To be disgusted by this crowdfunder

[Spinderelle]

Alex Salmond has launched a crowdfunder to fund his judicial review as he stands accused of sexual crimes against two women.

The man is a millionaire.

In 24 hours his cult like followers have given him £50,000. I don’t know what’s worse. People who can’t afford it donating money to a millionaire celebrity, or to an accused sex offender.

Dancing yy I think the difference in coverage between this and the fact a Green Party election agent was convicted of rape and torture of a child, is staggering. The latter should be headline news across all media. Normally such a case would be headline news even if it didn't have a political angle but when the perpetrator was an election agent, involved with Scouts, etc

DancingDot I think you make some good points. I don't know the details of the judicial review but I suppose I think the process should protect all innocent parties as much as is possible.

I don't like the man at all (have lived in Scotland for many years, but not Scottish). I agree with Raglansleeve that the allegations are surprising partly because Alex is such a career politician. I wouldn't have thought he would have been so stupid.

I do think though that the crowdfunding thing is a masterstroke in political manoeuvring. In doing this, he gets to depersonalise the issue, divert from the actual allegations, have a concrete record of the extent of his support, and paint the whole thing as a Fake News Westminster conspiracy. Genius. I dislike the man intensely but boy, this is Cromwellian.

Innocent until proven guilty is only relevant in court. People are still entitled to their personal views, just like the scum bags calling the accusers liars, despite them not even being charged with false claims.

passthe likewise. I have no idea about this case and am happy for it to be subject to due process.
What I am unhappy about, is the way certain people (not you!) are trying to pretend they are upholding women in this when the information they have released and spread, will deter other women from coming forward.
I'm a great believer in the rights of journalists to protect their sources but I think the Scottish Government should be trying to find the leak and discipline them accordingly. This entire case has made a complete mockery of their complaints and confidential investigation process .

Again, just more proof that the more money you have, the more irrational and greedy and selfish you become. Most of us will never be millionaires. If I ever was, I'd have enough pride and self-respect to not beg for even more money over the internet.

As to crowdfunding, it started out with honourable intentions, but now people are crowdfunding for a brand new car or for a trip to vegas or Disneyland. It has moved so far away from which it was intended. To help people out who found themselves in a traumatic situation and/or hardship. It is a way to shrug off personal responsibility.

AngelsSins so you believe that anyone should be able to make any claims they want about a person in print, film or online without repurcussions?

Fraying - totally agree with what you say

His not been found guilty of anything just yet, regardless of what you or anyone else think as of yet his guilt has not been proven in court.

Nobody is forcing people to donate to this, they are opening the wallet becuase they can afford it and want to. That’s up to them

Crowdfunding is a weird place anyway some people want donations for the latest car or money to go travelling etc etc, it’s not always worthy causes like money for specialist treatment for a child

this thread on twitter sums up what I think about this

Personally I think he's a sleazy shit, and it disgusts me that someone so wealthy and influential is trawling for cash - he can fund his own defence!

As other posters have pointed out, he is innocent until proven guilty, but this sort of "look-at-poor-little-me" stuff is intimidating for the women who have to stand up in court and tell their stories. There is obviously a lot of violent support for him which could be frightening fo them.

(And better things to do with that cash, obs)

due process fine, of course, it's in very poor taste that Salmond has asked for money for crowdfunding this though. I do think less of him for that.

perhaps the woman who was allegedly harassed should setup a crowd fund for her legal advice?

He is innocent until proven guilty. But so were all of the previous celebrities and politicians.

It would not at all shock me if he is guilty. I wouldnt trust that man on anything. There are better causes to raise money for other than his defence. If he's found guilty, do the idiots who donated get money back? Will he donate £50,000 to a better cause after all this, whether innocent or not? I bet not.

are you saying it wouldn't help his defense if he managed to undermine the process in court? Of course it will..

he's ensuring it's fair because he's so public minded? What a coincidence.

How many women have killed themselves or suffered years of anxiety due to rape/harassment?

BackinTimeforTea

It isn't one or the other. Ensuring that innocent people's lives are not destroyed by being named in false allegations that they are not even given information about, does nothing to exacerbate the trauma, anxiety and hell that women who experience rape and sexual harassment endure. Leaking any information from complaints about sexual misconduct risks the case and thus harms everyone.

Can anyone clarify what innocent until proven guilty means in this case? As far as I'm aware, he isn't facing any criminal charges. Is it the SNP who will decide if he's guilty?

Hi everyone.
We've made a few deletions, as you can see. Here is a link to a campaign we ran a while back - to those who have been deleted we ask that you please refrain from propagating rape myths on our pages (and it would be great if we can skip the goady anti-Scottish stuff as well). www.mumsnet.com/campaigns/we-believe-you-mumsnet-rape-awareness-campaign

Wait a mo! He isn't crowd funding to fight or prosecute any individual involved is he?

I thought he was raising cash to fight the procedure. Having worked with someone who had allegations made against them I understand why he is angry. My colleague was only told someone had made allegations. He was given no details at all... just vague dates and a generic description of what he was supposed to have done - the precise words were simply 'sexual harrassment'.

So our employer conducted an investigation... he didn't know who they talked to, what evidence they collected, he was not spoken to at any point. Months later he was told there was no case to answer to. To this day he has absolutely no idea what happened, and no legal way of getting any answers. All he knows is that someone he works with made an allegation, other colleagues know what was alleged, others will have been part of the investigation. Lots of people will know all about it and him but he doesn't know anything at all!

He is really angry and constantly feels as though people are watching him, discussing his every move. And he has to wonder why he has been passed over for a couple of promotions.

I thought that is what the funding is being raised to fight!

Happy to be told I am wrong... but Jeremy Vine will be looking at it today and he said much the same, just a couple of minutes ago, whilst I was typing!

Morris apparently the complaints have been passed to Police Scotland.
The SNP isn't involved in this since the complaints were made to the Scottish Government through their complaints process. The SNP didn't receive any complaints.
The crowdfunder is challenging the Scottish government's complaints process since it seems to have reached a conclusion without informing the accused of the detail of the accusation or allowing them access to the relevant records from that time, as well as prohibiting other staff from presenting information in their defence.I don't know whether that is true or not, but what isn't under dispute is that the complaints process has failed utterly in being confidential.