[0762]

When did Sturgeon say Salmond was guilty yesterday Jim???? Was it an implicit statement or an explicit one??? I think she was inferring that his behaviour was unacceptable and massively disappointing from from her point of view and that of past colleagues who admired him and expected better. Forget the not guilty verdict. That confirmation is fine - it was all about the shock and disbelief that a man in his powerful position behaved like that for a good few years. Re the Aberdein meeting that you view as unexplained - fair enough but I'm just focused on her explanation of that meeting arrangement itself, how it was arranged and accepted she had little recollection of the meeting. On the corroboration of this serious data leak by Duncan Hamilton and Kevin Pringle, the FM said their evidence was essentially hearsay since they hadn't been present and suggested the inquiry should get the relevant govt officials and Aberdein to come and testify directly in private. I personally find this Aberdein issue to be a really conflated one that I'm sure has "flown over the heads of most MOPs" by now - dragged on for far too long ad nauseum. And btw a series of diary mistakes won't make most folk want the FM to go/resign anyway!!! Another thing to say is she didn't play for the sympathy vote during her evidence either. I think there was just one mention of her other work with COVID. IMO for many voters, who might well believe all politicians "duck and and weave", any debit items in Nicola's performance will be set against the considerable credit she has built up over the last 12 months. Also the deeper significance of minute details probably escaped all but the most disciplined legal minds, and in any case, research shows judgements are generally based on the way people conduct and present themselves, not on individual facts and figures. So the public may well be ready to call it quits, more important things to worry about at the mo. My guess is that committee members will not be rushed into a decision or another voting pact with the toxic Tories. They'll want to process what they've heard, see due process completed and both inquiry reports just as the FM originally proposed.
Lastly back to the subject of bias by Lesley Evans implied by Lord Pentland when he reckoned she acted unlawfully, I reckon (just an opinion) that this observed bias could be relative to the fact that Salmond is reckoned to have harrassed a good number of female civil service staff over a long period and certain civil servants attached to the judicial review/petition may well have been biased against Salmond and what he did. It could be, in some cases, unconscious bias. I'll wager "good money" they were prob all female officials. But that is just a speculative guess on my part.