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Dixie Elliot ✊When you are free to think for yourself you will always find the truth, no matter how hard others try to conceal it.

It was an honour to be in the Rathmor Centre last night as our comrade Séamus Kearney told of his life's journey.
 
A journey during which death as an IRA volunteer was a risk he willingly took in pursuit of Irish freedom.
 
The years of captivity within the concrete walls of the hell known as the H-Blocks.
 
Of finding out that his young brother, Michael was executed as an informer.
 
How he refused to let it break him and so he struggled on with his comrades, the Blanketmen and Women of the H-Blocks and Armagh Gaol until the very end when the selfless sacrifice of ten brave men brought about victory.
 
Even after he walked through the gates of Long Kesh, Seamus was still not free. Not while the innocence or guilt of his brother Michael needed to be proven. Not while the burden of his mother's plea to find the truth hung heavy on his shoulders.
 
His journey was a difficult one with many hurdles placed in his way.
 
But he overcame them and finally dragged the truth of his brother's innocence from those who had tried hard to conceal it.

Seamus gave Michael back his honour as an IRA volunteer and in doing so he also freed his gentle mother's soul so that she could die in peace.
 
But as he was to discover, those who finally told Seamus the truth about his brother's innocence still lied about the traitor Scappaticci who had taken his young life at the behest of his British handlers.
 
'He was innocent until proven guilty' they had told him, even though Volunteer Michael Kearney was denied the chance to prove his own innocence before three bullets took his young life.
 
This so called innocent man, Scappaticci, whom they had so rigorously defended finally proved his own guilt when he let his handlers spirit him away.

Thomas Dixie Elliot is a Derry artist and a former H Block Blanketman.
Follow Dixie Elliot on Twitter @IsMise_Dixie

Dragging Truth From Concealment

Belfast Telegraph ★ Written by Sam McBride.

31-January-2026

Stormont is a broken, hapless administration whose rambling incoherence is excruciating

This year MLAs have spent just nine minutes debating legislation in the assembly chamber — yet could find time to discuss everything from the traitors tv show to Donald Trump and 'blue Monday'

Few U-turns in Stormont's history have been both as sudden and significant.

Last Thursday, John O'Dowd's Department of Finance announced the outcome of 'Reval 2026' - a revaluation of business properties across Northern Ireland to decide how much each should pay in rates, the local property tax jointly controlled by Stormont and councils.

On Monday, O'Dowd stoutly defended the policy from criticism. He lambasted MLAs who queued up to question him and insisted he was standing over the policy.

Just 72 hours later, he abandoned this approach. It was a humiliating reversal of a major government policy, and has additional significance because it came from Sinn Féin's most capable Stormont minister.

What happened this week is significant in itself. But its far greater significance lies in what it reveals about the Executive.

Things in the Executive are bad, and they're getting worse.

Continue @ Bel Tel.

It Can't Go On Like This

Caoimhin O’Muraile  ☭ As the Twenty-Six-County administration led by Taoiseach, Micheal Martin, and Tanaiste, Simon Harris, prepare for their joint attempt to curry favour with US President Donald Trump they appear to have conveniently forgotten the atrocities committed by the US under this man.

As the bowl of traditional shamrock is prepared to be handed over to Trump, the bodies of countless Palestinians killed during US sanctioned Israeli bombings, during what Trump calls a ‘ceasefire’ brokered by him, are conveniently forgotten. 

Despite the fact that last year Donald Trump insulted the two leaders of Irish constitutional politics by not inviting them for the customary lunch at the White House they appear hell bent on giving him the chance to repeat the belittling. Last year Trump invited former Mixed Martial Arts and fellow rapist, Conor McGregor, to luncheon with him. No doubt the two perverts had much to discuss, and it will be interesting to see who he invites this year. 

Let’s get one thing straight, as far as Ireland is concerned, Trump is not Joe Biden who really absorbed the Saint Patricks Day celebrations, neither is he Barack Obama who also enjoyed the festivities, as did Bill Clinton. No, Trump only likes celebrating himself and bombing smaller defenceless countries like Venezuela whose oil he will half inch (pinch, steal). More recently the administration led by Donald Trump in the US has stooped to new depths when on Trumps social media site an image of former President, Barrack Obama, and his wife, Michelle, superimposed as ‘apes’ was uploaded for the world to see. This act really shows the administration up for what it is, racist, imperialist, dictatorial and above all else, immoral. Yet the leaders of the Twenty-Six-County government insist on visiting him even though Trump has no interest in the audience at all! It is called going through the motions!!

The depiction of the former President and his First Lady as ‘apes’ is as racist as anything Adolf Hitler used to describe Jewish people back in the days of the Nazi regime. Would the two Irish political leaders, knowing the persecution suffered by socialists, communists, trade unionists and, above all, Jewish people have visited Hitler in Berlin? Would they have used trade and ‘jobs’ to placate or even cultivate the tyrant? A hypothetical question and one which of course cannot be answered but the point is the similarities between Trump and Hitler. The difference between the two is one of extremities but principally they are pretty similar, both are/were power crazy, racist, narcissists, and bullies. Who knows how far Trump would go but for the, albeit inadequate, checks and balances in the US which Hitler in Germany dismantled when they got in his way. On that subject has it gone unnoticed the said checks and balances in the USA are being gradually eroded by the Trump administration? 

The Trump government has, on home soil, overseen their Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE), agents gun down unarmed protestors in Minneapolis. These protestors were guilty of nothing more than voicing their opposition to Tumps racist immigration laws. Apparently, such protests are no longer tolerated in Trumps USA. The Trump administration tried to claim one gunned down protestor, ICU Nurse Alex Pretti, was armed and dangerous! This was, of course, rubbish as are most of Trump's claims, but much of the media and social media swallowed this dollop of bullshit. Some in the media did speak out and I expect these people to suffer Trump's wrath in the future. It turned out the Nurse was carrying a mobile phone and not a gun at all. Can anybody tell me the difference between the actions of ICE with Presidential approval in Minneapolis and the actions of the Iranian Government who also gunned down and killed protestors in Tehran? Perhaps again the only difference was the numbers killed but principally those actions of the religious nutters in Tehran and those of Trump's mob are the same.

Trump's illegal bombing of Venezuela and the kidnapping of President Maduro should have been enough to cancel the visit. After all, would Martin and Haris have visited Vladimir Putin in Moscow after the invasion of neighbouring Ukraine? No, of course not, so why visit the racist white supremacist Trump? The images of Barack and Michelle Obama were disgusting and insulting to the offended couple and, I would imagine, the majority of US citizens! Micheal Martin regularly uses US investment in Ireland and ‘jobs’ as a cover to hide behind for going on this trip. Does he seriously believe, or expect us to believe, that by refusing to go to the US this year Irish jobs would be put in jeopardy? Does Martin really believe these jobs depend on him being ‘well in’ with the US president whoever that may be? What nonsense and an insult to people’s intelligence. US companies are not remotely interested in An Taoiseach’s relationship with the President; all they are concerned with is profit, and profit on profit at that. They come to the Twenty-Six-Counties because they do not have to pay high wages, weak trade unions barely worthy of the name, and very low corporation tax. These are the principle reasons these firms come to our shores and has nothing to do with Micheal Martin going to Washington, or not!

The main opposition party in the Dail, Sinn Fein, have finally come off the fence and stated they would not be attending this year’s events in Washington. Party leader, Mary Lou McDonald, and Michelle O’Neill, leader of the party in the Six Counties, announced “they will not attend St. Patricks Day events at the White House this year”. Mary Lou went on to state; “this is a principled stance in response to the call for the mass expulsion of the Palestinian people from Gaza.” These atrocities of the Trump gang and their partner in war crimes, Benjamin Netanyahu, were going on last year but Sinn Fein still attended the festivities! Why then and not now? Would it not have been more convincing to mention other wrongdoings of Trump, the bombing of Venezuela, the uploading of racist images, instead of just the Palestinian cause? The plight of the Palestinian people is terrible but has never been used by Sinn Fein in other years as a reason not to attend and looks a pretty weak excuse given the fact last year the same could have, and should have been said. Or could this be more about playing to a world audience? An audience increasing in size behind the plight of the Palestinians, could this be the real reason, a bit of political mileage and credibility perhaps?

All things considered, neither government or opposition should be attending the US festivities this year as the US President sinks to new depths. They should not have gone last year and the Conor McGregor experience over the lunch should also have told both Micheal Martin and Simon Harris something -  Trump treats them with contempt!
 
Caoimhin O’Muraile is Independent Socialist Republican and Marxist.

Would Martin And Harris Have Visited Hitler?

Lynx By Ten To The Power Of One Thousand Nine Eight Hundred And Seventy Nine

 

A Morning Thought @ 3056

Remembering IRA Volunteer Frank Stagg 🏴 on the 50th anniversary of his death on hunger strike.  

Frank Stagg 50th Anniversary

Jim Duffy ✍ Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is in deep deep trouble with the revelation that he leaked confidential information from his trade envoy role. 

That is something that is relatively easy to provide - based on his emails. Conviction for breaching UK Official Secrets Acts involves severe penalties, with espionage carrying up to 14 years in prison and unauthorized disclosures under the 1989 Act risking up to two years, say UK Parliamentary documents. Prosecutions are rare (less than one a year) and require Attorney General approval, targeting the mishandling or leaking of sensitive national security information, as reported by The House of Commons Library.
 
He escaped any prosecution over allegations by Virginia Giuffre because US prosecutors deemed her evidence too tainted to be relied on it court - with good reason. A criminal conviction requires proof "beyond reasonable doubt" but her evidence was deemed unlikely to reach that standard.
 
Firstly, fellow victims disputed her claims in a host of areas - blaming her use of drink and drugs. That she used them was entirely understandable given what she went though - but it meant there was a significant doubt over her memories.
 
Secondly, she had accused one person of abusing her, only to have to admit in court in a defamation case that she was wrong.

Both those would leave jurors unable to reach the "beyond reasonable doubt" threshold in a case where she was a witness. Jurors might even believe that the allegation was true, meeting the civil standard of "balance of probabilities", but that wouldn't be enough. They would have to have no reasonable doubt, and questions over her memory and reliability, and the fact that she admitted in one allegation she had named the wrong person, would leave jurors with a "reasonable doubt" - meaning they must acquit. (In percentage terms, "balance of probabilities" is akin to 51% likelihood, whereas "beyond reasonable doubt" is akin to 85-90% certainty.)
 
DAs as a result decided her reliability was not strong enough to win a case with her.
 
Nor would the fact that someone paid her money be evidence. Firstly, it could not be used as evidence. Secondly, prominent people are always advised to pay off a person making allegations even if the allegations are 100% false, as their reputation would be damaged just by the allegation. Charlie Chaplin's reputation was badly damaged by allegations in court by his second wife. She admitted decades later that the allegations were entirely false.
 
Fatty Arbuckle was found not guilty of the allegation that he had murdered actress Virginia Rappe. She had died from peritonitis caused by a ruptured bladder. She also had suffered from chronic urinary tract infections, and the alcohol she took at the party in his house, reacting to the infections, led to her death. However his reputation never recovered from having been tried for her murder, even though it was shown that he had nothing to do with her death. But the allegations alone destroyed his reputation.
 
Since then, all prominent people are told to pay off someone making allegations - no matter how untrue they are. Their reputation would be destroyed if the false allegations were made public. So every prominent person is told to pay off the person making the allegation to avoid the reputational damage of the allegations being made public.
 
So the Giuffre allegations were never likely to go to court as no DA thought she was a reliable witness who would deliver a guilty verdict. However the leaking of highly classified information is easily provable if he sent an email sending such documents to Epstein. That is why it is a far more dangerous allegation from the point of view of prosecution, and would lead to a very long prison sentence. It would not hinge on the reliability of a witness's memory, but on a simple paper trail in emails.
 
As to he giving evidence to Congress, that is extremely unlikely. Legally Congress cannot summon him. Given his disastrous interview with the BBC, and how disastrously he handled it, I cannot imagine any lawyer advising him ever to appear before Congress. A bit like Trump's lawyers' determination never to let him into the witness box, as they know he is incapable of telling the truth or controlling his temper, Mountbatten-Windsor's lawyers would move heaven and earth to stop him ever answering questions, whether in Congress or in court.
 
They will be more worried that he may have broken the Official Secrets Act. That is where the big danger is, though the Epstein files may contain other devastating allegations.

⏩ Jim Duffy is a writer-historian.

Deep Deep Trouble

Ukraine Solidarity Group ✊ A Digest of News from Ukrainian Sources ⚔ 11 January-2026.

In this week’s bulletin

⬤ Trade Union Confederation statement after January 9th Russian attacks.
⬤ Statement by Ukraine Social Movement on Venezuela.
⬤ Captivity and oppression in the Russian-occupied territories.
⬤ Problems of the Russian economy
⬤  Anti-war messages in Russian cities.

News from the territories occupied by Russia

Ukrainian, abducted as a teenager from occupied Donbas in 2019, sentenced by Russian court to 22 years (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, January 9th)

Ex-military and Ukrainian: No more needed for Russian ‘treason trials’ and massive sentences (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, January 9th)

The Face of Resistance: The Story of Crimean Tatar Political Prisoner Ismet Ibrahimov (Crimea Platform, January 9th)

‘Russian world’ in occupied Luhansk oblast: no heating and deliberately cut off from mobile telephones and Internet (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, January 8th)

Desperate plea from Russian prison: Ukrainian political prisoners need to be freed now, not after 'peace deal' (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, January 7th)

Crimean Political Prisoner Tofik Abdulgaziev in Critical Condition (Crimea Platform, January 7th)

The Woman Who Didn’t Break. Part Two (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, January 6th)

Monstrous 27-year sentence against Ukrainian civilian abducted from Russian-occupied Melitopol (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, January 6th)

Weekly update on the situation in occupied Crimea on January 6, 2026 (Crimea Platform, January 6th)

Even Putin supporter debunks Russia’s lies about a ‘Ukrainian drone attack on civilians’ in occupied Khorly (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, January 5th)

No answers & questions to Red Cross after Russia holds 64-year-old Melitopol journalist prisoner for third year (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, January 5th)

“You must not show that you are afraid”: Tales of captivity in the Kremlin-controlled “People’s Republics” (The Insider, January 5th)

News from Ukraine

Fire Point’s large missiles and contracts: the story of Ukraine’s most enigmatic defence company (Ukrainska Pravda, January 9th)

More artists killed in Ukraine (The Artist, January 9th)

Statement of the KVPU on the critical situation in Ukraine after January 9 Russian attacks (Ukraine Solidarity EU, January 9th)

‘Bro-wolfieʼ: The story of a soldier who survived in Mariupol and rebuilt his life (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, January 8th)

All change: why Zelensky needs to reshuffle Budanov, Fedorov, Shmyhal, Maliuk and other top officials (Ukrainska Pravda, January 5th)

Engineers, missile strikes and high technology: can Ukraine produce more weapons in 2026? (Ukrainska Pravda, January 4th)

Denys, a unionised railway worker on the front line (International Labour Network of Solidarity and Struggle, January 1st)

War-related news from Russia

Alexander Krichevsky of Izhevsk: Six Years in Prison for a Comment (Russian Reader, January 8th)

The rise and fall of the “Heroes of the Surgut Land”. How the Russian state works with memory of soldiers who died in the war with Ukraine (Mediazona, January 7th)

The streets speak. Anti-war messages in Russian cities (Mediazona, January 6th)

Timofey Anufriev Dies Fighting for Ukraine (Russian Reader, January 6th)

On thinning ice: After almost four years of war, Russia's central bankers are running out of tricks to keep the economy afloat (The Insider, January 6th)

The Story of Gordey Nikitin: 17 Years for “High Treason” (Russian Reader, December 31st)

Analysis and comment

Cedos held a discussion on the impact of research on policy change (Cedos, January 9th)

Behind the Contact Line: How would the 20-point peace plan impact the millions of Ukrainians living under Russian occupation? (Meduza, January 9th)

When Information Starts Working on Its Own (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, January 8th)

From master spy to lead negotiator: what does Zelensky's new chief of staff, Kyrylo Budanov, bring to the peace talks? (Meduza, January 8th)

Women’s Careers in STEM: Barriers and Motivations (Cedos, January 7th)

The Non-Peaceful Atom (Posle Media, January 7th)

Key challenges related to possible holding of an all-Ukrainian referendum on changes to Ukraine’s territory (Opora, January 5th)

Social Movement: What’s wrong with US aggression against Venezuela? (Ukraine Solidarity EU, January 3rd)

International solidarity

Ukrainian leaders in UK call for Kemi Badenoch to sack David Wolfson, Russian assets to be used to aid Ukraine (USC, January 8th)

Upcoming events

Thursday 15th January, at 7pm, Russia’s War On Ukraine, Us Strategy Review – Stopping The Authoritarians, organised by Ukraine Solidarity Campaign Scotland, register here.

Thursday 5th February, at 6.30pm. Try Me For Treason reading and discussion event at Clore Lecture Theatre, Birkbeck College Clore Management Centre, Torrington Square, London WC1E 7JL. Details here.

 

🔴This bulletin is put together by labour movement activists in solidarity with Ukrainian resistance. More information at Ukraine Information Group.

We are also on twitter. Our aim is to circulate information in English that to the best of our knowledge is reliable. If you have something you think we should include, please send it to 2U022ukrainesolidarity@gmail.com.


We are now on Facebook and Substack! Please subscribe and tell friends. Better still, people can email us at 2022ukrainesolidarity@gmail.com, and we’ll send them the bulletin direct every Monday. The full-scale Russian assault on Ukraine is going into its third year: we’ll keep information and analysis coming, for as long as it takes.

The bulletin is also stored on line here.

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News From Ukraine 💣 Bulletin 178

Seamus Kearney 🎤 In 1982 the British army formed the Force Research Unit ( FRU) and terminated the Special Reconnaissance Unit ( SRU).

But Freddie Scappaticci continued his work without hindrance as he was still attached to 39th Brigade and his unit Commander Gordon Kerr, still held overall command.

By this stage Scappaticci had a military serial number - 6126, but he was often simply referred to as '26' within close military circles. His code name was 'Steak knife', but the spelling was later altered by the media, not the military, and changed to 'Stakeknife'.

His serial number was later changed to 9001, but Stakeknife remained his code name. A special bunker was reserved for him, known as the 'Rat hole' in Thiepval Barracks, Lisburn and over the course of his long service with the military, Scapatticci accumulated a total of 18 handlers.

In 1983, as a result of the arrest of Robert Lean in Belfast, an arrest which threatened to wipe out the Belfast Brigade, Freddie Scappaticci fled South across the border and remained there for a number of months. Once Lean retracted his evidence the possibility of a 'Supergrass' trial collapsed and Scapatticci felt he was safe to return to Belfast. It was while he was in the Free State that he was promoted to OC of the Internal Security Unit in 1984, which saw his former OC, a British agent like himself, become his Adjutant.

In September 1983, after the Great Escape from the H Blocks of Long Kesh, it was Freddie Scappaticci and his SBS colleague who interviewed all escapees and quizzed them on their future plans, their whereabouts and their intentions on whether to vacate the country or return to Active Service with the IRA. Subsequently, all relevant information was fed to the Task Co - Ordinating Group ( TCG) and discussed at senior level.

After James Young was arrested by the IRA as a suspected informer, he was handed over to the ISU and held in a house South of Jonesborough, in the Free State. He was interrogated by Scappaticci and his colleague, the former Marine, over the course of 3 days in February 1984. When Scapatticci informed his handler on the location where Young was held, that information quickly went up the chain of command to the TCG and a decision was taken to contact the Gardaí in the South to send a rescue mission. Unfortunately for Young the Gardaí raided the wrong house in the Cul-de-sac and Young was frog marched out the rear door and across nearby fields, while the other Volunteers from the South Armagh IRA walked out the front door and into a waiting car. However, as the car left the scene it was flagged down by the Gardaí and the occupants checked. Before they were waved on a senior Gardaí officer surveyed one of the men and said:'Fancy you being a defence to anybody'.

This comment was an obvious referral to the IRA Court-martial of James Young, and it wasn't lost on the IRA Volunteers in the car, as they correctly linked it to Scappaticci and his colleague, as both men had already left the scene 24 hours earlier.

James Young was duly executed after admitting his guilt on 13th February 1984, five days after his abduction and left on a roadside near Crossmaglen in South Armagh.

The South Armagh IRA clearly identified their informer and had grave reservations about Scappaticci when he questioned James Young about IRA operations in the South Down area, Young 's area of influence, and on the identity of other key IRA personnel, which had nothing to do with Young's arrest.
They later contacted the IRA leadership in Belfast and told them not to send Scapatticci to them again, pointing out that they suspected him of being compromised. Despite their protestations, the South Armagh IRA was ignored and Scappaticci kept in position to wreak further havoc inside the IRA 's command structure.

Seamus Kearney is a former Blanketman and author of  
No Greater Love - The Memoirs of Seamus Kearney.

Stakeknife 🕵 The Rise And Fall 🕵 Act Ⅴ

Lynx By Ten To The Power Of One Thousand Nine Eight Hundred And Seventy Eight

 

A Morning Thought @ 3055

Gary Robertson ⚽ Scottish Cup weekend provided some with a welcome distraction from the league.

And with the possibility of a “giant killing” always on the table fans headed to stadiums across the country, some in hope rather than expectation but all with a sense that “this is the cup, strange results happen in one off games.” 

The weekend opened with Championship strugglers Airdrie hosting Premiership St Mirren. With a mere 19 mins on the clock a Devaney rocket flew past Airdrie's Stone giving the keeper no chance and it looked like it could be a long evening for the North Lanarkshire men. Controversy in the 36th minute had many asking why VAR wasn’t in operation as the home side's Barjonas was wrestled to the ground by King inside the box only for man in the middle Clancy to wave away claims for a penalty, leaving home fans enraged and in my opinion rightly so. Rarely do I find myself agreeing with pundit Craigan but on this we do. If VAR was in operation that was a spot kick. 

Second half however belonged to the men from the Albert Bartlett. Spurred on by a sense of injustice and resolve as well as a passionate home crowd Airdrie found their way back into the game, a Henderson shot eluding all, making it 1-1 - . . . and the first potential shock of the weekend could be on the cards. A combination of smart defending, top goalkeeping and wasteful finishing meant by full time there was nothing to separate the two and extra time would be needed, penalties if need be but a winner had to be found. 

Always a champion of the underdog I was by this point routing for Airdrie but Saints' Idowu had different ideas and his shot slamming into the back of the net on the 115th minute the game was up for Airdrie. The home side deserved much more, they worked their proverbials off, matched St Mirren in all areas of the pitch and on another night with a different referee or VAR we could and probably should have been looking at Airdrie progression. 

Saturday saw postponements for both Aberdeen and Dundee United as God in his infinite wisdom decided that the already sodden North East of Scotland needed yet more rain, leaving both pitches unplayable. This left only 3 cup games and a smattering of fixtures further down the leagues with Peterhead’s match also succumbing to the weather. Cup replays to be played 17th and 18th of February
.
One match however that did go ahead saw league one leaders Inverness home tie with East Fife. The home side dispatching the visitors with ease and maintaining their grip at the top of the table. A comfortable 3-0 victory, three points clear, a job well done as they strive to push back to the Premier League. Bearing in mind they produced seven seasons in the SPL the last being only in 2017. 

Saturday afternoon matches saw a Chris Kane double help Dunfermline take care of Kelty Hearts and almost 3,000 at Borough Briggs watched a five goal thriller where Partick took care of business coming out 3-2 winners against home team Elgin. 

And so came Celtic …. A 5-30 kick off and with the renewed spirit of times past at Celtic, I mean what could possibly go wrong? 

From the moment of kick off though the home team appeared nervous almost as if the weight of expectation was too much for them. Some sloppy defending (which has been the hallmark of Celtic's season so far) yet miraculously the score remained 0-0 at half time. 

Now I’m not privy to what’s said in the dressing room at half time but I find it hard to believe MON turned around to “Super Liam” Scales and said “I want you to go out there and have your worst ever performance for Celtic Liam” . If those were the instructions he certainly obliged and in the 49th minute Dundee's 48 Ethan Hamilton's left foot shot from 20 yards curled into the net. In all honesty it was no less than the visitors deserved. Celtic 0 Dundee 1. Nervy times among the fans who did attend a half empty Celtic park, the result of a boycott and protest against the board. Indeed it wasn’t difficult to pick out individual voices and some choice words for the performance and for Dermot Desmond et al. That’s football politics and TBH I’d rather avoid that although I can assure you at 6-45pm I was questioning my life choices and whether or not the fans had a point. 

The second half saw a slew of missed chances, off the line clearances and wasted opportunities. It looked very much like we were about to have our first cup shock of the weekend. A mini shock perhaps but a shock nonetheless. Despite end-to-end football the clock slowly ticked round to the 90th minute. Injury time. Cup favourites heading out, the Dens Park faithful jubilant. Stoppage time. Five minutes. Five precious minutes to save a season. Cometh the hour (or the 96th minute) cometh a new hero. In chaotic scenes somewhat reminiscent of Adam Idah's late cup winner against the Rangers, with time ticking away and all hope having packed its bags and waiting for the final whistle to end Celtic's miserable season a beautiful cross from Tounekti was audaciously back heeled into the net by the coolest man on the pitch, Celtic's deadline day signing Junior Adamu. The stadium erupted, he’d pulled us back from the brink, let’s get on and win this now Celtic. So they did, as very quickly into the first period of extra time McCowan found Tounekti who’s goal sent Parkhead into raptures and only some fabulous goalkeeping from the Dundee stopper kept the score down. Celtic prevailed and onward to the next round. 

Now thing I feel I have to comment on “the penalty that was a penalty but was instead offered up as a free kick”. I’m an old man, I’ve watched football pretty much all my life and how Graham's push Inside the box on “Stan” Cvancara was judged so quickly by VAR to have not been a penalty And for them to release the VAR ruling to the fans (via Premier Sports) at Half Time. Baffles me. Did they realise they’d made a mistake and needed to cover it up quickly? I don’t want to go down the “paranoid fan” road here but if it quacks, walks and looks like a duck chances are it’s a duck. Either way in the grand scheme of things it doesn’t make any difference. It would be nice to see consistent refereeing and for two incidents, exactly the same, in two games to be met with similar outcomes . . . Scottish referees yeah!

The other I have to question was the boot in Kieran Tierney's face. The Dundee player received a yellow for this yet other times straight reds have been showing for such dangerous play. Did Murray mean it? You’ll need to ask him but once again the referees should be asking themselves some very delicate questions. Tierney was poleaxed and had to be substituted. Incredibly dangerous reckless play. I wish Kieran a speedy recovery. ❤️‍🩹 

Sunday saw the Rangers out to avenge their 1-0 humbling by Queens Park at Ibrox during the Clement period. 

What followed was an emphatic victory for Danny Rohl's men. What a difference a year makes. An eight goal demolition followed including a hat trick for Rangers captain James Tavernier sending the boys in blue through with ease to the next round. A tortuous afternoon for Queens Park but one that will be fondly remembered by Rangers' Ryan Naderi who scored his first and second goals for the club. The pick of his and of the whole match being his bullet header in the 8th minute to start the party for the Ibrox men. A kid of 22 with a very bright future ahead. A shrewd piece of business by Rangers. Remember the name. 

To wrap up the weekend we were blessed with a match on Terrestrial TV as Stenhousemuir took on Falkirk at Ochilview. Granted, not a match of high quality but I’ve seen worse 0-0 draws this season. The action was relentless and as the scoreline suggests there was nothing to choose between the Premiership side and League one Stenhousemuir. Extra time settled the argument though and a strike from Falkirk's Spencer in the 104th minute seemed to crush the spirit of Ochilview and Falkirk quickly added a second in the 108th minute from the head of Barney Stewart. 

No shocks but some very close calls, plenty of goals, talking points and a few controversies. 

The quarter final draw was made soon after the airing of the Falkirk victory, and their reward a home tie against either Dundee Utd or Spartans but the tie of the quarter final has to be the Glasgow Derby when the Rangers host Celtic. 

The full draw is as follows 

St Mirren v Partick Thistle
Falkirk v Dundee United/Spartans
Rangers v Celtic
Dunfermline v Aberdeen/Motherwell

Ties to be played on or around 7/8th of March 

TBC . . . 

🐼 Gary Robertson is the TPQ Scottish football correspondent.

Sodden Sheep, Scales, Scrapes And The Scottish Cup

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