paolo2143

I agree to an extent. Even when it comes to the Tories who i do detest i tend to call the PM Bojo the clown or Boris the liar. As for Ruth and Douglas i call them the laurel & hardy of SCottish politics when i am in a good mood, if not the just the biggest 2 faced hypocrites around lol

I understand & respect that is what you want, but for a lot of us the thought of remaining tied to Boris' Brexit Britain, the way things are heading, for rest of decade is a frightening prospect.

A lot of people say i cannot be bothered to vote as i don't trust any of them. However that really doesn't achieve anything, if even half of those who didn't vote turned up on election day that could change outcome of election. There are about 33 % of people who don't vote which is huge, if even half of them voted then turnout would be over 80% and that might be crucial. Also if you don't vote the winning party & press just assume you would have voted for them. I know it may not be ideal but i would still always rather vote for least worse option for my family, friends and Country. That is my view but i appreciate others are different.

I agree that it depends on movement from Labour/Lib Dem's to Tory but that would always have been case regardless of NS/AS affair. I think everything rests on Hamilton report and it might be better if it is definitive one way or another. In other words the worst of both worlds may be he finds that she unintentionally broke the code. Don't get me wrong she can survive that and i think easily fight on. I suspect that the above is what might happen. Having said that i was on half day today and spent an hour in park and then had to pp into pharmacy and pick up prescription. Did eavesdrop on few conversations about NS today. Most seemed pretty sympathetic towards her, now that might be because most of the people i heard were under age of 40 and woman ( lot of students in local park) who are most likely to be SNP voters in first place

I don't think it would though as we know how the right wing press operates. Regardless of whether she stays or goes they will be like this for next 7 weeks. Personally i think she should stay as there are plenty of people who will still vote for her. She has large personal following that another leader could not command. My view is that her position only becomes untenable if James Hamilton finds she knowingly broke Ministerial code. The one thing that should make every YES voter turn out is if she does go, the gloating from the Tories and their press allies will be unbearable and that should motivate every YES voter to say get it right up you lol

100% agree. The only way her resigning would be possibly better choice/optics is if James Hamilton comes back and says she knowingly broke Ministerial code. Even then i think that there is a large % of voters who would back her and it might still be more damaging to resign. However if Mr Hamilton either finds she did not break the code or only did so unintentionally then much better for her to stay. The Tory press and opposition will be all over any resignation with wall to wall coverage of that juts confirms her guilt. Also to go into election leaderless would be a terrible look and i think much more damaging that her toughing it out. Believe it or not leaders can still win elections even when public don't trust them, Boris and Tony Blair being prime examples. If she resigns the SNP are in big trouble and so is any chance of Pro Indy majority

Andy Whitehead has just posted link to Ministerial code on his Twitter feed regarding the leaks to press. It is clear he is not happy and the link to code shows that to leak such information is a serious breach of the Ministerial code and threatens integrity of findings.

At least the SNP members weren't openly tweeting that she was innocent before she had given her evidence, or indeed performing running commentary throughout the last 2 months. This committee was pointless and basically was always going to be 5-4 one way or the other.

I'd agree but add in the proviso that snp+greens must be over 50%. Let's be honest even if the SNP had gotten 52% of the vote and a majority the UK Govt and Tory media would still say that it didn't count. The fact is the Tories only got 43.5% of vote in 2019 and more people voted for anti Brexit deal parties than pro Brexit deal. Boris & Tory media still claimed he had mandate to implement his Brexit deal. The Scottish Parliamentary elections are set up so a majority is virtually impossible to get. As long as there is a pro Indy majority we can proceed with Indy plans, although the bigger the better.

I hope your right because her resigning would cost SNP a much bigger vote loss than her staying. Unless James Hamilton finds she deliberately breached the code then she should stay. If she resigns the media will still slaughter her and SNP and they will be leaderless going into elections, now that would be a disaster.

Yes but the Tory media were going to hammer that anyhow even if both enquiries came back and found she had not broken code.

As i said let's wait and see what James Hamilton report says. If he comes out and says she intentionally broke Ministerial code that is a different ball game. However if he says that she didn't or may have only unintentionally broken the code i think it may not be as damaging as some think. Let's be honest no matter what committee or Hamilton report says the Tory media/press would have attacked her character and honesty, that was already part of their campaign plan. If she feels she may have to resign then she still has a way to come out of this not bad. She could address Scotland and say that while she did not break code intentionally she believes in doing the right thing, so she is stepping down as FM but will continue to help fight Covid Pandemic until new Scottish Govt has been elected. Remember in 2015 Scotland actually probably through guilt and sense of loss after 2014 voted en- masse for SNP in 2015. Who knows maybe the FM doing the honorable thing compared to say hypocritical Tories, if it comes to it, might actually play well with voters.

Let's wait and see we all knew committee vote was going down to wire as several members had been tweeting for weeks about the outcome. It depends on James Hamilton Report and what he finds. I suspect if he says she didn't break the code or only unintentionally broke code things might not be as bad as they seem

When is this James Hamilton report coming out. Part of me would love if it didn't come out till after the election just to see the Tories foaming at the mouths in outrage. However remember how they suppressed the Russia report for months. However if it is coming out before election then it night be better to come out sooner than later as it allows time to fight back against any damage it may cause initially. We all know no matter what the report finds the Tories and media will make it a hundred times worse.

That poll is actually goods news for YES voters as last time they ran same poll in September 2019 it was 59% remain so things are moving in right direction lol

I totally understand why he gave his evidence and testimony as he saw things to the committee. But it is clear that either him or someone very close to him is trying to drip feed info to the Unionist/Tory media to do maximum damage. Now that is something a lot of Indy supporters will never forgive. He has a book coming out soon , i am sure he will have ample opportunity to get his "revenge" after May 7th without it causing any further damage to Indy in meantime

I hope you are right but the desperation of Pro Union parties is there for all to see. If we had Parliament that say had 59 SNP MSPS and 4 Greens (63 in total) and the Tories/Labour/Lib Dems came to the same amount, which is certainly not impossible as at moment they have 60 between them, it could happen. I wouldn't put it past them to work together to stop Indy

Make no mistake if Douglas Ross was to become FM of a Pro Union majority on 7 May then Indy will be scuppered and not just for few years. One of the first things he will do, lauded on by Westminster, is to change the electoral boundaries in Scotland to reduce any future chances of Pro Indy majority happening. David Davis and Westminster are not just gunning for FM or to bring down SNP, they are constructing a systematic attack to destabilize the Scottish Parliament and Democracy in order to weaken Devolution. This is all part of their power grab. Yesterday the UK Govt passed a Policing Bill that would have made Communist China applaud, we should al be worried.

Make no mistake if Douglas Ross was to become FM of a Pro Union majority on 7 May then Indy will be scuppered and not just for few years. One of the first things he will do, lauded on by Westminster, is to change the electoral boundaries in Scotland to reduce any future chances of Pro Indy majority happening. David Davis and Westminster are not just gunning for FM or to bring down SNP, they are constructing a systematic attack to destabilize the Scottish Parliament and Democracy in order to weaken Devolution. This is all part of their power grab. Yesterday the UK Govt passed a Policing Bill that would have made Communist China applaud, we should al be worried.

I do think it is worth reminding everyone of the integrity of Mr Davis https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/david-davis-brexit-committee-european-union-lying-government-a8175906.html https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/lies-damn-lies-david-davis-11652642

People of Scotland should be very afraid. It is clear that Westminster and this UK Govt/Establishment will do anything to prevent Scotland leaving the UK. This isn't just a little political mischief it is a clear and sustained attacked on Scottish Parliament/Devolution, remember Boris Johnson called it a disaster. They are not just trying to remove the FM or take current Scottish Govt down but they are trying to undermine our very Democracy to make it easier to take away our Parliament's powers, we were warned that was their intention. Every singles YES voter needs to put differences aside and get out and vote. Either SNP for both votes or if in Central belt SNP and then Greens on list vote. If we don't get Pro Indy majority in May we have had it.

Nice try lol but we know wee Willie Rennie is a Unionist through ^ through like yourself. The Greens are best option in central belt of Scotland for List vote followed by SNP. I suspect voting for any other Indy party would be waste of time but not sure about ISP party.

All the evidence including that which Alex Salmond has given shows that the FM was not involved in any conspiracy against him. There may be others who were out to twist knife but we haven't seen a shred of evidence that she was involved. Even the so called incriminating Whatsapp messages proved to be nothing.

Hi Baggio i live in central belt Scotland as well like around 60% of population i think. For last 2 Scottish elections i have put my first cross for SNP in constituency vote and then voted for Greens in List vote. There is no doubt that the Greens have a much better chance of picking up list vote MSP in central belt than SNP. I am not saying we should all do that as important SNP do fairly well on list vote % wise. But yes i do hope a number of YES voters pick Greens on List vote as it will help return more pro indy MSP's in certain areas

For the last 2 Scottish elections i have voted SNP1 and Green party as List vote. I will do the same again this year as i think the Greens do proportionately better in list vote. It may be that we least same number of Green MP's as now to secure pro Indy majority. he bottom line is if we don't secure pro Indy majority and especially decent one it becomes much harder. Not only that you can be sure the UK Govt aided by their greedy lying press barons will do everything to try and stop Indy 2 from happening in next 20 years should we fail to secure Pro Indy majority in May.