Bye bye Sturgeon

[Swervin_Mervin]

I wonder who she's got dirt on.

They've been smelly for years - her and Salmond.

As for not knowing what was going on - how the hell she even got in the house with the motorhome parked out front that she didn't see, the 108 bog rolls he bought, and the mountains of other shite.

[GG.]

This whole episode is extremely hilarious.

Some of the purchases are quite off the wall - £3,500 on silver wine coasters.

I also like that he said the motorhome was intended to be campaign headquarters... canvassing by the side of Loch Lomond with a fishing rod in hand I'm sure...

[mik]

As for not knowing what was going on - how the hell she even got in the house with the motorhome parked out front that she didn't see, the 108 bog rolls he bought, and the mountains of other shite.

Apparently the motorhome never went to their family home > it was bought and delivered to his mum's place, and then didn't move for 2 years.

No question of his (outrageous) guilt, but I'm kinda on the fence regarding her awareness. Mainly 'cos I have no idea how close they were as a couple, and if they had separate bank accounts whilst each making £sixfiguresalaries, then I can see that she might not bat an eyelid at him appearing with a Bremont watch for each of them (is she into watches? Does she know they are a few £k each?), or buying some antique pepper grinders (or whatever they were) - would she suspect he'd paid £2.5k (of party money) for them? I don't think I would. Is it feasible she was completely unaware? Yeah maybe.

The accountability question is rather harder to rationalise however > which is the point that Beany makes clearly below. At best, she's completely failed to perform one element of her role. I am certain she was extremely busy with other shizzle, and checking the party accounts was an "admin" element that she would have happily spent as little time on as possible, but when your treasurer is resigning as they've been denied access to perform their checks, and Mr Murrel is saying he can't use the approved expenses system personally as his access is knackered, and whilst other party members are raising questions.......

[ZedLeg]

Yeah, she would’ve been living at Bute House for most of the time too. The no comment interview would’ve been on the advice of her lawyers I assume.


Never been a big fan of Sturgeon or the SNP as I’ve mentioned before but I’ve also never been a fan of how criticism of her almost immediately slides into misogyny.

[IanF]

I don’t think she was involved in hiding the fact; she’s just incompetent.

[DeskJockey]

I wonder who she's got dirt on.

They've been fishy for years - her and Salmon(d).

As for not knowing what was going on - how the hell she even got in the house with the motorhome parked out front that she didn't see, the 108 bog rolls he bought, and the mountains of other shite.

FTFY. Leaving an obvious pun on the table. Tut, tut, tut.

[integrale_evo]

I mean, I don’t have a huge salary, but if my mrs found out how much I actually spent on a load of old cars she’d probably go nuts

So although I think she was a bit daft not knowing how party funds were being spent, I can see it being perfectly plausible that she had no idea how much he was actually spending.

[GG.]

the business jet

[Nefarious]

I mean, I don’t have a huge salary, but if my mrs found out how much I actually spent on a load of old cars she’d probably go nuts

I guarantee you that Mrs Nef couldn't tell you how many houses/flats we own. I'd be pretty surprised if she could even tell you how many are in *her name*

[DeskJockey]

I mean, I don’t have a huge salary, but if my mrs found out how much I actually spent on a load of old cars she’d probably go nuts

I guarantee you that Mrs Nef couldn't tell you how many houses/flats we own. I'd be pretty surprised if she could even tell you how many are in *her name*

Feels like there's a reality show/mockumentary in there somewhere.

[Nefarious]

Her scouse roots mean that she finds the concept of landlording mildly offensive to her Trotsky-esque principles, whilst also quite enjoying the trinkets and baubles it brings. She solves this moral dichotomy by simply pretending it's not happening. Think young kids watching the scary bits of Dr. Who, whilst also hiding behind the sofa.

She adopts a similar strategy of willful ignorance with racecars (she genuinely thought my Formula Ford had 3 wheels "because it's pointy at the front") and firearms (she hid a wooden rifle stock in the wardrobe "because it might go off").

She remains unaware of these blindspots despite the fact that she has a PhD in Psychology.

[mik]

she genuinely thought my Formula Ford had 3 wheels

Well there was that time the starting lights at Knockhill were affected by that brief power-outage......

[Jobbo]

Her scouse roots mean that she finds the concept of landlording mildly offensive to her Trotsky-esque principles, whilst also quite enjoying the trinkets and baubles it brings. She solves this moral dichotomy by simply pretending it's not happening. Think young kids watching the scary bits of Dr. Who, whilst also hiding behind the sofa.

She adopts a similar strategy of willful ignorance with racecars (she genuinely thought my Formula Ford had 3 wheels "because it's pointy at the front") and firearms (she hid a wooden rifle stock in the wardrobe "because it might go off").

She remains unaware of these blindspots despite the fact that she has a PhD in Psychology.

I started at the end of the updates and thought you were talking about Nicola Sturgeon. It's not impossible that she visited Knockhill when campaigning

[Explosive Newt]

I agree with all the comments of how this reflects poorly on Sturgeon. I doubt the full extent of her knowledge will ever come out however, no matter how hard people dig.

There is a frustrating thing in much of Scotland whereby she seems to be considered saintly and entirely beyond criticism.

Some of the purchases are quite off the wall - £3,500 on silver wine coasters.

I think this highlights what was going on - these are not the purchases of a man cynically syphoning off party funds, it's a man with a total failure of impulse control / kleptomania who was unable to manage his problem in the setting of massive opportunity.

[Explosive Newt]

She remains unaware of these blindspots despite the fact that she has a PhD in Psychology.

Not a real science

[GG.]

I agree with all the comments of how this reflects poorly on Sturgeon. I doubt the full extent of her knowledge will ever come out however, no matter how hard people dig.

There is a frustrating thing in much of Scotland whereby she seems to be considered saintly and entirely beyond criticism.

Some of the purchases are quite off the wall - £3,500 on silver wine coasters.

I think this highlights what was going on - these are not the purchases of a man cynically syphoning off party funds, it's a man with a total failure of impulse control / kleptomania who was unable to manage his problem in the setting of massive opportunity.

As somewhat of a magpie for expensive trinkets myself I understand the impulse... but it is tempered by having to earn the money to buy it!

[nuttinnew]

She remains unaware of these blindspots despite the fact that she has a PhD in Psychology.

Not a real science

[nuttinnew]

[Beany]

Bit of a post hoc coda for this.

Labour wanted a parliamentary investigation in to SNP finances. Obviously, very important that the SNP continue to get splashed across the press for months in a negative ligh...sorry, that the facts are ascertained.

Using the first opposition debate of the new session, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said the crime had raised “serious issues” about the “systematic culture of cover-up and secrecy” within the governing party.

His party was backed by Reform, the Lib Dems and the Conservatives – but the SNP and Greens voted against.

Obviously very, very serious and with the full support of the other 'main' parties. Very important. SNP and Greens are monsters!

...except they shot it down as being far too narrow, and also being a parliamentary inquiry (IE partisan interest in finding the right outcome) and the Greens themselves put an amendment in - how about we get an independent group to investigate every scottish parties finances? After all, if you're all so keen on investigating these things, surely best to avoid a potentially partisan stitch up...?

Labour, Tories, Lib-Dems and Reform suddenly have rather less enthusiasm:

Labour: 0 for; 17 against; 0 abstained; 0 did not vote
Tories: 0 for; 10 against; 0 abstained; 2 did not vote
Lib-Dems: 0 for; 10 against; 0 abstained; 0 did not vote
Reform: 0 for; 16 against; 0 abstained; 1 did not vote
SNP: 55 for; 0 against; 0 abstained; 2 did not vote
Greens: 15 for; 0 against; 0 abstained; 0 did not vote

Independent inquiry into all party finances now pushed through.

Weird how that voting went, innit?

https://www.holyrood.com/news/view,snp- ... ll-inquiry

Could argue that SNP and Greens are pushing things into the long grass by needing the time to set up a panel etc, but honestly, it just looks like the other parties shat their pants at the concept of being looked into themselves. Which is very, very funny.