malcom1970

Because Alba.

jimenato

Do you think that's going to take off?

I was hearing yesterday that Salmond is even less popular than Boris in Scotland.

Annetje

Frank Zappa ... again.

mikemike

salmond has put his ego ahead of his country, this is going no where.

Bipat

Agree but OH thinks that he will get enough 'seats' to 'upset' Nicola Sturgeon. (I have always admired her --OH doesn't----so have just been sent to the kitchen in disgrace for my support!)

scot47

Stalinist Leadership within the SNP is tryting to dismiss this as being all about Salmond's ego. Mainstream media is taking the same line and raising again the charges made in court. Salmond was found Not Guilty.

To me it is not about personalities but about tactics, ideas and policies on the Road To Independence and after.

Let me remind readers of the words of Bonnie Dundee (Bluidy Claverhoose" to his enemies)"

Then awa tae the hill to the lee and the rocks
Ere I own a usurper I'll crouch with the fox
So tremble false Whigs in the midst of yer glee
For you've no seen the last of my bonnets an me."

mikemike

Nothing to do with stalin. Just a fragile egotist at work he lost his seat with snp at the GE . now he wants it and the stipend that goes with it back, so a new name might help him to reinvent himself. I could not care about the recent cases against him, he has been found not guilty, so be it. Splitting the nationalist vote because he is a sad man, is unforgivable

dave_j

It's not the SNP that's at risk but the independence movement as a whole.
It's this abandonment of the real prize for purely personal political gain that demonstrates the political black hole that politics in Scotland has fallen into.
There is an apt much quoted phrase that's applicable here.
"And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand."

BritInParis

The voting system in Scotland means he won’t be splitting the independence vote; if anything he’ll be increasing it whilst at the same time eroding the SNP’s stranglehold on Holyrood. Salmond may be a lot of things but stupid is not one of them.

mikemike

no one said he is stupid, just selfish. more interested in himself than presenting a united front. A split may see some decide to abstain as they have had enough of self interest. Anyway the next set of elections will be upon us soon enough

BritInParis

A good explanation of Salmond’s strategy can found here: https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/...-voting-system

robin1234

Thanks for this reference to Bonnie Dundee. It got me interested in that period of Scottish history - all I remember about it from my childhood is the image of a woman (fanatic Covenanter, I assume) throwing a chair or a stool at the minister who is preaching.

I found that one of my favorite authors, Rosemary Sutcliff, wrote a novel about Bonnie Dundee. I’m reading it now, I’d highly recommend it.