Like him or loath him, Alex Salmond is the leader we need – He splits opinion, he achieved the unthinkable in Scottish politics, he was the victim of the most despicable political witch hunt in our time involving not just his former party and friends, but all aspects of Scottish society, he was found innocent of all charges yet faces the court of public opinion daily while his accusers, whom a jury did not believe in any shape or form, are protected by the state and allowed to comment freely when they chose to continue to ruin him yet he does more in one speech to further the cause of Scottish independence than Nicola Sturgeon and her BritNats have done in 7 years.
“Now we have moved to a position where even the most ardent supporters of independence know that the SNP/Green administration is becoming incompetent and accident prone.”
In his speech to the Alba Party Conference Leader Alex Salmond noted that “Now we have moved to a position where even the most ardent supporters of independence know that the SNP/Green administration is becoming incompetent and accident prone.” Alex Salmond rightly pointed out that “As First Minister I pursued a strategy which sought to persuade people to independence on the basis of good governance of the devolved Parliament.” Exactly what we have been lacking at this time, and have been for several years now since Nicola Sturgeon was consumed by her MeeToo agenda, since she surrounded herself with people who were just stupid enough to not be a threat to her, and as she has embraced the incompetence of Boris Johnson and a four nation approach to some of the worst governance ever seen in Scotland.
He added: “There have been five national elections in Scotland since the first independence referendum. In each of them, the parties of independence have won a majority of seats. In last year’s Scottish election it was both a majority of seats and, thanks to Alba’s small contribution, a majority of votes as well.
“And in all that time, with all these mandates, nothing has happened – there has been absolutely nout doing.
Alex Salmond also dedicated part of his address to Scotland’s renewable energy, saying it should be the “people’s energy”. He called for the Scottish Government to have a share in all offshore wind developments, saying North Sea oil and gas fields should not be shut down “as bizarrely advocated by the SNP/Green Government”. He said: “In this energy-rich Scotland of ours we produce all the electricity we need from renewable sources and are several times self-sufficient in natural gas. “So why exactly are our electricity bills up 50% already with the same again to come?
“Why are Scottish heating costs already sky-high and dictated by the marginal price of world gas? “Why are we facing huge amounts of fuel poverty in energy plenty Scotland? “The answer is because we allow our vast resources, which by rights belong to the people, to be controlled by the pernicious combination of Westminster Government and international capital.” “Instead of closing down the North Sea as bizarrely advocated by the SNP/Green government, Alba say make every consented field invest in carbon capture as a condition of licence approval.
“Let us manage our resources in a way compatible with the future of the planet. “And instead of the great billion-pound give-away to foreign capital of our offshore wind licences, which could in time produce up to five times our own electricity needs, then let us take a public share in every single field. “Let Scotland do with renewables in this century what the Norwegians did with oil in the last – make renewable energy the people’s energy.” (The Herald).
Donald McDonald26th March 05:54 pm
User ID: 3766487
The SNP and particularly sturgeon herself have failed this nation, any nationalists who try to defend her and her party of delinquents need to start looking at themselves in a serious manner, she should have been ostracised after the Salmond enquiry ,any self respecting Scot would say enough is enough the lies or recollections have expired, she is done and the docile pathetic ones that keep supporting her have no integrity themselves.
Donald is not wrong is he when commenting on the Herald site. Alex Salmond as I said, like him or loath him, if we want to have any say in our own futures any time soon is the leader we need to further the cause of independence and the only way we can achieve that is by waking up and ensuring that we give the Alba Party the platform it needs, and as the main party of Scottish independence, we need to do that staring in the May council elections. It’s last throw of the dice for this generation, Sturgeon and the SNP, they had their chance, they betrayed us, we need to move them on.
grumpyscottishman.wordpress.com 
Ah the last FM and the present one – one has leadership and vision the other has egoism and PR. Nothing Alex Salmond said was rocket science. Even if Nikla is too dim to come up with it herself, surely it’s not beyond the wit of the SPADS. But no, the nuSNP can’t do such things as national energy companies. I man they can PROMISE them and then never deliver. Government by soundbites and many still can’t see it. God knows why not!
PP
The SNP are so bad they make Labour look good, they won’t deliver anything anytime soon that is for sure. Alex Salmond could lead the movement forward to something like a vote on our future but that us what they are all afraid of, including the SNP.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce
Alex Salmond has made mistakes in his life,
1 Stepping down as FM
2 Believeing Sturgeon was capible of being FM
3 Believeing he had a friends in the New SNP
He’s the only person history who’s delivered a Ref which was legal and binding and had the Unionist involved with a S30. what has Sturgeon achieved in 8yrs, zero. So why does the like’s of Val, Lesley, Dug believe Sturgeon is the only who can deliver a Ref.
100%YES
He splits opinion I get that I really do but they are all afraid of him that much is sure. If the yes movement seriously want a vote on independence any time in the next couple of years then they need to get behind AS one last time because the SNP and Sturgeon are not going to deliver anything other than more of the same incompetence AND TARTAN Tory policy.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce
The dug doesn’t believe in Sturgeon he just says he is to pick up the money from his followers.
Cubby
I don’t read WGD, I stopped after the fund raiser as I wasn’t comfortable with that at all.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce
Well said.
Politics isn’t about need, but about want. Eg. the UK needed Corbyn, but wanted Johnson. It did not need Brexit, but wanted it. Did not need Thatcher, but wanted her. And so forth. Once you work that out, you might realise your efforts are far better spent making more voters come around to wanting Scottish independence, rather than preaching to fundamental supporters.
In the meantime, very few Scots want Salmond again. He’s an anchor on the Alba party and you are all committed to his personal political rehabilitation by default as long as he leads your party. If you can’t redeem him in the eyes of the voters, you’re just wasting time, effort and credibility as Alba can’t rise beyond the “Salmond ceiling”.
Alan
I talk to no voters a lot so I feel I am doing my bit there as best I can. The blog is for anyone to read or not I have no control over that and it remains the forum for my opinion more than anything.
I think more people would happily have AS at the front of a campaign than meets the eye it but he does split opinion and continues to be trashed by people like Sturgeon because they fear him. They fear people turning to him to lead the yes movement, if they didn’t fear the man they wouldn’t spend so much money trying to keep him down. However I do know one thing, as long as people look to Sturgeon then they can forget about independence it just ain’t happening.
Thanks for commenting as always.
Bruce
You’re looking at Alba in the same way as people view the SNP – that independence means a continuation of essentially a one-party state, where the leadership at the moment liberation continues in government. I see no reason to follow that path. In fact it should be roundly rejected. A newly independent Scotland needs to hear the voices of all Scots so I’d expect a major shake-up in parties with a general election held in short order after independence is achieved. No party should be sole gatekeeper of the settlement with whatever entity survives the break-up of the UK. Any negotiations should involve our best and brightest – no party has a monopoly on the talent needed.
Stuart
Alba like the SNP used to be are a means to an end for myself. I consider my self a social liberal and in an independent Scotland if I stay involved it would be with a Scottish Liberal Party to be honest as that is where my politics lay in the main. I would also hope to see a truly PR system for all elections and an elected second chamber so while I do view Alba as our last best current hope, longer term, we need to build a different Scotland as you say.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce
And how many people make that claim due to the murell’s personal hanging judgess preventing the truth from coming out about woman A, C, H and the rest?
Nobody who knows who woman A is and what she did would ever vote for a party led by nicola murrell again.
Alba not getting any councillors, MPs or MSPs is now more important to New SNP than independence. You’d think they’d stop to wonder why alternative pro-indy parties have had to be established, but no – the cult seem to be convinced that Alex Salmond is a jealous has-been who can’t stand to see Sturgeon take us further than he ever could.
I’ve actually seen stuff like that posted online. The level of delusion is utterly scientology-like and I doubt if 2023 passing without a referendum will wake them up either.
Dave
He splits opinion I totally get that but they fear him, that’s why they don’t let up, even to the extent of trashing our justice system, they fear any sort of platform for him to lead the yes movement and that includes Sturgeon who will never deliver independence. She can’t even govern well.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce
Your right I keep asking myself when wil this lot ever see through Sturgeon and the SNP. What do they have to do ,or being the case not do, to get them using the little grey matter they have.
Lara
It’s like the old cult of Scottish Labour, but saying that many of them were Scottish Labour so maybe we shouldn’t be all that surprised.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce
They are like zombies. One just recently said on WGD that Salmond is a Unionist. The poster Eilidh most definitely will never wake up if she thinks Salmond is a Unionist. Sturgeon has bewitched them.
The Sturgeon bbc interview, mentioned in Alex Salmond’s conference speech, was truly cringeworthy and sickening. The key part came at 55.30 when she was asked when a referendum would take place, replied – “My intention is to take the steps that will facilitate a referendum happening before the end of 2023. That’s the proposition”.
Intention, steps, facilitate – all extremely vague words and no doubt carefully chosen to be so.
When asked when the legislation for a referendum would start, Sturgeons claim that “the preparatory work for that is underway right now” (23 January 2022) is massively undermined when 10 days after Sturgeon said this, a Freedom of Information request about how many were working on this received the reply – “The referendums Scotland bill team is a team of two civil servants in the Scottish Government’s constitution and cabinet directorate.”
Preparatory work underway right now? – Maybe sort of, but with just 2 people working full time on it, basically just more vague and deliberately misleading words from the First Minister. Besides what about the many previous referendum ‘intentions’ preparatory work?
Time to vote the SNP and their endless worthless statements of ‘intentions’ out of office.
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?nicola+sturgeon+and+sophie+raworth&docid=608015520823058507&mid=1A9F4161A82AD18AE6481A9F4161A82AD18AE648&view=detail&FORM=VIRE
https://archive.ph/K81BK
Ian
Thank you for sharing that for all to see. I agree with you, it really is time to get the SNP out of the way now. The members are not willing to re take control of their party so we need to look elsewhere and that I do believe is AS and Alba, I also think once Sturgeon doesn’t deliver next year we will see some developments and change. May elections might still be too soon for Alba but the party is established to a degree now so should weather the negative storm as we get closer to this election from there it can build I think.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce
Reblogged this on Ramblings of a now 60+ Female.
Forgot to add yet another unfulfilled Sturgeon ‘intention’ from the bbc interview on 23rd January. When asked about when the Bill for a referendum would be introduced, she replied “We haven’t decided on the date on which we’ll introduce the Bill. We’ll decide that in the coming weeks”
That was over two months ago now.
The comparison of Alex Salmond’s SNP achievements and Sturgeon’s SNP failures is stark and just proves that the old saying that it’s actions that count not words, has never had a better example.
Yes, indeed, he is the only politician this side of Christmas who has any chance of getting things moving again. However, I am worried about the push for another referendum. I know that it is the best option all round if Westminster agrees to our going, but it leaves us open yet again to interference and dirty tricks. I worry, too, that he will be targeted precisely because they know he will not be a pushover.
Lorna
I am totally for a plebiscite election and I hope that will be Alba policy for the next GE as that is the only option now, a referendum would be a mistake as we will lose with the amount of people who have moved here and will not ever vote for independence as they don’t have to. They live here because they can afford to and independence for them will never be a choice. Sturgeon has a lot to answer for that is for sure with her delay but if we ate to get moving again then I think if it’s soon then the only person they are afraid of is AS and he is the only one who has a chance to deliver change and get the movement passionate again.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce
Absolutely agree, Grumpy. A plebiscitary election would also be my choice, stipulating that all independence party votes be counted as a vote for independence, with independence being the overriding single most important policy of all the independence parties. That it has come to this is down to the SNP leadership. They should have heeded the warning signs.
Lorna
Totally stand on a manifesto of independence only nothing else.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce
On the SNP website there’s a section under ‘Delivering progress: 100 achievements of the SNP in government’ they state – “Here’s 100 of our top achievements”.
1. Free Tuition. While students in England face tuition fees up to £27,750, Scottish students receive university tuition for free, and always will under the SNP. Fees abolished in 2000
3. Care For All. We extended free personal and nursing care to everyone who needs it, regardless of age. Introduced in 2002
7. Free prescriptions. We have abolished NHS prescription charges in Scotland, which are now £9.35 per item south of the border. Introduced in 2011
19. Bridge tolls scrapped. Under the SNP, the Forth and Tay crossings are free from tolls. Removed in 2008.
29. Removed parking charges at all NHS hospitals. Introduced in 2008.
43. Free eye tests. All eye examinations are free in Scotland. Introduced in 2006.
All introduced under the First Minister whose name the current First Minister or the SNP Party can’t speak of other than in an extremely vitriolic manner. But they don’t mind trying to take the credit for things that happened under his leadership of the SNP. For those SNP ‘achievements’ that happened after Sturgeon became First Minister, they tend to be more lightweight and more than a few appear to be outright failures.
22. Scottish National Investment Bank. Established under the SNP, it’s the first mission-oriented investment bank in the UK, and invests in cutting-edge innovation for the common good. The Bank’s aims and objectives are aligned with Scotland’s Economic Strategy. Launched in 2020
It’s CEO resigned with immediate effect less than two years later under mysterious circumstances. Sturgeon has been accused of “shutting down scrutiny” after initially refusing to tell MSPs why the boss of Scotland’s national investment bank quit.
39. Eradicating fuel poverty. Over the last 8 years, we have spent £1 billion on supporting people in fuel poverty and making their homes more energy efficient – and we have published the Fuel Poverty Strategy to eradicate fuel poverty by 2040. Published in 2021.
The SNP grandiosely and not a little smugly, announced in 2017 that it would establish a Scottish publicly owned not-for-profit energy company, only to quietly drop this in 2021 just as we entered an energy crisis that had such an energy company been setup, could have at the very least, have been addressed with much less hardship being passed onto the public. So much for that ‘achievement’.
79. Scotland’s first ever National Islands Plan. We have introduced and are implementing our plan to improve the quality of life for Scotland’s island communities, including better access, infrastructure and tackling depopulation. Introduced in 2019.
Ferries fiasco probably covers this.
96. Tackling violence against women and girls. We established the Equally Safe Strategy, backed up by the Delivering Equally Safe Fund, to achieve greater gender equality, maximise the safety and wellbeing of women and girls and tackle violence at its roots. Published in 2016.
GRA will deliver the opposite.
The SNP since 2015 don’t have much of a track record to shout about and a lot to be severely criticised for. Sturgeons SNP have too often and for too long been riding high on the back of the achievements of Alex Salmond’s SNP and it shows in this top 100 list. And as this list shows, they’re still at it.
https://www.snp.org/record/?msclkid=54dac2d8a8e811ecb3837b1cf6ed07d3
Ian
Nothing I can add, the major achievements since devolution came under Alex Salmond, Sturgeon has achieved nothing other than set independence back 20 years, promote men in woman’s safe spaces, and tried to destroy the man she owed everything to. Thanks for sharing all the info for all to see.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce