saint nicola of scotland

"It is sad. I saw Nicola’s interview and she does cut a sad, almost reduced figure.

“But the reality is she led independence into a cul-de-sac, she’s left her successor with a difficult, almost impossible legacy, and she’s under police investigation.

“I don’t know who’s advising Nicola at the moment - if anyone - but I’d have thought a period of silence might be a good policy. But it is very sad.”

Salmond, her protege, adding his sorrow at the mess she has become.

Surely can't be long now before she is considers doing a Krankie tribute act at the  Fringe before her looks start to go.

Labour’s Scottish optional identity mark: Fantasy politics from a fantasy party Aug
15
by weegingerdug
On Monday Keir Starmer was on one of his trips to Scotland to pretend that he cares about us. He certainly doesn’t care enough to take any Scottish opinions on board, or indeed to show any awareness that such a thing as a Scottish opinion exists. The Labour leader is one of those British nationalists who are of the unshakable view that the opinions of Scottish people are the opinions that he tells us we are allowed to have. Starmer is interested in one thing only, winning a Labour majority at the next Westminster general election. In pursuit of that he will say anything that appeals to the Brexit voters in the English regions that the FPTP system makes the deciders of the next election. He will happily U turn on any policy that does not serve that purpose. What voters in Scotland want does not enter into his calculations no matter how many platitudes he utters about how important Scotland is.

Ever since the many and obvious policy differences between Starmer and the Labour branch office in Scotland have come to light apologists for the Scottish Optional Identity Mark have been insisting, “We are allowed to have devolved policies,” and Starmer has been like, “LOL. No. Not in a Westminster by election you’re not.”

They are divided on Brexit, on the two child benefit cap, on the bedroom tax, on free school meals. On Monday Starmer insisted that anyone looking for policy differences between him and the Scottish Accounting Unit “would have a very long search.” So now Starmer joins the Tories in the brazen nature of his gaslighting. It took me all of ten seconds to find some policy differences, and Labour is putting a nonsensical proposition to the voters of Rutherglen who are being asked to vote Labour in order to oppose Labour policies. Although exactly how a newly elected Labour MP in Rutherglen is going to get Keir Starmer to change his mind is not explained. It will happen by magic.

But then in a very real sense Starmer is right when he insists that there are no policy differences between him and Scottish Labour, in no small measure that’s because if you are looking for a distinctive political party called Scottish Labour you’ll be in for a very long and fruitless search before you realise that there is no such thing, there is merely an Optional Identity Mark and a Scottish Accounting Unit registered in Newcastle. A party that does not exist cannot have policies of its own. Since “Scottish Labour” is nothing more than a marketing brand owned by the Labour party and registered as such with the Electoral Commission then finding a division between that marketing brand and the political party which owns it will always involve a “very long search.” It’s like searching for a difference between the contents of a branded tin of baked beans and a supermarket own brand tin of baked beans made in the exact same factory. Both are going to give you the exact same amount of bloat and gas. You cannot have a real and serious difference of opinion with your imaginary friend.

But in another sense there are no policy differences between Starmer and the Scottish Accounting Unit because the policies that Labour candidates in Scotland stand on are the policies that Keir Starmer dictates to them. They do what Starmer tells them to do and when they get to Westminster they will be under the exact same obligation to vote the way that Starmer tells the Labour whips to instruct them to vote. This is an election to send an MP to Westminster, not Holyrood. There’s no such thing as a Scottish Labour MP in Westminster.Labour’s candidate is campaigning to become a Labour MP. As such he is simply either lying or is delusional if he’s claiming to stand for anything different from what Starmer has said is Labour policy.

Michael Shanks, the Labour candidate in Rutherglen and Hamilton West recently told the Daily Record that he is “not against” the UK rejoining the EU, this is in marked contrast to Starmer’s espousal of the hard Brexit foisted upon us all by the Tories. However Starmer has explicitly ruled out not just any return to the EU but also to the UK rejoining the European Single Market and Customs Union, rather, he has insisted that his government will “make Brexit work” which is rather like insisting that you will make a computer work after it has been smashed into dozens of pieces and claiming that you are going to make it work even though you do not intend to put any of the broken pieces back together again. It’s an absurdity, but what is equally absurd is for a Labour by election winner in Scotland to imagine that he’s going to change a Labour party policy which was never designed with appeal to voters in Scotland in the first place.

It is telling indeed that in a by election which Labour tells us is so crucial to a revival of its fortunes in Scotland that Starmer won’t even throw it the bone of promising to scrap a policy as universally reviled as the two child cap. “If we win a GE, we’ll ask the boss really, really, hard if he’ll change the policy.” Is the garbage hand that Labour in Scotland has to try and play.

With Keir Starmer all Scotland gets is absurdity heaped upon absurdity, an intelligence insulting exercise in offering the illusion of change but none of its substance. Scottish Labour is a party which is not a party, putting forward policies that don’t exist and which even if they did exist it would have no means of implementing. The entire balloon of unreality only continues to exist because the media in Scotland has a vested interest in not popping it. The media in Scotland knows full well that there is no such thing as Scottish Labour in the context of a Westminster election. There is only Labour.

The kind of magical thinking offered to Scotland by the Labour party is the kind of froth that only works in opposition, should Starmer make the electoral breakthrough in Scotland that he so craves, it is highly likely to be very short lived. Victory will reveal the true colours of Starmer’s right wing British nationalist pro-Brexit Labour party, and this revelation will occur in a Scotland where support for independence will remain unaffected by whatever occurs electorally to the SNP

Congratulations to the Tigeresses

Yes no doubt we Nicky will be out Clubbing with the Big Yin to celebrate

who elects these fecking ejits ?

YOU

Biting the hand of Project Fear
Labour’s moonbeams and fairy dust Aug
21
by weegingerdug
During an interview last week, Anas Sarwar, the branch manager of Labour’s Scottish Optional Identity Mark, told us that even though he personally opposes independence, that ““doesn’t mean you don’t have the right to support independence, or the right to wish a referendum at some point in the future.” Is Anas wanting praise for demonstrating that he has a basic understanding of the concept of democracy? That’s not actually unlikely given that British nationalist politicians of late have appeared to struggle with the notion that when the people vote in a way that they dislike, they are supposed to accept the result.

However while Sarwar tells us that he accepts that the people of Scotland have the right to “wish a referendum at some point in the future,” he decidedly avoided specifying what the democratic mechanism might be for turning that wish into a reality. That would be way above his pay grade and result in him being slapped down by his boss, Keir Starmer. So we are left with the usual Labour party mechanisms for implementing things that people might actually vote for, which would be moonbeams, fairy dust and clicking the heels of your ruby slippers together.

It is screamingly transparent what Anas Sarwar is trying to do. He’s attempting to make a pitch to independence leaning voters in the up coming Rutherglen and Hamilton West by election by making out that he’s open to the idea of another independence referendum but not actually saying anything different in substance from the Labour party’s current policy of refusing to accept the will of the people of Scotland as expressed at the ballot box in the May 2021 Scottish Parliament election. He’s telling us that the people of Scotland can continue to wish for another independence referendum, but the part he is not saying out loud is that his party is going to continue to ignore that wish, and he knows that ignoring it is only made easier if the SNP do badly at the next general election.

Sarwar talks about “wishing a referendum at some point in the future” because he and his boss refuse to accept that the question of whether Scotland wants another independence referendum was democratically settled at the ballot box over two years ago, and was settled in favour of another referendum. But Sarwar and his anti-democratic allies refuse to accept the result of that election, choosing instead to find spurious reasons to weasel out of it, and embarking on a campaign of gaslighting, trying to persuade us that the 2021 election wasn’t really about another independence referendum at all.

The reasons given by Sarwar for refusing to accept that the current Scottish Parliament has a mandate for another independence referendum are reasons which, if accepted, would mean that no government in the UK, devolved or otherwise, would ever possess any sort of democratic mandate to do anything at all.

So what we get instead are more empty words and repetitions of the case that the branch office put to the Scottish people in 2021, a case which was rejected by the electorate.

Labour previously thrived on the kind of deceitful trick that the party is currently trying to pull off in Rutherglen and Hamilton West. Its Scottish representatives would “hint”, signal” or even promise a particular policy which would then be summarily rejected by Labour’s Westminster contingent once the votes of the Scots were safely in the bag.

Labour did this with its promises for Scottish devolution during the 1970s and again in the 1990s. The final bill for a Scottish Parliament that was eventually passed by the Labour governments of Jim Callaghan in the late 1970s and Tony Blair in the late 1990s was a heavily watered down version of the promises that Labour had previously made to the Scottish people. The original proposal for a Scottish Parliament in the 1990s would have given Holyrood control of broadcasting and greater tax raising powers than was allowed by the Scotland Act when it finally passed.

Labour did the same in 2014, promising that a No vote was not a vote for the status quo, but rather a vote for strengthened and enhanced devolution. We have learned with the painful benefit of hindsight that we were not indeed voting for the status quo, we were voting for a Scottish Parliament that would be constantly be attacked and undermined by the Westminster Parliament. As soon as the No vote was in the bag, Labour immediately resiled on all the promises it made during the referendum and its role in the Smith Commission consisted of trying to minimise as much as possible any additional powers that were to be granted to the Scottish Parliament.

Now Labour is telling us that a vote for Labour in Rutherglen would be a vote to “pressure” Keir Starmer to return to his now abandoned commitment to abolish the abhorrent two child cap on benefits and Anas Sarwar is trying to pretend that he’s not “hostile” to independence supporters.

But you don’t have to be gifted with the power of premonition to know that the second the Labour party gets the result it so craves, we will immediately be told that it’s a rejection of another independence referendum and a full throated acceptance of Keir Starmer’s right wing policies. The Labour party does this repeatedly and there is absolutely no reason to believe that it will not do so again. The people of Rutherglen and Hamilton West, and the people of Scotland as a whole, deserve far more than to be treated as useful idiots by a Labour party which goes back on its word the moment that the votes have been counted. In Gordon Brown’s revealing words when asked about the non fulfilment of his Vow – you should have read the small print.

The Labour party, both at a UK level, and in its Scottish Optional Identity Mark, has become little more than an exercise in finding new ways to promise absolutely nothing. Sarwar does this by pretending that his branch office has far more power and significance than it really does, a deceit which much of the Scottish media is invested in colluding with. To that end he speaks warm words about welcoming the support of independence supporters but the second their votes are in the bag both he and his boss Starmer will declare that those voters have rejected another independence referendum. There’s not even any need to read the small print. Labour is blatant in its dishonesty.

Nicola Sturgeon in leaked video, Mar 2021: " (h/t @johncferguson
): “The party has never been in a stronger financial position than it is right now ... just be very careful about suggestions that there are problems"

SNP accounts:

2021: £732,072 deficit
2022:  £804,278 deficit

Liar Liar panties on fire.

The failure of British Democracy Sep
6
by weegingerdug
Keir Starmer has high hopes of becoming the next Prime Minister. However his claim to deserve the office rests not upon any positive offer of real and meaningful change from a Labour party which he has taken so far to the right that a conservative American Republican senator has hailed the British Labour party as ‘reaganesque’ in its taxation policies, but rather in the moral, intellectual, and political bankruptcy of a Conservative party whose policies and style Starmer so eagerly apes. Ronald Reagan, for those too young to remember, was the American president who ushered in an era of tax cuts for the better off combined with the decimation of government programmes to assist the poor and the low paid. It should be obvious to everyone by now that so-called trickle down economics have been a historic failure, but it lives on in the guise of ‘growing the economy’. It is beloved by the right because it provides a fig leaf of intellectual cover for the greed and selfishness ]of the wealthy.

Reagan campaigned on the racist trope of the ‘welfare queen,’ blaming America’s economic woes not on the rich who refused to pay their fair share of taxes, but on poor, often African-American single mothers, who relied on government assistance to feed their families. Then as now, many of those who were so demonised were in fact in low paid employment, but the poor were blamed for their poverty, not the employers who did not pay a living wage.

The result was a widening of the gap between rich and poor and the mushrooming of shanty towns in American cities as homelessness exploded and the closure of facilities for people with mental health problems saw mentally ill people dumped on the streets with no support.

Reagan’s economic policies were eagerly copied by Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative party, with similar results. The Tories have sought to change the language so that the poor receive ‘welfare’ or ‘benefits’ – a handout graciously doled out by taxpayers, rather than ‘social security’ a safety net to which all contribute and upon which all can rely in time of need.

The Conservatives have not only changed the language of social security, they have destroyed the concept of social security itself. Over the past couple of decades we have witnessed the normalisation of food banks and the normalisation of homeless people begging in the streets of our towns and cities. Neither of these things are ‘normal’. A supposedly rich and developed economy in which citizens are routinely forced to beg on the streets or to turn to charitable handouts in order to put food on the table is a society which has failed. There is nothing inevitable about homelessness or food and fuel poverty. They are the direct consequence of decisions made by successive Westminster governments.

Traditionally after a bruising and brutal period of Conservative misrule, Labour has laid claim to the Buggin’s turn chance of taking over the reins of power by claiming that it will reduce and adjust the size and weight of the boot which the Conservatives have stamped down upon the neck of the poor and the low paid. Certainly no one by now seriously expects that a Labour government is going to get rid of the boot entirely. The Labour party, like the Tories, has a vested interest in the continuation of the dysfunctional Westminster system and the inequalities which it produces.

However now we have a Labour party which insists that it will not raise taxes on the wealthiest, contrary to the assertions made by Anas Sarwar during the contest for Labour’s Scottish branch manager. On 8 February 2021 he said: “I think we need a progressive tax system where we get the powers we need to do a progressive tax system. I think people can, in that top bracket, pay more.”

Now that his bosses in London have categorically ruled out any tax increases on the wealthiest and will not raise income tax on the highest earners or introduce a one off wealth tax of 5% on all individual wealth above £500,000, which would only be levied after mortgages and other debt had been taken into account and which could be paid off in instalments over five years. This one off tax which could raise an estimated £260 billion, which at a stroke would solve the funding issues blighting education and the NHS. But Labour is not going to do anything like this, so we can look forward to Anas Sarwar being pressed by BBC Scotland on how his promises fail to match Labour’s dismal reality. Yeah, right of course that’s never going to happen.

Instead BBC Scotland is going to continue to foster the impression that the aerated concrete which puts schools and other public buildings at risk of collapse was personally mixed by Nicola Sturgeon and her husband in a murder tent in their garden.

Labour’s claim that it’s not going to raise taxes on the rich but rather will focus on ‘growing the economy’ are simply code for the same discredited trickle down economics which have caused such societal blight for decades. Labour is no longer promising to adjust the weight and size of the Tory boot on the necks of the poor, Starmer’s Labour party is saying: “Nah, the boot is just fine.” There is no longer any meaningful choice in British politics.

The distortion of democracy created by Westminster’s first past the post system – which neither Labour nor the Conservatives are willing to change – mean that we are all held ransom by a small minority of voters in Conservative-Labour swing seats. This in turn means that even policies which enjoy the widespread support of a clear majority of people across the UK have no chance at all of ever being adopted.

Most people in the UK believe that Brexit was a mistake, but neither Labour nor the Conservatives will seek to minimise the damage and restore British membership of the European Single Market or Customs Union. A major opinion poll published this week found that a clear majority of voters, even Conservative voters, would like to see the nationalisation of the gas, electricity, water and rail companies.

The poll, carried out by Tory donor Lord Ashcroft found that 60% of respondents across the UK backed these companies being brought into public ownership. Scottish Water and Scotrail are already publicly owned. A majority of both Labour and Conservative voters supported public ownership. However both Labour and the Conservatives are opposed to the move, so even though it enjoys clear majority support, it’s not going to happen. When neither of the two big Westminster parties feels the need to respond to majority opinion, it is a clear sign that the Westminster system has irretrievably failed.

Within this failed constitutional settlement, Scotland will never get what it wants. For the Labour Party, Scotland is simply a prop to lever it into power; for certain Tories, Scotland is little more than a summer estate, a pretty tartan bauble to disguise the truth that Britishness is simply English nationalism with its pants on.

Keeping the dream alive Sep
15
by weegingerdug
An opinion poll carried out by Find Out Now was published this week showing that a majority in Scotland would vote Yes for independence if Westminster were to permit a vote, a vote which neither the Labour nor the Conservative parties will concede to because they fear that the No campaign would lose. According to this poll, once don’t knows are removed and likelihood to vote is factored in, 52% of respondents would vote Yes. The significance of this poll lies in the fact that it still produced a majority for Yes even though the polling company weighted its sample according to the result of the 2014 referendum.

As I have previously blogged, this practice made good sense in the the couple of years following the 2014 referendum as it helped to ensure that the polling company’s sample was truly representative of the wider population, however nine years out from the independence referendum there are good reasons to question whether this practice really does help produce greater accuracy as there are strong arguments for believing that it may instead artificially inflate the No responses and underrepresent those in favour of Yes.

This is because approximately 12% of the total electorate in 2014 has passed away in the nine years since, around 56000 or 57000 people die every year in Scotland. The leading causes of death are heart disease, strokes, and cancer, all of which are illnesses which tend to affect older people. It is a consistent pattern in polling on the independence issue that older people are less likely to support independence than younger people. This means that the 500,000 or so people who have passed away in Scotland since 2014 are disproportionately more likely to be older people who voted no than younger people who voted yes. In fact the youngest people to vote in the 2014 referendum, those who were 16 at the time, will now be 25. Many thousands of people in Scotland who were too young to vote in 2014 will now be of voting age, this age group is disproportionately in favour of independence.

What polling companies who weight their sample according to the result of the 2014 referendum are doing is to standardise their sample with reference to a Scotland which no longer exists, a Scotland containing a higher proportion of No voters.

The continuing use of this methodology by polling companies is most likely due to institutional inertia which is compounded by the fact that unlike polling for political party preference, there is no corrective in the form of an election which would lead a polling company to adjust its methodology. The reality is that most polls are commissioned by anti- independence media outlets which have no reason to pressurise polling companies to change their methodologies in ways which might potentially favour a larger Yes vote.

It’s a sign of how far independence has been normalised in Scotland that a poll showing a narrow majority for Yes is greeted with a shrug of the shoulders for the most part. Many independence supporters bewail these figures, wanting to know why support for independence is not much higher. The answer to that lies in the woeful state of the Scottish media, an overwhelmingly anti-independence media which is in no way reflective of the Scottish population it purports to represent. Scots are subjected to a constant and unending barrage of negativity and woe. Positive developments or news which is good for the independence case is brushed over and ignored, bad news is dwelt upon at inordinate length.

The really surprising thing is not that support for independence is not higher but rather that it remains unaffected by the incessant British nationalist propaganda which fills what passes for the Scottish media.

There are also complaints from sections of the independence movement that the SNP does not do enough to advance the case for independence and they blame the SNP for the failure of support for independence to break through in opinion polling and produce consistently large pro-independence majorities.

Not only does this ignore the role of the Scottish media in actively suppressing support for independence, it also ignores another vital role played by the SNP. Although all recent polling agrees in showing that support for independence is distinct from and unaffected by party political support in polls for the SNP, the reality is that it is only because the SNP is a dominant force in party politics in Scotland that independence remains a live political issue and moreover the issue that is central and definitive in the Scottish political landscape.

If Labour were to succeed in replacing the SNP as the largest political party in terms of votes or seats won at the next Westminster general election, the British nationalist parties will triumphantly declare that the general election was after all a de facto referendum on independence – despite denying it was such a thing beforehand – and will insist that Scottish independence is no longer an active political issue. Independence, greater powers for Holyrood, and meaningful constitutional reform of the sclerotic and undemocratic Westminster parliament will all be brushed under the carpet.

An opinion poll from YouGov published this week suggests that Labour hopes of overtaking the SNP in Scotland may be overstated. Should the SNP succeed in remaining the largest party in terms of seats won, this will be taken as a mandate for independence. Naturally the Westminster government will stall, prevaricate and gaslight us, but the issue of independence will remain very much alive and kicking at the top of the Scottish political agenda. If Labour does displace the SNP, hopes of independence will be snuffed out for the foreseeable future.

So when some people complain that the SNP has done nothing for Scottish independence they are mistaken. The SNP has fulfilled the vital task of ensuring that the issue of Scottish independence remains central to Scottish political discourse. It has done so despite almost the entire Scottish media being ranged against it and in the teeth of suspiciously well funded tactical voting campaigns organised by shadowy British nationalist organisations.

The truth is that the SNP is the only pro-independence party which has a realistic chance of winning Westminster seats at the next general election. The challenge for the party is two fold, first it must convince voters in Scotland that a vote for the SNP is equally effective in unseating a hated Tory government as a vote for Labour, and indeed that only an SNP vote represents a rejection of Conservative policies given Keir Starmer’s full throated adoption of right wing Tory Anglo-British nationalism.

Secondly the SNP needs to motivate pro-independence supporters, a far larger constituency than SNP supporters, to come out on the day and vote SNP as the sole means of keeping the issue of Scottish independence on the table. It’s the only way to keep the dream of independence alive.

First day of the Scottish Governments legal challenge to the Uk blocking their new transgender laws where a bloke can decide he wants to be a woman whenever he wants.

Will the court side with wee Saint Nic over the bill that brought her down and dashed her big plans of a job at the UN?
Will she be able to give a wry smile about being vindicated when making a living doing appearances at the Edinburgh book festival?
Or will we see her doubling down about the nasty, boorish, colonial oppressors, toooaaaarrries whilst she sits in her cell at Cornton Vale struggling to cope with the anguish of another court loss compounding her already frail demeanour after her numerous referendum lossses?

It's all up for grabs over the next few days.

It's all up for grabs

What happened to Ms Sturgeon ,
is she in Barlinnie ?

Ms Sturgeon? Have you divorced her already? She has a loving relationship with a bloke called Peter. They love and live together. He just doesn't tell her about his collection of camper vans or his 100K loans.

The Lib Dem conference: the ego has landed Sep
26
by weegingerdug
Party conference season is upon us, the time of year when politicians make speeches aimed at pleasing their party’s base and the rest of us switch off. These are likely to be the last party conferences before the Westminster general election which is due next year, and the parties will be using their conferences as an opportunity to set out their stalls for voters in the “let’s get rid of the Tories election” that is anticipated. Unfortunately for everyone who is not an avid viewer of those right wing ‘news’ channels that are proliferating on British televisions like dog turds on a dog park, all the British parties are vying with one another to adopt as many Conservative policies as they can in order to minimise the attacks on them by the UK’s ludicrously right wing media which means that although we may get rid of the Tories by name at the next general election, their mean spirited and vicious politics of punishing the poor in order to reward the rich will very much live on.

First up it’s the Lib Dem party conference in Bournemouth, always guaranteed to be an exercise in grandstanding, futility, and irrelevance. Naturally BBC Scotland took advantage of the excuse to give airtime to party leader Ed Davey, who was allowed to prattle on completely unchallenged for several minutes about how much he hates the SNP.

Not to be outdone by Labour leader Keir Starmer in the right wing U turn stakes, Davey has a right wing U turn of his own to debate at his party conference. In interviews over the weekend to mark the conference Davey refused to say that the LibDems want the UK to rejoin the EU, although this remains official party policy, at least for now. However the Lib Dem website https://www.libdems.org.uk/ merely talks about “eventually” rejoining the European Single Market and adds that the party’s “long term ambition” is to see the UK “at the heart of Europe once more”, carefully avoiding the scary words “rejoin the EU,” far less giving a time table for doing so.

The Lib Dems hope to boost their chances at the general election by treating it as essentially a series of local campaigns, focusing on local issues in each constituency in the hopes of taking votes from disenchanted Conservative voters and not scaring away Tory Leave voters by talking about rejoining the EU. Davey even claimed in one interview that no one is talking about rejoining the EU, something which is certainly facilitated by the BBC choosing to ignore the large pro-EU demonstration held in London over the weekend even as it gave coverage in the main news bulletin to a much smaller protest against banning American bully XL dogs which was taking place nearby.

However the prize for delusion goes to Scottish Lib Dem groupuscule leader Alex Cole-Hamilton, the man who leads the smallest group in the Scottish Parliament yet who has the biggest ego and the highest estimation of himself. Alex doesn’t need a kindly granny to tell him how wonderful he is, he does that himself each morning every time he looks in the mirror. Alex thinks this counts as self-reflection.

Onieweys, Alex’s unintentional comedy sketch which passed for his speech to the party faithful was notable for the claim that Humza Yousaf was going to be the last “nationalist” first minister of Scotland. He asserted that the SNP is “haemorrhaging fair minded, reasonable voters” and that people were “looking for a party to inspire them again, adding: “We are the answer they’ve been looking for, and it’s why Humza Yousaf will be the last nationalist First Minister of Scotland.”

This claim is deluded on three counts, firstly because despite their recent political travails the SNP remain by far and away the largest political party in Scotland and recent polling suggests that the next Scottish Parliament is most likely to retain a pro-independence majority, meaning that Alex looks set to have to continue confusing his self-importance with political relevance.

Secondly, and perhaps even more delusional, even if the SNP were to be ousted at the next Holyrood election as the largest party in terms of MSPs by either Labour or the Tories, both these parties are now nakedly nationalist. Both fully support Brexit, both wrap themselves in British flags, both extol the monarchy, the armed forces and “British traditions.”

Just because a key tenet of British nationalism is an abiding refusal to acknowledge that it is in fact a species of nationalism, and a rather nasty and intolerant one at that, does not give British nationalists a free pass, a Labour, or may all the gods forbid, Tory first minister of Scotland will still be very much a nationalist first minister, just an Anglo-British nationalist one. British nationalists are the Christian fundamentalists of nationalism. Certain Christian fundamentalists typically refuse to acknowledge that they have a religion. To their mind they possess the absolute truth, “religion” is something that characterises lesser belief systems.

Thirdly, it’s delusional because no one is inspired by the Lib Dems, least of all Scottish voters who favour independence and a return to the European Union. The Lib Dem’s brand of muscular unionism is just as unappealing as that of the Conservatives, and their promise of a federal United Kingdom is so much pie in the sky with as much substance as their desire to rejoin the European Single Market “eventually.” I have as much chance of becoming the next first minister as Alex Cole-Hamilton does, I even know how to wear a waistcoat properly, [hint Alex, you shouldn’t see your shirt poking out between the bottom of your waistcoat and your belt.] but I’d rather poke my eyes out with rusty knitting needles than stand for Parliament.

However there is one way in which Alex’s, ahem, prediction may come true. Scotland could become independent and then we’ll have a Scottish Prime Minister and not the First Minister of a devolved parliament. But then Alex is the guy who told the Oxford Union that Scotland should not and must not exist again. Very few voters in Scotland will find that extremist sentiment “fair minded and reasonable.”

We are in for a lot more of this kind of – what we can kindly call comedy – from the parties of we’re not nationalists we’re British as the conference season progresses.

Nice collection of dogs you’ve posted there.

right thread anyway

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-66946484?at_medium=RSS

Wee Brass Nic out on the picket lines today with the teachers on strike as if she wasn't the First Minister that brought in the repeated Council budget cuts that meant the Council couldn't pay Teachers a reasonable wage.

Imagine Boris having the audacity to get a photo taken at a picket line.

Still she loves a wee photy and and it allows her to show off her new Inspector Gadget coat.

The Very man for the Job

Looks like the kind of guy you would let take your kids down to the local ice cream shop.

Wonder if he’s being brought in to make Paddy the helmet and Ross Greer look normal?

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The British failure of democracy in Scotland Oct
19
by weegingerdug
In some parallel universe where British democracy is a functioning reality and the Scottish media is fair, balanced, and truly representative of the views of the population it is supposed to serve, today, Thursday 19 October 2023, would have seen the holding of the second Scottish independence referendum, a referendum which would have been preceded by a passionate campaign during which both sides of the argument would have been fully explored and given equal attention. When the votes were counted, it is almost certain that the people of Scotland would have chosen to vote Yes and after over three hundred years of Westminster rule Scotland would be poised to rejoin the ranks of independent nations where it truly belongs.

Sadly, as we all know too well, that is not the universe which we inhabit. In this universe the British state is characterised by lies and mendacity, claiming on the one hand to be a voluntary union of four nations while acting in practice like a centralised one nation state whose representatives repeatedly refuse to specify exactly how the supposedly voluntary nature of this so-called union can be put to the test through the democratic choices of the people of the smaller nations which are part of this pretendy union.

Meanwhile we have a media which claims to be unbiased and neutral, a claim which has as much basis in reality as the claims of British politicians who wrap themselves in British flags while asserting that they are opposed to nationalism. The reality of the Scottish media, and the wider British media of which it is a part, is that it has a strong right wing British nationalist bias which it typically refuses to acknowledge just as it refuses to acknowledge that British nationalism is indeed a form of nationalism, and a particularly reactionary and self-regarding one at that.

To live in the British state is to live in a state that deludes itself about its true nature, a delusion aided and abetted by a media which is more interested in colluding in the delusion than in holding power to account and defending democratic standards.

The real reason that we are not having a referendum despite the clear and unequivocal mandate for one given to the current Scottish Parliament is that the parties of “we’re not nationalists we’re British” are bricking themselves about the likely verdict that the people would deliver on all their lies and deceit during the last independence referendum campaign and the glaring mismatch between the “union of equal partners,” continuing membership of the European Union, and the imminent arrival of federalism which they promised Scotland in 2014 and the hard Brexit and continual undermining of the devolution settlement which they have actually delivered. And now it appears that Keir Starmer’s Labour party as much as the Tories is committed to a hard Brexit and equally hell bent on continuing to undermine and by pass the Scottish Parliament.

You could not ask for a clearer example of the betrayal of democracy but the anti-independence Scottish media has no interest at all in defending the basic precepts of democracy in this British state which it is so determined to keep Scotland a part of and refuses to hold the Labour and Conservative parties to account. Instead we get the fetishisation of ferry timetables and massive publicity for every big ego with a grudge against the SNP.

There are many who are keen to blame the SNP for the fact that there has been no independence referendum this week. Many of these have their own agenda seeking to promote their own pro-independence political party of choice, and that’s fair enough, that’s how politics works. But let’s be very clear here, it’s not the SNP who have betrayed democracy, it’s the parties of British nationalism.

Realistically what could the Scottish Government have done? Without the democratic expression of a majority for independence through the ballot box, “dissolving the Union” or unilaterally declaring independence is a fantasy.

In a Scotland where the overwhelming majority of the media is vehemently opposed to independence and polling suggests almost a half of the population is yet to be convinced of the case for independence it would be a recipe for civil unrest and violence from those Über-unionists who have a track record of violence. It’s not enough to assert that the people of Scotland are sovereign, you must ensure that a majority of people in Scotland and the international community agree with you. Indeed it is the antithesis of belief in the sovereignty of the people of Scotland to attempt to declare independence without unequivocal majority support for it as expressed through the ballot box.

Alternatively the Scottish Government could have attempted to press ahead with a referendum without the consent of Westminster and without first attempting to put it on a secure legal footing. However the referendum would most likely still have not taken place as the anti-independence parties would have taken legal action to block it, legal action which we now know would have been successful. If the Scottish Government had pressed on regardless local authorities under Labour or Conservative control would have refused to facilitate the voting process and would not have opened ballot stations.

The anti-independence parties would have boycotted the entire process in an attempt to de-legitimise it and reduce voter participation. Meanwhile the Scottish media would have subjected us all to a barrage of negative propaganda, insisting that there was no point in even independence supporters voting as the vote would be illegal and would not be recognised. Unlike Catalonia where there is a large and well funded pro-independence media and the broadcast media is ultimately controlled by the Catalan government, Scotland has only one pro independence newspaper and a broadcast media which is controlled by Westminster and which faithfully acts as an agent of pro-British propaganda.

The Catalan media was able to maximise the participation of independence supporters in the process, ensuring that it had the greatest support possible amongst the wider population. In Scotland the media would have the opposite effect.

There would have been a Yes vote on a very low turn out with many council areas not participating at all. The Scottish media and the anti-independence parties would immediately declare the entire process a failure and thus emboldened the Conservative government would then openly attack the powers of Holyrood in a way that we have not seen before.

Scotland would still not be independent and Holyrood would be rendered impotent while members of the Scottish Government could be finding themselves on trial. This might appeal to those who are fans of hopeless romantic gestures, but it would not have achieved independence and only reduced Scotland’s chances of achieving independence in the future while rendering Scotland powerless to resists the onslaughts of right wing British nationalism.

19 October 2023 is not the day that the SNP failed, it’s the day that the British state failed to uphold democracy in Scotland, and that is precisely why Scotland needs independence, because democracy in Scotland can only be guaranteed with independence.

Some good news for Sturgeon at last.

She passed her driving test at the age of 53 and can now go campervanning at the weekend.

The cowardice of Keir Starmer Oct
26
by weegingerdug
Keir Starmer is a coward. During Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday Starmer had six questions for Rishi Sunak, not one of which related to the topic which dominates the news headlines and which it’s no exaggeration to say threatens the outbreak of actual world war three. But it still wasn’t important enough for Starmer to raise the matter at PMQs, because what is truly, really important and the sole priority for Labour’s dissembling and spineless leader is that at all costs he avoids the right wing media saying unkind things about him in case that prejudices his chances of winning the next Westminster general election.

There’s a very consistent pattern with Starmer. He is ruthless in one respect, absolutely any policy or position that opens him up to criticism from the right is dropped more quickly than you can say Keir Starmer is a shameless charlatan. I’ve lost count now of all the policies that Starmer has done a U-turn on. He’s dropped the commitment to abolish the hideously cruel two child benefit cap. He’s backtracked on Labour’s environmental promises. He’s scrapped his promise to nationalise the rail and water companies in England, those in Scotland are already publicly owned. Gone is the commitment to nationalise the profiteering energy companies. You can forget about the abolition of the House of Lords, and the federalism which way back in 2014 Gordon Brown vowed was on the cards. There will be no taxes rises on the wealthy and Labour says it will allow any development of new oil and gas fields authorised by the Tories to go ahead. Yet Labour could stop those right now simply by saying that it would block them once it gets into power. This would make the energy companies think twice about investing millions in projects that would be prevented from ever turning a profit.

On Wednesday there was news of yet another betrayal. Starmer has U-turned on his previous commitment to introduce a Scottish style right to roam in England following criticism of the plan from landowners’ groups and the right wing Countryside Alliance, the group which believes that the only people with the right to use the countryside are middle class Ruperts with shotguns looking to blow buggery out of the local wildlife. It’s official, Keir Starmer and his increasingly misnamed Labour party have aligned themselves with the upper middle class Get Orf My Land brigade who are determined to keep the English countryside free from working class types who can’t afford an Aga and a Land rover.

Starmer’s terror of being labelled even vaguely left wing is fully on display in his mendacious and spineless response to the current crisis in the Middle East. He merely joins in the chorus of those who say that Israel has a right to defend itself whenever anyone points out the worsening humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza where over 6,500 Palestinians have now been killed in the Israeli bombardment of the blockaded territory which is rapidly running out of fuel, food and water and where innocent civilians caught up in the violence have nowhere to hide or to run to.

Of course Israel has the right to defend itself, no one is saying it doesn’t. The point however is that no state has the right to defend itself from those who commit crimes against humanity by committing war crimes of its own. This remains true even when the state’s citizens have suffered a cruel and horrific terrorist attack. The attack by Hamas on Israeli citizens was indeed dreadfully cruel and horrific and cannot be justified no matter how egregious the provocation. But that still does not give Israel the right to break international law in response.

No less a person than the UN secretary-general, António Guterres has described Israel’s bombardment and blockade of the Gaza Strip as “collective punishment of the Palestinian people” and as such are “clear violations of international humanitarian law”. Israel has the right to defend itself, but it does not have the right to inflict collective punishment on Palestinian civilians or to violate international law. To do so merely continues the hideous cycle of hate and retribution and drives even more Palestinians into the arms of Hamas or Islamic Jihad, virtually guaranteeing new generations filled with hatred who seek vengeance.

Starmer’s failure to address this escalating cycle of hate is a dismal failure of moral and political leadership. He was previously recorded saying during an interview with LBC that Israel had the right to withhold power and water from Gaza and has spent the days since denying that he meant what we all heard him say. He was then accused by furious leaders of a Cardiff mosque of “gravely misrepresenting” a meeting with them at the weekend and using photos of the visit to distract from the remarks he made to LBC.

He has also issued a diktat to local Labour constituency parties forbidding them from even discussing the current crisis. Starmer is more afraid of right wing criticism than he is of World War III. He will not even call on all parties to the conflict to agree to an immediate ceasefire. He will only do so when the Americans do so first.

All Starmer can bring himself to say is: “It’s clear that the amount of aid and essential utilities getting into Gaza is completely insufficient to meet the humanitarian emergency on the ground.” No ****, Sherlock.

Starmer is now facing a growing rebellion within his own party. some 25 Labour councillors hasve resigned from the party in the past fortnight. In addition 15 Labour party officials in Scotland have resigned in protest and now over 150 Muslim Labour councillors have come together to demand that the party’s leadership calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

Shebab Khan, a political correspondent for ITV news has claimed on Twitter that multiple Labour MPs are telling him that a couple of shadow cabinet members are considering resigning over Keir Starmer’s handling of the Gaza situation.

There is likely to be 18 months of a Starmer government between the next Westminster general election and the following Scottish Parliament election. He has already been revealed as a liar and a coward who panders to the basest right wing prejudices while wrapping himself in a British flag. Tony Blair managed to hide his moral bankruptcy before he was elected. Starmer can’t even do that much, and he will have nowhere to hide once in power. He is a godsend to the Scottish independence movement. Any Labour revival in Scotland will be very short lived indeed.

Police Scotland showing an interest in a 95 K motor Pete has

95K must be mere peanuts for a bloke who can give out 107K loans without his wife knowing.

Bought and sols ASAP on we buy any Car , WTF is going on there

Sold

Could it be ? Bought with Party Funds , and Knocked out ASAP for Cash

I think we might Find there is a Little more to Come About Petey Boy

He maybe thought they were going to throw in Phil Schofield for free.

is saint nicola still about ?
thought she was put away

https://twitter.com/PennyMordaunt/status/1735271641851007274

Penny batting it out the park as per.

That's quite good tbf, who is she?

SNP has wasted £2.7BILLION of your cash, say Tories

No wonder Saint Ferguson Fooked off out of it

The We Buy any Cars with your Money Mob

Probs with Bro In law

For Hummer


HUMZA Yousaf’s brother-in-law has been nicked by cops AGAIN - this time in connection with an incident where a man plunged from a flat window.

Ramsay El-Nakla, younger brother of the First Minister’s wife Nadia, had secured bail after being accused of dealing heroin.


El-Nakla’s sister is the spokeswoman for drugs and alcohol on Dundee City Council.

Thread Should be the Sinners of Scotland IMVHO

What an outfit

junkie & a russian window thrower relayed to FM

& still waiting on police scotand financial charges nicola

casemoney 16 Jan 24 20:52 
Probs with Bro In law

For Hummer


HUMZA Yousaf’s brother-in-law has been nicked by cops AGAIN - this time in connection with an incident where a man plunged from a flat window.

.....................

3 men were thrown from a balcony in Dewsbury, laid there with broken bones. The Police explained it away
as attempted burglary.

Saint Nicky's Whatsapp pandemic messages all deleted. Even after saying in a press conference all would be available to a future inquiry.

What a coward of a woman.

We can expect a lot of "I don't recall"s when she takes the stand.

NICOLA Sturgeon deleted all of her WhatsApp messages from during the pandemic, the UK Covid Inquiry's lead council has confirmed.

Jamie Dawson KC referred to a rundown from the Scottish Government about what WhatsApp messages it could provide to the probe.

He said: “Under the box ‘Nicola Sturgeon’, it says that 'Messages were not retained, they were deleted in routine tidying up of inboxes or changing of phones … Unable to retrieve messages'.

“So, what that tends to suggest is at the time that request was made Nicola Sturgeon, the former First Minister of Scotland, had retained no messages whatsoever in connection with her management of the pandemic.”

The confirmation of the mass deletions comes after reports in October that Ms Sturgeon and other senior Scottish Government figures had wiped messages, sparking anger at the time from Covid bereaved families and opposition politicians.

The revelation came as Mr Dawson quizzed Scottish Government official, director-general corporate, Lesley Fraser.

Mr Dawson suggested the deletions meant it was therefore a “matter of logic” that “we have no access to the former First Minister of Scotland’s message in connection with the management of the pandemic”.

Mr Dawson went on to say that information provided by the Scottish Government showed then Deputy First Minister John Swinney’s messages were not retained either.

And it emerged Mr Swinney had “an auto delete set up” on his phone.

In her evidence, Ms Fraser admitted that “some WhatsApp exchanges tipped into what I would call ‘banter’”, but argued it was correct that these should be deleted as it is “not relevant for the corporate record”.

In November, Ms Sturgeon repeatedly refused to confirm or deny that she had deleted messages, claiming the matter was “confidential” -  despite First Minister Humza Yousaf and ex-Holyrood Finance Secretary Kate Forbes saying they hadn’t deleted their own messages.

Ms Sturgeon was asked in August 2021 by Ciaran Jenkins of Channel 4 News: “Can you guarantee to the bereaved families that you will disclose emails, WhatsApps, private emails if you’ve been using them .. whatever .. that nothing will be off limits in this inquiry?"

Ms Sturgeon replied: “I think if you understand statutory public inquiries you would know that even if I wasn't prepared to give that assurance, which for the avoidance of doubt I am, then I wouldn't have the ability.

"This will be a judge-led, statutory public inquiry."

The deletions come despite Ms Sturgeon saying in as early as May 2020 that there would be public inquiries into the Covid crisis.

Lawyers for those bereaved by Covid argue that from that point, any records should have been kept.

And in August 2021, Ms Sturgeon gave her “assurance” in a TV Covid briefing that she would disclose messages related to the pandemic in future inquiries.

However, in November, counsel Mr Dawson revealed at an earlier hearing that “generally very few messages appear to have been retained” by around 70 key Scottish Government figures, thought to include Ms Sturgeon and her pandemic official Prof Jason Leitch.

We revealed in December how in 2021, Scottish Government chiefs drew up controversial rules to wipe ministers' WhatsApps every month - after claiming it would be too tricky to keep them.

Officials including Scotland’s most senior civil servant at the time, Leslie Evans, weakened draft guidance which had demanded the storage of entire conversations.

It’s thought the finalised policy for ministers and staff ultimately led to the destruction of potential evidence for the ongoing Covid public inquiries.

In November, Deputy First Minister Shona Robison vowed to hand over around 14,000 messages to the UK inquiry by a legal deadline of November 6, “mostly concerning routine coordination of work and meetings by officials”.

She said these were “mainly WhatsApp messages from various groups and individuals over the period of the pandemic”, and that “messages from ministers and former ministers are included”.

First Minister Humza Yousaf said that despite the government’s internal rules - still in force - he kept his messages, regardless, and these would be handed over.

Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said: “This revelation is nothing short of horrifying and shows the lengths that Nicola Sturgeon is prepared to go to in order to prevent justice for Covid-bereaved families.

“Despite giving assurances to keep all correspondence, Nicola Sturgeon has completely broken her promise to the people of Scotland.

“This is nothing short of a shocking betrayal of the people of Scotland who suffered so much during the pandemic.

“Nicola Sturgeon should hang her head in shame.

“The inquiry must take all measures it can to get to the truth - despite SNP obstruction.”

“This revelation is nothing short of horrifying and shows the lengths that Nicola Sturgeon is prepared to go to in order to prevent justice for Covid-bereaved families.

“Despite giving assurances to keep all correspondence, Nicola Sturgeon has completely broken her promise to the people of Scotland.

“This is nothing short of a shocking betrayal of the people of Scotland who suffered so much during the pandemic.

“Nicola Sturgeon should hang her head in shame.

“The inquiry must take all measures it can to get to the truth - despite SNP obstruction.”

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross said: “Nicola Sturgeon and John Swinney have huge questions to answer over their conduct in the wake of this devastating revelation.

“By deleting all their WhatsApp messages, they defied the inquiry’s clear instructions from June 2021 that all relevant messages had to be retained.

“Their actions may be illegal and beg a very simple question: what were they trying to hide? Shamefully and outrageously for families of those who died during the pandemic, we may never know.

“Nicola Sturgeon’s reputation, which has been tarnished by a series of scandals in the last year, now lies in tatters.

“Secrecy and evasion were the hallmarks of her government – and this shameful cover-up, which amounts to a digital torching of vital evidence, is the most scandalous example of it.

“Both Nicola Sturgeon and John Swinney must urgently answer questions in parliament on this.”

The inquiry also heard that in a group chat, Scottish Government national clinical director Prof Jason Leitch - one of the best-known faces of the Covid response in Scotland - told other officials: "WhatsApp deletion is a pre-bed ritual."

A spokesperson for Nicola Sturgeon said: “In the interests of everyone who has been impacted by the Covid pandemic, Nicola is committed to full transparency to both the UK and Scottish Covid inquiries.

“Any messages she had, she handled and dealt with in line with the Scottish Government’s policies.

“Nicola has provided a number of written statements to the UK Inquiry - totalling hundreds of pages - and welcomes the opportunity to give oral evidence to the Inquiry again this month when she will answer all questions put to her.”

This is the outcome when the your only policy
is anti British racist bigotry ! inevitable really silly scotch

The wee Jimmy sychophants from earlier in the the thread have disappeared now LFC so life is becoming much better for the Scotch.

Ardern Merkel and Krankie. 'Strong' women leaders seem to leave a storm of trouble behind them these days.
Let us hope the Italian lass fares better.

Nicola Sturgeon has been urged to give a personal statement at Holyrood amid accusations she has “misled" bereaved families and the Covid inquiry after deleting her WhatsApp messages wanted by the probe.

Bereaved families are considering a formal police complaint after it was revealed WhatsApp messages sent and received by the former first minister during the pandemic were deleted.

The row emerges as Labour leader Anas Sarwar claimed "lying and misleading of the public" has taken place on "an industrial scale" with the latest WhatsApp evidence scandal.

Scottish Covid Bereaved met with their solicitor Aamer Anwar on Saturday to discuss taking action.

The UK Covid-19 Inquiry heard on Friday from KC Jamie Dawson that Ms Sturgeon had “retained no messages whatsoever” from the time of the pandemic.

Her deputy, John Swinney, used an auto-delete function and national clinical director Jason Leitch described wiping WhatsApp messages as a “pre-bed ritual”, in evidence heard by the inquiry.

In a statement on Saturday, Ms Sturgeon said that while messages were not retained on her own device, she was able to “obtain copies” and these have been submitted.

A document presented during the hearing on Friday showed the former SNP leader admitted to using WhatsApp to share information and views with colleagues.

Ms Sturgeon insists she conducted the Covid response “through formal processes” rather than through any informal messaging platform such as WhatsApp.

The Inquiries Act sets out it is a criminal offence if someone “intentionally suppresses or conceals a document that is, and that he knows or believes to be, a relevant document, or… intentionally alters or destroys any such document”.

The definition of a “relevant document” under the act is one that “it is likely that the inquiry panel would [if aware of its existence] wish to be provided with it”.

Mr Anwar has said he believes a criminal offence would have been committed if any material was deleted after February 28, 2022 – the date the Scottish Covid Inquiry was established.

Speaking to the Sunday Post, Mr Anwar said: “We are considering whether a complaint should be made to the police.

“We are obviously going through the Inquiries Act and there are lots of considerations to be had.

Read more: Scottish ministers 'did not trust' UK Govt during Covid

“I think the first issue is that it’s a matter for the inquiry to decide whether any appropriate steps need to be taken.

“However, that doesn’t preclude my clients going directly to Police Scotland and wanting an investigation into what has happened with the WhatsApps.”

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has claimed the law could have been broken.

Speaking on the BBC's The Sunday Show, he said: "There seems to be an industrial scale lying and misleading of the public. And I think that goes beyond a few rotten apples at the top, in terms of ministers.

“It seems that even senior Scottish Government officials were complicit in that misinformation. It is for an inquiry to decide what evidence is relevant, not those that are being investigated, to decide what issues are relevant.

“I think there's potentially breaches of the law, not just in terms of obstructing a COVID inquiry, but also it seems there's a deliberate attempt to breach Freedom of Information laws.”

Ms Sturgeon has now been urged to make a personal statement to Holyrood to explain herself to the bereaved families.

Scottish LibDems leader, Alex Cole-Hamilton, has written to the former first minister, urging her to set the record straight at Holyrood.

In his letter, the Edinburgh Western MSP said: “You gave assurances in May 2020 that a public inquiry would be held.

"It was accepted as being both inevitable and essential long before the UK Covid Inquiry was announced in May 2021, and long before you made an unambiguous commitment on national television in August 2021 to retain all records including WhatsApps and hand them over to an inquiry.

Read more: Yousaf gives strongest indication yet WhatsApp messages have been lost

“It now appears that, where some messages will be available, that is not as a result of your personally retaining them.

“You will also be aware that the UK Inquiry issued protocol on 29th July 2022 referring to the Inquiries Act 2005, which states that it is an offence to destroy any document that may of interest to an inquiry.”

Mr Cole-Hamilton added that “there are many questions that I believe you are required to address, including whether you have misled the bereaved families, the UK Covid inquiry and Parliament by committing to personally retain and hand over all relevant material”.

He said: “It is only right that you address these questions in a personal statement to the Scottish Parliament and face questions from MSPs in public.

Lives and livelihoods hinged on the decisions that you and your government were taking. By erasing the discussions that underpinned such decisions, however, you and others at the top of your government may have denied families the answers, the understanding and the closure that they have so desperately sought to obtain.

“Those grieving families, those failed, may be forever denied the full story behind the calls you made.”

In a statement on Saturday issued on X, formerly known as Twitter, Ms Sturgeon insisted "the inquiry does have messages between me and those I most regularly communicated with through informal means".

She added: “Although these had not been retained on my own device, I was able to obtain copies which I submitted to the Inquiry last year.

“To be clear, I conducted the Covid response through formal processes from my office in St Andrews House, not through WhatsApp or any other informal messaging platform.

“Throughout the entire process, I acted in line with Scottish Government policy.”

A Police Scotland spokesman said: "At this time, we've nothing to indicate any police involvement or that this is a policing matter."

Scotland gave gaza a shed load of money in Oct and then a 500k more in Nov, just days b4
humza wifes ma and da quickly found the border.

Just a coincidence abviously.

James Campbell

I’m hearing from multiple sources that the investigation into the 'misappropriation' of SNP funds has concluded.

nicola calling boris a clown

she was kind , she meant ****

snp up to 4% means only losing 10 seats - remains biggest party scotland

Westminster Voting Intention:

LAB: 47% (=)
CON: 20% (=)
RFM: 13% (+1)
LDM: 8% (=)
GRN: 6% (-1)
SNP: 4% (+1)

Via
@YouGov
, 23-24 Jan.

depends where the loses are, the snp will never dip under 36% unless they really balls it up.
they have some key battlegrounds in Glasgow & environs. you say only 10 seats but for their
indy ambitions that is catastrophic. i could see them lose 14-16 in close run seats.
we shall see.

Nicola Sturgeon urged to apologise after leaked WhatsApp messages describing Matt Hancock as “Weaker than a nuns piss,” Liz Truss as “About as much use as a marzipan dildo,” and referring to Suella Braverman as “Shitler.”

Facts..

what would the apology be for?

Jan 25, 2024 -- 4:11PM, thegiggilo wrote:

Nicola Sturgeon urged to apologise after leaked WhatsApp messages describing Matt Hancock as “Weaker than a nuns piss,” Liz Truss as “About as much use as a marzipan dildo,” and referring to Suella Braverman as “Shitler.”Facts..

How the Mighty Fall , she is still in Flight with her Arms flailing

Probably one of the few honest things she has said in her career.

Although from the woman who complained about abuse to the press when it was reported Boris called her "that wee Jimmy Krankie woman" even when Wee Jimmy tells the truth she can't avoid hypocrisy.

Humza's twatter yesterday

[i]Abuse and intimidation of politicians is a threat to our democracy.[/i]

Has the puppet also had enough of the puppeteer? Will the sychophants again have to choose between two rival demi-gods as they did when Saint Nic knifed Wee Eck?

Police are investigating claims that signatures were forged on documents as part of their probe into SNP finances.

The Sunday Mail understand detectives have paperwork showing a name which the person denies having written themselves or having any knowledge of.

A source said: “There has been signatures on documents which the person named has made clear they did not write. It is one of a number of many strands to the investigation which remain under scrutiny.

“The documents are in relation to financial transactions which are being probed over the potential for fraud.”

Getting murkier and murkier.

Boot going in to wee Nick by Forbes today.

No minutes of  the top level 'covid gold command' meetings kept and Forbes as the finance secretary wasn't even invited at any in 2020.

How the **** can a competent government be making decisions on covid without the Finance secretary present?

It's difficult to see how Nippy's reputation can get any worse but it probably will after tomorrow's evidence session.

Anybody playing the Sturgeon "I can't recall" drinking game might want to use smaller measures otherwise they will be blotto'd by midday.

Sturgeon might need a marzipan dildo or a french fancy to pick herself up tomorrow night.

https://twitter.com/BBCbreakingNewt/status/1752351897036509390

Necrophilia in plain sight as Kate Forbes **** Nicola Sturgeon’s corpse in broad daylight

Snakey Sturgeon about to give her evidence in the covid inquiry.

Live link

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-scotland-68146957

At COVID inquiry Nicola Sturgeon says she prefers to say WhatsApp messages from the pandemic “weren’t retained” rather than saying they were “deleted.”

She’s asked, “But did you delete them?”

Sturgeon: “Yes.”

They’re all like that, scotch nats are very shifty

The Big Covid Lie coming home to roost,
i'm not saying it never existed but it use to be called The Flu

Her confidence and political aura have gone. Is she still a Scottish MP and drawing a salary? Or has she resigned given her knowledge and "involvement" in the misappropriation of political funds for personal gain?

This is turning into a disgraceful witch-hunt against sturgeon
Sickening really she is one person and we don’t live in a dictatorship

Nah case leave her alone she’s right to cry  ,the burden is too much for any individual

As I said she’s one person
We don’t live in a dictatorship

No wonder Kenny and the Lads Stopped Posting , Looks like the Pretendee Husband has been Slung under the Bus

How the Mighty Fall

Mind you as bad things Are,  Nicky Didn't have people flying out of Relatives Windows,Not that Im aware of that is

HAMSA goes begging to the Scottish Tories

What a foooking desperate State of Affairs for the once Almighty SNP

Wee Eck,knee  deep in a gurgling tumbling  burn watches the red stains disapate in its flow as he cleans his trusty gralloching kit,a buzzards shrill cry high up the Glen is mute as the sky grows black with craws keen to feed on the entrails, content with his work he slugs a wee dram from his hipflask eyeing  the fresh steaming haunch of flesh his careful work has rewarded him with.

But his appeal was immediately rejected by the Scottish Conservatives as "humiliating and embarrassing" while Scottish Labour said it was an "act of desperation".

still, he might have a bit of time on his hands,can go and give the Brother in law a Help with his Dodgy Windows

Apr 18, 2024 -- 8:20PM, casemoney wrote:

Mind you as bad things Are,

https://youtu.be/-PPif-I1Ts8?feature=shared

Cracking Tune Bread , Never in the History of world Politics has so much shyte been Roared from a Podium ... 

The Lads were all behind The great Leader  , and the Great Indie Push , not on her Watch that was a Certainty

They have not been seen on this Thread for Months  ..

The Question I ask if the Pretendee Husband was Bang at it , I say was , How can she not be involved ?

Mind you the fooking lot of em are Gone  The bloke with a Dodgy son who Ran wales , Verucca in Eire , and Ukrainian Boris of The Climate Flag

What a state Politics is actually in , But its Ok , Sir Knee is on the Horizon

Can you Imagine the State of the UK in 5 years , It can only be short Odds Gorgeous George will be the Next PM

Tbh I don't agree with everything in that song but the bare exposure of the situation is correct, don't forget it's a year old.

Scotland dodged a bullet at the last indyref, there was never any talk of how things would proceed if indy had won vote,some did ask how would it proceed but the answers were shocking, there was nothing in place and I am in no doubt we would be in a serious mess. The SNP changed the police ect and basically with them as there own army they would have had carte blanche to impose a very strict dictatorship which would be impossible to alter.

I blame David Cameron for the subsequent mess, after indy he gave more power, completely ignoring the will of those that voted remain, this emboldened the SNP regime and they felt  untouchable, the SNP covered up a covid spreader event  in Edinburgh very early in pandemic, before it was big, got away with that and so much more, weaponised the outbreak the same as labour did at Westminster,sturgeons crocadile tears at covid enq was bafta level.
She appears to be getting away unscathed, hopefully wee Eck ain't finished with her.

It's sickening that so many in England, particularly women, actually think Sturgeon done a wonderful job,.... Dangerous times indeed.

thread gone from saint nicola of scotland

nicola visits LGBT bash London

The Biggest Collapse of A political Party in History , To be joined by the Tories in five years

Flynn must be shyteing himself

It cant happen can it ?

I don't think Nicola Sturgeon should be giving analysis on terrestrial tv, she's tainted.

Not long ago police were digging up her garden looking for evidence

the fall has been incredible

police scotland taking longer than lord lucan disappearance

Anyone know when her next book festival appearance is likely to occur?

Maybe a show at the Fringe. There should be a lot of people queing up to see her looking like she is choaking on soor plooms one last time.

Never in the History of Politics has such a Disaster happened to a Party

incredible, No wonder bunter Got himself out the way

I wonder what Lushka does these days , must spend his time thumbing through the old scrap Book

An SNP veteran has derided Nicola Sturgeon as “Stalin’s wee sister” in an excoriating rebuke of her time as First Minister and party leader.

Jim Sillars said she had presided over a “leadership cult” and said the SNP’s general election annihilation had been a referendum on the Scottish Government.

Wonder if we we will soon see any of the cult on here break ranks soon?

At least she has the old krankies act to fall back on. Fandabbydozy!!!!!!!!!

If anything the original Krankie will be making money doing skelped puss impressions of Sturgeon.

breaking - strong rumour


Hearing from ''various sources'' that the investigation into Peter Murrell has collapsed due to insufficient evidence.

Would be surprised at that if true.

Against Sturgeon and Colin Beattie maybe but given COPFS has previously directed the police in the investigation I would be surprised if they had charged him and COPFS disagreed that there was sufficient evidence to have done so.

Keri Starmer says NO indyref2  Scotland

Good on Sir Keir keeping one of his promises intact.

Does anyone know Mrs Starmers sizing so I can send her something special for Christmas as a thank you?

police enquiry has been 3 1/2 years

those jailed  in southport took 72 hours

Agree. It is ridiculous that it has went on this long.

Either they have enough to charge and prosecute or they don't.

Get fecking on with it either way.