News that Graeme McCormick has withdrawn his threat to challenge John Swinney for the SNP leadership has sparked speculation that he has somehow been 'got at', and this comes on top of widespread suspicion that Swinney himself must have been, let's say, 'gently persuaded' to take the position.
We can't help wondering who it is that's making all these people do things that they don't want to do. But then again, we're not going to worry ourselves sick over it because it won't be long before we start getting answers to questions we're not even aware of (Branchform, Alex Salmond's legal action etc).
It took years before Nicola Sturgeon became a figure of mockery and disdain to many independence supporters. Humza was being pilloried even before he took her place but many were prepared to give him time to prove that he could be 'his own man'.
John Swinney is being universally panned before he's even done one FMQs. The reasons are too numerous to start going into here but a brief glance across social media reveals why his 'appointment' is generating such disgust and fury.
There's a definite pattern and it points to one thing - the imminent and complete collapse of the SNP as the governing party in Scotland.
Those who hitched their wagons to the NuSNP project since Sturgeon became leader will now be planning the next stage in their careers and casting around for opportunities. But they can see what's coming and the great danger facing them is that they'll be tainted by association. The smarter among them will, even now, be working out how to keep their career on track while distancing themselves from the organisation(s) they prostituted themselves for. To that end, we should not be surprised if/when some well-kent faces and voices start spilling what they know about Swinney/Sturgeon/Murrell etc before the dam bursts. And at least some of those people will attempt to convince us that they knew what was happening all along but stayed shtum and kept the head down because they knew there would come a time when they would have to use what they'd seen to protect themselves.
Well, it seems that the time has now arrived.
A friend suggested that Graeme McCormick's pitch for leader may have been a ruse to flush out potential troublemakers. We don't know Graeme or anyone connected to him so we can't and won't comment but it would appear that such trickery is what Swinney et al have become known for over recent decades. More and more people are sharing accounts of Swinney's controlling behaviour and the events of the past 24 hours have prompted a surge in reminders of his past misdemeanours and sharp practice.
It goes without saying, but we'll say it anyway, that anyone who wants to share their experiences of what it's like to work with/for the SNP/Scotgov during the Sturgeon years is very welcome to send us whatever they like, anonymous if they wish, and we'll publish so long as it isn't likely to land us in jail.
In any case, we wish fervently that whoever is in a position to hasten the demise of this wretched government and bring some hope to long-suffering independence campaigners gets on with doing whatever it is that must be done.
We've all had more than enough ay their pish.
We're taking some time out to watch this all from the sidelines because we need to spend at least some of the summer doing real work. Our fundraising efforts haven't generated as much as we were hoping for and our beautiful e-books are not selling.
So it goes.
All of us at OTS are hugely grateful to everyone who's supported us over the past 11 months. The site won't be 'closing' as such. We'll still be doing the NHTW round-ups of btl commentary from across pro-independence blogs (mostly Wings) at least weekly, and we'll continue to publish posts by guest writers. And, of course, we'll still have our Twitter account to do wee polls and retweet dodgy jokes.
Peace and love to you all.
Rab, Les, Frances, Jo, Eilidh, and Archie (the cat)
:) XXXXX
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