Tortoise was sponsored to produce the Dani Garavelli attempted assassination of Alex Salmond by Tulchan Communications, the same firm that employed Ruth Davidson on £50,000 a year for 24 days of corporate lobbying – until banned by the Scottish Parliament.
Tulchan Communications is an openly Tory body. Its Chief Executive is Lord Feldman, former Chairman of the Tory Party. Its directors include Lisa Kerr, former SPAD to George Osborne. It is a part of the UK’s suave system of corruption, whereby political hacks with the inside track get paid huge bungs by firms to influence ministers in their favour on tax, contracts, regulations etc.
It is genuinely not my normal style to judge an argument by who said it or by who paid for it. Nobody can possibly accuse me of not having judged and critiqued Garavelli’s article on its own merits. But the reaction to my critique, both from the mainstream media and from a whole slew of paid SNP staff, was to attack me for receiving subscriptions for my blog.
That led me to the train of thought that the source of funding for this blog is open – it is you, the readers, voluntarily – but why were those same people not asking who funded Ms Garavelli and why? I might not have done anything about it until I saw a tweet from Ms Garavelli stating that her piece had been “legaled” several times. Which is expensive.
By the fine art of provocation I got more details from Ms Garavelli of just how extensive her involvement had been.
Indeed, when you think about it, that makes it even more remarkable that she managed to speak to not a single person from the defence nor reflect any of the evidence of the defence witnesses. All that work yet meeting only one side? But it also makes this very expensive. Why would a magazine nobody reads pay so very much for a completely one-sided hit-job on Alex Salmond?
Tortoise claims to have an entirely new model for “slow” journalism, hence the name, putting in the research. That fits with what Garavelli has done here, although when you have made not the slightest effort to get more than one side of a story I am not sure why that is called “journalism” as opposed to “propaganda”.
Tortoise accepts subscriptions of £100 per year, but that is a minor part of their income. Most of their income comes from corporate sponsorship, and though they do admit this on their website, they are coy about which company is behind which article. BP are among the major actors. In the case of Dani Garavelli being employed to try and destroy Alex Salmond, the initiative to commission it from Tortoise came from Tulchan Communications. Garavelli was a very safe bet for this. Her normal employer is the independence hating “Scotland on Sunday”.
Garavelli had described the massive All Under One Banner marches as “the flag-fixated organisation beloved of the Trumpian tendency” and claimed they are disliked by the “mainstream” SNP. It seems to me highly improbable that Tulchan Communications would have expended so much money without giving Tortoise a pretty strong steer that they wanted an entirely one-sided account. The propaganda purpose is of course revealed immediately by the fact that Tortoise’s pretend subscription model operates from behind a paywall, but the Salmond attack article was pushed out for free everywhere. But I do not know what Garavelli’s brief was, and Tortoise could be pretty sure what they would get from Garavelli. I must add in fairness that I have no information whether Garavelli knew that Tulchan Communications were funding Tortoise for her article. It would be nost interesting to know whether she spoke to Ruth Davison at any stage.
Tortoise is what is politely known as an “Atlanticist” organisation, like a media equivalent of the Henry Jackson Society. It was co-founded by James Harding, Cameron appointed former Head of News at the BBC, by the ex United States Ambassador to the UK and by a Jack Daniels whisky heiress. Its corporate sponsors include the Bill Gates Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, Capita and BP. Radical it ain’t.
James Harding was of course the former Murdoch editor of the Times and Head of News at the BBC, who claimed that it had been his mission to make BBC News more pro-Israel, and later claimed that he had succeeded. I think we can say he was telling the truth.
All the people at Tortoise and all the forces they represent are firmly opposed to Scottish Independence. Tulchan Communications are extremely firmly opposed to Scottish Independence. Scotland on Sunday are fanatically opposed to Scottish Independence. Dani Garavelli makes a living from ridiculing Independence supporters.
So when Alex Salmond, who lifted the SNP into government and political dominance from small beginnings, was found innocent at trial, and these ultra anti-Independence forces combined to do a hatchet job on him effectively disputing the verdict of the court, the SNP needs to unite in congratulation and stop the self-interested sniping. Now.
——————————————
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excellent investigative piece Craig; I’d be most interested in more light on SNP internal ‘matters’
I am surprised she got paid at all for such sugar soaping one sided scribbling.
Thanks for unearthing the slippery snail trail of these Zombies, Craig.
It is a sad that there are still people trying to find a pulse in a dead snp corps, still dead chuffed with their leader. The snp will never get Independence, half of them are hooked by Westminsters dark arts.
Wonder what the circulation figures for English/British nationalist rags will be considering the consequences of the current health crisis. Hopefully some will go under.
Great stuff Craig! By jings you must be burning the midnight oil and no mistake. Stay safe.
‘The propaganda purpose is of course revealed immediately by the fact that Tortoise’s pretend subscription model operates from behind a paywall, but the Salmond attack article was pushed out for free everywhere.’
Both The Herald & The Scotsman have a ‘paywall’ however they’ve made it so easy to override the paywall that I suspect they want people to read their articles.
Although I could be wrong and the paywall is set up so that people just read the headlines and then comment which you can do without paying a subscription.
however they’ve made it so easy to override the paywall
I suspect they have used a technical system to make it easy for the search engines to index their material, but ordinary readers bump into the paywall. Newspapers probably want to do this as they will get clicks from search engines, and search engines won’t list articles they can’t see.
Ordinary readers get 5 articles for free and then ordinary readers can ‘clear browsing data’ in their browser and get another 5 articles for free and so on.
What are the advantages of getting clicks from search engines?
Any SNP bad article gets them at the very least 200 clicks from ‘ordinary readers’
‘Clicks’ = traffic. They get incoming traffic when someone clicks on a search result link.
Dah! I did ask a stupid question.
Not a stupid question at all. A very good question. It’s about advertising. Companies with websites sell their viewers’ attention (and entrained behaviour) to companies that buy advertising space on their sites. 99% of the internet is like that – with the added ingredient of “participation” making it even more insidious. Facebook, Twitter, Google – they are all advertising companies. Consumerism, advertising and debt are very closely related, and the internet is when you take all of that and raise it to the power of itself.
For further reading, I’d encourage you to read about Skinner’s variable reward schedules. Such behavioural psychology explains much of how the internet and smartphones work. Most who run serious websites (and who aren’t down at the level of spivs who talk about “IT” all the time and sell rubbish to small companies for £2000 a year that anybody could find for themelves in half and hour for £25) know about Skinner.
‘For further reading, I’d encourage you to read about Skinner’s variable reward schedules.’
Cheers N_ but I think I’ll give it a miss all I wanted to know was why ‘The Herald’ & ‘The Scotsman’ make it so easy to over ride their ‘paywall.’
I’m not convinced it has anything to do with SEO.
BF Skinner’s intermittent reinforcement?
I think the ball is firmly in SNP’s court now. The implications of the court verdict point to a number of highly placed SNP members who are either delusional in their observations or plain liars. Either way their reputations are gravely damaged by this expensive and embarrassing exercise and the party must take stock.
Simply devasting!
Increasing my subscription! (not under this handle)
An apparent Professor of public law thinks poor Dani has been traduced. Give me strength.
https://twitter.com/sunpath2/status/1246853834808479745?s=20
Keep em coming Craig, at least show them what real journalism is supposed to be!
Simple rules to self. Do not post/reply when a) angry, b) stoned, c) drunk.
It would appear that madame hasn`t been taught these essential fundamentals.
Well done Mr Murray, we`ve got your back.
Just imagine the vitriol from such outlets had he not been fully acquitted.
The Guardian was deleting posts that merely mentioned his acquittal, such was their discomfort. Must admit, I thought he was done for based on his admission of silly ‘consensual’ behaviour and then the fact there were 9 female jurors. But having read the evidence and the strong defence testimony I can fully understand why the jury reached the conclusions they did. The continued monstering of the man is a disgrace.
And the MSM need to stop this ‘a video has emerged’ nonsense , it’s often just too convenient to have emerged. It might be part of hours of clandestine footage distilled into a 30 second clip.
The Guardian comment section is the most heavily censored of them all.
Hardly worth looking at in recent years. At least Georgina (r.i.p.) wouldsend you a personal email to explain her decision.
Their censorship policies are completely arcane.
Too many ‘likes’ for a post that opposes an editorial line or a regular columnist’s stance on a given issue can see said post deleted in an act of pure pettiness. Their columnists are without doubt the most self-righteous, intolerant people in the media sphere today. Many guardian columnists refuse to open their columns to comments, such is the response they know they’ll receive from readers.
They all seem to share an obsession with alleged misinformation and worse still alleged disinformation, apparently seeing it everywhere, and yet somehow always unable to produce any actual evidence of it.
Basic leftism, Goose. We know there MUST be a “reactionary” conspiracy because the earthly paradise hasn’t come to pass as predicted by Marx/Whig history/inevitable progress or whatever. And we KNOW these reactionaries are fiendishly clever because they’ve left no evidence of their presence. Therefore it’s absolutely necessary to guard against their activities by suppressing everything and everyone who isn’t in lockstep with the editorial line.
the guardian is not leftist.
No, Pretzel. Not “proper” leftist. Like Stalin wasn’t a “proper” communist. If only Trotsky had won, eh?
Its treatment of Corbyn is what you would expect of a paper founded by Manchester millowners and owned now by financial sector plutocrats.
Athanasius get real. This is Guardianista leftism:
“Oh yah of course I’m all in favour of radical change only please god don’t ever let it happen but please please god if you do don’t let it impinge on my comfortable upper middle-class metropolitan lifestyle and whatever you decide to do god MAKE SURE IT DOES NOT AFFECT THE VALUE OF MY PROPERTIES IN LONDON!!!”
It’s leftism Jim, but not as we know it…
And just as if to prove my point for me. Today’s Guardian:
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2020/apr/06/we-cant-raise-a-mortgage-to-add-a-second-bathroom-to-our-holiday-let-barn?CMP=share_btn_link
You don’t need to soil yourself by reading the article. Just the headline:
We can’t raise a mortgage against our £1.25m home for our holiday let barn…
and the sub-headline are more than plenty:
We need £50,000 for a second bathroom but mention ‘holiday let’ and lenders just shy away…
“We need £50,000 for a second bathroom”. I could build a house for that.
“‘We need £50,000 for a second bathroom’. I could build a house for that.”
Excellent point. And given a piece of land and planning permission, the house would cost more or less the same to build in Central London as in the Scottish Highlands. Unfortunately few people understand the reason why house prices are so high (high in the Scottish Highlands and many times higher in Central London), which is that most demand in most of the market (billionaire-bracket streets such as Kensington Palace Gardens and Eaton Square perhaps exceptions) is borrowed money; the banks have been given free rein to maximise punters’ debt; punters have lapped it up; and this has determined the entire environment. In Sweden the median mortgage loan is about half of what the debtor could actually borrow: the battle-line between human beings and usurious scum who lend money for interest is less deep inside human beings’ territory than it is in Britain. In Britain many youngsters borrow as much as they possibly can. Many don’t even realise student debt is debt, and can’t distinguish between being given something and being lent it at interest.
For at least the past five years The Guardian (‘Comment is free – the facts are sacred’) has exercised a ruthless control over what is said below the line, particularly with regard to the actions of Netanyahu’s government, and the weaponization of the anti-semitism smear against Jeremy Corbyn. Meanwhile columnists like Jonathan Freedland, Suzanne Moore and Nick Cohen were encouraged to attack Corbyn and his supporters as virulent anti-semites without the need to adduce any evidence whatsoever for their damning charges. The blocking of comments that defended against these attacks amounted to a refusal to allow the left any right of reply. The campaign of vilification was pursued in concert with virtually every media outlet. As a result Corbyn’s reputation as a humanitarian and an anti-racist was so comprehensively demolished that his defeat in December was inevitable. The attempted destruction of Alex Salmond involves a similar process and is funded by many of the same individuals and organizations.
I’d absolutely agree, some years ago when Guardian articles were more frequently open for comment I’d come to the conclusion that online polls and elections were rather obviously easy to rig. (By then Edward Snowden had alerted us to the fact that GCHQ had trialled interfering in online polls).
I imagined the push to encourage postal voting would take care of the rest, although I was aware that the security of ballot boxes during transport was/is risible.
My idea was that online polls might be rigged, then similarly the ballots to justify the polls as being largely correct.
There would be a few surprise results, often narrow victories and a few seats narrowly saved but showing similar but not identical swings.
Perhaps an opportunity created to remove the odd troublesome M.P.?
Whenever an opportunity occurred I’d advance my theory via the appropriate ‘open for comments’ piece.
Maybe I did this six times, perhaps five, without exception every comment was removed.
So why was the Guardian so keen to remove a comment that most people would consider ludicrous, the very idea that British democracy has been deeply corrupted?
Could it have been that rather like the very limited coverage of the gilets jaunes that they feared a seed planted might grow shoots?
@ Kuhnberg
Totally agree. At the risk of repeating myself;
Just after the 2015 earthquake in Nepal,the Guardian did a piece, bigging up an Israeli search and rescue team, with no mention of other similar groups. I posted a comment which,
Initially, got through under the radar, asking if this Israeli team was the same that has operated in Gaza. Subsequently, I was unable to post ANY comments whatsoever. Not that that really bothered me. As others have already said, I really appreciate Craig’s blog in keeping me informed. Many thanks.
I am loving reading your blog everyday Craig, you’re a breath of fresh air. You’re taking these unionist arseholes and tearing them a new one. I tip my hat my dear fellow, you’re on fire. You’re worth every penny of that £2 monthly donation, money well spent. I’m so happy someone is sticking up this unionist cabal.
Aside from the two directors of Tortoise already named, the third director is Mathew Barzun, who is also a director of the Grosvenor Group PLC, a global property speculator, manager and developer with a net worth of £5 billion as at the end of 2018. Tortoise’s startup injection appears to be a one-off payment of £5 million.
Vennick Smith, co-founder of Tortoise, is also listed as a non-executive director of Gamesys group which is an online gambling corporation specialising in essentially fixed odds bingo gambling.
Doesn’t sound to me as though these people have the slightest interest in “independent” journalism.
With a name like Tortoise it’d have to be a dodgy shell company.
That was meant humorously btw.
I’ve no idea about Tortoise’s funding model or practices.
Goose
At a guess, Tortoise is a symbol of winning the race slowly, drip by drip, not by obvious change.
In the context of communications that would imply employing “”””””” intellectuals “”””””” like Garrudrivelli to swing public opinion to the far right. Just as the BBC expunged Corbyn from its pre- election broadcasting in preparation for a rigged Tory win.
There is nothing intellectual at all about Tory bias, but , hey, it’s ultimately for the good of the people that socialist dependency culture is eradicated and US style right wing conformity is established.
I’m afraid I find the idea of very right wing think tanks paying journalists to lock up pensioners very unacceptable. Not so much Eugenics as genocide of left wing views.
If you’re not familiar with Grosvenor Group it’s the family company of the Dukes of Westminster, who own most of the West End of London in addition to office blocks, shopping malls and car parks worldwide. Serious money and very much part of the Establishment.
“My God, this lying/innuendo is never going to end.” — Dani Garavelli
_________________________________________________
Physician, heal thyself!
Not when the bbC are around. Fact Checked Propagandists Evil – ( A WAR.. Crime )
safe to safe to say We did not expect that Bombshell Craig Brilliant Stuff
It is a great pity that Leask and Clegg didn’t make it on to the Wings hit list. But you cant have everything in life. Two of the biggest Britnat scumbags.
Top dots-joining and jigsaw-puzzle-piecing-together. Yer knocking it ootay the park right noo, Craig. Stay strong, n salute.
Wrong Charles. Dr Calderwood made her position completely untenable by breaking the rules which she herself had promulgated, and hence acting in a completely irresponsible and hypocritical way.
Ms Sturgeon should have demanded her immediate resignation – and I suspect if she (Calderwood) had been a man she would have.
But as a highly paid, obviously entitled woman, very close to Ms Sturgeon, she tried to hold onto her. This is Sturgeon’s crucial weakness. In behaving like this Sturgeon are seriously damaging Scotland, and the cause of independence, which is (or should be) Sturgeon’s only reason to be in office.
The loo of Dr Calderwood is of little red consequence, since there will be others just as, or even more capable than she is.
Tom Edmonds, partner in Edmonds Elder, was on the panel of BBC QT in 2017. A David Edmonds, one of the nephews of Margaret Hodge, was / is employed by the BBC.
He sounds like the brother of Margaret Hodge’s nephew Philip Edmonds, who skedaddled from the hotel in Praia da Luz, Portugal, a few hours before Madeleine McCann’s “disappearance” was announced, leaving so fast he didn’t even check out, and going straight to the airport to make his way to Switzerland. Funny old world.
(In other news, someone told me Dominic might be about to snuff it, but…Boris? Whither Gove now? Clutching defeat from the jaws of victory?)
And I bet Boris isn’t being treated on the NHS either. Has he ever used the NHS in his sh*tty Tory excuse for a “life”? I don’t recall the “queen” either ever getting admitted to anything other than a private hospital. Where the hell is the left to make these obvious points?
“The Guardian was told last week that Johnson was more seriously ill than either he or his officials were prepared to admit, and that he was being seen by doctors who were concerned about his breathing. But Downing Street flatly denied that the prime minister’s health had seriously deteriorated, and insisted there were no plans at that point for him to be admitted to hospital.”
They call it “journalism” – keeping quiet when you know the government is lying, because they trust you so much they told you the truth and knew you’d keep quiet to help them. What is the difference between that and being part of a Ministry of Information? Beats me.
It was obvious from his video announcement that Johnson was sicker than he claimed. I’m not at all surprised by the news.
Most of the people I’ve seen discussing “Oooh, who will be PM if Boris dies?” don’t get it that the procedure and successor will already have been agreed. Don’t they realise what state the country is in? Meanwhile I have encountered practically nobody who even gets the basic essentials about biological warfare. One angle this can be approached from is simple: if this was biowar, it would probably look just as it does look. A few minutes ago I even heard somebody say “Before I consider that possibility, I need solid evidence”. What a fool!
Deaths per population, US/China: now 12.2.
Defence secretary (repeat: defence secretary) Ben Wallace was said to be “self-isolating” after experiencing the symptoms of Covid-19 but supposedly he wasn’t tested because “he didn’t think it necessary to take a test”. Bullsh*t!! Like he would have any choice in the matter. If he was showing symptoms of radiation poisoning, or polonium contact, do we think he’d say “Nah, don’t test me. I’m rock hard, me!” and everyone would say “OK Ben, you’re the boss”? Of course he’s been tested. And since he is (probably anyway) self-isolating,the likelihood is he’s got (or at least has had) Covid-19.
N_
Would you place Kier Starmer and Lisa Nandy , dream team vomit, left or right of Mrs May? At least May acknowledged that most people were only ‘ just managing ‘.
These fatuous individuals believe that Labour has to appeal to working people , not gig economyy survivors.
Maybe to scoop up voters for whom Eugenics and White Supremacy is going too far.
@Giyane – I haven’t looked closely at Starmer or Nandy but hopefully they aren’t Malthusian through and through. Perhaps one of them will soon do an Ernest Bevin and become Minister for Forced Labour and National Service under whoever takes over from Boris Johnson. Or Minister for Health, Hygiene, Society, and Doing What You’re Bl**dy Well Told during the National Emergency.
Some were surprised at Emily Thornberry getting the chop – but she had questioned how well Dominic Cummings had been vetted before he was allowed back into Number 10, referring in particular to his time in Russia.
There is a moral here. People like Thornberry – and Robin Cook before her – bent over backwards to help the elite…and the elite took all their help without being grateful, for years, and then it’s “goodbye”.
One of the basic essentials of biological warfare is that you don’t unleash anything you haven’t got a cure for. Nobody seems to have any cure for Covid 19.
St Thomas’s apparently so you lose.
Politics would dictate that he not just uses the NHS but is seen to use the NHS.
Kempe – well, the Germans didn’t have a cure for mustard gas, yet they used it anyway. Ended up gassing a good number of their own people by mistake when the wind changed direction …..
(By the way – I agree with you that the biological warfare theory for Covid 19 is drivel)
Perhaps he will bump into the Skrypals?
@ N_ April 6, 2020 at 00:48
‘Margaret Hodge ‘sorry’ as council she led told to investigate Savile abuse allegations’:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/jimmy-savile/10747257/Margaret-Hodge-sorry-as-council-she-led-told-to-investigate-Savile-abuse-allegations.html
Margaret Hodge (born Margaret Eve Oppenheimer), scourge of JC:
‘Dame Margaret Hodge calls Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership ‘uniquely nasty’:
https://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/dame-margaret-hodge-calls-jeremy-corbyn-s-leadership-uniquely-nasty-1.498671
Hullo Craig,
You have been absolutely knocking it for six lately. This has been the best fun since Fox, Gould, and Werritty. Keep up the good work and ten thousand lives, as they say in my neck of the woods.
yours aye etc etc
Thank you Craig for lifting the veil on some of the techniques the powerful use to manipulate us more thoughtful readers. ‘Tortoise’ seems just the sort of slick well-funded outfit that has clever writers, pushes reasonable and interesting views, and then slips in a real stinker of a hit piece.
Has anyone else found such websites? I liked Unherd and Quillette, but realised sometimes their articles were dubious hit-jobs on decent people or progressive ideas.
We know Belligcat or Guido is outright smearing, but is the likes of Tortoise a craftier way to make those of us with open, but moderately skeptical minds doubt our beliefs?
RIA/Novosti reports that Boris Johnson is already on a ventilator.
Around 66% of coronavirus patients hooked up to ventilators die. (Source: OK it’s the Heil, but they cite the Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre.) Johnson may be in his 50s but he’s a fat boozer.
N_ – this is indeed great news. I believe there is a God in heaven who punishes the wicked – and it would be great to see Boris Johnson die horribly and painfully of Coronavirus complications, because he is basically responsible for what is happening to Julian Assange.
(I don’t hold anything else against him – it was the `Remain’ side who lost the EU referendum; it was the Labour party who lost the last election – by refusing to allow Corbyn to be Corbyn. But when I see what is happening to Julian Assange, I would deeply love to see Johnson die horribly and painfully).
James,
I hold something against him.
– He called one worthy gentleman a “chlorinated chicken,” and his support group laughed mockingly.
– He is responsible for the death of Dawn Sturges and the Skripals cat.
– He is responsible for the disgusting perverse lie about my country.
– He is responsible for hostility and hate.
– If someone dies without the additional help that Russia could provide for the UK, then these deaths will be on him.
I do not wish him a painful death, because it change nothing.
I wish that he realized his actions and publicly repented – that could really help the rest of the world.
Was he involved with the Skripals? I got the impression that this was MI5/MI6 gone out of control. I basically know what didn’t happen there – but I haven’t figured out what did happen and who was behind it.
I don’t know if he was involved in the Skripals affair, but in any case he willingly played along.
Johnson also stated that Mr. Corbin is looking for friends in Moscow and Caracas, while loyal friends, according to Johnson, are in Paris, Berlin and the White House.
I’m sincerely curious if Mr. Johnson knows this recent story: “How one friend robbed another friend”. That’s f*cking droll! 🙂
I mean, the PPE that the Berlin police bought from China. The cargo was suddenly intercepted along the route in Bangkok and transported to New York.
Or, US intercepted in China the mask shipments to France.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-52161995
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/02/global-battle-coronavirus-equipment-masks-tests
I’m sorry for error, the name is Corbyn.
Mr. Jeremy Bernard Corbyn, a gentleman with integrity and dignity and my respect and gratitude for seeing Russia as a friend.
“transported to New York”
New York, or “New York”?
“Israeli spies source up to 100,000 coronavirus tests in covert mission“.
“Covert mission”…or “thieving” as it’s also called.
I’m not sure what is collateral meaning when you put New York into inverted commas, sorry. I know New York state and the city are suffering the most in the USA.
Just another example, add it to the “friendly piracy”.
Now the country of free entrepreneurship thinks that “fair market value” must be dictated by state, and doesn’t even find this idea as horrible as it would be otherwise in “undemocratic dictator regime”.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/02/nyregion/brooklyn-coronavirus-price-gouging.html
” The masks were on a plane at Shanghai airport that was ready to take off when the US buyers turned up and offered three times what their French counterparts were paying. ”
Reprehensible but why did the Chinese let it happen?
If it happened at all.
Kempe,
I think that the Chinese do not care who of them needs the masks more, because none of them are friends of China, on the contrary, quite open enemies. I don’t think that France or Germany or the United States took any minor steps to make it easier for China to deal with the virus, when the peak of epidemic was there.
So for the Chinese, this is nothing more than a very profitable business, no moral obligation.
You find it was Sir Keir Starmer who, as DPP, replied to his Swedish counterpart proscutor who wanted to drop Julians case in Sweden ‘ dont you get cold feet now’.
He also accepted an EAW as boba fide, when it was not signed by a judge, as it should have been.
Hence Julian had to scarper into the Ecuadorian embassy. Boris the ill, only came into it in the last stage.
nevermind – thanks for this – yes – I got the impression that Kier Starmer was a great Johnson supporter – he was instrumental in trashing Corbyn. He can’t have been too stupid to realise that the consequence would be a thumping Tory majority.
Perhaps Kier Starmer could visit Johnson while he is in hospital – and catch Coronavirus? That would be nice.
I refuse to accept, though, that there was nothing Johnson could do about Assange. He is, after all, the Prime Minister.
I don’t think a former DPP has ever become the leader of a political party before. What are his family connections? I was thinking of Barbara Mills who had family connections to organised crime.
I deplore James’s heartless sentiments regarding Boris Johnston, which let it be said stand in stark contrast to Craig Murray’s earlier tweet at 1.59 am —
——————-
Craig Murray
@CraigMurrayOrg
I cried in “I, Daniel Blake”. I feel desperately for all victims of the Tories who died from ATOS fit to work assessments, benefit cuts, slashing of mental health services.
But still I pray Boris Johnson recovers. Because compassion never discriminates.
1:59 am · 6 Apr 2020·Twitter Web App
143 Retweets
670 Likes
———————-
Sanctimonious drivel
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh
Indeed, we are all human beings, we are all different, yet all the same, we are flesh and blood, and desease and death does not discriminate.
I am not a fan of Boris, but I hope he recovers.
anyoldlabour – is that what Julian Assange thinks about the people instrumental in having him banged up in solitary confinement? If you can prove to me that he shares the sentiment that you have expressed, then I’ll happily recant my position on this – but not otherwise.
Fergus
The irony would be some of the richest in history if the virus takes away Bozo and Cummings. Depending on your age, they had you / your parents / your grandparents pencilled in for a pitiless culling.
@ N_ April 6, 2020 at 02:51
Wonder if he’ll have a State Funeral? At least it won’t be interrupted by a Typhoon blasting half the mourners to Kingdom Come, as the RAF in it’s ‘Alliance’ stance in Afghanistan etc. is no doubt highly trained to do. They’ll have to make do with a weapon-less fly past.
“Johnson may be in his 50s but he’s a fat boozer.”
Er, I’ll get me coat….
Fabulous article Craig(as per usual). I love reading what you have to say and how you create detail for detail. Keep up the good work, remain cautious as hell as those black arts have a habit of killing off people with too much knowledge eh.
Martin… Aye We here do worry about that…
Well, unless it’s critics of the current Russian regime, in which case “we here” would go to any lengths to come up with alternative explanations.
https://twitter.com/CraigMurrayOrg/status/1040338779989585921
Martinned – on the Skripal story, it is quite clear that this wasn’t Moscow. Haven’t a clue who did it, but the Moscow theory just doesn’t stand up.
Right now, I’m living in Poland. We don’t like the Russians very much and we don’t trust them an inch – with good reason – and that is my point of view. On the Skripal story though (which is what the tweet refers to) they’re not guilty.
QED. You’re all hot and bothered about secret service assassinations, unless it’s the Russians.
@ Martinned April 6, 2020 at 12:40
And how do you feel about the OPCW sell-out, and the Western MSM cover-up?
Or do you still ‘believe’ the Assad and the Russkis used the CW’s?
The Russians are the definite ‘Good Guys’ in the Syrian armed insurgency/foreign invasion, by the West’s proxy mercenary head-choppers.
Oh grow up Martinned. Even the thickest person on the planet should be able to see that the basic premise of the “Russia did it” hypotheisis falls apart under even the most cursory common sense examination.
Vlad: “Ok guys. In the lead-up to the 2018 World Cup – whose success means so much to this country – I want you to go off and carry out a pointless and brutal atrocity that could cause thousands of deaths, that will that will unite the international community in condemnation, from which Russia will derive no benefit whatsoever, and will make me look stupid and evil…”
I just don’t know how thick, or how intellectually dishonest, you have to be to look at that ludicrous nonsense and say to yourself “Yup.That makes sense. That’s the most logical explanation…”
You’re straw manning. The idea that Vladimir Putin “did it” so as to bring about a course of events which was exactly what actually happened is certainly for the birds. That the GRU spied on Operation Toxic Dagger to the extent of gathering samples, though, is not only credible but probable. Who killed Nikolai Glushkov? Hard to believe that that murder was unrelated to the Salisbury story.
There are many echoes now in what’s going on not with Russia but with China, and not with chemical but with bio – and at a much higher level.
…and another commenter who is suddenly a skeptic about secret service-related conspiracy theories.
…and N_, immediately willing to believe conspiracy theories against the government of literally any country except Russia.
“…and N_, immediately willing to believe conspiracy theories against the government of literally any country except Russia. ”
Par for the course around here and their only comeback is name calling.
@ Kempe April 6, 2020 at 13:02
Why should you find the fact that common sense should be ‘par for the course’ ’round here’ odd? Just as it was par for the course for so many of us to ridicule the fact that Assad would have used CW’s given the US’s ‘Red Lines’, and in view of the fact they were clearing out the head-choppers left, right and center with their conventional armaments and their steadfast allies, Russia, Iran and Hezbollah. Now proven right by the OPCW whistleblowers, all the Russki haters (especially the MSM) stay schtum on that topic.
So common sense dictates that your chosen side can do no wrong and those you oppose can do no right? Ever stopped to think what bollocks that is?
You’re behind the curve on Douma. This is the result of the OPCW’s investigation of the so-called whistleblowers who turn out to be nothing of the sort.
https://www.opcw.org/media-centre/news/2020/02/opcw-independent-investigation-possible-breaches-confidentiality-report
” With respect to Inspector A, he was not a member of the FFM. As described by the investigators, Inspector A played a minor supporting role in the investigation of the Douma incident, and he did not have access to all of the information gathered by the FFM team, including witness interviews, laboratory results, and analyses by independent experts. Although Inspector A’s assessment purports to be an official OPCW FFM report on the Douma incident, it is instead a personal document created with incomplete information and without authorisation.
With respect to Inspector B, after he was selected to be a member of the FFM for the first time, he travelled to Syria in April 2018. He never left the command post in Damascus because he had not completed the necessary training required to deploy on-site to Douma. Inspector B separated from the OPCW at the end of August 2018; however, he continued to approach staff members in an effort to have continued access to and influence over the Douma investigation. The majority of the FFM’s work occurred after Inspector B’s separation, and during the last seven months of the FFM’s investigation (August 2018 through February 2019). ”
“ Inspectors A and B are not whistle-blowers. They are individuals who could not accept that their views were not backed by evidence. When their views could not gain traction, they took matters into their own hands and breached their obligations to the Organisation. Their behaviour is even more egregious as they had manifestly incomplete information about the Douma investigation. Therefore, as could be expected, their conclusions are erroneous, uninformed, and wrong. ”
” could not accept that their views were not backed by evidence ”
How familiar.
I’m sure you’ll find a way to ignore all this.
“So common sense dictates that your chosen side can do no wrong and those you oppose can do no right? Ever stopped to think what bollocks that is?”
Well you haven’t, obviously.
Martinned – you come across as not very bright. I am bothered about being fed lies and misinformation.
That is why I read Craig Murray’s blog. He has many political views which are either just plain weird (c/f his desire for Scottish independence – which is a total red herring) or worse than that – poisoned (c/f his support of Sinn Fein – and organisation that supports ethnic cleansing), but he is completely transparent about where his allegiances lie.
What he writes is `straight goods’.
Of course I’m being fed lies, I read this blog, don’t I? For example, it is a patent lie that Sinn Fein “supports ethnic cleansing”. But I read this blog anyway, because if nothing else it’s useful/interesting to know what lies are going around at the fringes of society. For example, if it wasn’t for this blog I would never have guessed the lengths that useful idiots for the Russian misinformation machine will go to to character assassinate the White Helmets or Bellingcat, two organisations that have consistently been very inconvenient for the Russian state.
You ex-PM did a good job calling Ian56 and Partisangirl “russian bots”. There was a whole TV show with research data etc. I thought I will never stop laughing when Ian56 and Partisangirl stepped forward and disclosed their identity later after the show.
As to the White Helmets, I was hesitant untill that pretty young girl (sorry can’t remember her name) of very obvious Latin America origin went there with her team and reported with all photos and videos WHO are the White Helmets and WHO are their allies and protection.
Not to forget the little boy Hassan Diab, who was reported ‘chemical attack victim’ by your Helmets. That same boy who was found alive and brought to the UN, and the UN simply didn’t want to listen to him.
sometimes – reciprocally – those with the black arts do end up in court, in London, it seems:- https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8189913/Ex-MI6-spy-dirty-dossier-Donald-Trump-sued-three-Russian-oligarchs.html
[tho a much better analysis of the court-case is here:-https://www.law360.com/articles/1254563/covid-19-fears-cut-trump-dossier-author-off-stand-mid-trial]
“It’s interesting to note that Tortoise are also supported my Edelman, the PR firm who ran “influence campaigns” for Integrity Initiative/ Institute of Statecraft in the Western Balkans. ”
Oh, wasn’t David Leask involved in the Integrity Initiative scandal? might explain why he was so heavily involved in defending ‘Dani the Revealer’ and calling Craig a conspiracy theorist.
Scottish journalist eh!, if Dani jumped in a sewer, the sewer would complain about the stink.
What I’m wondering is how did we all end going to the Tortoise site to read the Dani Gravelli article.
Who started the manipulation?
Craig one thing that is urgently required is a comprehensive list of the senior SNP officials and politicians who championed, welcomed, or retweeted the Gravelli article. Odious filth like Tulchan embodies much that is wrong with the sham masquerading as British democracy. Nobody who is going to take the side of a murky corrupting Tory-run lobby group like this, against Alex Salmond, has any business in the SNP. A list of those who did so would be very helpful in knowing who needs to be got rid of as a priority. Would love to see which of them will withdraw their support from Gravelli once they know about Tulchan’s involvement. For the moment I’m going with “None”
Its usually a mountain to climb, to create a new party and start again, but made easier by a fairer voting system, which can deliver immediate results.
The SNP began as an independence party with little success, but due to various reasons progressed into office by becoming a Stronger Voice for Scotland Party. The problem becomes the new message attracts new members who have their own ideas and enjoy the trappings of office and can’t easily be removed due to new laws banning “discrimination”!
But the journey has made independence far more popular than it was and enough to give a new SNP a big start, but it will need a big beast to lead it, to counter the institutional strength of the existing SNP. Granted it may be better to retake the SNP, but that’s a lot of effort to retake a party which will remain full of UK/EU devolutionists.
Personally I speak as a Unionist, so you may think its just mischief making, but I just think as an impartial observer, the time is right for a reinvigorated Independence party, if that’s what you believe in, because the present ‘Woke in EU’ leadership has no interest in the idea.
Don’t you find it odd that DG can wail that no one should be surprised she is getting paid for doing her job, that many sources of internet news require a subscription, but Craig, who only asks for contributions if you wish to make them is highlighted as some sort of rogue for doing so!
For the 1 millionth time, the issue isn’t that Craig is asking for contributions, that he is lying by wailing and pleading poverty while doing so.
Since the issue is not that Craig “is asking for contributions, that he is lying by wailing and pleading poverty while doing so”. What then is the issue?
That it turns out that he’s a grifter just like most other people who spin conspiracy theories on the internet, rather than just simply someone who is wrong in good faith.
…. well, I’ve been following this blog since the time of the Skripals – and I haven’t seen Craig Murray spinning conspiracy theories (although many of those commenting below the line do spin conspiracy theories).
I have, though, seen you commenting – and have concluded that you must be getting paid good money to defend the indefensible.
Look in a mirror babe.
Martinned – response to your earlier response (which doesn’t have a reply button).
1) check out the murder of Douglas Deering (1977) if you don’t believe that Sinn Fein (a.k.a. the IRA) is an organisation that enjoys ethnic cleansing – that was the only explanation for this murder that actually adds up. If you want a comparison with the political scene in E.U. countries, I’d suggest that Sinn Fein has strong parallels with Sweden’s `Sverige Democrat’ party. In both cases, the roots are extremely ugly. In both cases the parties put up a caring `populist’ front, but please don’t let that take you in – the roots are poisoned and ugly – and still give the vital support to these parties no matter what they have attempted to graft on. Craig Murray openly supports Sinn Fein – I find this extremely ugly.
On the other hand, he is very open about where his allegiances are. His reporting is up-front and honest and well informed.
2) You mention `White Helmets’ and – well – I didn’t actually need Craig Murray to tell me that this was a dodgy organisation. I read about this from other sources (Peter Oborne is usually sensible and well thought out whenever he writes something – and he did have something to say about the White Helmets).
Well, it does seem to be very easy to blame everything on the Russians – they don’t exactly help themselves. And you are correct that this blog does go hugely in the opposite direction. But it is also completely clear that the excuse `oh it was the Russians wot dunnit’ has been grossly over-used as a cover for real atrocities. The White Helmets are/were a dodgy organisation – and the Russians happen to be right about this one.
One thing I am surprised about: I don’t see much mention in Craig Murray’s blogs about the conflict in the Yemen, where Saudi Arabia is conducting an absolutely barbaric campaign – and is secretly being backed by the USA and UK who are selling them weapons (while, of course, officially declaring strict neutrality). Now, I wonder what is going on here.
Most of us have never heard of Bellingcat – one would probably have to be an insider to know about its existence – so I presume you work for them.
Martinned – I fear you are making it up as you go along. I have read every article of his since the Skripal affair started (someone referred me to this blog when I said that it looked as if the government line was bollox) and I haven’t seen him wailing and pleading poverty.
He did say that he would have to do something different from independent journalism to finance his lifestyle if people didn’t contribute – that is a different matter.
Is somebody paying you to spout drivel on this blog? You come across as an intelligent man. Some of the points you make are good; others look just so ludicrous that it’s impossible to believe that you actually believe what you are writing.
For the 1 millionth time, the issue isn’t that Craig is asking for contributions, that he is lying by wailing and pleading poverty while doing so…
Oh grow up Martinned. The point of the empty joke of an article had nothing to do with contributions or poverty or wailing and pleading or anything else to do with money. it was just a convenient clothes peg on which to hang a photo of his house.
Sick pub bully “We ken where your kids live pal” threats as mainstream Unionist journalism.
@ Stonky April 6, 2020 at 11:54
Lucky Craig got wind of the article beforehand, and hid the Bentley in the garage..
pleading poverty? Martinned, you are liar. And in any case, it’s damn tactless of you to speak in that tone and it’s really not your business.
Blog subscription is NOT charity. Financial support for making Assange or Salmond court hearing possible – is crowdfunding. Fair pay for honest work. In your world, probably such concepts do not exist?
Yes, and if that’s all Craig had done it would have been fine. But he repeatedly said/suggested that he was poor/at the brink of poverty, needing his loyal online friends to save him from having to resort to the food bank (paraphrasing), when in fact he was probably wealthier than almost everyone reading this blog.
Well, I never saw that. He made it very clear that he was quite wealthy; only a wealthy person could afford to rent an apartment in central Edinburgh where he claimed to be living. Anybody with two brain cells to rub together understood the situation – but you (clearly) missed this.
I thought Craig was bringing in upwards of £70,000* as Chair of Atholl Energy. I know the company had problems with the government in Ghana not paying its bills, did it collapse?
*That might still not go far in Edinburgh.
No one is forcing either you or anyone else to contribute money to this blog.
Take a look at the UK and in particular take a look at Lord Rothermere. He is the controlling shareholder of a media group that owns a number of newspapers including the Daily Mail. If you want to read the Daily Mail then you have to pay for it. The price of the Daily Mail is exactly that – a price. It is not a suggestion or a request. Lord Rothermere has net wealth estimated at $1.19 billion – so it is a racing certainty that he is probably wealthier that almost everyone reading his publications.
What is it with people like you – always willing to attack and impugn those you perceive as being somehow weak, and never ever willing to get off your knees and stand up to people like Lord Rothermere. It is no wonder why the rich and the powerful hold the mass of the people in abject cntempt.
Kempe – yes – 70 000 is more or less what I figured *based entirely on the information that Craig Murray freely gave us on the blog*. Firstly, he was living in very central apartment in Edinburgh (which must cost a bomb). Also – he celebrates by drinking expensive single malt whiskys. I can’t imagine that a tin of Tartan Special has ever passed his lips.
I’ve never seen what you are talking about, Martinned.
And, according to your logic you should advise Bill Gates to give away the software for free and never ask for payment, because he is already quite rich. Gates’ employees would thank you so much!
Just as much as people who are dependent on Mr. Murray’s income, as far as I know, he is married for the second time and has kids in both families.
It could be due to the ancestral madness, just guessing!
Property does not make normal people wealthy, only a steady income or secure investments does that. From what I remember of Craig’s case, he had a property in the South East that he rented out. When he moved to Edinburgh he had to rent somewhere to live.
The more properties that you have, the more bills you have to pay and they get bigger and bigger every year. He has probably made a good decision in getting everything under the one roof in Edinburgh but it seems that he needs to make some changes before he can expect an income from the new house. Hopefully, all that will come to pass, post the virus, and he will have a more regular income with the chance of becoming wealthier.
I recall only one case where subscription was mentioned on this blog. Mr. Murray mentioned financial difficulties, saying that he coul hardly afford to buy a train ticket to pay a visit due to a loss in his family.
Some commentator said that it is inappropriate to spend donates on a train. Were it you, Martinned?
Later I learned from the news it was time of his mother’s funeral. I can’t imagine what kind of heart people have to blame a person for a request for financial support in such circumstances.
If Craig was wealthy he would be hardly be planning to run a B&B, which is a lot of hard work for not a lot of return. Yes he may own a valuable house but that represents the savings of a lifetime’s work. Are you proposing he sell it just to pay rent and support his family, all the while subsidising this blog? How long do you think that money would last? It isn’t cheap to run a blog that isn’t supported by advertising. I for one am grateful to Craig for all the work he puts into the blog.
Martinned, you know nothing about Craig and or his personal affairs, you are being indulged here, not for what you say, but for the fact that this is not the Guardian, moderated by the intelligence services as it seems, here free speech reigns above your intellect.
Be grateful for such a rare opportunity.
Declaration of Arbroath 6th April 1320
“For as long as a hundred of us remain alive, we will never on any conditions be subjected to the lordship of the English. Fir we fight not for glory, nor riches, nor honours, but for freedom alone, which no good man gives up but with his life.”
700 years on and we still have to fight for our independence. Get the Britnat saboteurs out of the SNP/Scottish government. Get the Britnat media out of Scotland.
I saw your comment earlier but didn’t notice that today it’s exactly 700 years. Here’s some expert commentary, although you may not like it: https://ukconstitutionallaw.org/2020/04/06/paul-reid-the-declaration-of-arbroath-6-april-2020/
Martinned
Martin the Ned. Not the sharpest are you.
You are correct in your above post that I do not care for your posts in general so I will give your link a miss as you are a troll. PS there is no such thing as UK constitutional law.
Cubby wrote:
“there is no such thing as UK constitutional law.”
Illogical captain.
There is a United Kingdom, whether we like it or not. Therefore there is UK law, some of which relates to constitutional matters. The fact that the UK does not have a written constitution is irrelevant.
By extension, if you argue there is no UK constitutional law there is therefore no Scottish constitutional law, as Scotland also does not have a written constitution. Which rather rains on the SNPs parade…
John the Monkey
“Illogical Captain”
Dear Mr Monkey I am not a captain just a plain old Mr.
I never said there was not a UK Mr Monkey. Just no UK constitutional law.. only English and Scottish constitutional law. I never mentioned the matter of no written UK constitution – you did – so you are saying the point you raised is irrelevant – I agree. A very unique debating style you employ.
“Which rather rains on the SNPs parade”. Now that is not only an illogical point but irrelevant as well. The SNP is a political party nothing to do with constitutional law.
In summary you seem to be good at raising points which you then argue that they are irrelevant.
Can you explain why a written Constitution is irrelevant monkey john?
Is it easier to manipulate the subjects without having a written constitution? Make it up as you go byrelying on ancient laws which are really irrelevant in a modern world?
Just as with the antquarian mallable voting system, a law that is not written down will be torn and deliberately skewed by those who can afford a lawbender.
Wrong again.
http://www.cilexlawschool.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/HQ12-Public-Law-Sample-2018.pdf
In other SNP news………
Englands CMO is a world renowned Bacteriologist & Epidemiologist Prof Whitty.
Scotland could have had as CMO a world renowned Bacteriologist & Epidemiologist Prof Pennington, but because Pennington does not support Separation, it got Calderwood , a “fanny” doctor with no experience in Epidemiology or Pandemics.
As always, the SNP cynically putting Party interest ahead of that of the People.
In other real news Covid19 is a virus not bacteria.
Well that’s sickened djm’s mince…
Just out of interest, when your mince gets sickened like that, is it because of a bacterium or a virus?
Maybe he is just thick as …..
Silly comment. Being a CMO is about the respect you have in your profession and your leadership skills. One of the best ever CMO’s was Kenneth Calman who was a surgeon and oncologist ably assisted by Jeremy Metters, who was an obstetrician. Sir Kenneth was a Scot. Governments don’t make such appointments without consulting with the various Royal Colleges.
You use of the word fanny Doctor is pejorative and demeaning. Criticise Calderwood for being a hypocrite and misguided by all means, criticise Sturgeon for not sacking her in an instant, but trying to demean Calderwood with such a sexist and inappropriate term is just cowardly and plain wrong.
“(your) use of the word fanny Doctor is pejorative and demeaning”
He should have said “fanny medic”. Calderwood doesn’t have a doctorate in anything. And you should study when to use capital letters. Or do you think being a medic is similar to being HRH?
It is perfectly normal for someone who has qualified and practices as a doctor to be called doctor. I can’t see what your point is. Are you saying that medical doctors who don’t have PhD’s or MD’s should not be referred to as doctor?
Pennington has always parroted the Neocon line. No credibilty whatsooever.
When was the last time someone was sacked because they were crap at their job?
“When was the last time someone was sacked because they were crap at their job?”
Actually, this happens in football all the time with managers. However, no matter how crap a football manager is at his job, no sooner has he been sacked than he gets another manager job pretty straight away.
Pennington hates Scotland.
I will be interested to to know where Garavelli goes now. Does Tortoise have plans, since her hit piece must have been received with some satisfaction by the Unionist overlords? Now she has the mark of the beast, she is a ‘made’ woman, as Tony Soprano would say. I don’t fancy walking in her shoes now.
We all would love to see you in ‘killer’ stilettos Monster? bring some hilarity to this page.
Im sure you could borrow some and make little video walking the beat/line.
No offence intended.
When I first read the Danielli article, ignorant of the background, I was struck by its inconsistent and incoherent structure. It is clear to me now that she was paid to attend the trial and write an article that was predicated on there being a different outcome. His acquittal would seem to have meant the need for a hasty revision of the narrative with sniping from the sidelines instead of the full frontal assault that was anticipated on Salmond and what he represents.
Tulchan Communications, I note, states on its website this as one of its functions.
“Policy and Regulatory Advice
Business and politics are increasingly intertwined. We help clients to understand the specific impact of public policy of their business and how to communicate effectively with policy makers. We offer unrivalled insights on navigating Westminster and Whitehall (and presumably Holyrood implicitly); help businesses engage with the decision-makers who matter; and advise on effective advocacy of their positions”.