I have owed an explanation and I now feel free to give it.
— Craig Murray (@CraigMurrayOrg) March 1, 2025
I was elected to Alba national exec last year and declined to take up the post - thus disrespecting my nominators and voters.
In truth, Alex phoned me and asked me to decline. He said there was somebody else he needed to…
Craig did you witness my public resignation? Did you witness me then being called a bitch a witch, a troublemaker and a racist? All for posting that the NEC had been engineered and asking for the results in full. Alba needs a massive reset.
— Leanne Tervit (@LeanneTervit) March 1, 2025
I did, and not only you Leanne. A number of people left the party, with more or less noise, at that time. I was very sorry for it.
— Craig Murray (@CraigMurrayOrg) March 1, 2025
Alex had asked me to stand down in a conversation he had specified was confidential. At that moment I knew nothing about the much wider problems…
Are you kidding?? Rejoin that? No way Craig. You missed the bullying out of many candidates? Maybe you didn’t care but some of us did care an awful lot, yet we were smeared for asking for our results and raising the alarm. I can’t believe you turned a blind eye to cheating
— 💚🤍💜 Can’t Wheesht, Won’t Wheesht (@m1lllavvies) March 1, 2025
I did care a lot. Alex asked me to stand down in a conversation he said was confidential. I did not know at that moment about what had happened to other candidates, I thought it was just me. But when I gound out I still felt bound by the confidentiality.
— Craig Murray (@CraigMurrayOrg) March 1, 2025
It was all strange but I…
Handy there’s nobody to corroborate.
— Middle class woman of a certain age, can be stern (@ipa1869) March 1, 2025
I believe Tasmina was with Alex at the time. And I told a couple of people at the time in confidence - I think Barrhead Boy and Wings.
— Craig Murray (@CraigMurrayOrg) March 1, 2025
Can confirm.
— Wings Over Scotland (@WingsScotland) March 2, 2025
The same thing happened to me. I was standing for Organisation Convener two days before voting reopened Alex phoned me and asked me to withdraw.
— Denise Findlay 💚🤍💜 (@gracebrod1e) March 1, 2025
Like Craig I did as Alex asked.
He didn’t tell me the reason but asked me to do it out of loyalty to him. https://t.co/5tGHmvPvvZ
Although I believe this is the first time Denise Findlay has spoken publicly about the pressure Alex Salmond put on her to withdraw from the re-run of the Organisation Convener election, it won't be a surprise to readers of this blog, because I touched on it in my post about the rigging of the 2023 internal elections. As you'll recall, when the elections were first held in October 2023, Ms Findlay was re-elected as Organisation Convener and Jacqui Bijster was re-elected as Membership Support Convener - but those results were 'unacceptable' to Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh, who had seemingly given Mr Salmond an ultimatum that the election of both women had to be stopped somehow. So Mr Salmond stepped in to prevent the results being announced, and then simply nullified the results - which he had absolutely no power under the Alba constitution to do, but he somehow bluffed his way through with a ludicrous cock-and-bull story about a non-existent "black dossier". He then announced the elections would be re-run in December, but the intention was always to ensure that Ms Findlay and Ms Bijster weren't even candidates second time around, because they undoubtedly would have won again. So Ms Findlay received a phone call from Mr Salmond putting totally inappropriate pressure on her to stand aside, and exactly the same would have happened to Ms Bijster if she hadn't already long since withdrawn in disgust by then.
What's new to me, though, and I think new to most people, is the revelation that Craig Murray received a similar phone call from Mr Salmond putting pressure on him to step aside after he had already been elected an Ordinary Member of the NEC, and that like Ms Findlay he had reluctantly gone along with the demand. This is entirely consistent with what I was told in early 2021 about Mr Salmond wanting to model his new party on the Brexit Party with himself in total control, and with no internal democracy. I believe he had a rethink after reflecting on how bad a look that would be for any left-of-centre party, so he eventually accepted a system of internal elections, but he never intended that to be anything more than window-dressing. The plan was always to get the people he wanted "elected" by any means necessary, no matter whether fair or foul.
The 2023 elections were manipulated and distorted from top to bottom. The sheer scale of the fiddling looks almost comical in retrospect. The office bearer elections were rigged by the means set out above to overturn the legitimate victories of Ms Findlay and Ms Bijster. The elections for Ordinary NEC Members were initially rigged by means of the notorious pay-per-vote system (and it was done in such a cack-handed manner that the exact results had to be hushed up to prevent people bursting out laughing at how implausible they were), but it seems even that wasn't enough for Mr Salmond and Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh, who quickly got rid of several of the people who had been elected, with Craig being the most high-profile victim (albeit a semi-voluntary one).
I have to say I think Craig is being astoundingly naive in his repetitions of the article of faith that Mr Salmond must have done what he did for good reasons and in the best interests of the independence cause. The reality is that we already know with a high degree of confidence that Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh's jealousy was the reason for the ousting of Ms Findlay and Ms Bijster, and with all due respect to the Sheikh family (like others, I'm a huge fan of the Great Zulfikar Sheikh), who Tas feels jealousy towards has got absolutely nothing to do with whether or not Scotland becomes an independent country. I don't know what the reason was in Craig's own case, but I'd be amazed if it turns out to be any more legitimate. To be blunt, I very much doubt that Mr Salmond told him the truth at the time - I don't think the reason had anything to do with wanting a specific person on the NEC, because if you look at who replaced Craig, there's no real logic for Mr Salmond being so desperate for that to happen. I think it had much more to do with negative reasons for not wanting Craig on the NEC - and those reasons are more likely to have been Tasmina's rather than Mr Salmond's.
As someone who was elected no fewer than six times to various internal roles within Alba, including once as an Ordinary Member of the NEC, I've thought at some length about how I would have reacted if after being elected I'd received the dread phone call from Mr Salmond telling me to withdraw out of personal loyalty to him, simply because he preferred to have someone else in the role. I've written many times about how Mr Salmond was my political hero from the age of 16 until very recently, but frankly if he'd done that to me, no matter how much charm he'd deployed, I'm pretty certain I'd have told him to take a running jump. I'd have said to him that what he was asking was absolutely bloody outrageous, and that he appeared to have no understanding of what democracy is meant to be all about - or no true belief in the concept, at any rate. It's not supposed to be about one man making de facto appointments (under severe pressure from one woman) and everyone else dutifully rubberstamping them for him.
No wonder I was expelled - it was only ever the truly obedient and subservient who were welcome in the Alba Party. It's just a pity that wasn't explained to us in 2021, rather than all the endless guff about a "member-led party". It would have saved so many of us a great deal of stress and upset. We didn't sign up to be used and dumped like that.
I say in all seriousness to the decent Alba members who have not yet been expelled or bullied out of the party that they have literally one last chance to save their party from oblivion, and that will be later this month when the issue of constitutional reform comes up at the party conference. Nothing less than full democratisation and one-member-one-vote will do - and even that won't be enough, you'll need to build in safeguards to ensure transparency and to prevent behind-the-scenes manipulation of elections. Squander this last opportunity, as the leadership will be pressuring you to do, and I truly believe your party will be finished forever. It might stumble on indefinitely as a sort of "zombie party" (like the SDP did after 1990, or as the SSP did after 2007) but in electoral terms it will be an irrelevance and the public will forget it even exists.
Worrying or what. Craig then tells wings and Barrhead person! Are they member of ALBA?
ReplyDeleteIf they are then Alba is really scraping the barrel.
DeleteWings isn't, but Barrhead Boy was at the time. From memory, he was the person who was initially announced as the replacement for Craig on the NEC, but he too declined and was replaced by Josh Robertson. I believe he resigned from the party not too long afterwards, although I'm not 100% certain about that.
DeleteThey were a trusted part of the ALBA ecosystem.
DeleteLOL. Well, that's one way of putting it.
DeleteCraig Murray stood for George Galloway's Workers Party of Great Britain in Blackburn at the last Westminster election. Considering that Galloway is a unionist and opposed to Scottish independence how does CM reconcile that with being a member of the pro-indy Alba ? By the way, one of the donators to Galloway's party in none other than Andrew Tate's brother !
ReplyDeleteWe should cut Craig Murray some slack in all of this.
DeleteFew people have done more and sacrificed more for human rights.
Kier Starmer has probably done more for human rights as a human rights lawyer. Mr Murray appears to be mentally unstable and has recently gone from spearheading the dictatorship of the proletariat in Lancashire to hiding from his family in Beirut.
DeleteStarmer, very much former human rights lawyer. Ask the Gazans.
DeleteAnon at 5.56. At its most charitable he is naive. He is a danger in my opinion. His conspiracy theories are off the wall.
DeleteIn confidence of course.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting you mention the SSP. Despite their very obvious personality-driven split, it strikes me that a genuine 'socialist' party could and should do very well in the climate. I'm not sure if it is poor organization and leadership, because I do think I there is a fertile niche that they could carve for themselves quite separate from the SNP and the Greens.
ReplyDeleteProbably not enough room given SNP's strong positioning.
DeleteThe SNP is socialist? I've heard John Swinney and Kate Forbes called many things, but that's a first!
DeleteThe SSP was a one man band, as far as the public was concerned. In 2003 it flourished along with Tommy Sheridan, but when his reputation was publicly destroyed, their support vanished overnight, along with their chances at any electoral success ever again.
Colin Fox hadn't a chance. The split didn't help, but even if they'd stayed together, it really was all Tommy as far as anyone was concerned. He was ruined, and Scotland's socialist movement was ruined too.
Looking back, Tommy Sheridan's downfall was a warning sign for trouble to come for Alex Salmond. When they take out a star like that, they destroy the whole movement around them. Alba failed on contact with the electorate in 2021, just like RISE and all the other microparties of the left.
Sheridan wanted his fellow SSP members to perjure themselves.
DeleteIronically Sheridan will be on the 'Ordinary Member' ballot for Alba's NEC.
DeleteFred McKarno's circus rolls on.
ReplyDeleteFunny Barrhead Boy and wings never mentioned it. So much for openness!
ReplyDeleteThe reverend was in Barcelona at the time.
DeleteTo be fair to Stu Campbell, he's hardly ever mentioned Alba on Wings at all!
DeleteI get that he considered himself Salmond's buddy, and "in confidence" means something on the phone. It's not this incident I’m moaning about. It's the fact that Wings Over Scotland hardly ever lifted a finger to help Alba at all.
Why was that? What was the problem? It's not like Stu had it in for Salmond, or that he was afraid to split the SNP's vote!
Campbell never got over the disappointing realization that his would-be Wings party wouldn't amount to anything than a dead loss.
DeleteStu is a realist he knew after the 2021 election the game was up as far as an Alex Salmond party was concerned
DeleteHe remained friends with Salmond but he cares about his reputation and wouldn’t it his reputation on the line for a party that was failing
Stu Campbell's reputation! 🤣
DeleteDidn't the judge say he had no reputation to lose?!
DeleteInteresting that Roddy MacLeod aka Barrhead Boy said nothing of this at the time. This does not show him in a very good light at all. His supposed friends were being attacked at this time and yet he kept it to himself?
DeleteTo be fair to Barrhead Boy (not a phrase I've ever used before), he did resign from the NEC in protest at what was happening. I don't know why he didn't speak out, but he did make clear by his actions that something was seriously amiss.
DeleteIn fairness both live abroad.
ReplyDeleteWhile telling us Scots how to run our country.
DeleteWhy?
ReplyDeleteSalmon - a giant amongst the Alba liliputians.
ReplyDeleteNot sure that's the moral of this story
DeleteQuite!
DeleteWhy didn’t Stu Campbell expose what was going on he knew but stayed silent.
ReplyDeleteAlba weren't the SNP, that's why.
DeleteI'm not really sure that I'm going to listen very hard to anything from a member of The George Galloway Brit Party.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, who would have thought that Alba would create its own Podgy Dossier as a pretext for control?
A lot of this won't be a surprise to many who were active in internal SNP campaigns on NATO membership and the monarchy in Salmond's day. On these matters and others, the leadership either heavy-handedly used their influence to steer conference votes in its direction (NATO) or outright ignored the vote if they didn't like it (the monarchy). Sturgeon inherited that culture and expanded it.
ReplyDeleteBut at least the SNP under Salmond and Sturgeon was an electoral colossus, so you could tell yourself that the suffocation of internal democracy is just the price that parties pay to be successful. Alba are carrying on like this while their crowning achievement is fourth place in a cooncil by-election in Wemyss Bay.
I once saw Sharleen Spiteri in Wemyss Bay. She was easting crisps but I don't know what flavour.
DeleteI once saw Celine Gottwald in Stockbridge eating smashed avocado.
DeleteGlenn Campbell away with your drivel.
DeleteIf they hadn't got Nato through we'd have as well just not bothered having the vote. Same with monarchy. An argument for another time.
DeleteSometimes internal democracy isn't great shakes if it means members out of sync with population at large.
Salmond argued Scotland must be a NATO, EU, Commonwealth member under the Crown.
DeleteExactly 9.45
DeleteA vote winning policy
I remember seeing Carole-Anne Puffnidge and Shannon Donoghue destroying a bottle of Nuits de Bocquefast in Coatbridge. It was about 18 hours ago.
DeleteWere they naked?
DeleteIt is a matter of enormous regret to all of us in the Alba Party that Chris McEleny has chosen to personalise this.
ReplyDeleteThe personality of Chris McEleny is a matter of enormous regret to many people who have been in the Alba Party.
DeleteWhy was Salmond going to such lengths to appease Ahmed-Sheikh? Was keeping her happy worth driving so many people out of the party?
ReplyDeleteHe was getting more in return from her than is widely realised.
DeleteAnon 7:30 Legs Akimbo, you mean?
DeleteIt’s the obvious answer. An open secret.
DeleteShe was valued for her political nous, her experience of all those political parties she was a member of.
DeleteYes, if Roy Castle's Record Breakers was still going, Tas would be on it every week. She's been in the Tories, Labour, the SNP, Alba...and maybe Reform before the year is out?
DeleteIsn't Tasmina bankrolling the party, and therefore Salmond's lifestyle while he was still its leader?
DeleteWhen the *owner* objects to decisions by the management, only one of them can win that battle.
"Huh ! What about us, eh?" - the Lib Dems.
DeleteWasn’t Tasmina his long term partner? My understanding is that they’d been together for over ten years
DeleteI thought everybody was writing about Tasmania till I read the messages more carefully. What am I like!
DeleteSo it was another husband and ‘wife’ at the top of a political party. Same disastrous results
DeleteAnon at 11.20. Any evidence for your assertion? Is there not a more obvious explanation? I would.
DeleteVery statesmanlike media performance by Swinney.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely becoming more statesmanlike
Impressed by his tone, poise, and serious approach.
You're paid per post, right?
DeleteIt’s A I.
DeleteCraig Murray’s naïveté is clear a for all to see. Speaking as a Dundonian who has long experience of him, unfortunately he’s a liability not an asset due to his frequently poor judgement. Having said that, I can attest that he genuinely means well and is an honest bloke, more’s the pity.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that his heart is in the right place but he is naive and so easily misled. Any claims he has made about A S must be questioned. Not good for Alba.
DeleteCraig was one of the originators of the conspiracy theory over the prosecution of A S was he not? And we are still waiting for the explanation of why the police and prosecution service, both of which we were told, were controlled by N S, were able to shrug off that control and launch the hugely damaging police investigation into SNP finances and N S. I have asked the two most prominent (in the sense of number of posts) posters on here to explain this in the past. Rational answers there were none. Craig’s naivety saw him egged on to commit a criminal offence which landed him in jail. The cowards, including posters on here and the Bath bampot slinked off into the shadows and abandoned him to his fate. My personal opinion of course. The implications of the revelations on here over the past few days are widereaching. Anything emanating from anyone associated with Alba, now or in the past, has to be looked at in the context of these revelations. The BBC and MSM, when it suits their purpose, are going to have a field day. What an absolute shambles.
DeleteSo 1 main candidate for ALBA’s top job probably knew what was happening. Still going over old blogs the sermon on the mount type speeches from ALBA, Wings and the rest does seem hypocritical. Still I am sure it must all be the SNP’s fault that they have been “exposed”.
ReplyDeleteKenny McAskill knew everything
DeleteHe was complicit
SNP baaad !
DeleteBaaa!
DeleteAnon at 10.43. Anyone in Alba holding any official position must have known. Yet still they asked us to support and vote for them. Do we want them in the Indy movement?
DeleteThe bullying continued. And that’s why many people left because they couldn’t be associated with the bullying. The people that stayed continue to abuse those that left and make up bizarre theories as to why hardworking supporters left.
DeleteIt’s simple the leadership of Alba are toxic bullies and being a member of Alba is bad for your mental health
John Swinney not only knew everything and was complicit he tried to cover up everything as well.
Deletenaa , naa, na , naa na. John Swinney doesnt know everything and based on your post neither do you anon 1142
DeleteAnon at 11.42. Any evidence for your claims? No? There’s a surprise. Back to WOS and Daily Heil land for you.?
DeleteAnon at 11.42. J S knew everything about Alba goings on? Idiot.
DeleteRats in a sack. Alba, WOS, Barrhead Boy, Craig Murray. All it seems against transparency. What a surprise.
ReplyDeleteI don't know about Murray, but the others loathe the SNP more than they loathe the unionists.
DeleteSo Alex Salmond was the bad guy all the time, so what, thousands of us knew that but the usual suspects all defended him, except now he's gone and can't bring down a vendetta on them, so they feel they must speak out now
ReplyDeleteMake you vomit the lot of them
Speaking out is more to do with the fact that Alba internal elections are on at the moment. But look at the abuse the alphabetties endure. Do you honestly think any women would tell the truth about Salmond without the protection of anonymity?
Deletealex salmond was so good at the raping he could do it to women who weren't even there - he did it with the power of his mind
Deleteor else woman H should be up for perjury
That's Magic.
DeleteWas reported yesterday: “Shameful delay to Salmond probe on perjury is slammed. Crown Office still to conclude investigation four years after first complaint, say lawyers.
Delete“A Crown Office investigation into perjury during the trial of Alex Salmond has still not concluded - despite it being almost four years after the initial complaint was made.
“The allegations were first raised following the trial of the former First Minister, who had faced a number of sexual assault charges.
“It is understood the perjury claims relate to alleged contradictions in evidence given by a witness subsequent statements by the same witness to an inquiry into the Scottish Government's mishandling of harassment complaints against him.
There is a similar shameful delay in the cases of Nicola Sturgeon and Peter Murrell. Any thoughts?
DeleteThe Scottish court system is so fucked there is a 3.5 year backlog for murder cases. Any thoughts?
DeleteThat means you spend 3.5 years in a Scottish prison on remand even if you are innocent. Murrell's lucky he only got a court order to disallow him from property sales in the meantime.
DeleteIt’s depressing that when you try to get discussion going you still get snide posters like anon at 9.09. It’s ruining this btl. Shame.
DeleteAnon at 9.36. You made that up. Or lied to be more blunt. How are things in WOS and Daily mail land.
DeleteCraig finishing of the job Sturgeon started it seems.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile Sturgeon effectively neutered and silenced by a dodgy police investigation and deliberate Crown Office delay to ensure a cloud of suspicion stays over the SNP for the Holyrood 26 election. Unionist forces are destroying thenIndy movement and people can’t see it because of their blind hatred of Sturgeon. The irony is colossal.
DeleteWhat indy movement?
DeleteWhat Indy movement? The one you are clearly not part of? The SNP bad brigade is more your thing.
DeleteThe alt Indy movement -Alba, ISP, Wings, Barrheid Boy, Peter A. Bell, Fergus Ewing, Scotland will be free in no time at all !
DeleteIs it not maybe that Salmond needed half decent folk in post as real politik?
ReplyDeleteHaving nice but dims wasn't going to get them anywhere
If they were so dim, how come they beat his Chosen Ones in party elections?
DeleteHonestly, all Salmond should have done is put his thumb right on the scale and endorse his chosen slate. They'd have very likely won, given his colossal popularity.
And it’s worked out so well with his chosen ones. Averaging 1.5% ant the GE
DeleteKenny beaten by Eva at Grangemouth and on track for complete failure in 2026.
And around a third of members gone since the chosen ones took power
I agree it's been badly done. My point was having nice but dims isn't what is needed and democracy among very few people isn't actually necessarily going to get you the best people in post.
DeleteJacqui Bijster has a masters degree in Information Technology and Denise Findlay has a masters degree in software engineering and is studying for a PhD in artificial intelligence. They are not dim.
DeleteHalf decent folk as in those who will just nod their heads in agreement with Party Chair?
DeleteSounds more like pagan idolatry than a political party.
ReplyDeleteInteresting to read your comments about Salmond. I too revered Alex as a politician but it didn't prevent me from criticising him back in the years between 1992 - 2000 when I thought it was due. Salmond could be a bit of a chancer but back in the day inside the SNP there were always people around who were not scared to tell him when they thought he was wrong. I don't think that was the case within Alba and it looks to me like the cult of personality prevailed there. What you described in your critique, James Kelly, will be recognised by many as a prototype Stalinist approach to politics within Alba. Stalin's quote about the person who counts the votes being more important than the people who have voted certainly springs to mind.
ReplyDelete'Genocide in the Balkans should be ignored' wasn't his finest hour. I clocked him when I was 28. I clocked Jimmy Saville when I was 9.
DeleteAnyone around him that didn’t fall into line was got rid of. What changed in Albs was Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh. She was toxic for Salmond. She wasn’t smart and had huge influence on him which she used to advance herself, settle scores and enjoy the power trip.
DeleteHe gave her a media company and a party.
In return he got failure, embarrassment and isolation.
@9:54 Bombing Belgrade wasn't Nato's finest hour, either. I take it you're balls to the wall for getting Nato into Ukraine as well?
DeleteSurely the intervention of NATO and the EU with support from the US, France and Germany brought the Milosevic era of ethnic cleansing and genocidal massacres came to an end?
DeleteI’m sure the civilian blood our bombs spilled was just the ticket.
DeleteIt’s amazing what wonders high explosives can do for human rights. Just ask Bibi.
Depends whether you care more about bridges in Serbia or genocide.
DeleteAs George Orwell put it: "War is peace."
DeleteAnon at 10.24. He got his hole as well, did he not?
DeleteJohn Swinney has been strong on Ukraine and shown statesmanlike behaviour and unwavering support for NATO and the EU when interviewed on the media recently.
ReplyDeleteA1 reply. Zzzzzzz
DeleteSwinney deserves praise for this position as it is an unsafe world.
DeleteThe problem with that, 9:58, is that Stronger for Nato is Stronger for the Union. What better alignment to "western values" and "Russian deterrence" could Scotland have than remaining under England's yoke, exactly where we are now?
ReplyDeleteIndependence is a radical act. We should never shy away from that. Strong and Stable is just a euphemism for our dominion.
Anon@10:16am obviously ain’t the sharpest tool in the box, that’s for sure!
ReplyDeleteYou mean your great big box of dildos?
ReplyDeleteSwinney and Forbes are every inch statespersons. They are a very good thing for the SNP.
ReplyDeleteEscaping your abuser? Are you mad?
ReplyDeleteWhat do they say about Scotland's place in maintaining Europe's post-American nuclear deterrent?
ReplyDeleteWhat is "Europe's nuclear deterrent" when it's at home?
DeleteFrance has one. Perhaps that is what’s meant.
DeletePeople's mood started to change when the SNP deployed its Post-Modernist deterrent.
DeleteA very expensive deterrent to the outer reaches of Vladimir Putin's insanity. I doubt things would go well for central Scotland if Grangemouth got turned into glass.
Delete@James.
DeleteMy comment made more sense in the thread when it still existed.
I’m anti-nuclear, myself. The "Gaining in Statesmanship" astroturfer was praising Swinney's Pro-Nato credentials, and I was giving them lip about it. (They're still there at 9:58 I see.) Someone mentioned America pulling out the rug from under all the rest of us, and I took the opportunity to make a snide point I don't believe in, but I do consider a viable one for those who worship bombs and military alliances.
As for reality: with Trump, Europe's only nuclear "umbrella" is France's subs and their French missiles. (Based in France's own "Celtic Fringe", ironically.) Britain's Trident fleet relies on the US Navy for regular replenishment. The boss's boss, Putin, might request they suspend that next. ;-)
Swinney has been clear on this so there is no issue there.
DeleteClear how? He's keeping Trident on the Clyde, or the rUK has nowhere else to put it. Is he "disarming Europe for Putin" or is has he seen the light to become a Nato bomb-boy?
DeleteCertainly John and Kate believe that we should remain full NATO members and fulfull our international obligations as is only right.
DeleteNato wants those nukes kept where they are: uncomfortably close to Glasgow.
DeleteScots, understandably, don't.
The SNP has had a clear pro-NATO policy since 2012 which is now a long time ago and I think it is fair to say that the policy is settled. It is the right policy for the party. The SNP does not on the other hand wish for Scotland to become a nuclear power post independence on the other hand - not least for affordability reasons - and will work with NATO partners to find a solution.
DeleteThe issue you have when you surround yourself with snakes is there is always a bigger one willing to turn. Some people will only love you as much as they can use you. In this case, Craig you help the narrative. Shame they didn’t think that about you last year.
ReplyDeleteCheck out my receipts on X.
Woof woof!
ReplyDeleteThis comment was not removed by its poster, but perhaps should have been, if there was a button for it.
DeleteThe here and now being that half of Scots don't want to leave the UK, and the other half is pretty uninterested in the whole deal with a few of them shouting at each other. Status quo. Unlikely to change. Change being anathema on both viewpoints.
ReplyDeleteWrong assessment based on the polls but as a britnat you know that.
DeleteVague confrontation at great distance is your salve you britnat yoon.
DeleteThe problem is that the vast majority of independence supporters couldn't give a shit and the small number of activists tend to be totalitarian sparry-hieded rockets.
Delete1.50 has it bang on the money and I'm as pro indy as they come.
DeleteTimes may change but that's where we are now.
If the analysis is wrong, try having a conversation about independence with someone and see what the reaction is. Enthusiasm isn't there for it RIGHT NOW.
Different thing from never.
Put it this way. I'm living a life.
ReplyDeleteNaw ye dinnae. You're still here!
DeletePut it this way. I'm living a life.
ReplyDeleteI'm living a lifestyle, I went out for drinkies in Coatbridge last night cos I needed to learn more about Lanarkshire politics.
DeleteChilled Buckie in a wine glass? So posh.
DeleteWhen is ALBA’s big election day. What are the views of the candidates or do they have to have a seance first? I know bad taste but all candidates apparently speak on behalf of their past leader. Has wings and ex Barrhead boy been consulted?
ReplyDeleteYe mean 'Bawbag Boy.'
DeleteBoth of them are abroad.
DeleteBawbag Holiday Boy.
DeleteGive up on this pitiful independence nonsense for pity’s sake you fools.
ReplyDeleteA majority favour remaining in the union. Only the most gullible of fools believe otherwise.
Have tae agree with anon@1:52.
DeleteSo many continue to live in denial, clinging to their forlorn hope that their “dream” is still alive, when of course it died years ago.
I quite agree with me. Och aye the noo and hoots yon Nessie!
DeleteIt's time we did to England what they did to us, why not? follow Ireland's example and throw them out
DeleteNuthin personal you understand, it's just business and we want our cards back
Zzzzzzzzz
DeleteOK Anas.
ReplyDeleteRun along yoon.....there's a good wee jobbie.
ReplyDeleteAaand ... SGP has called forth a Bella article (with obligatory references to a "reactionary core"). Thought they/he might actually have waited until the leadership vote and the conference:
ReplyDeletehttps://bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/03/03/alba-jackanory-and-a-very-strange-election/
The whole lot of them have admitted they lied from the start
DeleteHelp to the SNP they said, aye right!
Those who complained about the SNP the most now turn out to have tendencies even worse than what they complained about. Some ALBA supporters have been played and used by their support for Salmond, some are just fools and the top tier are the manipulators.
ReplyDeleteI've posted that I'm impressed with Swinney making ScotGov more competent again, but he really needs to quickly change his ways on this:
ReplyDeletehttps://archive.is/OjTdj
"Scottish self-ID policies risk lawsuits, warn experts ... In a submission to a Holyrood committee, researchers said practices adopted by the Scottish Government, Police Scotland and the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) had all gone beyond where the law is on single-sex facilities. ... Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) ... Equality Act 2010"
I broadly supported the GRR Bill because it could not breach the Equality Act 2010, but it went too far and the ScotGov guidelines seem to nearly totally ignore the Equality Act 2010. Not good enough.
It's time to sort out this complete guddle and observe the Rule of Law.
I’m fed up saying just this.
DeleteAnd follow the will of parliament
DeleteYou have always been a bit right wing on this. Most folk don’t give a toss. Who paid the researchers?
ReplyDeleteSo you think it's right wing to be concerned about violence against women and girls, and support protection for women and girls in single sex spaces? And you don't give a toss about that?
DeleteThe researchers are paid via crowdfunding - perhaps you should donate while castigating yourself for your ignorant attempt at implied calumny.
Next time read the article before commenting.
Eats shoots and leaves.
DeleteAmnihook vringdetang stottnat angst. Oh dear. We lost a referendum a decade ago and the best thing would to have another one. Cause we lost the last one. Jeezus Christ how can you be more boring?
ReplyDeleteYou have just shown us. Zzzzzzzzzzz
Delete