The Government Payroll
The SNP’s official 2019 accounts, which were due to be published today (five weeks late), have not appeared on the Electoral Commission website. We’ve rung the EC and we’re still waiting for someone to get back to us with a reason and/or a new date.
[EDIT 3pm: the EC say they’re “fairly confident” the new date will be 23 September.]
In the meantime, there’s something else of note.
Below is a list of the party’s reportable donations (anything over £500) in 2020.
Out of a total of £964,382 received by the party in the six months from January until June, £783,026 (or 81%) came directly from the British state.
£595,665 (the entries listed as being from the House Of Commons) came in the form of “Short money”, and the rest (which are listed as from the Electoral Commission) is something called the Policy Development Grant, which – like Short money – is paid depending on the number of MPs a party has.
Just two donations to the central party from anyone other than the British state were recorded, both of really weirdly specific sums (£88,622.93 and £92,732.47) and both of roughly £90,000. We’ve been unable to find any verifiable details about the donations or the donors, which is slightly surprising given the amounts involved, although we do know that most large donations to the party in recent years have been from wills.
Nevertheless, the extent to which the SNP is now dependent on British state money should provide some interesting context for the accounts if and when they do show up.
It’s not just the SNP – I saw this a few months ago. They’ve been paying ALL parties. The question is, what for?
I checked Scotland’s people website. A Doreen Gunn, age 75 of Glasgow died in 2018. This may have been a legacy.
“I checked Scotland’s people website. A Doreen Gunn, age 75 of Glasgow died in 2018. This may have been a legacy.”
Indeed it may, and I also found a Glasgow-born guy called Donald Ferguson who died last year, but there’s no evidence that either of them were the people in question.
Is there any way to compare these figures for when Alex Salmond was in charge?
Nothing from Jim McColl?
A D J Ferguson died in 2019 – maybe a legacy? And the other individual may have died in 2020, so won’t show up in records yet.
‘ Leigh says:
9 September, 2020 at 12:14 pm
It’s not just the SNP – I saw this a few months ago. They’ve been paying ALL parties.’
Please spell this out!
Gosh, the Scottish National Party may be able to change their name to the British National Party soon, oh wait, that one has already been taken.
What about the Gold Standard Referendum Party or No Wildcat Referendum Party or Beg Boris Party or Fuck The Plebs Party.
I’m sure there are others.
Are the 2 donations of approximately £90k maybe the same amount from someone abroad and the differences are simply different exchange rates – maybe US$100k?
Purely speculation on my part….
Leigh – it’s Short money. It’s designed to let opposition parties pay for policy apparatus that the Government gets from the Civil Service.
The individual donations look like they might be bequests. The amounts are probably coincidental.
It’s called Short Money and is given to opposition parties so they can pay for things like research.
Probably worth a Google.
“It’s called Short Money and is given to opposition parties so they can pay for things like research. Probably worth a Google.”
I imagine that’s why the fifth paragraph explains exactly where it all came from and provides links explaining what both Short money and Policy Development Grants are, ffs.
In other words, the “british state” is financing its downfall. Nice trick!
The weird amounts look almost certainly like bequests, but it does make you realise how little the party would have without Westminster money. Almost certainly the Labour party and Lib Dems will be much the same. Loads of TU members in Scotland certainly now opt out of the political levy so Labour won’t be getting as much that way as they used to.
Sadly only the corrupt Tories still have donors with bottomless pockets.
some similar arrangements exist for the Scottish Parliament.
First two relevant search terms find these:
Financial Assistance to Non-Government Groups
link to parliament.scot
Committee Bill on financial assistance for opposition parties
link to parliament.scot
Or to put it another way:
No Union = no SNP: they would be financially bankrupt.
Also, many who currently cling to the old belief that the SNP are the only “vehicle to deliver independence” would have no need of the SNP, if we were independent.
It would be a clear open goal for the UK Govt to cut “short money” so pulling the financial rug from under the SNP and other political parties.
But, the UK Govt understand money buys influence. Or to put it the Scottish way: He who pays the piper, calls the tunes.
The tune the SNP now plays is Rule Britannia.
[…] Wings Over Scotland The Government Payroll The SNP’s official 2019 accounts, which were due to be published today (five weeks […]
“The individual donations look like they might be bequests. The amounts are probably coincidental.”
Indeed, although it’s weird that they’re also both around the same as the monthly Short money payment. But more to the point, who leaves anyone £88,622.93 in their will rather than, say, a nice round £90,000? Bequests aren’t generally taxable so that doesn’t explain it.
link to gov.uk
It doesn’t make a huge amount of difference, plainly, but isn’t that donation of £5k at the bottom from someone other than the British state, i.e. some company in the constituency that received it?
“Is there any way to compare these figures for when Alex Salmond was in charge?”
Yes, all the party accounts back to 2001 are published on the Electoral Commission website.
link to tinyurl.com
“isn’t that donation of £5k at the bottom from someone other than the British state”
“donations TO THE CENTRAL PARTY”. That 5K is to a local branch.
Might be that the remainder of the estate was left to the SNP after some specific sums were paid out to named people/charities. Or that the entire estate was left, and a ragged total was what was available after house sale, liquidised investments, administration, etc.
The payroll of the British State runs a lot deeper than this list.
In a key position with let us say an unmanageable banking or credit card loan or a gambling problem. Well no problems says the handler. We can make it go away, just remember who your friends are.
Or what of the dark secret. An extra marital affair, a penchant for little boys. Exposure could be ruinous but the problem could remain hidden, it doesn’t need to come out. Consider it your payoff, and remember who your friends are.
Or what of a job on the international stage with one of the big global institutions. George Younger got Secretary General for Nato, plus a title of Lord. Jimmy Saville got a knighthood and an OBE but then again he knew about ring, the magic ring.
Willie Macrae knew about the magic ring. He got a bullet in his head with no investigation into his untimely and unusual manner of passing.
And over a hundred years ago one of Ireland’s greatest heroes Charles Stewart Parnell ruined through allegations of marital infidelity. And ditto an Indian independence politician during th3 Indian campaign for independence.
Ah yes, the payroll, or is payoff, or is it put down of the British State. I think Alex Salmond knows th3 answer to that one. I think we all do.
Keep safe everyone. There’s more than a virus around.
A bequest might well allocate specific sums to someone, and the residue to the SNP. That residue is unlikely to be a nice round figure. The same applies should someone leave “all” to the SNP.
And when out of lockdown, and wrenched out of Europe, with our Parliament shredded, and the great paid off, how will we, the rank and file, deal with Direct Rule.
It’s coming folks. Direct Rule is coming and coming soon.
There is a Prof of Orthodontics/dentistry living in Dubai of the same name. There is money in teeth!
Would the weird amounts be due to the proportion of the nett estate to be given? For example, donate one third of the estate. I received part of an estate last year which was done in a similar way, rather than a set amount.
To state finance political parties ie short money for a healthy democracy might be added state finance of struggling media. The on-sideness of the latter regarding Scottish independence and indeed the Covid-19 suppression measures is a potent indicator. If it were not state money then it might be donations from the mega humanitarian capitalists of Globalism. They have no ax to grind……
As Albert Camus wrote:
“The welfare of the people in particular has always been the alibi of tyrants, and it provides the further advantage of giving the servants of tyranny a good conscience.”
More of that here.
link to off-guardian.org
There will be a reckoning for this crime against humankind.
That too will be subject to suppression.
Seems to me the British state has taken out an insurance policy on its own preservation.
We know that the IRA was completely infiltrated to its highest level prior to the GFA.
I wonder if theyou have repeated the trick?
A transfer into the estate of the ingathered funds of a suitable deceased with a friendly solicitor – executor dealing with things and hey presto a gold standard genuine legacy to the party.
No one surely thinks that dark money to a party or campaign group comes with a label affixed to say that the donation is dark money from the dark state.
Or is that a pig I see flying past to visit the tooth fairy. There’s a reason for every thing, and there’s a reason why folks say one thing and do another. No political names mentioned.
If anyone still needs convincing that the SNP are just as big a part of the corrupt political class on a UK level then show them this. Disgraceful stuff. Public money that goes back to political parties for campaigning purposes is stealing. The SNP are thiefs.
If anyone still needs convincing that the SNP are now just another part of the corrupt political class in this country show them this. Public money that gets redistributed to political parties for campaigning is stealing. The SNP are thief’s.
Craig Murray’s going from day to day with a sword hanging over his head but is still managing to produce ‘real’ journalism aimed at helping another journalist.
More power to him.
link to craigmurray.org.uk
Why on a day like today with blatant criminality evident in Westminster are you again trying to disparage the SNP.
If in 2014 you’d done this some people would have accused you of working for MI6.
Many here miss the point: monies paid to political parties by institutions these parties work within is perfectly legitimate and necessary to even the field.
What is important here, is that a political party that is, by its own constitution, bound to leave such institutions, is financially sustained by those and would collapse financially when leaving them.
Another clear and unequivocal sign that the SNP is now an hindrance to Scottish Independence.
And a reason why, after independence, the SNP will collapse and disappear, having exhausted its purpose (BTW, that happened four years ago) and being left with no means to survive.
This makes even more important that new Scottish political parties are ready to fill the void left by the inevitable collapse above and the retreat of BritNazi Establishment controlled parties.
Get on with the program, folks.
“who leaves anyone £88,622.93”
someone who dosn’t have £90,000
or has to pay an executor.
IanB,
Yes, Craig is doing a phenomenal job under disgraceful circumstances. More power to him.
Bryan Ritchie,
You haven’t been paying attention if you think Westminster’s blatant criminality has only been evident today.
Wake up and direct your ire elsewhere, there’s a good chap.
“Why on a day like today with blatant criminality evident in Westminster are you again trying to disparage the SNP.”
At the risk of dignifying such a fuckwitted question with a response:
(1) This is a Scottish independence website.
(2) It exists to fight the enemies of Scottish independence, whether they be Unionists or closer to home.
(3) The Westminster goings-on have nothing directly to do with independence, and are being more than adequately covered elsewhere. If you want a site to just remind you every day that the Tories are bad, which the rest of us already know, there’s always Wee Ginger Dug.
If you don’t like what we write, or if you don’t want to know that the SNP are selling the entire movement down the river, the answer is the same as it’s ever been: I don’t see any chains holding you down, sonny. Feel free to piss off.
This is why Short money is necessary to democratic process, which has been thoroughly corrupted in Brexitania through dark money donated to UKIP and the Tories.
The role of political party finance reform in the transition from dominant to competitive party systems
link to u4.no
Mind you, there’s not much democratic process when the Treasury becomes a tool of political oppression (see 2014 indyref).
Corroda Mella ; how’s the other independence party coming along?
I take that in the case of the Labour Party the short money goes to a London address and not split up to all the Devolved Nations. Further proof that SLab are nothing more than a mere branch office.
For interest does anyone know if Sinn Fein who never attend Westminster get Short Money?
“For interest does anyone know if Sinn Fein who never attend Westminster get Short Money?”
I believe they do. Apparently they also have offices at Westminster. They just don’t sit in the chamber.
They hivtae get dosh fae somewhere tae pay their staffers tae sit aroon on their doups and dae nithin apart fae demanding that loons can spill aroon in quines’’ lavies and spaces and demand that it be a crime if onybody objects. And their NEC is fu o’ these gypes.
I byde in Aiberdeen. I’ve only got tae look at AIM tae ken fa’ they are.
THe SNP have become part of the British Establishment, and General Elections are now all about how many MPs they can get. Not to stand up for Scotland, because that isn’t really possible for what is in effect an English parliament, but for the money. Bought for English gold still holds today.
It doesn’t look like there’s enough in the pot to fight an indyref, if by chance it occurred. Also like you I’d imagine there’s a plethora of folk waiting to see if the Indyfunds actually exist, that were meant to be ringfenced or if they’ve been spent elsewhere.
Keep digging on the unknown donors, I’m sure most will want to know where the money came from.
Whay are SNP MP’s still taking their seats in the HoC, given the Westminster regime is corrupt, roten to the core and the equal of any rogue or dysfunctional state.
Iain Blackford moans about London stealing yet more powers from Scotland, but is not prepared to act. The SNP MP’s should leave and refuse to return until democratic government and a respect for the law and devolution returns. So, my message to Iain Blackford and his SNP seat warming chums in London, is simply this, carpe diem, sieze the day, this is the time to walk out permanently.
It really is hard to take Iain seriously now.
But of course, as we all know, they won’t. But hey, the SNP will say, ‘vote SNP in May 2021, and we really, really really promise this time that we will really start to think about indyref, by the end of the fourth year in power, probably. Honest.’
Short Money, and Policy Development Grant are both ways of keeping a political party dependent on the British state for funds. It kind of defeats the purpose.
Bryan Ritchie says:
9 September, 2020 at 1:49 pm
Why on a day like today with blatant criminality evident in Westminster are you again trying to disparage the SNP…
Maybe because Nicola Sturgeon has already told us she intends doing nothing to address Westminster’s criminality before next May at the earliest, and considering Scotland’s Criminal and unconstitutional subjugation is nearly finalised and isn’t being addressed at all, plus the imminent deregulation heading in Scotland’s direction after December, some people don’t think Sturgeon’s response is remotely adequate or worthy, nor is it anywhere near urgent enough.
Why shouldn’t we be disparaging about such feckless and inept leadership? We are being taken for mugs after all, and Scotland’s interests abandoned to Westminster’s colonial opportunism.
It’s all explained in here below.
Sinn Fein refuse to swear allegiance to the crown, therefore they don’t qualify. The only way the SNP would not qualify was if they refused to swear allegiance. Perhaps explains the SNP stance on the Royal Family pre independence.
It might explain why the SNP won’t move their MPs to Holyrood. It’s all about money!
link to instituteforgovernment.org.uk
Lizg I replied to you on the previous thread re the flags,
The clip I referred to was last night on Indy Live. Titled ” The People are Sovereign A Trial ” it’s from Mark Hurst @ 1:50 in a 2 hr clip and gives a bit more detail , anyway thanks for the effort .
£964,382
Possibly €100.000?
Here is a link to ‘short’ money history and the amounts each party received in the last two elections.
Source HoC Library.
Scroll down the page to the heading ‘short money’.
link to commonslibrary.parliament.uk
“Frogesque says:
9 September, 2020 at 2:41 pm
£964,382
Possibly €100.000?”
Don’t you mean nearer a million Euros for £964,382?
It’s always been a bit of a headscratcher, the tiny number of large donations to the SNP.
They have membership, they have votes, they have tacit support outwith the party itself for Independence (pfff) yet still very few large donations.
The conclusion was, that there is no money in Scotland which believes investing in (potential) independence, is an investment for growth. Not even reciprocal benefit from *ahem ‘influencing’ the devolved government, is worth investing in the SNP.
They must be squeaky clean then, if no lobbyists, or donors money sways them to perhaps ‘look favourably’ on the donor a-la the Tory MO. Donors can’t have faith the SNP or anyone in their government can ‘lever’ business opportunities for them.
There is no shortage of business (or private) money floating about parties South of the Border. Very odd, I always thought – a lottery winner was about all that the SNP managed. So that’s a fitting metaphor for the chances of both achieving Independence and for the current SNP having any hand in it – we’re as well waiting on our numbers stoating up.
*Dons tinfoil hat – it’s actually because the SNP are a construct of the state and have always been a potemkin party and every potential large investor who needs to know, knows and those who don’t know, are swiftly informed, so they do know; excepting leaving one or two, large token donations, in order to maintain the facade – with the loss of the lottery money, the shortfall is being made up by transfer of short money from another hidden potemkin party, existing within the state for the purposes of laundering money just for such covert ops and maintaining the ruse that influential donors exist at all – aaand breathe into paper bag.
**takes hat off, naaah…c’mon iain get a grip, go for a lie down.
***Apologies to the Weirs for the satire.
“Keep digging on the unknown donors, I’m sure most will want to know where the money came from.”
I doubt there’s anything suspicious in that regard, most likely just bequests. The story here is that the SNP is stony broke and cannot afford to do without UK state aid. (And also that it has very likely pissed away the “ring-fenced” indy campaign money.)
Bryan Ritchie @1:49 pm
“If in 2014 you’d done this some people would have accused you of working for MI6.”
For a start, you meant MI5 and not 6.
There was no call for Stu or any of us to disparage the SNP in 2014 since Sturgeon had yet to take over and ruin things.
@Iain. The fact that there’s even a shred of possible truth in your post is indication of the fun times we live in. Jeezo.
How much money has Peter Murrell been paid by the SNP in 21 years as Chief Exec? £3 million probably isn’t a wild estimate. You could fight an indyref with that much.
Maybe someone should ask the SNP about the sources of the political donations.
Maybe Nicola Sturgeon or her husband would then care to enlighten. It’s a simple, open and transparent question. Who gave the money, why was it given, what was it for, and maybe, just maybe, where did it go.
Dont all political partys at westminster recieve this short money I’m assuming it is calculated by number of mps voted in.are we saying the snp should not take this money ?.the torys get money from Big business and billionaires labour get money from trade unions.as you have just proved the snp dont have big donors to give them millions.we all know that will be why the snp coffers are pretty bare.nothing hold the front page about that.in fact I’m sure there would be a bigger outcry if the snp were swimming in funds.ie who is bankrolling the snp.you said this is an independence site and what is going on at Westminster has nothing to do with independence.are we seeing the the unionist mask slipping here ?. What is happening down Westminster has everything to do with independence.so using your own rhetoric stu.are you receiving funds from Westminster?
Ah Kappelmeister you pose an interesting question as to how much the FM’s husband has been paid over the years as the CEO.
£3m you postulate. And if so, where did it come from. Mnnn?
ROS yeah, nearer €1.000.000, a lot of dosh!?
Ah Kappelmeister her3 is @ question for you.
Why is it that husband or wife teams, or partners in relationships feature highly in both partners having high profile and in many ways inter related jobs.
Starting with the First Minister her husband is the chief executive of the party that she leads. Next, and I only realised this last week from a press piece but the retiring health minister Jeanne Freeman’s partner Susan was the head of the Scottish Government media unit.
And then there is Angus Robertson whose new wife Jennifer ( nee Demodie ) was a SPAD working in Bute House and allegedly embroiled in the sexual harassment fiasco.
The inter relationship of can we say power couple within the SNP coterie of control seem strong. But is it healthy. Does it feed democratic process.
What think you Kapplemeister.
I’m going to leave the SNP £8,904.32 and a half p, three guineas and a hamster just to befuddle you!
In the name of Wings Over Maryhill of course 😉
@ Rev, I think you are having a bit of fun here – and why not, you deserve it!
These figures, as you say right at the top, are of donations greater than £500 – not many people donate that kind of sum. But with circa 100,000 members – say the annual fee is £5 then that is £500,000 from the members alone.
You do have to ask yourself.
Where is Andy Murray, Sean Connery, Brian Cox etc.
Where are Scotland’s richest indy supporters hiding all their cash?
I am going to leave the SNP my membership card if they don’t stop the colonisation of my country.
Why is Nicola spending all her time giving daily briefings on Covid. Deflection strategy!
Willie @3:28 pm
Yes Willie, it’s all very cosy in the SNP & SG higher echelons.
The other thing to remember with bequests is that most wills are written many years in advance of the death.
And as others have noted, a ‘residual’ will not be a round figure.
So it’s most likely that even the two bequest-like amounts were from people who made the decision to leave money to the SNP many years ago. Hopefully they are not rolling in their graves too much.
£88,622.93 is what’s left out of £90k after getting a new expresso machine for Bute House.
Just sayin.
Got a callback from the Electoral Commission. Accounts pushed back for two more weeks. Article has been edited.
As you say Stu, I suspect the £481,000 “ring-fenced” for Indy campaign had been pissed away. Over £100 of that is mine. I won’t be fooled again.
On the weird amounts left by the two individuals, yes, almost certainly bequests. I recently made a will and decided on percentages mostly, rather than specific amounts. So some animal charities and sanctuaries will probably receive some weird amounts from me when I peg it!
@ kapelmeister at 3:15 pm
Murrell got £100,000 when he replace Russell in 1999 per annum,, there was information about 6 months ago that he was getting 150K for about 6 years, what he gets is not now published, Googling about most is not stated save for some saying he has £6 million
@ Willie at 3:16 pm
“just maybe, where did it go.” That would be the better question especially the Yes,Scot money.
I wonder about the late Colin Weir’s money, and stopping the funding the SNP
If the Yes money was acquired by suspicious methods, the SNP has a serious problem
The comment about “the EC say they’re “fairly confident” the new date will be 23 September.”
Is “questionable” to say the least, I believe something is not right within the SNP
If the SNP was a Ltd or Plc then I would have more confidence in the time table
Unless you can provide evidence that the money taken from short money was spent significantly on expenses outwith the purview of Westminster-related operations of the SNP (staffers, etc.) this strikes me as fundamentally baseless innuendo that is just a cheap jibe at the SNP from someone who seems to be increasingly desperately trying to throw any mud that will stick at the SNP. Is this really a story of interest to anyone? All parties in parliament use short money.
The SNP gets a lot of short money because it has a lot of MPs, so now has a larger Westminster operation than it did (and more staffers, correspondingly). This shouldn’t be news to anyone who pays attention. Trying to infer the SNP is now a short money laundering machine is very peculiar indeed if your genuine focus is campaigning for independence. What’s your point, caller?
“Unless you can provide evidence that the money taken from short money was spent significantly on expenses outwith the purview of Westminster-related operations of the SNP (staffers, etc.) this strikes me as fundamentally baseless innuendo that is just a cheap jibe at the SNP from someone who seems to be increasingly desperately trying to throw any mud that will stick at the SNP. Is this really a story of interest to anyone? All parties in parliament use short money.
The SNP gets a lot of short money because it has a lot of MPs, so now has a larger Westminster operation than it did (and more staffers, correspondingly). This shouldn’t be news to anyone who pays attention. Trying to infer the SNP is now a short money laundering machine is very peculiar indeed if your genuine focus is campaigning for independence. What’s your point, caller?”
What an extraordinarily dim-witted, completely point-missing response. The point is that the SNP is dependent on UK state aid to stay afloat. The party is skint and no living person wants to donate money to it any more. That’s why it’s desperately scrabbling around for pennies anywhere it can find them: sending out embarrassing plastic piggy banks, clawing back the 25% branch allowance, asking people to pay their subs early and – I think we’re about to discover – pissing away all the “ring-fenced” indy campaign money on paying the likes of Peter Murrell huge salaries nobody is allowed to know anything about.
Just read that Donald Trump has been nominated for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize, if he wins it, it will go down in history as an infamous win, as bad as that as Obama or Kissinger awards.
First question to the Prime Minister briefing today was a Jamie from Ayrshire.
And even though the question related to a Scottish government matter the OM said he would look in to it.
Who needs the Scottish Parliament. Time it was gone, soon it will.
@Rev Stu
The odd amounts could be residuals from a will. Of the form Fred X, Jane Y & everything left to the SNP. Which will of course be minus the lawyers’ fee. If I was doing a donation in a will that is how I would structure it, unless there were other specific sums to other charities etc. But there will almost always be residuals.
Another pearl from Johnson’s briefing today is the spectre of mass population movement control.
Border Agency stepping up movement controls. Testing by the millions daily to be introduced to identify who can travel, enter premises, or have to stay confined to home.
Orwellian, you bet. And all backed up by the rule of law.
This is normal practice. You have to have over a certain amount of MPs to qualify for this so it’s a relatively new thing for the SNP to be in receipt of it but it’s been ongoing for other parties since forever ago. The LibDems are feeling the loss of theirs, that’s for sure.
Moonshot testing vaccination for 24hrs to allow a free pass to events? = Jam tomorrow (Springtime).
Nice graphs though.
Pretty hard line for folk darn Sarf to swallow, no mention of what the fines will be.
Boris’ last throw of the dice to avoid National (England) lockdown.
@Robert Louis says:
9 September, 2020 at 2:32 pm
“Why are SNP MP’s still taking their seats in the HoC, given the Westminster regime is corrupt, rotten to the core and the equal of any rogue or dysfunctional state.”
Thinking out loud, if they decided to copy Sinn Fein, I’d bet that the unionist vote would petition for recall. Only needs 10% of registered voters. The only circumstances which would apply for a recall would be if an MP is suspended by the Committee on Standards. I would imagine that would be an easy fix as they would not be seen to fulfil their obligations as an elected MP.
In those circumstances, getting 10% of voters would be a piece of piss, and that would trigger a by-election.
@Rev. Stuart Campbell 5.24pm
Great response, my best chuckle of the day and spot on to boot.
Fireproofjim says:
9 September, 2020 at 2:13 pm
`For interest does anyone know if Sinn Fein who never attend Westminster get Short Money?`
no, they get Representative Money much to the vexation of the DUP.
Trump should be finished. BOB WOODWARD BOOK reveals tapes recordings with TRump
Admitting covid was bad ! 5 times worse than your worst flu.
He lied to American people and the world.
That stupid blond bimbo trying now to defend him, madness.
It a a bit like asking the criminals your chasing to have whip round to buy new police cars for your police force.
Bizarre.
I’ll let the content speak for itself: link to twitter.com
For the hard of thinking:
1. The SNP is now dependent on British handouts to survive.
2. The money ringfenced for IndyRef 2 may have already been pissed away.
3. The SNP, previously keen to gloat, now seem unwilling to share their membership & their income from it.
4. You should ask where all the money was spent. Clue: the Gender Woo-Woo Club, Pete Murrell, extremist charities & fanatic quangos.
SUMMARY
The SNP is effectively an embedded British political party in Holyrood that is increasingly secretive, devious, arrogant & self serving. It is now the primary obstacle to independence.
Shock shock horror
Political party receives money from government
BUT…Hang on a minute
DONT …All the party,s get money from the government
YES they do
So I guess your point is shock shock horror is , you want the SNP to send the money back
But hang on , isn’t that what you criticised Labour about
YES of course it is
Tell you what…..why don’t you just wait for the actual accounts
The question that must be asked, and answered, in due course is why the accounts are late. Change in auditors? Change in auditing staff? Change in SNP staff handling the audit from their end? Those are all legitimate reasons for an occasional delay in filing and apply equally to for-profit businesses. However, a political party (or a publicly-traded business) requires more transparency and I should hope that an explanation for the delay would be forthcoming as soon as the accounts are filed.
Are the SNP not always telling us we don’t need Westminster money to survive? Mmmm!!
That must be the worst political slogans of all time F off if you don’t agree with me. Thank I’d vote for a party that came up with that slogan. You could imagine all the MSP sitting in Parliament with the arms folded growling.
The rule-of-law is as much a tool of social emancipation, as it is a tool of social oppression. It all rests on how the law is interpreted, and whether the interpretation is coherent with the legal doctrine of “proportionality”.
A Law Professor’s Guide to Natural Law and Natural Rights
link to scholarship.law.georgetown.edu
.
Excellent article and Stuart, you are a top man for publishing what ALL Scots should know about…
That the Sturgeonite and Murrell SNP have sold Independence down the river for their personal gain: money and self-aggrandisement.
Stuart, I think I know where you are going with this. In polis circles the expressions: “follow the money” and: “Cui Bono”. On this thread, both come to mind.
It was inexorable that the British State had to eventually allow a “house cleaning” of the political and powerful that started in 2009.
Here, on this Wings Over Scotland site and on this thread, all you need do is replace the name: “Heather Brooke” with “Stuart Campbell”.
Heather Brooke worked away at her Freedom of Information requests and persisted. She followed the money. The result of Heather Brooke’s FOI request and perseverance…
House of Commons Speaker Michael Martin: Resigned.
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith: Resigned.
Secretary of State for Local Government Hazel Blears: Resigned.
Secretary of State for Transport Geoff Hoon: Resigned.
Chief Secretary to the Treasury David Laws: Resigned.
Secretary to the exchequer and Treasury Kitty Ussher: Resigned.
Minister for Employment Tony McNulty: Resigned.
David Chaytor MP: Convicted and sent to prison.
Jim Devine MP: Convicted and sent to prison.
Eric Illsley MP: Convicted and sent to prison.
Dr Dennis McShane MP: Convicted and sent to prison.
Elliot Morley Privy Council Member and MP: Convicted and sent to prison.
Lord Hanningfield, Baron of Chelmsford. Convicted and sent to prison.
Lord Taylor of Warwick QC: Convicted and sent to prison.
The MSM and press are giving Nicola Sturgeon a VERY EASY life compared to their hostility inflicted upon Alex Salmond when he was first minister.
BUT at some point very soon, Sturgeon and Murrell look highly likely to face some difficult questions. Ironically NOT about the GRA or the Orwellian Hate Crime Bill and Sturgeon’s fingerprints on the weapons that sought to politically kill off her opponents (jail if needs required).
No, Sturgeon’s political end will be swift and deservedly brutal. She played with matches. She started the fire. We are lucky she has failed to burn down IndyRef.
Her perfume is all over the gerrymandered efforts to get rid of Alex Salmond. As First Minister she is legally the “directing mind”. It was undeniably on her watch that the police were brought in and prosecuted Alex Salmond.
Oh stultus discipulus.
To even think about doing away with your mentor. Especially when his IQ and wiley abilities outrank and outflank yours so heavily is hubris personified. That may be Sturgeon’s political epitaph.
I think Alex Salmond should now consider obtaining a court order to release the paper trail of evidence at ScotGov., and shine the light of disinfectant upon Sturgeon’s SNP to start the proper inquiry into the Murrells’ corruption of the SNP. Nicola’s sepsis is both political and now it seems financial.
How about it Alex?
Oops, he already did..
link to bbc.co.uk
Next…
Stuart, you literally are: “on the money”.
The British State was bruised by the Parliamentary Expenses Scandal more than anything since World War 2 and 17th August 1947 (Inependece of India).
Sturgeon’s high-jacking of the real SNP, the true Indy political party is almost at an end.
I don’t think Sturgeon will be led away by Police Scotland in handcuffs for allegedly committing fraud etc., by raising “ring fenced” IndyRef money and falsely accounting it in the direction of her pet political McWokeists.
But then again, I NEVER thought I could witness Alex Salmond being put on trial where a custodial sentence hung over his head.
The difference with this obscure thread on Wings Over Scotland is I believe it to be the catalyst for the end of the toxic McWokeist Sturgeonite tenure as First Minister.
Thank goodness and well done Mr Campbell.
So what is going to happen if the SNP spent the ring fenced money on the general election of 2017?. The SNP pulled down the Independence Referendum site when almost half of the 1 million was raised?. What happened to the money?. From my viewpoint I just want the time back I spent posting leaflets through letterboxes. I will never do that again. And it is actually quite difficult posting leaflets. Got chased by a lot of dogs. A wee bonus I suppose is that I lost weight.
From May 2018
Show us the money! SNP fails to get any donations
link to archive.is
A delay of up to 2 months to post 2019 financial accounts was introduced due to covid
link to fca.org.uk
I wonder who is to blame for the drop in membership numbers?
I wonder who is to blame for the drop in donations?
Whoever is to blame surely has to loss their job with immediate effect.
If this was a private business, the culprit who caused this catastrophic drop in revenue would have been sacked on the spot.
If only we could pinpoint the culprit.
Any suggestions folk?
Meanwhile link to archive.is
Rather than speculate about the weird sums of the two individual donations (probably bequests), the point is rather…
Where the f are individual donations above £500?!? Why aren’t there any?!? Do people repeatedly donate £499 within the specified timeframe to avoid their name showing up on record? If so, why?
Why aren’t there any individual donations in the, say, £500-£1500 bracket? – not beyond the means of a middle class couple intent on Scottish independence. If they think the SNP is the best vechicle for achieving that goal.
Why no donations in the £5000-£10,000 bracket? Are there no wealthy supporters of the SNP? Are there no wealthy supporters of Scottish independence, or are they saving their donations for an independence referendum campaign?
As I understand it, the SNP survived for decades on a shoestring budget, mostly on membership fees, the occassional donations/bequests and some pennies from the British state.
Reinstating the Scottish Parliament in 1999 probably brought the SNP some much-needed cash as they’ve always done well in the Holyrood elections, from the start. Electoral success in Holyrood was followed by electoral success in Westminster – becoming the 3rd largest party (short money!) and here we are.
Maybe the SNP’s coffers are overflowing with membership fees and small donations… But they’ve been awfully quiet about membership numbers for a couple of years now.
Remember back when the SNP would eagerly announce their 100,000th member, their 125,000th member etc. It’s gone awfully quiet on that front in the past couple of years.
Could it actually be that the SNP’s membership is falling, donations are falling… So the big SNP party machinery depends on British state money to survive?
Oh, the irony! The Scottish National Party becoming too wee, too poor and too stupid to survive without the benevolent help of the British State! (I’d emphasise the “too stupid” bit.)
The desire for Scottish independence is growing and is bigger than any one party. If one vehicle fails within sight of the goal, a new vehicle must be built.
Peter Murrell and Nicola Sturgeon look like a creepy pair of weirdos.
There is definitely something not right about them.
Can you imagine Nicky and Pete “gettin it on”???
No,,,me neither.
Something very strange going on in that relationship.
A bit of a “brother marries sister” kinda thing.
Ooh yuk,,,nooooooo!!!
The Pass Laws and mandatory tracking bracelet are on their way.
Ronald Fraser
Now you’re just being an arsehole. Your hostility is pinned to your vest dude, and it’s hard to see you as being on the level.
@Ronald Fraser 7.21
Your points in this post are valid. Count me as one of the lost members. I too wonder about the general membership and revenue situation. However I agree with Cam B with respect to your post of 7.28. No need to personalise the debate.
Ronald Fraser
Never make it personal if you want you political opinion to be taken seriously.
link to pewresearch.org
‘Grassroots actvists must take the lead – no one else is doing so – and preparations must begin.’
Why did Mr MacAskill MP say that last Sunday? Has the SNP leader abdicated or merely delegated?
Nicola Sturgeon is an MSP with responsibilities to Parliament and her Constituency. She is First Minister of Scotland and Leader of the SNP.
As First Minister and head of the Scottish Government, she ‘… is responsible for the overall development, implementation and presentation of the administration’s policies and for promoting and representing Scotland at home and overseas.’ The First Minister is bound by the Scotland Act with its well known limitations which put her in a position permanently subservient to Westminster. Nevertheless the extent of her position and its large salary suggests that a full time commitment is expected.
Ms Sturgeon as Leader of the SNP – ‘(a) sets the political direction of the Party; (b) leads election and other campaigns; (c) approves manifestos for parliamentary elections; (d) articulates the argument for an independent Scotland; and (e) is Leader of the Scottish Parliamentary Group if a member of the Scottish Parliament.’
As Leader and a National Office Bearer, she is a member of the National Executive Committee which, among other things, is responsible for the ’strategic management and political direction of the Party’ and ‘ownership of the Party’s assets and management of the Party’s financial affairs’.
The SNP is a political party with over 100,000 members, including its Leader. Its Constitution states that the ‘aims of the Party are (a) Independence for Scotland; … and (b) the furtherance of all Scottish interests.’
The SNP Code of Conduct for Members requires every member to abide by its constitutionally laid down policy and direction and its Constitution, Rules and Standing Orders.
The political direction of the SNP is difficult to ascertain. There’s no obvious ideology. Despite the constitutional requirement it doesn’t look like independence is in its sights. I can’t remember the last time I heard Ms Sturgeon articulate the argument for an independent Scotland let alone describe how she sees its development. There’s no vision, no road map, no direction, no communication and no drive. In fact, no leadership. How will we answer the big questions? What currency will be used in an independent Scotland? What will an independent Scotland be like? Will it have a written constitution? Will we rejoin the EU? Who will inspire the grassroots? There are many more.
I don’t believe it’s possible to be First Minister of Scotland and a credible Leader of the SNP. As well as being too much for one person the two roles conflict and are not compatible.
If Holyrood takes precedence and the burden of other work is too onerous has the leadership of the SNP been delegated? If that’s the case who is running the political wing of the SNP?
Would a First Minister who tolerates malicious prosecutors in her country’s justice system worry about the finer details of her party’s constitution?
Breaking up a three hundred year old union while depending on its subsidy will need at the very least, enthusiasm, commitment, dynamism, integrity, stamina, hard work and fresh thinking.
Time for a leadership challenge?
scraping the bottom of a very shallow barrel.
lumilumi says:
“Where the f are individual donations above £500?!? Why aren’t there any?!? Do people repeatedly donate £499 within the specified timeframe to avoid their name showing up on record? If so, why?
Why aren’t there any individual donations in the, say, £500-£1500 bracket? – not beyond the means of a middle class couple intent on Scottish independence.”
Exactly.
It takes a Detective from Finland to get to the bottom of it.
In the time of Covid there are sadly going to be a few more than just the SNP who require sustenance from a currency issuer.
If someone divides their estate between multiple benefactors, and the total net worth of the estate is likely to vary, the individual may elect to allocate a percentage of that estate to specific named benefactors, as opposed to a specific amount of a sum which may itself vary in value depending upon stocks, shares, currency, taxation, etc. etc.
The figures quoted are therefore likely to be a % of the individual estate concerned, which would account for the breakdown into pence.
Nothing sinister in that.
Certainly not as sinister as the Hate Crime bill.
Human Dignity and Bioethics: Essays Commissioned by the President’s Council on Bioethics
The President’s Council on Bioethics
Washington, D.C.
March 2008
Part 3: Dignity and Modern Culture
Chapter 9: Human Dignity and Public Discourse
link to bioethicsarchive.georgetown.edu
@ Tannadice Boy at 6:52 pm
I ask the amount about ten days ago,
The figure and it only appears as far as I can find is a BBC article the rest seem to have vanished
The Figure was £482,000
Interesting this article which was in the BBC link, but it’s not the original
Note what Kenny MacAskill say towards the end about Murrell
at that point AS was still in the SNP
link to archive.is
Ronald Fraser
The dirty wee boy argument has no place here
Sorry for making an erse of the post
Also the money raised in 2019-20 is no where to be found
@stonefree 8.39
The money is very important but I feel the loss of volunteers is critical as well. Huge efforts by ordinary folk like myself during Indy and elections has been lost. And that sort of effort is worth it’s weight in gold.
Looking at the party’s total monthly income for a minute, surely the £80-90k per month is small compared to membership subscriptions ? 100,000 plus members paying a minimum of £5-6 per month adds up to about £500k per month. Once we are out of Westminster, the Short money will stop, but so will the expenditure associated with being in Westminster – so the SNP is not dependent on Short money by my reckoning (OK I dont have the exact numbers) so it is just not valid to depict the party as dependent on being in Westminster.
@Geoff Bush
Expenses of being at Westminster are covered separately to Short Money through IPSO. So office, staff and travel expenses are covered off at the MP level rather than via Short Money which is party-level
Geoff Bush
This is an oversimplification, but Short money enables a level playing field between the state and non-state interests. All other things being equal, of course. So I’m afraid we are dependent on a party that is dependent on Westminster, and that’s why it looks like we can only really depend on ourselves.
Stonefree @ 8.39pm
Thanks for that link – we’ve had so many GEs over the past few years I forget when they were – can anyone tell me what month the GE was in 2017?
2017 was when Alex Salmond lost his seat wasn’t it?
2017 was when the Scottish government revised their harassment procedure.
Imagine if Alex Salmond hadn’t lost his seat and was still in the SNP – the scandal of a harassment case (made public) would have lost him his seat and tarred his name etc, and the civil service/Scottish government would have been in full control to allow anything to be made up, and leaked.
It’s not that interesting I suppose – just wondering if scotgov got a bit caught our by him losing his seat so had to take it to criminal procedings to try and make the mud stick. I’m not sure of the rules – but maybe Alex wouldn’t have been able to take that case to judicial review if he was still an MP?
2017 was when they closed the fundraiser for indyref without notice, after the 2017 election,,, oh. After Alex lost his seat.
And now the SNP prefer to be skint rather than develop policies, e.g. Independence, more favourable to its supporters. Well, we don’t know they are skint yet, but it ain’t looking good so far.
Bryan Ritchie says on 9 September, 2020 at 1:49 pm:
“Why on a day like today with blatant criminality evident in Westminster are you again trying to disparage the SNP.”
I see you’ve had adequate responses from several folk already including The Rev himself but I’d like to throw my tuppence worth in with a serious question. Do you not think it’s important to expose the missing “war chest” aka the “ring-fenced” fighting fund? Which was a small fortune, can’t remember how much but missing nonetheless.
link to bbc.co.uk
MSPs vote down bid to scrap hate crime bill
Debate can be found here: link to parliament.scot
Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill debate is about 1/4 of the way down.
So Murrell says NS did not tell him about the AS situation. Does he think our heads button up the back? As the saying goes, sometimes it is better to be thought a fool than to open your mouth and prove it.
As I have said on here a few times already, if you want to be rid of the cancer in the SNP then cut up your membership cards and cut off the subscriptions. By all means tell them when you do so that normal service might be resumed when they clean out their stable.
Excellent post Rev
If WE don’t ask the awkward questions, no one else will.
Wings and it’s contributors have the skills to get to the bottom of any wrong doings that the SNP hierarchy are up to.
Leaving no stone unturned.
Rev wrote:
“I think we’re about to discover – pissing away all the “ring-fenced” indy campaign money on paying the likes of Peter Murrell huge salaries nobody is allowed to know anything about.”
I believe Murrell has a lot to answer for, especially his salary which I’ve no idea how the snp justifies it. I think it was somewhere on here recently (btl) or it may have been Twatter that someone said he’s getting somewhere in the region of 4 times the amount his predecessor got, well over 100K.
For doing what exactly? Delaying indy so he can focus on covering his own arse in the Salmond set-up? Let’s put it this way I will not be surprised if somewhere down the line we learn he’s responsible for a lot of the snp self-destruction, deeply involved in the Salmond scandal & the delaying of indy.
Stoker
Love your forensic work.
Keep up the good work.
Can I ask Mrs Murrell a really awkward question???
What exactly is it that your “husband” does at SNP HQ/Bute House???
Does he keep the house tidy and get the dinner ready for you coming back from your Covid19 updates???
Does he polish and hoover the place, keeping it clean in case Mrs Evans drops round for drinkypoos???
He has to be the most expensive housekeeper in the UK.
More info about Blockchain over on Business for Scotland.
This paragraph is of note for when you can no longer rely on governments…
“There will also be one further master copy of the data retained, if required for the specific purpose of directly exercising Scotland’s United Nations rights to self-determination, over and above any remit of the Scottish Government. In other words, if Westminster removes the powers of the Scottish Government to the point where a Declaration of Independence cannot be made, the citizens themselves can take that action.”
link to businessforscotland.com
I,like many others cancelled my membership so I`m wondering what the membership totals now.
Hate Crime bill.
Or in other words the tactical placement of laws to make it risky for the ordinary (heterosexual, white and non-religious/Christian) folk to speak out against the massive changes that are to be imposed on us and our society by a joke toy parliament aligned to international groups and financiers with a goal of using ‘minority rights’ as a weapon against decent ordinary people.
If in doubt watch how these people have used such concepts recently for political goals and just how totally blatantly against the interests of ordinary people this is when you consider GRA (which is the tip of the iceberg. What happens when adults are allowed to openly express their sexual attraction to children?)
This is more important to understand than any SNP ‘mandate for indy’.
Anyway, don’t want to interrupt or get into any bad habits like interacting with Wingers. But people need to be quicker at opposing this than they did on waking up to the SNP in general (well done by the way, about time) or one day soon you will wake up in a country you won’t want to live in.
“Can I ask Mrs Murrell a really awkward question??? ……”
A lot more light would be shed by debate btl, if folk were alert to, and intolerant of, misogynistic discourse.
Gender, discourse and the public sphere
link to shura.shu.ac.uk
If Scotland and England were African countries and we were assessing their political relations, we wouldn’t hesitate in assuming the big country was pulling the strings of politicians in the smaller country.
Here’s another way of looking at it; from the perspective of the British State, Sturgeon is playing a blinder for them. She’s keeping the rabble in line, effectively blocking progress in a direction they don’t want, and, crucially, she’s divisive (i.e., dividing the Scottish Independence movement).
Fast forward a few years and imagine her sitting there in interviews talking excitedly about all the successes she achieved in elections, etc. By then this whole idea may well be dead and buried.
It’s painful to think of the opportunities we have lost with her at the helm.
I used to dream of independence. Now I only dream of her demise.
@ Tannadice Boy says:
9 September, 2020 at 8:59 pm
The money is important in two ways, Where did it go?
But was it raise the question of Obtaining pecuniary advantage by deception , well that would be the title in England , In scotland the Fraud act or the Theft act apply
I admit it has been years since I read the acts
Sturgeon has actively driven away the core of of the SNP, and substituted the wokist trash
Someone forward this to me
link to youtube.com
Margo MacDonald 1977 , dishing out a statement ,
and now consider Smith’s lot. Margo was probably younger than the wokies
But Sturgeon controls the YSNP, fully
Both the wokies and Sturgeon are delusional, in my opinion, they actually believe they are better than everyone else
link to twitter.com
Remember, I’m not stroking my ego, I’m rising to the moment. 🙂
Gender and Language, Vol 1, No 2 (2007)
Speaking out: The female voice in public contexts.
Edited by Judith Baxter.
Basingstoke, England; New York: Palgrave Macmillan,
2006. pp. 256.
link to journals.equinoxpub.com
Opens as a pdf.
@Beaker and @Robert Louis who asked:
“Why are SNP MP’s still taking their seats in the HoC, given the Westminster regime is corrupt, rotten to the core and the equal of any rogue or dysfunctional state.”
Because unlike Sinn Fein they weren’t elected on an abstentionist ticket. For SNP MPs not to take their seats, abstentionism would need to be an SNP policy.
@ Contrary at 9:25 pm
2017 was when Alex Salmond lost his seat wasn’t it?
Yes
2017 was when the Scottish government revised their harassment procedure. …again Yes
I notice the changes after Sturgeon became leader 2015, First it was the lies, fabricating artificial SNP has Done Good Stories, then some jiggery-pokery over elections, sabotaging a council leader , all this was going on while AS was in WM,
When AS lost the seat, She and Murrell must have thought it was Christmas
I sat in the last year before getting “expelled” just watching quietly at what was going on
If I’m correct I believe AS gave Murrell a job as leader AS was his boss, Now Sturgeon has total control
I noted Swinney last week, he I think, is still harvesting
a grievance toward AS
According to Peston “there is going to be one almighty battle between the government and the lords” link to twitter.com
There are also several serious warning shots coming out of the USA.
My family has 3 SNP members and a total of 6 SNP votes. If Nicola Sturgeon is forced out from her first minister’s and SNP leadership role then only one person will remain in the SNP and that’s me. If she is removed from leadership then only one vote from my household will probably be for the ‘new’ SNP and zero votes for any new Independence party or any grouping associated with her downfall.
I don’t think my family is that unusual as Nicola is popular with many voters and destroying her is likely to lose the SNP a lot of votes in next years election. These lost votes are likely to result in the probable failure to achieve a majority support for Independence within the next Scottish parliament.
Divide, defeat, destroy then control it was the UK way of ruling its Empire and colonies. It seems little has changed this mindset within the 21st century English political parties. Scotland’s Independence movement appears to be fragmenting just as support within the public for Independence is holding strong at 55%. We can only win Independence if we are all allied together against the common enemy. If we don’t keep united then the British, anti-Scotland supporters will defeat us, any chance of Scottish Independence will be lost and probably forever.
@ Joe at 10:19 pm
I think you are correct,
The lady on Barrheadboy blog expressed concerns of your second paragraph
OldPete @11:06
“Divide, defeat, destroy then control it was the UK way of ruling its Empire and colonies.”
Yes, and she and her husband are doing an excellent job at all of the above for whose benefit I ask you? Certainly not Scotland.
Open your eyes man!
@Tannadice Boy says:
9 September, 2020 at 6:52 pm
“And it is actually quite difficult posting leaflets. Got chased by a lot of dogs. A wee bonus I suppose is that I lost weight.”
Try Rutherglen mate. Plenty more wildlife than dogs to worry about.
Beaker
Some Ruthergleners might consider that hateful, just watch yourself. 🙂
Olds Pete. Whilst I agree we need to stick together.
Surely you can appreciate that Nicola has sold us all a pup over and over. If we are only holding onto Nicola for fear of losing SNP votes. Then this is wrong.
We need to have absolute faith that our leader will deliver independence when we vote for it. At the moment it looks like she is conning us. People don’t like being conned!
“We need to uncritically back Nicola Sturgeon because otherwise Nicola Sturgeon might not be First Minister any longer” is a fairly weak argument.
Jason Leitch the CMO for Scotland, this is his opinion on the current tests being carried out here
link to twitter.com
You don’t hear anything like that on nicolas daily hysteical briefings unfortunately.
OldPete: “Nicola is popular with many voters and destroying her is likely to lose the SNP a lot of votes in next years election… These lost votes are likely to result in the probable failure to achieve a majority support for Independence within the next Scottish parliament.”
Nicola is popular for a reason: the MSM and establishment give her an easy time because they know she isn’t serious about independence. Additionally, the only thing she has every put time into is her personal approval ratings and popularity.
You talk about losing majority support in parliament as if it even matters when she has had majority support for independence in parliament and done precisely nothing with it for 5 years.
Actually, out of respect to those on here who pay more attention to the charade than me, it’s only fair to say that she has put some time and effort into a few other things; gender reform, named guardians, baby boxes, and various strands of other guff.
I’d simply much rather be committed to a party that was honestly devoted to the cause which I care most about, even if it performed poorly in popularity polls and elections, than be asked to support one that is devoted to stuff I regard as either harmful or irrelevant, regardless of how well it does.
In other words, I’d rather be on the bottom rung of a ladder I wanted to climb than be half way up one that I didn’t.
You talk about dividing the independence movement and that’s the part that really stuck in my craw. Sturgeon has systematically undermined the Yes movement from day one. She doesn’t even acknowledge the grassroots. Common Weal and others, including AUOB, have also been effectively shafted.
“Unless you can provide evidence that the money taken from short money was spent significantly on expenses outwith the purview of Westminster-related operations… this strikes me as fundamentally baseless innuendo…
Trying to infer [sic] the SNP is now a short money laundering machine is very peculiar indeed”
izat you, Nicola?
Can you think of any recent events which might have caused a drop in donations to political parties?
What about other parties’ incomes for comparison?
And, again, you haven’t provided any evidence about what the Short Money is actually being used for in practical terms to imply that it isn’t being used simply for the added requirements a larger contingent of MPs brings with it. So unless you can show that other parties are not also seeing massive donation drops and fundraising caused by a loss of donors (which I would be very surprised indeed to see), I’m not sure you can draw the conclusions you seem to be drawing that this is in any way a problem unique to the SNP.
“Can you think of any recent events which might have caused a drop in donations to political parties?
What about other parties’ incomes for comparison?
And, again, you haven’t provided any evidence about what the Short Money is actually being used for in practical terms to imply that it isn’t being used simply for the added requirements a larger contingent of MPs brings with it. So unless you can show that other parties are not also seeing massive donation drops and fundraising caused by a loss of donors (which I would be very surprised indeed to see), I’m not sure you can draw the conclusions you seem to be drawing that this is in any way a problem unique to the SNP.”
What on Earth are you wittering about? What does any of that have to do with anything in the article?
“You talk about dividing the independence movement and that’s the part that really stuck in my craw. Sturgeon has systematically undermined the Yes movement from day one. She doesn’t even acknowledge the grassroots. Common Weal and others, including AUOB, have also been effectively shafted.”
Common Weal and AUOB are about as useful and important to the independence campaign as a fart in a spacesuit.
“Common Weal and AUOB are about as useful and important to the independence campaign as a fart in a spacesuit.”
Ah, the unifying voice of the New SNP.
At the risk of appearing dogmatic an overbearing, there is a virulent and deadly pathogen on the loose, with the potential to devastate civic society. We have no protection, cure, or adequate test and trace capacity, yet, apparently. So the rational course of action is to follow the science as it develops, and take a precautionary approach to policy.
The right to health must guide responses to COVID-19
link to thelancet.com
bipod says:
10 September, 2020 at 12:22 am
Jason Leitch the CMO for Scotland, this is his opinion on the current tests being carried out here
———
This is crap. That is an old video,heard it moths ago.
Are you Donald Trump? Ya weasel .Resign now!
months ago
Of course, in odrer to access your “Right to Health”, one has to have economic, social, and cultural rights. So you are on to plumbs if you live in Scotland, thanks to the institutional legal parochialism that sustains the British union.
Realizing the right to health must be the foundation of the COVID-19 response
link to universal-rights.org
Just thinking about the Hate Bill. It’s going to really fuck up football. Not on about the Neanderthal sectarian singing, but the more family friendly “The referee’s a wanker!”.
Can they arrest an entire fitba crowd?
bipod
You should crawl back under your rock . DT has just been exposed as a liar and fraud today.The Bob Woodward tapes all over the news today have shown him to be the liar a lot of us already knew.
He knew back in late jan/early feb this was a deadly virus that was airborne and 5 times most contagious and deadly than flu and did not act accordingly like a president should do.
He lied and told the people it was a hoax. This was a gross lie and he should resign.
This is a thousand times more serious than Watergate, in fact 180,000 more serious. The number that have died over there so far. The man is a disgrace to that office of president .
Just watched Bernard Jenkins total car crash of an interview on Newsnight. It’s on Twitter top trend.
Watch his rather patronising comment asking Emma Barnett to “calm down”, then try not swear.
Oh dear oh dear. Another Tory sent out as cannon fodder for Boris.
I’m sorry for the OT but I think it necessary. I suggested we needed to follow a precautionary approach to policy. That’s of no value though, without a precautionary approach to PRACTICE. Pardon my oversight, but my Practice Theory is as rusty as my epistemology.
link to cambridge.org
Frontiers in Public Health, 07 July 2016
The Precautionary Principle, Evidence-Based Medicine, and Decision Theory in Public Health Evaluation
link to frontiersin.org
Christian Wright says:
izat you, Nicola?
izat you sean clerkin ?
Hateuy-
Another way of putting it might be that by and large, apart from us malcontents who read this blog, the independence movement IS united. Unfortunately it’s united behind a politician who doesn’t care about independence, but who many Indy supporters defer to because she pays lip service to the concept, who has effectively turned the whole party into a personal fan club, and who pursues a disturbingly authoritarian policy agenda. When people on the pro-Indy side have any concerns, they are told to “wheesht for Indy”, i.e. that said politician MUST be allowed to do as she pleases. Frankly there’s something a bit too domestic-abuser about that for my liking.
It has to be another party for the list vote, things are starting to get pear shaped and the list party will have to take over, all the Independence hubs will have to unite under one new list party.
There is a huge popular vote specifically for Nicola Sturgeon – that’s yer populism for ye (you know, the same as the blind faith popularity that Boris enjoys,,,) – and I think the best case plan would be to turn Nicola Sturgeon to independence. That would mean – in this theoretical world – the populist vote remains intact (and they tell us ‘told you so’ whoopee can’t wait – but worth it IF she does give us a referendum and campaign to bring independence about), AND we get an independence referendum – or a mechanism to gain independence.
I don’t know how resistant she is to independence – certainly she’s avoided it and manoeuvred to ensure it is bottom of the list of things to do. Nicola Sturgeon also appears to be wholly ignorant about economic matters (and, it appears, quite a few other things) – there are many things that could have already been put in place and set up in preparation of independence, things that have not been done. Well, as far as I know, this might be yet another of these ‘secret’ things they are mysteriously doing.
I think economics is one of the key drivers that can make any argument for independence not just doable but attractive. So, I have spotted a connection that could maybe be used to influence Nicola’s main advisor on economics, and so maybe influence her. Yes tenuous and relies on people being convinced of certain things and things happening reasonably speedily, and all I can do is set the ball rolling (I have probably less than zero influence myself), which I have done.
If anyone else sees a roundabout route for putting some pressure on her – advisors or friends (?), people that could be convinced that independence now is beneficial (on whatever subject their speciality is in). It needs people that realise she has no intention of delivering independence to drive it, by whatever means, but not by protest or complaining. That is, the final influencer will be a direct supporter of NS, but actually able to rationalise, and can be influenced by someone with a strong sense of social justice, who in turn has you to point them in the right direction.
Things may all change by next May, of course, but then the NS populist vote would be lost – maybe, if by some miracle, someone like Joanna Cherry got leadership, this could be recovered a bit but she would not have time to build confidence in the voters. I’m just thinking of the need to gain independence as soon as practicable after Brexit (it’s going to be,,, difficult to recover from it the longer we are mired in a post-brexit world) and the most efficient way towards it. I don’t particularly want NS doing any negotiating (not one of her skills), but I don’t care if she is a vile person, I just want her forced into delivering independence.
I don’t know how the SNP can avoid independence after Brexit – it’s the end point of all their delaying excuses, but then, they’ve introduced ‘Covid recovery’ as a delay – which makes no sense,,, but, the populist vote will agree with anything she says.
I think her legal advice is faulty and a bad influence at the moment (Wolffe QC) – and this kind of advice can inform on options and tell how ‘easily’ things can be done. I think Wolffe needs to be,,, gone, just gone, out of the picture, and hopefully his reputation in tatters and stripped of all his licences etc. Are there any other legal advice Nicola Sturgeon listens to, and does anyone know someone that knows someone that can start putting pressure on them to start giving ‘good’ advice? Just start thinking about it – you might be surprised at who you can talk to that might have influence on someone that definitely has influence.
Agree about the list party vote Rm but not so sure about them all having to unite. As long as there isn’t too much overlap of list parties between the regions the objective should be achievable. The trouble with all Indy list parties “uniting” is that the Central Belters take over.
Believe it or not but other parts of Scotland have distinct interests too.
I don’t care about the short money, it may make the SNP dependent upon state funding but there’s nothing illegal or dodgy about it.
The alledegly missing money from the ‘ring-fenced’ indyref 2 fund is a different matter entirely. It would be good to know what is going on there.
Legally ending the Treaty of Union,
`Consent (to signing a treaty) will also be invalidated if it was induced by the fraudulent conduct of another party,
or by the direct or indirect “corruption” of its representative by another party to the treaty.`
how many of those `Scots` that voted for the Treaty were corrupted by the promise of English gold,land and titles,
link to en.wikipedia.org
Scot Finlayson 08:15
By today’s standards, however defective, the treaty was illegal. The Scottish parliament was not a representative body of the Scottish people but a clique of self-selecting, self-interested individuals.
Bribery, see the activities of Daniel Foe the English government agent and spy, was the driver.
Having invested in the fatuous Darien Scheme and lost money this clique would sell their children.
Not sure much has actually changed in modern Scotland. There is still a clique running things.
Just heard Ian Blockford on the Radio, he’s some boy screaming for Independence now, ffs he’s had the last how many years to put up a fight and not a cheep, we’ll never hear anything from him again probably for another few years, Scotland needs some real men and women who will put up a fight, this english Government are making a complete fool of Scotland just now, probably as they’ve always done, we’re in some mess just now.
Craig P 7.51am
It’s not a question of whether it is good to know what happened to the ring-fenced funds, it is ESSENTIAL to know and in detail. Though not an SNP member, I contributed in good faith from my limited pensioner budget, to both the party and the special referendum appeal.
Don’t I have a right to know what was done with it, if not to a second referendum?
I did not contribute as a member, so it is up to members to find out what has happened to their subscriptions.
It is strange indeed that the SNP Treasurer denies all knowledge of the Murrell salary. In fact it is unbelievable. If the coffers are so low, where does his salary come from?
Scot Finlayson says:
10 September, 2020 at 8:15 am
Legally ending the Treaty of Union,
`Consent (to signing a treaty) will also be invalidated if it was induced by the fraudulent conduct of another party….
Correct.
I personally like the idea of disputing Scotland’s colonial subjugation over Brexit as the most immediate, indisputable and unambiguous breach of the Treaty of Union, but yes, present it as the straw which breaks the camel’s back… I’d also like to have 300+ years of similar offences of corruption, bribery, coercion, fraud and sophistry taken into consideration.
I might also make passing reference to Charles Stewart’s repeal of the Union…
But one breach of the Treaty made to stick, and be recognised internationally, is all it needs… and Brexit not only violates the Treaty of Union, but directly subjugates the explicit and emphatic democratic will of the people.
Brexit gives Scotland a cast iron case for victory; an end to the Union, and the Union destroyed by Westminster’s perfidy, leaving Scotland as the innocent and aggrieved party in the Union’s collapse.
Brexit should, by any fair measure, be fatal to the Union. What utter fools we are to squander that opportunity, and those responsible for doing just that should never be forgiven.
And for the second day in a row the bbc is promoting the partitioning of Shetland from the rest of Scotland. How very divisive of them eh?
Apparently some unnamed councillors have “voted overwhelmingly” to explore the option of breaking from an indy Scotland.
I don’t recall them giving Shetland the same coverage when Shetland, just like the rest of Scotland, voted to remain in the EU.
Nor do I ever recall the bbc promoting the independence for Cornwall line.
Blackford’s become a joke in Westminster with his silly little speeches during PMQs when he’s supposed to be asking killer questions.
Time we had a change of Westminster leader, me thinks…
@Hatuey 12.27: well said. Sums up my gloomy thoughts at the moment.
More corruption and authoritarianism reported by one of the few real journalists left in the UK:
link to craigmurray.org.uk
Blackford is a waster in a waistcoat. He’ll talk a good game but that’s all. The perfect HoC group leader to suit Sturgeon.
@Stoker 9.03: quite so but geographical knowledge is not great Ablaw the Dyke anyway. A family member was watching The Chase yesterday and reported this bewildering exchange to me:
Question: “Which English county was the setting for the film Fisherman’s Friends?”
Contestant: “Scotland.”
@Breeks,
we could have a referendum just to confirm the will of the people to independence,
and then annul the Treaty by proving corruption and intimidation influenced the `Scots` that signed over their nation to foreign rule,
we just need to win the referendum and prove the corruption and intimidation 🙂
We need a decent journalist to run with – where has the money gone. If fraud can be proved, that will be the end of the NS ,Murrell control freakery.
I did hear a comment about the money allegedly going to a Progressive company.
No proof given.
Scotland’s decline began before the 1707 Union. James VI taking the Scottish court to London set the trend. Had the man any balls he would have stayed put.
And before that there was the Knoxian Reformation which weakened Scotland internally allowing ample scope for English mischief making.
The lesson is simple, if you do not stand up to England, England will stand, or worse, on you.
This may be the week Brussels gave up on Brexit.
link to archive.is
It’s all a conundrum isn’t it and has been for a while.
I hadn’t given it lot of thought recently; assuming nowadays there would be a fair few bigger hitters weighing in. So the article was a bit of a surprise.
If I can be arsed I must have a look at past figures (unless someone is already on it) Certainly, there could be a shedload of sub-£500 quid donors and desire for anonymity is plausable, I wouldn’t say there is anything particular sinister in wanting to be an anonymous donor – well up to a point anyway.
It seems picking on the SNP, but only really because I already assume megabucks dodgy cash flowing into the coffers of the primary Unionist parties. I never expected to see those levels of donations to the SNP, but a healthy few nontheless; at least to reduce any concerns of solvency.
It is a concern, whether one is fully behind the SNP or not, it has instantly raised fresh fears over an ‘Indy fighting fund’.
It doesn’t appear to be in isolation though, because if there were quite a few pro-indy philanthropists around, there would be fewer grassroots crowdfunders scrabbling for funds. They aren’t even particularly required to be as publically accountable as a political party, nor restricted to UK donors
The inescapable conclusion is: either, no philanthropist frankly gives enough of a toss, or possibly they are there (but few) and tend to spread large sums over many donations. It’s still not a glowing account of the fiscal health of the entire Independence movement though really is it?
Is it a PR thing, as Mr McAskill suggested – are we not speculating to accumulate among the Scottish diaspora enough? Possibly, but again, if the grassroots are scrabbling for cash and few Scotophilic ‘angel investors’ exist – where do the funds come from to invest in the PR?
For all the negatives surrounding the violence in Ireland, of unhappy memory; by all accounts Boston bars and beyond had no bother filling jars of donations to ‘the cause’. Why would that be? Was it run as a racket, the nature of the ‘struggle’ breeding a mafiosi, ideally suited to fund raising even if by coercion – was it helped by religion and by reach of ‘the faithfull’? Possibly
I could think of many ‘Independence struggles’ which seemed to have little problems raising funds – admittedly usually of a very dodgy nature.
Is that Scotland’s curse – It’s very civic, civilised and quietly democratic pursuit of independence just doesn’t set the heather alight, or stir the blood? There’s probably a thesis in there (CBB will whip a study out in a minute)
There is a sudden interest in the SNP’s finances and who is bankrolled – heathy enough in any democracy – but no takedown of the Unionists – is it attacking the SNP specifically, or just giving up on disecting the Unionists – on the assumption corruption there is endemic and so a pointless exercise – we hold our Independence parties to loftier standards.
Well, that’s bringing a knife to a gun fight and laudable as lofty ideals are, maybe we struggle because we won’t get down and dirty. I suppose we do want it differently, not to become just another corrupt oligarchy. Well, it’s an ideal, but not one that attracts money – look at who has it – such Banyans tend not to be ascetic – It’s a moral conundrum isn’t it.
If I wanted to be fair, I’d say the SNP are just suffering from the same malaise as the rest of the movement – although some fault must lie at their door for that – lets face it, for a political party agitating for independence, a more insipid example you could not find – nowadays certainly.
I’m not that keen on a rise of dodgy freedom fighting mafiosi to fill the coffers of the brave struggle for independence – fuck that noise – so I must accept the consequences I suppose. ‘Not keen’, says it all really.
What else do we do – prostitute Scotland’s assets ‘ “gies £500k today and you’ll get to run the offshore industries, £200k bags you CEO of Scottish water, roll, up roll up plenty of real estate will be up for grabs we promise’
The problem with that approach is; those who may want to own Scotland already do – no incentive really. They already have it all – how does Indy improve matters for them? It doesn’t, unless they are in danger of having their English assets and influence stripped and decide to consolidate their own Kingdom instead – like David, The Bruce and others (ooh Iain, no! boo-hiss!)
There is an outside chance that such ‘players’ could see their assets, operations and influence stripped with Brexit (especially if a US deal turns sour) and might just decide the time is ripe for grabbing a Kingdom. Though they have one just across the water to bail to, it might, just might, become an attractive prospect to control their own malleable fiefdom.
For all I know (and t’internet would have me believe) it is the global body corporate who run the affairs of nations. Scotland isn’t Independent because they don’t need it to be. When they do, we may be surprised by the speed it occurs and marvel at the money suddenly pouring in to finance it.
Ach well, I’ll think up some more rambling crap later – if ye’s are unlucky, I might post it.
How much money was meant to be Ring-fenced for the next Referendum?
It would give us an idea of how deep the corruption runs.
It surely must show up in somebody’s books.
This reminds us of the days of the Labour Party and the corruption that ran through that Party.
From shop stewards to councillors and their brown envelope hand outs.
The SNP need broken up,,,and only Independence will achieve this.
This is why the Murrell’s are in no hurry for Scotland to become an independent nation.
Its not just the MPs like Mr “Wannabee Speaker” Wishart then who may be overly comfortable with a Westminster income….
Just coincidence I am sure.
The BBC ran a piece on Shetland autonomy. Funny when independence is at 56% , the BBC suddenly start trying to carve up Scotland.
Two things. Why anyone in Shetland would want London rule rather than Holyrood is beyond me. Autonomy is for after independence. Do they want a devolved parliament to devolve it’s limited devolved powers to another devolved tiny executive in Shetland.
Shetland is not and has never been a nation. It was gifted to Scotland from Norway. Shetlanders are Scots , but they often forget this. To me they are no different to the Western Isles or Arran. They are Scottish islands. Just because they are further north does not diminish their Scottishness. Scotland is a small nation.
One difference is Oil. This is not about autonomy, it’s Liberal democrats trying to cause division. It bugs me that people constantly complain about central belt bias.
The majority of the population and industry is in the Central belt. Scotland is not a big country like Germany. The capital is within 100 miles of the majority of us.
If the Shetlands really want autonomy then lets have autonomy for Lewis, Uist, Arran, Skye , Inverness, Fort William , Falkirk. It’s just garbage.
How much money was meant to be Ring-fenced for the next Referendum?
It would give us an idea of how deep the corruption runs.
It surely must show up in somebody’s books.
This reminds us of the days of the Labour Party and the corruption that ran through that Party.
From shop stewards to councillors and their brown envelope hand outs.
The SNP needs broken up,,,and only Independence will achieve this.
This is why the Murrell’s are in no hurry for Scotland to become an independent nation.
Clearly this IS NOT happening but isnt using dead peoples names to launder money a classic con trick…
This is a BBC Scotland Sunday night drama plot waiting to happen.. cue investigative reporter James Nesbitt walking around the Necropolis taking notes when suddenly we see the dark figure of a hitman exit a car..
It’s an odd post and reactions.
Yes, we want to know the specifics of the SNP accounts and where and how monies have been spent. Unfortunately, we will only know that when those accounts are published.
The idea of central funding for political parties has been in effect for decades, and all parties receive that funding. Singling out the SNP, when all parties rely on this funding is an odd take.
The question we should be asking ourselves is ‘How do we want political parties to be funded ? ‘
And that can be either through private donations or public funding or a mix of both. Public funding through a formula would immediately hamper the lobbying industry, as no corporate or private donations could be made. That would put an end to Russian oligarchs money and ‘cash for questions’ scandals that come up every few years.
Public funding would have issues about Who gets to decide funding, what formula will be used, who will be in charge etc etc for fear of current government manipulation.
Maybe think about it in terms of Public vs. Privatisation ?
Personally, I’d rather see £200m of public money being spent on political parties than having special interest finance sector types donating millions to the Conservatives. It may be useful to google Crispin Odey, the Tory backer and the Byline Times article on Tory party funding Hedge Funds bets shorting a ‘no deal’ position to the tune of £ billions.
link to bylinetimes.com
Re monthly donations to the Snp , I know at least five people and myself included who have now stopped their monthly donations to the party , we now only pay the minimum yearly membership costs since Nicola’s statement on the 31st January and until they announce a date for an Independence referendum that is all we will be paying into the party for now .
It would be interesting to now know in total how many people have now stopped their monthly donations .
So, the party’s officer boards are overrun with woke warriors who have little or no interest in independence and most of its finance comes from the British state. I wouldn’t be ordering our Scottish passport just yet.
iain mhor 10.08
Looks like you’ll just have to play
Gandhi – the war game
link to archive.is
If money was raised for a specific political purpose (A Scottish Indy Ref2), leaving aside thoughts of possible fraud, and this money is then used for a different (if related) political purpose (SNP GE Campaign fund)- would this not be an electoral crime?
When Scotland In Union spent money left right and centre to ‘save the union’ during a GE campaign – the Electoral Commission found them not to have committed any crime because they were not fighting the GE and no indy ref 2 had been called.
I thought at the time that gave us, the YES Movement and the SNP a legal precedent / opportunity to campaign all we wanted – and not have to data harvest names and keep accounts of donations – in a campaign for Indy – which would all be legal until an IR2 is declared and those details would have to start being collated.
Isn’t it strange how a MSM went to town on NS for wearing a pair of leather hunter boots and green jacket on the beach (not to mention her having a coffee maker!) and yet they have not dug into – if rumours are correct – a wage packet for her husband in the 6 figures?
Isn’t it strange they go for a female SNP council leader – for buying more than one dress – on her official expenses? The spendthrift! and yet Mr Mundell’s rumoured ‘nice little earner’ – gets no hint of interest.
Isn’t it strange – the MSM – so keen to find anything, anything at all to besmirch the SNP and demoralise Yes – are not even sniffing round this question of what happened to the ring fenced Indy Fund – held in ‘trust’ by the SNP.
I mean it is such a basic thing that the SNP should have publicly accounted for. And such a simple and legitimate thing to question.
How much was raised in the time the fund raising was on.
In what type of account is it held.
How much interest has it earned in its ‘ring fenced’ haven.
And since the active fund raising account was closed for some considerable time – more than 2 years now? – why are public accounts of it taking so long to produce. Produce them now and put paid to malicious rumours I say.
And why are the SNP not pointing to that pot of money as a moral booster for Yes and saying, this is what we’ve got, as soon as we start – 50,000 has been set aside for Billboard campaign, 10,000 for T shirt, 5000 for first batch of posters, etc, etc.
Anyway, if the British Establishment have got NS and hubby by the cheque book, just think, right just now their movers and shakers will be debating, do we throw them to the lions just now, or do we replace that pot of money to keep them in place.
Timing is everything as they say.
They will need to be VERY useful to the Brit Nats for them not to be thrown to the lions at this moment in time.
We may be about to get a 1/2 million pound donation to the Yes movement from the Brit Nats. Isn’t that ironic.
Of course they have no experience of assisting ‘little local difficulties’ like this in any way – just ask ‘cash for ash arlene’ over in NI.
And do you know what folks – it doesn’t matter. Indy is bigger than them.
And we can do so much better than Boris.
Let’s face it, the Weirs pretty well bankrolled IndyRef1.
The SNP ‘machine’ needs to be kept well oiled and British Establishment cash does exactly that; the membership fees and legacies I doubt would allow for a Chief Exec’s salary of £150k.pa plus expenses, if that is indeed the sum involved.
Unlike Labour, with it’s half million members and Trade Union piggy bank, or the Tories, with big bucks from big business, the SNP, much like the LibDems, have to go looking for crumbs below tables elsewhere.
Without the gravy from Westminster MPs, I suspect the SNP wouldn’t have enough income to cover staff costs, let alone mount election campaigns. Makes you think…
@mike cassidy 11:20am
Interesting game concept ta.
Could do with their numbers right enough. I have a suspicion it worked, only because of overwhelming numbers and a vast majority of them not happy bunnies.
Still, I also suspect, if the greater majority of Scotland did turn – twinset & pearls alike – then they’d have a problem, but they aint and don’t look to be anytime soon.
A quandry – there’s something fundamental we’re missing about them, buggered if I know what. Whatever it is at heart, my fear is there is it’s too ingrained; they’re just not that keen on the concept of ‘Scotland’ and happier with the ‘Union’ at any price.
Do they even have a price, what’s their deepest fear I wonder? That’s how it seems to works I believe – fear over hope. Fears are about all we have nowadays BTL – the heady hopes and aspirations of 2014 a distant memory *sigh
@Big Jock 11.00:
“Shetland is not and has never been a nation. It was gifted to Scotland from Norway. Shetlanders are Scots , but they often forget this. To me they are no different to the Western Isles or Arran. They are Scottish islands. Just because they are further north does not diminish their Scottishness. Scotland is a small nation.”
And of course, before the Viking invasion of Shetland and Orkney, the people were Pictish and therefore would have had substantial ties to mainland Scotland. Despite the Norse identity which many of these islanders doubtless feel, DNA analysis seems to show marked similarities with other former Pictish areas, such as North East Scotland, for example. I think a 2019 study suggested roughly 80% Scottish to Norse 20% DNA markers for the present population.
iain mhor
You’re obviously an intelligent individual, yet I detect a latent ambivalence towards me? Am I paranoid or are you thin skinned?
link to ec.europa.eu
Interesting article from the times , “ Candidates claim the Snp being a bit awkward “ re vetting of certain candidates interestingly enough it includes Chris McEleny . I wonder why that would be .
link to archive.is
If they don’t pass Chris for vetting I’m sure they can expect more members resigning from the Snp .
So Sturgeon wants us all to download her Corona Virus app to our phones.
She says it is necessary to help save lives.
Well how about you listening to us for a change Sturgeon.
We have been pleading with you for years now to call indyRef2, because if we get stuck in Brexit Britain with Crazy Boris running the show, then just think of the number of Scots who will die due to poverty and other life threatening circumstances due to your inaction.
So don’t give us your Covid19 shit, when our calls for indyRef2 have fell on deaf ears.
You need to take the people with you,,, this is not a one way street for you to drive down.
There has to be come and go on both sides.
So if you start pushing for indyRef2, then you might just find more people will take your advice regarding Covid19.
Stan- Why doesn’t she create an independence app instead. It could maybe track and trace those infected by MI5. Plenty of those in the SNP.
Stan I have downloaded the App Protect Scotland NHS and it did not hurt one little bit.
BTW are you sure that you do not belong under the same stone as Donald Trump.
I hate the hate crime bill because it would stop me saying what I really think of Stan
Shunt!
Independence is normal but Stan is no!
Perhaps the SNP’s funds are failing, as folk don’t like being taken for a ride. Even though the political judgement of the Scottish electorate has been systematically infantilised by the process of methodological nationalism, needed to create the British identity.
Women’s Financial Inclusion Framework
2019
link to women.gov.za
England don’t want the Scottish Shetland islands to be free.
They just don’t want them to be Scottish because they have
Huge reserves of oil and England wants that for England.
Strange to suggest a Sovereign Nation should be stripped of its powers
But one of its regions should have a great deal more.
Nothing corrupts a Tory better than oil money!
If they would listen to themselves we have that unique type that runs out.
They said it would run out in every decade since the 70’s.
A 50 year lie followed by a new very expensive pipeline that can bring oil
Ashore for the next 50 years.
Not many governments can keep a straight face with a 100 year long lie.
I see that the Harrasment Complaints Committee have published the letter from Peter Murrel to the committee ,
link to parliament.scot
And they have written back to him yesterday , don’t think they’re very happy with his reply to the committee ,
link to parliament.scot
@MaggieC –
Again, thanks for these updates.
Famous15
I know Independence is normal,,,try telling that to your hero Sturgeon.
She seems to think being stuck in Brexit Britain is more favourable than Scotland being an independent nation.
Big jock 1.05pm
What a brilliant idea.
A special app to let us send back our support for Scottish Independence.
I will ignore her Covid 19 app, just the same as she has ignored me for six years regarding my request for a referendum.
Ian Brotherhood ,
I’m checking the updates to the correspondence every day ,
As my family call me the “ nosy bugger “ I’ve got to keep up my reputation , LOL .
Has the whole Scottish Parliament been told Only to talk about Covid19?
MaggieC –
🙂
Can I just check – is this the link you’re using or is there another?
link to parliament.scot
@MaggieC and @IanB
As Isa from Still Game says “People huv tae know” ! Thanks for the links.
Murrell is taking evasiveness to new levels. Why? Surely there is nothing to hide?
I have to give myself a shake as i read Wings these days.
I’m meant to believe that the SNP are actually a British State construct to stop Scottish independence.
This blog is now an anti SNP blog, and it has really hurt me that someone i’ve followed for 8 years has went in this direction.
Juteman
I don’t think that’s what the article is suggesting. I read it as simply pointing to the party’s lack of financial independence. Which is of relevance, I’d have thought, as it may, or may not, be a factor contributing to the party’s apparent inability to defend the rule-of-law. And their reflexive and supine bending of the knee.
Juteman 2.09pm
“…and it has really hurt me that someone i’ve followed for 8 years has went in this direction”
Who are you talking about Juteman,..Nicola Sturgeon???
Why is Stu not writing articles about the funding of the British parties that stand in Scottish elections?
Why does Stu write articles to deflate the confidence and positive emotions of activists?
Why has the blog been infiltrated by obvious British trolls that seem to have free reign BTL?
What is really going on here?
Juteman,
Nobody has said the SNP is a British state construct to stop independence.
The article is about the SNP getting used to their cushy jobs in government and about not adhering to the “settle up and not settle in” philosophy that we in the Yes Movement expect from them.
Surely, it’s not beyond anyone to see that perhaps the SNP hierarchy see no real problem in delaying an independence referendum.
Lions led by donkeys comes to mind.
Or even worse.
And peter Murrell saying he was unaware of matters? Well if “rumours” are correct he is up to his neck in the framing of Alex Salmond. If it’s as bad as it looks I hope the lot of the plotters get their jotters. It’s a betrayal of the independence movement, of the SNP and most importantly the people of Scotland.
By the way has anybody else noticed blustering Blackford sounds deflated now? Even he must realise that we can’t be conned any longer.
Ian Brotherhood @ 1.42 pm
The link you posted is to the Correspondence page and there is also the Written evidence page . This is the link to the Written evidence page ,
link to parliament.scot
and I see it’s also now been updated with further written submissions from Nicola Richards and James Hynd since their appearance at the committee on the 25th August but I’ve not read them yet
Grey gull @ 1.42 pm
I suppose that since Still Game is no longer on tv I may as well take over from Isa .
Happy reading , LOL .
Toodleoothenoo is to retire from the BBC. Done his bit to prolong the union.
@CBB 12:43pm
Hehe ambivalent is the word.
I do take note of some of your posts and links, others not so much; you are certainly profligate – maybe it was just an acknowledgement, that if anyone could find (or trouble themselves to find) a sociological study of the matter – you’d be the man.
Maybe it’s a compliment?
Ta for the link, which informs general considerations for identifying political strategies for social investment.
Though I was hinting more at a study of…lets call it violence vs pacifism and its relationship to err fiscality and umm I dunno attraction of dum de dum sociological phenotypes, or somesuch – I dunno – winging it here.
See, rubbish at clearly identifying the subject matter = misery in finding relevant studies.
Best leave it to the man eh?
While I’m here, I don’t understand why people think it is necessary for everyone in the Yes Movement to get along with and agree with each other.
This divisiveness allegation that is thrown at people who criticise the SNP and their strategy is just pish.
I personally believe that the SNP have been piss poor in their strategy of getting us an independence referendum, I will still vote Yes for an independent Scotland as will the all the others in the Yes Movement whether they agree with me or not.
As I’ve said before on here, I don’t give a shit who delivers independence as long as it’s fucking delivered.
So where the fuck is our independence referendum that we voted for?
Why do we not have a date yet?
And who the fuck is holding it up?
Divisiveness? There will be no divisiveness during an independence campaign so why don’t we have one?
Who is actually causing this divisiveness?
Juteman I believe this site is a pro independence site nothing more nothing less.
If a political party changes its huge then it should be noted and commented on surely?
@Juteman at 2:17 pm
Just my opinion, but with regard to unionist parties, Wings has “been there, done that” for years, and with support for Indy over 50%, the focus is now about keeping the Indy vehicle on the straight and narrow road.
A job that entails stopping fuckwits grabbing the wheel to take detours to every place other than our preferred destination before we all turn orange and and die from decades of munching carrots whilst mandate farming.
MaggieC says:
10 September, 2020 at 1:14 pm
….And they have written back to him yesterday , don’t think they’re very happy with his reply to the committee….
After claiming he knows ‘nussing’, he’ll now have to vet everybody’s notes, emails and WhatsApp comments, for any reference which implies he might be telling porkies and that did know something.
‘Oh what a tangled web we weave, When first we practice to deceive‘…
@Juteman,
Wee Ginger Dug wil! sate your need for comfort. The rest of us will just have to live with reality.
Terry @ 2:28
“By the way has anybody else noticed blustering Blackford sounds deflated now? Even he must realise that we can’t be conned any longer”
Ian Blackford could tell me his name was Ian Blackford and I’d have to ask for a second opinion.
When someone tells you that they won’t allow something catastrophic to happen to your country, then proceed to sit on their hands and do the square root of bugger all about it, you can’t help but loose faith.
Either Blackford is stupid, or he thinks the rest of us are stupid. Take your pick…
Juteman @ 2:17…
COVID regulations only require your mouth and nose to be covered – not your eyes and ears.
iain mhor
Perhaps you’d like me to think it was a compliment? I’m afraid I’m a little too rusty to simply produce the analysis your looking for, though I don’t think I’m totally useless. After all, I think I successful linked the precautionary principle, environmental justice, and the right to health, with the legal doctrine of PROPORTIONALITY and natural rights. 😉
link to greeneuropeanjournal.eu
The Sturgeon fanatics who still cling to her every word remind me of No Voters before the 2014 Referendum.
They also just “didn’t get it”,,,and we couldn’t understand why they didn’t get it.
But eventually more and more of them came round to our way of thinking.
Hopefully the Sturgeon fanatics will see the error of their ways and choose a leader who truly wants Independence first and foremost,,, unlike the present imposter.
Tinto Chiel says on 10 September, 2020 at 9:22 am:
“@Stoker 9.03: quite so but geographical knowledge is not great Ablaw the Dyke anyway. A family member was watching The Chase yesterday and reported this bewildering exchange to me:
Question: “Which English county was the setting for the film Fisherman’s Friends?”
Contestant: “Scotland.”
Aye! Seen the actual clip of that on Twitter earlier today. Words really do fail me. (shakes head).
Mundell called for a debate on what new powers Scottish local government should be given by Holyrood in order to take greater control over their own affairs, saying:
“The issue of devolution to local communities is now an urgent one for Scotland. There is a revolution going on in local government across the rest of the United Kingdom, with local areas regaining power and responsibility at an unprecedented rate. Scotland cannot afford to be left behind as the rest of the UK revolutionises how it governs itself, giving towns, cities and counties more of the autonomy which our international competitors enjoy. It’s time we had a proper debate about devolution within Scotland. Councils need to make their voices heard on what powers and responsibilities they want to have to shape their futures. Devolution is not worthy of the name if it stops at the gates of Holyrood.
link to caltonjock.com