Alex Salmond deid.

[lichtgilphead]

5 minutes ago, JagsCG said:

To be fair being on the left of the SNP in 1979 didn’t mean actually being that left wing (for some perhaps but definitely not all) it meant opposing the more establishment types in the party who were seen as responsible for electoral failings - it did also eventually attract the likes of Sillars who was to the left of many in the SNP at the time. A lot of it was about party image, the 79 Group claimed to have the aims of nationalism, socialism and republicanism but even some of their own supporters didn’t strongly relate with that. To paraphrase Alex Salmond, he said he agreed with the first, had some sympathy with the second and not much for the third. Their variation of socialism was never properly discussed although up until his leadership (first time) he would refer to himself as a ‘socialist’.

The 79 Group being proscribed from the SNP was far more to do with its perceived aim of forming a link with Sinn Fein than it was with a left agenda. 

My recollection was that the leaked '79 Group minutes showed that the group had refused an invitation from Sinn Fein to have a speaker address their party conference.

If that constitutes a 'perceived aim' in your opinion, then so be it.

 

[J_Stewart]

2 minutes ago, Leith Green said:

Kenny MacCaskill statement is a bit classless.

 

 

You could remove “statement”, “a” and “bit” from that sentence and be correct every time. A monumental w****r.

[JagsCG]

6 minutes ago, lichtgilphead said:

My recollection was that the leaked '79 Group minutes showed that the group had refused an invitation from Sinn Fein to have a speaker address their party conference.

If that constitutes a 'perceived aim' in your opinion, then so be it.

 

It doesn’t in my opinion. It did in Gordon Wilson etc. - which was far more important for the group and the party. The perceived link doesn’t really stand up to scrutiny as far as I’m concerned. 
 

ETA; you’re correct about the leaked minutes btw. Salmond argued against sending a rep to the conference 

Edited Saturday at 20:29 by JagsCG

[invergowrie arab]

Just now, lichtgilphead said:

My recollection was that the leaked '79 Group minutes showed that the group had refused an invitation from Sinn Fein to have a speaker address their party conference.

If that constitutes a 'perceived aim' in your opinion, then so be it.

 

My mum was in the 79 group and shares your recollection.

That said she used to work behind the bar in the SNP club opposite Waterstones and remembers an old man coming round and asking for money for " the cause across the water:

She always put a few quid in until someone pulled her up about it. Turns out she thought he was collecting for the SNP in Fife .

In her defence most of the money came back across the bar rather than being spent on semtex 

[O'Kelly Isley III]

I think we're all agreed that Alex Salmond was a flawed diamond to say the least.

The commentators will have their say over the next few days and weeks and if they are honest they will record that he was the only politician who could justifiably claim to have come closest to breaching the Union, and in the process rocking the Westminster establishment to its foundations.

The Tall Poppy Syndrome sufferers on here are entitled to their views but facts are chiels that winna ding, and we are unlikely to unearth anyone of comparable political calibre anytime soon.

[Wee-Bey]

26 minutes ago, MazzyStar said:

It was before my time but I think it’s fair to say that the 2000s was a bad time for the “left” in Britain and politicians like Salmond used their (at best) slightly left of centre position to appeal to the left since the Labour Party of the time certainly didn’t. Maybe thats not the case but that’s my interpretation of what I have read and heard from people who did experience that time period. 

For sure the left were in retreat during that pre-crash period with Blair accepting the Thatcherite settlement and effectively redefining it as sensible centrism. There was still stuff like Stop The War and so on.

Salmond and the SNP were really pushing at an open door.

[scottsdad]

3 minutes ago, O'Kelly Isley III said:

I think we're all agreed that Alex Salmond was a flawed diamond to say the least

He was an Airdrie fan?

f**k me. I take back any warm words I may have said.

[Wee-Bey]

3 minutes ago, scottsdad said:

He was an Airdrie fan?

f**k me. I take back any warm words I may have said.

Worse, he was a jambo.

[scottsdad]

Just now, Wee-Bey said:

Worse, he was a jambo.

Now he's dead, it all comes out.

[Fullerene]

33 minutes ago, scottsdad said:

Neither of my kids have ever heard of him.

He needed more time on TikTok.

Okay.  He never appeared in Star Trek.  Probably true of most politicians.

[Wee-Bey]

5 minutes ago, scottsdad said:

Now he's dead, it all comes out.

One of the better ones tbf.

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p043lxnnrammes/p043lxnn

[scottsdad]

7 minutes ago, Fullerene said:

Okay.  He never appeared in Star Trek.  Probably true of most politicians.

He was a fan though.

Like me, and Jim Davidson.

All is forgiven.

[HTG]

Given the very many different perspectives which folk may hold of Alex Salmond, it's good to see that Twitter has embraced them all with a balance that's to be admired ... or something. 

Salmond led the drive to put independence at the heart of politics in this country. For reasons which will be dissected for a long time to come, he wasn't able to build a platform which would enable him to build on the progress made up to 2014. Would Scotland have been better placed had he been able to continue to exercise his political skills over the last 10 years? Almost certainly yes. That's a loss to Scotland as a country. 

All the other stuff? Impossible to ignore. His supporters are adamant he was stitched up. His critics think he got off lightly. Unlikely a middle ground will be reached any time soon.

[Melanius Mullarkey]

#sleepycuddles

[GordonS]

40 minutes ago, HTG said:

Given the very many different perspectives which folk may hold of Alex Salmond, it's good to see that Twitter has embraced them all with a balance that's to be admired ... or something. 

Salmond led the drive to put independence at the heart of politics in this country. For reasons which will be dissected for a long time to come, he wasn't able to build a platform which would enable him to build on the progress made up to 2014. Would Scotland have been better placed had he been able to continue to exercise his political skills over the last 10 years? Almost certainly yes. That's a loss to Scotland as a country. 

All the other stuff? Impossible to ignore. His supporters are adamant he was stitched up. His critics think he got off lightly. Unlikely a middle ground will be reached any time soon.

Not sure what you mean by "been able to continue..." though, and not sure I agree. By the time of the referendum I think he had maxed out everything he could do. The moment Nicola Sturgeon took over the leadership the SNP's polling jumped a good 5 points, and it was almost all from women. Salmond was holding both the SNP and the cause of independence from advancing further by alienating women, and this was long before he was suspected of sexual offences. Without diminishing the achievements up to that point, I think he would never have been able to take it further.

 

[BucksburnDandy]

Have to say I'm gutted at the news today. His leadership of the country towards independence was brilliant, building the cause from absolutely nothing when I was in primary school, less than 25 years ago, to a view that around half of Scotland holds.

 

He had a strategic vision for a better, more economically prosperous Scotland that no other First Minister before him or since has even come close to.

 

A brilliant, gifted speaker, an inspiration to many like myself growing up. Many recall him as warm and personable.

 

He clearly was a complex character and undoubtedly his abuse of power in office is impossible to overlook. His behaviour towards women was reprehensible to say the least. The last decade was sad seeing a great politician significantly reduced in reputation.

 

However I also find myself sad at the loss tonight. It feels like a symbol of the dying off of our chances of independence as Swinney's ultra gradualist approach takes hold in a feart, rudderless SNP.

 

RIP Alex Salmond, a political hero of mine forever. 

[Cosmic Joe]

What is really interesting about P&B is that once racists, homophobes etc have generally been chased, we are left with folk mostly in favour of getting the f**k out of this ridiculous union that is holding Scotland back.

[Replays]

4 hours ago, Freedom Farter said:

Died in North Macedonia. 

So did George Burley’s Scotland career.

[Clangers]

He was my “favourite politician” back in 92 when I applied for blockbusters.

We didn’t get accepted at the interview stage, we answered all the questions correctly but they then brought up a question about how strong our Bathgate accent was!
At the time I didn’t even realise they were asking us to reduce it and told them a story about not being understood when in Florida!

Edited Saturday at 22:20 by Clangers
Word spaghetti

[KirkieRR]

In many ways not an admirable personality, and I can't call myself a fan, but he was one politician who could wipe the floor in debate or discussion with any, any Tory or Lobourite or WibbleDem.

They were quite vicious when theY spoke about him, and the Tory/Labour press kept assassinating him. That was the measure of how good he was at his job. He terrified them because even though he was just a jumped-up Jock, he was more than a match for anyone at Westminster, even those who'd gone to the right posh schools.

But just as Elvis died when he went in the army, Salmon died when he went over to the joke party that is ALBA