The day after I publish my article accusing the corporate media of being an active part of the conspiracy against Alex Salmond, and of giving disgracefully selective, slanted and biased coverage of the evidence of his trial, the Daily Record has decided to investigate my home and personal finances. Is not life full of little coincidences?
I received this email from the Daily Record’s political editor.
I replied to him politely. This was probably a mistake – I should have just told him where to go.
But I cannot get over the idea that this is absolutely illegitimate. It is a plain attempt to bully and harass me for having published the truth about what really lay behind the Alex Salmond case. Who put up the Daily Record up to launching an investigation into my personal circumstances? It is of course the paper to which was leaked the very detailed and most salacious of the false accusations against Salmond. Who trawled the land register to find my home purchase?
The key point is not one mainstream media journalist has even attempted to refute the facts of my article J’accuse. It is packed with facts. Might not the political editor of the Daily Record better spend his time researching the conspiracy against Alex Salmond, rather than threatening an independent journalist for the crime of doing journalism?
I greatly dislike bullies. I do hope you feel the same. Mr Hutcheon’s contact details are there. If any of you feel like phoning, texting or emailing Mr Hutcheon to suggest he might be better employed investigating the facts of my article about the Salmond fit-up, rather than pursuing a journalist, you would earn my eternal gratitude.
It goes without saying that this blog is free to read. I have always stated that I do not wish anybody to support my work if it costs them the slightest personal hardship. If anybody wishes to cancel their subscription because I am doing up a house to run as a b & b, I shall not be in the slightest upset.
UPDATE the Daily Record have now published their stunning investigative article, together with a large picture of my house. My wife and family are very upset by this.
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/alex-salmond-blogger-trial-high-21789285
What I am now waiting for is all these people to step in and condemn the publishing of my home and the subsequent risk to the security of my wife and family, with as much vigour as they today defended the privacy of the Edinburgh third house of the Head of MI6.
Tumbleweed rolls by.
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.
——————————————
Unlike our adversaries including the Integrity Initiative, the 77th Brigade, Bellingcat, the Atlantic Council and hundreds of other warmongering propaganda operations, this blog has no source of state, corporate or institutional finance whatsoever. It runs entirely on voluntary subscriptions from its readers – many of whom do not necessarily agree with the every article, but welcome the alternative voice, insider information and debate.
Subscriptions to keep this blog going are gratefully received.
Choose subscription amount from dropdown box:
Paypal address for one-off donations: [email protected]
Alternatively:
Account name
MURRAY CJ
Account number 3 2 1 5 0 9 6 2
Sort code 6 0 – 4 0 – 0 5
IBAN GB98NWBK60400532150962
BIC NWBKGB2L
Bank address Natwest, PO Box 414, 38 Strand, London, WC2H 5JB
Subscriptions are still preferred to donations as I can’t run the blog without some certainty of future income, but I understand why some people prefer not to commit to that.
Subscribed!
(Don’t really want to use the US paypal/palantir, so a standing order)
Craig, pleased to add myself to the list of new subscribers that you´ll have this morning, following the clear àttempts by the state and the Daily Whatever to stifle your journalism. Your comment in response to ARs concern for the safety of the MI6 chief following Ruth Davidson`s tweet, was spot on!
Craig, I was expecting the Brit State to attack you after you published your, essential to read, post on the Alex Salmond case. Please keep up your valuable journalistic work!
Just subscribed Craig. Hope we manage evenually manage to bring down this nest of evel, laughingly referred to as “media”, in Scotland who work shamelessly against the welfare of people in Scotland.
H Craig,
Sub set up.
When these nice people at the FCO set you up and sacked you did you lose your rights to a Civil Service Pension?
No I didn’t thankfully. But it is at 50% due to my leaving after 20 years not the full 40, and then a half of the 50% goes automatically to my ex-wife following my divorce. So a quarter pension. It’s not much, so am deferring it as long as I can to become more substantial.
Without your blog I would not have had the true story of the Salmond or Assange court cases. There was no proper coverage of these trials in Scotland’s MSM. I increased my subscription when you were down at London. I will increase it again if required. All we really want is the truth and without your and other’s blogs it would be impossible. Keep it coming but stay safe, increase your security, lock those gates at night.
So you’re notorious if you publish facts. Well that’s one adjective we’ll not be using to describe the Record then. Talk about sour grapes. They simply cannot stand the fact their witch hunt failed to bring about the outcome they and their state overseers hoped for. And once again they stoop to abject lies in their efforts to smear. “Asking for £100”. Purely because the donations platform you’re using allows donations from as little as £2 to £100. Keep up the great work Craig.
This from the Daily Record is almost enough to make me want to sign myself up to another subscription. If their uber loyalist journos are greetin about you then you’re definitely doing it right. ? Keep it up mate.
If you put your head above the parapet. Some will take a pot shot at it.
Fortunately not to well aimed this time. I see the Mr Hutcheon in the Daily Record has kept that fine tradition of using a misleading headline.
“Technically, realtors term mansions as houses that have at least 8,000 square feet of floor space.” Merriam-Webster’s dictionary definition is less definitive, simply stating that a mansion is “a large and impressive house: the large house of a wealthy person.”
Mr Hutcheon did contact Craig before publishing and print some of Craig’s reply. This is more than many would get from many publications.
I read the Private Eye magazine it highlights much corruption. But sometimes I think it wrongly publishes details of how people fairly make a living.
If Craig gets a pension he will have to be careful to declare any income after expenses that takes him beyond the personal allowance of £12,500. As there may be people monitoring him (not the HMRC)
I see they use the conspiracy theorist tag. My definition of a conspiracy theorist is someone who believes his eyes and ears rather that what he is told.
Rather like when Boris Johnson tells me he has a persistent cough and then immediately gives a long address in a strong and firm voice without coughing once.
Mr Hutcheon may not be aware that it was people questioning the Kennedy assassination that prompted the CIA to issue to the media the idea of using the conspiracy theorist tag to ridicule them.
Craig, I would like to see you put journalist and Scottish independence supporter alongside Historian, Former Ambassador, Human Rights activist at the top of your page.
You are certainly more of a journalist than Hutcheon or any of the others that have signed the Ragmans roll.
You are certainly an independence supporter. Put it at the top of your page and be proud of it.
Also from Hutcheon’s gutter piece:
“Labour MSP Neil Findlay said:
“There are people in the wackier reaches of the Nationalist movement who see the foot-soldiers as folk who can fund their hare-brained conspiracy theories.
“It appears Mr Murray is a wealthy individual and he needs to be transparent with potential donors about his wealth.””
Perhaps one or two of Mr Findlay’s constituents might like to contact him regarding the inanity and the potentially libellous nature of his comments.
O/T somewhat but it did come up on this thread earlier: the Scottish Government has just announced it has shelved plans to suspend jury trials.
I remember Paul Hutcheon. He was the arsehole who, just after being promoted to “Investigations Editor” on the SH back in 2008 came out with a load of bullshit about Best Western Hotels being “hacked” and every guests data (Eurpoe-wide) since 2007 had been compromised.
It was complete and utter drivel – what had in fact happened was one hotel in Germany had a trojan which the anti-virus s/w dealt with.
Here’s the Registers take on it at the time :
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/26/best_western_hack/
Cost the SH a LOT of money in damages (6 figures AFAIK) and, despite the SH/Hutcheon’s best efforts to erase it from European google search results its still available. Hutcheon is a gullible mug and frankly is ideal for the pond life working at the DR.
I am a self-isolating 85 year old and have been a member of the SNP since the early 60s. Paul Hutcheon’s article disgusts me, as it is so personal and anyone would think buying a house was a crime. Shades of the former SNP MP, Michelle Thomson smear campaign here, is it not? I remember when Michelle was being smeared, being very disappointed at how Nicola Sturgeon did nothing to help her. I now suspect that Nicola Sturgeon and her husband, SNP Chief Executive, Peter Murrell, quite like to protect their own fiefdom by ruthlessly undermining anyone within the party whom they see as a threat to their fiefdom and inner cabal. Michelle Thomson was certainly a wonderful MP. I’ll never forget her courage in the House of Commons to speak about violence against women and her own experience, (which I remember reduced many, including the then Speaker to tears). Now that was true courage. Compare that courage to the AS anonymous accusers cowardice of hiding behind anonymity and their ‘friends in high places’ protecting them and paying them all very high wages, forbye. Michelle Thomson was flung under the bus and left to get by on her own resources for absolutely nothing. Nicola Sturgeon is a very shrewd and ruthless operator. How I wish she displayed the same ruthlessness in achieving Independence as she shows in protecting her own high office.
Anyway, despite knowing nothing about the internet (my children & my grandchildren usually do it all for me), that rage inducing personal attack by Paul Hutcheon on your private life forced this octogenarian to work out for myself how to set up a subscription to you, of £5 per month. I look forward to your articles with real pleasure. I don’t think that will ever be said by anyone naive enough to read the dross in the Daily Record etc,
The Record is owned by an anonymous company called ‘Reach plc’ based at Canary Wharf, London, whose CEO is a Sir Nick Prettejohn, an alumni of Balliol College, Oxford and ex BBC Board Member, now on the Board of the Bank of England and most other UK banks. The Record is owned by the British EStablishment, body and soul. I wonder if Nick Prettejohn would like his house (or houses undoubtedly) splashed across The Daily Record? Paul Hutcheon is simply the monkey of the British State, not the organ grinder.
Good luck Craig. Scotland needs true and honest men like you, like never before. Stay safe and get a cheap wee phone which no-one can hack into, forbye, my laddie boy. God bless you, sir.
Excellent post Janet!
You sum it all up so succinctly. I often wonder what the percentage supporting independence and or referendum2 would have been had Sturgeon not been at the helm of the SNP (The Scottish NO party).
Even to the most obtuse SNP member this pattern of behavior must spell a rattled establishment resorting to smear.
And to you Craig another badge of honor.
The day after I publish my article accusing the corporate media of being an active part of the conspiracy against Alex Salmond, and of giving disgracefully selective, slanted and biased coverage of the evidence of his trial…
https://members.tortoisemedia.com/2020/04/01/dani-garavelli-alex-salmond-verdict-scotland/content.html?sig=FaoRWeabiPXUdWXtVhkIce83Zix0RmVMwH63Tlexbb4
I link to this piece, that puts Alex Salmond in the same frame as Weinstein, by Mr Hucheon’s paragon, Dani Garavelli. Garavelli is a powerful force for many members in the SNP who are also members of Women for Independence, an organisation that launched Justice Watch, pushing for alternatives to custody for all but the most serious female offenders.
I myself believe Garavelli is the ‘force majeure’ behind the intimidation of Craig and the ongoing vilification of Alex Salmond.
Findlay’s comments would be laughable, if this wasn’t such a serious situation. I will however reiterate his hypocrisy, as is typical in *Scottish* Labour, in calling out “Nationalist extremists” while ignoring the fact that every, without exception, recognised extreme right group in the UK is Unionist… from nutters like the BNP, EDL and Combat 18, to the supposedly more moderate (but to the right of UKIP) OO/DUP/TUV cabal in Northern Ireland.
Craig, this really is too much. First, the National (to which I subscribed till yesterday) prints the Coven’s scurrilous “we know Salmond is really guilty, never mind the courts” letter through Scot Govt’s well funded Rape Crisis Scotland outlet, without so much as an editorial comment on why accusers can continue ad aeternam under privilege of anonymity… and now this!!
I wrote to Callum and he had the grace to answer, if feebly. (He pleaded for subscriptions because this C-19 might finish off the National altogether!) I cancelled my subscription and will redirect the monthly equivalent to you, who deserve it much more. I’m good for the next year at least. Sending to your bank account as I don’t like Paypal / credit cards.
Wish you good health. It is easy to say but try to relax. I know something of bi-polarity in my family and it ended very badly for my son.
Thanks Lawrence. I am fine at the moment. A strange situation like lockdown is obviously worrying for a bipolar person though, especially as I usually channel it into relentless activity.
Lawrence Anderson Burley
It does not help The National that Kirsty Strickland signalled her approval on twitter of a totally one sided article by Dani Gravelli basically saying the alphabet sisters are upset they lost and Salmond is guilty. She ignores all manner of factual points including all the defence witnesses testimonies but says she was at court every day. Appalling journalism but standard for Britnat journalists. They have no standards and no shame.
This gentleman is curious about other people’s money. Someone suggest him an excellent topic for journalistic investigation – how to own Balmoral, Ascot and entire streets in London, and be transparent about their wealth when receiving the ‘sovereign grant’.
Well I wrote Mr Hutcheon a nice email asking for his take on it all. Nothing yet!
something I find interesting is that the style of the Daily Record is infantile and it depends on superficial sensation( such as a picyure of your house. I guess the target reading/developmental age is about 10. There is no analysis-just pointless information. An opinion ids given(Neil FindlayLabour MSP) who alludes to ,without any qualification, the wackier reaches of the independence movement.
Craig is dismissed as a conspiracy theorist again with nojustification or reasoning. The essence of the story is to malign CM as ‘hypocritical’ for having a house worth 650K or thereabouts.iI posits that CM is falsely modest or falsely unworldly.The appeal to this kind of playground infantilism resonates with the other purveyors of ‘news’ such as the Sun, Express etc.is contemptible and equates to the boys playing pranks(apposite considering the date) and going around shouting ‘nah,nah nah Nana’
Hutcheons is a master of this level of pre-abstract discourse-specially chosen for his technique and the capacity to get to grips with the pettiest of immature emotions and most superficial observations. There is no analysis because the target readership have not managed the crossover from concrete thinking-the need to illustrate twoness by showing a picture of two objects. The quality of thinking is risible.Loch Ness is not sufficiently deep to accommodate the low nature of this material. And Yet Hutcheon receives a handsome salary for his puerile efforts.
And are we inclined to be fearful of the ‘power’ of this press.It is palpably feeble and ludicrous.It’s like the poisson d’avril being pinned on the back of someone.
In contrast, the article’J’accuse’ immediately resonates with a long celebrated literary statement of truth by Zola and seeks, with extended analysis of detailed facts,to present a compelling case for thinking that the judicial processes have been abused and diminished by individual in positions of influence within the establishment.
One final point: the quote from the labour MSP is chillingly stupid and misses the point and sinks immediately into partisan name calling-consistent with the Hutcheon ‘effort’ (I say effort but the article is such a lazy slob of an article that I am inclined to call it a ‘slop of sloppery’
That Findlay allows himself to be associated with the article indicates the calibre of some of our ‘representatives’ .High time for a change.
Just looked up the article, quite scurrilous.
I have been tipped over the line into subscribing to your blog for the first time, on the basis of the Record’s antics. I hope their antics leads many others to do the same. Thank you for your work.
I remember a first edition of the Record (I certainly didn’t buy it) back in the mid-70s describing the (great Scottish) Average White Band as the white musicians who “play like darkies”. The Daily Ranger’s an utter rag, always has been, but this hatchet job’s real gutter “journalism” and criminally irresponsible.
Craig, having read the article I now want to subscribe but am averse to using Paypal since they have facilitated a Skype fraud against me in the past. I thought that the option to pay by card would have avoided having to create a Paypal account but alas it does not.
Any thoughts?
You can post a cheque to his bank PO box using the details listed, that is what I did. It was cashed no problem.
Thanks, that looks like the best option.
Hi Craig, on the back of the dispicable piece on you in today’s Daily Record, we have just taken out a monthly subscription to your blog.
Sub to surgeon’s useless snp cancelled, money donated monthly to you instead. My wife has heard me say, for circa 4 years that sturgeon, and her man, are brit plants. She now agrees with me. We will, in all probability, rejoin the snp, but not before a huge clean out. F*ck hutcheon, and his rag..
Just to be awkward I subscribed! Sorry Daily Record.
I hope Scotland does not become independent though I would like to see a federal system in the UK with England also split with two administrations – but all power to Craig Murray.
While I’m RAGING at Paul Hutcheon’s childish temper tantrum of an article, I believe it will do nothing but good. So many people who may previously not have known of your blog page, have now been directed to it. They will likely read ‘J’Accuse’, but I believe curiosity will prompt them to trawl through your blog, continuously reading & absorbing the facts of your articles. I truly believe their eyes will be opened. Hutcheon’s article can be likened to a boomerang – accusations have been thrown to cause misery to you & your family, to make you look like a tin foil hat wearing idiot, only for those accusations & slight to your character, to return to Hutcheon & smack him right between the eyes. Final words to Hutcheon – “Karma – you reap what you sow. Craig is reaping a whole host of new blog backers while you are harvesting…??”
I’ve emailed Paul Hutcheon, thanking him for reminding me to set up a regular payment to your blog, and reminding him that it’s not so good to be “shooting the messenger”, or “playing the man rather than the ball”.
Toujours la politesse!
Bill Craig
I’m going to add 10% to my existing subscription. You may thank Mr Hutcheon.
now the Daily Record may bill Mr. Murray for advertising services 🙂
I am surprised to read that the Daily Record sought to run the story ‘man lives in house’. The Daily Record is part of Reach PLC, part of the Dead Tree Futures Group which aims to turn forests into a sea of wood pulp and they are sometimes short of stories of any interest and so need to invent scandals occasional to sell their crap.
The value of a house is, of course, determined by the market and where the market has been restricted by selling off public housing and banning its replenishment has driven up the price of the remaining property to ludicrous levels. If you own one house then you can hardly cash in on any profit from a rise in its price by selling it without leaving yourself without a place to live. Any fool know that.
£600,000 sounds like a lot, it could buy you this for instance: https://www.onthemarket.com/details/8406144/ a two bedroom terraced house in an undesirable London location. Quite what the point of the Daily Record story about the house price is I don’t know, maybe its the cheapness of property prices in Scotland, is that it?
Clearly the Daily Record story is intended to suggest that the precariousness of anyone’s genuine financial position should be reflected by the meaness in which they live. Whereas Craig would not be able to realise any money from his property without devaluing it by putting a charge on the property. In normal circumstances his employment would have provided the means to refurbish his dwelling, but his employment was stolen from him because of his whistle-blowing, hence the need to fund his journalism by subscription or contribution. It is ironical that Reach PLC has to do the same thing to prop up its vindictive stories. The obvious moral of this story is don’t buy or subscribe to the Daily Record, or any of Reach PLC s sister papers.