An Apology 363


I owe an apology to all those who are kind enough to subscribe to my blog. I was determined that I would not let my impending trial affect my output, but have been unable to see that through. It is partly because preparation does take up much more time than I had imagined. But it is mostly because I find it hard to put my mind to anything else and really concentrate.

I do not want to give you the impression that I am very worried, or depressed. I am rather angry; a deep, seething anger that keeps breaking into my thoughts. I am rather worried about this. I can with fairness claim to have devoted much of my life to fighting against injustice. I was prepared to sacrifice an extremely prestigious and lucrative career to take a stand against UK complicity in torture, driven largely by empathy for the victims. I have assisted with numerous individual human rights cases and particularly asylum claims, including representing people, without fee, before immigration courts. But I am nonetheless alarmed by how much more viscerally angry I am when the injustice is against myself than when it is against another. I am aware that is very unattractive. This fury at being personally mistreated is disproportionate and quite wrong, and ought not to stop me working. I feel guilty about it.

Among the results is a very annoying writers’ block. I have been intending this last five days to write an article on Barack Obama’s failure while President to tackle institutional racism and societal inequalities in the USA, and relate that to the remarkable fact he paid much less attention to aid to Africa than George W Bush. I enjoy writing most when I am running counter to the prevailing narrative and pointing to inconvenient fact. But the lines of logic refuse to flow, the fascinating asides do not pop up, and then I remember something else I must tell my lawyers.

Please do not worry. I am not sad, and my anger does not manifest itself by being horrible to others; on the contrary, for once I seem to be particularly considerate to my family and appreciative of how fortunate I am. The purpose of this post is to apologise to you, and thank you for your patience. It is not a signal of giving up – I do not intend to wait until after the trial before getting back to normal. Please bear with me.


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363 thoughts on “An Apology

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  • Simon hopper

    You are an amazing inspiration. Stay strong and keep up your great work. Good luck in your defense. Everything comes to pass. You writing will be back soon – and stronger and more Acebric

  • R.A.

    If it were me on trial, I would be obsessed with my defense, to the exclusion of other rational pursuits. I suspect this is normal–when directly threatened, we react to defend ourselves. Go give your accusers what they deserve! You have a great many supporters who will stand with you.

  • giyane

    Since Humza Yousaf is targeting white middle class seniors in his capacity as SNP Justice Minister and having his little system threaten them with imprisonment and exposure to covid 19, it might be appropriate to target some of the weaknesses in his Muslim community, if he thinks he is now beyond criticism in his powerful role.

    In the Alum Rock Road in Birmingham where my wife works, Muslim shops pay female staff about £2 per hour. When the lockdown started the business owners pocketed the £10k loss of business grants, but nobody has applied for furlough for the workers, nobody has repaired the leaking toilets from the flats above the shops and nobody has applied for furlough for their low paid staff. As they move towards reopening the shops, nobody is providing these modern day slavery workers with more than gloves and face masks, even though we can see perspex screens everywhere for male workers.

    Nothing to do with Humza you say, ok , so what about this Muslim Brotherhood which he and his family espouse? Turkey’s Erdogan is building Universities for MB and even a mosque in Cambridge.
    https://www.pri.org/stories/2017-06-28/turkey-jails-more-journalists-any-other-nation-those-detention-are-all-terrorists. Turkey jails more journalists than any other nation. Those in detention are all terrorists, Erdogan says. It appears that Humza Yousaf shares Erdogan’s dislike of journalists and free speech and has gone well beyond the pale of British justice in trying to bring freedom of speech to heel in Scotland.
    Legislation to curb free speech was rolled out in March in Scotland under his authority.

    Such a shame that he’s in charge and ” racist ” slurs like this one are going to be levelled at the man in charge. The British have been cowering in fear from accusations of racism by the Asian community for far too long. For decades Asian men have got ways with grooming and sexually exploiting white girls and boys and the police have refused to bring charges for fears of exacerbating racial tensions.

    So , what about political Islam and the wave of support for jihadism sweeping through the Muslim community in British cities? I ask the question again: ” Neither Salmond nor Craig nor Hirst have been racist against him, so why is he being racist against them as white male critics of excessive British state control? ”

    https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/imam-zakzaky-how-jailed-nigerian-cleric-became-pawn-gulf-power-struggle

    https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/saudi-arabia-executions-G20-kennedy-salman-odah
    ” Odah has yet to stand trial after being arrested in September 2017 and charged with offences including 37 counts of terrorism for which the state prosecutor is seeking the death penalty.
    Other charges Odah faces include allegations of exposing “injustices towards prisoners” and of “expressing cynicism and sarcasm about the government’s achievements”.

    Humza Yousaf is raking the bottom of the barrell of racial prejudice against white middle class males, but it’s not too difficult to find examples of the kind of justice he has in mind for Scotland.
    ‘People live waiting with the anxiety that it is going to happen tomorrow or the next day’
    – Baroness Helena Kennedy, human rights lawyer

    https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/saudi-spy-network-inside-twitter-put-dissidents-danger-activists-fear
    This is not too far from Scotland’s Justice system under Hummza Yousaf bringing charges against Mark Hirst for using the biblical quote ” reap the whirlwind ” under new laws introduced in Scotland last month by him.

    If you can’t take the heat , get out of the kitchen. But of course the heat in this worldly life is nothing compared with the heat that is to come.

    • James

      giyane – look – moving from Humza Yousaf (who has shown himself to be a vile creature – we can all agree on that) to the Muslim community really is outrageous and just not on. It is racism pure and simple.

      Many years ago, I moved down south to England for a couple of years. During that time, I really came face to face with some of the most disgusting and vile behaviour I have ever encountered. This behaviour was from white English, who had reasonably posh accents and had probably all been to posh fee-paying schools. For a while, I was strongly anti-English as a result of this convincing myself that there was something sick and twisted with their culture which made them collectively utterly warped. I now recognise that this was racism pure and simple on my part and I repent of it.

      What I failed to spot was that, during these two years, I also met some of the best people whom I have ever met in my life. They were also English and they were generous, with extremely well developed social conscience and eye for injustice.

      It was quite wrong of me to take the disgusting devious behaviour of the five poisoned individuals whom I encountered and to try and extrapolate to the English in general – and to be so consumed by the hideousness of it all that I was blind to the good side of the English that I had also seen during that time.

      Perhaps Humza Yousaf’s problem is connected with his background – perhaps he does believe in unswerving loyalty to the Memsahib, who in this case is Nicola Sturgeon. If Humza Yousaf is perpetrating evil, then don’t look to the Muslim community for its background and inspiration – look to the Memsahib, Nicola Sturgeon, who could remove him from his position and replace him whenever she wanted.

      As I understand it, Nicola Sturgeon is not a Muslim – although there may be rumours that she has some English ancestry.

      • Giyane

        James

        Power unfortunately goes to people’s heads.
        White English posh snobs and many others.
        The UK benefit system is like Buckingham Palace to many who arrive here from abroad compared with the corruption they have to deal with in their countries of origin.

        I cannot be silent about oppressive behaviour just because somebody comes from a white posh snob background or a post Soviet colonial background. I am inside this Asian community and some people in it behave as badly as anybody..

        There is no sanctuary from criticism behind the cover of being from an ethnic minority. Bad behaviour is bad behaviour. For Humza Yousaf to bend the Scottish Justice System against opponents of illegal war is really bizarre beyond bizarre.

        It is not racism to call out racism. Sometimes you have to hold up a mirror to people who are being horrible. People in glass houses or Emperor’s new clothes should expect comment on what they don’t bother to hide.

      • Giyane

        James

        If you are right tha Sturgeon has recruited this wanker Humza Yousaf for organising dirty tricks agsinst Salmond and his supporters, the buck does not stop with her. A minister is responsible for his or her own mistakes , even if they have been cherry-picked to make mischief by the First/ Prime Minister.

        Of course he msy think he could shunt the blame upwards to her. That is not how British politics works, nor how the armed forces work. Who dares wins, but who cocks up badly gets the boot or the zipped sleeping bag , whichever they prefer depending on how quietly they wish to retire.

        • James

          Giyane – well, maybe I’m changing my opinion on this.

          If what you say is true, then could it be that Alex Salmond brought him in precisely because he understood that Humza Yousaf had experience in how to deal with White Settlers and some great and wacky new ideas for this?

          (`White Settler’ was a term that we used back in the 1970’s and 80’s to describe English people who had moved to Scotland).

          If what you say is true, then it has all come back to bite them on the bum, because Humza Yousaf considers them *all* to be White Settlers.

  • Jean Wood

    Mr Pilger,you have Nothing to apologise for. Like Julian Assange, you bring truths to the fore.If Only we could have more honest journalism in the world,one day,Truth May catch on.I sincerely wish you all the very best.Thank You!

  • Clydebuilt

    The Vaccine Better Work and Soon

    Re. Second Wave of Covid-19 the UK (England) has a real problem here. There is a desperate need to get the economy up and running. B U T yesterday BBC Scotland’s Ken MacDonald said that the UK’s daily new infections were greater than the total for 27 EU countries.
    Although the UK has been in Lockdown for over 2 months, the required actions (eg. stopping international flights at beginning , continuing test & trace, putting in travel bans for infection hotspots) haven’t been taken to get on top of pandemic.

    The economic situation is such that a further period of lockdown coupled with a flight ban and T&T is unthinkable .

    This is what lies behind Westminster pumping resources into developing a vaccine. It’s all that stands between the UK and an economic and health .

    • nevermind

      The green brigade? never heard of it, do explain. Are they the one’ s campaigning to stop penguins from dying out?

    • Giyane

      Clydebuilt

      China has a cure. That’s why it’s completely weird that liberal snotocracies like the US and UK are attacking China when our economies need China’s cure. It’s like, if the over 60s, blacks and Asians die, TOUGH, they will suffer their Darwinian destruction.

      If Cummings had gone along with his Eugenics culling ideas, the entire proposal of this fake election would be undermined. There is no plan B, such as most of the world have adopted to manage this virus.

      Sadly that makes it appear that USUK created the virus in the full knowledge that their fake majority would overrule any oppisition to herd immunity.
      Nobody starts a pandemic without a plan.
      The plan is a cull of old fashioned socialist ideas.

      • Mary

        Was a cull of the elderly the intention?

        In April 2020 in England, 37.0% of all deaths occurring were a result of COVID-19. When broken down by sex, this was 41.6% of all deaths for males and 32.4% of all deaths for females. When looking at the proportion by age group, the highest proportion of deaths due to COVID-19 was in age group 75 to 84 years, with 40.1% of all deaths in this age group having an underlying cause of COVID-19. For males, the highest proportion of deaths due to COVID-19 was in age group 45 to 64 years (44.3%), whereas for females it was age group 75 to 84 years (36.5%).When looking at the proportion by age group, the highest proportion of deaths due to COVID-19 was in age group 75 to 84 years, with 40.1% of all deaths in this age group having an underlying cause of COVID-19.
        15 May 2020
        https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/deathsinvolvingcovid19englandandwales/deathsoccurringinapril2020#

        • Giyane

          Mary

          The 40,000 deaths do not include anybody not tested positive for the virus.
          The fact that the true total may be double the government official figure means that , when the new spike comes in about three weeks time , Boris and Cummings will have to go. They have been running on empty for about two years and have used up the £20 credit on the meter from the rigged election.

          Johnson is entering that special place in Hell [ ok for senior politicians to use doomsday rhetoric to make a point ] where he has to break his promises on the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement and on Chloroquine chicken in order to make his false promises happen.

          In plain language T O T A L L I E S

          • Giyane

            Andic

            Runni g on empty because they have no electoral support, only BBC propaganda against Corbyn and an election stolen by algorithms which calculate who will not vote and count them as Toadies.

            I am on truth on steroids and you are on lies on steroids. Dream on.

          • Mark Golding

            Boris has to make way for handler Sir Kier, the entity instrumental to the demise of ‘national security threat’ Corbyn, the ‘silence’ of Assange and the attempted coup de grâce of our host here.

          • Barry Gullain

            Interestingly a doctor has to clear it with the PF before he can record a death as due to COVID.
            Make of that what you will.

  • Paul+Short

    Please don’t feel guilty – it is unavoidable. During my many years as a teacher – primary, secondary and both forms of tertiary in a specialist role – I was always union rep. This meant almost daily, certainly weekly, caseloads with members at my workplace (mostly colleges in the end) who had serious problems. And then, as they say, they came for me. A disciplinary matter cooked up by an angry boss, and suddenly I couldn’t easily see straight. As often with union reps these days, no matter how many members you have to deal with you’re often on your own (and the general Union organisation is seldom that much use), so I was trying to deal with cases, while concentrating on defending myself. In the end I came out okay, but it was a lot less seamless than when I had defended others, and fortunately another former union officer helped me out by pointing out errors I was making (which I would never have made with others’ cases). You’re bound to be in this situation, but much more seriously. A big thing to remember is always that you have support, you are not alone; we will not let you be alone.

  • Rhys Jaggar

    Mr Murray

    I can tell you from personal experience that the appearance of anger of the kind you describe is usually associated with the hair that broke the camel’s back.

    I took things ‘like a man’ for years, decades, even, until I was around 33. Then a particular trigger, arguably no worse than other hits I had taken in my previous life, brought the anger to the surface. It was more than just anger about that one event, it was 33 years of suppressed anger about dozens of behavioural attacks that for various reasons (like an adult targeting an 8 year old etc) I was unable to respond to with vigour, aggression and contempt.

    Life often requires anger to be suppressed.

    If you cannot suppress it now, it is your body and your spirit telling you that it cannot suppress any more of it without serious damage ensuing.

    It will have to come out, so make sure that you can dissipate it without harming those you care about.

    • Iain+Stewart

      The hair that broke the camel’s back. Rice, you’re such a pudding 🙂

  • Mary

    The statue of Edward Colston, a slave trader has been taken down by BLM protesters in Bristol.

    A prominent 19th century statue of Edward Colston, a merchant and slave trader, was torn down by protestors in central Bristol.

    ‘During Black Lives Matter protest in central Bristol on 7 June 2020, four protestors removed and vandalised the statue of Edward Colston, a famous 19th trader from the city who acquired a significant part of his wealth through the trade and exploitation of slaves.’
    https://epigram.org.uk/2020/06/07/colston-statue-torn-down/

    Many of the British ‘stately homes’ were built using the same proceeds. That is why I do not visit them, pay entrance fees to the inheritors or belong to the National Trust. Similarly inherited wealth from coal mining.

    • Kempe

      ” Many of the British ‘stately homes’ were built using the same proceeds. That is why I do not visit them, pay entrance fees to the inheritors or belong to the National Trust. Similarly inherited wealth from coal mining. ”

      How exactly does that help anyone?

    • Trowbridge H. Ford

      Nice to see the statue of Edward Colston take a dive into that pool in Bristol.

      Just can’t believe how the Brits have treated those opposing the slave trade, and promoting their emancipation like their opponents , especially Henry Brougham who was a much more important politician than the historians have made out.

      • Trowbridge H. Ford

        Are Bath and Bute House next? Is Patel really serious about making the West Country and Scotland a tribute to cultural heritage rather than making these places and beyond decent places for the people living there now. Is she trying to dictate the result of Craig’s petition?

    • Giyane

      Mary

      Good for you. My ex was a Hoare closely related to the Stourhead Hoares. Her father was lucky to have avoided getting sucked into that vortex of greed because his father was killed in the Boer War and the banking family embezzled his share.

      We lived at Stourhead for a time in forelock-tugging novichok country. The Classical columns of the house represent pre-Christian Paganism.
      The Hoares started the bank as humble Puritans and then gave it to the National Trust to concentrate on devouring interest.

      Stourhead is the type of disgraceful legacy to which all true Empire2 Tories wistfully aspire.

      • Mary

        Very interesting Giyane. Thanks for that info.

        Milton Abbas in Dorset is another place where banking money resided.

        ‘In 1852, the merchant banker Carl Joachim Hambro acquired Milton Abbey to make it his family home. He set about a major restoration programme, including an extensive refurbishment of the Abbey itself. The Hambro family developed and lived at Milton Abbey until 1932*, when it was sold and for a while they moved to Hedge End Farm nearby, followed by a permanent move to Dixton Manor in Gloucestershire.’

        * I suppose the Depression brought an end to the Hambro’s lifestyle.

        The Abbey became a private school.
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton_Abbey_School

    • James

      Peter N – well, I think it looks like guff. It actually looks much more like the vacuous sort of thing one might expect from a politician, not something one would expect from someone with a sharp legal mind.

    • pete

      WJ Wolffe was right, the prosecution of Alex Salmon, was not just inappropriate, it was also a total waste of time and money. Glad to see he has come to his senses at last.

    • James

      Peter N – unless, of course, there is something else. James Wolffe writes

      They limit reporting about criminal cases to ensure that the accused receives a fair trial.

      Perhaps the context is: he knows very well that the alphabet sisters will be taken to court before long accused of lies, slander and character assassination – and the whole contempt of court business is to ensure that they receive a fair trial.

      Otherwise I’m lost and can’t see what he is on about.

      • stuart mctavish

        As excuses go it ranks alongside the one about the young man who took his family for a 4 hour drive to test his eyesight since, even setting aside the contempt inherent in denying justice by delaying it quite so long, it overlooks the contempt inherent in bringing 13 spurious charges to counter a single unproven one.

        Accordingly, however timely, obscure or even welcome, it may be, it might better be interpreted as a plea for his own right to a fair trial in the event that the alphabet sisters manage to turn the tables on their prosecutors for putting them in such an impossible position in the first place.

    • Giyane

      Peter N
      The National did not let me read the letter, but diverted me to other trash about Cummings etc.

      The letter did not mention thatthe main charge was based on a lie because the Alphabetter in question wasn’t there; the police knew she wasn’t there and the court knew she wasn’t there.

      The only purpose of the letter is to divert attention from the truth which is that Salmond , Craig and Hirst sre being hounded through the courts for their opposition to illegal war. Guff on guff. Bollocks on bollocks. Hot air on hot air. Otherwise known as FAKE NEWS to keep a dead ball in play long after the referee has raised his finger.

    • Crispa

      What a strange article for a Lord Advocate to write at this time. If that is not an interference in due process I do not know what is!

    • Bill Thomson

      The Lord Advocate’s starry eyed, “somewhere over the rainbow” notions of the integrity of the Scottish legal process were firmly kicked into touch by the trial and conviction of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi and its reputation isn’t going to recover any time soon the way things are going. A little more contrition than, “oh, we followed the correct procedures” would be required for that.

      It is however interesting that he considers the matter needs explanation and COFD’s actions require to be defended in an ongoing matter.
      The question now arises, was he encouraged to write the piece for the National or are cracks beginning to appear and is he simply covering his own back.

  • Crispa

    I see others have got here before me but one thing that has cheered me up in an otherwise dull day and thinking of everything that Craig stands for is not only the toppling of Colston’s statue into the river but that his Wikipedia entry has also announced the fact with the only thing missing is that the amendments are not the work of Philip Cross! There is even reference to Priti Patel’s “utter disgrace” response.

  • douglas clark

    Craig,

    Get over yourself. You have hundreds of comments, most of which I agree with and all of which are supportive of you.

    All of whom agree with your idea that a moral stance needs represented. I.e.yours.

    You are not alone in this fight,

    It is obvious that you have to direct your energies towards that.

    Take all the time you need.

    As they say – “don’t let the bastards grind you down!”.

  • Giyane

    The British Raj conyrolled a vast continent in India with an incedibly small number of staff. Apart from having superior weaponry they also had vsstly more corrupt ethics. They would find out who was enemies with ehom and offer one tribe assistance in fighting another, thus exploiting existing emnities to their own ends of conquerinh everything.

    People from the indian sub -conyinent know this game infinitely better thsn me, becausr thry have been playing it for 300 years. Here and now , in Britain, the same old corrupt Raj is playing the same old game. They knoe they can exploit the latent emnity between the colonised and the colonisers even tbough it is plsin to all that we British are not the people who colonised them because thise people are now dead and gone.

    My granny married an English Colonel and later MP who served on the North-West Frontier. She was about 60 and he was in his 70s. He was immensely rich and she was immensely poor. None of that colonial booty has passed to me forbthe simple reason that I was not allowed to inherit anything from my non-Muslim mother who died four years ago yesterday. Nor would I have been happy to have this colonial booty in my hands.

    This old, criminal empire that was defeated in the second world war , does not see why it should cease operating in exactlybthe same way as before. Empire2 is a Tory reality, not a pipedream.
    That is why we have a Tory government, because the Tories do not agree with Corbyn’s idea of fair trade and a level playing field,. The election was a fraud.

    You and i know nothing of these antics but my beloved know everything about the Britush Empire..
    Being here in the UK presents some ofvthem eho are politically minded with a unique opportunity, to work against their ancient enemy, the gora, white people, paid for by other gora. Humza Yousf is making himself useful to the Tory govetnment by using his regional powet to attack opponents of the Empire2 fake government in Westminster.

    BTW I have abandoned autofill because of its tendency to alter words after i have seen them appear correctly on the mobile screen. So any errors are now mine, for which I apologise.
    I know it looks as though i am.being racist. I am not racist against my Muslim brothers. I have encompassed the modus operandi of the British Empire and I recognise it completely in Craig’s plight before the Scottish Court.

    I am no enemy of anybody who is being exploited, although i do think they should know better.
    I am only agaibst the exploiters, the corrupt , decrepit strings of a moth-eaten empire, desperately trying to blank out its decrepitude and fragility by deploying ancient strategies of subterfuge while itself being literally at death’s door. I love my Muslim brothers and sisters. But I do wish they could be a little bit more clever than thrt soetimes are.

  • Doug Scorgie

    Peter N
    June 7, 2020 at 15:57
    You say:
    “This very recent article has been posted in The National written by Rt Hon W James Wolffe QC, Lord Advocate
    To me it looks like, in part, a response to what is being done to Craig Murray and others. Don’t know what to make of it myself — sounds like officiating guff to me.”
    ———————————————————————-

    Peter, my take on this article by Wolffe QC is that he is implying in a convoluted way that the journalists who published articles that enabled jigsaw identification of one or two of the alphabet ladies were in contempt of court but they voluntarily removed their articles after being requested to do so.

    He is, without naming Craig, suggesting that Craig did not remove his comments from his blog.

    I think Craig has a really good chance in court.

    Craig if you read this post I advise: don’t lose your temper at the hearing (difficult that it will be): let your council put your case to the judge and take the stand to put forward your own views, again, without raising your voice. Stay calm.

    • Giyane

      Doug Scorgie

      With all due respect the Rt Hon QC knows full well , as do all the police and the civil service, that the sole purpose of non-identication of witnesses was to protect them from any backlash when their witness was proved false. This was an abuse of the Court, an abuse of the Law, an abuse of political power and an abuse of Scottish devolved authority because it came from Westminster or MI5.

      I totally agree with you that Craig should not lose his temper, but after the gunpowder plot has been rumbled, Guy Fawkes has to be ritually enshrined for eternity as a papist conspirator.

      No. The Court, the Law, the SNP , Police Scotland and Head Office are all bent as hairpins and that needs to be exposed, so that Scotland can thereby establish the necessity of its Independence from a corrupt colonial power.

      Nobody can live with a charade of a marriage and anybody asking you to do so for the sake of the children or NATO’s subs or Trump’s chickens, can go and boil their heads.

      • Giyane

        In other words , once you agree to accept every false flag psy-op concocted by intelligence agencies as Gospel – you’re fucked.

      • Robert

        Just no. The purpose of non-identification of witnessess in this or any other sexual assault case is so as allow it to be seen that future witnesses in future cases feel able to come forword. This is a good right and proper purpose.

        I do, incidentally, think I understand the Lord Advocate’s letter to the National, and I see where he is coming from in his answers. The question remaining unanswered is why others were not and presumably will not be prosecuted.

        • Giyane

          Robert

          The other day I was having a wee in a service station and a man came up and grabbed me from behind. Yet it turns out that I wasn’t there and the service station was closed. But it still happened!

          The Union leaning Court, the pliable justice Minister , the slobbering MSM, and the permed-haired civil servants are all in the loop of the Alex Salmond fit-up.
          None of these events happened and there are most definitely no more liars like all of these likely to come forward.

          Except of course Boris Johnson who might be able to find some viagrichoc under Salmond’s fingernsils to prove it all happened.

          • Giyane

            Robert

            What on earth is the Lord Advocate doing writing letters in the local paper. Preparing local opinion for a harsh guilty verdict?
            One rule for us’s and one rule for them.
            Why doesn’t he just put on his blog who he intends to round up and hang with his bent , freemason
            police and justice system?

            Oh, i see, the National is the private blog of the anti- independence gatekeepers of the Union.
            I too will have cock my leg on that August institution’s gatepost.
            This is my territory, my Dumfriesshire weewee.

        • stuart mctavish

          Not sure where you are coming from Robert but a trial under Scots law allows 3 possible verdicts;
          Not guilty, Not Proven or Guilty as charged,

          Pre trial the accused is assumed innocent until proven otherwise although, (presumably) to ensure that complaints are taken seriously, the witness protection legislation might reasonably be interpreted as a temporary presumption of guilt for the purposes you mention.

          Unfortunately, by insisting on the non identification of principle witnesses despite the not guilty verdict(s), the CPS has made the presumption of guilt permanent thereby bringing the protection legislation into disrepute, In this particular case the court’s contempt for the jury’s decision is more sinister than simple contempt of justice or legislation because the complaints were initiated neither by the ladies themselves nor in a timely manner.

          • Robert

            If the anonimity of witnessess depended on the accused being found guilty, that could apply pressure to those witnessess to lie. Which would be a bad thing. Better to mainmtain anonymity until found guilty by a court or perjury.

          • Giyane

            Robert

            Political people lie. Unpolitical people don’t lie. For this reason , at the start of the Salmond case , most people would assume he was possibly guilty including myself.

            When i say lie, I don’t mean ‘ manage expectations ‘. I don’t mean ‘ present themselves in the best possible light ‘. I mean actually lie.

            You seem to grinding the same old axe about protecting rape victims.
            But the journalists attending the court hearing refused to publish the astonishing evidence that the rape charge victim was blatantly lying and she wasn’t around on the date in question.

            Craig reported this fact on his blog so from then on the whole world understood that there was no rape at all. Rape was pure fabrication.

            Still he did not expose the liar’s idebtity in any shape or form.
            If you knew who the accuser was before , you now knew she was a liar and if you didn’t know who she was, you now knew, what the jury knew , that Salmond was innocent.

            What Wolffe , who knew her identity, has done is to confuse his previous knowledge that the main accuser was lying with the public now knowing from the defence witness’s testimony in court that she was lying. His indignation is at himself being discovered abusing his position by proceeding against Salmond . But somehow he has projected his own indignation onto Craig for reporting the lie.

            I have no doubt whstsoever that he was forced by his superiors to abuse his position, but the decent thing is for him to resign, not to try to say that Craig exposing the lie was contempt of court.
            Wolffe was in contempt of court for agreeing the case to be heard when he knew the accusations were untrue.

            Boris Johnson deeply objected to Judges ruling that his suspending parliament was unlawful. He believes that Judges should obey politicians. Wolffe has obeyed politicians and allowed Salmond to be prosecuted, knowing full well the charges were untrue.
            He now wants to project his mistake onto Craig Murray. Not going to happen.

            People do make mistakes. Especially when being bullied by unscrupulous lying bastard criminals like Boris Johnson.

    • Giyane

      Lawrence AB

      The Palace of Westminster might just as well be given to the National Trust as a Museum. The democracy that built it is now nothing but an illusion. Build a new Parliament somewhere on HS2, maybe Leeds. We certainly don’t want to see any Tories in Birmingham. Having said that, if they want to pop into Alum Rock near the HS2 depot, my wife can do them 2 tights for £5. Or, if they are afraid of Huawei hosiery under Trump’s new trade war on China, they could have hand-woven English tights knitted by hand on genuine 27th century hand looms for £8,000. Long live England, her Royal Conspirabulary and St George.

      • Republicofscotland

        Giyane.

        Almost 900 unelected lords, who received £300 quid a day, some jump out a taxi sign in then jump back into the taxi and off. They quaff taxpayer subsided quality food and drink in the restaurants in the unelected chamber, and only China has more folk in its National People’s Congress. It’s the most expensive carehome in the world as many doze off after a slap up meal washed down with expensive booze.

        • Giyane

          RoS

          I eat all the food I need and some. I throw away products I accidentally buy that contain alcohol. I nevet use taxis. Thanks to God. How does having more than one nerds benefit a human being? Unless it manages through ita conspicuousness to reach the attention of others?

          Worldly life is snakes and ladders. If you had the ladders , you would have the snakes as well. Your children would not thank you for the poison of the snakes and would take no pleasure from the vanity of the ladders.

          The children of the very rich are brought up without parental love in the company of strangers while their parents are like cats whose kittens are sold to strangers.
          But worst of all is the grinding conformity of expectations that each of them spenda their life vying for the attention of others on causes that they themselves dislike, to compensate their hearts for the hollowness if their lonely prisons.

    • Republicofscotland

      Agreed Lawrence, Sheppard should be findings ways to get us out of Westminster period. Pete Wishart even put his name up to be Speaker of the House, what are these people thinking of, don’t they realise we can see what they’re up to in England.

      I’m all for removing them permanently from Westminster, even if they had won all the Scottish MP seats they can’t change anything at Westminster, all they’re doing is playing by Westminsters rules and giving the English government an appearance of legitimacy over Scotland.

  • John Monro

    No apology needed. You are a serious and committed man with high moral and ethical standards that are being seriously put to the test, at a time when we are all being tested and at at time where some of our leaders have been found seriously wanting and dismaying us. You are, and always have been, the pebble that refuses to wash with the tide. Many people like you find it very hard to accept that others, not just those in position of authority and importance, but many of your fellow human beings, do not work or think like you do, their principles are as yielding to the tide as all those other pebbles on the shore. It can make you angry and resentful, because unlike a pebble, you are a human being with emotions; your moral commitment defines who you are but it also puts your health at risk. You have one job to do now, for yourself and your family, and for all of us, and that’s to concentrate only on the personal threats you face and to deal to them in whatever way you can, and with whatever help you can muster or is given to you. You will know that all those contributing to this site will be wishing you good luck and good health.

  • Maggie

    This persecution of Mr Murray is even more galling when actual crimes are being committed such as roads being blocked, graffiti being daubed, wanton acts of vandalism carried out yet the police sit back laughing and do nothing whilst our politicians and media cheer the criminals on.

    • Jack

      The politicians and media seems to have no shame, they can go after Craig all day but the wanton destruction, looting, assault could go on with their approval, that tells us how immoral they really are.

    • nevermind

      Trust the Guardian to stir it up, but the whole the media is gunning for him now, Mary.
      They should have a look at his phone traffic whilst at Barnard Castle, who did he ring and for how long. Did he download any files? Have the surrounding CCTV pictures looked at and his time line checked.

      • Mary

        I wonder how easy or difficult it is to access phone records, esp those from a mobile which I guess he uses. Probably has several inc one with a hotline to his leader, Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson etc etc.

        How long before he has a fall from grace?

  • Jack

    The attacks on Craig is a deliberate attempt to break him down mentally.
    Its the same with other dissents, like the witch hunt against Assange only carried out with other means.

    • Tatyana

      Jack,
      I don’t think that an unfair prosecution can mentally break Mr. Murray.
      He is a strong man, confident in his innocence. He is smart, he is educated and has a diverse background. He clearly understands the causes and the logic of the events around him. That’s why he is not weak.
      And he has broad support, which again and again proves that he is absolutely correctly evaluating what is happening.
      He will be angry and he will fight, but he will not break, I believe.

  • Mary

    FYI

    Procedural Hearing in the case HCA/2020-06/XM (Craig Murray) scheduled for 10 June 2020
    Judicial Communications
    ToOnline Hearing Access

    8 Jun at 15:10

    All,

    Thank you for your email in relation to the Procedural Hearing in the case HCA/2020-06/XM (Craig Murray) scheduled for 10 June 2020 at 10am.

    Although not physically attending court, those dialling in are subject to the same rules as if they were present in Court. Anyone failing to obey or respect the authority of the Court may be subject to Contempt of Court proceedings. In particular, those accessing a hearing:

    · must not record or store the proceedings

    · must not broadcast the proceedings

    · must not, during the course of a hearing, comment on the proceedings using live texted based communications (such as Twitter).

    The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service retain the copyright of live audio recordings of Court proceedings. Although you are welcome to listen to the proceedings, the re-use, capture, re-editing or redistribution of the material in any form is not permitted. You should be aware that any such use could attract liability for breach of copyright or defamation, in addition to the possibility of contempt of court proceedings.

    In a physical court, access is provided on a first come first served basis. Although a significantly larger number of people can be accommodated through remote access, the hearing will close if capacity is reached.

    Please follow the instructions below to dial-in to the hearing.
    Dial +44-20-7660-8149.

    Access code or meeting number: 328 249 778

    When asked to key in an attendee number or press # – press #.
    Once connected the line will remain silent until the hearing begins and then the sound will activate automatically. As participant arrangements require to be put in place, the hearing may not start immediately and your patience is appreciated.

    Kind regards
    Judicial Communications

    _________

    Chilling but good to have their kind regards! 🙂

    • Tatyana

      Thank you, Mary. Much appreciated!

      Mr. Murray, an idea that I consider important:
      when people communicate at a distance, for example, by telegraph, or radio, or the Internet protocol, then they must have agreed “formulas” indicating the beginning and end of the message. These are very important things to understand, if a message has arrived completely, and if it has not been unexpectedly interrupted.
      This is very important, Mr. Murray, because your words for the court will also be delivered “remotedly”, not directly.

      I suppose you yourself understand very well how easily the point of the message may be turned upside down, when only a part of the message is delivered. That’s what we call “taken out of context”.
      (I mean, a message may be interrupted by some ‘misfortunate technical issue’. I mean it may highly likely happen, ‘couse you see many people will be attending )

      I’d suggest that you start and end your words in the hearing with appropriate “formulas”, such as “respected court” or “thank you, respected court”, I don’t know your british rules, sorry.
      I also hope that you build your speech from a series of short sentences. And please pay attention to avoid dubious homonyms. So your arguments will be easily understood, even if the connection suddenly breaks.

      I apologize for the unsolicited advice, I just really want to warn you!

    • extremebuilder

      Just received that self same message, I had foolishly thought that this would have been some streaming audio on the net…. Several hours on the phone from South West France might be an expense I can`t cover on a standard UK pension. I shall have to rely on the good offices of those other attendees to keep me informed.
      I`m assuming that Mr Murray won`t be allowed to comment?

    • Baron

      Amazingly, almost immediately after the posting at 16:12 the email address worked. A miracle or what?

  • fwl

    There has been some discussion on here of late on unfair trial.s The Supreme Court has this month reviewed unfair trials in the case of Serafin v Malkiewicz.

    I liked the statement, form an earlier case but mentioned again in Serafin, that a judgment in an unfair trial is a judgment writ in water.

    • Giyane

      Fwl

      Lawyers are professionals. They only come across as incompetent when they are doing something dodgy because somebody is threatening their livelihood if they don’t bend the rules.

      The person who is telling them not to do their job properly is the Home Secretary, Priti Patel, who’ s loyalties lie elsewhere including to the interests of Israel.

      The Scottish Lawyers’s jobs depend on results , not process, which is why the failure to convict Salmond on trumped up lies has led to further dermands.
      Qyestion is, do the Scottish lawyers have the guts to stand up again to the Home Secretary, who will probably be gone in a few weeks when the second spike in covid cases hits the headlines.

      No profesdional person who has devoted their life to their trade will ever accept an incremental arm-twisting to make themselves look like a fool.
      Priti Patel has already found that her calculations with British old school professionals are wrong. She is on probation, as is Dominic Cummings and Bojo.

      I think everybody understands that this country is hovering on the edge of total fascism, forced consumption of US genetically modified food and everlasting illegal war. All as a result of a fraudulent election. Things will only get worse if nobody makes a stand.

      My gut feeling is that Craig’s bravery will inspire the Judges to rebel. They won’t be packing their toothbrushes quite yet, but at least they will not have to live under the dark cloud of sending an innocent man to jail .

  • Deepgreenpuddock

    Peter N

    Thanks for linking the comments to the letter from the Lord Advocate.It was interesting as much for what it didn’t say as for what it did say.
    Largely it states the obvious POV of the Lord advocate- that the Scottish legal system is upheld by professional officers of high standing and held to impeccable standards(my words but that is essentially what he is saying.
    First, one has to acknowledge the fact that he has felt compelled to reply. Normally I would not expect such a figure to give any recognition to such a letter but the sheer numbers and the weighty calibre of many of the signatories has prompted him to respond by stating that all is well in the ‘ legal kingdom’, with no deviation from the highest standards.
    In essence this does not answer the grave concerns by so many. It is very difficult to avoid the sense that the Scottish letgal system has made such a glaring misjudgment as to attempt a prosecution on such flimsy evidence.The idea that the crown brought such a high profile figure as AS on the very serious charge of attempted rape on the basis of a complaint that was irrefutably rebutted by counter testimony that the ‘victim’ was not present at her own attempted rape. Such a risible error makes the court a public laughing stock and holds the system and the individuals concerned up to ridicule(for the egregious error of not checking the facts of the ‘victims’ complaint (One is reminded of the old Donovan psychedelic lsd inspired song “First there is a mountain, then there is no mountain, then there is
    First there is a mountain, then there is no mountain, then there is.The Lord advocate is certainly old enough to rememnber the song- here is the link :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcMM5-zBCEc

    To paraphrase the LSD inspired song-“first there is a victim, then there is no victim”.
    Then we had the spectacle of the ‘bottom touching’ in full view of a group of people +onlookers/spectators+photographer.”First there was some bum touching but then there was no bum touching”

    One has to wonder if the police and prosecutors had been dabbling with mind altering substances to have made such a cracked misjudgment that such allegations were worthy of a day in the court (also recalling the similarly ‘enhanced perception’ Beatles song (I heard the news today, oh boy!)
    But the weighty Lord advocates letter of defence makes no inroads whatsoever on the abiding impression that the Lord Advocate is wearing no clothes (or even legal robes in the LA’s case)
    We are witnessing a farce unfolding farce and the auguste Lord’s appearance as the ‘clown in white make-up.’ has not helped.
    But of course according to the whie painted (naked )Clown Lord Advocate -he has no case to answer. His letter is simply a public hole deepening exercise.
    But thankx for the Lolz

  • Doug Scorgie

    Mary I’m hearing reports that the Skripals have moved to New Zealand and given new identities. I’ve not been able to confirm this yet.

    • Monster

      Fake news. MI6 have never succesfully relocated anyone to anywhere. Pure guff. They do have a private burial plot though.

    • Pyewacket

      Yes, they’ve been buried so deep, they actually are quite near the Land of the Kiwis.

      • Mary

        I was told by the mod that I was off topic with this so will not say any more.

    • Deepgreenpuddock

      Russian immigrants with no obvious purpose, put into a glorified village like NZ ,would be as discrete as a large mobile motorway sign with a big arrow saying “look here”.

  • James

    Mary – it’s completely clear that it was MI6/CIA whot dunnit. I suspect that poor Dawn Sturgess was the only one who saw too much, so they had to do her in too.
    In this drama, who is playing Christopher Steele? Who is playing Pablo Miller?

    By the way, has Christopher Steele ever been heard of again? Or has he been disposed of quietly?

  • David

    Sorry for being a bit thick, but when I got the email I didn`t fully understand the 3rd part of this instruction:-

    “Please follow the instructions below to dial-in to the hearing.
    Dial +44-20-7660-8149.

    Access code or meeting number: 328 249 778

    When asked to key in an attendee number or press # – press #.”

    Should that hyphon be a comma, or the word “then”?

    Can anyone assist/clarify, please?

    • arby

      When asked to clarify whether a hyphon should be a comma or the word “then” – mention
      hyphen.

      • Giyane

        Arby

        I get the two words hyphen and cipher mixed up. A hyphen is like a hydrogen bond, invisibly linking things. A cipher is an appendage which is so invisible that nobody notices them.
        Then there is syphon which is part of a toilet cistern. Very confusing.

        • On the train

          I had forgotten that psalm and tune. Your comment reminded me and I have just listened to it for the first time in several years. I live in sheep farming country and often think of the contrast between the image of the Good Shepherd from the bible and the reality of sheep farming today. I wish I could play this psalm to our farmers to help them to imagine a different way if doing things.. Thanks for reminding me.

  • Andrew Ingram

    I’m not a believer but I can see how some folks derived strength from the 23rd Psalm “.. fear no evil”.

  • David

    Sorry for being a bit thick, but when I got the email I didn`t fully understand the 3rd part of this instruction:-

    “Please follow the instructions below to dial-in to the hearing.
    Dial +44-20-7660-8149.

    Access code or meeting number: 328 249 778

    When asked to key in an attendee number or press # – press #.”

    Should that hyphen be a comma, or the word “then”?

    Can anyone assist/clarify, please?

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