The Fast Track
I’ve just recorded an episode of the BBC ScotCast podcast, which should “drop”, as we say in the media biz, around teatime tonight. It focused largely on issues around Operation Branchform, and the fact that only one of the two crimes it concerned has been resolved.
Time always flies when you’re having fun, so I ended up not being able to fit in half the stuff I wanted to say in the 40 minutes I chatted with Martin Geissler (which will likely shrink to fit into the 30-minute broadcast slot by the time they’ve edited all the most libellous bits out).
And one of those things was the bewildering fact that the investigation into the SNP’s finances went on for two years before the police stumbled into the second crime, and the only one that’s actually concluded – Peter Murrell’s embezzlement from the SNP. Because the first crime ought to have been all but done and dusted in 24 hours max.
In the often-complex world of financial fraud, the amazing thing about the case of the missing fundraiser money is how absolutely straightforward it is. There’s almost no aspect of it that isn’t immediately empirically obviously proven.
Let’s walk it through.
—————————————————————-
STARTING POINT: You are the police, investigating a possible crime of fraud and/or embezzlement, on the grounds that money raised for a specific purpose has allegedly been unlawfully misappropriated and used for something else.
Now, if that had happened it would unarguably be a criminal offence, or the police obviously wouldn’t be investigating it in the first place.
Remember, nobody, at the time Sean Clerkin and others filed complaints on the basis of Wings’ revelations about the SNP accounts, had any inkling that Peter Murrell had been personally pickpocketing party pennies to spend on lah-di-dah bric-a-brac for the Murrell/Sturgeon kitchen cupboards.
Their complaint was specifically that the SNP had spent “ring-fenced” fundraiser money on other SNP stuff, and the only reason the police would open an investigation into that is that, if true, it would be a crime. They don’t investigate if you get too many of the horrible licorice ones in a bag of Midget Gems, no matter how upset you might be about it. (Don’t ask me how I know.)
The next question is which crime specifically. Either the money was raised with no intention of spending it on the advertised purpose, in which case it’s fraud, or it was raised in good faith but later spent on something else, whereby it’s embezzlement.
(Option 3 is that you discover the SNP still has the cash and everything’s fine, at which point you end the investigation.)
The number of facts you need to establish is therefore incredibly small:
(1) Did the SNP raise hundreds of thousands of pounds in 2017 and 2019 that they promised would be kept in reserve for a second independence referendum campaign, and explicitly NOT spent on normal SNP activities?
Answer: Yes. Simple, straightforward, yes.
TIME TAKEN TO ESTABLISH: One minute or less on Google.
(2) Had they in fact spent almost all of that money by the end of 2019?
Answer: Yes. Simple, straightforward, yes.
TIME TAKEN TO ESTABLISH: One minute or less on Google.
(3) Had there been a second independence referendum?
Answer: No. So the money hasn’t been spent on that, it’s been spent on something else, and either fraud or embezzlement has clearly occurred.
TIME TAKEN TO ESTABLISH: One second. No Googling needed.
That’s the “whether” already dealt with. Now there’s only the “who” left.
(4) Who was responsible for the decisions to raise the money and then to spend it on normal SNP activities?
Answer: Under the SNP constitution, the Leader (“leads election and other campaigns”, paragraph 26b), the National Treasurer (“ensures the sound management of the Party’s finances”, paragraph 29a, “convenes the Finance and Audit Committee”, paragraph 29b, “reports to the National Executive Committee and National Conference on the finances of the Party”, paragraph 29c) and the National Executive Committee (“ownership of the Party’s assets and management of the Party’s financial affairs”, paragraph 32.1h).
The Chief Executive (Peter Murrell) is not governed by – or indeed mentioned at all in – the Constitution, but is actually an employee of the party, appointed at the sole discretion of the Leader. The Chief Executive is constitutionally answerable to the Leader, the National Treasurer and the National Executive Committee. It is primarily their job to keep the CEO honest.
TIME TAKEN TO ESTABLISH: The SNP constitution is quite a lengthy document – a couple of hundred pages – and even though much of it is obviously not applicable, let’s be diligent and read it right through, carefully. One day.
(5) Are all of the above therefore culpable for the misappropriation of the “ringfenced” money, and therefore for the crimes of fraudulent solicitation, embezzlement, or both?
Answer: Yes. Simple, straightforward, yes. Who else?
(6) Should all of the above therefore be arrested and given the chance to explain their actions?
Answer: Yes. There’s no reason to wait. A crime has been clearly established on day one of the investigation, and we’ve already narrowed down the list of suspects to a handful of people, who should all be brought in for interview in order to find out which of them is responsible. If they’re not sufficiently co-operative they can be charged and a trial will sort it out in the fullness of time.
TIME TAKEN TO ESTABLISH: There are quite a few people on the NEC, but there aren’t actually many questions to be asked, so including the one day we’ve already spent, let’s allow a generous total of two weeks to get through everyone.
(7) How many pieces of evidence need to be examined to reach this conclusion?
Three.
(i) the fundraiser website and related statements from the SNP pledging that the “Independence Referendum Campaign Fund” (variously also called the “Referendum Appeal Fund” or “Referendum Campaign Fund”) was separate to, and ringfenced from, ordinary donations to the party
(Remarkably, in that last image Colin Beattie both claims that the SNP doesn’t separate out restricted funds in its accounts, and then in the very next sentence refers to a separated restricted fund called the Referendum Appeal Fund.)
(ii) the SNP’s constitution
(iii) the SNP’s accounts for 2017 and 2019
That’s it. We’ve linked them all there for you. That’s all you need to establish beyond doubt that a crime has been committed, and who perpetrated it. The only thing left to determine is whether it was fraud or embezzlement, which you do by arresting the suspects, questioning them and deciding which ones, if any, to charge with the crime/s.
————————————————————–
At the most generous possible estimate, including all the interviews, that investigation should have taken a fortnight. Either there should have been a trial or the matter should have been closed, and nobody would ever even have found out about Peter Murrell’s little peccadilloes. (We’re sure they’d have been diamond-encrusted ones.)
There was nothing left to be done. Indeed, every material fact was already in the public domain before they even started.
Instead, it seems that Police Scotland stalled for two years and then stumbled onto something they found a little juicier, at which point they just forgot about the initial complaints entirely.
And here’s the really funny part, gang – Peter Murrell’s crime was a thousand times more complicated than the original one. It involved fake receipts, moderately elaborate money-laundering, even lending the party back some of the money he’d stolen from it. It was a legitimately complex investigation, as many frauds are.
Yet the police tied it all up in a speedy nine months – far less than half the time they’d taken to completely FAIL to resolve a much, much easier case.
Operation Branchform opened on July 2021. The police first announced it had widened into an embezzlement investigation two years later – July 2023.
And as early as the following spring, Murrell was charged.
Why did a vastly harder inquiry move so much faster than an open-and-shut case that can essentially be solved in a single day by anyone with an iPhone?
Maybe there’s an inverse correlation between how complex something is and how long Police Scotland take to get to the bottom of it. That would certainly explain why we’re now well into the SIXTH year of a perjury investigation in which only ONE fact needs to be established – was Woman H in Bute House on the night she claims Alex Salmond tried to rape her there? – and that matter has already been effectively determined by a jury, as well as being staggeringly easy to clear up using Bute House’s records. They don’t let just anyone wander into the First Minister’s digs off the street.
Oh, but wait a minute – that’s one’s not on Police Scotland at all, but the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. What a coincidence, eh readers?
Commit a complex crime to hide a simple, in your face, bigger crime. Peter Murrell took one for the team.
Gie it Lalday Stu!!!!
J-Logue of COPFS said in the interview that they looked at this initial matter and there was no evidence!
Breathy Bain is quitting heading COPFS, ostensibly on the basis of due time served.
What a stellar performance under her reign of “competence” eh?
I wonder who’ll take over?
In the words of the Great War ditty about staff officers and promotion;
“They were only playing leap-frog”..
CÙIRTEAN, CÙISEAN-LAGHA AGUS CEARTAS
(Air a sgrìobhadh le Garry Cooke air 18 an Cèitean, 2026)
« Mar a tha fios aig a h-uile mac màthar agus a h-uile nighean athar, chan ionann Cùirt an Lagha agus Cùirt a’ Cheartais. Thar nan linntean, tha iomadh cùis-lagha iomraiteach air a bhith ann far nach robh “a’ chòir air a cumail”. Bho na cùisean-lagha aig Ìosa Crìosd agus ‘Seumas a’ Ghlinne’ chun na feadhna aig Alfred Dreyfus, Rubin ‘Hurricane’ Carter agus mòran dhaoine neoichiontach eile, tha eisimpleirean gun àireamh air an clàrachadh de bhreithean mì-cheart gan toirt anns na cùirtean-lagha. A rèir an t-seanfhacail, “is cuagach ceartas an eucoraich” […] »
link to dasg.ac.uk
Just noticed that English version of above is available here:
link to dasg.ac.uk
How can a party that at the time had 125,000 members and lets say they all paid £5 a month totaling £625,000, that means in a full year the SNP took in membership fees of £7,500,000 have nothing to show for all that money.
Is it just me but if the SNP spent 1 million pounds on every election, that means that in one year the SNP could have paid for seven elections and still have £500,000 in the bank.
And the 7.5 million pounds is just membership money, in addition to that the SNP will have taken in, short money from Westminster, donations, fund raisers and money bequeathed. So where has all this money gone?
For the police to claim the investigation costed 2.7million when there seems to be huge black wholes in what was fraud and what wasn’t fraud. It would appear to me at the onset of this investigation it was agreed what was to be looked at and what not to look at.
I see Stu quotes Sir Iain Livingstone in one of his panels above. The quote is dated the 19th of July 2023. That’s during Livingstone’s notice period (he finished up in August that year) as he resigned on the 23rd of February 2023. He had two years of his cushy contract remaining, yet chucked it, quoting ‘budgetary restraints’ as his reason, despite operating under those same limitations since his appointment.
Who else resigned in February 2023? Ms. Sturgeon, of course, who spat her First Minister’s official dummy-tit on the 15th of February, leaving office at the end of March.
Coincidence, or is there a story there? Did something happen in January or February 2023 , perhaps in connection with some ongoing investigation or another, that forced the CC’s hand?
David Harvie and Leslie Evans resigned around the same time as well.
Aye, job done for them at that point.
What, the Rev interviewed by the BBC? Surely not. Oh, of course, it is Nationalist bashing, they think, so fair game.
Congratulations, Rev. If you want something done properly, you have to do it yourself – and you are, thank goodness.
Are there any signs of cracks in the elected ranks and their aides? Anyone about to jump ship? Woman H’s “friends” perhaps?
But COPFS is the key. Given that they are under the spooks, probably nothing will change at that end. All we can hope for is that we elect some decent, honest, principled MSPs in 2031 AND that Salvo/Liberation make progress well before then.
Ah but you see, they were indeed just about to pull the trigger when they stumbled on Mr Murrell’s shenanigans.
“Two cases? That’s a lot of time and public money, maybe we can roll it into one case?”
Which dutifully done, it became apparent that the Murrell Money could probably be recovered and his additional assets would also cover the missing ringfenced money, eventually… if he gets the pokey for it.
Then those assets could be handed over to the SNP (eventually, in the fullness of time) to then be put into a *cough ringfenced fund again and let everyone know “everything is cool now, we got the money (eventually) no one needs charged, no-one needs to be investigated, or jailed for it and it’s saved a lot of taxpayers dosh and hassle.
There you go, now lets’s say no more about it eh?”
Well, it’s as plausable as anything the judicial system has come up with, at least I took a minute.
“Aye, aye, ye’ll get yer money”
Psychiatrist Examines Nicola Sturgeon: Why the ‘Blind Wife’ Defence Defies Human Nature, well worth a watch.
youtube.com/watch?v=h2fqy6Y6NPQ
It’s a slam dunk, open and shut case of financial criminality.
Wonder if Woman H has been getting private briefings off anyone.
I vehemently despise the bbc and their (choke & spit) Scottish collaborators, BUT I really really hope that they can do a programme with Stuart Campbell EXPOSING the LIES and CORRUPTION of the FAKE independence party and the despicable manipulation and deceit of our justice system
I really don’t give a flying FUCK about the complaints of the apologists and idolatrous of the Scum Nonce Party who MOAN that this will only be used to undermine independence, who fucking cares, they have brought this on themselves, THEY are NOT a party of independence as they have shown over the last 12 YEARS , THEY are a party of LIARS and THIEVES who deserve EXPOSING , THEY have set back independence for a decade
Having independence with these SCUM and the corrupt justice system would be worse than anyone can imagine, there is NO DEFENCE for the LIES and CORRUPTION of these bastards
twathater, well said I could agree more.
When you listen to those on Scottish prism talking about brushing it under the carpet and working with the SNP I think what planet are you on.
The SNP needs destroying and Holyrood needs shutting down its not going to stop Independence its more likely to secure it.
100% agree with your final paragraph.
I hope you spent some time giving the MSM journalists tips on how to do their jobs – yourself & Sean Clerkin are the ones who have never given up in the quest for the truth!
Knowing the standards at the BBC (and elsewhere across the MSM), Stu probably showed them up something rotten and schooled them on how to do proper journalism instead of the thinly-veiled agitprop activism that pollutes the MSM in these current times.
Being a license fee refusenik I won’t be able to watch sadly.
Same
It’s on BBC Sounds, and it’s free (like radio).
Same, asks me to login or register.
Same. Requires registration and login.
Having bought a licence for the duration of the World Cup [after 12 years of not buying one] we have watched the programme. You came across very well, Rev. Martin Geissler allowed the points about the 2 crimes to be clearly stated, and the key point about the Lord Advocate immunity.
It is cheering to hear that several actions are under consideration. Bute House staff and Jackson’s Entry staff, amongst others, will be very interested… 🙂 🙂
You’re on your honour not to watch any England games.
🙂
Just listened to you on BBC Sounds and agreed with every word, as did lawyer hubby. You thorn in the side of the SNP you! Well done!
WINGS OVER SCOTLAND: WHY I’M NOT DONE WITH THE PETER MURRELL CASE
Scotcast, Radio Scotland, 29 Jun 2026, 29 mins
« Pro-independence blog Wings Over Scotland raised concerns about the SNP’s finances in 2020, several years before Peter Murrell (pictured) was prosecuted for embezzling more than £400,000 of SNP funds. Martin speaks to the man behind the site, Stuart Campbell, about his role in uncovering the scandal, and why he says he is not done asking questions about where money has gone. Scotcast is the BBC’s Scottish news podcast. This episode is hosted by Martin Geissler. »
link to bbc.co.uk
The link does not exist, pal.
Well done Stuart. Case put coherently and succinctly. Geissler was very good too, except near the end (26.40) with his remarkably exuberant pro-Swinney hype piece:
« Let me say — and I know this very well because I have had John Swinney in this studio for long periods of time and I know exactly his philosophy — and I know if he was here he would absolutely refute every allegation you throw at his party about all of that and he would tell you that he would live in a cave for independence… »
“John Swinney … would tell you that he would live in a cave for independence”
Aye Fearghas, here we have to remember that Geissler works for the colonial state (mouthpiece), as do our colonial administrators.
And therefore their utterances, as Orwell told us, reflects:
“Political language… (that) is designed to make lies truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind”
Nothing about the size of the cave, if it has underfloor heating, how many heat pumps, and if the multi-vehicle integral garage would take a camper van.
I’m curious about Alf’s comment though. Are you saying Swinney is lying, or Geissler is lying, or both?
If both, do the lies cancel out? What does Fanon say?
Are the Police and Crown Prosecution actually concluding that because Peter Murrell embezzled all the funds before the SNP had a chance to do it themselves, that legally renders them innocent?!
I do recall some suggestions that the Peter Murrell stuff was rather forced on Police Scotland by a UK organised crime bit of the police saying to police Scotland you guys better have a look at this. Has that suggestion got any evidence? The more dots one gets the more unpleasant this storyline looks.
I think it was the National Crime Agency that pressed for that.
Dear Rev,
The more you dig, the more you expose. That the ‘Ringfenced’ investigation led to Murrell’s exposé and the quite frankly petrified way they’re still trying to shake you off leads me to suspect theres a whole lot more to uncover here.
I’d like to compliment you also, not just in your persistence, but the eloquent, straightforward way you are chronicling all this. Not for the first time you leave ‘traditional’ journos like specks of dust in your rear view mirror.
Shining a very bright on the scoundrels who have allowed this through collusion or inadequacy is an equally fine use of your skills and platform.
Please keep up the good work.
Well said Rev. The media do have their slippers under the political bed with the Crown office as the pillow. Police Scotland are not allowed on the furniture.
I wonder how long Ned Stark (sorry my bad; King of oop t’ Norf Andy Burnham) will take to annoy Kings Lahndun when they realise his interest, at this moment at least, is focussed on somewhere else than the so-called “Home Counties”?
Short term/ long term; he’s toast.
That’s not how da Yoo Kay works “old boy”..
And keep taking the hair zebrite going otherwise yer going to look shockingly like your predecessor..
Just sayin an that..
PS; Christ on a bike!
I’ve posted this just after midnight!!
Eeek!!!
The Milk monitors (Wi-Fi tuned off by Matron at midnight) will be apoplectic early doors tomorrow when the WiFi’s been turned back on over this?
Oooops!!
Sorry, my bad..
Chill man. Lady J of Tay has this all covered.
Very nice and easily understandable guide on how blatantly obvious crimes can be detected and solved for the dummies calling themselves Police Scotland and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.
Own correction: Not dummies but the protectors of criminals at Police Scotland and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.
Will they continue to fobb you off after exposing them as the utterly corrupt bastards and bitches they are at Police Scotland and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service?
“and the fact that only one of the two crimes it concerned has been resolved.”
I don’t think it has been “resolved” as a crime should be resolved.
Not one of those whose responsibility it was to prevent or detect the crime have been held accountable.
Instead most of them have been promoted.
And the one guilty as hell remains a free bird.
It is all very complicated, but from John Swinney’s comments, I get the impression that the general elections in 2017 and 2019 likely led to the £660,000 in ring-fenced funds being combined with other income and expenses. If true, and the expenses were properly documented with genuine invoices, I don’t think there is much that can be done about it now. However, the embezzlement of the motorhome during this time raises concerns about the legitimacy of all the invoices from those 24 months. Is this the crux of the matter?
Not really. To get to the bottom of what’s really going on you need to study the works of Fanon, Memmi, Cesaire, Elkins and Jonesy.
“To get to the bottom of what’s really going on”
Aye Hatey, postcolonial theory clearly helps a great deal to explain our colonial reality, much to the colonialists displeasure.
But we can also look to one of the Rev’s favourites authors, Orwell, who was one of imperialism’s staunchest critics, and who reminded us of:
– the repression and deviousness needed to hang on to the empire’s most coveted jewels until the bitter end;
– how much the public are kept in the dark about such matters;
– and the imperial state’s response, which Orwell linked to the fictive ‘Oceania’ where ‘War is Peace’ and ‘Freedom is Slavery’;
– that Orwell informed the world that the imperial state was ‘masterful at speaking with a forked tongue’, where nothing it uttered could be believed;
– and in its ability to ‘choreograph internal investigations’ that played to good governance and the rule of law, while always conveniently ‘avoiding accountability’.
So whilst the Rev has uncovered much of the dirt, Orwell already tells us the real plot and the culprits; that this is all about the imperial state seeking to haud on to its last ‘coveted jewel’ – Scotland – which it will literally do anything to retain.
Well, since you’ve added Orwell to your little list of authors endlessly misquoted and misappropriated, I thought you might enjoy this. Ring any bells? 🙂
‘… In his 1945 essay Notes on Nationalism, George Orwell defined nationalism not as mere love of country, but as the dangerous habit of identifying oneself with a powerful collective, placing it “beyond good and evil,” and recognizing no other duty than advancing its interests.
Orwell identified three main characteristics of nationalism:
(1) Obsession: The nationalist is fixated solely on the power, prestige, and superiority of their chosen group.
(2) Instability: Nationalists are entirely unbothered by reality or facts. They will bend the truth, ignore contradictions, and engage in “self-deception” to ensure their side always appears to be winning.
(3) Indifference to Reality: Nationalists are disconnected from the physical world. Their focus is entirely on tribal victories, triumphs, and humiliations rather than actual events.
Crucially, Orwell noted that nationalism does not only apply to countries. It can attach to religion, race, class, or political ideologies (he cited Communism, Zionism, Pacifism, and Anti-Semitism as forms of nationalism).
He famously contrasted nationalism with patriotism. While patriotism is defensive and focused on the affection for a particular place and way of life without the desire to impose it on others, nationalism is aggressive, power-hungry, and rooted in the hatred of the “other”. …’
Caveman @ 6.22
Well quoted!
Relevant and correct! (unlike poor old Alf’s misquotes)
@ CC
Aye, but that was 1945 and things have moved on in many ways since then with us now having huge global corporates and other obscenely wealthy individuals effectively having supranational powers over smaller nation states.
As a Unionist, you’re obviously trying to paint a bad picture of nationalism, but do tell me how a people can begin to hold serious global power to account through political means by any other method than utilising a “local” system that better represents a particular geographic area’s wonts and needs.
Scotland has for all my lifetime expressed a different political outlook to that of England, yet Scots have jist had to endure what England foists on to us due to the democratic deficit.
You’d possibly get on a lot better with Scots if you spent more time addressing and dealing with the various piles of steaming shite England has created for the UK, with London Rule having had control over all the major powers such as energy and immigration policy.
Superb quote, CC!
But wait. Is it possible Orwell had been colonised?
To be serious for a mo. I always believed that Animal Farm and 1984 were about that other imperial colonialists to the east. The ones that re-invented themselves from the Czars, through the pogroms, genocides and brutal oppression of the Bolsheviks, and now back to the Czars again under poot.
New management, same old aggressive, militaristic colonialism.
Firm favourites of not a few Wingers!
CC @ 6.22
Well hold on there Bald Eagle, have you been cut and pasting from AI again?
That’s AI Duns province ye know, yer cutting his grass so to speak.
Anyways an interesting read. Really sums up British Nationalism superbly, well done “old boy”..
“Scotland has for all my lifetime expressed a different political outlook to that of England, yet Scots have jist had to endure what England foists on to us due to the democratic deficit.”
That’s nonsense though isn’t it, from 1997 to 2005 Scotland, along with England elected a majority of Labour MP’s, same as in 2024, and the same as in 1976, and 1964.
AI Dun
No shit Einstein!
Rather flies in the face though of why Dewar & co. fabricated Devolution as it was understood back then that none of the WM parties acted in any way in “Scotchlands” interest, only Londons and as a result being loyal voters to the societal status quo.
Cue the immaculate conception and birth of Scotch Labour, Conservative etc etc.
Not that Holyroods been a great success though either..
I’m hazarding a guess you weren’t around back then, or, were still popping zits..
“… but do tell me how a people can begin to hold serious global power to account through political means by any other method than utilising a “local” system that better represents a particular geographic area’s wonts and needs.”
Well, it’s really quite straightforward, Dan: hardcore Indy supporters (this hardcore support being a perfectly laudable aim) want to change the status quo; the “burden of proof” thus rests upon their shoulders. THEY are the ones who need to make a (genuine, credible, honest, detailed) case for change.
So then – one of you – go make one!
It’s been 12 years since Indyref. Has there been anything even remotely close to a “genuine, credible, honest, detailed” prospectus and manifesto for independence?
Er no.
Not even close. What we have seen is a bunch of diversionary politics from the incumbent iScot Political Class – as ranging from the misconceived and naïve to the downright reprehensible and divisive; I hardly need cite specific examples of this, here of all places.
No, from any fair, reasonable standpoint, Scottish Nationalism has failed to adequately make its case – and consequently it has similarly failed to galvanise its would be supporters, as evidenced by the derisory few dozen souls turning up at “marches” and other events.
From my perspective, Salmond similarly did not produce what I would regard an adequate blueprint and [economic] prospectus for independence (again, IMO, the 2013 White Paper was a joke and was laughably outmoded barely after the ink dried), BUT he was a charismatic, consummate politician, which still counts for a lot, regardless. Once he had left the fray, only the useless, venal cabal that he’d purposely assembled and surrounded himself with remained – and we all know how that went.
Of course, you try and point this out and you get the usual indignant harumphing and shower of childish insults. Even one of the more reasonable, cerebral iScot (now absent) posters accused me of a “Yoon trick” 😀
Imagine! Expecting your average, hardworking stakeholder Scot – with house, mortgage, career, pension pot, kids/grandkids etc. to vote independence purely on the basis of a leap of faith… I mean, it’s all so ridiculous, and thus we are where we find ourselves.
One thing’s for sure, Dan. If that’s the way you DO effect change, the way NOT to do so is equally clear – and we’re seeing that now very clearly from the Scottish Political Classes, and even BTL here, yourself very much included I’m afraid.
… Scotland has for all my lifetime expressed a different political outlook to that of England …
As Aidan points out, this is factually incorrect on even the most basic level, as even the most cursory use of Google demonstrates. Try it some time, preferable before posting. 🙂
‘… You’d possibly get on a lot better with Scots …’
Oh, I tend to get on with Scots just fine, thanks Dan. Mind you, my social circle tends to comprise of intelligent, well-rounded, hardworking and successful people who don’t have axes to grind, which probably explains that one.
Let’s be honest here: yer man Alf foolishly tried to rope Orwell into his ramshackle clique of 20th century authors and thinkers to endlessly (mis)quote and misappropriate, and this time it has blown up in his face. As per my post, Orwell had very distinct views about the kind of nationalism he endlessly spouts – and they’re none too complimentary (lol).
I believe, in the modern parlance, it’s what’s called “a zinger”?
Positively made my day. 🙂
“Well hold on there Bald Eagle, have you been cut and pasting from AI again?”
Well, duh, YL – that’ll be why the relevant text is italicised and in quotes, that’s the convention for quoting a third party source (i.e. not me). Or did you not know that?
I love the fact you seem to think I’m trying to present myself as some academic or similar with gravitas, whilst simultaneously going by the name of “Captain Caveman” and making endless fart jokes. Oh yes, let’s not forget I’m also BALD and from …….. SWINDON!
Tell Geri the bloody rosemary isn’t working yet, will you? Ta! 😀
@Hatey
“Firm favourites of not a few Wingers!”
Heh, indeed Hatey, the irony isn’t lost on me. 🙂
DavidT-Its not the crux of the matter.
Your assumption that if the SNP spent the money raised soley for another referendum campaign on Election expenses and have receipts this means its all ok, is factually and legally wrong.
The type of behaviour/circumstances you refer to is defined by the Scots law as either fraud or if the mens rea changes, embezellment.
Law in Scotland, All under one umbrella, [The Scotland Act]
Just add water to dilute.
Well done Stu, excellent jounalism.
Seeing as no one is scrutinising the SNP and Scotland finances in depth other than Stu, one wonders about the financial wastage and coin flpping in tender contracts that always appear to fail with very little transparency.
Dodgy accounts seem to be the name of the game in the pretendy Scottish parliament, and equally so, investigations into those dodgy accounts by other alternative journalists is limited, and the laws that is supposed to cover these issues in Scotland.
The ferries fiasco is only one of those instances, who gets the money from the people of Scotlands pockets with hearings and court cases. A case of drip dry info only for the parliament that mimics Westminster in legislation, statue’s and civil servants.
When and if the unsolved mysteries of Scotlands finances is ever resolved properly by the law as should be, but also fails just like Scottish income tax differing south, from Tenders, Benfits for people whom have a preference of travelling across the English channel illegally , foreign aid money from Scotland, and course devolution itself none of which is mentioned as a deal for the union articles.
Stu, you will have to live to a very old age, In full mental capacity to deal with only a fraction of these financial issues in Scotland, although you’re the man capable and able to do the job, there must be a short cut that encompasses all these problems besides a Colonial permitted referendum.
Removing the SNP and the devolved parliament from Scotland could be the first step in the right direction.
After all there has been a real parliament for England and Wales for hundreds of years,
Why not a real parliament for Scotland?
A devolved Scottish parliament is not a mentioned article listed of the 25 articles in the union treaty if it is to be believed, and not a acting fake treaty. And a excellent way to abbreviate the financial and law problems Scotland is having to deal with.
Accidently getting rid of corruption and the SNP.
Hatey McHateface,
You left one out at 8:11 am.
Your Guff Treaty that is so old no one pays attention to anymore.remember.,
Missing money followed by a list of people all who lied about the missing money while others tried to shut down questions about the missing money. It’s clear a network of bad actors has been caught out.
Perhaps the reason certain people in the SNP took to crime was because they figured no-one would take much notice due to the shear blind obedience of its gullible members (and their fear/adulation of She Who Must Be Obeyed) added to the fact that a second referendum was becoming more and more of an impossibility?
You can still witness the gullible extent of the Cult on SM as they condemn and castigate anyone who dares to badmouth ‘the only route to Independence’. Even if they are all crooks,runs the subtext.
Some of the reasons I believe the SCUM snp thought they were UNTOUCHABLE and above PROSECUTION is because
1/ they had promoted all the heads of any organisation that would or could possibly hold them to account , they had CATCH’D those people with generous salaries and gold plated pensions
2/They had selected hive mentality MORONS for election who would never dare to question the motivation of the Reichskanzler or her reasons for doing anything
3/ They were so indebted to the social misfit because they were earning salaries way above any job they were qualified for or they would ever see
4/ They are not REAL independence supporters, they are party before country apologists and worshippers who REFUSE to see THE TRUTH
“Some of the reasons”
We need only comprehend the root cause of all such events in a colonial society is colonialism.
Orwell’s own experiences with empire informed his thinking on how the duplicity works in its main purpose, that of protecting the British state. Which occurs via state secrecy and deception and in such instances doublethink is ‘doubled-down’ especially when colonialism comes under threat, hence the tendency for the imperial state:
“To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them, to forget any fact that has become inconvenient,…to deny the existence of objective reality and all the while to take account of the reality which one denies – all this is indispensably necessary.”
And there we have colonial rule of Scotland explained in one paragraph, telt tae us by ‘Britain’s truth teller’ himsel.
I note you haven’t deigned to respond to my earlier critique as regards your misappropriation of Orwell despite his published views, Alf. Not surprising I guess, not sure I’d want to either, to be honest! 🙂
Whilst you’re here, though, here is a verbatim excerpt from his ‘Notes on Nationalism’ essay that I earlier referenced, which you may find instructive:
‘… Celtic Nationalism.
Welsh, Irish and Scottish nationalism have points of difference but are alike in their anti-English orientation. Members of all three movements have opposed the war [WW2] while continuing to describe themselves as pro-Russian, and the lunatic fringe has even contrived to be simultaneously pro-Russian and pro-Nazi.
But Celtic nationalism is not the same thing as anglophobia. Its motive force is a belief in the past and future greatness of the Celtic peoples, and it has a strong tinge of racialism.
The Celt is supposed to be spiritually superior to the Saxon – simpler, more creative, less vulgar, less snobbish, etc. – but the usual power hunger is there under the surface.
One symptom of it is the delusion that Eire, Scotland or even Wales could preserve its independence unaided and owes nothing to British protection. Among writers, good examples of this school of thought are Hugh McDiarmid and Sean O’Casey. No modern Irish writer, even of the stature of Yeats or Joyce, is completely free from traces of nationalism. …’
Food for thought eh?
“‘Notes on Nationalism’”
The colonized native only becomes a nationalist ‘to free his people’ (Fanon). National liberation cannot come about otherwise.
Orwell was around slightly before postcolonial theory had really developed – although during Orwell’s time George Padmore wrote prolifically about “fascist imperialism”. Postcolonial theorists identified the similarities between British imperialism, colonialism and Nazism, and of course that the ‘root of colonialism is fascism’ (Cesaire).
Doublethink tells us the imperial state lies and hence deceives as a matter of course. It is fascist at root, efter aw.
Chronology tells us that colonialism developed millennia before Fascism.
But we don’t let awkward facts get in the way of a good story.
@Alf
“Orwell was around slightly before postcolonial theory had really developed”
Good grief, first you’re name dropping Orwell left, right and centre, claiming that the extensive writings of one of the 20th Century’s most prophetic and greatest thinkers actually validates any of the stuff you claim, (insofar as it can be discerned at all as a cogent, coherent viewpoint at all, and without actually citing him verbatim of course, nor quoting any specific sources such as his essays or other written materials).
But now, when actually confronted with what the great man actually did have to say about nationalism (and in fact, even “Celtic Nationalism” very specifically) – as opposed to what you’d have liked him to have said (in your head) – we’re now supposed to believe this discrepancy is because [/checks notes] Orwell didn’t have the benefit of being schooled in “postcolonial theory”? So actually, he’s not such a great name drop after all, Alf, in that case?
An absurd, cringeworthy volte-face indeed for sure, then – yet we can be highly confident this won’t even register in whatever still passes for your brain, Alf. Yet again, this represents another crass example of the tedious “Whack-A-Mole Syndrome” so often seen when even attempting honest, fact-based debate with fanatics and zealots.
Indeed, as Orwell himself specifically notes in his essay:
‘… Nationalism is power hunger tempered by self-deception. Every nationalist is capable of the most flagrant dishonesty, but he is also – since he is conscious of serving something bigger than himself – unshakeably certain of being in the right’.
Alf,
Since you’ve made a complete fool of yourself trying to quote Orwell….how about trying Einstein next ?
“Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind.”
Albert Einstein
We should not confuse nationalism with fascist-imperialism.
The imperial state tendency has been to portray Nazism as ‘nationalism’, which it is not. The ‘fascist-imperial’ state played this deception in order to try to prevent annexed territories from seeking national independence.
Postcolonial theorists are quite clear that Hi**er’s ‘crime’ was ‘the fact that he applied to Europe colonial procedures’, much as the English had applied to the ‘Celtic periphery’ and to many of the rest of the world’s peoples.
Du Bois came to the same conclusion, that the colonialism of Europe’s imperial powers such as England and France ‘had exactly the same object and methods as the fascists and the Nazis’; colonialism is fascist-imperialism, in other words.
Which brings us back to the fact that ‘the history of Western Civilization helps us locate the origins of fascism within colonialism itself’ (Cesaire), not ‘nationalism’.
Thanks for clearing that up, Alf.
“The root of colonialism is fascism” (Cesaire)
“Helps us locate the origins of fascism within colonialism” (Cesaire)
In the nicest possible way, maybe you should stick to designing ferries?
Unless, and it is possible, there were two Cesaire’s, and they disagreed at the most fundamental level.
The empire’s doublethink surely lives on, in colonial Scotland.
Murrell did indeed take one for the team. Whils focussing on the crimes he did comott , others were let off the hook.
said it before and I’ll say it again.. the SNP higherarchy is under the control of MI5
The alternative to that theory is the Special Needs Party are an Organised Crime Organisation and that some of the Scottish people are as gullible as a fish.
You’re gonna have to accept the truth sooner or later, Mark.
The Scottish voters are under the control of MI5.
Next time I’m in the polling booth I’m gonna ask the resident bloke who hands me my completed ballot who he is and what the fuck is he doing.
Heck, if I’ve got a dram in, I might even ask him if I can have a peek at the ballot to see who I’m voting for.
Just a thought, but is it possible the alleged ringfenced referendum cash doesn’t appear in the annual accounts because it’s ringfenced and therefore stored somewhere other than the SNP’s operating accounts? If this is the case there would be no fraud or embezzlement to pursue. I’m not an accountant so don’t know if this is a real possibility.
“Just a thought, but is it possible the alleged ringfenced referendum cash doesn’t appear in the annual accounts because it’s ringfenced and therefore stored somewhere other than the SNP’s operating accounts?”
No. That would be something highly illegal called a slush fund. And more to the point, Swinney has now admitted it was all spent.
Listened to it, was alright. Scotcast is generally, not the worst thing on the bbc, depends who is on; some folks even know what they are talking about.
– at first I half expected to see a strangely, jerky interview where the rev said unnerving things like
“I like child pornography”
“I torture puppies for sexual thrill”
“I am the #1 ketamine supplier in my area”
Maybe that will be in the directors cut.
link to youtube.com
– the best lying is always in the edit.
Well done Rev you got a lot of points across, Geissler is just like the rest of the PRESSTITUTES because his salary is dependent on NOT rocking the boat, anyone who believes ANYTHING swinney says is a grade 1 fuckwit
????
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Listened to the interview of Rev on Scotcast. The thing that jumps out at me is nobody in the police or CPS are never going to try and pursue this. It’s blatantly obvious they want it swept under the carpet and that carpet to be burned.
So I like the fact that the Rev is exploring other ways to pursue justice and look forward to seeing what options are in the table. It would be ironic if it was a crowdfunder that gets this to court.
COIRE A’ BHREACAIN
Sgri?obh Seo?ras Orwell 1984 air Eilean Diu?ra.
Chunnaic mi pi?os mu a dhe?idhinn air an tv o chionn greis.
Thachair tubaist ba?ta ris aig Coire a’ Bhreacain.
E fhe?in, a mhac o?g tri? bliadhna dh’aois,
agus dithis dhaoine eile san eathar a bha seo
a chaidh a ghlacadh le sruthan-li?onaidh la?idir
‘s a tharraing a dh’ionnsaigh a’ chuairt-slugain mho?ir.
Bhris an cu?l-mhotair dheth agus thuit e sa mhuir.
Ach rinn iad a’ chu?is air iomramh gu creig leathann
far an deach an eathar fodha. Las iad teine an sin.
Ri h-u?ine chaidh am faicinn le iasgairean giomaich.
Tha sinne di?reach a?s de?idh ar reifreann
air neo-eisimeileachd a chall.
Alba mar eathar air a dol fodha cha mho?r
ann an cuairt-shlugain Orwellach,
ann an Coire a’ Bhreacain de bhreugan.
Ach mar Orwell fhe?in, cha deach ar ba?thadh.
Ra?inig sinn creag nas a?irde na na garbh-thuinn.
Agus las sinn teine a tha a’ loisgeadh fhathast.
(2015)
CORRYVRECKAN
George Orwell wrote his novel 1984 on the Island of Jura.
I saw something about it on tv recently.
He was in a boating incident by Corryvreckan.
Himself, his three-year-old son, and two other men
in this small boat that got caught by strong tides
and was drawn towards the great whirlpool.
The outboard motor sheered off and dropped into the sea.
But they managed to row to a rocky outcrop
where their boat sank. There they lit a fire
which was eventually spotted by lobster fishermen.
We have just lost our referendum on independence.
Scotland like a boat sinking, as it were,
in an Orwellian whirlpool,
in a Corryvreckan of lies.
Like Orwell himself, though, we were not drowned,
but landed on a rock higher than the waves.
And we lit a fire which still burns strong.
(2015).
Gaelic version again with formatting issue fixed (hopefully) –
COIRE A’ BHREACAIN
Sgrìobh Seòras Orwell 1984 air Eilean Diùra.
Chunnaic mi pìos mu a dhèidhinn air an tv o chionn greis.
Thachair tubaist bàta ris aig Coire a’ Bhreacain.
E fhèin, a mhac òg trì bliadhna dh’aois,
agus dithis dhaoine eile san eathar a bha seo
a chaidh a ghlacadh le sruthan-lìonaidh làidir
‘s a tharraing a dh’ionnsaigh a’ chuairt-slugain mhòir.
Bhris an cùl-mhotair dheth agus thuit e sa mhuir.
Ach rinn iad a’ chùis air iomramh gu creig leathann
far an deach an eathar fodha. Las iad teine an sin.
Ri h-ùine chaidh am faicinn le iasgairean giomaich.
Tha sinne dìreach às dèidh ar reifreann
air neo-eisimeileachd a chall.
Alba mar eathar air a dol fodha cha mhòr
ann an cuairt-shlugain Orwellach,
ann an Coire a’ Bhreacain de bhreugan.
Ach mar Orwell fhèin, cha deach ar bàthadh.
Ràinig sinn creag nas àirde na na garbh-thuinn.
Agus las sinn teine a tha a’ loisgeadh fhathast.
(2015)
Tapadh leat, Fheargais.
So Orwell nearly drowned in an Orwellian whirlpool?
An image worthy of Dali himself.
HMcH
Isn’t that a bit past your bedtime to be posting?
Has matron been late on her rounds switching things off tonight?
You do realise you’ve tip-toed into AI Dun getting all embarrassed about nocturnal posts territory and clutching his pearls again don’t you, oh, and automatically being termed an alcoholic..
Whit are you Brit Nats like eh; a bunch of naughty little double standards wee boys eh..
Should have switched off at 8.30 as usual “old boy” because there’s nothing really worse than a “do as I say not as I do” milk monitor is there.
Just sayin an that..
🙂
Lying in a Greenock hospital coughing your lungs out could may have felt a little like being on a raft in a scene from the Odyssey.
A rock called Plymouth.
The one thing that Tony Blair and labour did for Scotland was devolution, The Scotland act.
For what was once hidden from sight down south miles away and in a parliament for England and Wales is now under our noses in Scotland,
It has bought many topics closer to our attention, from Colonialism to oil revenues,
taxes,
land and sea grabs.
Agriculture and fishing,
the Barnett formula,
who controls elections,
and the evidence that Scotland is a Colony by controlling and preventing referendums and the right to self determination in Scotland from the parliament for England and Wales. Which has no distinction from the parliament of GB.
For the parliament for England and Wales was transferred into the parliament of Great Britain,
Not elected.
It is not surprising with that level of control falsely over Scotland, with control, of partly funded media from that so called parliament of England and Wales there are no media in Scotland that should and could have Done a thorough investigation to hold any political party or law to account here, for this is not ever provided for a Colony by the Coloniser.
Whom advertise their Status as Coloniser by refusing the Scotlands people the right to self determination,
The UN has a easy case compared to Stu, having to investigate against all the odds, complexities of how the Coloniser protects its organisation with its job placements inserted as a linked chain from puppets to the top of law in Scotland,
And this is the same parliament
This word salad was brought to you by Karen Wokenstein professor of intersectional decolonized scissoring at the University of Dundee.
Don’t knock intersectional decolonised scissoring until you’ve read the time & motion studies that prove how it revilatises productivity in High Street nail bars.
Especially for toe nails, where painting using more traditional approaches has long been plagued by outmoded labour intensive practices.
Nasty little fucker. You have contributed nothing to this site but abuse of others.
Three time this week the main stream news, after The outed keir Starmer the word and conversation on devolution has cropped up,
With the analysis and pointing out of how bad that has turned out in Scotland and once mentioned Wales,
What they failed to mention is that they run the parliament in Scotland under the laws passed by England and Wales parliament of GB,
They also fail to mention is that it did not do the job it was meant to do, control and squash support for a independent Scotland,
So now they want rid of it,
As we all should with the corruption and perversion that spills out of it, that has kept Stu busy for a few years now,
Correct. Devolution, as it was conceived, was nothing to do with improving democracy, it was about New Labour capitalising on their then support and creating fiefdoms over Wales and Scotland. This is why in its current form it is terminally crippled.
In my opinion, becoming a Federal Republic or completely Independent is the only way to free us of the shackles that currently bind us.
You do know that you have to be actively seeking work. This doesn’t count.
None of what I have posted is off topic of Stu’s post, or past posts, for the SNp corruption rests in the devolved parliament to Scotland,
The gender issues are from the same devolved parliament,
The people overseeing and passing laws as Scots laws in Scotland derive from the same devolution act,
Migration and accomodation and financial help given come through from the devolved parliament of Scotland.
The Hate Crime bill for Scotland came through the devolved parliament in Scotland.
The mysteries finances going through the politics of Scotland all stem from the devolved parliament in Scotland.
The issues that have occupied Stu, all come from the devolved parliament sent to Scotland by the Anglo- Irish parliament for transferred members of England and Wales parliament legislation and Statues.
Including the Crown office.
It brings a whole new perspective on minds kept busy by details of little or no consequence to the bigger picture,
Maintain control of Scotland, especially now their talk is increasing on oil, murmurs of dropping some of net zero targets,
And fictional treaties.
Yes James, Scots need to understand that “the devolved parliament to Scotland” is merely part of the machinery of colonial administration.
Spartan 117.
You are correct,
Devolution had nothing to do with democracy in Scotland, it was about control that had slipped through their fingers when they realised their past error of dissolving the old Scottish Parliament in 1707 from the transferred parliament of England and Wales straight into the Great Britain Parliament.
But no Scottish parliament in it for over three hundred years.
Devolution was about a new form of recapturing Scotland and tying it to England and annexed Wales again,
The question of the union between Scotland and England and the created state of Great Britain was one of Westminster parliaments longest and biggest told lies to the rest of the world. And Westminster parliament had to try rectify that lie, especially when Scotlands independence was rearing its head again,
The Scotland Act and devolution was Tony Blair’s and Labours solution to that problem of bringing Scotland and restless Wales back under Westminsters control,
It definately was not about democracy for Scotland or it people and nation,
Personally I am against devolution and the way it ( the question ) was framed and put to the Scots by the Westminster parliament for England and Wales that had eliminated and dissolved the Scottish parliament from the GB parliament three hundred years previously.
Bumped in to an SNP councillor who I hadn’t seen for quote a while as I left the SNP about 5 years ago when the direction of travel by Sturgeon and her cabal was becoming clear.
Will you be standing again? Yes I suppose so. Do you not think people are utterly scunnered with politics and the parties? Yes but they have no one else to vote for than the SNP.
And there you have it. Typical SNP councillor. No interest in his country or community. Just a bit of a sinecure with no real input required to deliver a taxpayer funded financial top up. And save for those in the SG actively undermining the drive for independence its the same throughout the ranks of the MPs and the MSP’s.
The arrogance is breath taking. A pestilence on us all in absolute truth. Just like Labour before they fell from grace to where they are now, the SNP are on the exact same route.
You have correctly identified the Professional Career Politician, the scourge of the current age.
Stop all the clocks… the stars are not wanted now; put out every one, pack up the moon and dismantle the sun.
First, If you feel this comment is too long… fuck off and don’t read it.
I’m becoming bored with this place (probably part of the reason I went off on a foul-mouthed rant the other day, if you found it offensive… you can fuck off anaw) – it’s the same old stuff over and over in here and it feels like treading open water while being circled by sharks.
I suppose it’s important in a civilised society to speak truth to power and to hold that power to account… but Scotland isn’t all that civilised since new management took over the running of it in 1707 and the ‘Scottish Government’ isn’t much of a power, reliant as it is on a foreign country for its existence.
Exposing incompetence and corruption in Scotland’s government and public institutions is low-hanging fruit and ultimately pointless unless the underlying cause is exposed and dealt with first.
The way folk go on about it you would think that the SNP is the first political party ever in Scotland to con the Scots, take them for fools, and steal their money.
Labour and the Tories (and every other carpetbagging bunch of politicos) have been doing it for decades on a much grander scale, and England for centuries before them.
The Scottish Government is Westminster’s glove puppet. It’s a glove puppet so galactically incompetent and crooked that the giant bullseye painted across its treicherous arse is almost impossible not to hit.
By the way, I invoked the spirit of W.H Auden up top because my good friend of more than half a century died the other day – an event that, after the initial shock, greatly angered me – but now the “Funeral Blues” have descended upon me.
There are others more deserving of vacating this material realm than my friend who was a kind and gentle and softly spoken intelligent man.
But hey ho, on we must go, we who are left behind until it’s our turn. I’ll miss him, tho.
But for now I’m back in this miserable place for another rant – possibly my last, hence its magnificent verbosity.
I accept that postcolonial theory applies to Scotland in great, massive, humongous fucking dollops, but as an experiment I’m stripping out postcolonial theory – and potty-mouthedness (mostly) – from my argument.
Here is my postcolonialess, non-colonial, more-aligned-to-Orwellian-think, theory explaining Scotland’s position in this, frankly, rather pathetic current age of humankind – or mankind as I prefer to put it…
If we want to understand Scotland’s position within the UK, we don’t need to begin with postcolonial theory.
We can begin with something everyone accepts… that states act to preserve their territorial integrity.
That’s not controversial — it’s just political common sense.
From there, we can look at how large states behave when a region, or country, within their control seeks greater autonomy.
Not just here in the UK — anywhere.
The pattern is familiar; information becomes tightly managed; investigations become cautious and carefully framed; official language grows more ambiguous; and accountability becomes harder to pin down.
We see blame allotted only when it seems the controlling state has no alternative but to offer up a sacrifice to keep the population happy.
George Orwell described these tendencies in his criticism of imperial systems.
Not as prophecy, not as colonialism, but as observation.
He noted how states under pressure often speak with two voices (forked tongues) at once; one for public reassurance, and one for internal control.
We don’t need to claim that the UK is an empire or that Scotland is a colony to see the relevance.
We only need to recognise that Scotland is strategically important — economically, geographically, politically — and that any state would be reluctant to loosen its grip on a country (although the controlling state sees Scotland only as a region of itself) with Scotland’s natural resource profile.
So the question isn’t whether Scotland is a colony.
The question is whether the behaviour we see today fits the general pattern of a state trying to maintain stability in the face of constitutional uncertainty.
And on that point, Orwell’s observations are useful.
They help us interpret the choreography of official language, the cautious, and curious, framing of inquiries, and the reluctance to confront certain questions directly.
We don’t need to accept postcolonial theory to see the pattern.
We only need to accept that states behave predictably when their territorial integrity is at stake.
It’s not that complicated… bigger states want to hold onto valuable territory for their own benefit generally at the expense of those territories.
And those bigger states have proven time and again across the vast history of humanity that they’ll sink to whatever level of criminality – both domestic and international – needed to hold tightly onto what they believe belongs to them.
I’m sorry for your loss, NC. Condolences.
I don’t think I could disagree with anything you’ve said there.
Orwell defo an improvement over all those third-world racists, such as Fanon, etc.
We could even make a half-decent case for Orwell being an adopted Scot. He did write his greatest book, 1984, in Scotland.
And his real surname, Blair, seems to be of Scottish origin.
Just as well you don’t need to claim that the UK is an empire, Northy That would just be daft.
As for bigger states wanting to hold onto their territories. It suits you to airbrush the 2014 referendum out of history. But it happened all right. All the pro-Indy faction had to do was get the narrative right and paint an attractive and plausible picture of Indy. They fucked up.
All we Scots had to do was take a risk. We bottled it.
Ever since, all you’ve been doing is building ever more elaborate and phantasmagorical castles, in denial of simple realities, on foundations of sand.
The other significant issue is that, according to Mr Swinney, the two sums involved (c£460,000 embezzled by Murrell and c£660,000 ring fenced referendum fund) are separate amounts. Swinney says the latter was spent on “normal” day to day SNP activities, so it wasn’t taken by the CEO, which means he must have used general funds including, possibly, Short money and general subscriptions or donations.
How can Swinney possibly therefore say that adequate investigations have taken place.
« The purpose of NEWSPEAK was not only to provide a medium of expression for the world-view and mental habits proper to the devotees of Ingsoc, but to make all other modes of thought impossible. It was intended that when Newspeak had been adopted once and for all and Oldspeak forgotten, a heretical thought — that is, a thought diverging from the principles of Ingsoc — should be literally unthinkable, at least so far as thought is dependent on words. »
(George Orwell, NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR)
———
« TURNING YES INTO NO. The 2014 independence referendum was an historic event. The SNP landslide victory in May 2011 meant that for almost three years it captivated a nation, dominated the news agenda and influenced almost every aspect of Scottish and UK politics. Ordinary people who had never before engaged in the democratic process discovered an unknown thirst for information. The referendum seeped into the Scottish psyche and gave rebirth to real democracy. A nation went through a political re-awakening.
« Our media should have reflected this inspirational period. Newspapers should have thrived, broadcasters should have excelled and journalists should have become heroes. But that didn’t happen. Instead agendas were pursued, news was manipulated and old allegiances maintained. At the helm of what I consider to be the media corruption that poisoned the independence debate was the BBC. At the eleventh hour, when Yes appeared to be on course for victory, the broadcaster pulled out all the stops to prevent a Yes triumph… »
(‘LONDON CALLING: How The BBC Stole The Referendum’.
By G.A.Ponsonby. 422 pages. Kindle edition £1.99)
———
« Oggi un paese appartiene a chi controlla le comunicazioni. » (Umberto Eco)
« An-diugh, buinidh tìr ris-san aig a bheil smachd air a’ chonaltradh. » (Umberto Eco)
« Today a country belongs to the person who controls the communications. » (Umberto Eco)
That narrative would be more compelling if we didn’t have the example of the EU referendum to dispel it.
There never was a more one-sided campaign. Yet still the plebs went and voted for Brexit.
Aha, I hear you say, but not in Scotland.
So what’s your real point? The Beeb’s interference is OK when it delivers the result you want in Scotland, but bad otherwise?
GCSE SPANISH GUIDE FOISTS TRANS IDEOLOGY PROPAGANDA ON TEENS
One of the largest exam boards in England and Wales has come under fire once again for pushing gender ideology in schools.
In an Edexcel GCSE Spanish revision guide, its publisher Pearson asked students to explain why they “follow” or “admire” someone. One example answer was because the individual “fights” or “fought” for “transgender rights”.
Pearson was recently criticised for promoting terms such as “non-binary” and “bisexual” in its papers, with 15 and 16-year-olds reportedly asked to translate the phrase ‘my younger sister is bisexual’ in this year’s French GCSE listening exams.
‘UNTRUSTWORTHY’
A Pearson spokesman claimed that the Spanish revision guide’s phrases are merely “examples, rather than required responses to learn or use”.
But Helen Joyce, Director of Advocacy at Sex Matters, said the “company’s agenda could not be more obvious” by presenting “trans activism as virtuous to students”.
The Christian Institute’s Head of Education John Denning told The Telegraph: “Pearson needs to take decisive action to root out this ideology, or schools will no longer be able to trust it either as an education publisher or as an exam board.”
“Trans activism in schools has caused profound harm to young people, has substituted ideology for genuine education, has marginalised children who disagree and has led schools to breach their clear legal duties of impartiality.”
‘APPALLING’
When the concerns were raised about the publisher earlier this year, an anonymous German teacher with more than 20 years’ experience teaching the subject told The Christian Institute she is “appalled by how woke” Pearson’s textbook is.
“The textbook has numerous examples of LGBT individuals, and almost a whole page is dedicated to non-binary pronouns in all four cases in German. I’ve never heard of any of them.”
She added: “Thankfully, there’s no obligation to teach this, but what’s more concerning is when it pops up in exam content.
“Some materials in the speaking exam featured LGBT content, and students had to engage with it, either by reading aloud a text about it or describing/commenting on a photo containing LGBT content. Pearson’s specification makes much of it.”
(The Christian Institute, 1 July 2026)
link to christian.org.uk