A 22 person team from Police Scotland worked for over a year identifying and interviewing almost 400 hoped-for complainants and witnesses against Alex Salmond. This resulted in nil charges and nil witnesses. Nil. The accusations in court were all fabricated and presented on a government platter to the police by a two prong process. The first prong was the civil service witch hunt presided over by Leslie Evans and already condemned by Scotland’s highest civil court as “unlawful, unfair and tainted by apparent bias”. The second prong was the internal SNP process orchestrated by a group at the very top in SNP HQ and the First Minister’s Private Office. A key figure in the latter was directly accused in court by Alex Salmond himself of having encouraged a significant number of the accusers to fabricate incidents.
The only accusations Police Scotland could take forward were given to them by this process. Their long and expensive trawl outside the tiny closed group of accusers revealed nothing. Let me say that again. Police Scotland’s long and expensive trawl outside the tiny closed group of accusers revealed nothing at all.
Let me give you an example. I have personally read an account by a woman who was contacted by the police and asked to give evidence. She was called in for formal interview by the police. The massive police fishing expedition had turned up the fact that, years ago, Alex Salmond had been seen to kiss this woman in the foyer of a theatre. She was asked if she wished to make a complaint of sexual assault against Alex Salmond. The woman was astonished. She told them she remembered the occasion and Alex, who was a friend, had simply kissed her on the cheeks in greeting. No, of course she did not wish to complain. She felt they were trying to push her to do so.
That is typical of hundreds of interviews in the most extensive and expensive fishing expedition in Scottish police history. That turned up nothing. Zilch. Nada.
What the police did get was eye witness evidence that several of the allegations they had been handed by the closed group were fabricated. Two eye witnesses, for example, appeared in court who had been within six feet of the alleged buttock grab during a Stirling Castle photocall. Both had been watching the photo being taken. Both testified nothing had happened. The police had that evidence. But they ignored it. A more startling example is below.
You may be interested to know the police also spent a great deal of time attempting to substantiate the “incident” at Edinburgh airport that has been so frequently recycled by the mainstream media over years. MI5 also hired a London security consultancy to work on this story. The reason so many resouces were expended is that they were desperate to stand up this claim as the only incident from outside the tiny cabal of Scottish government insiders.
They discovered the actual Edinburgh airport “incident” was that Alex Salmond had made a rather excruciating pun about “killer heels” when the footwear of a female member of staff had set off the security scanner gate. This had been reported as a sexist comment in the context of a much wider dispute about staff conditions. That is it. “Killer heels”. A joke. No charge arose from this particular substantial waste of police time, in which the involvement of MI5 is highly noteworthy.
You will probably know that I too faced politically motivated accusations of sexual misconduct from the state, in my case the FCO, when I blew the whistle on British government collusion in torture and extraordinary rendition. I too was eventually cleared of all charges. When you are facing such charges, there comes a moment when you reveal the evidence to those defending you. They, of course, will not necessarily have presumed your innocence. I recount in Murder in Samarkand this moment in my own case, when after going through all the evidence my representative turned to me and said in some astonishment “You really didn’t do any of this, did you?”. He had been disinclined to believe the British government really was trying to fit me up, until he saw the evidence.
In Alex Salmond’s case, after going through all the evidence, his legal team were utterly bemused as to why it was Alex Salmond who was being prosecuted; rather than the members of the WhatsApp group and senders of the other messages, texts and emails being prosecuted for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. There could not be a plainer conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. Not only were members of this very small political grouping orchestrating complaints in the documented communications, they were encouraging their creation.
It is much worse than that. There is plain reference to active and incorrect communication from the SNP hierarchy to Police Scotland and the Crown Office.The reason that Police Scotland and the Procurator Fiscal’s office prosecuted the victim of the conspiracy rather than the conspirators, is that they had themselves been politically hijacked to be part of the fit-up. I fully realise the implications of that statement and I make it with the greatest care. Let me say it again. The reason that Police Scotland and the Procurator Fiscal’s office prosecuted the victim of the conspiracy rather than the conspirators, is that they had themselves been politically hijacked to be part of the fit-up. Just how profound are the ramifications of this case for the Scottish establishment has so far been appreciated by very few people.
Alex Salmond’s counsel, in his summing up for the defence, said that the evidence of collusion and conspiracy in the case “stinks”. It certainly does; and the stench goes an awful long way. A new unionist online meme today is to ask why the accusers would put themselves at risk of prosecution for perjury. The answer is that there is no such risk; the police and prosecutors, the Scottish government including, but not only, as represented by the accusers, have all been part of the same joint enterprise to stitch up Alex Salmond. That is why there is still no investigation into perjury or conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, despite the evidence not just of the trial but of the documents and texts which the judge prevented from being led as “collateral”.
I cannot begin to imagine how evil you have to be to attempt falsely to convict someone of that most vicious, most unforgivable of crimes – rape. But it is impossible to have followed the trial, still more impossible to know the evidence that the judge ruled inadmissible as collateral, without forming the view that this was a deliberate, a most wicked, conspiracy to fit him up on these charges. Furthermore it was a conspiracy that incorporated almost the entire Establishment – a conspiracy that included a corrupt Scottish Government, a corrupt Crown Office, a corrupt Scottish Police and an uniformly corrupt media.
Coverage of the trial was a disgrace. The most salacious accusations of the odious prosecutor were selected and magnified into massive headlines. The defence witnesses were almost totally ignored and unreported. The entire stream of evidence from credible witnesses that disproved the prosecution case in its entirety was simply never presented in the papers, still less on radio and TV. A great deal of that evidence proved that prosecution witnesses were not merely mistaken, but had been deliberately and coldly lying.
Let us consider the lead accusation, that of attempted rape. I want you honestly to consider whether or not this should have been brought before the court.
Woman H claimed that Salmond attempted to rape her after a small dinner with Alex Salmond, an actor (the publication of whose name the court banned), and Ms Samantha Barber, a company director. Salmond gave evidence that the entire story was completely untrue and the woman had not even been there that evening. Samantha Barber gave evidence that she knows woman H well, had been a guest at her wedding reception, and that woman H had phoned and asked her to attend the dinner with the specific explanation she could not be there herself. Indeed, affirmed Ms Barber, woman H definitely was not there. She had given that firm evidence to the police.
Against that, there was a vague statement by the actor that he believed a fourth person had been present, but he described her hair colour as different to woman H, described her as wearing jeans when woman H said she was wearing a dress, and did not say the woman had her arm in a sling – which it was established woman H’s arm was at that time. One arm in a sling would be pretty debilitating in eating and the sort of detail about a fellow diner at a very small dinner party you would likely remember.
Given the very firm statement from Samantha Barber, her friend, that woman H was definitely not there, a number of lawyers and police officers with whom I have discussed this have all been perplexed that the charge was brought at all, with such a strong witness to rebut it, given that the police were relying on an extremely tentative identification from the actor (who did not appear in court to be cross-examined). The truth is, as the jury found, that woman H was not physically there when she said the incident took place. Woman H had lied. More importantly, the evidence available to the police and prosecutor fiscal showed that there was never any realistic prospect of conviction.
So why was the charge brought?
You might also wish to consider this. While the jury was considering its verdict, two members of the jury were removed. Here I know more than I can legally say at present. That might be put together with the chance that somebody was tailing Alex Salmond’s defence counsel and video recording his conversation on a train. If you look at the recording, it is obvious that if it were being taken with a mobile phone, that act of recording would have been very plainly visible to Mr Jackson. It appears far more likely this was done with a concealed device, possibly routed through a mobile phone for purposes of metadata.
I only have definite good source information on MI5 involvement in the attempt to dredge up charges at Edinburgh airport. While I have no direct evidence the juror expulsion or the Jackson tape were underlain by security service surveillance, I am very suspicious given the knowledge that MI5 were engaged in the witch-hunt. Which of course also begs the question that if any of the alleged incidents inside Bute House were true, the state would by now have produced the MI5 or GCHQ/NSA recordings to prove it (claiming they were sourced from elsewhere). Salmond has been considered by them a threat to the UK state for decades, and not only over Scottish Independence.
I also ask you to consider who has been, and who has not been, persecuted. Alex Salmond stood in the dock facing total ruin. The conspirators have faced not even questioning about their collusion.
I have published the only detailed account of the defence case. In consequence not only was I slung out of court by the judge on a motion of the prosecution, and threatened with jail by the Crown Office for contempt of court, the judge also made an order making it illegal to publish the fact that I had been barred from the court, in effect a super injunction. Yet the mainstream media, who published ludicrously selective and salacious extracts from the proceedings designed deliberately to make Salmond appear guilty, have received no threats from the Crown Office. They continue to churn out article after article effectively claiming Salmond is guilty and massively distorting the facts of the case.
One consequence of the extreme media bias is that lies which were told by the prosecution are still being repeated as fact. The lie that a policy and/or practice was put into place to prevent women working alone in the evenings with Alex Salmond, was comprehensively demolished by four separate senior civil service witnesses, one of them a prosecution witness. That was never media reported and the lie is still continually repeated.
It is only the person who published the truth, as agreed by the jury, who faces hostile action from the state.
Because the only thing that was not fixed about this entire affair was the jury. And they may well have contrived to nobble even that with jury expulsion.
We should be very grateful to that jury of solid Edinburgh citizens, two thirds of them female. They were diligent, they did their duty, and they thwarted a great injustice in the midst of a media hanging frenzy that has to have impacted upon them, and probably still does.
I would however state that, up until she inexplicably expelled me from the court, I had found Lady Dorrian’s handling of the trial entirely fair and reasonable. Equally it was a judicial decision in the Court of Session that had found the Scottish Government process against Salmond to be “unlawful, unfair and tainted by apparent bias”.
Which brings me on to the role of the Head of the Scottish Civil Service, Leslie Evans. “We may have lost a battle, but we will win the war”. That is how, in January 2019, Leslie Evans had messaged a colleague the day they lost in the Court of Session. It is an interesting glimpse into the lifestyle of these people that the colleague she messaged was in the Maldives at the time.
It is incredible that after a process Evans claimed in court to have “established” was described as unlawful and unfair by a very senior judge, her first thought was on “winning the war”. That message alone is sufficient to sack Leslie Evans. Is shows that rather than being a civil servant engaged in an effort to administer justly, she was engaged as parti pris in a bitter battle to take down Alex Salmond. She would not even accept the verdict of the Court of Session. It astonishes me, as a former member for six years of the senior civil service myself, that any civil servant could commit themselves in that way to try ruthlessly to take down a former First Minister, with no heed whatsoever either to fair process or to the decision of the courts.
It is quite simply astonishing that Ms Evans has not been sacked.
Well, Leslie Evans did carry on her war. At the cost of many millions to the Scottish taxpayer, she has now lost the battle in both Scotland’s highest civil court and in Scotland’s highest criminal court. The campaign to destroy Salmond has been trounced in both the Court of Session and the High Court. That Leslie Evans is still in post is a national scandal. That Nicola Sturgeon a few weeks ago extended Evans’ tenure by a further two years is an appalling misjudgment.
Evans has a particularly unionist outlook and regards her role as head of the Scottish civil service as equivalent to a departmental permanent secretary of the United Kingdom. Evans spends a great deal of time in London. Unlike her predecessor, who regarded Scotland as separate, Evans regularly attends the weekly “Wednesday Morning Colleagues” (WMC) meeting of Whitehall permanent secretaries, chaired by the Westminster Cabinet Secretary. She much values her position in the UK establishment. What kind of Head of the Scottish Civil Service spends the middle of the week in London?
Rather than any action being taken against the perpetrators of this disgraceful attempt to pervert the course of justice, even after their plot has been roundly rejected in the High Court, the Scottish Government appears to be doubling down in its accusations against Alex Salmond through the medium of the state and corporate media, which is acting in complete unison. It has now been widely briefed against Salmond that Police Scotland has passed a dossier to the Metropolitan Police on four other accusations, set at Westminster.
What the media has not told you is that these accusations are from exactly the same group of conspirators; indeed from some of the actual same accusers. They also do not tell you that these accusations are even weaker than those pursued in Scotland.
In the massive effort to prove “pattern of behaviour” in Alex Salmond’s recent trial, incidents which happened outwith Scottish jurisdiction could be presented as evidence in a separate “docket”. Thus the defence heard evidence from the “Chinese docket” of Salmond “attempting to touch” a colleague’s hair in a hotel lift in China. Well, the London “docket” was considered even weaker than that, so it was not led in the Edinburgh trial. The idea that Leslie Evans’ “war” against Salmond will be won in an English court, having failed in both the civil and criminal Scottish courts, is just black propaganda.
As is the continued campaign to claim that Salmond is really guilty, carried on by Rape Crisis Scotland. They yesterday published a statement by the nine anonymous accusers attacking Salmond further, and rather amusingly the nine wrote together to deny they were associated with each other. It seems to me entirely illegitimate for this group to be able to conduct a continued campaign of political harassment of Alex Salmond from behind the cloak of state-enforced anonymity, after he has been acquitted of all charges. I understand the reasoning behind anonymity for accusers in sex allegations. But surely state backed anonymity should not be used to enable the continued repetition of false accusations without fear of defamation law, after the jury has acquitted? That is perverse.
It is also a fact that Rape Crisis Scotland is just another instrument of the Scottish government, being almost entirely funded by the Scottish government. There is a very serious infringement of public conduct here. One of the nine conspirators, whose statement is being amplified by Rape Crisis Scotland, is personally very directly involved in the channeling of government money to Rape Crisis Scotland. That is a gross abuse of office and conflict of interest and should be a resignation matter. Here again, direct wrongdoing is being carried out from behind the screen of state-backed anonymity.
Let me give you this thought. Alex Salmond having been acquitted, you would think that the unionist media would seek to capitalise by training its guns on those at the head of the SNP who sought to frame him, who after all are still in power. But instead, the unionist media is entirely committed to attacking Salmond, in defiance of all the facts of the case. That shows you who it is the British establishment are really afraid of. It also confirms what I have been saying for years, that the SNP careerist establishment have no genuine interest in Scottish Independence and are not perceived by Whitehall as a threat to the union. And in that judgement at least, Whitehall is right.
I should state that in this article I have, absolutely against my own instincts, deferred to Alex Salmond’s noble but in my view over-generous wish to wait until the Covid-19 virus has passed before giving all the names of those involved and presenting the supporting documents. I have therefore removed several names from this article. Alex Salmond believes that it is wrong to move on this at a time when many people are suffering and grieving, and he has stated that it would indeed be narcissistic to think of his own troubles at this time of wider calamity. I find this extremely upsetting when his enemies are showing absolutely no respect nor restraint whatsoever and are engaged in full-on attack on his reputation. I can assure you this is even more frustrating for me than for you. But while the mills of God grind slowly, they grind exceedingly small.
Those who do not know Scotland are astonished that the Alex Salmond trial and its fallout have not damaged support in the polls for Independence nor even for the SNP. I am not in the least surprised – the reawakening of the national consciousness of the Scottish people is an unstoppable process. If you want to see it, look not at any single politician but at the mass enthusiasm of one of the great, self-organised AUOB marches. The spirit of Independence rides the SNP as the available vehicle to achieve its ends. It is no longer primarily inspired nor controlled by the SNP – indeed the SNP leadership is blatantly trying to dampen it down, with only marginal success. This great movement of a nation is not to be disturbed by fleeting events.
That is not to underplay the importance of events for those caught up in them. As Alex Salmond stood in the dock, he was very probably staring at the prospect of spending the rest of his life in prison, of never being with his wife Moira again, and of having his reputation as Scotland’s greatest national leader for centuries erased. The party hierarchy had already overseen the Stalinesque scrubbing of his image and name from all online content under the SNP’s control. The future now looks very different, and I am cheered by the brighter horizon.
Let me finish this article by observing that the British state continues to keep the unconvicted Julian Assange in conditions of appalling detention and receiving brutal personal treatment reserved normally for the most dangerous terrorists. The British state has refused to let Assange out of jail to avert the danger of Covid-19. By contrast the government of Iran has allowed Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe out of prison to reduce her danger from the epidemic. Which of these governments is portrayed as evil by the state and corporate media?
With grateful thanks to those who donated or subscribed to make this reporting possible.
This article is entirely free to reproduce and publish, including in translation, and I very much hope people will do so actively. Truth shall set us free.
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This headline basically says it all: When your best defence is ‘I’m sleazy but not criminal’, it’s nothing to smile about
https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/opinion/alex-bell/1222015/alex-bell-when-your-best-defence-is-im-sleazy-but-not-criminal-its-nothing-to-smile-about/
A unionist shitrag newspaper throwing innuendo around on a post innocent verdict on the only man whose led Scotland to a indyref.
Why am I not surprised by this continual character assassination from them. Afterall they support the British state.
`I’m sleazy but not a criminal’ – isn’t that basically Boris Johnson’s line (except that he is sleazy and a criminal).
A.S. isn’t sleazy, which is probably why he lost (it’s a necessary requirement in modern politics).
Yes, which is why I wouldn’t touch him with a barge pole either.
Martinned
Bell is a scumbag who got sacked by Salmond and turned into an ultra Britnat overnight – that is assuming he ever was a supporter of independence – my guess is that he always was a signatory to the Ragmans roll. Bell has no defence at all.
That may well be, I don’t know the man and I don’t care. I just thought it was a valid point on the merits, regardless of who made it.
Thank you for providing a detailed view of the work to hunt for and conjure up evidence that didn’t exist. The fact that some in government worked with the police and the main-stream media to silence this stalwart of a man, is despicable.
Those in power feel empowered to do as they want as they see no-one to hold them to account, and this is very dangerous.
Keep up the good work.
I hope that the truth of the injustice of this becomes visible to many.
@ Martinned – March 31, 2020 at 15:25
Headlines like that, articles such as that, though I don’t intend to follow any such link to read such dross, just adds more to my list of permanently blocked domain names, and the domains of any advertisers thereon, or related companies also blocked, like thecourier.co.uk resolving to 127.0.0.1 forever. In that you are useful to the independence movement, for which the publisher concerned won’t thank you, will more likely curse you. Keep posting, we’ll keep blocking and boycotting. It does as you say, say ‘everything’ Everything about how sleazy, dishonest and disgusting the over-whelming majority of the print and broadcast media is in Scotland. How low those crawling snakes who call themselves journalists are. I think you’ll find such such dishonesty has been a feature of the media in Scotland, in much of the world, really for most of our lifetimes, and the people who still take this stuff with anything but the greatest pinch of salt, contemptible, pitiable or more, so there’s no use in posting such links, you just appear an absolute prat, demonstrating a dangerous combination stupidity and malice. The world alas has not found a way to keep such people, incapable of improving themselves, of sharpening their rather blunt dysfunctional, disordered minds, harmlessly occupied in menial tasks where you can do no harm except to yourself. Sympathy is wasted on you, you comment simply to inflame, it’s touching that you have such faith in the gutter-press, they print this stuff just for such simple-minded, twisted people, mugs they call you, you’re more extreme however you’re to them a useful-idiot, to everyone else several things, all of them unprintable.
For the record: I just added the link because I like to be transparent about my sources. (Or, in this case, the place where I saw the thing that I’m quoting.)
Otherwise, what you do with my comments is up to you. If you don’t like them, you’re welcome to have your money back.
I’ve seen enough to call this “pandemic” as fake as CFI plant Boris “Grunty” Johnson. A liar, womaniser, adulterer, and a traitor working for Israeli interests. Information is now pouring out that discredits the mainstream and political tune. Nothing more than a milder than average flu. HN51 killed and infected more. Consider why, CCTV expansion, smart meters, 5G, the destruction of small business the endless attack on civil liberties. That the Russians are going along with it is truly appalling. While the Mexican Leader and many others have called it what it is, the Mexican leader swiftly changed his tune. But for the Russia it makes credible sense. They have a foreign owned central bank as most western nations do. They will also do as they are told or their economy will crumble. Why would a country like Russia allow a fifth column bank inside?
Ironic that the “Bank of England was set-up by a Scotsman by the name of William Paterson in 1694. The Scot’s have a habit for messing anything important up. While the BOE is classified as state owned a possible 95% of the UK money supply is controlled privately by interest bearing loans created by the large banks. The identity of the participant banks remains a secret. Nothing to hide and all that buffoonery. There is an enemy far greater than the fake Russia nonsense. They and their little buddy banks have stolen millions in interest payments since 2008 through flat-lining interest rates.
Imagine a world where you could only convert your labour/wealth into credits issued by these secret banks? And a world where everyone only accepts these credits. You have to follow the rules, you have no options you cannot convert your labour to anything else because the issuer will arrest you and punish you. Still living in a free and fair society? For ordinary people to actually entertain the idea of a cashless society show how they are a part of the problem.
Does anyone remember the payroll robberies in London and elsewhere in the 1970’s? The bank made sure they used that to get wages paid into the bank. Poorer people preferred to have the cash each week. Society has went from getting cash weekly to bank credit each month normally paid in arrears. You see while they may be poorer, they are certainly a lot wiser when it comes to spotting a scam. A bank is a scam. Remember Cyprus? The European Bank Bail in Law. When deposited your money belongs to them. Last in-line. Don’t get me wrong…banks serve an important economic function. It is simply when regulation does not control their activities and how can it when the most powerful banking families control those who make the worthless laws. A nations currency is like political parties’ no real alternative. As an example take 4 pack of chocolate, say in the UK Twirl, they used to be larger. What has happened is they have shrunk and many have blamed the greedy makers, such as Cadbury. In reality what has happened is your £1 has been inflated away to somewhere between 30-40%. Your £1 in 2006 can only purchase £0.60-0.70 worth of goods now. Massive printing has destroyed the value of your currency. But, you cannot do anything because there is no alternative credit for your labour so you must continue to use the inflated official toilet paper. That also means you have to work more to buy the same amount of goods you did in 2006.
Unfortunately bankers are a hell of a lot smarter than any politician. When the government tried to reduce bank loans during the 1970’s the banks simply got around this by offering higher purchase on goods like vehicles, white goods etc. The bankers wipe their ass with politicians. Dumb morons for sale to the highest bidder. And you wonder why the western world in collapsing. Because this virus hoax is here for a reason.
“Ironic that the “Bank of England was set-up by a Scotsman by the name of William Paterson in 1694. The Scot’s have a habit for messing anything important up. ”
What’s ironic about that, a English man, John Holland, help found the Bank of Scotland.
Which important thing or things are you referring to?
Republicofscotland,
Ironic as the Scot’s can’t run anything. The communists run Scotland. Wallace made a mistake by trusting the Nobles. They are and still are slimeballs. The names have changed, but their treachery and treason remains. There will never be an independent Scotland as long as the current Scottish establishment are involved. Police, Freemasons, courts, the Law Society and on and on.
They are the disease. As pointed out before it appears the Law Society run the show in Scotland and they appear to be taking their orders from the English terrorist regime. “Important” as running the country free from tyranny Blair/Brown, plus the others inc Reid. The SNP are no longer for independence. I’d say that was pretty important to those who want to escape the tyranny and not be sent to fight and die in endless English wars and have hope for the future. They tread water. They know it will take years for another party to arrive and longer to gain public trust and acceptance. The SNP are killing any hope of IND, and it possibly points to threats made by the English to shut up or be dealt with. Even if IND, people in Scotland would have to fight. It will not be any other way. However, IND is not chosen by the people of Scotland but by what suits international finance. The Bank of England is simply a place for an organised group to conduct their activities without people noticing who is actually involved.
Sadly, there is no one who can lead Scotland to a successful outcome or better still make Scotland a prosperous and free society.
” your £1 has been inflated away to somewhere between 30-40%. Your £1 in 2006 can only purchase £0.60-0.70 worth of goods now. Massive printing has destroyed the value of your currency. ”
Actually at just under 3% inflation over the period was quite modest. By comparison £1 in 1970 would only be worth 28p in 1980, a decade when average inflation was just shy of 14%.
Kempe, Should have read your £1 in 2006 now has a purchasing power of between 60-70 English pence. Inflation has never been 3%. Maybe from a government who cannot tell the truth and excludes important items from RPI. The “Big Mac Index” shows the price of a big mac versus various worldwide inflation indexes. The “Mac” has risen substantially faster than inflation. While the price has risen, it is actually the purchasing power of your currency that has fallen. You need more of your inflatacash to buy a burger. You just cannot do what central banks have been doing and get away with it. There is a price to pay. People in the UK have no choice but to use “inflatacash”. It is criminal and it is taking wealth from people.
Yes I understood perfectly.
If you’re going to mention RPI in a conversation about inflation, you really don’t get to have any opinions about anything. RPI is simply illiterate from a basic arithmetic point of view, and should not be used by anyone for anything.
CJ
William Paterson was also a spy for the English state. He helped create the Treaty of Union. Another Signatory to the Ragmans roll.
So the Chinese and the WHO are also on this hoax. You have to distinguish between a real event exploited by the ‘deep state’ and an artificially created one or one that is completely made up. All you have to do to see that this is real is to go and visit your nearest hospital, not that I would advocate doing so as you will only deter genuine efforts at saving lives. Please do not propagate fake news and fake hoaxes.
Why is it so special that someone somewhere was working for Israeli interests? A small nation with a population not much bigger than Scotland and a land area not much bigger than Argyll & Bute is hardly going to threaten the Western world. It is surrounded by enemies who have sworn to wipe it out so you can forgive them for being a bit paranoid.
I have researched the whole whining Palestinian thing and, its true, they have been guilty of going over the top on some occasions but why are they always singled-out for special criticism? Have they done worse than Assad in neighbouring Syria, where his forces and the Russians and the mercenaries from the vile theocracy that is Iran, have flattened the towns and cities of his own country and murdered tens of thousands of civilians? Or the carnage in Yemen which hardly gets a mention?
I am sick of all the hyperbole about the Palestinians. I have been in Israel and those I know who have been in the West Bank say that it was much more stable and affluent than they expected, with full shops selling everything that you find here with streets full of cars that parking spaces is a major problem.
Then there are the pro-Palestinian media outlets who exaggerate and lie on an industrial scale. A photo released last year of the ‘destruction’ in Gaza actually had high mountains in the background: there are no mountains in or near Gaza – it is flat! The picture was of Aleppo in Syria!
I am now in my 60’s and have watched as the Palestinians have achieved absolutely nothing in the last years. They are good at lying though.
I think I’ll take Noam Chomsky’s word over yours, since he has nearly a half million citations on google scholar and you have none.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreyfus_affair#Transmission_of_a_secret_dossier_to_the_judges
‘…incidents which happened outwith Scottish jurisdiction could be presented as evidence in a separate “docket”.’
Aah, the good old Dreyfus Manoeuvre.
For every rouble the Russian Central Bank creates, they have to purchase with real wealth, with tangible commodities, an equivalent sum in US dollars. Putin despite making noises goes in fear of ending this sorry state of affairs, which has existed since the Yeltsin era.
Load of conspiracy nonsense. M I 5 isn’t interested in Salmond, he lost the Indy ref and he lost his seat to a Tory in the 2017 election.
Jack aye!! but seemingly he lost his seat thanks to so-called `Scottish Tory and Labour party collusion i.e. `Tactical` voting` to kick out SNP politicians and replace them with Supposed to be `Scottish` Labour or Tory Candidates, Ruth Davidson (a devout Rape-Clause Supporter) was leader of the Scottish Tories and Kezia Dugdale who seemed to hate the SNP Party with a passion was leader of Scottish Labour then, Many of Labour’s enthusiastic conference delegates would probably have been surprised to learn at their last conference in England in 2017 that their former Scottish leader, Kezia Dugdale’s, inference that supporting the Tories in seats that Labour couldn’t take from the SNP (2017 G/E) was so enthusiastically taken on board by dyed-in-the-wool Scottish Labour, Tory and Lib-Dem Unionists, when those votes might well have tipped the scales at Westminster that left Jeremy Corbyn waiting on the threshold for at least another five years, ironic, eh? Mr Corbyn at the time really needed to communicate his vision to his Scottish branch office, Scottish Labour seemingly were loaned many votes from the Tory and LibDem Unionist supporters to keep the SNP Candidates out, would it not have been a difficult decision for their voters to unite against their common enemy in the polling booths after seeing their MPs voting together in Westminster lobbies so often – voting against `every` one of the SNP’s amendments to the Scotland Act after the 2014 Independance Referendum following the Smith Commission Report, and in favour of cutting £12 billion from the UK welfare budget (at the time) with the result of piling even yet more misery upon the shoulders of the poor, the sick, the disabled, the unemployed, also, people in Scotland who voted for these Tories and so called `Scottish`Labour Candidates really needed to look in to a mirror at themselves, and think where they went wrong in their voting decisions, and wear a dunces hat whilst they did so, It was a cruel twist of fate, that not only did Scotland have 13 Tory MPs who altered the balance of power in Westminster, but that it was an outdated and entrenched Labour Party in Scotland that helped put them there, Bitter irony indeed!!
Well, this confirms what we learned about Scots corruption at the Libya railroading.
And with a jug-eared Glaswegian now in charge of MI5 it seems we might never be rid of you at all.
May we put our faith in ScotNat bovine immunity, going forward?
Easy to get rid of us. Stop impeding our efforts. In fact lobby for English independence from the other countries in these islands. Quite difficult for you though.
As the British State knows, Scotland gets 66 pence back out of every pound of taxes that it sends to the Treasury. The Barnett formula excludes from English public spending calculations huge areas of south of England infrastructure such as the new water and sewerage infrastructure, the Jubilee Line, motorway developments and so much more.
England operates a huge export deficit. Scotland actually produces goods and consistently operates an exports surplus. We have enormous assets: maritime and in shore renewables, water, oil and gas, hydropower, food and drink, fish, digital technology, higher graduate earnings than other countries in the rest of the U.K. and so forth. But of course the British State knows that. It’s the reason why they cling to us and peddle the lie that we and not England is the subsidy junkies.
As for denying MI5 involvement – it is not even denied by the British State that it infiltrated the IRA and the 1950’s Scottish independence movement. It is incredible that it is not working against the people of Scotland at all levels in these days. As for belief in unionist integrity… that went out of the window with the McCrone. report , whose retrospective publication proved that the British State deliberately deceived the Scottish people by vastly undervaluing the enormous oil resources that would be enjoyed by an independent Scotland. Nowadays they don’t even deny the deceit, so arrogant are they. Scotland ??????? is collateral damage,
They also lied during the 2014 referendum, by claiming that Scots would lose their rights to their contributory pensions when in fact these pensions could be accessed from anywhere in the world.
Please, please, please fight for English independence and keep out of our country’s business!
I am convinced that a similar attempt like this was made on the reputation of Kelvin Hopkins, although all I have in suspicion is motive and a piece of indirect evidence that Kelvin gave at the time. He was accused of sexual assault by a woman who sent him a text directly after the alleged assault thanking him for attending an event that she had invited him to. He stated that no one who had been assaulted would send a thank you message after the event. My own suspicions were that he had been going around the country and Labour Party conferences giving talks about leaving the EU, and handing out a well written booklet citing his reasons. His booklet and talks were convincing and cogent, and I feel that maybe many certain members of the centrist/right maybe did not like what he was doing. All impossible to prove, but after reading your account of what happened to Alex Salmond I am wondering if I am right. I also ask myself, “what has Alex done to upset the SNP?
Outstanding.
Thank you.
It beggars belief that so much was done by so many to besmirch Alex Salmond’s reputation.
I hope Nicola Sturgeon was not involved or had any detailed knowledge of what was going on. Alex Salmond may have his faults but he doesn’t deserve to be vilified in this way.
Hope the Corona virus here bucks the trend and its’ spread lessens sooner than predicted not only for those who are or may become ill but so that Alex Salmond can bring a case against these horrible people. Well done Craig.
It beggars belief that so much was done by so many to besmirch Alex Salmond’s reputation.
Yes, and by the looks of things mostly by Salmond himself.
I fear Salmond has missed the moment here. Covid19 will not be over in a moment and if there is a second wave, which I expect, then this could be going on for a year or more. This merely gives the plotters more time. He should expose them for what they are, what the police are and how the govt are involved and not least humiliate the press, get it over and done with whilst it’s a hot topic and of course reveal the miscreants publicly. Then if he is to take legal grievance with them all, do so.
Mr. Salmond:
Strike while the iron is hot.
“Making nice” with your sworn enemies, or their proxies, is a loser’s game.
No one will appreciate your forbearance.
It will not sway the public to your side.
On the contrary, the public expects people to defend themselves.
Especially if they are holed up at home watching the telly or reading the internet, at this time you have their attention.
Anyhow, 75% of the corona business is hype.
It is not real. I is not a good reason to postpone self-defense.
My 2C/ worth from the hype-drenched USA.
Great reporting job, Mr. Murray.
After going to bat for Alex Salmond, he more or less has the obligation to do as much to DEFEND HIMSELF as you have done to defend him.
You can tell him that from me.
He really doesn’t have the right to back down of back off when others have put their arm in the fire for him.
The corona excuse is lame.
“ Anyhow, 75% of the corona business is hype.
It is not real.”
—————
The Trumpanzee used to believe that. But not today. Go figure.
The boxer Mike Tyson was once libeled by ‘Rape Crisis’, the ‘struggling charity’ that apparently no-one donates to. Mike could have bankrupted this evil coven of witches and has them shut down for good. Unfortunately soft-hearted Mike had a change of heart and accepted an ‘apology’. Big mistake! Sandra (Sandy) Brindley and her cohorts are sailing pretty close to the wind in their pathetic attempts to defame Alex Salmond. Maybe it is Alex’s turn to crush these feminazi, man-hating vermin once and for all.
I have always thought this is an MI5 operation to separate Salmond from Russia Today. However..
Anyone believing Salmond is some kind of political radical should read this
‘Leveson criticises Salmond for offering to lobby on behalf of Murdoch.
The judge said the first minister showed a “striking” willingness to lobby the UK government in favour of Murdoch’s buyout of BSkyB, by giving “irrelevant” advice about Scottish jobs, at the same time as negotiating with the Sun newspaper to win its editorial support in the Scottish elections.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2012/nov/29/leveson-criticises-salmond-lobby-murdoch
Some of us still remember Salmond’s support for certain banks back in 2007/8.
Craig,
Powerful article. It is very possible that the accusations in the Scottish trail (for which Alex Salmond was found innocent) will be gone over again in the English trial in order to establish a pattern of behaviour. A sort of “double jeopardy” is permissible – whether it is allowed or not may be down to the discretion of the Judge. Such evidence is surprisingly powerful and Salmond is a sort of minor hate figure in England (due to media hostility over many years). If English charges against Salmond happen then Salmon will find he is unable to proceed with his planned revelations (so, tactically, he should get a move-on).
Thank you so much. Am so thankful that you choose to be a thorn in the grisly flesh of the modern political world, you and Mr Salmond both.
There is obviously more to the SNP than meets the eye.! think most people suspected this all along. .
He Attendre
Does anyone have a link to the video of Gordon Jackson discussing the case on the train? Given the biased reporting of the trial, I want to see it for myself rather than rely on what’s reported by the media. Was Jackson in a situation where he might reasonably have expected to not be overheard? In any case I find it difficult to believe that a mobile phone microphone is sufficiently sensitive to pick up a conversation at any distance, which suggests a directional microphone and probably a hidden camera. Surely recording and filming a private conversation without the consent of the individuals of is just as illegal as phone hacking? In which case, why aren’t the police pursuing and charging whoever took the video? If they can expend 22 man years on those flimsy allegations against Alex surely they can investigate when an actual crime has been committed.
Wow, thanks again Craig for lifting the lid of the cesspool that is the three ring circus of the Scottish Government, Judiciary and Police. It really is disgusting to learn not only of the extent of corruption within the SNP, upto the very top, but that even when proven as liars and conspirators they are protected from prosecution by an equally corrupt judiciary and police force and heralded as heroines by a biased union press and media. I dearly wish that AUOB would formally declare as a political party and stand against the SNP at the next Scottish elections with Anti corruption as their core message. The SNP are dead to myself and many others now, I will nevet vote for them again, under any circumstances.
The fact that the real Stuart Campbell is unable to vote SNP and never has because he lives in Bath kind of gives away the fact that you’re not Stuart Campbell but a pathetic effort at trolling stupidity. He often posts how he has voted Lib Dem in the past and often struggles with who to vote for in England. Idiot.
Im perplexed at the fact that you believe the conspiracy includes senior SNP officials and not elements within the Scottish Parliament working for the Civil Service in an official capacity with the Scottish government but controlled and directed from the Scotland Office.
ALL elements of the Civil Service in Scotland work FOR the Scotland Office and not the Scottish Government even though they work within the Scottish Parliament itself. The WHOLE of the Civil service is reserved NONE of it is Devolved.
I certainly cant believe the FM herself would turn against Alex Salmond not in cahoots with what is clearly a UK deep state involvement.
Has the UK deep state infiltrated the SNP to the extent of trying to bring it down from within? Quite possibly. There may very well be members of the SNP who secretly work for the Deep State but to claim its to the extent of controlling the Scottish Government itself is frankly ludicrous.
So thuggish is the British state that we can see the contrast between the brutal Iranian regime letting Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe out of prison to escape Covid-19, whereas Julian Assange is kept in horrific conditions, in very poor overall health – in a prison inhabited by terrorists and murderers where the likelihood of contagion is amplified many times. In this action alone, it is obvious what the objectives of the state really are.
This is in True Publica version of your article- here it seems a bit different
Hello Craig,
Excellent work.
But…
You need an editor. You undermine your case with remarks like “It is an interesting glimpse into the lifestyle of these people that the colleague she messaged was in the Maldives at the time.”
Holidaying in the Maldives isn’t THAT exclusive.
And:
“What kind of Head of the Scottish Civil Service spends the middle of the week in London?” sounds a bit petty in this day and age. She could easily fly down for the day at minimal cost.
Otherwise, outstanding work. I also appreciate your coverage of the Assange trials.
One question: why is the Scottish Establishment so hell bent on attacking a man who no longer leads an SNP you say is supine to Whitehall? I thought it was to damage Sturgeon by association, but if she’s playing along with the Unionists and Whitehall, why bother?
One last thing: is anyone making a documentary about this? I have the means to do so.
Warm regards,
Mose