Fears mount that uber-authoritarian Christina Hendry may have to expel her own future father-in-law from Alba for refusing to follow direction from the party over its support for peace in Ukraine

There was a tweet the other day claiming that Ukraine was very close in 2023 to agreeing a peace deal with Russia that would have involved them becoming a neutral country - but they were supposedly talked out of it by Boris Johnson, who wanted them to fight on.  My reaction was to ask what is so terrible about neutrality that it was worth sacrificing so many lives to avoid - after all, neutral status has often been an honourable and elegant solution for small countries that are caught in the crossfire between major powers and that wish to preserve their independence.  Perhaps the most pertinent example is Austria, which after World War II could easily have suffered Germany's fate by being partitioned and seeing its eastern regions become a Soviet satellite state - but instead they offered to accept permanent neutral status, and Soviet troops withdrew.

It was predictable that my tweet would provoke a negative reaction in some quarters, because people have been encouraged to have wildly unrealistic expectations of what a good outcome for Ukraine will look like.  For many, nothing short of a total return of all Ukrainian territory (including even Crimea), and absolute freedom of action for Ukraine to join any international organisation they wish, will do.  Well, that's a fine ideal, but in the real world there's simply no way of putting it into practice.  Given the overwhelming odds the Ukrainians faced, coming out of this war with their independence intact and with 90% of their territory intact would in the long run look like victory for Ukraine, even if it entailed some imperfect compromises.  

It's interesting that at least some of the people who insist that Ukrainian sovereignty is only real if it is absolute and unqualified refuse to extend the same principle to Palestine.  Remember that even the most liberal Israeli Prime Minister of recent times, Ehud Barak, was only prepared to offer Palestinian statehood on the basis that a large chunk of internationally-recognised Palestinian territory would be annexed by Israel, that the Palestinian state would not only be neutral but totally demilitarised, that Israel would hold an absolute veto on the international alliances Palestine could enter into, and that Israel would control Palestine's airspace.  That is a much worse deal than anything that is likely to be imposed on Ukraine, and yet people who are sovereignty-absolutists as far as Ukraine are concerned tell us with no apparent sense of irony that the Palestinians were irresponsible to reject Barak's offer - or even that their rejection showed that "they don't actually want a state at all".

One of the sovereignty-absolutists who accosted me on Twitter was called Bob Reid.  This was someone who I've come across before, and I always assumed that he was the father of Alba HQ's resident wonderbairn Robert Reid.  But I had come around to thinking his name must just be a coincidence, because after all the Alba Party is very much pro-peace in Ukraine - the most recent policy statement I can find says that Alba thinks a cessation of violence must be the absolute priority.  

And remember that the Reid family is the exemplar of Alba uber-authoritarinism.  Robert Reid's girlfriend Christina Hendry, and his mum Jackie Reid, both sit on the party's Disciplinary Committee and have enthusiastically expelled people for making public statements that contradict the party line.  Ms Hendry has repeatedly expressed the view on the committee that Alba is a sort of secret society and that rank-and-file members must not hold any dissenting opinions at all unless they are only heard behind closed doors.  So I assumed it was highly unlikely that Robert Reid's mum would be allowing Robert Reid's dad to publicly contradict Alba's policy on peace in Ukraine.

And by God, was this man Bob Reid contradicting the policy.  His statements were becoming so extreme that they would almost have been comical if the subject-matter wasn't so serious.  It's not unusual for warmongers to be accused of being "armchair generals" who are only happy for young men to be sent to their deaths because they know nothing of the realities of war themselves.  But Mr Reid was subverting this jibe by insisting I only supported peace because I was an armchair general in a comfy armchair - with the clear  implication being that if I'd actually seen war and fighting and death up close I'd absolutely LOVE it and want lots more of it because TO SEND YOUNG MEN TO THEIR DEATHS FOR ZEE FATHERLAND IS GLORIOUS!!!!  

He went on to make the mind-bending Orwellian statement that "peace has to be fought for" and that the war would have been perfectly "winnable" for Ukraine if only western countries had supported them full-bloodedly.  The flaw in this theory is of course that full-blooded western support would have involved direct conflict between NATO and Russia, which in all probability would have turned into World War III, gone nuclear, and ended human civilisation.  That's certainly not something Alba have ever cheerleaded for.

So surely, surely, SURELY Bob Reid's name must just be a coincidence and he can't be the dad of Alba's Robert Reid?  I honestly thought so, but then in the midst of all his ranting and raving about me being a peace-loving armchair general, he randomly threw in the line "which party are you with this week, James?"  So I checked his Twitter profile and it was full of retweets of Alba propaganda.  I then asked around and was told that yes, this guy is Robert Reid's dad and almost certainly an Alba member himself.

That being the case, I can now answer your question, Bob.  It's quite true that I recently rejoined the SNP after several years in Alba.  But you and I both know how that came about.  Your own wife (logically Jackie Reid must be either your wife or your ex-wife) and your son's girlfriend were two of the four people who voted to expel me from Alba because I had expressed dissenting views that contradicted the leadership line.  With glorious irony, by publicly attacking me for supporting peace in Ukraine, you have done exactly the same thing - you have made public comments totally contradicting the Alba leadership's policy on a key issue.

Logically your wife and your potential future daughter-in-law will now have to expel you.  It's unfortunate, but what can be done?  Remember that Kenny MacAskill himself has said that people are only welcome to be Alba members if they are willing to "follow direction from the party", which you are clearly refusing to do.

I believe the saying is that tragedy tends to repeat itself as farce.

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In other Alba news, Chris "Disgruntled Employee" McEleny, aka "Mad Dog", has emulated his ally Ash Regan's infamous thermometer moment from 2023 by announcing that he wants to set up a new town and call it "Independence".  I suppose we should just be grateful that it's not Salmondville.  I'm not sure whether this sort of thing plays well with certain segments of the Alba faithful, but even if it does, it's at the cost of making the party look utterly ridiculous in the eyes of the wider public.

Presumably the reason for the timing of this story is that McEleny is finding it tough to get enough nominations to even reach the ballot for depute leader - as of this morning, he was apparently only 45% of the way there.  I suspect he'll still make it, but the fact that he's finding it such a struggle does not bode well for his chances when the ballot takes place.  I wouldn't be surprised if Neale Hanvey defeats him by a 3-1 margin or greater.

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Coming up in future installments of "THE ALBA FILES"...

* How Chris McEleny got an Alba member expelled for making a harmless joke about him on Twitter

* Tas getting it all off her chest via the medium of email

* The Alba leopard and how it changed its dots

plus much, much more.  Stay tuned.