In recent months, union flags have been popping up every time some minor British government minister makes an announcement. Tory ministers seem to have more flags than a shoe fetishist has size twelve Manolo Blahniks. One of them, Housing minister Robert Jenrick, didn’t just have a large Union flag on display in the corner of his living room when he made an appearance last week via zoom on the BBC Breakfast Show, he also had a large and conspicuously positioned photie of the queen, just in case anyone thought that his flag wasn’t staunch enough by itself.
This recent outbreak of flag-shagging is apparently one of the bright ideas of the British government’s so-called Union unit. The reason that Scotland is increasingly being attracted to the idea of independence is apparently because we don’t have enough union flags, and if only the British Government can successfully channel the interior design ethic of a flute band hall in Livingston then Scotland will decide that this whole independence lark is maybe not such a good idea after all.
So we are to get union flags on our driving licences and car licence plates. There are to be union flags plastered over all the infrastructure projects directly chosen and funded by the UK government as part of their campaign to wrest powers away from Holyrood and subvert devolution. The UK Government hub in Edinburgh, the building from which the British government will coduct its shameless evisceration of the devolution is already branded with an outsize union flag design which wouldn’t look out of place in a Tory cabinet minister’s zoom call. No doubt they have something similar in mind for the new offices that they have planned for Glasgow.
Naturally the flag is prominently on display in the new press briefing room in 10 Downing Street, which reportedly cost £2.6 million for some sheets of MDF, and a few tins of Tory blue paint. There’s that Conservative procurement policy for you. Ministers even tried to brand the Astra-Zeneca vaccine with union flags despite the fact that the team developing it included Turkish residents of Germany, the company is owned by an Anglo-Swedish consortium with a French chief executive, and one of the major production sites is in Belgium.
The Tories are very keen to plaster union flags on everything because they imagine them to be a symbol of unity. This only goes to show just how out of touch with Scotland they really are. The most recent display of union flags in Scotland was when Rangers fans went on a rampage of vandalism in George Square. The centre of Glasgow has also witnessed such other symbols of union flag unity when red white and blue bedecked right wing thugs ostensibly “defending” statues that no one intended to attack embarked upon an orgy of violence, assaulting peaceful protestors standing up for fair and decent treatment for asylum seekers and migrants. The union flag symbol of unity was also prominently on display when those right wing British nationalist boot boys attacked peaceful independence supporters in the aftermath of the independence referendum in 2014, an incident which the BBC quite disgustingly, with a hypocritical false moral equivalence described as “clashes between supporters and opponents of independence. Every year on the streets of towns and cities of the west of Scotland we see the “unity” that the union flag symbolises in triumphalist sectarian parades that tell Scots from a catholic family background that the union flag wavers will never fully accept them.
In Scotland we are well aware of the “unity” that the union flag represents. It’s the unity that comes after your opponents have been battered into submission, with kicks and punches if necessary. That’s the only kind of unity that the Conservatives understand. For them the union flag is a symbol of their total victory.
This recent plague of flag-shagging represents yet another instance of the historic reversal of a pattern that always infuriated Scots, that of politicians and other public figures referring to England when they meant Britain. The use of the union flag is an example of the Conservatives saying Britain when they really mean England. The Conservatives have come to represent a decidedly English right wing nationalism. The Brexit that they espouse is a creature of English nationalist obsessions and resentments and a peculiarly English sense of exceptionalism. Scotland rejected Brexit at the ballot box, and has repeatedly and consistently rejected the Conservative party which is not only hell bent on imposing the most harsh form of Brexit on all of us, it is also using that Brexit as an excuse to weaken and undermine a devolution settlement that Scotland did give overwhelming support to at the ballot box.
Scotland is not suddenly about to become reconciled to any of this because Tory Government ministers have taken to wrapping themselves in union flags and insisting that it’s a symbol of unity. It’s not symbols we are looking for, it’s substance, and it’s in substance that the Conservatives are lacking when it comes to taking Scotland’s desires and interests into account. What the current plague of union flags symbolises isn’t unity, it’s weakness and desperation. It’s a symbol of political opportunism and a British goverment which has nothing constructive to offer Scotland beyond empty and meaningless platitudes about a precious union and a partnership of nations.
The union flags which this government is hell bent on plastering all over our public life are a last desperate attempt to disguise the fact that the union as it was once understood is over. It’s not a symbol of strength and confidence. It’s a symbol of weakness and hollowness. The real tragedy for supporters of the UK and the union between Scotland and England is that this is all that they have left to offer.
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Wee Ginger Dug 
Reblogged this on Ramblings of a now 60+ Female.
Not our flag,nor our identity.
For me,it will always symbolise England’s domination of Scotland and the consequent imposition of political policies Made in England.
I’ve noticed they’re sliding into second base now with the false description *British flag* just like they’ve done when they refer to the other three separate national constituent parts as *the country*
Are your papers in order Paul
There is no welsh element it is Ireland ( st Patrick) Scotland ( st Andrew) England ( st George)
Will this orgy of ”Flag shagging ” apply equally to N. Ireland ?
I seem to remember that the flying/non-flying of flags in Belfast was a source of bitter conflict recently .
So this decree to” flag the flag ” on every UK building . construction site , etc will bring even more tension to that Province . It will be like waving a red flag to a bull – or a Butcher’s Apron to a Nationalist !
It would be interesting to know which Tory donor has the Government franchise for producing Union Flegs !
Anglo- Swedish? Surely you mean British- wee diddy nation.
The Tories are offending so many people. Another own goal. The Tories making a fool of themselves again. People will not vote for them. They are a laughing stock.
[…] Wee Ginger Dug Flag-shagging for the Union In recent months, union flags have been popping up every time some minor British […]
https://www.gov.scot/publications/draft-independence-referendum-bill/
The bill since the bbc and others do not give a link at present.
You may be mixing up Pfizer and Astra-Zeneca. The Turkish-German company BioNTech that you allude to partnered with Pfizer, not AZ, to develop their vaccine. AZ’s is in partnership with the University of Oxford, which gets a fair amount of funding from the UK funding councils, so there is actually some justification for putting the butcher’s apron on the AZ vaccine.
Labelling the AZ vaccine with the union flag was never a great idea when you consider that the initial doses came from the Netherlands because the AZ facilities in the UK were having production problems at the time, and since. More a case of trying to hide the reality by waving the flag.
Now India seems to be the source used to make up the shortfall.
An interesting article by the Ch4 news Fact Check team on the issue of vaccine supplies
https://www.channel4.com/news/factcheck/factcheck-what-is-happening-with-britains-vaccine-supply
Paul,
You wrote: “”Ministers even tried to brand the Astra-Zeneca vaccine with union flags despite the fact that the team developing it included Turkish residents of Germany, the company is owned by an Anglo-Swedish consortium with a French chief executive, and one of the major production sites is in Belgium.””
I think you have mixed elements of the Pfizer/Biontech vaccine in with the AZ vaccine here. Biontech is the company headed by a Turkish husband and wife team of scientists in Germany. The German Gov funded the company start-up. Belgium is the location for the Pfizer/BionTech vaccine production facility. The AZ vaccine is produced in the Netherlands and possibly other locations in Europe as well as in the UK and of course India.
The Jenrick micro-moment raised a rare smile from Jenrick, but the backlash was blistering from a small but seemingly influential enough group to extract an apology (from Munchetty of all people).
But pole in the flag-shagging competition went to “Lia Nici-Townend, MP for Great Grimsby” for her “Of course if people are not proud to be British, or of our flag or Queen, they don’t have to live in the U.K. Perhaps they should move to another country they prefer?” 👀 – I imagine even half of England winced at that, the Tories have taken leave of what little sense they had..
I hope DRoss and Jackatory have read the joke of how the Fairy came to be on top of the Christmas Tree before pressing this initiative, it is going to hurt THEM a lot more than it will hurt Scots…
“Of course if people are not proud to be British, or of our flag or Queen, they don’t have to live in the U.K.” Well, somebody should have a quiet word in her ear that is exactly what we in Scotland are trying to do. {laugh} Do you think then she might help…?
It’s just been announced that Johnson has just acquired a second brand new plane painted red, white and blue to represent “Global Britain”. The first one was owned by the RAF and painted at a cost of £900,000. The government has refused to say how much the paint job on this new plane has cost.
https://archive.ph/mRinq
None of this pathetic red, white and blue willy waving will save their precious union, it will aid its demise.
Reminded me of this
https://mobile.twitter.com/GerriisalsoGigi/status/1373679514807582726
😂
I see we are also to get a “Future Commando Force (FCF)” and a “Ranger Regiment”. It is almost like the UK Armed Forces are to be modelled after a toy manufacturers marketing plan with a movie tie-in.
That’s exactly what this reminds me of MBP. A shower of wee boys getting all excited, jumping up and down and clapping their hands, about what toy to buy next ….. at our expense.
”The aircraft will be used when Mr Johnson, cabinet ministers or members of the royal family are making short or medium-haul trips, with a range that could take them to destinations elsewhere in Europe or even as far as the US east coast. The larger RAF Voyager, an Airbus A330, will continue to be used when ministers or royals are flying further afield.”
Maybe Nicola Sturgeon and her cabinet members could get use of it, fly off to Europe or the USA, as we, Scottish tax-payers, will be paying our share of this.
The Union Jack poem to cheer your Unionist friend up.
by Jeannie Kirby
This little flag to us so dear,
The Union Jack of Fame,
Come, sit by me, and you shall hear
The way it got its name.
We first must look at other three,
Please hold them up quite tight,
They all have crosses, you can see,
Two red ones and one white.
St. Patrick’s Cross, to Ireland dear,
Like letter X it lies;
St. George’s Cross, so bright and clear,
Led England’s battle cries.
St. Andrew’s Cross is white, you see,
Upon a bed of blue,
The Scottish flag it used to be,
To it the folks were true.
In Course of time, the three combin’d,
It was a famous tack:
We’ll do the same, and you will find,
Great Britain’s Union Jack.
Note she calls the Union Flag the Union Jack. She is wrong. A Jack is the pole on the bow of a warship which when in port has the Union flag on it.
These days I call it the Union Rag.
Poor Wales left out again. But they are increasingly fed up with being considered part of Greater England (when they aren’t left off the map completely, that is).
Tories are bringing forward the VONC in Nicola Sturgeon to tomorrow instead of Wednesday without even waiting for the harassment committee report to be published.
There’s not a lot of brains among the Tories in Scotland it seems.
Have they managed to get a peek at the James Hamilton report and they see a glimmer of hope? I very much doubt it but I guess us lesser mortals will still need to wait on that report to be published.
“Scots Tories are clueless – by Scotland’s only Tory MP.”
The headline had been created using information contained in a four-page memo Mundell had written to David Cameron written some months earlier in which he was scathing about Tory MSPs’ abilities saying:
“Whilst it is possible to agree in principle that the party in Scotland can make its own policy on devolved matters, the simple lack of thinkers is apparent.”
He also urged a purge of lame-duck MSP’s and the speedy appointment of a new Scottish Party Chairman, new Scottish Party Leader and a new management team comprising strategic thinkers.
The magic roundabout, anyone remember Ross Thomson?, ex mp.
”There’s not a lot of brains among the Tories in Scotland it seems.”
Especially as it’ll be going nowhere with the SNP getting Green support.
No mention of all the amateur red white and blue flag and bunting shagging that occurred over the weekend, all over Scotland, to coincide with thee victory of a certain football team. Was associated with hate graffiti and vandalism of public property. I’m sure that won’t help the yoons cause either.
BoJo’s like
“I am not a flag-shagger I’m a shag-flagger’s son, and I’ll go on shagging flaggers till the flag-shagging’s done”.
Lay in a supply of sticky saltires of different sizes to fit over and on to the different Butcher’s Aprons the Tories plaster over our everyday items. The new blue passport provides a very attractive background colour for the sticky saltires as well.
This is why the Apronistas will fail. Their policy is easy to defy and defiance has zero consequence
I see Laurence Fox the ‘Lewis’ sidekick ‘actor’ was at the big flag waving anti lockdown protest march in London at the weekend……you know if he really wanted to kill off his career….would it not just have been easier for him to have done so by continuing acting……….IMHO that would have done it…..for sure.
BTW Has anyone checked on Ian Murray …..he’s got a thing about flags and the waving of…though in all honesty his gripe seems to be restricted to one specific flag only……..his face…will be turning RED and then going WHITE and then turning BLUE at the destruction of that particular argument of his being shot down in flames thanks to ‘a La Tory’ and Sir Keir’s fondness of using the Union Jackass in the backdrop of their political televised broadcasts…….
Mind you he does suffer from Union-itis so for sure so he will no doubt do his best to NOT acknowledge that his flag the Union Jackass , and the waving of it, is anything but the right kind of ……whatever he deems is appropriate….like say to infect us all with his Union-itis …..thank God a lot of Scots, aka a majority of us, are already immune to it……
I’m hugging my flag right now. Maybe a bit of the other later.
Re VONC being brought forward The National is reporting that the SNP and the Greens argued for it to be on Tuesday.
Well that’s 4.00 Hamilton report should be out.
Reactions to the draft Referendum Bill
Alex Clark I agree with them but, as per, I am confused by the Lib Dems response……
Yes the Scots Tories are a reckless distraction in Scottish politics.
Yes Scottish Labour are NOT a priority in Scottish politics.
Yes Scots LibDems…..but who is this Bill (person) in the Lib Dems that they, the Lib Dems, want to bin ?
I believe that you have twigged, NMRM.
The Scots Branch of the Lib Dems, which garnered a massive 5.2% of the votes in the previous SGE,
Have only Five MSPs, ,, (5th in a contest of 5 parties) lost wee souls at Holyrood, so there’s a lot of doubling and trebling up of jobs in this tight little team.
At the risk of getting all Grammar and Syntax about it, the ‘Bill’, in the LD’s Press release, ‘bin this bill’, is in the Vocative Case, with a comma required to be inserted after ‘this’, to denote that ‘Bill’ is one of the team, ordered to ‘bin’ the ‘this’, the ‘this’ being a copy of the ground breaking ‘Scottish Independence Referendum Bill’.
So it looks like someone in the team had a glance at all those words, too much like hard work for the LDs, and instructed the team member responsible for janitorial duties in the office, the aforementioned ‘Bill’, to chuck it in the bin.
Now who is the mysterious ‘Bill’?
Alex? Beatrice?
Mike? Liam?
Willie?
I am keeping my powder dry today; hence my whimsy above.
Have you noticed that the Butcher’s Aprons used in Downing Street and on display behind Tory ministers has the supposed Saltire blue cast as navy blue? They have just decided on their own blue colour rather than hold to the colours of the Union.
The colour of the saltire was changed so it would harmonise with the red of the st george cross. This is one reason why the Scots parliament has no power to define the correct tint of the Saltire as so to do would, under the arcane rules of Heraldic Law, change the colour of the Apron
I discovered recently that the “proper” saltire blue is exactly the same blue used to indicate the fastest USB connectors (3.x).
(Just thought I would throw that wee factoid in…)
Party which has had three votes of no confidence to destabilise the Scotgov during a pandemic declares it is a serious misjudgment to have referendum bill during a pandemic.
I think we need a list of what is acceptable during a pandemic from the Tories, Brexit – OK, lining your friends pockets – OK, lying to parliament – OK, losing in court – OK, democracy – Bad.
I’m not too sure it’s the flag BJ is interested in, he just gets excited about things that wiggle about on poles.
James Cook first out of the traps – Nicola Sturgeon did not break the ministerial code an inquiry finds. 🙂
Boom !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hahahaha
(breathes)
Hahahahahaha
phhhhhh
Hahahahaha
Mr Hamilton has found no breach of the Ministerial Code by the First Minister.
https://www.gov.scot/publications/independent-report-by-james-hamilton-on-the-first-ministers-self-referral-under-the-scottish-ministerial-code/
Oh ye of little faith…..was there ever a doubt?
Bless
Just announced on LBC no breach of code by Nicola. That’s nice, now maybe we can get on with the best leader EVER.
Not guilty!
Tories’ gas at a peep. Bozo found in a ditch!
Certain bloggers crying in their beers.
Can’t resist this one
https://twitter.com/olafdoesstuff/status/1374038067879759873?s=20
Superb, fantastic, brilliant 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Onwards and upwards for Scottish Independence. In southern Scotland must vote SNP 1 and 2.
No doubt the SUP’s will find fault with the report as it isn’t to their liking or Agenda
When my updated driving licence recently arrived from Wales it had the UJ replacing the EU flag, so I quickly stuck an appropriate sized saltire on top of it. Sorted.
Time to get on with winning a majority in May, FM cleared, Holyrood inquiry a busted flush after the party politics, the Britnat MSP’s on the committee have embarrassed themselves and the institutions of Scotland. To paraphrase Johnson ‘Let’s get independence done’.
Actually, I think there needs to be some kind of comeback for the shoddy behaviour of certain members of that committee. Their actions brought the entire proceedings into such manifest disrepute that these egregious transgressions can’t properly be left unaddressed. While falsely proclaiming fault in others, they were in fact committing far greater fault themselves.
The Unionists on that committee were an utter disgrace, just image that lot with their grubby greasy paws on the levers of power.
Excuse my self indulgence but I have to say that I feel vindicated.
Fantastic news.
Douglas Ross demands VAR.
One in the eye for Loard Haw Haw from Bath😂 🤣🤣” shite over Scotland ” and his traitorous followers. Most of his acolytes are full on vote for anyone not wanting Scottish Independence, many are openly unionist supporters just like he appears to be now.
Onwards and upwards for Scotland and our return as an Independent country. In southern Scotland it has to be SNP 1 and 2 Siobhan Brown for MSP.
I am speaking at Siobhan’s adoption meeting via zoom on Friday
“No breach” – no surprise.
No VONC win likely either for the enemies of independence.
Deceased parrot. No-longer-in-this-world parrot. Expired parrot.
Can we – dear “Scottish” {ahem} media – all move on now please? There’s actual election issues to discuss (if you’re up to doing your proper job, that is).
Excellent news.
A lesson for all aspiring SNP candidates from this manufactured crisis.
Yes,they ARE out to get you and you had better be sure that your conduct is squeaky clean or you will be toast.
Now to get on with electing a Scottish government and not have one imposed on us by Westminster.
Give a conspiracy theorist a mirror and they say they can see through it.
The report is quite heavily redacted and makes it very hard to read. I’ve no doubt that the usual suspects will be accusing the Scottish government of using the redactions in “order to hide something”.
Complete rubbish of course since James Hamilton is very clear in his conclusions that now of the allegations against the FM had any substance.
18.1. I have considered the following issues which were alleged to amount to
a breach of the Ministerial Code by the First Minister:-
1. The allegation that her failure to record her meetings with and telephone discussions with Mr Salmond and others on 29 March, 2 and 23 April, 7 June and 14 and 18 July 2018 amounted to a breach of paragraphs 4.22 and 4.23 of the Ministerial Code.
2. The allegation that the First Minister may have attempted to influence the conduct of the investigation then being undertaken by the Permanent Secretary into allegations made against Mr Salmond under the Procedure for Handling of Harassment Complaints involving Current or Former Ministers (“the Procedure”).
3. The allegation that the First Minister misled the Scottish Parliament in relation to her meetings as specified in paragraph 1 above.
4. The allegation that the First Minister was in breach of her duty to comply with the law in respect of the Scottish Government’s response to the petition of Mr Salmond for judicial review of the Procedure.
18.2. For the reasons set out in detail above in this Report I am of the opinion that the First Minister did not breach the provisions of the Ministerial Code in respect of any of these matters.
Apparently the Tories VONC tomorrow is now on a shoogly peg…as in may NOT go ahead now….unfortunately for the Tories their oh so obvious playing party politics has been widely exposed…yet again……#Fail
Now about the many breaking of ministerial codes at Tory HQ……where are we at with that ?
Get DRoss and the Baroness onto it…on second thoughts….not the most effective duo to orchestrate a smear and dirty tricks campaign….past and most recent record indicate #Fail……
Union Jackass Hankies deployed……….there’ll be BLUE skys over the RED WHITE and BLUE cliffs of Dover…together with a backlog of lorries thanks to Tory Brexit #Failings……and their tears will run into da BLUE sea…………feeling BLUE DRoss and Baroness…..called you both a Taxi……nb. not the chocolate kind…..but one where the wheels go round and round…..
Taxi for Starmer…..too.
I hope the ex Green member stands up tomorrow saying point of order. I wish to change my vote.
BBC news – all about defence with a strap line Nicola Sturgeon did not break ministerial code. If it had been the other way it would have been 25hrs tele.
Good news
True that. Not a scintilla of doubt.
Now the election issues can be the focus of the campaign and I am confident we can win. Siobhan Brown needs ALL Independance supporters where I live in South Ayrshire to defeat the Tory John Scott and gain a seat for the SNP.
The name Bjorge Lillelien might not be too familiar, but this was what he screamed on September 9, 1981,
“Lord Nelson!”
“Lord Beaverbrook!”
“Sir Winston Churchill!
“Sir Anthony Eden!
“Clement Attlee!
“Henry Cooper!
“Lady Diana!”
“Maggie Thatcher! Can you hear me?
“Maggie Thatcher. Maggie Thatcher, your boys took a hell of a beating! Your boys took a hell of a beating!”
Up there with the classis ‘Bow Down to Your Imperial Masters’ Rickshaw Man.
There aren’t enough chickens to to produce enough egg for the faces of the Jock Fifth Column Fourth Estate today.
Here you go Jack from the man himself 🙂
Brill, Alex. Mucho gracias.
Sarwar spitting the dummy, more lost votes for Labour under his leadership.
They’re all spitting and scratching their own eyes out all over the internet in well thought out rehearsed statements they arranged earlier
Oh, the Britnat media have been fixated on the issue – their big last chance – for so very, very long, stumbling hopefully on from one let-down over it to another, that it’s going to be awfully hard for them to finally have to do cold turkey. So I suppose we’ll get some tacked-on innuendo like this one from Eardley and maybe a last little splurge over the next day or so, but it’s finally over, dead-ducked, and they know it.
Aye, who to believe, Anas the Millionare dentist?
Alex Coal Shuttle, the Blue Tory Duckbill Platypus 7 times electoral Failure Murdo The Queen’s Eleven Fraser, the Trident Champion of 23,000 ficticious jobs at Faslane, ‘P1sh’ (her own colleagues’ description) Jackie Baillie, or ….
“James Hamilton, SC (born 20 March 1949), is an Irish barrister and administrator who served as the Director of Public Prosecutions at the Republic of Ireland’s Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions from 1999 to 2011. In September 2010, Hamilton was elected President of the International Association of Prosecutors, succeeding Francois Falletti.”
The VONC tomorrow ahs been withdrawn.
Now for the fight.
Nick Eardley’s face was a picture on News 24 lying about the GE and Indyref polls..it is on a ‘knife edge’ apparently.
By Cristos, was he hurting.
Aye Jack I saw Nick Eardley’s face….thought he was going to start greeting…..back to School for him……..humble pie for lunch Nick….
Anas, you win the internet for that tweet, son. Absolutely classic, and I hope you don’t have to wait too long for their findings.
Great news but never in doubt, now let’s see if the media talk about her exoneration as much as they talked about her implied guilt, and maybe just for laughs some door stepping on those guilty wee ToryLablib squints who tried to fit her up and use it for political publicity, Ooh and there is a clause in the hate crime bill Humza might consider using on a squinty wee blogger in England
Am I the only one now looking forward to FMQs, to see what the Mooth has to offer this week?
I hope Nicola is on top form – nearly enough for me to pay a licence fee!
I think the BBC are leading on the main news tonight – fire in a warehouse in Paisley
Fire of the BritNat vanities, more like (but they’ll never say that, of course).
Naw, it was a fire in an Aberdeen school, raineach, and as I predicted, a bloody babygro piece, on the southern General contaminated water with a demand for the CEO to resign.
Glenn Campbell outside Holyrood announcing the Hamilton ‘verdict’, but no detail, and bizarrely he filled the allotted time with irrelevant nonsense about McLeish resigning over his muddle, McLetchie and his Taxi fare expenses claims and Wendy Alexander’s undeclared donations to her leadership bid.
That way Campbell didn’t need to actually go in to the precise detail of the Hamilton findings..
Then Dross with the bowling ball nostrils, Sarwar on repeat, and Wee Willie muttering nothing at all.
So all in all there was about 60 seconds allocated to the Report and its findings.
By god are they hurting.
How is the shell fish trade on Islay faring, Glenn?
”Wee Willie muttering nothing at all.”
It takes some time for him to get one of his two neurons to activate Jack. He’s now saying, ”Ms Sturgeon’s “errors of judgement still make resignation a live consideration”. He should be getting done for taking money under false pretenses. Doing nought for the Scottish tax-payers that he’s been defrauding for at least 15 years now.
‘Nicola Sturgeon cleared of breaching ministerial code over Alex Salmond saga.’
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-56482878
Petra, he is a seriously dull and dim little man.
5.2% of the electorate , five MSPs, four if you don’t count Tuscany Mike Rumbles, the fifth party in Scotland, yet the BBC offers them daily slots..
Glenn Campbell was a disgrace to journalism today.
Why let facts be broadcast, why inform, entertain, or educate’ the public when you can talk about ancient history?
I will jig like it’s ’65 when they close Plantation Quay, which is inevitable in the early days of Independence.
I wonder how long it will take after Wednesday for Baroness Rape Clause to get her £50,000 for a few hours work reinstated by that lobbying firm?
She’s in the House of Lards now, that unelected body of elitists who are not required to disclose their earnings for public scrutiny.
I’d imagine that she and Iain Gray will be on the English Negotiating Team when we break from their precious Union.,
Glenn Campbell has sold his soul for English siller.
I’m laughing my head off here because I’ve just read Mong the merciless from his fortress in Bath where he’s also had a prepared piece ready to put up traducing James Hamilton QC and slinging names at him then advising everybody to leave Scotland while they can, presumably to go and live with him in wonderful England where everything’s nice all the time
Oh ma sides!!!
It might be worth paying a revisit just this once to see how truly effed he is.
Ach, no, I’ll nae bother.
Brit spokesmen on LBC making out that the demonisation of Nicola wasn’t really that import lolz.
Of course, Ghandi, Mandela, Archbishop Makarios, Lee kuan Yew, etc were largely irrelevant to achieving the independence of their people – I don’t think. The blow that doesn’t break you makes you. The Scottish people have once again seen that their leader has integrity above and beyond anything the Brit shysters will ever offer. Nicola will now be properly viewed by the public as someone they can rely on, however tough the going gets. That is priceless.
Now Nicola, I want you to have an early night, sleep the sound sleep of the virtuous and get up tomorrow refreshed to kick their sorry Brit arses. In your own inimitable way of course.
I think a wee malt is entirely in order
A large one already in hand 😀
Will add a few % to the SNP vote in May and to support for Independence I’d wager. Another own goal by the Unionists and their little media helpers, especially the BBC who’s presenters are sick to the pits of their stomachs.
Look forward to the opening headline on Distorting Scotland….Pigeon Droppings at the Southern General?
The plight of Pregnant women in Inverness?
Or just a big banner headline, Scotland is still shite.
The wee toon where I live woke up on Saturday morning to find big butcher’s aprons flying from every lamp post, kerbstones painted red white and blue and obscene grafitti everywhere about how they were going to kill “Kaffliks”. Someone with a big van and a ladder was photographed. All because of a bloody football match.
They were also posting Facebook messages predicting Nicola Sturgeon’s downfall. In their own vernacular “Getitrightupyez!”
These people are among us. I think they may be lizards.
Lest we forget. 840 young Scots serving in the Brit army lost their jobs today, to be replaced by drones..the UK cuts have begun.
I wonder if Johnson will contract out the Drone Squadron to Virgin?
Just the best news…..so looking forward to the election …..let the envelope stuffing for the SNP begin!
hahaha – the narcissistic sad sack from Bath just tweeted at me to get to fuck from his @cometoghana twitter account. I see he’s suffering from a terminal case of butthurt. I doubt his fragile ego can cope with being shown to be so wrong.
Draft Referendum bill would have been a double whammy fir the poor soul.
I think we should all get a wee badge of honour.
Banned by a wee beardy guy.
The Mayor of Bathistan may find himself having to conduct his biggest ever crowdfunder if he fails to remove his opening line concerning James Hamilton QC!
Yeah calling someone a crook and / or a liar constitutes defamation of character, Tam. On the other-hand why warn the ignorant bampot? A couple of years in the clink would give us all a well deserved break from him.
He will have plenty of company in the nick with all of the different personalities he has none of which are pleasant from what I have seen
Tories still planning a VONC tomorrow?
Sore losers desperate to show that they’re… sore losers… (?)
… and just to add Grizebard…I think they’re very sore losers.
James Hamilton QC clears FM of all accusations. Ex computer games reviewer (maybe he still doing it in his 50’s, who knows) tells us he is mistaken and his intellectual abilities outstrip any qualified lawyer. Never take advice from a man outwitted by Kezia Dugdale.
Harsh but true
jfngw :- “Never take advice from a man outwitted by Kezia Dugdale.”
Ouch – but on the button!!
Ouch! That one must have hurt!
So a political circus is now to become a political farce………..
I heard some invisibility cloaks have been ordered by the Scottish Tories….
BBC News channel……for God’s sake let it go….yir just embarrassing yourselves…..and everyone watching…..see the irony is that you are highlighting the very things , via reading out DRoss’s tweet, that the WM Tories are guilty of and are doing so after an INDEPENDENT Inquiry has now found that the FM was not guilty of breaching ministerial code…..
Furthermore you read out DRoss’s tweet as if he is an impartial bystander in this when in reality EVERYBODY AND THEIR DUG knows he is trying to seek an undeserved sleekit political advantage for his party in May’s elections….. and more importantly to him to impact support for the SNP…… through prolonging the dirty tricks campaign….all to try and gain a few (very few) underserved seats at Holyrood in order for his party to continue to disrupt parliamentary proceedings there and undermine Scotland…..what a vote winner…NOT.
Also noted Glenn Campbell’s forensic examination of the FM on news channel post the findings of the inquiry which basically amounted to him backing up all the Tory false allegations……God Tim Davie is certainly getting his money’s worth out of Glenn……..there will be a job for Glenn in the Tory party should he be another churnalist who leaves churnalism to join a Unionist political party….in his case the Tories…..Glenn was determined to not surrender on this……….can he play the flute ?
Flogging a dead Horse..aye…well at least now the Tories in Scotland have at least one policy they can take to the electorate…….Neigh I hear you say……have an apple and call it quits……#Failed.
Political opposition and media bosses send out requests for more wasps to chew as they’re running out
Labour’s Anas Sarwar seems to have taken this result very badly indeed, he has the facial expression of a man about to be gubbed
Tories are doing what Tories do, doubling down on their decision to keep flogging this dead horse because Bollox Johnson has instructed them to do that
Lib Dem Wally Rennie insists the FM is still guilty and it’s up to parliament to decide and not some jumped up QC legal eagle from another land who’s job is the law and the scrutiny of it
Greens party’s Patrick Harvie declares the MSPs who did the coniving sleekit leaks should be the ones being sacked, I’m not a big Patrick Harvie fan but he’s got that one dead right, if the person or persons involved don’t own up the lot of them should get the belt and sent to the heidy for expulsion
Well that’s what would’ve happened in school when I was a boy
Well done Patrick Harvie.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1081934212006008/permalink/1561144360751655/
Golfnut, this seems to link to a site called In-D-Car. Is that right?
Yes. If you do FB, press ‘ just once ‘ to access the page.
Jackie Baillie on channel 4 refuses to accept James Hamilton’s enquiry report.
Says it all.
OTOH, her revered leader, that nice dentist, said (according to the Guardian)
“Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, distanced his party from the Tories and indicated Labour would not back the Tory no confidence motion. “Unlike others, we have been clear from the outset that we would not prejudge the outcome of this inquiry,” he said.
“What is clear is that this entire process has deeply damaged public trust in our politics at a time of national crisis, and there are absolutely no winners today. At the heart of this are two women who have been badly let down by the government, and it remains the case that nobody has taken responsibility.”
I watch Sarwar say what the Guardian have quoted him as saying but he did not say that “Labour would not back the Tory no confidence motion” so unless he has told the reporter from the Guardain exactly that but seperately from his BBC report then it’s not yet clear what Labour might choose to do if a VONC actually even happens.
That was copied and pasted from the Grauniad website. And they’ve never been known to make a mistake, have they? 😀
Pity. Hope they don’t support it, but you never know…
You have to laugh at Sarwar complaining about two women being let down, although I’m not being dismissive of this, when his pals Blair and Brown were instrumental in thousands of women and children being blown to smithereens.
Hamish 100
Ms Baillie got a right roasting from Krisnan Guru-Murthy. The interview is not on their web site yest but should be later tonight. Worth a watch.
Watching that on the +1 channel gave me a great deal of satisfaction. I was really anxious re what James Hamiltons decision would be. I was greatly relieved that he found NS had not breached Ministerial code. What the committee report says is in some ways irrelevant now due to the leaks and politicking by the 4 Horsepersons of the Apocalypse Fraser Baillie,Mitchell and Cole Hamilton
If she can’t accept an impartial judgement from a respected neutral adjudicator then she should recuse herself from the committee, since she is totally compromised (and if Sarwar does nothing about it, so is their party).
Has Sarah Smith been on yet?
Yeah she was and that was a laugh. Two Indy supporters were standing, unbeknownst to her, right behind her. A guy holding a Tories Out placard and a girl wearing a saltire mask and dancing backwards and forwards behind her waving a Yes banner 😀. Neither shouting nor behaving badly.
Just a reminder of who set up the procedure for examining breeches of the ministerial code and who appointed Hamilton. Bachman should take note. AS to make a statement on Wednesday, I hope he takes this opportunity to put things to bed.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/215556435841901/permalink/852017215529150/
I hope that he, AS, does too Golfnut. And during his speech over and above asking everyone to vote SNP x 2 in May he should also ask for an inquiry to be held into the behaviour of the BritNat politicians on the committee who constantly breached the (his) Ministerial Code.
Looks like D.Ross is never going to become the owner of a referees whilst, always destined to be the linesman waving his flag at the real leader.
Touché!
On fire with the put downs this evening. 🤣
Back to the flag waving for a moment. Just saw this on the Guardian website. BBC did not have enough flags on its annual report according to a Tory MP. They have really lost the plot
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/mar/22/bbc-chief-told-to-use-more-than-one-union-jack-in-annual-report
So, it’s “not impossible” she wasn’t lying.
It’s hardly a ringing endorsement.
Still sucking lemons eh,
Oh give it up.
Keep up the good work Mr / Ms Galt. The longer that you and your ilk carry on like this the greater the support the FM will receive in May.
Still chewin those wasps
Why does Douglas Ross never have, like his Tory colleagues, a Union Jackass behind him when he is being interviewed by the media via zoom …..is he ashamed of it ?
Or does he know in displaying it he would go even further down in most Scots estimations…..apart from a certain section of Scottish Society…also commonly referred to as Scotland’s disgrace.
I mean a linesman without a flag….what use is he ?
I think in this he should just surrender and go with the Tory HQ flow….after all he does on everything else……does he not.
Brilliant news 😀, however I see that the buffoon from Bath is still trying to gaslight his fawning narcissistic supply.
His latest article commences with, ”James Hamilton is either a crook, a coward or an idiot” and ends with ”readers can choose which of the three causes they find most believable, but at the end of the day it just doesn’t matter. Our country is a banana republic, a nation that North Koreans point at and laugh. To be honest, readers, if we were you we’d get out while we still could.”
He’s totally lost the plot now, FGS, and the sooner that he’s put out of his misery the better. Or being somewhat more humane than that, like a donkey it’s time for you to be put out to pasture Stu before you dig a deeper hole for yourself.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRK03q76GKU
Not laughing at you Stu. Just absolutely delighted for Nicola Sturgeon and the Scots who actually live here. In OUR country.
Suddenly the first few lines of Kipling’s poem came to mind:
‘If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you.
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting, too
………’
We know who has kept her head and who are losing theirs. ‘Headless chickens’ also comes to mind. An awful lot of people in this sorry scenario have truly shown themselves up for what they really are. To call themselves ‘politicians’ is a joke in itself. It’s an insult to the folk who vote for them although, let’s face it, not many actually do, but the system ‘let’s them in’. It’s also an insult to our Parliament.
There’s a lot of dead wood in the Parliament.
Where are the young Scots of talent, ability, and vision?
Spot on JoMax. I have no idea how Nicola Sturgeon has managed to cope with the absolute barrage of abuse that she’s been subjected to over many months now. I watched the footage of her being pestered by journalists as she left for work today and she was still cool, calm and collected. Even civil and friendly. She’s a leader to be proud of. Imo, the best leader in the world in fact.
CH4 NEWS +1 NOW
Witness Jackie Baillie refusing to accept Hamilton verdict..only ‘acknowledge’ after being asked 4 times by Krishnan Guru Murthy.
And the cock crowed, Tam. Disgusting little human.
Just read a comment on a blog that I wouldn’t read nowadays ( 😉 ):
“I’m highly suspicious of Sturgeon’s motives regarding indy now that the Union -BBC,Guardian & co – have all protected her.”
WT actual F
😀 😀 😀
Talking of the Beeb, I see there’s no Scotland politics stories with comments available. Funny old world…
I seriously hope that mr Hamilton sues the so called rev in court for what he’s called him.. disgraceful the names he has called the man..
There were 137 breaches of the Ministerial code last year by Conservative ministers. No, I didn’t know that either.
Just had a look at Wings ….. they have completely lost the plot. Campbell can no longer continue with the fallacy he is pro-independence. Luckily, the “deplorables” who make up his congregation are all slagging off Scotland, threatening to leave the country or advocating voting Tory (as ultra unionists have done since forever), so no one casually viewing the site will be fooled into believing it is an Indy site and will probably conclude it is a Unionist “nuthatch”.
It really is a spectacular fall from grace for what was an excellent Indy site. You have to wonder what lit the fuse of madness. Sanity has certainly left the building over there.
Indeed MBPony….I cant help thinking to myself ..’what the hell happened’….I’ve mentioned before that he didnt handle the Dugdale verdict well and proceeded to appeal the verdict (which I think was a mistake and remember seeing posts advising him to ‘leave it’ but he just couldnt) but more signifficantly…it was after his meeting with Alex that the real change occurred….for him…there was no way back from then on.
I remember making a point of watching that interview. Both were still high in my estimations and I was quite excited to hear what they had to say. Little did I realise it would herald the onset of the internecine madness that threatens independence itself.
Yes, prior events may have disillusioned him, but I agree, it was insidious whispering from “Iago” that likely did the real damage. It was only after that interview that the mood music on WaS began to change.
”You have to wonder what lit the fuse of madness.”
Money?
If…if the Tories go ahead tomorrow with the VONC thus still clinging to the straws of their failed Get Sturgeon witch hunt….then any but any SNP MSP or MP who is interviewed tomorrow by the media should be prepared to say…Okay so let’s get real and then they should list all of the Tory MP’s and indeed the PM who have misled and breached the ministerial code at WM….and ask why does Douglas Ross and Ruth Davidson fail to hold their own party colleagues and leader to account for doing the very thing they accuse our FM of doing even when she, the FM, has now been cleared via an independent inquiry as in non partisan inquiry…..
They , Douglas Ross and Ruth Davidson are both choosing to ONLY target and highlight their biggest political threat at Holyrood i.e. the FM and SNP who we also know are an even bigger threat to the current Tory WM Govt…..who themselves are also trying to stop the FM and the SNP from winning a majority vote in May which would then democratically give the SNP the right to hold a second Independence Referendum…..thus the standards Douglas and Ruth claim to wish the FM to uphold does not include them declaring those same standards should be met or applied to their own party colleagues…….who have proven to be found to have breached the very code they, Douglas and Ruth, insist the FM has breached but somehow Douglas and Ruth think that their Tory colleagues should be exempt from any political retribution in having to resign their respective posts.
***********************************************
In highlighting this on a public platform via the media then the blatant hypocrisy of Douglas and Ruth should shine like a beacon……….exposing double standards and clear playing of party politics as opposed to upholding supposed justice and honour……….then the public in Scotland get to see the reality and then get to decide in May who they prefer…..those who work for Scotland or those who work against Scotland…. as in them, the Tories, und others, being aligned more with the needs and wishes of the WM Tory HQ party ( und other HQ parties) more than with Scotland’s needs and wishes via Holyrood.
Re Jackie Baillie….Channel 4 news…..she committed the political sin of not answering the question because to do so honestly would have put her in a awkward position and jeopardised the supposed findings of a much tainted and now clear partisan committee Inquiry report being released tomorrow (both the parts which were leaked and not leaked to the press)………a case of the majority of the Jury’s verdict being decided well before the court case is even held ( apparently that is what happens in the parallel universe and in this instance it merged with reality…allegedly)…..witnesses were considered so passe unless they agreed with the jury in this instance…..allegedly.
When will it all end…well in May hopefully…….
Jackie Baillie on the spot
https://www.channel4.com/news/i-dont-think-there-are-any-winners-from-today-scottish-labours-jackie-baillie
“There are no winners”
Translation: We lost, so we’re taking the ball.
And Ian Blackford on CH4 news
https://www.channel4.com/news/the-support-the-first-minister-has-is-overwhelming-snps-ian-blackford
Ta
I’m old enough to remember why they play “Flower of Scotland” before Scotland rugby matches: because in bygone times Scottish players and Scottish crowds were expected to stand to “God Save the Queen”. Over a few years that developed from a few cat-calls to pretty much uniform booing and whistling. The poobahs in the SRU were mightily embarrassed.
That’s when the jack was replaced by the saltire, and the scottish anthem changed too. The saltire wasn’t and isn’t synonymous with the SNP, but it is synonymous with Scottish identity. The jack isn’t and never will be.
Remember when CID raided WOS offices a few years ago , he was panicking , frightened they might take away all his computers servers etc and lose contents as it turned out he said they took some stuff away but returned it undamaged.
I did wonder after that , the behaviours changed , i wondered if a deal of some sort was made , i hope not because the work WOS has done in the past was first class.
Now its strange , an inability to accept they were wrong its a danger when guessing all the time as they tend to do , always trying to come across as in the know , about the future.
It was following that event that I first noticed a change in his “stance”, Terence, and from then on you could predict what would come next.
What we do from now on in is hold Dross to account for ‘Unionist’ polivcies implemented in England, which he supports and would introduce here when he becomes FM in May. No don’t laugh, he would scrap tuition fees, introduce prescription charges, privatise our HS, put Railtrack out to tender, reintroduce the Right To Buy Councill Hoses, tolls on roads and bridges, scrap all the Scot Gov mitigations of English welfare cuts, the Bedroom Tax, UCS Rape Clause, and so on.
This is where we go when he appears on telly Trident?
Food Banks? 35p rise in Attendance Allowance?
Brexit?
Ditto The Millionaire dentist.
Willie Rennie will sit and giggle a lot and grin inanely, as is his wont.
It’s a UK Policy Scottish Election.
And of course self determination.
And the Scandals, and PPE corruption. And, and , and.
Let’s get busy on briefing documents to destroy the tired old barbs from not very bright Yoons Up Here. 60% of Trade with England? Border at Gretna. Not be allowed to use the pound. Too poor..too wee….
Get our retaliation in first.
The Onion is Dead.
Long live the Thistle.
I watched Jackie Baillie on C4. She really cuts a dismal old mouthpiece, doesn’t she?
They are dead as a party Up Here if this is the standard of public servant still on offer from the Red Tories.
Just looking at Jackie Baillie, never mind hearing what she has to say, would put you right off voting for the BritNats. The more airtime they give to people like her and DRoss, hypocrites, the better for us, imo.
Here, s hoping WOS changes back to the shining light we remember them being
It’s too late for that. He’s scunnered far too many people for that to happen. He’s painted himself into a nasty wee corner and there’s no getting out of it.
Keep him in Bath.
Lord Haw Haw from Bath is now fighting tooth and nail to destroy the FM the SNP and any chance of Scottish Independence.
Sadly his loyal following believe him without question ( your not allowed to disagree with the all powerful one he just blocks you out ) He is now calling Scotland a Banana Republic, so no way back for this nasty piece of work.
Saor Alba
He’s a lost cause now Terence. Some of his acolytes are coming out with the usual dross, such as it’s Nicola Sturgeon that has redacted the Hamilton document, Nicola Sturgeon hired Hamilton initially when it was in fact AS, Hamilton was a member of the SNP, NS controls the Police, the Judiciary and even Hamilton QC and so it goes on without a correction from him. He’s an absolutely despicable character now. He posts his articles, in the main to stir up hatred, and then sits back waiting for them all to do his dirty work for him; get wound up to the point of coming out with guff that grows vile, defamatory arms and legs. I checked his site out earlier and see that Robert Peffers got it right 100% of the time in spotting a BritNat within hours of them initially posting on that site. The latest, a real vindictive female, showed her true colours last night along with a few others.
Campbell is also the only person that I’ve ever come across that “knows” what happened at Edinburgh Airport in 2017. Played down with his “killer heels” comment? If only Alex could see that Campbell doesn’t give a toss about him. If anything he’s worsened the situation for Alex as more and more of the he says / she says stories develop. AS should put a stop to this NOW. The “culprits” involved in the biased “process” will no doubt get their comeuppance following the two inquiries, plus Dunlop’s recommendations. Time for Alex to get back into independence mode and publicly state vote SNP x 2 in May and then move on before his reputation gets further tarnished by people like Campbell who are using him to meet their own sinister agenda.
Here’s that idiot Tory MP today complaining about the BBC annual report not having enough Union flags in it.
Do these ignoramuses not have the faintest notion that, as far as the debate over independence goes, addressing this kind of expectation (not to forget the infamous charter) fatally undermines the BBC, paints itself into a partisan corner with no exit? Just one Union Rag is one too many. Come the eventual showdown, the BBC cannot possibly avoid being oficially declared a significant component of the Union side. So no more “impartial” coverage from the likes of Glen Campbell and no more Anglosplaining from carpetbaggers like Nick “Denier” Robinson, heh, heh.
re. Baillie on Ch4 . She was asked how she would vote on the motion of No Confidence tomorrow ”We’ll wait for the committee’e report ”, she mutters .
”But you know what’s in it ! ” says Krishnan .
Oh ma sides !
And Anal trying to sound as if he hadn’t prejudged Nicola Sturgeon: ”’We will see what the report and Parliament think .”
– yet a couple of days ago he stood with his Boss , Starmer , as Starmer said unequivocally that ”She should resign! ”
I may be getting deaf in my later years but I am sure I didn’t hear Anal jump in and say :
” Hold on a minute here , boss ,let’s wait for the report ! ”
and Dross was thrashing about saying that Hamilton QC hadn’t seen the evidence that HE had seen , so he KNOWS that that wummin broke the ministerial code numerous times – and she has to be burnt as a witch . I I made the last bit up – but that’s what he was hoping would happen ! )
There is no doubt Hamilton’s decision is a major blow to the british state.
Nicola has survived.
That may be their last serious political play to hold Scotland.
Lots of horses being flogged to death in the media tonight.
And finally
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ExHSewvWEAUmZLs?format=jpg&name=medium
Get that right up ye unionist activists including fake indy fakers who crashed and burned.
That’s a nice front page 🙂
😀😀😀😀😀
Now is the opportune moment for all these” principled ” politicians – Baillie , Sarwar , Cole-Hamilton , DRoss , Ruthie , not to mention all those beacons of integrity in the media – you know who you are ! to act .
If they truly believe that misleading Parliament and/or lying to Parliament is totally unacceptable , even in such a small matter as the alleged 3 day discrepancy that fuelled their ire at Nicola Sturgeon , then they must take up the Sword of Truth and smite the sinful wherever they find them .
Might I suggest that they start at a wee address in Londinium where a Latin aficionado is currently living with his latest squeeze at tax-payers’ expense in a rent-free property . This gentleman has KNOWINGLY lied to Parliament , KNOWINGLY lied to the Queen ,KNOWINGLY lied to his ex-wife , KNOWINGLY lied to his former newspaper employer , but most egregiously , has KNOWINGLY lied to the entire British population .
Like a Covid carrier , he has passed his aversion to the truth on to fellow workers in his place of work , currently being refurbished at eye-wateringly high cost to the tax-payers . His example of KNOWINGLY avoiding the truth on all and every occasion has been assiduously copied by these scoundrels , called Tories , or toerags in some quarters .
They have employed a network of gangsters called Tory Donors to siphon off huge tranches of Public Funds which were meant to save lives during the pandemic . As a result they have contributed to the likely deaths of many thousands of people , mostly elderly , and ironically , probably voters who helped put these brigands in to power .
Now is the time for all principled members of the Harassment Committee to lend their considerable weight ( yes , you too Jackie ) to this endeavour . Leak some juicy bits of gossip you have gleaned about these ne’er-do-wells to your equally principled contacts in the media and they shall be exposed for the villains they are . And you will be able to sleep the sleep of the just – for once in your lives at least !
Aye , right !
We need to see more of this at Westminster and yes we too should be demanding inquiries into every solitary corrupt action carried out by Westminster politicians. Yeah I know a full time job 😀. We’ve got every right to do so taking into account that it’s our money that they’re misappropriating / squandering. Time to turn the tables on them.
http://www.thenational.scot/news/19178572.david-cameron-rishi-sunak-texts-lead-snp-call-cronyism-inquiry/
Yet again Kirsty Wark arranged for ‘Get Nikla’ to be the headliner on Newsnight, fronted by Emily Maitlis Kensington Posh Lass.
The photo of Sturgeon could not have been more unflattering. Black and white, face drained deep crow’s feet around her eyes.
Disgusting, deliberate editorial choice, recalling the nasty caricatures of Jews on Nazi Posters.
From Emily Maitlis of all people.
It was designed to make our FM look haggard and ugly. Obscene evil shit from BBC Ministry of Truth.
It began with a report from Holyrood by some English based chap. Support for SNP has fallen from 53% to ‘the 40’s’ because of all this deep division in the SNP? A lie of course.
The ‘SNP’ is not divided. It took on 12,500 new members because of this witch hunt.
Alec Salmond and a handful of grubby old Sex Pest apologist men are out there on a grubby old limb.
Hamilton’s Enquiry and report, as opposed to the perverted seepage from Baillie Fraser and Coal Scuttle, is the decision which most fair thinking people will accept and respect.
It has been yet another unbelievable day when the English Establishment and its willing Jock Puppets have been all over this..Sarwar and Dross were on, tonight, smirking, actually fucking smirking, as they refused to recognise Hamilton’s findings, and Maitlis just sat back and let these two Johhny Come Lately Chancers spout the same garbage that has been churned out day in day out for weeks, while Glenn or the Hon Sarah or Nick or Sally nodded in the right places.
John Nicholson was sandwiched in between these two odious little men, and hardly got a word in.
Well done, Emily, Kirsty owes you a good drink.
If Sarwar and the Red Tories vote with Baroness Rape Clause in tomorrow’s stupid pointless VONC, then that will be the end of Labour in Scotland…which has been coming gradually since we kicked out the Feckless Forty in 2016.
The BBC has gone completely North Korea now.
Will the last helicopter leaving the roof of the Clyde Colonial Outpost leave the keys at reception.
How dare they portray Nicola Sturgeon, who has groped no woman that we know of, ties her own shoelaces, and has never been pals with David Davis, the villain of this piece?
It is an evil rogue state Down There now.
The BBC is Ingsoc.
It has backfired badly on them.
Go on, Red Tories, vote with Baroness Rape Clause tomorrow.
It’s all wishful self-delusion to enable the London metro elite and denizens of the English Home Counties like them to sleep soundly in their beds of nights. It’s a kind of Union Rag comfort blanket to shut out the unwanted reality of what’s actually unfolding in their northern colony. When we have our “impossible” referendum and give them a friendly two-fingered salute as we vote to wave them goodbye, they’ll be in deep shock from a confrontation with reality for which they are totally unprepared, and from which they have been sheltered for so long by the “feelgood news” dream weavers of the BBC.
Who leaked the info last week to the press on the Inquiry’s findings……we cannot have that brushed under the carpet…especially as Douglas Ross sees THAT inquiry as apparently being THE most important….he thinks it’s a Scottish Watergate….important that is to Douglas…. as opposed to the important independent inquiry from respected barrister James Hamilton’s inquiry, who we were told today had MORE access to MORE witnesses than the Holyrood Committee inquiry…..
So Douglas has ascertained that in his partisan opinion the Holyrood committee inquiry is more important……for those REAL reasons that everybody with a functioning brain knows why he thinks it is more important…but Douglas pretends it is otherwise……due to a genetic trait unique to Tories….that is a trait with strong links to deceit……well I buy that given recent and past evidence I have witnessed from them…..
So which one of the committee leaked to the press ?
An independent inquiry into a non independent inquiry’s members………another act within this political farce created by the Tories with supporting cast from the other Better Together chumocracy gang….. a limited company obvs…restricted to Unionists….with members swearing allegiance to a Union Jackass that they must at some point , in an initiation ceremony, prostate their body in front of said flag………….. while singing Rule Britannia in the Key of A minor (a musical note not as in child)……followed by English tea with crumpet on the side…..an Easter initiation ceremony has Hot Cross Buns….which is currently a good description of the Tories just now…and t’others….though one can substitute the N in buns for an M….
I mean If they found out who sh*t JR in Dallas then surely to God a wee or big sleekit Scottish Unionist MSP stirring the pot should be easy to root out…..
I will not however be instigating a place your bets or giving you odds on who is the outsider or the favourite…as in actual culprit…..but I hope someone with influence takes this matter up….after all is it not Douglas’s wish that all the t’s should be crossed and all i’s dotted…..in this matter of infinite importance to HIM …others not so much as tis concluded….but he insists this all should be seen through to the BITTER end….who leaked to the media ?
SNP 1 & 2 in May……says a telegram sent to DRoss.
I honestly don’t give a flying fig as to who leaked what from a totally-compromised investigation where right from the very start the BritNat contingent had clearly nominated themselves judge, jury and public executioner of their chief opponent and never mind the evidence. It’s become an embarrassing and inconsequential joke. No wonder the political pimple that is DRoss prefers to put his skewed emphasis on that publicly-discredited sham of a process.
Yes, keep on beating your dead donkey, BritNat posers, it’s only going to show ever more ordinary people exactly what shameless toom tabards the whole shower of you are. (Which seems to go for you too, Mr. Wightman – you’ve let useless political pygmies make you their useful idiot, FFS!)
With respect, Wightman’s only crime in this affair was to not foresee his honest answer to a question being leaked to the media for political motives by a corrupt member/s of the committee.
Would that Turdo, Baillie, Cole-Scuttle and Mitchell had conducted themselves with a fraction of the integrity Wightman demonstrated throughout this Inquiry, the disgrace that it has become in the Scottish public eye would have never arisen.
The Britnats have done themselves no favours…
Lord Haw Haw from Bath is now fighting tooth and nail to destroy the FM the SNP and any chance of Scottish Independence.
Sadly his loyal following believe him without question ( your not allowed to disagree with the all powerful one he just blocks you out ) He is now calling Scotland a Banana Republic, so no way back for this nasty piece of work.
Saor Alba
The good news is that Lord Haw Haw, who is no longer haw hawing, seems to have a following that either live south of the border, live abroad, are moving abroad, hopefully in the next few weeks, or were part of the 20 / 30% who didn’t support independence anyway. He’ll probably have to say bye-bye to his site in the very near future, be on his ownsome soon when *we* leaves him and he’ll find himself detested by thousands of Scots who will never, ever forgive or forget him, including some who are very influential. Who in their right mind would want to live out the rest of their life like that?
Now that all is lost for the Unionist cause the Unionist journalcysts go into damage limitation mode by trying to convince the electorate that all this deep deep oh so deep division in the SNP will probably damage their prospects of winning a majority in May and Bollox Johnson will refuse anyway because the Greens don’t count in the overall equation of who supports what, so we can expect loads of outrage at Nicola carrying on despite how much the parliament has failed and it was all down to her leadership or lack of it or maybe the shoes she wore were completely the wrong kind for a real FMship leadery person
Wee Mong the merciless will be chucking his ducks all over his Bath and regretting changing horses for this one no matter how much cash was fired at him to do it and the suggestion that people in Scotland should all leave and go somewhere else in the world to avoid the denizen of the deep that is the FM and perhaps embrace the Tory way of life in wonderful Englandshire where he’s been for the last 25 odd years living off the largess of others, well c’mon
The campaign will now begin from the FM and it won’t be that difficult, after all every single mother in Scotland has something to thank her for, every new mother and poorer family has received the benefits of an FM distributing cash they would never have gotten from Tory or Labour and with 97.000 houses built and another 100.000 to come many first time buyers and social renters have cause to thank the FM, unpaid carers, nurses, indeed all of Scotland’s service workers are better off and will remain better off than if the Tories had their way, Ruth Davidson would have had students paying tuition fees in line with England, our elderly wouldn’t have had folk coming in every day to make sure they were OK and to make them a bite of lunch or even just a cup of tea if they needed it
Those are a tiny selection of the choices to be made by Scotland, vote for Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP and all these things not only continue they get better if we push towards Independence
And for pensioners who receive the lowest pensions in the developed world by being in this ridiculous Union where England holds our money and drips it back in dribs and drabs, being a part of the real world pensions will increase because the real world isn’t run by Tories who’d rather we died quicker to save them paying us anything at all, or Labour who took their own women union members to court to prevent them being paid the same as men but now the SNP are in charge that money is being paid and was backdated into the bargain
Remember what you’re voting for, a Scottish government in a free country or an England controlled colony
SNP 1 and 2 in Southern Scotland. The SNP need to win big to ensure we get our referendum and finally regain our Independence when we win it.
I saw it & to be fair to Emily Maitlis, she did nail Dross on whether he’d accept (rather than “acknowledge”) James Hamilton’s report. Both he & Sarwar kept waffling on about the forthcoming committee report & tried to dodge talking about the independent inquiry; not a great effort from either of them. Dross especially looked like a complete glaik when he wasn’t able to parrot the line or two he’d memorised.
I thought John Nicolson was very effective, when he got a word in that is. Seemed to be well on top of the subject & appeared to have prepared well; he had notes that he referred to, to good effect.
Oops,
That was meant to be a reply to Jack at 12.02.
Well written Dr. Jim, agree with you completely.
Do you think the man from Bath might have taken the queens shilling ? He never really got over the Kezia Dugdale loss, he was fair raging at the lack of support he got from the FM and the SNP.
Hopefully the campaign will be focused on what the parties have to offer the people of Scotland. Sadly as the Tories, Labour or the Libdums have nothing to offer but attacking the FM. All the open minded people can see how useless these three parties are. I think we have them on the back foot and no meddling by the media is going to help them.
My daughter has informed me that Mr. Salmond is going to deliver a statement/speech on Wednesday, is that true ? Why can he not let it go has his inappropriate behaviour not caused enough pain and suffering already.
Said Alba
Alex Salmond’s ego has , it appears , taken over .
If he persists in his attacks on the SNP/Nicola Sturgeon then he is finished as a respected figure in the indy movement .
When you are in a hole , stop digging . When your reputation has been shredded , through your own indiscretions , retire from the stage rather than stepping into the limelight .
He appears hellbent on continuing this sad saga which has borne out Enoch Powell’s famous words that ”all politicians’ careers end in failure .”
Alex Salmond is a big Star Trek fan so I reckon he’ll take a leaf from that and go all Wrath of Khan with “From hell’s heart I stab at thee” because he can’t seem to control his bitterness, so who do we lash out at when we lose control, oor mammies! it’s usually a woman who ends up bearing the brunt of male anger or frustration so I don’t expect the former FM to have a moment of epiphany and change his behaviour, who knows though, but I wouldn’t bet the fate of the Enterprise on it
The blogger is another story of much the same, as you say the Dugdale affair dealt him a great ego blow and somehow seemed to expect some moral support from the SNP in the matter but I don’t think he understood the reason why the SNP or its members denied him a friendly voice, it wasn’t because of political reasons they supported Kezia Dugdale because clearly they are on opposite sides of the Independence debate, it was simpler than that, they just didn’t like him personally but as a person they liked Kezia
The blogger has no credentials to say he is or ever was a supporter of Scottish Independence, he just claimed he was and wrote the same stuff about Tory Labour and Lib Dems then as he does now about the SNP, so from a fairly short time ago reading that blog he was a strong supporter of everything SNP, he daily praised the FM and her team on their standard which he always said was way higher than the opposition and how no one in the opposition came even close to the competence of the FM and SNP, now all we see is the exact opposite, so how can this be possible to one day being the most competent political party in the country to the next day being the most incompetent, this is not rational
Then you have to ask questions of that behaviour and what do you come up with, did he suffer a sudden blow to the head? not that we know of, bolt of lightning? no, overnight realisation that he was always wrong, I doubt his ego would allow for that, so what’s left? well he did show on his twitter page before he was banned his dentist form that he had to fill out on which it asked for his occupation, his reply was *subversive* which he thought was funny at the time, perhaps if he had written blogger or something else no one would’ve noticed, but some did and I think maybe that tells its own story now that he has adopted the QAnon attack style of campaigning
There is of course one more thing, the power of £££££
He should let it go.
If I have a residual hope he will say he accepts the Independent report although he disagrees with some of the points. So be it.
He then says support Independence.
Anyone listening to the vile Warks, Geislers and Campbell’s last night would have thought that the FM was saved only by the skin of her teeth and that her independence dream for Scotland was in tatters. I say her dream because that’s how ITV news described it, it was Nicola’s dream, not a nation’s dream. She presides over a party now riven with internal squabbles and Holyrood has been reduced to a discredited parish cooncil. Aye right. That’s how they would like it to be, that’s their dream, that’s the dream that’s been shattered in reality.
Worth a wee read.
Have a good day everyone. I’m for the golf.
Well written Golfnut. Bit cloudy here but I too am of to the golf, should be dry at least.
”Drawing a line, and moving on, taking no joy in the aftermath of a feud which has split a movement, only relief that it may be coming to an end, once the dust settles …”
Some good advice there, Golfnut, and I’m jut hoping that AS, of all people, will draw a line under this now. Two inquiries and the Dunlop investigation should lead to the harassment procedure being amended and for want of a better word the ”culprits” of either a ”conspiracy” or a ”botch-up” being dealt with. What else can Alex ask for now, especially as he said recently, in sworn testimony, that James Hamilton “is a man of great integrity and experience. I appointed him?”
Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon have been through the mill, between one thing and another and for differing reasons. Time for them to call it a day and not let Westminster win. At this point in time AS still has a chance to restore some standing within the independence cause, but if he carries on in the same vein he’ll find that some of the old revenge cliche’s apply … ”while seeking revenge, dig two graves – one for yourself, ”revenge is its own executioner” and ”revenge is like a rolling stone, which, when a man hath forced up a hill, will return upon him with a greater violence, and break those bones whose sinews gave it motion.’’
I can’t see NS and AS being friends ever again but they could call a truce starting with Alex Salmond standing tomorrow and calling for everyone to get behind the SNP and vote SNP x 2 in May.
‘Independent report by James Hamilton on the First Minister’s self-referral under the Scottish Ministerial Code.’
http://www.gov.scot/publications/independent-report-by-james-hamilton-on-the-first-ministers-self-referral-under-the-scottish-ministerial-code/
………………………………..
‘Draft Independence Referendum Bill.’
http://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/strategy-plan/2021/03/draft-independence-referendum-bill/documents/draft-independence-referendum-bill/draft-independence-referendum-bill/govscot%3Adocument/draft-independence-referendum-bill.pdf
Does anyone know who he is?
Scouseweegian:- ”Hahahahaaaaa 😂😂😂 Douglas Ross is that shite the #BBC got his name wrong twice! 😂😂😂” https://mobile.twitter.com/scouseweegian/status/1374057287216664582
…………………………………
Darktanyin:- ”Hahaha. The partisan BBC (Sarah Smith) getting trolled by Yessers.” https://mobile.twitter.com/MarkBarry67/status/1374120674567065604
”Patrick Harvie is now calling for members of the Holyrood harassment committee who leaked to the press over the last few days to be removed as candidates in the May elections. Video.”
Ross Colquhoun:- ”Every single word of this is correct.” https://mobile.twitter.com/rosscolquhoun/status/1374059145578565634
………………………………………………
Rape Crisis Scotland:- ”We are issuing a statement on behalf of the two complainers whose evidence to the inquiry has been leaked:” https://mobile.twitter.com/rapecrisisscot/status/1373724030092648448/photo/1
Michael Dougan:- ”So not only are the Tory politicians in question guilty of grotesque hypocrisy. They also appear to have used the worst sort of gutter tactics, in a cynical attempt to oust an elected leader from office & win electoral advantage. Johnson’s populist poison runs through their veins.” https://mobile.twitter.com/mdouganlpool/status/1374064865288019968
………………………….
Fiona Rintoul:- ‘Westminster does not understand Scotland any more.’
https://archive.ph/Ju7yk#selection-1103.0-1103.49
Mike Dougan is an interesting commenteer – I’m now following him on twitter. He it is was who posted the hilarious tweets about learning that Scotland is a banana republic, more corrupt than Mexico, more communist than China and more authoritarian than North Korea. Worth another read in the light of the judgement of the Bathistan chronicle. https://twitter.com/mdouganlpool/status/1373302576528117765?s=20
Someone should put Rennie, and his BritNat mates, on a rocket to Mars, better still on a rocket to galaxy IC 1101’s black hole from which nothing can ever escape 😀.
‘Scottish independence would be like Brexit on a rocket to Mars, Lib Dem warns.’
..”Independence for Scotland would be like Brexit on a rocket to Mars, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie has said.”..
http://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/brexit-news/westminster-news/lib-dems-conference-brexit-and-indyref2-7840682
……………………………….
Oh and don’t forget to take Annie Wells, thicko, with you.
MSM Monitor:- ”This is quite the most disgusting attempted smear we’ve seen for quite a while. “Scottish birth does not alone a Scotsman make” is the complete opposite of ‘blood-and-soil’ nationalism. It means you *don’t* have to be born here to be Scottish.” https://mobile.twitter.com/msm_monitor/status/1373967694794526722
Suddenly the BBC will decide the committee inquiry is the most important (because D.Ross has told them this, and he appears to set their agenda), the independent report which cleared the FM is unlikely to receive more than a token mention from now on. They will mention this inquiry multiple times during the election campaign, along with care homes, they have to prevent a SNP majority to keep the union flag flying at PQ.
‘Wee Ginger Dug: There’s a reason Tories don’t advertise any policy but SNPBad.’
..”There is an essential contradiction at the very heart of the British state. It’s a union which wants to behave like a unitary state, it’s a polity which is incapable of coming up with mechanisms which protect its smaller constituent nations from decisions made by the largest part which have a negative impact on them. And above all it is unwilling to wean itself off the drug of an unwritten constitution and an unfair electoral system which grants crushing majorities and almost unchecked power to the leader of the largest political party even though that party secures less than 50% of the popular vote.”..
http://www.thenational.scot/news/19179598.wee-ginger-dug-reason-tories-dont-advertise-policy-snpbad/
…………………………………..
‘After Hamilton, a Scottish Spring.’
..”This result leaves the Pitchfork Bloggers and the Scottish Tories furious and the entire witch hunt against Sturgeon ending in nothing very much at all despite so much gnashing of teeth and fury.”..
Tories seem very concerned about £500k spent on the judicial review, but revel in the £2.6 million spent on a Conservative coloured media room bedecked with flags. It would seem spending money on ego driven propaganda installations is more important to them than making sure justice is upheld.
Check out Professor John Robertson’s site for the latest news.
https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/blog-feed/
And Ann’s latest links on the Indyref2 site.
https://indyref2.space/forum/topic/links-tuesday-23-march-2021/
Petra, can I possibly be selfish and ask if you could post a link to tomorrow’s FMQs when it happens because I’m forced to attend the dentist at exactly that time and it would kill me to miss this last exciting episode of the Baroness slap down that’s bound to happen
Pretty please
No problem, Dr Jim 😀.
Isn’t it nice of the BBC to announce that a special programme has been set up to inform and help us the electorate to understand what’s going on in Scottish politics and get to the *bottom* of things
I thought we’d got to the bottom of *things* obviously it’s not the right bottom or the bottom the BBC want to get to, but still nice to know that the BBC want to make sure they try to get all our Arses felt in the run up to the election
Does anybody know who this Douglas Murray, leader of the Conservatives in Scotland, is? Have they done a Carlaw on Dross?
Is Carlaw still a thing, I thought he was retiring to his atelier, where he would become custodian of his art collection. He is such an artiste, although I’m thinking I have missed out a word preceding artiste, it will come to me.
The English based parties here in Scotland have morphed into a single entity called the Scottish Unionist Party.
No more need for individual politicians,just a bloc formed to ensure England’s continuing domination of Scottish affairs.
As far as I can see, below are the only relevant sections of the report that make accusations that the FM misled the committee in her evidence to them. Clutching at straws for anything, anything at all to justify the last 18 months of smears and jeers. It’s pretty pathetic but it’s all they’ve got, their balloon has burst and we should make them pay for their incompetencies on May 6th.
This is a ridiculous statement for a serious committee to have made. They have no evidence of any description that implies the FM knew anything about “inapproprite behaviour” by Alex Salmond prior to when she said she did. “We don’t believe you” is simply not good enough.
https://tinyurl.com/nztsdmm9
This is the sum total of the “evidence” that Nicola Sturgeon may have breached of the Ministerial Code. Alex Salmond was left “with the impression” that the FM would intervene on his behalf, the FM’s evidence is that she did not agree to intervene on his behalf. Thin gruel indeed, “Het Nickla” has failed and they look like the idiots they clearly are.
It is my belief that the earth was formed in 7 days but I have no evidence to support that claim.
They have also left out the evidence that corroborates Nicola’s version of events. Tainted by apparent bias IMO
“The Committee finds it hard to believe …….”
That’s like a High Court Judge handing down a death sentence by announcing to the ‘accused’, “I find it hard to believe you didn’t do it, so there. Hand me my black cap”, then sending the jury off to consider their verdict.
How unprofessional is that? Even if they ‘think’ that, a report such as this should not contain these words in my opinion. They’ve found a sneaky way out of their predicament.
There is a footnote to paragraph 718:
The Tories have misspent, mismanaged and misappropriated £Billions. The list is endless. Much ending up in the pockets of them or their associates. The lock down was too late and cost thousands of lives. Killing people.
The Cabinet has illegally not declared their outside interests for over a year. They have no intentions of doing it. Total fraud and corruption. Test and trace in the south cost £34Billion and did not work. PPE contracts costing £Billion not scrutinised or delivered,
Trident is illegally costing increased £Billions. Hinkley Point and HS2. £Billions illegally wasted and not scrutinised. Etc, etc. Downing Street refurbishment £200,000 now being investigate. Supposed to be with Party funds. Johnston quarters.
Brexit is wasting £Billions. £Billions of exports lost. £54Billion already. Overall even more. Exports have dropped dramatically. Some almost non existent by comparison. Food & Drink (Whisky/seafoods) exports totally down.
The EU is suing Westminster. It will take 3 years. Johnston reneged on the Agreement signed. The DUP is suing Westminster. Foster is suing Johnston. Former allies.
Imports are costing more there is a shortage of products. Costs are going up over 1/3 and goods are in short supply.
A catastrophe waiting to happen.
An Irish view of the Hamilton report, compare with UK media and especially the BBC.
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/uk/hamilton-report-a-tremendous-boost-for-sturgeon-and-a-disaster-for-her-critics-1.4517231
Another aspect of those unionist politicians’ behaviour that needs to be examined in the clear light of day is their attempt to bring down Scottish public institutions such as the ancient role of the Lord Advocate and our separate legal system (which I believe goes back to medieval times, as does our parliament). They smear Scotland as a “banana republic” (just as they did in 2014 adding “without the bananas” could also add “not a republic yet”).
This is the narrative we can expect over the coming 6 weeks, with the media assisting them, playing out the Heydrich doctrine.
The media at the moment going on is the Scottish parliament fit for purpose, will we ever get anything right as long as politicians break and vote along party lines, do we need more scrutiny, blah blah blah blah and Joe and Jean public phone is with their own partisan opinions while of course trying to sound helpfully neutral, and nobody addresses the actual truth of the problem with our Scottish parliament which is ……….As long as there are three political parties in the Scottish parliament who’s job it is is to prevent that institution functioning properly then nothing can possibly ever change, Three political parties who owe their allegiance to another country who don’t believe Scotland has the right to be a country and should remain a colony of the country to which they owe that allegiance, Three political parties who’s main job is to thwart and delay every decision the SNP government attempt to take in order to keep Scotland as much as possible under the same regime and under the control of England
Until Scotland is Independent of England and has a home grown selection of politicians with only Scotland and Scottish views and needs in mind Scotland will remain stuck along pro and anti Independence lines and not moving forward
You’ll never get a nail hammered in if somebody else has the hammer and prevents you from buying your own
Spot on Dr Jim. Only parties registered in Scotland should be allowed to stand for election in Scotland.
Aye and with funding and donations only from within Scotland.
Maybe what we’ve been overlooking in this whole cynical episode is that this was not only a “GetNikla” campaign by the Tories, it was also a “GetHolyrood” campaign. Straight out of the Trump playbook. Behave badly, then decry the institution as being unfit for purpose because people are behaving badly! The Tories in particular have always been unreconciled to a Scottish Parliament, and now it shows: they are trying their utmost to bring it into disrepute. If this committee is an expensive time-wasting farce, it is because the BritNats on it have made it so. What the supposed “devo believers” of the Liblabs think they are achieving by collaborating in this tawdry and despicable exercise is anyone’s guess. They have become so craven and frightened by we-the-people they are supposed to represent that they seem to have lost all sense of purpose and right. Yet the rancid bunch of them still dare to presume the majority of us will somehow be willing to re-elect them?
Well said.
Only point is that is missed is that the majority of the onionist parties are LIST members, put up by the London Controlled paymasters of their supposed local parties.
We all know that the system was created to be a parish council with certainty that nothing and no one party can even control.
Hopefully this election will see a return to a grown up parliament of the people, for the people, of Scotland.
Andy Wightman has just posted his view of the Harassment Committee report.
It seems fair and balanced overall. However, this passage is not fair IMO:
He accepts at face value Alex Salmond’s version of what went on in a private meeting between him and Nicola Sturgeon with no witnesses. Alex Salmond’s solicitor corroborated AS version of events. But AFAIK another witness corroborated NS version of events. This needs more explanation because AW voted along with the unionists in finding that NS misled them on this issue. His word against hers.
I am thoroughly sick of the narrative that all of the women in this affair are liars and all the men are innocent truth tellers framed by evil lying women. That’s what the #metoo movement was about.
I had presumed initially his vote was based on “mislead” absent the “knowingly”, and I do not recall the FM testifying that her “intervene” position was different, so this is most odd.
Wightman had impressed as diligent and honest, certainly as compared to the “orft with her head” variety, but in the end this is all peripheral to the intended focus of the Inquiry in making sure the “error” doesn’t recur.
There’s another odd and self-contradictory passage in which he states basically that “everyone knew”, thereby implying that Nicola also did, then baldly states she didn’t. (Some legal advice possibly having influence?) But it’s blame-gaming all the same, just more subtle than the overtly cruder attempts by the others he piously decries.
He also bitches about the supposed tardy release of legal advice, when these partisan moaners seem to rather easily forget that all that material was subject to the usual and perfectly normal protections due to lawyer-client privilege, which is a human right. In particular, no government generally makes available to the wider public the legal advice it receives on anything, not least in order to ensure that the advice it receives is full and frank, and unaffected by any consideration of public reaction to it. Were the position reversed, and – God forbid! – any of these fatuous hypocrites were ever in government, you can be assured that magically their {ahem} principles would do a 180-degree U-turn. So all this po-faced posturing from “me-too” Wightman doesn’t impress me, I’m afraid.
Forgot link
https://andywightman.scot/committee-on-the-scottish-government-handling-of-harassment-complaints
Was his departure from the Greens engineered so that he would be free to vote with the Yoons on the committee.
Long suspected he might not be what he appears to be?
“The Committee, however finds it hard to believe that the First Minister knew of no concerns about inappropriate behaviour by Mr Salmond prior to November 2017. Awareness of his behaviour was an open secret in Government and was known about at the highest levels of the civil service. The First Minister did not hear of any concerns because the truth was being intentionally concealed from her.”
WTF? She must have known, but she didn’t know becuase it was concealed from her?
WHICH ONE IS IT, IT CAN’T BE BOTH!
Exactly. That was my observation upthread. One does rather get the impression that m’learned friends were involved here. Coupled with a heavily-veiled criticism “but she’s in charge, so if she didn’t know, she jolly well ought to have known”.
Does that apply to bullying or sexual harassment, yesindyref2?
It’s worth reading what Wightman has to say, he does make up a bit for his support of the opposition findings by his website report which is concise. This for instance:
“This whole sorry tale arises because the former First Minister, Mr Salmond behaved inappropriately towards female civil servants.”
It’s a message the Salmond camp won’t like at all – or worse, won’t care about. Imagine a thing like that being give a key role, or even leadership 😦
The REEE levels in the DE comments section are turned up to 11. That’s a result. I do enjoy the smell of boiling gammon in the morning. 😀
It’s all just a media scrum facilitated by the WM network. Meanwhile the Tory government is still at it with their thing, riding high in the polls, and answerable to no one, it seems.
Democratic deficit? You think?
The Tory UKGov is not “answerable to no-one”, but only because no-one in the media down south is actually asking the necessary questions. The omerta is by mutual design. Whereas up here it’s the reverse, the media verdict being decided and proclaimed in advance, and typically without much concern for the facts.
“The REEE levels in the DE comments section are turned up to 11”
I have absolutely no idea what that means.