Today, at FMQs, Nicola Sturgeon pointed out to Jackson Carlaw, that the party couldn’t have much confidence in him if they were still using Ruth Davidson’s name in their election literature (which they are).
Davidson, probably without giving it any thought, tweeted:
Ruth Davidson
@RuthDavidsonMSP
· 6h
Nicola Sturgeon: the last person on earth who should be talking about political predecessors.
I’m thinking that she must be referring to Alex Salmond, Nicola’s predecessor as First Minister.
OK, so he was a pretty good first minister, who ran an effective minority government for 4 years (without the aid of a taxpayer-funded bribe), and then managed to win a majority in a system designed specifically to prevent that outcome.
(This is particularly interesting given that, in a system designed to provide one of the two main UK parties with large majorities on a small percentage of the vote, most of the governments in London over the past 10 years have been coalitions, dependent on bribed partners, or minority governments unable to get any work done and hence obliged to seek yet another General Election.)
As senior politicians go, Mr Salmond comes out quite well certainly by comparison with his English counterparts.
So what else could she be referring to?
Well, it seems to me that the PR company with which Davidson had a job (until she didn’t), had a narrow squeak. Because we can only assume that she is making reference to Mr Salmond’s upcoming trial. And if so, that is a humdinger of a mistake.
As Peat Worrier pointed out:
PeatWorrier
@PeatWorrier
Alex Salmond has been charged with two counts of attempted rape, nine sexual assaults, and two indecent assaults. The case remains active – and undecided. For anyone to treat it as some kind of comic political football really is beneath contempt.
Scottish Tories – named and anonymous – have been talking about this prosecution with an ugly relish for months now. It is, I think, a terrible look. This isn’t some kind of political game and serious people contemplating this serious process ought to understand that.
The way I understood Scots Law was that a person was considered to be innocent until shown to be otherwise.
A defendant goes into court an innocent man or woman, and it is the job of the prosecution to prove his/her guilt.
Of course, Peat Worrier knows a good deal more than I do. Him being a lawyer. So, indeed, would have Annabel Goldie, also a lawyer. I just can’t see her making that kind of mistake.
So what on earth was Davidson doing talking about Alex as if she had some knowledge of the outcome?
We know she opened her silly mouth and let the cat out of the bag with postal votes at one time, an offence in itself.
Not only is she indiscrete, but she doesn’t learn a lesson.
It is probably sensible and for the best that she is leaving politics.
MUNGUIN'S NEW REPUBLIC 
The hatred that some unionists,Irish and Scottish,have for those who challenge their cosy view of the British state verges on insanity at times.
They appear to be completely incapable of accepting that independence is normal and have to perform all sorts of mental gymnastics in order to justify their position.
Strange people.
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Wow! I kind of knew I respected you, but…
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We got to remember as well, the protestant element want to stay part of the union. I have no issue with that but when those elements start to encroach into Scottish affairs. Then that is a no no, those elements should resort to a referendum election.
I have faith that a few people on my
Friends list will allow this if it is called for by a 51% majority for any reunification party. That will mean the people have given a mandate to them to ask for a referendum, a section 30 isn’t required like it is in Scotland’s case as it is written into the republics constitution with WM blessing.
I can go on but why. But if the elements I was speaking off feel that a people’s voice shouldn’t be listened too then they aren’t a democratic organisation instead but instead a dictatorship.
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And probably, they are.
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They – Unionist fanatics / Yoonatics / rock-ribbed Britain/England-firsters in Scotland – have to go through so many mental contortions that they’ve got minds like pretzels, though decidedly not as moreish. It’s quite a feat to believe six mutually incompatible things before breakfast, but it takes real talent to keep on doing it day after day while constantly reversing yourself at the same time. Must be a bit like driving a tank while under the influence.
Davidson was always largely a construct of the Great British Meeja Machine anyway, and I found it quite sickening the way her friends and former colleagues in the world of Scottish Unionist hackery gave such an unprincipled lightweight a constant free ride by never asking her difficult questions, or even asking her any questions at all. That get-out-of-jail-free card made her look invincible to the commentariat down south away, but it was always illusory; but she never had more than minority appeal here in Scotland. We always knew – we independentistas, anyway – that it wasn’t so much that they couldn’t lay a finger on her so much as they didn’t even try.
Like the British State itself, she never stood up to much serious thought or logical analysis. If she doesn’t resign her seat soon, I look forward to her being turfed out of it – can’t come quickly enough for me. We can see from the declining levels of support in the polls that lots of Scottish conservatives find the Johnson regime pretty repellent too – and for all her braggadoccio and Operation Arse, Davidson U-turned so fast on Brexit and Johnson that she gave anyone who cared whiplash trying to keep up.
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Her success was largely a myth.
She was younger, perhaps more-up-and-at-’em than Goldie… and she was Cameron’s choice, which Goldie most certainly was not.
She has benefited from the decline of the Labour Party in Scotland, which is due to many things, but possible due to the left turn they recently made.
She’s always been about show rather than substance and is known for folding her tent when orders arrive from head office.
Lines in the sand, for example, were rubbed out when Mr Cameron announced new measures.
She was a devout leaver until Theresa told her she wasn’t.
She was against the policies of the DUP until they became chummy because May told her they were to be chummy.
I’ll not be sorry to see her go. When are they going to have their leadership election? Jackson really is pathetic.
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Jackson is pathetic indeed, so they can postpone a leadership election indefinitely as far as I’m concerned. If they insist on having one, though, let it lead to the election of Murdo Fraser – the poor chap has never won any election yet, which must be terrible for the puir wee sowl, and he could not possibly be a worse choice – though there are some close seconds – so it would be a Great Good Thing for the rest of us.
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He’d be perfect for the job.
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Jackdaw Carlot did the same during their campaign launch according to Guardian
“We’re absolutely delighted we have got former leaders that we’re able to use in this campaign. I doubt the SNP will be using Alex Salmond. I doubt the Labour party will be using Kezia Dugdale”
though he had the partial good grace to add Dugdale to make it look less obvious.
Personally I think they should all shut their mouths and stop trying to influence potential jurors. If they don’t care about bad mouthing a currently innocent until proven guilty man then surely they should care about the women who made the allegations and who might object to being made part of a political game.
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I’d like to see the judge haul them in for contempt.
As I’ve said before, I’ve no idea of the truth of the matter. I’m surely not going to speculate in public. They are far too serious and grave accusations to be played with.
Carlot should speculate on why they don’t use him at all in their literature.
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Let him reflect indeed. On the subject of tents, Tris, let him go and sulk in his. I’d like to see whether anyone notices.
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I wonder if Jackie Carwash or Colonel Windbag have ever heard of Miles Briggs.
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Ohhhh, yeah, he was the one with the… oh well, you know…
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Oh yes, Tris – you mean the one who got investigated internally by the Tories themselves and let off for getting harassingly handsy withsomeone, unlike certain other people who’ve been found guilty by the Tory party without any investigation and without even being members? That Miles Briggs? Oh well, it’s one law for some people and a different law for some other people, I always say, especially Tories.
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He used to be a Scout leader or something didn’t he?
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I sit and wonder if there was ever a time when a politician was a respected member of a community.
As to the poundshop, i do believe that some items are for purchase at £1 BUTT they sell lots of items at variable prices so it’s all down to that wonderful science called Marketing.
Listened to a piece on radio last night about how Cambridge Analytica took the idea from a university students paper on the relationship between your likes response on facebook and your perceived outlook on life.
They then push you marketing material at you with the push being amended by their software.
If you actually look at the page top you will see a similar system in operation , I’m getting phone ads from carphone warehouse.
The theory is that you will take in the message and use the information to make decisions.
The research was based on responders to ‘Attractive’ pictures of people versus , well.
I note that the political pamphlet producers have the idea, the picture of the produce has to be ‘attractive’, see the carefully set photographs without a hair out of place or a dirty mark on the clothes.
So it’s all down to marketing and your perception.
My take was that eventually your vote will be conditional that you have the correct characteristics to be ‘allowed’ to vote, a much more reasoned way of disenfranchising rather than the current method of doing it by poverty. That effectively takes almost a third of the population out of the voting as they can’t see the point of going to vote as it doesn’t change their position in life. Maybe this is a gross overstatement as there will be many reasons why over 30% of the population don’t turn up at the polling station.
In conclusion, for a short while, is this the answer to why the scots tories went with a picture of tank commander ruthie in their opening salvo of the brexit election?. Was it just get rid of the old material before back door doris gets going with the cummings master plan. Heard it said he’s never been a tory supported but since he’s well connected to the establishment I hae me doots.
Roll on purdah when we get back to ‘Auld clathes and Porridge’.
By the way the EBC don’t do adverts, just information video of upcoming events.
The bright new Ruk with super bright washing powder and 99.9% germ free, all for a £1.
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We live in a televisual age.
We are all drawn to pleasant looking features, most of us to people who dress cleanly and appropriately. It’s not a difficult leap to see that many of us are more likely to vote for people who are easy on the eye.
I suspect that some of May’s problems were down to her inability to come across as a normalish person. Her clothes were always weird, and her voice was unattractive.
Presentation is everything. Davidson had very little to say, but she was good at putting it over. Sensibly dressed with a strong voice.
For those not disturbed by her slavish subordination to London, she was an attractive prospect.
Jackie, not so much!
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I think Ms Davidson has her eye on ‘bigger’ things (as she sees it) than the Scottish Parliament.
Although Mr Cameron is currently eclipsed, he and Mr Osborne still have many powerful connections within the British establishment and that faction will continue to wield power and might even regain the Conservative Party at some time in the future. The PR company which Ms Davidson was to join is run by a friend and ally of Mr Cameron’s and he was contributing to the process of ensuring that Ms D has entries into the salons of power.
I suspect that Ms D did mean Mr Salmond and that she did so with full intent, because the unionists intend to try to use the trail to smear the independence movement (which is wider than the SNP).
The have been few who have done as much to advance the independence case than Mr Salmond and, for that he is due much gratitude. However, for many centuries there has been harassment of and violence towards women and, the atmosphere is now more favourable to women reporting such matters (although they are still often excoriated for doing so.). So, we have to let the investigative and legal process take its course. Mr Salmond is innocent until proven guilty and the woman concerned is entitled to have her allegations heard and investigated.
Independence for Scotland is more than one person. The kind of actions against which the complainant is arguing are problems of all societies, in all political systems, in all religious (and none) groups. Let us not sacrifice the defence of women’s rights for short term political gain.
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Well said.
I didn’t know that the PR company was owned by a friend of Cameron’s.
You’ll remember, I guess, that Cameron didn’t like Goldie. She was, I suspect, too clever for him. He used to cut her out of things, including meeting often with the chair of Scottish Tories and excluding her. (Hardly Eton manners, but then…)
He favoured Ruth Davidson and lent her his spad (or some official) for her campaign (which was against the rules, I understand). In short he interfered in an election that was nothing to do with him. And I imagine that it is possible that the British government was paying for the spad’s time.)
The appointment in the PR company brought the company some very unwelcome publicity… and I suspect she was advised to revise her acceptance of the post. I suspect now, that maybe Cameron advised her as his friend was going loco about the bad publicity.
It was such a stupid thing to do. A few weeks before she was saying how she couldn’t cope with being a mum and having a full time job. (Instead of telling the truth that she just couldn’t work with the buffoon, pound shop Trump.)
Next thing she’s got a job with a PR company.
What WAS she thinking?
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I met Annabel Goldie on a number of occasions in the course of my work. I found her a warm and approachable person with a really sharp sense of humour. She had the lawyerly instinct for getting to the heart of things, but also for seeking ways forward. Several of my colleagues, when undertaking election duties at polling stations, spoke highly of her, making a point of speaking to the teams managing the elections and thanking individually all of those who had taken part in the count. These were all dyed-in-the wool SNP or Labour voters, but they appreciated the sincere decency.
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Agreed, Alasdair. I met her only once, but was taken with her charm and lovely sense of humour.
She had the brains to see that working where she could with the SNP, rather than constantly carping about everything, no matter how good it was, was the way to get her policies included in government.
Smart cookie, and, a nice person with it.
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She’ll be lucky to get a job flogging tat on QVC. Her recent TV auditions did her no favours.
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Maybe she could join Baroness for Life Moany Face…
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She’s only the first. As the rest have no platform to fight from, they will make the most of this upcoming trial. It makes no matter that Mr. Salmond is a private citizen, represents noone and acts in no Scottish government position. I’m only surprised that it took them this long.
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Fortunately,our Bogeyman will be bigger than their’s.
The prospect of a future government lead by BoJo should be enough to frighten most people.
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Specially now the Orange one has backed him.
Didn’t Farage bitterly complain that Obama had openly said that he hoped Britain would stay in the EU?
Seems strange then that he would encourage Goldie Locks to make comments about it, and to back Johnson… and then to carry on at length about how awful Corbyn is.
Odd man, Mr Farage.
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Yes. Up to now no one has said anything much about it, given that the man is innocent unless proven otherwise.
I was a bit surprised becasue they are probably pretty desperate. But then I thought that they might be wary about the legality of the situation.
Publish anything much about it and it will be hell of a difficult to get an unbiased jury.
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We just have to hope that the fear of the Bojo Bogeyman will get through to those who haven’t been paying attention and those who think it’s too cauld to be going out to vote in December. Motivation can be positive or negative but let’s hope they get off their arses and vote SNP regardless.
December the 12th is coincidentally my birthday. In recent years I’ve took to curling up with a nice malt, simultaneously bemoaning my inexorable slide into decrepitude and feeling grateful the fates have allowed me to chalk up another one. This time though I’ll have the additional drama of an election. This will no doubt entail a not so subtle mix of terror and exhilaration because the prospect of the Bojeyman and what comes after/with him scares the crap out of me. I’m also it must be said, quite terrified that my lack of faith in 50% of Scotland’s electorate will once again be justified.
I am of course disciplining myself to hope for the best, even though life has taught me, in these things at least, to expect otherwise.
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Well, at least you will have your nice malt.
Best save some for the next day though 🙂
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I know how you feel, Greig… have a malt for me on the 12th seeing as how I can’t drink, and you might as well do a spot of declining into decrepitude on my behalf as well…
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I’ll do that Ed, cheers. As for the decrepitude………
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Ruthie Davidson, Tory M.S.P.,
thought she’d emulate Margaret T.
She reckoned it’d be cool to be
photographed atop an A.F.V.
She thought she’d look both brave and strong.
Well, I’m afraid she got that very wrong.
In fact Ruthie’s tank straddling stunt
just made her look even more of a …eh, Tory.
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So terribly politically incorrect, I cannot say that I approve (snigger).
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LOL LOL… exactly!
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I have a dim recollection that Tulchan, as in the name of the consultancy, denotes « empty jacket » deriving from some ancient practice involving the fleece of a lamb, but have forgotten the precise details. But it occurred to me that it would be an appropriate brand for Ms D, given her lack of any clear policies beyond the word « No ».
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Empty jacket sounds about right.
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Empty jacket = toom tabard
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Empty jaicket on a shoogly peg…
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Got round to checking – origin in a Gaelic word for an empty calf (not lamb) skin stuffed with straw and presented to a cow to induce her to give milk – term applied also to Restoration bishops whose stipends were drawn by their patrons. Interesting to think of how one might apply this as a metaphor for the present case…..
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I wonder if it worked well. Or did the cow look at it, smell it and think… aye, right!
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‘Selt the jecket’ is a Fife saying and applies to Ruth. I’ll leave it to you to decide what it means.
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