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The blitz spirit

Posted on August 25, 2012 by

So we’re halfway through “an unprecedented weekend blitz of campaigning” by the No camp, trying to persuade Scots to stay in the Union (but without being Unionist, of course). Twitter was alive on Saturday morning with Unio- sorry, Better Together activists all loudly (and oddly uniformly) proclaiming the “great response” they’d had on the streets of Scotland from voters, and publishing the pictures to prove it.

For those of you who couldn’t make it out to one of the “events” yourself, here’s a taste of the sort of pulsating, dynamic and above all positive action you missed.

Alert readers will have spotted the above image previously. The interesting thing was the variants of it which were also released, such as this action-packed effort:

We can’t help but notice that Jim Murphy has gone missing between the two shots. Perhaps he had a pressing engagement elsewhere.

Meanwhile, up in Glasgow South yet another failed leadership candidate had taken to the streets to add to Ken Macintosh and Jackson Carlaw, with Tom Harris bolstering the troops outside the national stadium. We’re not entirely sure why, as Queen’s Park were playing away in Peterhead, but a picture posted on Labour Hame offered a clue.

We’ve included the LH caption, which proudly notes the addition of six people and a baby to the ranks, also suggests that the “event” had shut up shop almost as soon as it had started. The post appeared on Labour Hame at around 12.30 in the afternoon, which allowing for composition time suggests everyone must have cleared off by some time around noon at the latest.

In Govan, the team were a little camera-shy. Curiously, as far as we’re aware neither Johann Lamont or Anas Sarwar, the leader and deputy leader of Scottish Labour (not necessarily in that order) put in an appearance anywhere. Maybe they’re saving themselves for a big push on Sunday.

There were still plenty of big hitters, though, with Margaret Curran fighting her way through seething hordes of enthusiastic Unio- sorry, Team GB supporters in Parkhead.

Down in Galashiels, the “event” was more of a “one-on-one-chat”. We’re sure the response to Secretary Of State for Scotland Michael Moore from one of his fellow campaigners was great, though.

Sadly, Gordon Brown couldn’t make it to the extravaganza in his home town of Kirkcaldy. Probably busy with lots of Parliamentary business.

Excitement was high in Portobello, as tireless Labour activist and staunch Unio- sorry, devolutionist Duncan Hothersall showed off his natty bunnet and stoutly refused to touch any Tory blue balloons.

Standing room only at Porthlethen gala. As nobody brought a chair.

Due to cuts deeper and tougher than those of Margaret Thatcher, the No campaigners of Aberdeen couldn’t quite stretch to a trestle table, but they clung bravely to their giant banner despite the danger from the Granite City’s notorious crosswinds.

Rutherglen MSP James Kelly posted this one sideways, bless ‘im. We’ve fixed it.

As did poor Margaret McDougall in Irvine. Spun 90 degrees to the right, we note.

STOP PRESS! Celebrity overload in the streets of Glasgow, as Margaret Curran shows her commitment to anti-sectarianism by showing up in Parkhead AND Govan, standing surprisingly close to feminist icon Ian Davidson MP and some woman in a pink jacket who we’re sure we’ve seen somewhere but whose name escapes us for the moment.

Whoever she was, she didn’t hang around long, as she also had to pad out the attendance in Cambuslang, along with James Kelly and his bald mate with the glasses. At this point, the campaign started to resemble one of those Russian military parades where tanks go down Red Square, scoot off up a side street and rejoin the procession at the back, so that it looks as if there are twice as many of them.

Aware of the danger of spreading their resources too thinly, the entire Scottish Liberal Democrat Party turned up en masse for a focused thrust in Cupar.

In a series of tweets, we’d highlighted the campaign’s apparent failure to fulfil its promise of events in “every single Westminster constituency in Scotland”, based on the information contained on Better Together’s own Events page. We later got some hurt messages from the official campaign Twitter feed, pointing out that “Events drop of [sic] website when they are over”, and that there had indeed been an engagement in Stirling (above), for example.

By the timing of the messages in question (and that of our own tweets), it seems that pretty much the entire “blitz” had run its course nationwide by between 12 noon and 1pm. Any floating voters enjoying a weekend lie-in will seemingly have to remain unconverted. But that’s the nature of a blitz, we suppose.

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79 to “The blitz spirit”

  1. Paul
    Ignored
    says:

    Walked down a packed Ayr High Street at 1pm today and not a unionist in sight.

  2. Juteman
    Ignored
    says:

    Here’s the soundtrack from the events. 🙂



  3. Tony Boaks
    Ignored
    says:

    Balloons galore.

  4. Doug Daniel
    Ignored
    says:

    The woman in Kirkcaldy is Claire Baker MSP, wife of Labour heavyweight thinker, Richard Baker.

    Is it just me, or does the Stirling one look like the start of a wrestling match? “Come on challengers, who can beat me and my magnificent green jumper in the ring of steel?”

    Why no union jacks in the photo at Parkhead, I wonder…? 

  5. Doug Daniel
    Ignored
    says:

    Paul says:
    August 25, 2012 at 3:39 pm

    “Walked down a packed Ayr High Street at 1pm today and not a unionist in sight.”

    To be fair Paul, you can’t always tell them just by looking. You have to get them to take their shoes off to see if they have square feet, or try and knock their wig off. Or see if their spit has a blue tinge to it.

    No wait, that’s the witches in Roald Dahl’s book…

  6. clochoderic
    Ignored
    says:

    Re-posted from Newsnet:

    # clochoderic 2012-08-25 15:52
    I made a point of going to my local “Better Together” gathering this morning – with a view to a full and frank exchange of ideas – there was absolutely no sign of them anywhere. The only evidence that they MIGHT have been there was a solitary YES SCOTLAND leaflet lying on a bench.

    It later turned out that the town square was beginning to fill up with marchers for the Wallace Day rally and march to Elderslie.

    Draw your own conclusions …

  7. Juteman
    Ignored
    says:

    I wish i could read what is on the newspaper billboards in the Aberdeen photo. Hopefully something ironic.

  8. Juteman
    Ignored
    says:

    The Edinburgh photo would make a good ‘guess what is being said’ competition.
    I’ll go for the lady in the pink/red cagoule saying ‘look you!, just take a feckin balloon!.

  9. Iain
    Ignored
    says:

    ‘We can’t help but notice that Jim Murphy has gone missing between the two shots’
     
    Jim’s a skinny guy, he might be hiding behind the pallid little balloon on their right. In fact, he may actually be the pallid little balloon on the right.

  10. Arbroath 1320
    Ignored
    says:

    Oh Jeez Stu, I’m glad you stopped when you did, I don’t think my sides could have taken much more. 😆
    I was just about holding myself together until I got to your EXPERT description of the STOP PRESS. 😆
    Like you I was trying to figure out who had the pink jacket on. Now that I’ve had some time to muse over the photo I’ve come to the conclusion it MUST be yon wee wiffie who LOVES nothing better than to dig a variety of rabbitesque bolt holes. Mind you I still have the same problem as you, what the hell is her name?  This is a very lamentable position for me to be in but I’m sure, like your good self, her name will come to me at some point. 😀

    AS far as Skelator is concerned Stu I think the clue was there for all to see in the first photo, he didnae hae a tie on hence he wasnae planning to stay for any extended period of time. He probably heard that old “stairheid rammy” and his boss, whoever he or she is, were also in Glasgow, somewhere and he didnae want a telling aff because he’s no a unio…… 😆

  11. P G McLaughlin
    Ignored
    says:

    I read blogs but never comment. However I was at Govan Market from 11.50 to 12.15 and the only people there were Cncllr A watson and 3 others with a trestle table, a box of leaflets and some small Union flags. They were rather overshadowed by the two large Saltires flying atop one of the stalls and the singing from a group of Gospel singers.
    Later, I spoke to the YES  campaigners at Paisley Cross and they appeared to have gathered some signatures but further down at the Piazza no sign on Better Together at 1.15 pm

  12. Alan
    Ignored
    says:

    Hahahahaha… Hilarious…

  13. Adrian B
    Ignored
    says:

    Welcome PG McLaughlin,

    There seems to be a general pattern where Better Together have turned up late and gone home early. Face painting appears to have been non existent and not many balloons really on show.

    Difficult to tell how many events actually took place as on Thursday 50 or so were listed, but at about 11.30 this morning only 13 were showing on the Better Together events page.

    If these events were being taken off as they started, then it hasn’t helped to publicise them. Some muddying of the waters will probably be used to describe the days success. In contrast to the March on 22nd September taking place in Edinburgh appears to be far better organised – it would be good to see around 2,500 – 3,000 attending this event from right across the political spectrum as well as many who do not follow any particular party but do wish to see an Independent Scotland. I am sure the pictures will be better for this event also.

     

  14. Cuphook
    Ignored
    says:

    In their first major campaign exercise the Unionists have shown that they can’t get their support out. They achieved a fraction of the ‘event’ in every constituency and have made themselves a laughing stock. Blair McDougall, their campaign director, is claiming 60 happened. I hope he can give us facts and figures. Of course, we mustn’t forget the door knocking that they claim to have done and where they also got ‘really encouraging responses’.

    I had to laugh at Duncan Hothersall’s twitters this morning going on about the red balloons and the financing of Better Together. I’m sure he’ll be the toast of London, Tory dining clubs tonight. On second thoughts, if they do think about the good little ‘Socialist’ doing their work for them they’ll probably laugh at the things that they can buy.

  15. megabreath
    Ignored
    says:

    Perhaps,as has been suggested,I AM paranoid but I think the paucity of these events is highly instructive.A genuinely engaged public campaign would surely expect to have more contact with the populace than this dreadful effort and parties dedicated to genuine public debate would surely be open to prolonged public exposure at which the pro and contra could be explored fully.Instead,we have these poor efforts.Two points spring to mind.Firstly I dont think any of the unionist parties really believe in public engagement-the party decides,the public vote and the parliament rules.In between elections the role of the public is to shut up,put up and sup from the meagre info offerings the media provides.Secondly,the parties here,labour in particular,are so used to favourable treatment from the media I dont think they care about engaging with real people as such.Whatever happens on the streets a suitable story can always be fed out through the press/TV and the people lap it up etc.Of course in todays internet age this confidence may be misplaced,or not,but it is there for all to see.Witness the bold Mr Davidson ranting at a broadcaster who dares to show impartiality to the dreaded SNP.Any deviation from the accepted script translates as BIAS!!!!Aah well,mair power tae them cause,if this weekend is anything to go by,the NAW!! campaign is sinking under its own mediocrity.

  16. Juteman
    Ignored
    says:

    Apart from the Edinburgh/Portobello photo, where a stray woman was snared, is there any piccies of them engaging with the public?
    It simply looks like a coach party touring Scotland and getting a ‘team photo’ at each stop.

  17. CW
    Ignored
    says:

    I notice Alex Gallagher a.k.a. Braveheart there looking absolutely miserable defending the Union in Irvine.

  18. ronald alexander mcdonald
    Ignored
    says:

    Brilliant!  A lunatics day out. 

  19. Bugger (the Panda)
    Ignored
    says:

    These photos look like an album set from a Retirement Home bus trip with a few friends and family invited along to fill the bus.
     
    All that was missing were the the Kiss Me Quick hats and souvenir sticks of rock.
     
    Bless’em.

    I wonder if they’ll be getting the “I was there on—-” T shirts, in late 2014?

  20. Tearlach
    Ignored
    says:

    I’d put a few bob on the Sundays talking up a “day of triumph” for the BT mob, with Kevin McKenna in the Observer leading the charge.

  21. Bugger (the Panda)
    Ignored
    says:

    Come to think of it, did she who wears the red Angela Merkel jaiket actually appear at the same event as Nesferatu?

  22. Appleby
    Ignored
    says:

    I was in Ayr high street today early morning and late afternoon and I didn’t see them at all. Great job, guys. You can be sure if I had spotted them I’d have been happy to blether too. They must have been there a short time and packed it in early. I’ve no idea who the people in the Ayr photo are either.

  23. Gaavster
    Ignored
    says:

    I’ve just had a thought and I can t believe I didn’t think about it earlier….

    In picture number 1 at the top of this article from Ayr High St, the Bitter Together banner is fixed to the wall of……….

    WAIT FOR IT……

    YOU REALLY COULDN’T MAKE THIS UP…….

    THE WALLACE TOWER!!! 

    They really dont get it do they…. 

    and they very obviously don’t do irony……. 

  24. Adrian B
    Ignored
    says:

    I noticed this link on another political website.

    http://search.ladbrokes.com/searchonline/controller?N=0&Ntk=all&Ntt=scottish%20independence&Nty=1&D=scottish%20independence&Ntx=mode+matchallany&Dx=mode+matchallany&search=true&nsparam=search&nsvalue=true

    I was wondering what odds the bookies were offering on the Independence referendum. Bearing in mind that they tend to get things right more often than not.

    The odds for a No vote are 2/7

    The odds for a Yes vote are 5/2

    The bookies are offering odds/returns  therefor on a £10 bet placed today with the following returns

    No Vote £35 return + original £10 bet

    Yes Vote £4 return + original £10 bet

    So Ladbrokes think that as things stand two years from a Referendum that a Yes result is much more likely.   

  25. Bill C
    Ignored
    says:

    The pics remind me of the the hilarious Only Fools and Horses episode when the punters from the Nags Head take a day trip to Margate. Not many horses but plenty of fools!

  26. Arbroath 1320
    Ignored
    says:

    Weren’t they part of the “London on Tour” brigade who were shipped up to Scotland for the day Appleby? 😆

  27. Juteman
    Ignored
    says:

    Sorry Adrian. That’s 2/7 ON.

  28. Adrian B
    Ignored
    says:

    @Juteman

    Can you explain 2/7 on for me please? I take it the bookies think that No is a more likely outcome?

    Thanks 

  29. Rev. Stuart Campbell
    Ignored
    says:

    Yeah, you’ve got it backwards, Adrian. Yes at 5/2 would pay out £35 (including your stake back), whereas No at 2/7 would pay just £12.86. No is the current clear favourite.

  30. Embradon
    Ignored
    says:

    Adrian B
    £7 stake wins you £2

  31. Adrian B
    Ignored
    says:

    Thanks Rev,

    Still don’t understand. Sorry, it looked different to me. Never placed a bet in my life with a bookie. Don’t get the attraction of it, I would rather put the world to right over a pint or two.

    I do hope that they have this one spectacularly wrong

  32. Marcia
    Ignored
    says:

    I was in Perth today and there were about a dozen from the Tories and a few Labour handing out BT leaflets, not really engaging with the public. The only ones being talked to were friends of the one talking. I kept getting the same leaflet thrust in my face by the various activists as I made my way up and down the main shopping street, all rejected of course and I wasn’t the only one rejecting them. Perhaps I should have taken the leaflet and then binned it. The leaflet claims they (Westminster Treasury) saved the ‘Scottish Banks’. Had to catch a train so didn’t have time to argue about the nonsence being thrust on the gullible.

  33. douglas clark
    Ignored
    says:

    Adrian B,
     
    Odds fluctuate with events.
     
    My most successful gamble ever was when I saw an African American giving a spellbinding speech. I put a fiver on him to become President. The odds were phenomenal.
     
    The rest is history.

  34. Marcia
    Ignored
    says:

    p.s. another leaflet they were handing out  was about pensions that was the usual scaremongering crap.

  35. Silverytay
    Ignored
    says:

    Adrian B
    I dont normally bet , but when I was a poor apprentice a customer advised me to put a bet on Gordon Wilson winning Dundee West .
    I put £5 ! which was more than my weeks wages on Gordon winning and I was given odds of 8 to 1 .
    When I got back to work and told the customer what odds I was given the customer sent me back to the bookies to put a large bet on for him .
    The customer was so convinced that Gordon would win that i decided to bet all the money I had been saving for my holidays .
    Unfortunately by the time I got back to the bookies they had stopped taking bets on Gordon winning .
    The motto of this story is that the bookies do occasionally get it wrong .
    The good news for us would be if the bookies stopped taking bets on the yes vote winning .

     

  36. Marcia
    Ignored
    says:

    Silvertay

    If you put a bet on Gordon Wilson winning Dundee West you would have lost. It was the East he was MP for from 1974 to 1987.

  37. Silverytay
    Ignored
    says:

    Marcia
    oops very sorry .
    Been painting all day and a combination of paint fumes and vino does not go down well .
    I am at the stage where I can hardly see the t,v never mind the keyboard ! and before anyone starts it is not all down to the vino . 

  38. Tris
    Ignored
    says:

    ndee Campaign Day / Sunday, 26 August 2012 11:00

    Dundee, . (directions)
    Join Better Together on our National Campaign Weekend at our Street Stall in City Square, Dundee from 10am on Saturday 25th August…

    From the Website… the date is rather confused! 

  39. Marcia
    Ignored
    says:

    Tris,

    seems a waste of time on a Sunday as the City Square is normally deserted.  

  40. Arbroath 1320
    Ignored
    says:

    Darn it Marcia, you’ve seen through the MASTER plan! 😆
     

  41. Don McC
    Ignored
    says:

    Tweeting with a few #bittertogether peeps (the ones that haven’t blocked me yet) Juteman and it turns out there were “thousands” turning out but none are in any of the pictures because they’re “being responsible and not publishing pics of the general public on a social networking site”.

    Sounds plausible?
      

  42. Arbroath 1320
    Ignored
    says:

    In their dreams perhaps Don. 😆

  43. Adrian B
    Ignored
    says:

    Special thanks to donald clark and Silverytay for your comments. I think that I may have a wee flutter on the day of the National March in Edinburgh. Looking forward to this event big time, will be good to take part in this event which should bring thousands of like minded people together for the Independence cause.

    http://www.independenceforscotland.com/quick_glance.html

    I will do some background checking into the bookies as I am sure that I read somewhere that one of the bigger companies was owned or had an ex Tory on the board of directors.

    The biggest benefit to being an Independent country is that the decisions that effect us can be made closer to home for the good of the nation as a whole. at present devolution sadly lacks in too many areas, and devo max still leaves us tied long term to Wesminster. 

  44. Al
    Ignored
    says:

    One of the best posts EVER! 

  45. Christian Wright
    Ignored
    says:

    Bookies set odds based on where punters are putting their money. The odds reflect not what the bookies know about a race, but the behavior of gamblers who may or may not “know” anything.

     Consider this from the Caladonian Mercury Dec 27 2010:

    ” Incidentally, Paddy Power is currently the only bookmaker offering odds on the next Scottish Parliament. Labour is the clear favourite at 1/3. For First Minister, Iain Gray is the odds-on favourite with Alex Salmond trailing some way behind.”

    http://caledonianmercury.com/2010/12/27/some-interesting-political-bets-for-2011/0012880

  46. Jeannie
    Ignored
    says:

    Some of these pictures would make a good caption competition.  I’m especially drawn to the one of Harris’s team line-up outside of Hampden…….something along the lines of defending against an own-goal? It’s got that “hostage to fortune” look about it.  If only they had their hands crossed in front of their nether regions.

  47. Rableather
    Ignored
    says:

    Have to say though, they got their photos published. I have some fantastic ones from our Yes event last week and no where to publish them. Even the Johnstone Press local paper didn’t want them…. Strange that

  48. Jeannie
    Ignored
    says:

    Other half suggested that football teams who string so many defenders across the box are accused of “negative tactics”. Coincidence? I think not!
     

  49. James Morton
    Ignored
    says:

    Clearly the plan to “enthuse” us to the value of the Status Quo is to adopt a relatively harmless vicar of Dibley, Sunday fare market stall approach.

    “Would you like to try some our Jam dear?”

    “This jar is empty”

    “I know dear, but the vicar has promised Jam tomorrow if you buy this jar now” 

  50. Silverytay
    Ignored
    says:

    O/T
    Scoop it has an article from political betting which was originally in the sunday times suggesting that if A.S does not agree to a single question referendum that all three unionist party,s will conspire to hold the referendum next year on their terms .
    The unionists could not be that stupid could they ?
     

  51. Adrian B
    Ignored
    says:

    Here is the link

    http://www7.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2012/08/26/will-westminster-arrange-the-independence-referendum-before-alex-does/

    The Unionists are certainly very jumpy at present. Things will not improve over the next year. While I don’t think that it will happen. If they tried it I think that international outrage where a democratically elected Scottish Government had referendum policy overturned/interfered with would be considered unlawful and unjust. I think the YES campaign would get their 4.5% swing easily.

    It would be too big a risk for Labour to take on, although there are a few in the party that would be blind to that fact. I wouldn’t start worrying about it unless events start to unfold in that direction.

  52. Arbroath 1320
    Ignored
    says:

    The unionists could not be that stupid could they ?
    They’re UNIONISTS Silvertay, of course they are! :LOL:

  53. Angus McLellan
    Ignored
    says:

    Adrian B: The Sunday Times story is the political equivalent of “succulent lamb”: leaks by anonymous sources of improbable stories swallowed down with the lamb and the fine red wine by credulous journalists. Unionists have always been solid in their desire to avoid a referendum on independence at all costs. After all, “we only have to be lucky once; [they] will have to be lucky always”. And Cameron’s not the sort of “courageous” conviction politician to do something like this. Just look at the vague promises of an EU referendum that he is running away from.

  54. Juteman
    Ignored
    says:

    Did anyone notice if the jamboree happened in Dundee today? Unfortunately i couldn’t join in.

  55. Adrian B
    Ignored
    says:

    @Angus McLellen

    I agree,

    Cameron is a PR man, all he wants do to keep his anti EU backbenchers happy with a Neverendum which he also hopes will placate the threat of Tory voters voting UKIP at bay.

    Cameron did not care for the PR referendum, hence why it was done and dusted so quickly. He does not want to reform the House of Lords, hence why he made the statement that ‘he would try one more time to win the vote’ – kind of says vote no and the whole question goes away.

    Once back from the summer recess he will concentrate on getting boundary reform through which will a make a strong Tory Government much easier.

    At the next GE the Lib Dems get dumped and Labour will remain in opposition.

    Cameron is well aware that he would be doing more than playing with fire by actually carrying this out.

    The blustering , smearing, lies will continue from the Better Together lot. It is Labour that are the face of the campaign, so it is Labour that will get burnt in 2014 following a Yes vote.   

       

  56. MajorBloodnok
    Ignored
    says:

    Yes, for Cameron it is probably just posturing, but for Labour it’s serious.  As for the LibDems they have consigned themselves to the dustbin of history and are and will be of no account.
     
    No doubt Cameron sees the advantage of losing all Scottish MPs (that’s a lot of the opposition done away with at a stroke) and what with boundary changes in England that could mean perpetual Tory rule somewhere on the planet.  I’m sure it’s tempting….

    It’s thoughts like these that stop me getting depressed reading the lies, accusations and spin in the MSM.

  57. James Morton
    Ignored
    says:

    I may have said this before on this forum that I regarded this period as a sort of phoney war. But of late I have begun to see labours approach as the beginnings of a serious & genuine campaign; a very strange and understated it one it is too.

    Enthusing people about the status quo is quite difficult to pull off. I mean, how does one actually enthuse about no change whatsoever? You can only talk about how scary change would actually be. The problem then whith this approach is the whole bleak negative images that it conjures up. Better together actually offers nothing and the vision is…well…lacking in vision and confidence in the future. So what can they do but tread out the old hoary bromides and keeping needling at Salmond. Just read Darlings interview in the Independent (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/alistair-darling-hes-back-but-did-he-ever-go-away-8081388.html) Here the monobrowed enthuser of nothing still thinks Salmond was damaged fatally in the Leveson inquiry. He is still banging on about rescuing “scottish banks”, hell he even shows his lack of irony by accusing Salmond of “playing the man, not the ball” – I think they are so obessed with him, they can’t see anything straight anymore. They have boxed themselves in with no room to move or change their minds. When (as I suspect he will) Salmond opts for a single question, he will make absolutely sure that Labour carries the can for the lack of a second. I expect this attack to be piled on hard during the actual campaign. I also expect that Cameron will ensure that happens as well. I do not detect any great desire from him to be Labors bete noir, and take the heat for them.

  58. Arbroath 1320
    Ignored
    says:

    Sorry for being O/T here but could this be the reason that the BIG weekend turned out to be a damp squib! :LOL:
    http://www.neilbibby.com/newsdesk/polls/2-should-scotland-be-independent
    Go on you know you want to VOTE! 😀

  59. MajorBloodnok
    Ignored
    says:

    @James Morton
    Yes, regarding Darlings and his dark cohorts, it’s the classic Labour tactic to accuse the opposition of doing exactly what they are doing themselves.  It’s the text-book double think/speak that Orwell recognised and recorded coming from those political groups of his time, disposed to anti-democratic impulses (i.e. Socialists/ Fascists).  But I do hope that most Scots are wise enough to see through the bullshit and I am sure that when the campaign starts in earnest that it will be Labour that will have to do all the running to catch up, and that the MSM will have an even harder time trying to spin it their way (assuming anyone actually buys the Scotsman and Herald anymore by 2014).

  60. Davy
    Ignored
    says:

    Well at least there was a few ballons, I liked the blow-up ones.

    And just for your info, dont bother trying to comment on labour hame, they are blocking all comments that challege them and are only allowing comments that agree with them and couple of very soft disagree’s.

    You cant expect anything else from them, the cowards.   

  61. MajorBloodnok
    Ignored
    says:

    Yet another example of the double speak where they complain about so-called ‘cybernats’ trying to suppress the debate, whilst doing exactly the same thing themselves.  They wouldn’t know real democracy if it came up and kicked them in the erse (which I hope it does).

  62. Roll_On_2014
    Ignored
    says:

     
    I see that the photo with Staireid Rammy has Frank McAveety on it…..  it must have been his bus that was used to ship them round Scotland.
     

  63. Kenny Campbell
    Ignored
    says:

    It was all too much for Jim Murphy, he went to the pictures with his family last night according to Twitter :O)….can we now say damp squib rather than Blitzkrieg…….

  64. Jeannie
    Ignored
    says:

    Yes, I notice one activist is very helpfully holding a large balloon next to Frank McAveety’s head…………as if any further proof of Frank’s status were required!

  65. Appleby
    Ignored
    says:

    @Arbroath
     
    I see that his site is down for maintenance. I wonder if the poll will be tweaked while it is down like every other time it swung the “wrong way” on a unionist site?

  66. Arbroath 1320
    Ignored
    says:

    @ Appleby.
     
    Awe, the pair wee darlings cannae take the truth, even when it’s staring them in the face. Pair wee diddumses. 😆

    Just a wee side thought. Do they have ANY toys left to throw out their rickety old pram?

  67. Roll_On_2014
    Ignored
    says:

     
    Aye Arby
    Found this on another site:
    https://twitter.com/TheRealMcGowan/status/239845778007416832/photo/1/large
     
     

  68. Arbroath 1320
    Ignored
    says:

    @ Roll On 2014
    You can run folks but you cannae hide. LOL::
    They must REALLY hate being told to put up polls like this. Surely they know the answer they will get. 😀
    I guess things can only get better for them, as their 1997 campaign song goes.
    Oops, maybe not!
    http://www.snp.org/media-centre/news/2012/aug/darling-reveals-splits-tory-led-no-campaign
    I REALLY do think they should give some SERIOUS consideration to changing their campaign name from BETTER to BITTER. They certainly are acting like a bunch of BITTER individuals! 😆
     
     

  69. scottish_skier
    Ignored
    says:

    On the topic of Westminster/the unionist parties trying to hold their own referendum…

    Never going to happen as it could not happen. The only way a free and fair election/referendum can happen in Scotland is with the authority of the Scottish Goverment. The civil service is answerable to them, as are the police, emergency services etc ultimately. Never mind all those councils where the SNP form part of or control the administration.

    I suppose the unionists could try to storm town hall etc with bussed in activists. Fight off the police when they enter buildings illegally in an attempt to forcibly hold a referendum. Maybe frog-march people to the polling boths where they had managed to hold fort….    

    And then there’s the old court challenge thing. High court would not block a referendum by the duly elected Scottish Goverment which was deemed free and fair, but it would a forced one from a UK government with no mandate and no permission from the Scottish Government…

    Bluff and bluster from a very panicked Westminster. Nothing more.     

    Oh, and thanks for a good bit of lunchbreak entertainment once again.

  70. TYRAN
    Ignored
    says:

    I always think of Darling from Blackadder fame and how they ripped the piss out of him.

    No one really cared two craps about their little car booty stalls. You had Tavish Scott clearly state in plain English on national TV if you want indy vote SNP as that’s what you will get. And look what happened (next day was it?). You had a few experts come out saying it was not a vote for indy, yet were hopeless in their earlier predictions. Come on now.  

  71. scottish_skier
    Ignored
    says:

    Maybe better together should speak to the supermarkets. From what I’ve seen, they’ve loads of union jackery stuff unsold (looked like most of it actually) after the jubilee and olympics.

    Better Together could maybe get themselves a nice wee discount on stuff for their stalls.

    Hell if they were giving away jubilee mugs I might grab one myself just for a laugh at the office etc. A free mug is a free mug after all.        

  72. TYRAN
    Ignored
    says:

    re: earlier “energetic” talk. Have a look at Yes Scotland, Portobello from Saturday.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijI5HYZrhRw&t=0m30s  
     

  73. Arbroath 1320
    Ignored
    says:

    I’ve just heard that the Bitter Together group have finally made a decision. No nothing important on things like WHY we’re Better sticking to the union, no they have finally decided on their campaign song. 😆
     

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7u3KeIsi-OI
     
     
     

  74. seven
    Ignored
    says:

    Here’s Dundee’s jamboree
    http://www.dundeewestend.com/2012/06/better-together-dundee-launch.html
    3 labour cooncilers and one Fibber, no sign of Mcgovern or marra though

  75. Arbroath 1320
    Ignored
    says:

    WOW! There WAS a Bitter together visitation in Dundee after all! :LOL:
    “Speaking with Dundee people in the High Street”
    I’m sorry I didn’t quite catch that. Speaking to Dundee people in the High street was that? Well unless my eyes deceive me, which they probably do, I count around FIVE people. Well, what can I say, that must have taken all of 5 minutes, almost as long as it probably took to arrange the photo shoot. Oh by the way the radio reporter doesn’t count as one of your five either!

  76. Silverytay
    Ignored
    says:

    seven
    You did not expect mcgovern to turn up did you . He will make all the right noises to keep himself in with the party but I would imagine that will be the extent of his commitment .
    Like most labour politicians he will keep his eye on what way the wind is blowing and jump accordingly . If I remember right he is sponsored by the g.m.b and I am sure I read somewhere that the g.m.b were to hold a vote on contesting seats where the labour m.p was no longer looking after union interests . As he was one of the 32 who signed the motion praising the private sector within the n.h.s in England I am sure that would have went down like a lead balloon with the g.m.b .
     

  77. Appleby
    Ignored
    says:

    Seeing the Bitter Together’s tragic flops is rather heartening. Especially when we see that they are still relying on old easily (or already) disproven and countered propaganda and lies. Weak efforts and old material from them is a great thing.

  78. Clarinda
    Ignored
    says:

    I can’t believe they’re not bitter t’gither

  79. mutterings
    Ignored
    says:

    Charles Kennedy joined the bitter together blitz last weekend: Charles Kennedy campaigning for BetterTogether



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