Alex Salmond accused (and then cleared) of sexual misconduct.

[Sasaferrato]

'Two people have made complaints against former first minister Alex Salmond, who denies ever sexually harassing anyone.

His successor, Nicola Sturgeon, said the complaints were made in January and were investigated through a process she had agreed to.

She said the situation was "difficult for me to come to terms with" given her long history with Mr Salmond, but the claims "could not be ignored".

Mr Salmond told BBC Scotland he was "no saint" and has "got flaws".

He added: "I have made many mistakes in my life, political and personal.

"But I have not sexually harassed anyone and I certainly have not been engaged in criminality."

He also insisted that a new complaints procedure introduced by the Scottish government last year following wider concerns about harassment at Holyrood and Westminster was "unfair and unjust".'

Very odd.

The complaints apparently were made in January, but he wasn't told about it until March, at which time he told Sturgeon. He is suing the Scottish Government, because he feels that the process used to investigate the claims was illegal.

This really is odd. I am no fan of Salmond, far from it, but I cannot believe he would have sexually harassed/assaulted anyone.

There is some confusion in the reporting:

The Daily Record says the allegations date back to December 2013, and that Mr Salmond has been reported to police over claims he sexually assaulted two staff members at the first minister's official residence at Bute House in Edinburgh.

Is there a legal difference between 'harassed' and 'assaulted'? The two terms seem to be being used interchangeably in the reporting.

There does seem to be a cooling of relations between the SNP and Salmond, no one is exactly rushing to his defence.

The highlighted words are mine, there is a lot of C&P to avoid having to type too much.

 

[Pickman's model]

do you have a link to a source?

 

[Sasaferrato]

do you have a source?

I don't see it TBH. I'm no fan of the man, his politics and mine are a world apart, but he's always seemed a decent person.

 

[andysays]

do you have a link to a source?

It's been the main story on the BBC website for much of the day and much of the OP seems to be lifted from there

Sturgeon: Alex Salmond sexual harassment claims 'could not be ignored'

 

[Pickman's model]

It's been the main story on the BBC website for much of the day and much of the OP seems to be lifted from there

Sturgeon: Alex Salmond sexual harassment claims 'could not be ignored'

ta

 

[Sasaferrato]

ta

Sorry, my fault for being idle.

Salmond complaints 'could not be ignored'

Alex Salmond sex assault allegations: How the Daily Record broke the story

 

[killer b]

but he's always seemed a decent person.

that's what the neighbours of serial killers say as they're being dragged off in handcuffs tbf

 

[Sasaferrato]

that's what the neighbours of serial killers say as they're being dragged off in handcuffs tbf

True.

I fucking loath the man, but really cannot ... as you say though.

Time will no doubt tell.

 

[killer b]

sure it will, high profile sexual assault/harassment cases are well known for coming to satisfactory conclusions

 

[Sasaferrato]

sure it will, high profile sexual assault/harassment cases are well known for coming to satisfactory conclusions

It will be interesting. there does seem to be a cooling of relations between Salmond and the SNP since he took up the RT gig.

I don't think the SNP will 'circle the wagons' as they would have done previously, especially with Salmond going to court over a process that Sturgeon instituted.

 

[Ralph Llama]

Former Mason. Bute Lodge.
Minister steps down from Masons to avoid criticism | HeraldScotland

 

[Sasaferrato]

Former Mason. Bute Lodge.
Minister steps down from Masons to avoid criticism | HeraldScotland

There's a wee bit of a difference between Kyles of Bute Lodge 1120, and Bute House.

 

[Ralph Llama]

Sorry ... you have lost me there Break it down .

 

[killer b]

Sas is a mason, and therefore actually cares about the difference between one lodge of corrupt tories and another lodge of corrupt tories. No-one else does.

 

[Ralph Llama]

Cool . Another one to reprogramme . Yum.

 

[redcogs]

one is bound to speculate whether there may be political motives underpinning this situation with an election always imminent?

Or is this way too cynical?

 

[butchersapron]

one is bound to speculate whether there may be political motives underpinning this situation with an election always imminent?

Or is this way too cynical?

Whose?

 

[danny la rouge]

Former Mason. Bute Lodge.
Minister steps down from Masons to avoid criticism | HeraldScotland

I can't see that whole story, but it appears to be about Mike Russell, who is a different person.

 

[Ponyutd]

Sorry ... you have lost me there Break it down .

Fuckin ell it's M.C. Hammer

 

[Sasaferrato]

Sas is a mason, and therefore actually cares about the difference between one lodge of corrupt tories and another lodge of corrupt tories. No-one else does.

I'm totally missing the point here, or you are. Neither Salmond or Russell are Tories, they are SNP.

Oh, and my Lodge is mostly Labour, with a smattering of SNP and one LD. Hard to tell, because politics is off the table for discussion, as is religion.

 

[Steel Icarus]

I'm totally missing the point here, or you are. Neither Salmond or Russell are Tories, they are SNP.

Oh, and my Lodge is mostly Labour, with a smattering of SNP and one LD. Hard to tell, because politics is off the table for discussion, as is religion.

So you're not allowed to discuss religion in an organisation that has belief in a supreme being and of scripture as a condition of membership?

 

[Sasaferrato]

one is bound to speculate whether there may be political motives underpinning this situation with an election always imminent?

Or is this way too cynical?

I always think cui bono?

Scottish elections are a while away. Westminster? Who knows.

If it was political shenanigans, the timing is wrong.

Other than the mini furore over his RT gig, not much heard of or from Salmond recently.

I saw Salmond interviewed on the news tonight, body language was not good.

 

[Sasaferrato]

So you're not allowed to discuss religion in an organisation that has belief in a supreme being and of scripture as a condition of membership?

Correct. It is recognised that at social gatherings where drink is taken, certain subjects are best not discussed. Politics and religion being two of them.

A supreme being, your choice, be it Jehovah, God or Allah. I suspect that we have more Muslim Masons in Scotland though than we have Roman Catholics. We don't exclude Roman Catholics, their church does that.

I'm just about to leave my Mother Lodge, and move to a Lodge nearer home. It will be nice to come in and sit and listen, I've been in office continually for eighteen years. I started as Bible Bearer just after becoming a Master Mason, and I've been through every office since, some several times.

 

[danny la rouge]

Russell might not be a formal Tory, but he's a free market nut.

 

[Sasaferrato]

Russell might not be a formal Tory, but he's a free market nut.

 

[butchersapron]

I always think cui bono?

Scottish elections are a while away. Westminster? Who knows.

If it was political shenanigans, the timing is wrong.

Other than the mini furore over his RT gig, not much heard of or from Salmond recently.

I saw Salmond interviewed on the news tonight, body language was not good.

God bod jury. You slouching devil. Sit up straight.

 

[Sasaferrato]

sure it will, high profile sexual assault/harassment cases are well known for coming to satisfactory conclusions

One can but hope.

What I don't understand is, why, if this was first reported in January, was the Scottish Government investigating, rather than the matter being put straight into the hands of the police? These are potentially criminal offences, not breaches of protocol.

Has there been attempted suppression, but the alleged offences are too serious?

It did say that Salmond has been trying to mediate his way out... out of what exactly?

 

[butchersapron]

Correct. It is recognised that at social gatherings where drink is taken, certain subjects are best not discussed. Politics and religion being two of them.

A supreme being, your choice, be it Jehovah, God or Allah. I suspect that we have more Muslim Masons in Scotland though than we have Roman Catholics. We don't exclude Roman Catholics, their church does that.

I'm just about to leave my Mother Lodge, and move to a Lodge nearer home. It will be nice to come in and sit and listen, I've been in office continually for eighteen years. I started as Bible Bearer just after becoming a Master Mason, and I've been through every office since, some several times.

Mason = love of fellow man - the near 20 years of hatred spewed by you on here. Right.

 

[Ralph Llama]

I mean.... i do not know if there is any truth in this... but ... do you guys dress goats up and ... ..well ...you know ?

Joseph Freiherr von Hammer-Purgstall

Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall (1774–1856) associated a series of carved or engraved figures found on a number of supposed 13th-century Templar artifacts (such as cups, bowls and coffers) with the Baphometic idol.
In 1818, the name Baphomet appeared in the essay by the Viennese Orientalist Joseph Freiherr von Hammer-Purgstall, Mysterium Baphometis revelatum, seu Fratres Militiæ Templi, qua Gnostici et quidem Ophiani, Apostasiæ, Idoloduliæ et Impuritatis convicti, per ipsa eorum Monumenta[39] ("Discovery of the Mystery of Baphomet, by which the Knights Templars, like the Gnostics and Ophites, are convicted of Apostasy, of Idolatry and of moral Impurity, by their own Monuments"), which presented an elaborate pseudohistory constructed to discredit Templarist Masonry and, by extension, Freemasonry.[40] Following Nicolai, he argued, using as archaeological evidence "Baphomets" faked by earlier scholars and literary evidence such as the Grail romances, that the Templars were Gnostics and the "Templars' head" was a Gnostic idol called Baphomet.

His chief subject is the images which are called Baphomet ... found in several museums and collections of antiquities, as in Weimar ... and in the imperial cabinet in Vienna. These little images are of stone, partly hermaphrodites, having, generally, two heads or two faces, with a beard, but, in other respects, female figures, most of them accompanied by serpents, the sun and moon, and other strange emblems, and bearing many inscriptions, mostly in Arabic ... The inscriptions he reduces almost all to Mete[, which] ... is, according to him, not the Μητις of the Greeks, but the Sophia, Achamot Prunikos of the Ophites, which was represented half man, half woman, as the symbol of wisdom, unnatural voluptuousness and the principle of sensuality ... He asserts that those small figures are such as the Templars, according to the statement of a witness, carried with them in their coffers. Baphomet signifies Βαφη Μητεος, baptism of Metis, baptism of fire,[41] or the Gnostic baptism, an enlightening of the mind, which, however, was interpreted by the Ophites, in an obscene sense, as fleshly union ... the fundamental assertion, that those idols and cups came from the Templars, has been considered as unfounded, especially as the images known to have existed among the Templars seem rather to be images of saints.[42]

Hammer's essay did not pass unchallenged, and F. J. M. Raynouard published an "Etude sur 'Mysterium Baphometi revelatum'" in Journal des savants the following year.[43] Charles William King criticized Hammer saying he had been deceived by "the paraphernalia of ... Rosicrucian or alchemical quacks,"[44] and Peter Partner agreed that the images "may have been forgeries from the occultist workshops."[45] At the very least, there was little evidence to tie them to the Knights Templar—in the 19th century some European museums acquired such pseudo-Egyptian objects,[citation needed] which were catalogued as "Baphomets" and credulously thought to have been idols of the Templars.[46]

I mean... is it consensual ? And don`t give me any of that `you can tell my the look in their little eyes... it is allmost like they know what is going on ` crap

 

[Poot]

Alex Salmond asked me to play golf with him when I was 16*

*He was organising a tournament, which makes it a lot less interesting. And I said no because I was working. But that is literally my only 'I met a celeb' story and I'm damn well using it because I never usually get the chance.