I for one I'm no convinced an independent inquiry should take place. Yes it will damage the SNL and the independent Cause in the short term... But the pus has to be drained before a cure can be effected. By far the best solution would be for John Swinney to resign and hopefully take the remainder of the cabal with him. This would give and you SNP. A chance to revive and consolidate the movement before the next general election.
We're hopefully a front page manifesto commitment that a majority of independent supporting MPs would have the guts to return to Edinburgh and revoke the acts of Union. Rather than debating the legality of the move, let's do it and see what transpires... It might be enough for the English to say fine we're pissed off with you and won't oppose your admission to the United Nations .. in return we could back England as a continuing member of the security council.
I would love to see a public enquiry that exposes the Scottish judiciary for what it is not Scottish at all it's subordinated by English law andis officers recognize England's laws above Scots. The reality is there is almost zero chance of any of this being properly exposed in any UK Court setting. There is a complete morak vacuum in Holyrood when it comes to recognition of the sovereignty of the sovereignty of the realm, and no chance of Swiney or any other party affiliated Msps going against their paymasters. Eating every one of them worked for Westminster that's not rhetoric that's a fact.
Stu Campbell is a poisonous, bigot whose interest in Scottish independence has become little more than a grift. Prior to a "visit" from the authorities that saw all his computers confiscated and removed to London, with him having to travel to the London offices that held them to retrieve them (wonder what was said at that meeting 🤔), he was an asset to the indy cause and I was an avid reader. Since then, he's been busy becoming the unionist's friend to the extent it was expected he would endorse Reform at the last Holyrood election. Whatever he did for the indy cause in the past is irrelevant now. Petain was a hero of the French Republic after WW1. He was convicted of treason after WW2. "Now" is what counts, not "then". Anyone willing to lower themselves to the level of worshipping at his feet only damages their own credibility as indy supporters.
As to the use of donated money .... ffs! The law saw no case to answer, as they did for the Tories referendum fund. You need concrete, irrefutable evidence that the money was not spent in pursuit of the intended cause. As the SNP fought all those extra elections demanding a referendum (much to Mr Bell's ire) it is easily argued the money was used as intended. Whether you agree with that description is irrelevant. Legal authorities, even if they wanted to press charges, are clearly not confident of a conviction. Semantics is not a strong argument. Especially as the SNP has offered all those who donated their money back. Which very, very few have taken them up on.
But, as I said on another thread, the moral outrage has nothing to do with truth, honesty and justice. It is simply to destroy the SNP, with the subsequent demise of "Scotland's Cause" apparently an acceptable casualty. Certainly in Stu Campbell's case.
you said "Stu Campbell is a poisonous, bigot whose interest in Scottish independence has become little more than a grift."
I Am Not A Lawyer, and you are entitled to your opinion and to fair comment.
But you have not provided any evidence for your assertion that "Stu Campbell is a poisonous, bigot" and it is a matter of record that Stuart Campbell was compelled to take to recourse in law when he was falsely libeled in a similar way previously.
It does not aid your argument in any way to spread such evidence free poisonous lies.
I would suggest to you that a sensible person would utilise the available edit facility to withdraw your ill advised remark.
p.s. your use of Marshall Petain as a bad example is a very poor one.
Paris was not bombed, shelled and raised to ground.
You would do well to consider that as one who had witnessed the unimaginable horror of modern mechanised killing such as at the somme or ypres that decorated war hero Petain swallowed his pride and faced retribution, but his county and its people were saved incalculable death, horror and destruction.
So now I'm to be threatened with legal action for expressing an opinion. I hadn't realised these sites had become quite this intolerant and nasty.
As to your ill advised sojourn into history. It kind of illustrates the half assed nature of opinions on these sites. Petain was convicted of Treason for several reasons. He formally signed a treaty of collaberation with Nazi Germany, dissolved the French Republic, took dictatorial control and enacted laws that enabled the transport of thousands of Jews to death camps and sent thousands of French workers to work in Germany. Among many other things. But hey, if that's a hero to you .....
"You need concrete, irrefutable evidence that the money was not spent in pursuit of the intended cause."
No you don't. The general 'cause' that you refer to was very explicitly stated as being for a referendum campaign.
You only need evidence that the 'ring-fenced' funds were spent on something other than a referendum campaign. Not an election. Not on "elections demanding a referendum". But on an actual referendum campaign, at the end of which you get to vote ... in a referendum. That is, on a single and sole issue, that of whether or not Scottish folk wish to restore Scotland's full self-government.
And John Swinney has admitted that the money was used for other SNP activities. Meanwhile there has been no referendum campaign.
It is you who is playing with semantics - you are like John Swinney, desperately trying to redefine what was meant when the fundraisers were launched, fronted by Nicola Sturgeon. But it is not a matter of interpretation. Or re-interpretation.
A deceit has been perpetrated on donators to these referendum campaign fundraisers.
FFS! You've got the Sturgeonite script off pat! The quickest way to silence those who dutifully demonise Stu Campbell because that's what they've been 'conditioned' to do is to ask them for evidence to support their accusations. Their heads explode.
As to your comments on the matter of the disappeared money, all you've done is demonstrate that you have absolutely no understanding of the issue. Which is understandable given that you won't even look at the evidence.
Your final paragraph is classic SNP loyalist illogic. Not so long ago, these idiots were accusing those condemning Peter Murrell of having the same petty motives as you now attribute to those of us who want this matter dealt with so we really can move on. You want us to move on without dealing with it. Which is about as illogical as you can get.
It is you and your ilk that are dragging this out. If it is damaging your beloved party, it's because you object so vehemently to any kind of scrutiny. It is the Sturgeonite clique that is destroying the SNP. But they couldn't do it without your help.
Speaking for myself, the allegation that I am trying to "destroy the SNP" is just plain ignorant. For the past seven years and more, I have been trying to save the SNP from the damage being done by the party leadership and mindless party loyalists. That has been the purpose behind everything I have written until last October, when the party membership voted at conference to support John Swinney's treachery. That was the point at which it became clear that there is no way to prevent the party rotting from the top when there are so many people like yourself who would prefer if nobody mentioned the rot.
You beat me to it Peter; had I not been occupied replying to this buffoon's comment re myself I would have said more-or-less what you say above. You have to wonder why SNP failure-apologist like him and the increasingly incoherent plank YIR0 spend time commenting on sites like yours when they appear to disagree with everything you say and not only do they never offer any credible rebuttals of what you say, they have the fckn cheek to use personal insults as well. Away over to Wee Poncing Poodle with them, where they can circle jerk their cultish subservience to the snP
"You have to wonder why SNP failure-apologist like him and the increasingly incoherent plank YIR0 spend time commenting on sites like yours when they appear to disagree with everything you say .... "
Sorry, have I violated the sanctity of the echo chamber? All opinions are welcome .... so long as they're the right ones. Very healthy I'm sure.
Sorry you took offence at my description of your position on the SNP as smug, enlightened superiority. Given your rather more "robust" language concerning those you disagree with, I didn't take you for sensitive and fragile. I'll keep it in mind.
I initially replied to you respectfully, even agreeing with some of what you said; it was you who started in with the ad homs. Be in no doubt, * pal *, I can take as much as I give, but engaging with dafties like you is a total waste of time & energy
You are very welcome to argue your case for exempting the SNP from scrutiny. You are very welcome to rebut criticisms of your beloved party. But I have yet to see you or any other party loyalist attempt anything like this. The stock answer to every criticism of the SNP is 'SNP baaad!' or something equally vacuous.
Why not try a reasoned defence of your beloved party in light of the FACT that Scotland's cause has made no progress since 2015? Why not attempt a defence of the Section 30 process to which your beloved party is wedded? Maybe you could try arguing that your beloved leader wasn't lying when he said he could guarantee a referendum?
A thousand thanks to the completely genuine Steve Clarke and the whole squad on Scotland's behalf, and to the Tartan Army, the world's best ambassadors. People I know from the USA and Canada have emailed me to say:
"No Scotland, No Party".
You reignited Scotland after 28 years away. The flame is still burning.
Party members might not have objected to the money being spent for the benefit of their party rather than the cause. But I strongly suspect that a member of, say, the Scottish Green Party wouldn't be so enamoured of the idea.
The point is that it shouldn't even have been possible to spend that money on anything other than the purpose for which it was raised. That's what 'ring-fenced' means.
What is arguably the most offensive thing about this affair is the casual, nonchalant manner in which the fraud was committed. There is no contrition. No apology. No reason to suppose the same people won't do the same again. Somebody at the top must have authorised the use of the money. Or so one would suppose. But the evident lack of any checks and balances suggests it is perfectly possible that no such authorisation was required. Which makes it worse!
On top of this, the failure to bring any prosecutions stinks to the heavens. It's even smellier than the dumb party loyalists insisting there's nothing to see here, and you shouldn't be looking anyway because this is the SNP.
Brilliant article Peter. I took your earlier advice and visited the WOS website. ( I thought it had closed down) ...Was there for hours reading and reading ...followed by another day of reading....
S. Campbell is like yourself..calls it out . I shall spend the rest of today reading more on the site...
One of the problems ( among many) that beset Scotland appears to be we have no real mechanism for ridding ourselves of these incompetent ..traitorous...criminal ..career politicians whose only aim is the aggrandizement of self..or maybe an aspiration to own a 'british ' gong or a fur lined cape ...or as Burns put it..'for a bag o' siller'
With a toxic mix of our traitorous SG... the embedded foreign english government aided and abetted by the malevolent foreign english media ...we have a population who do not know what the hell is going on.... and haven't for 300years...... except that which the devious foreign english media deem suitable for our infantile nation...
DM nailed it in his comment.
Ghandi said Scotland would never be free until she suffered. A cross on a bit of paper is not going to free us. Only a nation who are fed up with being downtrodden ...find their Bannockburn mindset ....rise up and use it... It worked last time...
Wings Over Scotland articles in the last 7 or 8 years have done a great job in revealing the fraudulent raising of 'ring-fenced'/pilfering of referendum campaign funds and embezzlement of monies from the SNP bank account as well as the scandalous hounding and attempted jailing of former FM Alex Salmond (about which there is an upcoming trial that will determine if criminality has been involved).
Meanwhile the lengths to which some of the SNP loyal and blind brigade will go to deny the facts are truly astonishing:
For example, it has even seen it suggested that funds specifically raised for the sole purpose of running a referendum campaign but used for other activities such as elections would be seen as being just dandy by "most reasonable people" because it kept Independence at the forefront of Scottish politics (... if only). Deception is only ever acceptable to the self-delusional.
I have always believed the schism within the movement for Scottish independence will not be resolved until the whole truth about these very murky activities and goings-on is in the public domain and that those responsible for any criminality are held to account.
Agreed, P. I have my * issues * with Stu to the point of stopping commenting on WOS ( though that is in part down to having to wade through so much overt and covert Yoonery BTL ) or reading it as avidly as I used to; in short, because the relentless negativity minus any balancing positivity became wearying. Also because of, let's say, " politico/philosophical " differences.
Nonetheless, he is, as you say, absolutely brilliant at what he does and when he gets the bit between his teeth on any given issue, Caveat Mendax ( Watch out Liars ) there's no-one close to him in journalistic excellence - in Scotland/UK anyway - admittedly a pretty low bar: still, this doesn't diminish the previous statement. He's hands-down one of the best journalists extant
And the Yanks never landed on the moon. Sigh. It's a flat flat earth.
Sad to say this forum is the exact mirror of WGD - both are the extremes of the Independence movement, one with a few SNP cult loyalists, the other with a few anti-SNP conspiracy theorists. I'll leave it to you to work out which is which.
Neither wants to hear any other opinions though at least this one doesn't ban them or delete their postings unllike WGD, but both are as much use to the cause of Independence as a chocolate teapot.
As you say Cynicus, it's just the usual regurgitationary event.
Time to move on from dwelling on the past of the doings of Sturgeon, Murrell. which is the distractionary domain of Unionists and their media sympathisers.
Time for actual efforts towards Independence.
Constantly calling Swinney a traitor and a liar 7 days a week, don't cut it.
It cannot possibly be "time to move on" while so many questions remain unanswered. It doesn't matter how fervently party loyalists might wish everybody would be like them and turn a blind eye to the doings of the SNP leadership. It's just not happening.
I'll stop calling Swinney a traitor and a liar when he stops betraying Scotland's cause and spouting lies and deceit every time he opens his mouth. I get that you're not clever enough to understand the damage Swinney is doing to Scotland's cause. But it is hardly realistic to hope that others will be just as uncomprehending.
And what is sickening also is the way in which SNP supporters are turning on Stu, forgetting that his wee blue book was probably one of the biggest factors in getting us so close in the referendum.
Precisely so! I have this awful sinking feeling that there is a conspiracy that reaches deep within the SNP and other parties, and into public life more generally, funded and organised by the British State.
I suspect everyone who is a supporter of Sturgeon and Swinney are either stooges or also collaborators. The National is a case in point. A pseudo newspaper that falsely claims to speak for independence.
Scots do not control our country - institutions and agencies are run by people who did not grow up here and the Parliament acts as a smokescreen. We are being betrayed. Civil servants at the heart of the Salmond conspiracy were largely non Scots (identifying as British)
"Scots do not control our country" Correct, yes there's a conspiracy it's just a conspiracy that's been going on for a very long time and it's ingrained within the defacto Westminster system. This is recorded in detail within the statues and acts of Scots/English and 'UK' law. To be clear I'm not saying that anything other than Scots law is valid because it's not! When you dig into it, what you find clear evidence of the mechanics of how it's been achieved. It's been right in front of us, from 1707 to 2026 a total of 79 Acts/statues have been passed by Westminster to control Scotland via faux Westminster legal legitimacy, claiming English (UK) parliamentary sovereignty over Scotland and her sovereignty there evidences how Scottish law and sovereignty. The Scots judiciary have failed in granted duties feeling the people and have been complicit in this process from day one, with a few notable token nods to the 'sovereignty of Scots' such as a 1956 MacCormack case. To put it simply this is never been countered because we do not have a functioning democracy or legal system we have one that is controlled purely by the de facto H-FED power in Westminster. Liberation/Salvo are very much on the ball taking this to the International Court the only place where about evidence should be presented. I'll be expanding on the background of the capture of the Scots judiciary early next week, after enjoying watching sovereign Scots enact common weal diplomacy in a former colony.
I agree but my point is wider than the legal system. It is about colonisation of public life by people who operate and associate with Britain and the corporate sector rather than Scotland and the common weal.
The Scottish Parliament exacerbated the problem because it provides a smokescreen for takeover. And it is not just public life, the corporates are draining of economic power from Scotland by corporate interests.
Wind, oil are massive Scottish resources that have bene handed over to non Scottish ownership - this is not a legal issue it is an economic one. Oil was handed over pre devolution, but wind was an entirely Scottish made capitulation thanks to feckless, corrupt or thick MSPs (take your pick - picking all 3 is also an option).
At the moment all we are being served are crumbs off the table - various Acts of Parliament that are ostensibly dealing with this problem such as land reform and Community Wealth Building are essentially 'performative' to give the impression that the processes that impoverish us and take away our power are being tackled. They are not .... it is window dressing and gaslighting combined.
The same applies to the ever worsening ferries fiasco, and I suspect to many other areas of public policy in Scotland where good practical solutions have been offered but invariably rejected by our colonial (or 'unionist') establishment:
This is what really raises my suspicions about what exactly is going on with the SNP, ie the consistent screwing-up of every infrastructure/social project of any importance. As you say, " ...good practical solutions have been offered but invariably rejected......." . Why?
I don't mean the ostensible reasons given by the Failures for the failures, but, stepping back and looking at the truly abysmal record of the Post-Salmond SNP, it really does beg the question .....can this be solely down to incompetence or the low calibre of those whose job it is to act in the best interests of our country AT ALL TIMES, lack of oversight or even actual management or any other supposed explanatory reason? If so, we Scots must suffer some deformity of our collective psyche: I mean what are the odds of that constellation of total Inadequates all gathered under the same' roof '- at the same time occurring by chance?
No, there are other forces at play here: this is obvious, and hardly a revelation. The " known unknown " is the degree to which the entire Scottish Independence ambition is being subverted from within. My assumption is, to a massive degree.
If Nicola Sturgeon succeeds in walking away unscathed from the trail of carnage she has left in her sorry, fucked-up wake, could any semi-awake person doubt that she is " not one of us "?
I for one I'm no convinced an independent inquiry should take place. Yes it will damage the SNL and the independent Cause in the short term... But the pus has to be drained before a cure can be effected. By far the best solution would be for John Swinney to resign and hopefully take the remainder of the cabal with him. This would give and you SNP. A chance to revive and consolidate the movement before the next general election.
We're hopefully a front page manifesto commitment that a majority of independent supporting MPs would have the guts to return to Edinburgh and revoke the acts of Union. Rather than debating the legality of the move, let's do it and see what transpires... It might be enough for the English to say fine we're pissed off with you and won't oppose your admission to the United Nations .. in return we could back England as a continuing member of the security council.
I would love to see a public enquiry that exposes the Scottish judiciary for what it is not Scottish at all it's subordinated by English law andis officers recognize England's laws above Scots. The reality is there is almost zero chance of any of this being properly exposed in any UK Court setting. There is a complete morak vacuum in Holyrood when it comes to recognition of the sovereignty of the sovereignty of the realm, and no chance of Swiney or any other party affiliated Msps going against their paymasters. Eating every one of them worked for Westminster that's not rhetoric that's a fact.
All legal avenues lead to international courts
Stu Campbell is a poisonous, bigot whose interest in Scottish independence has become little more than a grift. Prior to a "visit" from the authorities that saw all his computers confiscated and removed to London, with him having to travel to the London offices that held them to retrieve them (wonder what was said at that meeting 🤔), he was an asset to the indy cause and I was an avid reader. Since then, he's been busy becoming the unionist's friend to the extent it was expected he would endorse Reform at the last Holyrood election. Whatever he did for the indy cause in the past is irrelevant now. Petain was a hero of the French Republic after WW1. He was convicted of treason after WW2. "Now" is what counts, not "then". Anyone willing to lower themselves to the level of worshipping at his feet only damages their own credibility as indy supporters.
As to the use of donated money .... ffs! The law saw no case to answer, as they did for the Tories referendum fund. You need concrete, irrefutable evidence that the money was not spent in pursuit of the intended cause. As the SNP fought all those extra elections demanding a referendum (much to Mr Bell's ire) it is easily argued the money was used as intended. Whether you agree with that description is irrelevant. Legal authorities, even if they wanted to press charges, are clearly not confident of a conviction. Semantics is not a strong argument. Especially as the SNP has offered all those who donated their money back. Which very, very few have taken them up on.
But, as I said on another thread, the moral outrage has nothing to do with truth, honesty and justice. It is simply to destroy the SNP, with the subsequent demise of "Scotland's Cause" apparently an acceptable casualty. Certainly in Stu Campbell's case.
Stuart Allen,
you said "Stu Campbell is a poisonous, bigot whose interest in Scottish independence has become little more than a grift."
I Am Not A Lawyer, and you are entitled to your opinion and to fair comment.
But you have not provided any evidence for your assertion that "Stu Campbell is a poisonous, bigot" and it is a matter of record that Stuart Campbell was compelled to take to recourse in law when he was falsely libeled in a similar way previously.
It does not aid your argument in any way to spread such evidence free poisonous lies.
I would suggest to you that a sensible person would utilise the available edit facility to withdraw your ill advised remark.
p.s. your use of Marshall Petain as a bad example is a very poor one.
Paris was not bombed, shelled and raised to ground.
You would do well to consider that as one who had witnessed the unimaginable horror of modern mechanised killing such as at the somme or ypres that decorated war hero Petain swallowed his pride and faced retribution, but his county and its people were saved incalculable death, horror and destruction.
So no, not a good example at all.
So now I'm to be threatened with legal action for expressing an opinion. I hadn't realised these sites had become quite this intolerant and nasty.
As to your ill advised sojourn into history. It kind of illustrates the half assed nature of opinions on these sites. Petain was convicted of Treason for several reasons. He formally signed a treaty of collaberation with Nazi Germany, dissolved the French Republic, took dictatorial control and enacted laws that enabled the transport of thousands of Jews to death camps and sent thousands of French workers to work in Germany. Among many other things. But hey, if that's a hero to you .....
You are missing the point of both points that I made.
That seems to be fairly typical for you.
If I am, you need to be less vague.
When did the SNP offer to repay the money and how many have taken the offer up.
The SNP are run by a clique which are so bedded in the only option now for Scottish politics is the parties demise.
"You need concrete, irrefutable evidence that the money was not spent in pursuit of the intended cause."
No you don't. The general 'cause' that you refer to was very explicitly stated as being for a referendum campaign.
You only need evidence that the 'ring-fenced' funds were spent on something other than a referendum campaign. Not an election. Not on "elections demanding a referendum". But on an actual referendum campaign, at the end of which you get to vote ... in a referendum. That is, on a single and sole issue, that of whether or not Scottish folk wish to restore Scotland's full self-government.
And John Swinney has admitted that the money was used for other SNP activities. Meanwhile there has been no referendum campaign.
It is you who is playing with semantics - you are like John Swinney, desperately trying to redefine what was meant when the fundraisers were launched, fronted by Nicola Sturgeon. But it is not a matter of interpretation. Or re-interpretation.
A deceit has been perpetrated on donators to these referendum campaign fundraisers.
FFS! You've got the Sturgeonite script off pat! The quickest way to silence those who dutifully demonise Stu Campbell because that's what they've been 'conditioned' to do is to ask them for evidence to support their accusations. Their heads explode.
As to your comments on the matter of the disappeared money, all you've done is demonstrate that you have absolutely no understanding of the issue. Which is understandable given that you won't even look at the evidence.
Your final paragraph is classic SNP loyalist illogic. Not so long ago, these idiots were accusing those condemning Peter Murrell of having the same petty motives as you now attribute to those of us who want this matter dealt with so we really can move on. You want us to move on without dealing with it. Which is about as illogical as you can get.
It is you and your ilk that are dragging this out. If it is damaging your beloved party, it's because you object so vehemently to any kind of scrutiny. It is the Sturgeonite clique that is destroying the SNP. But they couldn't do it without your help.
Speaking for myself, the allegation that I am trying to "destroy the SNP" is just plain ignorant. For the past seven years and more, I have been trying to save the SNP from the damage being done by the party leadership and mindless party loyalists. That has been the purpose behind everything I have written until last October, when the party membership voted at conference to support John Swinney's treachery. That was the point at which it became clear that there is no way to prevent the party rotting from the top when there are so many people like yourself who would prefer if nobody mentioned the rot.
YOU are the problem!
You beat me to it Peter; had I not been occupied replying to this buffoon's comment re myself I would have said more-or-less what you say above. You have to wonder why SNP failure-apologist like him and the increasingly incoherent plank YIR0 spend time commenting on sites like yours when they appear to disagree with everything you say and not only do they never offer any credible rebuttals of what you say, they have the fckn cheek to use personal insults as well. Away over to Wee Poncing Poodle with them, where they can circle jerk their cultish subservience to the snP
"You have to wonder why SNP failure-apologist like him and the increasingly incoherent plank YIR0 spend time commenting on sites like yours when they appear to disagree with everything you say .... "
Sorry, have I violated the sanctity of the echo chamber? All opinions are welcome .... so long as they're the right ones. Very healthy I'm sure.
Sorry you took offence at my description of your position on the SNP as smug, enlightened superiority. Given your rather more "robust" language concerning those you disagree with, I didn't take you for sensitive and fragile. I'll keep it in mind.
I initially replied to you respectfully, even agreeing with some of what you said; it was you who started in with the ad homs. Be in no doubt, * pal *, I can take as much as I give, but engaging with dafties like you is a total waste of time & energy
You are very welcome to argue your case for exempting the SNP from scrutiny. You are very welcome to rebut criticisms of your beloved party. But I have yet to see you or any other party loyalist attempt anything like this. The stock answer to every criticism of the SNP is 'SNP baaad!' or something equally vacuous.
Why not try a reasoned defence of your beloved party in light of the FACT that Scotland's cause has made no progress since 2015? Why not attempt a defence of the Section 30 process to which your beloved party is wedded? Maybe you could try arguing that your beloved leader wasn't lying when he said he could guarantee a referendum?
One last thing.
A thousand thanks to the completely genuine Steve Clarke and the whole squad on Scotland's behalf, and to the Tartan Army, the world's best ambassadors. People I know from the USA and Canada have emailed me to say:
"No Scotland, No Party".
You reignited Scotland after 28 years away. The flame is still burning.
What I don't get is how did they think it was acceptable to spend the ring fenced donations without asking the donors if it was acceptable.
I'm sure most would have found it ok .
Why did they hide their behaviour?
Where is the accounts showing what it was spent on ?
Party members might not have objected to the money being spent for the benefit of their party rather than the cause. But I strongly suspect that a member of, say, the Scottish Green Party wouldn't be so enamoured of the idea.
The point is that it shouldn't even have been possible to spend that money on anything other than the purpose for which it was raised. That's what 'ring-fenced' means.
What is arguably the most offensive thing about this affair is the casual, nonchalant manner in which the fraud was committed. There is no contrition. No apology. No reason to suppose the same people won't do the same again. Somebody at the top must have authorised the use of the money. Or so one would suppose. But the evident lack of any checks and balances suggests it is perfectly possible that no such authorisation was required. Which makes it worse!
On top of this, the failure to bring any prosecutions stinks to the heavens. It's even smellier than the dumb party loyalists insisting there's nothing to see here, and you shouldn't be looking anyway because this is the SNP.
Brilliant article Peter. I took your earlier advice and visited the WOS website. ( I thought it had closed down) ...Was there for hours reading and reading ...followed by another day of reading....
S. Campbell is like yourself..calls it out . I shall spend the rest of today reading more on the site...
One of the problems ( among many) that beset Scotland appears to be we have no real mechanism for ridding ourselves of these incompetent ..traitorous...criminal ..career politicians whose only aim is the aggrandizement of self..or maybe an aspiration to own a 'british ' gong or a fur lined cape ...or as Burns put it..'for a bag o' siller'
With a toxic mix of our traitorous SG... the embedded foreign english government aided and abetted by the malevolent foreign english media ...we have a population who do not know what the hell is going on.... and haven't for 300years...... except that which the devious foreign english media deem suitable for our infantile nation...
DM nailed it in his comment.
Ghandi said Scotland would never be free until she suffered. A cross on a bit of paper is not going to free us. Only a nation who are fed up with being downtrodden ...find their Bannockburn mindset ....rise up and use it... It worked last time...
We are a sick country and getting sicker....
For OUR Scotland and her sick weans.
Spot on Peter.
As are Stuart Campbell's articles:
Wings Over Scotland articles in the last 7 or 8 years have done a great job in revealing the fraudulent raising of 'ring-fenced'/pilfering of referendum campaign funds and embezzlement of monies from the SNP bank account as well as the scandalous hounding and attempted jailing of former FM Alex Salmond (about which there is an upcoming trial that will determine if criminality has been involved).
Meanwhile the lengths to which some of the SNP loyal and blind brigade will go to deny the facts are truly astonishing:
For example, it has even seen it suggested that funds specifically raised for the sole purpose of running a referendum campaign but used for other activities such as elections would be seen as being just dandy by "most reasonable people" because it kept Independence at the forefront of Scottish politics (... if only). Deception is only ever acceptable to the self-delusional.
I have always believed the schism within the movement for Scottish independence will not be resolved until the whole truth about these very murky activities and goings-on is in the public domain and that those responsible for any criminality are held to account.
Agreed, P. I have my * issues * with Stu to the point of stopping commenting on WOS ( though that is in part down to having to wade through so much overt and covert Yoonery BTL ) or reading it as avidly as I used to; in short, because the relentless negativity minus any balancing positivity became wearying. Also because of, let's say, " politico/philosophical " differences.
Nonetheless, he is, as you say, absolutely brilliant at what he does and when he gets the bit between his teeth on any given issue, Caveat Mendax ( Watch out Liars ) there's no-one close to him in journalistic excellence - in Scotland/UK anyway - admittedly a pretty low bar: still, this doesn't diminish the previous statement. He's hands-down one of the best journalists extant
And the Yanks never landed on the moon. Sigh. It's a flat flat earth.
Sad to say this forum is the exact mirror of WGD - both are the extremes of the Independence movement, one with a few SNP cult loyalists, the other with a few anti-SNP conspiracy theorists. I'll leave it to you to work out which is which.
Neither wants to hear any other opinions though at least this one doesn't ban them or delete their postings unllike WGD, but both are as much use to the cause of Independence as a chocolate teapot.
Good for a laugh all the same :-)
Have you anything to say - Anything at all- on Peter’s post? Even if it is only a cut and paste job as in Peter’s previous piece .
As you say Cynicus, it's just the usual regurgitationary event.
Time to move on from dwelling on the past of the doings of Sturgeon, Murrell. which is the distractionary domain of Unionists and their media sympathisers.
Time for actual efforts towards Independence.
Constantly calling Swinney a traitor and a liar 7 days a week, don't cut it.
It cannot possibly be "time to move on" while so many questions remain unanswered. It doesn't matter how fervently party loyalists might wish everybody would be like them and turn a blind eye to the doings of the SNP leadership. It's just not happening.
I'll stop calling Swinney a traitor and a liar when he stops betraying Scotland's cause and spouting lies and deceit every time he opens his mouth. I get that you're not clever enough to understand the damage Swinney is doing to Scotland's cause. But it is hardly realistic to hope that others will be just as uncomprehending.
News overnight is that Steve Clarke has resigned as Scotland national team manager.
It takes an honourable man to do the honourable thing.
In which case, we cannot expect any resignation from Swinney in the near future.
And what is sickening also is the way in which SNP supporters are turning on Stu, forgetting that his wee blue book was probably one of the biggest factors in getting us so close in the referendum.
An excellent little book PM but Scots are probably too busy reading the foreign english media trash.
Precisely so! I have this awful sinking feeling that there is a conspiracy that reaches deep within the SNP and other parties, and into public life more generally, funded and organised by the British State.
I suspect everyone who is a supporter of Sturgeon and Swinney are either stooges or also collaborators. The National is a case in point. A pseudo newspaper that falsely claims to speak for independence.
Scots do not control our country - institutions and agencies are run by people who did not grow up here and the Parliament acts as a smokescreen. We are being betrayed. Civil servants at the heart of the Salmond conspiracy were largely non Scots (identifying as British)
"Scots do not control our country" Correct, yes there's a conspiracy it's just a conspiracy that's been going on for a very long time and it's ingrained within the defacto Westminster system. This is recorded in detail within the statues and acts of Scots/English and 'UK' law. To be clear I'm not saying that anything other than Scots law is valid because it's not! When you dig into it, what you find clear evidence of the mechanics of how it's been achieved. It's been right in front of us, from 1707 to 2026 a total of 79 Acts/statues have been passed by Westminster to control Scotland via faux Westminster legal legitimacy, claiming English (UK) parliamentary sovereignty over Scotland and her sovereignty there evidences how Scottish law and sovereignty. The Scots judiciary have failed in granted duties feeling the people and have been complicit in this process from day one, with a few notable token nods to the 'sovereignty of Scots' such as a 1956 MacCormack case. To put it simply this is never been countered because we do not have a functioning democracy or legal system we have one that is controlled purely by the de facto H-FED power in Westminster. Liberation/Salvo are very much on the ball taking this to the International Court the only place where about evidence should be presented. I'll be expanding on the background of the capture of the Scots judiciary early next week, after enjoying watching sovereign Scots enact common weal diplomacy in a former colony.
I agree but my point is wider than the legal system. It is about colonisation of public life by people who operate and associate with Britain and the corporate sector rather than Scotland and the common weal.
The Scottish Parliament exacerbated the problem because it provides a smokescreen for takeover. And it is not just public life, the corporates are draining of economic power from Scotland by corporate interests.
Wind, oil are massive Scottish resources that have bene handed over to non Scottish ownership - this is not a legal issue it is an economic one. Oil was handed over pre devolution, but wind was an entirely Scottish made capitulation thanks to feckless, corrupt or thick MSPs (take your pick - picking all 3 is also an option).
At the moment all we are being served are crumbs off the table - various Acts of Parliament that are ostensibly dealing with this problem such as land reform and Community Wealth Building are essentially 'performative' to give the impression that the processes that impoverish us and take away our power are being tackled. They are not .... it is window dressing and gaslighting combined.
"Scots do not control our country"
The same applies to the ever worsening ferries fiasco, and I suspect to many other areas of public policy in Scotland where good practical solutions have been offered but invariably rejected by our colonial (or 'unionist') establishment:
https://yoursforscotlandcom.wordpress.com/2022/03/30/how-to-end-the-madness-2/
This is what really raises my suspicions about what exactly is going on with the SNP, ie the consistent screwing-up of every infrastructure/social project of any importance. As you say, " ...good practical solutions have been offered but invariably rejected......." . Why?
I don't mean the ostensible reasons given by the Failures for the failures, but, stepping back and looking at the truly abysmal record of the Post-Salmond SNP, it really does beg the question .....can this be solely down to incompetence or the low calibre of those whose job it is to act in the best interests of our country AT ALL TIMES, lack of oversight or even actual management or any other supposed explanatory reason? If so, we Scots must suffer some deformity of our collective psyche: I mean what are the odds of that constellation of total Inadequates all gathered under the same' roof '- at the same time occurring by chance?
No, there are other forces at play here: this is obvious, and hardly a revelation. The " known unknown " is the degree to which the entire Scottish Independence ambition is being subverted from within. My assumption is, to a massive degree.
If Nicola Sturgeon succeeds in walking away unscathed from the trail of carnage she has left in her sorry, fucked-up wake, could any semi-awake person doubt that she is " not one of us "?
Spot on DM...Scots do not control our country.