The source of all fear
We’ve been racking our brains for a few hours now, but we still haven’t been able to think of a single UK citizen of the last 100 years – indeed, probably the last 300 – who has terrified the British establishment more than Alexander Elliot Anderson Salmond.
By any conceivable measure Salmond is the most successful Scottish politician of all time. He’s the only one to date to have won a (supposedly impossible) majority in the Scottish Parliament, the only one to have secured an independence referendum, and the man who took Scotland to the brink of regaining its democracy, where – despite the best efforts of his successor – it still just about remains.
He survived a uniformly hostile media for 20 years as SNP leader, then also survived a corrupt and criminal conspiracy within his own former party to have him imprisoned, walking out of court a free and innocent man despite a two-year smear campaign in the press and a police and government operation of unprecedented scale trying to convict him.
(A point that hasn’t been made enough in coverage of the entire fiasco is the amount of police resources which were devoted to the case. Ask the average woman who’s alleged a sexual assault below the level of rape – or indeed an actual rape – if SHE got a team of two dozen dedicated police officers interviewing over 400 people at a cost of millions of pounds to try to firm up HER claim.)
So you’d think that when he formed a brand-new political party, which got numerous elected representatives from the SNP to defect to it, and contested a notionally-crucial Scottish general election, it would sound like a work of absurdist dystopian fiction if one were to suggest the media would exclude it from even participating in televised election debates in a manner more befitting North Korea than a Western democracy.
And yet here we are.
In 2016, the year of the last Scottish Parliament election, UKIP never polled more than 6% on the regional list, despite at that point having been a well-established political party for many years and despite years of endless promotion on the BBC in particular. Their average in the 21 polls conducted before the election was just 2.9%.
Yet their imbecilic Scottish spokesman David Coburn was still invited onto debates.
Alex Salmond’s new Alba Party has only existed for three weeks, yet is already polling better than UKIP did in 2016 (averaging around 4.5%). But the nation’s broadcasters refuse to include it in the debates, despite not only the political arguments but the sheer box-office value of having the First Minister have to face the predecessor she famously hasn’t spoken to for several years after she tried to have him put in jail for the rest of his life.
And even though Salmond was always hated by Unionist voters and is now hated by a substantial proportion of SNP ones, with the media constantly and gleefully pointing out his poor personal approval ratings, the Scottish public – according to a Panelbase poll commissioned last week – still doesn’t think that’s fair.
Excluding don’t knows, a majority of voters think excluding Alba from the debates is unacceptable, and what’s noticeable is that there isn’t that much difference according to party loyalty. SNP voters and Tory voters returned almost identical numbers, with Labour and Lib Dem supporters the two groups noticeably opposed to Salmond getting airtime – but even then by less than overwhelming margins.
But the SNP in particular have also been doggedly pushing the line that Alba’s participation in the election itself – not just the TV debates – is somehow illegitimate, an attempt to “game the system” by unfairly stacking the Parliament with pro-indy MSPs. The electorate, though, are even more unimpressed with that claim.
An absolutely VAST majority – three to one – of Scots think Alba should be allowed to compete for seats just like every other party, including significant majorities among the voters of every Unionist party despite the fact that they’re the ones by far the most likely to lose out on seats (the SNP having almost no list MSPs to lose).
Even 2014’s No voters broke almost two-to-one in favour of Alba being allowed to run and potentially create a pro-indy supermajority from barely 50% of the vote. And quite interestingly there was a 14-point margin between men and women, with women MORE in favour of Salmond’s party’s right to stand.
Alex Salmond now terrifies the Scottish establishment – an entity which now firmly includes the SNP – as much as he does the British one. It is extraordinary to witness in a supposed democracy the way in which the media and every party in Scotland are colluding to exclude Alba’s voice from the election, and doubly so when you discover how firmly the public is opposed to the conspiracy and wants to be allowed to make its decision free from interference and censorship.
Scottish democracy, just like Westminster, we vote for our dictator
Totally agree.
They are shitting themselves.
All of them.
He was right when he said this……
“So tremble, false wigs, in the midst of yer glee
For you’ve no seen the last of my bonnets and me”
🙂 🙂 🙂
So we’re now in a place where the SNP think it’s unfair that Holyrood should have too many pro-indy MSPs (if you can include their own among that). It defies belief.
As for Alex Salmond – if ever there was someone the British state would want to honeytrap and thus have in their pocket, he was the man. And yet, all these years… nothing. I can only hope the full story comes out sometime.
To me this sounds like an act of revenge against Sturgeon and her globalist puppeteers for destroying the integrity of Scottish nationalism.
Including the evil attack on Salmond, removing free speech and the unspeakable GRA. The putrid legal system and so many other things
Rules, that is the answer, rules. Written ones that are published and stuck to, not imaginary ones that are changed to fit the current agenda. Not voluntary ones like a code of conduct, we know they are worthless. Clear, written and undeniable rules.
Up here in Buchan I have seen 3 field boards 2 ALBA, one in Alex Salmonds garden and one in mine, the other is an SNP board just outside Longside. I was told that 20 field boards were going to New Deer, not one to be seen and I have driven around and checked. Huge rural area and we in ALBA need to up our game here. I have volunteered but there seems to be nothing happening, although the FB page shows pictures of groups demonstrating for ALBA, no idea where that’s happening. There is only so many times one can ask to help. If we can’t get on the telly we need to do this other ways.
That photo of the collective british establishment in Scotland – headed by NS. Sic a Parcel o Rogues, right there..
Weel, fower fowk in ma hoose haes noo votit SNP1 / ALBA2
#Supermajority = negotiate independence
Gaun yersel Alex Salmond – lats git independence duin!
Alba is giving a voice to all Indy supporters including those otherwise denied a voice within the SNP.
Yet even though a separate political entity the SNP leadership is still trying to silence the loyal Indy supporters in Alba.
This is because the SNP leadership doesn’t want its cosy arrangement with the other political parties revealed or it’s crazy social policies debated.
The SNP leadership want to keep people in the dark.
What happened to Billy Bunter Coburn anyhow? Is he still living it large in Kensington ?
Do we not ‘game’ the system with the Greens? Do the other parties not ‘game’ the system by Unionising their position?
Nice piece Stu.
W5 – I cannot believe that 12% of SNP voters believe it is cheating to have multiple independence parties standing.
Or maybe I can.
I love Alex Salmond, he’s had a huge imprint Scottish history. He’s the reason I’m interested in politics today.
As a young lad with fire in my belly, I’m now one of Salmond’s guardians of progress who has refused to go back into the political shadows.
I’ll do everything I can to get people I know to vote Alba.
For what it’s worth the Alba party is going to get my second vote and I will hold my nose and put my mark against the nasty party for the first. There is no way on this earth that I will vote for the other sleazy parasites whether red blue or green and prior to the arrival of the Alba party I was not going to bother voting.
Yesterday I noticed a large tory sign in tatters at the side of the A96 near Nairn and according to the record the the same down country in Perthshire at the side of the A9.
Um…..
“we still haven’t been able to think of a single UK citizen of the last 100 years – indeed, probably the last 300 – who has terrified the British establishment more than Alexander Elliot Anderson Salmond.”
Farage?
The SNP are now “UK-friendly” British colonial administrators.
The Alba Party are what the SNP used to be: a party whose reason for existence is the restoration of an independent sovereign Scottish state.
So, that’s I will vote Alba on the List.
For now, it’s also necessary to vote SNP on the constituency as the lesser evil amongst the pro-UK parties.
As Alex might say
Parcel O’ Rogues 3rd stanza
“I would, or I had seen the day
That treason thus could sell us
My auld gray heid had lain in clay
Wi Bruce and loyal Wallace!
But Pith and Power, till my last hour
I’ll mak this declaration
We were bought and sold for English gold
Sic a parcel o’ rogues in a nation!”
Aye, here’s lookin’ at you kid. Hang your head in shame, Sturgeon
It’s starting to feel quite reminiscent of Russia.
There, is isn’t illegal to run a political party in opposition to the ruling one. It’s perfectly legal to do so. What is illegal is any form of “political propaganda”. So in essence, you can start a new party but you will never be allowed a voice. The state run media won’t platform you and will only ever be hostile towards you, often with smears and lies; you won’t be on TV; leafleting or demonstrations will be seen as illegal. And, of course, as Navalny demonstrates, you may also be imprisoned. Of course, that won’t be for “being a political opponent”, of course not. It’ll be for “sedition”, “acting for a foreign state” being a ("Tractor" - Ed) or some such. Which most of the country will believe because that’s all they’ve ever heard about you. In this way, Putin can make a pretence that the country is a democracy when it’s anything but.
Since the failed stitch up for sex offences (he wasn’t alone: Carl Sargeant of Welsh Labour went though an incredibly similar thing at the same time and committed suicide), we’re increasingly seeing tactics like “He’s working for Russia” etc, etc.
It’s a hellishly dangerous path to be headed down.
Dinny Vote SNP @ 11:41 am
“That photo of the collective british establishment in Scotland”
Hardly. The establishment are not the centres of official power, though they are part of it. The establishment comprises “the whole matrix of official and social relations within which power is exercised” (Fairlie 1955).
If you want a photo of “the collective British establishment in Scotland” you might wish to start with what Osborne calls ‘the arms’ of the British state in Scotland which is the crown and civil service, and which then extends out to include the hundreds of social institutions within which specific state given powers rest.
Tone says:
20 April, 2021 at 11:55 am
Um…..
“we still haven’t been able to think of a single UK citizen of the last 100 years – indeed, probably the last 300 – who has terrified the British establishment more than Alexander Elliot Anderson Salmond.”
Farage?
—————-
His teeth were pretty scary aye. Other than that he didn’t scare us. Maybe scared the Westminster lot, but not us!
@ wulls @ 11h35
‘Wigs’ are by definition false
You are right that our imperial masters are scared of Salmond.
Sturgeon and the wokeratti are bloody terrified of him.
And for the same reason : He will stand up to them.
Thus its SNP 1 ( Holding my nose) and Alba 2.
Farage didn’t scare the Establishment. They wanted out of Europe. Why do you think the BBC never had him off the telly? Useful idiot, as Vladimir Ilyich called them.
There are some right ugly bastards in the bottom most photo, and I’m not talking appearance wise
One can but hope karma is just around the corner
Colin Alexander @ 11:56 am
“For now, it’s also necessary to vote SNP on the constituency as the lesser evil amongst the pro-UK parties.”
Aye, yer richt aboot oor anely chyce Colin. Haud yer nebs fowks.
#Supermajority is oor anely chyce the noo – an lats see whit wey da wind blaws efterhaund.
Like they say, you know you’re over the target when you’re taking heavy flak.
“We’ve been racking our brains for a few hours now, but we still haven’t been able to think of a single UK citizen of the last 100 years – indeed, probably the last 300”
Charles Edward Stuart at Culloden if he’d won the battle (1746) would’ve given the British establishment and the union a shake up but he didn’t and of course he wasn’t born in the UK, he was born in Rome.
But yes the BritNat media is running scared of Alex Salmond and the ALBA party. Salmond’s political career, some of which you allude to would make for a fantastic book. The BritNat media don’t want Salmond back at Holyrood for they know in him that he unlike Sturgeon or Harvie, he wants to see an independent Scotland.
Salmond’s ill treatment by the BritNat media is a glaring example as to why we need out of this terrible union.
Democracy is a fantasy. It doesn’t exist in any country. There is sometimes an illusion of democracy but the real people in power are in the shadows, whether its Brexit, Scexcit, USA, EU, Covid, Trans Rights. Sturgeon, Boris, Trump, Biden, Macron, Trudeau etc & MSM are all just puppets doing what they are told or photos/videos of them will emerge.
You can hold your nose as much as you like but voting SNP 1 just gives Sturgeon a life line. As FM she will not work with AS. Alba Party should have contested the constituencies and given Scottish voters a real choice. I firmly believe that AS made a big tactical mistake in allowing Sturgeon another term of office.
Id say Parnell gave the British Establishment a hell of a fright too. Funnily enough, he was also the victim of dirty tricks – the Phoenix Park letter forgeries being the most notorious.
Aye.
Re: the UKIP/Alba double standards, it might be more of a single standard. Up till 2016, there was still a fairly relaxed culture of somewhat free speech in the MSM and Big Tech. Ukippers and the like could be safely invited onto BBC shows as the token gammon for the audience to boo and hiss at. Made for better television, and nobody expected them to win.
Subsequent events have convinced establishment types it’s dangerous to allow the plebs to be exposed to ideas, there’s been lots of hand wringing in the legacy press about it. Samira Ahmed says she’s “haunted” by the BBC allowing Nigel Farage to appear on its programmes and say things. Big Tech started off with partisan “fact checks” and segued into Chinese-style open censorship, banning swathes people they don’t like from social media and payment processors.
So, Alba is a victim of the new paranoia amongst the gatekeepers.
As predicted, they’re doubling down on the smear that Alex Salmond is some sort of dangerous KGB agent. I’m not entirely sure why TPTB are so venomously obsessed with Russia, but whenever someone demands you shut up and believe whatever Russian conspiracy theories HM Government is peddling this week, it’s a reliable tell that person has a hidden agenda.
I see more and more ignoring Alex appeal to vote SNP 1.
Which is of course their right to do so.
John MacLean and the Red Clydesiders terrified them. They sent tanks. These days they offer career incentives.
They should be scared. We are sitting on a powder keg. I really do believe we have had enough of the superficiality, selfishness and stupidity which appears to have infected the UK, as a whole, but also Scotland, in particular. Something is going to give very soon, and Alec Salmond might just be the man to do it. We are slipping inexorably into a fascist mindset, and the MSM seems intent on helping it grow.
I’am NOT splitting my vote, I AM SHARING IT !
SNP1 & ALBA2 for an Independent Scotland ???????
This is what they had to say for themselves…
Hi there,
Thank you for your email.
STV’s election coverage has been, and will continue to be, balanced and fully in accordance with strict Ofcom guidelines.
Alex Salmond has not been invited to participate in the Leaders’ Debate on April 13th. We have offered the Alba Party the opportunity for Alex Salmond to take part in a one-to-one interview with Colin Mackay as part of our series of Scotland Tonight Specials.
These editorial decisions have been made in line with Ofcom guidance.
Thank you again for taking the time to get in touch.
Kind Regards,
STV Enquiries
Would love to see Alex wipe the floor with these ‘leaders’. He would be the only one smiling throughout the debate, and I can see the scowl on her ladyships face the now. Let this happen, please.
I was thinking James Connolly but they shot him before he get there.
John Maclean, Red Clydesiders, terrified the establishment so much jailed them on trumped up charges at a time when Royal Families across Europe were falling.
Jimmy Reid. Annoyed the establishment so much by getting everyone to work.
They’ve all got much in common with Alex Salmond despite different politics. Popular, independent thinkers that truly understand the people they represent, great orators and communicators.
These types of people are dangerous to the establishment. They can create revolutions and bring about changes. They must be shut up at all costs. But time and time again, it’s like magic, the effect they have on people.
Excellent article. The SNP have poisoned the well in Scotland and nothing works any longer and no-one in the country should understand that better than Salmond himself and if he cannot get justice, then no-one else can.
We have a bent Lord Advocate, a bent police service and a 140No bent lawyers working directly for Scotgov. This is the basis of the problem and it needs to be dismantled, pronto.
That will not happen with an independence supermajority. I don’t usually vote but I am voting this time and I will be following the example of Jim Sillars, who will not be voting SNP.
Has everyone seen this? Another example from recent history demonstrating why we need out of this Union “Labour plotted to take Scotland’s oil” https://archive.is/Wnkgv
I don’t know of many braver politicians in the UK at present.
The contrast between NS and AS is marked. NS has courted the press in the mistaken belief that you can feed them and they are her friends, AS knew that wanting independence means you cannot have friends in the press, they bite off your hand.
Fear of failure paralyses people into inaction, and NS is afraid to fail. AS knows failure means you can learn from past mistakes. NS is too afraid to even make decisions and so by default gets painted into a corner.
NS is a coward, counting on the 16-24 yr olds to carry her through, even though a proportion of the ‘females’ in that group who supposedly support her are probably nothing of the sort. They are the most captured of all the demographics able to vote. She bends to their immature demands like an indulgent parent with a toddler who gets to decide the rules of the house for everyone else. There is no room for discussion on anything in case it upsets them. The fear of being unpopular or being on the ‘wrong side of history’ seems to override all good sense.
Of course the regret about allowing Farage an unrestricted stage is now coming out even from the BBC. This allows them to puckle the rules again to suit themselves.
Are they afraid of Alex Salmond? No, they are terrified because he has nothing to lose – they are absolutely sh*tting themselves.
The most dangerous opponent of the British state in the Twentieth Century, Michael Collins.
@LornaCampbell
Absolutely agree. Look at football fans reactions to this ‘Super 6’ breakaway league. This is a warning that people are on edge. Continual demonstrations week after week in this country, but we wouldn’t know it.
Keir Starmer getting punted out of a Labour supporting pub.
Just wait till the furlough money stops. All hell is going to break loose.
Some seem to have problems with multiple choice for pro independence. This is illogical as we have multiple choice for pro UK. Voters go for groupings that best reflect their societal outlook. Why should supporters of independence be different? Even if there were a dozen independence parties they’d still be aiming for the same target.
After independence what would happen to the pro Union parties? They are the ones who need to make plans. Perhaps that totemic UJ superglued to the flagpole will need the discrete application of solvent, or simply just torch the thing.
Another Scottish great, John McLean who in death saw many streets in Glasgow lined with a multitude of folk, McLean also gave the British establishment a good fright, and he was a proponent of Scottish independence.
In the end they had to fit him up for on charges of sedition, his seventy-five minute speech from the dock, is one of the great speeches in Scottish history.
Many a great and inspiring Scot, has been crushed and broken on the yoke of the British establishment. No more I say.
So according to some posters on here Brexit was ‘the establishment choice’.
Five years on and we still have to listen to this fantasy bullshit from remainers.
For James Barr Gardner
Love it ???
Can you get it over to ALBA press see if they like it as the split story gathering momentum
Best
c
Ignore question marks
There will need to be another referendum following Independence on whether to rejoin the EU, whatever criteria they decide to impose on us.
Anything else would be tyranny.
Unlike at the moment, where we live under t(y)ranny.
The Rev. says,
> with women MORE in favour of Salmond’s party’s right to stand
There’s the bombshell. Every other poll ever shows that women are more conservative but here we are, just a few weeks old and a substantial percentage of women already know that Alba stands alongside them.
Stand back for a hell of a bang on May 7th (hopefully).
Salmond should definitely be involved in the debates, if only for the spectacle of taking Sturgeon to pieces. However it’s also just possible that the sight of the two best known proponents of Independence fighting and disagreeing over key aspects of it (currency, EU membership, timing etc) may have a very negative effect on many floating voters and make them less inclined to vote for either party for fear of such arguments dominating their daily lives for the next 5 years. Not everyone cares about independence in the way SNP and Alba supporters do, and it’s those less interested voters that need to be convinced that independence is worthwhile for it ever to happen.
Pulling back the curtain on disagreements within the independence fold may do irreparable damage to the cause
I’ m trying to explain to a friend how the Greens have become evil. Anyone link a good demolition piece on them, from our reverend host or anyone else? Needs to be scrupulously honest of course.
John Baird and Andrew Harvie, could’ve ignited a bigger movement has they not been executed two-hundred and one years ago last month.
Baird and Harvie, stood up for civil liberties and political reform, but as in many cases in a rising, British establishment spies, ensured the movement would be snuffed out before it could grow and make a difference to peoples lives in Scotland.
The Greens. Evil?? Supporters of independence, proposing a tax on the WEALTH of the rich, not just their yearly income. Environmentally aware. Replacing Council Tax with a land tax. Pro-European. Ending grouse shooting and making the Scottish countryside a place where Scottish people can live and work. Evil?? With a prospectus like that I’m up for voting Evil (or Alba)
Charles Hodgson
Alex says EFTA as a first step – then the people will decide if there is to be a second step. Sounds like a good plan to me. SNP 1 Alba 2
Let Nicola eat her words – she works with any party for the good of Scotland – Salmond was not perfect but name me one politician who is. He is a giant among pygmies and could wipe the floor with any one of them – it would be debating gold and convince many but as usual the establishment is guarding its back.
Could ask Sarwar if still paying less than minimum wage to workers in his warehouse – even if it is in trust for his children – questions of morality abound. Ask Rennie if he would be willing to give his own children puberty blockers if they wanted them. Ask DRoss why he would give himself and wife a tax rebate and not allow Scottish Government to proceed with guarding childrens rights and ask him what he has done for travelling people who are his constituents and ask Patrick Harvie what the age of consent should be and if transwomen should be allowed in womens prisons and hostels. And most of the above questions could be asked of Nicola.
What a pleasure it is to read the comments on this thread devoid of verbal abusive hatred from unionist.
Holding nose Snp1 and a happy Alba 2.
Then there was Willie McRae, who had the goods on the British establishment, so he had to be removed. McRae, knew that the Special Branch was shadowing his every move.
Willie McRae is a man who inspires as much controversy in death as he did in life. A brilliant orator and campaigner for various anti establishment causes he was a rising star of the independence movement and Scottish National Party.
McRae was meant to have shot himself not once but twice in the head then thrown the gun yards away from his crashed car, a remarkable feat if I say so myself.
Hi Stu
Mr Salmond says a lot of good things, but I must disagree with him on the issue of SNP 1.
I am a Labour supporter who has had enough of Boris and his Brexit.
I desperately want an independent Scotland back in Europe.
So I will be Voting Labour 1 and ALBA 2.
Farage, a multi-millionaire hedge fund manager, didn’t threaten the British establishment, he is part and parcel of that establishment. That’s why he and his right-wing cronies got such massive widespread free coverage by the British mainstream media. Farage portrays himself as the ordinary downtrodden Englishman when in reality he’s quite the opposite. The millionaire owned press/media and the BBC state sponsored propaganda organisation were quite happy to promote him as such.
The arrival of Alex Salmond and ALBA onto the political scene have shaken the very foundations of the establishment, especially in Scotland. It’s amazing the impact one honest man can have on a corrupt political class. A bit cliche but very apt The truth will set us free, and it will bring this house of cards tumbling down. Alba is already sounding like a party of government and if they can, against the tide, make headway in this election if we are not already independent by 2026 they will form the next Scottish government.
Surprise surprise – the London-based English parties want to continue denying democracy to Scotland.
The most dangerous person in any system is the one who appears to be an assimilated part of it but is not. Roger Casement, Erskine Childers, Faysal, Nehru, Jinnah, Mannerheim, Ben Bella, Fanon, Senghor…
They have the capacity of knowing the «opponent» better than he knows himself and are more difficult to spot.
I’ve seen a number of posts, “In Nicola We Trust”. I replied, “Do not put your trust in leaders or other people, who cannot save you. Psalm 146:3. We need to remember the same concerning Alex Salmond. Appreciate him. Thank God for him. Don’t put your trust in Him.
It’s great to have Alex Salmond back in Scottish Politics , he’s fighting for OUR INDEPENDENCE which the Snp hasn’t done since Mrs Murrell became leader . It’s always been one promise after another that we would be having another indy ref and it has never happened so far and I don’t believe it will ever happen while Mr & Mrs Murrell and their clique have control of the Snp .
The fact that Mrs Murrell has stated that she won’t work with Alex Salmond and the Alba party tells you all you that need to know about her regarding independence for Scotland .
I took part in the Alba Women’s Conference and it was great to take part in it without being called all kind of names for discussing Women’s concerns which have been silenced within the Snp .
I also took part in the Alba party Candidates adoption evening last Saturday and it was a great evening and it was good to take part in an event where we weren’t told to “ wheest for indy “ and it was great to see Alex Salmond discussing INDEPENDENCE for Scotland .
If it wasn’t for Alex Salmond asking us to vote for the Snp on the constituency they wouldn’t have been getting my vote at all in May and that’s after giving them my vote for the last 40 years .
So let’s get Alex and the ALBA party voted into our parliament and get INDEPENDENCE back on track .
“By any conceivable measure Salmond is the most successful Scottish politician of all time.”
Tragic, isn’t it?
It doesnt matter if you hold your nose to vote SNP or Green. You are still voting for Shit and you can’t hold your nose forever.
Will you also hold your nose when women & girls are attacked by weirdo men in toilets and changing rooms?
Will you still hold your nose when women are arrested for hate crimes saying that women dont have penises?
If you vote SNP or Green YOU are a POS too.
Charles Hodgson says:
20 April, 2021 at 12:48 pm
“So according to some posters on here Brexit was ‘the establishment choice’.
Five years on and we still have to listen to this fantasy bullshit from remainers”.
Scotland voted to remain in the EU ya wank.
I agree the SNP leadership is part of the Scottish establishment. However you can’t separate the Scottish and British establishments, they are essentially executives of the British state.
And there lies the problem, the Murrels, pension Pete, slimy Smith and there ilk are instruments of the establishment, Scottish or British. The SNP hierarchy is compromised and have – in a deliberate and malicious way – betrayed the YES movement and the independence cause.
I cannot vote for a political party I know to be utterly corrupt. I will not wheesht for indy, I will not vote for the SNP on the constituency paper. Yes I understand the arguments to do so but my principles will not allow me to. The despair I feel is overwhelming, I have supported independence for more than 45 years I doubt it’ll happen anytime within the next decade despite Alba’s best efforts, it’s too little, too late.
If James Maxton and Keir Hardie has seen their calls for Home rule for Scotland come to fruition in their day, Scotland would certainly have moved to become an independent country years ago.
Hardie was instrumental in laying the foundations for independence for India. The current leader of SLAB would do well to remember that the first president of the Scottish Labour party, Robert Bontine Cunnighame Graham, was the co-founder of the National Party of Scotland, the Forerunner to the SNP.
with women MORE in favour of Salmond’s party’s right to stand
I have a theory with a case like Salmond’s that people fall back on their own experience when making judgements. So when men hear about sex charges, they think about their own past behaviour and assume other men – especially more powerful ones – must have behaved similarly or worse. Whereas when women look at charges like hair pinging and knee touching, they think of all the behaviours they’ve had to deal with from bosses and men generally and just think, “For fuck sake, he’s in the dock for THAT?’
Once you factor in how scrutinised he has been all his political life by the UK state, who were desperate to bring him down and find something on him, plus the huge and totally irregular police investigation where they pulled in hundreds of women trying to find anything, it seems even more crazy. Every single woman could have multiple men up in the dock in they were all held to the same standard. In fact, very few men would walk away innocent following that kind of conspiracy attempt.
This post lays bare the divide between political and journalist classes and the citizenry.
Worrying and unhealthy.
If Alba were treated fairly, as they are entitled to be, with voters being given a chance to hear what they have to say, there is no doubt that their polling figures would rise quickly. Because they are serious, they have ideas and they don’t talk down to people as if they are children.
It is utterly deplorable and undemocratic that the vindictive campaign of the FM and her little stable of cheerleaders has the media in thrall to the extent that they obey her commands instead of acting as the platform for everyone to have their say, ensuring all candidates are given equal time to promote their policies.
This would be the independent Scotland under her – craven, timid and obsequious to the person who hands out jobs, grants and favour, while destroying anybody who might challenge her. There should be far more fuss and debate about this ridiculous censorship of a very legitimate party, one which is also a necessary counterbalance to the junta that Nikla has created. Instead the Scottish media pretends there is nothing unusual about silencing a number of very able candidates, simply because the FM doesn’t like its leader, a man who has not been convicted of anything, despite every effort to do so. By a party which has failed to protect its own MPs from abuse and harassment – which is apparently ok, no issue – since the victim is also a challenger to Sturgeon’s dictatorship.
So, instead of robust and necessary debate about independence, economics and other vital matters, we will get the Brigadoon nonsense from the SNP coupled with their complete lack of any acknowledgement of their fiscal and legal failures and chicanery of the past five years. Not to mention their desperate unwillingness to discuss GRA and hate crime.
What has happened to Scotland, where open debate is stifled and closed down?
@Red, 12,21
I’m not entirely sure why TPTB are so venomously obsessed with Russia,
To quote the US Secretary of State in 1997-2001, Madeleine Albright, “Russia has too much natural wealth. It’s not fair.” and “Russia has too much wealth for one country.”
It is shocking the amount of political censorship in Scotland. I really do not know why anyone would buy a “newspaper”. All are just biased nonsense, lousy gossip. Stop encouraging them.
What a valuable BTL. Just so they are all in one place I list those so far suggested above as the biggest threats to the British state. I add one of my own, seen as such a threat they deported him to Botany Bay.
Alex Salmond
Michael Collins
John Baird
Andrew Harvie
John McLean
James Connolly
Charles Parnell
Charles Edward Stuart
Willie McRae
Thomas Muir
There will be more of course. We should maybe define this list as ‘internal’ threats. For instance, I’m sure that Gandhi guy ruffled a few feathers. We’ll leave him and the likes of Willhelm and Adolf for the external threats list. list
Everytime I hear someone on the biased broadcasting company asking folks about independence. They always play back those that say ‘well it’s not high on my agenda at the moment’ what a bunch of tossers. Great article Stu however I can’t see how Alex can get the word into the msm if no-one wants to take up…cannie understand it
Well said Cath at 1.29 pm – agree with that entirely.
One other thing about Alexs’ ‘reputation’ – for those of a cynical disposition – with the amount of scrutiny he is now under, the phrase ‘poacher turned gamekeeper’ might be useful, and already his actions with regards standing up for his female colleagues and womans rights – are head and shoulders ahead of all the other parties.
So, if you’re dealing with someone who (wrongly in my opinion) believes some or all of the allegations against him, and is of no mind to look a the evidence, rather than argue with them, – ‘poacher turned gamekeeper’, might be enough to enable them to vote for Alba.
This enables them to hold on to their beliefs, but at the same time allows enough room for them to acknowledge his current good deeds with Alba.
Just a thought folks. Might work for some of the people.
1971Thistle says:
‘Wigs’ are by definition false
As, increasingly nowadays, are:
Eyelashes
Nails
Breasts
Buttocks
… not forgetting, of course, manifesto promises.
@James Che – The problem we have James is that politics in Scotland has become polarized into ‘you’re either a Unionist or a Nationalist’.
In reality, there may be only 25% who are dyed in the wool Unionists and 25% who are dyed in the wool Nationalists. The rest are there to be persuaded and that is what politics is all about.
Sturgeon won’t persuade very many at-all because no-one trusts her any longer. I don’t agree with Salmond a lot of the time but what he does have is voter appeal.
They are keeping him out of the press and off the airwaves at present because there is no doubt he is viewed as someone who can quickly change the whole balance of politics in Scotland.
Completely agree with the premise of the article Stu, but in fairness UKIP did poll 27.5% of the actual vote in the 2014 euro elections. The maths here indicate that in a hung parliament, who becomes first minister could be ‘interesting’ (older SNP voters might remember the time they entered coalition with Labour to run Edinburgh when they only won two seats – buy gained the Provost ship (Norman Irons)) – on the basis that first minister couod be up for grabs then the ‘leaders’ debates should include the ‘leaders’.
Of course, keeping George Galloway out of it as well gives the excuse of ‘even handedness’ when its anything but – the essential point is that they are afraid of the inroads Salmond might make.
“I know quite well that in the reconstruction of society, the class interest of those who are on the top will resist the change…society moves forward as a consequence of an underclass overcoming the resistance of a class on top of them”.
Who are the ruling class in Scotland?
Dave Beveridge says: 11 .37 am
As for Alex Salmond – if ever there was someone the British state would want to honeytrap and thus have in their pocket, he was the man. And yet, all these years… nothing. I can only hope the full story comes out sometime.
Reply
How lucky is Moira to have a husband such as Alex by her side?
My goodness the worst he ever did was have a sleepy cuddle fully clothed for a few minutes with another adult after a few drinks.
If people knew what corporate people got up to whilst away from home. If they think a sleepy cuddle is bad they are living in la la land. LOL
The majority of teenagers & adults have had these same cuddles. I know I have & I kept myself as a virgin for the man I married.
Nicola has done herself a disservice by trying to discredit Alex.
We all know her marriage is to hide her & her husbands preference of sexual partners. It’s not each other.
Alex is a heterosexual male, he has a healthy happy marriage.
He likes women & interacts with them in a respectful way, as most men do.
Unfortunately here, I believe you have a woman “Nicola” who as a young teenager or young twenty lass was not seen as attractive therefore shunned by young suiters.
She felt males had rejected her & gravitated toward women for affection. Her lavender marriage is a cover up for her & her husbands sexual preferences.
I personally as a parent wouldn’t encourage public photo shoots or selfies with Nicola with a child. Her government with the sex education in schools is a danger to every child within Scotland. She & Sweeny are starting to look like sexual deviants.
It’s such a shame, back in 20014 when she took over from Alex I thought she was on the same page as Alex, re Independence & what was best for Scotland.
What a disappointment. I can’t & wont listen to her now. I can’t even bear to see her ugly face.
I, as a Scot living overseas who can’t vote & shouldn’t vote have found myself hating someone I don’t know or have never met.
Voting in May is for Independence. More importantly it’s for the safety of your children, whether they be boys or girls.
Who will deliver that safety net . Will it be SNP or ALBA?
think people here already know the answer to that.
Frazerio @1.40pm.
Thomas Muir’s life was one that would make a fantastic movie, Muir’s plight for justice and fairness, floundered, and he was as you say deported to Botany Bay in a show trial
Only to find himself escaping and travelling thousands of miles, ending up in France where he was lauded, and unfortunately he died a little while later aged just 33.
“I have devoted myself to the cause of the people.
It is a good cause… It shall ultimately prevail…
It shall finally triumph”
Thomas Muir.
I know that people have given to the Alba Party fundraiser but if we could all give if possible towards this crowdfunder for Chris as he’s one of the good guys and deserves to be elected in May
“ Help Elect Chris McEleny to the Scots Parliament “.
https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/help-elect-chris-mceleny-to-the-scots-parliament/backers#start
There isn’t the prospect of a referendum much before 2023 for one reason or another.
It’s difficult to see NS surviving as leader of the SNP for the next two years with all those chickens coming home to roost and by 2023 AS will be 68 or 69 with poor health. Who will there be to lead the push and potentially lead the country?
Then of course there was The Society of the United Scotsmen, which developed from the Scottish Society of Friends, whose overall aim was to establish a provisional government in Scotland with Thomas Muir as president.
The British establishment sent troops from England to weed out and crush what it called illegal organisations, events surrounding this led to the Massacre at Tranent.
The Society of United Irishmen were a bit more successful in their goals.
There is one reason the SNP don’t want a pro independence parliament.
They want to dictate the terms, timing and process of independence. They don’t want to carry out the wishes of the people who elect them. They want to have absolute power over the future of Scotland.
The SNP can’t work with other parties, because they are a dictatorship of a few members and leaders. They aren’t working for Scotland , they are making Scotland work for them. We are serving them, instead of them serving the electorate.
Until we do something about this corrupt leadership , then there is nothing but trouble ahead for the SNP and the wider movement.
This cannot go on forever. It’s an exercise in futility.
RepublicofScotland
Thanks for your segmented compendium of worthies.
Scots History should be taught every year in our schools and dates marked.
As light relief from gender studies.
Scotland is the Tories cash cow aided and abetted by Labour recently released government papers confirm.
John Smith was the Labour mastermind prepared to rip off his own people .The gang of three Smith Brian Wilson and wee St Cooke, all conspiring with Mr Nice Guy Callaghan to shaft Scotland and all except the SNP saying do us all again.
MOst of the SNP are good folks it is just the crazy cabal. How did they do it, in plain sight?
The cunning plan is still SNP 1 Alba2. If it works we get to cleanse the cabal.
As a concept, the “establishment”, defies any readily accessible definition. But in the same way that you don’t have to go to Brasil to know they grow coffee beans there, you can be sure that a distinctively Scottish establishment exists, collectively constituting the most influential power-bloc in the land.
That its protectors fear Salmond and react accordingly, is to be expected.
@Heaver and greens being evil; You could go down the route that they’re just SNP lite and list the SNP policies the greens have supported that you find evil, but na; that only puts them off voting SNP. So mibbe try this instead;
“Time is running out. Not for holyrood but for the environment. There is no longer any more time left for “gradualism” in politics. If we do not get independence soon there simply will not be any time left to pass legislation to protect the environment. London flaffing around negotiating Brexit for years but only closing a deal in literally the last days does not fill me with hope in how they would deal with environmental change.
Everything else can wait. Independence first.”
Not my words but I gotta agree with them.
BTW the BBC can whistle Dixie oot their arse if the want my licence fee.
With acknowledgements to my old Politics Professor who used colourful language when angry combined with sherry!
It would also seem important to educate a people, including their political leaders, in order for them to more fully understand their oppression and hence their fundamental need for liberation and national independence:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doun-Hauden-Socio-Political-Determinants-Scottish-Independence/dp/B086Y6MMH2/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1618927024&sr=8-4
Rogueslr says:
20 April, 2021 at 2:16 pm
There isn’t the prospect of a referendum much before 2023 for one reason or another.
It’s difficult to see NS surviving as leader of the SNP for the next two years with all those chickens coming home to roost and by 2023 AS will be 68 or 69 with poor health. Who will there be to lead the push and potentially lead the country?
Rely
Alex is still a relative young man, he still has years ahead of him. Look at the caliber of people he has on board with the ALBA party. If Alex isn’t around to get Independence. they will get it in Alex’s name.
I truly believe Alex Salmond will be the person who will achieve Scotland’s Independence.
If The EBC and STV do a volte face and include Eck in the remaining debates an interesting question would need to be answered:-
Would St. Nicola refuse to take part?
Whether the answer is Y or N the effect on her standing would be negative.
cirsium says:
20 April, 2021 at 1:33 pm
@Red, 12,21
I’m not entirely sure why TPTB are so venomously obsessed with Russia,
To quote the US Secretary of State in 1997-2001, Madeleine Albright, “Russia has too much natural wealth. It’s not fair.” and “Russia has too much wealth for one country.”
Ah, yes, Secretary Albright. The ghoul who gloated about how many Iraqi children were being killed by sanctions.
This kind of thing is why I feel compassion for qAnon and David Icke people. Their conspiracy theories are obviously mad and mental, but the underlying assumption we’re ruled by the most greedy and evil people on the planet isn’t.
Speaking of evil and greed, the British State has decided that ambassador Craig Murray is a criminal for telling the truth, while Tony Blair and David Cameron – who cut a bloody swathe of murder through North Africa and the Middle East – are obscenely wealthy “elder statesmen”, still coining the big bucks from their dubious careers of “public service”.
To be feared and hated by these people is a badge of honour.
Heaver @ 12.56pm This is a piece about the Greens https://www.holyrood.com/news/view,fears-raised-over-green-manifesto-call-for-sex-and-gender-to-removed-from-birth-certificate?fbclid=IwAR1UfrCOh7EE2NhPDhp4HgaJzRYyNJ-KbM8gM1VYDRxZq6YU_Q6HAVSs4yI Not a party for womens rights. They’ve been king pin in the current Scottish government for last 5 years and have contributed nothing towards our prospects for independence.
The Greens aren’t that interested in indy, they’re more into Gender politics. On May 6th The “Scottish” Green Party are standing in 12 constituencies (Now that IS what you call splitting the Indy vote) PH’s plan is to “help” the SNP lose a majority and give the greens the balance of power again. We can stop that, vote for a genuine independence party. ALBA.
The Greens only ever mention independence at election time and have taken no active steps to get us there!
It has to be ALBA for independence and so much more. Talk to people about the great benefits/positives of voting ALBA rather than the negatives of other parties. https://www.albaparty.org/women-take-centre-stage I’m hoping for surprises when our manifesto comes out tomorrow!
Daisy Walker @1:4pm
Sorry but ‘poacher turned gamekeeper’ is never acceptable under any circumstances. Same with the “he should apologise” bullshit. The man was subject to a vast investigation, tried by a jury of his peers and found NOT guilty.
Not saying you’re at fault, but anything, absolutely anything that hints of possibly, maybe just that once that he did anything wrong is to let all the allegations flood in and stick.
Not guilty and no quarter given on this I’m afraid.
Maybe not utterly spotless and beyond reproach but damn them to Hell with their false allegations and smears. Being allowed to continue with that is an affront to justice.
Rev Stu. Why are my comments always awaiting moderation?
Is it because I’m posting from New Zealand?
Since 2014 as a Scot, I’ve always been supportive of Independence.
I have no problem you moderating my posts, but would appreciate the reason why.
Sturgeon tried to have Eck’s reputation trashed. That failed. She criminally tried to get him jailed. Again failure. Now she’s trying to have him excluded from the airwaves. Partial and temporary success. But it won’t stop Alex and Alba.
The Oui Coupar @2.42pm.
You’re most welcome.
Red @ 3.12
I’ve not followed Qanon but when David Icke started to hit the headlines back in the 90s I bought some of his books. All his claims were backed up by solid references, many from official sources. He didn’t just make stuff up. None of the folk calling him a “conspiracy theorist” seem to have actually read anything he has written, preferring to believe the propaganda put out by those who he was exposing. Buying books and reading things seems to be beyond most people.
Ignore the noise from the media and trolls. Focus on spreading the word for the next few weeks.
Picture ALBA as the official opposition at Holyrood. See it, believe it, work for it.
kapelmeister says:
20 April, 2021 at 3:31 pm
Sturgeon tried to have Eck’s reputation trashed. That failed. She criminally tried to get him jailed. Again failure. Now she’s trying to have him excluded from the airwaves. Partial and temporary success…..
Success? Maybe. But she also looks like a gutless wretch running away from a debate where everybody knows Salmond would absolutely wipe the floor with her.
Furthermore, IF Sturgeon’s nasty rhetoric does injure support for ALBA, Sturgeon has just done the job of the Unionists for them, and I for one, will never forget or forgive the scabby turncoat.
Even if she wins, even wins big, Sturgeon will come away from the May Election as damaged goods with no authority to speak for YES, no integrity, no roll in leadership, and any mention of a Section 30, or any attempt for her to generate enthusiasm about an IndyRef after sinking the chances of a very “deliverable” Pro-Indy Supermajority will be about as popular as a bucket of cold sick with YES supporters.
That’s assuming she can manage to drag herself away from her Gender Woo Woo Sunday School Pulpit long enough to actually talk about Scottish Independence.
I firmly believe the YES train is once again making steam, and Sturgeon has already missed the train. She is done. Spent, but too dense to realise how badly she’s blown it.
“msdidi says:
Heaver @ 12.56pm This is a piece about the Greens https://www.holyrood.com/news/view,fears-raised-over-green-manifesto-call-for-sex-and-gender-to-removed-from-birth-certificate?fbclid=IwAR1UfrCOh7EE2NhPDhp4HgaJzRYyNJ-KbM8gM1VYDRxZq6YU_Q6HAVSs4yI ”
Thanks msdidi, I’m looking for something that really punches. But its a start, thankyou:-)
Pete Roberts says:
20 April, 2021 at 3:49 pm
Red @ 3.12
I’ve not followed Qanon but when David Icke started to hit the headlines back in the 90s I bought some of his books. All his claims were backed up by solid references, many from official sources. He didn’t just make stuff up. None of the folk calling him a “conspiracy theorist” seem to have actually read anything he has written, preferring to believe the propaganda put out by those who he was exposing. Buying books and reading things seems to be beyond most people.
It’s true that I haven’t read any of his books, but I did look at his website a few years ago.
After the amusingly edgy “pick the red pill or the blue pill” Matrix themed landing page, the content had a lot of crudely drawn MS Paint images to illustrate how various world leaders are actually shapeshifting vampire space lizards from Alpha Centauri.
Which is complete nonsense. Everybody knows they’re from that planet in the CRITTERS franchise.
Mind you, Diana from V made a big impression on me as a boy, and I think I could overlook her unfortunate hamster-eating habit if she agreed to maintain her smouldering space siren habit. No wonder Captain Kirk was always up for it.
Who is monetary sovereign is all that matters. No nation in europe has monetary sovereignty.
The SNP certainly leadership fear Alex Salmond, and yet they ought to be grateful, really grateful to him and ALBA, because if events hadn’t turned out as they did three weeks ago, many SNP voters who will now hold their noses would have abandoned the party completely – the SNP vote would have been significantly reduced. Even worse, such was the anger and feeling of betrayal, a fair few may have actively voted against their SNP candidate (especially certain individuals standing for election). A few unionist candidates could well have closely contested some of the (SNP) constituencies.
Yep, because of the big man’s magnificent gesture and powers of persuasion, the SNP vote may well hold up. TBH I think the “supermajority” argument is a (very effective) marketing ploy. IMO the important task is to establish an ALBA bridgehead at Holyrood. Then all hell breaks loose. Get Alx back to Holyrood and he will wipe the floor with the lot f them (yoon and neonat alike). 🙂
Leaving aside the BBC’s totally predictable response, I find the situation over at STV much more interesting. As Stu correctly states, any debate involving Salmond is certain to be big box office and the last time I checked stv was supposed to be a commercial channel reliant on advertising revenue for income. So what exactly is going on?
Well, one clue is that stv is now the last man standing of the original fifteen itv regional franchises. The rest, including some famous names like Granada, ATV, Southern, London Weekend & Thames have all been subsumed into itv London. Of course stv don’t make their own programmes nowadays; you won’t be seeing the likes of Scotsport, Taggart, Rebus, Take the High Road or Thingummyjig again.
In truth, stv no longer exists in any meaningful sense; it’s simply itv London with Scottish branding. A clever ploy when you think about it as most of the natives still seem to believe they’ve got their own channel (even though all the stings are being pulled in London). Which takes us full circle to the real reason you won’t be seeing Alex Salmond on stv anytime soon – orders from down south.
Sounds a bit desperate to compare UK’s Farage ratings to Scotland’s Salmond ratings.
A bit like comparing the ratings of Take the High Road to Eastenders.
Me @ 3.49
David Icke was one of the first people to expose pedophilia in high places, among other things He named names and gave times and places, giving references. Nobody took him to court about this, which given the UK libel laws is very interesting indeed. Had he been lying or making stuff up they could have had him bankrupted and imprisoned for a long time. The UK establishmant were sh!tting themselves when his books came out so they went into full propaganda mode using every tool in their media armory to attack him personally. It seems to have worked with him so they are just trying the same with AS, giving him the David Icke treatment. Sadly many people just sook up whatever they see in the news headlines and on the telly.
“ Who is monetary sovereign is all that matters.”
Nope, that isn’t all that matters.
Red @ 4.12
I looked at Icke’s website but haven’t bothered with it much. TBH I don’t think he’s done himself any favours with it but his books are something else.
Alex Salmond is and will always be “the father of Scottish Independence” (I told my SNP MP that last year before leaving the party).
I can well appreciate the anger in voting SNP1. Mr Salmond has indicated “vote SNP1” for me its a no brainer, as the alternative is vote Yoon.
When going into the polling booth, clip a wee clothes peg on your jacket etc as a mark of protest against the first vote.
Gritted teeth, clothes peg and brown paper bag for No1, pride in knowing “the father of Indy” is back for No2.
Get Alex in the parliament, he’ll get things sorted.
Alanm @ 4.22
Well said and totally agree. My concern is how does Alba actually get their name our there to the non political punters
ALANM @ 4:22pm:
Was saying this very thing to someone earlier.
STV is meant to be a commercial channel, driven by the need to sell ads.
Whatever else anyone might think about Alex Salmond, nobody could deny that it’d make good television for him to be pitted against Sturgeon in debate with what we might now delicately call their ‘history’ (the others would be bit part players, frankly).
Thus, more viewers and can charge higher amounts for ads.
But they don’t want this and it is really interesting to ponder why, given that they will let any old rubbish on to their channel to attract said ad revenue otherwise.
Breeks @4:03
Yay! Your put downs of Sturgeon are amongst the very best.
Question, I am not enamoured of my candidate for the SNP, nor can I hold my nose and vote for a Unionist one, my intention is to vote for Alba for the list,must I vote for anyone in the first vote? Would this disqualify all my voting If I don’t?
Hope this makes sense.
@ Heaver at 4.07
I was going to suggest msdidi’s link, and also this:
https://t.co/MKc2spzqH9?amp=1
as evidence that the SGP is dangerous, rather than actively evil (though I personally think some of them are that).
I’ve now just come across this, however, which I think should disabuse any independence supporter of the notion that the SGP are allies:
https://twitter.com/SeallRiFeorag/status/1384524972945821696
@Helena Brown
You are not obliged to use both votes. Your list vote is on a separate ballot, you can spoil it or simply not use it.
Here’s an idea. Next time anybody sees another person committing a criminal act, why don’t you ‘hold your noses’ and just join in?
That’s what you’re doing by voting SNP.
Helena Brown @4:34
You can vote for someone on your constituency ballot paper, or leave it blank, or deliberately spoil it Helena, and whatever of those three options you choose it has no bearing on the validity of your second ballot.
Cath 11.57
I have no skin in this game, but Mr Salmond was on Marr on Sunday morning and, on questions to do with Russia in terms what happened in Salisbury, or him giving credibility to RT, or Navalny, he, at best, came across as very evasive and non-committal and he could not bring himself to be critical of the Russian state in any way.
This left me, and many others I assume, with a somewhat different view of Mr Salmond than I had before I watched the interview – and the different view was certainly not more positive.
I would suggest that there are some occasions when rather than showing “difference” from the establishment (and public) position, just to be different for difference sake, serves only to create doubts amongst new, potential supporters. Though doubtless the already converted lap it up.
Pete – I have nothing against David Icke and don’t wish to pick on him, but it’s not really true to say he “exposed paedophilia in high places”. Instead, he took a scattergun approach of making the most lurid and ridiculous allegations possible against a very wide range of public figures.
While it’s definitely true that former US presidents Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan did some bad things, for example, it doesn’t necessarily mean they were satanic pedo ritual murderers who may or may not have also been shapeshifting vampire space lizards.
I believe Mr Icke has been sued for defamation on occasion, but perhaps the reason he hasn’t been summoned to an English court over his specific allegations about powerful members of the establishment has a simple explanation:
A defamatory statement is one which injures the reputation of another person: it “tends to lower him in the estimation of right-thinking members of society generally”
Also, I’m not a doctor, but I think Mr Icke’s theory that coronavirus is being transmitted through 5G mobile phone masts sounds far-fetched.
No doubt the MSM in general and the late Terry Wogan in particular were unkind to him, but it’s not their fault he published a website claiming the Queen is an extraterrestrial reptile.
The Alba policy on Europe (EFTA) is a masterstroke – it puts clear water between Alba and the SNP. A large number of independence supporters aren’t enthusiastic about the EU – they now have a new home if they so desire.
Just another one of a thousand incidents that
prove the U.K. media is as corrupt as hell and
exist only to keep the rich elitist’s propaganda
flowing.
Lies, distortion and stories completely out of context
are being peddled faster and faster and soon Truth
can be defined as whatever the rich wish to tell you it is.
One of the main points of this article is the fact that the Lord Advocate and Police service now work against the public and not for the public.
Voting SNP1 Alba2 doesn’t help that. To clean-up Holyrood, by all means vote Alba 2, but not SNP1.
Anyone other than SNP. Otherwise, nothing changes at Holyrood. We get a bit more entertainment value out of it, but it remains entirely disfunctional.
@Pete Roberts says: 20 April, 2021 at 4:24 pm
David Icke was one of the first people to expose pedophilia in high places, among other things He named names and gave times and places, giving references. Nobody took him to court about this, which given the UK libel laws is very interesting indeed.
They didn’t take him to court for the same reason they don’t take the far left or far right to court when they come out with ludicrous libels – because they know it’s the attention seeking behaviour of insignificant mewling gobshites who need the publicity and have nothing to lose.
Searchlight and Hope Not Hate have been having libel wars with the BNP and NF (and their spin offs) for nigh on four decades and not once has it ever reached court despite both accusing the other side of everything short of inproper conduct with sheep. The MOD has ignored the tinhat rantings of the UFO conspiracists no matter how over the top for half a century.
Icke is the guy that claimed Prince Philip was a lizard and Arran was going to be sunk by a volcanic eruption. He’s in the same boat as Uri Geller, Harry Price and other bunco booth merchants for whom it wouldn’t be worth paying the price of a copy of The Fortean Times. I wouldn’t trust Icke to give me the correct time of day.
Sensible Dave says:
20 April, 2021 at 4:41 pm
Cath 11.57
I have no skin in this game, but Mr Salmond was on Marr on Sunday morning and, on questions to do with Russia in terms what happened in Salisbury, or him giving credibility to RT, or Navalny, he, at best, came across as very evasive and non-committal and he could not bring himself to be critical of the Russian state in any way.
This left me, and many others I assume, with a somewhat different view of Mr Salmond than I had before I watched the interview – and the different view was certainly not more positive.
Why do you believe it’s important for Alex Salmond to mindlessly regurgitate the official line of the British State about Salisbury or Alexei Navalny – two subjects about which Alex Salmond probably has no more insight than we do?
Why should he be critical of Russia, a country that – despite the best efforts of Westminster and Washington DC – we aren’t at war with and have no obvious reason to quarrel with? Are you similarly troubled by Boris Johnson’s complete silence over the many much more oppressive and brutal regimes Britain happily sells weapons to?
What makes you think Russia Today needs “credibility”, any more than the BBC or other state propaganda broadcasters do? The BBC literally takes money from the Foreign Office to spread lies about other countries. Do you think it was wrong of Mr Salmond to lend credibility to the BBC?
I see some of the Unionist idiots on here still think some traction remains in the “Russian bogeyman theory”
I certainly don’t believe the spin given to the MSM so why should Alex condemn something that lacks credible evidence.
I would trust America no more than Russia.
I would trust them both more than London.
David Hannah @11.53am
I am entirely in agreement with you David.
I don’t want to tell Mr Salmond how to run his campaign, but I would think he needs to raise his Party’s profile.
The average punter has probably STILL never heard of them.
@Breastplate
Oh yes it is.
https://www.godlikeproductions.com/forum1/message4764458/pg1
Trolls advising spoiling ballot papers. You might as well just vote Tory red blue or yellow!
We need SNP to soak up the constituency vote to allow for the arithmetic to help Alba.
As for Russia I thought AS was very diplomatic. Scotland btw has had good relations with Russia through the ages and I think Russia would more likely be drawn to European norms if we accept that the Reds are gone from under your bed! By all means be wary but Salisbury,if true, was a lot less cruel than the Brits were to their own military personnel at Christmas Island and God knows what they are doing on the Clyde right now!
Kiwilassie
Although you are on the same side as regards independence for Scotland you would appear to have an out-of-date view of sexuality. Noted it before but didn’t comment but you have repeated your observations again in your comment up-thread.
I haven’t a clue whether the rumours about Sturgeon’s sexuality are true or not but your speculation about that are way off the mark. You seem to believe that she chose to be a lesbian because males didn’t find her attractive.
You went through puberty just as we all have. You didn’t choose to be heterosexual any more than I did. It happens due to an ancient evolutionary process which causes most humans to be heterosexual for the simple purpose of producing the next generation. (I remember being slightly surprised to find myself attracted to the opposite sex but understood and was also slightly awed, that biology was really that powerful, if a bit sneaky!) However, some people come out at the other side of that process attracted to their own sex, or both, or are asexual. Again they didn’t choose, it just happened to them by the same mysterious biological processes that took me unawares.
It’s the reason post puberty I didn’t have any problem with people being homosexual and that at a time when being gay was problematic for those who were gay. Prejudice was rife and in some societies it still is. That prejudice was fed by the same belief as yours, that they had chosen to be ‘deviant’.
I won’t get into the present anti-science madness gripping our society but your belief about people’s sexuality being simply an option or life choice is just as dotty and unscientific as theirs.
Hows about hiring a few planes to stream a large banner saying’ vote Alba’ wouldnt be that expensive, and would get the message out to more of the population.
The biggest threat to Scotland’s inhabitants from Nuclear Weapons comes from the UK Government.
The Rev goes to a great deal of trouble to ensure he produces ‘fact based’ articles, that reference the evidence.
Interesting that folk here have decided to introduce David Icke btl.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and suggest that if you have evidence a famous person is a sexual danger to children – publically accuse them of such, and then also accuse them of being shape shifting lizards – it damages your credibility just a little bit.
Or am I being pedantic?
Anyway, my conpiracy theory for today is that I gather Alba are doing rather well in the polls, if ‘David Icke’ is what they’ve decided to introduce btl here. Kind of scraping the bottom of the barrel, they didn’t even try that in 2014.
ywep, do not spoil your ballot papers, that just plays into the hands of the Establishment. Personally I cannot bring myself to vote SNP, but I will Green/Alba. The SNP need a huge kick up the arse to et them moving. We want to see results, not hear empty words.
@ JGedd at 5.17
Well said.
https://twitter.com/C64761187/status/1384422556606767113?s=20
I have no skin in the game but I truly believe we were created by ancient aliens. We are all stardust.
Bit of an o/t but I think useful
Out leafleting for Alba and get different responses that might not surprise.
However one reply that fits all of the political spectrum.
I’m doing this for the Alba party and independence.
However I’m also doing it for your democratic right to review and consider all the candidates who are running for election. Something the Scottish government is actively trying to deny you.
I usually get an “oh! Well give me a leaflet then” reply.
??? ????? ? ?????? ???? ????, ??????? @ Sensible Dave says at 4:41 pm
Are you the same kind of gype that thinks the plucky Royal Navy are chasing Ivan out of the English Channel when in reality the Russian Navy are only using a maritime route to the Atlantic as does millions of tonnes of shipping annually!
Now don’t freak it Sensible but the Russian Naval Ensign is the St Andrews Cross (blue cross on white background).
Other famous Scots with a Russian connection include:
General Alexander Gordon of Auchintoul
General and Rear Admiral Patrick Leopold Gordon of Auchleuchries
Admiral Thomas Gordon, Commodore of the Royal Scots Navy and Admiral of the Imperial Russian Navy.
Charles Cameron, Architect
Now don’t you forget to check for Reds under your bed before you go to sleep tonight, Sensible.
😉
The most important figure, airbrushed out of SNP history, as previously discussed. Something you expect to be rectified when the Murrells move on. If only for a truth and reconciliation commission to help that along.
True story, colleague at work, doesn’t do politics. Voted for Yes, because of the scene in Braveheart when the King ordered the Welsh in, even though they would get slaughtered.
That’s us too he said.
Anyway, politics, not his thing, but a seriously clever and able guy in the workplace.
Anyway, the Skripal poisoning thing happened.
‘What a lot of shite’, he said, ‘The Russian’s my arse’.
And that is about the size of it, as far as Scotland’s opinion of it is concerned. No-one is buying the Russians under the bed bollocks.
That plays well in America (where the idea probably came from), and down in Englandshire, they seem to believe whatever someone on the BBC tells them.
Up here, no one is worried about the Russians.
Tell you what they are worried about, is lots and lots of English camper vans, coming up to Scotland and bringing new variants of the Corona with them. Now that’s a concern.
Ignore the ???s it was Cyrillic which obviously didn’t work as a font here!
From Alba twitter,
Showing the ballot paper (a sample version obviously) with the words if you don’t see the logo,
You have to put it in yourself X
I think that’s brilliant.
“Farage?”
In my view Farage is an stooge of the British state. The tool the taxdodgers used to get the average voter to believe the tories were under threat and had no other option than to move further to the right and towards brexit. Never mind that it was the tory donors themselves filling Farage’s political constructs’ coffers.
Farage’s political constructs looked like nothing more than subsections of the tory party trying to fool voters into thinking the tory party did not want brexit. They wanted brexit all along. It is just convenient to have a manufactured bogeyman at hand that looks extreme making you look moderate. Just like it is only when Starmer is really close to Johnson that you can “see” he is not a tory.
It is remarkable how Farage’s political constructs emerged like unstoppable rockets during EU elections but rather than entering orbit as you would expect with that level of success, they always ended up falling back down to earth and disintegrating without even making a noise so, remarkably, as if by design, they never actually damaged the prospects of the tory party winning seats in GEs. Farage’s parties seemed to enter the process of controlled demolition before they could decrease the tory vote in the elections that matter.
Mr Salmond is in a completely different league. He is certainly no tool. ALBA does not look like one of Farage’s fabricated construct with such a tiny shelf life that they never live long enough to see the next GE. It very much looks like ALBA is here to stay until its mission is accomplished.
The British state loves Farage. If it didn’t its propaganda mouthpiece would not give him continuous access to their audiences as they did.
After May 6th, will you still be “holding your noses” when you have a brave few Alba MSP’s who whilst not saying it out loud, thus far as far as I can tell object to Woman and children being potentially abused?
How long will you”hold your noses” for? Presumably until you have referendum on a question you may or may not win, at a time in years that is completely outwith your control (or Alex Salmonds, top guy that he is)
If and its a big if , even the most loony person on here (which there are many on here with their historical, cultural, financial, constitutional delusions) what then?
I assume you will be “holding your noses” for a good few years whilst the potential of abuse to Woman and Children either intensifies or becomes common?
I know here’s an idea blame the English, after all they’re responsible for all the woes in your lives over 300 + years, and you’ll be able to breathe out into to the sewer you helped create. “If you don’t like my principles, I have others you know”
Really struggling to understand what it would take for you lot “not to hold your noses”? Genocide, Mass Paedophilia?
Clever man that he is and also honest from what I’ve seen, Polticians do make mistakes (some like this from a good place) my “opinion” is here he has made the ultimate mistake for what ? You know as well as I do come May 7th NS will tell the whole world the result justifies in all respects what she’s done and is about to do to the Woman and Children of Scotland. And so the circus continues with the freaks becoming the norm.
As I indicated I think Alex’s “word from on high” was a mistake for anyone who wants Scottish Independance he should have again in “my opinion” chosen a far more moral “Hill to die on” I.E proudly and loudly proclaiming that this sort of sick, depraved, inhuman behaviour and corruption and criminality have no place in Scotland, and then left it up to the voting public of Scotland to choose.
Just one more question, is someone a troll if they disagree with your Opinion, and therefore not a troll if they,do?
I could probably come back this time next year, the year after and so on and you’ll still be blaming the English, BritNats ad infinitum.
Finally all this garbage about “loads of good people in the SNP” shows something of a disregard for history which I guess is the norm for some of the more rabid posters on here, you know the likes of which posted on here the other day “that England and the English are the most hated nation on earth” no evidence, no context, zero historical base (what about Germans & Japs) just an assertion (not even an opinion), an assertion that the poster wants to be true and convince the rest of you is true, because he/she/it heard it somewhere or plainly just made it up (more likely) to satisfy he/she/its biases.
Anyway all the best to you in your endeavors to “hold your noses” when one of your woman or children are abused. Really hope you can live with yourselves
Again only m
Captain yossarin. I agree with you, there are two sides to everything usually( underlined) but when it comes down to open equal media coverage of all political parties running in the Scottish election. We find an untoward bias, in the use of derogatory comments towards a man that has been thoroughly investigated, re- rolling slurs that could now be consider defamation of character, and if that treatment does not work for them, the general main stream media pretend his party which has already overtaken Lib Dem in Scotland does not exist,
This is not so much an insult to AS alone but to all people living in Scotland that want fairer politics and politicians running a country.
Most ordinary citizens are fed up with the same old, same old retoric that politicians spew, its time for change.
Most people don’t even know if they have a job to go back to when the pandemic is over, others are wondering how they will manage if at a whim universal credit stops because DWP made an error, others that have lost the ability to pay their rent or mortgages and are wondering where they are going to live in the near future, food banks are not about to disappear over night. And employment choices are reducing on a regular bases.how do people feed their children, pay their electric, or afford to buy new electric cars.
This is not a competition to see who can best slag their politicial opponent over the head in verbal abuse,
It’s not a competition for politicians at all, they usually have all the perks and extras they need or could ever want.
This is the time to alter politics and politicians for the people’s sake, for a countries sake to survive the future.
I want change on a massive scale in politics, and when the main stream media won’t do that job for the people,
Then many will do it for their loved ones, for their homes, for their Future well being, and I started today putting leaflets through doors to get the message across where our government funded media fail us allmedia
Opps went media daft at the end.
This is off the topic, however. Looking for a consensus, and Stuart’s, advice.
It concerns the missing, or repurposed, “ring-fenced” referendum fund.
Two weeks ago today, I went to a local police station to make a complaint about the probable misuse of the monies donated by me to the referendum fund.
I took a copy, slightly modified, of the template Al-Stuart put on here, and a covering note from myself showing the sum I had donated and the date, which was just after the appeal was launched.
I spoke to a young female constable, who seemed to have difficulty understanding the circumstances of the cash appeal, and the ring-fence aspect of it. She took a few details, very few, popped out a couple of times, for advice I assume, suggested I try the small debt court, declined to take the two documents with the details, although she did take them, to show someone else, gave me them back, and had to be prompted to give me a ref. number. On a postcard, a number, nothing more. I added her shoulder number, time, date.
She did check the ref. number detailed on here of the Barrhead complaint, and that appeared to check out.
I have heard nothing since, in truth, by her attitude, I did not expect anything.
So, any advice on any next move.
I agree with all the celebrations and relief that Alex Salmond has offered Scotland a lifeline and a possible way forward, I am also equally angered and frustrated at the continuous impediments and obstructions being placed in his and our ways to enlighten and educate the electorate to a new and honest alternative to the status quo which ALL the political parties are delighted to maintain the blocking and obstructing
It is infuriating that the electorate are being denied the ability to make informed choices by broadcasters selectively promoting their choice of who should be allowed to appeal to the voters and who should be persona non grata
This selectivity must surely be illegal when broadcasters are hindering and obstructing the ability of voters to make informed choices when that ability is constrained by a questionable action
Mia – The British state loves Farage.
You’d think they’d have the decency to throw a peerage, or even a mere knighthood his way. Or one of those plum directorships even the thickest of former cabinet ministers waltzes into. Instead he’s doing PR for some Dutch firm that advertises trees.
They wanted brexit all along.
It’s possible that David Cameron, George Osborne, the CBI, the FTSE 100, the Bank of England, etc. wanted Brexit all along, despite the massive sums of cash and furious effort they put into stopping it. It just isn’t probable.
they never actually damaged the prospects of the tory party winning seats in GEs
Because Euro elections are different to UK elections, so UKIP got millions of votes in 2015 and one seat. The Tories were concerned enough about losing seats that they cunningly promised a referendum they thought they’d never have to actually hold, or – worst case – would easily win because only “fruitcakes and weirdos” care about Europe (Cameron probably thought he’d get another coalition with the Lib Dems). The rest is history.
@TheSNPLeftMe – 20 April, 2021 at 4:56 pm
If Alexei Navalny dies in a Russian prison due to medical neglect prior to 6th May I will be buying into the “Russian bogeyman theory”.
If the military stand-off between Russia and Ukraine turns hot prior to 6th May I will be buying into the “Russian bogeyman theory”.
Call me an Unionist idiot if you like.
Critics of President Putin have a habit of turning up dead. The time when that could have been dismissed as just a sequence of unfortunate coincidences is long in the past.
@Daisy Walker – 20 April, 2021 at 5:32 pm
Your bit about Corona might have been justifiable a year ago, but surely nobody is any longer in doubt about how it spreads?
In order to catch Corona off somebody traveling in a vehicle of any kind you would have to spend an hour or so in the vehicle with its occupants. Mask-less and with the windows closed. If you are that determined to catch it, you would also have to avoid vaccination.
Stop worrying about camper vans and start worrying about getting hit by falling space rocks. There’s more danger of that.
There are SNP voters who say they won’t vote for Alba, and there are Alba voters (like me) who really would rather not vote SNP. However, a thought occurred to me. Why not find someone in the opposite (pro-indy) position within your area and propose a ‘deal’ of sorts – simply, if they hold their nose and vote SNP1/Alba2 and I do the same, then both parties gain, AND the Unionists lose out. And both voters can justify doing so as both chosen parties get a vote it likely wasn’t going to before.
Red and John Main,
Well said both.
AS is, of course in no way at all responsible for the doings of Vladimir Putin, and the media should stop asking him stupid questions about Russia. That should go without saying. But for people on here to pretend that the Russian government is some sort of group of put-upon innocents is utterly ludicrous.
@ Heaver at 4.07 if you are still reading this thread:
There’s this thought as well:
https://twitter.com/Bosco4Indy/status/1384524274338250752
Alex Salmond is indeed a hero of scotland.
Sturgeon legacy will be weak brit nat collusion and treachery to the cause of Scottish independence and democracy.
These polls on popularity are odd. I don’t know who in their right mind would vote against Salmond given his record for honesty, principles and integrity. Either the people are just plain nuts or there is an element of ego at play i.e can’t handle an almost perfect character. Well sod them.
Bit off topic but just saw a tweet by Eric Geddes of Angus Robertson out campaigning today with Sturgeon. Geddes is the Communications Manager at Edinburgh Airport…
Rev. Stuart Campbell says,
“We’ve been racking our brains for a few hours now, but we still haven’t been able to think of a single UK citizen of the last 100 years – indeed, probably the last 300 – who has terrified the British establishment more than Alexander Elliot Anderson Salmond.”
A certain Rev. Stuart Campbell comes pretty close.
Rock said (To the editor of the Scotsman – 13 June 2014):
“Remember that you are now the 2nd biggest threat to the Establishment and they will do everything in their power to get you.”
Crazycat, thx for those. Just in from leafletting. I’ve bookmarked them for after my tea, thanks.
Presumably Eric Geddes would have needed to give Keir Starmer permission for his Edinburgh airport stunt at the weekend?
Mark Boyle, as an Arranach i take exception at You slagging off our saviour David Icke.
He actually said if there was no peace in Northern Ireland then negative vibes would travel via the ley lines that converge on Arran and there would be Earthquakes.
Well as far as I am Aware there has been Peace in Northern Ireland and Arran has not disappeared under the waves so therefore it is beyond argument that Mr Icke was Correct in his soothsaying.
Although tbh We are a bit nervous about the stuff that is going on in NI at the present time.
Who would have thought that Brexit could lead to the destruction of Arran!
STUART CAMPBELL SAYS
“By any conceivable measure Salmond is the most successful Scottish politician of all time.”
So what about voting the way Alex Salmond says then? or is this false or faint praise?
They can’t have feared Mr Salmond that much or he wouldn’t have lasted as long as he did & certainly wouldn’t be permitted back now. My first thought of who they really feared was Sir Oswald Mosley.
Sturgeon as always is out of sync with the people of Scotland.
LOL
This is pathetic. Anyone with a thimbleful of strategic sense would have foreseen a hostile UK media and prepared for it accordingly, rather than whining about unfairness after it turns out Salmond isn’t as savvy as we all thought he was.
Andy Ellis, thanks, after I wrote I spoke to my Husband, of course he knew how to do it. Simply stroke through box against all names and write none, and yes another piece of paper for A!ba,
Gaming the system that was set up to game us, certainly.
I don’t think Salmond scares the British establishment. That’s accruing to Salmond far more then he is due, really. So, he ‘almost’ secured a victory in the 2014 vote? He lost. He secured a democratic holyrood? Ha. He did beat the legal shenanigans. But if you want serious consideration, stop tslking up ‘almosts’, and ignoring failures. It just makes your case weaker. I speak as an Englishman who thinks you shpuld have independence, btw. But be honest about it.
The Financial Times published a useful online calculator today: https://ig.ft.com/scottish-election-2021-calculator/
it shows that only if Alba gets >5.1% of the regional list vote, will any seat from Labour migrate, below that it’ll simply take 1 seat each from SNP/Greens, respectively. To take a seat off Tories, Alba will have to get >5.7%. Currently it polls below that so it’s an open question of how best to vote tactically.