Sturgeon's husband arrested.

[Rainbowshit]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-65187823

🍿 🍿 🍿

Slightly off topic, anyone else ever get concerned about the amount of info ScotGov gathers on people?

Encouraging schools to go cashless via ParentPay.
You can't get a ParentPay account without a MyGovScotland account, which is also used to make job applications for any local or national government jobs.

The National Entitlement Card for buses is being linked together with ParentPay for school meals and YoungScot cards.

So on any young person they have Parents details, via Mygovscotland, potentially CVs and employment history and possibly more if you have a government job. Where they are going via the bus.

Just ready for independence, and driving licences becoming Scottish, link them together with the bus tickets and you have a National ID card via the back door. Just about everyone will have either a driving licence or bus ticket.

Please tell me I'm talking pish and to stop being so cynical.

There was an earlier suggestion that it was the involvement of a UK crime agency that prompted action, and why the chief (?forget title) of Police Scotland resigned followed promptly be Nicola - i.e. they had been trying to make it all go away but the arrival of the UK agency stopped them.

No you are not.

He was our MSP before we moved house, and he was actually pretty decent, so I am a bit sad about this.

Surely about now they should all be starting to save their own skins and jump ship? Or are they all really that dense?

I think they really are that dense! My pet theory just now is that there will be a few more arrests (where they’ll probably all give no comment interview) then Sturgeon will be arrested and there’ll be charges.

I’m no expert but a lot of people don’t seem to understand that this isn’t a quick process, and the last thing you want is for any court case to fail on a procedural issue

You'd think they'd all jump ship.

But I'm no expert but don't see how that could work legally. Surely the 63 people of the NEC can't just leave. They are equally responsible for those debts.

I'm still surprised that political parties beyond a certain size aren't limited companies, with shareholders and directors.

I don’t think they’re dense - more arrogant. They’ve been unchallenged in Govt for too long and their influence extends into every corner of society with centralisation requiring far too many organisations to do exactly as they want in order to secure funding. They have appeared untouchable.

@Sugarfree23 the UK government asks for a gateway log in every time you want to check your benefits, get a passport etc so not dissimilar.

re: UK crime agency, are we talking the UKs version of the CIA whose name I forget? G something....

Do we think that Sturgeon will ultimately end up being arrested?

Unfortunately I think the civil service have also absorbed too much of the SNP politics too.

Yes I think her and Murrell will both be charged. Just my guess.

The police must have been working on this stuff behind the scenes for months (assuming it was flagged to them by the auditors who left 6 months ago). They can't justify that amount of time for nothing.

It was flagged to the police years ago.

Yikes! Thanks to all of those more knowledgeable on this thread, it's such a fascinating situation. I'm not in Scotland, but lived in (and absolutely loved) Edinburgh for a few years.

I also think there will be charges in the next few weeks. It does appear this has been going on for years and not being acted on properly and now it’s full speed ahead. Top cop out, new guy in, let’s go people. At least braverman if not sunak will have been involved somewhere too in making it move now.

so yes, for my money there will be charges , against who I don’t know, sturgeon hasn’t been interviewed yet I think but I can’t say it looks good for her right now in terms of being unaware.

It dates to 2017 when £600k was raised specifically to campaign on a second independence election (because they wanted to ignore the results of the last one). As no second referendum has happened there should still be £600k unspent, but there isn’t.

They seem to like making the arrests first thing in the morning.
She must be crapping her pants thinking who's next, how does she sleep at night.

Do you think she's getting up in the middle of the night to get the hair done and make-up on? 😂

When did the £600k disappear?

The investigation now has its own Wiki entry. Hands up who knew it was called Operation Branchform? Apparently formally launched in 2021.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Branchform

It includes in its final section a very handy collection of links to References.

@NicolaSturGONE there are rumours that the National Crime Agency has been involved but I don't know where that came from.

Thanks @ThatsGenderwang that Wiki is super helpful!

DH is a witness in a complex theft case (not the SNP!)

The theft itself took place about 3 years ago but it is only now coming to court.

It may appear that the police have done nothing during that time, which isn't actually true. They kept DH informed throughout and even the thieves knew they were being investigated, but the police apparently couldn't take it to court unless they had enough evidence gathered to show it was worth acting on. Also due to the complexity of the particular case, the police or prosecutors or whoever they are, had to understand the situation a bit better and build their own knowledge so that they could explain to a potential jury. IANAL but that's the gist of what DH was told.

So I can only imagine that it is something similar in the case of the SNP?

Lego hair needs no styling 🤣

😂 😆 😂

I don't like Parent Portal either. My child's school report should be between me, the school and my child. Why does it need to be held centrally?

We are only just moving on to ParentPortal, it's all very big brother.

Is there any privacy laws regarding this stuff?