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When you’re already gone

Posted on April 12, 2023 by

So it turned out there was very little new information in this story.

But the tiny bit there was raises an extremely disproportionate number of issues.

The vast bulk of the piece was lifted straight from the Mail On Sunday’s big story at the weekend, with the addition of a few lines from an unnamed “SNP source”:

We know that in February 2021 – six weeks after the camper was delivered to Peter Murrell’s mother’s house – Nicola Sturgeon announced that “stay at home” lockdown restrictions would remain in place until at least March. She also warned people not to book Easter holidays as restrictions would likely still be in place.

Easter Sunday in 2021 was on the 4th of April. The election was on the 6th of May, so the maximum time the van could possibly have been used for was four weeks.

So, in no particular order, as they come to us:

(1) Was the outright purchase of a brand-new top-end vehicle for circa £110,000 the most efficient use of party resources? That sum represented almost half of all the money the SNP had in the bank on 1 January 2021.

Something only required for four weeks would surely have been better leased rather than bought. The party could have rented a fleet of 20 large, practical vans for a month and covered the entire country for just £6,000.

(2) Even if there’s a reason to buy rather than lease, was the Niesmann & Bischoff iSmove the best choice for the stated purpose? It’s rather cramped inside for a time when social distancing was still in force, with a maximum capacity of just four people – not much of a campaign team – and a pretty modest amount of room for gazebos and trestle tables and boxes of leaflets and other materials.

They could have hired 20 Ford Transit minibuses – max capacity 18 people each – to go with the 20 vans for another £12,000 or so, for a total cost of just £18,000 rather than £110,000. (And one would imagine it’d have been possible to negotiate a sizeable discount for bulk leasing at a time when the industry was on its knees.)

And remember, that arrangement gives you 20 times the campaigning capacity for about a sixth of the cost. That £18,000 is also very likely less money than the amount the iSmove would depreciate by as soon as you drove it out of the showroom (and see point 5 below).

(3) We’re told the SNP had a cashflow problem after the election, which is why Peter Murrell loaned the party £107,620 in June 2021. But if that was the case, why wasn’t it liquidating the shiny new asset that was parked idle on his mum’s driveway? Why did the party need to hang onto it with no elections scheduled for four years?

(And if they weren’t going to sell it, couldn’t they find ANY use for it? Ever?)

(4) Every member of the SNP’s ruling NEC is personally legally liable for the party’s finances. So why weren’t they told about an item of expenditure that accounted for half the party’s cash reserves and from which absolutely no benefit accrued or was going to accrue? (And indeed which already represented a large and reckless waste of money for nothing, which they might have wanted to raise concerns about.)

Why weren’t they then asked at any point in the next two years whether to sell it or not? And why did it take more than a week for an anonymous source to come up with an explanation for its existence? Why wasn’t there an official statement as soon as it was seized saying “Oh, this is why we own a big fancy motorhome that’s been stashed at Peter’s 92-year-old mum’s house doing nothing since 2021”?

(5) Why don’t the 2021 accounts properly identify the camper? Under “Fixed assets” a motor vehicle or vehicles is listed with a value of £80,632 (which would be a hefty apparent depreciation of £30,000 if it’s the iSmove, at the price given in the Record), but in the Notes regarding fixed assets the only entry that could possibly encompass the motorhome is that for “Office/computer equipment”.

(6) Was this murkiness related to the resignation of the SNP’s auditors? In the party’s 2021 accounts, Johnston Carmichael LLC included a disclaimer noting that “we have assessed the following areas as having a heightened risk of fraud; related party transactions and manual journal entries”.

Could that have been a reference to the iSmove? But if they knew about it, how were they able to sign off on accounts where it was described as “Office/computer equipment”? And if they didn’t know about it, isn’t that a very large transaction for the SNP to be hiding from its auditors/misleading them about?

One of the two things must be true – they either knew or they didn’t – and either answer raises questions.

(7) If the campervan was purchased specifically for 2021 election campaigning, why doesn’t it appear in the SNP’s spending for the election? The party spent almost £30,000 in just two large items of “Transport” expenditure for that year’s Holyrood vote, but neither of them is identifiable as the van.

(OPG Ltd in Lesmahagow is a “fleet vehicle graphics” firm who specialise in temporary branding “wraps”, so it’s almost completely certain that the £12,500 paid to Park’s of Hamilton was for the leasing of the SNP’s infamous “gravy bus”, and the £16,000 to OPG was the cost of outfitting it in the party livery and slogans.)

Failing to disclose such a significant piece of election spending would of course be a serious breach of Electoral Commission rules.

(8) Who actually knew about the purchase? As CEO Murrell was probably able to authorise it himself, but could he credibly have taken such a big step without informing at least the leader – his wife, Nicola Sturgeon – and the Chief Operations Officer, the reclusive Sue Ruddick (who was announced today as Murrell’s interim replacement)?

And if Sturgeon didn’t know, why did she feel able to angrily castigate worried senior members of the party about its finances, “furiously” insisting that there was nothing to worry about and that they were to stop asking questions?

(9) Why has more than half of Murrell’s 2021 “cashflow” loan still not been paid back? The election was almost two years ago and any short-term cashflow issues should presumably be long over, but around £60,000 is still outstanding, which coincidentally would be roughly the value of the campervan by now.

(10) And finally, what was going to happen to the camper before it was seized by the police? It’s been sitting rusting on Margaret Murrell’s driveway for two years already. COVID restrictions are over and it has no identifiable future use, so every day it wasn’t sold was a day when it was losing the SNP money, yet almost nobody in the party appears to have even known of its existence, far less had any plan for recouping some of the huge cost of the white elephant in the room.

Wings Over Scotland does not know the answers to any of the above questions, and makes no speculation as to what they may be. We list them because they need to be answered as a matter of urgency, but we have very little confidence that that’ll happen any time soon. If anything, the more time passes the longer the list gets.

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0 to “When you’re already gone”

  1. Doug
    Ignored
    says:

    Motorhome for tractors.

  2. Antoine Bisset
    Ignored
    says:

    This is all very droll. It also quite revealing. The leaders of the SNP have not moved our country one inch towards independence. (There is no prepared plan for independence now, nor was there ever. Relations with England, Europe and the world ,transport, tax plans, finance, currency, issuing bank, defence, social security, health, education. None of that. Not a jot, not a tittle. Lots of waffle though.)
    They have revealed themselves as being pitifully small-minded thinkers in every respect.
    If one sets out to loot a country(I’m not saying that they did, quite the opposite, more bungling than anything else it looks like) then one should think big.
    Fulgencio Batista comes to mind. He quit Cuba with ¢300m. By private plane not a camper van.

  3. Den
    Ignored
    says:

    Whatever the reason , the cops saw it as potentially part of criminal enterprise (fraud) and either seized it with a warrant or powers under common law confiscation laws were crime is suspected

  4. Humphrey
    Ignored
    says:

    The ‘battle bus’ claim is an obvious lie. If Peter et al. try this in court he’ll get ripped to shreds. So much for Humza’s new era of openness and transparency.

  5. Black Joan
    Ignored
    says:

    You could have been a great detective, Rev. Or a leading forensic accountant. And yet you volunteered to fight for Scottish independence while those elected and handsomely paid to do so failed dismally.

    Thank you.

  6. Cath
    Ignored
    says:

    One question you haven’t asked: if it was bough specifically for the 2021 election, why was it never used? It’s Sat in Peter’s Mum’s driveway for 2 years. Why would an organisation buy a spectacularly expensive asset without a plan to use it? You would surely first create a plan, then decide you needed something to implement that plan. Then, as you say, crunch the numbers and realise renting 20 useful vans is a better use of money. But why would you never use the thing? Even if you were fraudulently buying a camper van via the party’s books, why would you never use the thing?

  7. Merganser
    Ignored
    says:

    Who is the ‘source’ that claimed it was a battle bus? why hide behind this terminology instead of being transparent? Are they afraid of ridicule?

    Someone in a high position must have authorised this ‘explanation’.

    Was it Russell?

  8. Merganser
    Ignored
    says:

    Cath @ 5.40.

    Think of another word for washing.

  9. Highland Crone
    Ignored
    says:

    What a shower of fraudsters they are, and how gullible were we to have believed them after Salmond quit. I wouldn’t trust these crooks as far as I could throw then.

  10. Stuart MacKay
    Ignored
    says:

    Does it have a trailer hitch so they can add the horse box for the extra oomph to drive indy over the line.

  11. Fran
    Ignored
    says:

    Would the 80k for motors be inclusive or exclusive of VAT?

  12. Scot
    Ignored
    says:

    Powerful stuff.
    These questions should be put to Yusaf directly and on camera.
    We deserve an answer.
    It is not enough for him to say he didn’t know.
    He should find out and then tell us.
    If he doesn’t he is nothing more than a waste of space and should move over for someone else.

  13. Edwin Wine
    Ignored
    says:

    Anyone know what the milage was on the camper van when it was seized?

  14. andrew
    Ignored
    says:

    The SNP have gone motorohomophobic all of a sudden.

  15. Anton Decadent
    Ignored
    says:

    They could say that it self identifies as a unicorn.

    @Rev Stu, I used to go to a well known satirical magazine for investigative journalism but it also appears to have been captured. The light in the dark which you provide is very much appreciated.

  16. ClanDonald
    Ignored
    says:

    If the depreciation is indeed £30k a year then presumably after 4 years it would be written off the books?

    At which point what were the plans? Could someone then purchase it for a modest sum? Without alarm bells being raised because it was no longer listed as an asset and who would ever know anyway?

  17. Merkin Scot
    Ignored
    says:

    Forensic, as usual, Stu.

  18. Astonished
    Ignored
    says:

    What Black Joan said @ 5.38pm.

    Any “Plausible deniability” for anyone involved with this is quickly disappearing.

    How much longer must we wait until charges are brought ? Anyone have any idea ?

  19. David Gray
    Ignored
    says:

    Had they leased the vehicles suggested, the cost would have been tax deductible, unlike the cost of the motor home.

  20. Elton
    Ignored
    says:

    On thé vehicle V5 document. Who is the owner? The registered keeper? Is it insured? For who to drive?

  21. Ruby
    Ignored
    says:

    Merganser says:
    12 April, 2023 at 5:41 pm

    Who is the ‘source’ that claimed it was a battle bus? why hide behind this terminology instead of being transparent? Are they afraid of ridicule?

    Someone in a high position must have authorised this ‘explanation’.

    Was it Russell?

    That is an interesting question.

    How do they get away legally with making a this comment? Does this not breach the sub judice rule?

  22. Northern Lad
    Ignored
    says:

    Find out the current mileage!
    If you get the licence number you can find out when it’s taxed and MOT’d and if it is who did this and who paid for it?
    Then you’ll know what it’s been used for – certainly not SNP business, maybe a couple of touring jollies?

  23. ALANM
    Ignored
    says:

    Perhaps they only kept it for two years so Pete would have a roof over his head if he ever found himself single & homeless?

  24. Graeme Hampton
    Ignored
    says:

    The registered keeper of the vehicle may not be the same as the person who paid for it. I’d like to know who it is.

  25. AnneDon
    Ignored
    says:

    Sue Ruddick is Murrell’s interim replacement?
    Jeezo, they’re not even trying to look as though they’re cleaning up their act, are they?

    The one good thing to come out of this is that the Yes movement will thoroughly separate itself from any one political party, as was the case during indyref.

    No control freak with with a petted lip should be telling the rest of us what to do. We need to be telling the various party leaders what we expect from them!

  26. Alex Sneddon
    Ignored
    says:

    Great questions- heres another. If theres been a tendering process for auditors going on for 6 months, why is there no trace of any Invitations To Tender for that work.

  27. Rev. Stuart Campbell
    Ignored
    says:

    “One question you haven’t asked: if it was bough specifically for the 2021 election, why was it never used?”

    I do refer repeatedly to its idleness, so it’s pretty heavily implied. But yeah, that could easily have been a separate question. Once you’ve got it, surely you could use it for SOMETHING?

  28. Alex
    Ignored
    says:

    You forgot to mention that it’s illegal to be in the back of a motorhome while it’s moving in the UK. You are still required to be secured with a seatbelt in a designated travel seat for motorhomes made after 2006. So that greatly reduces the Covid excuse to being not plausible.

  29. Alastair Campbell
    Ignored
    says:

    SNP is a Van de Gaffe Generator.

  30. dearieme
    Ignored
    says:

    As far as I can tell Scotland’s been run much worse than, say, Jersey, or Guernsey, or the Isle of Man, or Gibraltar. Why?

  31. Doug McGregor
    Ignored
    says:

    What use is a campervan without a motorbike and a jetski? Both available from your regular office equipment supplier.

  32. Rev. Stuart Campbell
    Ignored
    says:

    If the depreciation is indeed £30k a year then presumably after 4 years it would be written off the books?

    At which point what were the plans? Could someone then purchase it for a modest sum? Without alarm bells being raised because it was no longer listed as an asset and who would ever know anyway?”

    Depreciation slows over time. It would take many years to be worth nothing. But yes, as the piece notes, it’s probably only worth half the purchase price by now, so *someone* – who can say who? – would be able to legitimately buy it at a knockdown price despite it being in mint showroom condition with about 10 miles on the clock.

  33. Ruby
    Ignored
    says:

    Is there any reason why the Murrells or even his mother aren’t entitled to own a motorhome?

    Did they ever offer a home to Ukranian refugees?

  34. Rev. Stuart Campbell
    Ignored
    says:

    “You forgot to mention that it’s illegal to be in the back of a motorhome while it’s moving in the UK. You are still required to be secured with a seatbelt in a designated travel seat for motorhomes made after 2006”

    That’s what I was getting at when I said maximum capacity of four – it has four seatbelted seats.

  35. Rev. Stuart Campbell
    Ignored
    says:

    “Find out the current mileage!
    If you get the licence number”

    I’m a little puzzled as to why we don’t know the licence number.

  36. Liz
    Ignored
    says:

    I was on polling duty for Alba at the Shawlands polling station.

    This was at the height of the Covid Delta variant which was apparently rampant in that district.

    NS drove by in a big limo shouting at us through a megaphone accompanied by another limo, both of which could hold 6 comfortably, and a digital advertising van.
    After several negative comments on SM as to her gas guzzling campaign.
    The cars stopped and her team joined the rest of us plebs outside the polling station.
    She then proceeded to take loads of selfies with passersby.

    She had her own camera crew, photographer, and several lackies, 2 of whom looked like body guards
    Not a single one of them was wearing a mask.
    There would have have been no room for social distancing in those cars.

    Just her usual fakery

  37. Dan
    Ignored
    says:

    A more credible explanation might have been that such a fancy vehicle was bought so they could sell loads of raffle tickets with it as the prize, and thus raise back the 600k Indy Fund they had previously spaffed away.

  38. Mike
    Ignored
    says:

    The Note 18 office and computer equipment total NBV of £272k is the accounts total of office equipment £190k + motor £82k.

    Which would indeed suggest aggressive depreciation on the motorhome.

  39. Chris Downie
    Ignored
    says:

    Is there any truth in the rumour some of the funds went into topping up Peak Wetfart’s pension fund?

  40. Republicofscotland
    Ignored
    says:

    I think we could rule out the motorhome as a battle bus, you’ve pointed other options would’ve been more practical, so why was the luxurious motorhome purchased if not for a battle bus as you rightly say we just don’t.

  41. twathater
    Ignored
    says:

    Every one of the new and invited or placed or appointed NEC because they certainly weren’t ELECTED should be filling their troosers just now ,was the celebrations enjoyable when the real ELECTED members to the NEC were ousted , do you regret celebrating vociferously and publicly that these genuinely elected by the membership national executive members were ousted , were you aware or informed that as a member of the NEC you are RESPONSIBLE financially and criminally for the outcomes of any criminal activity undertaken against the membership , I hope you are prepared and willing to recompense at your expense persons who have suffered financially from your actions and BTW ignorance of the law is not a defence

  42. Dan
    Ignored
    says:

    The camper is a pretty rare beast, there’s not many iSmoves registered.

    https://www.howmanyleft.co.uk/?q=NIESMANN+BISCHOFF+ISmove

  43. SFP
    Ignored
    says:

    Interesting article. I have a question.

    If the vehicle was bought for purely business purposes, they would have been able to reclaim the VAT? So when you add in the “drive it off the forecourt” depreciation, it could come to £80K-ish on the balance sheet?

    Wonder what the current mileage is!

  44. Ruby
    Ignored
    says:

    https://archive.ph/Qrut6

    Anyone remember the coffee machine story?

    Maybe they started small with a £2k coffee machine and built up to a £110K mobile home.

  45. Dan
    Ignored
    says:

    @ Ruby

    Coffee machine to campervan… Transformers in disguise!

  46. James Jones
    Ignored
    says:

    dearieme says:
    12 April, 2023 at 6:23 pm
    As far as I can tell Scotland’s been run much worse than, say, Jersey, or Guernsey, or the Isle of Man, or Gibraltar. Why?

    If true I’d suggest that those Parliaments weren’t able to distract a gullible electorate with the ‘Freedom!’ single-issue politicking and so had to do a proper job.

  47. David Hannah
    Ignored
    says:

    Sue Ruddick the new party chief. The download of her WhatsApp messages held by the Scottish police. Of which the accuracy can be checked, was read out by David Davies in Westminster unsing Parliamentary privelege. Of which she was involved the failed conspiracy to jail Alex Salmond.

    Hopefully in one of David Davies final acts he reads out all of the incriminating text messages that prove Salmond was innocent. And that these bastards are rotten to the core.

  48. Chas
    Ignored
    says:

    Always wise to remember that ‘When you are running a Dictatorship the first casualty is ALWAYS the truth’.

    Lots of the SNP hierarchy, past and present are unusually quiet. Apart from the calls for ‘Unity’. Whatever that is in an SNP context?

    Does anyone understand what Gordon Geeko is trying to prove? Does anyone actually read it’s drivel? Whatever you do, do not respond to it.

  49. JockMcT
    Ignored
    says:

    Don’t worry, Humza has all the answers you need, after all, he is the continuity candidate.

  50. Ruby
    Ignored
    says:

    Rev. Stuart Campbell says:
    12 April, 2023 at 6:30 pm

    “Find out the current mileage!
    If you get the licence number”

    I’m a little puzzled as to why we don’t know the licence number.

    I bet the neighbours would know. They gave journalists very precise information about a incident that happened two years ago.

    Police seized the high-end campervan – which locals say was originally delivered to the address by two men, in January 2021 – on Wednesday at around 9am.

  51. David Hannah
    Ignored
    says:

    These bitter consciously selfish people will meet their day of reckoning in front of a jury. For the reason being. We can’t have an Independent Scotland built on corruption.

    Sue Ruddick. Get yourself tae f*ck.

  52. stuart mctavish
    Ignored
    says:

    Talking of monthly hire rates for vehicles of lesser prestige, if the camper van was taken on morning of 5th, and Mr Murrel was released without charge on evening of same, its a shame in retrospect that the story about it on April 12 neglected to address informative issues such as when it can be expected to be returned to Mrs Murrel, the weekly rate (excluding mileage) the law obliges the taxpayer to pay whilst the vehicle remains in police possession, and/or in whose custody it is currently, on what authority, and why..

  53. Scotspine
    Ignored
    says:

    Proceeds of crime.

  54. IAN LE COUP
    Ignored
    says:

    I’m not an independence supporter but i was always open to persuasion by the right kind of government; alas of the type type we’ve not seen in Scotland for almost a decade (or probably more to be honest).
    What i like about WINGS is the fact he has wants independence for a better Scotland and quite rightly wants these rogues run out of town.
    If parliament was full of people like WINGS i would trust it with my independence vote, but right now Scotland is broken from head to toe!! Corruption on a scale i could never have imagined!!!!

  55. Al-Stuart
    Ignored
    says:

    .
    With the legal brain cells engaged, when Stuart first highlighted the missing RINGFENCED £600,000 INDYREF2 funds on his Wings Over Scotland website it reminded me of reports I have prepared for the Procurator Fiscal along general lines that might echo in the minds of some BTL contributors…

    If you wanted to quickly and legally dissolve that pesky £600,000 off of the books in a way that avoided trouble, one method deployed by CFO/CEOs and allowed by “flexible” accountants is to spend LARGE amounts on what could legally be termed as “INDYREF2” items that DEPRECIATE FAST.

    The most effective way of muddying Stu Campbell’s allegations and DEPRECIATING FAST are things like a pretendy INDYREF2 battle-bus.

    In circles of dubious Arthur Dailey types, they know how to do this effectively. But not Penfold and the Dreghorn Dreg.

    It seems that the word AMATEUR applies to everything that came out of the Dynamic Duo in charge of the Seedy Nonce and Pedo party.

    Today, there have been calls for a forensic accountant to be employed by the SNP.

    Plus an advert for a new CEO of the SNP.

    Rev Stuart Campbell, as you are in the TOP 3 FORENSIC INVESTIGATORS in Scotland and you are one of only TWO people in 2014 who actually moved the YES vote percentage UPWARDS (via your Wee Blue Book). The other person lifting the YES vote in 2014 was Alex Salmond.

    I have but one request…

    STUART CAMPBELL, PLEASE CAN YOU APPLY FOR THE JOB AS SNP CEO?

    The NuSNP really need your skills.

    If you do an Elon Musk and have a social media vote on who should be the new boss (he did Twitter, you could do SNP), the result might astonish the rancid toxic woke-captured cabal at Jackson’s Entry.

    It would be wise to use an honest algorithm (only one vote per person) for the online social media vote on who should fill the job of SNP CEO.

    I think there is a scary chance you would be voted into the job.

    Just imagine it?

    Rev Stuart Campbell is the new CEO of the SNP 🙂

  56. JonM
    Ignored
    says:

    From a Telegraph report of 5th April that credits the Rev for breaking the funds questions:

    “Police are now understood to be concentrating on around five transactions made while Mr Murrell was still chief executive of the party, including at least one that involved the purchase of a car.”

    Have the Police disclosed the nature of the other around four transactions under investigation?

  57. Iain mhor
    Ignored
    says:

    You buy a motorhome like that to tour.
    Usually far afield. Usually.
    A motorhome like that is ideal for touring continental Europe (or even further) If you wanted to, if you had to, on a whim, or in a hurry.
    It’s a bug-out bus.

    The flaw with that theory of course, is that there was a point its time had come, and it didn’t go.
    Maybe the keys had been misplaced.

    Hey, I’ll go for that – the forensic police presence was simply to try and find the keys.
    The entire police interview consisted of “When did you see them last? Have you checked down the back of the settee? What jacket did you have on? Were you wearing different trousers”?

  58. Nemisis Benn
    Ignored
    says:

    A possible, plausible even, scenario:
    The Party bought the campervan and parked it on Mummy’s drive;
    The Party’s accounts depreciate it aggressively (20% per annum for four years, two of which have already gone);
    The Party runs out of money so Mummy’s little boy lends it lots of dosh;
    After three years Mummy’s little boy buys it as an almost unused, three year old campervan, at a discount from the (depreciated) book value;
    Eventually the Party repays little boy his loan (before or after he buys the campervan?) and everyone (almost) lives happily ever after…..

  59. Mia
    Ignored
    says:

    The words in the Record article cited above say:

    “An SNP source told the Record the motorhome had been bought during the pandemic for use in the Holyrood election campaign in the spring of 2021”

    But the article does not state if it was the SNP who purchased the motorhome with party funds or if it was somebody else with their own money.

    So this leads to my question: how would a valuable asset appear in the accounts of a political party if it was not purchased by the party itself but it was a “gift in kind” by a generous/grateful donor?

    I appreciate it would have to be registered as a donation equivalent to the market value of the item minus the nominal fee (if any) demanded from the donor, but where in the balance sheet would it be visible?

    Let’s just think for a moment in an imaginary scenario, where a grateful business donates the motorhome as a “gift in kind” on the first week of January 2021.

    Let’s imagine that within weeks of having been donated and before it was even used, the asset is sold to some wealthy member of the party to quickly transform the donation into cash to cover a cash flow problem.

    How could such transaction be traced in the 2021 balance sheet? It would not appear as a fixed asset because by 31 December 2021, the asset had been transformed into cash. Lets not forget that the state of financial position/balance sheet is just a snapshop in time, the time it was recorded. To know exactly what went on between two balance sheets, the ledgers, income statement, cash flow statement are needed.

    Following with the imaginary scenario above, what if Murrell’s “loan” was never a loan per se but rather the fastest way they could think of to transform the motorhome into cash? This would explain why it was in Ms Murrell senior’s driveway. If the “loan” was donated in June, and the motorhome was acquired early January 2021, it would explain the motorhome not being recorded as a fixed asset by 31 December 2021. If it was acquired in 2020 and never entered the balance sheet for that year, then one has to start to wonder if the objective was always to transform it quickly into cash.

    But this would open another question: why was the SNP paying back for “the loan”?

    A payback would make sense in a situation where there was an understanding that the motorhome would return to the party at some point. In such scenario, particularly if there was never an intention by the temporary new owner to personally enjoy the asset and the transaction was merely to transform it into quick cash for the party, it would not seem strange for an understanding that the party would pay back to the temporary motorhome owner the equivalent to the depreciation of the asset until either it was recovered by the party or disposed of.

    But if only £60,000 are left from Murrell’s “loan”, then this means the party has paid back over £45,000, which seems a lot more than the depreciation expected from less than 2.5 years with no use of the asset*.

    Is it known at which point (if ever) the SNP become the registered owner of that motorhome?

    Is it known who the current registered owner of the
    motorhome is?

    How long until this motorhome needs its first MOT?

    *According to Oaktree motorhomes, motorhomes depreciate around 10-15% on the first year but their value remains at above 70% after three years. 30% of Murrell’s £107,620 “loan” is 32,286.

  60. David Hannah
    Ignored
    says:

    https://twitter.com/historywoman/status/1646157368890126336

    Sue Ruddick. The liar.

    Davis said the messages point to “collusion, perjury up to criminal conspiracy.”

    An act of physical aggression. She lied. She’s now committing an act of physical aggression on the SNP.

    Now this liar is chief of the party. Get David Davis on the phone. Tell him to read out the text messages. It’s in the public interest. Scumbags.

  61. Skip_NC
    Ignored
    says:

    Just one small point. You cannot go selling an asset to an employee (or ex-employee) at net book value without tax consequences. It has to be at fair market value. Depreciation is merely the orderly writing down of costs incurred in buying an asset that is likely to last more than twelve months. If the net book value ever represents fair market value, that is simply coincidence.

  62. Craig P
    Ignored
    says:

    Stu Campbell – our very own Jack Parlabane. (If you don’t know who Jack Parlabane is, you’re in for a treat.)

  63. Merganser
    Ignored
    says:

    Geoff Anderson @ 7.56.

    If your aunt had baws she’d be your… aunt.

  64. Colin
    Ignored
    says:

    The SNP accounts state computers and equipment are depreciated at 33.33% on reducing balance each year. There is no mention on what motor vehicles are depreciated at.
    If vehicles are depreciated at a different rate then this should have been disclosed in the accounting policies. As Stu has stated vehicles have been amalgamated with computers etc in the relevant Fixed Asset accounting note, albeit there is no obvious reason for this to have been done.

    It would be inconceivable for Johnston Carnmichael not to have required documentation for significantfixed asset purchases as standard audit procedure so they must have been provided with something as evidence for a spend of circa £100k! Possibly,as others have speculated,the battlebus was obtained by Mr Murell in a personal capacity and then as a related party transaction transferred to the SNP and the circa £100k loan created as the means of repaying him. £60k remained o/s according to the 2021 accounts.All the other questions raised by Stu re authorisation,rationale, subsequent use etc. are of course valid.

    Now in a flight of fancy imagine if say next year and none of what has been disclosed in recent times had been discovered the SNP decision makers, whoever they are, decide that in the post-covid period the battle bus had outlived its usefulness and it is agreed to sell it to sell it at book value – therefore no loss in the accounts. If it cost £100k then after 3 years its book value would have been just below £30k and not too many miles on the clock either! Wouldn’t imagine they would need to waste money by advertising in trade magazines etc. As I stated just a flight of fancy.

    As to Johnston Carmichael one obvious hook they appear to be on is that very little of the £660k of ring fenced money remains. There appears to be no reference to this in the 2021 accounts and certainly no specific qualification in this regard.if it is held the donations were solely for a referendum and not for general independence campaigning then JM may have difficulties in explaining why the shortfall
    was not disclosed and the accounts qualified.

    Finally in my experiences with Auditors over several decades, areas of potential weaknesses or concerns and recommendations on how to address these were communicated by way of an annual “Management Letter.” This would as a matter of course in my career be circulated to the relevant internal Committee.
    Whether JC issued such letters to the SNP and if they did their distribution I know not.

  65. Daisy Walker
    Ignored
    says:

    What class of license do you need to drive that bus, it looks far larger than your normal van size.

    Obviously ‘Pete the 58 year old’ if he got his licence in his 20’s will have the old fashioned B, B1,C1 and D1 drivers license, but so many of these young ones don’t have more than B /B1. Kind of cuts down significantly on who is available to drive the thing, if its a different catagory.

  66. Tommo
    Ignored
    says:

    Yet again-skewered by the Learned Editor; the Order of the Golden Rivet
    That said the 600 K/ swanky bus etc is as nothing balanced against the possible loss of a man’s freedom and reputation (And I am not a fan, as I have said before)
    Despite the legal land-mines laid around that case that, to me, is the real allegation and should-so far as the law allows-be followed to its end

  67. stuart mctavish
    Ignored
    says:

    @Skip_NC

    Fairly sure employers shouldn’t be spouting insanely dangerous mantras about the need to respect politically motivated harassment of their staff and extended families either (especially if it happens to be couched in terms of a live investigation, etc) but, oddly enough, I cant remember ANY trade union or professional body speaking up when similar scenario happened worldwide with farce masks and coughid

  68. Dougie
    Ignored
    says:

    Is it possible to find who was insured to drive it? Were the Murrells insured when it was seized? Did the snp pay for that insurance?

  69. Sean
    Ignored
    says:

    What individuals were put on the insurance to drive the thing?

  70. Ian Smith
    Ignored
    says:

    It has all the ring of an equivalence to the old Westminster expenses scandal.

    We don’t want to pay you a salary than seems unduly generous, but as you obviously consider yourself worth of far more, why do we not buy you a nice little asset that we will write down on the books for a few years then pass over for buttons.

    After all nobody had seen the bloody thing, virtually nobody knew anything about it. By going for a top of the range luxury item, it would have far higher intrinsic value than a disinterested accountant might consider seeing a four year old camper van going for 20K or so. Call it a Fiat or Peugeot, or whatever basic chassis or engine it was based on.

    Christ, even I called it a battle bus as a joke when the story first broke. It was supposed to be obvious satire, not something that would fill the press.

  71. Iain M
    Ignored
    says:

    A police request to find out who paid for the motorhome from the dealer originally may produce some daylight.
    If it has been paid for by the SNP that is one thing. If on the other hand it has been paid for by a company in,say,Lichtenstein or the Cayman Islands we can surmise its purpose.

  72. Bob Mack
    Ignored
    says:

    The wages of corrution is apparently a Chief Executives post.

    Better to keep everything in house I suppose.

  73. Merganser
    Ignored
    says:

    You would think that the NEC would know all about the battle bus and have approved its purchase and use, wouldn’t you?

    Er, Naw.

  74. Karen
    Ignored
    says:

    Apparently deals were done with a well known electrical commodities supplier. These would be “payments in kind” not disclosed to HMRC, a la Al Capone (went to jail for tax evasion, not his other nefarious activities).

  75. Colin
    Ignored
    says:

    Apologies for not stating the obvious in my previous post but if the Murrell loan was in respect of the transfer of ownership of the Battlebus from himself to the party then clearly the impact on the organisation’s cash flow is
    diddly squat!
    A few weeks back I had thought the loan was nhim deferring taking his salary for several months – which of course would have favourably impacted on cash flow

  76. Allan
    Ignored
    says:

    Has anyone done an MOT/Mileage check on it at all out of interest?

  77. ronald anderson
    Ignored
    says:

    Daisy Walker

    The older licences allowed a driver to drive up to 7.5 tons mine was removed at 70 cause i didn’t apply for a continuation with a fitness certificate from a doctor

  78. President Xiden
    Ignored
    says:

    I think it would be fairly safe to assume that Useless wasn’t on the insurance to drive this.

  79. President Xiden
    Ignored
    says:

    Look, if the motor home identifies as a battle bus then that is the end of the matter. Any suggestion that the motor home is ‘at it’ is simply hate speech.

  80. Pjay
    Ignored
    says:

    Battle bus on one member of the Murrells has a driving license

  81. Effijy
    Ignored
    says:

    Just took an elderly lady into Glasgow Airport-
    £15 for my 22 minute stop.

    That must be over £44 per hour while we have human beings earning less than £10 per hour before losing half of it in taxes.

    The casino bankers closing their branches leaving the elderly high and dry.
    Most haven’t passed on any of the recent rate rises to savers so they can pocket the lot on top of not paying branch council taxes, energy bills or the staff who once worked there.
    In the last budget the Tories cut taxes for banks and removed the cap on multi million bank chief bonuses.

    Tory Britain is the land of the rip off!

  82. akenaton
    Ignored
    says:

    Does “property market” ring any bells with BTL dwellers.
    or “Follow the money” a couple of months ago?
    All will be revealed shortly. Or perhaps not!

  83. Andrew Kidd
    Ignored
    says:

    There is another aspect to this that may cause further losses to the party. A vehicle provided by an employer that is available for private use is a taxable benefit. The amount of tax is calculated by referring to the CO2 emissions of the vehicle and its value.
    So for a vehicle valued at £110K with emissions of 170 the annual taxable benefit is £110,000 x 37%=£40,700.
    A higher rate taxpayer would therefore pay £40,700 x 41%= £16,687 per annum and the employer would pay £40,700 x 13.8%=£5617.

    Whether the vehicle was used or not is irrelevant – it was available for private use.

  84. Ian McCubbin
    Ignored
    says:

    Oh dear , no procurator fiscal in Scotland has the research or deductions from evidence that you have Stu.
    I see it bug does Scotland have a chief legal eagle willing to act on all these facts.
    Well done for the investigative journalist accolade on Facebook, so so well deserved. ?

  85. Jim Tadgercock
    Ignored
    says:

    President Xiden says:
    12 April, 2023 at 9:40 pm
    Look, if the motor home identifies as a battle bus then that is the end of the matter. Any suggestion that the motor home is ‘at it’ is simply hate speech.

    Question is does the motorhome have a tow hitch?

  86. Derek
    Ignored
    says:

    “Anton Decadent says:
    12 April, 2023 at 6:05 pm

    I used to go to a well known satirical magazine for investigative journalism but it also appears to have been captured.”

    I know what you mean, but I disagree; it’s just that they see things from a mostly southern Enlish viewpoint. They’re still pretty handy with a skewer.

  87. Red
    Ignored
    says:

    To be fair to Peter Murrell and The Crazy World of Peter Murrell (formerly known as the Scottish National Party), “battle bus” sounds a bit more dignified than “wank chariot”.

  88. Ian Brotherhood
    Ignored
    says:

    A lot of folk are looking at one another and having a nudge and wink about what the mobile home was really for.

    But they daren’t even say it. You can’t do that ‘these days’.

    It’s just not possible to reach a certain age without realising that the vast majority of ‘public officials’ are either in position because they have dirt on someone else, or are themselves blackmail victims doing someone else’s bidding. You don’t have to be a student of 20th Century politics (or Netflix series) to suss that, but there are so many examples…I’m not even going to attempt a list.

    Perhaps it’s just ‘unfortunate’ that political discourse has been completely ‘captured’ by so-called Wokeness.

    Perhaps it’s just ‘unfortunate’ that so many of our political representatives – duly elected democratically! – turn out to have such peculiar kinks, fetishes and whatnot.

    It’s certainly unfortunate for most of us that these ‘idiosyncracies’ have penetrated mainstream culture to the extent that calling them out for what they are i.e. ‘perversions’ has become a form of heresy.

    One of Orwell’s lesser known essays is called ‘Benefit of Clergy’ and it uses the work of Salvador Dali as the basis for a discussion on taste, censorship etc. It’s been a long time since I read it but the final line has been with me for 40 years or more – ‘It is diseased and disgusting and any investigation ought to start out from that fact.’

    That’s maybe not verbatim but it’s close. And it’s precisely the kind of statement which is not allowed now.

    No-one cares about other folks’ kinks. Do whatever you want, but don’t hurt other folk and leave vulnerable people, children and pets alone.

    What’s so difficult about that?

    Why do you need to tell everyone about it? Doesn’t it ruin the ‘thrill’ of doing something dodgy/dirty if everyone knows about it? You still want to be being subversive and ‘dangerous’, but also require open public approval? Validation?

    Cake and eat it, much?

    Perhaps it should be a requirement for anyone aspiring to the most responsible positions in public life, that they be rendered ‘free from desire’, by safe surgical/medicinal methods? Might not improve things overnight but it would certainly concentrate minds somewhat.

  89. Nick
    Ignored
    says:

    Although the camper van didn’t move, maybe it was still ‘used’ whilst parked on the driveway. Secret hideaway for the privileged few, for instance?

  90. Kcor
    Ignored
    says:

    Instead of questioning Murrell for twelve hours the police should have questioned the auditors for twelve hours.

    The £600,000 had gone missing long before the auditors resigned in September 2022.

    If the £600,000 was required to be in the SNP’s accounts, the auditors would have been responsible for its disclosure in the accounts.

    The motorhome is a red herring. Too convenient as an attempt to link it with the loan.

    Murrell is far from stupid. If the motorhome was in anyway an illegal transaction by him, he would not have parked it at his mum’s, waiting to be found by the police.

    There is much more at stake and the auditors have a lot of questions to answer to the police.

    It is time for someone to closely examine the SNP’s accounts going back several years and signed off by these auditors.

    IMHO, auditors are in the pockets of those who pay them, in this case Murrell.

    IMHO, not appointing new auditors is an attempt by the SNP to get dissolved without having to disclose anything.

    Rev. Stuart Campbell don’t let any of the corrupt criminals get away with their crimes. Keep on investigating and exposing all of them.

  91. Tommy
    Ignored
    says:

    Can someone fill me in, as I have not been following things intently. Also, I know you have to be careful about discussing things online when the police are still investigating, so as not to prejudice any case. But how do we know this “motorhome” is linked to the supposedly missing funds (£660K)?

    There is no evidence that it ever belonged to the SNP, certainly not when you look at their formal accounts. All we know is that Peter Murrell was arrested, question and released; on the same day, this motorhome was removed from outside his mother’s house.

    Or am I wrong and the police have issued a statement on the subject? What I mean to say is that even if the police are investigating the missing funds, who is not to say this is not some parallel investigation?

  92. willie
    Ignored
    says:

    Stuart Campbell would make a good CEO for the SNP. he knows a lot about the SNP.

    So, why not Rev Stu, throw your hat in the ring. You might get an interview, and so you should.

    Go for it.

  93. Kcor
    Ignored
    says:

    David Hannah says:
    12 April, 2023 at 7:08 pm

    “Hopefully in one of David Davies final acts he reads out all of the incriminating text messages that prove Salmond was innocent. And that these bastards are rotten to the core.”

    Why wait for David Davies?

    Why haven’t the two ALBA MPs revealed everything?

  94. Ian Brotherhood
    Ignored
    says:

    This is the Orwell essay I was on about earlier.

    Fuck knows what he would make of what’s happening right now…

    https://www.orwell.ru/library/reviews/dali/english/e_dali

  95. Kcor
    Ignored
    says:

    Al-Stuart says:
    12 April, 2023 at 7:29 pm

    “I have but one request…

    STUART CAMPBELL, PLEASE CAN YOU APPLY FOR THE JOB AS SNP CEO?”

    You can’t drain a swamp once you yourself get into it.

    As happened to the SNP MPs who entered Westminster.

    The Rev. Stuart Campbell is doing an excellent job remaining completely independent of the swamp that the State of Scotland has become since Alex Salmond’s resignation as First Minister.

  96. Andy Griffiths
    Ignored
    says:

    It’s interesting that Humza is so politically inept, he hasn’t realised the only thing to do with this bus is to through the whole NEC/Murrell/Green cabal under it and pitch himself as the savour of the SNP.

  97. Jax
    Ignored
    says:

    I cant believe what i watched on # scotland tonight on my own tv

  98. Shug
    Ignored
    says:

    What’s with Mike Russell stepping aside

    Anyone know the back story

  99. Shug
    Ignored
    says:

    What’s with Mike Russell stepping aside

    Anyone know the back story

    They made an absolute cod of Russell with the horse box so why is he covering for them

  100. Lenny Hartley
    Ignored
    says:

    Daisy, not size that matters but weight, i can drive vehicles up to 7.5 tonnes in weight on my “Car” licence, youngsters (dont know when it was changed) are required to pass a class 2 hgv test before driving anything over 3.5 tonnes.

  101. highlander
    Ignored
    says:

    Antoine Bisset says:
    12 April, 2023 at 5:29 pm

    then one should think big.
    Fulgencio Batista comes to mind. He quit Cuba with ¢300m. By private plane not a camper van.

    ————–

    £2bn of unaccounted covid money?

  102. Shug
    Ignored
    says:

    Stu
    How’s your view numbers doing

    They must be going through the roof. Given the fall in MSM numbers I am very interested if you see a similar decline

  103. Anton Decadent
    Ignored
    says:

    @Derek 10.43

    I have subscribed for the last twenty five years and I think that it has changed over the last decade. Some things which it used to cover such as grooming gangs it will no longer go near, it also avoids the trans issue and very rarely goes near the Greens or SNP. It has a one sided view on topics such as immigration and goes to literally the exact same sources as the Guardian, questionable charities etc, for quotes on this.

  104. PhilM
    Ignored
    says:

    Just been reading the Mail articles. Not sure either Kate Forbes or Ash Regan could save the SNP but one of them needs to be given the chance to try. Otherwise…they are monumentally f***ed. The voting public will see through this lot very soon.
    With the latest appointments…Humza might actually already be worse than Sturgeotti. He had the tiniest window of opportunity to signal a change of direction and back this change with some practical and visible decisions but he’s made the worst possible choices already. The acting CEO choice could not be a worse decision. There is no guarantee that the search for a candidate will turn up anyone ‘suitable’ and lo and behold SR will be installed as the confirmed incumbent.
    There isn’t a word to adequately describe this kind of implosion because there’s still relatively little pressure coming from the authorities.
    Self-Harmageddon?!!

  105. Willie
    Ignored
    says:

    The reason for buying this Rolls Royce of a motor home rings as a battle bus fings absolutely hollow as the Rev points out.

    And the choice of the storage location at Murrell’s mothers house indicates very much who were the custodians of this hidden away very expensive asset.

    Maybe Murrell should have gone the whole hog and bought an actual Rolls Royce as a campaign car.

    The name Emelda Marcos comes to mind when you read the background to this!

  106. Skip_NC
    Ignored
    says:

    Totally off topic, but I have just read the most stupid comment in a newspaper ever, discussing whether Dianne Feinstein should resign from the US Senate

    “It seems we can both thank her for her service and decades of blazing a path for women in politics and recognize that her remaining in the Senate past her ability to do her job isn’t exactly a feminist victory — not when women and pregnant people stand to be harmed the most by the stalled confirmation of liberal judges,” wrote Jezebel, an online politics and culture news site featuring commentary geared toward women.”

    Full article at https://apple.news/AB0qtcEa0SKOJf6zyll_pAQ

  107. Dominic Berry
    Ignored
    says:

    For my money, Murrell knew he was likely to be arrested and this van was his getaway. There’s a fake passport hanging around somewhere.

    Important point:
    Why would anyone want to be involved in a lavender marriage in this day and age?
    This is Holyrood 2020s, not Hollywood in the 1920s? Answer: The law cannot compel a husband or wife to bear witness against each other in a court case. Implication: They anticipated the need for damage limitation as far back as that.

  108. Dickie Tea
    Ignored
    says:

    It might be Motorhome to you and me but it self identifies as a Battle Bus. Please please stop oppressing it you Busaphobes.

    Buses have rights as well.

  109. Dorothy
    Ignored
    says:

    Great start but many more questions.
    Was it insured for the stated purpose?
    Who was the registered owner?
    What is the mileage and if not consistent with the stated use when and how was it used?

  110. Gordon Bain
    Ignored
    says:

    Listening to Whitford on Radio Shortbread this morning. WTF has happened to her/them?

  111. Gordon Bain
    Ignored
    says:

    I know a bit about motor-homes and I have to say I’m surprised it’s available in RHD form. There’s also only one dealership and it’s in England. It’s a very strange choice. It will hold it’s value pretty well though, after the initial depreciation that occurs as soon as it’s taxed. Is it taxed?

  112. 100%Yes
    Ignored
    says:

    At the SNP peek they had 126,000 members and from that point to 2023 it had lost 54,000 members and only two days ago Kate Forbes is begging the membership not to leave. At what point is it going to dawn on the evil dead that that unless you change course your heading into the disaster everyone is telling you about. Humza isn’t prepared to suspend the Murrells they’re still going to challenge the Section 35 and Independence isn’t even on the horizon. This campervan is just one of the many failings of Nicola Sturgeon and the people who were and still are running the SNP, I have no doubt there’s more to come. Nicola has put the SNP on the road to destruction and Humza Yousaf wants to steady the ship and stay the course nothing to see here everything’s fine move along.

  113. John McGregor
    Ignored
    says:

    Mr/Mrs Fraud n Corruption are up to their haw maw’s in this IF found guiltya procced of crime would be interesting Mr Honest John Swine eh must have know the auditors had done a runner n never opened his gub Plot Thickens

  114. Gordon Bain
    Ignored
    says:

    @LennyHartley. I used to have that facility too until I had to replace my license some years ago where it magically disappeared. My right to drive a motorcycle under 125cc has also vanished. I’m 58. Check your license.

  115. Mac
    Ignored
    says:

    I think the loan was to mitigate the purchase of the motorhome. To make it so the SNP is not ‘out of pocket’ for the purchase of it.

    And then strangely they seem to be paying back the loan as they depreciate the motorhome. So as the net book value of the motorhome falls so the loan is commensurately paid back to Murrell.

    This is some strange shit if that is what it is and it does look like it.

    If so I would bet good money that Murrell was advised to do this by the Police themselves during their chat. Just a hunch.

    Consider how the money that bought the motorhome was raised – for a ring fenced indyref fighting fund – versus how it was spent – splurging on a six figure luxury motorhome – that was located ‘resting’ on Peter Murrell’s mum driveway for two years after its completely unnecessary and bizarre purchase.

    When you step back and look at just that… it looks really bad, it really does, and this is just the motorhome.

  116. robertkknight
    Ignored
    says:

    PhilM says:

    “Just been reading the Mail articles. Not sure either Kate Forbes or Ash Regan could save the SNP but one of them needs to be given the chance to try. Otherwise…they are monumentally f***ed”.

    Sorry, but what is it you are trying to “save” exactly???

    SNP members, officials and elected representatives have spent the last eight years either playing all three wise monkeys simultaneously, or actively steering the party away from its stated objective of “independence for Scotland” to a settled-will of the Scottish people pro-devolution stance, with priorities shifting towards the identity politics and virtue signalling of the Woke.

    In almost every devolved, domestic policy, with very few exceptions, the SNP government at Holyrood has been a cluster-f**k, and the Westminster group an embarrassment.

    So tell me, what exactly is worth “saving” where Sturgeon’s rancid SNP is concerned?

  117. Alan Mackintosh
    Ignored
    says:

    The motorhome wont have an Mot yet as its not yet 3 years old so there wont be a record of it, it would only be the tax/not taxed linked to the registration. I did have a look on google maps but number plates are obscured so that doesnt help.

    I do wonder if the motorhome is not linked to the 600k though… and thus doesn’t appear in SNP accounts. Perhaps it is linked to the wider “other stuff” alluded to by Craig Murray when he mused about looking for something and discovering something else.

  118. Mac
    Ignored
    says:

    Someone mentioned that the depreciation on the motor home seemed heavy. It is but there would be an incentive to depreciate it quickly if your loan getting repaid was tied to it.

    These type of vehicles hold their value apparently much more so than ordinary cars. So this level of depreciation in year does seem very high. The vehicle is basically a two year old brand new unused motorhome. I am surprised it is only valued at 60k today.

    There is something really odd about the purchase of this motorhome and we are being told a story about it that does not really add up.

    It clearly spooked the auditors and I can totally understand why they jacked it. I think they knew it was a story as well.

    Maybe the plan was to buy it. Depreciate it very heavily and then 2-3 years down the road Peter would generously offer to take it off the party’s hands at net book value of course…

  119. Mac
    Ignored
    says:

    What I keep coming back to in my head is why would you need a bed in the vehicle.

    If it was essentially a campaign bus as we are being told now then were they seriously thinking multiple people would be sleeping in it as they traversed Scotland converting the masses in their 110k luxury motorhome towing Mike Russell’s horsebox.

    The whole idea is laughable. The vehicle is completely inappropriate for a campaign bus. You would never by this for that purpose, the cost alone is crazy but the vehicle itself is clearly not fit for purpose.

    The mobile meth lab gag was more believable than campaign bus.

  120. Rogerborg
    Ignored
    says:

    >”Would the 80k for motors be inclusive or exclusive of VAT?”

    A very interesting question given that King Murrell appears to have “loaned” the party the entire cost of the vehicle, then (initially) received back what looks like the VAT amount on it.

    They got Capone for tax dodging.

  121. Lenny Hartley
    Ignored
    says:

    Mac depression amount if i remember correctly is just an agreed value that the tax man thinks is a fair amount. (So most companies will use the same method, ie computers over 36 months etc ) It has nothing to do with actual value of vehicle, in todays luxury motorhome market where you cant get news ones without waiting a year or more, it would probably sell at close too or above cost price.
    I know somebody involved in importing new luxury German Motorhomes he cant get enough from Manf and its not changing with economic outlook.

  122. Stephen O'Brien
    Ignored
    says:

    Who knew ‘self-determination’, in political circles in Scotland, means individual careers based on deception and greed. The electorate, a means to that end.

    As this fraudulent endeavour unravels, the international community has observed this utter farce. The extent of false election campaigns. SNP & others, elected under false pretence. Onlookers bewildered as even now, the public mainly refuse to believe the scale of manipulative politicians, using the guise of independence for Scotland, to further their self-centred ambitions.

    There is of course, many a career built on this lucrative industry, while the country suffers.

    The industrial revolution, alive and well, hot air and steam never went away. The greatest invention to ever come out of Scotland!

  123. john cormack
    Ignored
    says:

    What I don’t understand is why this vehicle has been taken in by the police, rather than just searched and left on the old lady’s drive. Surely the police interest is in the money trail,which the vehicle may form part of,rather than the physical vehicle itself? Or is there more to this than meets the eye?

  124. Lenny Hartley
    Ignored
    says:

    Gordon Bain, that happened to a fair few folk when the changed from paper to id car licenses,lucky enough I knew of the issues and checked at the time. I know of folk who have had to resit motorcycle tests because of the screw up.,

  125. Gordon Bain
    Ignored
    says:

    @ Lenny. I didn’t notice until I moved to the South of France and decided a scooter would be perfect here. I was furious.

  126. Mac
    Ignored
    says:

    Lenny, that is interesting about these vehicles holding their value or even appreciating in value in the current economic climate.

    Because that makes them the ideal kind of vehicle for tunneling out money.

    You can (legitimately) depreciate them heavily as if they were an ordinary car.

    Then when the book value is low enough (3 years say) buy it off the party. Anyone asks you can say you paid the book value so it cost the party nothing.

    Et voila! You just got yourself a massively discounted motorhome courtesy of the SNP’s coffers.

    It is a bit of grubby scam if that is what was going on. But it is about the only ‘sense I can make of the purchase.

  127. Brian Doonthetoon
    Ignored
    says:

    Hi Mac at 8:45 am.

    You typed,
    “These type of vehicles hold their value apparently much more so than ordinary cars. So this level of depreciation in year does seem very high. The vehicle is basically a two year old brand new unused motorhome. I am surprised it is only valued at 60k today.”

    During summer, 2021, I decided to treat myself to a 2 berth campervan. I did a lot of research via Google. I needed a vehicle that was no taller than 1.95 metres so I could park it in the multi-storey car park for which I had a resident’s permit.

    I found a suitable vehicle on Gumtree, asking price £13,000. Further research indicated that this was a reasonable price for that vehicle, with an 02 plate and an MOT due in April 2022. It had only been in use for a couple of months since it was MOT’d in April 2021, as the owner had died and it was being sold by his family. I eventually bought it for £12,000.

    When it was new, the retail price was around £21,000, in 2002. So the depreciation over 19 years was around 43%. I could have bought a bog standard 2002 van, with the same cab/chassis and a year’s MOT for around £1,000.

    Campervans/motorhomes do tend to ‘keep their value’. Try doing a Google search and you’ll find vehicles from even the 80s and 90s at, apparently, eye-watering prices. The thing to bear in mind is that these vehicles tend to be used intermittently, resulting in low annual mileage. When I bought mine, the mileage was just over 95,000. I’ve added around 2,000 to that since 2021. It has now gone through 2 MOTs, with no advisories.

  128. Ian Smith
    Ignored
    says:

    Kate Forbes must surely be out the running for any leadership contest, if as one of the most senior cabinet members she had no idea of the party’s financial shambles despite her much touted accountancy qualifications.

    Even if stitched up by the Murrells, she has proven far too naïve to be trusted with leadership of the party and the country.

    Similarly having taken hospitality of the Guptas, despite astonishingly poor deal for the public finance, and as local MP not apparently noticing any concern.

    Either that or the junior SNP ranks just breeds a natural acceptance of poor governance and corruption that it never raised a flag.

  129. Angus Files
    Ignored
    says:

    So where’s HMRC and the tax inspections if you don’t have proper paperwork for a 25 quid watch threatening to take you off the premises cuffed as they have more power than the police.??

    As far as scams go Murrells think process could have been.Here listen up Golden Goose SNP im going to buy a campervan but because I am employed the vat and the depreciation will not be reclaimed. Tell you what goose egg to help YOU, you buy the motorhome register it under your name then I pay you back for it minus the vat minus the depreciation…do the maths probably get it for nothing over the years.All you have to do is make sure HMRC sees no paper trail going back to Murrell before transfer of documents and final payment.

  130. Cuilean
    Ignored
    says:

    Is there any evidence of the motorhome being used during the election campaign e.g. selfies, other pictures, showing Mr Murrell and his wife or anyone in the SNP using the campervan during any campaigning, inside or beside the motorhome? Surely the press will have lots of pictures of an alleged ‘battle bus’ during an election? Very odd if they don’t.

    Of course, if anyone in the SNP, or otherwise, wanted a discreet rendevous, away from hotels, B&Bs and other prying eyes, a mobile home would be just the thing.

  131. Mac
    Ignored
    says:

    John, I keep wondering why the police seized it myself. I think they must be pulling it apart looking for something, anything.

    I think they are searching the motorhome for the same reasons they are searching the home and offices and potentially other properties. They have extended that search to include the motorhome it seems.

    Maybe the police suspect someone was using the van to stash something, something they could not keep at home. Money, documents, massive dildo collection…

    Remember the Murrells were warned the searches were coming. That van might have seemed like a good idea as a place to conceal something whilst keeping it safe.

    It is very curious why, given how contentious it is, that the SNP / Murrell did not just simply sell it, especially if he could have made a small profit on it. Then it would have been medals and promotions all round.

    So why did he not do that? That is a real question. He could have removed the motorhome from the 666k equation very easily by just selling it and recovering most of the money but he never did… why?

    Instead he left it resting on his mum’s driveway depreciating like a lead balloon in his own party’s accounts… why?

    It seems he even went to the ridiculous lengths of lending back the party the equivalent amount of money instead of just selling it… why?

    Was there something in the van that meant even when it became a problem for him he still could not get rid of it. Well I guess that is maybe what the police are curious about as well.

  132. Dan
    Ignored
    says:

    It’s worth checking your license to see what categories you can drive, and the specific codes applied to each category.

    https://www.gov.uk/driving-licence-categories

    https://www.gov.uk/driving-licence-codes

  133. willie
    Ignored
    says:

    Look who Yousaf has just appointed SNP Head of Strategic Delivery. One Julie Hepburn the wife of Jamie Hepburn who was just appointed Minister for Independence.

    Another husband and wife team exactly in the mould of the now gone and disgraced First Minster and SNO CEO her husband.

    Absolutely no messing when Humza descried himself as the Continuity Candidate. And who has he appointed as interim CEO than no other than existing SNO COO Sue Ruddick.

    More more more of the same failed rotten SNP. Two fingers up to all in a broken divided party there can be no recovery from this. The SNP is gone.

  134. Stravaiger
    Ignored
    says:

    Another great post from Rob McAlpine today.
    What we have here is not a disaster, it’s the biggest opportunity we’ve had in nearly a decade.

    http://robinmcalpine.org/we-cant-afford-a-nervous-breakdown-right-now/

  135. PacMan
    Ignored
    says:

    It would be funny if pictures emerged of the Murrells in their campervan breaking the lockdown restrictions they had forced on the rest of us.

  136. Ottomanboi
    Ignored
    says:

    Nevertheless, compared to the scale of questionable activities within the British state and its legions of «agents», offshore tax havens and covert money laundering being list toppers, the set up to which many pay homage, Scotland is a mere neophyte.
    «I/we/they have done nothing wrong», the system is obligingly flexible to the higher initiates.

  137. TheSNPLeftMe
    Ignored
    says:

    I read Robin McAlpines piece today. I respect his appeal.
    However, I remember Alba suggesting a Supermajority at the last Scottish election and Alba/ISP members and voters voted SNP 1 and their own Party 2 for the list. The SNP pushed both vote SNP and opened the door for Unionists instead.
    I think Robin is wrong to call for calm. One tribe has their hands on the steering wheel. They are heading for the cliff edge. They have at least 2.5 years before their Holyrood control is at risk.

    I say pull them down and start again. I don’t trust them and I am convinced Party, self interest and Cult comes before Scotland for them.

    I will attack them every day because they are the enemy of Scotland.
    I have seen a real YES Movement.

  138. Daisy Walker
    Ignored
    says:

    @ Dominic Berry re, ‘ The law cannot compel a husband or wife to bear witness against each other in a court case. Implication: They anticipated the need for damage limitation as far back as that.’

  139. TheSNPLeftMe
    Ignored
    says:

    Goods are also seized to recover funds from any criminal activity.

  140. Daisy Walker
    Ignored
    says:

    re the Murrells being married and non compellable as witnesses against one another in a court of law.

    That may be one motive for the marraige. Another is, that as a couple they can attend official do’s…. while Nikla (or any other official minister) is legally obliged to declare the meeting and keep minutes…. her husband does not, and of course once the introductions are made, Nikla can be in one place in the full glare, and Pete can be somewhere else entirely, totally off the books. Not even subject to Freedom of Information requests.

    Very useful I would suggest. Potentially.

  141. John H.
    Ignored
    says:

    Willie 10.09am.

    I don’t think the leadership has changed at all. The same woman who has been busy destroying Scotland for the last eight years is still in charge I believe. Yusaf is there to take the pressure off of Sturgeon, but he’s just a puppet.

    Why hasn’t Peter Murrell been suspended from the SNP? Sturgeon was quick enough to suspend any one else who came under the slightest suspicion of wrong doing.

  142. Robert McAllan
    Ignored
    says:

    Ian Smith @9:51, Forbes naivety stretches to her believing her electorate are even more so than she!!

  143. Mac
    Ignored
    says:

    Couldn’t agree more Daisy.

    If there was real corruption here (and we are not talking about fiddling a cheap motorhome level stuff) then Peter would have been positioned as the ideal bag man. Totally off books, totally off radar.

    I am just surprised they don’t have a foundation or some kind of shady charitable trust.

    If a much larger corruption scandal emerges here then the SNP are going to implode.

  144. Big Jock
    Ignored
    says:

    Robert – I think there are very few good MSP’s in the Holyrood SNP. Probably 5 at best. Forbes and the rest are just part of the rotten cabal to a greater or lesser degree. The SNP need to be put out of their misery. A completely new party with a proper NEC , with no person ever having the power of Sturgeon.

  145. Dramfineday
    Ignored
    says:

    Anent Motorhome depreciation. I would venture that the statement from Oaktree motors ( Mia 12/04 at 7.55) was correct for a pre-Covid world. The same does not appear to hold true at the moment. Perhaps, due to accounting rules physical assets need to be depreciated annually (I don’t know, I’m not an accountant) but in the motorhome world and again I emphasise, at the moment, assets are appreciating.

    We bought our van (new) in 2019, the same model today costs £27K more than what we paid. The used value for our model, year and similar mileage is £7k more than the price we paid.

    Now there are a load of issues at play here….post Covid demand nearly emptied out every dealer in the UK, Brexit impacts on imports of van conversion cabs and parts, a huge hike in the base van price from European suppliers, availability of same due to microchip shortages and of course, lately, inflation.

    In 2021 an ISmove started from £82230, then you add the lux packs, chassis upgrade etc., and according to a review in MotorCarvan Motorhome Monthly (MMM) expect to bump into £100k. Looking at Autotrader, a 2019 ISmove 7.3 with 15k on the clock is retailing at £105k (with Chassis upgrade to 4.5tons). Tried to get a 2023 price, but the dealers appear coy to put anything on their web pages re money …… probably to avoid the “How Much…..I could have bought a (Flat / House / Rolls Royce) for that.

    Regarding depreciation, the normal rationales appear to be up in the air at the moment so I’d be cautious about thinking that the Murrell’s van had declined in value. Mind you any one bidding for it, if the stories are true that it sat uncared for and unmoving for two years, would have to think of a lengthy (and expensive) series of replacements and maintenance for the van.

    So depreciation, yes or no?

    PS Normal car licence if under 3500KG but C1 required if over. I understand that the UK government is currently thinking of reverting to pre EU standards – pass you car test and you can drive up to 7.5 tons without further testing.

  146. Ian Brotherhood
    Ignored
    says:

    ‘What weight should that mobile home be Irv?’

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fk_EB1MiTg

  147. Higgy
    Ignored
    says:

    To add to the list of questions. When was the order placed as weighting times for cars were +12 months at the time mine took 14 months? A top end vehicle like the camper when every person and their mother was after a camper would surely have a longer lead time. Was a deposit paid to secure the production slot at time of order? Is that hidden in the accounts? Is there no procurement governance requiring multiple sign off by NEC members? I’ll stop with that one.

  148. stuart mctavish
    Ignored
    says:

    Mac @10:04

    Indy roadmap to replace the defacto one the (ahem) party spoilt with Humza?

  149. TheSNPLeftMe
    Ignored
    says:

    I believe we do have some good SNP MPs and MSPs. However, they cannot keep sitting silently hoping this blows over. They are now guilty by association. They either believe in Independence or they value Party loyalty higher. They cannot have both anymore.
    The comparison to Labour denial when their end arrived is clear. Voters will switch eventually.You can lead, follow or get out of the way.

    We are past the tipping point now.

  150. Stoker
    Ignored
    says:

    Stuart wrote:

    “We’re told the SNP had a cashflow problem after the election, which is why Peter Murrell loaned the party £107,620 in June 2021.”

    That really is quite a specific figure, isn’t it? Why not £110K or £108K or even £107K? Are we to believe Murrell decided, by himself, the party is skint and needs a loan so i’ll give them one for £107,620? Someone discussed this with him. Someone else was very much in the know.

    Stuart also wrote:

    “Every member of the SNP’s ruling NEC is personally legally liable for the party’s finances. So why weren’t they told about an item of expenditure that accounted for half the party’s cash reserves and from which absolutely no benefit accrued or was going to accrue? (And indeed which already represented a large and reckless waste of money for nothing, which they might have wanted to raise concerns about.)”

    Every single member of that NEC needs to be pursued legally and prosecuted with Murrell. That’s a guaranteed surefire method of loosening lips. Especially with the threat of a hefty jail sentence hanging over them. Offer immunity to the first one who steps forward with valuable info.

  151. London Scott
    Ignored
    says:

    Re the Campaign Bus. As pioneered by Lady T back in the 80s and taken up by other parties, these buses start life as 80 seater coaches. Rows of seats taken out at the front, seats reversed, tables added. Seats at the back for either the press to take to some event, or party workers for a mass delivery/campaigning session. The buses would be covered in party colours, slogans etc.

    So Covid required a campaign ‘lite bus’. So what was proposed? Peter and Nicky alone roaming around Scotland? Seriously? Or perhaps accom0anied by the Press Officer and Campaign Manager all squeezed hugger mugger into the 2 beds. And if the camper van was delivered in Jan for an election in early May would it not have gone straight off to the paint shop for some yellow paint and a saltire on the roof. It is so ridiculously laughable.

  152. Colin
    Ignored
    says:

    So it appears the loan by Mr Murrell was not actually money but the provision of a battlebus. If so, then the purpose was not to assist in regard to the SNP’s cash flow as at that point, it would have been a paper (journal entry) transaction.
    It would be interesting to marry up the date of purchase by Mr Murrell to the date the loan and asset were recorded in the party’s books.
    Whilst the loan was from memory £106,720 it doesn’t definitivly mean that this equates to the price paid by him. Viz £106,720 could have been list value and his actual purchase price less than this. We do not know what paperwork the auditors will have seen or been able to obtain from his original purchase

    If indeed Mr Murrell did purchase the vehicle privately then on a salary after tax etc of circa £50k it would have absorbed two years plus of his earnings. You would think then the wife’s approval would have been required.

    As leader of the party, she should also have known when ownership was transferred to the SNP and approved the transaction..

    Circa £47k of the loan was repaid to Mr Murrell by December 21 as the accounts disclose £60k outstanding. Thus the cash flow position is now negative. It looks as if it will be a considerable time before we find out the position at December 2022!

    With the 33.3 % depreciation rate the book value will soon be down to around £30k. Were it to have been sold at book value to guess who to extinguish the residue of the loan then
    ey ho he would have got an incredible bargain for use in his retirement with the SNP having wasted £107k.
    Surely now at least the battlebus will be sold oommercially at market value
    We should,however, also be thankful that at least the loan was interest free!

  153. Arch Stanton
    Ignored
    says:

    Why did Mike Russell have to run his independence campaign from a horsebox when the party had a luxury motor home going spare?

  154. PhilM
    Ignored
    says:

    @Robert Knight
    I can assure you I am not holding a candle or ‘leaving a light on’ for the SNP, however this party doesn’t belong to the current cabal and there should be an attempt to save it if it’s possible. However it may not be possible and I can’t say I care very much. I want independence only and this party got us pretty close in 2014. If it could be saved, it is worth trying for those who are in a position to attempt it. I don’t like calling parties ‘rancid’ because there are hundreds of thousands of members in all the major parties who are probably fairly decent and I want them to stay active and engaged in mainstream politics. The populist trend worries me personally.
    It’s very easy to get caught up in this new hyper-speed politics and believe that it has an uncomplicated reality. Us older types can remember when all of this was slower, less frenetic and much less paranoid. People think it’s natural now to jump on any mistake, any gaffe, any accusation, allegation of wrong-doing and dismiss a person, a party immediately without giving it much thought but justice is slow and methodical (when it’s not corrupt of course), so calling the SNP rancid or worse and wishing their imminent demise is part of this hyper-politics. When people engage like that I don’t see them thinking very clearly.
    Our established parties have all been through episodes like this but these occurred before social media. I suppose it comes down to being careful what you wish for. I can remember how many of our new media people were very enamoured of Sturgeotti just a few years ago but I also remember further back when a raven-haired humourless unhappy little pedant used to run point for the SNP and for the life of me I could not understand why this person was in politics and why they were considered ‘one to watch’. I was never someone impressed with Sturgeotti’s presentation skills, her ‘command of her brief’ (oh f*** off as if people who say that know what the brief is) and as I have an interest in healthcare I probably know things about her time as Health Secretary that others don’t know or can’t remember and this made me question the political sense of her former cheerleaders who seemed to like her just because she was ‘oor Nikla’. IMHO we should never call our politicians by their first names in forums such as this. They’re not our friends unless they really ARE our friends.
    One thing you can guarantee is that in politics as in life there’s always an over-correction when things change. Want to do right by trans people…great…but then things over-correct and you quickly and up with Isla Brysons and transbutchers and flat-footed talentless six-foot three ballet dancers on stage and the Green tail wagging the SNP dog.
    I doubt the SNP will change and certainly not fast enough but there are a few left who might want to give saving this party a chance and they should try to do that. I think an over-correction is part of a lot of people’s reaction to the alleged wrong-doing we appear to be seeing. Not sure I deserve your pelters for standing back a bit and trying to look at the situation with a bit more objectivity based on decades of interest in politics and an actual interest in party political history. That being said I’m an amateur and really know f***all for certain.
    There’s your answer.

  155. Beauvais
    Ignored
    says:

    The call by Robin McAlpine for calm reflection and civility amongst members of the independence movement is an understandable reaction to events. Less vituperation and more sober reflection is certainly sensible.

    Nevertheless there has to be some clear thinking about what is meant by the term independence movement. Are SNP ministers who talk of independence being an aspiration with a timescale of around the year 2050, are such people to be deemed part of the movement, and accorded the civility and comradeship that Robin believes is necessary?

    There is a kind of naivety that assumes that the success of a movement comes from keeping as many people on board as possible. That it’s primarily a game of numbers with a wee bit of strategy tacked on for good measure. “We will need these people” is the phrase often employed. But we are seeing the results of everyone assuming a few years ago that the leadership cadre of the SNP were all on the level and working for indy.

    Success for any political or social movement comes after goals are set and then pursued authentically by the WHOLE movement. It’s not about the numbers but about the effectiveness.

    This effectiveness comes from CONSTANTLY taking the initiative. People have to be told that Scotland regaining sovereign nation status is vital. People are ready to be told and will respond to polite assertiveness. Spending decades ‘persuading’ some quasi-mythical group called the Soft NOs is a marvellous strategy if you are not seriously a nationalist.

    We have to define who is and who isn’t really in our movement. Alba is the SNP before pursuit of cushy devolution careers ruined that latter party. The Salvo initiative is a valuable development. Let as many genuine SNP people as possible come over to the real independence movement and be welcomed.

    Sturgeonites, woke weirdos, troughers and aspiring troughers are not part of our movement and should never again be regarded as such.

  156. Merganser
    Ignored
    says:

    The rats in the NEC are jostling for a position on the gangplank.

    Who will be first to make a dash for it?

  157. D.Holden
    Ignored
    says:

    Anyone expecting Murrell to have a medical “episode” which renders him unable to answer probing questions for a long, long time and his little wifey too distraught to do likewise ?

  158. Ian Smith
    Ignored
    says:

    Should some employee at SNP HQ have been paying BIK tax on a £100K luxury vehicle, without getting approval in advance that this could be considered a battle bus?

  159. London Scott
    Ignored
    says:

    Further thoughts on that bus. I find it inconceivable that a purchase of that size would not require the authorisation of someone else. Every organisation I have worked for required 2 signatures for the purchasing g and paying of invoices for stuff not taken out of petty cash. Moreover even small voluntary groups have two signatories for cheques- my local town twinning group and history society for example. I cannot think that Ruddick is complicit in this and the last person and the last person who should be appointed interim CEO. In fact there should be a full clear out of senior employees. Plus the NEC and treasurer – elections should be held now to replace them

  160. Ian Smith
    Ignored
    says:

    The longer spent in calm reflection, civility and clear thinking by the SNP cohort of the independence movement, the more time the continuity cabal have to entrench themselves into the system.

    They have already poisoned the party with a shockingly inept and bizarre cast of characters for the cabinet, hooked back up with the deeply suspicious greens, and will no doubt move on to the new CEO, new auditors, new Chief Constable, judicial appointments, etc.

  161. Derek Mackay's Interior decorator
    Ignored
    says:

    Those of an investigative bent might like to look closely at recent raids on a Dumbarton address that may be well known to the local SNP.
    Strong rumours that this is connected to the campervan. Apparently not just recreational pharmaceuticals.

  162. Geoff Anderson
    Ignored
    says:

    If we truly have an Independence Movement why are they not getting together for a coffee and having an informal chat?

    I see no action on the ground. Can delegates from Alba, ISP, SNP, Labour for Indy, AUOB, Common Weal, SSP, Robin McAlpine, BforS, etc etc not at least meet up without an agenda for a chat. If someone doesn’t attend then empty chair them so WE can see who puts ego before Nation.

    If our movement cannot make a few phone calls to organise a chat then I have little hope that they will deliver Indy.

    Will someone get off their arse and start to organise this. If any group don’t want to attend then GOOD because then we will know who to bypass.

    You want to run a Nation……how about running a kick off meeting?

    A two hour meeting with Robin McAlpine as chair…..get on with it

  163. Anne Johnston
    Ignored
    says:

    Wings is the best, (maybe the only), investigative journalist in Britain,in my lifetime.

  164. Stravaiger
    Ignored
    says:

    When I posted Rob McAlpine’s link above I didn’t mean we all sit back and muse over how we get all Kumbaya about saving the SNP, I meant this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to seize the day, carpe diem, be measured in our anger in order to not alienate those who haven’t got their head around what has happened yet, take stock, regroup and formulate a proper plan to take us to where we want to be. Alba will be a part of this, Salvo will be a part of this, but it will take more, it will take all of us to keep the heid. It could all happen very quickly if we want it to. There’s no such thing as a slow revolution, they all happen at pace, before the powers that be can react.

  165. sarah
    Ignored
    says:

    @ Geoff Anderson: Precis of Geoff at 1.16 – why isn’t the Independence Movement getting together for an informal chat – Robin McAlpine as chair.

    Totally agree. We know that the key bloggers do talk to politicians, independence groups, and each other privately. So use this as the basis for a real move to organise – perhaps even set up the Convention. Rev, you can help get this chat set up, I’m sure.

    Time is of the essence. We cannot afford to waste any more.

  166. Confused
    Ignored
    says:

    is there a weird subculture of campervan afficionados on wings?

    always wondered about those magazines on the rack – who would buy that?

    https://www.magazine.co.uk/magazines/campervan-magazine

    takes all kinds; what next – the battle re-enactors? Model railway enthusiasts? – it would be a welcome change from the tediously perverted “hobbies” our politicians seem to like.

    You can always combine the two – initially thought maybe Peter was a closet heterosexualist and was using the van to hide a massive stash of vintage 1970s grumble mags from Nikki – Oui, Rodox, Color Climax, the stuff your cousin, in the army, got in Holland and had to smuggle through customs …

    Disappointed no one made the obvious Scooby Doo reference – their van is called the MYSTERY MACHINE

    and velma is a little closet lesbian, and at some point the mask gets removed from Peter Murrell’s face :

    if it wasn’t for you pesky kids (*) – I’d have got away with it

    (in the light of the new norms of TQ+ identities, Scooby and Shaggy’s precise relationship is open to speculation)

    (*) = extreme far right alt-nat extremist reactionary transphobes and wings cultists aka normal people

  167. London Scott
    Ignored
    says:

    At 1.03 pm I said:

    “I cannot think that Ruddick is complicit in this and the last person and the last person who should be appointed interim CEO.”

    Meant to say:
    ” I cannot think that Ruddick is NOT complicit in this and she is the last person who should be appointed interim CEO. ” Stu – can you add an edit feature to your super site?

  168. Beauvais
    Ignored
    says:

    Confused @1:56

    Then there’s also Sturgeon’s alleged Scrappy Do at the Balmoral Hotel.

  169. Ian
    Ignored
    says:

    It does seem that Murrell loaned the campervan to the SNP, which was then recorded as aa a cash loan. Presumably they would then repay the ‘loan’ and ownership would revert to Murrell in some obscure and hidden way, writing it off or accepting a knock down price for it. So he gets a state of the art luxury campervan, no miles on the clock, for a derisory fee. Nice.
    Except you have to wonder what petty minded, acquisitive double dealing consumes the mind of a man on an already generous salary, with lots of perks, pension etc? Is this really the measure of the man who was supposedly the architect of the SNP in policy and strategy?
    It is so shabby, laughable and conniving – and yet, don’t scandals of this type often reveal how small-minded and acquisitive those who lord it over us often are? All those MP’s double dealing on fuel bills and property, who already had very good salaries and expenses. It is quite astonishing how power and relative wealth corrupts people who already are doing very well. It has become the norm among them, and especially the SNP elite cadre of Sturgeon’s that they cannot see how desperately shabby and tacky they are – and worse, how entitled they feel to help themselves to public funds for their wine cellars and new kitchens, holidays and gourmet dining. The same people who most nauseatingly lecture us on how ‘progressive’ and principled they are, and how dare you question them. The same people who think nothing of jailing someone who represents a threat to their high life.
    It is like something out of an East European satire on the bourgeoisie from decades ago, yet here we are, living through it, and no real commentary apart from individuals who according to Craig Murray’s persecutor aren’t ‘real’ journalists. Laaugh? I nearly cried.

  170. Ebok
    Ignored
    says:

    Geoff Anderson / Sarah

    Alba organised two discussion meetings, Perth Dec 10, and Edinburgh Jan 14, open to all Independence groups and individuals. The outcomes of these meetings were to be discussed at the Alba National Council in Ayr on Feb 11, though this observation was added to the report from Perth: –
    ‘it is for others to decide which aspects of the discussions will assist in their own organisations’

    That observation doesn’t sound very unifying but presumably there is ongoing communications behind the scenes. Like both of you, I have no idea who is talking and who ain’t.

  171. Geoff Anderson
    Ignored
    says:

    Who paid for the broken window and the replacement iron at the Balmoral Hotel?

  172. Big Jock
    Ignored
    says:

    This is where it gets interesting. When the crisis starts affecting the Troughers wages. Then they will become mutinous.

    https://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/23453226.snp-faces-loss-1million-public-funds-auditor-chaos/

  173. Dan
    Ignored
    says:

    @ Confused

    Mega spec expensive campervans became a thing when the rules were changed to make it difficult for you to buy any old van and convert it into a campervan yourself.
    No longer was it possible to buy a transit or other euro van, lob a couple of old pallets and a mattress sorry a futon (coz we’re classy) in the back, and then go away on holiday exploring the great outdoors where you can see outdoor stuff and take a piss or shit in the woods and use some naturally grown locally sourced moss to wipe your butt. Aloe vera win! (bury pooh properly though natch)
    Back in the day moss was used for nappies.
    Humans evolved to become weak, vain, and saft as a loose skitter and embraced this notion of needing “luxury” all the time. Which basically means they work their arse off to earn loads of money to blow it on superfluous luxury shite.
    The joy of being outdoors trying to find an electrical hook up and a wifi signal, and also having to mix that blue stuff that goes in van toilet for me takes the edge off the simple beauty of being outdoors.

    It also now appears to be mandatory for mountain bikers, surfers and other outdoor hobbiests to use highly priced VW T4/5/6 van of some sort.

  174. London Scott
    Ignored
    says:

    Confused at 1.56 said:

    “it takes all kinds; what next – the battle re-enactors? Model railway enthusiasts? – it would be a welcome change from the tediously perverted “hobbies” our politicians seem to like.”

    Bang on. My husband I have between us had 90 years of working for the Conservative Party, including being Councillors. He was threatened with deselection back in early spring of 2021 by the local party. Why? He had not been out knocking on doors for 3 months for the London Elections. Perhaps because he had been taken to hospital a few days before Christmas with 2 Pulmonary Embolisms on both lungs. He and I kicked up a big fuss and threatened legal action, so the party backed off.

    I said to him now it is all about fighting elections – no matter which party you are in. It is not about being a good MP, MSP, Cllr. And forget about having family, friends and hobbies. It has to be 100% campaigning.

    Dennis Healey said that all politicians need a ‘hinterland’. He had photography, James Callaghan his dairy farm, Harold Wilson bird watching, Roy Jenkins writing historical biographies, Ted Heath sailing and music, Ken Clarke, jazz and bird watching, Winston Churchill – painting, looking after pigs, building walls. Apart from anything else you meet ordinary people and not just politicians in your party if you have wide interests.

    The younger politicians I see now are OBSESSED with politics…regardless of their political inclinations. The current culture encourages narcistic, selfish people with no roundness or grounding in normal life. Spending every Saturday and Sunday campaigning for months on end is not psychologically healthy. I said to a Council colleagues who complained about a third who often spent Saturday mornings taking his girls to ballet lessons. “Good, better a loving Dad on the Council, than a dried up political obsessive like you.”

    My husband is into public transport (old and new), architecture Billy Bunter and Just William stories, military history, local history and family history. He goes to conferences and events related to his interests (and buys magazines). And he loves to spend time with his grand nieces.

    Funnily enough we have heard today that the key figure behind trying to get him deselected has been chucked out the Conservative Party. Why? For sending an offence tweet at 3.00 am. Perhaps if he had had a sensible girlfriend and a few interests which kept him grounded he would be a better person – and still a Conservative Councillor.

  175. Scot
    Ignored
    says:

    Yusaf says he didn’t know about the campervan.
    What a surprise.
    The next question he should have been asked is, “what does he know now?”

    When will our journalists toughen up and stop bowling underarm.
    We need some bouncers and yorkers.

  176. Ottomanboi
    Ignored
    says:

    When will «the West» stop making excuses for Biden?
    Why do so many fawn before this cracked idol and the country he represents?

  177. Big Jock
    Ignored
    says:

    Otto – Biden could be useful in a Scottish independence fight. He detests the Brits as much as we do!

  178. Anton Decadent
    Ignored
    says:

    Anyone who is on a site such as this is aware that politics attracts the absolute worst types of people, liars who would do and say anything to get ahead. During all of our lifetimes this has been demonstrated time and time again and across the parties. The only crime in politics is being caught.

    Re SNP, to a lesser extent with Alex Salmond than with Nicola Sturgeon but it is still there, there has been a cult of personality cultivated by the party and media. With Alex Salmond it is more visible on sites such as this as the media were party to his scandalous framing. People I know were taken in by the Chief Mammy and drawing of the crossed legs and high heels under a table stuff. Re cult of personality, I can see why they went for it given the current opposition, Sarwar, Ross, Douglas Home and if you include Harvie, Slater and Yousef it is a hard sell to market them like a celebrity.

    I think that there is and should be a place for Alex Salmond in Scotlands current and future campaign for independence but it has to rely on policies rather than personalities. I believe that it also has to be free of people representing the likes of the WEF rather than the people of Scotland and that is harder than it sounds, I do not think that people are aware of how badly the EU is compromised by the influence of the likes of Schwab and Soros and multinational corporate capital.

  179. willie
    Ignored
    says:

    Here now, if Murrell was given the luxury motor home which he stored at his mother’s house’s driveway, should the party not have notified the Benefit in Kind to their employee Mr Murrell to the tax authorities.

    This after all was a luxury motor, retained and controlled by Mr Murrell, available for his use, and should have been notified on Mr Murrells P11D.

    Company cars, company yachts and other such benefits all have to be notified to the tax authority. The more you think about this Rolls Royce of a motor home the more you smell something not quite right.

    It is all so reminiscent of Emelda and Ferdinand Marco of the Philippines and the Nationalista Party.

    Even more so when you consider that the current nationalista party President of the Philippines is BongBong Marco. Nothing like keeping it in the family and not unlike our continuity candidate.

    I wonder how many pairs of shoes Emelda Sturgeon had.

  180. Stoker
    Ignored
    says:

    Good luck to those above trying to get things moving and suggestions of pulling together. All i will say is what i’ve said before. Too many ego’s at play within the movement and an awful lot of childish mentalities.

    Just look at WOS btl. There’s still so-called indy supporters posting direct links to Unionist organisations, helping them to pull in advertising revenue etc. Unionist organisations that have worked 24/7 against both our right to self-determination and against this very blog.

    Then there’s the utter disrespect and lack of support towards those of us who go to the trouble of archiving links to preserve a factual record etc. If so-called indy supporters can’t unite on that one simple task do you really expect them to unite behind more complicated organisational tasks? LOL!

    Seriously, good luck! You’ve not got your problems to seek.

  181. dasBlimp
    Ignored
    says:

    Big Jock says:
    13 April, 2023 at 3:02 pm
    Otto – Biden could be useful in a Scottish independence fight. He detests the Brits as much as we do!

    ——-
    What do you have against the Welsh? You don’t realise how ridiculous you come across.

  182. McDuff
    Ignored
    says:

    This lot will never deliver independence so lets vote them out.
    Vote Alba.

  183. Republicofscotland
    Ignored
    says:

    ” Biden could be useful in a Scottish independence fight. He detests the Brits as much as we do!”

    Big Jock.

    I doubt Biden would want to see the break-up of his most loyal minion the 51 state, the UK, US presidents laud Ireland as a great wee successful country but warn Scots to remain in the union as Obama did.

    The US doesn’t want its nuke warheads to be removed from Faslane, US president/s are no friend to Scottish independence.

  184. London Scott
    Ignored
    says:

    Further to my comment at 2.45 pm. Just popped into my head. Douglas Ross is a football referee. Good for him to have a non-political life.

  185. London Scott
    Ignored
    says:

    Big Jock says:
    13 April, 2023 at 3:02 pm
    Otto – Biden could be useful in a Scottish independence fight. He detests the Brits as much as we do!

    A lot of the Brits killed by the IRA were and descendants of Scots. Not a good look your comment.

    Biden is a Plastic Paddy. Mixing up the Black and Tans with the all Blacks, and a Scottish Piper with an Irish Piper. It is all show for the so called Irish American voters. The family on his mother’s side sound like bigots.

  186. Ottomanboi
    Ignored
    says:

    BIG JOCK.

    OK…but could he find Scotland on a map?
    Seriously, getting into bed with America is frying pan into magma, but then im rather biased re the USA and its ways.
    https://archive.ph/2023.03.30-011020/https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/03/22/iraq-kurdistan-region-democracy-war-invasion-united-states/
    Everything they touch

  187. North chiel
    Ignored
    says:

    Meanwhile the deputy director of GCHQ/M15 has been promoted to Director . Wonder what her remit is/was to earn the promotion ?

  188. John Green
    Ignored
    says:

    Dan, there is nothing up with a vw t5 van,they are wonderful

  189. Republicofscotland
    Ignored
    says:

    North Chiel.

    The head of Mi5, I’m embarrassed to say is/was a Glasgow boy, now a devoted House Jock Ken McCallum.

  190. Doug
    Ignored
    says:

    How many Irish have been killed by the british [including Scots] over the centuries?

    If Biden upsets racist british nationalists with his comments [however fallaciously] I can only applaud him.

    God bless the Irish.

  191. Ottomanboi
    Ignored
    says:

    REPUBLIKOFSCOTLAND

    In colonial situations is not unusual to find very loyal servants among the cerebrally colonized subordinates. Ya gotta make a buck, somehow!

  192. Republicofscotland
    Ignored
    says:

    Ottomanboi.

    You are correct, and Professor Alf Baird often points this out in his excellent articles on the colonised mindset.

  193. Stuart MacKay
    Ignored
    says:

    The Crisis of the Story of Nationalist Scotland: Six Suggestions for a Different Politics of Independence, Gerry Hassan, Bella Caledonia, https://archive.ph/I99Hd

    I know I post links from Bella way more often than is good for a normal person, but this is actually worth a read. There’s much hand-wringing and general angst but the message is clear enough – the country and politics needs a new direction.

    Whether that includes the SNP appears to be open to question. Hassan references Forbes’ attempt in The National to put some distance between her and Winnebago-gate. “Ach, we didnae ken”. Sorry Kate, pull the other one.

    So, Breeks, the moment is about to arrive. The only question is how to wash off so much failure and come up with something new.

  194. Beauvais
    Ignored
    says:

    Sorry London Scott, but wouldn’t you be happier commenting at Conservative Home rather than Wings?

  195. Red
    Ignored
    says:

    The US doesn’t want its nuke warheads to be removed from Faslane, US president/s are no friend to Scottish independence.

    This is how the Western liberal international order works:

    The gang of criminals running the USA can do whatever they want*, but if you do something they don’t want, you’ll get the sanctions, colour revolutions, drone strikes, and eventually a good ol’fashioned full scale military assault of your country.

    Rentboy was wrong.

    We are not a colony of wankers*. We are a colony of wankers who themselves are fully colonised, owned and operated by the world’s #1 exporter of violence, terrorism and weird pornography, the United States of America.

    Pray that the good and beautiful peoples of the USA, UK, EU and Scotland can be liberated from their governing classes.

    *It’s not the ordinary people, it’s the “elites”

  196. Republicofscotland
    Ignored
    says:

    Red.

    Its not just the USA its Nato as well, and with the Finns joining Nato earlier this month tensions could just have jumped up a notch.

    “the Finnish border is that it comes within about 100 miles of Severomorsk, where Russia’s Northern Fleet and 13 of its 23 nuclear-armed submarines are based.”

    https://consortiumnews.com/2023/04/12/finland-abandons-the-helsinki-spirit/

  197. Cliff Edge
    Ignored
    says:

    Is the SNP not actually insolvent?

  198. Dan
    Ignored
    says:

    John Green says: at 3:42 pm

    Dan, there is nothing up with a vw t5 van,they are wonderful

    I’m a big fan of certain VWs myself owning a couple of early classic watercooled models that are now tax and mot exempt! They are a simple and easy to work on design. And have humped some much more modern machinery in one in my motorsport days.
    But VWs like many other things went to shit in the 90s with all the electronic crap on them. Golf Mk4 window regulators being a prime example of utter cheap plastic crapness.
    Close behind was the Passat / Audi multi link front suspension pish, when they still had a flexi rear beam axle. Mind, if you’re going to put a heavy longitudinally mounted FWD engine so far forward in the body you need to do something to try to make it turn…
    Dual mass flywheel pish! And best not get on to all the over-engineered 4×4 running gear on a road car…
    Electric motors in brake calipers! WTAF.
    Anyway, I had to remove and refit the engine from a T5 van a couple of years back which was getting front accident damage repairs done. Jesus wept, you couldn’t see the engine for all the ridiculous amount of hoses and wiring smothering the entire engine.
    IIRC it had 3 small auxiliary electric waterpumps on the engine which needed the van to be connected to a VW computer to put them in bleed mode for refilling and properly bleeding the coolant system.
    Enjoy your van, just pray you don’t get any major issues with it.

  199. robertkknight
    Ignored
    says:

    So, let’s get this straight…

    I’m employed by organisation “Alpha Beta Enterprises”, (ABE), as CEO.

    I lend ABE £120,000, at zero %, out of the goodness of my heart.

    With my blessing, ABE purchase a rather snazzy RV for, as luck would have it, £120,000.

    This rather snazzy RV belonging, (on paper at least), to ABE, sits stationary on the driveway of a relative of mine, depreciating, (on paper at least), at an average rate of £20,000 pa.

    This means that, after 3 years, the rather snazzy, mint condition, low-mileage RV has a book value of only £60,000.

    I ask the board of ABE to refund my loan of £120,000, which they duly do, and offer to take this unused and unloved, but still snazzy, low-mileage RV off their hands for the book value of £60,000.

    Therefore, instead of languishing on a dealer’s forecourt for three years, and the dealer offering me a 10% reduction, I can pick up the same item, with a 50% reduction, with the associated depreciation of £60,000 being picked up by ABE.

    Ker-ching!

  200. Anton Decadent
    Ignored
    says:

    What about putting together a mixtape for the van?

    Taking The Skinheads Bowling-Camper Van Beethoven
    Born To Be Free-Van Morrison
    Lemmings-Van Der Graf Generator
    Hot For Teacher-Van Halen
    It’s Over Now-Luther Vandross

  201. ronald anderson
    Ignored
    says:

    You’ll all know by now the Campervan belongs to the SNP Im expecting another day of the wheels go round n round / Please refrain ah canny take any mair .

  202. Dan
    Ignored
    says:

    Folks are having a field day with all this. Posting as has Bullseye content so I doubt Stu would mind.

    https://twitter.com/CarlosDangerX/status/1645363255668350978/photo/1

    Plus wee bump for this older article.

    https://yoursforscotlandcom.wordpress.com/2023/03/05/as-the-police-close-in/

  203. Wee Chid
    Ignored
    says:

    A couple of years before Covid the local Pensioners for Independence group in Dumfries bought an old van and had it done up with suitable indy themed decals. It cost a tiny fraction of the price of this monstrosity and has done more miles campaigning for indy than either of the Sturrells have ever done.

  204. robertkknight
    Ignored
    says:

    I forgot to add to my last “Ker-ching!”…

    and if anyone asks… The RV is in fact a “general purpose logistics vehicle”.

    There you have it.

    Ker-ching!

  205. John Main
    Ignored
    says:

    @Red says:13 April, 2023 at 4:23 pm

    if you do something they don’t want, you’ll get the sanctions, colour revolutions, drone strikes, and eventually a good ol’fashioned full scale military assault of your country

    No shit Red!

    Just as well the majority of Scots want to go along with the US hegemony. As well as all of the popular culture we can’t get enough of, from burgers to Iron Man, we are free to post unlimited shite online about anybody we dislike too.

    Best keep it that way eh? We Scots are rubbish at repelling drones, and I bet we couldn’t repel even a quarter scale military assault.

    FFS Red! They might assault in leaky rubber dinghies! What we would do then? There’s no defence against that.

  206. John Main
    Ignored
    says:

    Quite a love-in between Sleepy Joe and Ireland today.

    Such a shame there was never any recent POTUS with solid and recent Scottish roots. We could have cosied up to him and leveraged his dislike of the Brits to support Scottish Indy.

    Haud oan though …

    Of course, there was such a POTUS (and maybes will be again – now wouldn’t that be a surprise).

    Bet we will do the same as last time – kick him in the teeth for not being sufficiently ideologically pure.

    Scotland doesn’t need the likes of his (insert “ism” of your choice here), we will say. Then, having virtue signalled to perfection, we will all sit around for another 10 years and wonder who is going to gift Indy to us.

  207. Mia
    Ignored
    says:

    If we are to believe what has been published in the dead tree press, and I did not misread the contents, the motorhome was brought by two men to Ms Murrell senior’s driveway sometime in January 2021. But “the loan” was not paid to the SNP until June of the same year. That is 6 months later.

    Who was the registered owner of the motorhome during those 6 months?

    How many owners has the mortorhome had since the moment it was acquired as brand new?

    Who is it currently registered to?

    Who was it registered to before?

    Who was the very first owner of the asset and when was it purchased as a brand new item directly from the supplier?

    How many miles did it have in the clock when brought to Ms Murrell’s senior’s driveway?

    Who used it and when?

    When would you want to keep for over two years without moving a really, really expensive state of the art motorhome parked in your driveway being bleached by the sun, gathering dust and with the engine and tyres rotting away instead of capitalising on it as soon as possible?

    When what it is hiding inside is far more valuable than the asset itself.

    Could that motorhome have been hiding some get out of jail card/empowerment and control tool such as, lets say, the DNA of some naughty VIP who needed to be brought down a peg or two?

  208. Stuart MacKay
    Ignored
    says:

    Anton Decadent

    +10 for mentioning Camper van Beethoven, youtube.com/watch?v=gKfMlQ7KWFE

  209. Lenny Hartley
    Ignored
    says:

    Dan i have a vw t4 2.4 5 cyl with only 49k campervan, wee bit o rot in the back, do you think somebody would be willing to swap for a neissman & Bischoof?

  210. Chas
    Ignored
    says:

    The criticism that our properly elected SNP MSP’s, MP’s and Councillors receive on here is a disgrace.

    They are clearly the creme de la creme in Scottish political circles and have worked tirelessly over the past 8 years to make Scotland a better place for all. They are paid a pittance and have to make do with a woeful expenses system just to get by.

    Sorry, I have to go now as the nurse has arrived with my medication.

  211. John Main
    Ignored
    says:

    @Ottomanboi says:13 April, 2023 at 2:54 pm

    Why do so many fawn before this cracked idol and the country he represents?

    Cos his country is the one our ancestors chose to make.

    Millions of Scots, Irish, Germans, Swedes, etc. etc. went to the “empty”, undeveloped, resource-rich New World and what we see today is the result of their labours.

    It’s not complicated, Otto.

    That’s the place our ancestors made, at least, the ones who were happy to escape the Scottish shitholes they came from.

    One last thought while on the subject. Anybody know any Yanks who have emigrated to Scotland recently? I mean, this Scotland is a paradise, and the US is a gun-toting, red-necked, hellhole of violence, drugs, inequality, ignorance and political correctness. Right?

    Stands to reason there will be a flood of US refugees back to the civilised, progressive and safe Old Country.

    So where are they?

  212. Brian Doonthetoon
    Ignored
    says:

    Hi John Main.

    Here’s one example of someone from the US in Scotland, facing being sent back to the US.

    Quote from the link below…
    “Scotland could lose a highly trained doctor specialised in diagnosing cancer after the Home Office refused a visa for a child in her care.
    After securing a job as a pathologist in the UK, Kathrine and David Leeson and their niece, who we have been asked not to name, could not have foreseen that months later their lives would remain in limbo.
    Mrs and Mr Leeson, who are the legal guardians to the 13-year-old child, were granted a skilled worker visa and a dependent visa respectively in December last year – but the child’s application was refused.
    “It was positively devastating,” Mrs Leeson said. “We had already sold our home in the United States and our cars so that I could come on over.”

    https://archive.md/EDhnI

  213. Achnababan
    Ignored
    says:

    Did Jimmy Saville not have a battle bus or was it a peado shagg mobile…I sometimes get these things mixed up…

  214. John Main
    Ignored
    says:

    @Mia says:13 April, 2023 at 6:48 pm

    the DNA of some naughty VIP

    The body hidden in an abandoned vehicle occurs in some of Rankin’s Rebus stories.

    Sturgeon likes Val McDermid. Does anybody know what kinds of evidence McDermid writes about as hidden in a vehicle?

    Depending on what might be found, and if it relates more to McDermid or Rankin, and whose novels are found on which side of the double bed, and which side Nikla and Peter usually favour, the polis could perhaps build a case against one party or the other.

    Sounds ridiculous I know, but then Mia started it.

    I assume both Nikla and Peter can read? Any evidence for that though?

  215. akenaton
    Ignored
    says:

    John Main, I love to hear someone saying something nice about Donal John, I think he was a great president given that the whole of the American political swamp hated him….and lots of women hated him because he told the truth about celebrity grifters, women on a mission to climb the ladder lying on their backs.

    I always thought he looked and acted very Scottish probably passed on from Mary MacLeod.
    He was treated abominably by the media who he called out right from the start they hated him too.

  216. Anton Decadent
    Ignored
    says:

    @Stuart MacKay 6.53pm

    I have the 12” single of it in the racks.

  217. Tenruh
    Ignored
    says:

    Van belongs to the party,Yousaf confirmed in bbc interview.
    He found out after becoming FM

  218. Alf Baird
    Ignored
    says:

    John Main @ 6:48 pm

    “Then, having virtue signalled to perfection, we will all sit around for another 10 years and wonder who is going to gift Indy to us.”

    Quite so; instead of at least attempting to cultivate Scots patriot President Trump’s support for independence the SNP deceivers attacked and spurned him, even built turbines next to his golf course just to upset him. Trump was at the time the most powerful political leader in the world, an his ain mither a Scots wumman tae.

    We could have offered Trump the Scottis croun in return for oor leeberation, same as Wallace or Bruce. Instead we are lumbered wi anither Imperial chairlie and a bunch of gutless SNP campers in Holyrood and Westminster, wi independence naewhaur.

  219. Ebenezer Scroggie
    Ignored
    says:

    Who, in the Party, knew that the Party owned this thing?

    If nobody but Murrell knew that the £107,620 thing parked in his Mum’s front yard belonged to the Party, then how does that work?

    Is a Party, or any other corporation, supposed to be run as if it is a one-person band?

    There’s something deeply stink about that.

    If so much as a Pound of the £666k was involved, then surely that must be prima faciae evidence of Fraud.

    If the auditors got so much as a whiff of that odour, then it’s unsurprising that Der Partei is having difficulty in finding any auditor who is willing to take them on.

  220. John Main
    Ignored
    says:

    Brian Doonthetoon says:13 April, 2023 at 7:32 pm

    Thanks for the link.

    They’ll get their visa. They are articulate, photogenic, professional, they have the media and their MP on the case. I doubt if the review will find against them, but if it does, their supporters will kick up a row until the verdict is reversed.

    They’ll be fine.

    O/T – anybody know if they support Indy? Maybes another 2 No’s (with a third No pending).

  221. Terry Darvel
    Ignored
    says:

    One of the saddest things about this whole fiasco is the paltry sums involved – for fugs sake, couldn’t the leaders of our country have fiddled themselves a few million and a country mansion?

  222. Shug
    Ignored
    says:

    One assumes SNP money paid for the van.

    Perhaps the resources for the van came from elsewhere!

  223. Ottomanboi
    Ignored
    says:

    JOHN MAIN
    The land in North America wasn’t theirs to settle. It was already occupied by several million indigenous peoples. I trust you are not condoning the colonization, the diseases and ethnic cleansing that accompanied the European settlement?
    You did not mention the West African element that did not choose to be in the New World.
    Perhaps I may be missing some irony in your comment or are you a fan of the «classic Scottish enlightenment liberal» Niall Campbell Ferguson?

  224. stuart mctavish
    Ignored
    says:

    More I think about it, less I’m sure its a distraction from the somewhat reckless tranny bollocks /devolved sovereignty gambit than vice versa but:

    if the camping car belongs to the SNP and,

    its leader has confirmed both that it does AND that he’s seen the warrant for its confiscation then,

    assuming the garage that sold the camper was not trading in stolen property and it was no coincidence that it was removed the same day as a police tent appeared on the former FMs lawn..

    How much longer is it allowed to be held before Angela Constance (minister for justice and home affairs) is obliged to confirm that its owner(s) (ie the 50000/72000 members) have indeed been charged* AND convicted to the extent that it was allowed to be confiscated/ subject to proceeds of crime legislation in the first place?

    *upside of this particular confirmation being that straight forward foi request thereafter might be enough to get reasonable certainty on how many SNP members there are within Police Scotland’s jurisdiction and, if the arresting officers were up for making the due process more light hearted, perhaps even an informal integrity check on the recent leadership election.

  225. George Ferguson
    Ignored
    says:

    @Brian Doonthetoon 7:32pm
    That’s a fair example. I can give you many examples of home grown, home trained Doctors leaving the Scottish National Health Service. The core of our future capability. I have been saying for some time retention,retention,retention. Humzas recovery plan was a joke. His strategy, recruit from abroad and stuff the home grown talent. He is now the First Minister. Lot’s of single tickets to Australia booked by our junior Doctors. The SNP thinks this a joke. Hundreds of avoidable deaths since Christmas but GRR is an SNP priority.

  226. David Hannah
    Ignored
    says:

    Humza to defend “the will of the Scottish Parliament.”

    Sturgeon wipped the SNP MSPs on a conscious matter vote.

    I am never in my life. Ever going to vote for the SNP again. The 50,000 that quit the party. Will never in their lives vote for the SNP again. The Scottish public. Will never. In their lives vote for the SNP again. Its a fact. They will finish behind the Conservatives.

    The SNP. The transgender cult.

  227. David Hannah
    Ignored
    says:

    The bully has been expelled from the playground.

    Sturgeon and the woke left don’t matter anymore. The leadership has no command of the party. He is a lame duck false minister.

    So if I were one of the rebels. I’d criticise Yousaf. Every day of the week. He matters nothing. He has no mandate. He is a nobody. He has no power. No influence and he wants to waste millions of pounds of tax payers money. He has nothing to offer. So the SNP should leak everything. Everything. The party. As far as I’m concerned is not a party.

    The Sturgeon cabal have lost all integrity. Shirley Anne Somerville. Shona Robinson. Angus Robertson. And the rest.

    We’re not with you. You are nothing. You are not in control. And no one likes you. It’s a fact. We the Scottish public will never listen to a single thing you say. You corrupt shower.

    You control no one. Your cabinet positions are meaningless. You are nothing.

  228. Elmac
    Ignored
    says:

    Re Antondecadent @ 5.35

    You missed Chariots of Fire – Vangelis. Or should it be Chariot of Liars, possibly more appropriate.

  229. JimuckMac
    Ignored
    says:

    When’s Ann Gloag and her husband David McCleary up in court?

  230. Johnny
    Ignored
    says:

    Beauvais @ 16:21pm:

    Shut up and stop ordering people about.

    That commenter made a well-observed point about the young activists in her party, who sound similar to what is being seen in SNP. It was a point made without rancour or sniping at Wings, its readers, or Scottish nationalists more generally.

    It’s insightful, and it’s good that Wings has such a wide readership and folk of other political persuasions might also learn things by visiting.

    So stop chasing non-abusive contributors away because you are not the forum police.

  231. Brian Doonthetoon
    Ignored
    says:

    I’ve been watching this video over the past couple of days, after it appeared in the list to right, on a video I started watching a couple of days ago. See what Michael Gove says about Ian Blackford at 17.22 in the video linked to below.

    Many BTL commenters here have used the term “Vichy” re the SNP. I think that Gove’s comments from 17.22 provides proof of that supposition. The video is here:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxfbESCyXG0

  232. Big Jock
    Ignored
    says:

    David Hannah. Isn’t it telling that the SNP took the Section 30 to the Supreme Court before putting it through Holyrood. Yet they do the opposite with the Gender bill.

    Thus one can be said to be the will of parliament, and the other, the Section 30 just a theoretical proposition.

    The SNP did this deliberately!

  233. Big Jock
    Ignored
    says:

    Doug 3.58. Agree. The Brits tried to destroy the Irish. They also committed mass genocide after the 1745 in the Highlands.

    The fact that the Brits always bring the IRA into the equation when talking about the Irish rebellion is very telling. The IRA only became terrorists after Ireland was carved up. But they were in good company with the UVF and the British army of occupation. They don’t like talking about the reasons for the Irish troubles in the first place.

  234. Ebenezer Scroggie
    Ignored
    says:

    Is anyone, anywhere, so fucking stupid as to believe that the Shaggingwagon was intended to be used as a political tool in a political campaign?

  235. robertkknight
    Ignored
    says:

    BDT@9:30

    Always known that to be the case.

    The Yoons know it, the SNP MPs know it, the SNP members/supporters choose to ignore it.

    Sturgeon’s rancid SNP is just a business which is never going to willingly walk away from Westminster’s £.

    Bought and sold…

  236. Red
    Ignored
    says:

    David Hannah says:
    13 April, 2023 at 9:08 pm
    The bully has been expelled from the playground.

    Sturgeon and the woke left don’t matter anymore. The leadership has no command of the party. He is a lame duck false minister.

    So if I were one of the rebels. I’d criticise Yousaf. Every day of the week. He matters nothing. He has no mandate. He is a nobody. He has no power. No influence and he wants to waste millions of pounds of tax payers money. He has nothing to offer. So the SNP should leak everything. Everything. The party. As far as I’m concerned is not a party.

    You are 100% correct.

    Unfortunately, we live in a world where being right doesn’t matter very much.

    Humza Yousaf is a wonderful practical joke, a perfectly sculpted (and greased) Mr Bean caricature made flesh of the institutional class’s sneering contempt for their enemy, the Scottish public.

    Humza is the worst possible candidate they could’ve gone for, so it had to be him. Humza is the big, gurning, oddly perspirating dopey clown mask on the rotten edifice of our pretendy parliament and its kid-on ‘democracy’.

    Want your boat, Georgie?

    Note that Humza’s supposed No. 1 Public Enemy, (the supposed leader of the supposedly Scottish and even more dubiously ‘Opposition’ Labour Party) is still 100% aligned with Humza on the magical hey-kids-lets-get-castrated! choo choo train of gender bending insanity and death.

    75% of the Scottish public strongly opposes something novel and divisive, which has already helped destroy the political career of The Wee Madam and still threatens the political health of his dopey successor, and yet… and yet… somehow, in our wonderfully democratic democracy that we all enjoy… the opinions of the Scottish people don’t seem to matter.

    Like, at all, Scoob!

    There’s been a murder, of the idea of representative democracy. They don’t represent us, and in fact are quite proud of it, the nagging and the scolding and the sin taxes and the carbon poverty they’ve got planned for their constituents. It’s not about what you want, pleb voters. They’re the incompetent middle managers of decline, smugly nestled in their comfortable salaries and fabulous pensions their extremely modest talents would never, in a thousand years, earn in the real world doing something productive.

    Because let’s be honest, when you look around the dumb, slabbering, self-righteously ugly faces you see in the Scottish Parliament, you’re not exactly looking at the brightest and the best of anybody’s generation. He said, optimistically.

    The Scottish Parliament doesn’t resemble Scotland, it looks like a low rent Ralph Bashki version of the Muppet Show. In the olden days, of the real Scottish Parliament, the good burghers of the time would have chased them all into the sea.

    And then flung stones into the sea, just to make sure. And maybe got a minister to pray in their general direction. They should’ve gotten a priest to exorcise the beach, but people were funny about religion in those days, before Mo Johnston selflessly ended sectarianism in Scotland forever, but I digress.

    These are failures. People who never had a job. The weirdos who were awkwardly trying to network with other unlikable oddballs doing student politics while normal people were getting pished at the union bar. Bag carriers, twinks, bawbags. Eejits, dafties, clypes, t-leafs, compulsive liars, fantasists, Chester the Molesters, and double glazing salesmen.

    And some, I assume, are good people.

    We need better people.

  237. Anton Decadent
    Ignored
    says:

    @Elmac 9.20pm

    Excellent choice, I was going through the van related songs for my own selection.

    Just walked home in the rain listening to Joan Baez, Crosby, Stills and Nash and Janis Joplin at Woodstock.

  238. Derek
    Ignored
    says:

    “David Hannah says:
    13 April, 2023 at 9:08 pm

    Sturgeon and the woke left…”

    Eh?

  239. Derek Mackay's Interior decorator
    Ignored
    says:

    Derek says:

    Sturgeon and the woke left…”

    Eh?

    Yeah this is another Big Lie – How the holy Eff is this woke mince “left”?
    I never read anything about trannies in Kapital. Was there a secret clause after No4 that mentioned blue-haired intolerant tossers?

    Just another smear on socialism by the ignorant Tory trash.

    Call it out – trannies are Tories, nothing to do with the left.

  240. msdidi
    Ignored
    says:

    Del Shannon – Runaway is used by Mercurius_scot as backing for Carry on camping on the highway to hell with the bankrupt
    @theSNP
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mn138QK9IgI

  241. Breeks
    Ignored
    says:

    Brian Doonthetoon says:
    13 April, 2023 at 9:30 pm

    Many BTL commenters here have used the term “Vichy” re the SNP. I think that Gove’s comments from 17.22 provides proof of that supposition….

    The proof is everywhere you look. Where, in any capacity whatsoever, has the SNP been doing the groundwork necessary for Scotland not only to gain Independence, but then power away as an Independent Nation?

    It’s the equivalent of a sea captain planning a round the world expedition, but setting sail with neither fuel or provisions on board for the journey.

    The only planning that’s been done is leaving port.

    In pretty much every critical respect, the model adopted for Scotland outside the UK is barely distinguishable from Scotland stuck inside the UK. Whether it’s GERS or Foreign Relations, all the current plans (where any exist at all), see a Indy Scotland as a mini-me Scotland as it is today.

    Granted, there are so many variables future circumstances have a degree of unpredictability, so minute planning is probably going to be pointless, but you need to have a vision before you can sell that vision to sceptical folks who don’t yet see it.

    I’ve repeatedly stressed Alf Baird’s proposals for new maritime infrastructure with our port and ferry services re-imagined wholesale. I’m promoted an Indy Scotland as the Istanbul of Western Europe with the North Sea and GIUK gap as our Bosporus, bringing the world’s trade to our doorstep. These are ambitious plans, but they’re not pie in the sky.

    BRICS is right now changing the world, Nations all over are stepping away from the dollar as reserve currency, and they have an appetite for it An emerging Independent Scotland could style itself as an intermediary between the EU, West, and BRICS, with Scapa Flow being a major new node in international shipping.

    BRICS will get stronger. Europe will make accommodations with BRICS, and if we’re not careful, Europe might ingratiate itself with BRICS nations by distancing itself from the US / UK model which has got rich for decades on the back of the dollar.

    Strategically, we have a waxing BRICS and waning US, and if the trajectories don’t change, America and the UK are in trouble. Self styled global policemen have become corrupt bully boys, and even already, there will be a price to pay for that.

    Scotland MUST break itself free from that trajectory. Who better, except perhaps Ireland, could interface between BRICS, Europe, and the Anglo-Saxon “West”?

    But if we drift along doing nothing, and trusting Scottish Independence to feckless douche-bags who don’t know what they’re doing, then we’ll soon be circling the drain like all the others.

    It’s time to get real and get busy. Stop playing keepy-uppy with a Vichy Assembly that’s a political dead end.

  242. Mac
    Ignored
    says:

    Between this shit and sending rapists to female prisons Scotland is rightly becoming the laughingstock of Europe. Another awesome Sturgeon dividend for the weegingerdug stakeholders.

    “Male GP who wanted to donate blood is turned away by Scottish NHS after he refused to say if he was pregnant as he hits out at question designed to ‘placate the gender-brigade'”

    https://archive.is/XBaAc

  243. Karen
    Ignored
    says:

    Red, you are spot on. Why should we the plebs install interconnected smoke alarms and register our Airbnbs with the council at great expense, when our “masters” can’t stick to basic rules and natural justice?

  244. Joe
    Ignored
    says:

    Again we have someone called ottoman lecturing us on the evils of European colonialism.

    I don’t blame the Europeans who went to America and ultimately displaced the natives to avoid hardship and servitude, though it is utterly unjust. Just as I don’t blame the Africans or Middle Easterners coming here to avoid hardship, who as things stand are set to displace Europeans eventually. Who I blame is the financial interests and powers making it happen.

    Unlike the ottoman here who is quite comfortable with double standards and fingering an entire group when it suits.

    The main reason the middle east doesn’t have a high African population is because they made sure to castrate the slaves the brought there. Probably explains why there aren’t 10’s of millions of ethnic slavs also.

    As for Biden?

    80%+ of his cabinet is Jewish and he has already said he has a Rabbi. Biden doesn’t support Ireland. He (or should we say the people who handle him) supports what is currently happening in Ireland.

    What is happening in Ireland?

  245. David Logan
    Ignored
    says:

    It’s almost as if there were 2 sets of accounts, a slush fund which Murrell and others could draw on so that awkward things did not appear in the “official” accounts. But that would be illegal so I am sure that is not the case.

  246. Beauvais
    Ignored
    says:

    WGD posted yesterday to defiantly claim that the SNP is resilient and will weather the storm.

    PK asserted that Alba cannot become a mass party because according to him Salmond is the most unpopular politician in Scotland and a lot of Alba’s online supporters are extreme.

    He also claimed that he’s been reliably informed that there’s an SNP branch somewhere that has acquired 68 new members since Murrell resigned.

    Aye, and also the SNP is the only party that can appeal to a wide cross section of Scottish society. That’s why they’re fanatically pursuing GRR, isn’t it Paul?

  247. Ottomanboi
    Ignored
    says:

    JOE
    You display all the prejudices of what Edouard Said termed «Orientalism». A certain obsession with castration complex suits that model. In the MidEast you will encounter many with «African features» so plainly not a few escaped the cruel cut.

    «I don’t blame the Europeans who went to America and ultimately displaced the natives to avoid hardship and servitude, though it is utterly unjust»
    Two wrongs do not make a right. Dual standards? The «natives» would certainly think so.

    I am neither Arab nor Muslim but Syriac Catholic ethno/cultural minority, an ancient people without a modern state, albeit with distant ancestors who were Ottoman citizens. Just like many Scots, Irish etc are/were British citizens.
    You cut your coat according to the cloth you are given.

  248. Shug
    Ignored
    says:

    I notice Joana cherry commenting on asking the NEC about insurance.

    The party may indeed have insurance but unless they have proper procedures and minutes for the meetings if the NEC I would expect the contract to be invalidated.

    Sorry NEC members you are still on the hook. The contract will have sufficient caveats to exclude cases where the NEC has been negligent or indeed involved.

    My guess your liabilities will be north of £1 million

  249. Geoff Anderson
    Ignored
    says:

    Grousebeater plus statement by Joanna Cherry

    https://grousebeater.wordpress.com/

  250. FionaN
    Ignored
    says:

    https://archive.is/zO2rs

    Archived version of Big Jocks link. Please dont fund the unionists media mouthpieces.

  251. RichD
    Ignored
    says:

    It seems to me that £107620 is an odd amount for a loan to cover cash flow issues.
    Why not £105 or £110k?

    Or did the ‘battlebus’ actually cost £107620

    I’m sure Stu could find out!

    That would change the whole status of the loan.

    If so why has c£40k been repaid to Murrell?

  252. Ottomanboi
    Ignored
    says:

    JOE
    https://www.researchomatic.com/Slavery-In-The-Venetian-Republic-From-Slave-Trade-To-Life-Of-A-Slave-In-The-Venetian-Republic-71509.html
    BUSINESS IS BUSINESS…..
    There was more «social mobility» among the Ottomans than in the West.
    The word «slave» does not have an Ottoman Turkish equivalent. All citizens of the Ottoman empire were «slaves» of the sultan. There were few sultans without «slave» heritage.

  253. Joe
    Ignored
    says:

    Ottomanboi

    Double standards is having the lack of self-awareness to name yourself after a brutal, slave-taking, genocidal empire (of which my wife’s family have experience) while simultaneously making sweeping statements about entire ethnicities based on the actions of the empires that were founded in their nations.

    Unless of course it’s an innocent reference to a style of furniture?

    I’m not sure, but I’m starting to get the feeling that this ‘colonialism’ rhetoric is not to be used even handedly and is instead another one way street (critical theory style) against the character of Europe and her peoples.

    I hope I’m wrong, but it is certainly the way you choose to wield it here and its frankly grotesque hypocrisy.

  254. Ian Smith
    Ignored
    says:

    Was the value of the van being roughly £107K, the reason Sturgeon kept quite weirdly saying ‘resources’ rather than ‘money’ when referring to PM doing what he liked with his own resources and not needing her approval, when she first started discussing the loan.

    Did she know it was not a straightforward financial transaction?

  255. Mac
    Ignored
    says:

    There must be a written loan agreement between Peter Murrell and the SNP. It would be interesting to read it.

    We are just guessing here at this stage but IF the loan repayments are matching the depreciation charges on the motorhome then all this would be stipulated in the loan agreement, and more…

    So it is a big IF at this point but if the repayments on the loan are mirroring the depreciation on the van then I would also expect that the motorhome would have been listed as security for the loan and also that there is an exit clause.

    That exit would be something like after 3 years or whenever the vehicle is no longer required, PM will have the option (but not the obligation) to purchase the motorhome for the remaining value of his outstanding loan (which always equals net book value of the motorhome). PM effectively cancels his remaining loan to the SNP and takes home the motorhome in return (or he would have had it not been resting on his mum’s driveway anyway).

    So I’d be asking if any security was given against the Murrell loan by the SNP and to explain the strange repayment schedule / timings.

    Also if Murrell did this loan the day after his chat with Police Scotland it seems very unlikely to me he would have had time to get NEC approval for any of it.

    So did he draft the loan agreement and not show them it until well after the fact. This would very much fit with the auditor comments about related party transactions and manual journal entries and them sitting in on the NEC to make sure it was all disclosed and reviewed.

    The van purchase really does not look good however you look at it. The weird loan PM made to the SNP however might be even worse.

    If Murrell does have an option to buy it for the price of his outstanding loan he is now highly unlikely to ever exercise it. So we may never know.

    If we can find out the exact price of the motorhome (110k was an estimate not the actual cost) and see if it matches the amount of the Murrell loan 107,620 that would partially confirm the above speculations. Or if we could actually confirm that the loan repayments are mirroring the depreciation on the motorhome, that would also partially do it.

    It is just a small thing and probably not even that important in the scale of it but this motorhome purchase really is fishy as f**k. It really does raise a lot of questions about the SNP leadership and what else might have been going on at SNP HQ over the years…

    If I was a member of the NEC during all of this I’d be getting seriously concerned. If they have effectively rubberstamped something dodgy then that could come back to haunt them. There will be a lot of angry people out there when it all comes out (if it ever does).

  256. Joe
    Ignored
    says:

    @Ottomanboi

    So your slave-taking, rapacious genocidal, oppressive empire was actually nicer than mine?

    Ok, whatever!

    This imperial penis-measuring contest is not the root of my problem.

    The root of my problem is that in every European and European descended country universities, the media and corporations are producing literature and giving classes denouncing ‘white’ Europeans as The Problem while taking steps to ‘stamp out racism’.

    This is undeniable and it comes from the same place as the trans lobby.

    In effect it makes me question – ‘what future do my children have unless I fight for them?’ just as women are wondering what future they might have.

    On top of that we get in this conversation the kind of one sided denunciation of colonialism, as in European colonialism, but seem to be quite willing to turn a blind eye to others?

    If you are wondering why I might be sensitive to that then I’ve just explained it to you. Im utterly exhausted with tolerating one sided views of my people and the civilisations we created from smug hypocrites.

  257. rogueslr
    Ignored
    says:

    The motorhome really isn’t here or there in the great scheme of things. It speaks more to the underlying problem of the running of the SNP finances as an extension of PM & NS’s personal fiefdom. This is not much more than a fiddling of his expenses. But the fact that PM pushed this through without regard to the optics to the NEC or wider audience shows contempt and arrogance. And it’s those qualities that will lead to mistakes and the police accountants shouldn’t have any problem tracking down those errors and building a case that even the most inept prosecutor couldn’t fail to succeed with.

  258. stuart mctavish
    Ignored
    says:

    Any lawyers in the house re gRR?

    Scotland Act is not clear, and possibly silent, on procedure to challenge the S35 order. (the order itself being the first of its kind, there is also no precedent)

    Humza has made reference to his obligation to protect the sovereignty of parliament (presumably that part of the Westminster one that is devolved, defacto, under the scotland act) as his grounds for appeal.

    However, setting aside the merit of SOC intervention and the irony to be had from the UK government arguing in court that the holyrood bill was insane (ffs), is it not the case that one of the ramifications of the Cherry prorogation victory is that that sovereignty cannot belong to the executive alone – in which case parliamentary approval (Holyrood) will be required in order to create the authority to make the unprecedented challenge.. something which, thanks to recess, cannot be done without the challenge being posted late 🙂

    Accordingly, the ONLY way to legitimately challenge the order before a legal fraternity that has time barred itself from giving an opinion would be to ask the people for a mandate to do so, and rely on their (popular) sovereignty in the matter..

    Catch 22 for men in skirts perhaps, but if Humza invokes the Boris’s precedent to declare no confidence in his government in order to seek a mandate for it, only to follow up during the subsequent election campaign with a U- turn on the defacto ref and starring roles for the two candidates it would be a joy to get behind, then all the worries about being held to account by the UK taxman disappear – and even questions as to who gets first dibs on the mobile hareem ought to be reasonably settled in consequence.

  259. DML
    Ignored
    says:

    There’s been little in the media about Sturgeon’s role in all of this. Surely she has visited her mother in law over the last 2-3 years and would be aware that there was a camper van parked in her drive?? She must also be aware of the loan that PM gave despite her denials. Phones and paperwork seized from the house will reveal a lot if the right people scrutinise them. It’s a pity Stu can’t get access!!!

  260. C. MACKAY
    Ignored
    says:

    What happened t the £20 million she set aside from public funds for the referendum which never took place?

  261. Stephen O'Brien
    Ignored
    says:

    SNP’s financial shoogly nail, could be a blessing in disguise. A ‘new broom’ and all that.

    SNP could sell their debt, while the buyer changes the party name, introducing new representatives to replace existing politicians (would automatically trigger elections) setting out their stall for a fresh appeal to the electorate.

    I see this as the only option. SNP must do the honourable thing and clear the decks.

  262. Merganser
    Ignored
    says:

    It seems clear thata small ring of people were running the show at the SNP, and only they would know the truth of what was going on.

    Sturgeon, Murrell, Swinney, Russell, Robertson, Blackford, and possibly one or two others.

    They would know the problems with the auditors, the police investigation, the motor home and who knows what else, and realised what was coming down the track, so Sturgeon gets out quick, and no one in the know stands as candidate for leader.

    Humza is chosen as the Patsy, not being of the inner circle, but it would not have mattered if Forbes had won, as she wasn’t in the know either, and narrowly dodged a bullet.

    All the effluent now lands on Humza to deal with, and when he goes under, if it is safe to do so, the real chosen successor is annointed in another fake election. If the problems still exist, another Patsy is chosen until his/her usefulness is no longer needed, and the chosen one takes over.

    It’s all in hand. Continuity assured. Jobs continue for the main players, and if a few outsiders fall by the wayside -that’s life.

  263. Vestas
    Ignored
    says:

    Geoff Anderson says:
    14 April, 2023 at 9:20 am

    “Grousebeater plus statement by Joanna Cherry

    https://grousebeater.wordpress.com/

    Sorry but that’s simply not good enough.

    Cherry made her choice to stick with the Murrells despite everything so she cannot be trusted again. She doesn’t even have the excuse of losing her livelihood (unlike the MPs who went to Alba) for not acting before now as she’d have no problems making money as a KC.

    Should she ever attempt to defect to a real independence-supporting party then she should be told to fuck off. She made her bed. Lie in it.

  264. Viscount Ennui
    Ignored
    says:

    Two interesting developments:
    1. Most prominent MSPs have removed ‘SNP’ from their Twitter tags.
    2. Talk of internal SNP rebellion against YH.
    What we have had so far, as tasty as it has been, is just the hors d’oeuvres.
    The main course promises to be outstanding.

  265. TheSNPLeftMe
    Ignored
    says:

    Any attempt to save the SNP should be treated with caution.
    Far too many people at High level and in core HQ positions (McCann, Beattie,Ruddick,etc) are up to their necks in it. They may go quiet for a while but only to bounce back later.
    I suggest we metaphorically burn the house down and get behind Alba and ISP.

    I have seen zero evidence that the SNP even recognise the damage they have done.

  266. Vestas
    Ignored
    says:

    Viscount Ennui says:
    14 April, 2023 at 12:08 pm

    “Two interesting developments:
    1. Most prominent MSPs have removed ‘SNP’ from their Twitter tags.
    2. Talk of internal SNP rebellion against YH.”

    Who cares?

    I’m surprised that most of you here aren’t getting this so I’ll spell it out.

    NONE of the SNP MPs or MSPs can ever be trusted again.

    NONE of the SNP MPs or MSPs can be permitted to have a political future in Scotland.

    They were ALL in lockstep with the Murrells regarding the Salmond malicious prosecution; party funding crap; NEC gerrymandering; constitution trashed; GRR (with very few exceptions – Regan for one).

    Too late to say “oh we didn’t know”. They did and they ignored it. They did that to enrich themselves. No other reason.

    So they all have to go. No exceptions.

    Way too late for any sort of clean-up at HQ or elsewhere. They’re done.

  267. Anton Decadent
    Ignored
    says:

    @Ottomanboi

    Re regime change in Iraq, I suggest that you go and have a look at the kabal within the US security services which took the US into that war, they are named in a number of books including Black Mass by John Gray. Then consider why we are being fed jingoism for one side in a current conflict whilst the media also lobbies for regime change in Iran.

  268. Ottomanboi
    Ignored
    says:

    JOE
    I come from a different worldview to yours, more «fatalistic», more realist maybe. Less prone to crying over spilled milk, not given to the self-laceration found in US and «UK», notably in academe.
    I do not expect the world to be «fair», I learned that with mothers milk during the period of the «liberation of Iraq». That was AngloSaxon/Western, not European, colonial meddling and hubris in action. It failed, as most colonial adventurism in the last hundred years has failed. Nation building, a conceit, is not a job for outside contractors.
    The Ottomans, at the height of the system, were successful in many ways, militarily, commercially and culturally. It was a cosmopolitan system too. If you were «in» with the Sultanate, regardless of background, you could well prosper, if you were not, or suspected of being not, you felt the sword on your neck.
    My own ethnicity often did, as did the Armenians, Greeks, Egyptians etc. Constantinople was honest in its dealings.
    «Slavery» in the Ottoman empire was quite other than that in North America and the Caribbean colonies. As i said earlier it was not unusual to find freed slaves in ruling positions. The Mamluk caste in Egypt is an example.
    I do not propagandize on its behalf, simply concerned that history may be misread with nefarious intent.
    Besides the waspish, AngloSaxon world view is not yet a universal.

  269. The Dissident
    Ignored
    says:

    Some MSPs (mostly ministers) have removed ‘SNP’ from their twitter handle because the Scottish Government will not tag them in tweets if it includes ‘SNP’.

    This one is just bureaucratic pettiness but it does feed rather nicely into current conspiracies. 😉

  270. SusanAHF
    Ignored
    says:

    OT but can anyone explain to me why my power supplier can decrease unit prices miniscule but at the same time increase standing charges by 8p per day?

  271. Republicofscotland
    Ignored
    says:

    Those b*stards at Westminster blocking Scottish ministers meeting with foreign ministers/diplomats, Whitehall will now decide if any Scottish minister can meet with a foreign/diplomat etc.

    Who the hell do these Whitehall mandarins think they are, they have no sovereignty over Scotland its all a pack of lies, we give them the power over us by wrongly believing that they do have power over Scots wake the f*ck up and tell them where to shove it.

    https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/rug-pulled-from-under-snp-with-diplomatic-privileges-revoked-in-independence-crackdown/ar-AA19QY28?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=4a6aafd91be94e488424105029710b06&ei=6

  272. Republicofscotland
    Ignored
    says:

    CMAL sends executives on mega-bucks (taxpayer funded) jolly to talk to other ferry building firms abroad. I’m beginning to think that the Scottish taxpayer is propping up multiple slush funds with no returns.

    https://archive.vn/MQXch

  273. Jim
    Ignored
    says:

    john cormack says:
    13 April, 2023 at 9:07 am
    What I don’t understand is why this vehicle has been taken in by the police, rather than just searched and left on the old lady’s drive. Surely the police interest is in the money trail,which the vehicle may form part of,rather than the physical vehicle itself? Or is there more to this than meets the eye?

    True that, maybe it was used to move a body , anyone seen Derek Mackay recently ?

  274. Etticus
    Ignored
    says:

    I see team Humza is back at it again, slavering nonsense and demonstrating his ignorance.

    The truth is he’s a racist, he hates the English or Anglo Saxons as he calls them but doesn’t realise that the majority of Scot’s have Anglo Saxon heritage and that Scot’s itself is a dialect of old English.

    He havers on about the wonderful Ottoman Empire while ignoring they genocided millions of Armenians and others and were one of the last world powers to engage in slavery. The capture of millions including Europeans and with it Scots, English, welsh and Irish is never given a thought, neither is the routine castration of male slaves and placing of female slaves in harems or the horrific survival rates of slaves in transit to the ottoman slave markets. The bitterness in the role of Great Britain (and with it many Scot’s regiments) and other European powers in ending the Ottoman Empire obviously still cuts deep and he will never get over it.

    Now if he’s as ignorant of history as it appears to be it’s no wonder that he’s decided to back Humza Useless. He’s the proverbial fox in the Indy hen house. No care for Scotland or its people, he wants to eat the movement from within and keep it under the yoke of the imbecile Useless and if anyone disagrees with him the inevitable race card is deployed… just like his hero.

  275. PhilM
    Ignored
    says:

    @Vestas
    You’re actually wrong and I’ll tell you why.
    The background to this (in innumerable instances now) is that politicians are frequently getting in sexual hot water. By being powerful they either take advantage of that power or they interpret the deference shown to them through their offices as stemming from some personal attribute.
    We can see now that Alex Salmond was fitted up but how obvious was it back then because the ‘mood music’ at that time was ‘me too’, ‘toxic masculinity’, and old skeletons falling out of newly opened cupboards.
    How many of the post-2014 cohort of MPs or MSPs actually could say for certain that they knew what had gone on behind closed doors and in these small groups of politicians? The testing of the evidence against Alex Salmond occurred in court in March 2020 and it only became much clearer in the aftermath how poor to non-existent the evidence was.
    I certainly paid attention to those who were casting major doubt on what was going on well before the trial but much of this was conveyed by hints and veiled accusations. Even now there are barely a handful of bloggers trying to make sense of how exactly Alex Salmond was fitted up. In the meantime a few people have gone to jail for speaking out and in one case being found guilty of a completely novel offence. We don’t even know if behind closed doors Alex Salmond has let it be known he doesn’t want others to rock the boat and settle scores. Your certainty of the culpability of all of these elected representatives is built on quicksand. The fact that you aren’t willing to entertain alternative explanations shows a deficiency in your imagination. Yet you want to berate others for not ‘getting it’.
    I could go on but almost everything you say is not as straightforward as you imply and this Salem Witch Trials approach to politics is self-defeating. This approach will never be happy without 99% purity of intention and 100% agreement. Applied more widely…you could never trust again any doctor, nurse, lawyer, teacher, police officer, housebuilder, shopkeeper etc etc
    You express surprise at normal people whose feet remain planted in reality. They don’t get it but somehow you do. You have no power apart from your rhetoric. This ‘no exceptions’ stance is childish and unrealistic.
    Keep up this kind of crusade and you’ll be long on vitriol and short on followers…
    No doubt I’ll get it in the neck as an apologist or worse but I couldn’t care less. I won’t be reading your reply so you don’t need to address what I said.
    Frankly the result of all this is mostly out of our hands. We don’t have the power of saying a definitive NO to everything except through our vote.

  276. Viscount Ennui
    Ignored
    says:

    The Dissident says:
    14 April, 2023 at 1:01 pm

    Some MSPs (mostly ministers) have removed ‘SNP’ from their twitter handle because the Scottish Government will not tag them in tweets if it includes ‘SNP’.

    This one is just bureaucratic pettiness but it does feed rather nicely into current conspiracies. ?

    OK. Point taken.

  277. Etticus
    Ignored
    says:

    @joe

    I see you’ve had enough of our resident clown as well. To call him ignorant would be an understatement. A silly wee boy who’s spent far too much time convincing himself he’s intelligent and well read. He isn’t. A historical revisionist, a hypocrite and sticking his nose in something that doesn’t concern him.

  278. ross
    Ignored
    says:

    Just resigned my SNP membership in Oswald’s seat.

    Had enough.

  279. Ian Smith
    Ignored
    says:

    Standing charges are going through the roof because of Net Zero and the fake Climate Emergency.

    Massive amounts of new distribution lines are required to move from power stations to windmills.

  280. Etticus
    Ignored
    says:

    @ROS

    The less people rear admiral Robertson meets the better. I don’t want my country tarred by association with that corrupt lying b’stard. He’s slashed millions up the wall fanning his ego when he should be facing a criminal investigation for his crimes.

  281. Vestas
    Ignored
    says:

    @PhilM

    If I knew about everything now in the public domain (and a shit load which currently isn’t – yet) IN DETAIL from summer 2019 onwards then given I have never had any connection to the SNP I refuse to believe that MPs and MSPs were clueless.

    Its the defence of ALL corrupt/criminal politicos/countries once they’re caught/in the dock : I didn’t know/I was only following orders.

    Comes a point where they have to be removed en masse. There’s simply no other way to clean house.

    We are at that point now. NONE of the current MSPs or MPs can be believed or trusted.

    You’re the one who is wrong matey…..

  282. Big Jock
    Ignored
    says:

    Ross- Well done…what kept you!

  283. Doug
    Ignored
    says:

    How many SNP tractors will be wrapping themselves up in butcher’s aprons in the coming weeks? Their collaboration with racist british nationalism continues. I bet Yousaf can’t wait to go to Westminster abbey to grovel before his English masters.

  284. Vestas
    Ignored
    says:

    SusanAHF says:
    14 April, 2023 at 1:09 pm

    “OT but can anyone explain to me why my power supplier can decrease unit prices miniscule but at the same time increase standing charges by 8p per day?”

    Supposedly to pay for the bail out of customers of corrupt companies like “Bulb” who went bust – after their owners/executives got rich of course.

    Standing charges on utilities are a scandal due to their regressive nature. Currently I think every house with gas/electricity pays nearly £500/year just for the privilege of being connected. Hard to think of anywhere else in Europe that’d accept a ripoff like that!

  285. Joe
    Ignored
    says:

    @Ottomanboi

    Besides my strong stance on this topic I actually like you and I respect very much the stance you put in against ‘the bug’. In this I consider you very much a brother in arms and I’m pleased to have struggled on the same side as you.

    However, I am not about to let my people slip into being a despised minority in their own homeland while the people pulling the strings of limitless mass migration also set up an anti-European Zeitgeist that includes writing us out of our own history, institutions, art and government while simultaneously blaming us for all the worlds ills – just as they are writing women out of their own sex while paving the way for paedophilia.

    Fair doesn’t come into it.

    If you get the courage you might look deep enough into this and find a parallel between this and the recent mass crimes against your own nation.

    That’s up to you.

  286. Shug
    Ignored
    says:

    I feel quite sorry for Humza
    On one hand they are playing him like a piano setting him up to take the fall for what they did.

    On the other hand he might be a very genuine nationalist seeking to keep the party in track.

    From here the SNP is finished. Every labour and Tory leaflet will include a picture of a camper van or a police tent and job done.

    If he makes it to an election he carries the can for failure and if not it is him seen burning the party

  287. Scot
    Ignored
    says:

    Could it be that our proportional representative voting system is the problem?
    The SNP had to deal with the Greens.
    A first past the post system would relegate the Greens to where they belong.

    As for the Ottomans, there was a time when they were the enemy of most of Western Europe – the exceptions being due to political/dynastic differences.

    Ultimately, despite the interesting possibilities for debate, I know what side I would rather be on.

  288. Shug
    Ignored
    says:

    Why does the BBC keep referring “the house Murrell shares with his wife”.

    Is there another house that is not shared???

    What was the third address searched by the polis

  289. Vestas
    Ignored
    says:

    Republicofscotland says:
    14 April, 2023 at 1:28 pm

    “CMAL sends executives on mega-bucks (taxpayer funded) jolly to talk to other ferry building firms abroad.”

    What really pisses me off personally re the CalMac fiasco is that total wanker Torcuil Crichton will be the next MP for the Western Isles.

    I went to school with that fuckwit and I can’t ever forgive the SNP for ENABLING this unionist lickspittle to become an MP.

    The SNP can forget the island communities supporting them for the next decade at least (hopefully the SNP will be gone by then!) & nobody with half a brain could blame them. They’ve been treated like complete shit.

  290. Lenny hartley
    Ignored
    says:

    Ettisus , most Scots and English and Irish hace “Celtic” Dna, the only areas in England with people with signicant “Anglo Saxon DNA” is the South East of England and East Anglia.
    And anyways all Europeans come from only two different settlers post ice age The Neolithic Farmers who became the Celts in the Atlantic Seaboard and later Beaker People. We are all the same.the only differences are cultural and Language.

  291. Lenny hartley
    Ignored
    says:

    Am currently in Northern england for some Motorcycle races which i take photo’s at for a Magazine.
    Last night met up with mate involved in motorhome business at high level.
    He says that the Murrellmobile is a unique motorhome, describes it as shite and prob only one of its kind in UK because it was overpriced and underequipped specification wise compared to competitors, it was supplied by a dealer called travelworld in Telford. So murrell did not even give a Scottish dealer some business!

  292. Mia
    Ignored
    says:

    “Any attempt to save the SNP”

    What is there left to save and why on earth should we bother?

    The “SNP” wasted 8.5 effing years of our precious time and anti-union MP majorities and what for? to become a copycat of pro-devolution Labour.

    As far as I am concerned the lot of them can rot in hell. They allowed a political fraud to destroy the party as a vehicle for independence and to morph it into a bulldozer of women’s rights and apologist for perverts. They did nothing to stop it.

    I never voted SNP so they could destroy the rights of women for the sake of a bunch of freaks, nor so they could put perverts in womens’ safe spaces, nor for them to send drag queens to primary schools, nor for them to destroy the barriers protecting children from creeps and paedophiles, nor to mitigate the excesses from England’s tories’ toxic policies nor to “save” devolution. To hell with devolution, to hell with mitigation of England’s political parties’ policies and to hell with the perverts. I voted SNP because I expected them to deliver INDEPENDENCE. They have had plenty of opportunities to do so, therefore anhything less of independence is no longer acceptable. They can stick their beloved devolution and their mitigation where the sun does not shine.

    The SNP died on 14 November 2014. What is left is just labour operating under a false rosette propped up by an overbloated gravy train full of troughers.

    The sooner they lose the seats and get out of the way, the quicker we can resume our quest for Scotland’s restoration of statehood, something this brigade of troughers, cowards and covert unionists deliberately failed to do.

  293. Ottomanboi
    Ignored
    says:

    JOE

    I am not anti European. The intellectual impact of Europe was beneficial in cracking, to a certain extent, the hard baked Islam that came to dominate the second millenium, although, paradoxically, the British fostered for their own strategic reasons Wahhabism in the Arabian peninsula: alas poor Hejaz.
    European influence protected minorities who generally were required to conform in order to survive. Sadly, colonialism and an «eroticised exoticism» came along in the baggage and the requirement to conform has if anything become worse than in the rather lazy days of relatively «amorphous» Ottoman governance.
    With modernity came nationalism which, like the concept of the nation state, came without a book of instructions to a world which barely understood the concept of borders.
    Tangled knots are easily made, less easily unmade.

  294. JockMcT
    Ignored
    says:

    @Vestas 12.32 spot on, all out, none of them had the guts to stand up, not one of them. Of course, there are a few like Cherry and O’Neill who seem to want to save it, but HQ is maggot ridden and they would be better served in ALBA. Has to happen quick though, or as you say – all gone. SNP is dead in the water anyhow.

  295. JockMcT
    Ignored
    says:

    @MIA, hear hear, wonderfully put, brutally so, and absolutely required. Bonfire of the vanities and the rest of it. Independence, nothing less and nothing else.

  296. Viscount Ennui
    Ignored
    says:

    Brain working overtime:

    1. If the SNP go bankrupt then it can no longer be the governing party at HR.
    2. But the SNP have to conceal where the bodies are buried and thus maintain power.
    3 So a new party is formed within the next 2-3 weeks with the dregs of the SNP as senior figures.
    4. The new party would form a pact with the Greens.
    5. BUT…the strategy would rely on all curent SNP members remaining ‘loyal to the cause (of the SNP, not independence, obviously – they are mutually exclusive).
    6. Forbes et al see an opportunity and establish a separate entity.
    7. HR is split.
    8. Labour, Tory, and the party of the child, then have to consider how to vote but agree that they will stonewall and demand an election.
    9. Forbes + Labour + Lib Dems form an alliance based on a loose alliance around the need first for good governance and an enquiry into the Sturgeon years.
    10.Scottish people flock into the streets and rejoice that they have been freed from tyranny
    11. Forbes becomes Scotland’s Joan of Arc

  297. Muscleguy
    Ignored
    says:

    A Question you did not ask Rev Stu: who is the legal registered owner of the vehicle? noting it was bought on party funds that should be most interesting.

  298. James Jones
    Ignored
    says:

    @ Viscount Ennui .

    Alternatively, people conclude that Holyrood (and Stormont) has been a failure, Westminster reluctantly takes back control and…

    10. Scottish people flock into the streets and rejoice that they have been freed from tyranny.

    (Sorry, I could not resist.)

    Why aren’t people flocking to Alba?

  299. Richard Sutherland
    Ignored
    says:

    The Electoral Commission received the SNP Review and Accounts for the year end 31 December 2021 signed by Colin Beattie, National Treasurer on 30 June 2022 and and the 36 page Document is stored here –

    https://search.electoralcommission.org.uk//Api/Accounts/Documents/24333

    The Review package has insights, commitments, promises and numbers e.g. it shows current liabilities exceed current assets on page 20 ; it says it will take a ‘very strict approach’ to expenditure from the Referendum Appeal on page 12, and elsewhere says –

    page 17 – it has the ‘…having a heightened risk of fraud….’ sentence

    page 10 – As at 31 May 2022, the annual salary of our Chief Executive is £79,750……….

    page 11 – Events since March 2020 have thrown into stark relief just how critical regular giving income is
    for the Party, the fact that it can provide an essential fundraising cushion and give time and space to review, adjust and react in a crisis.
    Moving forward, the Party is giving renewed focus on this area to ensure regular giving is nurtured and protected.

    page 12 – Referendum Appeal
    By 31 December 2021, a total of £740,822 had been raised through the independence related appeals.

    These donations are also included in – and have been reconciled with – the total amount for donations included in Party accounts from 2017 to 2021.

    Up until 31 December 2021 a total of £253,335 of expenditure had been applied against this income. The balance remains
    “earmarked” for independence related campaigning.

    Of course, the SNP is the party of independence and, as such, every action we take – directly or indirectly – is in support of winning independence. However, we continue to take a very strict approach to ensuring that this income supports expenditure directly related to the campaign
    for independence. We will ensure that an amount equivalent to the sums raised from these appeals will go directly to our work to secure a referendum and win independence.

    page 12 – Continuing Expenditure
    The SNP remains resilient through avoiding undue risk, combined with sound financial planning and management.
    We also remain dedicated to ongoing prudence and cash control, striving to use funds in the most effective and efficient ways possible…

    …..On behalf of the Party Officers
    Colin Beattie
    National Treasurer
    30 / 06 / 2022

    page 20 – Going concern – it can be deduced from the way the SNP Accounts are presented that the SNP had net current liabilities of £ 245,583 at 31/12/2021.

    The National Treasurer offers an explanation given at page 22 thus –

    Going concern
    The Party has reported net current liabilities at 31 December 2021, principally due to the level of accrued branch dividends at that date(£760,628). As illustrated by the movement in this balance disclosed at note 25(b), the level of cash outflow in this respect in a year is typically
    modest in comparison to the scale of the balance, and while under the Party’s constitution, these amounts are on­ demand liabilities, in practice branches will not draw on this accrual to any extent that may be to the detriment of the Party’ s ability to meet its obligations as they
    fall due.

    The National Treasurer has reviewed the expenditure budgets and cash flow projections for the Party for the period to 30 June 2023 and is satisfied that the Party will have sufficient funds for it to meet its financial obligations. On this basis, the National Treasurer is satisfied
    that it is appropriate to prepare the accounts on the going concern basis………

  300. KLF
    Ignored
    says:

    Seemingly cops are investigating expenditure on jewelery…….what a sordid tawdry affair this is !!

  301. Ruby
    Ignored
    says:

    test



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