?
Let’s go retro and dispense justice like the good old feudal days on the steps of Holyrood at the court of Queen Nic the deranged.
SilverDarling 6.20.
We’ll never get Apocalypse Now out of this lot.
Maybe an 11 point plan and a hint of a promise of a referendum on the apocalypse by the end of the year, at best.
You can never be too careful with this ghastly virus. I hope AS is taking every precaution. A glass of water in a Committee room, a sandwich from a canteen, anything might be contaminated. I hope he will take his own refreshments to Holyrood and accept no “hospitality”.
Paranoid? Maybe, but in the prevailing surreal circumstances, anything appears to be possible.
Sir Fortescue Wankworthy:
I enjoy the patter; a bit of light relief from the important issues at hand.
Now good day to you.
“For now though, stay safe and take care.
Nicola Sturgeon
Leader of the SNP”
Muh Russians, the madness infesting the Democrats in the US for the past 4 years has now arrived here.
Barrhead Boy has just posted Jim Sillars comaint to Scottish Government civil service that Nicola Sturgeon breached ministerial code.
The end of NS is in sight.
What we need is a whistle-blower or two. If one stepped forward now, he/she would be disembowelled and burned in the big fireplace inside Queensberry House.
We have a delinquent government. Led by a semi-psychotic narcissist. We have gone backwards two-hundred years.
Rule of law ?? Pfft. I’m Nicola Sturgeon don’t you know !!
Besides it’s my wifely duty to keep my hubby out of jail.
Big hooses don’t buy themselves either.
Josef Ó Luain says:
25 February, 2021 at 6:12 pm
How long before prorogation proceedings are enacted? Sad, disgraceful days, indeed.
If that happens how about a call goes out to Joanna Cherry – she has experience of getting prorogation overturned. LOL
If these posh, bewigged, legal prositutes were genuinely decent, independent advocates for the common good everyone would have fair and reasonable access to justice. If you think that is true today then you reckon without a vastly corrupt police service and a legal system mired in feudal bigotry and small mindedness.
They’re going to be questioning Alex Salmond for 4-hours tomorrow. Fabulous.
Was playing FIFA online with my mate last night, who is very much not a political animal, and even he was talking about it.
The game’s up.
Sturgeon is a master at saying “it’s right and proper that I be scrutinised, but can you just please not be so stupid as to ask me any questions”.
@@ Ian McCubbin: Jim Sillars complaint is addressed to Leslie Evans.
What power has a citizen to get their complaint actioned? I fear the answer is “none” but I am hoping I am wrong!
If Boris Johnston and NS were both floundering in the water…..I am not sure who I would save first.
Actually, I am sure, Bojo can be quite funny sometimes.
This
The Scottish people are having to wake up to the fact that the current SNP administration
Is just as lying and corrupt as the lot at Westminster
I know we were being a bit utopian thinking we were a lot better than that
But you really have forced us to swallow a bitter pill
https://twitter.com/music_maman/status/1364691733460758533
F*ck me, what a hypocrite Pete Wishart is, he must surely know Sturgeon is the culprit here.
https://twitter.com/PeteWishart/status/1365008393812013064
At least Ally McLeod brought us victory at Wembley, took us to the World Cup finals and beat the eventual finalists, Holland. The Peru game was his mistake as he overestimated them. In the final analysis it was the draw against Iran which sunk us. It was Iran wot did it. Which brings us back to the theme of this post.
I wouldn’t be at all surprised to find out that the Murgeons are on the phone to Doris begging him to shut down Holyrood
Can’t seem to upload the clip of Peter Murrell at the end of ANicolalapse Now, saying
“The horror, the horror.”
Sturgeon’s favourite minion still pumping the Russia did it shite out.
“Why Putin could view it as in Russia’s strategic interest to undermine the campaign for Scottish independence ”
https://twitter.com/ThomasCArthur/status/1364972090777096192
Someone is definitely feeling the pressure. I received this email at 18:45 this evening, from Sturgeon:
“Real hope is in the air
Hello David,
Last year was a difficult one for many of us, but as the days begin to lighten, we can look ahead and think of Spring.
And at last, there’s real hope in the air. Earlier in the week we published our route map out of lockdown, and today we passed 1.5 million vaccinations.
We’re on track
It’s worth taking a few minutes to read the Financial Times assessment of how by locking down earlier and prioritising care home vaccinations we’ve saved lives here in Scotland.
So, as we get ready to move out of lockdown, we’ve planned a reopening of our economy and society in the months ahead.
Together, we are beating back this virus – so please stick with it.
22 polls in a row says Yes
22 polls say Yes to Scottish independence
Great news again today, with another new poll on independence. The latest Ipsos Mori poll makes this the 22nd poll in a row to show the majority of people in Scotland supporting independence.
Securing a second referendum
The next Scottish election will be the most important in Scottish history. Every single vote will count. That’s why it’s more important than ever that you make your voice heard on May 6.
IndyRef2 – it’s in the post
And finally, applying for a postal vote is an easy and secure way of letting you vote from home. Amidst the pandemic, it’s your safest option.
You can apply for a postal vote by completing this form and posting it to your local electoral office.
For now though, stay safe and take care.
Nicola Sturgeon”
DISTRACT, DISTRACT!
Now that I can no longer stomach the SNP, my vote will go to the next party that answers the question:
“So what currency will you use in an independent Scotland?”
with,
“Bitcoin”.
-Republicofscotland-
Wishart? Saying that those with a public platform need to be respectful? An elected MP who spends evening after evening sending abuse to anybody who dares to question him, especially independence supporters? The man who called someone a wanker and called unionists “nawbags”?
There are a lot of awful people lurking about Scottish politics but do you know what, he might be in a class of his own.
I am glad I don’t live in Perth as I would vote for anybody who could get rid of Wishart. The Tory candidate, Kim Kardashian, the ghost of the Duke of Cumberland, anyone. The guy is a disgrace to the SNP and frankly the whole country.
Indeed, if we do not respect the verdict of an impartial jury then surely we must be in contempt of the law? And Nicola Sturgeon continues to display her contempt of the verdict and the law every single day now.
Comparing versions of Alex Salmond’s submission one thing stood out for me. It is evident that the second meeting could not have occurred if the first meeting had not taken place. And are we seriously to believe that Peter Murrell wasn’t a fly on the wall at the second meeting when his messages prove otherwise?
And I think I have worked out where the ring-fenced £600,000 went. Into the First Minister’s fancy clothes and make-up. She seems to have an expensive new outfit on every day.
Just got an email from NS
‘Real Hope is in the Air’ blah, blah, blah
She is right about one thing – Hope that she fucks right off
I saw 3 tweets linked to the SNP people with this Russia/Iran link earlier. I wish I could do a massive face palm on here because I reckon (especially this week) it’s more like Iraq and not Indy folk. Comical Ally appears to have been cloned several times proving that overdoing it causes decay. Who the hell is coordinating these attacks on people who have been in the Indy movement since some of them were born! Specifically those who refuse to weesht
You can only circle the wagons to the extent that they’re touching each other. After that your building a pyre.
I was quite taken with the statement of NS in the Record article referenced by Stu entitled
“Nicola Sturgeon accused of ministerial code breach over “attack” on Alex Salmond during covid briefing” that :
“I do worry about not just the women in this case, whose voices have been silenced, whose motives have been maligned, who have been accused, or it seems to me, to be accused of being liars and conspiracists, and I think that is wrong.”
Here we have Scotland’s current FM saying that the Alphabetties have been “accused…of being liars…”
This is quite breathtaking. For a member of the public to have such a view is, to some extent, understandable, but for the so-called Leader not only to have that view but to state it publically is appalling. It demonstrates the respect which she has for our Judiciary.
@Mike, 6:51,
Good point. That’s what I think is the silver lining here – we had a sense of unarticulated cosy exceptionalism about how we were somehow better, just because we were from “up here” and wanted independence (or in some cases said so). Truth is we have just as many venal, lying self serving arseholes as anywhere else. Mebbe even more, per capita. Going forward I think that we will all be a little more open eyed, and humbled. Getting to independence is hard, complex and determined, selfless work.
If Nicola Murrell was to go, will she take Clinton foundation placewoman Devi Sridhar with her
‘Frank, get the helicopter door!’
Just read that Jim Sillars complaint about Sturgeon on breaking the ministerial code.
Quite something! She is toast.
Real hope is in the air according to an e-mail from that nice Nicola Sturgeon woman. All she wants is both votes SNP by postal vote if I want a second Indyref and as we have 22 polls in a row wanting Yes seems like a no brainer. No mention of how to get a second Indyref. I doubt I will still be in the SNP in May and they have lost my second vote and are working incredibly hard on losing my first.
Anyone seen Alyn Smiths new Twitter profile pic? Changed 1hr ago. His good self and the Covid Queen!!!
This Russian nonsense is no surprise when you consider the reaction to Novichok and the Salisbury Incident from McDonald, Blackford and Sturgeon. Why would any Scottish government automatically believe briefings from the security services, whose avowed aim must be to crush Scottish independence?
Come to that, briefings from SAGE either, when the Scottish representatives have to sit there mutely while decisions are contemptuously taken without reference to them?
Sturgeon is basically saying her kangaroo SNP court. Is correct, and the actual court decision is wrong. Surely that in itself is enough for her to be removed.
She is wildly aiming shots at everyone. I think she needs sectioned, such is her level of delusion.
One thing I am certain of is that Nicola Sturgeon will not be forgiven for her deliberate damaging actions. Being Scotland we may tolerate her but forgive, no.
‘You can only circle the wagons to the extent that they’re touching each other. After that your building a pyre.’
Like that saying Garrion, thats a timely warning.
Many stating the similarity between Sturgeon/Clinton. I also see huge comparisons with Corbyn’s Labour. Hated by the neo-liberal capital classes, he had to be demolished, and after several attempts they came up with anti-semitism.
How has that left the Labour Party ?
Well, back in the hands of a raging Capitalist trailing Boris in the polls by 6 points despite Covid and having recently appointed an ex-Israeli official (spy) to head the Labour Party’s Communications.
Seriously people, this will not go away for years. The SNP are ruined.
Like Corbyn should have sacked every post holder in the party or just left to start a new party, if we don’t learn that lesson you can forget independence this decade.
Corbyn left Blairites at the heart of the Party and they despised him, so much so that many Labour officials actually conspired against the Party in the 2017 GE. This all came to light in the Labour Leaked Report.
The SNP is travelling down a very similar road.
Bob-She hasn’t even the humility to stop and apologise to everyone. She just keeps on lashing out. A serious personality disorder.
I have seen narcissism in my own family. You have to just walk away from their lives, otherwise they bring you down.We just need to get as far from her as possible.
@President Xiden,
Peru were holders of the Copa América in 1978 , in the tournament beating Brazil 3-1 on the way to the final where the defeated Colombia,
Iran were holders of the Asian Cup in 1978,
Holland no to shabby either,
and England werenae there 🙂
@ Anonymoose says:
25 February, 2021 at 6:10 pm
“she’ll be gurgling at in the cubicle”
Paging Josh Aaron Mennie.
The really objectionable thing that all legal people in Scotland and a huge chunk of the electorate are being asked to stomach is that the legal system (supposed to be there for all of us, without fear or favour) has been so bent to the whim of government.
I do not believe either, like Mr MacAskill, that an entire institution can be suborned, but individuals can be suborned in a kind of group think that ensures that the government machine runs on the tracks that have been laid out for it, at any and all cost.
Looking back, it was all there in 2014, post referendum, and has been there ever since. Nothing that has happened has been in any way a departure from the group think – not the refusal to capitalize on the upsurge in membership and support after the referendum, not in the flawed approach to a UK-wide anti Brexit stance which was always doomed, not in refusing to use the umpteen mandates an poll showings, not in refusing to drop the S30 Order and a referendum when it is so obvious that neither will be possible, not in failing to announce a referendum date in 2019, not in the whole Salmond debacle, not in GRA madness and not in the (coupled) anti democratic hate Crime Bill. If the FM lasts till the election, there will be no referendum in 2021, no referendum in 2022, no referendum in 2023…
The really eye-opening thing, though (or, maybe, just par for the course) is the sheer cringing and spineless behaviour of so many of our elected representatives, both MPs and MSPs in their total inaction. Some I had held in some esteem and respect. No more.
They are drawing fat salaries at public expense, and will draw fat pensions, also at public expense. Where are you now Mike Russell, John Swinney, Mhairi Black… ? You can all talk a good fight, but, when push comes to shove, you are silent. There are those who have every right to be proud of their public record, and they will know who they are, because they have all spoken out bravely. We, the Scottish public, need to know where we are going, and we do not need to be told that we are going to jail for questioning the bloody obvious.
Ken MacIntyre says:
25 February, 2021 at 6:12 pm
For the last time and say it slowly, (Herald, Tom Gordon) this is not the Alex Salmond Inquiry. The Committee is investigating the Scottish Government’s illegal, unfair and biased handling of complaints against the former FM (including a criminal leak of the details to the Daily Record to avoid an interdict) that was conceded on judicial review and wasted at least hundreds of thousands of pounds. Or that’s the theory.
I notice that the press and Nicola Sturgeon yesterday are STILL making it sound like Mr Salmond is under investigation , when in fact it is Sturgeon’s Government and the Murrell’s behaviour which are under scrutiny. Sturgeon’s remarks on television yesterday were contestably illegal as far as I’m concerned.
John K asked at 6:11 pm:
“Is Alex Salmond appearing before the Holyrood Inquiry tomorrow Friday 26? Thanks.”
Holyrood tomorrow.
Handling of Harassment Complaints.
The Committee will meet on Friday 26 February at 12:30pm in the Robert Burns Room when it will take evidence from Alex Salmond.
I don’t know if it will be shown on the Scottish Parliament TV.
All well and good, that’s the Rule of Law laid down for the body politic and the little people. However, one of their own has already brought the Scottish legal system into question and disrepute (and others before him) any public ladling for them?
Like I said on the matter of disrepute and honour; I now know how high the bar is…and how high The Bar is.
We would find it difficult to keep up without you Stuart Campbell.
Many, many thanks for your exceptional work.
It’s a bad day in Scottish politics when even Willie Rennie acts like he knows what he’s talking about.
I am finding it hard to comment anymore. It’s just all so damn sad, it really is. When she took over the SNP, NS was handed a golden ticket, dedicated supporters – the kind who cram into the hydro to listen to her- enthusiastic backers, online and in person, and a massive influx of new members, swiftly followed by winning every MP seat in Scotland apart from one.
But what did she do with all that, and the successive electoral mandates? Nothing for independence, that is clear. Instead she indulged her own pet projects and the ridiculous ideologies espoused by the gender cultists. Anybody in the party objected, she simply ‘threw them under the metaphorical bus’.
I just worry, that this will lose the election to the unionist creeps (red and blue), and leave Scotland forever locked as a colony of England.
Honestly, if it was a trivial matter, I’d be keen to wheesht for indy, but this is NOT trivial. It goes to the heart of how our country is run.
Something I thought was very telling today in one of NS answers at FMq’s, was when she in essence (paraphrased) said ‘..sacrificed on the altar of one man’s ego..’ – that of course meaning Alex Salmond. What a bitter comment to make. If everything was tickety boo, as she insists, she would have no concern over Mr Salmond’s evidence, but that single comment just sounded out of sync with the way she was defending herself.
I watched her today, and I just think, how can somebody throw it all away? Did they really think they would get away with it – even if it is only partially correct? Are her thoughts so dominated by ideologies that she thinks what was done was right??
Like I say, it is all very sad. It really is, and replacing her with Angus Robertson will just make matters worse, since many folk do not like how he was pushed in at the expense of Joanna Cherry.
Can we have our old SNP back, please. You know, the one that had a razor sharp focus on Independence, where members were not continually slagged off by SNP MP’s (talking about you comfy Pete and Mr. Smith), where women’s rights were not treated with utter contempt at the hands of unelected (and out of control) woke infiltrators, and where the party was run in a democratic fashion.
Is that possible?? Is that too much to ask?? There’s an election coming.
Big Jock she is worse than that. She is a psychopath. Dictionary definition – a mentally unstable person especially : a person having an egocentric and antisocial personality marked by a lack of remorse for one’s actions, an absence of empathy for others, and often criminal tendencies. And that’s just the half of it.
Replying to Ian McCubbin at 6:42pm.
Here’s the Link to Jim Sillar’s letter:
https://www.barrheadboy.com/jim-sillars-lodges-formal-complaint-against-the-first-minister/
[smiley thing]
“I do worry about not just the women in this case, whose voices have been silenced, whose motives have been maligned, who have been accused, or it seems to me, to be accused of being liars and conspiracists, and I think that is wrong.”
I have heard this sort of nonsense frequently. I in a previous life had to put folk to court. Most you got convicted some were found to be innocent.
Trial by jury occasionally cause surprise and frustration when you lost a case and someone you felt was guilty walked free it was not nice but it happened.
I don’t recall ever someone charged with 13 charges of a very similar nature walking free on all charges. I don’t say it has never occurred but I don’t recall it.
Now here’s the problem with the case against Mr Salmond the simple facts are that having listened carefully THE JURY DID NOT BELIEVE THE WITNESSES AGAINST Mr Salmond.
They did not convict on one charge.
It seems to me that the jury THOUGHT THE WITNESSES WERE LYING.
It’s that simple.
Big Jock says:
25 February, 2021 at 7:26 pm
I think she needs sectioned, such is her level of delusion.
—
That’s uncalled for and shows a lack of understanding what the grounds for compulsory detention actually are.
I’ll be honest I’m a bit tone-deaf, so to speak, when it comes to judging debates when highly polished speakers go against mediocre opponents but even is saw how bad Nicola Sturgeon was in difficulty today at FM questions.
It really is bad when you somebody is having difficulty with the likes of Willie Rennie.
It’s obvious that Sturgeon is gone. It’s just a question of when.
This is really going to damage the SNP and their electoral chances at the forthcoming elections. In that way, there is no option but to vote SNP for first vote and for a pro-indy party for the second vote.
Google Twenty warning signs you may be dealing with a psychopath.
Scotland was FIFA ranked 7 in the world in 1978 (their last time in the top 10 I believe). They really should have made it to the quarter finals.
Totally unprepared (“Where’s Peru?”). Thought they just had to turn up and play a decent game. They soon found out. If Ormond (who actually built the team) had stayed on as manager they would have gone far IMHO.
BTW: Scotland’s highest world ranking – No 2 in the 1930s (just behind Argentina, would you believe)!
“confidence in the judicial system and in the rule of law”
Sorry, but that horse bolted when Police Scotland, the Crown Agent, and the Lord Advocate took it upon themselves to behave in the manner which we have seen.
I recall Craig Murray being escorted from the Salmond trial by cops, who themselves had no idea why he was being ejected, because some jumped up little twerp thought it was his job to treat the justice system like a private member’s club, where only those with deep pockets, or who are employed by those with deep pockets, can be assured of fair and equal treatment under the law.
Somebody said that you judge a country’s judicial system by the simple act of being aware of how you feel when you see individuals wearing Police uniforms – do you feel reassured, or do you feel uneasy?
I don’t quite extend that measure to Police Scotland – yet, but when I see the initials COPFS I certainly feel a sense of unease. Coupled it must be said with anger. But I’m sure my levels of anger are nothing compared to those of Salmond, Murray and Hirst.
The whole stinking, corrupt edifice that is the COPFS needs razed to the ground. I just hope we have a big enough wrecking ball to do the job.
The idea that the Ayatollahs are sitting around going ‘well the Crown office has only gone and redacted more of Salmonds evidence, fckin outrageous!’ has absolutely made my week. Leasky really is priceless.
I see the french have had enough of the gender woo.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9300593/France-ban-confusing-gender-neutral-words.html
Graeme Hampton at 6:12pm
I suspect she did just that, shortly after the photo used in the Herald story was taken.
Can’t say that I feel any sympathy for her. Not after what she has done.
Oh please don’t tell me that the regurgitated crap of the Kremlin is yet another cringeworthy, pathetic bottom of the barrel attempt by these idiots to portray Mr Salmond, after the British state has been doing so repeatedly and unsuccessfully for over 3 years, as an Russian stooge because of his RT programme.
“the Iranians” What Iranians? Scotland does not have a problem with Iran. USA and Israel do. So who is telling these idiots what to say?
For goodness sake, don’t these people have any sense of dignity? They are embarrassing themselves (and us) with these cheap shots.
Yeah, the official SNP quoting reds under the bed, modern day Dr strangelove – David Leask, did it for me..
Through the looking glass folks.
@Career Politician says:
25 February, 2021 at 7:00 pm
Now that I can no longer stomach the SNP, my vote will go to the next party that answers the question:
“So what currency will you use in an independent Scotland?”
with,
“Bitcoin”.
Too volatile, I suspect. Better off with our own currency, I think.
Jack Murphy @ 7.48
Thank you for that link to Jim Sillars letter.
This is truly astonishing stuff coming from all sides now.
NS is falling into a sinkhole.
FMQ’S, AS tmrw, Letter from the Advocates, Law Society of Scotland, Intervention from Mc Cleish and Jim Sillars, Ruthless at last being ruthless, even Willie Rennie managing to land one on her, Jacquie Baillie outstanding.
At last there are some people, for whatever reason, ready to stand up for Scotland.
How sad this all is at a time when we should have been preparing for independence.
We must not lose sight of the reason we all get up in the morning. Scotland will be free and it is up to each of us now to do what we can to achieve that.
Lest the higher politics obscure what is happening on the ground.
The suffering of ordinary folk.
No party politics.
This is about the rule of law and human rights, and Scotland is in big trouble.
“You know that tyranny is occurring when the most innocent and honourable of people are targeted”
Thinking of your earlier blog today, and of Sillars and MacAskill.
https://www.tns2019.org/new-blog-1/2021/2/25/it-became-tribal-it-became-lord-of-the-flies
robertknight @ 7:56
“confidence in the judicial system and in the rule of law”
“Sorry, but that horse bolted when Police Scotland, the Crown Agent, and the Lord Advocate took it upon themselves to behave in the manner which we have seen.”
Perhaps that confidence and horse bolted a lot earlier, around 1707 in fact, when Scotland’s legal establishment made sure of its own not inconsiderable protections and privileges within the Treaty of Union, and then proceeded to settle into the auld Scottish parliament building itself.
It’s notable that in all this AS has not made a single public utterance against NS personally, referring instead (and I paraphrase) to a plot by a clique of her closest hingers oan. However, her increasingly shrill and hysterical outbursts even to the point of gainsaying a High Court verdict, are highly targeted at AS personally.
It frankly beggars belief that the unlawful ‘procedure’ adopted against the advice of the Cabinet Office and the police was anything other than a Get Salmond policy. In her keenness ostensibly to exclude herself from any part of it, unlike the procedure for current ministers and before Ms A & B’s ‘concerns’ morphed into ‘complaints’ miraculously as soon as ‘the procedure’ excluding the FM was in place, well, have you ever come across a more blatant case of the lady doth protest too much?
Astonishing hypocrisy from Alyn Smith today
Watching Holyrood, disgusted to see some MSPs making women less safe and undermining Scotland’s institutions making Trumpian wild allegations with zero proof. History really will not be kind to them.
and this from someone who supports the GRA – just think about how that the safety of Scottish women and undermines Scotland’s institutions!
This MP, concerned about women’s safety, did not stand up to defend Joanna Cherry when she was issued with death threats which I have read may have originated in Stirling ….shame on you, Alyn.
I say,
When Lady Wankworthy was found compromised in the stables with my Prize Arabian we simply flogged the stable boys and sacked the underfloor staff and damned their eyes, the bally lot of them, by Jove!
Now good day to you.
Kev says:
25 February, 2021 at 8:10 pm
The idea that the Ayatollahs are sitting around going ‘well the Crown office has only gone and redacted more of Salmonds evidence, fckin outrageous!’ has absolutely made my week. Leasky really is priceless.
This made me laugh.
It’s a less well known fact though that Hassan Rouhani, President of Iran, went to Glasgow Caledonian Uni…
Nicola! That’s no a claymore above your head !
It’s the SWORD of DAMOCLES!
I said WEEKS ago that Scotland was a rogue state. I even asked the question on Craig Murrays site to see if anyone agreed with my assessment. Of course, everybody laughed at the notion, so it’s hugely gratifying for me to see that The Rev has arrived at the same conclusion.
I’ll tell you now what Mrs. Murrells ‘strategy’ is and we’ll see if I’m wrong.
She’s going to ride this out all the way to the inevitable vote of No Confidence and that vote will fail because she has The Greens onside. They’ll save her skin to allow her to continue all the good work she’s doing on their behalf, because they have no chance of even a sniff of power so are unable to do this work themselves. They need Mrs. Murrell in place.
And so, Mrs. Murrell will survive and is going nowhere because as I’ve said umpteen times here, she’s bulletproof and The Greens are her shield.
Just announced that one David clegg is doing the paper review on sky news tonight!
Henry mcleish on at half 9 giving his take as well apparently.
Shoumd be interesting…
Alyn Smith.
I woke, no pun intended, to him on the radio this morning. An awful experience. I’m still not over it.
Throughout the recent dénouement of all these matters governmental, concerning politicians, lawyers and the legal establishment in all their high falutin’ finery I am viscerally reminded of the smell of a primary school toilet around 1966. And it were not a pretty sight either.
@John Martini says:
25 February, 2021 at 8:16 pm
I see the french have had enough of the gender woo.
The French have a language committee that discusses usage, adoption of foreign words, and so on. French nouns can also, potentially, have one of three genders.
I didn’t open the Daily Heil link, incidentally.
Any truth to the rumour Khomeini was partial to a deep fried Mars bar supper?
I hope Alex makes a entrance tomorrow and milks it for all its worth , stands in front of the Parliament and lets the assembled press and media know the last time he approached this entrance he was stopped and escorted off the premises by order of Nicola Sturgeons office .
Yer Barred Pal now fk off baldy or words to that effect .
I guess it will be a strange atmosphere with opposition MSPs giving Alex respect and SNP MSPs wishing he had just disappeared and was rotting in some prison , you could almost hear them muttering ” that fkn Jury this was supposed to be fixed ”
I guess Alex will have the measure of the SNP bods what winds them up and how to really piss them off goad them into doing what he wants and not what they have been told to do ,nothing like being on stage and freezing and forgetting the script
Or more commonly known as ” shittin themselves ”
remember Alex is not on trial here its not him being investigated its Nicola Sturgeon personally and her governments actions Alex has nothing to defend he has been through two trials one criminal one that could have seen him in Prison
Nicola Sturgeons personal investigation and trial is about to start despite all the bluster of the last few days the vicious personal attacks bordering on possibly attempting to have him sectioned as a danger her words Alex Salmond is “dangerous” because he is airing dangerous conspiracy theories
IIpHBET comrades. Leasky has roombled us. All oprateeves destroy raadios at vunce. Dese are edible. vee meet again ven comrade Salmondski gives ze signal een code on RT. Up ze revulushon.
Astonishing hypocrisy from Alyn Smith today
His lies and utter vile dross which he spews out of his mouth has already cost him dear in the courts. One of the head clowns in Clownworld.
@ Derek at 9.13
German, Russian, and Latin have 3 genders.
French has only 2, though they can both be either singular or plural.
On the plus side, Westminster is undoubtedly throwing everything at us in order to keep Scotland as its Colony.
They don’t usually like displaying the cuckoo in the nest this obviously.
And as much as they like to ‘divide and conquor’, lets have a look through the half filled glass shall we.
Who is now on side, that were not before – Scottish Fishing Industry. (Or at least they will be, once we start marching).
Who else – Scottish Farmers – or at least they will be, once we start marching.
Scotland’s legal profession – given the letters today (and the Internal Market Bill – which has the ability to ‘disqualify’ the whole lot of them). For once I think they’ll actually join in with the marching.
Scottish Pensioners – If we can get it through to them, its the only way to save the NHS, and THEIR pensions. I think a lot of them are with us.
Now here’s the urgency – if the SNP/Greens get a Holyrood majority (assuming Holyrood isn’t gazumped) then the Hate Crime Bill will make web sites like this a thing of the past!!!!
That’s the danger.
We will never get Indy, without Freedom of Speech, and the most freedom of speech we’ve obtained, has been through sites such as this one – given that the TV and MSM are corrupt.
There remain some very good people within the SNP – and maybe, in time, they will get the wheels back on.
SCOTLAND DOES NOT HAVE TIME.
There was an argument – a valid one – that in order to deliver Indy – there had to be an experienced, party of Government to take control and negotiate same.
The SNP – under NS – is rapidly loosing that ‘safe pair of hands’ reputation and swapping it for loony left/rogue state despots.
As much as it was a valid argument – under present circumstances – there is a bigger one, a more urgent one – ensure the public get a chance to express their democratic wishes at the Ballot box.
Get Plebiscite Indy on the ballot box in May – if its only on the list, but covers the whole of Scotland – it will ROCK everything. Remember the second vote (in the voters mind) is the protest vote.
And folks we need to campaing for it now. We can’t keep waiting for the AS/NS thing to get sorted – the BritNats will keep moving the goalposts, switching off the microphone, corrupting the video footage.
So – how do we march – legally – during Covid lockdown (cause no way is that getting lifted any time soon)?
I suggest we do it locally (as part of our exercise).
I suggest we do it at traffic lights/junctions with placards – so its very hi viz. But wearing masks so its safe.
I suggest we do it on the routes to hospitals and GP practices.
And I suggest we do it, across the country, at set times, for maximum exposure.
In 2014 we were promised Devo Max. We are less than 3 months away from Devo Nowt.
In 2014 we had a country to win.
Now we have a country to Save. Yes Now. May 2021 Vote Indy.
Mist 001
Aye en u were telt years ago ur a yoon twata.Shut up yoon. You stay in France.Be gone wae yi.
I’ve been meaning to write for some time….this is a really interesting blog.
I am English and I am a Unionist, but I am dismayed by what is happening in Scotland.
I much prefer Alex Salmond to Nicola Sturgeon. He is respectful of the English and his words on 23rd March last year were humble, contrite and well-judged in the face of a growing pandemic.
I hope whatever is being covered up here will be exposed. There is something really wrong in the Scottish Government and the SNP. They cannot be ultra-woke and hide behind women’s anonymity. I think this issue is so important that we now need to know whose these women are.
The SNP are also making a mockery of traditional values and are introducing terrible laws with regard to gender recognition and hate thought. This is madness.
I never thought Alex Salmond or Joanna Cherry would be people I have much time for – but I am listening now!
Please keep on exposing the truth! Thank you.
Hi Bob Mack says at 9:17 pm.
You typed,
“IIpHBET comrades. Leasky has roombled us. All oprateeves destroy raadios at vunce. Dese are edible. vee meet again ven comrade Salmondski gives ze signal een code on RT. Up ze revulushon.”
Weel you say zat only vance? We need “Nighthawk”…
What effect does this have on Holyrood?
When Sturgeon goes she shouldn’t be allowed to walk away into the sunset with the fortune she and her husband have made at Bute House. She should be investigated for the framing of AS and if the evidence points to her and her husband they should be prosecuted. This goes for all involved. There should also be an investigation into the missing referendum money.
And we must not forget Wolfe`s involvement in the malicious prosecution of Salmond, Murray and Hirst so he should also be thoroughly investigated.
Release the McKraken, comrad, McQanonski.
Just had a lightbulb moment…
Sturgeon and her cronies are going to turn Scotland into such a stinking, corrupt, shit-pit of a colonial outpost that Westminster will dissolve the Union and declare themselves the independent Kingdom of England & Northern Ireland!
We’ll be the equivalent of the embarrassing cousin from the boondocks, with the bad teeth, bad hair, bad clothes, a bad case of impetigo and head lice. They’ll want shot of us in a heartbeat.
Well done Nicola – lovin’ your work!
There is a travel alert for most of Scotland tomorrow. Details at https://twitter.com/ComeToGhana
Ignore at your peril.
Astonished says:
25 February, 2021 at 6:13 pm
Long past time to go.
The wokeratti must be shitting themselves. If we expel a goodly number of the genderwoowoo roasters then we might salvage the May election.
No. You boys are stuffed big time.
How on earth did Mike Russell become SNP President? His tweets this week are bizarre. Has he been switched onto full deflection mode?
robertknight says: at 9:45 pm
“We’ll be the equivalent of the embarrassing cousin from the boondocks, with the bad teeth, bad hair, bad clothes, a bad case of impetigo and head lice.”
Oi! Don’t you be dissin’ the zoolander derilicte lockdown style!
Angela haggerty currently showing herself up on sky news. Her – there’s no smoking gun. Bonnington – aye there is. The crown office are just not letting anyone see it (even though everyone’s seen it).
Mcleish before it was a disgrace. More splinters in his arse than pinnochio and only manged to have a go at the mooth and bojo. Now I see why even the SFA ignored his report
So who’s up for the Ken Clarke gig?
Anyone?
Heeeellllllooooooooo…
Helllllooooo…
Helllloooo…
Elllooo…
Lllloooo…
Ooooo…
Sigh…
Sniff…
Oh well…
Click.
Thought Bonnington was excellent.
So scholarly and measured.
What is it about that Haggerty that she keeps getting invited on prestigious shows?
As for McLeish, complete waste of space.
He could never make up his mind as to whether he was Labour or a nationalist.
I have been advised by Rev Stu to NOT provide any links to redacted info. “Alert readers” will, of course, have the sources bookmarked.
At FM’s Questions today, in answer to Ruth Davidson’s mentions of the redacted sections (12, 13, 16, 17, 30), NS stated,
”Every single allegation and claim and assertion that she has just made there was included in the written evidence that I submitted to the committee…
[cut]
So all of that – the meeting on the 2nd of April, the meeting three days earlier on the 29th of March, 2018, the fact that a completely separate matter, a media query came to the SNP in November 2017 – that’s not a cover-up. I put that in my written evidence and I submitted it the committee months ago.”
What did she say in that evidence, submitted in August, 2020?
”Alex Salmond told me on 2 April 2018 at a meeting at my home that complaints against him were being investigated under the Procedure. At that meeting, he showed me a copy of the letter he had received outlining the detail of the complaints.
As has been reported already, four days earlier – 29 March 2018 – I had spoken with Geoff Aberdein (former Chief of Staff to Alex Salmond) in my office at the Scottish Parliament.
Mr Aberdein was in Parliament to see a former colleague and while there came to see me.
I had forgotten that this encounter had taken place until I was reminded of it in, I think, late January/early February 2019.
For context, I think the meeting took place not long after the weekly session of FMQs and in the midst of a busy day in which I would have been dealing with a multitude of other matters.
However, from what I recall, the discussion covered the fact that Alex Salmond wanted to see me urgently about a serious matter, and I think it did cover the suggestion that the matter might relate to allegations of a sexual nature.
Around this time, I had been made aware separately of a request from Mr Aberdein for me to meet with Alex Salmond.
The impression I had at this time was that Mr Salmond was in a state of considerable distress, and that he may be considering resigning his party membership.
However, while I suspected the nature of what he wanted to tell me – for reasons set out below – it was Alex Salmond who told me on the 2 April that he was being investigated under the Procedure – and what the detail of the complaints was. It is this meeting – due to the nature of the information shared with me at it – that has always been significant in my mind.
As stated above, I suspected the reason Alex Salmond wanted to see me on April 2 was that he was facing an allegation of sexual misconduct.
Although my contact with Mr Aberdein on 29 March 2018 may have contributed to that suspicion, it was not the only factor.”
What did AS state in his submission, in the pertinent sections that now cannot be used, because the committee has “unpublished” them?
Even although the submission was published on Monday evening, and has been widely reported in the MSM.
Mr Aberdein had been asked by Ms Lloyd to be her contact with AS and they jointly arranged a meeting with the First Minister in the Scottish Parliament on 29th March 2018. This meeting was for the purpose of discussing the complaints and thereafter arranging a direct meeting between AS and the First Minister. There was never the slightest doubt what the meeting was about.
Any suggestion by the First Minister to the Scottish Parliament (Official Report, 8th October 2020) that the meeting was ‘fleeting or opportunistic’ is simply untrue. It was agreed on the 29th March 2018 at the meeting in the Scottish Parliament attended by Mr Aberdein and the First Minister and another individual that the meeting between AS and the First Minister would take place on 2nd April at her home near Glasgow. Self-evidently only the First Minister could issue that invitation to her private home.
In attendance at the meeting on 2nd April 2018 were Mr Aberdein, Mr Hamilton, Ms Lloyd and AS. The First Minister and AS met privately and then there was a general discussion with all five of them. AS’s purpose was to alert the First Minister to the illegality of the process (not being aware at that time of her involvement in it) and to seek an intervention from the First Minister to secure a mediation process to resolve the complaints.
The First Minister told Parliament (see Official Report of 8th,10th & 17th January 2019) that she first learned of the complaints against AS when he visited her home on 2nd April 2018. It is alleged that is untrue and is a breach of the Ministerial Code.
The evidence from Mr Aberdein that he personally discussed the existence of the complaints, and summarised the substance of the complaints, with the First Minister in a pre arranged meeting in Parliament on 29th March 2018 arranged for that specific purpose cannot be reconciled with the position of the First Minister to Parliament. The fact that Mr Aberdein learned of these complaints in early March 2018 from the Chief of Staff to the First Minister who thereafter arranged for the meeting between Mr Aberdein and the First Minister on 29th March to discuss them, is supported by his sharing that information contemporaneously with AS, Kevin Pringle and Duncan Hamilton, Advocate.
As the above original sections have been redacted by the committee, they cannot be part of AS’s oral evidence on Friday. They no longer exist!
Therefore, NS is correct in her allegation that there is not “a shred of evidence”!
Who, and on whose instructions, decided that these last-minute redactions were vital?
My SNP membership is now hanging by one thread, on that shoogly peg.
NS
New Vocation
Me Love you Long Time…
What can it be?
https://twitter.com/Jeggit/status/1365055411292950541
Has anyone else noticed a lot less twitter activity from Sturgeon over this last few days?
Jeggit is based in Dublin…..only saying like
I may be ignorant, and I may be urged to BE MORE ALERT, but I have a question about tomorrow.
When the redactions happened, and Salmond pulled out, what has changed?
Are these parts still redacted – and therefore fully off limits for discussion? And if so, why did Salmond agree to come back tomorrow?
Were any other specific assurances given?
Chere Mme Leslie Evans
Je suis Jim Sillars
Cordialement
Ian M
Jeggit – Its got to be Salmond standing in May, hasnt it?
I think all of this is a battle between the old and the new.
The old are playing catch up.
The new reckon they can manipulate media to their own ends without bothering too much about facts and whatnot. However this only works with goldfish.
Neil in Glasgow 9.15.
No, but I’m told he allegedly may have perhaps favoured a nice banana fritter dipped in Nuttichoc,* (as I’m sure many readers of this fine site do as well).
*not its real name.
P Jackson; “I am English and I am a Unionist”
Did you vote for brexit too?
Just watched FMQs again and yes I believe I have just watched a star performance a actress right up there amongst the all time greats definitely Oscar material she is a master of deflection .
It wasn’t me
I will certainly answer questions , because I have made sure the committee put the questions I want to answer so I can claim I have cooperated fully ,
I noticed she has a habit of inserting a wee snide remark at the end of the deflection process she pissed off Jackie Ballie big time by accusing her of being a representative of Alex Salmond then continued to sprinkle her replies with wee remarks about Alex Salmond she just can’t help herself .
James Horace says:
25 February, 2021 at 10:19 pm
“Jeggit – Its got to be Salmond standing in May, hasnt it?”
Even better than that, from what I understand.
”
Hatuey says:
25 February, 2021 at 10:25 pm
James Horace says:
25 February, 2021 at 10:19 pm
“Jeggit – Its got to be Salmond standing in May, hasnt it?”
Even better than that, from what I understand”
Is this going to match the hype?
Can’t believe the Rev is falling down on the job so badly as to miss this from his original list.
25th February 2021
Law Society President Amanda Millar has called on all those with a public platform to consider the language they use carefully when discussing our independent legal system.
Amanda said: “The principle of an independent legal system and respect for the rule of law are pillars of our democracy of which Scots can be rightly proud. While emotions can run high, it is important that in the heat of debate this fundamental aspect of our society continues to be respected and held dear.
“Every person with a public platform, whether in our parliament or elsewhere, should reflect carefully on the language they use, and respect the rule of law and the role of the legal profession.”
https://www.lawscot.org.uk/news-and-events/law-society-news/maintaining-respect-for-the-rule-of-law-in-public-debate/
So that’s the Faculty of Advocates, Scottish Legal News and the Law Society of Scotland all lining up giving it the full-on, official laldy.
James Caithness says:
25 February, 2021 at 10:14 pm
Has anyone else noticed a lot less twitter activity from Sturgeon over this last few days?
—-
Thank fuck for that, I’m sick of seeing her face plastered over every page on news websites and every scotgov announcement, she’s all over twitter like a bad rash, it’s almost like there’s nobody else in government but Nicola Sturgeon, she’s got such a smug high held opinion of herself too.
I stopped watching the ScotGov covid updates because it was just her droning on & on trying to fill out time, to have her 30+ minutes a day on the TV, a job that the Scottish Health Secretary should be doing because that is their job description.
It’s going to be a great day when she falls off that high horse of hers!
Look peeps, if peeps who are ambivalent about Scottish independence feel the need to comment here, why discourage them?
Answer their comments.
Prove the whole ideal of Scottish independence.
James horace
Only my take but the fact that every media outlet, particularly the BBC is reporting the absolute clusterfuck that was redactiongate means there’s a fair bit more of an even eye on things and even at 5 o’clock tomorrow there will likely be as much of a view on what he hasn’t said as what he has. Jackie Baillie kind of helped that a bit today. As much as I have no time for her politics she’s been the one bright(ish) light in all this. Murdo fraser and Cole-Hamilton have moaned and groaned but JB has asked the questions, so fair play to her.
And while I’m at it, because it likely won’t happen again, wullie rennie (I’ll give him his full name this once) also played a blinder today.
Like I’m sure for everyone else here, this whole thing devastates me. It really does. I have no pleasure in calling out an snp first minister or anyone in else who supposedly proclaims they support independence. But all that aside, I do believe that AS has been been subject to everything he alleges and I have no issue at all with him laying that out for all to see – and bare in mind he has been ASKED for this info. And if that means our cause is put back (perhaps by some way) then so be it. If I was in the same boat I know what I’d make my priority. There is only one party to blame for this and it isn’t Alex salmond
Cenchos
Ha ha! I also shop at those EU leaching supermarkets. Funnily enough I bought said chocolately spread and my boy asked why was I buying knock off Nutella! I was taken aback by the fact he used the phrase knock off (he’s 11) but when I said it was to stick it up Boris he said good! Obviously getting through to him ?
I see Christina McKelvie is temporarily stepping down from the cabinet for health reasons.
Her portfolio for EQUALITIES and older people will be taken over by (surprise, surprise)……
Shirley-Anne Somerville.
James Horace says:
25 February, 2021 at 10:19 pm
Jeggit – Its got to be Salmond standing in May, hasnt it?
James, I’ll give you a clue. In your next post type the gaelic word for Scotland and see what happens!
As the revelations come thick and fast, and you’re struggling to keep up with Macchiavelli due to excess Ripasso, there’s a blinding insight…
“Quos Deus volt perdere prius dementat”
Those whom God wishes to destroy he first drives mad..
Thank you Mr Cassidy, my Latin teacher at Holy Cross Academy!
Hatuey says:
25 February, 2021 at 10:23 pm
P Jackson; “I am English and I am a Unionist”
Did you vote for brexit too?
I hope he did as all right thinking people should.
I am not sure thats the greatest clue Glen
Perhaps I am not alert enough?
-Anonymoose-
It’s petty of me to say but: when in October Sturgeon announced Lockdown II, it was announced that “the FM will make a statement to the Scottish Parliament at 2.50pm”. So I tune in at 2.50. Seventeen minutes of hot air, meaningless flannel, that a substantial portion of the country effectively had to watch, until at 3.07 she actually came to the nub of the matter.
I had gone off her before in terms of her behaviour, but it was actually that which convinced me for the first time that she was an egomaniac. And like everything in this whole mess, once you see it you can’t unsee it…
I can’t believe wee Willie Rennie actually made a fantastic and fourthly forensic point which actually sunk the teflon queen and was the main eyebrow raising moment of the day. We Willie is probably having Walter Mitty dreams as we speak but do ?ou know what? Let him have his day because for the majority of people in Scotland they have no idea who he is and dreaming is his way of fixing that.
James Horace says:
25 February, 2021 at 10:56 pm
I am not sure thats the greatest clue Glen
Perhaps I am not alert enough?
Stu’s blog a few day ago referred to the first time Alex led us to victory and reminded us that one of his tactics was to propel the party to the top of the alphabetically ordered regional ballot paper by changing ‘SNP’ to ‘Alex Salmond for First Minister’. If you take that in conjunction with my previous reply that’s all the ‘jigsaw identification’ you need.
Faculty of Advocates is quite right. The integrity of the Rule of Law in Scotland is shot to pieces.
They know its jungle time, whack a monkey, mug an ape or whatever. Its all part of of the lawless wild west. But before the clowns in the Faculty of Advocates get a dose of the civic citizen, maybe they could explain how so many of their members eared big bucks working for rotten institutions like the Scottish Government.
Time the Faculty of Advocate thugs got whacked too. Its a jungle and unless you whack a predator then that predator will eat you.
A Person says:
25 February, 2021 at 11:00 pm
…
I had gone off her before in terms of her behaviour, but it was actually that which convinced me for the first time that she was an egomaniac. And like everything in this whole mess, once you see it you can’t unsee it…
—-
You did well to last until October!
I quit paying attention to her TV briefings atound mid-May, which was right around the time she’d been consistently in every paper / news website for a month or so.
Glen and James
A L B A seeing you first.
Glen Clova says:
25 February, 2021 at 10:50 pm
James Horace says:
25 February, 2021 at 10:19 pm
Jeggit – Its got to be Salmond standing in May, hasnt it?
James, I’ll give you a clue. In your next post type the gaelic word for Scotland and see what happens!
Here goes!
Alba.
Nope nothing happened.
Wow it changed to ceasar! So?
Here’s the thing about wullie rennie today – and it’s something I think quite a lot about former politicians but he let his guard down today. When they have no immediate pressure to tow the party line they actually talk a lot of sense and you get a sense of what they ACTUALLY think and you can often accept where their reasoning is coming from, even if you don’t fully agree with them (Dracula brown aside who is just a compete lost cause) – most reasonable folk are in the middle, common sense ground after all. But what I actually saw with him today was a genuine question, thinking on his feet, taking a reasonable lead from Jackie Baillie. If only they could just ask what they actually thought all the time without the usual party political crap.
Can’t believe I’ve just commended both Jackie Baillie and wullie rennie in the space of an hour or so. Shows how batshit crazy this whole thing is
On hearing FMQ’s and NS statement of her standing by women who suffer Harrassment, that their voices should be heard and they should be supported….or words to that effect.
All I could think of was….Aye all women, apart from Joanna Cherry!
Hopefully you’re not incititing some Ides of May situation. Very messy. Not covid compiliant & a bit late.
@Daisy Walker says:
25 February, 2021 at 9:20 pm
The SNP – under NS – is rapidly loosing that ‘safe pair of hands’ reputation and swapping it for loony left/rogue state despots.
Loony right rather than loony left, I’d suggest.
I get it, Ides of March innit? Although it was 10 days ago & I don’t think their’s a Brutus around.
I posted yesterday that Sturgeon’s actions and the open mockery of the Crown Office was now concerning to the Scottish legal fraternity as it was in danger of contaminating respect for the entire system. No surprise to see today’s hard-hitting statements. The establishment will decide when she goes, not the people, because that’s the way the system works. And it won’t be long now.
I presume peace talks have been adjourned and new talks are planned after the election
Well it’s good to see both parties are considering mediation
What’s the saying it’s good to talk
Ah bless them
Night All Sweet dreams let’s hope tomorrow is better than today
Oh to be in the know……must be cooooool
Just incase you missed jet set willie today:
https://www.scottishparliament.tv/meeting/first-ministers-questions-february-25-2021?clip_start=12:53:37&clip_end=12:54:51
JSW: Did LL tell GA the name of a complainer? (whilst arranging the meeting between NS and AS in March, the meeting where NS first discovered the shocking allegations)
NS : “To the best of my knowledge I don’t think that happened”
JSW: Did the first minister investigate this allegation that that LL did tell GA the name of a complainer?
NS : That is for the committee to decide… (with any evidence relating to this meeting now withheld from the committee)
Thanks Glen, I have got it now.
He will stand under the name Alex Alba….
This Al-Ba/Caesar stuff is awfully interesting
It is really bizarre watching Sturgeon’s staunch, unwavering denials in parliament while the whole world and their self-identifying, Tourette’s stricken granny’s neighbour’s cat now knows she is 100% AT IT, with ample evidence in the public domain to prove it!? I hope she realises that the scope of those being sucked into her alternate reality is shrinking by the minute, soon to be limited to the sort of simple-minded cult-like followers who would obediently drink the Kool Aid next Wednesday if she ordered it live in the midst of the proceedings.
Following it today. It’s clear that all she’s got is “those poor wee women. That animal Salmond and his behaviour.”
And she’ll hide behind it to the grave.
So we’ve got to deal with it, and we’ve got to be proactive.
So let’s use our marketing expertise.
Can we segment the “poor wee women” market, whilst maintaining their anonymity?
It turns out that we can.
There are two segments.
There are the original two complainants who went through the Scottish Government “procedure”.
Working class women, who probably did it more to support Ms. 1 than for themselves.
These women are NOT liars.
Then there are the nine (later eight) complainers who by and large comprised the Whsapp group.
Powerful upper middle class women.
The original two (Ms 2 and Ms 3) did not want to go to the police at all.
their stories were stripped from them by those acting for the British State
Twice
First, when Leslie Evans passed this most personal history to the Crown Agent, and through him to the police*.
Then again when something wicked “instructed them” to give those stories direct to the police in the form of signed statements.
The Whatsapp eight (bar one, Ms 1) did not go through the “procedure” at all.
They joined the action afterwards when it had already passed through the hands of David Harvie and James Wolfe.
I make the point here. All of these allegations were trivial, apart from the one that was proven not to have happened in court and under cross-examination. The attempted rape.
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.
When you separate the groups it is quite clear that only the working class women have been damaged by this affair. They continue to suffer horribly. They are terrified of all that has befallen them, simply for “helping” another woman. Another woman who withdrew her own charges rather than get involved.
It is equally clear that this damage has been, and continues to be inflicted by Nicola Sturgeon, Leslie Evans, David Harvie and James Wolfe and their ultimate controlling mind, Queen Elizabeth II**.
The posh bitches with their fancy clothes and their impecable makeup have been touched by this not at all, only by the coming backlash..
No way at all are they part of the “poor wee women” market.
*The police, who got such a kick up the arse from somebody that 22 full time officers were assigned and more than 400 interviews conducted. Yet still they found no dirt.
**What Elizabeth II has going on here is a “Modified Enhanced Assange”
You’ve got the same two tentative complainants.
You have no intention of complaining.
Then force is applied. The police are involved in a criminal inquiry against their express wishes.
The enhancement comes in with the piling on by the nine posh bitches who provide the ballast for the Moorov Doctrine (see Craig Murray)
Still can’t shake the feeling that MI5 (or whoever) over egged the mix.
How much they over egged it, is yet to transpire.
@John Cleary
True enough, but i think “posh bitches” and QE2 detracts from your central point.
Perhaps “inner circle” and “the british state” may have been better.
The original two (Ms 2 and Ms 3) did not want to go to the police at all.
This is key for me. There have been attempts to separate out the “HR procedure” from the criminal trial. But the two are one and the same, given it was the “HR procedure” which directly led to the criminal charges. And that in itself is staggering when you stop to think about it. Not least because the man involved was no longer involved with the organisation at all. At the heart of it, two women were passed from what they believed was an informal HR process at work into one of the most heavily publicised, biggest trials Scotland has seen. Along with a man who should no longer have been subjected to that HR process at all. And we know from Salmond’s evidence that is was *him* who fought for those two women to have anonymity.
I suspect the enquiry will demand there is no straying onto the criminal trial aspect, but that makes no sense in this case for those reasons. So I hope for some more truth tomorrow but am not holding my breath for anything like the full truth.
Whats the scot’s equivalent of rubicon and when will it be crossed?
@John Martini
The Rubicon is usually avoided in Scotland as crossing can be divisive.
I think Alex Salmond should be given the privilege of delivering the fatal boot between Sturgeon’s legs.
She actually gets me gritting my teeth with anger when I think of her.
Once all this is played out, it will be discovered that Sturgeon and Murrell are up there with Brady and Hindley on the evil scale.
Sturgeon, you are a horrible, evil bastard.
El Gordo
The division has occured.
No pasarán
? ????? ?? ?? ? ????? ????????
@John Martini:
Can’t let that pass.
Crossing the Rubicon “scots” equivalent:
The river is the Clyde river.
The crossing is the Clyde tunnel.
The local expression is “like riding the Clyde tunnel”
I have been through it on my bike. Some of the local youth were determined that I would not pass.
Sharing Dubs says:
26 February, 2021 at 12:16 am
“Still can’t shake the feeling that MI5 (or whoever) over egged the mix…”
Once you see through Sturgeon, you know she doesn’t need help from MI5. She operates on a sort of tabloid level that most people don’t pick up on. Pay just a little more attention than the average 95 year old and you soon see how she twists and deflects constantly, on every single thing.
Re the Murrells… the banality of evil.
Meanwhile we have a country to save.
Does anyone know what happened with regards to the order from the Inquiry to the Crown demanding that all evidence be released?
@ John Cleary says:
There are two segments.
There are the original two complainants who went through the Scottish Government “procedure”.
Working class women, who probably did it more to support Ms. 1 than for themselves.
How do you work it out that – Wimmen + A + B = Working Class? Hmm?
But the other complainers were of an different class? Ehh?
Oh and ‘BECAUSE’ wimmen A + B are working class – no way they could have been lying…
Oh, and could you please, please, please define ‘working class’ for me now… cause you know, I and all my colleagues (bar about 2, over the years) were on a good enough wage to live on (and up shit creek if we lost our jobs) … but ask any of them how many thought of themselves as ‘working class’?
and you would have got a very interesting answer.
So, what is the definition, your definition of ‘working class’, cause for me, it the one that says (even if your on a good wage packet the now) that if you lose your job, and you haven’t won the lottery – yir awfy screwed.
John Martini says:
26 February, 2021 at 12:29 am
Whats the scot’s equivalent of rubicon and when will it be crossed?
The Tweed, the Forth, the Tay n the Clyde, the Ness, the Dee n the Don… ‘n wir no just crossed, wir b’ilin.
May 2021 Plebiscite Indy … GE 2023 NOW INDY.
ElGordo says:
26 February, 2021 at 12:25 am
@John Cleary
True enough, but i think “posh bitches” and QE2 detracts from your central point.
Perhaps “inner circle” and “the british state” may have been better.
Gordo, Thank you.
Yes, that is something I’ve considered as I’ve pondered these matters this past quarter century.
You see I think you are brainwashed. You are brainwashed not to confront the central issues.
Somebody on her feet for eight hours every day is not going to identify with this vapid bunch with their pompous titles. They are posh bitches – it’s a genre in women’s fiction.
Re Harassment and Complaints Committee ,
I’ve just checked the TV guide and the BBC Parliament Channel is showing the Committee session live from 12.30 pm – 6.00 pm .
@John Martini says:
26 February, 2021 at 1:00 am
“I have been through it on my bike. Some of the local youth were determined that I would not pass.”
Try Bellshill Main Street during the day.
I hope that the committee have the grace and consideration to realise that Mr Salmond is there to help them to get at the truth of how a Government can cobble together a totally illegal workplace complaints procedure and then try to use that procedure to damage just one person. The mistakes must have cost closer to 2 million thus far – and we probably have a long way to go.
I don’t want to see one ounce of aggression or pressure placed on a man who has suffered quite enough already.
@John Martini says:
26 February, 2021 at 12:29 am
“Whats the scot’s equivalent of rubicon and when will it be crossed?”
It’s more like a flipping Rubik’s cube, when some bastard has switched the colours.
Daisy Walker says:
26 February, 2021 at 1:13 am
@ John Cleary says:
Daisy,
The way the two different operations have been indexed has been designed to maximise confusion in our minds. You know what I’m talking about. A and B in the Government process, a to whatever in the criminal process, and A in the first is not the same as a in the second. What sort of bollocks is that?
If you analyse the first operation as 1,2,3 and NOT A and B, then a very different picture emerges.
First, you realise that the very earliest complainer has disappeared from the scene. In fact she re-appears as one of the Watsapp group, one of the alphabet women.
Then you realise there are two groups, which are the numbers (2 and 3) and letters.
And only the very first complainer connects them.
Then the scales begin to fall.
Craig has offered a slight correction.
Reply ?
craig Post author
February 26, 2021 at 01:19
John, that’s kind of right, but only one of the original two women was not a liar. The one original genuine complaint, the second was the start of the weaponisation process.
Reply ?
craig Post author
February 26, 2021 at 01:25
That one original complainant was, rightly enough, the “not proven” verdict.
Going back to Nicola’s attack, her suggestions are even more outrageous given that Alex was found not guilty with a majority of women on the jury. The the fact that he was not guilty as opposed to not proven makes her statements even more outrageous
-Hatuey at 1.01-
Correct as usual. It’s like losing trust in anybody; once you see it, it cannot be unseen.
We used to be friendly with a couple, nice as pie, on one occasion the husband said something rather belittling to a guy at a party, I mentioned it to my wife on the way home, maybe, she said, he was not as nice as he seemed, gradually we came to realise he was a monstrous narcissist and bully, when he and his wife separated later it emerged he was a violent control freak. That’s honestly what this political experience has felt like to me, that corny (and not actually necessarily true) Maya Angelou cliche about “when someone shows you who they are the first time, believe them”. I now feel similarly about Sturgeon as I do about Johnson- a shameless chancer and I cannot understand how anybody can fall for her.
Jackie Bailey must immediately offer pastoral care to a very vulnerable woman.
@ John Cleary… A, I think I see.
In fairness to the Prosecution service – and frankly, given all the goings on, they don’t deserve it – however it is standard that they will have labelled witnesses – for their criminal trial – in a date of alleged offence order – nothing to do with the the orginal AB labels in the civil complaints.
Maybe I should do a Timeline – aghhh. Been there, done the Tshirt.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch. This current shower couldn’t run a bath, should really be in the jail and are just a lying ksks -shower of -fill yir ain blanks -.
How we gonna get INDY. Oh I know, we find good folk to stand in May on a Plebiscite Indy Mandate, and then we vote for them.
@ John Cleary Somebody on her feet for eight hours every day is not going to identify with this vapid bunch with their pompous titles. They are posh bitches – it’s a genre in women’s fiction.
I asked you for a definition of ‘working class’. answers came there none.
As for A – Z – pretty sure the nature of their jobs involved quite substantial chunks of time, sitting at a desk, and doing ‘stuff’ on the computer, in between times, travelling abroad, with the First Minister to attend meetings, and ‘work’ by having fancy meals at Bute House of an evening.
If only such examples of ‘working class’ had been around at the time of Monty Pythons classic ‘when’t ah wir a lad’ ‘working class’ sketch – I’m sure it would have added to the ironic humour.
Oh please somebody who can do that sort of thing put Salmond’s submission in front of Lady Dorrian and ask her to rule on whether it breaches her order or not.
Yes we know the answer, but she’s the one person nobody can argue with about it.
obvs a bit late for that now but … hey
There is no Law for us little people.
Meanwhile the Indy lead in the Op Polls is now collapsing. Sturgeon and her tranny tyranny cabal needs to go and go yesterday.
Re Jeggit’s twitter page about the good new in two weeks.
I recon I’ve sussed out what it is. Unfortunately I can’t divulge it just now. I’ll post what my thoughts are after the harassment committee has finished with their questioning.
If it’s what I think it is, no wonder Jason Jeggit is happy.
Daisy,
I’ve got to be careful about the jigsaw thing.
All I’m saying is that it is a mistake to treat the complainers as a homogenous group. There are two groups differing in their station in life, their objectives in coming forward, and their treatment by the Sturgeon Junta.
You’ve got a thing about the working class. OK.
In the past you’d take your class from the occupation of your father. Occupation group D (skilled manual) and E (unskilled manual). The reason for that being that in those days the father was the main breadwinner.
These days it’s a bit more fuzzy. These days I’d say it is someone who is one payday from disaster. Or someone who goes out to feed the stomachs of his dependents. Or maybe someone that struggles.
When I look at the second part of your comment I see we are in violent agreement. The SECOND group had no need for a “process”. The second group could simply wander up to Nicola or Leslie etc. and complain direct about what had happened and the offender would be gone.
Cath
Cath says:
26 February, 2021 at 12:27 am
The original two (Ms 2 and Ms 3) did not want to go to the police at all.
This is key for me.
It certainly is, and based on what Craig has just posted it may have been more Machiavelian still.
It seems that one of the original two was in fact an impostor.
Which means there was a single genuine complainant, who was lured into this by not only the seduction of the HR team, not only by a desire to help another woman, but also lured in because she thought there were two of them, stepping forward on this path together when in fact she was alone.
That woman is in a very bad place. She needs sunlight and fresh air, but she is locked into anonymity. She is certainly NOT a liar, and it seems the jury recognised this fact with the “not proven”.
Furthermore, the analogies with Julian grow more insidious. Because I always had a suspicion there one of the two non-accusers there (sw) was an agent provocateur.
Kinda struggling with the hypocrisy of Sturgeon declaring her Government’s absolute determination to protect women from abuse, but yet she leads a maverick off-piste government, currently gerrymandering democratic process in order to remove the protection for women from the presence of men wearing frocks merely declaring themselves to be women being formally denied lawful exclusion from women only safe spaces and thereby exposing women and girls to possible abuse and invasion of privacy.
I am also genuinely wondering at what point this ‘vigorous defence of vulnerable witnesses’ testimony transmogrifies into providing cover and false alibi for criminal conspirators who brought false and malicious accusations and defamations against an innocent party. Correct me if I’m wrong, that isn’t conspiracy theory, it’s what they actually did, conspiracy fact!
A massive thumbs up from me for the Faculty of Advocates who seem, so far, to be the only official body with direct involvement in this train wreck and apparent conspiracy, which has stood up for the integrity of the legal process, and sanctity of the verdict of the trial jury.
Frankly however, I think Sturgeon is lucky indeed merely to receive a letter of rebuke for repeating smears and accusations wholly irreconcilable with the jury’s verdict, rather than be subjected to prosecution for Contempt of Court. A curious disparity in willingness to pursue charges of Contempt which Alex Salmond has been threatened with should he reveal certain evidence germane to his defence, and charges which Craig Murray has actually been prosecuted for and still awaits a verdict upon.
Is the office of First Minister immune from prosecution? Or is the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal’s Service ‘reluctant’ for some other reason?
There’s also I suspect solid ground for Alex Salmond to sue Sturgeon for defamation, in addition to the veritable salvo of prosecutions which Mr Salmond might now choose to pursue against Sturgeon and wider conspirators.
Perhaps, one supposes, a prosecution for Contempt of Court seems a trifling matter given the other extremely dubious activities still currently under scrutiny and onerous consequences looming on the horizon for Nicola Sturgeon.
Jason Smoothpiece says:
25 February, 2021 at 7:49 pm
It seems to me that the jury THOUGHT THE WITNESSES WERE LYING.
I recently re-read the accounts of the trial on the grousebeater blog. When you read that and then consider the verdicts…
Charge 1 indecent assault Woman A – NG
Charge 2 sexual assault Woman A – NG
Charge 3 indecent assault Woman B – NG
Charge 4 sexual assault Woman C – NG
Charge 5 sexual assault Woman D – NG
Charge 6 – PREVIOUSLY DROPPED
Charge 7 sexual assault Woman F- NG
Charge 8 sexual assault with intent to rape Woman F – Not proven
Charge 9 sexual assault Woman G – NG
Charge 10 sexually assault Woman G – NG
Charge 11 sexual assault Woman H – NG
Charge 12 attempted rape Woman H – NG
Charge 13 Sexual assault Woman J – NG
Charge 14 sexual assault Woman K – NG
The jury is not f**king about there man. They are sending us a very clear message. Some of these women at least were bare faced lying.
We never saw these women give evidence but the jury did. I am thinking some of them in particular must have come across very badly to them.
Some of the other lesser accusations the jury just did not consider the charge to come anywhere remotely close to the definition of an indecent or sexual assault. I.e the LA / COPFS were just trying to pad out the charge sheet (for invoking the Moorov and for the wargaming reason they discussed, i.e. to psychologically manipulate the jury to convict Salmond on one of the lesser charges).
The things is you have to think now that many of the people in the SNPG and COPFS knew fine well that key accusers were likely lying but went along with the stitch-up anyway.
The whole thing is so rotten.
https://caltonjock.com/2021/02/26/will-these-events-over-7-days-in-november-2017-bring-about-the-downfall-of-nicola-sturgeon/
31 Oct: Daily Record/David Clegg received a heads up message from an unnamed source in the Scottish Government regarding sexual offences allegedly committed by Alex Salmond during his time in office.
08 Nov: Complainer, Ms B made allegations (by telephone) against Mr Salmond to Barbara Allison, the Government’s Director of Communications who informed Ms Richards and Ms Evans, the next morning.
08 Nov: 1233. The first draft of a new harassment policy “Handling of Sexual Harassment Complaints Against Former Ministers.” written by top official James Hynd, was circulated, It stated that if a complaint was lodged against a former minister and he/she was a member of the party in power, the First Minister should be informed immediately.
Regarding the one Not Proven verdict. Woman F, the so called sleepy cuddle incident.
First off note that Woman F also had a different Sexual Assault charge attributed to her and AS was found Not Guilty of that as well.
So I think the reason for the Not Proven verdict on that one charge is that this is the one incident that AS partially corroborated but admitting that there had been some amorous activity between them that evening.
This meant Alex admitted to being with the woman, behind closed doors, at the time of the alleged incident.
At that point it becomes very difficult for a jury, it becomes a case of her word against his…
So IMHO the jury had little choice to say Not Proven in those particular circumstances.
But taken in the totality of the verdicts it is clear (to me at least) they did not believe Woman F either.
Hope for the near future. So good to hear from her again –
https://archive.is/0cMZc
@JohnCleary – Yes, saw that. The more you hear about this the worse it gets. One thing is certainty true: this will absolutely damage the ability of women to come forward who might really need to. And that is not the fault of Alex Salmond. I only hope the truth comes out but have no faith in a media which so clearly played their part all too happily in this.
One thing I had forgotten is Salmond’s evidence on Woman H and in particular this bit (from Grousebeaters record of the trial)…
“Court back in open session. Jackson asks Alex Salmond about Woman H; he denies there was sexual contact on either of the occasions listed in the charges, but says there was a “consensual sexual encounter” on another occasion. Alex Salmond says there was a “consensual sexual liaison [with woman H] in the bedroom which did not involve full undress of either of us”, and says “we parted good friends with no damage done”. He says this was on a date prior to those in the two charges which he denies happened…”
I never thought about it much at the time but now that strikes me as very odd.
Why did woman H not simply use this previous incident (which Salmond raises) as the foundation for her false accusal?
There she had a ‘ready-made’ incident, presumably very similar to Woman F where she was presumably alone with Alex, behind closed doors, with no one there to witness what happened other than her and Alex.
It would have been very easy for Woman H to twist that consensual incident into a false accusation of attempted rape.
Yet very she curiously did not. Instead she fabricated an other incident which turned out to be fairly easy to disprove.
Why do that? It is very odd.
There must have been something about the earlier incident which Salmond confessed to that made it impossible for Woman H to exploit it.
I would guess here it was probably because the facts of the earlier incident would do the opposite of what she wanted to achieve in court. It showed she was completely willing.
As Salmond said, he is no angel but he sure was not surrounded by angels either.
Mac, is that not the one who was offerred alternative but equal eployment in another government department as remediation, but they were happy to keep working in Bute House ?
In which case there would already a record of remediation and plenty of corroborative evidence alongside it, with the person stating they were happy with the outcome of that, and continued in their role at Bute House.
It would be very risky of them trying to pin allegations on something a potential complainer had already settled.
I don’t even think the Clown Agent & Office is daft enough to try and retrospectively bring an issue that was long settled by both parties and on record as being so into a live legal procedure.
Mac @7:28
Fair enough but whoever is advising him to seek vengeance, by directing anger at Nicola (no less!), cant be doing him too many favours – society frowns upon violence against women remember – as it tends to make it look like he may have fooled the jury after all.. and since that has potential to reflect badly on the party, it is little wonder if she’s livid about it.. better perhaps if he were able to simply confirm having personally forgiven all involved in hope that that may be enough to relieve them of the burden of their anonymity.
That said, and pursuant to Sir Fortescue Wankworthy’s timely interventions elsewhere vis a vis the article, its also worth noting, despite the obligation on legal authorities to recognise the verdict of an impartial jury that there were no victims of sexual assault to burden with anonymity on that basis, that the only people to date to have been legally punished for anything relating to the saga have been tried WITHOUT a jury, having been pursued arbitrarily after voicing relevant fact or satire in respect of it.
As regards a new Independence party name, how about?
Alba Phoenix Party APP
i e Rising from the ashes, reborn and ready to fly and top of the list.
I know its only Twitter but quite the narrative going kn today of
“That Salmond eh!..helping UK defeat Indy”
And more eyebrow raising
“Even if Nicola did lie.. no-one at Westminster resigns for lying or breaking code!”
That was Woman F who was offered the alternative job moose.
And yes she declined the offer and continued to work with Salmond. He also had an official meeting with her (and I presume others) to formally apologize to her. Salmond as the senior person in the room is technically at fault and that is why he apologized. When an incident like this happens between a boss and a subordinate it is by default the boss who always should know better. And AS did, which is why he immediately acknowledged it publicly and apologized.
Regarding Woman H Salmond also testified to the following…
” Jackson says Alex Salmond’s position couldn’t be simpler – the allegation is “just a lie”. “Yes, that’s correct,” he says. He says Woman F was annoyed that he hadn’t backed her in a personal political project. Defence concludes questioning of Alex Salmond.”
In honour of Alex Salmond speaking on Friday 26 February I have done a new cartoon, you can see it on my website front page (scroll down):
http://www.spanglefish.com/stellaillustrator
Feel free to copy it and share it anywhere!
Mac says:
26 February, 2021 at 8:29 am
That was Woman F who was offered the alternative job moose.
—-
Cheers for the correction, havent quite had my full quota of morning coffee yet!
I know folk worry that this whole debacle will stop genuine female complainants from coming forward but I also worry that men (mostly) have also been put in a bad position.
Someone pointing the accusing finger could leave an innocent in court with their name blackened and a prurient press plastering their alleged misdeeds from here to eternity.
I also worry that a plethora of policeman accept that ‘pinging ‘ a curl can be construed as sexual misconduct.
Agree Dorothy. This whole thing is awful for men as well, and a knock on result of that will be women’s equality being kicked back as well, because men will again prefer to work with men. And who could blame them?
Dorothy Devine says:
26 February, 2021 at 8:35 am
—-
Aye, I worry about that too, especially since there is so much trial-by-media goes on and when stuff his social media it tends to explode with allegations going in every which direction.
This might be an idea for the future and for the next parliament to tackle:
For any sex based case that both the complainer(s) and the accused have their anonymity fully protected by a court order throughout the duration of the case until a verdict is served by the Judiciary.
That way both are proteccted whichever way the verdict goes, there can be no trial by media, by social media or any attempts to influence the Jury with pre-trial hatchet jobs by the press.
It’s definately food for thought.
Woman F and Woman H constitute the meat of the charges. The attempted rape and intent to rape charges.
Everything else is fluff, garnered to dress up their lies.
But they are not the only two (alas) who are clearly really dodgy in all of this.
Woman A does not come across at well and neither does Woman J.
Woman C Salmond pretty much accuses of lying as well ( the hand on knee in car charge). Same with Woman K (the photo shoot bum grab nonsense).
Woman D I think Craig Murray mentioned previously (touching her face to wake her up at passport control). More contrived pish.
Woman B was the Vetrriano Christmas card re-enactment. Again total mis-interpreted ‘incident’ according to other witnesses at the rial.
Woman G was the one who claimed he grabbed her bum walking up the stairs in the Ubiquitous Chip. Problem was Moira his wife was walking up the stairs between AS and Woman G… it goes on and on.
I really salute the jury in all of this. It is very restorative to my faith in our judicial systems seeing what they did in the face of so many lies.
I feel quite sorry for the jurors in all this too. It can’t have been an easy case to sit through, regardless of your politics. And the continual media scrutiny and effectively trashing the outcome since must be pretty hell. Not to mention that they presumably can’t talk about it. I’d hate to have been a juror on that trial.
The thing I can’t understand is why the Lord Advocate said at emergency questions that the latest redactions to AS’s evidence were made without his input or him seeing them.
Surely that is a great dereliction of duty after the Spectator court case. Can anyone imagine their boss not asking to sign off/see in advance something potentially so incendiary?
Can anyone shed any light on the withdrawal of the charge relating to Woman E.
Did she get cold feet or was there some other legal reason? (I would not blame her if she did, I would not want to be part of this disgrace either.)
Just a crazy thought but is Woman E the woman who cant be named I wonder.
You get the feeling there is sub-story there as well somehow.
Those who are trying to cheer on a delay to the election on May 6 should remember this: doing that will prolong the time the Fabiani Inquiry has to do its work and report.
If anyone thinks Sturgeon hanging on by her fingernails while listening for the helicopter blades only to want to extend the agony then they need their heads examined.
IFF Sturgeon resigns that might be a pretext for putting the election off for a couple of months. But if she is still there then May 6 cannot come fast enough as far as she will be concerned.
IF Sturgeon stays then May 6
IF Sturgeon goes then July sometime.
Call me Cassandra
Frozone, that’s standard operating procedure, intended to give the impression that the case was being handled normally, like any other, by a bunch of impartial angels and that he wasn’t involved, wouldn’t lower himself to something so trivial, etc.
@Dorothy Devine
Completely agree; politics is a dirty game and so the likely outcome is that men will simply steer clear of the political arena from now on and put their talents to use elsewhere. Perhaps that’s the intention?
Hatuey – agree, but in this instance the committee should slam him for incompetence in allowing redactions to be made that clearly had nothing to do with witness protection.
AlanM, not so worried about the political arena but Cath has made a point that I really hadn’t considered – that in all walks of life men will prefer NOT to work with women , back to the kitchen style.
Anoymoose , it should certainly be anonymity for all – I truly cannot understand why it has not been so.
FOLKS , PLEASE REMEMBER WHAT REV STUART POSTED ON A PREVIOUS THREAD REGARDING ALPHABET IDENTIFICATION .
“ I’m extremely busy at the moment and would prefer not to have to monitor comments 24/7 just in case anyone carelessly (or indeed deliberately) commits jigsaw identification. Please find somewhere else to conduct detailed discussion of these matters. Thank you.”
.
And as a reminder how serious this is ,
“ Man jailed for tweeting names of Alex Salmond accusers “
https://archive.vn/srfBv
@ALANM
Golly, and here was me last night standing in ISP branch hustings. You might have told me before Xmas when I first applied to be a candidate.
But I am made of sterner stuff. I have the authority of a biological scientist behind me. I know and can prove down to the molecular level that sex exists and is DETERMINED when sperm meets egg (translocations and mutations notwithstanding).
The anniversary of my twitter account is coming. I have not even got a temporary suspension for tweeting things which have got women banned permanently. I intentionally courted this to test the hypothesis that Twitter is institutionally deeply sexist and misogynist. The answer is of courst it bloody well is. I am living tweeting proof of the matter.
Desmond – You think that’s bad, I saw a tweet that said we need to get behind Nicola as “she is a wee Scots lassie”. I fully back women’s rights but a small minority of them seem to think a woman in public life should get a free pass just for being a woman.
Muscleguy says:
26 February, 2021 at 9:21 am
@ALANM
Golly, and here was me last night standing in ISP branch hustings. You might have told me before Xmas when I first applied to be a candidate.
But I am made of sterner stuff. I have the authority of a biological scientist behind me. I know and can prove down to the molecular level that sex exists and is DETERMINED when sperm meets egg (translocations and mutations notwithstanding).
The anniversary of my twitter account is coming. I have not even got a temporary suspension for tweeting things which have got women banned permanently. I intentionally courted this to test the hypothesis that Twitter is institutionally deeply sexist and misogynist. The answer is of courst it bloody well is.I am living tweeting proof of the matter.
It shouldn’t (and did not) require your level of expertise to justify someones ability to determine sex.
I wish you well in your candidacy, and long live the chromosomal underground*
*subterranean only in policy circles
Every time NS and her assembled chorus of performing media parrots and political ventriloquist’s dummies retaliate by a diversionary attack on Alex Salmond’s character and conduct (not to mention a snide and cowardly insinuation against last year’s jury who cannot respond) they provide the confirmation of Salmond’s central assertion of a concerted plot to ruin him.
Note to the FM: before you attack the good faith of honest citizens doing their public duty, you would do well to acquire some integrity first.
I think a big part of the paranoia about jigsaw identification comes when you already know the identities of the alphabet women.
Then you see people doing jigsaw identification everywhere when in fact there is none. It is because you already know.
I have the advantage that I am (seemingly) one of the last people on this site who still does not know who these women are.
The only one I think I might know is the one Dani Garavelli blatantly jigsaw identified in her hatchet piece. Using a jigsaw of about two pieces as well I might add (shakes head at how Craig Murray got charged for feck all and she didn’t). But that is it.
Why the feck have Haggerty on Sky??
She got her nasty digs in against Alex.
All she needs is a crystal ball in THAT room 😉 😉
I have zero intentions to take any risks on this website but I do think people have generally become too fearful.
Remember some of the plotters became accusers to get this protection, this veil of secrecy, to make you afraid of talking about them, in any context.
Under these circumstance I do think we need to push back as much as possible (without breaking the law) and not be kowtowed by them. That is what they planned you would do after all.
I’d love to see someone take Craig Murray’s 25,000 pound reward.
I’d love to see Anne Harvey’s letters unredacted.
They cant jail us all folks and we are many and they are few.
(Just keep it off wings FFS. 🙂 )
Mac says:
26 February, 2021 at 8:46 am
Woman F and Woman H constitute the meat of the charges. The attempted rape and intent to rape charges.
Everything else is fluff, garnered to dress up their lies.
But they are not the only two (alas) who are clearly really dodgy in all of this.
,b>Mac, write a piece and make up your own blog. Stylise your argument for Twitter. Do whatever you like but stop pushing the boundaries here – we’ve already lost Mr Campbell off twitter we certainly don’t want this site closed down. Go and be brave by all means – but in your own territory in your own name – stop hitching a lift or trying to destroy – I’m not sure which is your aim here.
Thinking here, I should have gone to bed & set my alarm for Midnight. I’m hoping your just 12hrs behind me here in NZ. It’ll mean I only have 1hr 10 mins to wait for the committee meeting to start.
I hope AS nails the corruption at the door of all the conspirators. But I worry that all the redactions means he can’t speak the whole truth – and it’s the whole truth that needs to come out.
The losers in all this are the Scottish people – being treated like plebs, nothing more than the height of shite. We should should be demanding full transparency, full disclosure, full truth.
Our parliament are answerable to the Scottish people – make our voices heard.
Vote corruption means voting for the end of your rights. Coz it’s a vote to be nothing more than peasants in a world of HCB / GRA, thought police, who you can read or retweet control, guilty even when proven innocent, malicious prosecutions etc etc.
Think it won’t affect to you – let that world of control sink in for a few years and before long you’ll be second guessing every word you say and every action you take.
Anyway I digress, I hope that NS and her witches’ coven are exposed for all to see. She really is evil personified.
If AS wants to crowdfund a return to politics to blow the political monopoly on independence wide open, I’d so back that with $$$$$
Oh No! It’s only 10:20am there, Might go & have 2 hrs kip. LOL
Kiwilassie says:
26 February, 2021 at 10:20 am
Thinking here, I should have gone to bed & set my alarm for Midnight. I’m hoping your just 12hrs behind me here in NZ. It’ll mean I only have 1hr 10 mins to wait for the committee meeting to start.
NZ is +13h to GMT/UTC, it only rolls to +12 in summer time.
SNP warned not to ‘trample over independence’ of Crown Office by Justice Secretary ahead of Salmond appearance
The SNP have been warned by the Justice Secretary not to “trample over the independence” of Scotland’s Crown Office ahead of Alex Salmond’s appearance at Holyrood.
Source: MSN https://tinyurl.com/ynfvyumj
@ Kiwilassie
2hrs 10mins
The Faculty of Advocates letter for me looks to be
as much of them covering their own arses as earning
Nicola/ Scot Gov.
Would they mind answering why in so many cases their
Lord Advocate has got the basics of law so wrong and in
the case of Rangers FC it’s likely to cost the tax payer £100 million?
Should they not be working on the reasons behind the jigsaw ID prosecutions
where main stream journalists spread the information. far and wide and yet
it’s the small Independence supporting bloggers are the only ones who land in court.
Should they be asking why anyone like Alex Salmond would require £500,000 in funds
before his innocence can be defended.
I’m sure if I was in their number I’d be fighting to the death in order to save Scottish Law
and ensure our nation’s sovereignty is untouchable.
Why do these Advocates deserve earnings in the 100’s of thousands each year.
Their own nest seems to be covered in shit and they hold no respect from the public.
PS Did they charge for that letter they sent out?
How does NS know there is not a ‘shred of evidence?
Has she interrogated the witnesses or asked about how much contact they had with each other and the nature of that contact?
Is she part of the Vietnam group? Does her husband discuss his non-WhatsApp whatsApping? Does he discuss anything with her beyond how many trans allies have left? Does anyone discuss anything with her?
She makes many bold assertions despite apparently recusing herself from every part of the investigation. I would be inclined to trust AS whose lawyers have had time to look at this in overview and seen the patterns and links.
Maybe it did not start as a ‘plot’ but it sure as hell looks like there was a singular aim by the end.
Mac says:
26 February, 2021 at 9:50 am
I think a big part of the paranoia about jigsaw identification comes when you already know the identities of the alphabet women.
Then you see people doing jigsaw identification everywhere when in fact there is none. It is because you already know.
I have the advantage that I am (seemingly) one of the last people on this site who still does not know who these women are.
The only one I think I might know is the one Dani Garavelli blatantly jigsaw identified in her hatchet piece. Using a jigsaw of about two pieces as well I might add (shakes head at how Craig Murray got charged for feck all and she didn’t). But that is it.
I do not know either, nor am I interested.
What I am interested is the interactions across public matters and institutions that have required this inquiry.
Anonymity can be maintained while an interactive timelime is exposed.
A did B with the outcome of C.
Anonymity and Justice can both be served by the full algebra.
All the media fanatics in the Herald and the BBC , who are taking Sturgeon’s side, are about to be handed their erses on a plate, at 12.30pm today!
Nicola , when the MSM are protecting you, you know you are on the wrong side of history. They see you as a protector of the Union , not a threat.
Graham says:
26 February, 2021 at 10:24 am
SNP warned not to ‘trample over independence’ of Crown Office by Justice Secretary ahead of Salmond appearance…
—-
Yet another UK Minister telling the Scottish people what we want and what we should be doing, yawn.
What we need to do in 3 easy steps:
1) Boot all of the corrupt people from the SNP and Parliament.
2) Refocus all indy-supporting parties to seek a mandate via a plebicide election in May.
3) Leave the rUK to implode all by itself (Sorry Wales & NI).
@Effigy – The Scottish Law Society sent out a newsletter yesterday; you may have seen it. In it they ask us all to be respectful of lawyers and the impartial role they play in promoting fairness and justice in Scotland.
I presume that you thought that it was a load of shite too.
Here’s what Fraser Nelson of The Spectator had to say: ‘What about respect for Parliament? The Crown Office – Scotland’s public prosecutors – pressurised Holyrood to censor Salmond’s evidence against Sturgeon. The CPS would never dream of trying to thwart a Westminster inquiry in this way.’
We are all in this mess because the Scottish legal profession are now total crap. Bought and paid for by Sturgeon using our money.
Everything I have commented on above I gleaned from Grousebeaters account of the trial. The individual verdicts I quoted from the Daily Record.
If that amounts to pushing the boundaries or having an agenda then I suggest you are being hysterical macmoses.
As SC stated – if anyone commits contempt of court on here he will pass all your details to the authorities if they ask for it.
I have zero intention of putting myself or by extension this site in that kind of jeopardy.
I am talking about insiders, whistleblowers coming forward to break the deadlock, not people posting comments in this site. That is pretty clear from what I wrote above.
(Please don’t reply further, I won’t be.)
It all seems very simple to me:
It is obvious that Nicola Sturgeon sought to bring down Mr Salmond with smears and innuendo but the blackmail done on the QT didn’t work so she tried to ramp up the process in illegal ways
Then. ‘clever clogs’ suggested backdating a *new* policy so they could threaten him with legal action and when that didn’t work they cobbled together as many accusations as they could muster (they had over 35 years to work with!) and hoped that the ‘me too’ would carry them through.
Sturgeon underestimated the averaged person’s *nose* for truth and Mr Salmond was rightly pronounced by the jury to be an innocent man.
Newton’s Physics is relevant in all our lives, all the time.
‘For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction’
Of course Mr Salmond will react.
Sturgeon accused Mr Salmond of having an ego and yes, I’m sure she’s right. However, I’m pretty certain he’s not an egomaniac, which is how I would describe her.
Sturgeon didn’t start this as a conspiracy – but like all bad ideas that you can’t let go of, it was bound to turn into a conspiracy in order to ‘save’ the initial motive.
I’m confused,
Why is Alex Salmond attending inquiry today when he will be clearly restricted in what he can and cannot say?
Can someone explain this to me please.
Looks like Blackford is the next target of the union unit. Working up to how Kennedy was harrassed out of his constituency, he was a lovely guy and they were mean to him
Dixon inform says:
26 February, 2021 at 10:43 am
I’m confused,
Why is Alex Salmond attending inquiry today when he will be clearly restricted in what he can and cannot say?
Can someone explain this to me please.
I wonder too. And yet I have an idea that this inquiry will unearth more with the right questions than with any answers given by anyone. SO I’m hoping that a couple of folk have the right questions.
Re Harassment and Complaints Committee ,
The BBC Parliament Channel is showing the Committee session live from 12.30 pm – 6.00 pm .
@Mac – I’m pretty sure a whistleblower will not come forward. Protection in Scotland for whistle-blowers is so bad and that is what precludes it.
Maybe the Law Society should take a look at that. Take a look at what other countries have in place.
If I’ve learned one thing about how the world works, it’s that loyal servants are publicly rewarded pour encourager les autres. I wonder what Nicola’s* pay-off will be? Cushy number in the UN? Secretary General of Nato in Nato?
*Sorry, I should have said Lady Nicola.
holymacmoses says:
26 February, 2021 at 10:48 am
Dixon inform says:
26 February, 2021 at 10:43 am
I’m confused,
Why is Alex Salmond attending inquiry today when he will be clearly restricted in what he can and cannot say?
Can someone explain this to me please.
I wonder too. And yet I have an idea that this inquiry will unearth more with the right questions than with any answers given by anyone. SO I’m hoping that a couple of folk have the right questions.
—-
Because if he did not attend this week, the committee would not have had time to take his oral evidence after this week, they boxed themselves into a corner by only meeting so many days of the week in full knowledge an election was coming up in May.
If you look at most of their meeting minutes half of them have barely been longer than 30 minutes, the only times that they have been longer is when they are taking oral evidence.
This is possibly the final chance Alex will get to give his vital evidence to the inquiry, due to the aforementioned time limits.
Mac @ 6.54, 7.28, 8.11, 8.29, 8.46, 9.03, 9.50, 9.58
Friendly advice from a regular, long term poster:
Please stop writing about the previous court case and accusations made against Alex Salmond.
You do realise that if you write anything that can help jigsaw identification of the Alpha ‘Betties’ you are in Contempt of Court and this website will be closed down (is that what you are trying to do?).
Alex Salmond was tried before a judge (female) and jury (predominantly female) and found not guilty of all charges (not proven on one). He is not on trial today so talking about the accusers is a diversion and a very risky one. If anyone wants to know what their accusations were, they can research on line and risk their own liberty. This website is too valuable to be compromised.
Today’s hearing is not about them – it is about NICOLA STURGEON and whether she lied to Holyrood whilst trying to cover up her attempt to frame and possibly put an innocent man in jail – a possible political threat to her position.
And it is an inquiry into how the Scottish Government managed to mismanage such an important legal case that it has, so far, ended up costing Scotland over one million pounds.
I think that needs accountability and is a truly serious case, at best, of mismanagement, or at worst, a shocking attempt at obfuscation and deceit. This is what we must focus on today.
Captain, I have often thought about what might have been possible had Julian Assange been a free man.
I have also often wondered if it was his friendship with Assange that made Craig Murray such a target. Being an ally of Salmond as well just sealed it for Craig, they were coming after him.
But the Murray Assange connection could have opened up all sorts of different ways for the potential Salmond Stitch-up whistleblowers and wikileaks to come together.
Alas they took Assange out the picture (on false rape allegations) just like they tried to take Salmond out the picture (on false rape allegations). They are not very imaginative either are they.
Dixon inform says:
26 February, 2021 at 10:43 am
I’m confused,
Why is Alex Salmond attending inquiry today when he will be clearly restricted in what he can and cannot say?
Can someone explain this to me please
He is muted because he he has explored every avenue, with out any aid from former party or current regime.
He might let the truth spill out, to many an a contented dinner party’s dismay.
We’ve ended up with an ice skating contest rather than a constitutional one.
But that is the way of bureaucracies, private or public.
holymacmoses @10:42
Agreed.
They forgot the single variable over which they had no direct control – The Jury.
In the febrile atmosphere a Me Too themed case, and enough pieces on the board to satisfy the Moorov doctrine, they never countenanced AS being found not guilty.
Everything that has followed is direct a result.
@Mac – The law in Scotland is not on your side any longer. That was ended by Sturgeon 6 years ago or so. Law is now a delinquent profession in Scotland, fronted by some of the most dishonest people you will come across in your life.
The Spectator has the measure of these arseholes. By the way, I don’t include Levy and McRae but anyone working for Scotgov at the moment is almost guaranteed to be bent.
Scotland surrendered her sovereignty in a century when European states were consolidating their sense of national and cultural identity.
Scots law is a neither fish nor fowl construct. A peculiar hybridized system maintainedo by those with an anglophilic and old style unionist mind set and a desire to keep their little fiefdom with its customs and quirks safe from reformers.
It is a system that suits Scotland as province, but hardly appropriate for Scotland as nation.
Think of ex Brit colony African lawyers and judges still sporting wigs and gowns and you get the reek of it. Looks weird!
is AS going to be seen on parliament tv today? It looks dead. Is there anyway to watch or listen to the committee meeting?
Fionan – Scottish Parliament tv
She’ll ‘get away with it’ but nothing more.
Those who pay attention to such things and look for information on sites like this and Craig Murray’s blog will know that she has breached the code and that Salmond WAS on the receiving end of a conspiracy to ruin and jail him.
Those who don’t pay attention will see this, as (weirdly) a Tory politician said a “distraction” and barely notice the outcome. Given a couple of weeks they won’t even remember.
What surprises me is that the opposition parties both within and outwith Scotland are not making anything out of this. Are they saving it up til the campaign period?
The papers and TV news are being lazier than I thought they’d be too, they haven’t explained the implications of the allegations made aginst Sturgeon and why they actually matter.
This is simultaneously bad and good. It is bad for future justice but good for the future of the SNP (and hopefully Independence) I’m glad that Salmond has had his day in front of the committee to put his evidence forward. It proves what should ALWAYS be remembered, never underestimate Salmond, EVER..