Can someone please explain to me in laymen terms what Nicola Sturgeon is supposed to have done?

[Loopylou6]

Thank you everyone, I have more understanding now

I like NS. Why? Her government is incompetent and corrupt. She wants independence for my country which would be disastrous

I’ve got sucked into the Wingsoverscotland website, which also goes over other odd behaviours of the SNP leadership, and makes it very hard Nog to be sceptical over everything she says and does.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/scotsnet/4181985-Salmond-v-Sturgeon-Round-3-Comment-along-with-Sturgeon

I agree with @MrsTerryPratchett

Another entitled arse of a man helps himself to women's bodies and gets away with it

Another successful woman carries the can and gets pilloried.

Nothing new

Thank you to pp who have described the broad outline. This is more than the major news outlets (in England at least) have managed to do. Like the op, I had very little information about the background to this story.

Those comparing it to the ridiculous behaviour of MPs in Westminster are missing the point that NS is one of the most sanctimonious people around. I don’t think Boris has ever claimed to be morally superior!

Its probably because we don't see her as closely S of the border. Boris an awful bumbling blithering buffoon, she doesn't come across like that.

@beguilingeyes

I am a receptionist and BBC News is on the TV opposite me all day. The coverage this has been given is ridiculous.

Where is the censure for Boris Johnson lying through his teeth to parliament on a regular basis, unlawfully proroguing Parliament and Matt Hancock giving millions to all of his mates?

Indeed.

Of course the main parties want shot of the SNP and their crazy independence-loving ways.

@Kimye4eva

Those comparing it to the ridiculous behaviour of MPs in Westminster are missing the point that NS is one of the most sanctimonious people around. I don’t think Boris has ever claimed to be morally superior!

I don’t think she is sanctimonious, but what has that got to do with anything. The behaviour of MPs in Westminster has been illegal ( proven) , and totally corrupt ( hopefully this will be taken to court) Their personal attributes are of no relevance. Clearly there were issues of process in the handling of this situation, but there is an ongoing enquiry and a level of scrutiny directed at Nicola Sturgeon which is intense. There has been nowhere near this level of scrutiny of the government in London, despite the fact that their actions have costs billions of pounds and cost thousands of lives. But that’s ok because Boris doesn’t claim to be morally superior ? Almost every action that he takes shows complete disregard for anyone not in his social circle . The latest being setting up a charity so that his girlfriend can decorate no 10 with £100 a metre wallpaper . This while hundreds are on the breadline .

Wings over Scotland has lost all credibility recently.

This is a recent rant from the guy behind it

'If you're still supporting Nicola Sturgeon at this point, please stay the fuck away from my page, you absolute embarrassment of a mental vacuum. I will ban you the second I see you in case your Idiocy Virus causes a pandemic of fuckwittery.'

Not the words of a reasonable human.

As far as Alex Salmond being innocent goes, certainly he's not been shown to be guilty of any crime. His defence, however, was summeed up as 'yeah, we wish he was a better man' as in, his behaviour towards women was far from exemplary.

Whatever the rights and wrongs are re: NS, Salmond does not deserve a future in politics, no matter how hard he fights to discredit the person in the position that he feels he deserves

Anyone getting info or quoting Wings isn't worth debating with, agree.

I saw someone (male, about the same age as Salmond obviously) saying on Twitter that we should get him back in the party pronto, then we'd nail independence.

Er, no thanks. As a younger woman I don't want a man who admits to sleavy behaviour with younger staffers anywhere near the place. Can we honestly not do better?

@RunnerDown I don’t think most people make the connection. Just because we don’t hold people to account in Westminster doesn’t mean that the Scottish Parliament should take the same approach.

And I’m not disagreeing with you about the government by the way. I just think there are a lot of people that don’t like NS and would happily see her fall from grace and that’s got nothing to do with whether or not we hold the government in Westminster to account.

If NS had made a statement to Parliament following AS's acquittal a year ago then there would have been no need for the tooth pulling shenanigans of the last couple of weeks. She could have co-operated with the various Parliamentary enquiries to find out what had happened and to hold Govt to account. Instead she repeatedly lied and blocked the release of information.

Anas Sarwar put it very succinctly in FMQs today, His comments are easily searchable and take about a minute of your time.

This could all have been dealt with long since and the irony is there would have been much less rancour and it would have been much less damaging to her and the SNP as a whole. The suspicion has to be therefore that she and her faction of the SNP as controlled by her DH as Chief Exec of the SNP feel much more threatened internally by the AS faction of the SNP than they do from either Parliament or the Electorate.

Worth reminding everyone that AS was acquitted of all criminal charges. His singular admission of impropriety was consensual and "not proven" to be otherwise as judged by a female majority jury. Prior to that the Scottish Govt settled a judicial review in his favour accepting that they had pursued a flawed process, "tainted by bias" in handling complaints against him.

I do think this 'bad actors' accusation that this is all down to the BBC and Westminster is kinda hilarious. There is as much heat being thrown at NS from within her own party as anywhere else, because a) she hasn't moved quickly enough on independence for them and huge swathes of the SNP - both at membership and elected level - believe that AS will deliver this. This is partly because b) Scotland is a deeply, deeply patriarchal society and c) there probably is something a bit screwed up about the leader of the party and the party CEO being married...

I find it really weird that no one believes that the answer is simply that the Scottish Gov fucked up. A fuck up is vastly more plausible than a conspiracy to get Alex Salmond imprisoned. I work in local government and have lost count of the number of major and minor fuck ups I’ve seen, some with enormous ramifications (baby ashes scandal, for example). I can only think of one example of major deliberate fraud in 14 years, and that was to do with money, not a personal vendetta. I have seen countless people operate with the best of intentions but still not be able to prevent disasters due to the sheer number of moving parts in a large organisation.

They've been together about 20 years I think, at what point do you think they should either have split up or given up their careers for the sake of things looking more on the level?

@PelvicFloorTrauma

Nice minimising DocMartens.

Honestly all I knew. Didn’t know any details or more than I posted.

Oh I did know Alex Salmond was involved.

The Fuck up is just same old same old. As the saying goes it's the Cover Up ...

Yes exactly too
Also people going on about NS saying she can't remember. I can barely remember what happened yesterday, let alone 6 months ago.
I think she comes across as more honest than AS as she is admitting mistakes rather than wanting to "win"

Not remembering something not very important that happened yesterday is not really ,the same as the first minister of Scotland not remembering important details of serious meetings though is it? I too can't remember what I had for my tea for example yesterday ,but I'm not going to be questioned about it in parliament.

@x2boys

Not remembering something not very important that happened yesterday is not really ,the same as the first minister of Scotland not remembering important details of serious meetings though is it? I too can't remember what I had for my tea for example yesterday ,but I'm not going to be questioned about it in parliament.

It's like there's a reason it's a good idea to keep notes/minutes of meetings or something

I’m so glad someone has asked this because for all the reading I do I can’t seem to understand what’s supposed to have happened. I though AS was the ‘bad guy’. I know he was acquitted but wasn’t it well known that he was a sex pest at the very least?

So basically a man is accused of harassing women and the only person who is likely to be punished is a woman? Is that right?

Yes that's how I see it. A alleged sex pest situation, but it couldn't be proven in court. So it's Sturgeon's fault.

The problem is dingley that as soon as he got acquitted that meant a large section of society think he's totally innocent, it was all made up and the women lied.
As opposed to a more nuanced view that standards of harassment and proof are different in a work or criminal context