In true Primary 4 fashion, she went on to delightedly tell me about very unflattering personal comments that her unnamed "friends", seemingly extremely senior people in the party, had been making about me in private as long ago as 2021. Apparently my "card was marked" (whatever the hell that is supposed to mean) from the very first NEC meeting I attended three years ago, because I had been observed during that meeting and deemed to be lacking on what sounds like very crude "survival of the fittest" criteria. The implication is that I was in some unspecified way 'blackballed' from that moment on, and that my predicted expulsion will be the natural culmination of that process.
It's reassuring to learn that I and others haven't unknowingly been living through some kind of Kafkaesque dystopia over the last three years. If these taunts were in any way meant to dissuade me from my belief that Alba is in dire need of total root-and-branch reform, I must say they're having completely the opposite effect. I'm not naive enough to think other parties aren't just as bad, but incrementally these incidents are causing me to reflect quite a bit on how politics in this country needs to change, and change utterly, no matter whether independence happens or not. Essentially politics needs to be humanised.
Hopefully this will be my last post about Alba internal politics for a while, but I'll keep you posted if there are any significant developments.
Well done James. They'll continue on bullying you and others.
ReplyDeleteIf your not a yes man then you're against them.
You'll be accused next of being part of a cabal.
The bullying within and outwith the party is off the scale. All day there has been bullying ex-members by leading Alba people including the wife of Kenny MacAskill and the husband of Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh.
ReplyDeleteWhat on earth is going on in the party? The culture has grown more and more toxic
I hadn't been aware of that, so I just had a look and Zulfikar Sheikh used the phrase "wee gang of malcontents", word for word, three times yesterday. So that's Shannon Donoghue, Yvonne Ridley and Mr Tas all repeatedly using that identical language. HQ seem to have issued some sort of style guide for bullying.
DeleteThe phrase I didn’t leave the party it left me has more resonance this morning.
DeleteShrinking horizons. Back in 2021, Alba was targeting 16 to 24 list seats. Now realistically they're only viably targeting 4 to 8.
DeleteAlmost everyone vying for those "plum" spots is opposed to democratisation. It's much easier for them to lobby one elector than it is for them to campaign for thousands of votes(!).
Alba are getting no list seats. Zero. Are you talking about being on the list rather than getting the necessary votes?
DeleteOh I know they're getting zero. That simply means only the first seat in each region is theoretically targetable - eight places. For a party with twenty to fifty oversized egos, that's fatal.
DeleteIn 2021, for example - Hanvey was second on the list for his region. Do you think he'd settle for that going into 2026? Exhibit A: the first person on the list in 2021 was Eva Comrie, who is no longer an Alba member.
Iain Cameron on Twitter is talking about rooting out the rest of the ‘behind the scenes’ agitators
ReplyDeleteMight be you
I saw that as no one is allowed an opinion. If you have an opinion you are an agitator. I mean come on.
DeleteIsn't he the guy who seems genuinely convinced I'm my namesake, the former Labour MSP?! Why that James Kelly would have joined Alba is a bit of a mystery, but that's what he believes!
DeleteIllegitimi non carborundum. You're the grain of sand in their oxters, and at least they have to pretend to be honest.
ReplyDeleteAs for "some wee blog" in the last article, SGP was a go to site during Indy Ref, and will be again unless Indy dies.
The behaviour I have seen from Alba members today has been diabolical, but the behaviour of HQ sounds much much worse. Youre a target now James and sad to say I think pissing into the wind.
ReplyDeleteSalmond’s character and judgement are shot through. Why James is persevering with these people is beyond me. As for SNP, it has been infiltrated and effectively destroyed. Shameful and unforgivable.
ReplyDeleteAlba has become just another joke clique like the SSP and Solidarity (do they still exist?). They have had opportunities to grow, and they have squandered chance after chance.
ReplyDeleteI can't understand why these Alba people behave so badly towards their own supporters. Have their purity and idealism blinded themselves to the fact that no-one who has heard of them take them seriously. They have made themselves into a distraction, and maybe that was the point.
Deletemetaphorically speaking but aren't they all in bed together?
ReplyDeleteSo in other news the SNP have lost two Holyrood votes due to the unionist parties backing the Greens. Could that indicate we're heading for an early Holyrood election if the same thing happens in the Budget vote?
ReplyDeleteWe've had a BBC Documentary on the Salmond v Sturgeon relationship, widely panned by many.
Salmond has written an article reflecting on the 2014 independence campaign as we're approaching the 10 year anniversary of that day.
There's also an event taking place this Saturday at IMAX Theatre at Glasgow Science Centre (tickets still available): "The Scottish Independence Referendum 10 Years on... The Ayes Still Have It!"
Guest Speakers include:
• Alex Salmond - Former First Minister of Scotland and the man that delivered an Independence Referendum.
• Joanna Cherry KC - Lawyers for YES.
• Dr Philippa Whitford - NHS for YES.
• Michelle Thomson MSP - Business for YES.
• Stuart Campbell (a.k.a Wings Over Scotland) - Author of the Wee Blue Book.
• Alex Neil - Former Cabinet Secretary.
• Fergus Ewing MSP - Former Cabinet Secretary.
• John Ferguson - Political Editor of the Sunday Mail.
• Bernard Ponsonby - Veteran Broadcaster
• Kirk Torrance - SNP New Media Strategist (2007-2016)
• Denis Canavan - Chair of YES Scotland.
• Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh - Board member of YES Scotland.
• Lena - 16 years old and is a World Schools Debating Champion.
Finally Shauny Boy has released his satire documentary "Nicola Ferguson Sturgeon: THE TARTAN MESSIAH" well worth a watch for a good laugh!
Nice bit of diversion from the story line.
DeleteGood line up!
DeleteThe chances of the SNP following the democratic will of parliament is zero if it is everyone but the SNP's will. Going by the abstentions, it's not even their own MSP's will.
DeleteStuart Campbell? Malevolent wee weirdo. Whoever is organising this event is either completely naive or completely stupid, or maybe both. Unionists 1 Indy 0. We really are screwed.
DeleteStuart Campbell- really? I wouldn’t go near that guy with a barge pole to Bath
ReplyDeleteQuite telling that Salmond chose to write an article for Wings.
DeleteALBA is a failed project just as SSP, ISP are too. They are on the fringe of a fringe group of malcontents.
ReplyDeleteThe issue is though is that tens of thousands of people left the SNP and they've dropped significantly in the polls.
DeleteAlba, ISP etc have failed to attract most of those people but the root causes for why they left the SNP in the first place haven't been addressed either. Leaves us stuck.
Leaves you stuck.
DeleteAlba doing the same things that the SNP did. Guess what is happening? Yep. Couldn’t make this up.
DeleteScotland's last oil refinery will close next summer, its owners have confirmed.
ReplyDeleteThe Grangemouth site will become a much scaled-down fuel import hub in the second quarter of 2025, Ineos has said and they have warned four-fifths of the workforce face losing their jobs.
SG should compulsorily purchase this site using inter alia H and S and public policy grounds. Needs to be imaginative but can be done. If it’s closing, shut it and take control. Confrontation is inevitable, let’s pick our battles, and this is one of them.
DeleteI heard rumours it’s full of discarded bits and pieces like the old coal bings. Make the brexiters clean it up.
DeleteAs if there was any doubt about it, Alex confirmed that He thinks that loyalty is by far the most important thing in politics. I forsee James getting booted outed of any managerial position and possibly suspended.
ReplyDeleteMaybe WoS guru will fill his place. Nothing would surprise me with that shower.
ReplyDeleteI did say that Alba had attracted from the SNP certain nasty elements
ReplyDeleteTheir biggest USP was their anti trans stance, everything else could already be done by the Greens i.e. an independence supporting list party
Though didn't the Greens say that independence isn't a red line for them?
DeleteAlso their antics which forced the resignation of Humza Yousaf and their their rhetoric since leaves a lot to be desired. They're highly hinting that they're going to vote against the SNP's budget (resulting in an early Holyrood election the pro-indy movement isn't ready for).
It was really Humza's antics that caused that kerfuffle
DeleteIt's every party's right to try and win concessions in the budget for their support
I'm not sure any of the parties are ready for an early election