Yesterday I had the great pleasure of being on a conference call with four of my fellow bloggers. Among the things we were discussing was what we as individuals or as a group could do to hasten Scottish independence. All expressed regret that in these times it is extremely difficult to find many positives to write up for our readers.
We certainly didn’t discuss how we could get another of our fellow bloggers blocked on social media or falsely imprisoned. We certainly didn’t think we should start writing a series of articles to try and convince our English neighbours of their folly in voting for Brexit. We also agreed not to suspend blogging until Covid is over. Those are not actions that improve our road to independence whatsoever.
We didn’t think it was wise to attack any political party who had at its core Scottish independence as their raison d’etre! It is safe to say of the group that in any discussion excluding independence there is a diverse view on where on the political spectrum Scotland should go post independence. Nobody wants to go off on tangents pushing views on Monarchy, Nationalisation, EU membership or Gender politics. As a collective we agree independence first then the rest will take care of itself.
However, shying away from reality is also impossible to do. When it comes to independence, I can honestly say I have never felt more despondent than I have done over the past few weeks. With each passing day another piece of horrific news seems to appear. Members of the SNP and their civil servants appearing before the two inquiries at Holyrood have embarrassed themselves and their party or profession on countless occasions. Every single person that has been before the Holyrood Parliamentary Inquiry, chaired by Ms Fabiani, has had to return to correct their previous evidence. In a different setting it would be called perjury and a prison sentence would follow. Luckily for them in the case of a Holyrood Inquiry, you are able to just reappear and correct your lies, there is no penalty, except in the court of public opinion.
Those closest to the First Minister seem the biggest culprits. Selective amnesia and hiding behind ‘legal advice’ seem the favourite tactics. Deflection and refusal to reveal many documents that would show the truth of all that went on prior to the unsuccessful Judicial Review are being withheld.
The CEO of the SNP Peter Murrell’s evidence was particularly cringeworthy. He seemed to keep having huge lapses in memory. Trying to make us believe that when Alex Salmond the past leader visited his wife at the family home on April 2nd 2018 he didn’t bother to find out the reason. No doubt both Alec and Nicola had large entourages of advisors, yet Peter didn’t bother to ask his wife why Alec Salmond was in his house. Incredible in the extreme. We are to believe he didn’t even pop his head around the door to ascertain if it was Government or Party business. If it had been the latter then as CEO it was his duty to be in attendance. This meeting had been arranged several days earlier when Geoff Aberdein met with First Minister on March 29 in Nicola Sturgeon’s private office at Holyrood. A meeting Nicola Sturgeon firstly denied happened, then later admitted it, saying ‘she had forgotten about it.’
However in the Salmond trial and under oath that could have resulted in perjury charges Geoff Aberdien had he lied he gave the following evidence.
He told the jury about a meeting on March 29, 2018, between a complainer at the trial, Sturgeon and himself. This is the meeting our First Minister tries to allege she simply forgot all about it. Taking her at her word is difficult. If this was indeed the first time she heard about anything regarding Alec Salmond how could she possibly forget such a momentous conversation?
This completely goes against what Sturgeon has since claimed. It may see trivial to many, however there is a strict code of conduct that Ministers must adhere to, sadly the evidence suggests our First Minister has broken that code. The honourable thing to do would be to offer her resignation.
Were this the only instance of Ms Sturgeon’s explanation being suspect nobody, myself included would be in any way bothered. It, although serious, could indeed be reasoned away as a genuine slip up. However one of the undeniable traits of this, First Minister is her micro management off all aspects of party and government.
We are told there can be no movement on Independence because the Party Leader is totally focussed with the Covid crisis. She cannot apparently multi-task. Rightly she has been praised for her detailed responses and briefings. She is indeed on top of the brief she never seems to forget anything. However, it does beg the question why if she has a very capable Cabinet Secretary for Health is Nicola Sturgeon not allowing her to do her job? Covid 19 is a public health issue and that is central to the Cabinet Secretary for Health job description, not the First Minister.
Why when she has 60 MSPs 48 MPs and Deputy Leader at Holyrood and Deputy Party Leader as well as a Leader of the Party at Westminster one or more of them cannot be deployed in securing independence? At the very least they could be instructing the civil service to formulate policies for the independent Scotland.The SNP Branch network could surely be alerted to at least begin training canvassers to be ready for the post Covid independence campaign?
It seems nothing can be done in the Party or the Government without Nicola’s full involvement. The only exception we are supposed to believe is when her main Civil Servant, Leslie Evans started an enquiry into her mentor and friend of 30 years, Alec Salmond. We are to believe Nicola Sturgeon knew nothing about it until April 2, 2018. We are further asked to believe that she didn’t know one of the tiny group of SNP HQ workers had received a complaint of a sexual nature against the former First Minister sometime prior to the enquiry. This apparently lay in a drawer for a considerable time in case ‘it was ever needed!’ What does that even mean? What was the thinking behind that? Again are we to believe that when this complaint arrived it was not relayed to micro manager Nicola Sturgeon by her husband the Party CEO? . Really? He never thought to mention such a complaint had been received? It all arrived allegedly out of the blue, like a bolt of lightning! We are also asked to believe that Leslie Evans began this biased and illegal Salmond witchhunt without the full knowledge of the First Minister. Again I say, Really? We are also to believe that off of her own bat the Permanent Secretary Evans without recourse to her boss went to the police and asked them to investigate Alex Salmond. Did she go direct to the police or did she ask the Lord Advocate to intervene? Again and again we are supposed to believe all these things happened without the tacit approval and knowledge of the micro managing First Minister.
Should that be true and this all happened right under her nose without her knowledge then she should resign for incompetence! As leader she should be aware when something as serious and dangerous to the party is occurring. That an appointee of the UK Government could run amok unhindered and undetected flies in the face of all we know about this First Minister. Again if we even give her the benefit of the doubt and she only found out the true facts after the event why did she then extend the contract of this one woman wrecking ball Leslie Evans? You surely extend a contract as, a reward for good service not as, a reward for putting the Party and the movement into jeopardy, not to mention nearly imprisoning an innocent man on a bed of lies and bias!
That this false prosecution and persecution against Alex Salmond went ahead on such flimsy ‘evidence’ is in itself a disgrace. It has split the party and movement and given our opponents an easy target to attack. Whether incompetence or collusion it is unimportant, both Nicola Sturgeon and her husband need to resign for either sanctioning this stupidity or failing to see it all unfolding on their watch. The Party has been left vulnerable because of this entire debacle. This is all self-inflicted, some may continue to try and blame bloggers and British Spooks however they are deluding themselves. This is all completely down to the leadership and management of the SNP. If it was a PLC company the shareholders would be voting to remove the board. That cannot be done in the SNP until October Conference. We do not have the time,3,000 of Leslie Evans fellow Britnat Civil Servants, are anxious to be let loose on Scotland’s democracy.
The Murrells need to do the right thing now, for the sake of the party and the cause. There is no other alternative. Nicola Sturgeon has now become the story and when that happens it is an untenable situation.
At present it seems so many of the SNP members and elected personnel prefer to attack bloggers like myself for daring to put the facts out there rather than holding to account the people responsible for endangering the entire independence project. It is, time for rational thinking and positive action. Scotland is in grave danger we need to act on Independence now! We cannot do that while this sorry sordid sword of Damocles hangs over the entire movement. We can no longer ignore the root cause of the present malaise, within the movement. Act now or we will regret it later!
Saor Alba gu brath.
Unfortunately l agree entirely with your comments as it’s become obvious that an awful lot of lies and misinformation has been put about .l followed the Salmond trial and its utterly disgraceful aftermath and none of those mentioned in your blog should still be in office
Brilliant Roddy, I agree 100%,
Nicola Sturgeon has all but destroyed the best chance we’ve had for independence in 300 years and if we are to salvage anything from the damage she’s done she has to go and go now along with her co conspirators, and give us a chance to rebuild before May if that’s even possible.
We need a a leader a true patriot who can pick up the gauntlet and move us forward, (perhaps not Alex although he’s coming out of this as well as can be expected considering the shit that’s been thrown at him) but she’s damaged him nonetheless, Nicola Sturgeon has undoubtedly staked her place in history but certainly not in the way she planned
the timing of the labour leader (cough) change is interesting. if you are of the mindset that there is coordinated UK state interference in our democracy then what better time for Starmer to remove Leonard. If the SNP implode before May then a new, fresh faced labour leader, sheltered as always by the media, could – in theory – be the benefactor as our vote either stays at home or likes enough of what he/she has to say.
Some background on Leslie Evans.
http://www.kidsnotsuits.com/fake-news-how-public-lies-begin/
Did no-one do any reference checks?
and ‘The Only Game in Town part 2’
thank you,
I was briefly involved with Pilton project and thought what they did was fab. Interesting to see what happened next to them
As for Leslie Evans, when there is a Change call to sign up please do let me know
Excellent Roddy, you are to be congratulated. It is time for all deniers (especially the politically active ones) to get their heads out the sand and call for Nicola and Peter Murrell to resign forthwith. We all who seek a better Scotland need to put the pressure on, by further raising awareness of what has been happening (which you and some of your fellow bloggers have been doing a brilliant job on) and contact Nicola and Peter Murrell directly, using all forms of electronic media at our disposal. All of us. Before it is too late….
Spot on once again Roddy, This really sums up the situation. There is more and more becoming apparent by the day. Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP. Have been the beneficiaries of circumstance ever since the day she was crowned queen of the SNP. She has sailed along on a wave of incompetence from down south. Theresa May then Boris Johnston, Who could not look good when set against these walking disaster areas,
Yes, of course, she should resign now along with Murrel, Evens and Loyd, for starters., The problem is that as long as she can keep hold of the reigns of power she can obfuscate and delay the inevitable for as long as possible, probably hoping that Angus Robertson will be elected and he can continue as party leader giving her a lasting cover partner.
She knows that with a clean sweep of the leadership she will be open to criminal charges. I can’t help but fear that she will institute a slash and burn policy as she goes.
Feasible but who has Labour got that could raise Labour out of the ashes. We must use Covid&Brexit workload kept separate and an immediate Independence campaign surge springboard to the fore -now is the time . We need a leader for Independence activists -who/where are you-c’mon🏴🏴🏴
Alex Salmond is the kind of strategist we need, plus he’s a real fighter for independence. The problem as I see it is that he’s like marmite! – my wife doesn’t like him although she’s all for independence.
Personally I think Joanna Cherry would be the best of the current crop, and if she had Alex as SPAD we might get somewhere before it is too late.
Sounds good! No more kicking the can down the road though.
Where to start, years ago I was active within the SSP, we imploaded. I took a very firm position in what actually happened, not what was readily available in the public domain, first hand I saw people, groups conspire against good honest individuals. Move on in time and I tried to pass this lesson on to passionate SNP activities, one holding a political position. All in good humour I was at the sharp end of the jokes with my knowledge. Now those people have experience of how their party has left them. I do not have the enjoyment of “I told you so” just pity that people put political party before citizens, till its too late and damage is done. I am now active within the ISP, we should learn from pass political parties downwards spiral. Could we take a view all political parties have a best before date, having many political parties gives better governance for all.
The light-bulb moment for me came not with all the growing evidence which day by day becomes more incontrovertible (and closer and closer to Nicola Sturgeon) but by the statement NS gave to the press last week in response to the Alex Salmond submission to the inquiry against her ministerial behaviour.
Rather than reasonable explanations or the usual political non-remark she chose to defend herself by claiming AS was guilty. Whatever she has done will come out and we will find out the truth but that decision to slur AS after he has been found not guilty in a Scottish court of law is wrong on so many levels.
She is openly showing her corruption. She is the dirty cop (usually set in 60s or 70s crime drama) who stitches up someone and continues to the end to defend himself with no evidence what so ever because ‘he knew’, ‘he believed’. NS doesn’t appear to know or care that that is not how it works in the 21st century and NS. She clearly become diseased by that ‘power corrupts’ virus and thinks she can get away with anything. In reality her statement stank of desperation and weakness; is that really all she has to defend herself with, an attack on the Scottish judicial system, because that is what refusing to acknowledge the verdict (no matter how she tries to slide it under the radar) is?
It also revealed to me that she really isn’t that bright. Her continued smearing of AS was so weak and she can’t see that, she got away with it on Andrew Marr and continues as if no one in Scotland was watching and nothing has happened since then. Sorry folks she really is quite stupid. She has skill, there is no doubt about that, but Farage has that, it isn’t a sign of sainthood.
We need a leader who isn’t a coward. She couldn’t close the border because she had to ask Westminster for permission. She could have done it under the travel restriction laws. She could have used the same laws at airports. She could at the very least tried.
She is not someone who thinks as a leader of a free nation or plans for such.
She has to ask permission for a referendum and gave them that power over us.
She is responsible for most if not all the covid deaths since August. We should be comparing ourselves with New Zealand not the worst country in the world.
She was too cowardly to lock down before Christmas. I will never forgive her for that.
I can’t stand this coward any longer. She is not a leader she is a talker. I want a fighter, someone like Joanna Cherry.
Sorry state of affairs, self-inflicted by NS, but also on us! She needs to go so that we can focus on and get Indy, this year! The final nail for me was her and Swinney further smearing AS. Swinney has to go too!
I fully understand what NS has done but I cannot truly understand why. Was she foolish, naive or was she led down this avenue by people around her – I can’t work this out.
However, as always, I’m looking at it all with Independence in mind, and I just cannot see it being a good time to lose such a popular leader with only a few months to these very important Holyrood elections. To be honest I don’t see it happening anyway. We all have to vote SNP 1st vote then another Indie party 2nd vote to ensure a majority at Holyrood. What happens after that will be what we all make of it. Getting rid of NS at this time is very very dangerous to our goal of Independence. This has to be said even though most people on here will not openly agree.
I disagree of course Rod. I think with or without Nicola or Alex the SNP will win big time. Labour changed out now to give a new leader time to bed in, we can do the same. She is not going to change now Section 30 it is and all the dishonesty she carries, around. She has to go and take the entire back office with her too. They have corrupted our Party.
‘but I cannot truly understand why’.
I’m glad you aren’t using that as an excuse to attack AS as many are on social media.
The ‘i can’t see her motive therefore she is innocent and AS must be guilty’ argument. That seems to be their only explanation of the corruption. Bizarre.
To me it is irrelevant. We can only guess what is going on in her mind.
The most logical guesses are that she was worried about the return of AS and it looks like she really did believe that he was guilty and still does. If so she has been manipulated. Not a good look and when the trail leads back to her own inner circle she has to resign for either corruption or incompetence. She has also shown herself to quite a nasty individual. I wish i could say she will be gone in a week but she and her circle think they are untouchable. Right now it looks like they are right but this snowball is not heading onto dry ground anytime soon
The disgraceful attacks on AS are like that of a critically injured animal lashing out wildly in vain. NS alone can tell us why she did what she did, and all the explanations I have heard (including yours I’m afraid) just don’t seem right. I agree she has to go, but not at this time. After over 40 years of fighting for Independence, I put it way ahead of NS, AS, the SNP, and almost anything else.
PS Roddy – “Labour changed out now to give a new leader time to bed in, we can do the same.” – The answer to that is that Labour has nothing to lose – we have!
‘The disgraceful attacks on AS are like that of a critically injured animal lashing out wildly in vain.’
Projection by proxy.
NS is still trying to smear an innocent man FFS.
She has to go now.
She has lied at least twice once about the meeting she forgot and then that the meeting which she says was government and her husband says was party. She failed to take notes at that meeting. The leak which AS refers to was from close to her and thanks to Wings we know who it was from. That is as close as it gets!
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2021/01/only-a-corrupt-lord-advocate-stands-between-peter-murrell-and-prison/
The only way she can get out of this is in the form of more corruption and cover up and the help of the UK agencies, shady deals. Spooks becomes a very real possibility. We will never get Indy with her anyway so it is no great loss. The timing has to be now before the damage gets really bad. Indy is not the SNP and certainly not individuals. This is for a generation and more.
Nicola Sturgeon undoubtedly has much to answer for. Hindsight is not required to see that the structures of the Scottish National Party presented her with the opportunity to go on a crusade unaccountable to the membership and the elected office bearers of that party.
What must be of greater concern is that not one of the 61 SNP MSPs currently at Holyrood has sought to openly challenge the direction that Nicola Sturgeon has taken on restoring Independence for our country Scotland.
It would be disingenuous in the extreme for anyone to suggest that on this subject the SNP should not wash their dirty linen in public. We are witnessing the poisoning of our Nation’s right to self determination by the cult of the personality by someone who quite clearly sees personal approval ratings as a Key Performance Indicator in her quest for universal acclaim within the higher echelons of political standing.
By not openly challenging this phenomenon those SNP MSPs and MPs are otherwise complicit in this collusion
by default and no amount of weasel words can ever thole their assize. The auld Scots say ‘if ye flee wi the craws youl get shot wi the craws’ has never been more pertinent.
The Independence movement is at a crucial point in our history and we must be heedful of the example we would strive to set in order that others perhaps less confident might come on board. The cesspit that
surrounds the current leadership is the antitheses of all that our proud movement stands for.
SNP THE INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENT IS WATCHING ARE YOU FRIEND OR ARE YOU FOE?
Let’s put it this way. Apparently Andy Wightman has signed an Affidavit for Martin Keating’s PeoplesAS30 Court case. And Andy has stated on Twitter that he approached 8 SNP MSPs to do the same – and not one would do it.
Now… was that because they didn’t want to, or were scared to raise their heads above the parapet? Who knows, but as Representatives of their constituents, they should be ashamed. Their whole raison d’etre is Independence and they were likely elected with that sole purpose of going for Independence.. WHY would they be scared to put their name to & fight for a case that may well be a stepping stone to GETTING that independence?
Well.. people were calling him to ‘name & shame’ but I think, given it is Andy, he won’t do that. So I guess it’s for us to email our MSPs and ask them to sign Affidavits and wait for a response, to see if they will do so. And if not, why not…
It does seem strange to me that only Angus McNeil of the 48 MPs and 60 MSPs is doing anything substantive to try and promote the independence cause. I have been told the Party Leader and CEO shall we say run a, tight ship. Look what happened to Margaret Ferrier when she dared not to bend to the will of the Leader. She is charged meanwhile George Galloway roams free.
Exactly, the only thing consistent about SNP discipline is that people who cross Sturgeon or do not do what they are told or are perceived as a threat to Sturgeon are disciplined or attacked. The actions of a petty dictator in the making. Sturgeon is Scotlands first ever populist leader.
The stench of illegality, corruption and vicious abuse in government and the mechanisms of government is now clear for even the blindest to see and there cannot be many who would vote to live in a corrupt system. Do it one, do it again, and again.
Yes Roddy it is a hiccup for our movement but not a show stopper. The independence movement is bigger than the SNP. Support for a rotten SNP could disappear like snow off a dyke and move to a new vehicle leaving the dross behind.
Without support of members, many of the elected members, and of course the voting public, the SNP is but a corpse. Without support Nicola Sturgeon and the gang are nothing.
So let us not lose hope. The desire for independence is strong and a few bad ones will not hold us back.
Keep the faith, keep campaigning, they will not prevail because we will.
I agree with Rodmid. Where I live Unionists predominate and I see some of them really thinking of independence and most hold NS in high regard. Play the perfidious Albion game, keep your assets and ditch them when no longer needed. Maximising our base in May helps independence, reducing it does not and reduce it will without NS.
Basically, changing leader right now will not help us. Problem is the leader is not making it easy for us to do so as she is silent on independence.
My biggest concern is there is so much we could have done between 2014 and now to promote what independence would look like but nothing. I despair.
Well said Roddy, Margaret Ferrier is only the latest name to be added to the list of disenfranchised by the SNP thought police. Most prominent in recent times would include the persons named below:
Mark Macdonald
Gareth Wardell
Julie Mcnulty
Denise Findlay
I am quite sure this list is not in any way exclusive as others will have been asked to quietly step back for the sake of the good name of the party and quite possibly in order to protect their personal reputations.
In this vein the name DEREK MACKAY comes to mind and if memory serves, Nicola Sturgeon unsuccessfully attempted to intervene in the publishing of details regarding his texts to a 16 year old laddie. We are led to believe that Ms. Sturgeon had concerns over previous behaviour but sought to ignore presumably as he was within her camp, no pun intended. We are led to believe Mr. Mackay enjoys SNP government support in his rehabilitation absence from Holyrood. The subsequent not insubstantial government support to Scottish media appears to have been a shrewd investment producing consistent returns in terms of positive news coverage of an organisation mired in a midden of its own making.
Angus Brendan is taking a righteous stance but where the hell are the other 107?
It seems it is not only Trump’s Republicans that are scared to speak out.
Hello Roddy, I’ve only just realised who you are. I used to chat with you and your pal, Joe, down at the Saturday street-stall on Main Street during the Indyref campaign. It was a bit later on, when in the company of your partner at the bus-shelter outside B/H train station, you mentioned that you might well be Barcelona bound. On that occasion, I recall, for what it’s worth, expressing my total disdain for the S.N.P. and its leadership regarding, what I saw as its thoroughly miserable performance re: Independence. It was neither a popular nor a profitable opinion to hold at that time (and still isn’t in many corners) but I expressed it nonetheless. Possibly familiar with my love of a good old political tirade, you remained quite unperturbed, despite the fact you were a card-carrying S.N.P. member at the time, and I wasn’t. (I can recall your partner staring at me in mild askance, though, lol.)
But all of that aside. Let me, belatedly, say: congratulations on your decision to move to Barcelona and, more importantly, carrying it through; such things are rarely straightforward, as I know from personal experience. I would also like to add: As a committed worker and activist for Scottish Independence, to my experience, you have few peers. It was a pleasure to meet you and that other tough-fighter, Joe.
Josef so nice to hear from you. I remember you well I am so glad you have not given up the fight. You were right and I was wrong but eventually my eyes were opened to the fact that we have the right party just the wrong leadership