There Are No Rules
Posted on
March 16, 2023 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
This is the SNP members’ website tonight.
Looks like anything goes, folks.
We’re definitely getting these kind of vibes.
We wonder what it’s like in the bunker.
What the fuck is going on?
It’s a good job plenty of folks will have copies of it, check your email Stu.
It is bizarre that they are hiding the party rules and standing orders from their own members, especially during such an important event as a leadership election, that act in itself brings the entire process into disrepute, perhaps it is a deliberate intentional act?..
.. no doubt we’ll have them trotting out defence lines in the Notional tomorrow blaming its dissappearance on some internet snafu, which we all know is complete bollocks.
NationBuilder on the brink?
Someone got the password to the postgres database, exfiltrated the lot and wiped their tracks?
Check on the dark web for a data dump, Rev.
if you wait long enough, all “conspiracy theories” turn out to be true, why not just make our own thriller – someone should write this all up into a good story
– there is a key, in an envelope, blue-tacced to the back of a filing cabinet
– anyone who has contact with this gets killed; drowned in st marys loch, fell off the crags, mysterious intestinal injuries found dead up calton hill (what could it be)
then there are two tranny hit-men (trans-hit-women?) dressed as sally bowles and the emcee from cabaret, doing little musical numbers (its just harvie and slater) as they work
– murrell only appears in shadow, like the spectre guy, stroking a cat, no not a pussy
– ash and kate are doing a cagney and lacey thing
– humza shouts Im just the patsy in the holyrood foyer then chokes mysteriously on a jalfrezi
– the key unlocks a drawer containing single piece of paper, written on it is the old DOS command line instructions for erase/formatting a hard drive, for only then can peter’s 2TB of tranny/furry pron be cleaned up
alas, everything is backed up to the cloud these days, and 4chan already has it, calling it “fake and gay”
Is this the part when we’re told that due to a cyber attack all SNP member’s details have been permanently destroyed?
LOL
there are no chocolates in Sturgeon’s boxes anymore
And there are no diamonds in Murrel’s mine
All I can say is I’ve never approved of capital punishment and I’ve never approved of suicide, assisted or otherwise.
A court of law and properly sex-segregated prisons are what it required.
Here’s hoping Scotland hasn’t been deleted by the time I wake up for breakfast.
A point regarding this digital voting system that not too many have commented upon, if anyone, that is.
What of those folks who don’t have a computer?
Or a smart fone?
I mean, just how they s’posed to take part in the vote, if well, they can’t???
It seems no one has paid the slightest attention to that little fact, or no one at the top of SNP!
Or are we to simply assume absolutely everybody who is a paid up member of SNP has online access?
I think there will be more than a few who don’t.
So, there must be SNP members who’d love to vote in this election, as is their right to do, but just can’t.
What’s the big prob, SNP couldn’t use the old fashion mailing system?
At least they can all take part in that!
confused @1.21am get writing that script you are halfway there and what is written already has blockbuster written all over it, will Peter play his own self and could I audition for wet pishfarts part cause I need new slippers and I’m a lazy bast++d just like the real thing, can you name who will play honest john or will that be redacted , I know someone who could play leslie evans she has a wizened skeletal look about her and she is pure ugly inside and out
Things are not going to plan in the Bute House Bunker.
I have always said Nicola and Peter reminded me of Adolf and Eva in their final moments in their bunker in Berlin.
To think my son got a picture taken with him añd Sturgeon at the bottom of Carlton Hill in Edinburgh at that 2013 Rally.
He was over the moon.
And he got a second picture taken with her the day we went through to Paisley as Sturgeon was there to launch the Mhairi Black Campaign at Paisley Town Hall.
Those heady days when we were going to take on the world, and win.
With Nicola and Mhairi leading the charge, who was going to defeat us?
What the Fuck happened?
When did it all start to unravel?
To think back to what could have been, to where we are now is just unbelievable. Absolutely mind blowing.
And if I was asked how I would like to see the Murrells leaving their bunker, I would tell them, feet first, preferably with no pulse.
robertkknight says:
16 March, 2023 at 1:47 am
Is this the part when we’re told that due to a cyber attack all SNP member’s details have been permanently destroyed?
LOL
No not yet. There’s still belief that Steiner’s attack can save the situation.
I imagine Wee Ginger Poodle n Sturgeon Worshippers across the land are driving themselves insane trying to find a way to blame their favourite pantomime villains ..ie the Tories .. for this organic , homemade shit-pie .
‘fraid not , not this time . This is the finale of The Great Scottish Independence Fake-Off . All the puddings are on display ; and what a tooth-rotting array it is ….
Fruitcakes .
Sponges .
Tarts .
Doughnuts .
Brownies.
Empire Biscuits .
Crumbles .
Short( money )bread .
( Surprisingly , no Bath Olivers )
And , in pride of place ……
The largest Carrot Cake y’ever did see y’all
I wonder if this is being done, because previous members (like me) would be interested in finding out if our old logins are still working?
We’re on the cusp of history, folks.
The second Scottish Enlightenment (soon to be augmented in the HOC by Neil Hanvey)
Ron Clark says:
16 March, 2023 at 6:08 am
What the Fuck happened?
When did it all start to unravel?
My first dissatisfaction with Sturgeon was Sept/ Oct 2014.
The Unionists had made the infamous commitment that “more powers” would be devolved to Holyrood, but had never properly articulated what those powers would be. At the time, I made a call for Sturgeon to instigate a snap plebiscite, and have the sovereign Scottish electorate dictate which powers they wanted returned to Scotland by ballot.
With deft campaigning, I cannot see Scotland abandoning any portfolio to Westminster, and Despite losing the Referendum, Scotland could have been Independent in all but name. Or rather, let’s not kid ourselves, the Union would have been into an existential constitutional crisis as early as 2014/15, with the possibility of Scottish Broadcasting coming under Scottish control.
My ambitions were high, granted, and a plebiscite hot on the heels of a lost referendum was always going to be a tough sell, but for a’ that, I was disappointed that the SNP did absolutely nothing. The Unionists were allowed to squirm out of their panicked commitment, and Sturgeon, to me at least, had revealed her trademark “do nothing” approach to furthering Independence.
Had that plebiscite been fought in 2015, you need to remember, 2015 was when the SNP sent 56 out of 59 MP’s to Westminster, and again, did absolutely nothing, not a damned thing, to draw any advantage from it. It was a time when the iron was red hot and ready for striking…. But nothing.
When did it all go wrong? When the Establishment took down Alex Salmond, and at a critical time, removed his piece from the board.
All the dipshits who still tolerate criticism of Salmond, ALBA, or accuse Ash Regan of channelling the same Salmond / ALBA are either criminally short staffed in the intellect department, or “Yoons” keen to exacerbate disunity and provide the necessary muscle to maintain Sturgeon’s rotten house of cards. Sadly, the YES movement seems littered with them.
The big question in retrospect is whether Sturgeon was always grossly incompetent, was turned by hostile forces, or was always a hostile agent intent on wrecking Independence. Does it matter? She could scarcely have done a better job if she was head of MI5 herself.
As for the talented star and visionary leader of the YES Movement? I have never, ever, seen those credentials in Sturgeon, not even remotely. I could never understand what people were smoking.
I don’t know what these people were smoking, but they must bear a huge responsibility for shoring up Sturgeon’s corrupt regime for 8 years, and allowing her to destroy the SNP from the ground up. To coin the phrase, if you tolerate this, your children will be next…
Our salvation? ALBA, SALVO, Alex Salmond, Sara Salyers, maybe Ash Regan, but I have doubts about Forbes. BUT! All of them need to be word perfect on SALVO’s Claim of Right script, because it’s gonna be a white knuckle ride. There MUST be clear water between Scotland sovereign constitutional rights, and the “democratic” institutions though which Westminster controls us. FFS, somebody TEAR UP THE SCOTLAND ACT! The constitution of Holyrood is NOT the Constitution of Scotland. We are sovereign.
1984
‘Does Big Brother exist?’
‘Of course he exists. The Party exists. Big Brother is the embodiment of the Party.’
‘Does he exist in the same way as I exist?
‘You do not exist,’ said O’Brien.
Morning Stu,
Must have been a glitch. It all seems to be working fine now.
There is no joy in this.
Everyone will soon see the enormity of what the Murrells have done. All their plots, lies, dishonesty and betrayals. Especially their betrayals.
And not a single carrot-loving clapping seal will be able to deny the horror of their betrayal. They have betrayed everyone in Scotland.
The nuSNP MPs and MSPs who did not oppose Sturgeon and her transcult have betrayed us more than the Murrells. They knew and did nothing. We won’t forgive or forget. You’re all finished.
I think there will be a lot of troughers trying to pretend that they didn’t know. No one will believe them.
For the SNP to retain some MPs and MSPs there has to be deselection of roughly 80% of their present incumbents. Because those incumbents enabled all this to keep their faces in the trough.
Our shit journalists are also guilty of a betrayal of the people of Scotland. They knew and didn’t even allude to it, never mind report it. We won’t forgive or forget.
The Murrells have just sentenced Scotland to a yoon Holyrood and Tory westmonster rule for the forseeable future…Unless folk join Alba or ISP in their tens of thousands.
@Ron Clark
What happened is people like you and your son.
Nicola Sturgeon has never been fit for political life; many like me have seen through her from the beginning, the red flags were everywhere. Unfortunately for scotland many like you and your son abandoned your critical abilities and dived headfirst into the cult of Nicola Sturgeon. She was going to take on the world, yeah right.. Taking selfies with a politician, give me strength.
People like your son fawning over that corrupt lying psychopath Nicola Sturgeon fanned her ego and made her believe she was beyond criticism and like other cult leaders she got Totally out of control. Sturgeons performance in government has been abysmal, everything she touches turns to sh’t. If it goes wrong she just lies and the media and the cult let her off and then reward her by re-electing her. Take the last election, Sturgeon had been exposed as being involved in a criminal conspiracy to jail Alex Salmond, she lied to parliament and to the Salmond inquiry, in any normal country she’d be jailed for what she did,; she certainly wouldn’t have been re-elected, yet in Scotland a bunch of mugs who knew how corrupt she was decided to elect her again because the Indy carrot was strategically deployed again. What a bloody state.
Many who comment on here voted for her and yet now act surprised at how corrupt the SNP is. The SNP is corrupt because they made it corrupt by electing people who are not fit to be in politics, it doesn’t matter what colour the rosette is, if they aren’t fit they aren’t fit. They should not be elected end of. What on earth did they expect to happen? “Oh Alex Salmond said vote for Nicola”, I don’t care what he said, he doesn’t always get it right, he appointed Sturgeon after all despite the question marks about the end of her legal career. She then stabbed him in the back.
As for Mhairi Black, the effing state of that…. and again there was your son fawning over it. I wouldn’t give her a job stacking shelves. A loud mouth deluded fake. A parody of what she thinks a poor person is. She is taking the p’ss and getting paid well to do it.
To feel vindicated is a pleasurable emotion, indeed.
I think all this fuss about the membership numbers could be easily resoved by explaining…
Membership numbers are Ringfenced, and so cannot be disclosed, in addition to which they are Interwoven through, so cannot be calculated.
There, sorted.
Morning Stu,
Must have been a glitch. Seems to be working fine now.
Come on, Smitty! We need an update!
English expansionism knows no rules just «knavish tricks».
link to en.wikipedia.org
I wonder how many of the above characters lurk in the SNP, Greens, Labour, media and among the agencies of the bipolar Scottish establishment?
Can you sell your country twice?
Astonished…
Let’s not forget, it’s not just the leadership and representatives in the parliaments and local authorities, but also the membership which is to blame.
How any Indy-supporting member of the SNP can continue to be a member and yet behave as though they’re not associated with the bin fire which the SNP has become, and somehow and despite everything they consider themselves to be the “good guys”, beats the hell out of me.
If you quit, then good on you – at least you’ve standards and a degree of integrity. However, if you’re still a member yet simply bleat about what has and continues to go on then I’m sorry, but you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem, because Scotland’s problem is Sturgeon’s rancid SNP, and that includes everyone in it!
We know Emma Harper was given the contact list of members at the start of the campaign and had to apologise for inappropriate use!
Etticus 8.20am
I would say in 2014 that about 99% of the Indy movement backed Nicola Sturgeon, including my son (who was 12 years old at the time).
Remember the Hydro?
Bursting at the seams. She could do no wrong.
Mhairi Black was the next leader in waiting.
With the exception of yourself, I would say Sturgeon fooled every single one of us.
I think that is why the feeling of payback is so sweet.
No mercy should be shown to her or her “husband”.
Anecdotal evidence via Barrhead Boy’s contact suggesting members who resigned are not receiving a vote but those whose membership lapsed through not paying their subs are. Of the two types, clearly the lapsed are more likely to toe the party’s continuity line and vote Humza. Clever.
@Ron Clark
The hydro? Embarrassing cult like behaviour. As we all know cults never end well, just ask the residents of Jonestown.
With my professional background I’d heard the rumours about the end of her career. The incompetence and the lies. The resignation from the solicitors roll and undertaking never to practice again to avoid being slung out on her ear. A lot done while she was employed by a SNP big hitter at Bell and Craig. Supposedly she was asked about this when she first tried to stand and for some reason she was allowed to lie her way out it.
It goes beyond that tho, Sturgeon has always been a liar, she would lie time and again in parliament and in interviews well before 2014 and everyone just waved her through. Even if people did pick up on the lies we got the old at least she’s no a Tory or English. She was the worst health minister the country even had before useless. Destroyed nurse training and took decisions leading to thousands of drug deaths. Aye we’ll just ignore that. Worst of it is she’s not even that intelligent, zero grasp of detail. She’s just devious and without conscience. Lucky for her, her competitors in the SNP for the top job were even worse.
@Etticus says:16 March, 2023 at 8:20 am
Taking selfies with a politician, give me strength
Great post.
Politicians are supposed to work for us. It’s them that should be honoured and pleased to take selfies with us.
As for government ministers – the “mini” in “minister” is the giveaway. A minister was originally a small, insignificant person, a servant, in other words. Not a privileged boss who drives everywhere in a limo and keeps us at bay with security guards.
Ouch. When the brown stuff hits the fan, watch out for a large number of panicked rats deserting the sinking ship. Folks, this is when it gets interesting, the clever rats will start blaming each other, the dumb ones will start biting their own tails.
This could have so easily been avoided – all the FM had to do was accept some of the sensible amendments to the GR legislation – madness (those whom the gods destroy…). Well, she went down that mad path and it quickly became apparent her number was up. A continuity strategy was quickly and cunningly devised (sooner than they had planned, hence mistakes were made), but alas things haven’t quite gone as planned. Firstly Angus Robertson didn’t play ball, and then Kate Forbes’s faith (her perceived weakness) didn’t damage her as much as required. And Humza Yousaf, the substitute continuity candidate, demonstrated how absolutely unsuitable he really was as a potential FM.
These factors have all played a part, but IMO the biggest event was the surprise entry of the hitherto unkown Ash Regan into the leadership contest. This really threw a massive spanner into the works. All clever plans up the spout. Regan may not win, but she has increased her profile massively and she has show incredible courage, representing a big faction in the party and a real challenge to the party hierarchy. This has effectively neutered the planned attacks on Kate Forbes. They cannot deal with Forbes and Regan at the same time. There are three ways to go now. Those voters that could not stomach putting Forbes as number one, may find it easier to out her as number two, behind Regan (and visa versa). Bad news for Yousaf (is this why his team are now in a dark mood?). I wonder if this was planned between the two as a way of counteracting the planned (management) push for Yousaf? If so, it’s a brilliant maneuver – genius. Some shenanigans may yet be pulled to get Yousaf elected (these folk are desperate), but it won’t save them in the medium term IMO.
Whatever happens now, I cannot see the SNP holding together much longer – too many differences between the factions. Forbes and Regan could potentially come to an agreement, but the Yousaf faction may abandon the party and join the greens if they don’t get their way. If only! A woke clear-out would save Forbes or Regan the trouble of fumigating the party should they manage to overcome the cunning plan to get Yousaf past the winning post. Interesting times. Popcorn ordered!
Stu, if it’s the case, as others above have stated, that SNP’s website is back to normal, is there any way to check before and after to see if any changes were made during the “glitch”?
If so, it might help to shine some light on their plans.
Sturgeon’s social agenda was evident right from the start so Salmond must have been aware or should have noticed the danger signs.
I resigned my membership a few months later and wrote to her personally to explain why I was resigning. The letter was ignored and I have had no further communication from the party.
I think that in common with other totalitarian regimes the foot soldiers become mesmerised, Sturgeon had become the Party and her orders were to be followed to the letter or dissidents would be removed or otherwise “fitted up”.
We are indeed fortunate to have had Mr Campbell to guide us for the last few years and we should be prepared for the bloodletting yet to come. His free speech policy has been invaluable, there are simply no other forums like this on the web and we should appreciate the man and the policy.
What about the movie the Firm where Tom Cruise walks in and the hole team are frantically shredding files, is that the scene at the SNP’s HQ right now.
@Ottomanboi 8.29am
“Can you sell your country twice?”
Oh yes, indeed, and selling out Scotland has never stopped. I doubt we have ever had such a huge bunch of “laughing in our faces” treacherous rogues in our midst.
A real pot pourri of inadequates covering for the imposters and those we should have been able to trust. Some of our elected representatives have been surprisingly supine and particularly disappointing; many more of the greasy pole climbers are even worse than could be imagined.
It’s not just “sh**e being Scottish”, right now it feels shameful.
Stu, according to posts above the SNP site is back to normal now. Any way to search for changes made during the “glitch”? Could prove useful in seeing what the conniving buggers are up to.
Shredders running hot!
Hard drives in the microwave!
@Etticus
I absolutely agree, I heard Graham Lineham (Glinner) describe her as ”A skilled politician” but the reality is she wasn’t a skilled politician at all, in her 8 or so years as First Minister she’s achieved nothing for Scotland or the independence movement, she was a failed politician and a failed solicitor before that, she is however a skilled con artist and a skilled liar but like all con artists and lairs she’s been found out, were approaching the end game now and if there’s any justice in the country a jail sentence awaits her but no matter what history will not be kind to Nicola Sturgeon
John Swinney from the Ministry of Propaganda on Radio Shortbread. Telling the nation that the election process is absolutely above board. Murrell’s captured man is hardly likely to say otherwise.
He is basically questioning the motives of Forbes and Regan. Their motive is to make sure the election isn’t being stolen from them, and the whole of Scotland being inflicted with a lame duck FM.
Hell mend them if he gets elected. We will know it was a set up, to hide the Murrell trail of sleaze. But it will be short lived , and it will end up being the end of the SNP.
When Sturgeon was handed the keys to the leadership by Salmond I don’t recall a single person saying she would be this bad. Personally I just thought she lacked vision and seemed dour. I recall one person seemed very unsure and said ‘whatever she will be like, she will be super PC’.
I was more sad to see Salmond step down, to be enthused about Sturgeon’s appointment.
I don’t think anyone ever dreamed that Sturgeon would be the astonishing betrayer that she turned out to be. I mean FFS… wow. It is amazing. And obviously she must have been doing so for a long time prior to 2014 as well… and of course during 2014.
I have thought about how she managed to deceive so many and I concluded that if your whole persona is a lie you become the living embodiment of the “Big Lie” concept and become invisible.
I am guessing that Alex Salmond must (with hindsight) suspect a lot more than he ever says publicly about Sturgeon’s motives.
Again to me it points to us being in a post democracy era. The attempted stitch-up was essentially a pre-emptive coup d’etat, to prevent AS coming back as he surely would have done, to make sure Salmond was politically decapitated by relentless media smearing.
That by itself was an outrageous act. But it also means our FM for the last 9 years has not been working in our national interests. And she really hasn’t. As Craig Murray put, she pretended to want independence and the media pretended to attack her for it.
So taking out the rightful leader and replacing him with a fraud leader is ‘belt and braces’… add in the Scottish media and whatever we are living in, in Scotland, you really cannot describe it as anything resembling a real democracy.
It is Potemkin Village form of democracy. A sham democracy where as soon as we try to assert our rights in a way that is not approved of it gets undermined and declawed instantly.
Robert Knight @8.42
I agree. What I mean is that no one in the nuSNP can now deny knowing what the Murrells did. And their complicity with it.
If Ash wins and deselections begin then they might be saved. They are seen by most of the electorate as the party for ‘indy’. If anyone else wins then they are lost.
And if you remain a member of the nuSNP then you are complicit in the biggest fraud perpetrated against the people of Scotland.
Ron Clark – Like you and your son – I believed Sturgeon would lead us to independence. We now know we were duped.
I started to question them when Salmond was charged. And when the trial began the dishonest reporting would have shamed Stalin. When I found out who the alphabetties were I was stunned. The final straw was the capitulation speech of 31.1.20.
Etticus – You may have seen through her first. Don’t blame those of us who took longer to see it.
Blame all the people who aided and abetted Sturgeon’s betrayal – Scotland’s shit media, Sturgeon’s MSPs and MPs, Sturgeon’s transcult (Her twitler youth), Police Scotland, the crown office and procurator fiscal service, the judge who allowed the alphabetty perjurers to remain unknown (allowing them to continue to defame Alex Salmond with total immunity) and all those in the know who said and did nothing.
I assume Humza will no longer want Sturgeon to be a roving ambassador for ‘independence’. Doesn’t matter what Humza does now – He was and is complicit in the whole affair.
The Murrells are about to become the most hated people in Scotland’s history.
@Jim Bo 9:32 am
You can use the ‘Wayback Machine’ hosted at ‘the Internet Archive’ to look back at archived copies.
All dates and times for each snapshot are recorded.
link to web.archive.org
😉
Graeme – That is why there was such a panic when they heard Humza was behind. He is the chosen one to protect their secrets. If anyone else gets elected then the cabal is over. When a gang splits up, they enter self preservation mode.
Essentially peoples tongues are loosened when they are being implicated in the sleaze. The Murrells must be living on their nerves right now. Those civil servants and police involved in the Salmond affair , are equally bricking it.
Volountary organisation Mhairi Hunter keeps saying?
Bloody wish it was. A movement, not a business.
Murrell is on circa 125k. In what way is that volountary?
say 600,000 over 5 years. That’s circa 3,000 annual members just to pay for a jumped up admin.
Why is he on this kind of money? What justifies it? It’s not an NHS board he’s leading with actions and definable outcomes. He doesn’t even lead the success of the organisation in any meaningful way.
Not only that but he’s actively causing issues.
An absolute joke.
OT.
We all know the dreaded HCB has not yet been implemented, doubt anything will come of it, but this is truly hilarious.
Humza ‘hoist by his own petard’.
link to twitter.com
Posted earlier today , great stuff , don’t miss it..
Robert Hughes says:
16 March, 2023 at 6:50 am
I imagine Wee Ginger Poodle n Sturgeon Worshippers across the land are driving themselves insane trying to find a way to blame their favourite pantomime villains ..ie the Tories .. for this organic , homemade shit-pie .
‘fraid not , not this time . This is the finale of The Great Scottish Independence Fake-Off . All the puddings are on display ; and what a tooth-rotting array it is ….
Fruitcakes .
Sponges .
Tarts .
Doughnuts .
Brownies.
Empire Biscuits .
Crumbles .
Short( money )bread .
( Surprisingly , no Bath Olivers )
And , in pride of place ……
The largest Carrot Cake y’ever did see y’all
Interesting return to twitter here link to twitter.com
When they left they were accusing Regan and Forbes of smear tactics. 24 hours later they return sort of apologising to Forbes but no mention of Regan.
Regan clearly has SNP HQ extremely scared. Painting her as a no hoper in a 3 way contest clearly leaves her in a position were she has nothing to loose and now SNP HQ are dancing to her tune.
Keep it up Ash!
“English expansionism knows no rules just «knavish tricks».
link to en.wikipedia.org
I wonder how many of the above characters lurk in the SNP, Greens, Labour, media and among the agencies of the bipolar Scottish establishment?
Can you sell your country twice?”
Right so it was all the dastardly English all these years behind the shit show of Scottish Nationalism. Wonderful – its hard to find so many intellectually challenged fools on one web site. There is no case for independence – never has been and never will be unless you suspend disbelief.
Having only vaguely followed politics before 2014, I was scarcely aware of Nicola Sturgeon beyond the fact that she was Alex Salmond’s deputy and he seemed to think highly of her as far back as 2004. I’d heard of her being involved in campaign events during the referendum campaign.
I wasn’t an SNP member until just after she became leader, as I decided to join just after the referendum and obviously wouldn’t until I’d got a copy of the party constitution and read it. I like to know what I’m signing up for.
I considered joining on several occasions in the decades before the referendum, but variously lacked either information or the time to campaign and saw no point in being a paper member.
I would not have voted for Nicola to be leader without much more information about her. And I was very sceptical about the Hydro and similar showbiz appearances, which I would not attend and could only hope were an effective campaign tool aimed at the less engaged voter.
The most obvious problem to me was that she has never struck me as a leader. As a complete non-leader myself, I know what purposeful, motivating, connection I expect from even a junior management leader. And I’m not convinced she has that any more than I do.
I wasn’t aware of the serious lies problem until 2016 I think.
I HAVE been shocked throughout, by the number of people who WERE/ARE willing to follow cult-like. This is government, that affects your standard of living, whether you have an NHS or not, whether you have free speech! Not a choice of football team, affecting nothing.
And by the number who saw one or more red flags and switched their critical thinking facilities off. Do they do the same when buying a house? Buying a car? Deciding to accept a job? Accepting a spouse? How often have they been scammed?
I don’t object as such, to the selfies and personality aspects of politicians, as much of getting elected is clearly about PR, and any successful public figure will have their fans within their niche.
Real echo chamber of intellectually challenged people here with a moderator who cannot here the truth. There is no case for independence – repeat after me. You wont get free prescriptions, you wont get all of the goodies which make life tenable.
Breeks 7:53 am
“FFS, somebody TEAR UP THE SCOTLAND ACT!”
And the Treaty of Union, which should have been torn up in the HoC by Scotland’s 56 ‘nationalist’ MPs in 2015. The 48 heroes could do so today, if they had any courage. They should be aware that the longer the delay to independence the worse the situation becomes.
Murrel’s hiv mebbe bin fund oot, but remember a significant number of mi5’s 5,000 payroll plus ‘secondments’ are still in play within key Scottish institutions, ‘in the interests of UK national security’ and protecting the ‘economic well-being of the UK’, immunity all round, incl. for ‘authorised criminal conduct’ it seems.
No matter what happens in the SNP bunker over the next few weeks/months the covert colonial shit-show goes on, even beyond independence day, according to postcolonial theory.
link to legislation.gov.uk
We’ve all been looking forward to these days and we deserve to enjoy them.
But let’s not forget the friends and loved ones who didn’t make it this far.
The guilty have had so many opportunities to repair the damage they’ve done. Instead, they kept doubling down, digging ever-deeper, dragging others into the crime.
There could have been reconciliation but they ploughed on.
So it’s time for a reckoning and justice.
Let’s do it by the book, show them how civilised democracy works in practise, and serve it up cold, one wee spoon at a time.
BETTY BOOP 9.29
There are none so blind as those who will not see.
What has been done to Scotland in the name of Unionism is beyond measure.
The scale of it may be too traumatizing for many. Akin to being serially violated by the next door neighbour.
My appreciation of the anglo-scottish relationship is that racism has been a significant driver. Scots were/are considered inferior, there is no Scottish culture or history worth noting and «modern» Scotland begins with the Union and systemic anglicization. The classic oxbridge histories of «Britain» hold to that premiss.
This «English is better» theme runs through the whole argument for retaining the links with England. It is unhealthy, psychologically, politically, socially and culturally; a classically colonial situation.
Has anyone down a Downfall parody yet of Murrell in the bunker..? Sounds like script ideas aplenty.
Something to read whilst on mid-morning tea break.
Comments worth a read too on voting stats.
link to yoursforscotlandcom.wordpress.com
The Eleanor Williams case, where she was jailed for 8.5yrs for a false rape allegation, may be focusing minds. Suddenly we have perjury being elevated to a very serious offence with dire consequences that can’t simply be swept under the carpet, even by Police Scotland.
We know that if/when this goes to court the disclosures and ramifications will sink the Sturgeon/Murrell boat. Do you think Alphabetty H is going to be the patsy? She’ll ‘sing like a bird’ to spread the blame to mitigate her actions and reduce her chances of jail time.
When the dust settles it’ll be interesting to dissect which of the many scandals was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
BTW I expect an announcement of the membership numbers sometime after FM’s Questions but before 3pm.
That mass rally at the Hydro where Sturgeon was made to look like something between a big name pop star and a messiah was totally inappropriate.
What was appropriate about it was the name of the chosen venue. Since hydro was the ancient Greek word for water.
Because from then on, when her dominance in the party had been established, she began to steadily water down the SNP commitment to independence.
Remember when she felt emboldened enough to publicly say that she regretted the word National in the name SNP? I think it was then that a lot of us fully realised she was a fraud…..and a unionist.
I think Angus MacNeil just dropped a wee bomb on HQ link to twitter.com
How can Mi-V not know the membership numbers if they are sending out the voting links? Suggests paper ballots may be coming from a different route?
@ ross, 9:58am
Murky Murrell – he was good a moving the chairs on the conference floor. How much is that worth?
Hiding in plain sight, though, and getting away with it this long (a very, very long time); how much is that worth to the enemies of the people of Scotland?
Which one of the Sturrells will rat out the other? Maybe neither if they are protected.
I have this beguiling image in my mind, of Ash pointing to the Murrels at one minute past 3pm today and saying, “Alexa, DRAKARIS!”
I can dream.
It’s a glitch I just checked the SNP library page and everything seems to be fine now.
Graeme George says: 16 March, 2023 at 9:44 am
I’d like to think Graham Lineham meant by ”A skilled politician” was how Sturgeon was able to survive for so long despite being so incompetent.
Paul Davies 10.11
“ There is no case for independence – never has been and never will be unless you suspend disbelief.”
The people who want secure energy and food supplies look to control the production of both. This either means being self sufficient in the basic levels required or having the military and economic power to insist other countries deliver.
We have been relying in the latter for much of modern times. Switching to the former – self-sufficiency in basic food and energy needs – will require big changes in land use (if clever, not causing a civil war over ownership) and the geographic decentralisation and local control of energy supply.
Those prospects are different in Scotland which is why independence might be very helpful. That’s the environmental case for independence, even if the Greens have lost sight of it for the moment behind the clouds of Queer Theory.
Paul Davies says:
16 March, 2023 at 10:14 am
“Real echo chamber of intellectually challenged people here with a moderator who cannot here the truth. There is no case for independence – repeat after me. You wont get free prescriptions, you wont get all of the goodies which make life tenable.”
First of all, Paul, we have had free prescriptions in Scotland since April 2011. Secondly, your spelling and grammar are awful; it’s not ‘here the truth’, it’s ‘hear the truth’, and it’s not ‘wont’ but ‘won’t’. You are the intellectually challenged one here, you don’t seem to know much about Scottish politics.
Just want to make an observation about Yousaf.
He is being described as the continuity candidate continuing with the policies of Sturgeon which is backed up by his rhetoric. The attraction to him by those in the SNP who want to continue keeping in power is that he continues with the success brought by Sturgeon when she was in charge.
The problem with that is Yousaf is no Sturgeon. Regardless of what you think of Sturgeon, it can’t be argued that she is skilled at keeping herself politically successful, as I had previously mentioned, and has a keen media savviness which makes her look good no matter how bad the reality of her policies really is. Yousaf has none of these qualities.
If Yousaf does get elected as FM, which looks highly likely, it is going to be disastrous for the SNP electorally. It is ironic that all the troughers who are backing him to protect their positions, could most likely lose their position at the next time they need to get re-elected.
Ron Clark says:
16 March, 2023 at 8:55 am
“I would say in 2014 that about 99% of the Indy movement backed Nicola Sturgeon, including my son (who was 12 years old at the time).
Remember the Hydro?”
Yes indeed – I WAS at the Hydro. I had been to the Radical Independence event that day – and as a (then) member of the SNP I went along to see our new Leader.
And that’s when I got really uncomfortable.
Shades of Nuremberg Rally. Cult of personality.
I had a real shiver of unease, which only got worse as the years passed.
Joined Alba Day 1.
Ron Clark at 06.08. Firstly, thank you for sharing your bewilderment at how it all went wrong. You are correct, there was a euphoria that lasted for a while and we (well obviously not all) were taken in by it….independence had been so close, and all it needed was a further determined drive to get us there. Mhairi Black Et al., were going to kick Westminster ass. Then of course, time exposed the feet of clay and we are left bereft.
Secondly, looking at some of the replies you received, did it feel that you were back in the pews with the black robbed minister glaring and pointing at you and your son, bellowing, it was all your fault! Not much “let he who is without sin etc” going on there then. But let’s forgive them for the bellowing I guess that it is just the same pain as we have – it just needed someone or something to lash at.
Finally, and this is for Stuart, kudos to see a different ending clip than what I was expecting. I thought when I saw the Downfall clip of the SS Doctor walking in, that you’d be following up with the Bunker scene. The inestimable Bruno Ganz played that scene so magnificently that it has become a “standard” for depicting a collapsing system. So hat tip for avoiding the obvious.
Ottomanboi @ 10:18 am
“My appreciation of the anglo-scottish relationship is that racism has been a significant driver. Scots were/are considered inferior”
Yes, racism is a central feature of the colonial relationship and condition. As Albert Memmi described it:
“Racism appears then, not as an incidental detail, but as a consubstantial part of colonialism. It is the highest expression of the colonial system and one of the most significant features of the colonialist. Not only does it establish a fundamental discrimination between colonizer and colonized, a sine qua non of colonial life, but it also lays the foundation for the immutability of this life.”
And to add here: “the real crime of fascism was the application … of colonial procedures” (Cesaire)
Colonialism therefore involves both racist and fascist oppression of ‘a people’, which gives rise to their struggle for independence and liberation from oppression. However, an oppressed ‘peoples’ understanding often remains rudimentary, their oppression obscured through the processes of cultural assimilation (in which native elites ‘mimic the colonizer’ language/culture) and resultant psychological effects, e.g.’internalized racism’:
link to bpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com
PacMan says:
16 March, 2023 at 10:48 am
”I’d like to think Graham Lineham meant by ”A skilled politician” was how Sturgeon was able to survive for so long despite being so incompetent.”
Yeah that’s probably true
“There is no case for independence – never has been and never will be unless you suspend disbelief.”
Your premise of Scottish bad apples is acceptably sound but your conclusion is invalid because it does not follow from that premise alone.
We are not looking for independence from our home-grown bad apples, because we can deal with them on our own ground, but not being independent seriously hampers us, because the bad apples south of the border are protecting and encouraging them. Independence will make the southern bad apples almost completely irrelevant, freeing us to tackle properly our own bad apples. How’s that for a case for independence?
@ laukat at 10:39 am
The bottom line is that for whatever reason(s) the SNP are withholding publishing the membership numbers.
The SNP have a database of the overall membership. When I was a Branch Office Bearer I had a degree of limited access to that data to carry out my duties and could see the various details of members of my specific branch.
The dates their annual membership ran from and to were one of those details, and there were renewal reminder emails kicked out to members by the HQ system as the expiry dates neared, this email tied in with a pending note being visible on the member’s details too.
Other details included if the member was an online member user, or if they were postal. This was so certain members that required party correspondence to be printed out and either posted or hand delivered were known and catered for.
On several occasions I had to phone HQ to get an amendment made to the database because a member had moved to a different Branch area or had passed away. These amendments were above the level of access and functions I had.
So there is no reason that a very accurate snapshot of the actual overall membership could not be taken by Admins of the database at any specific point in time.
Tune!
Lollypop, beat me to it!
As a once redhead with green eyes , I claim my Viking ancestry.
Mac,
My own suspicions are that Nicola Sturgeon hasn’t and never had any big negative plan any more than she had any big positive one.
Her genuine abilities HAVE included:
– an ability to win elections (strategic use of carrots and folk desperate for independence)
– effective debater at FMQs (admittedly not against the best opposition)
– effective spokesperson (eg during covid)
– impressive stamina (eg during covid when several ministers were too ill with stress to appear at briefings)
– likeability which attracted the vast crowds in the first place (that aspect is NOT a mask, but is not the whole picture)
– experienced liar (not a GOOD trait, but in politics sadly an effective one. Tell people what they want to hear? Probably driven mainly by survival instinct)
– not particularly money motivated (unlike her husband) valuable in a profession filled with troughers and fraudsters
– not phased by the performance/public aspects of the job (many genuine leaders dislike that aspect and the public pick up on it)
So a lack of vision, strategic thinking, leadership ability, team playing and a few personal special interests in being PC could all be accommodated or mitigated. As long as she inherited someone else’s ‘business goodwill’, tapped into their vision and advice and kept her personal hobbyhorses in their place.
If, however, she switched her primary personal loyalty from Alex Salmond to Peter Murrell, circa 2010, all of that would gradually unravel as she took the other path at every fork in the road.
And every gremlin in the machine would be only too willing to assist.
Breeks says: “Had that plebiscite been fought in 2015, you need to remember, 2015 was when the SNP sent 56 out of 59 MP’s to Westminster…” and we had a majority of pro-Indy MSPs at Holyrood.
Together they could have legitimately voted to secede. All in line with UN Articles. Job done. Then tidy up, finance, defence, borders, blah, blah… BUT job done!
Well, clearly they have to unpublish the constitution and rules so that the…uh… “enemies”… umm… among their own membership can’t exploit them.
Only in darkness can true democracy thrive.
ALF BAIRD 11:13
No matter how total the assimilation, the assimilated is never «one of us».
However, being able to think like «one of us», pass yourself off as one is rather subversive. All colonized peoples can offer interesting examples of the phenomenon of turning the weapons provided onto the provider.
@graham George
100%. Sturgeon has achieved nothing for Scotland, even her most loyal supporters would struggle to list anything beyond a cardboard box full of tat that cost the taxpayer three times what it should have done.
To be honest, I don’t blame her for acting the way she has, just as the conquistadors bought the Aztecs with liquor and trinkets, Sturgeon knew she could buy the SNP cult with cardboard boxes of tat and a Indy carrot. She saw them coming a mile off. Even some supposedly intelligent people fell for it.
On so many levels Scotland is screwed, the ingrained corruption and rewarding incompetence that is the hallmark of the Murrell/Sturgeon cabal will take years to be put right. Education is an utter disaster, kids leaving school unable to read and write properly, a whole generation of kids will have their lives blighted by voters rewarding corruption and incompetence in exchange for an occasional glimpse at the Indy carrot. As for health, what a disaster, of course the rot started when Sturgeon was health minister. Then going forwards the renewables revolution is finished before it started because sturgeon gave the licences away for a pittance and unless we get the SNP out of power we can kiss goodbye to oil and gas. But hey ho…. The well-being economy will keep us fed and housed.
I would like to address a couple of particularly dense unionists who have popped up in the last few hours. I feel I am qualified to do so being a unionist myself. I ask them to stop it. Stop coming on here with your ill-typed guff about how there will never be independence, It is rude, very rude and most likely untrue as well. You are just showing yourselves up. Anybody who loves Scotland should be praying for competent politicians to lead us and at this particular time I believe that to be Regan and Forbes, or indeed Forbes and Regan. I think they compliment each other and that can only help Scotland. I wish them every success. As to what happens later? I don’t know but a well managed country is a much better prospect than a Sturgeonised one!
@Andouilette, 1.19 p.m.
Also a unionist, and I have some sympathy with your position. I would rather have a well-governed country aiming for an independence that just might be misjudged, than a partially devolved banana pseudo-republican car crash choreographed by idiots who couldn’t run a bath.
But guff and rudeness cut both ways, and there is certainly some swivel-eyed lunacy on here: the ‘unionists/WM/Tories are to blame for absolutely everything’ shibboleth, the idea that Scotland is somehow ‘colonised’ — what a load of tripe that is.
And, finally, above, the accusation of racism: well, I’m not one for the cult of offense and offendedness, so let’s just say that is rank BS. I’ve lived and worked in Scotland and in England, and any plausible examples of racism I’ve seen have been manifestations of anti-English contempt on the part of Scots.
Fair comment @Confounder and I agree with most of it. When you’ve seen your small child set upon in the school playground for ‘sounding too English’ you end up taking a very jaundiced view of people claiming there is no such thing as anti Englishness.
That being said there are many posters on here who are sensible and thoughtful and I greatly value reading their contributions.
Agreed, @Andouilette. When the prejudice is kept in check (for the ‘wee Scotlander’ is surely no better a look than the ‘little Englander’), it’s worth paying attention.