What A Waster
So it looks like The Spectator spent a lot of money on a lawyer for nothing today.
Because while pretty much every journalist, pundit and legal expert reporting the case agrees that the amendment made to the Section 11 order protecting the anonymity of the complainers in the Alex Salmond case is an important and significant one, it hasn’t impressed the only person whose opinion actually matters: Andy Wightwash.
Because going by his tweets this evening, the “independent” MSP has no intention of changing his previous position, and what that means is that the renewed offer we’re told is now being made by Mr Salmond’s representatives to re-submit his evidence and appear in person next week will fail, because the SNP members and Wightman will once again team up to block it.
Social media is awash in claims that the former Green has been “bought” by the SNP with some sort of bribe, perhaps being invited to join the party and be given the top list slot in the Highland region. This website, having no reliable source to verify any of the allegations, makes absolutely no such assertions and is quite sure they’re baseless.
All we will say is that were they to be true, the SNP’s new diversity-and-inclusion policy stipulating that the top spot on the Highland list must be allocated to a disabled person would present no obstacle. Because we’re pretty sure not having a spine counts.
That aberdein statement really needs a leaking.
M_Alc says:
11 February, 2021 at 7:19 pm
That aberdein statement really needs a leaking.
Agreed.
As soon as he backed Dugdale we knew he was a snivelling cretin of a man. God knows why people were so taken in by his sanctimony. What a prick.
Jings. Just finished reading your previous piece and now this comes winging in. Why on earth does he care? Wait. is it because suddenly he’s in a position of influence when he was never before? Power corrupts, etc.
In fact that’s an interesting and apposite quote. Apparently it was said by Lord Acton, when referring to the Inquisition. He meant committees too, you understand.
Lord Acton writes to Bishop Creighton in a series of letters concerning the moral problem of writing history about the Inquisition. Acton believes that the same moral standards should be applied to all men, political and religious leaders included, especially since, in his famous phrase, “power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely”:
Then the other three on committee will surely resign?
They just keep on digging but this ain’t going away!
“Reject the insidious pressures in society that would blunt your critical faculties to all that is happening around you, that would caution silence in the face of injustice lest you jeopardise your chances of promotion and self-advancement. It entails the loss of your dignity and human spirit. This is how it starts, and, before you know where you are, you’re a fully paid-up member of the rat pack.”
Jimmy Reid, 1972.
Will be why the FM and her acolytes didn’t seem to be bothered by the ruling as they already had the fix in.
I often wondered how Labour had managed to stay in power for so long whilst doing bugger all for the people they supposedly served. Around election time you’d get the “if you don’t vote for us you’ll let the Tories in” “Vote for us and we’ll remove poverty and abolish the Lords”. Still don’t get it however SNP have tapped into that same clueless loyalty that served the Labour party for so long.
Just seen Andy referred to on twitter as a mango…..
green on the outside, yellow on the inside
There was me a few weeks ago thinking I might vote for him. I am in Highland region and can’t vote snp on the list. They are parachuting in a clutch of wokes from South Scotland. Rhiannon being one, whose probably never set foot in the Highlands.
Another snp candidate being sent up is Jamie Szymkowiak from Dunoon, who is woke and disabled, so despite the fact he’s probably never set foot in the Highlands either, he will go to the top of the list and leapfrog our local candidates.
It’s a total mess, and will probably mean Maree Todd MSP losing her job.
So Wightman was an option for me, but not any more. Don’t know if ISP are standing anyone up here?
Never confuse Justice with the Law,
that`s why statues if Lady Justice are show blindfolded above the Law courts,
judges and lawyers don`t want Justice seeing what corruption goes on in her name.
Maybe Wightman hasn’t been “bought” by the SNP. Maybe the SNP have been “bought” by the Greens who are the power behind the throne.
He maybe still has personal private affiliations to the Greens and is willing to do their bidding under the guise of an ‘independent’.
Maybe the Greens have made Wightman an offer he can’t refuse.
Otherwise he and the SNP are an inept bunch of clowns who have no idea on how to go about perpetrating a cover up/whitewash.
Emergency meeting of the committee tomorrow, apparently.
what is really shocking is that the Scottish legal system is now competing with the Israeli state for its commitment to justice and transparency.
I was confused before, now I’m absolutely scunnered
You blocked me for years. You showed everyone else how to block me.
I devoured your work. I still do.
I have no problem with strongly expressed views. Nor the Truth.
Power to your elbow.
keep on blocking.
What a disgusting individual that wightman is. Cowardice is not a virtue and will be remembered.
He will always be remembered as the one who colluded with corruption and suppressed the truth.
These people truly are a disgrace. And they supposedly seek independence?
Cant wait to see their face when the truth comes out
Well, Wightman (Wightwash – very good) is going to be a lot of use when it comes to interpreting the quasi-judicial procedure for the persecution of former ministers and determining if it was applied fairly, when he can’t interpret a judge saying ‘absurd’ means ‘you’ve been doing it idiotically wrong you morons’. Are politicians actually all thick, or do they just assume we are?
He can’t even spell
Lady Dorrian…
Oh dear Andy. As an admirer and supporter of your land reform advocacy, please consider that in this case you may be wrong. Have a chat with Craig Murray if you don’t believe me.
Is this the same person that had a dream?
link to whoownsscotland.org.uk
Sorry, I’d love to contribute meaningfully to further debate but I’m too busy PMSL at “Andy Wightwash”.
I have written to Wighton on Twitter reminding him of the original remit of the Harassment Inquiry. To investigate the FM, Government officials, Spads in relation to the HR process of the complaints against Alex Salmond. The Spectator case removes legal impediment except not naming the complainants.The Inquiry should remember it’s Scottish taxpayers money being wasted as well. I won’t get an answer. Somehow this remains an Alex Salmond witch hunt rather than a mature investigation into Scottish Government processes.
@ Lindy at 7.47
Both Bute (where Rhiannon is originally from) and Dunoon are within the Highlands and Islands region.
Four will ALWAYS defeat three.
Is he not the prick who was going to sort out the Land Reform in Scotland?
I wonder how that worked out?
And we seem to be focused again on an individual’s feelings.
Is this not about a Nation’s Laws?
Lindy says:
Another snp candidate being sent up is Jamie Szymkowiak from Dunoon, who is woke and disabled, so despite the fact he’s probably never set foot in the Highlands either
??
The best case that can be made for him is that he realises the scale of the corruption, and is misguidely attempting to limit the resulting damage to what he sees as the Independence cause and the reputation of the Scottish Parliament. But the truth is that only the hierarchy of the SNP have betrayed the Scottish people: not the Parliament, nor the still engaged legions of Independence supporters. By shielding the guilty, he is only undermining the existence of the Scottish Parliament, as truth will eventually out, as it always does.
MEANWHILE WE ARE STILL PLAYING THEIR GAME!!!!!
We need another avenue
This will never work
Lol @ “Wightwash”
What’s the words of the song, “two bob c**t”?
Haaahahahahaaa
Anyway, I see where you are all going wrong. You think it’s Scottish Politics you’re watching… it isn’t. It’s GTA5. Every time we corner them, they punch in a cheat code and crawl on to the next humiliating disaster.
The good guys always win in the end.
We now know Wightman is a gutless, spineless sellout, however in my opinion, actually having opposing MSP’s on the committee was a fatal flaw to start with, they were always going to revert to party protection and factions when the going got tough.
The inquiry should’ve been staffed with non affiliates of any party at Holyrood.
This is a new low from an already low position.
Arguing that a High Court Judge who placed the order in the first place does not agree with the committee’s interpretation to the point that they called that interpretation ‘absurd’, just makes Wightwash out to be even thicker than he appears at face value.
To think that people voted this thicko in at the last election, you couldn’t make this up.
The current crop of MSP’s are of such poor calibre they are quickly turning into a laughing stock.
The Fabiani Inquiry will collapse and that would be the best solution all-round. It’s been a humiliating balls-up from the very beginning.
This will be with the press now and they will drive it. I imagine even The Sunday Post are working on it right now.
The press know what it means even if Wightman doesn’t.
wightwash indeed! looking forward to getting off this rollercoaster, keep hoping the truth will come out only to have those hopes dashed
I’m sine die from twatter. Would someone speak to AB PLEASE. RIGHT NOW PLEASE
Holyrood Inquiry now meeting in emergency session 2pm tomorrow after successful Spectator case in High Court today.
link to twitter.com
This new low makes a tunnel necessary.
“The man who flies from his fear often finds he has taken a short cut to meet it”. Tolkien
O/T
A pretty damning letter from Peter Hannan on why he has resigned from the SNP, a must read.
link to archive.is
* Martin Hannan, dunno where Peter came from, apologies
link to twitter.com
1.Holyrood Inquiry now meeting in emergency session tomorrow 2pm, after our successful case in High Court today. Our hope is that they can now make all evidence available for public scrutiny.
2. Why The Spectator went to court today
Jacqueline McMillan says:
11 February, 2021 at 8:09 pm
MEANWHILE WE ARE STILL PLAYING THEIR GAME!!!!!
We need another avenue
Vote Unionist to boot them out then start your Indy campaign afresh.
@Hatuey says:
11 February, 2021 at 8:10 pm
“The good guys always win in the end.”
Ah, but GTA 5 has a nasty habit of getting you when you least expect it!
I shall wait until I can read what Lady Dorian actually writes in her judgment — rather than Andy Wightman’s interpretation of it. I do hope that the judgment is explicit and clear so that when the Infamous 5 (SNP plus Wightman) continue to exclude the evidence, that their perfidy is fully exposed.
Yes he is a spineless little shit isn’t he….
I say f**k the inquiry. Total waste of time due to the bias decision making on display. Turned into a rather shite pantomime.
She absolutely tells the truth and I absolutely love her for it. AB.
Truth is usually a hard call and in the situ we are in just now it’s absolutely critical.
Most people shy away and keech their pants.
Time to stop going to the WC, or the lavvy and grow a pair. Women generally have a pair and we’ve been lost in HIStory.
Stop playing the game ffs. Remember Micheal Collins? I’m not promoting violence obvs. We need a different route and spunk!!
I sometimes wonder who suffers the most stress in this. The jigsaw women, dreading seeing their names in print?
Or Rev Stu, dreading seeing their names in this comments section!
Not sure if this link will work but a Savanta poll pointing to a lower vote for indie amidst perceived division within SNP
link to twitter.com
This is just out and out corruption on mini mafia scale, and it’s not even subtle.
We have a long way to go to build a credible governance to achieve independence really. So so so sad.
Maybe time for the website to change to whoownsandywightman?
@ Captain Yossarian at 8:18 pm
Absolute rubbish, shutting the door on it??? seriously?
Realistically,any member who is complicit in there actions, and cover-up is responsible just how much and what they did to be determined
These arseholes tried to get an innocent man jailed for the what would have been the rest of his life
This should be investigated by the Police, and subject to that investigation, prosecuted and if found guilt Jailed for at least 10 years….reduction if the give evidence against the others……..And I do mean everyone, Throw in Wightman if he’s been nobbled
You’ve spelt ‘wanker’ wrong in the headline.
@Jontoscots20
Yes it worked, and from the address provided also allowed me to access your device.
Who pays?
I actually think Alex Salmond is in a better position if the committee vote against his written testimony being published. He 100% must not attend if it isn’t published as to me that looks like a trap. What he needs to do is wait until the cult teflon queen gives her evidence and then hold a press conference and expose this all bit by bit and then mount a proper legal challenge.
This process is now just pathetic and shows you how Holyrood is set up for people not to be accountable however I firmly believe AS will be back and hopefully in the not to distance future we start to see some prison sentences for those who have indulged in corruption!
Yes indeed, a total fucking melon.
The SNP are terrified that AS gives evidence and the truth comes out hence their behaviour but why don’t the unionists on the committee resign in protest which would put the spotlight well and truly on Fabiani and Wightman.
??
link to facebook.com
Might be a job here for retiring MSP
The Spectator:
link to spectator.co.uk
Kofi @7.39
My god Jimmy Reid although a rampant socialist spotted that way back in the 70’s.He was a man of principle something our current parcel of rogues would struggle to understand.Wightman is now unelectable if you understand Jimmy’s point.
May I remind everyone that there are four SNP members on the committee : Fabiani, Watt (both retiring I believe ) Allan and McMillan.
Should we not expect them to do the right thing and let the SNP members and the huge number of ex-members see the evidence of the wronged man ?
I wont vote woke and I wont vote spineless.
Mike Russell you have one chance to save things – expel (sin die) the wokeratti associated with the Cherry threats. Suspend immediately murrell, yusuf, leeze and oswald. Pending investigation. Stop the GRA and stasi thought crime bill. Anything else is a dereliction of duty.
Redo the BAME list vote with an honourable convenor. And don’t allow a vote to those who have a vested interest in the outcome.
P.S. Stu could you do us all a favour and find out the thoughts of the SNP members regarding the truth ? Asking for a once honourable party.
Just as Alex Neil said from the outset, a judicial review was required. This farce is embarrassing.
Just watch Lesley Riddoch ESTONIA. And they had fuck all btw.
Shame on nicla, fucking shame on Scotland.
I don’t think I’ve ever been so ashamed in my life.
Generous, natural God given, including the Whiskey, POTENTIAL.
It’s a given for us . Potential for London. Well done london yoons. Steal Away, just fucking steal away. Well done Yoons amongst us. Need to be ferreted out.
You will, believe me. Can’t keep a good dog down, nor a ferret up your fanny breeks
If Wightman has been offered “something” to “co-operate” and I cant believe an honest man like him would accept, it would be best to get it in writing and signed in the Murrells’ blood.
Any offer without proof will be swiftly forgotten when the allegtions of a “stitch-up” are “refuted”*.
“Refuted” – Political slang for” you can’t make it stick, can you?”
A slight OT if you will permit, to lighten the mood somewhat. Take a minute to see this complete and utter wrecking of Nicol Stephen by Alex.
link to youtube.com
The calibre is outstanding.
“Because we’re pretty sure not having a spine counts.”
Hilarious. Funniest thing I’ve read for ages and actually made me spit out my tea laughing.
You’re a genius, pal
Alan Mackintosh – AS really is quite superb. Everything always said with passion and feeling and facts. NS is like a cardboard cut-out in comparison.
How AS must be devastated and so very disappointed in what his party has become. As am I.
And surely, surely we all as voters MUST know who the lying Betties are in order not to vote for them in May. Surely?
The article by Martin Hannah is very powerful, a really eloquent explanation of a principled position.
@stonefree – The press will sort this out from here. Watergate was sorted-out by the press and 30 US gov figures went to jail.
Fabiani and Wightman disgrace all of us. Leave it to the press. Once they decide to print, the games’s up for Sturgeon and Swinney.
I reckon Andrew Neil knows that.
Andy “The Jellyfish” Wightman.
You miss the big court story extensively covered on U.K.
news channels!
The American actress who married a Prince when neither
wanted royal duties, and relocated to Canada to stop media
stalking has won her battle with the Daily Mail , who printed
the letter she sent her father?
Her Dad looked to make what money he could make being outcast
from the wedding. He sold his letter and his opinions.
Anyway this is far more important that corruption in
Politics, the Lord Advocates, COPFS and the Police.
Good comment in the Spectator article just now – to the effect “nothing is going to change”
The local media appear supine, and there are two many vested interests. In May the tribal voters will vote SNP despite all its shortcomings in health care , education etc.
As both a unionist and a democrat, it’s pretty depressing .
My instincts are that the inaction of the FM might was the touch paper
Second independence referendum: First Minister speech
Published: 13 Mar 2017
From: First MinisterPart of: Constitution and democracy, International
Date of speech: 13 Mar 2017
Location: Bute House
Before the end of this month – and very possibly as early as tomorrow – the Prime Minister will trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, setting the UK on course to leave the EU in March 2019.
It is important, therefore, for me to report now on the Scottish Government’s attempts to find compromise with the UK Government and set out our plan to protect Scotland’s interests.
Right now, Scotland stands at a hugely important crossroads.
We didn’t choose to be in this position.
In common with most people across the country, I wish that we weren’t in this position.
But we are and the stakes are high – so we must have a plan for the way forward.
For better or worse – depending on your point of view – the future of the UK looks very different today than it did two years ago.
As a result of the Brexit vote we face a future, not just outside the EU, but also outside the world’s biggest single market.
In addition, and after a period which has seen the establishment of the Scottish Parliament and, more recently, hard won extensions to its responsibilities, we now face the prospect of a centralization of power at Westminster.
Indeed, the Prime Minister herself has been clear that the Brexit process will see the UK Government reserve for itself powers in areas that are currently wholly devolved to the Scottish Parliament.
All of this has massive implications for Scotland.
It has implications for our economy: for jobs, opportunities, public spending, and living standards – and for our ability to protect and advance our vital day to day priorities in education, health and business.
It has implications for our society – how open, welcoming, diverse and fair we will be in future?
And it has implications for our democracy – to what extent will we be able to determine our own direction of travel, rather than having that decided for us?
In short, it is not just our relationship with Europe that is at stake.
What is at stake is the kind of country we will become.
Now, at times of change and uncertainty, the instinct to do nothing and just hope for the best is understandable.
But, in my view, it is not the right one.
At times like these, it is more important than ever to have a clear plan for the way ahead – to try, as far as is possible, to be in control of events and not just at the mercy of them.
That is what I have always done. It is what I have tried to do since the day after the EU referendum last year. And it is what I am determined to continue to do.
Since last June, my focus has been on trying to find an agreement with the UK Government, an agreement that would reconcile the UK-wide vote to leave with the Scottish vote to remain.
I was encouraged in this approach by the Prime Minister’s commitment last July to seek agreement with the devolved administrations on a UK-wide approach before triggering Article 50.
The Scottish Government’s paper, Scotland’s Place in Europe, was published in good faith.
Our proposals represent significant compromise on the part of the Scottish Government.
We accepted that Scotland would leave the EU – despite the 62% vote to remain – but we argued that the UK should either stay in the single market or seek an outcome that would allow Scotland to do so.
And we set out how greater powers for the Scottish Parliament could help protect Scotland’s interests in a post-Brexit landscape.
Over the past few months, we have worked hard – really hard – to try to find agreement. The Prime Minister and her government have been given every opportunity to compromise.
But today as we stand, for all we know, on the eve of Article 50 being triggered, not only is there no UK-wide agreement on the way ahead – the UK Government has not moved even an inch in pursuit of compromise and agreement.
Our efforts at compromise have been met with a brick wall of intransigence.
UK membership of the single market was ruled out with no prior consultation with the Scottish Government or indeed with the other devolved administrations – leaving us facing not just Brexit, but a hard Brexit.
There has been talk of special deals for the car industry and others, but a point blank refusal to discuss, in any meaningful way, a differential approach for Scotland.
And far from any prospect of significant new powers for the Scottish Parliament, the UK Government is becoming ever more assertive in its intention to muscle in on the powers we already have.
The language of partnership has gone, completely.
And there should be little doubt about this – if Scotland can be ignored on an issue as important as our membership of the EU and the single market, then it is clear that our voice and our interests can be ignored at any time and on any issue.
That cannot be a secure basis on which to build a better Scotland.
But it is where we stand today.
Now let me stress, even at this late stage, I am not turning my back on further discussions should the UK Government change its mind and decide it is willing to agree to our compromise proposals.
And, in any event, I will do everything I possibly can to ensure that Scotland’s interests are represented in the EU negotiations that lie ahead.
But I cannot pretend to the Scottish people that a compromise agreement looks remotely likely, given the hardline response from the Prime Minister so far.
That means I have to decide on the best plan to protect our interests now.
It is time for me to set out decisively and with clarity the way forward.
Doing nothing at this stage – in many ways, the easiest thing for me to do – would mean letting Scotland drift through the next two years, with our fingers crossed, simply hoping for the best.
And, of course, I do hope for the best.
I want the UK to get a good deal from the EU negotiations. That is clearly in Scotland’s interests as well as in the interests of our friends in other parts of the UK.
But I am far from alone in fearing a bad deal or indeed no deal.
Nor am I alone in fearing that even a so-called good deal will turn out to be significantly inferior to membership of the single market – and that it will set Scotland on a course that will not only damage our economy, but change the very nature of the society and country that we are.
The problem with doing nothing now is that, by the time these fears are realized, it will be too late for Scotland to choose a different path before the damage is done.
That would not be right or fair.
Whatever path we take, it should be one decided by us, not for us.
So let me set out the plan I intend to pursue.
First, I will continue to stand up for Scotland’s interests during the process of Brexit negotiations.
Second, I will now take the steps necessary to make sure that Scotland will have a choice at the end of this process.
A choice of whether to follow the UK to a hard Brexit – or to become an independent country, able to secure a real partnership of equals with the rest of the UK and our own relationship with Europe.
The Scottish Government’s mandate for offering this choice is beyond doubt.
Last year we were elected, with the highest share of the constituency vote won by any party in the history of devolution, on a manifesto that said this:
“The Scottish Parliament should have the right to hold another referendum… if there is a significant and material change in the circumstances that prevailed in 2014, such as Scotland being taken out the EU against our will.”
These conditions of course have now been met.
So I can confirm today that next week I will seek the approval of the Scottish Parliament to agree with the UK Government the details of a section 30 order – the procedure that will enable the Scottish Parliament to legislate for an independence referendum.
The UK Government was clear in 2014 that an independence referendum should – in their words – ‘be made in Scotland, by the people of Scotland’.
That is a principle that should be respected today.
The detailed arrangements for a referendum – including its timing – must be for the Scottish Parliament to decide.
However, in my view, it is important that Scotland is able to exercise the right to choose our own future at a time when the options are clearer than they are now – but before it is too late to decide on our own path.
Let me be clear what I mean by that.
The timing of the Brexit negotiations is not within the control of the Scottish Government.
However, we must plan on the basis of what we know now.
And what we know is that, on the timetable set out by the Prime Minister, the shape of the Brexit deal will become clear in the autumn of next year – ahead of ratification votes by other EU countries.
That is therefore the earliest point at which a referendum would be appropriate.
However, it is just as important that we do not leave it too late to choose a different path in a timely way.
If the UK leaves the EU without Scotland indicating beforehand – or at least within a short time after it – that we want a different relationship, we could face a lengthy period outside not just the EU but also the single market. That could make the task of negotiating a different future much more difficult.
These considerations lead me to the conclusion that if Scotland is to have a real choice – when the terms of Brexit are known, but before it is too late to choose our own course – then that choice must be offered between the autumn of next year, 2018, and the spring of 2019.
The third – important – aspect of planning ahead is this:
I have already said that by the time a choice comes to be made, there must be greater clarity about Brexit and its implications for us.
It is just as important that there is clarity about the implications of independence. And there will be.
We will be frank about the challenges we face and clear about the opportunities independence will give us to secure our relationship with Europe, build a stronger and more sustainable economy and create a fairer society.
Scotland’s choice must be informed and up to date.
There is a great deal of talk – by all of us – about mandates from the referendums in 2014 and 2016. And of course neither of those results can – or should – be dismissed.
But the fact is they tell us only so much about the circumstances we find ourselves in now.
In 2014, we didn’t know the UK would vote to leave the EU – had we done so it is likely that some, perhaps on both sides, would have come to a different decision.
And in 2016, independence was not on the ballot paper. We cannot simply assume that because someone voted to remain in the EU that they would vote for an independent Scotland.
What Scotland deserves, in the light of the material change of circumstances brought about by the Brexit vote, is the chance to decide our future in a fair, free and democratic way – and at a time when we are equipped with the facts we need.
It is – above all – about informed choice.
We know that Brexit has made change inevitable. The option of ‘no change’ is no longer available.
However, we can still decide the nature of change.
Having Scotland’s referendum – at a time when the terms of Brexit are known – will give the Scottish people a choice about the kind of change we want.
And it must be a choice for all of us.
I know there are some who want me to rule out a referendum completely or delay the decision until much further down the line.
I understand why some take that view. And of course these views weigh heavily on me.
But so does this – and this, for me, is a key consideration:
If I ruled out a referendum, I would be deciding – completely unilaterally – that Scotland will follow the UK to a hard Brexit come what may, no matter how damaging to our economy and our society it turns out to be.
That should not be the decision of just one politician – not even the First Minister.
By taking the steps I have set out today, I am ensuring that Scotland’s future will be decided not just by me or the Scottish Government.
It will be decided by the people of Scotland.
It will be Scotland’s choice.
And I trust the people to make that choice.
Contact
Email: ceu@gov.scot
Phone: 0300 244 4000
The Scottish Government
St Andrew’s House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG
But in fact what Sturgeon was seeking was a separate deal for Scotland not Independence
link to bbc.co.uk
Last paras
Ms Sturgeon later told BBC Scotland that she had wished the prime minister well for the forthcoming negotiations with the EU, which she said the Scottish government wanted to play a constructive part in.
But she said she had been frustrated that Mrs May had not made any concessions over the first minister’s demands for a distinctive Brexit deal for Scotland.
The dates are very interesting in relation to Mr Salmond.
He used to be held in some esteem. But he just keeps diminishing in stature. The incredible shrinking bam.
Surely most of us know who the betty’s are. No shakes.
Now we need to deal with that…………quickly and with no quarter asked and non taken! Given ??
Just the truth.
Independence from the colonial masters
We will get our Nation back.. Just need honourable women and men in charge. Gender woowoo can ……..btw….what happened to your baws?????
Will the grown-ups at Westminster have to step in , the way they do at Stormont?
Do NS and the gang not realise when they’ve lost?
I along with my family are campaigning against Banff and Buchan SNP candidate Karen Adam after her blocking some of us on Twitter for saying Alex Salmond was well liked in Aberdeenshire.
The SNP seem to be in full self destruct mode just now.
TJenny, I dont know what the answer is, my only suggestion would be that questions are asked of candidates at hustings to clarify if they have anything to do with any of this. Their honesty is then on display for all to see and judge. But thats a few months away yet and every day brings more sunlight to bear on the truth.
Who knows what tomorrow will bring, let alone a week or amonth away.
Tick tock…
I think i will go to a Hustings and ask Karen Adams view on Gender Issues and Alex Salmond
“What a waster, what a fucking waster
You pissed it all up the wall
Round the corner where they chased her
There’s tears coming out from everywhere
The city’s hard, the city’s fair
Get back inside you’ve got nothing on
No you mind yer bleedin’ own you two bob cunt
When she wakes up in the morning
She writes down all her dreams
Reads like the book of revelations
Or the Beano or the unabridged Ulysses
Oh I really want to know
So tell me, where does all the money go
Where does all the money go
Straight, straight up her nose
And I never really liked it any way
So much preferred it the other way yeah
What a divvy what a fucking div
Talking like a moron, walking like a spiv”
I have no skin in this game. I’m a Yorkshireman. However I would like to commend the author of this site for turning over the stones and showing us all what crawls underneath. Without wishing to sound sycophantic, may I also congratulate most of you posters. You speak lucidly and with passion and are obviously the products of an educational system which once was the pride of Scotland. Personally I will be sorry to see you go but, to quote my best mate of 39 years who was a Scot from Falkirk, ‘The ba’s burst’. Good luck.
If Wightman stands fast for his master tomorrow, I see some mega leaks on the horizon.
Ones that would make Snowden and Assange blush
I think we should step back a little and reflect in what we are doing:
We are walking into the net of helping the powers that be scapegoating this man when what we should be doing is throwing our most bitter criticism towards this man AND to the 4 SNP cowards sitting in that committee, who are doing the exact same spineless thing he is doing and who therefore deserve as much criticism as he is receiving.
Those 4 SNP members of the committee are not there to protect their political party interests, nor to score political points nor to protect the arse of their leader. They are there to hold to the fire the feet of a government that in the name of their party brought disrepute to our country, our parliament, our justice system, our politics and our international standing. It did all that by abusing power to indulge in a political conspiracy leading, knowingly, to an unlawful and biased procedure. An unlawful and biased procedure that served the taxpayers with a bill of half a million pounds and goodness knows how many more due to the damage limitation exercise in the form of a criminal court case.
THAT is what those 4 SNP members in the committee are endorsing by looking the other way, or by continuously interrupting the flow of questioning as Fabiani often does.
So, by all means, let’s criticise the amoeba attitude of this man but let’s not forget about the 4 SNP cowards sitting in that committee, hiding behind that man and using their seats to stop the truth coming out and the evidence to reach the public in order to protect their party, a corrupt government and a corrupt to the core FM. They should be at the other side of our wrath and criticism too.
How many of those 4 SNP members in the committee are standing for re-election and where?
I think the voters in those constituencies ought to know the kind of insensitive to corruption cowards the SNP puts for election.
Maybe on a quiet news day the English press might see a opportunity to stick it to the Jocks,
Watergate didn’t gain widespread coverage until other news outlets sensed blood , remember it wasn’t the break in that fkd Nixon just like this farce it was the cover up
I mean don’t these people watch movies ?
Then again the actors in this farce are pretty lame and the coverage of the Inquiry proceedings is mindless drivel most of the time ,how many times have we heard the convener say the next part will be heard in private ? , if we are paying for it we should bleedn well know what’s going on for all we know they are sitting playing cards or having a bevy laughing at the plebs that are taking this seriously , aye one big fkn joke at our expense, they will be claiming overtime next.
We will know the games up when the guys walk in with the overalls and paint, I bet that bit is definitely in bloody private , aye yer paint jobs almost done Mrs Murrell but we can’t get these fkrs to stop laughing it might need a second coat just to make sure yer arse is covered .
Mia – ‘How many of those 4 SNP members in the committee are standing for re-election and where?
I think the voters in those constituencies ought to know the kind of insensitive to corruption cowards the SNP puts for election.’
And how many Alphabetties plus co-conspirators are standing? Surely the public deserve to know. Remember these folk are not victims they are perpetrators of lies.
Would you want to vote for them if you knew who they were?
Alan Mackintosh – but lying is their modus operandi, so if you don’t know their treachery in advance, you might be persuaded by their answers.
@ Say no to corruption at 8:55 pm
Trap?, Yes definately
Wtf is Andy Wightman anyway*? Is he related to Ronnie Pickering perhaps?
link to twitter.com
“I’ve got a jigsaw I need help with. It has 600 pieces, we think, but we have only 300. And there’s no picture on the box.”
One decent judge prepared to state the obvious and the whole corrupt facade threatens to crumble.
I spent decades of my life supporting an ideal only for it to have been taken over and besmirched by these corrupt cretins. I cannot forgive what they have done to the SNP and to the wider Yes movement. They are beneath contempt. Slippery resignations would be a joke. There has to be retribution. Substantial jail time for NS, PM, the not so “civil service” officials, and senior people in COPFS and the Police is essential if we are ever to believe in the rule of law again.
We need to send out a message. We want to forge a new Scotland free of corruption and patronage. These people belong behind bars for what they have done. Today is a step towards that.
The SNP is in more dire need of an enema to expunge the fearties, procrastinators, forelock-tuggers and “it wizny me” brigade from it’s midst than at any time in it’s 86 year history.
The proper and decent thing to do is to support our First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon in her call for anyone who has anything which can help this inquiry to give evidence under oath as she will be doing.
Puzzled…
Don’t but a used car anytime soon. Like, ever!
TJenny, but as every one should know, you never ask a question that you don’t already know the answer to…
That is your task, prior to the hustings.
One can only assume that Wightman and the remaining 4 SNP committee members are reading from the crib sheet prepared earlier for them by the Lord Advocate.
In other words, the Lord Advocate has decided that, in his opinion and interpretation of the judgement, it makes NO difference to the biased procedure currently approaching its conclusion.
With a bit of luck and some absurd reasoning on his behalf, he can instruct the 5 committee members to vote against allowing AS to give evidence and the whole thing can, as planned, come to a close immediately after NS has, hopefully, been given her opportunity ‘to refute’ the conspiracy theories that are the truth, the whole truth and the ACTUAL truth about the stitch up currently taking place in Scoltand.
Well, maybe, just maybe, someone else will have different idea and there a few days available to them to bring the whole house of cards crashing down – because that is what really needs to happen.
“Caledonia says:
11 February, 2021 at 9:53 pm
I think i will go to a Hustings and ask Karen Adams view on Gender Issues and Alex Salmond”
Please do, and do tell, she’s my prospective too. But from what you say it appears she is worthless. Reckon the tories will win here. The fucking, unnecessary tragedy of it all.
Martin Hannan correctly identified the problems in the SNP, but when he trotted out the dreaded truth and reconciliation idea his article lost its punch.
Independence from a domineering colonial master country is a prize which requires single-minded commitment in the seekers. Anyone who is uncomfortable with that thought is – nice person though they might be – of little use in attaining the goal.
The common mistake is that of believing independence is achieved only by a mass movement. That it’s a case of adding more and more party members to a big tent style party. That it’s a case of patiently persuading the “soft No voters”. Such a movement has no drive and becomes a playground for careerists and strange groups. Such an amorphous party is ripe for an unprincipled sociopath to take over and misrule. Sturgeon, quod et demonstrandum.
It’s difficult for the strategically naive to grasp that it’s not about numbers. It’s about a relatively small group of true and focussed nationalists providing drive and fostering self-belief in others. No engine, no goal reached. The current SNP is the very antithesis of that requirement. The Sturgeonites stripped the vehicle of the engine.
Reconciliation would lead to the weeds growing back in the SNP once more and independence as far away as ever. Christian ethics might be laudable in a party in an independent Scotland. They will not provide the engine to get us to freedom. The independence movement must be principled, democratic and as forbearing as possible, but above all must be single-minded and unyielding.
Robert Knight. Go to the dictionary and look up sarcasm.
@ Caledonia & Heaver
A quick click and scroll down the feed may highlight a flag or two…
link to twitter.com
Puzzled
“Sarcasm” was withdrawn from the OED in 2014. Go check…
The focus is on Andy Wightman, but what about the four SNP MSPs on the committee voting against disclosure of the truth at every turn. If they were honest in doing their work on the committee then AW`s vote would not be a deciding factor ???
Puzzled says:
11 February, 2021 at 10:36 pm
The proper and decent thing to do is to support our First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon in her call for anyone who has anything which can help this inquiry to give evidence under oath as she will be doing.
Nae wonder yir puzzled !
Relying on Mike Russel is the very definition of a fools errand.
Astonished : Jeezo , it’s instructive how many people on here have no sense of sarcasm.
Can I save this thread please?
It is true that you cannot fool all of the people all of time but it is also true that you can fool most of the people on this site much of the time, Jesus Christ.
Another day another dollar. After the Wightman intervention we could be left with James Hamilton QC. The honour of Scotland is dependent on an Irishman. Praise be, he does the right thing. Honour is lost in Scotland. Et Tu the Scottish Parliament. Et tu Andy Wightman.
Craig P
What was your question about my comment?
Maybe this site should be renamed ‘Waste, over Scotland’. No wonder Sturgeon manipulates you so easily.
Alan Mackintosh – but will we be allowed to ask them ‘are you one of the scummy bastards who tried to fit up AS’? I think probably not. Or how about, ‘have you ever had to wear a stooky and if so when?’
Crazycat
Rhiannon may be from Bute, but she lives and works in Glasgow.
Should we not have MSPs who live in the Highlands to represent us in the Highlands?
@ Lindy at 11.18
Since you’re reading just now, he was essentially repeating the point I had made shortly before.
To save you scrolling back, I’ll make it again.
Highlands and Islands region is not coterminous with Highland Council. It also includes Shetland, Orkney, na h-Eileanan an Iar, and Argyll and Bute.
Dunoon is in Argyll, and Rhiannon Spear comes from Bute originally.
My spider senses are tingling
@ Lindy – ah, cross-post!
I would very much prefer you not to have Rhiannon on your list.
It is nevertheless true that your region does not solely consist of “the Highlands”. She and Jamie have therefore both “set foot” in the region they aspire to represent.
o/t
A piece on RT re attempts to alter the Census form to include more than two genders Male Female
A comment raised a smile
Why cant we go back to the old way of identifying these people
Ward A mildly delusional
Ward B really flakey
Ward C totaly bat shit loony and dangerous
Self identification to avoid the above not advised as can cause long term emotional side effects
TJenny, I sympathise with your dilemma, which region are you in?
For what its worth:
“Wightman Name Meaning. from an unattested Old English personal name Wihtmann meaning ‘elf man’.”
kapelmeister
“Independence from a domineering colonial master country is a prize which requires single-minded commitment in the seekers. Anyone who is uncomfortable with that thought is – nice person though they might be – of little use in attaining the goal.”
Lesley Riddoch’s ‘Estonia’ film revealed the fundamental importance of ‘national identity’, for without that there is no national consciousness and no aspiration for nationhood and hence decolonisation. Which explains why most Yes voters are Scots speakers holding to a Scottish identity, and most No voters probably aren’t. It might be news to some folks that peoples in self-determination conflict are always linguistically divided. The second fundamental is courage.
Fanon tells us that the bourgeoisie ‘native’ will never have the courage to deliver independence, which is what we see after three successive Scotland majorities of SNP MP’s and a similar number of Holyrood ‘mandates’ yielding nothing but more colonial oppression. My suspicion is ISP is more of the same.
Which suggests that if we really want independence we should vote for a plebiscite independence party such as Solidarity which is headed up by one of our own who does have courage.
Puzzled says:
11 February, 2021 at 10:51 pm
Robert Knight. Go to the dictionary and look up sarcasm.
You will need a talking dictionary to understand the meaning.
Are you bored or drunk or simply silly ? OR is COVID getting to you
Crazycat
Thanks for your reply. Would Rhiannon not have to live in Bute though to stand in that region?
My tweet above is to the puzzled person:-) NOT Mr Knight
I don’t bother watching QT anymore. But I wonder if Michael Forsyth was deliberately put on the panel to wind the Sturgeon fans up. Because looking at Twitter it has worked.
Someone – trying to find out who – apparently referred to the “bravery of the victims”.
Ahem, Mr Salmond was found Not Guilty I do believe?
In recent times these events are less likely to occur, there are web outlets like sugar daddy, who cater for needs, that work both ways.
Don’t underestimate the impact of childhood trauma.
And rejection.
Driven.
Molesworth:
Thanks for the compliments. Mr Wings is a great example. He is a fantastic writer and researcher and never swears or loses his cool and we (as posters) are truly grateful for all his hard work and try to emulate his courtesy and correctness:-)
Holymcmoses you have answered your own question: Go to bed.
@ Lindy at 11.36
Interestingly, the Electoral Commission’s latest guidelines only stipulate that the regional candidates home addresses must be entered on the nomination paper. There’s no specific requirement that those addresses be within the region.
In the more general eligibility guidelines:
That does at least put some geographical constraints on people’s behaviour.
But, bizarrely:
(link to electoralcommission.org.uk)
Alf. I agree.
Nationhood is first and foremost about collective identity. There are too many people obsessed with economics or trade or trying to be totally civic. They are afraid to mention the word identity.
It is the very fact that there is a distinct Scottish identity, that makes us want independence. We don’t accept being British, because it is accepting that Scottish is an inferior identity.
I would vote for Scottish independence no matter what the economics are. Money is of no relevance in a countries cultural existence.
@ Lindy
ps – you’ve got this man as a far better option:
link to twitter.com
Sadly I see a few btl commentators on WGD who use to comment on here. I respect their viewpoint and do not doubt their desire to see Scotland free of our vampire neighbour. What separates us is belief in NS and her government, nothing more. If that could be resolved then the yes movement could reunite. We on this site believe there is ample evidence that NS has no intention of pushing for independence and, could conceivably be personally in hoc to the British State. They dispute that and think she walks on water. So who is correct.
My own view is that there is ample evidence of endemic corruption at the heart of the SNP Government and NS and her “husband” are up to their elbows in it. I accept I may be wrong and am willing to consider any new facts which come to light. In that spirit I posted the following comment earlier on WGD.
“I used to be an ardent reader of the btl comments on this site. Not so much recently due to the vitriol attaching to any comments not wholly in compliance with the accepted norm.
Today’s events in the court may seem innocuous to some but they could have far reaching consequences for the parliamentary enquiry into the handling of the Scottish Government on the Alex Salmond affair. For a start there is now no legal defence for the enquiry to refuse to hear the Alex Salmond evidence (with suitable redactions) and that of Geoff Aberdein. The latter is reputed to provide corroborative evidence that will prove beyond reasonable doubt that the FM lied to Holyrood and may have been involved in the Salmond stitch up from an early date.
Whether your gut reaction is to believe this or not I would ask you to carefully weigh up what you know to be the case and what is now emerging. Keep an open mind.”
When I read the btl comments on here and those on Wings Over Scotland I sometimes wonder if we are on the same planet let alone both advocating Scottish independence. Hopefully this rift in the Yes movement will be resolved in the short term and we can combine forces and push for the ultimate goal together.
“I used to be an ardent reader of the btl comments on this site. Not so much recently due to the vitriol attaching to any comments not wholly in compliance with the accepted norm.
Today’s events in the court may seem innocuous to some but they could have far reaching consequences for the parliamentary enquiry into the handling of the Scottish Government on the Alex Salmond affair. For a start there is now no legal defence for the enquiry to refuse to hear the Alex Salmond evidence (with suitable redactions) and that of Geoff Aberdein. The latter is reputed to provide corroborative evidence that will prove beyond reasonable doubt that the FM lied to Holyrood and may have been involved in the Salmond stitch up from an early date.
Whether your gut reaction is to believe this or not I would ask you to carefully weigh up what you know to be the case and what is now emerging. Keep an open mind.
When I read the btl comments on here and those on Wings Over Scotland I sometimes wonder if we are on the same planet let alone both advocating Scottish independence. Hopefully this rift in the Yes movement will be resolved in the short term and we can combine forces and push for the ultimate goal together.”
Re Harassment and Complaints Committee ,
The Committee have published this tonight ,
Levy & McRae, acting on behalf of Mr Salmond, emailed the Convener on 11 February 2021 regarding his written evidence and appearance before the Committee ,
Email from Levy & McRae, representing Alex Salmond, to the Convener 11 February 2021
Dear Ms Fabiani,
Further to today’s Court proceedings we are considering the impact of the variation of Lady Dorrian’s Section 11 order with our client on the evidence previously submitted by our client to your Committee.
We will review the variation granted and consider the written judgment of the court when it becomes available (expected Monday). We hope immediately thereafter to be in a position to re-submit both Mr Salmond’s submissions on the Ministerial Code and his final submission.
Our client hopes that today’s decision will enable publication of the relevant evidence and thereafter an early oral evidence session.
Our client remains keen to attend.
Yours sincerely,
David McKie
Partner
Levy & McRae Solicitors LLP
I did say at the time that when Wightman resigned from the greens over trans policy it wasn’t a principled move, but mere opportunism. He got a taste for the MSP lifestyle and didn’t think he would get a second term riding the green ticket. So he stole some headlines and got himself in the papers, saying he wouldn’t rule out running as an independent.
And I was right. Nothing has happened that suggests a principled man to me. Nothing whatsoever
Further to my post at 12.09 I received the following response ftom Jack Collatin who used to post one here.
“Elmac, we don’t give a toss about Salmond and his MacLocker Room gang of old men who seem to think that groping female employees isn’t a sacking offence..
Go back to WoS or Grouse Beater, where you can all agree with each other that Salmond should return in triumph, and that that terrible Nikla Sturgeon be drummed out of politics in disgrace.
I have been cautioned not to be insulting to any who post on here.
So, oh look, there’s a squirrel, is my only response to your badly baited hook.”
What is wrong with these people? There has to be reconciliation when the truth comes out. Why burn the bridges?
Oh well, the Highland List is looking like a very desolute list of options for me now!
Just hope some decent, honest Indy Supporting Independent will throw their hat into the ring before May.
Response to Jack Collatin on WGD
“Jack Collatin 11.28pm
It was not a hook, it was an olive branch.
I used to enjoy your comments on Wings and regret that we do not see eye to eye on this. Looks like there may be a resolution in the offing soon and I hope that we can reunite when that is done.
Ales Salmond is male, probably a red blooded one, but he was tried by a mainly female jury and found not guilty of all but one charge and that was not proven. The not proven charge was because there were no other witnesses. It is now becoming apparent that the accusers knew each other and were in discussion before the accusations were made. At least one of these accusations was rejected by the jury as an outright lie because she was not present when the alleged offence took place. Legal action by AS is expected to follow and potentially a few of these women will be looking at prosecution for perjury and potentially criminal conspiracy.
You have asserted that Alex Salmond groped female employees, something the court threw out in respect of any of the charges raised against him. I would suggest you double check your sources before you repeat that.”
Elmac says:
12 February, 2021 at 12:16 am
What is wrong with these people? There has to be reconciliation when the truth comes out. Why burn the bridges?
I have no idea what is wrong with them.
I do hope they keep an open mind about everything otherwise they are going to feel properly stupid when the full facade of all the machinations of the Scottish Government come crashing down around them.
That last sentence is something I never thought I would have to write about our government, but from what I have learned about this entire fiasco the matter cannot be settled by spur of the moment scripted videos on twitter, such is the damage that has been done to our democratic and justice systems by our current leaders.
Lindy 7.47…..Maree is standing for our constituency in Ross, Sutherland & Caithness. Cracking MSP for Highland Region on the 2016 list…..so good chance of picking up the constituency. She will deffo have my first vote.
Second is up for grabs…..for an Indy candidate, with no controversial policies!
Dan says:
11 February, 2021 at 10:54 pm
@ Caledonia & Heaver
“A quick click and scroll down the feed may highlight a flag or two…
link to twitter.com”
.
Thanks Dan.
Alan Mackintosh – Edinburgh North and Leith with Ben McPherson as SNP MSP. Then Lothian for list where they are all non SNP, so this problem, so far, doesn’t affect me. I just have huge concerns for innocent/ignorant voters closer to home and further afield.
Elmac
I tried to post re crabby old Jacks reply to you. This is the usual shit the gang who now run that sweetie wife site. Notice for people who think everyone on wings are unionists and stopping a second indy referendum they sure spend a lot of time here
I don’t know if anyone knows this but Martin Hannan from The National has resigned from the SNP. Just watch the flood gates open and membership will continue to fall and who in their right mind would donate any money to the SNP now, they’ll not get a single penny from me.
Angela Haggerty on QT thinks that because we are in a pandemic, the public would look kindly on Nicola Sturgeon refusing to resign if she has breached the ministerial code. FFS.
Martin Hannan is a neighbour of mine and on the committee of our Yes group. This is going to throw a few cats among the pigeons. Maybe some people will actually believe me now about what’s going on.
Has nobody noticed Alison Balharry’s Twitter bombshell? Or is it dangerous even to mention her name now?
Martin Hannan – Why I Have Resigned From The DNP
link to archive.is
Erm… The SNP
..
Well done Elmac for giving it a go over on WGD.
I was and am very greatful for Paul’s writing up until about a year ago, when it seemed to me, he changed. I did donate for his new home, kind of as a last thank you from me. I won’t give him any more donations in the future.
The btl comments are very disappointing. I honestly don’t think there is any amount of evidence that would convince them now, and it appears they will excuse any amount of corruption. What saddens me most is the sheer level of hippocracy on display, most of them have moved their own goal posts on decency.
They’re all happy at the moment because of the latest poll, and George Montiewhats his name from the Guardian being on the TV saying if he was Scottish he’d vote for Indy.
Personally I think they’d be wiser to consider James Kelly’s concerns, that as good as the polls look, if the SNP lose 10% of their core vote, they are in serious trouble for the HE’s.
Pretty sure its at least 10% and counting.
And none of them have joined the dots with regards the absolute need for May election to be Plebiscite Indy.
Deep down I think they would rather be constantly looking for Indy to be near but just over the horizon, than have the courage to grab it and fight for it. So much more perfect in their imaginations, no bravery required.
From Jack Collatin to Elmac
“Elmac, we don’t give a toss about Salmond and his MacLocker Room gang of old men who seem to think that groping female employees isn’t a sacking offence.
Mr Salmond wasn’t found guilty of groping anyone.
Mr Salmond was in public life for over forty years and these unfounded allegations were all that the conspirators could muster to charge him with after they had trolled the length and breadth of the UK in search of people who had been ‘molested’ by him.
I cannot believe that many of the other ‘men’ in Holyrood or Westminster would be so clean had their lives been put under the microscope this way.
I should say that I hope a wrongful charge is never raised against any of Mr Salmond’s detractors and yet there’s a bit of me thinks that it wouldn’t be a bad thing for a few to experience the whole business. Why do people want to destroy a man’s life work in this way? Mr Salmond bought them to the point where they can achieve their dream and instead of realising that they are standing on his shoulders, they somehow have the idea that he should be kicked into the gutter to save a worthless fraud who, frankly, can’t hold a candle to him.
I do get upset but it will be nothing to how Mrs Salmond must feel in these dreadful days.
I look forward to the time when Ms Sturgeon is unmasked, and I hope the supporters of the ilk of Jack Collatin, decide that they can’t live in a free Scotland without Sturgeon as its head because I think this country is better off without these folk.
@ScotsRenewables says:
12 February, 2021 at 1:19 am
“Erm… The SNP”
Perhaps the SNP has taken on a new identity, and wishes to be known as the DNP.
Any suggestions as what the D stands for?
@ Morag at 1.06
I think the tweets have gone, which for her own sake is probably wise! I did see them though, after someone here suggested she remove them. One only confirmed what I believed already. The other referred to someone I’ve never heard of. No doubt I should have.
Morag – I think these tweets have gone now.
They were there for quite a while. And she copied in the Crown Office. This could run and run.
-Daisy Walker-
Quite. Some Guardian columnist (oh good, a real track record of backing political winners that lot have) saying nice things on TV is regarded as a great advance whereas the serious concerns of Scottish voters are to be dismissed. Consider the implications of that- more interested in getting the approval of trendy Londoners than in deigning to consider us troublesome working-class Jocks. “They looked from pig to man, and from man to pig…”
Stuart Mackay who comments on here said that it seems that many WGD members, writers on the National etc always want it to be “Independence Eve” rather than “Independence Boxing Day” when the tidying up really begins, and I thought that was apt.
Mango Wightman getting pelters, and rightly so, but don’t forget there are 4 SNP members also on the enquiry, all 4 as complicit in the whitewash as he, I’ve no doubt Mango will be getting a little stiffy at the “high profile” which he will, in his own mind, have attained, so I’d ask that all 5 are lumped in this together, so as not to boost his ego further.
Morag – I hope she’s OK and disnae get arrested.
More like Andy Whitehouse.
I meant to say Shitehouse. Sorry.
Being a Green Wight man is willing to sell his ass for priveledge and power. He is Sturgeons ideological twin.
AB tweeted 15 mins ago so she’s no been huckled yet! TBF I always said it would take a woman and an insider to expose the bunch of charlatans! More power to her elbow …..
The radical left / wokerati twats were positively salivating at the amazing buzz that the independence movement created in the run up to 2014. Drooling…
That was a truly incredible time and it really felt that something huge was happening (it was, we were cheated).
It was so positive I’d never felt anything even remotely close to it watching Scottish politics for decades.
The feeling in 2014 was as close to a real revolution as any of these woke twats ever felt their whole life.
Consequently they flocked to the SNP as a result post 2014 and quite predictably ruined it just at they ruin every political movement they touch.
Unity? Naw not for me. I would not stand next to these wankers under a common banner for anything. They are political vermin. They pollute everything they touch.
They are the reverse Midas touch. Everything they are involved in turns in to shit.
How can anyone still be posting this wheeshtforindy crap anymore. Impossible to have any respect for them at this stage.
So, let me get this right, Al the world’s media, including in Scotland can legally publish and dissect Alex Salmond’s evidence in full. Indeed, our ‘national broadcaster’ could even get Danny Garavelli and Kirsty Wark to sit in a coffee shop on the royal mile and gossip about it, if they wanted.
BUT the investigation committee still prefer to ‘believe’ it cannot be published, and QED, Alex Salmond cannot in any sensible way (even if HE wants to) testify.
Is there anybody with a shred of integrity left within the SNP at Holyrood, or are they all happily playing along with this cover up?? Now we know why so many SNP MSP’s are standing down at the election, they know what has been done, but have been silenced, so have taken the only honourable route.
Oh my god, if NS cares about independence, will she and her husband just go, and let the SNP re-build, under actual leadership?
Cover ups like this will not stand. Those involved need to face the music, so things can move on. It is all so f*cking sad. It reaaly is.
We need to turn the page, Nicola. Go now.
-Mac-
Aye pretty much. They poison everything. The SNP. Labour under Corbyn who had a lot of important stuff to say about the economy and foreign policy. The Black Lives Matter campaign which certainly has a good point to make. Institutions like the National Trust where they try and spoil simple pleasures like walking round a garden ffs. They’re all just emotionally stunted weirdos. I blame a culture where everybody goes to uni as all these numpties get told they’re dead clever and then get bitter at the world when they can’t get the good jobs they expected. They have destroyed the noble independence cause.
Benhope – 11 February, 2021 at 10:56 pm
[i]The focus is on Andy Wightman, but what about the four SNP MSPs on the committee voting against disclosure of the truth at every turn. If they were honest in doing their work on the committee then AW`s[/i]
Don’t confuse us with facts – we’ve made up our minds (apparently).
Dear all who have expressed concern for my liberty, cheers, acht had to be done, bloody scunnered by the bloody state of Scotland.
Big Jock @ 12:03
“Nationhood is first and foremost about collective identity. There are too many people obsessed with economics or trade or trying to be totally civic. They are afraid to mention the word identity.
It is the very fact that there is a distinct Scottish identity, that makes us want independence. We don’t accept being British, because it is accepting that Scottish is an inferior identity.
I would vote for Scottish independence no matter what the economics are. Money is of no relevance in a countries cultural existence.”
Well put Big Jock. As Cesair maintained, the origins of fascism lie within colonialism itself, evidence of which we clearly see in play now here in Scotland. “The instruments of colonial power rely on barbaric, brutal violence and intimidation”. The anticolonial struggle supersedes the proletarian struggle between capitalism and socialism. What we are looking at in Scotland is nothing less than the overthrow of a racist, oppressive colonial system which aye hauds-doun Scots. And you are right, that does not have very much to do with economics.
The spectator and Fraser Nelson (a London ‘scot’ I have little time for usually) do make a valid point;
QUOTE ” When the Scottish parliament building opened in 2004, Liz Lochhead read aloud to MSPs a poem Edwin Morgan had been commissioned to write in honour of the occasion. The verse can be found on display at Holyrood to this day:
“A nest of fearties is what they do not want.A symposium of procrastinators is what they do not want.A phalanx of forelock-tuggers is what they do not want.And perhaps above all the droopy mantra of ‘it wizny me’ is what they do not want.
In recent weeks the Inquiry has been in danger of descending into farce, with fearties and forelock-tuggers to the fore.”
Link to article (mibbes paywalled)
link to spectator.co.uk
A Person @7:29 “I blame a culture etc”
#MeToo, GRA, Cancel Culture, Free Speech Crisis -all sensationalized.
This has all been imported from America. It has the stench of American university postmodernistic bollocks written all over it.
holymacmoses says:
12 February, 2021 at 1:26 am
From Jack Collatin to Elmac
“Elmac, we don’t give a toss…”
I’d have stopped reading there. Tells you all you need to know. They don’t give a toss about truth, probity or justice.
Kinda funny how they’ll defend Sturgeon demanding to see the proof, but Alex Salmond actually being proved innocent by a criminal jury is simply swept aside because it’s inconvenient for their narrative. Not the only double standard by any means…
We ALL want to see the proof, but Sturgeon, Swinney and Evans, plus Wolffe and Harvie at COPFS are the ones working double time to keep the proof hidden and truth redacted. They couldn’t look more guilty and corrupt if they tried. Meanwhile Alex Salmond and supporters of truth are threatened with actual criminal prosecution merely for thinking about reporting pertinent evidence.
Despicable too that they say Alex Salmond admitted one offence. He admitted an incident occurred, that is incident, not offence, but an incident a million miles away from anything which constituted sexual assault, and an incident already dealt with until the opportunistic muckraking of the later criminal conspiracy.
Brave effort Elmac, but I fear you’re wasting your time. There are none so blind as those who will not see. Let them go down in flames together with their rotten heroine. The truth will out eventually, but something tells me they’ll have some other reason not to believe it.
Independence was not just a word.
It was supposed to be building a better country by taking control of our own nation.
More transparent, more honest, more ethical, more caring, more fair, more democratic, more just, better.
But we have to just flush all that down the crapper and accept the cover-up and stitching-up people innocent people who are your political rival, using your bent judiciary and Police force, a bent civil service and a collection of MPs and MSPs I personally would not wipe my arse with at this point.
Being quiet for this shower of shit is not being quiet for independence by any definition.
It is being quiet for the most putrid corrupt government I have ever seen in a modern Western democracy.
Independence is what independence does.
The SNP no longer represent it all.
Daisy Walker @ 1.20
“And none of them have joined the dots with regards the absolute need for May election to be Plebiscite Indy.”
All but one: still only Solidarity among Scotland’s 6 pro indy parties with the courage to propose a plebiscite election in May.
I know you said you could not vote for them because you are not a socialist, and you don’t trust them. However I would say that, following the view of Cesaire – the anticolonial struggle supersedes the proletarian struggle between capitalism and socialism. Scotland’s oppression first needs fixed and this cannot be fixed merely through political ideologies.
And as Fanon tells us, the bourgeoisie parties will never have the courage to deliver independence, much as we see with the SNP.
I gave up on BBC Question Time a long while ago. It is a programme loaded against the SNP and the independence movement.
Last night, however, I watched a short excerpt. “Union Flag Murray” and that never was Foreskin pumping out the same old, tired Project Fear rhetoric – this still seems to be the best the Unionists have.
The old GERS figures and deficit pish. Do they really think, the3 day after Independence, England will immediately stop drinking Scotch whisky and gin, eating Scotch beef and lamb, or Scottish seafood.
England, a nation which cannot meet its own needs for electricity and power, would immediately ban imports of these from Scotland – or would stop Scottish exports passing through en route to Europe. This is their argument.
Mind you, I didn’t think Jeane Freeman, my own MSP, was angry enough, or forceful enough, in countering their spurious arguments. Sorry, not arguments, propaganda.
“Social media is awash in claims that the former Green has been “bought” by the SNP with some sort of bribe”
This is just totally brainless, and should be ignored: Because if the opposition feels stiffed, they can always force a motion of no confidence, in which case one more vote for NS wouldn’t be enough, she needs at least four.
I see Jack Collatin being mentioned a bit on here and how he is strongly siding with NS. I used to like his posts but as I recall the Rev booted him off in his customary courteous way and I guess poor Jack has taking the huff and done a stropp and flounced over to WGD.
I may not always appreciate the Rev’s manner wie folk he disagrees with but I never, never doubt his judgement and especially his ability to small shite!
sorry ‘smell shite’
Breeks and Mac et al above , excellent comments ,couldn’t agree more .
As for that comment from one of the WGD Sturgeon zombies ….FFS ….those people need psychiatric help , that’s not ” loyalty ” it’s more akin to cult hero-worship , the abandonment of personal ethics and capacity for independent rational thought .
To TJenny above.
I echo your comment that NS is a cardboard character in comparison to AS. I have always thought that as well. Very flat, very bland, no charisma, no connection, no emotional engagement, hard to really like or dislike. Wooden was how I described it but cardboard is the same here.
Since all this broke I have been looking at Sturgeon in a lot more detail trying to reconcile the personna we see with what I now Know she was doing behind the veil of secrecy.
The personna that Sturgeon projects publicly is the polar opposite of the person who does what she does behind closed doors.
The reason I think she is so bland, so flat, is that it is an act. (Very similar to Blair again but he was far slicker than Sturgeon. I guess she is the Poundshop Blair thinking about.)
And what Sturgeon does a lot, which is again very Blair like, is when asked a pointed question, is go all “Forgive Them Lord For They Know Not What They Do’, rolls her eyes and acts all hurt.
A big part of the reason people struggle to accept what NS has done is that this projected personna of NS is so very different to the real Nicola (someone I think very people have actually seen).
You know the tree by the fruit it bears. In this particular case you would never, ever have guessed the fruit it would bear by looking at this particular tree. None of us did including of course AS much to his personal cost.
Not just that, this a betrayal so monumental, so colossal that it repels belief. How do you reconcile the wee bland women saying all the right virtue signaling things with this psychotic monster behind the wall of secrecy.
Truth needs out man.
Mac @ 8:11
“the cover-up and stitching-up people innocent people who are your political rival, using your bent judiciary and Police force, a bent civil service and a collection of MPs and MSPs I personally would not wipe my arse with…”
George Osborne refers to most of these entities as the ‘arms’ of the British state in Scotland. They appear to have their arms around the Scots, holding us in a tight grip.
Cesaire would remind us here that the origins of fascism lie within colonialism. Hence what we are witnessing.
Fanon might say the pampered bourgeoisie elite in the dominant National Party has reached its own ‘accommodation with colonialism’. The new National Parties are our salvation.
The UN refers to colonialism as “a scourge”, a form of punishment, and calls for it to be ended. But the people cannot depend only on the UN, they must decide for themselves.
With independence we are on the right track. Without it we are utterly lost, as a people, culture and nation.
In a video interview Mark Hirst gave after his case was dismissed he remarked that he knows Sturgeon from his time working in Holyrood and the personality she projects to the public is quite different to the real Nicola Sturgeon. He didn’t get into specifics, no doubt due to fear of a defamation suit, but you can bet it wasn’t praise.
oneliner says:
12 February, 2021 at 7:50 am
Benhope – 11 February, 2021 at 10:56 pm
[i]The focus is on Andy Wightman, but what about the four SNP MSPs on the committee voting against disclosure of the truth at every turn. If they were honest in doing their work on the committee then AW`s[/i]
Don’t confuse us with facts – we’ve made up our minds (apparently).
I don’t know if that’s cynicism or sarcasm, of if I’m totally misreading you Oneliner, but for the record, I agree with you. The SNP committee members should be ashamed of themselves and pilloried as much as Wightman.
Another issue being missed too is the function of the vote… ostensibly making a decision to abide by legal advice or flout it. Surely that is an ambiguity / conflict of perception, which requires a legal distinction, (much like the Spectator’s case), rather than a show of hands by the committee. Seems ‘inappropriate’ to put it kindly.
And as the proof of the pudding, their amateurish ‘show of hands’ has now been undermined by the Spectator’s legal clarification… no surprise there eh?
As a still member of the SNP(because i won;t get my £5 back if i resign) I’ve just received an email from the Queen of Draghorn about how wonderful Scotland is doing with inoculations and some other pish. Reported it it as a phishing scam and hope any more are automatically consigned to the junk mail folder.
AS has played this beautifully.
An absolute blinder.
Especially if he appears at committee after NS.
The spineless Andy Wightman’s capitulation is pathetic and cowardly. Independent my arse…” The man o’ independent mind. He looks an’ laughs at a’ that “ to quote the great Rabbie Burns.
Well done to the Spectator in fighting for freedom of the press. They’ll never put this genie back in the bottle. Publish and be damned? Publish and fuck the lot of them. Get it out on social media, spread it so far and so fast and so thoroughly that no court, no state and no team of cyber vandals could ever hope to bottle it up again.
I relish the prospect. The guilty will be falling over themselves to implicate each other and Stuart et al will be vindicated.
“ I echo your comment that NS is a cardboard character in comparison to AS. I have always thought that as well. Very flat, very bland, no charisma, no connection, no emotional engagement, hard to really like or dislike. Wooden was how I described it but cardboard is the same here.”
Yes and also lacking leadership qualities. She waxed on and on about how the COVID measures were necessary to protect us – up to the point where there would be a direct clash with the U.K. govt – I.e closing the border. She was upstaged by the welsh govt. so lives matter – until she has to make an uncomfortable and REAL leadership decision.
link to bing.com
From Andrew Neil’s Twitter page. He posts Adam Tomkins speech yesterday which refers to Scotland as now totally corrupt.
Presiding in the chair was the totally corrupt Linda Fabiani.
Scotlans is now a feckin mess, isn’t it.
Kenny McAskill with Barrhead Boy link to barrheadboy.com
Compadres , I know we’re all disgusted at the woeful state Sturgeon’s Pleadership has brought our country to but , please , don’t give any support or credit to that lard-arsed , conceited , waste of oxygen Neil , his sole interest in this is to damage our cause to the maximum degree . I note he has precisely fuck-all to say about the utterly scandalous – criminal – awarding of C19 contracts by the Tory Gov to their fellow predators , aye , some great truth-seeking journalist eh ?
” Our enemy’s enemy ” is not always our friend
Alan Mackintosh says:
Thank you for that link, Alan, that was classic Salmond! He really is irreplaceable. Especially the final phrase, ‘happy Christmas’
And I notice Sturgeon not only had her hand over her mouth but was also blinking a lot. I wonder what she was thinking even back then.
@Molesworth 9.59 pm: welcome to the Thunderdome.
Are you Major or Minor? And what have you done with Peason?
😉
And what Sturgeon does a lot, which is again very Blair like, is when asked a pointed question, is go all “Forgive Them Lord For They Know Not What They Do’, rolls her eyes and acts all hurt.
There’s also a phrase, “That’s a legitimate question” which is turning into a verbal tick not dissimilar to Blair’s “Trust me”. That politician time buying phrase. It grates on my nerves as it has an authoritarian, schoolmarm overtone to it, like other questions aren’t legitimate. (I get with the useless media and current opposition an awful lot really aren’t, but it’s still grating on me after so much repetition now).
@Robert Hughes – There is a difference in scale, Robert. From Robert Louis earlier today:
A nest of fearties is what they do not want.
A symposium of procrastinators is what they do not want.
A phalanx of forelock-tuggers is what they do not want.
And perhaps above all the droopy mantra of ‘it wizny me’ is what they do not want.
In Swinney, Sturgeon and Wolffe we have all of the above, don’t we.
Andrew Neil is stating the obvious. Don’t shoot the messenger.
From the Times ,
“ The Times view on the Alex Salmond affair: Guiding Light , The public needs and deserves a clear view of the Salmond-Sturgeon row “
“Getting to the truth about the Salmond affair has been a long, tortuous and unsatisfactory process. The parliamentary committee set up to examine the mishandling of the Scottish government’s inquiry into allegations of sexual misconduct against the former first minister has been denied information, fobbed off with redacted documents and left to deal with civil servants whose recollection of events had to be repeatedly corrected. “
“The more light is shed on this murky affair, the sooner the public will be allowed to reach an informed view on how Scotland is being governed. “
link to archive.vn
On listening to Kenny McAskill on Barrhead Boy I cannot understand how any reasonable person can argue against the idea for a plebiscite election. I cannot see how any reasonable person can take Sturgeons stance on a s30 or even a legal challenge to a refusal of such. The plebiscite route does not sound like some way out radical idea but seem like common sense to me. So what is wrong with the normally reasonable people on WGD and, the Dug himself? What the hell is going on?
Lindy says:
11 February, 2021 at 7:47 pm
“There was me a few weeks ago thinking I might vote for him. I am in Highland region and can’t vote snp on the list. They are parachuting in a clutch of wokes from South Scotland. Rhiannon being one, whose probably never set foot in the Highlands.”
It does not matter where Rhiannon Spears come from originally. She is a councillor for a ward in the Pollok area. She was imposed on the Branch over the heads of several local activists all of whom would have done a good job. Many of these activists left the branch.
She ignored the branch thereafter, only turning up when she wanted something, including one memorable occasion when she attempted a coup to take over the running of the branch. It was a lesson in ineptitude and stupidity on her part.
She is still a councillor. Does this mean she will resign her council seat? How hypocritical of her to have voted to block Joanna Cherry from holding two elected positions while attempting to do so herself.
Having Nicola Sturgeon’s public support must be the magic key.
Captain Yossarian@9:24
Epic rant from Prof Tomkins looking like he’d come straight from electric shock therapy- could almost see the steam blowing from his ears- and all that without really touching on the top 3 of global flu hysteria, inexplicable military presence in Washington DC and the malicious prosecution settlement being in the order 10 times the eventual payment due despite the original 100 million UK tax bill that bankrupted the club in first place.
Shame he cut off Linda Fabiani’s priceless yes dear reaction, which I interpreted as, that all you got? should hear the whispers at the harassment inquiry 🙂
Agreed Wee Child
A breath of fresh air listening to Kenny MacAskill that’s the talk I used to recognise from SNP reps this current version is alien to me I just dont recognise the party now .
Breeks @ 8:59 am
We’re absolutely on the same page – I’m a bit more coheren now that I’ve had my porridge.
Maybe the typo was irony
Capn Y . Agreed . It’s just so galling to see the relish with which Neil – and other Union arse-lickers – are taking in this , all under the pretext of ” journalistic integrity ” , aye right .
Of course , if our own fckn useless MSM were doing their job there would be no need for ” foreign ” interference .
The whole thing is sickening beyond measure
Robert Hughes @ 9.42
Of course Andrew Neil wants to destabilise the Indy cause. So wouldn’t it have been so much better if our own cowardly independence MSPs / MPS, supported by the so called independence supporting The National newspaper, had grown some cojones and took a stand to call out this sham of an inquiry?
That it took a Tory rag to do it for their own political ends is a sad state of affairs for the independence movement. But it’s collateral damage that I can live with if it gets the truth out. And the TRUTH needs to come out, it’s what the people of Scotland deserve. It’s what AS needs to clear his name and reputation. And the whole truth is needed to expose the conspirators.
This whole thing sticks worse that a corpse. And if the SNP ministers don’t start showing some fucking integrity then they deserve to go down with the sinking ship. People don’t like being lied to, people don’t like corruption, people don’t like cover ups, people don’t like politicians that are lower than a snakes belly.
Yes the Spectator is run by a Brillo headed Tory arsewipe but at least they had fucking big balls. if there’s any good people left in the SNP fucking sort this shit out!!!!!!!!
So I couldn’t give a flying fuck it was the Spectator who shone a fucking great big flood light on the farcical, sham, pantomime, corrupt inquiry.
@ Alf Baird.
It looks like it’s time to break out the coloured crayons!
link to twitter.com
I propose the first new maritime route to Scotland should be from Iceland, so we can import Brennivín in the hope that if enough Scots imbibe it some of that Icelandic anti-corruption fire permeates into oor society.
montfleury yesterday
11 February, 2021 at 3:23 pm
was right.
The redaction of that one paragraph in the Spectator gives that person untouchability. It was obviously deliberate. If they had just blocked the whole article then Wightman would have no weasly excuse. This of course is all part of the ongoing ‘i have a plan’.
Question for anyone/everyone: at what point (how close to the elections) do we have to start focussing on a plan/strategy to deal with what we are all raging about? I mean is there a D-day such as end of February to come up with or implement a strategy.
Not voting SNP seems a weak strategy because there’ll be enough people outside of social media still voting for them and all we’ll see is the SNP’s perfect result- a minority Government and 5 more years of sfa. Actively campaigning AGAINST SNP will have more effect, but no matter how much we may hate the current SNP high command, most of us surely hate Labconlib aka the British parties more.
O/t
Just read that the UK is the third most populated island in the world.
Apart from the financial benefit to England of keeping Scotland in the UK I believe it’s also our land it’s after.
The Germans wanted to conquer Russia for “living space” and given that England is bulging at the seams with humanity there is no doubt that it sees Scotland as “living space”.
Given what is happening in Scotland I now believe that forces within Westminster are at work to prevent our independence at all costs.
“And I notice Sturgeon not only had her hand over her mouth but was also blinking a lot. I wonder what she was thinking even back then”
I did notice that too, actually. Her body language was very interesting, particularly if you reply the video muted and you just study her expressions.
Besides the heavy blinking, I noticed how after a few seconds her face tensed when staring at Salmond. Her face softens when she looks the other way towards the other MSPs, but tenses quickly again when looking back at Salmond.
At times I got the impression the heavy blinking was an spontaneous reaction to the discomfort of having to continuously look at him in the face. Notice how sometimes she feels she needs to “rest” by looking down to the document. You do not see this on the people that is sitting behind her. Particularly the man wearing the glasses, he does not seem to have a problem looking at Mr Salmond’s face during the whole speech.
Despite of this, she was at all times trying to avidly look at Mr Salmond’s face, almost like studying his expressions, his reactions rather than listening to the speech.
I wondered for a moment if she perhaps was the one who wrote the speech and was repeating in her mind the words, how she had pictured it to be delivered and maybe Mr Salmond was departing a bit from “the script”. You can see her at times assenting very subtly. She had obviously read it before. However the expression on her face when looking at Salmond was not soft, amused in anticipation of the killing blow that was about to be delivered at the end of the speech and that somebody who read the speech would have known about.
It did not look like the way somebody who admired and had affection for her mentor would look at him.
The other thing I noticed is that at times it seemed as if there was a delay between the other people starting to clap and her starting to clap. Almost as if she wasn’t really paying attention to the speech.
I am sure I am now totally biased against her, finding fault where there isn’t one and overanalysing, but looking at her body language in that video there were times I got from her the impression of being someone who did not belong there and was trying to blend in by copying what others were doing.
Interesting.
Scozzie – Affirmative
With regard to folk establishing whether their specific SNP candidates are decent or dross, does it really make any difference if they are whipped in particular votes.
I understand to get through vetting, following the Party whip when implemented is a necessary requirement.
So they can talk the talk all they like, but they may be hobbled when actually required to walk the walk.
Robert Hughes says:
12 February, 2021 at 9:42 am
don’t give any support or credit to that lard-arsed , conceited , waste of oxygen Neil , his sole interest in this is to damage our cause to the maximum degree
—-
Don’t lose sight of MSM’s role, the role to create profit for their owners and shareholders.
Headlines sell papers, increase their readership and in the modern age the number of subscribers they maintain.
Andrew Neil may be a lot of things, he might be on the wrong side of what is no longer a single line drawn in the sand nor two parallel lines but is quickly taking the form of a multi faceted shape, but he is bourne from the old guard of journalism where investigation, proof and the will to put controversial stories front and center of whatever publication he aligns himself with.
I have trust and faith in our home grown bloggers such as Wings, Murray, Lawson, Dangerfield, BarrheadBoy, Sheridan and others who have thrown their full weight behind independence, who are also doing their utmost to bring a bright halogen lamp to the sordid goings on in this SNP Scottish Government and the Civil Service who are in cahoots with them.
But at this crucial moment in time we also need the aid of Scottish media, the wider MSM including opposition press such as Neil, we need their deep pockets to affirm the lawfulness in publishing what the inquiry committee have failed to do, to have the depth of pocket to challenge and verify the breadth of the Section 11 order in the High Court as they did successfully yesterday.
The MSM will be now quickly waking up to the fact that something sordid has been going on at the top of the Scottish Government, they might have always been aware of it but have been blinded by the populism projected by Sturgeon all the while secretly waiting on something to give.
However now that one publication has went as far as the High Court in their bid to seek clarity on the breadth of the Section 11 order they might just have peaked the interest of the sleeping dragon that is the Scottish media and the other limbs of the MSM.
This may well be the beginnings of the overtopping that breaks the dam in Scottish politics which the people of Scotland need to break down the corruption and conspiracy at the heart of the current Scottish Government, the Civil Service and the SNP.
I have no doubts that this affair is damaging the SNP, the party needs a clearing out from the corruption at the Murrells feet at the top all the way down through the NEC to its members, it needs funadmental change in its structure, policies, checks & balances that it enacts to prevent anything like this from ever happening again, it needs to take heed of its paying members, it needs to go back to its roots and find its way in the world again, it needs to get back to having independence front and centre of everything it stands for and cast aside all of the distracting divisive policies its leaders have been fobbing its members off with since 2014, of that I have no doubts.
Hello it’s Wee Shiver here, I’m looking for suggestions for a new host. I’m homeless, I have nowhere to run up and down, Andy my old host has lost his spine. Can anybody help me?
#WeeShiverSeeksABackbone
Dan @ 10:23
“I propose the first new maritime route to Scotland should be from Iceland”
Back in the 1970’s I worked for a Leith shipping line who were agents for Iceland Steamship Co. (Eimskip). Their ‘Gullfoss’ steamer used to come into Leith fortnightly, also linking Scotland with Copenhagen as well as Reykjavik. We lost that shipping service and many others because Leith/the Forth did not modernise its ports.
The Icelanders called the service their ‘umbilical chord’, which started after their independence. Similarly the first thing Estonia did after independence was set up a ferry company to reinstate its historic trading connections and enable the economy to move away from Moscow driven trade limitations.
The best option for Scotland is to build a new cruise-ferry port at Cockenzie (which I studied with the former Forth Harbourmaster for Scottish Power), which I hope Kenny MacAskill will support as East Lothian MP. Rosyth is too far upriver for ferries and has bridge height limitations, not that Mr. Chapman seems aware.
The biggest barrier to developing Cockenzie, as is the case to development of Scotland more widely, is our unionist run civil service and public sector. As the Estonian’s said in Lesley Riddoch’s folm, upon independence you have to remove the former colonial officials.
@Mia (10.30) –
Have been struggling to keep up – which video is it you’re referring to?
Big jock 10.03am. With you on that, whatever the trials and tribulations to come in an independent Scotland, i’d gladly face that challenge. If bawbag broon were dragged out again to tell me my pension would drop by £10 a week if we were independent, i’d be down at that polling station at 6.50am to vote YES in a plebiscite election.
Big jock,sorry post at 12.03 am
When your country’s government employs over 40% of the workforce, you end up with people like Andy Whiteman.
To be fair, he is but one of millions of people in Scotland, who will never have the opportunity to earn anything close to £100k in their entire careers.
Scotland’s private sector is simply too small and parochial to accommodate them all. The best paying jobs are typically around a few sectors in Aberdeen and Edinburgh and it’s a small membership with plenty of barriers to entry.
But a government job, especially one inside Holyrood, offers a lucrative alternative that requires no academic achievement whatsoever and asks for little of any experience in anything.
Almost anyone with a pulse can run for office and for some, who are smart enough to hang on the coat tails of their predecessor’s popularity, can suddenly find themselves with a nice sounding official title, generous perks and a comfy salary, easily three or four times greater than the national average.
Even better, it comes with few responsibilities and even less accountability; the perfect job for lazy, bench-warmers with limited education and even less experience.
But there’s a hierarchy inside the chamber too, so the best jobs are those in opposition because you can say whatever you like and no one will ever hold you accountable because you simply don’t have to.
Principles can be shredded faster than you can complete a weekly expense sheet. Promises can be broken the very minute you receive your security pass. Manifesto commitments can be treated like yesterday’s fish and chips.
Those gifted with some ability like Whiteman, are just clever enough to be aware of the politics needed to negotiate their way around the chamber, so that they never willfully give away possession of the gravy-train ticket.
Those savvy enough to manage under table deals can soon find themselves ten years or more into a political career and have comfortably achieved absolutely fuck all.
Sure, they have all those annoying voters who send them nasty emails and Tweets to deal with but they have an office team to take care of that and fob them off, right up to the next election campaign when it’s time for new money, door to door canvassing and of course a vote.
It’s always about the money folks. Follow the money.
Ian Brotherhood, the link that Alan put above.
@IanB
link to wingsoverscotland.com
Ha, ‘Scotland is now totally corrupt’ good old Mr T.
As opposed to being only a bit corrupt before, but he could live with that?
Scotland totally corrupt? Well Mr Tomkins isn’t a total idiot.
@Mia/X-Sticks –
Thanks.
😉
McDuff
You may be right. But what do you think of this summary of the 2019 SNP manifesto WRT immigration?
“Scotland faces more acute problems from demographic change than the rest of the UK. As the workforce is projected to shrink and the older population rises, it has had a slower inflow of migrants from overseas than England. There is a political consensus on the need to tackle the issue, with a more welcoming attitude to immigrants.
The SNP wants Holyrood to have powers to issue work permits to foreigners, based on the distinctive needs of the Scottish economy. It wants to cut the cost for employers of recruiting from overseas, and to simplify the visa and citizenship process. The party also says there should be a more welcoming approach to asylum seekers.”
I don’t think the SNP will be modifying any of the above any time soon by adding “All immigrants always welcome but nae English though”. Quite right too.
It’s an interesting discussion point. Where does the modern fashion for multi-culturism by freedom of movement intersect with the desire of an indigenous population for something like independence? It is ludicrous to expect new Scots to think and believe exactly like old Scots. It is folly for the SNP to assume that the new Scots, particularly the ones who come here to make a better life for themselves, are going to enthusiastically embrace the economic hits associated with independence.
Wee question for someone more knowledgeable on this affair than me – I think the Scottish Governement enquiry started with 2 complaints from 2 women? If so do we know what date the extra complianants and women that appeared on the criminal investigations were made?
The Daily Record article/ leak in August 2018 semed to suggest only 2 incidents were reported by SG to the Police and they refer to incidents in 2013. That would suggest that a further 9 women came forward to the police investigation that weren’t in the SG investigation. Is that correct?
Does that also imply that when Sturgeon met with Geoff Aberdein the maximimum she can be proven to have known about is the 2 complaints?
Does this judgment open the way for AS to name the two in a private criminal prosecution and to seek damages.
@MaggieC, 10.04
Scottish government’s inquiry into allegations of sexual misconduct against the former first minister has been denied information,
thanks for that quote. Never mind that it is the Scottish Parliament’s inquiry into the Scottish Government’s handling of a redrafting of a procedure and that it is the Scottish Government which is denying the Scottish Parliament’s committee access to documents despite undertaking (should that be “vowing”?) to support the work of the committee. Is it an example of shoddy journalism or is it something more? Narrative management comes to mind. The focus on Mr Salmond allows the smearing of his reputation to continue and directs the public’s attention away from this serious constitutional crisis.
Captain Yossarian says:
12 February, 2021 at 9:24 am
link to bing.com
From Andrew Neil’s Twitter page. He posts Adam Tomkins speech yesterday which refers to Scotland as now totally corrupt.
Presiding in the chair was the totally corrupt Linda Fabiani.
Scotlans is now a feckin mess, isn’t it.
And the rottenness is not simply at the core of one apple but at the heart of the whole fruit store. BUT it only takes the creation of a path and total removal of the rotten orb and all the completely corrupted fruits within the close sphere .
The rot becomes less virulent further away from the core and many pipins can be extracted, peeled, sliced and used to produce good sustenance. The Scottish barrel has an abundance of good fruit we shouldn’t let a few bad apple destroy us.
@ John Main and McDuff
It is as it has always been, the problem with Scotland is that it’s full of Scots.
Denegrate the Scots, dilute the Scots, redefine the Scots and the Scots no longer become a problem. Then anyone can take their land and no one will oppose it. Any Scot that does is labelled racist and xenophobic. Job done, the Scots and Scotland neutralised forever.
Scotland, not just England’s lebensraum, it’s now the world’s lebensraum. It is never to be allowed to be the Scot’s lebensraum.
Great post from DouglasL on the National. I’ve posted the link un-archived otherwise you can’t see the comments. Pretty well on the money IMHO.
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” I am satisfied that we now have grounds to compel Salmond to attend”
Are you? Well, what about Ms Sturgeon’s chief of staff? Aren’t there more than enough grounds to compel this person to attend to the Fabiani’s farce too? So why haven’t they been compelled to attend yet when all their colleagues have been at least once questioned by the committee?
Just about every other civil servant linked directly or indirectly to Sturgeon’s government complaints procedure mess have been marched to the Fabiani’s Farce toothless questioning. Ms Evans for example attended 4 times. Others had to go back twice to “correct” their statements due to sudden amnesia syndrome. Yet, this person, which is the closest one working with Ms Sturgeon and may be crucial confirming dates, meetings, and other events, appears to be the only civil servant on the whole earth that cannot possibly attend the questioning by Fabiani’s Farce for some rather unconvincing reasons . Bizarrely, this person has received an unprecedented level of shielding in all this. This stinks at corruption and an unlawful attempt to conceal evidence.
Stop insulting taxpayers, Fabiani. If it is an inquiry what you are chairing, then isn’t it about time you start running it as an inquiry rather than a farce?
This is not “the Salmond inquiry”. It never was. Mr Salmond is not the one that is at trial here. He was subjected already to a botched trial based on lies and innuendo. If Mr Fraser and the rest of the members of the committee did not realise of that yet, then what is the remit of Fabiani’s Farce and what is the point?
The one that is supposed to be at trial here is Nicola Sturgeon and her corrupt government, of which her chief of staff is part of. ALL civil servants involved in the case directly or indirectly should attend the questioning if there was ever any intention by Fabiani and her Farcical committee to ever get anywhere near the truth. Anything less is a waste of our time and taxpayers’ money. So why is only Mr Salmond Mr Fraser consider must attend and not this civil servant?
Sturgeon said the other day at FMQ that she would encourage everybody that have information to attend the committee and give evidence under oath. Well then, will she encourage her own chief of staff to attend or that offer excluded them?
Mr Salmond is not a civil servant. Mr Salmond is not a minister. Mr Salmond is not part of Nicola Sturgeon’s corrupt government. He is a private citizen. A private citizen that is a victim of a disgusting political conspiracy that so far has costed taxpayers over 600,000 pounds and that is without including the farcical criminal case. So why is it that it is thought acceptable to compel a private citizen to attend and not an overpaid civil servant whose salary is being paid by taxpayers?
Now, is Linda Fabiani, Andy Whitgman and the other 3 SNP members in the committee going to pull themselves up from the supine position they appear to be and resurrect that inquiry by publishing the evidence in full? or their remit has always been to collapse the inquiry wasting even more of our taxpayers’ funding in order to save the corrupt Nicola Sturgeon’s backside? Hasn’t her government, with this unlawful complaints procedure, the witch hunt on Mr Salmond, the malicious prosecutions and Fabiani’s Farce until now wasted enough of our taxpayers’ funds already?
Doesn’t Lady Dorrian’s ruling imply that all the over-redacted evidence submitted to the inquiry by the Scottish Government must now be reviewed and the over-redactions removed to comply with that ruling?
Either act as a committee that actually wants to get the truth out and compel ALL the civil servants involved in this fiasco to attend the inquiry, or stop wasting our time and stop taking us for fools. If the intention was always to transform this inquiry into yet another damage limitation exercise to continue smearing Mr Salmond to protect Sturgeon’s arse and the arse of all those civil servants involved in concocting, implementing, delivering and then attempting to cover up an unlawful, biased complaints procedure aiming to destroy a political opponent, the taxpayers should not be burdened with the bill of this farce. It should be Sturgeon and her civil servants from hell who should be handed over the bills for their unlawful, unprofessional, unethical actions.
Civil servants are not hired to help themselves to our taxpayers’ cash to fund political vendettas and then mess about with our justice system in order to cover up their arses.
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link to thenational.scot
Crazycat @ 12:01am, that is very interesting.
As it happens, I had a long conversation with my house last night. I did not realize the mental anguish they were suffering. For years, I have referred to my house as “It.” They made it known last night, in no uncertain terms that they now wish to use “They/them” pronouns. I love my house and will support them no matter what.
They also told me that, despite only ever having resided in North Carolina, they have self-identified as a croft in the Scottish highlands. Because I love my house, I affirm their decision to do so. I did, as gently as possible, ask them if they can ever really be a croft in a country they have never visited. It took me some time to calm them down. There was much banging of doors and general flouncing around.
When we got back to a normal conversation, they explained to me that, as a “Boomer,” I cannot possibly understand how they feel. As I had no idea what they were talking about, I suppose they are right. After that, I fully accepted that they are, indeed a croft in the Scottish highlands.
Now that I fully accept this immutable truth, it appears that I have a home address in Highlands & Islands and I will therefore be putting myself forward for the SNP list in that region. As I have cerebral palsy, I expect to be catapulted to the top thereof, as long as the catapulting does not damage my creaky joints. As I am white and as my house is not the same colour as me (white), they will be seeking a list place in Lothians. My wife is a woman and identifies as such. She will not be seeking election.
Can we impeach nicola sturgeon, all these years she has been masquerading as a women, turns out she’s really a mad hatter from auchtermuckty lunatic asylum
@ Skip_NC
Very good 🙂
Really? Can anyone support this claim:
“It is important for the committee to hear from Mr Salmond and the committee has always been clear that the first minister should be the last witness to appear before the inquiry.”
Sturgeon postponed: link to bbc.co.uk
Another thoroughly unpleasant swipe at Andy Wightman, driven by nothing more than a personal vendetta, and therefore of zero interest to anyone else
Agreed Michael, but there is also on this website a complete failure to understand the process. The spectator case was always going to increase the real risk of jigsaw I D and now more than ever the written submission is not going to be published as part of the process.
Mr Wightman cannot be gifted a top place on the SNP list, as those are reserved for disabled and BAME candidates.
Unless of course he self-identifies as such.
The Holyrood Committee was described perfectly by Charles Dickens in Little Dorrit, 1857 in his satire on bureaucratic inertia, the Circumlocution Office.
‘This glorious establishment had been early in the field, when the one sublime principle involving the difficult art of governing a country, was first distinctly revealed to statesmen. It had been foremost to study that bright revelation and to carry its shining influence through the whole of the official proceedings.Whatever was required to be done, the Circumlocution Office was beforehand with all the public departments in the art of perceiving — HOW NOT TO DO IT.’
link to panarchy.org