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The Mandalorian Candidate

Posted on November 04, 2024 by

To be honest, readers, the peculiar events of yesterday continued to nag at us all day as every news broadcaster in Scotland and beyond leapt eagerly on the ludicrous non-story from the Herald On Sunday’s front page. (It was even the #2 item on BBC Radio Wales, inexplicably).

For such an absolute nothingball of scurrilous sub-gossip to so dominate the entire news media was just too strange to ignore. We cannot remember the last time a low-grade freelancer managed to sell the same story to FOUR major Scottish newspapers – who normally, remember, only want exclusives for their big front-page splashes – let alone a crummy opinion columnist (not even an actual news reporter) who’s only been back in journalism for five minutes after a 15-year break as a failed PR guru.

(Once they’d all run the shoddy hatchet piece, TV and radio then had all the excuse they needed to blare it across the airwaves. “Oh, it’s not us inflating and amplifying this garbage, guv, we’re just reporting what the papers are saying.”)

So in our eternal quest for enlightenment and understanding we thought we’d see if we could find out a bit more about the little-known but recently-revived sleeper assassin with the ironic name: Carlos Alba.

For someone who likes to boast at any opportunity about his track record in journalism (the first words on his Twitter bio are “Former national newspaper editor”, albeit that that’s a lie – he was basically a section editor), Mr Alba is curiously reluctant to share any details about it with anyone.

Both his bio on Carlos Alba Media and his LinkedIn page describe a “20 year career in national newspaper journalism” (which we’ll shortly discover is also something of an ambitious embellishment, unless you consider Dumfries and Galloway to be a nation) but they only actually mention his 10 years on the Sunday Times Scotland.

The closure of the paper in 2010 (of which a colleague at the time has told Wings “He was a terrible editor, hiding in his room when London decided to make us all redundant and showing no leadership at all”) seemed to have drawn his journalism career to a close before his sudden unexplained return to the Herald 10 months ago.

But you have to do some digging to fill in the blanks for the missing 10 years before he joined the STS. We get a little more info from a bio page about his career as a novelist, mentioning “papers in Dumfries and Galloway, Aberdeen and Edinburgh”.

A 2006 piece on the All Media Scotland website identifies the Dumfries and Galloway Standard and the Press & Journal as the publications hinted at, and media industry magazine The Drum, reporting on the formation of his PR firm, put a little more flesh on the bones in 2010 by noting that he’d been education correspondent for the Herald and also chief reporter for the Edinburgh Evening News.

But curiously it left out what by any reasonable assessment would be regarded as his highest position before the STS – that of Political Editor for what at the time was by far Scotland’s biggest-selling paper, the Daily Record.

And it’s interesting to ponder why someone describing their identity with “they/them” pronouns, and thereby placing themselves firmly in what nowadays is called the “LGBTQ+ community”, might not want anyone to know that they held a senior editorial role at the Daily Record at the turn of the millennium.

Because 1999/2000 is the most infamous period in the Record’s history.

The paper was at the very heart of the campaign to stop the recently-elected Labour governments in both London and Edinburgh from repealing the homophobic “Clause 28” legislation introduced by Margaret Thatcher’s administration 12 years earlier.

While there was a broad political consensus in the new Scottish Parliament supporting repeal – with not even the Tories wanting to be seen standing in the way – a small but powerful alliance comprising Catholic religious leaders, businessman Brian Souter and the Daily Record worked doggedly to keep the law in place.

The campaign, as the Scotsman observed in 2005, “was fought almost entirely through the press”, by which it means the Daily Record. The paper was selling around 600,000 copies a day at the time (more than 13 times its current circulation), and pushed first Souter’s campaign, and then his private referendum on the repeal, relentlessly, making a huge contribution to the large “turnout” of 1.27 million votes.

Carlos Alba was no idle passenger in the newsroom during the time. A busy participant in the campaign from beginning to end, for months he penned scores of articles (the below is just a small selection) attacking the repeal and in particular Wendy Alexander, the minister piloting the repeal through Parliament, and generally whipping up hostility to gay people. “Anger” and “fury” were the order of the day.

(Modern-day transactivists, we should take a moment to address here, love to point out the superficial similarities between the campaign and those who are currently fighting gender ideology in schools. It’s a comparison that’s been comprehensively debunked by LGB people who actually lived through Section 28, for example by Joanna Cherry here, by Jo Bartosch here, by Gareth Roberts here, by Julie Bindel here and by Malcolm Clark on a more or less daily basis, so we won’t walk you through it now.)

The Damascene conversion of Carlos Alba from an implacable supporter of Clause 28 to a “they/them” relentlessly and spitefully violating the still-fresh grave of the man who legislated equal marriage in Scotland is perhaps one of the most remarkable in our small nation’s history.

But it’s still not quite as impressive as his rapid journey from failed PR man to small-time columnist to the vanguard of a co-ordinated media smear campaign. We trust his fees from the extraordinary syndication of his powderpuff “story” will supplement the rather meagre earnings of his monthly Herald column until the next time he’s called upon to be useful to someone.

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robertkknight

Yet again, Rev, we salute you!

sarah

Ouch!

David Hannah

You are a remarkable journalist Stuart. A living legend. You are so good at what you do.

You’ve destroyed this vile piece of human filth overnight. Outstanding work.

Justice for Alex Salmond. We demand it.

Liz

Thank you.
Now why would the Herald employ this nobody?

Dek

The Herald is staggering to its grave and not before time.

Wulls

He’s a patsy. They can throw him under the bus tomorrow and nobody would as much as blink.
the question is what are the herald doing???
it’s got to be a distraction tactic.
for what remains to be seen.

Kevin Cargill

???

TheParty1sOver

It was item 2 on BBC Radio 4 also

David Hannah

I hate this man for what he’s done. What a horrible bigoted man. Think of all the hurt those stories would have caused gay and lesbian men and women.

I’m astonished at that Daily Record campaign. It’s the first I’ve heard of it. They try and keep that hidden don’t they?

He’s not changed has he. He has no heart. Bitter. Wicked and twisted.

Just like Nicola Sturgeon and her close associate aphabetty perjuring bastards.

Lock Her UP!

Lock STURGEON UP!

Last edited 7 hours ago by David Hannah
crazycat

“In an industry that seems highbound in jargon..” says Carlos.

I presume he means “hidebound”. I can remember the days when journalists knew* how to use the English language, as did people who’d been to Glasgow High School.

*Some still do, of course.

Alf Baird

Aye, whit is it wae posh ‘boul in the mou’ preevat ‘colonial’ schuils an aw thay preevelaged fowk gied poseetions o pouer ower us, yet wi nae human vailyies amang thaim an a fousome hatred agin ordinar Scots fowk an oor cultur.

Wi social segregation whit dae ye end up wi? Aye, colonial racism an prejudice. And the highest prison population per capita in Western Europe an aw.

In a colony ‘only the values of the colonizer are sovereign’ (Memmi). And so we see Fanon’s ‘two cultural and psychical realms’, the dominant colonizer culture lacking any human values made superior, the native rendered subordinate, and a social prejudice divide reflecting oppression, including ‘the torture of colonial bi-lingualism’ for the colonized group.

Chas

Irrespective of the subject matter in EVERY article Stu publishes you ALWAYS ignore the content.
You are only interested in promoting what is relevant to you. The use of your version of Scottish words and the inevitable quotes from nobodies simply reveal the shallowness of your thought.
I get the feeling that you think that you are better than the rest of us and feel that is your duty to educate us plebs………………constantly.
No doubt some will be along to try and defend you but, the reality is, you are driving people away from Wings and the Independence movement as a whole.

100%Yes

Herald On Sunday the voice of the Union along with the National the voice for the SNP who support the Union with every beating heart. Is it so important to go down buy a paper and read bile and lies and to spend your hard earned cash to do it, idot. Save your money and fight the cause.

panda paws

And the lesson here is not that people might change their views over time (either genuinely or to pander to the latest cause de jour) but that you REALLY don’t want to become a “person of interest” to Stuart Campbell.

And that karma is a bitch indeed.

Annoyed

Karma has no menu.
You get served exactly what you deserve.

Vivian O’Blivion

Clients of Carlos Alba Media include two Scottish Government QUANGOS, Visit Scotland and Skills Development Scotland. Clients also include Quality Meat Scotland which although presumably a trade body, likely receives State funding to some extent.

I wonder how these entities regard their connection to such a vile, peddler of fabricated, post mortem lies?

Sven

One hand washes the other ? And the taxpayer funds the operation.

James Gardner

Wan haun covers anither…..

Vivian O’Blivion

Is Carlos Alba a willing conduit feeding stories concocted in Thames House into the media?

I commented the other week on the stushie engulfing Sinn Fèin, where a former Mayor of Belfast was accused of sending inappropriate texts to a young lad (pederasty in Northern Ireland and paedophilia in the Republic where the age of majority is slightly different). I drew potential parallels between this development and past events in the SNP (Derek Mackay, Patrick Grady, Jordan Lyndon, … ). I also noted that an early General Election is very much anticipated in Dublin and that where Sinn Féin had been riding high in the polls, their current standing has been diminished by persistent scandals.

This morning a fresh Sinn Féin scandal has broken. This time the politician is heterosexual, but the allegations again revolve around inappropriate texts to a minor. The lawyers of the politician (councillor JJ Magee) describe the release of the e-Mail correspondence as having been selective and edited. Given what we have experienced with Alex, I have the patience to hold judgment and see what eventually emerges.

Timing is everything and serial scandals (whether fabricated, or real but held in reserve for the maximum impact) planted in the press is very much the forté of the Security Services.

holymacmoses

Thank you

Terry

Was this disgusting smear too sordid for the usual suspects so they get a no-mark like Carlos to run with it – then the gutter press jump on it and spread it like the shit it is? It is already backfiring. Nobody believes it. And if they think that hammering repeatedly at alex will reduce our passion for indy they’re fools. He will always inspire us but his dream was our dream too and it has been a 300 year campaign – we will do this for Scotland – and for Alex.

Terry

That terrible bbc programme on wednesday now all makes sense. This is so orchestrated. Hell mend them for the upset they have caused Alex’s family and friends – but wow – even in death they fear you, Alex. Soar Alba.

Alice Timmons

You are SUCH a bitch. Any chance of a few lessons???

Mark Beggan

Well paid rent boy.

Astonished

I, for one, hope you can turn this into a weekly column.

Effijy

Great Journalism Rev.
A joy to see real journalism in play as it’s almost extinct here in the U.K.
what a wee weedy weasel of a man this creep is there is no cess pit low enough for the unionist TV and Radio channels that followed their toilet paper brothers in defaming a very great man who did so much for his country.

We have the fascist owned daily mail promoting Trump the Criminal sex pest for President and who gives Boris, the criminal who made 5 different women pregnant a £1 million per year job for a sickening weekly column.

fiona

just in from work, you’ve made my day!! good sleuthing Rev? bet you’re not finished yet either… ? still need to know WHY this came about, WHO made it appear, and WHAT is the reason for this obvious distraction, something’s up…

Ann Rayner

Why and when are because the Establshment have noticed a rise in the support for Independence in Scotland.
I think its as simple as that and they are scared, Pretty sure there’s no evidence and the ‘abuse’ will turn out to be as threadbare as the that of the other 13 that made it to court.
Absolutely shameful to try this on when a family, and a country, are grieving but its what they do,

G M

I think they have overstepped the mark here. Few will believe this conspiratorial effort. I expect Scotland’s lawyers to sort this latest scheme out.

DougMcGregor

The Mandalorian’s were bounty hunters in Star Wars , so if he is simply a shitty little bounty hunter who has been paid , it begs the question , who set the bounty and paid for it?

Alf Baird

Weel, wha calls the shots in the colonial racket?

Bob Costello

Now, the next piece of the puzzle would be, who paid him to do this? I am beginning to think that the missing £600,000 of independence supporters’ funds, might have been put to uses not originally intended.

David Hannah

These latest made up allegations were reported to Peter Murrell 2 years ago. They were on Peter Murrell’s desk.

Salmond of course left the SNP in 2018. The majority female jury cleared Alex Salmond of all charges in 2020. And created the Alba Party in 2021?

Sturgeon’s husband has questions to answer. Perhaps he can firefight this one on all fronts?

Woman H was reprimanded by Lady Dorian 4 times for trying to lead the Jury. And was warned she’d be in contempt of court if she did it again.

Sarah Smith BBC journo was overheard saying, they’ll never believe her (Woman H) or words to that effect/ They’ll never convict him now.

Because he was innocent. And the perjurers committed perjury under the nose of Lady Dorian.

The Crown Office has covered it up. It’s great to know Lady Dorian – Scotland’s Jury Hating Judge, her legacy won’t be juryless trials. Scottish legal wasn’t happy and neither was Scotland.

Maybe she can start to reveal the truth and save her tainted and tarnished reputation. Tarnished by corruption.

But we know what she is… Lady Dorian… she’s a journalist jailing Judge. When she jailed Craig Murray. For publishing the truth about the Alex Salmond failed conspiracy.

Scotland. The Tartan Pariah Kingdom. That jails journalists.

Drain the Loch ladies and gents. Sturgeon’s SWAMP. DRAIN HER LOCH!

Set the truth free. ALEX SALMOND WAS INNOCENT!

They trousered the missing 600K.

The 8 mandates for Independence wasn’t enough for these horrible bastards.

The crooked Dorothy Bain made sure to delete Scotland as a nation in the wrong court in the wrong country.

We know she was acting on behalf of Nicola Sturgeon. The destroyer of women’s rights and the betrayer of the Independence cause!

Hounding a man into an early grave – the Nicola Sturgeon legacy.

LOCK HER UP!

Last edited 4 hours ago by David Hannah
Karen

His “company” also does “crisis management”, so who is having a crisis? And you missed out the bit about running the “Scottish” Labour leadership campaign against Dugdale – so a Labour hack.

Morgatron

Thanks Stu. What a vile piece of shite that man is . Also , the gutter press and even lower BBC. They are fucking putrid.

J M

Spooks probably gave him a tenners bag.
What a grotesque individual.

gordoz

Yet again a fine surgical expose of a useful tool for Britain.
Slimy Igor type character with suspicious background & agency. Dark arts operative. Make no mistake.

Dan

Ooft! Quite the article Stu.
The chickens come home to roost as wide boy Carlos Alba crashes and burns more than his namesake in the old Panama cigar advert.

link to youtube.com

Martin

Brilliant journalism Stu. I can’t believe how homophobic the daily record used to be and more alarmingly the BBC and all of the London owned Scottish media have ran this story about a man with a not so good past! Are the He/Him or they/them going to be outraged? Absolutely not as we know they are very selective with outrage!

Neil McKenzie

See how he likes it

Ian Brotherhood

If the British intelligence services suddenly decided to bring all of their Scottish assets ‘in from the cold’, you have to wonder who’d be left.

mike cassidy

I suspect they’re viewed more as useful idiots than assets

Tinto Chiel

Quite so, me old haricot.

Of course, it didn’t go too well for Richard Burton’s character, innit? 🙂

Alf Baird

Aye Ian, a wheen o fowk bocht an selt, an ye hiv tae conseeder that iverybody insnorit in thon colonial racket is bent as a nine bob note.

Mind ye, twa-three million poonds fir hunners o MI5 gadgies is money weel spent tae keep the £150 billion a year Scottish colonial racket gaun.

Colin

Bravo Rev. Exposing mediocrity again. Another one with no sense of shame.

Confused

thought for the day –
“Journalism is not a profession or a trade. It is a cheap catch-all for fuckoffs and misfits—a false doorway to the backside of life, a filthy piss-ridden little hole nailed off by the building inspector, but just deep enough for a wino to curl up from the sidewalk and masturbate like a chimp in a zoo-cage.”

Confused

(hunter s thompon before, of course, but all wingers would know that)

So, some no-mark bum from nowhere, just gets a story (of no substance) splashed over the media … ? And it just happened, right now, like that? Why not before, or after, or along with the rest of it?

– do I detect a hidden hand?

“never forget who you are dealing with” – they don’t respect democracy, the rule of law, the will of the people.

the spooks are there to support the heinous crimes of the establishment, control politicians via blackmail and to smear the innocent. People need to think of our opponents as truly evil.

This is some dark reading, now think – how much more valuable is Scotland than NI? The second link has some nasty details, so skip if squeamish.

link to declassifieduk.org

link to coverthistory.ie

There is a streak of sexual sadism among the establishment which comes from the public schools – “le vice anglais” (it’s almost always little boys).

– considering who we are dealing with, am I really sure Salmond’s death was “natural causes”? Heart attacks are the clever way to do it, creating no suspicion in a man over 60. I can think of 3 substances which will stop the heart – snake venom, digitalis, lily of the valley – and I am not a chemist, nor do I have access to one of the world’s worst poison factories at Porton Down.

Timing is always the give-away; people who start to become a problem, don’t last long; accidents or that classic “got sad and took a lot of pills”.


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    • Confused on The Mandalorian Candidate: “(hunter s thompon before, of course, but all wingers would know that) So, some no-mark bum from nowhere, just gets…Nov 4, 21:56
    • G M on The Mandalorian Candidate: “I think they have overstepped the mark here. Few will believe this conspiratorial effort. I expect Scotland’s lawyers to sort…Nov 4, 21:34
    • Confused on The Mandalorian Candidate: “thought for the day – “Journalism is not a profession or a trade. It is a cheap catch-all for fuckoffs…Nov 4, 20:47
    • Ann Rayner on The Mandalorian Candidate: “Why and when are because the Establshment have noticed a rise in the support for Independence in Scotland. I think…Nov 4, 20:42
    • Chas on The Mandalorian Candidate: “Irrespective of the subject matter in EVERY article Stu publishes you ALWAYS ignore the content. You are only interested in…Nov 4, 20:18
    • Alf Baird on Bespoilers Of Graves: “Yes indeed we have our constitution, an in oor ain braw Scots langage an aw: In parteecular it is unlaafu…Nov 4, 19:29
    • Alf Baird on The Mandalorian Candidate: “Weel, wha calls the shots in the colonial racket?Nov 4, 19:19
    • Alf Baird on The Mandalorian Candidate: “Aye Ian, a wheen o fowk bocht an selt, an ye hiv tae conseeder that iverybody insnorit in thon colonial…Nov 4, 19:14
    • Colin on The Mandalorian Candidate: “Bravo Rev. Exposing mediocrity again. Another one with no sense of shame.Nov 4, 19:09
    • Tinto Chiel on The Mandalorian Candidate: “Quite so, me old haricot. Of course, it didn’t go too well for Richard Burton’s character, innit? 🙂Nov 4, 19:05
    • mike cassidy on The Mandalorian Candidate: “I suspect they’re viewed more as useful idiots than assetsNov 4, 19:03
    • Ian Brotherhood on The Mandalorian Candidate: “If the British intelligence services suddenly decided to bring all of their Scottish assets ‘in from the cold’, you have…Nov 4, 18:48
    • Katielass on Bespoilers Of Graves: “Scotland has one and has had it since Bruce’s time. And it’s an amazing Constitution with articles in it protecting…Nov 4, 18:41
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    • Katielass on Bespoilers Of Graves: “As I said before – we owe you diddly squat when it come to providing you with anything. You are…Nov 4, 18:31
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    • Tinto Chiel on Bespoilers Of Graves: “I don’t think I’ve read any government document which was so infantile and patronising. They obviously think we are all…Nov 4, 18:19
    • Martin on The Mandalorian Candidate: “Brilliant journalism Stu. I can’t believe how homophobic the daily record used to be and more alarmingly the BBC and…Nov 4, 18:18
    • Dan on The Mandalorian Candidate: “Ooft! Quite the article Stu. The chickens come home to roost as wide boy Carlos Alba crashes and burns more…Nov 4, 18:16
    • James Gardner on The Mandalorian Candidate: “Wan haun covers anither…..Nov 4, 18:11
    • gordoz on The Mandalorian Candidate: “Yet again a fine surgical expose of a useful tool for Britain. Slimy Igor type character with suspicious background &…Nov 4, 18:03
    • twathater on Bespoilers Of Graves: “Everything you say is true Robert , but unfortunately serfs like the clansman canny think for themselves , they are…Nov 4, 18:02
    • Rev. Stuart Campbell on The Mandalorian Candidate: ““And you missed out the bit about running the “Scottish” Labour leadership campaign against Dugdale – so a Labour hack”…Nov 4, 17:55
    • Katielass on Bespoilers Of Graves: “It seems Mike Daily (Govan Law Centre) is about to do just that.Nov 4, 17:51
    • J M on The Mandalorian Candidate: “Spooks probably gave him a tenners bag. What a grotesque individual.Nov 4, 17:46
    • Morgatron on The Mandalorian Candidate: “Thanks Stu. What a vile piece of shite that man is . Also , the gutter press and even lower…Nov 4, 17:38
    • David Hannah on The Mandalorian Candidate: “These latest made up allegations were reported to Peter Murrell 2 years ago. They were on Peter Murrell’s desk. Salmond…Nov 4, 17:38
    • Karen on The Mandalorian Candidate: “His “company” also does “crisis management”, so who is having a crisis? And you missed out the bit about running…Nov 4, 17:37
    • Alf Baird on The Mandalorian Candidate: “Aye, whit is it wae posh ‘boul in the mou’ preevat ‘colonial’ schuils an aw thay preevelaged fowk gied poseetions…Nov 4, 17:28
    • Bob Costello on The Mandalorian Candidate: “Now, the next piece of the puzzle would be, who paid him to do this? I am beginning to think…Nov 4, 17:21
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