Alex Salmond, former Scottish First Minister, has been found not guilty on 12 of the sexual assault charges facing him, while another charge was found not proven. His defence barrister said in his summing up “I’m not here to suggest he always behaved well or couldn’t have been a better man on occasions. I’m dealing with whether or not it was established he was guilty of serious, sometimes very serious, criminal charges, which require a “very, very high standard of proof”. They were majority verdicts.
The Times reports that at least another four women have made complaints to detectives in Scotland about Mr Salmond’s alleged behaviour in London, which will be considered by the Metropolitan Police.
There are suggestions that a political conspiracy from within the Scottish National Party lay behind some of the charges, with suggestions that Nicola Sturgeon may be damaged by the fallout. Commentators point to the bitter internal war in the SNP since the lost 2014 independence referendum, with supporters in the fight-on Salmond camp up against supporters of the more cautious Sturgeon. There is talk of Salmond suing the Scottish Government for their handling of the matter before criminal charges were laid.
What an unholy guddle.
Salmond, 31 December 1954 4.30pm Linlithgow, Scotland, is a highly articulate and powerfully charismatic man, an astute politician with a considerable ego, who lead Scotland to near independence, but also suffers from questionable judgement, notably in taking on a talk show with the Putin-backed Russia Today network.
He is facing a whole raft of negative influences this year and for several years following, which he’ll approach with his usual bullish confidence. From late this month and through April tr Neptune is conjunct his 10th house Mars which usually accompanies a sense of panicky-failure, and that influence repeats in September and next February. His Solar Arc Midheaven is moving to a downbeat opposition to his Saturn, exact within weeks; and even more discouraging and trapped, his Solar Arc Mars moves to square his Pluto, exact in 2021, but in effect within a few months. Tr Saturn is also in hard aspect to his Jupiter Uranus square Neptune this August through to November which will dampen his enthusiasm. Tr Pluto will then oppose his Uranus Jupiter in 2021/22 which will put him into confidence-overdrive, determined to make waves, but his Solar Arc Saturn, already catching the dreary, deprived conjunction from Pluto in 2020/21 will oppose his Jupiter Uranus by 2022 for a dead-halt and setbacks. 2022/23 also sees tr Neptune conjunct his 10th house Moon, which doesn’t suggest career success or voter popularity; and that latter coincides with Solar Arc Neptune conjunct his Sun. It should be crawl into a bunker and stay there time, except he’s unlikely to go quietly.
Nicola Sturgeon, 19 July 1970 3.16 pm Irvine, Scotland, has bolstered her popularity with her response to Boris’s Brexit and the CV19 crisis. She does have tr Saturn opposing her Cancer Sun and square her Jupiter through the autumn which will be discouraging; and some career losses from late May onwards. But that could be due to myriad reasons.
Her relationship with Salmond who was her mentor, was never as cosy as the red carpet moments. His controlling Pluto is conjunct her Midheaven so he would shape her career but also insist on having total control; and his ambitious Mars opposed her Pluto for what clearly turned into a bitter power struggle.
Their relationship chart has a friendly and affectionate composite Sun Venus conjunction. But also a one-upmanship Jupiter Pluto conjunction – initially that can provide a surge of joint enthusiasm pushing the pair onto success but when it falls apart – as it usually does – the energy turns inwards and creates a tussle for the last word and the upper hand. There’s also an unkind and one-sided composite Saturn square Mars which suggests a partnership where one partner has to sacrifice their needs to prevent arguments; and Mars is also in a volatile and no-compromise square to Uranus. Their friendship has been under immense pressure since the 2014 Referendum with the tr Pluto square tr Uranus hitting on the composite Sun Venus and tr Neptune undermining the Jupiter Pluto.
The two SNP charts, 14 December 1933 and 7 April 1934, are in upheaval over the next two or three years; with hints on both of a major and confident push in 2023.
“A defence witness at the recent trial of Alex Salmond has described him as a “creep” despite the former SNP leader being cleared on all charges. Alex Bell, who served as a speechwriter and special advisor under the former First Minister, said Mr Salmond had been cleared in court by effectively arguing “I’m sleazy, but not criminal”.
He continued: “Salmond is driven by a core insecurity which is compensated for by a determination to defeat all comers.
“Why’s he insecure? I’m a writer, not a shrink. What I do know is that he will not step back. He’d rather win the argument than be right. Though the two may be confused in his mind.
https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/alex-salmond-revealed-be-creep-despite-acquittal-claims-witness-2518746
That’s a great example of an article to post on here Marjorie. The Daily Record was the first newspaper to publish the AS case ”allegations’ following David Clegg political editor, and close friend of Leslie Evans Head of the Civil Service in Scotland, received leaked confidential data from the Civil Service Department. It won’t be too long now before we hear about him and the Daily Record again as they feature highly in the next AS court case.
………….
Miss F who accused Alex Salmond of attempted rape on the 10/11th September 2014.
‘Shelagh McCall then turned to the accusation of Ms F, that she had been indecently assaulted by Alex Salmond in the early hours of 10/11 September 2014. Mr Mutch testified that during the 2014 referendum campaign both he and Ms F had accompanied Alex Salmond on tours, sometimes separately and sometimes together. On 12 September they had all three travelled by helicopter. He was shown a twitter post by Ms F made on 12 September at 6.45pm stating “extraordinary day in Indyref to Aberdeen, Dundee, Inverness, Perth”. Mr Mutch said they had all been together from about 9am until about 9pm on the helicopter tour finishing at Gleneagles where they stayed the night.
Shelagh McCall QC asked how Ms F seemed that 12 September: “on good form, professional, buoyant”. How had she interacted with Alex Salmond “relaxed, normal, sitting next to him in the helicopter”.
Shelagh McCall then led Mr Mutch to February 2015, when he was working on a book about the referendum campaign. Ms F had sent him her campaign diary as source material. Ms F’s diary entry for 11 September (immediately following the alleged assault) read:
“Up at 7am. Heard Alex Salmond on Good Morning Scotland. Began making my way to International Conference Centre. Having to stand in the hot hall handing the microphone to journalists taking its toll, particularly after the whisky the night before. By contrast Alex Salmond is sharp in response to the questions, particularly from Nick Robinson.”
Scottish Rape Crisis have been campaigning to abolish the ‘not proven’ verdict for some years now:
“· The not proven verdict is used disproportionately in rape cases. In 2016/17, only 39% of rape and attempted rape cases resulted in convictions, the lowest rate for any type of crime. Nearly 30% of acquittals were not proven, compared with 17% for all crimes and offences.”
“Gordon Jackson QC, defending Salmond, stated the modern day was now a “victims’ world”. He referred to some of the lesser charges as “trivial”. Jackson said Salmond “could be inappropriate” and “a bugger to work for”. Although Jackson apologised for trivialising the lesser charges, the tone was clear – the #MeToo had gone too far.
Rape Scotland said: “We fear that the nature of the defence in this case, which focused on trivialising behaviours that would amount to sexual assault, risks turning the clock back on any progress we have made moving towards a better conversation about sexual violence.”
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/women-were-up-against-goliath-21742384?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sharebar&fbclid=IwAR3BQS5gwT-8GYzZkVoLKYSzci-vrF2SId29GMATggCwsVS2VLdshCMxDU0
Haven’t followed the case, but the allegations were always going to be difficult to prove conclusively for a guilty verdict.
Just looking at the astrology chart, however, I was not surprised that this is the chart of a person caught up in sexual assault allegations. Firstly, there is a such a surfeit of water in this chart which suggests porous, dissolving boundaries – maintaining boundaries could be highly challenging. Water signs can have a certain emotional vulnerability so they can be secretive (‘mute’) and retreat behind a veil of privacy – the interior world will be very well protected. Looking at the aspects – Venus conjunct Saturn in Scorpio. On one hand, this can suggest fear but also the need for control, possessiveness, even domination around Venusian issues. Then there is Moon conjunct Mars in Pisces. This can suggest impulsiveness, brashness, feelings which are quickly aroused or inflamed, assertive action based on instinctive feelings. I think there is a Moon, Pluto, Neptune yod configuration in this chart too, which reinforces these themes. Porous boundaries, issues around domination and power. Astrologically, there certainly are stresses around the interaction with the feminine.
Thanks Sarah. Insightful.
Missed the fact the birth chart has a Scorpio Venus, Lilith and Saturn in the fifth house square Pluto which is potent, and with 8 planets in a grand trine, there is formidable, blockbuster power in this chart. Perhaps the challenge with such an incredibly powerful chart is how to manage that energy constructively. Uranus (ruler of the 8th) is conjunct Jupiter. Jupiter likes to expand, inflate, push boundaries, push one’s luck even? His lawyer has been in the news today for overheard comments.
The attempted rape case was basically decimated as it was found that the “victim” had lied about attending a meal with 3 others at Bute House on the night of the attempted rape. The second attempted rape case exposed the fact that the “victim” had willingly had a snog with AS in his bedroom, while clothed, and went on for years after working for him and praising him to high heaven. Hence his defence’s comment of “I’m not here to suggest that he always behaved well.”
The others .. hand on knee in taxi, tweaking someone’s hair, suggesting dancing with someone, hand on backside on stairs etc were all found to be untrue due to witness statements and basically laughed out of Court. Eight of the jury members were women and could clearly see right through what was going on.
At least 6 of the 9 (10 initially but one dropped out) female complainants (maybe more when the truth is revealed by AS), 1 SNP politician and the rest Civil Servants / their aides, were on a WhatsApp. Their messages revealed in Court that they were planning to bring him down to ensure that he didn’t return to politics.
Alex Salmond, by the way, had already sued the Scottish Government and won his case last year. His case wasn’t against Nicola Sturgeon or the ScotGov per se but against Civil Servants such as the Head Leslie Evans and Metropolitan cop MacKinnon who went on to become ScotGov Head of Advice in 2018. His only legal route to outing them was to sue the ScotGov which cost us over £600,000 when they had to scuttle off and settle out of court.
And now we hear that they’ve found 4 more women to put the boot in even although no one in Linlithgow where he grew up and went to high school ever had a bad word to say about him. Nor when he attended St Andrews University, College, worked for the Royal Bank of Scotland, Agricultural and Fisheries Association, decades working at Holyrood and Westminster and met thousands of women worldwide.
Marjorie, sometimes I find your interpretations too pessimistic. I was born 11 January 1955, two weeks after Salmond. My Sun at 20 Capricorn is opposite the Jupiter-Uranus conjunction at 25 Cancer. So is Chiron at 28 Capricorn.
I find that any aspect to that conjunction ends up being fortunate althouth the days and weeks leading up to it can be difficult. There is a release and a surprisingly fortunate advance immediately afterwards, sometimes large, sometimes small. Even the recent transiting Saturn opposition was lucky, although there was increased tension beforehand.
Were it only his Jupiter Uranus he’d be fine, it’s all the rest of the influences which are a touch hair-raising. Time will tell.
Hint – lay off the sherry….bye…..
Haven’t touched the stuff in decades.
Your site your rules, but for the record I’m not a conspiracist nor am I paranoid.
Hint – avoid cliched jargon terms that have an echo of Trumpists about them.
Thanks Marjorie
The composite Pluto (Jupiter) so close to the ascendent degree signifies Plutonic themes characterise the relationship I think. So dark, Shakespearean style power plays, backstabbing, lust for ascendency and conspiring in dark corners with, ultimately, a fight to the death, metaphorically speaking. As a Scot myself I’m interested in the outcome of course. Craig Murray’s blog identifies the clear schism between the ambitious careerists with questionable passion for Independence under Sturgeon, and the Salmond wing who are much more red blooded on the topic. My hunch is, Pluto again, he was stitched up by the Britnats and Deepstate nodding dogs who rightly see him as a serious threat to the Union.
Alex, I haven’t been following the minutiae of this – but methinks you need to keep your conspiracy paranoia under wraps until more emerges. I can’t cope with any more Deep state huff and puff.