Yeah, the camper van is a real head scratcher, it's not exactly the brexit bus, which in itself was hired for a short period at preferential rates, you'd think the SNP would go to Stagecoach for similar rather than outlay for a brand new camper. You'd also think they'd park it up at SNP offices or even parliament, it's just another case where the SNP look very incompetent.
Still think Nicola and her husband aren't guilty of anything fraudulent, just politicians now looking daft after a bright idea isn't so bright after all.
Still think Nicola and her husband aren’t guilty of anything fraudulent, just politicians now looking daft after a bright idea isn’t so bright after all.
Needs a "deliberatly" in there and I also think they maybe did the gamblers thing of chasing losses. IE make a small cock up and then try to hide it creating a larger one and with them controlling the party so tightly no one said to the "WTF are you up to?"
It's not like there was no attempt made to check on the finances..
Yeah, the camper van is a real head scratcher, it’s not exactly the brexit bus, which in itself was hired for a short period at preferential rates, you’d think the SNP would go to Stagecoach for similar rather than outlay for a brand new camper.
Especially if the justification is "COVID".
1) There was a whole touring industry on hiatus they could have hired a whole tour bus
2) Lockdown didn't stop anyone staying in a hotel
3) Lockdown did prevent public gatherings, you don't need a battle buss to host Zoom Q&A's.
1) There was a whole touring industry on hiatus they could have hired a whole tour bus
You mean like these two hired buses Nicola is promoting just after the campervan was bought?
https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/7049661/nicola-sturgeon-election-battle-bus-indyref2/
The thing that gets me with the camper is is that if you wanted to hide / launder money / take money out for personal reasons there are a lot better ways of doing it that are tried and tested. Like Jackson Carlaw the tory MSP and the paintings from his bust business
We'll find out the answer in the near future, i just find it completely mental, which is why i think it's just a hugely embarrassing fiasco rather than some fraudulent activity, i'm no fan of the SNP, i have voted for them when in Scotland, but i just see them as no better than any other party, full of chancers and idiots, but i do think Sturgeon is someone who was all about the image and the message, i can't see how she'd willingly, or knowingly do anything fraudulent.
Police Scotland has confirmed officers are still investigating fraud allegations over £295,000 of taxpayers' money which was handed to the publisher of a book of Nicola Sturgeon's speeches.
https://www.insider.co.uk/news/sturgeons-book-publisher-still-being-26667659
The purchase of a campervan for campaigning is just about plausible given the vast area of some highland constituencies, I could believe that some MSPs/MPs might have wanted to use it even outwith covid times. If that was the case you would think the purchaser, might have told someone there was a very posh campervan available!
A Police Scotland spokeswoman told the Scottish Daily Express: "Information has been passed to police which is currently being assessed."
Not the same as the headline at all
That looks to me just like sour grapes
Ah yes. Nothing to see here. Incidentally does anyone defend the fact that for the last 8 years the elected leader and the chief executive of the SNP was a married couple?
The purchase of a campervan for campaigning is just about plausible given the vast area of some highland constituencies
Are you suggesting that to protect against COVID, an MSP, their researchers and press agents might want to all sleep in the same confined space while campaigning? 🤔 Exactly what problem would buying a campervan out of party funds (when they were skint) fix?
I get that to be a Scottish Nationalist after Brexit you need to have a bit of magical thinking, but this reality distortion field is just nuts.
The thing that gets me with the camper is is that if you wanted to hide / launder money / take money out for personal reasons there are a lot better ways of doing it that are tried and tested.
Evidently we are not dealing with rocket scientists.
It is not against party rules and doesn't break any electoral laws. However, I can think of many employers who have rules on such things as it could be (a} inappropriate, or (b) lead to questionable decisions. The motorhome could be a symptom of this. We know that Murrell loaned the party about £108,000 - about the cost of the motorhome. It's possible the lines between personal possessions and party possessions was getting a bit blurred. Or maybe there was some tax advantage/deal available to the party but not him?
Oh - and it's definitely not a campervan.
Maybe they were in a panic trying to chase losses, or maybe they were just felt enabled to spend party funds as they saw fit?
I don't really have an axe to grind either way, but I think this is really damaging for the SNP at a critical time.
Do you Scots feel it's bollocksed up the receding chance of independence in the foreseeable future?
I think that when the truth is finally in the public domain, that it'll prove to be at worst, a relatively minor mistake/mishap/misplacement and so will have relatively little impact.
I think for most Scots, the overall issues with the abusive, controlling relationship where Westminster treats us a colony to be sucked dry is much more important than one person's problems or mistake. There's still a very strong case to be made in support of independence.
Are you suggesting that to protect against COVID, an MSP, their researchers and press agents might want to all sleep in the same confined space while campaigning? 🤔
No!
Also I in quite a few years of campaigning I've never known a candidate travel with researchers etc while campaigning. So I was suggesting that an individual spending a lot of nights away from home might want to use a campervan rather than go from hotel to hotel.
I also said it was "just about plausible" , which does not imply a high degree of likelihood.
Well it is a pretty offensive thing to say. After brexit Scottish independence is more important not less and more obvious not less
After brexit Scottish independence is more important
I am sure that is a universally held opinion which every Scot agrees with.
It is just so difficult to express.
Brexit cause a shift towards YES and indeed its a common thing to state why you turned from NO to YES
Well it is a pretty offensive thing to say.
Is it really offensive to be told your ideology involves "a bit of magical thinking"?
Westminster treats us a colony to be sucked dry
This is exactly the kind of melodramatic, self-pitying language that makes the loopier end of Scottish nationalism so comical. It is (genuinely!) offensive to real victims of British colonialism for Scots to paint themselves as being in the same boat. Scots were among the most aggressive perpetrators of imperialism - the Scottish governors of Australia personally directed genocide, half of Africa was named after Scots and Scots were at the forefront of oppressing and displacing Canada's first nations.
Present day Scots have, in contrast, a minor political dispute over forms of governance, on which they have freely voted twice in living memory to approve the current arrangements.
It's absolutely nuts.
Is it really offensive to be told your ideology involves “a bit of magical thinking”?
Not so much offensive as moronic. Some of us find moronic statements irritating.
Brexiteers are a pain in the arse in general.
"Oh but I'm not a brexiteer!'
Oh yes you are. Scotland has a route back to the CU/SM/EU that isn't open to us as long as the English are convinced that even the slightest movement in this direction will take years/decades/centuries. At least if you read the Brexit thread.
You are adamant that a route back towards the EU is impossible. That makes you a Brexiteer. Along with the majority of the English, as far as I can tell.
So yeah, I find your moronic statement irritating and you reported it and got it taken away while your original statement sits there serenely. I could report it but I honestly don't think idiotic statements should be reported. The mods wouldn't have time for toilet breaks.
Present day Scots have, in contrast, a minor political dispute over forms of governance, on which they have freely voted twice in living memory to approve the current arrangements.
errmmm - that is so much not true
We voted against brexit 2:1 the referendum in the 70s(??) for a scots parliament had at the last minute a supermajiority imposed but a majority voted for the devolved parliamrent
English natioalism and the brexiteer majority down south has damaged scotland greatly
This thread seems to be a playground for people who are ignorant about Scotland and I can't really be bothered with indulging them anymore so let's see if I cop a ban for pointing out their idiotic statements.
It is (genuinely!) offensive to real victims of British colonialism for Scots to paint themselves as being in the same boat. Scots were among the most aggressive perpetrators of imperialism – the Scottish governors of Australia personally directed genocide, half of Africa was named after Scots and Scots were at the forefront of oppressing and displacing Canada’s first nations.
Was India a victim of colonialism?
Or did the families of Rishi Sunak, Suella Braverman, and Priti Patel negate that due to their actions in Africa?
Believe it or not, many countries that were the victims of colonisation also had citizens who were perpetrators. English people would prefer to stay in England and collect the benefits from the work of their colonies, after all.
Hence the Scots doing so much of the English dirty work.
Hilarious that after all that has happened (with much more still to come out - ie SNP bankruptcy now rumoured) that the cultists and their 'whataboutery' are still out in force. It is genuinely frightening.
The SNP want to control the finances of an independent country, yet can't run those of their own party...
They have policies that suggest that brains are not fully developed until 25 (recently giving a rapist an avoid jail pass), yet at the same time they think people have the capacity to be allowed to change their gender at 8... These lunatics in the Greens have so much to answer for.
The SNP lost the plot years ago and how they have run the country with the lies, cover ups and sheer incompetency really does beggar belief. As a proud Scot, I wholly despair at how bitterly divided and toxic the country currently is. Thank goodness for the escape of mountain biking.
You are adamant that a route back towards the EU is impossible.
No, I am adamant that an independent Scotland rejoining the EU while rUK is stupid. It's perfectly possible, but it would be replicating the stupidity of Brexit at greater scale. All the problems around FoM, customs barriers, increaed regulatory burden, and the hassle caused to Irish logistics that Brexit saw, but ten times more intensely. Scotland is a much smaller market and much more integrated with the UK than the UK was with the EU.
I find your moronic statement irritating and you reported it
No, I didn't. Contrary to the stereotype of my people, I'm not very thin skinned.
We voted against brexit 2:1
Good grief! You know the Brexit referendum wasn't a referendum on Scottish independence. Come off it.
Present day Scots have, in contrast, a minor political dispute over forms of governance, on which they have freely voted twice in living memory to approve the current arrangements.
As above - the 70s ref a majority voted for the devolved parliament and the brexit vote was about forms of governance and we voted 2:1 against.
Yes the independence vote was lost
Yo are entitled to your opinion on Scots independence. it would help your arguement if you were not sneering and patronising and if you actually got your facts right. Yo are not rentitled to belittle and sneer at those who want independence
English people would prefer to stay in England and collect the benefits from the work of their colonies, after all.
Hence the Scots doing so much of the English dirty work.
lol!
lol!
Not the stupidest reply you've made today.
Good job, buddy!
English people would prefer to stay in England and collect the benefits from the work of their colonies, after all.
Hence the Scots doing so much of the English dirty work.
Ah, so Scots were absolved from any responsibility of exploitation caused by the British Empire because someone had to do the dirty work, and it turns out that the English just wanted to stay at home.
How would the British Empire have managed without Scotland eh?
The SNP want to control the finances of an independent country, yet can’t run those of their own party…
Good job no one's suggesting Scotland should be a single party state post independence then, isn't it?
Ah, so Scots were absolved from any responsibility of exploitation
Nope, not what I said. Idiotic statement.
There’s another thread for this argument!
