The one certainty is that Sturgeon cannot recall if she was told about anything about SNP finances by her husband - or about anything, ever. In fact, she has no memory of ever actually marrying him...
Many moons ago, I commented on here that it was unhealthy for a political party's leader and its chief executive to be in a relationship. I was howled at by the usual suspects, who said it was fine.
Many moons ago, I commented on here that it was unhealthy for a political party's leader and its chief executive to be in a relationship. I was howled at by the usual suspects, who said it was fine.
I guess I was right? (*)
(*) for once...
Well they're married...as for being in a relationship...
I would pay a not inconsiderable sum of money for Alex Salmond's thoughts right now.
600k, perhaps?
But Salmond should be careful what he wishes for. He may not like the recent SNP, but if they blow up, then the path to Sindy goes back to near Square One.
If you seek revenge, start by digging two graves and all that.
The astronauts on the International Space Station have been back on. They apologise - that grin they could see wasn't Alex Salmond's. It was Keir Starmer's.....
Many moons ago, I commented on here that it was unhealthy for a political party's leader and its chief executive to be in a relationship. I was howled at by the usual suspects, who said it was fine.
I guess I was right? (*)
(*) for once...
In the corporate world it would be a direct conflict of interest, and is why CEO/CFO and Chairman of the Board roles are typically separated in governance.
Have we decided on her sentence yet? I'm talking about the recently retired leader of the SNP who hasn't been arrested hasn't been charged hasn't had a trial hasn't been found gui.....
I assume the evidence tent is there so that the police can come and go and review things from the house without having to haul everything back to HQ, but it does have the unfortunate look of them digging up the front garden for cadavers…
The hilarious thing is that a large section of the population only skim the news and may well get a bit confused this week. A not insignificant number will conclude that Sturgeon's husband was arrested for paying hush money to Stormy Daniels. I look forward to the voxpops.
The hilarious thing is that a large section of the population only skim the news and may well get a bit confused this week. A not insignificant number will conclude that Sturgeon's husband was arrested for paying hush money to Stormy Daniels. I look forward to the voxpops.
And Salmond is involved somehow too, right? He was a friend of The Donald, no?
Even a fairly small further shift SNP->Lab could hand Starmer quite a few Scottish Westminster seats beyond the 12 Electoral Calculus currently predicts, as there's a bunch which would fall on just a small further swing:
Have we decided on her sentence yet? I'm talking about the recently retired leader of the SNP who hasn't been arrested hasn't been charged hasn't had a trial hasn't been found gui.....
What are you waiting for?
It's so hard to choose between the space cannon and the trebuchet, but you won't have to wait long for us to decide.
Partisan post: looks like this could turn out to be a very good day for the Labour Party, both in Scotland and by extension the UK as a whole.
Not if it means the Tories make gains in Scotland. Makes our job in England and Wales that much harder.
Of course, but I just think that currently the Tories are so unpopular in Scotland that it is Labour who will benefit much more. That could change before the GE, obviously.
I would pay a not inconsiderable sum of money for Alex Salmond's thoughts right now.
I think it possibly best that no one gets inside the head of the man that was described as a "bully and a sex pest" by his own defence barrister. It would not be a very pleasant place
The hilarious thing is that a large section of the population only skim the news and may well get a bit confused this week. A not insignificant number will conclude that Sturgeon's husband was arrested for paying hush money to Stormy Daniels. I look forward to the voxpops.
And Salmond is involved somehow too, right? He was a friend of The Donald, no?
All adds up. And wasn't Stormy Daniels that blonde American tech entrepreneur who went on business trips with the Mayor of London?
Many moons ago, I commented on here that it was unhealthy for a political party's leader and its chief executive to be in a relationship. I was howled at by the usual suspects, who said it was fine.
I guess I was right? (*)
(*) for once...
I suspect you were howled at with barely concealed Anglophobic outrage and accused of being a "Scotch expert".
It's a fair point thought that winning several seats off the SNP while the Tories win a handful off them too is only good news if there's a Labour majority in the offing. Otherwise it makes the maths tighter.
A basic point of order if I may. Lets ensure we only talk about the *politics* of this and steer well away from what may or may not have prompted the police to stick a big tent in their garden.
The hilarious thing is that a large section of the population only skim the news and may well get a bit confused this week. A not insignificant number will conclude that Sturgeon's husband was arrested for paying hush money to Stormy Daniels. I look forward to the voxpops.
And Salmond is involved somehow too, right? He was a friend of The Donald, no?
Have we decided on her sentence yet? I'm talking about the recently retired leader of the SNP who hasn't been arrested hasn't been charged hasn't had a trial hasn't been found gui.....
What are you waiting for?
It's so hard to choose between the space cannon and the trebuchet, but you won't have to wait long for us to decide.
Crucifixion is too good for 'em, that's what I say. Nail 'em up, nail 'em up
Even a fairly small further shift SNP->Lab could hand Starmer quite a few Scottish Westminster seats beyond the 12 Electoral Calculus currently predicts, as there's a bunch which would fall on just a small further swing:
It's a fair point thought that winning several seats off the SNP while the Tories win a handful off them too is only good news if there's a Labour majority in the offing. Otherwise it makes the maths tighter.
The polling indicates that Labour is likely to benefit far more than the Tories.
What a great day this is, though it is playing havoc with my New Year resolution not to indulge my feelings of schadenfreude toward divisive nationalists
Politics wise, if the SNP polls rating tumble, it means more Labour gains and blunts any Tory "SNP in Labour's pocket" attack if polls tighten GB-wide and a hung parliament were likely.
SNP insouciant, per BBC: An SNP spokesperson said: "Clearly it would not be appropriate to comment on any live police investigation but the SNP have been cooperating fully with this investigation and will continue to do so. "At its meeting on Saturday, the governing body of the SNP, the NEC, agreed to a review of governance and transparency - that will be taken forward in the coming weeks."
It's a fair point thought that winning several seats off the SNP while the Tories win a handful off them too is only good news if there's a Labour majority in the offing. Otherwise it makes the maths tighter.
The polling indicates that Labour is likely to benefit far more than the Tories.
In the central belt.
Aberdeenshire and the Borders a different story. Chance the Tories will hold some seats which might have gone SNP narrowly.
The hilarious thing is that a large section of the population only skim the news and may well get a bit confused this week. A not insignificant number will conclude that Sturgeon's husband was arrested for paying hush money to Stormy Daniels. I look forward to the voxpops.
And Salmond is involved somehow too, right? He was a friend of The Donald, no?
All adds up. And wasn't Stormy Daniels that blonde American tech entrepreneur who went on business trips with the Mayor of London?
Though quite why they were paying hush money to a well known London based Grime artist remains a mystery.
What a great day this is, though it is playing havoc with my New Year resolution not to indulge my feelings of schadenfreude toward divisive nationalists
Aren't resolutions meant to be promising not to do bad things?
As somebody who in the past has had to deal with clients accused of financial impropriety I can say a lot of rozzers do turn up to seize a lot of devices to stop remote wipes.
With it possible to access work product on personal devices it gets more complicated.
You really don’t want to do that in somebody’s living room hence the tent(s).
If this leads to some sort of implosion in the SNP all it will effectively mean is that the 45% or so of Scots who want independence will organise themselves in some other way. The only predictable result from such a happening is a large increase in Labour MPs from Scotland.
This sort of rebuke from the UK Statistics Authority is sadly a routine feature of British politics. I do wish politicians were held to higher standards by the voters.
If this leads to some sort of implosion in the SNP all it will effectively mean is that the 45% or so of Scots who want independence will organise themselves in some other way. The only predictable result from such a happening is a large increase in Labour MPs from Scotland.
It depends how resilient that 45% figure is. Opinions do change and the SNP has been the de facto party political wing of the independence movement for some time.
It is wholly possible that a change in the fundamentals could lead to a shift in sentiment on independence. We are not there yet, but…
This sort of rebuke from the UK Statistics Authority is sadly a routine feature of British politics. I do wish politicians were held to higher standards by the voters.
If this leads to some sort of implosion in the SNP all it will effectively mean is that the 45% or so of Scots who want independence will organise themselves in some other way. The only predictable result from such a happening is a large increase in Labour MPs from Scotland.
Scottish politics since 2014 has been dominated by the fact that the 45% who voted for Independence voted in subsequent elections on the basis that the Constitutional issue was their most important concern.
If a large proportion of that 45% decide that voting on the basis of other criteria is more important, then Scottish politics becomes a lot more fluid and unpredictable. A Labour resurgence is possible, but it is not inevitable.
The Clinton Administration were too complacent. Easy to think you’d be dealing with someone like Yeltsin in perpetuity, but no contingency planning in the case you weren’t. Bush II and Obama, I am afraid, continued the trend even when it became more obvious that Putin was not the man they all hoped he would be.
To note the Scottish subsample polling average for the 6 pollsters who have conducted Westminster VIs including Scottish results since Yousaf was appointed:
SNP 39, Lab 28, Con 19, LD 5, Green 3, Oth 5
That is little changed from before his appointment. And being subsamples the weight of outliers remains potentially important, but the pattern of outliers is similar.
Partisan post: looks like this could turn out to be a very good day for the Labour Party, both in Scotland and by extension the UK as a whole.
Not if it means the Tories make gains in Scotland. Makes our job in England and Wales that much harder.
Good morning
Not entirely unexpected news and very much as predicted by our Ayrshire colleague
As far as the political consequences it would seem a considerable win for the union, and labour gaining seats, indeed even possible conservative gains, but swopping SNP seats for labour does not reduce the need for labour to do very well in England and Wales to gain a majority
As I have often said, as have many others, a week is a long time in politics and of course events influence the future in politics as well
This looks massive – politicalbetting.com
Comments
Proceedings are active on arrest for the purposes of contempt of court in scotland so keep all your hot takes to yourself please.
https://twitter.com/Scott_Wortley/status/1643533070841118722
That’s the WhatsApp I sent you.
I guess I was right? (*)
(*) for once...
But Salmond should be careful what he wishes for. He may not like the recent SNP, but if they blow up, then the path to Sindy goes back to near Square One.
If you seek revenge, start by digging two graves and all that.
Fancy that.
A party imploding like this? With police tents in front of the house of the just-departed leader?
What are you waiting for?
SNP today.
Boris tomorrow?
It may ultimately turn out that Scotland dodged a bullet by 55:45 in 2014. Imagine this lot running an independent Scotland. Sheeesh.
And the SNP have the gall to moan about Westminster government....
https://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/area_scot.html
Now that is done, ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!
(I've no idea who 'they' are, of course.)
That can take a lot of people.
And until the documents are secured, you don't know how many bodies you'll need.
An SNP spokesperson said: "Clearly it would not be appropriate to comment on any live police investigation but the SNP have been cooperating fully with this investigation and will continue to do so.
"At its meeting on Saturday, the governing body of the SNP, the NEC, agreed to a review of governance and transparency - that will be taken forward in the coming weeks."
Aberdeenshire and the Borders a different story. Chance the Tories will hold some seats which might have gone SNP narrowly.
I have zero interest in Donald Trump. Neither the man himself nor the stories about him.
With it possible to access work product on personal devices it gets more complicated.
You really don’t want to do that in somebody’s living room hence the tent(s).
I think unlikely.
https://www.rte.ie/news/primetime/2023/0404/1374162-clinton-ukraine/
https://uksa.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/correspondence/response-from-sir-robert-chote-to-stephen-kinnock-mp-asylum-backlogs/
"a good long rest...."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bnh162vqk4&ab_channel=gluckschmerz
https://twitter.com/EricTrump/status/1643312911941509121?t=6gEpHYrMS3IGO0A2VTjKAA&s=19
The AI has the Stars and Stripes all wrong, apart from anything else.
It is wholly possible that a change in the fundamentals could lead to a shift in sentiment on independence. We are not there yet, but…
https://twitter.com/LouiseScottITV/status/1643555522996584448
If a large proportion of that 45% decide that voting on the basis of other criteria is more important, then Scottish politics becomes a lot more fluid and unpredictable. A Labour resurgence is possible, but it is not inevitable.
@paulhutcheon
@severincarrell
@LeaskyHT
@KieranPAndrews
@BBCandrewpicken
@andydphilip
@davieclegg
Your boys took a hell of a beating today!
SNP 39, Lab 28, Con 19, LD 5, Green 3, Oth 5
That is little changed from before his appointment. And being subsamples the weight of outliers remains potentially important, but the pattern of outliers is similar.
SNP: 51/48/36/34/34/33
Lab: 39/35/29/23/23/20
Con: 28/21/19/17/16/14
This may serve as some manner of a baseline for today's events.
"Officer, there's something else you need to know as well...."
Not entirely unexpected news and very much as predicted by our Ayrshire colleague
As far as the political consequences it would seem a considerable win for the union, and labour gaining seats, indeed even possible conservative gains, but swopping SNP seats for labour does not reduce the need for labour to do very well in England and Wales to gain a majority
As I have often said, as have many others, a week is a long time in politics and of course events influence the future in politics as well