When winning is the only thing
What puzzles many about the Alex Salmond situation is motive. It’s incredibly difficult for some Yes supporters to imagine any motive that could justify the awfulness of what Alex Salmond has been put through by his successor, and so they reject the whole idea of any sinister goings-on out of hand.
However, it’s far easier to understand what went on when you look at the personality of Nicola Sturgeon and her historical pattern of behaviour.
Because the core fact is that Sturgeon simply cannot bear to lose. She’s very single-minded, and doesn’t really adapt or regroup in the face of adversity. When events and new information make problems for her ideas and plans, she just keeps going – often creating more problems as she tries to force the plan back on track.
Sturgeon’s main priority – in common with most politicians – is to stay in power and to boost her own image and profile. We can look at some hot topics and her behaviour around them, and gain clear insights into what happened to Alex Salmond and why.
Let’s take the heated subject of gender reform, and in particular self-ID which allows people to, entirely on their own say-so, legally change their sex. Initially Sturgeon was sold the story by the hyper-demanding transactivist lobby (ironically largely funded by the Scottish Government), and on spotting an easy opportunity to advance her equality credentials she enthusiastically signed up to it.
But the policy quickly ran into problems when women in the party said “Hold on, this affects our rights” and the issue became toxic, with women (in particular) receiving constant abuse from the trans extremists within the SNP. Joanna Cherry and many other women in the party have pleaded with Sturgeon to intervene but Sturgeon has stayed silent, other than occasional vague “all abuse is bad” boilerplate.
Once she’d started down the path, Sturgeon was not willing to backpedal on becoming a “progressive trans ally” despite the fact that it was becoming detrimental to the success of the SNP. Humza Yousaf, her Justice Minister, has brought forward a Hate Crimes Bill with huge implications for the Article 10 right to free expression.
There’s been a massive outcry against it among groups right across the social and political spectrum, and a recent consultation found that out of over 600 submissions, 80% were negative with only 10% in favour.
Women’s groups are rightly concerned that if they make an argument against self-ID they could fall foul of this bill. This will necessarily have a chilling effect on the ability of women’s groups to argue against the SNP’s gender reform plans as the Hate Crime Bill could criminalise those that do so.
But Sturgeon won’t drop either of these bad ideas – even though polling shows them to be deeply unpopular with the public – because she can’t bear to lose. So the SNP have ended up with policies that bitterly divide the party, let alone the wider electorate, and are a gift to the Tories going into the Holyrood election campaign.
Late last year Sturgeon’s favoured candidates suffered heavy defeats in both the MSP constituency selections and the NEC elections. And if she’s not seen to be delivering for her favourites it undermines her authority.
The next elections coming up were for the SNP candidates that will stand on the regonal list. So a controversial policy was brought forward to the NEC which would all but ensure that her favourites would top the lists.
(As this article goes to print the SNP has spent more than four days on “counting” the votes in those list elections, which were conducted almost entirely online and should have been finalised in minutes, and has still not published them.)
The NEC asked for legal advice and were told unequivocally that they would likely lose any court case brought by a losing candidate, at very great cost in both financial and political terms, but because Sturgeon is determined to not back down and to reverse her “defeat” of last year, the policy was forced through anyway, against party rules, by her close ally, business convener Kirsten Oswald. It remains to be seen whether it has catastrophic consequences.
And now we come to one of the most dogmatic positions Sturgeon has adopted; the Section 30 plan. The UK government learnt their lesson from their uncomfortably and unexpectedly narrow win in 2014, and are not playing ball this time. People within the SNP have been campaigning for years for a Plan B, but Sturgeon would not even have it discussed. She elevated Section 30 to the “gold standard” and the only “legal” plan.
The trend is clear: when Sturgeon gets an idea and it runs into trouble, she doesn’t abandon the idea – she doubles down hard and refuses to reconsider. Studying her character explains what happened to Salmond. She doesn’t actually need much of a motive, all it needs is for her to embark on a path, and from then on she simply won’t deviate no matter how deep the swamp gets.
In late 2017 Sturgeon had lost 21 MPs and her approval ratings were below Ruth Davidson, who was the media darling. This would have been of huge concern to the SNP leader. But as with the trans bandwagon she happened on an opportunity to gain approval and international recognition – she would be the leader who acted to defend women amid the upsurge of the “Me Too” movement, which sprang to prominence in early October of that year.
But she’d have to move fast to catch the fashion, so by the end of the same month the Scottish Government was rushing a new harassment policy into place – it would be signed off in barely six weeks from start to end, with no input at all from Parliament – and it was deployed against Alex Salmond in January 2018, before it had even been officially published on the Scottish Government intranet.
(Which didn’t happen until in February 2018, despite false claims made by the Scottish Government to the Holyrood inquiry that it had been in December 2017.)
Despite numerous opportunities to prevent the disaster from unfolding – from the UK civil service advising her not to make it retrospective, or when Salmond showed her his own legal advice stating that the policy was unlawful – Sturgeon couldn’t bear to “lose” and couldn’t drop the idea of being a “Me Too” heroine, with bonus extra plaudits for her “bravery” in applying the policy without fear or favour to her own friend and mentor.
So to this day, despite the internal investigation collapsing in the most disastrous and costly manner imaginable, and Salmond then being cleared in the criminal High Court of all charges, she continues to smear him because he has to be guilty – at least in the eyes of the public – for her plan to work.
She has to be the one that stands for the “poor women” – even though it was left to Salmond’s lawyers to protect their anonymity and it was her close ally, Permanent Secretary Leslie Evans, who went to the police (via the Crown Office) and instigated a criminal trial against the women’s express wishes.
The pattern never changes. Her primary motivation back in 2017 was to increase her personal standing, but when it started to go badly wrong, instead of giving up she displayed the same behaviours as always: she won’t change her plan (just like with Section 30); she doesn’t worry about unlawful processes (just like with the list elections); she doesn’t really care who gets hurt (just like with self-ID); and she has no issue criminalising opposing arguments rather than defeating them in debate (just like with the Hate Crime Bill).
The reason an innocent man came to be put through two years of hell is simply because that’s how Nicola Sturgeon does things. We see it time and again throughout her time as leader. Once an idea is in her head it’s set in concrete, no matter what.
Sturgeon’s plan now is to run the 2021 Holyrood election as a presidential election focussing on her record. And from what we know of her character, regardless of the findings of either inquiry she will not resign and she will lead the SNP into that election.
The consequences of that could be grave not just for the independence movement, but for all of Scotland.
Womens groups really need to start crowdfunders to get information out to the electorate so they know exactly what they will be voting for in May
Oh boy, Denise Findlay.
Thank you so very very much for writing this.
She may be riding high in the polls but I won’t be voting for the SNP for the first time in 25 years. I will not give my vote to someone who promotes those policies and tried to put an innocent man in jail. The SNP may well win in May but there won’t be a referendum any time soon and I suspect many of the members of the Latter Day Nicola are in for some huge disappointment.
Great piece Denise, I used to be derisory to those who described the SNP as cultish……after the events of Wednesday I think that description is mildly dyslexic ?
“What puzzles many about the Alex Salmond situation is motive.”
So the motive is that Nicola Sturgeon wanted to “catch the fashion” of the MeToo movement? That’s it? Really?
Quinie frae Angus – Oh my God, how are you?
Denise, what you describe there is the behaviour of a sociopath.
I have long time explained that the current state of politics attracts this defectives, and is even more worrying that the women that make through the ranks are the worst examples of that.
Being a quite misogynist arena, for alpha males to beat their chest and squash opponents, a woman must be the most ruthless sociopath to succeed in politics.
The outcome is that we are governed by our lessers.
This is a fundamental flaw of politics, where power becomes an end for a few individuals and not a means to a better life for everyone.
While we let this happen, nobody (male, female or none) will have our interests at heart.
This change can only happen from the bottom, with loud voices ready to spell it out to the “leaders”: we know your game, we know who you really are, we don’t want you there.
Go away or else.
A lot in what you say Denise. However, I still think there was a lot of personal resentment and fear of a Salmond political comeback alongside her desire to be a Me Too heroine.
People with penis’ are not women!
Humza is no justice minister and the
SNP don’t know a vote losing policy when it bites their arse!
To quote Denise.
“Sturgeon’s plan now is to run the 2021 Holyrood election as a presidential election focussing on her record. And from what we know of her character, regardless of the findings of either inquiry she will not resign and she will lead the SNP into that election.”
Another reason not to vote for SNP this May. Her record has been abysmal. Well that and the failure to hold a Referendum before covid 19 struck and still no cast iron promise to hold one. She has not had a good covid 19 – compare it to NZ.
Spot on Denise, agree with everything you’ve written here.
Popularity changes quickly when truth comes out
(Google ‘Nixon Popularity Graph’ for an example)
It’s all very well writing articles such as this, and people commenting on how bad the SNP/Sturgeon is, but I wonder how many of you are still members of the SNP.
I wonder how many of you will be rocking up to your local polling station on 6th May and putting one or two crosses next to the SNP?
People can moan all the like about the Hate Crime Bill, women’s rights (or lack of) etc. but if you keep putting the SNP in power you’ve no one to blame but yourself.
I really don’t get how folk cant see this in the cold light of day and that it is based on facts.
Unpleasant as it seems the FM has agendas and will not divert from them.
The real pity is that Independence does not feature as prominent.
But then Groucho Marx covered this so well regarding principles did he not ?
Reality is its not funny, its dangerous.
My own opinion given the venom of this entire thing is that she has ‘buyer’s regret’ of an historic dalliance but I could be well short of the mark.
I think you are right in identifying Sturgeon’s obstinate refusal to admit she can ever be wrong. This begs the question, did people in the corridors of power in London identify this too and decided to make use of it to derail the SNP?
It was a yet another tactical mistake by the NEW SNP to leave Denise outside the tent pissing in.
All they have now are wokies pissing over everything inside and out.
A prudent observation, Denise, thanks. Doesn’t bode well for Scotland’s future though.
I now wish for lots of things I never thought I would. A split in the party, with the woke/HCB crowd left to fester on their own. A prominent MP/MSP joining one of the new iParties for the list. Maybe even a new party establishing as quickly as Macron’s party did.
Despite current events – it’s important to mind, that we might be down…but we’re not out.
Saw this article posted on Twitter earlier. Sums up a lot of the worst people in politics these days. It’s also something I learned very young: if a guy chatting you up is telling stories of woe, esp about his previous girlfriends, run away very fast…
“After listening for almost twenty-five years to the stories my patients tell me about sociopaths who have invaded and injured their lives, when I am asked, “How can I tell whom not to trust?” the answer I give usually surprises people. The natural expectation is that I will describe some sinister-sounding detail of behavior or snippet of body language or threatening use of language that is the subtle give-away. Instead, I take people aback by assuring them that the tip-off is none of these things, for none of these things are reliably present. Rather, the best clue is, of all things, the pity play. The most reliable sign, the most universal behavior of unscrupulous people is not directed, as one might imagine, at our fearfulness. It is, perversely, an appeal to our sympathy.”
https://markrathbun.blog/2016/12/09/the-pity-play/
This explains the situation we are in very well, Denise – thank you.
Now what can be done? I have tried asking MSPs to act because it is only by a threat of resignation or similar that NS will be forced out. But none has done anything, seemingly.
It is dreadful – we are trapped under the control of someone who will not do anything other than a referendum, at some point, when what we need is a brilliant leader to seize the moment and get our independence back right now.
Very accurate article!
The old saying springs to mind;
“when people keep telling you who they are – believe them”
Well Nicola the champion of
The Wokerati, The S30 Referendum requirement, The Hate Bill, The Brexit UK Defence, The destroyer of internal party democracy etc,etc . I am convinced as to who and what you are.
“Garve Scott-Lodge says:
5 March, 2021 at 1:17 pm
“What puzzles many about the Alex Salmond situation is motive.”
So the motive is that Nicola Sturgeon wanted to “catch the fashion” of the MeToo movement? That’s it? Really?”
Err, no.
I think you missed the rest of it.
” Garve Scott-Lodge says:
5 March, 2021 at 1:17 pm
“What puzzles many about the Alex Salmond situation is motive.”
So the motive is that Nicola Sturgeon wanted to “catch the fashion” of the MeToo movement? That’s it? Really? ”
No, for that you need to go back to the person who first set the ball in motion – Woman H and her initial complaint against Alex to SNP HQ. If you know her identity then you understand the motive.
Nicola merely took the opportunity and ran with it. So no, I don’t think the entire plot was cooked up by Nicola to get Alex, but she certainly took advantage of the circumstances. As it all started unravelling bit by bit, that’s when all the lies came in, and when they deployed their “special asset” to provide a cloak of anonymity around the whole thing. Quite clever, when you think about it.
I am desperate for someone to blow this whole thing wide open! (with appropriate legal protections I might add – please don’t anyone be daft enough to spill on here or Twitter!)
I should also add that I don’t know if any of this is true. It’s just what I have managed to piece together from various journalists who have left enough clues. It certainly seems the most likely plot and one that all the pieces fit into.
I disagree with this view.
Sturgeon is not simply pig-headed, she is a neo-con globalist operative like so many other well-placed ("Quizmaster" - Ed)s all around the (mostly Western/US Empire) world.
For example, what business is it of the FM to immediately condemn Russia for the totally bogus Skripal story or the intense focus on RT? None of that has anything to do with Scotland, but it’s following a line that her true masters like to see her type dance along.
Sturgeon is not bungling independence, she is very skillfully and deliberately preventing independence. Just watch, all she has to do is get away with making sure independence does not happen for a few more years and then she will leave politics and move on to the lucrative book/interview/think-tank/foundation (maybe Clinton Foundation??) world that awaits her and her kind with its rewards.
Sturgeon is against independence.
Almost spot on Denise, I still think the reason she went after Salmond was because in an interview, Alex said he would return to politics after losing his seat in 2017 by running in this election, bare in mind no one even thought we would have another election in 2019, it was only a matter of months that the sexual allegations came out and we all know, throw enough shit and some will stick, Alex was effectively taken out of the game and why?
Because Sturgeon feared a potential threat to her leadership position, same reason Cherry had obstacles put in front of her, yes by the NEC, but like the Salmond affair, it has the stink of Sturgeon pushing the buttons, call it a conspiracy theory, but we all know a good conspiracy will have nothing written down, orders are given orally with no evidence to back things up giving Sturgeon plausible deniability
In all the talk around indyref2 I fear many people forget the words of the late Gordon Smith, long time former Leader of the SNP when it was only a very young party with a solid core of members, but roundly mocked by most Scots.
It was very simple but absolutely to the point.
“Scotland does not WANT a Referendum; it wants to WIN a Referendum.”
Stated again on the night of our fantastic win in the 2015 GE.
I am not pushing any ‘ends justify the means’ agenda, just to gently remind everyone what the end goal is. To win a referendum. It is not about me, you, him, her, but all of us, the Scottish People.
I have been around for quite a while and remember, just, Winnie Ewing winning a seat in WM. Not old enough to vote but the effect was electric. I wonder what she would think about her efforts ending up in scorched earth territory.
Great article Denise.
@Garve Scott-Lodge
This may appear far-fetched on the face of it.
But if you understand just how important it is for Sturgeon to be seen as a member of the neo-liberal Atlanticist club spearheaded by her self-confessed heroine Hillary Clinton it falls into place.
That and the fact she displays all the traits of sociopathic narcissist, of course.
Who does this remind you of?
Denise
I can’t fault any of what you write, but then, what do I know?
There is a Guardian Online opinion piece by Joan Smith (Chair of the Mayor of London’s Violence Against Women and Girls Board) available to read ATM. She paints it as a pure male-female gender war, with right all on the side of NS. Here’s a quote:
‘At the same time, it is hard to avoid seeing ancient archetypes at work. The SNP’s inner circle resembles a dysfunctional family where the father figure, Salmond, rages against the ungrateful daughter, Sturgeon, who has refused to afford him the protection he believes to be his due. She responded with a bravura performance before the Holyrood inquiry this week, challenging any such expectation on his part: “As first minister, I refused to follow the age-old pattern of allowing a powerful man to use his status and his connections to get what he wants.”’
After reading that article, I wonder if the SNP and maybe even the Scottish Independence movement needs to split in two: one party for rationalists, the other party for empathists. They can have different leaders, different policies and ultimately, different realities.
I can’t see how to bridge the gulf between what Joan writes and believes, and Stu writes and believes.
She appears to be showing a suite of psychological disorders.
Astonishing that everyone can’t see it. She is deranged.
Until Wednesday i didn’t think anyone could keep up that level of dishonesty for 8 hours.
Someone is going to have to go full on Wikileaks to expose her and the Betties.
Never mind the “Me Too” movement,
it’s more like “I’m always Right” insanity.
On the concept of hate crime.
“The result of preaching totalitarian doctrines is to weaken the instinct by which free peoples know what is or is not dangerous.”
George Orwell, Animal Farm
If NS doesn’t care about ‘unlawful processes’ as you say for the candidates lists why is she so insistent on the S30 ‘legal gold standard’? Seems to me she’s inconsistent on this as her main priority is to be woke and she’s not too bothered about a referendum (note all the indyref by next year promises made since the Brexit referendum)
What can one conclude from this? If UK wanted a friendly independista leader in Scotland how would such a person differ from the sainted NS?
Ironically NS asserted that unlike AS she can admit when she is wrong but has helpfully left it to others to agree she wasn’t – then she smirked as she mentioned her ‘confidence’ in James Hamilton QC.
Will anyone contest the outcome of the list process as ‘unlawful’? I would help crowdfund that if anyone believes they were put down the list unlawfully.
@Kapelmeister
I would imagine in London they have analysed her strengths and weaknesses psychologically in-depth as well as the prevailing mood of the Scottish Public. The now-defunct Union Unit is said to have included the implosion of the SNP as one of their wait and see strategies. It is conceivable they have been helping that along the way with well-placed Wormtongue advisers or activists.
Poor Liz Lloyd, what a lump of a girl. I was looking at that photie of her all sweaty in the US summer heat with her fair skin ( I do really sympathize) Sticking out like a sore thumb between Jenny and Kez making oogly eyes at each other. Ripe for the picking she was. A wee bit of attention and she would be anyones for a shandy. Loose lips sink ships as they say.
I don’t think there is any doubt that as a result of the ‘me too’ focus at the time 2 women made complaints. That was the opportunity that NS saw to smear Alex Salmond and prevent him from being either in a political role or the boss of a big newspaper where he could hold her to account and force her to deliver what we elected her to do. I have always thought that the SG really wanted to be seen to be taking some action on the back of ‘me too’ and did this not just give them the perfect opportunity to be out there and happening. And if things had gone the way they wanted then they would be being applauded for their innovative delivery of a bad guy, a former FM no less, to justice. Things spiraled out of control thereafter, for reasons that Denise describes, and we are where we are.
I work in project management and one thing that makes a good leader is someone who’s not afraid to change course when it becomes clear that an idea or plan isn’t working. In fact good leaders, positively embrace changes (not just lazy U turns) in plans after consultation with their colleagues and clients. Only a narcissistic, arrogant buffoon continues with a doomed course of action.
Sturgeon – please quit ASAP for the sake of Scotland!!
Excellent analysis Denise. Clearly and consistently argued to give a highly plausible narrative for the past few years’ events.
Since Yousaf(t in the heid) seems determined to press on with this highly suspect bill, we can only hope that enough of the sensible MSPs who are retiring have the mettle to vote against it.
Failing which, I predict the same fate for it as the legislation on football chanting/songs etc, which foundered because the legal system recognised it for the nonsense it was.
Whether By unfortunate coincidence or by design, we are only weeks from an election.
Do I vote for the Party which I joined, being the Party who campaigned and almost won Independence when Salmond was in charge, do I vote for another Party which supports Independence because I have become disillusioned with the current SNP leadership? Do I vote SNP in the hope she does the decent thing after the election, or members submit a vote of no confidence in her leadership, so we can get Independence back on track with a new leader or do I stay at home?
@Scaredy Cat at 1.17 pm
I am grand thank you, Scaredy Cat! Hope you’re well too.
Have got out of the habit of posting but am always here, reading avidly…
Hope we can all get another wee get-together soon x
Garve Scott-Lodge says:
5 March, 2021 at 1:17 pm
“What puzzles many about the Alex Salmond situation is motive.”
So the motive is that Nicola Sturgeon wanted to “catch the fashion” of the MeToo movement? That’s it? Really?
___
There was also the rumour he was going to get back into the game, therefore fear that he would “Swinney” her at first opportunity since her popularity had waned
You’d think that the problems caused by the personality cult of Tony Blair would still be fresh in people’s minds.
Oh well, at least THIS nutter can’t invade Iraq.
Great stuff, Denise.
That plus I also agree she has her eye on a big post abroad, UN or Clinton Foundation.
Remember she has a pic of her and Bill Gates, he is part of the NWO, believes the Earth’s population needs controlled.
Has she had help with all, the very obvious to those not easily fooled, SM interventions?
I have thought for a while, her whole persona is developed for the reality TV lot.
Ailsa Craig – Gordon Wilson not Gordon Smith.
ailsa craig says:
5 March, 2021 at 1:42 pm
In all the talk around indyref2 I fear many people forget the words of the late Gordon Smith, long time former Leader of the SNP when it was only a very young party with a solid core of members, but roundly mocked by most Scots.
It was very simple but absolutely to the point.
“Scotland does not WANT a Referendum; it wants to WIN a Referendum.”
Stated again on the night of our fantastic win in the 2015 GE.
I am not pushing any ‘ends justify the means’ agenda, just to gently remind everyone what the end goal is. To win a referendum. It is not about me, you, him, her, but all of us, the Scottish People.
I have been around for quite a while and remember, just, Winnie Ewing winning a seat in WM. Not old enough to vote but the effect was electric. I wonder what she would think about her efforts ending up in scorched earth territory.
———
Do you actually live on the ailsa craig ? That’s for the birds, literally .
Winnie went down to settle up, not down, like cosy feet and the fat controller.
Only a few of them there now like Joanna, Kenny, Angus and a few other could lace her boots.
I have a new word…bit like sycophants….
nicophants ? definition remains identical lol
Good article! That spells out the NS way.
‘Effigy says:
5 March, 2021 at 1:21 pm
People with penis’[sic] are not women!
Here’s a little ditty I’ve heard. It has a wee tune and a simple dance move, but folk may like to improvise their own..
Or just chant a line, for opportune moments and opponents.
‘Middle Wiggle – is – a biological male
Middle Wiggle – even though he may fail
Middle Wiggle – is – a biological male..
Middle Wiggle!’
..and repeat..
🙂
One of your best Stu.
You have absolutely nailed her to a tee. ” The Lady is not for turning”. She is a version of Margaret Thatcher alright!
She sends dissenters to the tower, she will not drop bad policies and she is autocratic and dogmatic.
At the heart of all of this is insecurity. She has self esteem issues from her youth and young adulthood. That’s why she fills her cabinet with nodding dogs and halfwits. She sees intelligence as a threat.
A good leader surrounds themselves with the best in the business. Because a strong team creates a strong government.
It’s tragic that so many have fallen for this bully.
We don’t elect Nicola as FM, MPs and MSPs do that. When was the last time that Party Leader was voted on?
Truth Denise. Heartbroken doesn’t begin to cover how I feel about it.
Until fairly recently was still open to voting SNP1 because well a) Indy and b) Kate Forbes.
Now that Kate has tweeted her loyalty to Nicola, for reasons of self preservation presumably, that’s both reasons for voting SNP gone.
Well at least the spoilt ballot means I’ll be able to sleep at night knowing I kept my integrity and self respect.
Ailsa Craig – You can’t win a referendum if you never get one. So your point is mute!
This is a good take, however I don’t think MeToo was what bought Sturgeon her current respectability. Brexit and Boris handed her the ultimate distraction.
We also have to distinguish between substantive and in-substantive disagreements. If you and I share a political party, and I want to be the leader, and I can’t convince you to agree with me on substantive matters (like the means of independence), and I also can’t stand for there to be differences of internal opinion, what I can do is pretend to have an extremely passionately held moral belief that 2+2=5. All my supporters will agree that not only does 2+2=5, but it’s also incredibly immoral to contradict me and assert that 2+2=4.
You and all your supporters, who don’t feel like drinking my kool aid, as the Americans say, can be purged. (Just substitute “biology is a thing” or “free speech matters” here.) HR departments and centrist political parties alike have taken to playing these wee mind games, and perhaps that reflects the fact that they’re kind of… stuffed with the same people..
To quote Denise,
“Sturgeon’s plan now is to run the 2021 Holyrood election as a presidential election”..
Wee typo there.. ‘ruin’.
The trouble with Nicola Sturgeon all her life is that she’s right and everyone else is wrong, and anyone who dares disagree with her more than once goes onto her “enemies” list for all time.
She will only accept an error if she’s allowed to figure it out for herself, if someone else proves it to her, they are perceived as a “threat”. She’s Hermione Granger on coke.
Without Salmond’s patronage, she’d have got nowhere in the SNP, where compromise and accepting not everyone plays the same notes when playing different instruments in an orchestra is a given.
She has the personal social skills of some ned’s Shark On A Lead and like Thatcher has grown worse with the hubris of no real opposition to her – unless you count Ruth Davidson, and any clown can play the Orange card for short term gain for one’s own career versus long term alienating the Catholic vote for another fifty years for her party.
The long term damage Sturgeon is doing is comparable to what Tony Blair did to Labour. For the price of three election victories, Blair sealed the party’s long term doom in its own heartlands to the effect that more Tories were elected north of Derby than Labour at the last general election – and all the signs are it could be decades before they ever win them back.
If the SNP under Sturgeon think turning as many “special interest” people into their own little woke squadristi is not going to have any long term consequences at the ballot box, they ought to remember Labour thought the same for far too long – and that was at least back in the pre-internet days when information sources were more spartan, and often in the control of those alligned to one of the two great political behomoths, Labour or Tory.
The internet has become the great leveller in the information wars – look no further than a games reviewer’s personal spleen venting blog now being the go-to trusted source for Scottish politics, primarily because longer established sources have discredited themselves so shamefully whereas someone with no financial incentives to bend their view did not.
In all fields of life, support only exists as long as trust and expediency do. When Sturgeon’s second referendum promises prove to be as much hot air as Blair’s “Weapons Of Mass Destruction”, what does she think the end results going to be?
I’ve a feeling she doesn’t even care, she’ll simply “retire” – her ego saited – and it will be the mugs left behind left to pick up the pieces and shoulder the blame (whilst she crows from the sidelines what “she” would have done – same as Blair with Labour today) whilst the party going into terminal decline for a decade or two. Scots voters are very slow to change. They’re even slower to forgive.
Absolutely unequivocally hit the nail square on the head with this article Denise.
Brilliant writing, articulating your points extremely well without having to dive into any divisive phrasing.
Thank you.
I think someone somewhere MUST have something ON NS.
She is particularly vulnerable to the Daily Record??
Re myself at 5 March, 2021 at 1:21 pm,
for the avoidance of doubt ? the dance move is basically a perfectly innocent side-to-side hip sway at the words ‘Middle Wiggle’, performed hands-free, or with hands on hips or jazz-handing at shoulder height, etc.
Enjoy!
Even the fact she turned up at the inquiry wearing a red outfit instead of a less loud ensemble rather indicates someone who has no interest in the sensibilities of others.
Thank you for writing this Denise.
Woman’s movements need to get this information out to voters before the May election.
ISP may be of help.
Thank you Denise for that very interesting article, they say that there’s a fair percentage of leaders and captains of industry that have psychotic tendencies, and a ruthless nature to go with it. Sturgeon is definitely ruthless, and she has the ego to go with it. Ultimately it will be we, the Scottish public that will suffer from the effects of her poorly thought out plans and policies.
As for independence, its clear she has no intentions of pushing it, but she’s canny enough to use it to gain votes.
I recall Sturgeon saying this.
“Nicola Sturgeon has said she is “obsessed” with keeping the SNP in power and not ending up in an “existential crisis” like Scottish Labour.”
“The First Minister said watching Labour go from being “impregnable” in Scotland to their current position as the third-largest party in the Parliament has profoundly influenced her leadership.”
https://www.aol.co.uk/news/2019/08/20/i-am-obsessed-with-keeping-snp-in-power-says-nicola-sturgeon/?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYmluZy5jb20v&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAEFkWFaYd3RqGll327k75IzqsSsadQvMr9QX8Db5VN1KlJZmElVMHiH0ZzMY9FObD_-hRbNWtx8uq8cpNRekoKYkBIz3dA3dWkEi0TdTLLKzTiM3_UIjOzZN-fBBK_Pt-kd9-tCl-MDJoLGPpr1-_q3zaf49-3lv8cYHfLZmzZu2
I always try to see politics in terms of personalities. This, along with NS’s acting skill, explains everything.
Not sure Denise. From where I am standing this looks a hell of a lot more complex than simply being a personality issue of a particular individual.
There are far too many actors here and the fingers of the British state on this are quite clear. Without collusion of the main stream media, broadcasters and members of the parliamentary committee, she would not have got away with continuing to smear an innocent man in the way she has been doing.
Without collusion with the opposition parties, there is no way this fraud would have remained in power a day beyond the 31 January 2019.
Without collusion with the opposition parties, there is no way this farcical parliamentary inquiry would have stretched for so long to keep her in power until the election. We are being told today that the greens will not support a VONC. Well, from there we will have to assume the greens find perfectly acceptable to suppress information from the public to keep a corrupt government in power: We do not have a functioning opposition. We are a one party state.
Without collusion with the British state, there is no way the UK civil service would have complied with pushing an unlawful procedure forward against legal advice, there is no way all that information would have been successfully suppressed for that long, there is no way people would have got away with perjury and lying under oath, there is no way the lord advocate would have got away with malicious prosecutions and there is no way the culprits would retain their posts after clear breaches of the civil service code of conduct and ministerial code.
That her personality may have been exploited here by the dark forces that now control the SNP to push Mr Salmond out of politics, sure, there is no doubt about that. But that this all happened just because of Sturgeon, when the only thing that was needed was for the MPs and MSPs to get together and chuck her out, I do not believe for even a second. She is just another British state pawn and is morphing the SNP into Blair’s New Labour.
This was never about wining or losing. This has always been about stopping Scotland’s independence in the longer term and stopping a plebiscite in the short term. Every move this woman has made since 14 Nov 2014 has been in that direction. Helping the British state to push Mr Salmond away from the SNP and politics is of course part of that agenda.
Clavie Cheil says:
5 March, 2021 at 1:21 pm
To quote Denise.
Another reason not to vote for SNP this May. Her record has been abysmal. Well that and the failure to hold a Referendum before covid 19 struck and still no cast iron promise to hold one. She has not had a good covid 19 – compare it to NZ.
___________
I’m a Scot living in New Zealand, have done for over 50 years.
If Jacinda Ardern was governing as Nicola is, She would be out on her arse pronto. This type of governance isn’t acceptable here.
I would stick with my more simple and classic theory that to “win” in politics you must accumulate more power, more quickly than your rivals, and as soon as you’re in office, you must ruthlessly consolidate that power.
Again, I urge everyone to watch the incredible three part documentary “Death in Leon” on Amazon Prime/TV if you have access. It illustrates how it’s done, why it’s done and why it’s likely to go wrong.
The saliva is running down Ruthie chin, hands knotted and twisting, she will gain the highest position and accolades by becoming ruler and princess of the whole of Scotland.
She let that slip a few years back,I guess we can give her some credit for never taken her eye of the goal. She’s now ready to kick and scrap her way to the top.
I feel sorry for all the genuine snp loyal members who have been shut up and shut down including ourselves,
I have no doubt that if NS could do this to AS that behind closed doors other genuine SNP members have been threatened too, and we have seen this in the bigger picture through the NEC and Joanna Cherry,
Are we bringing them all down this year, or just NS, husband and her entourage of favourite civil servants and Husaf.
Before the vote in May I would like to know the bigger picture, ie , who or what vehicle will the people of Scotland be left with for an immediate solution for gaining independence,
Surely Murray, Hirst, Salmond, Cherry, etc have not been fighting and losing precious time and freedoms for it to all be ground into the dust this year,
The corruption in Scotland is planned corruption and designed to make independence go as far away as possible, we have been watching this activity by opposition for a good number of years now,
I remember many comments here not so long ago acknowledging that we all knew how serious the opposition would get in the future, the closer it looked that independence might be achieved, or when more than 50 percent of Scots wanted independence, that they would throw everything at us and use every dirty trick in the book,
Well now they have shown how deep down and dirty they can go. And NS is with them.
Do we accept defeat and scrap a party that stood for Scottish independence for more than seventy years and many have died hoping and believing in,
It’s up to us to clean out the scum and to vet the people before we vote them in, it’s up to us not to trust politicians just because they smile and have the speil, to look beyond the persona, to check their contacts and associates out, it up to us to see whom they hang around with,
It’s also up to us to ensure that the grassroots is never again separated from the party, we failed too, when we trusted the infiltration of the SNP by being so naive, we were innocents in a political world,
Well now we know
Where do we go from here, do we rid ourselves of the seventy year old party that has held many esteemed names in it, or scrap it.
I for one would like know before Election Day.
Very well analysed Denise. You are of course correct. Any woman who succeeds in politics has to have a ruthless streak.
She is prone to inflexibility. Probably has “past” history and bad relationships. Her use of “powerful men using their position” seemed personal, and that of course fits with your description. She was primed by someone very close to her. Probably someone who used the same sympathy technique to try and secure advancement as a form of compensation.
However they didn’t reckon on Nicola’s character as you describe . Once she had that thought it was only going one way. To hell in a basket.
She is not a leader.
Natal – Bear in mind Nicola and Peter have an injunction on their personal life. The Record have it but can’t report it, or someone does time. We all know the story though.
HOW DO YOU SPOT A PSYCHOPATH?
lack of empathy
refusal to acknowledge or accept responsibility for consequences of actions (it’s always, always, someone else’s fault)
irresponsible/reckless behavior
violating the rights of others
habitual lying
highly manipulative, hurts others.
violating the law
A trial of destruction is always their legacy.
A psychopath is born a psychopath.
A sociopath is made.
A sociopath will get enraged.
A psychopath will get even.
Thank you for that piece Denise. It certainly explains a helluva lot.
Unless something drastic happens between now and the election, I’m afraid I won’t be voting. I cannot just hold my nose and vote for this corrupt thing that the SNP as a party has become. I’m not a party member but always voted for them as a way to independence. I’m in my seventies now, and always hoped that I would see it in my lifetime. That hope has gone now.
When and if there should be another referendum I would vote for it. But I cannot in all good conscience vote for the present SNP. I most certainly will not vote for any unionist party of whatever political hue. As I have no one to vote for, I, and I suspect I won’t be alone, will stay at home.
Is there no one within the SNP with any decency or principle to stand up to this bunch of wokies and genderwoowoo, or will the party be destroyed. The carrot will be eternally dangled that there will be a referendum, but always an excuse for there not to be.
Kiwi- Her record is non existent policy wise.
The only good thing was the Baby Box, but in 6 years nothing else.
As for her independence strategy, it doesn’t exist. Unless waiting is a strategy.
There are several dangerous fanatics around Mrs Murrell.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_lady%27s_not_for_turning#:~:text=%22The%20lady's%20not%20for%20turning,Conference%20on%2010%20October%201980.&text=It%20is%20considered%20a%20defining,something%20of%20a%20Thatcherite%20motto.
Marie – There may have been a few twitchers on Tuesday night, but they fell back into line when Sturgeon gave her BAFTA performance.
When the truth finally comes out, and it will. This is going to make one hell of a film. Lets hope it has a happy ending.
The Good Law Project announce-
3 days after the High Court ruled Government had acted unlawfully by failing to publish Covid contracts, Boris Johnson stood up in the House of Commons and reassured MPs and the public that all Covid-related contracts were “on the record”. However, the final Order handed down by the Judge today shows that what the Prime Minister told the House was not true.
The Judge confirmed:
“The Defendant has published 608 out of 708 relevant contracts for supplies and services relating to COVID-19 awarded on or before 7 October 2020. In some or all of these cases, the Defendant acted unlawfully by failing to publish the contracts within the period set out in the Crown Commercial Service’s Publication of Central Government Tenders and Contracts: Central Government Transparency Guidance Note (November 2017).”
Remarkably, the Judge’s Order is based on Government’s own figures – so at the same time as Johnson was falsely reassuring MPs, Government lawyers were preparing a statement contradicting him – revealing 100 contracts and dozens of Contract Award Notices were missing from the public record. You can read the final Court Order here and consequential judgment in full here.
Over the course of our judicial review, Government made no less than four attempts to provide an accurate witness statement setting out the number of contracts and Contract Award Notices that had been published late – and they kept getting it wrong. As late as the hearing itself, they said they had published 28% of Contract Award Notices within the 30 day legal limit.
There is more to read but of course I want wee Baroness Ruthless to Demand the resignations of Boris and Patel for breaking the Ministerial code.
I also expect the BBC’s Cook, Smith and Wark to condemn these crooks and have them thrown out!
Not sure how this squares with NS’s comments after losing the 21 MPs where she said that after listening to people she would focus on Brexit and someone else should pick up the Indy torch, SIC if I remember correctly.
As for falsely accusing a man of sexual assault, not as rare as I’d thought. What is unusual is that the man stood up to the accusations rather than slink away and that the court threw out the accusations. Will not stop the continued attacks though, hey ho, that’s equality for ya
https://goodlawproject.org/update/johnson-misled-parliament/
Any chance of someone in SNP taking a swipe at Boris and Westminster
for Boris breaking the Ministerial code or is this cocks in frocks day?
Wow. Denise, superb. She’s ruthless and stubborn and without much depth. Explains so much. Her vulnerability to (often insincere) flattery has also concerned me. She really seems to believe all of it, and it makes her easy to mould.
The article above might just be the final nail in the SNP coffin as far as I’m concerned. I can’t see how I can justify voting for President Sturgeon in any shape or form.
The article below comes from Twitter: how to spot a sociopath…
https://markrathbun.blog/2016/12/09/the-pity-play/
Re Harassment and Complaints Committee ,
The Committee will meet next on Friday 5 March at 1.30pm when it will consider its draft report in private. This meeting will be held virtually .
Agenda for the meeting ,
1. Review of Evidence (in private): The Committee will review the evidence heard on the inquiry.
2. Draft Report (in private): The Committee will consider its draft report.
@Cath
Rather, the best clue is, of all things, the pity play. The most reliable sign, the most universal behavior of unscrupulous people is not directed, as one might imagine, at our fearfulness. It is, perversely, an appeal to our sympathy.
Yes, I agree. If you play back the committee meeting with Nicola, It’s all there for you to see.
I cringed when I heard her at times.
I kept thinking, you feel hurt, What about Alex?
He had to go through a horrendous experience that many men couldn’t have.
This girl isn’t right in the head. I don’t even think she knows who she really is as a person, She said a couple of weeks ago, something along the lines, something about feeling like a fraud, she doesn’t belong where she is. I can’t remember the word she used. Being old my memory on words of descriptions aren’t the best. LOL
I can’t disagree with anything in this article.
The turning point for me, was when N.Sturgeon came out as a H.Clinton fan girl. That told me all I needed to know about N.Sturgeon.
@Christian Wright
Psychopaths can empathize but it is very much a choice.
https://www.psypost.org/2019/12/psychopathic-individuals-have-the-ability-to-empathize-they-just-dont-like-to-55022
The phrases ‘you can’t help feeling sorry for…or I would feel terrible if that happened to me…’ rarely apply to them because it is very much up to them as and when a performance of empathy is needed or desired.
We saw 8 hours of that on Wednesday.
One good thing about Sturgeon, she has, with relative swiftness, stripped all hardcore Scottish nationalists of our illusions. The regrouped indy movement is going to be leaner, meaner and keener.
In March 2017 The Herald published an article “The former First Minister, who led the nationalists between 1990-2000 and 2004-2014, insisted he would “never say never” to a third spell.
With Nicola Sturgeon potentially about to call a second independence referendum, despite little movement in the polls since 2014, pundits are already speculating about who could replace her if her gambit fails and she steps down”
The Times published an article in July 2017 “Alex Salmond has given a clear hint that he intends to stand in future Westminster or Holyrood elections.
Mr Salmond, 62, the former first minister, lost his Gordon seat to the Conservatives at the election last month but has suggested that he will return to frontline politics, partly so he can improve his electoral record”.
There was the bit when she was talking about Salmond and when she heard , and how horrific it was.
Her voice started to break as would happen when upset. Except is didn’t come across that way. It looked very like a staged lost voice. She then said looking doe eyed at the camera :” I think I should stop there”.
The interesting thing about fake emotions is. That actors learn to bring on tears by imagining themselves in the situation of the part they are playing. A kind of method acting. I think she should get a refund on the acting class lessons!
Thank you Denise,
I could not argue with any of your points.
For the first time I can vote in the May elections, but how could I as a woman vote for the SNP with regards to their self ID policy.
Nicola talks about the wellbeing of 13 women in the Alex Salmond case, how about the wellbeing of half the Scottish population, we are about to lose women only safe spaces.
It is like Turkeys voting for Xmas.
Yes, the consequences could be very grave indeed, Denise.
However, I’m not sure that her psychopathy stems solely from a fear of losing. I think she is unable to let go and admit that she could be wrong.
Very often life is not about winning or losing, but doing the right thing. And Nicola Sturgeon seems to have an inability to do the right thing.
I would add two items to this;
First as I’ve outlined more than once is Sturgeon’s hopeless capacity to think strategically. One prime example [there are many), being the “Do nothing until we know the final details of Brexit” strategy, which at a stroke, crippled Scotland’s capacity to engage with or disrupt Brexit until it was all over. ‘Genius’. More? How about waltzing past Scotland’s Constitutional Sovereignty then running into the buffers because you’ve presented Westminster with the dubious gift of a Constitutional veto over Scottish Democracy. Never saw that coming did we? (Err, yes, yes we did see that coming, but the strategic geniuses of the SNP ‘knew best’ and wouldn’t be warned).
And second, because her reactions to events are so plodding and pedestrian, they are also predictable, and any half-way competent Opposition party, (which lucky for the SNP we don’t have), would have Sturgeon set up like hopeless automaton walking into one bear trap after another.
Sturgeon is killing us. Independence is DOOMED until she’s gone and her network of scheming and manipulative carpet baggers are booted out.
Mark Boyle 2.09pm ” Scots voters are very slow to change. They’re even slower to forgive”
They are also it appears even slower to catch on.
There’s billboards and a plane flying over Edinburgh with “# Resign Sturgeon “ in huge letters
.
Just been sent pics of them if you’d like me to send them I’d be happy to Rev.
Wings flying over Edinburgh?
See you Jimmy,yoove taken that too far!
The article has a lot of merit but for me one of the most puzzling things in all of this is the sheer silence of the rest (apart from the obvious ones) of the SNP politicians.
Are they so scared to stand up to Sturgeon that they abandon their integrity and are prepared to sit back and watch this woman destroy the SNP and with it independence or is it just that they are only interested in their nice fat pay cheque.
Look the thing is , we can all be stubborn when we are proved wrong about something. It’s fine to be stubborn , but there comes a point where your stubbornness starts damaging your judgement.
Saying sorry is hard sometimes. However you don’t always have to apologise . Sometimes it only requires an acknowledgement that something isn’t working and you remedy it and move on.
What we have with Sturgeon is a lack of internal humility. She can’t even just drop a policy and move on, never mind apologising.
I was wrong about Sturgeon. I often defended her when others on here told me she was conning us about independence. I finally had to accept it after the GE in 2019. What I was clinging onto was faith and hope. That was driving my process.
Once you accept that you have been conned , it’s painful , but also liberating. Because you learn the truth and you will not have the trick played on you again.
I am glad I am not one of her nodding dogs anymore. I left the SNP after 32 years. Because it’s no longer my party. There is nothing for me in the SNP now.
If you think of the handful of members Scottish Labour has left from the old days. They are the people that will be left in the SNP from the old guard. Only because they can’t see the truth.
I didn’t leave the party , the party left me.
I’m re-posting this because I sent it to the last piece without realizing there was a new one. I hope lots of people will make their views known about the Hate Crime Bill before Wednesday. Let’s inundate the MSP’s mailbox like we did in January!
I have just sent an email to my MSP (John Swinney) my 7 list MSP’s and I also copied in Douglas Ross, Anas Sarwar, Willie Rennie, Partick Harvey and Lorna Slater. The email was written in response to FOR WOMEN SCOTLAND who are requesting we all get our voices heard when the Hate Crime Bill is debated and voted on next Wednesday in Parliament! “We want to press for ‘sex’ to be added to Part 1 of the Bill and, since the freedom of speech protections remain weak, we will also be calling for Part 2 to be scrapped”. Personally I think it should all just be scrapped/shelved and that the way the SNP are trying to push this through before the election is outrageous.
I am getting quite good at writing to MP’s and MSP’s with my views – it gets easier with practice! Do they even listen though? The last time my emails were about the amendments to the same Bill at stage 2 and the only one who sent me a reply was Murdo Fraser! He said, “My own view on the matter, and that shared by my Scottish Conservative colleagues, is that we need to have the maximum protection for our free speech. I also remain very concerned about Part 2 of the Bill in its entirety. Unless this is removed altogether, or substantially amended, it would be my intention to vote against the Bill at Stage 3. Whilst we do need to take tackling hate crime seriously, we cannot afford any further restrictions of free speech in Scotland today”. No other replies – yet. In fact I have NEVER had a reply to emails on any subject sent to SNP.
Thatcher was a weapon. Her handlers blocked her from so many initiatives she felt drawn to, leaving her with only those her handlers wanted her to focus on.
Sturgeon is very like Thatcher.
Natal XX and proud says:
5 March, 2021 at 2:14 pm
I think someone somewhere MUST have something ON NS.
She is particularly vulnerable to the Daily Record??
At the committee meeting Jackie bailey said something about the time the Alex Salmond Story was leaked to the newspaper, there was a story about her “Nicola” that was due to be released.
It seems now there is an injunction on that story being told.
I guess having the LA in your pocket does help one out of difficulties. LOL
@Highland Wifie
Please wait to see who is top of the SNP’s Highland list first. Because if it is Rhiannon Spear you definitely want to vote for Kate Forbes as the more constituency seats the SNP win the less likely it is they’ll get a list seat.
@Kiwilassie
The name you were looking for was “Imposter Syndrome”& she was right-she didn’t belong in that role. It was always on the cards that her failures would amamalgamate to bring the walls around her tumbling down. Even people with the best of intentions cannot continue to support a fraud once their actions become known.
Personally, I can’t wait for the full evidence & names to come out as that would be a welcome bloodletting for the common good. Metaphorically speaking of course. The truth must out!Too many of us know the names & I hate keeping secrets especially when that silence continues the unjust victimisation of one man.
Excellent article.
The sign of a bad manager is they typically are aggressive, making bad decisions yet backing them to the hilt, dissmissing or punishing those who might argue otherwise.
That is Nicola Sturgeon. She lacks the true talent of Alex Salmond, so puts on a ‘front’ that she is correct, no matter what. Thus we have the stupid, stupid, stupid, section 30 nonsense, over and over again, which everybody KNOWS is utterly pointless.
With her seemingly endless spiteful sniping at Alex Salmond, and what seems to me to be her implying he is ‘really’ guilty, despite being completely innocent, the SNP cannot move on. It really won’t do.
I cannot stand the woman now, and I genuinely used to be a fan. I wish she would just go quietly – if she makes some vague excuse for her decision, so be it. She should just go, and let independence and the SNP move forward.
Nicolae Ceau?escu was a delusional paranoid sociopath.
I’m seeing similarities – and not just in the first name…
The Resign Sturgeon flying banner seems to be by a shadowy yoon group launched last summer and called The Majority.
Have a look at Sturgeon’s involvement in Pat Kane’s election for rector at Glasgow University in 1990. In relation to the Students’ Representative Council.
She’s been in too long that’s why imo thought she could pull it off with her prepped clique
A win win smug smart smile on her face see off the main man and capture the women’s vote
When the time comes for the instigators to face justice if by civil court route I’ll promise £200.00
as I don’t believe Alex is a wealthy man
This site has all the posters emails why not crowd fund would send a fearful message to the believed
powerful
She has kept her cards close to her chest quite well for the last six years. It is only with her moves in the last couple of years that you begin to realise how inadequate she is as a leader. Sure, she would be a competent, if unspectacular, middle manager with some rigid beliefs, nurtured and encouraged by her local church group or similarly zealous outfit, but promoting someone like that beyond her capabilities won’t benefit the organisation.
Where is the vision? The memorable speeches or campaigns, the strategic victories or the shaming of Westminster/ Boris Johnson? Even Ruth Davidson was a more effective critic of Johnson. No, there is nothing there, just a dogged administrator determined to impress people with her zeal for paperclips and office stationery. No wonder she shrinks from independence, concealing her doubts with a fog of smoke and mirrors. She retreats to her safe zone – covid briefings and misleading stats about how ‘well’ she is doing, ignoring the justified criticism, botched projects and colossal misuse of public funds. The SNP’s dominance has allowed her to avoid all criticism and examination, and she has remodelled the party into a fan club, with no internal debate or scrutiny. No wonder it is looking bereft of major, radical policies, of the kind Scotland needs.
Like people without vision themselves she relies on her cohort to supply it for her, and ends up with alienating policies on gender and hate crimes, which together would mean more Alex Salmond cases, since anyone with a different opinion, like Joanna Cherry, would be accused of ‘hate’ just for wanting a grown up debate about the issues. Meanwhile the big issues of independence and governance are ignored and punted to the side.
There’s no chance of real, viable indpendence with her. As far as you can tell, her vision of it is Holyrood with a few bells on, but with her as the undisputed despot in charge of it all.
SilverDarling says: “Psychopaths can empathize but it is very much a choice”
Low quality research on its face. n=278 unverified international participants through an anonymous online survey shared on the online platform LinkedIn.
Of course, psychopaths have self-empathy.
Anyway, we digress.
@Netflix commissioner
I’d also be very happy to contribute to an AS crowdfunder. I doubt whether Alex has the personal funds sufficient to go back to court again either.
Big Jock says:
5 March, 2021 at 2:27 pm
Natal – Bear in mind Nicola and Peter have an injunction on their personal life. The Record have it but can’t report it, or someone does time. We all know the story though.
What if someone from overseas spills the beans on them?
Will it put the site in jeopardy? Rev Stu can you answer this.
@Christian Wright
I’ll concede the research is not great but you are seeing this as an attack when I was trying to put another layer on the black or white ‘they cannot empathize’.
Take care
@Kiwilassie – imposters syndrome? Maybe not her words though!
The proof is that she let the super incompetent Boris get the better of her.
When he said no to the Section 30 , she just walked away. Same for Theresa May. She had no answer to her refusal. All empty words and threats, but no substance.
Alex would have gone in with at least 5 counter strategies , and come back with a referendum.
The article points to her stubbornness and stubborn people don’t plan anything. They just carry on like Terminator with a failed strategy. She is a one trick pony , not a strategist or a leader.
Basically she’s a spoilt wee cunt.
Alex Salmond can take some of the blame for this.
Lenin/Stalin written all over it.
How do the football insults/behaviour/hatred Act and the “Named Person” scheme fit in to this narrative?
Were they also driven by Sturgeon?
I recall that unfortunately the Named Person thing had to be blocked at the UK Supreme Ct, since the Ct of Session allowed it. I can’t recall how the football thing eventually got killed off.
We also have the daft “baby box” scheme, where that was a trivial part of the related scheme in some Scandinavian country, and the other parts of their scheme were more significant. Was that something adopted and pushed by Sturgeon, or was some other minister responsible for it?
Kiwi – It can’t be printed in Scotland ,or written on any blog. Someone overseas can print the story in that country, on a foreign news site though.
Sturgeon’s desire to win at all costs no doubt plays a huge part in her motivation, but I wonder how she managed to change the SNP organisation to formalise her power.
Many years ago I saw Blair on TV give a speech at a conference. It was when he wanted to change Labour’s Clause 4 in it’s Constitution. It was a hugely contentious issue and I remember that he wasn’t wearing a jacket, something that made the huge amount of sweat on his shirt very obvious and therefore made it clear that he was under a huge level of stress. It was obvious this was a key moment in his power bid and to the future direction of the Labour Party.
Leaving aside her motivation’s, I just wonder how Sturgeon has effectively managed to do likewise with the SNP. There doesn’t seem to have been any such a key central moment as was evident with Blair. Another article by Denise outlined changes to the SNP in and from 2018 (Constitution, NEC, etc), which while enlightening, doesn’t clarify how these changes happened without there being any apparent opposition. Whatever happened, it seems that the checks & balances of the SNP weren’t up to the job.
Someone earlier mentioned that the UK Government will have a very detailed psychological profile of NS. I am sure that this is correct. I think they see her as the lesser threat. In addition,the reach of GCHQ is immense,and very deep. Who knows what intelligence they possess and has NS been made aware of it?
Sturgeon didn’t have to knowingly be a British plant. They knew her character traits and smoothed the path for her to damage the SNP and the independence movement. I have wondered why the Crown Office seemed to be in her pocket. They must be under orders to help her stay in power, where she can do most damage. And the silly woman seems to think that she has been outwitting her opponents with her genius.
The worst thing that happened to the SNP was winning 56 of 59 in 2015. It made us all think Sturgeon knew what she was doing. It made Sturgeon think she was the greatest.
Denise Findley thinks Nicola Sturgeon dominates her party and is focused on winning.
I saved you reading through that awful waffle.
“Once an idea is in her head it’s set in concrete, no matter what”
Rewind and start again.
Why would anyone with a sound mind defend a convicted Frauder ?
https://www.sundaypost.com/news/scottish-news/sturgeon-almost-resigned-over-defence-of-convicted-fraudster/
In all good conscience I can’t vote against women’s rights so if the GRA reform is in the manifesto, which it will be because she doesn’t have the strength of character to back down, for the first time in 35 years I won’t be voting SNP. I can’t give them my constituency vote, and I’ve yet to decide on my list. I’ll always be an Independence supporter, but the fault for putting me in a position where I cannot vote for them falls squarely on the shoulders of Nicola Sturgeon. And for that, I will never forgive her.
Does anyone remember when Nicola Sturgeon made a big mistake during her tenure as Health secretary in the 2007—2011 administration. Everyone thought she would have to resign. But she gave such an excellent speech in parliament that it saved her job. I remember this vividly, but I can’t find any mention of it on Wikipedia or BBC or search engine. Did this happen as I remember it?
@Big Jock 5 March, 2021 at 2:52 pm
“There was the bit when she was talking about Salmond and when she heard , and how horrific it was. Her voice started to break as would happen when upset. Except is didn’t come across that way. It looked very like a staged lost voice. She then said looking doe eyed at the camera : I think I should stop there. ”
It’s hard to beleive that anyone who has worked so closely with Salmond over 30 years could not have seen evidence of bad behaviour , so it either never happened at all or she is lying big style. Maybe there is something else she doesn’t want to come out, secret tryst or not so secret tryst ?
What a good article, and explains a lot of the character of Nicola Sturgeon. The fact that she would willingly jail an innocent man, a man who got her where she is, a man who Sturgeon did not see any inappropriate behaviour in 30 years, shows exactly what type of person she is.
Her good ratings will get her through this election but that’s all. Even if the Fabiani and Hamilton enquiries find against her, which we know they should, she will at best step down and say let the people decide.
She is the most untrustworthy person that anyone could imagine, knife a close friend of 30 years in the back for personal gain. And then when caught do her best to use the finances and secrecy of the Scottish parliament to hide her cover up.
The SNP is now corrupt, we know this, ring fenced funds, NEC, etc and now she has corrupted the Scottish Goverment .
She must go, even if dragged screaming, otherwise Indy will never come.
I am still a member of SNP trying to see how we fight from within, but I think SNP is gone, and a New party capable of winning HR 26 must rise, and then we will take our Independence.
A great book on sociopathy is by Martha Stout. “The Sociopath next Door”. She indeed says look out for the pity play. If you compare Alex and Nicola on this it’s stark. He faced jail and has had his reputation dragged through the gutter. He referred once in his opening statement to over two years of a living nightmare. Beyond that there was nothing. Meanwhile Nicola never stopped droning about her and the impact on her. “Poor me.” Then the “poor women” and aligned herself with the wronged sisterhood over evil men and while doing so took even more smearing swipes at Alex.
This was both worrying and revealing.
Also sociopaths thrive on loyal followers who they enjoy hood winking. Plenty of the gullible around to support her.
She will be mad about her guard slipping at the covid briefing. That was a howler. She is indeed another Tony Blair. It’s all a performance. I’d say Tony was arguably better at it though.
Will leave you with this from Martha Stout.
When confronted with a destructive outcome that is clearly their doing, they will say, plain and simple, “I never did that,” and will to all appearances believe their own direct lie.
Martha Stout, The Sociopath Next Door
.
Probably O/T but I go back to a jolly to the USA under the auspices (and paid for by the USA) of “USAinUK Scottish Opinion Leaders” in July 2016. Can any one explain why the following were considered Scottish Opinion Leaders?
Liz Lloyd – Civil Servant
Davie Clegg – Editor of the Daily Record
David Ross – Kezia Dugdale’s Official spokesman
Land Banks – WWF Scotland
The other three people on the junket were all MSP’s.
This all appears to be bang-on.
I would love to get a psychologist’s view the language and sentence structure that Sturgeon uses. Here are some of her greatest hits-
ARROGANT DEFLECTION:
“This isn’t a criticism of the committee, I understand you have all been put in a very difficult position, BUT [insert criticism]”
I DON’T REALLY NEED TO ANSWER YOU BECAUSE YOU WOULD QUESTION ME REGARDLESS OF WHAT I DO. (THAT I’M THE ELECTED LEADER OF THE COUNTRY IS INCONSEQUENTIAL):
“I’ll hold my hand up and say that we’ve made mistakes, of course, and we’ll learn from them, but no doubt if I’d done as you suggested you would be criticising me for that too, so there we go”.
FALSE EMPATHY:
“I UNDERSTAND [insert false disclaimer of empathy] the difficulty my actions have caused the nation/businesses/education of our young people – but it is basically the only possible course of action that there is”.
I think you also need to look at Sturgeon’s motivation in terms of politicians who want to make their name historically. An undamaged Salmond would have been seen as at least having equal standing with Sturgeon as the person who lead Scotland to independence should it ever happen. A damaged Salmond though would leave her as the politician who would be remembered as the primary architect though with Salmond simply as badly damaged goods. I think her ego has become enormously inflated and that this is at least part of her psychological motivation, whether consciously or not.
Excellent post Denise! The Chicken Supreme Chancellors committee appearance was something else, full of bravado and look at me, I’m the only big cheese around these parts.
The SNP and Union bumholes keep saying at every opportunity; will someone please think of the poor womxn at the heart of this fiasco! I thought the majority womxn jury found the febreeze 9 to be untruthful and found the real victim not guilty?
The problem is, if we don’t give our constituency 1st vote to the SNP, then the freakazoids will have a better chance on the list 2nd vote. SNP 1st vote and ISP or AFI 2nd vote may still be the best option, with exception of the Borders areas.
robertknight says:
5 March, 2021 at 3:23 pm
Quote:-
“Nicolae Ceau?escu was a delusional paranoid sociopath.
I’m seeing similarities – and not just in the first name…”
It took the destruction of the Romanian economy AND rationing of food and power, both sold overseas to raise funds to pay of the massive debts that the country had run up, to trigger revolution. Along with the securitat to enforce the most brutal of the warsaw pact police states.
The parallels start to sound frighteningly familiar.
Please stop confusing psychosis and psychopathy. Although a psychopath may end up psychotic, they are different things.
Likewise, it is wrong to speculate where her psychopathy (if she is) stems from. Psychopaths are not created, they are born.
Rather than play the armchair psychiatrist. Just see her as a bad bastard, and your credibility is intact.
SilverDarling says: “…you are seeing this as an attack when I was trying to put another layer on the black or white ‘they cannot empathize’.”
I said they lack empathy. Lack of affective empathy for others is a signature trait of psychopathy. Pretending to empathise it’s not evidence of the capacity to empathise affectively.
Fin.
My growing doubts regarding the character of NS were crystalised in an instant seeing her malevolent glee at the result of Jo Swinson losing her seat. A smarter cookie would have dissembled rather better. NS is a Stalinist-it’s not enough to win, the opposition has to be destroyed.
Bob Maxwell says:
5 March, 2021 at 4:19 pm
“The problem is, if we don’t give our constituency 1st vote to the SNP, then the freakazoids will have a better chance on the list 2nd vote. SNP 1st vote and ISP or AFI 2nd vote may still be the best option, with exception of the Borders areas”
———————————————————-
Fuck you are a depressing bastard Bob. What a horrible thought. I really don’t want to vote SNP in the constituency vote and I am in H&I regionally. Fuck fuck fuck!!!!
Unless I am wrong and no doubt someone will correct me, I believe the motives with regard to the problem ” Alex Salmond ” are he was asking why , why no progress on Independence he declined to offer support to a woman he thought wasn’t up to the standard of what a MSPs in his opinion should be , It was feared he would again enter politics and that threat couldn’t be allowed , he went further he attempted to buy the Scotsman Newspaper , that was blocked , he did join RT and was widely condemned by the SNP group at Westminster and by Blackford in particular he was becoming a embarrassment not to a lot of people in Scotland but to the SNP management he had to be stopped the warnings didn’t work so it had to be permanently removed I believe it maybe got out of hand and gained a momentum all of its own to many people were involved and that were not always under control they might have been trying to be noticed as being very good at what they were doing , the idea of somewhere in the region of 400 people being interviewed and a 40 strong unit spending well over a year investigating one man is frankly a bit excessive to put in mildly
Who or whatever group were calling the shots had to win they had to cover the whole shitshow because they had to get results they needed to be proved right in order to justify the effort . .
You can vote with your heart or vote with your head. The indy movement is not reading the global situation well. Europe is over no going back, the Democrats are continuing trump’s foreign policy with no $15 dollar min wage etc.
The new world order hss already failed and about to be replaced by the free world commission and the D10 democratic trading block.
Europe looks like it is about to be dedtroyed in a trade war and scotland is a moral fascist dictatorship.
Lollysmum says:
5 March, 2021 at 3:21 pm
@Kiwilassie
The name you were looking for was “Imposter Syndrome”& she was right-she didn’t belong in that role.
Thanks Lollysmum. I had an elderly moment there. LOL
Yes I so agree with you, regarding that the unjust victimisation of one man. He has given his life to Scotland & the quest for Independence. Any Scot that disrespects him In my eye is a walloper.
So let’s see it is a bad thing that NS is obsessed about winning and wanting to destroy her opponents.
I see that as a positive trait as i want her to obliterate the Unionists at coming elections, it is about time the YES movement was as motivated and determined as the Brexit lot were.
Brexit voters couldn’t have cared less if the PM had headbutted the Queen rather than just lie to her, as long as he got Brexit done.
If we don’t have Pro Indy majority come May 7th you can be sure the Pro Unionists will work with Westminster to make it almost impossible to have one for decades.
I will worry about party leadership and what should be done after these elections. That will be the time to have all the infighting because we will be in position to do so.
‘Keep right on to the end of the road:-) I’m with you on this Ms Findlay. However I have a feeling that she wanted Mr Salmond out of the way and the ‘Me Too’ legislation started of as a little hobby horse and then was used to threaten Mr Salmond. I suspect that they all thought he would back off at one point or another – and he didn’t. But I don’t know whether she’s ambitious enough to create a policy simply to destroy someone and you obviously know her much better.
I agree with Denise’s points but they don’t go far enough.
Nicola Sturgeon (and don’t forget Murrell) has had Alex Salmond in her sights since (if not before) he protested against her husband remaining in post as CEO of the SNP once she became leader, despite the clear conflict of interest. Furthermore, Alex Salmond was rightly critical of NS’s lacklustre approach to independence including her waste of the SNP’s outstanding success in the 2015 Westminster election.
Some may recall her churlish refusal to allow Alex Salmond to enter the Scottish Parliament when he was participating in pre-agreed press release to hand over the large donation to the Charity. As a result, the photo had to be taken outside the building, a disrespectful approach to the Charity and donor, who was also excluded, as much as to Alex Salmond. An indication, however, of Nicola Sturgeon’s malice towards her former mentor.
Furthermore, it is not simply that NS has pinned her colours to the Section 30 mast and ignores Scotland’s status within the UN as a country, and therefore with a country’s rights to resile from a Treaty as per Section 62 of the Vienna Convention. The right to resile is settled international law. A partner to a Treaty cannot imprison the other party to the Treaty in those circumstances. The British State made exactly this case when Croatia left the former Yugoslavia despite efforts by Yugoslavian ‘domestic’ law to imprison Croatia.
Significantly, N.Sturgeon ignores ‘requirements’ for a Section 30 when it suits her. For example she pushed through the Gender Representation on Public Boards Act 2019 despite the fact that it breached the Westminster Equality Act 2010 which is reserved legislation.
Her default position is that she has no interest in independence. She can achieve her identity politics objectives within the Devolution Settlement. Indeed when Scotland becomes independent, ultimately there will be no requirement for the SNP to exist. The career gravy train will cease. As with other nations, we will be in the normal situation of having our own political Parties in our national Parliament rather than the bizarre circumstance of having branch offices of Parties from another country with places there.
I think Sturgeon has got caught up in an ideology which has simply consumed her intelligence. I mean some of the accusations against Salmond seemed so infantile really. “He put a hand upon a female colleagues clothed knee in a car”. Well we have to consider context. Was he doing it as gesture of comfort rather than sexual advance? Was it an accidental reaching out? Did a fly land there and he brushed it aside? There are reasons and there are many reasons, endless possibilities. Considering a jury cleared Salmond, I think they must have got to the crux of the matter.
The MeToo movement is lead by extremists who actually do more harm than good. Endangering every male who has been male enough to approach an unknown female and strike up a conversation all in the hope of such leading to more interesting activities.
Sturgeon admits her affiliation with the MeToo movement. Why would any sane person link themselves to any form of extremism? I support many aspect of Feminism, just as I think that rapists should get dealt with more seriously than they do (not so much imprisonment as the psychological help they obvious need). But I cannot condone Feminism as a movement, for too much of it is extreme and hurts women and girls more than males ultimately do.
We really have to get beyond the silliness of extremes so that there is an objectivity, a common sense balance. That’s the only way to achieve equality. I mean, the sacking of Joanna Cherry is a case of extremist reaction. Rather than acknowledge Cherry’s right to state what is reasonable and beyond doubt. Sturgeon took offence when there is no possible other than by those so self indulgent that their perception is seriously clouded and judgement totally jammed up by hatred.
Sturgeon just comes over like a Terrier chasing its own tail, blinded to all but a shadow of a reality. That is no way for leadership. A leader has to be able to stand above, take an over view, take in the wider vista… and from there act. No reaction necessry.
JB says:
5 March, 2021 at 3:42 pm
“How do the football insults/behaviour/hatred Act and the “Named Person” scheme fit in to this narrative?
Were they also driven by Sturgeon?”
I can believe (or at least did believe) that these were introduced with the best of intentions – discouraging sectarianism and helping child protection.
I can’t think of a single good intention or outcome attached to GRA reform or the Hate Crimes Bill.
I could never vote for the SNP. In fact, I will be voting for the Tory party, because it’s the most effective vote against the SNP where I live.
I’ve never voted for them in my life, but I actually consider it more of a vote against the SNP, than a vote for the Tories.
I would have voted for Labour if Monica Lennon won, but I don’t rate Sarwar at all, and think he’ll be gone within 18 months.
I will vote ISP as my list vote.
Lollysmum says:
5 March, 2021 at 3:35 pm
@Netflix commissioner
I’d also be very happy to contribute to an AS crowdfunder. I doubt whether Alex has the personal funds sufficient to go back to court again either.
______
I too would be more than happy to contribute a couple of hundred dollars, more if needed. If a go fund me page is set up, I hope it will be put up on this site for us that live overseas
Joan Savage says: “Some may recall her churlish refusal to allow [Salmond entry] to the Scottish Parliament… to hand over the large donation to the Charity… An indication… of Nicola Sturgeon’s malice towards her former mentor.
Was there ever any mitigating explanation given by Surgeon’s office or anyone?
I had mentioned in previous posts about Nicola Sturgeon cultivating an image. This image has helped her where she has the confidence to be able to make touch decisions that are right to do even though it goes against popular opinion. This can be sign with her handling of the current pandemic where she has taken a more unpopular approach than that taken South of the Border where they are eventually dragged into doing the same due to necessity.
On the surface it looks like she is good leader. However, using the current pandemic as an example, she has the comfort of falling back on the argument she was only following the advice given by the WHO when things go wrong.
With the current pandemic, basing policy on WHO advice is the right thing to do but I’m saying is that Sturgeon isn’t as good a leader as what people make her out to be because she plays it safe and only makes bold decisions when she has the comfort of blaming someone else and not taking the sole responsibility of her actions.
She is a classic bureaucrat but with the confidence to put her head above the parapet due to a well cultivated and polished image.
There is no doubt that she will be going onto bigger and better things on the world stage in a few years time but she is not the leader that will deliver Scottish independence.
This is a very good article sums up Nicola Sturgeon very well.
“Me Too” heroine
‘Trans’ heroine’
Now ‘Covid heroine’.
Big Jock says:
5 March, 2021 at 3:42 pm
Kiwi – It can’t be printed in Scotland ,or written on any blog. Someone overseas can print the story in that country, on a foreign news site though.
Thanks. I will see if a newspaper here who will run with the story before your election.
You raise the issue of list candidate ranking vote Rev Stu.
As a member I voted and with my vote being cast electronically by Mi-Voice.
However whilst the results of the ballot are known,and were in fact known near immediately on the close of the ballot, Mi-Voice will not release any details of the ballot. All they can advise is that results are known and that it is up to the party as to what information is released.
And so five days no information whatever has been released as to how many people voted and what rankings were given to candidates.
Now I don’t know what anyone else thinks but this is an outrage. There can be no trust whatsoever in the processes of the party. Moreover, it casts doubt on the integrity of the polling company too.
I for one am now considering taking legal advice about how I can pursue this matter further.
And I have no doubt there will be others considering doing the same.
As for the election going forward there can be little doubt that this is going to be mired in legal challenges.
The insanity of this broken party continues.
There is a lot of criticism about trans issues both from men and women but there was very little re the ‘Me Too’ stuff.
The opposition were delighted when Mark MacDonald was outed as a sex pest and absolutely over the moon when the charges were brought against Alex Salmond so they were unlikely to criticise.
I was surprised that more people didn’t question Mark MacDonald being fired and branded a sex pest for sending a text.
I thought it was utterly ridiculous.
@StuartAnderson 1.24pm.
You are absolutely correct Stuart.
I commented on a earlier WOS article that we need to get rid of this lot and start again.
Voting SNP under the present circumstances and leadership is not an option for me anymore.
The SNP is corrupt from the top – like a dead fish, it rots from its head. It is now rotten to the core and the head should have been cut off long ago.
Those who will continue to vote SNP are endorsing what went on Recently and are thus part of the problem. The SNP has demonstrated its contempt for us (and even some of its worthiest people in the party). It is no longer fir for purpose. SNP – Scotland’s new problem.
Please excuse typo’s.
Not Recently, but recently.
Not fir for purpose but fit for purpose.
I see the various discussions about what we should vote now given the current mess. I’m very clear now. I think the whole Gender reform madness, the threat to women’s rights and the Hate crime legislation indicate a clear and present danger to us in the direction we are being taken by the current leadership of the SNP. This stuff is so dangerous in my view that I have decided that I’m only going to vote for parties – any party – that clearly stands against this madness. No party that supports that stuff will get my vote. I think that’s the biggest current danger to us and so that’s going to inform my vote this time.
Edward MacD says:
5 March, 2021 at 4:53 pm
I think Sturgeon has got caught up in an ideology which has simply consumed her intelligence. I mean some of the accusations against Salmond seemed so infantile really. “He put a hand upon a female colleagues clothed knee in a car”. Well we have to consider context. Was he doing it as gesture of comfort rather than sexual advance? Was it an accidental reaching out? Did a fly land there and he brushed it aside? There are reasons and there are many reasons, endless possibilities. Considering a jury cleared Salmond, I think they must have got to the crux of the matter.
Reply
Well said re the accusations being infantile. Surprised that there wasn’t more criticism earlier re these ridiculous accusations.
I believe it was proven in court that Alex Salmond did not put his hand on her knee. Couldn’t ?put his hand on her knee due to fixed armrest containing phones etc between the two back seats.
As you say even if he did put his hand on her knee if could be for reasons other than sexual advance.
Unbelievable that this was taken to court.
Honest John Swindler stood up in Holyrood and said (once I find the full transcript I will quote it ) however the gist of what he said was we still believe that we should have continued the case it was winnable and far from collapse
Aye well that’s your opinion John the next time you are this convinced USE YOUR OWN FKN MONEY not ours , if fact misuse of public funds I believe the public has a case for recompense how say you honest John , you might want to consultant your lawyer , not at our expense yours .
Well I seem to remember buried in the Ministerial Code a section specifically with this scenario in mind it’s a giant fkn No No , for both the First Minister and by association the Deputy First Minister to be implicated and denying knowledge is pretty close to Lying to Parliament ,
Only one verdict is possible no wriggle room here it’s in black and white and not open to interpretation it states clearly you are definitely going to lose ,not maybe ,not possibly it’s a nailed on fkn certainty and the longer you piss about the bigger the fallout and the bill , we really don’t feel comfortable being involved further than we are now ,
Get out of that one sweetie , you are a lawyer or so we are lead to believe .Explain your actions .
People keep saying they are forced to vote SNP on the constituency because it might allow the wokies in on the list
It is self explanatory DON’T VOTE SNP on the constituency and vote ISP,AFI, or Solidarity on the list then the woke won’t get in , currently ONLY Solidarity have confirmed a plebiscite election in their manifesto , SO COME ON ISP and AFI get a plebiscite election in your mandate
If you vote SNP on the constituency ALL you are doing is giving Nicla PERMISSION to invoke the GRA and HCB she will CLAIM your vote as consent and you can’t prove otherwise, and as for saying we will sort it after the election, good luck with that as we CAN’T do it NOW
I have said repeatedly here and elsewhere IT IS UNADULTERATED BLACKMAIL illustrated by this very post you have read
SHE has to be defeated for independence to rise again and the ONLY WAY that can happen just now is for the SNP to be voted out
YOU HAVE THE MEANS IT IS UP TO YOU
https://www.verywellmind.com/how-to-recognize-a-narcissist-4164528
Good article Denise.
I presume with Blinky spending so much time blinking it leads to a blinkered tunnel vision approach coz her eyes aren’t open long enough to see and consider the full picture in her decision making.
Also think there is merit in much of what Mia articulates at 2.21pm. Blinky cannot be operating the way she does in isolation. She is clearly being given a degree of free rein to operate at the moment by the establishment and press.
Think back and compare her treatment to how Corbyn was so effectively constrained and effectively neutralised when he became more prominent as Labour leader and considered a threat.
Whilst here. Seeing as there has been mention of certain folk taking a jaunt to the USA.
There’s some details in the following link.
https://wingsoverscotland.com/all-the-jolly-boys-and-girls/
“Denise Findley thinks Nicola Sturgeon dominates her party and is focused on winning.
I saved you reading through that awful waffle”
Newsflash Einstein……most people with a functioning brain read the article THEN the comments on it
Kiwilassie@ 5:12 pm
This is right up Nicky Hager’s Street. Remember what he did here in NZ.
Denise Findlay has hit the nail on the head re Sturgeon.
Going a bit further back than “Me Too”
1. Independence heroine
2. Stop Brexit heroine
3. ‘Me Too” heroine
4. ‘Trans’ heroine
5. Covid heroine
Next ‘Hate Crime’ heroine
No l Been there done that moved on
No 2 I tried.
No 3 No longer in fashion
No 4 Current. So what if it’s not compatible with No 3
No 5 Current. Gaining a lot of brownie points & TV exposure.
Anyone think ‘We Don’t Need Another Hero’
Denise Findlay: “Sturgeon simply cannot bear to lose. She’s very single-minded, and doesn’t really adapt or regroup in the face of adversity. When events and new information make problems for her ideas and plans, she just keeps going – often creating more problems as she tries to force the plan back on track.”
Not so sure about that. Maybe we could say it with a caveat.
I can give examples, several, were Sturgeon bows to power and gives up on a plan or proposal. And that’s a common trait of bullies and those who like to throw their weight around — put a bully in a playground with a few bullies that are bigger and more powerful and you’ll see a whole different side to his or her personality.
If you think power and being able to dominate and overwhelm is all that matters when it comes to dealing with people, it stands to reason that you will bow to others who have more power. It’s not hypocritical or contradictory.
You Scots have potentially got some VERY troubling laws coming your way. Thought crime is now becoming a reality!
Independence isn’t just about borders, it’s about personal freedom too. And this administration is determined to erode it.
If I were you, I would move heaven and earth to remove this lot from the levers of power, even if it delays your dream of national indepence.
“Denise Findley thinks Nicola Sturgeon dominates her party and is focused on winning.
I saved you reading through that awful waffle”
Oh, thanks very much. I saw your comment so went back and unread Denise’s article.
Arse
Good article and I agree. One important point I think you have missed is her behaviour isn’t that different from what you see from top managers in companies. The difference is there are no checks and balances in her situation. She has surrounded herself with acolytes, not unusual in business as well. Yes a few people stand up to her but they just aren’t true believers, other than that there is nothing, no controls. No boss, shareholder or executive board, yes there is the electorate but…..we all know how they can be controlled with the big juicy carrot of a referendum and the stick of Boris and wee dougie.
Big Jock says,
“You have absolutely nailed her to a tee. ” The Lady is not for turning”. She is a version of Margaret Thatcher alright!”
That witch actually stood for something she believed in.
This witch doesn’t stand for anything other than herself. She would sell her own grandmother to remain in power.
Thank you Denise. That explains a lot that puzzled me.
twathater
The ISP do have an orange “plebiscite ” button on their website which takes you to a petition. Is this not as good as having it in their manifesto?
You should just secede and chuck up a few roadblocks.
Now we have finally got Brexit, the EU can’t endorse the UK to send troops in to arrest leaders and force them into exile, like they did with Spain and Catalan, over THEIR “illegal” independence referendum.
You are ALREADY a devolved country. Not a province! Just DO it! I didnt vote Brexit for Scotland to fail to achieve its independence, just because of all this fannying about.
When more (e.g. #lgbtq+FirstMinister spoke longer than you all) = ‘quality evidence’: Good luck banana state/its banana citizens…
“Eight-hour session showed Scotland is led by a stateswoman”:
https://www.thenational.scot/news/19139310.eight-hour-session-showed-scotland-led-stateswoman/
Shes also controlled by the brit secret service. Shes not interested in independence.
As Lord Monboddo said to his servant of many years standing when he gave notice to quit saying, “Nae offence tae yirsel Lord Monboddo but it’s Lady Monboddo Ah cannae bide,” Lord Monboddo replied, “Ye should consider yirsel thankfu that yir nae mairrit on the woman”.
Andrew F
Sturgeon is indeed a globalist and a Neocon. In my view the Salmond affair was motivated by the British state’s determination to get him off Russia Today using Sturgeon as a willing tool.
‘Alex Salmond ‘risks being Russian propaganda tool’
Theresa May – Scotsman
‘Nicola Sturgeon slaps down Alex Salmond over Russia Today chat show’
Politicshome
The sad part in all of this is the pyschopath wins, again.
And we lose.
Good people who we will need on the other side of independence will be gone. Jo Cherry is just the latest in a long line of “If you don’t kiss my gold plated arse and accept all my mistakes as policy, you’re out” evictions.
(And let’s not forget the evictions of GrouseBeater, and the spiteful pyschotic petulance that was inflicted on him at the time, and since.)
I don’t think it will be long before Jo, Phillipa, and others, will leave politics, disillusioned and burnt out from trying to maintain a level of integrity and independence momentum, up against a wall of self-interested defiance from the cabal (and their willing supplicants) that seeks to dine out for the rest of their days on perpetual devolution.
It’s really fucking sad that across the Scottish political spectrum, the very people we need to finish the job and build an independent republic will likely be gone, and the task will become much harder for their loss, all because a fucking selfish pyschopath decided she’s right, all the time, and fuck everyone else, including all those folk who have fought and campaigned for independence for much, or all of their lives.
The current Scottish Government is no less corrupt than the Tories, and for Scottish people, are even worse. The Tories have always been horrible, amoral, barbaric, self-interested, and completely indifferent to any but themselves.
The current Scot Gov has deliberately and amorally deceived the people of Scotland for the last seven years with the duplicitous smoke and mirrors of vague promises of indy, when they clearly never intended to offer anything. The premise that the SNP is still the party of independence is a myth, perpetuated in true BBC propaganda fashion by the SNP leadership and their cult.
We’ll need to start again, and build new indy parties focused on the decency,integrity and urge for independence we expect, not the tainted trojan horse we’re getting.
Trump’s fascist message of “Let’s make America Great Again” was successful, even as the message was obviously a disingenuous propaganda tool.
The “we’ll have an S30 and get our referendum” message from the SNP leadership is no less disingenuous, and sadly, just as successful among those who can’t, or won’t, see the reality of the deception.
Her judgement is definitely clouded beyond repair. She is unable to reflect on her mistakes because she refuses to acknowledge them. As mentioned above, identity politics has nothing to do with independence and yet it has been allowed to infest the SNP. Her treatment of Alex Salmond demonstrates she is the vindictive and jealous type. There is something very dark and evil inside her.
Just came across this article Denise which I think is spot on.
Sturgeon reminds me a great deal of a relative of mine. Always needed to be the centre of attention. Always needed to be loved. When somebody else had the centre of attention in a conversation he’d cut in and belittle them. When Trump came to prominence, most were gobsmacked; to me, it was just like looking at this relative, it was odd, how completely unshocked I was by Trump. Well, now that I see that Oor Nicola is the exact same. Johnson is another one, so was Nixon, but the absolute master must be Blair. Think of how popular he was; now, he cannot walk down the street.
She has hollowed out the SNP, it is now the Nicola Sturgeon Party. In 2014, people used to say, “you lot are a cult”. That was nonsense as we did not worship Alex Salmond by any means. Now that criticism is quite valid, it has become a cult of personality which is so disheartening.
My mother is a unionist and royalist, her opinion of Sturgeon is, “she thinks she’s the fucking Queen”. My mother has a point, except Betty Windsor is of course famously personally modest. Not a great feeling, when you support the embodiment of privilege and inequality over the leader of the SNP.
As I have predicted, the SNP will go into this election on the theme of “Isn’t Nicola Amazing”, as this is another chance to stroke her ego, another chance to behave like the queen of Scotland. The only thing is, she’s damaged goods now. And if there’s one thing the Scots hate, it’s folk who are up their own backside.
Garve Scott-Lodge says:
5 March, 2021 at 1:17 pm
“What puzzles many about the Alex Salmond situation is motive.”
So the motive is that Nicola Sturgeon wanted to “catch the fashion” of the MeToo movement? That’s it?
Can I refer you to the article where Alex Salmond was threatened when he considered returning to politics. (See previous Wings report.) He was told if he dared, they had evidence that would stop him in his tracks…or words to that affect.
Thank you for this.
I don’t know how much personal interaction you had with Nicola Sturgeon, prior to being mistreated yourself. But I CAN say that I’ve found your assessments of her character consistently the closest to my own from the first I saw of you on twitter. This article confirms that.
I second ALL of the above article.
The sociopath comment someone made also seems accurate. This is NOT psychopathy. You point to ‘the plan’, the ‘not REALLY’ caring who’s hurt, and the alarming disregard for the law, debate, fairness or morality.
In addition to pride, determination and ambition, I see her ‘can’t back down’ stance as originating in a phobia.
At some early stage, backing down has appeared to be an existential threat. Conditional love or shaming, used by a care-giver, to try and manage her VERY strong will? Resulting in the fear, that to back-down is to surrender her very being?
The destructive cycle only happens when she is overwhelmed. So she’ll quite willingly apologise for trivia or change her mind.
Of course when she had a line-manager with firm boundaries, who could enforce necessary climb-downs, this was much less of an issue.
But in ‘the top job’, where the only restraints ARE conscience, pragmatism and whatever the law and debate can impose, we get to where we are now.
Unless the MSPs collectively impose the necessary boundaries (the party are too late I think), I fear they will need to be imposed by prison officers.
I’ve come to greatly admire Denise Findlay (whom I’ve never met) and particularly look for her insights over this tawdry affair, in particular, as well as GRA.
However, having once been charged with creating a resource on bullying and harassment, I found one insight from the research invaluable: you should never feel the need to ask or answer the, “Why me?” question.
(Of course, I understand that Denise Findlay is not answering for herself.)
The logic, from someone who had devoted much of his career to the subject was simple.
Firstly, it’s not for the victim to provide reasons for their victimisation – the fact of their experience is sufficient.
Secondly, by trying to rationalise what is often irrational – and always aberrant – behaviour, the victim can fall into the trap of empathising to the extent of creating justifications for their own abuse.
(A crude illustration: “He was going through a divorce and people said I reminded him of his wife.” That neither mitigates the behaviour of the abuser nor diminishes the fact that the victim has suffered unfair treatment.)
The point being the victim should never have to provide reasons for their victimhood (a kind of victim self-blaming) – and they very often give the abusers outs when they do so.
Motivations for abusive behaviours vary wildly, are often opaque, and sometimes bear no resemblance to the rational world.
Prejudice, paranoia, self-interest, external pressures, bribery, blackmail, etc. are all possible and it’s unrealistic to
always provide a rationale for irrational acts.
So, when Alex Salmond was asked by the Holyrood Committee what motivation there could have been for contriving a plan to destroy his reputation, the question itself was unfair, though his perhaps feeling that, politically, he had to give a plausible answer to the question was understandable.
But we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that the big ,”Why?” question should be directed, not at Alex Salmond or his supporters but at Nicola Sturgeon, Peter Murell, Lesley Evans and those who shall not be named:
“Why did you do what you did to Alex Salmond?”
Thanks everyone for comments.
I am sure that Nicola didn’t want Salmond back as a politician but for that she didn’t have to ruin him, she could just make sure he failed vetting as she has done to many others she has wanted rid off – and even nearly succeeded with Joanna Cherry.
Of course it was an added bonus that ruining him meant he wouldn’t be popping up criticizing her and undermining her.
I didn’t include the Margaret Ferrier story in the article because it is something I heard as gossip but it fits the pattern.
Initially Margaret Ferrier was told by the SNP that they’d sort it out and not to worry.
As she told the Daily Record she later took a call that asked her to agree to a statement- she agreed.
After she agreed they removed the whip
The reason I have been told – and this may not be true – is that NS had a hard time at FMQs by Davidson on Murrell’s testimony and she wanted something to knock that off the top of the news bulletins, to avoid a dent in her image.
NS the wanted MF to resign and she refused to, which undermines NS’s authority
And, now MF is up on a bizarre charge of endangering life which carries a sentence of up to life imprisonment, nothing to do with Covid as she broke no Covid laws.
Has anyone else been charged under similar circumstances?
Frightening
“I am sure that Nicola didn’t want Salmond back as a politician but for that she didn’t have to ruin him, she could just make sure he failed vetting…”
The trouble with this is that she’d surely have recalled what happened when Donald Dewar stitched up Dennis Canavan to ensure he didn’t get on a Labour list, (claiming he “didn’t have the quality”, if I recall correctly).
Canavan went on to become a major thorn in New Labour’s flesh as an independent, with his basic decency and integrity an uncomfortable reminder of what Labour had become and done to him.
Alex Salmond, as an independent or MSP for another party would have been even more troublesome for the talent-light cabal on the SNP benches in Holyrood.
I’m sure the preferred choice would have been to blackmail him to keep him out of public life but, otherwise, destroying him would be the only sure way to keep him out of Holyrood.
Robert Graham says:
5 March, 2021 at 5:53 pm
Honest John Swindler stood up in Holyrood and said (once I find the full transcript I will quote it ) however the gist of what he said was we still believe that we should have continued the case it was winnable and far from collapse
Well said Robert. I had to laugh at some of the things you said. You were spot on. Nice to see you didn’t hold back.
The corrupt in the party needs to be ousted at this election without diminishing the party itself.
A. Bruce says:
5 March, 2021 at 6:17 pm
Kiwilassie@ 5:12 pm
This is right up Nicky Hager’s Street. Remember what he did here in NZ.
Yes Bruce. I must look on this more closely again.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/104638742/police-apologise-to-nicky-hager-over-dirty-politics-raid-as-part-of-settlement
A. Bruce says:
5 March, 2021 at 6:17 pm
Kiwilassie@ 5:12 pm
This is right up Nicky Hager’s Street. Remember what he did here in NZ.
Hi Bruce. It looks like Nick Hager lives in Wellington as I do.
Will give him a call to see if he is prepared to run with the story that oor wee Nick wants hidden.
It really is important that the people in Scotland are aware of who they are actually voting for
Bruce. Alex Salmond is of the same caliber as David Lange is held here in NZ, when we fought the US government against putting nuclear on our shores.
David Lange had death threats but never backed down. He was a true statesman for our country NZ, as Alex is for Scotland.