Keeping Freedom Alive 1709


I want to make one or two points for you to ponder while I am in jail. This is the last post until about Christmas; we are not legally able to post anything while I am imprisoned. But the Justice for Craig Murray Campaign website is now up and running and will start to have more content shortly. Fora and comments here are planned to stay open.

I hope that one possible good effect of my imprisonment might be to coalesce opposition to the imminent abolition of jury trials in sexual assault cases by the Scottish Government, a plan for which Lady Dorrian – who wears far too many hats in all this – is front and centre. We will then have a situation where, as established by my imprisonment, no information at all on the defence case may be published in case it contributes to “jigsaw identification”, and where conviction will rest purely on the view of the judge.

That is plainly not “open justice”, it is not justice at all. And it is even worse than that, because the openly stated aim of abolishing juries is to increase conviction rates. So people will have their lives decided not by a jury of their peers, but by a judge who is acting under specific instruction to increase conviction rates.

It is often noted that conviction rates in rape trials are too low, and that is true. But have you ever heard this side of the argument? In Uzbekistan under the Karimov dictatorship, when I served there, conviction rates in rape trials were 100%. In fact very high conviction rates are a standard feature of all highly authoritarian regimes worldwide, because if the state prosecutes you then the state gets what it wants. The wishes of the state in such systems vastly outweigh the liberty of the individual.

My point is simply this. You cannot judge the validity of a system simply by high conviction rates. What we want is a system where the innocent are innocent and the guilty found guilty; not where an arbitrary conviction target is met.

The answer to the low conviction rates in sexual assault trials is not simple. Really serious increases in resources for timely collection of evidence, for police training and specialist units, for medical services, for victim support, all have a part to play. But that needs a lot of money and thought. Just abolishing juries and telling judges you want them to convict is of course free, or even a saving.

The right to have the facts judged in serious crime allegations by a jury of our peers is a glory of our civilisation. It is the product of millennia, not lightly to be thrown away and replaced by a huge increase in arbitrary state power. That movement is of course fueled by current fashionable political dogma which is that the victim must always be believed. That claim has morphed from an initial meaning that police and first responders must take accusations seriously, to a dogma that accusation is proof and it is wrong to even question the evidence, which is of course to deny the very possibility of false accusation.

That is precisely the position which Nicola Sturgeon has taken over the Alex Salmond trial; to be accused is to be guilty, irrespective of the defence evidence. That people are oblivious to the dangers of the dogma that there should be no defence against sexual assault allegations, is to me deeply worrying. Sexual allegation is the most common method that states have used to attack dissidents for centuries, worldwide and again especially in authoritarian regimes. Closer to home, think of history stretching from Roger Casement to Assange and Salmond.

Why would we remove the only barrier – a jury of ordinary citizens – that can stop abuse of state power?

I am worried that this abolition of juries will have been enacted by the Scottish Parliament, even before I am out of jail. I am worried Labour and the Lib Dems will support it out of fashionable political correctness. I am worried an important liberty will disappear.

I want to touch on one other aspect of liberty in my own imprisonment that appears not understood, or perhaps simply neglected, because somehow the very notion of liberty is slipping from our political culture. One point that features plainly in the troll talking points to be used against me, recurring continually on social media, is that I was ordered to take down material from my blog and refused.

There is an extremely important point here. I have always instantly complied with any order of a court to remove material. What I have not done is comply with instructions from the Crown or Procurator Fiscal to remove material. Because it is over 330 years since the Crown had the right of censorship in Scotland without the intervention of a judge.

It sickens me that so many Scottish Government backed trolls are tweeting out that I should have obeyed the instructions of the Crown. That Scotland has a governing party which actively supports the right of the Crown to exercise unrestrained censorship is extremely worrying, and I think a sign both of the lack of respect in modern political culture for liberties which were won by people being tortured to death, and of the sheer intellectual paucity of the current governing class.

But then we now learn that Scotland has a government which was prepared not only to be complicit in exempting the Crown from climate change legislation, but also complicit in hushing up the secret arrangement, so I am not surprised.

What is even more terrifying in my case is that the Court explicitly states that I should have followed the directions of the Crown Office in what I did and did not publish, and my failure to not publish as the Crown ordered is an aggravating factor in my sentencing.

If the Crown thinks something I write is in contempt and I think it is not, the Crown and I should stand as equals in court and argue our cases. There should be no presumption I ought to have obeyed the Crown in the first place. That Scottish “justice” has lost sight of this is disastrous, though perhaps as much from stupidity as malice.

My next thought on my trial is to emphasise again the dreadful doctrine Lady Dorrian has now enshrined in law, that bloggers should be held to a different (by implication higher) standard in law than the mainstream media (the judgement uses exactly those terms), because the mainstream media is self-regulated.

This doctrine is used to justify jailing me when mainstream media journalists have not been jailed for media contempt for over half a century, and also to explain why I have been prosecuted where the mainstream media, who were provably responsible for far more jigsaw identification, were not prosecuted.

This is dreadful law, and my entire legal team are frankly astonished that the Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal on this point. This excellent article by Jonathan Cook explains further the chilling implications.

Those articles which the Court ordered me to take down, have been taken down. But I was not ordered to take down this one, which was found not to be in contempt of court. I was also not ordered to take down my affidavits, which though slightly redacted are still extremely valuable. I swore to the truth of every word and I stick by that. At the time I published these, far less was known about the Salmond affair than is known now, and I believe you will find it well worth reading them again in the light of your current state of wider knowledge – absolutely nothing to do with learning identities, but to do with what really happened on the whole plot to destroy Alex Salmond (something the judgement states I am allowed to say).

Finally I urge you to consider this truly remarkable speech from Kenny MacAskill MP. Scotland’s former Justice Secretary, and consider its quite staggering implications. It tells you everything you want to know about the British Establishment’s capture of the Scottish government, that the mainstream media felt no need to report the main points he was making, which constitute a simply astonishing outline of corrupt abuse of power.

An explanation: this blog is going dark because I cannot by law publish from prison or conduct a business from prison. Access to this blog has always been free and open and subscriptions have always been a voluntary contribution and not a purchase. It is understood that all new and continuing subscriptions from today, until we go live again, are voluntary contributions to the welfare of my family and not in exchange for anything.

I am afraid one off contributions to the defence fund are also still urgently needed. Legal costs so far paid amount to over £200,000 and continue to rise as we head towards the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, which has to be via another Scottish Court called the nobile officium. Astonishingly, over 13,000 individuals from over 120 countries have contributed to the legal defence fund. People all over the world value freedom and realise the terrible precedents established by this case must be overturned.

We are equally grateful for all donations and all really do help – donations of £5 or less total over £30,000. But I must mention the special generosity of Roger Waters and Vivienne Westwood, and the anonymous individual who gave one bitcoin. 80% of the fund is reserved for legal fees, but up to 20% may be used to fund campaigning to raise public and political awareness of the human rights issues involved.




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1,709 thoughts on “Keeping Freedom Alive

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  • mark golding

    The Online Safety Bill online at:

    https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/985033/Draft_Online_Safety_Bill_Bookmarked.pdf

    will be presented to Parliament before year end. In it’s current form it is a good example of the best of intentions (protecting children from hurtful & injurious content) leading to the very worst of outcomes.

    The Bill tasks Silicon Valley Internet providers with a ‘duty of Care’ to remove content judged ‘harmful’ else face huge fines from OfCom, in the role of super-regulator with new powers (and a new chair) enforced by the Secretary of State on a what was once a somewhat independent communication regulator. This means of course judgments that should be reserved for UK prosecutors and the courts will be outsourced to these global tech companies.

    Interestingly this Bill contains exemptions for journalistic content emphasizing the dilemma, the double bind, the gotcha, of who does and does not qualify as the press or a legitimate journalist.

    Clearly the threat of colossal fines or even jail time for Directors will cause tech platforms to overreact, prompting them to remove content that is perfectly legal. Worse still, politicians and journalists are opted out of the law, enhancing the unhealthy two-tier system of press and citizen journalism online that previously damned Craig to a place in hell.

    https://www.kidderminstershuttle.co.uk/news/national/19392112.david-davis-spearheads-campaign-governments-censors-charter/

    • Tom Welsh

      “The Bill tasks Silicon Valley Internet providers with a ‘duty of Care’ to remove content judged ‘harmful’…”

      Judged by whom? And on what grounds?

      • mark golding

        Exactly Tom using ‘harmful’ as key is rather loose, nebulous even hypothetical. In other words failure to define what constitutes ‘harmful’ material in the Bill would result in many perfectly legal posts banned.

    • Robert

      Mark

      Tried to put whay you say in my own words – but can’t match your work skills. I applaud both the sentiment and the presentation.

    • Johny Conspiranoid

      “it is a good example of the best of intentions (protecting children from hurtful & injurious content) leading to the very worst of outcomes.”

      Only if we assume that the stated intentions were the real intentions rather than the actual outcomes being the real intentions. There’s a lot of it about.

  • glenn_nl

    The date of this post is August 1st. Am I right in thinking they are going to be holding Craig over to the new year? He’ll have to serve every day of this eight month sentence, good behaviour and what-have-you being absolutely irrelevant? Covid and health problems – also irrelevant? So he won’t be out until April. This is just unbelievable.

    • Jimmy Riddle

      glenn_nl What makes you think he’ll be out in April?

      After all, Julian Assange is still being held in Belmarsh, despite Vanessa Baraitser’s ruling that he should not be extradited to the U.S. of A.

    • Jon Cofy

      ” they are going to be holding Craig over to the new year? He’ll have to serve every day of this eight month sentence”

      I think the law states that Craig Murray must be released after serving half of his sentence.
      I guess this means about Christmas time.

      • Annie McStravick

        I believe his eight-month jail sentence began on 1 August, therefore if he is to serve four months of it he should be released on 30 November or 1 December.

        • Glenn

          I’m happy to be corrected, but I believe, because Craig was convicted in a civil court, he has no right to early release, regardless of good behaviour etc. If he’d been done criminally he’d have been entitled to early release.

          Just one of many absolute howlers relating to this situation…..

  • michael norton

    Does anybody know if the Briefs are actively working on getting Craig released early?

  • J

    I have the new address but I’m not clear on the rules for sending post to Craig, I’ve drawn him a little birthday card on a blank face postcard (here) a bit late but I hope he won’t mind and I also want to send Craig some stamps, does anyone know if there is any kind of restriction on popping a postcard into a small envelope along with a book of stamps?

    [Mod: Image embedded]

      • BrianFujisan

        I think it Will be J… Craig will love it.
        probably bring a wee tear to his eye as it’s beautiful…always a conundrum as what to write. Go for it with that one.

    • J

      Thanks for the kind comments everyone. Posted it this morning, fingers crossed it will get there okay.
      🙂

    • Courtenay Barnett

      J,

      Well done.

      Would have much work for you if you lived just around the corner.

      Great gesture!

    • Jon Cofy

      “does anyone know if there is any kind of restriction on popping a postcard into a small envelope along with a book of stamps”

      The prison will probably take the stamps and if you’re lucky Craig will find them in his property on release.

      • J

        I listed an inventory in my covering letter, so he’ll know there should have been stamps. Hopefully he got them sooner rather than later, if at all…

        • Jon Cofy

          “I listed an inventory in my covering letter”

          Why didn’t I think of this inventory idea?
          It should be standard practice for any communications with prisoners.

  • nevermind

    An excellent portrait drawing Jay, you have some talent there.. I’m sure Craig would love to put that up in his cell.

  • pete

    The National on the 20th featured John Pilger’s appeal for Craig’s early release on humanitarian grounds.
    There was another article on the 19th, it featured a FOI information letter about Scottish Independence that has been doing the rounds of Alba, the letter is a piece on disinformation, see: https://www.thenational.scot/news/19658557.scottish-government-foi-response-thought-fake/?ref=ar
    The author of the news item concluded

    “I suppose that there’s some extremely slim possibility that someone used the wrong letterhead, made date errors and failed to follow the ScotGov letter-writing style guide, while typing in the wrong shell document, then forgot about Angus Robertson on an FOI response that they then also forgot to publish on their own database – but really, how far are you going to stretch credulity?

    “So here’s the challenge – is there anyone out there with the IT skills to dig into the metadata behind the image, and tell where it came from? If it came from the Scottish Office, or Denison Barracks [The home of 77th Brigade], then this is serious news.”

    It looks to me like the propaganda machine is trying to hoodwink Alba in an effort to make them loose credibility.

      • BrianFujisan

        Thanks for that Wikikettle.. Great selection of speakers indeed
        I haven’t watched it all yet.. hopefully get round to that tonight.

        I see there is a section where it shows Edward Snowden speaking for a few minutes – at the end –

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=E_xxGWAxlGc&t=2h09m50s&amp;

        I am appalled, Furious, and Ashamed at the Silence on Julian from the SNP and the Scottish Gov… And the same goes the the Criminal abuse and jailing of Craig..

        • Courtenay Barnett

          Brian,

          Big politics at play – not in their interest to speak on a point/points of principle.

          Simple!

        • Wikikettle

          One of the speakers was invited onto George Galloways show on Sunday to update on Craig’s hearing. She again mentioned Craig’s case at the Tribunal. John Pilger being interviewed by Chris Hedges describes the Judicary in their wigs gowns and paneled Court rooms as a theatrical show trial.

          • michael norton

            Brian, both Michael Gove and George Galloway were born in Scotland.
            If they want to call themselves Scottish, why shouldn’t they?
            Because you do not agree with a persons politics, it should not demonise them.

        • Giyane

          Brian

          The se function of all the institutions of British Govrrnment is to close down thought, all of it. The Snp does its part by commoditising human beings through gender politics. Only body parts are to be used, definitely not brain parts.

          The Tories have reduced intellectual thought in politics to a simplicity that idiots , like the PM, can comprehend. Not all problems made by government need to be solved by government.
          Indeed we have survived Government for many continual decades.

          The Sweet Nothings Party always lives up to its real name.

          • Squeeth

            The Tories are a pantomime dromedary same as Liarbour, the real power lies with the executive.

        • michael norton

          Michael Gove was born in Aberdeen and at one time worked for The Press and Journal, one of the oldest papers in the World.
          Just because he is a Tory, he should not be denied his heritage.
          If you do not allow him to claim he is Scottish, who else are you going to deplatform?

          • Margaret Elefrtheriou

            I understand that Michael Gove was adopted at 4 years old by a couple who lived in Aberdeen. I think he was born in Glasgow. He attended a state primary school and won a scholarship to Robert Gordon’s College, then only a private school. He probably suffered some bullying at Robert Gordon’s, as many of the scholarship boys did. Whatever happened then, it seems to have soured him in respect of his attitude to Scotland.
            There is a well-known photo of him when he was a P & J journalist, on strike and in a picket line.

          • Cubby

            Michael Norton

            People like Galloway, Gove, Brown, Blair are like many many people in Scotland who call themselves British. That is their wish so why are you denying them that?

            I have family members who were born in and lived in Scotland all their life but assure me often that they are 100% British NOT Scottish. I, in return, assure them that means they have a desire to be second class English that has been brought upon them by British Empire propaganda.

          • Jimmy Riddle

            Cubby – well, I am 100 percent Scottish and not British – have never considered myself British. I still favour the union with England, though. I probably more-or-less have the same view as George Galloway on this issue – the union of Scotland, England and Wales seems OK to me, while Ulster should be part of a united Ireland, independent of the UK.

            The nightmare of Nicola Sturgeon is more-or-less what I expected to happen, sooner or later, when Scotland voted for devolution. An independent Scotland under a Nicola Sturgeon style government would present absolutely no advantage over belonging to the UK. She has no intention of declaring Scotland a neutral nation and sending the American naval bases packing. If Scotland were to become independent, she would have no intention of withdrawing Scotland from the evil Anglo-Saxon empire. Don’t expect her to refuse to send Scottish troops to the next Iraq war. Traditionally, one of the attractive features of the SNP was that they were sympathetic towards the Palestinian cause. This is no longer the case under Nicola Sturgeon.

            You’d actually be much better off considering Scotland, England and Wales as a single unit and campaigning to withdraw the whole of the UK from the Anglo-Saxon empire, which right now has its centre of operations in Washington DC. You’ll find that on the matters that are really important, there are actually quite a lot of very decent English people who are allies.

          • Johnny Conspiranoid

            Jimmy Riddle

            “Traditionally, one of the attractive features of the SNP was that they were sympathetic towards the Palestinian cause. This is no longer the case under Nicola Sturgeon.”

            How are such takeovers organised?

          • Jimmy Riddle

            Johnny Conspiranoid – probably the long arm of the CIA / MI5.
            There was certainly great organisational skill behind the Alex Salmond fit-up – much more than Nicola Sturgeon could muster.

            They successfully planted stories about A.S. that were disproved during the trial (for example – an acquaintance of mine told me that he had heard from two independent sources about A.S. being barred from the VIP lounge at Edinburgh Airport – one of the things that was flatly contradicted at the trial).

            They have a long arm and are extremely well organised.

          • Clark

            Jimmy Riddle, Oct 26, 06:04 –

            Interesting. I’m probably English, but in 2013 and 2014 I spent a lot of time in Scotland arguing for Scottish independence and occasionally helping Craig in his campaign . One major argument I would make was that Westminster is so antiquated, corrupt, and just stuck in its ways that if the people of Scotland could escape its power that would be good for everyone; the people of Scotland directly, and by decimating Westminster’s prestige and power and forcing it to change, the people of England and the rest of the world. But my other major argument bore a strangely inverted resemblance to this one of yours:

            “The nightmare of Nicola Sturgeon is more-or-less what I expected to happen, sooner or later, when Scotland voted for devolution. An independent Scotland under a Nicola Sturgeon style government would present absolutely no advantage over belonging to the UK.”

            A lot of people I spoke to were keen for independence but they didn’t like the SNP, seeing it as too authoritarian to be trusted with power. I argued that the way to diminish the SNP’s power was to choose independence, because the SNP’s major reason for existence would evaporate permitting many of its voters to migrate to the multitude of diverse parties that Scotland’s more proportional election system can support.

            The 2014 result of No seemed to prove this correct, though in converse – votes and power rallied to the SNP. This model could also explain why the SNP now seems so reluctant to make any meaningful progress towards independence.

          • Clark

            “How are such takeovers organised?”

            “probably the long arm of the CIA / MI5.”

            Partly, though remember that there is now also a massive private intelligence and security sector, and that plain old fashioned PR companies also do masses of this sort of thing – remember Bell Pottinger’s half-billion dollar Pentagon contract to make fake al Qaeda recruitment videos? Any number of corporations, eg. arms manufacturers, nuclear industry etc. would pay to have this done, and the private sector is not subject to FOI requests.

            But I think the bulk of it is merely convergence towards the existing power establishment, eg. Sturgeon’s obvious delight in sharing a selfie with Alastair Campbell.

          • Cubby

            Jimmy Riddle, so you want Scotland to remain subjugated, subservient and humiliated on a daily basis due to its practical status as a colony of England but you claim to be 100% Scottish. Seems to me your claim is as valid as Sturgeon’s claim to be for Scottish independence.

            You also seem to have the same mindset exhibited by J. Lamont, ex-Leader of British Labour in Scotland’s branch office, who seems to think Scots do not have the ability to govern themselves (although confusingly Lamont wanted to be FM of Scotland). Perhaps Lamont self-identified as British, as you seem to be by your desire for Great Britain to be, well, Great Britain – a political entity as distinct from the geographical entity it truly is. Bizarrely you want Ireland to be free of Westminster colonial control but not Wales or Scotland because Great Britain and Ireland are different islands? That sounds like old-style British Labour crap to me.

          • Clark

            Cubby, Oct 26, 22:28

            “although confusingly Lamont wanted to be FM of Scotland”

            So she wanted to be in exactly the position that Sturgeon is in now.

            It’s the same thing again. This position is one step down from the UK Prime Minister in the primarily military hierarchies of both NATO and the five Permanent Members of the UN Security Council – the latter being the five unduly powerful “Nuclear Weapons States” of the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty.

            It is not a position that removes Scotland from those two hierarchies.

            The difference is, should Scotland be an equal among the other nations of the world, or should it be part of hierarchies that have superior, militarily-backed power over other nations? It is very clear which one Sturgeon is choosing, and without major reconfiguration of those hierarchies, it is incompatible with Scottish independence.

          • Jimmy Riddle

            Clark – I agree with you 100 percent on the basic objective – particularly that the Foreign Office has to be smashed and anything that weakens the Anglo-Saxon empire is basically very good. I simply don’t believe that Scottish independence will do anything at all towards achieving this. You can see their `Plan B’ in operation – even if there is independence, an independent Scotland led by Sturgeon presents absolutely no danger to the status quo. They’ve been preparing for this eventuality for years. Scottish independence would no longer come as any great surprise to them; it would simply mean that the number of MPs at Westminster was reduced by 10 percent, but other than that – business well and truly as usual.

            Also, you should have noticed the dark and sinister side-effect of the independence campaign. Most of the people, most of the time, may have been constructively arguing about the issues and debating well, but the whole business surrounding the campaign strongly helped to manufacture essentially racist anti-English sentiment among unstable people, who were quite vociferous and made the whole business highly unpleasant.

            You see the basic rhetoric in Cubby’s post. I don’t see how Scotland can in any way be regarded as `subjugated’ by the English over the last 300 years – that requires a very strained view of history; we Scots have been cruelly oppressed by the nasty horrid English and absolutely all our difficulties of life can be put down to that.

            On the other hand, the UK government was responsible for real systematic atrocities in Ireland – it would make an awful lot of sense to have a united Ireland, independent of the UK.

            Much better to own the Foreign Office and its evil deeds as a UK problem; the Scots have just as much responsibility as the English for UK involvement in the USA/UK alliance which props up the most vile regimes of the world – and it should basically be solved together, rather than the Scots goofing off, creating their own `Wee Westminster’ a.k.a. Holyrood and then participating full steam ahead with the Anglo-Saxon empire (as Nicola Sturgeon seems to want).

          • Clark

            Jimmy Riddle:

            1. A certain amount of emotional reaction has to be expected. I felt personally crushed when the No result was confirmed; it must have been far worse for people with a long history in Scotland.
            2. – “I don’t see how Scotland can in any way be regarded as `subjugated’ by the English over the last 300 years”
            3. That depends on individuals’ perspectives and experiences. For instance, in living memory, Scottish Gaelic has been suppressed, sometimes quite brutally:

              https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Education_(Scotland)_Act_1872&oldid=1049428982

              The Scottish Act remains controversial because it caused substantial harm to the Scottish Gaelic language. (Based upon two citations), and:

              https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Education_(Scotland)_Act_1872&oldid=1049428982#Effect_on_Gaelic

              The Education (Scotland) Act 1872 effectively put an end to non-English medium education and repressed Scottish Gaelic medium education, with pupils being punished for speaking the language. Pupils were physically punished if caught speaking in Gaelic and beaten again if they did not reveal the names of other students speaking Gaelic. The effect of the education act upon the Gaelic language has been described as “disastrous” and by denying the value of Gaelic culture and language, contributed to destroying the self-respect of Gaelic communities. It was a continuation of a general policy (by both Scottish and, after 1707, British governments) which aimed at Anglicisation.

              – As a result of facing punishment and humiliation for speaking Gaelic, many parents decided not to pass on the language to their children, resulting in language shift. Scottish Gaelic medium education was not established until the 1980s, and the impact of the Act is still being felt in Gaelic communities today. (Based on a further three citations.)

            I have deliberately linked to static copies (“oldid=” etc.) to prevent potential partisan editing of Wikipedia from depriving my comment of the relevant citations.

          • Jimmy Riddle

            Clark – the Education Scotland Act (1872) was – in my opinion – on the whole very good; it did push education forward and bring it to far more people.

            I now understand one or two things – I’m not thinking of gaelic, but rather the Buchan Doric dialect. My parents have told me that they were required to `talk posh’ (i.e. proper English) in school – on pain of death (or a similar punishment). It didn’t stop them (or the whole community) from speaking in Doric, as the default method of communication, away from the school. The fact that my parents were forced to have their education in English didn’t do them any harm at all (it meant that they were sufficiently fluent in the lingua franca)- and curiously, this stricture doesn’t appear in any way to have caused the Doric to die out. My parents do not sound comfortable `talking posh’ (i.e. in English), but they can do it if they have to – and this is largely because the language of their education was English (Doric was not permitted in school).

            Note that your quote does point out that attempts were made to rectify the situation concerning Gaelic and its disappearance in the 1980’s. This was long before Scotland had its own parliament.

            I had come across this Education act before (in a different context). They were keen to get the children educated – and we shouldn’t disparage this. Learning the `lingua franca’ was (and is) very important. I read a piece about a study of truancy from school at that time – which seemed to be higher on days when a ship had recently gone down and the children were down at the sea shore hoping to find things of value that had been washed up – which gives some idea of the issues that were being faced at that time.

          • Clark

            The British state is hanging on, but its hold is precarious, the hiatus is temporary. Most independence supporters vote SNP thinking that this is the best route to independence. The SNP make encouraging noises but no real progress, sensing that they’ll lose many of their voters to other parties if independence actually happens.

            Hence the enormous establishment push to discredit or silence those who call out the SNP’s lack of real progress towards independence, and the lack of criticism and even frequent adulation from the corporate media about the SNP. But it can’t last forever. The SNP loses voters at each election as more and more become impatient for independence.

          • Clark

            Jimmy Riddle, 17:36 – all the points you make have validity, but such history makes it inevitable that some Scottish people will feel that they and their culture have been oppressed by the English and Englishness. Some resentment is inevitable, so others should be tolerant, empathising rather than criticising.

          • Cubby

            Jimmy Riddle, the only thing Scottish about you is the name Jimmy. How about the decades of occupation of Scotland by the British Army>? Most normal people would call that subjugation. How about total control of Scotland’s resources for centuries? Most normal people would call that subjugation. How about taxation without representation (a small number of MPs in Westminster that will always be outvoted by Englands MPs is hardly effective representation or indeed democracy)? Most people would call that subjugation. How about British (English) propaganda TV being pumped in to homes in Scotland? Most people would call that subjugation.

            Scotland is legally in a Union with England but for all practical purposes is treated like a colony by England.

            Subservience – now that is people like you.

            In today’s budget robber England’s Chancellor deems it appropriate to give Scotland some more of its own money back, and subservient Britnats in Scotland get down on their knees and thank their masters in London for giving them back some of the money that was stolen from them in the first place.

            Yes I know Jimmy, we should all be soooooooo grateful to be living next door to England.

          • Jimmy Riddle

            Cubby – yes I do agree with you about the TV spewing out BritNat propaganda. I don’t have one myself, but I heard that, during the COVID crisis, Nicola Sturgeon was on the box every day explaining what marvellous things she and her government were doing about COVID. By now it is pretty clear that she is pretty much anti-independence (and very fond of the Queen).

            People who possess a TV and actually watch it get what they deserve.

          • Cubby

            Jimmy Riddle, sorry but there is no consistency in your posts. You do not make any sense to me. Good day.

          • Jimmy Riddle

            Cubby – well, I was simply agreeing with one of the points you made about `

            `British (English) propaganda TV being pumped in to homes in Scotland’

            The Englander in question being Nicola Sturgeon.

            Probably the only point on your list where I agree with you.

      • Mary

        Cheers to you. Am trying to stay strong but finding it very disturbing to be living now in this police state. My late father (born in 1908) stood up for justice. Even in old age he travelled up to Downing Street from Dorset to register his protests. He came from a Liverpudlian family and was born in Limerick where his father worked as a refrigeration engineer. He lived through ‘the troubles’ and told us when we were young about the terrible things he had witnessed including the abject poverty in which people lived – children without shoes for instance

        Incidentally I found out yesterday that my driving licence has been taken away from me on some spurious grounds that I have ‘cardiac arrhythmia’. I do not afaik. I was treated successfully for thyroid cancer at least six years ago at the same NHS hospital where I worked for several years until retirement. My oldest brother was an orthopaedic surgeon in the West Country until he retired. As a family we have always loved and valued our NHS. My youngest brother ( I have three brothers) is an architect and has been involved in the creation of NHS hospitals and departments.

        I am feeling very sad and worried about the current state of affairs under the current government put into power by the Tory voters, many of whom live around me. They are very quiet currently!

        • Jimmy Riddle

          Mary – keep up – yes the current state of affairs is truly awful, but there is resistance, more than might be apparent.
          Please keep posting here – I enjoy reading your contributions.

        • Mochyn69

          My sympathies.

          I love Dorset but living there amongst all that toraidh detritus did my head in and I had to move on.

          Stay strong.

          .

    • DunGroanin

      Yesterday at 8.30 in the morning the Groaniad published one article on the extradition hearing for JA today. It is impossible to see it on their website since yesterday afternoon – I had to go and do a search for it just now.

      “The legal war of attrition has taken place against the backdrop of continued support for Assange. On Friday a “tribunal” put US foreign policy on trial in a show of support for Assange by people including Snowden, Jeremy Corbyn, and the former Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa.”

      Our real PM who suffered multiple coup attempts and assassination by media is in attendance JC for JA along with the honourable Ecuadorean counterpart.

      The noxious Magistrate cast in a flattering light to that reported by CM because she did what she was told to by her even more noxious puppet master Arbuthnot.

      A budget day to have the show trial extradition and bury the reversal of the fake testimony of the Icelander blackmailed by the FBI into making fake charges. Which should guarantee Julian to walk free this afternoon and go be with his children.

      If only Craig could give us one of his genius reportage pieces – subs day today, hope all goes well chez Murray.

    • pete

      Hello Mary, you may be interested in the following declassifiedUK twitter feed which I was just looking at, it contains a link to a freedom of information request regarding Assange judge Baraitser. She has a 96% approval record for deportations heard by her. The link posted for the details is blocked for audiences in the UK unless you use a VPN with a foreign location. It is blocked, it says, due to malicious reasons???. The link is https://t.co/EWLWx8D4VF?amp=1 the full link is https://declassifieduk.org/uk-government-refuses-to-release-information-about-assange-judge-who-has-96-extradition-record/

      The link contains details about the freedom of information request and its replies.

    • nevermind

      This from a BBC site, “Mr Lewis said: “The assurances are clearing binding on the United States.”
      not some rag tag outfit, but the top propaganda broadcaster in the world.
      This whole s..t show is worse than the Nuremberg trial or the stinking Dreyfuss affair. Time to break this disunited Kingdom of crooks up.

      @ Brian. Had some weird, repetitive phone calls from your number, when I picked up It went to answer phone….left a message, but three minutes later got the same call again. Altogether 4 times.

      • michael norton

        Looks like some journos are now getting worried about Julian Assange.
        The U.S.A. could come for them next?

        • michael norton

          I am quite shocked it seems to have taken so long for journos to get real about the stunning downward route their chosen profession is taking, the downward trajectory being added by the U.S.A.

  • Peter Mo

    None of the Assange court reports I’ve seen or heard come close to the meticulous reports Craig did. And they say he isn’t a journalist. !!!

    • Wikikettle

      Peter Mo. RUPTLY on YouTube had a live stream camera without commentary outside the Law Courts on both days. Most of the stream was on the demonstration, yet important pronouncments and speeches were captured. After the hearings both Stella and Kristinn reported on the proceedings to an extent. Jeremy was also there speaking. I was at first heartened when I saw one of the judges walk through the demonstration with a smile on his face. I think he was the new one, supposedly the highest judge in land ! He even stopped and looked back around surveying the scene. Then on RT who interviewed Roger Waters I hear how the judge (don’t know which of two ) interupted the defence poo-pooing the defence trying to explain CIA plot. I really believe this is a show trial and the Judicary is not Independent. Can you see the Judges at home watching Independent media and RT at home to get the other side?? They will never allow Julian to walk free and open his mouth or reveal all he knows. In his speech, Chris Williamson in Belmarsh Tribunal, was very brave in his damning castigating of MPs and even named Journalists who had lied and smeared Julian. He even castigated Jeremy, deservedly in my opinion. It’s pathetic now that all the waverers are now, late in the day, finally speaking out. Don’t hold your breath about the BBC though, who have been silent about the plot by CIA and UK to kidnap or even kill Jullian. As Pilger said a Theatrical Show trial, that has no end in sight.

      • Wikikettle

        They plan to engineer Julian’s demise. MPs and media are equally responsible if he dies in jail.

        • Henry Smith

          Yes,
          if you want an indication of ‘Westminster thinking’, try writing to your MP about this case (or anything) and see what response you get. They have one brain between the lot of them, and that organ is undersized and diseased.

          • J

            It’s always fascinating to glimpse these surreal vignettes of yours, from deep in the heart of the American narrative. Perhaps you might provide the slightest scintilla of evidence that Julian has ever been other than a warrior against fascism.

          • Ben

            Those Hillary emails were a World shaking shonda, leaving us all captive to the shite of democracy and its trappings.

            We’re so lucky for the default to Donald and Boris because Clinton/Navalny are not pristine compared to perfect criminals like your Russkie cohorts

  • mark golding

    The Julian Assange ‘ Quid Pro Quo’

    Dismiss the lawsuit by Virginia Roberts Giuffre against Prince Andrew and we will deliver Julian Assange is perculating through intelligence else I’m leaking like a colander.

    • Vivian O'Blivion

      A deal may be preferable to both establishments but Andrew’s latest intervention; accusing Giuffre of being a trafficker and procurer, hardly smoothes a transition to the point where Giuffre’s lawsuit would be thrown out. I’m quite specific regards “Andrew’s intervention” as there’s no way his legal team would come up with this appalling, cack-handed strategy. Another example of Andy knowing better than the experts.

      • michael norton

        What were the parents of Virginia Giuffre saying and doing when Jeffrey Epstein offered to fly Virginia to Little Saint James in the Virgin Islands? Were they part of a financial arrangement?
        From the much published photograph of Andrew and Ghislaine with Virginia, they all look happy and relaxed, Virginia certainly does not look like she is there because she has been abducted.

        • J

          “Virginia certainly does not look like she is there because she has been abducted.”

          As far as I am aware this has never been alleged by anyone. Can you provide a link to where she has claimed to have been abducted?

          • michael norton

            J, I am not aware of claims that Virginia had been abducted. My point was, in that photograph, she does not look like she had been abducted. She looks like she was pleased to be there.

          • J

            In other words there was no abduction. You’re no better than the sleazy journalists who use such formulations to beslime everyone from Craig to Julian.

          • michael norton

            J, I think I am suggesting, whatever she got up to was because she wanted to get up to it, she was an enthusiastic participant having the time of her life, she still is, fleecing people.

        • Kit Bee

          Shame on Epstein if he entered into financial arrangements with the parents of minors.
          Virginia was allegedly ‘trafficked’ as a minor in the US, not abducted, with the knowledge/request of the Prince (allegedly).

    • DunGroanin

      The fix works in the other direction. The Prince doesn’t call the tune but dances to it. His mum once talked of ‘dark forces’…

      The Prince was directed to make an interview and have it broadcast right in the middle of a general election in the U.K. when the Labour manifesto launch and policies such as broadband for all were cutting through to the electorate against the heavy barrage of the MSM and Pompeo’s Gauntlet.

      That worked a treat to divert the dumbass English royal-arse-licking populace from the real issues.

      The whole game is that Guiffre, like the strawman accuser in the Janner case has been engineered to be a ‘unreliable’ accuser. Her misdemeanour will be revealed and that will allow the case against Randy Andy to be thrown out!
      Exactly like the cover up of Janner and indeed Saville the lurker of the handicapped and severely ill children’s wards and mortuaries.
      Courtesy of Starmer, the head of the CPS at the time – yes the same time as when Assange was being maliciously accused of the Swedish charges so that he could be renditioned to Gitmo! Starmer is the biggest fraud and shit laid by NuLabInc Blairites. The reason why our host is celebrating his third full month incarcerated in a jail without a jury trial!

      The intention with Guiffre being to stop all the other witnesses and victims testimonies from being heard and acted upon.

      The proof of my thesis – why is the case only about Guiffre?
      Let’s not Forget there ARE other photos (and videos) too, besides from that one with Ghastly Ghislaine.

  • mark golding

    Craig’s very disturbing account of Julian Assange’s court appearance may be the most important article you and I will ever read.

    I have no choice except to bare my heart towards the angel, Australian journalist and Craig’s friend, Caitlin Johnstone, for so much more than her “Only Cowards And Sadists Support The Persecution Of Assange” – with penetrating reality her words carry intention and transport an emotion that transforms and awakens the oblivious and distracted mind.

    Orinoco flows with you Caitlin, you are the thread that good friends must sustain and hold.

    https://www.wikispooks.com/wiki/Caitlin_Johnstone

    • nevermind

      when will we call it attempted murder by means of letting disease spread in a confined airy corridor of metal barred cells?

  • T

    It seems Julian faces infinite jeopardy: “Even if we lose, we can start again with Mr. Assange and issue another extradition request,” James Lewis QC Thursday at the High Court on behalf of the US Government..

  • michael norton

    A little extra to consider.
    Julian Assange was first accused of sexual misconduct with a couple of women in Sweden, both women approached Julian first not the other way round. There were never any sexual charges put against him by any courts.
    Yet he is still in prison.
    Alex Salmond was accused and went to court on multiple charges of sexual contact.
    Nothing was proved against Mr. Salmond but nothing bad had yet happened to any of his false accusers?
    Possibly, we should consider that Prince Andrew has not sexually interfered with Virginia and possibly she is a liar?

    • michael norton

      One other possibility is that somebody introduced Virginia to Prince Andrew in the hope of “capturing ” the Monarchy at some future point.
      Imagine if Mr Epstein did extracurricular activities for the CIA on Little Saint James Island, his duties being to get important people compromised. Does that seem realistic?

      • nevermind

        ‘the other possibility’… ‘Imagine’….’ ‘does that seem realistic…’?

        you are making up conjectures that achieve nothing but confusion, sowing mistrust in those who never had any trust.
        Pompeo is still alive and if you want to get personal Michael, start with his lies and innuendo. Excusing a possibly guilty royal friend of Epstein is now down to the courts who will drag this sorry story into the long grass.

        • michael norton

          I think it is a long used tool of secret security services, to draw targets into sexual peccadillos.

          • U Watt

            Do you suspect it was those forces that drew Mountbatten into relations with little boys or Prince Charles into friendship with Jimmy Savile? If so, what do you think the security forces had feared the Royals might do if they weren’t captured?

          • Jon Cofy

            The famous cross dresser J Edgar Hoover of FBI fame kept a dirt file on everyone likely to end up in positions of authority.
            J Edgar Hoover did not have any specific plan to use the dirt files prior to collecting the information on individuals. He had a general plan to collect information with which to black mail people should the opportunity arise.
            Security forces regularly use honey traps on their targets and I see no reason why they would not collect dirt files similar to J Edgar Hoover’s. The Royals appear to be choice targets as only the monarch in counsel can remove judges.

            J Edgar Hoover should be lauded for being an avante guarde cross dresser, possible bi sexual etc when such things were illegal.

            J Edgar Hoover’s files mysteriously disappeared when he died.
            I hope they turn up on Wikileaks some day soon. 🙂

          • michael norton

            The prince has consistently denied Ms. Giuffre’s claims and, in 2019, told BBC Two’s Newsnight programme: “I can absolutely categorically tell you it never happened.”
            https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-59155004
            What can this woman possibly hope to gain, she must have been advised she is in a very, very, very dangerous game.
            One person she has accused has been found dead, in prison, another person is in prison, yet now she targets the son of the Queen. Who will be her next target, apparently she has other targets.
            I can only think she is mentally subnormal. She is the small fish to catch the big bucks for lawyers but is she also being used for others. I think she must be, being used by people other than lawyers or else she would have been made silent, by now.

          • SA

            Michael
            You must be one of the few people in this country who defends the prince. He himself condemned himself by that Maitlis interview.

          • michael norton

            SA you must be one of the few people in this country who does not see undercurrents.
            What links Julian Assange, Prince Andrew?

          • SA

            Michael
            You are not being serious are you? I was going to link to past scandals involving the disgraced prince, from the Al Yamama deal, to his association with various central Asian dictatorships, to his wife’s sleazy dealings, to his famous rudeness. But hey, you know all that don’t you?

          • U Watt

            Michael Norton

            I’m one of those still unclear why the Windsor boys, Mountbatten and Co needed to be captured. What is the threat you believe the Royal Family would pose if left uncompromised? It must be something big if they are viewed with as much anxiety by the security state as someone like Julian Assange.

          • michael norton

            I know you pair are trying to suck me in to your nonsense.
            SA & UWATT

            This woman is of quite limited intelligence, others are doing her thinking, for her.
            Or in old money she is being used by others for purposes that are of no benefit to her.
            Just have a think who those others could be.
            Think what country she is in, what legal system she is in.
            This is the same legal system that is attempting to render Julian Assange.

            Julian Assange was not captured for interfering with two women.
            He was captured for other purposes.

          • SA

            Michael
            JA was fighting the establishment. Andy’s mother is the establishment. Just because JA was honeytrapped does not mean that Randy did not indulge in certain activities with a minor. Your nudge nudge wink wink, you know wha’ I mean approach is a bit obtuse.

          • Lapsed Agnostic

            Mr Norton,

            If I can be allowed to interject: I have no idea how intelligent Ms Giuffre is – she seems reasonably articulate to me. However, I don’t think she is particularly well-educated, having run away from home at 13 after years of abuse by a family friend, living for six months with a 65-year-old who was subsequently convicted of *alien smuggling for prostitution* (amongst some other offences), and then getting a job at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate at 14, through her father who also worked there (it’s not what you know, etc). Anyway, at the moment, I believe she is currently living with her young family in Perth, Western Australia.

            As to her motivations for playing a ‘very, very, very dangerous game’, have you thought that they may be similar to those of Julian Assange and our absent host (both of whom may possibly be said to be playing even more dangerous games)? To wit: a desire for justice.

          • Jimmy Riddle

            Lapsed Agnostic – Prince Andrew is (of course) a bad ‘un and what he is accused of doing is precisely the sort of thing we would expect him to do.

            At the same time, though, he hasn’t (yet) had a fair trial and Prince Andrew-bashing is precisely the sort of thing that the Guardian would do to establish their credentials as `friend of the people’, the sort of organ that would never sook up to the powers that be and would never, never, never be economical with the truth, or publish plain lies, when reporting on issues such as Julian Assange and Alex Salmond.

          • Lapsed Agnostic

            Thank you for your reply Mr Riddle. I wasn’t categorically stating that Ms Guiffre is telling the whole truth. I believe that she is, but have no way of knowing that for certain. What I was doing was suggesting to Mr Norton that there may be reasons for her actions, other than she is a complete idiot who is being taken for a ride by expensive lawyers and/or being used as a tool – for reasons that to my mind aren’t obvious – by US security services.

            I have no idea what the Graun is writing about Randy Prince Andy*, or pretty much anything else these days, as I haven’t bought a copy in years.

            *(“Of course, he’s only called Randy Andy because he likes to party” – Royal expert on the Beeb News channel)

          • Jimmy Riddle

            Lapsed Agnostic – yes, well, I am almost inclined to agree with you, except for one important point – motive. There were (believe it or not) lots of women who would have been delighted with the opportunity – so he didn’t actually need his friend Epstein to procure additional services for him.

            Just like the dodgy dossier – as Putin pointed out at the time, Trump organised beauty contests and had plenty of access, without having to bother with Russian ladies of alternative moral standards.

            Unless (of course) Randy Andy was too stupid to understand the deal and genuinely believed that Epstein was introducing him to a willing groupie …..

            But the discussion of royalty is seriously lowering the tone of the thread – so I’m going to sit on the throne until I feel better.

          • U Watt

            Michael Norton

            You’re saying the US security establishment is trying to neutralise the Queen’s second son, but will not venture any explanation as to why. Is it because you would be putting yourself in danger if you reveal more?

          • glenn_nl

            U Watt: Is it because you would be putting yourself in danger if you reveal more?

            I very much doubt it. If it wasn’t on the BBC, or in The Express, Michael knows nothing about it.

          • Lapsed Agnostic

            Thanks for the further reply Jimmy. Hope you’re feeling better now. Whilst I don’t doubt that there would have been many women interested in relations of various kinds with the then fortysomething fourth in line to the throne, it’s likely that not too many of them could have been placed in the recent debutante category – and even if they could, there probably weren’t any in the immediate vicinity. As for motive, was it not Socrates who declared that the male libido is like being chained to a lunatic? Well it was according to noted philologist Russell Brand in his magnum opus ‘My Booky Wook’.

            There’s obviously not enough evidence to establish Randy’s guilt beyond all reasonable doubt, but the case of sexual assault and battery brought against him by Ms Giuffre is a civil one and only has to be decided on the balance of probabilities.

            I think it’s also noteworthy that Ms Giuffre says that she met Trump a number of times at Mar-a-Lago and he never said or did anything to her that she considers was inappropriate.

            P.S. Having had my curiosity vaguely piqued by your comments, yesterday I had a brief look at the Graun’s website for the first time in a quite a while. This was their *most viewed* article:

            https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/nov/05/i-am-16-and-identify-as-an-ace-lesbian-but-i-dont-want-to-come-out-to-my-parents

          • Jimmy Riddle

            Lapsed Agnostic – much better, thanks.

            Ah ha – so this clarifies the general level of the Guardian and its readership. Not exactly explicitly The Sun Page 3, but an …. erm …. more, shall we say, `intellectual’ way of discussing exactly the same thing – namely, carnal activities and what turns people on. It’s basically George Best’s favourite subject, but renovated to have a more inclusive flavour.

            It is still an influential newspaper, which pretends to be honest and informative – but as you rightly point out has degenerated to a total rag.

          • U Watt

            Glenn

            Interesting. Perhaps a close reading of the Express is the key. In among the ads for geraniums and QEII crockery there must be a coded subtext signalling the radical threat Prince Andrew poses to the US empire.

          • Lapsed Agnostic

            Thanks again for your reply Jimmy. For me, it’s not just the ‘More!’ magazine titillation aspect – it’s the way that everything, including human beings, has to be put in categories and labelled these days, preferably with long acronyms that don’t exactly roll off the tongue e.g. LGBTQ+ etc. At the risk of sounding like every other daytime drinker in Spooners, it’s probably largely down to the internet: I may be wrong, but if she/they had come of age in the previous century, I doubt there’d be anything ‘queer’* about her/them. Meanwhile, unless her/their parents have significant property holdings, her/their future is largely being stolen from her/them.

            Re your above comment: if you didn’t know, it’s been widely suggested in non-MSM that the ‘leader of the free world’ took things a stage further in front of the Pope last week. As Mystic Vivian of this parish predicted in a previous comment thread before the presidential election – he’ll be in diapers soon.

            *When I was her/their age, the only thing ‘queer’ I was remotely interested in was this offering from a national treasure and her band: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezVTeIh7gNQ

            Remember when they headlined the opening of the Scottish Parliament in the year of our Lord 1999? Bliss it was etc.

    • M.J.

      What about that photograph with Ghislaine Maxwell and Andrew’s arm round Virginia Guiffre?

      • michael norton

        M.J.
        has Prince Andrew claimed that photograph is genuine or has he claimed it has been photoshopped.

        I don’t think I have heard from Prince Andrew, either way.

        • Lapsed Agnostic

          I think all he’s said in public about it is that he has no idea how it came to be taken. Bear in mind that he’s supposedly not had an alcoholic beverage since the age of twenty-one – likely having got so obliterated with his navy pals on his 21st, that when he said “I’m never drinking again” the day after, he actually meant it.

          However, according to the Currant, ‘sources’ close to him have suggested that it may have been doctored:

          https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/10368373/prince-andrew-photograph-virginia-roberts-epstein/

        • michael norton

          To me that photograph looks photoshopped.
          1) “Andrews” two hands look different, the left hand around Virginia’s waist looks like the hand or a manual worker, damaged nails, the right hand of “Andrew” looks limp and weak and of whiter complexion.
          2) Virgina’s left hand seems not to be balancing on her thigh but a little apart.

          • Lapsed Agnostic

            Thanks for your replies Mr Norton. As I recall, the main issue that Team Randy have with the photo is that they say Randy’s fingers are ‘chubbier’ in real life – though it was supposedly taken around 20 years ago, and people’s fingers generally thicken with age.

            I think that the reason one of Randy’s hands appears slightly darker than the other is because it’s in the partial shadow of her forearm, which I don’t see needs to be ‘balancing’ on her thigh. I must confess that I haven’t paid much attention to the size of Randy’s chest. Anyway, as far as I’m aware, no photographic experts have presented any definitive evidence that the photo has been doctored.

            Totally unrelated: is anyone else still having loads of fireworks going off round their ends, setting the dogs off etc? Seems worse than ever this year. Perhaps I should move to Northern Ireland. They’re not allowed fireworks there – which must be why they feel the need to parlay most of the year’s light & dark dealing profits into constructing 50+ foot high bonfires made of pallets & festooned with Ivory Coast flags (dunno what they’ve got against people from there – apart from the obvious) to make up for it.

  • Republicofscotland

    “If he should die in prison he’s effectively been tortured to death. That’s the reality of it, and I’m not exaggerating.”

    Said Nils Melzer the UN special rapporteur on torture, on Julian Assange’s illegal detention in a English prison.

  • Tatyana

    Good morning, everyone! I hope you all have a nice day today.
    Can someone please point me to the correct new address, to send Mr. Murray a letter tto prison?
    I’ve found this one:

    157095 C Murray
    G3/38
    H M Prison Edinburgh
    33 Stenhouse Road
    Edinburgh
    EH11 3LN

    Not sure if it’s the new one


    [ Mod: See this update. ]

  • Jimmy Riddle

    I remember one of Craig Murray’s earlier pieces where he pulled apart the Christopher Steele dossier, correctly describing Christopher Steele as a dilettante, something of an `Our Man in Havana’ figure. He was saying this when it was an unpopular thing to say and the Guardian were plugging the `dodgy dossier’ as the gospel truth.

    He has (of course) been vindicated and I found this

    Trump-Russia Steele dossier analyst charged with lying to FBIBBC News (5 Nov 2021)

    on the bbc news headlines this morning. When he is eventually released from Alcatraz, it would be nice to hear his take on this (and – yes – he is allowed to say `I told you so’).

    • Tatyana

      Thank you, Jimmy Riddle.
      Danchenko surname is Ukrainian, I wonder is he actually Russian?
      And, is there any connection to Skripal, who is said to be born in Kiev?

      • Jimmy Riddle

        Tatyana – well, of COURSE there is a connection to Skripal. After all, the main reason why the CIA / MI5 wanted Skripal out of the way was because he hadn’t retired and he was helping Christopher Steele with his dodgy dossier. It would be very surprising if there wasn’t the connection that you’re suggesting.

        • Tatyana

          A very interesting story with this Skripal. Curious and mysterious. I follow it and hope for a clue at the end.

          But we also have other completely amazing news here in Russia!
          The court order for Russia to pay $ 50 billion to Yukos is overturned. The wording is amusing:

          “… the cassation considered that the Hague Court of Appeal had mistakenly ignored Russia’s argument that Yukos shareholders had allegedly committed fraud.”

          How do you like it? Mistakenly ignored fraud argument!

          Russian comments on this news oozing sarcasm 🙂
          Winter coming have cleared the court’s vision.
          This is what the life-giving cross market gas price does!

  • np

    FYI, the conservative German newspaper Die Welt has a story about Julian Assange on its website today. Here’s a machine translation of the beginning:

    A degrading spectacle

    In London, the extradition proceedings for Julian Assange continued. What happened in the courtroom is devastating and shows that the US will not give up even if legal remedies are inadequate. In the end, they didn’t even shy away from his children.

    Suddenly and unexpectedly, Julian Assange appears on the video screen. He is put in front of the camera by a guard from Belmarsh Prison, looks pale and emaciated, his shoulder-length white hair falls over his face. The prisoner wears a white shirt, tie and face mask are black. It’s a spooky scene. Apparently heavily sedated, Assange tries to follow Lewis’ explanations, can barely keep his head straight, supports him with his hands and keeps closing his eyes.

    Meanwhile, Lewis goes into detail: Assange couldn’t be very depressed,…(the rest is behind a paywall)

    https://www.welt.de/kultur/plus234824650/Prozess-gegen-Julian-Assange-in-London-Ein-entwuerdigendes-Schauspiel.html

    • Giyane

      np

      Punishing Britain for Brexit and for renewed poodling to the US are the probable motives for this German report about Assange. Right now I’d like to see a camera shoved into Boris Johnson’s face two days after he forced his Party to vote through the arbitrary removal of public standards in politics. Julian Assange retains his dignity in spite of the medication, while Boris Johnson is a fully-fledged oaf.

      • Jimmy Riddle

        Giyane – so you mean it’s pure political expediency and nothing whatsoever to do with deep moral outrage that Assange, an innocent man, is currently banged up in Belmarsh?

        • Giyane

          Jimmy Riddle

          The Owen Patterson affair has shown us that there is a limit to the patience of ordinary hard-working politicians when it comes to right-wing thuggery. That is very good news for Julian Assange

          Merkel was deeply involved in Syria’s hoax civil war poodling to the US for 25 years. So German politics stinks just as much as Bexit politics.
          Do I think a newspaper cares a sausage about Julian Assange? No. I would only use a newspaper to light my woodburning stove.

          Meanwhile we can now count the days before Craig is released safely to his family. November is flashing past quickly. I don’t think Johnson has any credibility left to interfere in the Assange case if British judge’s decide that a US jail is a totally inappropriate place to send an innocent whistle-blower like Julian Assange.

          He has reached his credibility limit. I sincerely hope the justice system will have a free hand to refuse the US extradition process once and for all.

        • Hans Adler

          “Die Welt” doesn’t do genuine morals. They only deal in manipulation. Obviously some old-fashioned impartial journalism may get through in unimportant matters, but Julian Assange is far too important for that.

          “Die Welt” is from the same publisher as Germany’s only important tabloid paper, “Bild”, which is famous for being about as ruthless as the British tabloid press. “Die Welt” is just as manipulative, but addresses a more respectable audience that is disgusted by “Bild”.

      • Tom Welsh

        Mutatis mutandis (Mencken was writing about the USA):

        “The larger the mob, the harder the test. In small areas, before small electorates, a first-rate man occasionally fights his way through, carrying even the mob with him by force of his personality. But when the field is nationwide, and the fight must be waged chiefly at second and third hand, and the force of personality cannot so readily make itself felt, then all the odds are on the man who is, intrinsically, the most devious and mediocre — the man who can most adeptly disperse the notion that his mind is a virtual vacuum.

        “The Presidency tends, year by year, to go to such men. As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron”.

        — H. L. Mencken (Baltimore Evening Sun, July 26, 1920)

      • nevermind

        I dont think you are right to assume that die Welt does not see the obstenacies of Brexit as political,, and then using Julians disgusting treatment in a high security prison as a bat to beat an equally abhorent Johnson behiind theats, as much as he needs it.
        The media here is so rotten here they cant even bring themselves to speak up about the banana justice their blah blah blah coverage overlooks/ ignores, then I for one, dont really care who writes about Julian’s plight and torture here.

  • mark golding

    Julian Assange and his fiancée Stella Moris have filed a lawsuit against British Justice Secretary Dominic Raab accusing him of preventing their marriage, The Guardian reported today. Alongside Raab, they’ve also accused Prison Chief Jenny Louise of denying them the basic human right. The couple, who have two children, said that they repeatedly demanded permission to hold their nuptials at the prison but have been constantly denied.

    https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/julian-assange-fiancee-file-lawsuit-against-uk-minister-prison-for-preventing-their-marriage-101636301611895.html

    • Wikikettle

      Giyane. You mentioned Syria – I have found no one like Robert Fisk since his passing away, to follow the events there and Lebanon as he could. A great loss to true Journalism. I did come across a Syrian based in Germany who has a YouTube channel called Syrian Analysis who interviews an American Geoff La Mear who wrote an article in Newsweek “The US Mission in Syria is a Failure, don’t turn it into a catastrophe”. To interview by Kevork Almassian who fronts Syrian Analysis does an amazingly good job interviewing a Fellow of Defence Priorities! Geoff La Mear states that as Stella Moris states, there is a small core in the US trying to push back against the warmongers. I really recommend seeing how intelligent and hopeful this interview was. “Has the US Failed in Syria? With Geoff LaMear”

      • BrianFujisan

        Wikikettle… I have been following a Tom Duggan
        Front line correspondent Syria and Middle East Correspondent Channel 7 Channel 5 and11

        on f.book.. he came back from Syria a few months ago.. His info is Solid.. I’ll and ask him to come over here.

        Also you may be interested in –

        Little Amal, a young Syrian refugee, embarked on a remarkable journey – an epic voyage that took her across Turkey, across Europe. To get back to school. To start a new life. Now she takes her next steps beyond The Walk…

        Amal is at COP26 for a few days –

        https://www.walkwithamal.org/

        • Wikikettle

          Thanks Brian. Its amazing the suffering we have inflicted on so many countries and even when we don’t succeed in regime change we impose blockades sanctions and the so called rules based order. Our own populations generally don’t give a toss. So much hangs on the plight of Julian and Craig. They destroyed Jeremy. When I hear the few young independent media bravehearts, I have hope. Oh how long to read the words of our Craig again.

          • bevin

            Squeeth’s theory has the advantage of letting lots of extremely nasty and very guilty people and institutions, including the intelligence services of both the UK and US, off the hook.
            It is not unlike those theories – to the effect that Covid is no more than a new flu – which allow the neo-liberals wrecking health services to carry on without being held to account by the friends and families of their millions of victims.

          • glenn_nl

            Very well said, Bevin.

            I also agree about the Covid denialists. It is tragic shame that so many decent socialists (hitherto considered to be so, anyway) are working hard as useful idiots for the far-right, by promoting ludicrous conspiracy theories which would have all medics and public servants working to kill us/ control us/ fill us with 5G-trackers, take your pick.

            Your contributions here have been missed of late, I hope you will be posting again soon.

          • Hector Sanchez

            Corbyn lost due to two primary factors: brexit and zionism.
            He was between a rock and a hard place with brexit, he prevaricated and thereby lost. He would have done better to follow his heart.
            The zionists whipped up the fake antisemitism agenda and funded his opponents, through the Israeli embassy and its agents. The msm were also useful fools in the charade.
            Finally, his own party, Labour, via the blairites and zionists undermined him and the party.
            The establishment won the election and Craig and Julian fate were sealed !

          • mark golding

            I don’t remember Jeremy cutting of his right thumb :).

            We must I believe realise how a conspiracy theory inacted by a secretly powerful minority destroyed Jeremy Corbyn by exercising a bizarrely aggressive, frightening and terrorizing control over society.

          • Squeeth

            It is false to insinuate that because Corbyn was his worst enemy, anyone else is being off the hook. This

            “It is not unlike those theories – to the effect that Covid is no more than a new flu – which allow the neo-liberals wrecking health services to carry on without being held to account by the friends and families of their millions of victims.”

            is the most despciable casuistry. Corbyn capitulated three days after he got the gig; he didn’t have a gun pointed at his head, he chose to surrender. That’s all he did for the rest of his term, even as zionist antisemites were purging Jews from the Liarbour Partei. Ramsay MacDonald wasn’t this abject; now that Der Sturmer is in charge, Liarbour is an unashamedly antisemite partei and you’re still making excuses for Corbyn. This is the reasoning of a moral bimbo.

          • mark golding

            Jeremy Corbyn, that ‘hard left loony’ the ‘creeping Jesus’ in well worn sandals standing in the early morning ‘Stop the War’ picket lines in solidarity. I remember, yes, I remember that and his anger over ‘Shock & Awe, the Iraq lies, the disregard, the scorn and belligerence of the Establishment pawns.

            It was those forces that coalesced to give us Corbynism. Corbynism in the toxic society we live in is an anathema, is an enemy of a British State attentive to the war machine, power and autocracy.

            Those that reside in the womb of this Establishment ensured that Corbyn bought into an acceptance of the British state that defines war as humanitarian intervention and from the days of the Irish ‘troubles’ only your enemies are terrorists and the State never does terrorism even when used to obtain a political goal.

            Besides the mainstream and BBC gatekeepers the womb beget a strategic director to impose and reinforce this acceptance; the son of former BBC Director-General Alisdair Milne, paid agent Seamus Milne. It was Milne who led Corbyn into Labour’s disastrous Brexit strategy and lit the fuse of racial discrimination.

            Sadly Jeremy has neither the ways or the chutzpah to boot out the Judases, the snakes, the turncoats and the back-stabbers.

          • Giyane

            Mark Golding

            Seamus Milne is in a long line of establishment infiltrators in the British Labour Party. As in all political parties, the leader is a Mr or Mrs Nice, the slogans fill the heart with joy, but the Parties themselves are run by establishment psychopaths.

            It is tiresome to hear complaints about the leaders, when the leaders were never selected on any other criteria than being a front who would appeal to the electorate.

          • U Watt

            Mark Golding

            You write: “It was Milne who led Corbyn into Labour’s disastrous Brexit strategy and lit the fuse of racial discrimination”

            Milne was actually one of the few who held the line against adopting the anti-democratic 2nd referendum policy, and was widely despised for it. If you are searching for saboteurs and backstabbers among Corbyn’s closest allies McDonnell and Abbott are much more compelling candidates.

            I’m also unfamiliar with the idea that the 2nd referendum policy fomented racial discrimination. Among who and against whom?

          • Giyane

            U Watt

            Britain in 2021 recognised the reality that if the state wants to infiltrate its opponents, the infiltrators have to walk the walk, get women pregnant or shoot people, depending on the organisation under suspicion.

            Conversely when an establishment , globalist monetarist neo-con infiltrates a left-wing party, like Nick Clegg, he has to do some lefty postures, before shooting off to manage Metadata for the Queen.

            I’m sure the establishment is able to provide a few lefty posture gestures to its infiltrators in order to convince the lefties that he/she is genuine.

  • Dom

    MP murdered by Islamist. Remedy proposed by political and media class — “criminalise public dissent to MPs and journalists!”

    MPs under spotlight for corruption and second jobs. Remedy proposed by same — “treble MPs salaries!”

    No wonder they’re inventing reasons to disappear people like Craig Murray.

  • nevermind

    Looks like the people here are still hanging on to their genetically engraved party political teats, sampling the liquid of self serving status quo artists.
    They will not move as constituents demand, they can do what they like, the last two weeks made this petfectly clear, so what pressure have we got to bare on them?
    Please dont say voting, that’s not pressure, merely confirming the narrative an election is presented in, not what we want or need.
    Time to sharpen the pitchforks, again, only massed actions can now change the system failure we are being subjected to.

    • Twostime

      nevermind, any chance you might rephrase that? I got lost at “genetically engraved party political teats”. Straight forward English would help me and perhaps many others. best wishes etc 🙂

      • BrianFujisan

        Twostime….
        I read it as Ingrained politics from a young age.. like Unionist Sectarianism in NI..And here in the West of Scotland

        The young Gangs causing more trouble in NI need to get a grip.. they’re out on the streets causing stress.. Whilst the elders are sitting at home watching tv.. They have a Far better Brexit deal than Scotland. Leave the past behind FFS

      • nevermind

        genetically engraved two party politics and reliance upon it coupled with political ineptness.
        To still believe in parties that have no relevance to constituents and or their needs is self emulation.
        To listen to the narrative that pushed us into system/climate change is futile and a waste of time.
        Lastly, we have to come off these party political teats and do the possible for ourselves locally.
        I hope it helps writing it two times.

        • Twostime

          @nevermind, more directly, thank you for expanding your post. I don’t get here often so not always easy to pick up the trend/theme of posts. You make yourself very clear, Ta.

      • Jimmy Riddle

        Twostime – I thought it was quite clear. I liked the imagery, although clearly not biologically accurate. The liquid of the self serving piss-artists doesn’t come out of teats.

    • BrianFujisan

      Well said nevermind..
      I think We have to start with the Elite Media..BBC etc.. The Masses don’t even know how Propagandised they are.. Often when I Try to tell people that the Truth is often the Opposite of what they are being told..I get A Blank Thousand Yard Stare.

      Your words remind me of Something I read By Jonathan Cook – Great article –

      https://www.jonathan-cook.net/blog/2021-11-09/elites-want-us-to-focus-on-trivial-protections-while-they-raid-the-common-wealth/?

  • Jimmy Riddle

    By the way, could someone give me a quick reminder of the places that I can find the enormous coverage that the BBC gave to the jailing of journalist Craig Murray?

    They seem to be giving an awful lot of attention to Myanmar jailing the American journalist Danny Fenster,

    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-59258112

    so I assume that, since they are unbiased and the pinnacle of fair coverage and fearless quality journalism, that they have given equal attention to the jailing of Craig.

    I assume that the only problem is with my internet skills that I wasn’t able to find it.

    • nevermind

      Well compared Jimmy. The BBC is increasingly seen to.be as out of step as this bad excuse of a Government.
      it is also an indicator of their insecurity. If you dont inform the public that their youngest, most gifted ambassador, not my judgement, but that of peers, has been assigned to serve a trumped up judicial dreamscape from the appendix to 1984, some people might realise the crumble factor of their system failure.
      The Bbc has been and is used to trumped those they are dependent upon, the unaccountable party politician that are filling their boots and sing from the same hymn sheet.
      The actions to allow Julian and Stella to tie the knot should not be seen as any more than humanitarian, the hawks are still out to silence those who speak the truth. I do wish them health and happiness.

      If the Scottish Prison service has any idea of how rotten the justice system looks with regards to Craigs despicable sentence/judgement, they will let him get home early. I thank them in advance.

  • BrianFujisan

    A Sweet Morsel of Good news. Happy couple to be… At Last –

    WikiLeaks @wikileaks
    9:19pm Nov 11, 2021
    BREAKING: UK Government backs down and will allow #Assange wedding in prison. The U-turn comes one day before lawsuit deadline #FreeAssangeNOW

    • Henry Smith

      If the alternative press is right, then it was the CPS – AKA US Government – that allowed this. Ah, the joys of living in a puppet regime.

      Best of luck and congrats to both of them.

      • Wikikettle

        Good news indeed for them and their children. Julian has an amazingly strong partner in Stella, both under the pressure of the Security States STASI.

    • Twostime

      Good news for them both and I’m sure the children will be blessed with that penitential image for the rest of their lives. Is this a sop before JA is expedited? Sorry, feeling a tad cynical this PM. Sucking at the teats of reality always gets me down.

  • Ben

    I know y’all don’t give a shite but my schadenboner is shiny with excitement over Bannon indictment.

    The insurrection of January seems to have repercussions.

    WOOT!

  • BrianFujisan

    It occurred to me..That I used the Words ” Happy Couple to Be ”

    I was thinking about this –

    A Haiku –

    Such a Fleeting Joy
    Julian and Stella’s Day
    A Turmoil Wedding

      • M.J.

        The haiku reminds me of a Heckle and Jeckle comic I read eons ago which has a story called “The hot haiku”, about a haiku competition. The baddie made up terrible haikus such as

        “Yo yo rise and fall
        Like man sitting on hot stove
        Under low ceiling.”

        The reaction of ordinary folk to this was “Yicch!”
        The winning entry (which the baddies tried unsuccessfully to steal, as I recall) was

        “Peace shall shower on
        the alligator-skinned earth
        scorched by hatred’s heat!”

        The reaction of the audience was “Ooh! So lovely!”
        For anyone who’s curious: a haiku is a Japanese poem in 3 lines consisting respectively of 5,7 and 5 syllables exactly. James Bond in the novel You only live twice tries his hand at it.


        [ Mod: Thanks for the interesting info, MJ, but it doesn’t have much to do with Craig’s incarceration or other abuses of state power. Any follow-up comments about haikus should be posted in the discussion forum. ]

  • nevermind

    Yesterday, still grieving from the death of a good friend and fellow campaigner for some 30 years, I felt for the first time how lucky I have been.
    Adrian cycled everywhere, was friendly towards all, he tread litely wherever he walked, but his arguments had hand and foot, were based on scientific facts.
    He played with and cheeted up my now grown up children when visiting. He was four years younger and lived healthier than I do….why him?
    I have written another card to Craig to try and keep up his morale and I am/ everyone are getting excited about Craigs pending release. I expect him to recuperate for a wee while before making any decisions. Good luck to him surviving Covid central Saughton.

  • Giyane

    Ben
    We know full well who planned a terror attack on British values last week, Boris Johnson. Owen Paterson’s bombastic defiance of the Commission for Parliamentary Standards, headed by Kathryn Stone has blown a hole in the rules, allowing Johnson to re-define the rules governing sleaze.

    We also know that Covid has been the perfect cover for sleaze to flourish, and when Johnson is faced with political annihilation the cavalry turn up for the first time in two whole years with a false flag terror bomb outside a Women’s Hospital. The Tory Terror message is quite clear, nothing will stop us from raping British Democratic values.

    As for the EU well we know who has a bone with the EU, don’t we? Yup, Boris, who is well versed in Military Strategy. When in difficulty, open up an attack on your enemy on a different front. Don’t stroke the dog, especially not when he and Pritti Patel, are working the Terror card like a rag doll.

    We . Will . Return Britain to Victorian levels of poverty and corruption. Even Tory MPs are shocked at the brazen way this government is trashing everything we hold dear.

    • Giyane

      TERROR Police are investigating the DNA of the patsy in the taxi. Not known to the security services. Oh yeah.

      • M.J.

        Patsy? Surely any adult trying to set off a bomb outside a hospital must know what he’s doing? If so, it seems that he got what was coming to him. Case closed, if there’s no other conspirators.

        • Henry Smith

          Most of these people have mental issues caused by their circumstances. They are ripe for radicalisation and there are plenty lining up to take advantage of that: from the imams to the security services. It’s not always black and white and until ‘we’ understand why they do it, we will never be able to stop them.
          Let’s not forget the UK has been heavily involved in Yemen, Syria and Iraq where bombing hospitals, funerals and innocent civilians is a standard operational procedure.
          Not condoning what he did but, was it the action of a sane mind, and what are the facts ?

          • M.J.

            The taxi driver’s testimony could be crucial. What did he see or hear that caused him to act as he did? If he saw someone with a sinister-looking device with a red button, and acted fast before he could push it, that would be something

          • Republicofscotland

            “and what are the facts ?”

            Henry.

            The facts are what the media tell you they are.

            Abu Hamza was a MI5 imam preaching hate, how many young men did he radicalise, whilst their handlers provided the equipment, that sometimes were live IED’s other times they were fake depending on the circumstances of the event, what’s almost universal though is that the so called “bomber” dies, and that they were previously known to the security services before they suddenly decided to act.

        • Giyane

          M.J.

          Can we assume that the passenger was the one who detonated the bomb, or was it the driver, or somebody else at the scene or controlling his mobile remotely? How do we know that the bomb belonged to the passenger?

          The passenger, if there was one, was not in control of the taxi’s destination. All that we know for certain is that this week the Tories were instructed to break the law and remove the jurisdiction of Parliament over MPs abuse of trust.

          I read recently a disturbing definition of a psychopath: Whoever has the sole intention just to break things up, doesn’t need to win.
          This government from the start has followed the instructions of the right- wing planners: Move fast and break things, so that the public are unable to keep up with the speed of your change.

          Imho, this incident or one like it has been delayed for two years by covid. It has MI5 written all.over it. Dressing up for Remembrance Sunday, mental instability , pre-planned heroism, Gladio futility, and female vulnerability. Do I feel my buttons being manipulated? Yes I do.

    • Republicofscotland

      Giyane.

      I have to agree, in my opinion it was British security services head turning exercise, don’t look at Tory sleaze, no look here.

      Enzo Almeni was a Christian he converted in 2017, he even lived with an English family for a time who said he showed absolutely no signs of radicalisation, a patsy indeed.

      • IMcK

        RoS,
        I’ve only heard what’s been on the radio but in all the natter I’ve not heard what he is supposed to have had these explosives in – surely if he intended a big explosion he would need at least a big suitcase and this would be put in the boot. But no mention – so yes on that alone it does make me wonder was the ‘taxi driver’, who miraculously escaped, security services.

        • IMcK

          I’ve just looked at the video on the bbc website – explosion blast emanates from the car to the left and rear and not to the front or right. The driver makes an escape from the car a few seconds after the explosion. Its difficult to believe he could have survived an explosion that looks like it was from the rear passenger compartment, seemingly without injury, without any special provision. Presumably if genuine, we’ll hear from the driver in due course.
          I’m now intrigued.

      • Goodwin

        I’m not sure whether you guys need to up your meds or stop taking them completely. Meanwhile, tin foil is cheap in Costco …

    • Squeeth

      The fascist state knows no limits and the lack of even a pretend opposition removes any need to prevaricate. Come back Robert Walpole, all is forgiven.

  • Jm

    Yah..all the numbers came up in the false flag bingo.Strange anagrammatical name,3 geometric shapes behind the taxi,ex=army host,etc etc.Lots of contradictory info,

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