Can someone explain the Alex Salmond 'thing's from the beginning please?

God knows

Alex is meant to be speaking to the committee on Friday. Then Nicola on Wednesday. After that, literally, who knows.

I think the problem now is the role of the Crown Officer who decided to redact Salmond's statement who is also a member of the Scottish government appointed by Nicola Sturgeon
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-56188765

It's hard to believe that things have come to such a pass.

Selective memory?

One would think that the meeting she had with Geoff Aberdain on the 29th, March would have been in her diary.

Andrew Neil has written a good piece on this today. I read it on The Mail Online.

I have asked around and nobody I know seems to care. General consensus is that Salmond was probably, like many men of his generation, out of line (far too many women attest to that) but that the accusations against him were politically motivated.
Because of the upcoming election the whole thing is being blown out of proportion by the opposition parties and the Tories in Westminster, and most people don’t care when Nicola knew. He has been found not guilty.
Everyone just wants the Scottish government to concentrate on running the country under Nicola Sturgeon who is the best leader the U.K. has at the present time.

tickingbird

Andrew Neil has written a good piece on this today. I read it on The Mail Online.

I know this is the wrong thing to do but really, this is the funniest post I've seen for a long time.

Andrew Neil wrote a good piece (about Scotland!) in the Mail Online.

Its just all so unlikely! OK, on you go, tell me off.. its worth it!

Esspee

I have asked around and nobody I know seems to care. General consensus is that Salmond was probably, like many men of his generation, out of line (far too many women attest to that) but that the accusations against him were politically motivated.
Because of the upcoming election the whole thing is being blown out of proportion by the opposition parties and the Tories in Westminster, and most people don’t care when Nicola knew. He has been found not guilty.
Everyone just wants the Scottish government to concentrate on running the country under Nicola Sturgeon who is the best leader the U.K. has at the present time.

So you don’t care that Nicola may have been misleading parliament and breaking the ministerial code by not telling the truth? She should have had every meeting with Salmond logged which it seems she did not do . She has now got the Crown to redact the fact that the first two meetings with Salmond existed which means he cannot speak about them at the enquiry . You can’t blame Westminster for this one !

Alegrias You know he’s right and Sturgeon is covering up. Maybe that’s why you’ve come over all giggly and girly? Hmm...?

Ohhh look - sexism!!

Ohhh look - sexism!!

Now that is funny and silly!!

Good. We've made each other laugh.

Now maybe you'll stop using "girly" as an insult.

James Hamilton QC is the independent assessor considering Nicola Sturgeon’s actions as to whether she broke the ministerial code . His report I think is due out mid March . Not every breach is a resignation offence but she may have to resign depending on circumstances. Neither she nor Salmond have covered themselves in glory with this infighting .

BlueBelle. he looked very much like he does today, slimmer with black hair and not many facial creases!

Esspee it is Salmond who is pursuing this not Westminster. Why should he want to destroy the party he set up one asks and why did he have to be removed from the picture with allegations of sexual misconduct a jury found him not guilty of? Perhaps he is just very hurt and feels stabbed in the back. The one thing this case does reveal as Andrew Neil pointed out is the lack of transparency.

Goodness me 25Avalon Alex didn't set up the SNP! The SNP have been in existence in one form or another since 1934. Serious question 25Avalon, are you in Scotland or England? I ask because if this is the perception in England then it explains why people personalise the independence movement as Alex's baby, and now Nicola's.

Anyway, he clearly feels antipathy to the SNP and its leadership and its leading him to take the approach he has.

It was sad to read that Jim Sillars, one of the previous major players in the SNP, has said that he won't vote for them any more due to the corruption at the core.

I'm not making any comment on Jim Sillars support for the leadership of the SNP! Let's just say there's a history there....

Aveline

The only snag is that the first meeting wasnt an informal one. The witnesses to that are the ones being redacted out. None of it adds up. Just publish everything then this could all be sorted out. Why not publish? What's the problem? Scottish govt have made things ten times worse by these obfuscations.
They got it wrong going after Salmond. Their process was found to be 'tainted by bias' and they had to cough up £500,000 plus expenses of taxpayers money. The cases went to court and the jury found him innocent apart from from one not proven case. He didn't emerge smelling of roses.
The committee is trying to find out where the initial process went wrong. As a part of this there is an accusation that NS broke the ministerial code.
It's a mess. Why can't everything be published (apart from the names of the women that were found to charge him of course).
No secrecy no problem but it's too late now.

The SNP are treating Holyrood as a private fiefdom, leaning heavily on the Crown Office, journalists from reputable Scottish newspapers and even threatening bloggers with jail.
In acting in this heavy handed way they are causing problems for everyone around them including themselves, with elections coming up soon.I think Sturgeon will manage to extricate herself from this, but won’t come up smelling of roses ( more of the stuff you put on roses.)

alegrias I should have said since the party rose to power with AS as First Minister, although from what I’ve read his choice as head of the party was a surprise for some.

English as charged. I listened to Ruth Davidson on the news just now asking NS question. I wasn’t impressed that in her reply NS had to denigrate RD. Too much secrecy and lack of transparency with all these redactions. Why did NS present all those blank pages?

Thanks for replying 25Avalon. I chose my words carefully - "in England" as opposed to "English". I was really referring to the way things are perceived in different parts of the country, as opposed to anyone's nationality.

FM's questions is always pretty confrontational.

General consensus is that Salmond was probably, like many men of his generation, out of line.

No.
Fortunately most men of his generation, and before and after, are decent, and respect women.

This isn’t about Salmond being over familiar ( or anything more) with women though eazybee it’s about the redaction of written material being presented as evidence by Salmond.
It’s about his assertion that Sturgeon misled the Scottish Parliament.

I have just read a long article about Nicola Sturgeon and Alex Salmond on the BBC website which gives a lot of interesting background to the current situation. Nothing is as ever simple and I can appreciate why Alegrias asked where I lived.