It was not my intention to run for election to the Scottish parliament from a hospital bed in Caracas, but sometimes we have to take what life gives us.
I went to a clinic a week ago feeling dizzy and was immediately rushed to hospital. My heart rate was fluttering and below 20ppm. I have since had an emergency procedure to fit a pacemaker.
Long-term followers of this blog (and readers of Murder in Samarkand or The Catholic Orangemen of Togo) know that I am dogged by long-term heart problems which I have to work through. I try to avoid hospitals because such is the apparent seriousness of my condition it is very hard to get out of them again.
In 2005 I was given three years to live with pulmonary hypertension, but I am still here and still fighting for good causes. Now with electronic enhancement.
I can’t however type much as both my hands look like this.
I am not withdrawing from the election, as I believe it is essential to give voters in Edinburgh Central the opportunity to vote for someone genuinely committed to Scottish Independence and who intends to do something about it.
You cannot believe both that Scotland is a nation with the right of self-determination and that London should have a veto.
London cannot afford to lose Scotland’s vast resources and will never agree. Independence will not be given to us, we must take it. When Independence comes, it will be in contravention of UK domestic law. Scottish Independence is therefore a revolutionary cause or it is nothing.
With opinion polls routinely showing a majority for Independence, the SNP will handily win this election on the pretence they will work for Independence. But they have no intention of actually doing so – still less have the neoliberal, Freeport-supporting Scottish Greens.
What will happen is that they will beg London for a referendum, which Starmer has made crystal clear he will refuse, and then they will claim to have tried. The SNP will then yet again forget Independence until the next election needs a slogan, while going back to pocketing their large salaries from the British state for running the colonial administration at Holyrood.
With US bombers taking off from British airports loaded with 2,000 lb bombs for the destruction of children in Iran, with the RAF giving targeting intelligence to the Israelis for the Genocide in Gaza, there is a moral urgency to breaking up the UK. Scotland needs at least some people in its Parliament who feel that urgency.
That is why I am giving people a chance to vote for me as part of the Alliance to Liberate Scotland – an umbrella group for all who support Independence, with other policy choices left to the individual. The party is precisely eight weeks old.
(I had intended to stand for Your Party, which decided firmly in favour of Scottish Independence, but it is not fighting these elections.)
Were I able to campaign I would have a good chance of being elected. Scottish parliamentary elections are run under the D’Hondt system. This is a form of (not very) proportional representation in which there are FPTP constituencies, grouped into regions. The voter has two ballots, both marked with a simple X.
The first ballot is a standard FPTP constituent vote. On the second you vote for a party of your choice. This is used to make the regional vote roughly proportional, subtracting the constituency seats won from each party’s vote share, then electing individuals from a party ranked list.
It removes the individual voter choice you get with STV and is not as proportional.
The Alliance to Liberate Scotland commissioned a 2,500 person properly weighted poll from Find Out Now. This found that – and this is an essential point – when prompted with the existence of Alliance to Liberate Scotland, 7% of voters across Scotland would vote for ATLS and 8% would vote for me, by name, in Edinburgh and Lothians (and similar for my friend Tommy Sheridan in Glasgow).
As I am number one on the list for ATLS in the Edinburgh and Lothians Region that figure would almost certainly see me elected.
BUT real voters are not prompted with the existence of ATLS, and of course the media will keep it that way. That is why an active campaign was so essential and it is so frustrating to be stuck here in hospital in Caracas.
I have not, though, given up. My colleagues are fighting a great campaign and I will get back to join in as soon as I can fly.
Finally, there is really interesting news about the Scottish judicial review of the proscription of Palestine Action, and I will post on that when able.
———————————
My reporting and advocacy work has no source of finance at all other than your contributions to keep us going. We get nothing from any state nor any billionaire.
Anybody is welcome to republish and reuse, including in translation.
Because some people wish an alternative to PayPal, I have set up new methods of payment including a Patreon account and a Substack account if you wish to subscribe that way. The content will be the same as you get on this blog. Substack has the advantage of overcoming social media suppression by emailing you direct every time I post. You can if you wish subscribe free to Substack and use the email notifications as a trigger to come for this blog and read the articles for free. I am determined to maintain free access for those who cannot afford a subscription.
Subscriptions to keep this blog going are gratefully received.
Choose subscription amount from dropdown box:
PayPal address for one-off donations: [email protected]
Alternatively by bank transfer or standing order:
Account name
MURRAY CJ
Account number 3 2 1 5 0 9 6 2
Sort code 6 0 – 4 0 – 0 5
IBAN GB98NWBK60400532150962
BIC NWBKGB2L
Bank address NatWest, PO Box 414, 38 Strand, London, WC2H 5JB
Bitcoin: bc1q3sdm60rshynxtvfnkhhqjn83vk3e3nyw78cjx9
Ethereum/ERC-20: 0x764a6054783e86C321Cb8208442477d24834861a
—————————————————–
Published by Craig Murray on behalf of the Alliance to Liberate Scotland, Oxgangs Road, Edinburgh EH10 7BD
Hiya Craig; recover swiftly <3
…and with your hands like that, please don’t reply to my comment.
I'll read your post now…
– “(I had intended to stand for Your Party, which decided firmly in favour of Scottish Independence, but it is not fighting these elections)”
I think I read yesterday that Your Party Scotland has dissolved itself, due to Your Party’s leadership rifts in England.
You did, the whole leadership has resigned promising to set up another party citing the attitude of the London leadership to Scottish members.
https://leftfootforward.org/2026/04/your-party-over-in-scotland-as-entire-leadership-committee-quits/
Frankly I think Your Party will collapse anyway.
Get well soon Craig although in your shoes I think I’d be thinking of slowing down a bit.
Looks like you’ve been shaking hands a lot!
Best regards.
Hello Komodo*, it’s good to see you again, I haven’t seen a comment from you in ages, but then I don’t read the comments as much these days. Thank you for your support at a time I desperately needed it.
* (assuming you’re the same commenter rather than someone coincidentally using the same screen name.)
No, it’s me! Thank you for preserving Blair Miles (see An Apology). I rather lost touch with the blog as our views were getting a bit divergent wrt Scottish independence and the kindly Russians, but I have no problem with deploring Trumpanyahu…trust you are well.
Speedy recovery Craig. Your integrity, reporting and vision is a great asset.
Get well soon. I look forward to the update on the Judicial Review.
Can’t you use dictation instead of your hands?
This is terrible news Craig, of course your health comes first, however it would’ve been a big boost for the cause – to see at Holyrood which you would’ve achieved, take it easy at get well soon, a couple of glasses of Lagavulin, and you’ll be on your feet in no time.
Get well soon
I guess as long as your will to fight is so dominant it´s ok to follow that path.
It helps.
As does sports as I have been told.
Unless its martial arts (just kidding).
Get well soon! (although be careful with moving in risky ways for the first 4 weeks.)
Get well soon!!!! I’m sure the Venezuelans have a healthcare system far superior to that of my native U.S., though growing up in Massachusetts, we did have excellent care. So much so, I often feel adjacent to Canada. But Cuba did show that it is possible to care for people, not profits, truly, you are in good hands there. Better than the NHS, likely, I can say now having lived nearly 20 years in London.
I’m a wee bit confused, Craig, on the previous post titled ‘ Radicalism and Scottish Independence ‘ you wrote ….” There is no place like home, and a few hours after arriving back in Scotland I was in Glasgow …..” ; did you come back to Scotland then return to Venezuela?
Whatever……sorry to hear you’ve been obliged to go for medical treatment; hope the treatment works and not only enables you to continue the extremely valuable work you do, but, in general improves your quality of life. Que te mejores pronto, hermano, y cuídate.
I’ve just about ran out of pejoratives to describe the current SNP; but everything you say, above, is accurate and I truly fear what irreparable damage another 5 years of the same could inflict on the aspiration to Independence and to Scotland. That damage could be possibly worse than what they’ve already inflicted, as, if they get the result the polls are predicting ( I’m still sceptical they will, but I understand it could be wishful thinking on my part ) it will embolden them – NOT to do anything of value, or, god forbid, what that Party was created to do – but more passivity/complicity in the plunder of Scotland’s resources; alignment with Brit martial folly/delusion; * Freeports *; ” inward investment “, ie the further encroachment of foreign corporate ownership ( eg of land ) and influence at the expense of Scottish businesses; in short…..the continuing submission to Neolib/con Globalist Capitalism. Y’know, the * thing * that is working so well everywhere: spreading Peace, Harmony, Equality wherever it lays it’s beneficent hands.
Scotland ( quite literally ) Needs You. And people of similar moral quality and political acuity
Dear Craig Murray,
Your commitment to politics is laudable.
But
The Universe is trying to tell you something and maybe this time you should listen.
I wish you the speediest of recoveries.
Get well soon Craig.
Wondered why you hadn’t posted for a while.
Get well soon as they say. I was under the apprehension that the Scottish Greens were for independence, so thanks for the heads up. I live in Pembrokeshire so wouldn’t be able to vote for you. Get back home so others can.
All the best
Alex
Very Best wishes and thoughts for recovery, Craig.
We are clearly looking forward to Starmer’s ‘defensive’ loss of a foreign F15E in Isfahan being exposed as part of an offensive ally’s failed mission flown out of RAF Trump Lakenheath.
Looking forward to seeing and hearing you back in action soon
Sorry to hear you’re unwell – try to take it easy as much as possible. You need to worry about yourself first, don’t let other concerns get in the way of recovery.