Wings Over Scotland | Coping with change

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Michael Laing

Reply to  aLurker

6 days ago

I stopped caring about the SNP long ago. They’re far beyond salvation. I don’t know why Robin McAlpine is still clinging to the hope that the SNP can be resurrected from the ashes. It’s clear that even he knows there are more revelations and ruinous headlines to come.

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Robert Hughes

Reply to  Dan

7 days ago

Thanks for that link , D . I read Conter sporadically ( I try to limit the amount of time I give to reading/watching political stuff ) , and rate what I’ve read from them : that one you link is particularly good

It seems to have largely gone unremarked – other than by Left critics like the estimable Robin McA and a few others – just how thoroughly Neoliberal doctrinaire the SNP have become ; how totally * sold* they are on the very ideology , ie Neoliberal Capitalism , that is wreaking so much havoc in the World .

Endless wars – when did you last here a West politician mention the word ” Peace ” ? .

Brutal , heedless destruction & plunder of the Earth’s resources hand-in-hand with schizophrenic hysteria re * Green * policies , imposed from above by people whose wealth insulates ( HA ! ) them the negative effects of these policies .

And ALL the while the vast rivers of profit flow upstream into the nets of Globalist Oligarchy .

I think it’s possible the slavish adherence of the current SNP to Neolib orthodoxy is not so much because they believe in it’s efficacy or are particularly committed to it ideologically ( some of them no doubt are ) : but rather , because they don’t have fckn clue how to do anything different – let alone original . Ergo ,they just follow the pack , absorb the ” received wisdom ” on everything and basically stumble along hoping ” things will work out ok ” . Maybe also a reflection of the lack of real-life experience/expertise of the very ” Gap Year ” studenty composition of the current SNP .

Except they’re not working out ok ; ” things ” are getting worse , much worse , and every ” thing ” the Neoliberal/Globalist mindset does is exacerbating the problems . THEY are the problem , but they keep pointing * elsewhere * trying to say it’s all ” their ” fault .

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Alf Baird

Reply to  Dan

7 days ago

“sooner or later you’re going to have to break out of conforming to social contagion influences and understand that sometimes things need to be said that are not aligned with what you’re being conditioned to think.”

Aint that the truth Dan, aka cultural or colonial assimilation, and the inevitable cringe. And then, the necessary light bulb moment, when the penny finally draps, revealing the ‘colonial hoax’:

link to peterabell.scot

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Geoff Anderson

7 days ago

For me Wings is a critical tool to maintain and ready for action when sanity returns, the SNP are a distant memory, the Murrells are in Jail..

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Stuart MacKay

Reply to  Mac

6 days ago

He claims to be able to solve the U problem in 24 hours so to compensate he has to look tough on Ir so not to frighten the supporters of Is.

Don’t forget everything you see as news from the USA is for internal consumption only. The presstitutes repeat everything as if it was intended for global consumption, cos journalism is simply too hard or too expensive. Their politicians are only interested in what the population think, moreso during elections. The rest of the world is irrelevant.

Remember, when Ronald Reagan opened his mouth, Europe pretty much flinched in terror, expecting the nukes to start flying. It’s a big mistake to keep on reacting like that.

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Republicofscotland

6 days ago

GB Energy, won’t reduce your electricity bills – it will however – use public money to help subsides the energy companies.

“THE chair of GB Energy has been grilled by MPs over plans for the new publicly-owned company and whether it will bring down energy bills.
Professor Juergen Maier was grilled by MPs during the committee stage of the Great British Energy Bill on Tuesday, alongside Mika Minio-Paluello, policy officer for industry and climate at the Trades Union Congress, and Mike Clancy, general secretary of Prospect.
Maier told MPs the price of energy was not in the “scope of the bill” after being asked by SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn when he expected GB Energy to “bring down energy bills”.”

GB Energy chief grilled on when company will bring bills down | The National (archive.is)

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Alf Baird

Reply to  Republicofscotland

6 days ago

Aye RoS, by 2030 Scottish renewable energy alone will be producing £100 billion+ retail worth of Kw/hr a year. The annual opcost of turbines and cables is unlikely to exceed £10 billion/yr. The question then is, who is pocketing the £90 billion/yr surplus because it sure aint the colonized natives.

And why do Scots have to pay the highest energy costs in Europe (four times higher than Norway!) when we are more than self-sufficient and produce vast surpluses of energy? Mair colonial plunder.

link to yoursforscotlandcom.wordpress.com

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Geri

Reply to  Aidan

6 days ago

Scotland is already separate. We have our own crown institutions, laws, education, universities, health service.

We’d only be ending the Act of union. A contract. Not trying to negotiate territory. Scotland was already an Independent country before the union & can be again.

We already have a parliament too.

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Geri

Reply to  Dunx

5 days ago

Because Spain has a written constitution. No part can secede.

The UK doesn’t because it couldn’t put that shit in one without breaking the terms to the treaty of Union.

Catalonia is a completely different situation to Scotland.

Scotland signed up to a voluntary union. As two equal kingdoms. With non negotiable terms, beforehand including the 1689 Claim of Right.

Everyone in the UK government understood this. Its only a recent phenomenon that Tories now think they’ll play gymnastics with The Act of Union into something it never was & try play the One Nation pish that never happened either or we’d be Northern Britain & not Scotland & not with separate laws & institutions either.

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Alf Baird

Reply to  Aidan

5 days ago

Its not unreasonable for a sovereign state to seek recompense for exporting £100bn worth of Kw/hr energy produced to its next door neighbour, plus all the other interceptions of economic rents.

Until it is independent, Scotland is therefore just another plundered colony. Independence enables an oppressed people to put an end to their exploitation and domination.

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Geri

Reply to  Hatey McHateface

5 days ago

The only ones to fck up the exit to Brexit were the English. They wanted their cake & eat it. They simply couldn’t accept that they simply weren’t all that special.

Naw they couldn’t just cherry pick the good bits & naw they couldn’t dictate either or bend the rules just for them.

Its very simple – yer either in or out. Not half way.

We’ll have no such problems. There’s fuck all yoons can come up with that’s a benefit & we didn’t give our Sovereignty away to anyone.

The UK isn’t solid either. Its heading for a monumental crash & predictions are the UK will be first. Its also a laughing stock on the international stage & complicit in a geno-cide that the whole United Nations is repulsed by.

You really need to get outside yer yoon bubble once in a while.

Scotland already has a majority. It has also had a majority of Independence MPs.
Stop lying. Yer we yoonion is fascist & grotesque when the chips are down (No surprise, Sun never set & the blood never dried) & it’ll be ejected from ever holding a seat at any future international new world organisation.

The US will soon drop them too as they try desperately to cling on via a deal.

The UK is so solid it couldn’t even get any trade deals. That’s what the world thinks of little Englanders.

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twathater

6 days ago

There are some strange people on here who think that the current oil and gas companies, energy companies , Internet companies,train companies,airports, steelworks, water companies and other service industry companies ALL reached their levels of profitability due to the ingenuity and drive of their investors

NOTHING could be further from the truth , every one of the industries listed above has been STOLEN from the people who contributed to their future success and profitability

EVERY one of those industries were STOLEN by parasites and carpet baggers aided and abetted by politicians like thatcher the milk snatcher and tony war criminal bliar
What is laughable are the clowns celebrating these thefts whilst paying exorbitant prices for their services, services that would have been a fraction of their charges had those services remained in public ownership, investment in the future technology not reliant on the whims of speculators or investor profits

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Robert Hughes

6 days ago

Robin on the ongoing malign influence of Sturgeon on the SNP and – by association – the Independence aspiration …..

link to robinmcalpine.org

I don’t doubt his interpretation of the motives of She Who Should Get To Fuck ( and stay there ) in still seeking to influence decisions/events within the Party-with-a hellhound-on-it’s-trail being – in keeping with her entire tenure – ALL about her : her fatuous ” legacy ” ( that’s a easy one – abject failure to progress by a mm the cause for which the Party she ran – into the ground – for almost 10 years was formed ) and damage-limitation around her reputation & possible legal repercussions re her involvement in ” certain affairs ” .

I wonder if there’s more to it than that , though ?

Was it not speculated-on a while back that the Murrells – singly and/or together – would take the whole Party down with them should their racket be exposed and their straw house succumb to the torch ?

Pathological self-interest for sure ; one last round of sabotage as quid-pro-quo for ” leniency ” , ie complete exculpation in any future legal actions too ?

Whatever . Robin is correct that her continuing presence within the SNP is doing that Party untold damage and we/they haven’t seen the worse of what’s to come . Still they refuse to sling her ; why ?

It could be – misplaced – loyalty . Yes , they are THAT stupid ; enough to cause incalculable damage to the Party by refusing to distance it from her .

I’m more inclined to think it’s a case of there being so many restless skeletons in so many precariously-secured closets the whole cabal is inextricably bound together by threats of blackmail and legal consequence for past actions/involvements .

All it will take is one weak link n the whole charade-facade will come tumbling down

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Vivian O’Blivion

Reply to  Robert Hughes

5 days ago

Robin uses the analogy of toppling dominoes. I don’t think this is quite accurate. When the first domino in a sequence falls the identity of subsequent dominoes are known and their downfall is inevitable. Should the inertia of the multiple legal cases be broken the resultant reaction may be more akin to an avalanche, ie the breadth of the kinetic chain reaction is unknown and all but impossible to contain.

I doubt the Permanent State gives much of a fuck about the demise of Sturgeon, Swinney, et al. Figures who must be protected are likely to include Lloyd, Leeona Dorrian and David Harvie.

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Vivian O’Blivion

5 days ago

To expand on my thoughts outlined above, I continue to firmly believe that the most important article published on this site is “All the jolly boys and girls” (Nov. 2020). While this article deals comprehensively with a specific subject, there are many additional threads that can be pulled using the basic evidence at the heart of the article, ie the trip sponsored by the US State Department under its International Visitors Leadership Program in July 2016. I have tried to explore some of these disparate threads here and elsewhere.

The IVLP by its own definition sets out to identify “future opinion leaders”. Delegates invited on this trip should therefore by relatively junior or middling in rank. Leaving aside Kezia Dugdale who was Leader of Scottish Labour at this point (during this period, who wasn’t?), this description could be said to fit.

The anomaly would be Liz Lloyd, Chief of Staff to the First Minister. Lloyd sat atop her own specific Castell (the analogy of the Catalan Castell being my choice to conjure the concept of a pyramid of mutually self-supporting individuals reaching a height otherwise unattainable). The question to ask is therefore, was Lloyd being recruited, or was she doing the recruiting?

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Wings Over Scotland | Two Spaces

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Garrion

4 days ago

Praps those (or that) to whom COPFS is accountable are akin to the invisible hand of Adams, the interests are clear, but the accountability isn’t. Worth saying that if this shambles were to have taken place down South, there would have been pelters.

Apologies if it’s a bit tinfoil hatty, but I believe this speaks to your point that no INDEPENDENT country can run without a trustworthy, transparent and credible legal system.

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Delta

4 days ago

I’m not a believer in conspiracy theories, but can I draw people to Wings date 30/7/2021 (Lady Dorrian)

I’ve always found Wngs on the money as far as factual reporting is concerned. In that piece Stu reported Lady Dorrian wanted to suceed Lord Carloway when he retired and thus become the most senior judge in Scotland and the first woman to hold the postion.
She has just recently announced her retirement and will not succeed Lord Carloway.

She’s had a stellar career- it seems odd that having completed 38 k of a 40 k marathon she’s giving up on the last two k when Carloway has himself I understand announced his retirement.

She was asked this in a recent times interview and replied with typical modesty that she could have the job if she wanted, but wished to do other things.

I wonder what the other things might be.

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Zander Tait

4 days ago

In my old fashioned way, I believe that the role of the Police and the COPFS is to uphold the law.

It seems clear, in this instance, that the COPFS is not upholding the law. Quite the opposite in fact.

The CEO of the COPFS, appointed in December 2023, is John Logue. He seems an honourable individual.

I wonder why he is suddenly functionally paralysed?

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Mia

Reply to  Tommy

4 days ago

“how can a country (Scotland) have a separate (“national”) legal system… yet not have a *sovereign* (= independent) parliament in tandem with this?”

Excellent question.

The way I see it, Scotland can have a separate legal system but this legal system is condemned to disappear because it cannot grow. Without a parliament that creates Scottish laws, this body of law cannot grow unless it adopts the laws created by the parliament of a different country, under a different crown.

For as long as those sitting in Holyrood insist in swear allegiance to a foreign crown and insist in continue to abide by the Scotland Act, Holyrood is not and will never become Scotland’s parliament. It is just a branch office from Westminster.

Westminster and its mini-me do not create “Scottish” law. What they create is “UK” law, which is other name for English law. Holyrood is therefore another back door through which a foreign crown is infest the body of Scottish law with English law.

The best demonstration we have had so far that Holyrood is not Scotland’s parliament was the way it was undermined by that unelected representative of the foreign crown parachuted into the Scottish “government” cabinet: the lord Advocate.

This unelected figure, by stalling the entry of that bill into Holyrood, effectively stole from the people of Scotland the power to control the legislative body.

Then, instead of bringing the matter to a crown in Scotland that would resource to Scottish constitutional law, she actually send it to a court in England ruled by English law.

So not only this unelected and undemocratic figure temporarily stole from the people of Scotland the control of the legislative body, she actually handed it to a foreign crown within a foreign court.

Why did she do that? That is easy. Because that figure of “Lord Advocate” is a gatekeeper for the foreign crown. When there is a unionist majority in Holyrood, there is no need for this unelected figure to be activated. But in the presence of a pro-independence majority, which could have comfortably passed that law, the only way to stop that bill becoming law without exposing the political bias of the monarch was by preventing its entry to be debated to parliament.

We saw the exact same when the previous Lord Advocate used every tool at his disposal to trash the Keatings case.

I question until what point the Scottish courts can lawfully refer to those “new” laws created by Westminster mini-me in Scotland and the English court called “Supreme Court” when dealing with constitutional matters affecting only Scotland as a nation, as that independence bill was.

I have also wondered if the real reason for that embarrassment to her profession Lord Advocate, chose to bring the matter of the referendum bill to an English court with English judges may have been because that would be the only way the foreign crown representatives in the form of judges could apply their favourite English law tool-for-all “parliamentary sovereignty”, which does not apply to Scotland.

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Mia

Reply to  Geri

3 days ago

I suppose there is nothing stopping Scotland at present having a consultative referendum on the monarchy.

But the result, if against the monarchy, cannot be implemented within the context of the ToU because the fundamental reason why the ToU came about was to ensure Scotland and England were under the same crown.

In fact, the ToU was a product of the English crown.It was that crown and its apparatchiks what pushed for, bribed the aristocracy and coerced people of Scotland into it.

Implementation of a republic in Scotland would, effectively, terminate the concept of “Kingdom of Great Britain” and, therefore, the ToU itself.

I guess this could be an avenue that should be considered if the British state and its useful idiots in Scotland continue to fabricate blocks to prevent us from use any other path to end the treaty.

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Ian McCubbin

Reply to  DougMcGregor

4 days ago

Well it’s been a while since Murrells were changed and Lord Advocate saying nothing.
The people of Scotland deserve some clarity either take the pair to court for a trial or decide there is no case to answer.
The latter seems highly unlikely so the only reason for no movement forwards has to be Westminster intervention.
But I might be wrong, ( pensive thought).

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Jason Smoothpiece

4 days ago

Amazing indeed how the Pol/COPS teams in the Salmond fit up, sorry prosecution, could get the whole thing done vert efficiently but in this case there are definitely delays.

I have my own thoughts on why there are delays but as far as the accused and the public are concerned this is unfair and possibly unlawful delay.

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Annoyed

Reply to  Jason Smoothpiece

4 days ago

Peter Murrell was a paid employee of the SNP, as such, the only power he had was the power delegated to him by the elected office bearers.
Ultimately, it is the said office bearers who bare responsibility for this mess.
The Party Leader and Treasurer are responsible for ensuring that the Parties accounts submitted to the Electoral Commission are a true and honest reflection of the Parties finances.
Quite obviously this wasn’t the case and therefore they bear ultimate responsibility.
There was enough red flags to warn them that things weren’t right.

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Mia

4 days ago

Is it known which figure within the crown office is stalling this prosecution?

Is it that dodgy figure of “crown agent”, which does not appear to have a like per like counterpart in England, who is sticking its finger in the pie again?

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Robert Hughes

Reply to  James Jones

4 days ago

But it didn’t happen in an independent Scotland : it happened in a Scotland subject to continuous * interference * in it’s affairs from our overbearing , self-assumed ” superior ” . You may be indifferent to Scotland becoming an independent nation ( again ) – I reckon the majority of English people are the same .Be assured – the Brit State/Establishment are not similarly indifferent. The task of the lavishly-funded U.K Security Services is ” to protect the integrity of the United Kingdom ” ; ” integrity ” in this instance meaning ” keeping together ” . Where do you think they would draw the line in order to preserve this ” integrity ” , banning Scotland from cricket competitions ?

These legal cases can be considered ” homegrown ” and no-one here is trying to exonerate the actions of those involved in them ; it’s how it’s now being ” processed ” that adds layers of complexity .

Just why is it taking so long ; what conflicting interests could be chafing ?

How can maximum advantage be gained by the Brit State and maximum damage inflicted on the cause of Scottish Independence ?

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Mia

Reply to  James Jones

3 days ago

“Isn’t it obvious that it’s taking so long only because the Scottish Establishment is protecting its own?”

No, it isn’t.

When it is controlled by the British state establishment, can you actually call it “Scottish establishment”? Can a foreign crown and its worshipers be considered part of the “Scottish” establishment?

The Crown Office, the crown agent figure, the Lord Advocate figure and the UK Civil Service are not part of the “Scottish establishment”. They are tools of the British state to control Scotland.

Who is dragging their heels in this prosecution to go forward? The crown office and, seemingly, the Lord Advocate who has decided to recuse herself.

Who has systematically threatened with prosecution for contempt of court and abused their position of power to suppress information from the public? The crown office.

Who started all the nonsense of the unlawful complaints procedure? That would be the UK civil service stationed in Scotland.

Who instigated the police to engage in a criminal investigation on Mr Salmond? That will be the collusion between a crown agent and the UK civil service stationed in Scotland.

Who suppressed information from their own counsel in order to ensure a civil case would continue well beyond it was logical and reasonable? That will be the corrupt UK civil service stationed in Scotland and whoever advised them to do so.

Wasn’t the previous crown agent a “former” MI5 agent?

Do you see a pattern?

I see the paws of the deep British state all over this.

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Republicofscotland

4 days ago

The Sturgeon appointed LA keeping stum – apparently she’s recused herself.

“Scotland’s top law officer has blanked questions on why the investigation into SNP finances has taken so long.
Dorothy Bain, the Lord Advocate, remained tight-lipped when quizzed by reporters in the Scottish Parliament today.”

” Chief Constable Jo Farrell said earlier this month the force hadn’t heard back and “was still awaiting direction from the COPFS.”

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Mia

Reply to  Young Lochinvar

3 days ago

“She needs to go”

The former Lord Advocate was not any better

The former to the former and responsible for the malicious prosecutions that are costing us tens of millions of pounds, was not any better either. Yet, all of them appear to have in common that the law does not apply to them.

It seems to me that the whole figure of “Lord Advocate”, foisted on us by the Scotland Act, needs to go.

Looking back, it is this unelected figure what has been responsible for stealing from the people of Scotland control over Scotland’s legislative power and ruthlessly and undemocratically handed it to the foreign crown. We have seen this with the way Bain handled the referendum bill and the way the previous lord advocate handled the Keatings case. None of them two were working for the people of Scotland nor preserving democracy. They were attacking it.

The direct interference of this figure in the legislative process in Scotland and their arrest of bills before they even enter our parliamentary chamber is the antithesis of democracy. It is in fact active suppression of democracy and imposition of absolute rule in Scotland by the back door. This is a direct breach of the Claim of Right and therefore the ToU.

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David Hannah

4 days ago

Time for a raid on Dorothy Brain’s office in Bute House.

I suspect her shredder is on overdrive.

Unfortunately. David Davis has a copy of the unredacted James Hamilton report.

The conspiracy. We know if was a conspiracy.

The games up Dorothy.

Time for a raid on her office.

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tamson

4 days ago

This article sums up something I’ve said for years. The Scottish judicial system was allowed to operate without any real governmental oversight for 178 years (between the Act of Union and the creation of the Scottish Office in 1885) and then without significant (or democratic) oversight for a further 114 (until the reconvention of the Scottish Parliament).

It is entirely unsurprising therefore, that it is so dysfunctional in comparison to most other judicial systems: it has almost literally been a law unto itself for 3 centuries, and it is only in the past 25 years that this has been laid bare.

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Garavelli Princip

Reply to  tamson

4 days ago

Indeed so, but what has made this even worse, is that the “reconvened Scottish Parliament” is no such thing; it is devolved administration of Westminster and has no effective means of holding to account the lawyers, who have indeed been running Scotland for 3 centuries.

And even worse, the Administration which in an independent country would have provisions to hold COPFS to account, has instead connived with it to undermine further the integrity of the justice system (even beyond its previous parlous state).

The list of its misdemeanours cited above would disgrace a banana republic – the implied levels of corruption and incompetence involved are truly monumental.

The first task of an independent county will be to dismantle the whole sorry cesspit that is COPFS – and introduce measures to reform the judiciary – beginning with ensuring that it no longer remains the domain of Edinburgh’s privately-educated haute bourgeoisie.

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Mac

4 days ago

(Jesus sorry sorry sorry I fecked up my email address yet again, twice!)

Just my opinion but all this good cop / bad cop(fs) explanation where the bad cop is ‘COPFS’ and the good cop is ‘Police Scotland valiantly trying to do its job’ is laughable shite.

Police Scotland is every bit as corrupt and ridden as COPFS. Maybe some lower rank investigating officers are a bit annoyed but clearly nowhere near enough annoyed to jeopardize their fat pensions and whistleblow. EVER.

This is all for show. Police Scotland would put the ‘Police’ into Police State in Scotland at the drop of a hat if ordered to do so.

It is dragging on because we all know why. Tiers… Scotland is a corrupt colony with a corrupt police force and corrupt judiciary.

Rules for thee but nor for me.

As we saw when they all set up a task force to frame Alex Salmond. And had him on trial in about 30 minutes.

But when it comes to Nicky. Ohhh but it is so
complicated, please mum, let’s write a letter to COPFS asking what to do, but they never replied, oh no what now, help, lets wait six months and hope it goes away, it didn’t, let’s wait some more…

Police Scotland are not being thwarted. They are just
part of the same rotten system as COPFS.

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wull

Reply to  Mac

4 days ago

As far as I know English lawyers have to do something like a one-year ‘conversion course’ initiating them into Scots Law before they can operate as lawyers in Scotland. Scottish lawyers have to do the same in regard to English law if they move to England or anywhere else in the UK. Yet there seems to be no such requirement for police officers. Apparently, their moving from an English force to Police Scotland can happen from one day to the next without any initiation into Scots Law (and presumably vice-versa)?

How is that compatible with the guarantees in the Act(s) of Union that the independence and particularity of Scots Law would always be maintained and respected. How can someone become a ranking officer in Police Scotland, or even its Chief Constable, responsible for the whole implementation Scots Law in Scotland, who has had no prior experience of police work in Scotland and, as far as we know, has never had any formal initiation into the distinctiveness of Scots Law?

Why is a ‘conversion course’ (or whatever they presently call it, since ‘conversion’ may no longer be a politically correct word!) so necessary for lawyers, and so unnecessary for police officers, even very high-ranking ones?

The present Chief Constable is not at fault for this: the mistake lies not in her but in the system. That mistake was unfortunately made during the SNP’s better times, when Alex Salmond was in charge. Alex did well in most things, including his clear separation of COPFS from the political executive, but the creation of Police Scotland was a terrible idea. Combining all the previously separate police forces into one, supposedly for greater efficiency, inadvertently opened the door to a higher-than-ever-before corruption in Scotland’s policing. It also led in practice to its greater politicisation, with an inherent potential for authoritarian government. A country needs several police forces so that, if something is going seriously wrong in one of them, an investigation can be launched from outside itself, headed by officers drawn from other police forces. This is also the only viable way to reduce to a minimum the possibility of undue political interference in such an investigation.

Police Scotland, as presently constituted, seems – alas – to be wide open to such interference, and thereby to all the potential for corrupting the justice system that comes with it. There were many faults in the way the Scottish parliament was set up, some of them deliberate, others inadvertent. These faults may nevertheless serve to highlight everything that is wrong with us constitutionally not simply in Scotland, but in the UK as a whole. It cannot go on like this. Things have to change.

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Vivian O’Blivion

Reply to  Sven

3 days ago

Uniquely in Great Britain (not sure about Police Service of Northern Ireland) Polis Scotland do not swear an oath to the Crown.

“I, do solemnly, sincerely and truly declare and affirm that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of constable with fairness, integrity, diligence and impartiality, and that I will uphold fundamental rights and accord equal respect to all people, according to law. ”

Did Jo Farrell (and others who transferred to senior managerial positions before and after the advent of Polis Scotland) swear the above oath when she “converted”?

In any case, the notion that a Chief Constable would be beholden to an oath (to the common folk) whether they are a transfer from outwith Scotland or the product of internal promotion is rather quaint and naïve. At this level, a Chief Constable (even for lowly Durham Constabulary) is a functionary of the Permanent State.

Sir David McNee and the Metropolitan Police is an apt illustration. Given that the Met is an accounting unit which contains / contained both Special Branch and the Special Demonstration Unit (do we really believe the later was disbanded never to be replaced?) which operated beyond the geographical boundaries of Greater London, the Chief Constable of the Met will be de facto ranked similar to a Deputy Director of MI5 (and their appointment vetted accordingly).

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boyce

3 days ago

Laws are crystal clear and potent to the poor who have no chance of fighting or defending themselves from them. But to the rich and powerful, they are opaque, misty, malleable, and open to interpretation like any crappy bible. If anything has exposed the real shallowness of how laws work against the poor and benefit the rich we just look at Scotland, or Trump and the US, and anywhere else in the world where rich control the laws and use them against the poor to protect their stolen wealth.

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Mac

3 days ago

Amazing interview with Lowkey by George Galloway. Starts about the 30 min mark. Talking about the infiltration of MI5 into politics. trade unions but also every kind of protest group you can imagine… it really is ridiculous.

He also talks about the tory guy who is likely to be their next leader… wow. Some things about him you need to know…

I knew it was bad but it just gets worse and worse the more you find out.

What a state the UK is in right now. It is shocking. I can’t see anything but civil unrest ahead. It is a wealthy country and it is not low tax. For it to be in the nick it is in is down to decades of cumulative corruption by one government after the other.

Who took out Corbyn, Salmond? Why is it that only the ‘knaves’ rise to power…

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Breeks

Reply to  Mac

3 days ago

Mac

…My only plausible conclusion is that the UK must have some serious structural / economic problems brewing that are so bad they see a major war as a way out for them.

Don’t forget the R Oligarchs who embezzled billions from the collapsing Sov Empire, and bought up high end London properties. (Ru$$kia hasn’t forgotten them…)

Similar pattern / story with Tel AV. Just ask Air Miles Angus… though he won’t give you an answer. He uses the same Sharpie Redactors as Honest John… Permanent stink… I mean ink.

The UK, including Scotland, in fact, particularly Scotland, has some of the most mediocre politicians money can buy.

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agent X

3 days ago

“They came forward with complaints. The behaviour they complained of was found by a jury not to constitute criminal conduct and Alex Salmond is innocent of criminality, but that doesn’t mean that the behaviour they claimed didn’t happen, and I think it’s important that we don’t lose sight of that.”

Sturgeon said the above about Salmond.

I think it is important to note that people have complained about the SNP finances – if it is found that Sturgeon is not guilty of any criminality it doesn’t mean that the behaviour complained of didn’t happen.

In other words under the rules set by Sturgeon – she can never be innocent.

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Vivian O’Blivion

3 days ago

I have been reading up on the Covert Human Intelligence Sources (Criminal Conduct) Act 2021. This Act was prompted by various scandals surrounding revelations regarding illegal activities of the Metropolitan Police run Special Demonstration Unit. The solution enacted by the Permanent State, was to legalise illegality. Kinda takes you back to 1930’s Germany don’t it.

The Covert Human Intelligence Sources (Criminal Conduct) Act 2021, allows for, criminal conduct to be ‘authorised’:
Reference section 5.
5) A criminal conduct authorisation is necessary on grounds falling within this subsection if it is necessary—
(a) in the interests of national security;
(b) for the purpose of preventing or detecting crime or of preventing disorder; or
(c) in the interests of the economic well-being of the United Kingdom.

The second reading of the Bill passed in October 2020 by 182 votes to 20. The SNP sat oan their hauns. Ian Blackford and Kirsten Oswald must have had a pressing engagement at the buffet that day. The House of Lords added amendments at review to prohibit the use of children and the mentally incapacitated as sources and assets, and to exclude murder, torture and r@pe from the list of activities that could be authorised. These amendments were thrown out back in the HoC by 363 to 267. Boris’ “Get Brexit Done”, super majority at work. Just wow!

So, who gets to authorise illegal activities by agents of the State? Well, that would fall back on the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, and this is worded so vaguely that just about any “public authority” can take it upon themselves to do so. I have a vague recollection (Private Eye I think) of a Local Authority in the south of England using intrusive investigative methods to see if applicants for school places really lived in the appropriate catchment area.

Polis Scotland are obviously an authorising authority, but even if the illegal activity is solely restricted to the jurisdiction of Scots Law, an authority from outwith Scotland can do the authorising (presumably without telling Polis Scotland). The rank or position required of the authorising individual is similarly vague. Does this require a Judge? Apparently not.

‍

Muscleguy

3 days ago

It hinges on whether Murrell is guilty. If he is so proven then attention falls on the other two who were also signatories to the SNP’s accounts. Under electoral law if you are in that position and shenanigans go on in the account you are responsible whether you knew or not, it was your job to know as a signatory.

I have been a party branch treasurer so I made damn sure I knew what legal jeopardy I was getting myself into which is how I know the above.

I think in that case normally the Electoral Commission would insist on a prosecution but in this case I suspect they are dispensable & COPFS should be able to handle those.

For justice to be seen to be done Mr Murrell needs his day in court sooner rather than later.

‍

Wings Over Scotland | The King And Queen Of Cringe

‍

sarah

3 days ago

Nauseating, intensely angry-making.

1. First pic seems to suggest that NS is bullet-proof so far as legal proceedings goes.
2. Second pic is further evidence, as if we needed it, that Swinney et al are perfectly comfortable as unimportant, insignificant, placeholders. For heaven’s sake, have they no sense of pride or of Scotland’s rightful place? Rhetorical question, of course.

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Tinto Chiel

3 days ago

The mindless, adolescent Selfie Generation strikes again.

Pic 1: Go Taylor, go! and other Grate Thotts.

Pic 2: Scotland’s real status confirmed as Swinney hums “Cap in Hand” quietly.

Meanwhile Scotland’s pensioners prepare to freeze this winter as the great new Energy Superhighway syphons off huge amounts of our resources down south for nothing.

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Republicofscotland

3 days ago

Council of Nations and Regions – an idea by House Jock Gordon Brown – is just another layer of colonialism – that will be used to undermine our Holyrood Parliament – and willing treacherous b*stards such as Swinney, will lap it up like the f*ckin dogs they are.

The other photo – showing a group of people who undermined Scotland – who lied to Scots – and who did, and are doing, their best to keep Scotland tied into this illegal union turns my stomach – they are evil.

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Anthem

Reply to  Republicofscotland

3 days ago

I agree. It should have been called the council of nations, period! Where England should have had the same representatives as everyone else.
It’s just another establishment construct to undermine the devolved parliaments by implying they are the same level of responsibility as an English region.
It’s colonial bollocks!

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Confused

3 days ago

And relegating your country’s status to some approximation of an english borough …

Some nationalists would see Scotland on the world stage, with status at the UN, even as a “stateless nation”. Instead our “Leader” (toom tabard) puts us on the same level as an english borough, which makes him like a mayor.

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Willie

3 days ago

If I may change the topic from the witches convention and the bewitched John Swinney has anyone picked up on Dubai Ports announcement that they are going to review the £1bn investment that had been scheduled for the London Gateway Port in Essex.

Being cast in the media as being a rethink about the investment because DP ports are annoyed with the Westminster government criticising their subsidiary for sacking British seafarers and replacing them with foreign workers, the cancellation of £1bn seems rather extreme.

Big foreign corporates make decisions based on anticipated hard cash returns and one cannot but help think this decision to review is not a vote of confidence for post Brexit Britain and in particular London.

Since Brexit the UK’s economy has continued to stumble and slump. And trade deals, the much vaunted Great British trade deals, have not emerged. Taken together it most certainly looks that Brittannia is and will continue to slide down to the charts and the Dubai Port corporate business knows it.

It’s just another signal of a broken Britain out of Europe, indeed at odds with Europe, at odds with Europe and on the wider stage unable to trade with the rest of the world.

Unlike a Scotland that has an export surplus which is growing, whisky, oil and gas, fish and agriculture exports and now the bonananza of renewable power.

And with all of this John Swinney wants to align us to, and play second fiddle too, his beloved Westminster masters.

Aye this article gives, a glimpse of the reality of what Scotland is shackled to.

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Robert Hughes

3 days ago

Fckn revolting , the lot of them .

Useless , self-satisfied , clueless-about-everything , other than their own fantasy self-image clowns n puppets n cunts that spend more on a pair of shoes than millions of people earn in one week n a wannabe global hard man a stoned worm could slap about continuing the hilarious delusion of * British * importance .

n that glaikit , freeze-dried eejit Swinney , grinning like a simpleton , over the moon to be in such V.I.P company n looking forward to his handful of peanuts for being such a nice , good-natured pet

boak -invokers one n all

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Robert Hughes

Reply to  Anthem

3 days ago

Prime example of the political neo-magic of failing upwards and being extravagantly rewarded for brave mediocrity n stunning hypocrisy . The reward is , of course , for being a compliant head-nodder n kid-on ” progressive ” ; never suggesting anything remotely radical – let alone manifesting such ; supporting who you’re told to support / condemning who you’re told to condemn : being gay helps , likewise ” Feminist ” ( that’s those new kind of ” Feminists ” who try to tell us brickies-in-drag are ” real women ” , 7 year old children ” know ” they are ” born in the wrong body ” and should be ” affirmed ” by having their genitals mangled & administered physically deleterious , life-altering drugs ) ; talk / express concern ( ie don mask of faux-seriousness when interviewed ) about imminent Climate Ragnarok ; be fully supportive of Immigration ( as long as the actual immigrants are safely installed in some working class ghetto ) . Above all support all/every military action instigated by W.M – however ill-judged , unnecessary , brutal .

Failure is the new Success , doncha know ?

Welcome to the Club

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Ian McCubbin

3 days ago

Starmer left with a police and MI5 escort. Guess he was so concerned about independistas and Pro Palistine protectors that he feared something.
Oh and Swinney is such a ("Quizmaster" - Ed) now he must be heading for a gong for services to English government.

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Mia

3 days ago

Representation of Scotland in England-as-the-UK parliament: 8.8%

Representation of Scotland in Sir Kid and Elderly Starver’s council of nonsense: 5.6%

Excellent. So they have managed to dilute Scotland’s representation even further, this time they pushed Scotland’s representation even below its demographic proportion. Even a province like NI has double the representation than Scotland does.

And the pathetic Swinney is smiling in the picture like the useful idiot he is for the privilege of demoting Scotland even further. He makes me sick.

“Council of the nations and regions” my backside. It is neither a council of nations nor a council of regions. It is just another British establishment made up quango. So, Is England not a nation anymore in Sir Kid and Elderly Starver’s head, then?

If there was ever any doubt, they have now completely dissipated it. Scotland is seen and treated as a colony by England’s labour party and leader. It will never change.

The labour party is not on the side of Scotland and never will be. It is working against Scotland and it is actively demoting Scotland at every opportunity this new quango is proof of it.

I am sure that having this council of nonsense in Edinburgh was done on purpose to rub it on our noses It is nothing but a modern display of colonial power for the benefit of the vassals. Those, like Swinney, who are falling over themselves to pathetically side with the Labour party and participate in this new stupid game of demoting Scotland even further, are not loyal to Scotland. They are working against Scotland.

Swinney is not representing Scotland in that quango. He is representing himself and his handler.

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Young Lochinvar

3 days ago

Meant to say; assuming this coven took place in the house of SHE who shall not be named (and whose left hand is always hidden) then; where’s Lavender Pete?

Clearly not behind the camera.

Not been seen for a while, has he?

Consigned to be the monster in the attic?

Or buried under the patio..

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Robert Louis

3 days ago

So the first pic, Sturgeon and her coven,discussing how to make a career from doing nothing. Mibbes pretendy ‘professor’ Kezia has the answer.

But, really these two pictures show what the real problem is, these folk are all really good chums. The arguing and debating, is just a game, their ‘job’ as they see it. Not one single person with a shred of integrity. People can see Swinney, Sturgeon and the rest for what they are, a bunch of lying charlatans.

As for John Swinney, any Scottish leader worth their salt would not have sullied themselves with such a meeting. A day return for the champagne socialist, and careerist, ‘sir’ keir, the English first minister, up to tell Scotland what they should do. Swinney happily nods along, giving a veneer of credibility to the fact the meeting was actually in Scotland. Doing England’s bidding, as ever.

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Dan

3 days ago

How will Freeports / Greenports fit in and comply with Treaty of Union articles.

Article IV
“That all the Subjects of the United Kingdom of Great-Britain shall, from and after the Union, have full Freedom and Intercourse of Trade and Navigation, to and from any Port or Place within the said united Kingdom, and the Dominions and Plantations”

Article VI
“That all parts of the United Kingdom, for ever, from and after the Union, shall have the same Allowances, Encouragements, and Draw-backs, and be under the same Prohibitions, Restrictions, and Regulations of Trade, and liable to the same Customs and Duties, and Import and Export”

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Tinto Chiel

Reply to  Dan

3 days ago

Dan, here’s the beginning of a PhD thesis for someome patient enough to list the number of times the ToA has been broken over the years. Of course, the MPs we sent down there have never had the political will to do anything about it and that was the case from the start of the “new” parliament of Great Britain, when the much larger number of English MPs were allowed to simply outvote the perpetually fewer Scottish ones, as Xaracen has described many times on here.

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stuart mctavish

3 days ago

Having bit of fun imagining where we might be in doubly inverted scenario where big John thrashed it all out across a table with David Mundell, whilst Nicola leant in for a giggle with Theresa May in celebration of an Ayrshire golfer running for POTUS last time around

(Def should have sent his Deputy, or even a special advisor, in pref to self gaslighting the national psyche much further tho’).

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PacMan

2 days ago

Sturgeon nae mates, reduced to hanging about with fellow SNP acolytes to fill the lonely nights.

Swinney, nae mates, lost in the “Council Of The Nations And Regions” with no influence or any hope.

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Lorna Campbell

2 days ago

Nicola and company? Couldn’t give a toss. All as useless as each other. Bye, bye, Sooty.

Swinney? He will sell us out all over again… and again… and again. Can we have your bids, ladies and gentlemen? Gavel swings and Scotland goes to the lowest bidder. Not even a reserve price.

Seriously, this conclave is totally against the Treaty of Union Articles. It is even contrary to all normal devolution rules. A city or region equal to a country? Only in the UK. Only in Scotland.

Soon, we shall be fighting over the scraps with Manchester, and we’ll lose. Not a prediction. Too obvious to be that. Has it not dawned on Swinney yet that ‘England’, the other ‘partner’ in the Union, still exists whole? We have England and the English cities and regions, and we have…well, Scotland, the other partner in the Union, equal to Manchester, until it comes to the allocation of funding. Wait and see.

A scam to give England funding many times over and then some.

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Liz

2 days ago

It’s obvious now he’s a Brit place man and always has been
He has one of those bland personalities that makes him seem reasonable, he’s anything but.

His job was to destroy the SNP from within but Alex Salmond saved the day the 1st time

He’s now in place to finish the task since AS has been removed from the SNP and there’s no one left of his calibre

A ("Tractor" - Ed) to the people of Scotland
Every bit as bad as Sturgeon

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Vivian O’Blivion

2 days ago

That first photie features:
Three Cabinet Secretaries at £97k pa.
One former First Minister on £72.2k pa.
One “Professor” on a minimum of £74 k pa.

Unlike former Prime Ministers, former First Ministers are not entitled to Public Duty Cost Allowance. PDCA was introduced in 1991 when Thatcher left office (I thought the Tories were all about small government). That abomination accounts for Liz Truss being entitled to £115k pa for serving 44 days in office. Sturgeon did however receive a one off resettlement grant of 50% of her salary when she resigned worth £83k.

The figure given for Dugdale is an absolute minimum. The University of Glasgow gives Zone 1 salary scale for Professors at £74k to £89.7k. If they were giving her the bottom of a Zone 1 salary two years ago for NOT performing the duties of a Professor, what are they giving her now that she is supposed to be imparting her wisdom full time to some poor unfortunate students? This assumes that her salary as a Professor in 2022 came out of the budget of the UoG, I tend to believe that it came out of the budget of Thames House (£3.7b financial year 21 – 22).

Does Dugdale still have a weekly column in the Courier and a monthly column in The Times (Scottish edition)? I can’t bring myself to look.

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stonefaction

2 days ago

Being reported on Twitter that Alex Salmond has died. Including Daily Record and STV accounts, as well as Neil hanvey, so appears to be true. Sad news. (Usual suspects gloating/revelling as expected).

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Confused

2 days ago

Big Lexo, he dead …

I saw this online, thought it was a joke.

Very
Fucking
Convenient

I hope they have a full postmortem and toxicology.

Best leader we ever had, and no one to replace him.

Watch all the shits who tried to bury him play the hypocrite, or worse, continue to kick the dead man.

Felt pretty chilled this afternoon up till now,

a disaster.

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Geri

Reply to  Confused

2 days ago

That was my first thought too. How convenient.

RIP Alex xxx A true legend…

They killed him either way because the stress & strain of the last few yrs of being falsely accused would’ve been fcking unbearable.

I hope his wife insists on a full examination.

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Geri

Reply to  Confused

2 days ago

Alex was tweeting fine just hours before his death.

1. Scotland was a country not a county. The Nations & regions was to undermine Devo.
2. Palestine, Lebanon, the UN peace & international law.
3. Called on Swinney to take legal action over winter fuel.

Still on fine form.

I took a wander over to X & glad to see the NuSNP are getting absolute pelters from the public. Bunch of backstabbing barstewards.

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Mia

Reply to  Confused

2 days ago

These are terribly sad, unexpected news. What a great loss for both his family and for the whole yes movement. A real tragedy.

Rest in Peace Mr Salmond. You leave very large shoes to fill and will be missed terribly.

The same as Confused, I cannot help by thinking that the passing of this great leader is indeed far too convenient for all that human sewage who was in line to be brought by him to court. It is also most convenient for the British establishment and the handlers of the human sewage. Far too convenient for it to just be seen as a mere coincidence.

I bet the human sewage both in Scotland and down in London will be opening the bubbly to celebrate.

I also expect that a full postmortem and toxicology report is conducted and reported in full. I don’t like how I feel about this at all. I cannot help it, but I smell a rat.

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Lorna Campbell

Reply to  Confused

2 days ago

Precisely. Listened to some of them. Loathe them even more now. Mr Salmond was hounded for the past few years. It was bound to tell on his health. Feel so sorry for Moira and his sister and other family. May he rest in peace as the greatest leader in modern Scotland. Those sh*ts could never hold a candle to him. Not in a million years.

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Tommo

2 days ago

I’m sorry to hear of his passing- though I did not agree with Mr Salmond’s politics he was a powerful politician and man. I hope this does not affect the painfully slow process of the law in Scotland; what of his civil ‘suit’ ? I don’t know enough to comment but I hope the uncovering of the shadiest political dealings in recent UK history can continue to clear his memory and identify wrongdoers

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Robert McAllan

Reply to  Effijy

2 days ago

My sentiments entirely Effijy. Scotland is the poorer for now on his passing. His funeral should be the largest turnout on the streets of Scotland not witnessed since the funeral of the late Clydeside revolutionary John Maclean. Respect, R.I.P. Alex.

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Anthem

2 days ago

I just can’t take it in.
Alex Salmond was the heartbeat of Scottish independence.
We should all be more determined than ever to ensure Sturgeon , her handlers and sycophants spend the maximum prison sentence for all lies, innuendo and corruption they used against him.
RIP Alex Salmond. A true leader.

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Blue white dynamite

2 days ago

If ever there was a time to rise up and fight the state, this is it. How very fortunate that AS dies and takes all the secrets with him. I hope it’s all written down somewhere. Can his family continue with the court case?

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Tinto Chiel

Reply to  Anton Decadent

2 days ago

Yes, indeed.

I will find it difficult to stomach now the public hypocrisy of the backstabbers in his party who set out to destroy him and the sullen gracelessness of others who doubtless will be unable to behave with any honesty or dignity as they secretly gloat.

Although he made political mistakes like any man, perhaps arising from his inherent decency or even naivety, he was such an imposing leader and threat to the Establishment that he had to suffer the fate as Parnell.

My thoughts are with Alex’s family in these sad times.

May the truth come out eventually to vindicate him and to bring his betrayers low.

“O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done.”

RIP, Alex.

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Marie Clark

Reply to  Tinto Chiel

2 days ago

I’m with you on that one Tinto. The hypocrisy of the backstabbers is vomit inducing. I hope that twisted wee besom has the decency to keep her mouth shut after all she tried to do to Alex. A very big loss for Scotland RIP Alex.

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David Hannah

2 days ago

Rest in peace Alex Salmond. I loved you. I loved your ideas and your vision for Scottish Independence. The dream shall never die. Your dream shall never die. Immortal.

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Republicofscotland

2 days ago

For me Salmond was neutralised – just like Willie McRae, or Robin Cook, who spoke out against the illegal war on Iraq in Westminster and wound up dead later.

Salmond had his day in court coming up, which would probably done considerable damage to those who tried to stitch him up – and it might also have set back the English states ironclad grip on Scottish politics.

Salmond will be a huge loss – as is Iain Lawson – many Scottish politicians spoke about Scotland in the present – but very few had the historical knowledge that Salmond had.

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Willie

2 days ago

Salmond was the heart of the independence movement. He ran the Brit state closer than we know in 3014.

After his stood down he was fitted up on charges of sexual misconduct. Charges that were exposed to be unfounded. He was awarded initial damages.

With the Hollyrood elections scheduled soon reports are that his ongoing legal case against the state would expose matters of the darkest nature.

A coincidence therefore that Alex Salmond dies in a foreign jurisdiction, and where that jurisdiction would be responsible for any investigation into his demise.

A coincidence too the timing of his death in relation to his legal case and the impending elections.

Or is it just a coincidence like Doctor David Kelly or Willie MacRae committed suicide. Salmond death certainly tidies things up – or does it.

Britain is at its weakest. It needs Scottish resources now more than ever. Oil, gas. hydro, wind etc. If Britain could go to war in Iraq, or employ death squads in Northern Ireland, this postulation of a conspiracy makes absolute sense.

Alex’s death raises many many questions. They need answers. This is not going away.

In the meantime we grieve for a true giant of independence.

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Robert Hughes

2 days ago

Speechless . Let a poet sing in ….

Praise Of A Man. ( by Norman MacCaig )

He went through a company like a lamplighter –
see the dull minds, one after another,
begin to glow, to shed
a beneficent light.

He went through a company like
a knifegrinder – see the dull minds
scattering sparks of themselves,
becoming razory, becoming useful.

He went through a company
as himself. But now he’s one
of the multitudinous company of the dead
where are no individuals.

The beneficent lights dim
but don’t vanish. The razory edges
dull, but still cut. He’s gone: but you can see
his tracks still, in the snow of the world.

Norman MacCaigfrom The Many Days: Selected Poems of Norman MacCaig (Edinburgh: Polygon, 2010)

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diabloandco

2 days ago

Scotland has lost its brightest and best voice , such awful news.

I cannot bear to watch the news as I think of all the presenters that insulted , sneered and continued to take him to ‘trial’ long after he was found innocent who will be seen shedding false tears.

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Garavelli Princip

2 days ago

This devastating news is desolate beyond words. We who love Scotland are bereft.

Now that the threat of this case coming before the courts is removed, I think we can safely predict that nothing at all will come of Branchform.

COPFS will find ‘no case to answer’ and/or ‘prosecutions are not in the public interest’

All threats to the Brit state are neutralised. It’s a British tradition.

Rest in peace Great Heart!

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Michael Laing

Reply to  Garavelli Princip

2 days ago

If that comes to pass, then the conspirators must be named. Let them be subject to the contempt that disgusting lying criminals deserve. The truth must surely emerge one way or another.

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Who Rattled Your Cage

2 days ago

Wonder if the wee psycho Sturgeon will admit tae hersel she helped chase her tormentit mentor intae the grave. Damned shair the years ay pain n worry she n her alphabetty scum pals put him through didnae help his health ony.

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SteepBrae

Reply to  red sunset

2 days ago

Desperately sad news. Condolences to Alex’s family. He really did inspire a generation and a whole people.

I am sure there must be folk from all parties who, over the years, have been inspired by his courage and honesty. In Westminster, how could he not have been an inspiration? He understood better than anyone how parliament worked and, as well as a razor-sharp intelligence, he had the guts to stand up and speak truth even when he was a lone voice.

His humanity shone through too. His policies while in government here made people’s lives better. His rhetoric was a joy to behold. He would illustrate a point with one of his colourful phrases and you’d get it and remember it. Was he not voted top politician in Europe in some poll ten or so years ago? And it goes without saying that it was he who brought the dream of independence alive. What a legacy.

As for the inevitable hypocrisy we’re seeing tonight, Alex had the measure of the lot of them. How privileged we’ve been that he carried on despite everything they threw at him. The truth must now see the light of day.

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Robert Louis

2 days ago

What terrible news. Alex Salmond, a king among mere mortals. Mr. Salmond had it. He really had it. More than that he genuinely wanted Scottish independence, and devoted his entire life to that cause.

How sad for his dear wife.

I must say however, how dare that evil, conspiring ghoul Sturgeon even dare to speak his name. Just a few short years ago, she, the cabal of witches, Danni Garavelli and Kirsty Wark, were literally rubbing their hands with glee, as they stabbed the man in the back. Those who condemned him in life, are litterally queuing up to appear on TV to sing his praises, what an utter bunch of two-faced, twisted sh*ts.

Mr. Salmond was better, far, far better, than all of them. Rest in peace Mr, Salmond, Scotland’s very own champion, our guardian, our Scottish king among mere mortals.

Such terrible news. So very, very sad. Desperate.

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Mac

2 days ago

Alex Salmond is Scotland’s first 21st Century martyr.

First martyr in a long time.

Look up the word, he fits the bill. Cost him his life.

He walked out of that trial looking like a corpse. That is what killed him. That was a living nightmare for anyone.

I don’t know how or why but this changes things. I feel my heart hardening to my enemies in ways that are new.

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aLurker

Reply to  Robert Hughes

20 hours ago

Craig Murray is explicit in what he writes about Alex Salmonds opinion of Liz Lloyd:

“He was also focused on Liz Lloyd, whom he believed to be an MI5 agent. He said that Lloyd had no connection to Scottish Independence and had initially been placed inside the SNP as an intern to an MP (or MSP, I forget) by a British Government graduate training scheme.
If you want to revisit today the conspiracy against Alex Salmond, I do recommend you read my affidavits in my own contempt of court hearing (as redacted for publication by the Crown Office).”

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Tinto Chiel

Reply to  Ian Brotherhood

2 days ago

Wow! Ian: political dynamite. I don’t think I’ve seen Afshin so energised and brutally articulate on any subject (and fully aware of the four-nation reality of the UK, unlike most of our politicians).

Imo Alex was a marked man from the time he described the NATO (that great “defensive” alliance) bombing of Belgrade during the war in Yugoslavia as “an act of unpardonable folly”. However, his decision to appear on RT, like a host of British politicians of all hues anxious for publicity, uniquely seemed to spook the Establishment horses and probably led to the fabricating of a case against him for sexual crimes.

No wonder, after seeing this, that the British State wanted RT silenced: great work from Rattansi himself, aware of Scotland’s poverty and resultant social problems and the utter corruption of the media and the political class here.

When I think of Alex’s situation as head of a party seething with collaborators, a slightly adapted phrase from Iain Crichton Smith’s short story “Home” springs to mind to describe him as an “emperor surrounded by prairie dogs”.

I pray justice rolls on like a river and his bearers of false witness are finally exposed.

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aLurker

Reply to  Ian Brotherhood

23 hours ago

If people are not aware, it is technically quite easy to continue watching the banned and blocked online TV channels like RT.

The simple technical solution is to find one of various proxy sites that operate for free.

So your browser can connect to the proxy, then the proxy relays the content from somewhere else, in this case from RTs servers.

So for example one might search for Afshin Rattansi s name thus:

link to odysee.com

And chose to watch the piece thus:
link to odysee.com

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Young Lochinvar

Reply to  Gordon

2 days ago

There is precedent.
After Longshanks had the Wallace – state show – murdered Scotland seemed bereft and adrift, if teeming under the surface.
The Bruce soon after fought a long hazardous journey, at huge personal loss (against now Comyn collaborators) as well as bit by bit booting the English out of their captured footholds in Scotland,
These Bruce had slighted to prevent the English nailing down the population again.

That’s what we need, someone who knows how the opposition “plays” so “plays” by different rules that their tiny straightjacketed minds just cannot comprehend.

Is there a phoenix to rise from this binfire?

I truly hope so but I sort of doubt it’s any of the current crop of self coerced placeholders..

That’s my hope for the future, somehow doubt I’ll live to see it but that doesn’t change things nonetheless.

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Daisy Walker

2 days ago

THE ROCKS, THE ROCKS,
DON’T MELT IN SCOTLAND
NEVER.
LIKE THE DREAM…
PASSED ON, LIKE A BATTERING RAM…
SPARSE, LIKE TRUTH,
LIKE JUSTICE,
FLUID LIKE THE DOVE OF PEACE,
LIKE THE HEARTBEAT OF HOPE AND LIFE,
CONTRAIRY, WITH INCONVENIENT FACTS.

THE ROCKS, DON’T MELT, IN SCOTLAND.
NEVER.
LIKE THE DREAM.

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Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh

2 days ago

Echoes…

SCOTLAND’S CONDITION AFTER THE DEATH OF ALEXANDER III IN 1286 (Anon)

Sen Alexander our king wes deid
That Scotland led in luve and lee,
Away wes sons of aill and breid,
Of wine and wax, of gamyn and glee.
The gold was changit into leid.
The frute failyeit on everilk tree.
Christ succour Scotland and remeid,
That stad is in perplexitie.

[When Alexander our King was dead
That Scotland led in love and law
Gone was wealth of ale and bread
Of wine and wax, of sport and mirth.
Our gold transmuted into lead.
On every tree the fruit crop fails.
Christ succour and restore
Scotland so beset with trials.]

[Nuair a bha Alasdair ar rìgh marbh,
a riaghail Alba le gràdh ’s le reachd,
theirig oirnn ar leann is ar n-aran
ar fìon is cèir, ar spòrs is tlachd.
An àite òir bha luaidh gun stà,
An àite measa, geugan seact’.
Fòir air Alba, a Chrìosd, ’s dèan slàn,
Is ann oirnn a thàinig an dà là.]

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christine

2 days ago

I am deeply saddened by Alex’s untimely death. He was an inspiring, compassionate and principled leader, a true Scottish stalwart. A master of language, of dextrous, flashing, brilliant eloquence, one of our great thinkers. “ Sapere Aude”, dare to be wise, was the battle cry of the Scottish Enlightenment, which Alex so epitomised. He loved Scotland and its people and we loved him.

He and his family had to endure a special variety of fear, when it occurred maliciously at the hands of his fellow human beings. It was blindingly obvious that Sturgeon and her woke-infested cult and “ bitches coven” conspired to destroy him. Does she know she is evil?

” We know truth, not only by reason, but also by the heart” Blaise Pascal

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Callum

2 days ago

For those who obsess about Britishness,
would do well to remember this.
As Westminster steals our nation’s bounty,
Scotland is a country and not a county.

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George Ferguson

1 day ago

I didn’t think the feeling of despair I had on the 19th September 2014 would be surpassed but it has this morning. A political giant, a once in a generation politician a massive lost to the Independence movement and to Scotland. The dream will continue as Alex would wish. The grief expressed by Geoff Aberdein and Jo Cherry this morning on the Sunday Show spoke for everyone in Scotland. Condolences to family. Some unfinished business to be concluded when the timing is more appropriate.

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sarah

1 day ago

Sara Salyers has put it well. Instead of “the dream will never die” she says Alex’s “legacy will never die” because since 2014 his work has put Scotland’s independence at the heart of everything. Alex showed us that Scotland’s independence is achievable and ESSENTIAL. It is not a dream any longer.

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Confused

1 day ago

While Salmond was around, and I assumed he would be for another decade, I thought indy was just possible, at say the 20% chance. It needed some things to happen.

– the Labour Party are currently making themselves as unpopular as the tories; by the time the next holyrood elections come the SNP will hope they can make a comeback

– but, a whole load of damaging revelations finally prove in the public mind, Salmond was stitched up, and it was a plot by the Murrell cabal (with spook assistance); the SNP are now finished, and with a significant representation of Alba at holyrood, things can get rolling again.

“we’re getting the band back together”

Salmond’s way was to be the least painful, the “velvet divorce”, and I don’t think that exists anymore, you have to think national liberation struggle, which is the domain of nasty and unreasonable men. He had a tremendous skillset – that popular touch, the ability to befriend (and convince) the public, but also a mind sharp enough to deal with the cunning tricks of the mandarin, and a strategic brain sitting over it all; he found creative solutions – the show on RT – that made his opponents seethe.

No one else has this “full package” I can see, and time is, as always, as was brutally just demonstrated, passing quicker than you realise – “it is later than you think”.

Let the proper ceremonials take place, knock back a dram in his honour, then

TIME TO DECLARE WAR

I think of the famous speech of Marc Antony at Caesar’s funeral (as imagined by england’s bard) – let us see to that these “honourable men” get what they deserve.

The papers will be full of shit today (i.e. more so than usual), best go for a walk instead.

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Robert Hughes

Reply to  Confused

1 day ago

” TIME TO DECLARE WAR ” : Exactly my thoughts , C . If ALBA is to continue , it desperately needs a leader who ( A ) knows the truth , eg re the machinations of the dark forces arrayed against Scottish Independence in particular n against the people generally ( B ) the courage to state this truth .

No more being ” reasonable ” , ie pretending this is just a question of * Democracy ” ( ha fckn ha ) and that winning our Independence is the same as winning an election . As if there is such a thing as a ” level playing field and all that’s required is to convince enough people of our argument and et voila – Independence will be achieved .

Anyone still believing THAT fairy tale needs to wake-up ; and soon .

Likewise no more playing by rules set by our opponents : more accurately ….our enemy .

First objective must be the total eradication of the perception the SNP is in any way relevant to our struggle . We know they have become just one more obstacle in that ambition . Wipe them out and , please , let no-one be swayed by the ” oh you’ll let the Unionists in if we don’t vote SNP ” .

The Unionists are already in ; just because the drape themselves in yellow , as opposed to red or blue , does not diminish the fact of their collusion in keeping Scotland in the bondage of * Union * . Their actions scream ” appeasement ” whatever words slither from their crooked mouths .

The current SNP is doing more damage to our cause than all the Unionist Parties combined .

Thieves in the Temple n snakes in the grass .

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Wings Over Scotland | The Giant

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Heaver

1 day ago

Beautifully said, Reverend.

And “his unworthy successor (whose name and face will not soil this article)” . Thank you for that.

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Andy

1 day ago

I never knew the man, but feel he’s a grievous loss to Scotland. The towering figure in Scotland’s drive to independence.
I hope his dream is fulfilled.

R.I.P. Alex.

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Garrion

1 day ago

Apologies for the repost.

The biggest piece of work right now is to ensure that Alex Salmond (if the family will allow) has a state funeral that both reflects the greatness of the man, and enables the full expression of respect and national grief that people have the right to express.

MMW, there is deep resistance to this. Anything which is likely to visually and inarguably demonstrate the scale of national respect and engagement with the issue of independence that exists is not in the interests of our overlords.

There will need to be campaigning on this. I don’t often go in for hyberbole, but there are people who would very much prefer that he and his legacy just quietly disappear.

Scots have a right to mourn and pay respects to Salmond, and they have a right to do that collectively and publically.
I would ask, if Stuart were willing, that we use Wings to that effect.

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Robert McAllan

Reply to  Neth

1 day ago

Let NO one ever forget, Alex Salmond was exonerated by a jury of his peers in the highest court in our country.

The hypocrisy of the conspirators and their collaborators who actively sought his political demise to the extent of committing perjury at his trial knows NO bounds!

Alex Salmond was a man of the people, let the people show the way and cast the hypocrites to the furnaces of Hell!

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laukat

Reply to  Chic McGregor

1 day ago

I would like to see both a funeral that members of the public can show how much Alex Salmond meant and that is fitting for the finest First Minister Scotland had seen however that is a matter for the family.

I would also like to see a march for Alex Salmond from the courts to Holyrood in the hope that some of the banners highlight the injustice and start to build some pressure to see justice done. Not sure if AUOB are up organising that but if not hopefully others with more reach are.

I stopped going to marches as I couldn’t face being lectured by nuSNP or Green grifters. For Alex Salmond I would walk the length and breadth of Scotland.

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John C

1 day ago

<i>He sought consensus and co-operation at every turn, seeing it as the only basis for a healthy future</i>

Possibly the last major UK politician to do so, & in fact few politicians in the UK in my lifetime have done so successfully. Blair did for a time, Charlie Kennedy did post Iraq til his party got rid of him, John Smith tried to but mostly it’s empty platitudes about ‘creating consensus’ from the likes of Cameron, Sturgeon & Starmer.

Salmond was also the last time a social democrat sat in the office of First Minister. True, he had major flaws such as his pandering to Trump over the golf course he wanted to build. Still, that period of his minority government & then up to 2014 is extraordinary for transforming Scotland. He understood how devolution worked, its limits & how to work within them to get the most out of what he had while at the same time, putting massive pressure on Westminster parties to get more. Taking the opportunity given to him by Cameron to make the referendum a binary question rather than including a Devo Max question was incredible. Taking support for independence from the low 20% to 45% was astonishing, and had he had a workable answer to the currency question I’m sure that Scotland today would be independent.

Hindsight’s a wonderful thing but I wish he’d never quit. He had to though having put everything on the result, and for a short while it seemed Sturgeon might kick on and build upon what Salmond did but sadly, we know how that turned out.

His death is a tragedy & he’ll be missed. I only hope now that David Davies uses his position & his power in the Commons to push on trying to get to the bottom of the conspiracy against him & finally Salmond gets some sort of justice.

And as for all those people crawling out the woodwork to call Salmond all the names under the sun, many of them care nothing for independence or even care about what he did. Hell, a decade ago many of them were still in primary school, but they knew they couldn’t defame him when alive but now he’s dead they can get away with it. These are Sturgeon/SNP/Green/Trans activists or loyalists & the gloating over Salmond’s death is something I hope comes back to haunt them.

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Liz

1 day ago

Shedding tears all day
Every time I read another tribute
What a loss

When we will see his like again
That fought and died for his wee bit hill and glen..

And we all know who stood against him
From the might of the British establishment to the minnows who, for the moment, will remain nameless

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Louise Hogg

Reply to  peter

13 hours ago

To Alex Salmond, every ‘disaster’, somehow became an opportunity and a challenge.

As a student of history, in a situation such as this, he would no doubt have told of the Scottish martyr Patrick Hamilton; burnt at the stake; the ‘reek of’ whose untimely demise in fact ‘set all Scotland alight’, for his cause!

Or humourously pointed out that William Wallace wasn’t just dead, he was chopped to bits and scattered far and wide! – And that didn’t prevent Scotland going on to regain her freedom, under Robert The Bruce.

The wives of both James II and James V outlived their husbands by some time. And in an era of male dominated leadership, one razed to the ground, the stronghold her husband had been besieging! While the other led Scotland to considerable political success.

We are presented here with an opportunity, setting Alex’ example before us, to spur us on to Independence.

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Ian

1 day ago

I’m generally the sort of person who is ambivalent when somebody I’ve never met dies. However, this time it has hit me in a way I just don’t really have the words to express.

I only wish I could have met him.

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Glenn Boyd

Reply to  Ian Stewart

1 day ago

Thank you Stuart for a magnificent and heart-felt tribute to a peerless man! I recall my surprise upon seeing Alex, out campaigning on the platform of Partick undergound station.”Hello, I’m Alex Salmond”, smiling warmly and proffering his hand to all. There were no cameras, no cynical hacks, simply Alex at his best and we all smiled in appreciation. It was clear this was a man of people like us……. No airs and graces, no arrogance, simply decency, openness and intelligence. Rest in Peace Sir.

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Alisdair Mclean

1 day ago

A true lad o pairts. I never met the man but today I feel as if a fond member of my family has died. This is a loss to the independence movement but I feel we must redouble our efforts. Alex, Winnie Ewing and Margot MacDonald and others will live on in our hearts and our memories. We owe it to Alex and these other icons of the independence movement to continue the fight.

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Katielass

1 day ago

A most poignant, and heartfelt eulogy for someone who deserved such a honest testament. No words today except – thank you. But I send my deepest condolences to you who I believe WAS recognised by this man as ‘your friend’.

You were a very HUGE part of his fight for freedom from this dishonest union. In his parley with you on stage, it was quite obvious he was grateful for your contribution to IndyRef1. You’re too modest to dare call yourself a friend, but given his attitude to you, I’d suggest you were – and more.

I feel such a sadness for his family and those who were close to him. They will be devastated. As will those outwith his family but who knew his humanity & his personal tendency to help where he thought he could. Many, many people will be TRULY mourning his passing and I’m so very sorry that such a good person is lost to you and to Scotland. Requiescat in Pace, sir.xx

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Shug

1 day ago

The SNP truly does have a death wish. Around me a see branches closing with no office bearers and no quorums but still they think they have a chance in 2026. They think Swinney is their saviour!!

Their only hope was unity with Alba now i see no chance and they want none.

I can only assume those plants are working to strangle the party and in return they hope to receive a seat in the HOL for their efforts at some point in the future.

They may well destroy the party as required but the UK has a reputation for not paying debts.

I guess Alba is now the only choice and a lot of work.

I look forward to an indy scotland with a statue if Salmond overlooking the parliament.

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Bolton Lad

1 day ago

Just for context, I’m an Englishman who thinks that Scotland’s futures is best served as part of the Union. But I strongly feel that it’s an issue that should be decided by Scots, and Scots alone.Having said that I mourn the death of Alex Salmond, arguably the most complete and accomplished politician of the last fifty years. His treatment by the SNP is beneath contempt. Hopefully, they will all get what is coming to them.Alex Salmond – a giant amongst pygmies.Rest in peace.

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Michael Laing

1 day ago

I too was absolutely disgusted by that SNP ‘tribute’ which I saw posted on Facebook, and in my comment on it I used similar words to yours regarding the SNP’s ruining of Alex’s reputation, erasing of him from its history and trashing and squandering of his legacy. Absolute hypocrisy on stilts. They haven’t a scintilla of shame.

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Alan Thomson

1 day ago

I hope you will be able to co-operate with David Davis to get some justice for Alex Salmond against those who conspired to try to jail him.

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Vestas

1 day ago

Way back in 1982 I found myself at a Scotland vs East Germany match (we won but it was dire) and in the same seating as us were John Smith and a host of labour up and coming aspirants.

Just along from that was a 20-something economist who looked like he’d escaped from a young tories conference he was so out of place.

My dad asked someone “who’s that?” and got the reply from John Smith – “That’s Alec Salmond, he’s a man to watch”.

Not wrong.

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Geri

Reply to  Gman

1 day ago

Exactly.

There was no more evidence of that than them deliberately setting out to divide & conquer the YES movement itself by setting up its own events to deliberately clash & undermine AUOB on the same dates.

Then there was the rejection of Ash Regan. Independence right there on the table – they fell over themselves to see who could row back the fastest across all media platforms.

The NuSNP are unionists. Not independence supporters. They favour devolution which is just a con because they know that’ll never happen either. They even appointed the author of the fucking vow – TWICE.

When the TRA shit took over they even openly bragged to “Fuck Independence” as the pampers brigade constructed a hit list of who they wanted removed from Holyrood & Westminster while Sturgeon ran to get them all a blankie.

That’s the SNP supporters & organisers..

As for MSP/MP they’re just as captured. Ample opportunity to walk, challenge, rebel, show integrity & principles but did nothing. It was only Ash who stood by her principles & stepped down.

Anyone advocating Indy need to put their differences aside with the NuSNP is not anyone serious about independence. It’d be like asking Indy to embrace & welcome the Tories to run our campaigns. Instant kiss of death to any endeavor.

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100%Yes

1 day ago

I weep for Alex and cry for Scotland that’s how important he was.

If the last ten years has told us any thing its that our modern politicians don’t have the skill our the will to see past their own greed and if they did they’d notice there’s an even bigger treasure trove at he end of the tunnel.

When Alex spoke only a fool never listened, for me the SNP is full of fools.

Wise men speak because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something.

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Marie Clark

1 day ago

Well done Stu, that can’t have been an easy piece to write. Thank you for doing it so well for the rest of us who maybe can’t express it eloquently
.
To Moira and Alex family and friends my heartfelt condolences. Scotland grieves with you, but your lost will be more keenly felt.

I’m not ashamed to say I’ve shed at tear or two, especially over Burns words at the end of the article.

Goodbye and thank you for everything Alex. You will not be forgotten.

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Alan

1 day ago

I am completely unashamed to admit that I cried when I heard the news. Never met him personally but, via my mum, he wished me all the best for my uni finals in 1992. Never forgotten that!

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Geri

1 day ago

A fitting tribute Stu in such difficult times.

I’m numb & keep greeting. That gut wrenching sinking feeling like that experienced on September 19th 2014 when he stepped down but this time there’s no coming back..

Scotland has lost a giant, a mentor , a font of all knowledge & a true statesman no matter where he was & he’s irreplaceable. A real man of the people, as you say, regardless of whether it was a grand town hall or just down the pub. Fae diplomats & dignitary to Indy dugs & weans.

He gave the Unicorn a good shake & woke it from its long slumber – for a split moment in time a majority for YES took the red pill & there was no going back. Scotland was bouncing with optimism & hope – for the first time in 300 yrs we’d actually something to vote for. The summer was hot & the Commonwealth games were on. Scotland was buzzing. Alex Salmond did that. He did it all with one mandate too & a handful of MPs, as shown by later yrs – he did it all on his own with a bunch of backstabbers & bad actors waiting to capitulate back to London rule the moment he stepped down & kill off all the good work he had done & return us back into our box & the hum drum of our shite state of affairs.

RIP Alex, gone but will never be forgotten. Sincere condolences to his widow & to all of his tue friends of which there are legion xx

I’m reminded of this from an interview he gave a while back to the Big Issue. He regretted resigning. I believe we’d be independent by now if he’d stayed on …

In typical Salmond style, though, it’s a moment of peak hope he chooses to dwell on. “For me, 2014 was the best of times and the worst of times,” he recalls, a tad dreamily. “The worst because of what happened in the end. But there was a wonderful day when I realised we were in with a real chance. I was in Dundee and I saw a big queue of folk standing in the sun beside the statue of Desperate Dan.

“I asked a guy why he was queueing and he said he was waiting to register to vote. I asked why he wasn’t on the register and he said: ‘Listen, I haven’t been on the register since the poll tax. We’re here because for the first time there’s something worth voting for.’ That was a real moment. That was a real manifestation of something. I knew, despite the commentators and charlatans, I knew… we had a chance to win.”

link to bigissue.com

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Alan

1 day ago

I am a Unionist in Scotland but will miss Alex dearly. He was the greatest leader we ever had and a rare example of a politician who genuinely respected and understood the average Scot. Most importantly, he knew how to debate and disagree with others respectfully and without any hint of moral judgement towards his opponent – this I believe was actually his most subtle but effective persuasive power. It is a quality that is so badly needed now, particularly in Holyrood. Scottish politics has become the home of political discourse that is so dreadfully mediocre by comparison and those who have come to occupy his shadow owe a greater debt to Alex than they will ever admit. For Scotland, his influence and character will be desperately missed.

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SteepBrae

Reply to  Alan

1 day ago

‘Most importantly, he knew how to debate and disagree with others respectfully and without any hint of moral judgement towards his opponent…’

Absolutely.

Yesterday, in his speech at the Cultural Diplomacy Forum, Alex explained why this respect is so important. He ssid:

“You certainly need leadership because usually to get that [legal] framework in place requires the leaders of various parties or countries or factions to go beyond their own particular interest and try to understand the interests of the other side”.

His final words spoke volumes:

“…respect for legitimate democratic aspirations leads to good outcomes. Disrespecting it in one way or another, and often surprisingly, can lead to bad outcomes for everyone”.

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Southernbystander

1 day ago

Around 2013 I was driving up from Yorkshire, up the east coast to the Orkney ferry and turned on the radio which defaulted to BBC Scotland and Alex Salmond was being interviewed. Like most English I think, to that point I had not taken a huge amount of notice of the independence question but on the whole thought the ‘better together’ idea made sense and the nationalist politicians I had heard did not appeal, in the same way people like NS never would. My first though was oh, here will be another ‘nationalist’.

But there was Alex coming across as a thoroughly likeable man, the sort you could have a great talk with no matter your view on Scotland’s autonomy. I was very impressed by him including his arguments and general worldview but also his attitude to England and the English which was clearly very friendly, and I liked him thereafter. I came across a few other Scots on that trip and in summer 2014 in Galloway who were also up for a genuinely friendly chat about the matter and having heard Alex, it made me more open too. I remember one couple in a hotel who I got on with great and wished them success in the referendum. I subsequently changed my view to being a supporter.

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Anne

1 day ago

Alex Salmond was a great man .I encountered him quite a few times both during the referendum and as a member of Alba but I remember him most in 2015 when he spoke in st Mary’s cathedral in Edinburgh to a packed and rapt audience about the great hero Thomas Muir ,who was transported for demanding manhood suffrage in 1793.
Alex spoke for two hours without notes and when asked at the end where he would have been if he had been around when Muir was deported to Australia after a trumped up trial,he said ‘ In the boat with Thomas of course’.
Thomas Muirs speech from the dock August 1793
‘I have devoted myself to the cause of the people.It is a good cause.It shall ultimately prevail.It shall finally triumph’

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Al Harron

1 day ago

He did more for our people and our nation than many will ever know. He is a generational man – an epochal man. Name another Scottish politician whose accomplishments could match his. He is beyond that. He is in the realm of national heroes, and in time, we will make damned sure that the lies and the smears and the falsehood are washed away in a deluge of truth.

Martin Luther King was despised at the time of his death, for his socialism, for his private life, for daring to upset the social order. Then, when he died, all of a sudden everyone was outpouring their sorrow & grief – people who not a few days before were making salacious & unfounded accusations, now suddenly writing hagiographies. It makes me so furious, so heartsick, to see the equivocators & thoughtless turn so many people against him – but then, does this not put him in the finest company?

He should have lived well into old age, enjoying his patronage of the many Scottish institutions which owed him so much. He should have lived to see the work done. But he will have to make do as a martyr, a symbol for the cause. The bones of El Cid were carried into battle to lead his people to victory: we’d do well to figuratively carry his memory forward too.

To those who turned their back on him, who betrayed him: we will do everything in our power to make sure you never do this again. He has becoke more powerful than you could possibly imagine.

For the irony was that as long as Alex Salmond was alive, he was extending the olive branch, even to those with poisoned blades at their backs. And we respected his decision, for his sake after all, who has greater cause against the phoney Scottish Government than him?

Now that he’s gone, any hope of salvation for you is gone too. The full might of Scotland’s justice will be delivered upon you, and there will be no way for you to escape it. We will not be criminals, or thugs, or perjurers; we will not hide behind innuendo or leaks or any of the weapons you employed. We will use only Scots law and Scots justice, against which every Scot must weigh their heart.

Alex Salmond may have forgiven you. But we never will.

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Lulu Bells

1 day ago

Like us all I am gutted and heartbroken and I have no words.
I went around by his house yesterday morning to leave some flowers. STV was already there and asked if they could film me laying the flowers and interview me to understand what he meant to me. I declined of course and made a hasty retreat as other similar vultures were arriving.
The famous YES sign is still there, despite attempts to have it taken down and the Saltire is at half mast as is mine.

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Radical Cartoons

1 day ago

Wonderful tribute, Rev. I always liked the fact that he and his wife kept their private life out of politics. Back in the day when they got married, such an age gap was much more controversial than it would be today. I’m sure they had to put up with lots of abuse. He honoured and protected her. I never believed the accusations for one minute, a pathetic attempted honeytrap by his enemies in the SNP. He will always be the greatest Scottish politician of my lifetime.
What I’m afraid of, as an English Nationalist, is that your cause will die with him.
RIP.

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Mac

1 day ago

Feels like I have lost a close friend. But it is far worse.

What a loss to Scotland. Such a brilliant guy and such a decent human being. A rare combination especially in politics.

Consistently brilliant every time I watched him dismantle one media hack after another, for decades. It was him I believed in, not the SNP.

One of the good guys. Feels like Scotland has lost a Guardian. It really does.

People in Scotland are going to realize just how much they have been relying on Alex Salmond to ‘have their backs’ for a long time now.

They say you don’t really know what you had until it’s gone and that is something I think a lot of people will be feeling now. I feel it and I thought I knew his worth…

A king brought down by a rat. Someone he trusted, who betrayed him and all of us. Both their legacies are now set in stone.

Alex is going to leave a massive hole in all of our lives. I am truly gutted, hollowed out. What a loss.

RIP Alex.

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Mia

Reply to  Mac

21 hours ago

If I have to be honest, there is a part of me that does not believe and will never believe that this was simply a matter of “natural causes” and his health taking its toll. He was about to bring down the whole rotten edifice and this brings back memories of Willie McRae, who was too just before he died.

How quickly some pundits in the British establishment have rushed to portray him as a “divisive” figure, their relentless attempt to gaslight us all and their sickening attempts to make some culpability stick to him despite the ruling of innocence by the jury, makes me think there might be a little bit more about this than a simple case of a, convenient, accidental death.

There is something else. Unionist pundits are rushing to claim that Alba is finished without him. This is odd. In some ways, Alba may benefit from having a different leader to Mr Salmond over whom they cannot continue to ping the rubbish of the criminal case. My perception is therefore that these bastards are still bent on destroying his reputation and getting Alba out of the way.

There is no denying that hIs untimely death was wonderfully convenient for the British establishment, the UK civil service and the disgusting human detritus who conspired against him, stabbed him in the back and who are now hiding like the cowards they are within the ranks of the SNP, Scottish gov, UK civil service and secret services.

But it was also convenient for other reason: the Holyrood 2026 election. This is less than two years from now and it may be sooner than 2026. The SNP is in free fall and decoupled from the independence movement. There is no doubt about it. And it is only going to get worse. We all know it.

It is obvious that the establishment wants a labour government in HOlyrood in 2026. The SNP has been helping them with this pursuit by inflicting self-destruction and controlled demolition over their own party.

But there is a huge threat to this pursuit: the fact that hundreds of thousands of SNP ex voters are refusing to transfer their vote to any unionist party. The turnout in one of the council by-elections in Dundee recently was only a meagre 22%. That is no longer democratically representative. Almost 80% of the electorate in that ward refused to engage with politics. That is a sign that the system is falling. With turnouts like this, they can no longer claim they have a mandate.

There is a huge proportion of the electorate that is disenfranchised. If re-enfranchised, they will become the biggest threat to any political party. The worse that can happen to frustrate that aim of having labour in control is if those ex-SNP voters transfer their vote to Alba/ISP. Then the British state is fucked. They might be able to hide spoiled ballots as “invalid”. But they will not be able to hide hundreds of thousands of votes for Alba unless they actively rig the polling boxes.

When you see things from that perspective, then you start to understand why they are so obsessed with (actually desperate for) writing Alba off.

The question for me is: are they incompetent people attempting to make predictions, or are they paid for propaganda mouthpieces actively disinforming us to put us off from voting from Alba? In other words, are they predicting what will happen, or are they managing expectations by “telling” us what will happen beforehand?

They conflated the SNP with the pro-independence movement. So, their idea was that if the SNP was politically dead, so would be the independence movement. That strategy failed.

Now they are trying to conflate Alba with Mr Salmond and make us believe that, without him, the party cannot exist so it would be a wasted vote.

The recent death of Mr Salmond may actually boost the number of votes Alba gets as a sign of respect for Mr Salmond and as a pay back to the conspiring human detritus hiding within the SNP ranks. I wonder if the British state is anticipating this and, to neutralise this effect, it has already deployed its propaganda mouthpieces in full swing.

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Robert Hughes

Reply to  Mia

20 hours ago

An overweight man of 69 who liked his food and drink , probably didn’t do much – if any – physical exercise and – in Alex’s case – had endured a couple of years of extremely stressful uncertainty re his future freedom , had his name , character and achievements dragged publicly through the MSM sewer would not be a surprising candidate to suffer a fatal heart-attack . And that is exactly why he would be an easy candidate for assassination .

We don’t KNOW if the * official * version is true , and have no way of determining if it is ; but , like you , I’m deeply suspicious of this * official * version

How easy it would have been given the location in a ” friendly ” country to slip something into his food either by placing an agent amongst the kitchen/restaurant staff , or simply employing a compliant local . Spooks are always happy to do the dirty work for other spooks , as long as they are on the same side .

It’s all just too much of an extremely fortunate convenience to take at face value .

I’m not buying it

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Mia

Reply to  Ian Smith

19 hours ago

“There will be everything to play for”

Absolutely. There is a large proportion of the pro-independence electorate that is crying for a political party to vote for.

There are people in the yes movement that want to vindicate Mr Salmond and that Holyrood election may just be the ticket.

If the human filth behind the disgusting conspiracy against Mr Salmond are exposed before 2026, and a link between that conspiracy and the security services/British state apparatus is made public, that election will get really interesting.

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Graf Midgehunter

22 hours ago

Even in death there are some scabs in politics and the MSM,who still try to subtlety stick the knife in.

Severin Carrell and Libby Brooks.

“In March 2020, Salmond was prosecuted on 13 charges of sexual assault, including sexual assault with intent to rape. He was acquitted of every charge yet the trial heard some complaints were dealt with quietly by some of Salmond’s officials; some complainers admitted they downplayed their experiences at the time to avoid undermining Salmond’s independence campaign.
Even his lawyer described Salmond’s “touchy-feely” behaviour as “inappropriate”.

?One confidante suggests he remained unwilling to reflect on his own part in this, and still believed strongly the charges were the result of a conspiracy.”

The Guardian today. I’m not going to link to the scum.

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aLurker

Reply to  christine

19 hours ago

Craig Murrays remarkable fortitude and persistence has resulted in some of this evidence, such as it can be, to be available to read in deminished form (redacted by the courts).
Clearly the authorities did not wish to acknowgledge its existence.

Craig Murrays affidavits

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Alf Baird

Reply to  Dan

33 minutes ago

Yes Dan, continued English language domination (and hence Scots language subordination) is a major impediment holding back independence. This gives the people a confused British identity which is a cultural illusion and forms a key element in the colonial hoax.

The cringe and a colonial mindset is the outcome, which normalises the racism and internalised racism involved in colonial domination.

The first thing a liberated people grasp is their ‘rusted tongue and moribund culture’ (Fanon).

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Mac

1 hour ago

“What he endured – the apparatus of the state turning against him – would have broken many people, but not Alex.”

Coming from the senior partner at Levy & McRae it is very clear that they all knew exactly what they were dealing with.

It is an absolute scandal what was done to this man. It changed my perception of the UK irreversibly. What a squalid rancid shithole of a country run by utter fucking scumbags. Fuck them forever.

To Mia’s point above, yeah it is all very convenient and given that they already tried to effectively kill him by sending him to prison (during a pandemic) you’d be crazy not to be suspicious here.

They have so many ways to kill you, induce heart attacks, cancers… it is a big part of what they do. And yeah these services all do each others killing for them, that is part of their dirty little secrets. If MI5/6 can’t do it on UK soil they enlist Mossad, the CIA to do it for them.

That court case was a problem for them. And Alex was a thorn in their side that they tried and tried to remove but he would not go away. Bless him.

Yes he was looking very unhealthy but that just presents more of an opportunity. Perfect timing…

We will never know Mia but I for sure have my suspicions. Given what was done to him, how could you not. So bloody convenient for them…

I occasionally forget he is dead and then it pops back into my head and it is awful all over again.

I did not realize Salmond suspected the repulsive Liz Lloyd of being MI5. Makes a lot of sense.

When you see the ridiculous infiltration by MI5 going on of utterly trivial activist groups (e.g. protecting hedgehogs etc) you realize that the SNP must be hoatching with them. All political parties…

Democracy in the West is a sham. The treatment of Alex Salmond and the Scottish independence movement taught me that. I will never forgive and I will never forget what they did to a great and decent man who tried to play by their rules…

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Mac

21 minutes ago

My own view Mia is that things have happened since that mean we must reexamine what really happened in 2014.

What we know now is that the 2020 US election was rigged. And the main method they used to do it was postal votes.

If they are prepared to rig a US presidential election there is zero doubt they would rig the Scottish referendum. And they used the same modus operandi…postal votes. It worked once so just do it again.

Once you remove the suspicious postal votes the referendum was much closer than 45/55. ..a dead heat almost. It may even have been a marginal YES. It really did not take much to swing it.

I think this ‘true result’ in 2014 is what actually signed the death warrants of the SNP, the independence movement and ultimately Alex himself.

That is why they crushed and destroyed everything even after their ‘comfortable’ 55% No vote win.

Because it wasn’t comfortable at all. We scared the living shit out of them and we did not even know it at the time because they had their thumb on the scales.

This is why they went after Alex like psychopaths post 2014. Not because he lost, because he won.

Look at what they have done in the 10 years since 2014….Everything is a smoking ruin. That is not bad luck or a coincidence. That is enemy action.

It feels like we have had our future stolen from us. Somehow the death of Alex has really brought it home.

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