@Holebender: Mr Picky? They don’t usually have sandbags these days if they are hot air balloons, like the one in the cartoon. But helium balloons might.
Let’s call it artistic license. Do you still get those at the post office?
Love it,
But to continue the pedantry theme, the U-poster, spoof or not, is for chips not fish. Scotland produces a lot of the seed potatoes relied upon in the UK and beyond because the colder Winters naturally control blight, a cause of embarrassment once when this fact was pointed out to EU ‘experts’ who had pronounced Scotland was not the place to grow potatoes. Mind you it is ditto for fish.
Ballast in a hot air balloon would have its uses in situations where an immediate altitude increase might be required, However altitude can, albeit more slowly, be increased (and indeed decreased) by varying the rate of heat applied from the burners.
O/T (sorry)
FAO Yes campaigners: our group still has loads of last year’s Declaration Cards with the old Yes Scotland address; DON’T chuck them; fix them: Save your Old Declaration Cards. After all, WE are paying for the resources.
Funny thing about ‘Too Wee, Too Poor, Too Stupid’. i’ve been watching the Lord Of The Rings Extended Edition with the commentaries (so i’ve been at it since about Christmas), and i’ve just finished watching it with the Art Dept commentaries. Here’s a bunch of amateur Kiwis who built this extraordinary thing from the ground up with no real training, no permission from the big boys, just regular people doing their best in their home country, and the intense, real pride they have for having done this on their own terms in New Zealand is beautiful.
So there’s a bunch of people in a country smaller and poorer than Scotland who produced pretty much the most successful films of all time, and they didn’t have to go to LA or London.
if the Kiwis could do that, what do you think the Scots could do with a wee bit of self-belief?
…
My beautiful, my beautiful balloon
The world’s a nicer place in my beautiful balloon
It wears a nicer face in my beautiful balloon
We can sing a song and sail along the silver sky
For we can fly we can fly up, up and away
…
Up, up and away from Westminster
Nairn Clark said: i’ve been watching the Lord Of The Rings Extended Edition with the commentaries (so i’ve been at it since about Christmas), and i’ve just finished watching it with the Art Dept commentaries. Here’s a bunch of amateur Kiwis who built this extraordinary thing from the ground up with no real training, no permission from the big boys, just regular people doing their best in their home country, and the intense, real pride they have for having done this on their own terms in New Zealand is beautiful.
So there’s a bunch of people in a country smaller and poorer than Scotland who produced pretty much the most successful films of all time, and they didn’t have to go to LA or London.
I watched that lot with a friend over New Year. I thought exactly the same thing.
Yeah, well, I didn’t get a chance (take a bow Seasick Dave). Besides, I never thought the wee bugger was going to turn up again!
Anyhoo, Hamish is fine by me.
If I ever had any doubts about the need for Scotland being an independent nation , they were dispelled for me on a visit to tesco,s Coatbridge at the weekend .
At the entrance to tesco,s there was a charity stall collecting food to put into hampers for the poor .
What a damning indictment of the type of society we live in today when old people are dying of hypothermia and family,s are having to rely on food parcels just to survive .
How has a rich country like Scotland came to this ? this is 2013 not 1913 .
I hope the people who have brought us down to this level rot in hell .
Sorry folks but I just showed the lion to my mum she loves him and suggested he should be called Dandy-(Dandylion). Before I get my coat she then suggested just Andy after our patron saint.
I just had an interesting conversation with my dear old mother at the weekend. She is a staunch unionist: very old school, “No, No, No” type. However, following events last week, I detected an ever so slight change of thinking. It must have been quite a shock to shake her determination. Her concerns are about Europe (wants Scotland to remain), followed by a sudden awful realization that the tories may now get back in after 2015. So, her argument has weakened from “Stronger together, Britain is great” line to the “we are too wee, too poor” excuse.
She is still against independence per se, but she is already relating the 2014 referendum to the in/out European one. What I have noticed about my mum is that if she thinks that Scotland is “too wee, too poor” to leave the UK, she also believes that the UK is “too wee, too poor” to leave Europe. So it may be which scenario does my mum feel least uncomfortable with: An independent Scotland in Europe, or a dependent Scotland in an isolated UK?
If such a hardcore no voter can be affected by these recent events, what is happening to the huge soft no vote? My mum still has a long way to go before she would think of voting yes, but the subtle seeds of doubt have been sown. I am convinced that the Better Together campaign has been seriously wounded by Cameron’s promise of a European referendum.
I’m a patriotic Scot called Parsley,
I still think Cool Britania rules the waves
Tho’ I often shout and speak so very harshly
I’m really not particularly brave
Though retaining copyright, I am leaving the matter of future uses for Hamish at the moment in the hands of the Rev. I’m hoping for some work elsewhere in the broad church that is the Yes Campaign and can’t rule out deploying Hamish on other platforms if they wish. Not unless the Rev comes in first with an obscene amount of money for exclusive rights …
O/T Apparently 27,000 better Together signatures have been sent to the SG, demanding that the phrasing of the referendum question is now changed, according to the Electoral Commission’s advice, which appears to have been deliberately leaked in advance prior to publication tomorrow. The leak is of great concern. How did the MSM and Better Together get hold of it? Can we trust any “impartial advice” the EC now provides?
What do you think Salmond will do about the question? Do you think he will ignore the EC’s advice and provoke a No shit storm, or will he modify the question slightly?
muttley79
I think it depends on the detail of the suggested “adjustment”. If it looks very similar to the roiginal (e.g. “should Scotland become an independent country?”), then, on past form, the SG may go for it. A ferocious MSM attack is to be expected, either way, but the real people out there will be looking for a common sense agreement.
I don’t think micromanagement of the question matters anymore. This is part of the long game, the seeds have been planted and the people already know it is Independence YES or NO? regardless. Any slight deviation from the original proposed question by the EC won’t be opposed.
It’s not the question that matters anymore, it’s ensuring that the people know exactly what the outcome of a YES or NO vote really means.
The FM will produce a landmark White Paper on Independence and YES will campaign on the back of it, the question will almost become irrelevant as the answer ‘YES’ becomes the focus rather than the question itself, if you know what I mean.
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BLMac on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “No doubt the result of any enquiry (it may just be another carrot for the remaining gullible SNP members) will…” Sep 30, 23:16
charlie on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “Time to start kicking the can down the road, slowly and judicially with only the public paying.” Sep 30, 22:38
Hatey McHateface on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “@ am firinn says:30 September, 2026 at 8:58 pm “Exactly what legislature do you think passed the Scotland Act 1998?”…” Sep 30, 21:32
am firinn on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “Exactly what legislature do you think passed the Scotland Act 1998?” Sep 30, 20:58
am firinn on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “Remind me what institutions “Scotland” had to raise against these sections in 1998?” Sep 30, 20:57
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “Apologies to Mark Beggan. I was 2 minutes later than you.” Sep 30, 20:05
agentx on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “Adopting Alternative International Frameworks The review is explicitly tasked with examining alternative Law Officer models used in other jurisdictions. The…” Sep 30, 19:57
Hatey McHateface on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “And he’s back. And he’s put the cracked record on again. Readers new to this saga might not know that…” Sep 30, 19:37
Ross on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “Playing devil’s advocate… Who will the Lord Advocate be accountable to if not the Govt? The Parliament?” Sep 30, 19:34
Hatey McHateface on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “When required to register for the daily attendance allowance. Just like in the HoL.” Sep 30, 19:07
Hatey McHateface on Whatever Can Have Happened?: ““This really is a “made in England” problem” Of course it is. How many times must we be told? Scotland…” Sep 30, 19:05
Alf Baird on Whatever Can Have Happened?: ““which is what puts the Lord Advocate above the law” Indeed, which also tells us that it is not the…” Sep 30, 19:04
agentx on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “No major institutional or governmental objection was raised by Scotland against section 44(1)(c) of the Scotland Act 1998, which makes…” Sep 30, 18:36
am firinn on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “It’s all very well the Scottish Government consulting on this. However, s44(1)(c) of the Scotland Act 1998, which establishes that…” Sep 30, 18:01
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “« They will attend meetings of the Scottish Government cabinet only when required. »” Sep 30, 17:39
Mark Beggan on Whatever Can Have Happened?: ““…only when required..” Required for what? Not that we don’t trust a word they say.” Sep 30, 17:37
Spartan 117 on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “Hmm. To quote Mr. Spock, “Fascinating”. Entirely disconnected to certain recent going on, I’m sure.” Sep 30, 17:18
robertkknight on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “Must be an election in a couple of days and our rancid SNP Government needs to appear, I stress appear,…” Sep 30, 16:18
Hatey McHateface on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “As a matter of fact, Andy, Memmi predicted exactly this in one of his publications. But I’m not telling you…” Sep 30, 15:45
Hatey McHateface on Whatever Can Have Happened?: ““the former judge leading the review is himself a former Lord Advocate” I see. Everybody else must have been already…” Sep 30, 15:37
Sean Duffy on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “There will be no meaningful change. The politicians have the police and the judiciary firmly within their grasp. They won’t…” Sep 30, 15:34
Willie on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “Interesting nugget Colin Dawson about arrangemnts not so long ago being considered as ” appropriate “. Well according to Big…” Sep 30, 15:28
Stuart MacKay on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “Sadly no. You forgot a pithy quote from a prominent intellectual who was working with the CIA.” Sep 30, 15:16
Colin Dawson on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “In March 2026, just two months ahead of the last Holyrood election, the Scottish Government published an initial internal report…” Sep 30, 14:30
Willie on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “Cannot for the life of me guess why this has arisen Rev. Maybe Big John of the Independent minds she’s…” Sep 30, 14:15
Hatey McHateface on The Turning Point: “@Aidan You can see why it’s so important to sell the “colony” lie. Real former colonies don’t have to shoulder…” Sep 30, 13:52
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Aidan on The Turning Point: “Yes and you could always take the view that since Scotland would be a new state, it cannot have any…” Sep 30, 13:26
Smashin!
Just lovely. Hopefully in 2 years it will be for real.
One wee pedantic quibble… hot air balloons don’t use sand bags, do they?
They need balast of some sort Holebender unionist politicians might be more preferable but sand is fairly inert, thinking of it ….
They used to. Most modern ones have more sophisticated air control that does away with the need, but lions can’t afford the fancy tech.
Vote Yes for fish.
link to pbs.twimg.com
Brilliant, love it
The funny thing is, cynicalHighlander, it’s easy to believe that’s a genuine naysayers’ campaign poster. Theirs are that dire!
Actually that’s the most compelling one yet. If there’s a threat to chips, it’s No for me.
@Holebender: Mr Picky? They don’t usually have sandbags these days if they are hot air balloons, like the one in the cartoon. But helium balloons might.
Let’s call it artistic license. Do you still get those at the post office?
Oh, I am loving that Lion! We need him on tshirts, posts, mugs, tea towels 🙂
“Actually that’s the most compelling one yet. If there’s a threat to chips, it’s No for me.”
The blight of Blighty on you.
It does seem that hot air balloons don’t require ballast as that must be made up in the weight of the gas cylinders, life is a learning curve.
Love it,
But to continue the pedantry theme, the U-poster, spoof or not, is for chips not fish. Scotland produces a lot of the seed potatoes relied upon in the UK and beyond because the colder Winters naturally control blight, a cause of embarrassment once when this fact was pointed out to EU ‘experts’ who had pronounced Scotland was not the place to grow potatoes. Mind you it is ditto for fish.
I still think the first one that needs to go is the “too stupid” one. After that’s gone, the rest follows.
OT
Looks like everyone’s cropping photos these days
link to facebook.com
Ballast in a hot air balloon would have its uses in situations where an immediate altitude increase might be required, However altitude can, albeit more slowly, be increased (and indeed decreased) by varying the rate of heat applied from the burners.
Okay, the point has come where I officially can’t tell if the picture CH has linked to is a piss-take, or a genuine BetterTogether brainfart.
I mean, I would have thought the lottery one was a parody if I hadn’t seen it from their Twitterfeed with my own eyes first…
So I’m asking a serious question here: is that genuine?
(Chris’s cartoon is brilliant, incidentally. Absolutely love it!)
I was a bit confused too but as far as I can work out, it was made by Radical Independence Conference
link to facebook.com
I love the wee lion! (Maybe mention Chris’ name in the article?)
“I love the wee lion! (Maybe mention Chris’ name in the article?)”
The caption has his name and a copyright message.
O/T (sorry)
FAO Yes campaigners: our group still has loads of last year’s Declaration Cards with the old Yes Scotland address; DON’T chuck them; fix them: Save your Old Declaration Cards. After all, WE are paying for the resources.
Funny thing about ‘Too Wee, Too Poor, Too Stupid’. i’ve been watching the Lord Of The Rings Extended Edition with the commentaries (so i’ve been at it since about Christmas), and i’ve just finished watching it with the Art Dept commentaries. Here’s a bunch of amateur Kiwis who built this extraordinary thing from the ground up with no real training, no permission from the big boys, just regular people doing their best in their home country, and the intense, real pride they have for having done this on their own terms in New Zealand is beautiful.
So there’s a bunch of people in a country smaller and poorer than Scotland who produced pretty much the most successful films of all time, and they didn’t have to go to LA or London.
if the Kiwis could do that, what do you think the Scots could do with a wee bit of self-belief?
…
My beautiful, my beautiful balloon
The world’s a nicer place in my beautiful balloon
It wears a nicer face in my beautiful balloon
We can sing a song and sail along the silver sky
For we can fly we can fly up, up and away
…
Up, up and away from Westminster
The best ideas always appear simple. This is very, very good!
LOL McLeo, the McLion… He’s awesome….
Upwards and away. Brilliant illustration and message..
Nairn Clark said:
i’ve been watching the Lord Of The Rings Extended Edition with the commentaries (so i’ve been at it since about Christmas), and i’ve just finished watching it with the Art Dept commentaries. Here’s a bunch of amateur Kiwis who built this extraordinary thing from the ground up with no real training, no permission from the big boys, just regular people doing their best in their home country, and the intense, real pride they have for having done this on their own terms in New Zealand is beautiful.
So there’s a bunch of people in a country smaller and poorer than Scotland who produced pretty much the most successful films of all time, and they didn’t have to go to LA or London.
I watched that lot with a friend over New Year. I thought exactly the same thing.
Chris, take a bow! Another great one for (what’s the name again?) the Lion!
Hamish 😀
I thought he’d pick something else.
11 out of 10 from me. Nae limits
@CE Marshall
I thought he’d pick something else.
Yeah, well, I didn’t get a chance (take a bow Seasick Dave). Besides, I never thought the wee bugger was going to turn up again!
Anyhoo, Hamish is fine by me.
Cracking message, though I am of an age where I can’t help but think of Parsley the Lion. Sorry, I’ll taking my kicking now thanks.
Hamish reminds me of Rory Superscot, mascot for the (74?) world cup squad. Happy days…well, until we got there.
“Hamish reminds me of Rory Superscot, mascot for the (74?) world cup squad. “
First thing I thought when I saw the EU cartoon.
Absolutely brilliant!
As an early bedder it fairly cheered my morning, thank you.
O/T A Must Read speech from Allan Grogan, courtesy of Munguin
link to munguinsrepublic.blogspot.co.uk
Thanks for hat link Richie, a real laugh out loud moment!
Presses imaginary ‘like’ button.
———-
This is one to watch:
link to bbc.co.uk
Commons set for crucial boundary change vote
If I ever had any doubts about the need for Scotland being an independent nation , they were dispelled for me on a visit to tesco,s Coatbridge at the weekend .
At the entrance to tesco,s there was a charity stall collecting food to put into hampers for the poor .
What a damning indictment of the type of society we live in today when old people are dying of hypothermia and family,s are having to rely on food parcels just to survive .
How has a rich country like Scotland came to this ? this is 2013 not 1913 .
I hope the people who have brought us down to this level rot in hell .
O/T I see Britain is going to get involved in Mali. Where are they getting the troops ????
@ Silvertay
Rotting in Hell is far too good for those people. Anyway, as I’mfairly certain that’s where I’m heading I have no wish for their company!
“The caption has his name and a copyright message”
I don’t see any caption?
“I don’t see any caption?”
All pics have captions. Hover the mouse pointer over the image to read them.
@Aucheorn
There’s a reason for Mali
Mali: A Country on the [oil and gas] Cusp?
link to geoexpro.com
You didn’t think it was just helping out to be nice did you?
Bit of competition going on for access to the black stuff too by the looks of it.
Is Qatar fuelling the crisis in north Mali?
link to france24.com
Yeah, well, I didn’t get a chance (take a bow Seasick Dave).
I haven’t stopped bowing, Chris!
Its beautifully simple and perfect for a postcard.
Are we allowed to copy it?
Sorry folks but I just showed the lion to my mum she loves him and suggested he should be called Dandy-(Dandylion). Before I get my coat she then suggested just Andy after our patron saint.
Loved the cartoon!
On Mali and other matters, Belgian MP Laurent Louis tells it like it is:
#
Boorach I will give you a toast when we get there , we can always have a bit of fun by making sure these ****** stay in the hottest part .
I just had an interesting conversation with my dear old mother at the weekend. She is a staunch unionist: very old school, “No, No, No” type. However, following events last week, I detected an ever so slight change of thinking. It must have been quite a shock to shake her determination. Her concerns are about Europe (wants Scotland to remain), followed by a sudden awful realization that the tories may now get back in after 2015. So, her argument has weakened from “Stronger together, Britain is great” line to the “we are too wee, too poor” excuse.
She is still against independence per se, but she is already relating the 2014 referendum to the in/out European one. What I have noticed about my mum is that if she thinks that Scotland is “too wee, too poor” to leave the UK, she also believes that the UK is “too wee, too poor” to leave Europe. So it may be which scenario does my mum feel least uncomfortable with: An independent Scotland in Europe, or a dependent Scotland in an isolated UK?
If such a hardcore no voter can be affected by these recent events, what is happening to the huge soft no vote? My mum still has a long way to go before she would think of voting yes, but the subtle seeds of doubt have been sown. I am convinced that the Better Together campaign has been seriously wounded by Cameron’s promise of a European referendum.
Hamish was my Dad’s name. (OK his name was James but you know what I mean. Everybody called him Hamish.) I approve this nomenclature.
He’s a kind of continuation of Turnbull’s lion. Are these drawings collected anywhere? I can’t find any online.
@Morag
They are indeed a nod to Turnbull – see my posting at the end of the Bull Bridge thread.
Well spotted!
I think Hamish is a great name!
I’m a patriotic Scot called Parsley,
I still think Cool Britania rules the waves
Tho’ I often shout and speak so very harshly
I’m really not particularly brave
One for the older readers.
Hope you don’t mind – I’ve just installed it as my desktop background.
@ Luigi
You clocked that too? 🙂
MacLeod – surely?
@Seasick Dave
Though retaining copyright, I am leaving the matter of future uses for Hamish at the moment in the hands of the Rev. I’m hoping for some work elsewhere in the broad church that is the Yes Campaign and can’t rule out deploying Hamish on other platforms if they wish. Not unless the Rev comes in first with an obscene amount of money for exclusive rights …
Macart:
“I’m a patriotic scot called Murphy…..”
O/T Apparently 27,000 better Together signatures have been sent to the SG, demanding that the phrasing of the referendum question is now changed, according to the Electoral Commission’s advice, which appears to have been deliberately leaked in advance prior to publication tomorrow. The leak is of great concern. How did the MSM and Better Together get hold of it? Can we trust any “impartial advice” the EC now provides?
@Luigi
What do you think Salmond will do about the question? Do you think he will ignore the EC’s advice and provoke a No shit storm, or will he modify the question slightly?
@ Luigi
Herbs that speak, I believe in. Murphy as a patriotic Scot? 😀
Modify the question. Shoot another NO fox.
muttley79
I think it depends on the detail of the suggested “adjustment”. If it looks very similar to the roiginal (e.g. “should Scotland become an independent country?”), then, on past form, the SG may go for it. A ferocious MSM attack is to be expected, either way, but the real people out there will be looking for a common sense agreement.
I don’t think micromanagement of the question matters anymore. This is part of the long game, the seeds have been planted and the people already know it is Independence YES or NO? regardless. Any slight deviation from the original proposed question by the EC won’t be opposed.
It’s not the question that matters anymore, it’s ensuring that the people know exactly what the outcome of a YES or NO vote really means.
The FM will produce a landmark White Paper on Independence and YES will campaign on the back of it, the question will almost become irrelevant as the answer ‘YES’ becomes the focus rather than the question itself, if you know what I mean.
So IF this is leaked, can only the MSM and the BT mob actually see the details? Have MI5 installed a Cybernat filter online?