The Yes movement, like almost all movements, is plagued with a small but incredibly loud faction of intolerant, destructive extremists. Alert readers will have noticed that this site has again been the victim of them this week, but we’re not alone. They’ve also gone after two print publications – The National and iScot – over their “transgressions” against the beliefs of these self-appointed arbiters of what people are allowed to think.
What those two outlets and Wings have in common is achievement.
I went to “Dunkirk” at the cinema today. If you want to know what it’s like, just watch this trailer 40 times in a row and save yourself the £12.
It’s a poor movie, disjointed and aimless and curiously lacking in tension or narrative given the real-life subject matter. (It’s remarkably short on dialogue, which is lucky because you can barely make out any of what little script or story there is from behind the endlessly howling one-note airhorn of the soundtrack. It’s a bit like someone filmed an IKEA assembly manual in live action during a Formula 1 race.)
But I couldn’t help thinking that part of the reason it was so unengaging was because it felt akin to watching a boxing match between two fighters you don’t like. If Mike Tyson took on Tyson Fury, would you cheer for the rapist or the anti-Semitic homophobe?
Deep in the summer news desert, the papers today are struggling for material again. The Sunday Herald has a shock-horror front-page exposé about some photos from an Orange Lodge party that turn out to be from 2010 and 2013, while the Scottish Mail On Sunday reaches all the way back to 1940 to fill a couple of pages.
We were intrigued to hear Labour activist Duncan Hothersall tell radio listeners this morning that his party’s opposition to independence was rooted in “Labour values”, and most specifically by his assertion that “nationalism and socialism are opposites”.
So we thought we’d take a look back at our last Panelbase opinion poll, which we conducted in February, and see what the values of Unionists were.
We haven’t said much about the huge furore whipped up by the Guardian in recent days around spurious allegations of racism/online abuse by supporters of Scottish independence, made first by Sadiq Khan and then by a deranged “Better Together” activist who also thinks all vegans are racist (or something).
Partly that’s because we covered the initial speech by Khan and the fallout from it pretty extensively, and partly because we didn’t want to feed the Guardian’s clickbait.
However, when the activist who was allegedly “hounded off Twitter” in fear for her life – fear caused by supposed comments that nobody has actually seen – miraculously recovered her bravery less than a week later (coincidentally just in time for the launch of her book), we thought it was probably time someone started keeping some records.
The votes for “God Save The Queen” being driven by Tories, English-born residents and supporters of a particular football club probably won’t come as the biggest shock in the world to anyone.
(Alert viewers will of course have noticed that due to MI5 INTERFERENCE in the poll, there were actually two votes for Hoots Mon, which have been suspiciously rounded down to one. We are conducting an investigation, by which we mean brutal purge.)
Hatey McHateface on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “On the subject of shite, Dan, it’s interesting that you have nothing to say to a poster who not only…” Jul 29, 08:13
Hatey McHateface on The Nobodies: “Racist yesterday, Alf, and now fascist today. You academics don’t half like to throw the big, complicated words around. How…” Jul 28, 19:54
Andy Wiltshire on The Nobodies: “Apropos of nothing, Rev, what ever happened about Lynsay Watson? Was any kind of justice ever served?” Jul 28, 18:26
Alf Baird on The Nobodies: “Indeed, “another lesson learned” is that fascist colonialism always has the ultimate method in its toolbox, if assimilation disna wirk,…” Jul 28, 16:06
Dan on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “I had also wondered what Monsier Pantalon in Scottish thought about the GSA situation. Robin ain’t happy. http://robinmcalpine.org/an-elegy-for-scotlands-dark-age/ Was thinking…” Jul 28, 15:52
Chas on The Nobodies: “It appears Labour are shite. The SNP are useless. Lib Dems are nonentities. Tories are well Tories. Reform are the…” Jul 28, 14:09
Hatey McHateface on The Nobodies: “No connection between colonialism and democracy, Alf? Doesn’t postcolonial theory also have something to say about the dead ends the…” Jul 28, 13:54
Captain Caveman on The Nobodies: ““Labour: 22% (+1)” “Up 6 points in about 2 months and it is not a bounce.” “Since 14th May 2026…” Jul 28, 13:21
Hatey McHateface on The Nobodies: “Having exhausted all other decent options, Professor Baird resorts to trying the historically most fruitful one – blaming the Jews.…” Jul 28, 13:21
Dan on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “Are your posts still getting held in moderation Mr Scottish troosers? It’s jist that I haven’t seen several of your…” Jul 28, 13:11
sam on The Nobodies: “On May 14th 2026 the Labour MP, Josh Simons, announced his resignation in the Makerfield constituency in order to allow…” Jul 28, 13:07
Captain Caveman on The Nobodies: “Whether you like it or not (and whether you can even comprehend the implications – unlikely), the SNP has to…” Jul 28, 12:53
Cynicus on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “Breeks, I will occasionally re-visit this site in the hope of seeing a post by you, or by the one…” Jul 28, 12:47
Captain Caveman on The Nobodies: ““there is a Burnham bounce for now.” “Labour recorded in our tracker since September last year, and is up six…” Jul 28, 12:44
sam on The Nobodies: ““Although these three parties are all within the margin of error of our previous poll, this is the highest figure…” Jul 28, 12:28
Alf Baird on The Nobodies: “The “desire for independence” as you put it is entirely negated since the national party leadership enters into ‘an accommodation’…” Jul 28, 12:19
sam on The Nobodies: “I can only find surveys from 2023 about levels of trust the people in England and Scotland have in their…” Jul 28, 12:18
Aidan on The Nobodies: “Now that the approach to the UN has failed and been rejected, does that mean therefore that there is no…” Jul 28, 11:55
Captain Caveman on The Nobodies: “You’re trying to tell me things that are painfully obvious (and in keeping with what I myself have been saying…” Jul 28, 11:48
Captain Caveman on The Nobodies: ““Burnham Bounce” “Labour +1%” If that’s a “bounce”, Sam, I’ve got a bridge to sell you. 😀 Well within statistical…” Jul 28, 11:32
Alf Baird on The Nobodies: ““save for the moribund issue of the constitution” Its clear as day (except to colonialists it seems) that Swinney does…” Jul 28, 11:24
sam on The Nobodies: “While Scottish Labour elects another useless leader, there is a Burnham bounce for now. “Voting intention, 26-27 July 2026: Ref…” Jul 28, 11:11
Captain Caveman on The Nobodies: “Totally agree, Mincehead, red and blue rosettes both. Mind, I think most would agree that incomers hailing from Eastern Europe…” Jul 28, 10:42
Minceheid on The Nobodies: “Captain Caveman says: 28 July, 2026 at 10:02 am The product of years of counter-reality, supremely naïve, black-is-white doublethink politics…” Jul 28, 10:34
Captain Caveman on The Nobodies: “I admit nothing of the sort, Alf. As Stu notes in his piece (assume you read it, emphasis added): ‘……” Jul 28, 10:33
Alf Baird on The Nobodies: ““comparing the SNP to Labour is akin to looking at two near identical turds” So you finally admit that the…” Jul 28, 10:14
Captain Caveman on The Nobodies: “The product of years of counter-reality, supremely naïve, black-is-white doublethink politics of the Left forced down our collective throats has…” Jul 28, 10:02
Hatey McHateface on The Nobodies: “Hmmm. Yet I keep reading reports that across Europe, support for what the MSM likes to call the “far right”…” Jul 28, 09:41
James Che on The Nobodies: “Small in- fights To distract and hide behind from the bigger picture of collapsing GB, Every diversion has been used…” Jul 28, 09:32
James Che on The Nobodies: “The political union of blue labour and red tories , right being left and left being the end game, To…” Jul 28, 09:20
