Tag: snp

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Protecting politicians – do the Widdecombe lessons not apply to Nicola Sturgeon too?

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By Liz S In Talking-up Scotland yesterday? BBC Scotland today, surprisingly, given the Widdicombe murder obsession of all the press… However on the BBC website headline today is this: “Investigation into Widdecombe’s death rekindles debate over how to protect politicians” Also today on the BBC website is this headline: “Sturgeon’s police statement on SNP finances won’t be released, says lawyer” This is a long article that also includes “How the Peter Murrell case unfolded” which includes a timeline and a breakdown of yet another regurgitated BBC report on this past case , that as a criminal case has now been concluded , as the … Continue reading Protecting politicians – do the Widdecombe lessons not apply to Nicola Sturgeon too?

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The Wretched of Scotland’s Independence Movements

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While AI has often been taught to favour broadly establishment positions, reinforced by their dominance of the media landscape it relies upon, I have found that, if you keep your wits about you and counter those positions with evidence you have, it will often come to offer a more independent evidence-based answer than you will get from even the most respected but all-too-human academic, like me. Based on the evidence from the time such as the lack of a formal act of union, the unbroken, largely unchanged continuation of the parliament in London and the end of such in Scotland … Continue reading The Wretched of Scotland’s Independence Movements

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‘Reports of My Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated’ and ‘Burnham putting Scotland back in its box’

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By Mark E. Saunders of “The Scottish Minuteman” https://www.facebook.com/profile.php/?id=61575625542197 While the band strikes up Hail to the Chief in Makerfield and the Prime Minister spends a nervous weekend contemplating his future at Chequers, sections of the Scottish press are once again falling over themselves to predict the death of the Scottish independence movement. The instrument of execution this time? Andy Burnham. According to Herald columnist and occasional prophet Neil Mackay, Burnham represents the SNP’s nightmare: a popular Labour leader who restores faith in Westminster and pulls the political rug from beneath the feet of the Scottish National Party and its supporters. It is an … Continue reading ‘Reports of My Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated’ and ‘Burnham putting Scotland back in its box’

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Major increases in school-leaver employment and university access in SNP years

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From Summary Statistics for Follow-up Leaver Destinations, No. 8: 2026 edition, published today, the above table extract and: This statistical publication provides information on the follow-up destinations, nine months after the end of the school year, of 2024-25 school leavers from publicly funded secondary schools in Scotland. https://www.gov.scot/publications/summary-statistics-for-follow-up-leaver-destinations-no-8-2026-edition/documents/ This table shows that as the SNP Government, first elected in 2007, ‘got behind the wheel’ it began to take steps to improve school-leaver employment and HE access and fifteen years alter the results are impressive with 15% improvements in both by 2024/2025. For any who refuse to allow the SNP credit … Continue reading Major increases in school-leaver employment and university access in SNP years

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Scottish media accept that Israeli interference against the SNP may be true and accurate in 2026 while that from Russia on referendum irregularities in 2014 was clearly ‘fake and ‘inaccurate’

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Covered fairly widely in the Scottish MSM and by BBC Scotland last week: Scotland’s first minister was targeted by an Israeli firm spreading online disinformation before the Holyrood election, a French government agency has claimed. John Swinney and the SNP were allegedly targeted in accounts linked to BlackCore – a tech company claiming to “shape narratives” who French authorities accused of trying to smear pro-Palestine election candidates. Disinformation detection service Viginum said hundreds of fake accounts would leave co-ordinated comments on Swinney’s social media posts.Swinney had described the conflict in Gaza as a “man-made humanitarian catastrophe” and said a genocide by … Continue reading Scottish media accept that Israeli interference against the SNP may be true and accurate in 2026 while that from Russia on referendum irregularities in 2014 was clearly ‘fake and ‘inaccurate’

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Before a Nation Loses Its Chance of Freedom, It Loses Its Confidence

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By Mark E. Saunders of “The Scottish Minuteman” https://www.facebook.com/profile.php/?id=61575625542197 This will be my final article on the SNP/Nicola Sturgeon/Peter Murrell saga. Not because there is nothing more to say, but because I have no wish to add more fuel to a fire that is already burning. Yes. Political parties must be scrutinised. Politicians must be held accountable. Nobody is beyond criticism. That is the beauty of a healthy democracy. But what I am now witnessing goes far beyond that.  As I watch the endless stream of anti-SNP memes, AI-generated cartoons and social media derision — fed relentlessly by a 24-hour news cycle — … Continue reading Before a Nation Loses Its Chance of Freedom, It Loses Its Confidence

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Alarm over freedom of information only among mass exploiters of the scheme

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In the Herald today, the above apparent concerns limiting the number of requests to five at any one time. We’re not talking about just five a year, five a month, five a week or five a day, just five at any one time. This is a perfectly reasonable response to the increasing use of AI by oppositions politicians and their staff and by journalists. If the Herald gave its readers the full facts, they’d get it, I feel sure. Here they are: Before AI: From Largest number of Freedom of Information requests made by a single person in one day: FOI … Continue reading Alarm over freedom of information only among mass exploiters of the scheme

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Alleged witness in Nicola Sturgeon’s alleged camper van denial was 14 at the time and is now Chair of Young Labour (Scotland) – another plant

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Above, the young man in the Daily Mail‘s: Local resident doubts Sturgeon’s claim she knew nothing about campervan bought with embezzled funds because he met her, he did, he said so, four years ago, when he was presumably 14. According to his own blog My name is Ryan-Thomas Quinn, I am 18, a journalism student, activist and avid enjoyer of wine (preferably rosé). My views are mine and mine alone however, I work regularly with and have friends across the political spectrum. Collaboration is key! https://ryanthomas.blog/about/ Across the political spectrum? In Scottish media reports of SNP or Scottish Government failures … Continue reading Alleged witness in Nicola Sturgeon’s alleged camper van denial was 14 at the time and is now Chair of Young Labour (Scotland) – another plant

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Scotland’s Oil and Gas Industry – Same Old Tory Hypocrisy

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By Jim Mennie That the Tories are posing as eternal champions of the oil and gas industry should come as a surprise to voters in Aberdeen South considering their history of husbanding this resource. Most brazenly hypocritical is their promise to abolish the Energy Profits Levy – a tax they introduced in 2022 and which Kemi Badenoch and Andrew Bowie voted for! And then we have this from sitting Tory MSP Alexander Burnett in a March 2017 edition of the P&J’s Energy Voice showing how they put being in government at Westminster before their own constituents: Tory MSP dismisses call … Continue reading Scotland’s Oil and Gas Industry – Same Old Tory Hypocrisy

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Not one SNP member has called for Swinney to go or to refund the money so ‘pressure not even starting never mind mounting’

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The Herald has today: John Swinney is facing mounting pressure over his leadership, to compensate SNP supporters and to answer “difficult questions” after Peter Murrell admitted embezzling more than £400,000 from the party over a 12-year period. Opposition politicians, former SNP figures and campaigners said the guilty plea had raised fresh questions for the First Minister and renewed calls for donors whose money was misused to be refunded. Grok – ‘Has any current member of the SNP been reported calling for John Swinney to resign or for the money referred to in the Murrell case to be refunded?‘ Easy, John, I only thought for 5 seconds: No, … Continue reading Not one SNP member has called for Swinney to go or to refund the money so ‘pressure not even starting never mind mounting’