Mind. Blown.
Posted on
August 01, 2014 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
The referendum is NEXT MONTH, everyone. NEXT MONTH.
The referendum is NEXT MONTH, everyone. NEXT MONTH.
Wings Over Scotland is a (mainly) Scottish political media digest and monitor, which also offers its own commentary. (More)
Wings of Scotland has contributed massively to Scotlands frdeeom keep up the sterling work
What he said.
I haven’t got enough information, what referendum….?
Ahh crap, is it 2014 already? Must do some research and figure out how to vote. Then again, why no just be positive and tick the Aye box?
🙂
At work we are noticing more folk taking yes badges and windae posters. People are engaging now !
What date next month?
I was in Edinburgh yesterday and I looked up from the bus stop on Queensferry Road, and saw the Union flag fluttering above Edinburgh Castle, and my first innocent thought was how out-of-date it looked.
It’s been a looooong time coming.. This is Scotland’s year, 2014, our future!
C’mon in and say hello all of you long time lurkers..
More Yes poster springing up every day around where I stay. Only see 1 No tiny sticker on a window.
We will owe you big time Stuart when the YES vote storms in a landslide.
You have my thanks for opening my eyes to the lies and bias of the MSM and for helping me join a fantastic bunch . Wingers make me a proud Scot. and no …BUTS about it.
I reckon a party atmosphere could be helpful as the vote draws near – positive vibes and some confident fun. Most people aren’t that interested in the details of the currency, EU and economy discussion. Many will vote based on mood.
Got it. On it.
Remember, each of us need only persuade one other to vote Yes, and we’re there. Yahoo!
Dunblane, the village in which the shivering, coal counting, landed aristocracy of central Perthshire shops around for 2nd hand, tweed underwear, is adorned with YES signs in windows & gardens.
Suddenly it’s as if an air of quiet confidence has infected the people who, just six months ago, would have been too nervous to actually admit their voting intentions in private, never mind post in on a sign in their garden for all their plummy accented landlords to see.
Only now, am I genuinely confident of a YES next month.
Well done Stu and all the terrific contributors. I’d like to apologise to anyone I’ve offended (except the Britnats, obviously) and reassure people that we’re all on the same side. This is a broad church with one defining character; the desire to determine our own futures.
Vote Aye!
It’s been completely fantastic though and shown our masters to be mad, bad and sneaky creepy lying hypocrites eg. I challenge anyone to read any this from one of the most conservative shit piles in the west and not lol
link to telegraph.co.uk
“Jackie Baillie, a Scottish Labour MSP, added: “This is just the latest in a long line of scare stories from an increasingly desperate campaign. Dennis Canavan should apologise for deliberately trying to scare and mislead Scots.”
Aye its almost time, we are starting to get that tingly feeling, its just like xmas eve when you were a kid.
Here’s a question for you all, what would you like to happen first with independence?
“For me, it would be to put in place a welfare system that removes the need for FOODBANKS as soon as possible”, no more starving people for a political idea.
As someone once said, Yeah baby.
Be alert.. the voting starts when the postal votes go out on the 26th August..
Grahame @ 4.11
I agree, it’s time to brush up on all the arguments for Independence…be ready to give the DK’s who are looking for answers the right answers and that will lead them to YES…Let’s do this.
(not so) Far out man.
“Ah don’t know enough aboot it. Naebiddy telt me …”
“How dae ye spell X?”
But I thought it was all over! Prof. Curtis , according to the Scotsman, has dissected the last few polls and thinks that The NOs are on to a winner! More or less saying it’s in the bag for NOs!
Maybe some Nos will believe him and not bother voting! That would be ironic!
Kin some kind Winger set ma Alarm fur me ah dont want tae miss the Vote.
It’s coming yet, for a that.
I couldn’t have survived these last months without Stu,s blogs! I’m so much more knowledgeable! Thanks to all who have put up such great comments and links. We have to do this!
STV has posted details of the format & viewing platforms of the First Minister’s debate with “Flipper” Darling next week.
link to tinyurl.com
I’m disappointed but not entirely surprised to see that England will instead, be treated to Episode 1 of the 3rd series of “The Dales”, the long running & deeply pessimistic “Coronation Street” & finally Episode 5 of the 6th series of “Doc. Martin”; three instantly forgettable television installments while the most important televised political debate in 300 years takes place in Scotland.
Since ITV doesn’t think the debate is not worth broadcasting to the rest of the nation, it seems only right & proper that we deliver a YES vote on their behalf, doesn’t it?
For the 16th time:-
link to youtube.com
Priming the Torygraph readership ?
link to blogs.telegraph.co.uk
3) “The polls could be very badly wrong. I would not for a second impugn the integrity of pollsters. Some of my favourite people are pollsters. But..”
5) “Watch Alex Salmond’s trousers. “
The last few months have been a nightmare for me. The constant ‘noise’ from the Negatives wore me down. Hopefully i can recharge for the run in.
Onwards and upwards.
@donald anderson – You’ve obviously been canvassing at the same doors as me. Sometimes it’s depressing.
It’s “Yes” I feel it in ma water and a woman with “an da shealladh” told me she regularly sees Alec Salmond in great form at Michaelmas with his surrogate daughter Nichola even more so.
Next month?! It was so long in coming and now it is nearly upon us with time running out to convince the undecideds & nos to see sense.
If anyone sees me out out and about in the next few weeks, please wave or come over and say hello. link to arewebettertogetherscotland.wordpress.com
We don’t need Westminster. It’s a terrible waste of money and worse!
With the full powers of independence and most notably control of our own wealth we can transform Scotland for the better.
Should Scotland be an independent country?
YES!
I must thank Stuart for your time and effort.My wife was originally a No voter, but I printed off most of your articles and got her to read them. She is now a fervent advocate for independence and even changed the minds of her Bingo friends. Keep up the great work, Ronnie and Mary Russell
I think a few ‘old Labour’ guys i know have turned to Yes. The constant negativity wore me down, but it seems to have really angered them. The choice between a corrupt, perverse Westminster and a fresh start has become stark.
It must be soon alright.
I’ve seen a few of these stickers appear very recently:-
‘Maintain the Union’
‘Loyalist – No Surrender’
‘Rangers Ultras’
In red white and blue, they certainly add a bit of colour
to rusting street lamps.
Let’s hope it goes no further.
Defiance is their speciality.
More Yes car stickers and Yes window posters with the occasional garden Yes flag showing up here (Moray Firth).
Down side, drove along the A947 through Turriff today. A few large “No Thanks” field posters in prominent positions in barley fields and on elevated, in your face positions either side of the town.
Drove back through in the afternoon and saw the culprit. Large, expensive 4×4, large, debauched looking chap with raspberry coloured trousers, you know the kind eccentric toffs wear?. He was preparing to plant another one.
Rich farmer or the landed laird from one of the local estates I think.
The mere sight of these things made my blood boil.
Seeing lots of stickers, badges and posters. Let’s hope the momentum keeps rolling, in our favour. Thanks to the good Rev. And all the wingers, the wee ginger dug, munguins, Bella, newsnet and everybody else; whose blogs and posts, I’ve read over the past months, informative and entertaining, all in all an uplifting experience.
Here’s to a YES and a fairer Scotland and all it’s peoples.
47 days to go! My nerves are in ribbons. I shall probably be a wreck by September.
I really think it’s much closer than the polls would have you believe, I certainly don’t think we’ve won yet but a win for yes is a strong possibility, if we all put the work in.
If you’ve not been out campaigning before, now’s the time to give it a go. You’ll be placed with someone more experienced to show you the ropes and whilst it’s hard work, can also be a good laugh.
Even taking small actions like wearing a badge or putting up a window poster helps normalise yes and gives those pounding the streets a wee morale boost.
@GraemeMenzies – I know how infuriating that must be, but remember these people are the few, not the many. We can do this.
The time since May 2011 has absolutely shot past in lightning speed. It has gone incredibly fast. It is amazing that there is only a month and a half to go.
🙂
ive noticed a lot more window YES posters and car stickers going up in Edinburgh,even in areas like Balerno and juniper green.
Once one goes up the neighbours usually follow suit!
Also saw a weird union flag flying outside the Regents Bar in Edinburgh,it had the blue of the saltire removed from it.Was on a bus at the time so couldnt pop in to ask them if it was pro or anti independence.Anyone?
Huge demand for YES stickers and flags. Showing all around. No NO’s. Only Ayes.
Thanks Stu for all you have done. You are an absolute STAR.
It’s so exciting
[…] « Mind. Blown. […]
To debbiethebruce,
It is a Scotland gay pride flag the blue is replaced with pink.
Cheers Minty.
No doubt they have been put up for the Turriff show this weekend. The Queen is coming.
I hope they have the same effect on others that they had on me.
Oh, stop it. I feel it too, really strongly. It’s screaming at me, even as I get the jitters. I’ve known it since the morning of 6th May 2011.
And I don’t believe in this second-sight rubbish, it’s for the tourists.
But still I feel it….
260 houses in my estate done today y in Dundee,(Yes newspapers plus the Aye Right leaflet and the Wings leaflet), saw 8 Yes windaes, 1 No windae, 1 Maybe windae (honestly!) 1 Yes flag, 2 Yes flowerpots. Inspired!
I had hoped to be out knocking doors but having to work in London. Building houses for the obscenely rich. We need a yes so that Scots don’t have to come here. Booked 2 weeks off in Sept though.
Passed through Hawick yesterday. Several Yes signs at windows and a couple of cars too.
Even saw a lot of stickers and a couple of cars in Strathaven today whilst visiting my bro.
Only saw a single, ‘No thanks, I’m alright’ sticker on a signature large 4 x 4 in Sainsburys’ car park.
Much more visibility than a month or two back.
Gretna still a desert, but no surprises there! 😉
Aye Morag, The second sight is for the romantic and a bit of leg pulling but ,you know that “Gut feeling’ at the center of your being that you sometimes feel when someone just thought well of you or you instinctively know something is right? I have that feeling about ‘Yes”. Do you?
Why on earth are Borders TV not showing the debate on Tuesday? Is there any reasonable explanation for this?
Croompenstein commented on Mind. Blown..
Why on earth are Borders TV not showing the debate on Tuesday? Is there any reasonable explanation for this
Because it an English Borders con, trying to morph them all into Little Britlanders.
Can’t speak for anyone else Stu, but I’ve put a lot of people right this year and that’s 99.9% down to you. Thanks to the other pro Indy sites for giving me the rest. Still work to do I know.
Roll on January 1st 2015 – Happy New Scotland. (Think I shed a wee tear there. (‘sarite though coz I’m in the bath)
Removing the local veto on fracking at the start of the week, and then removing the local veto on Nuclear waste dumps at the end.
Huge changes, quietly slipped out, and then ‘managed’, in time honoured BBBC fashion.
link to bbc.co.uk
G H Graham – Yes.
And just in time, my local Yes group have now opened up a shop:
link to facebook.com
Being a Labour stronghold, it was always going to be tough to get Inverclyde on-side, but the response has been wonderful: tons of people coming in, volunteering, even bringing undecideds/soft nos! If we keep at it, I’m positive we can get the people of Inverclyde to vote Yes.
We’ve had a fair amount of success so far, but would be better to have more. We even have a lucky spider, which I’m sure has some sort of precedent in Scottish history of some sort…
I wouldn’t mind being the producer with a direct link to Ponsonby’s lug for the Eck The Destroyer v Blink Eastwood Murderathon.
I am becoming a weepie auld fool,morning,afternoon and night I am on “Wings” and My fellow yessers fill me with joy and hope that I will see “Independence” in my lifetime, as for the Rev Stuart Campbell, he must stay with us and watch over our Independent Parliment as he has done with Westmonster, a post,position,he deserves our thanks,I for one would/will vote for him should I ever have the chance,Thank you Stuart.
On yer marks.
Get set…..
YES. 🙂
Yippee positivitee all over the webbee – we are doing this honeys!
Where is the Blue Book Rev? Is it going to be ready anytime soon?
I know a bunch of Nos and Don’t Knows who really need to have something in easily readable format to counter the utter guff being peddled inside what pass for newspapers in Scotland these days. I’m fed up answering questions on border posts, the pound, how much Trident costs, whether Scotland can afford to go it alone, whether Scotland owns its own oil (seriously!), and a bunch of other things that people should already know, and would if we had an honest media doing the actual job of reporting rather than Unionist cheerleading.
@macart763m says:
On yer marks.
Get set…..
YES.
You win ‘best comment’ prize.
🙂
Wouldn’t it be a treat to get HM the queen to recognise the Rev for his contribution to journalism after a YES vote. Not that I’m a monarchist, I jsut think that would be very amusing
Don’t worry about any polls. Remember, there are STILL a ton of folk out there who have not engaged. As we get closer, those folk are going to panic (well ….sort of) and they will go to the nearest Yes person, and ask them, ‘So, what are the facts?’
At that point …we’ve got them!
And on the big day …you watch how many folk will look at the question and get hit by a sledgehammer of guilt. They may have gone ‘No, No, No, No’ for the last 3 years. It’s another thinh when it’s crunch time. Wait till they are in that booth…
YES has plenty of leaflets/booklets
E-mail or phone them. Will they not send them out?
Yes. It’s the feeling that it’s “meant to be”. That this is a drama, a story with a proper ending. That this is our time, this is the tipping point.
At the same time I know this is nonsense and in real life the bad guys sometimes win and the ending is a downbeat tragedy. But I just can’t square the huge public visibility and enthusiasm of Yes with a country that’s getting ready to vote No.
Here in Inverness car stickers are so popular we’re running out.
@Ken500
Yes, I know, but many of the No voters, in particular, won’t pay any attention to Yes campaign materials, because, in their minds, that is all biased (and to be fair, it obviously is, even if it’s true). The Wee Blue Book should contain the facts of Yes materials, plus some more detail (since the Rev has done a far better job of detail than the Yes campaign in general), all in a container not produced by the Yes campaign.
Hopefully he’d also have links to the WoS entries where people can click through the links to the relevant details (like when he uses FT or non pro-independence materials to make the point).
I do some “polling” as I’m driving around by counting the amount of stickers on cars and in house windows. Since I started doing it around 6 months ago there’s always been around 4 or 5 Yes ones each trip and erm 0 No’s (in fact, I’ve only ever seen 2 U-KOK ones – one in a house window and the other on their Chelsea tractor. Anyhow, last night I was driving from Monifieth to Perth and had already seen 7 Yes (0 Naw) by the time I had travelled the 4 miles to Broughty Ferry. I’d already given up counting before I reached Perth with the score at 28-0. Yes stickers, flags and the big garden signs are everywhere – a massive change in just a week. I have absolutely no doubt we’re going to win now, but there’s no room for complacency. Would be nice to get 80% Yes though… 😉
Travelling around the country, working in the tourist industry, and Yes is becoming more and more evident as people are making their feelings known. Very little evidence of No…but then again you’d have to be very brave or very stupid to vote against your country!
Disaster!!!! I’m at a do on Wednesday with Mr Salmond and today I have lost my last YES badge ……I’ve given away all the rest. Anyone lend me one till I get some more?
How can it be biased, if it is true?
@Calgacus MacAndrews
Home stretch Cal. Time to reel in the hare. 😉
Elaine honey – do what I do, wear a Yes wristy thingie on your ankle 🙂
btw – forgot to say, more boys voting yes after words from moi, ours to win!
It’s biased in the sense that it’s not going to say anything which goes against the Yes message, even if something could be said against it. I mean in terms of non Yes voters looking at it for information purposes – they are going to say “ah, but that’s all from the Yes campaign, so it’s obviously biased towards a Yes vote”, and technically they would be entirely correct.
Or let me put it another way: The Yes campaign are biased towards a Yes vote. Now, they could tell the truth about everything, or they could lie through thier teeth about everything. Neither action would make them any less biased. You see what I mean?
Thus, the need for non Yes campaign produced materials to convince No and Don’t Knows.
Dammit, their
😀
We work the, Kyle Carrick and Doon Valley, an area where lots of small ex-mining, order-led, labour-voting communities are subsisting in an area with virtually no employment prospects.
This time last year we were being met with an air of distrust and distaine but this week we have been invited to chat on the doorsteps and stopped by passing cars asking for stickers and badges, but by far the most striking difference is the softening of the staunch Naw vote!
Maybe its just been a good weeks canvasing or maybe the people of Scotland have started to think about and talk about the referendum, if so then Project Fear has surely failed.
There are some things in life you just don’t do, and voting against your country is one of them.
Morag @ 5.33.
Me too. When I got up the morning after the election in 2011 and saw the Scottish map coloured mostly yellow I said to my son that I wasn’t expecting this (Independence) to happen in my lifetime. Now it is so near yet sometimes so far.
Taranaich @ 6.20. My Clydebank ‘Yes’ shop reckons West Dunbartonshire is in the bag but we have to have a landslide to compensate for the likes of Eastwood and Bearsden.
Such an exciting time to be Scottish!
This paper on the currency issues is worth a look. Quite a detailed examination of the options and, finally, a proper explanation of how a Scottish Central Bank would operate: link to niesr.ac.uk
Notes from Brechin (1)
People now ask:
How do we get rid of foodbanks?
How do we look after our elderly?
Why are people unemployed?
We know the answer- wear a Yes badge and provide the answer.
I find it so easy to engage with the debate thanks to Wings.
Our country will be a nation again –
It does help in my case that I speak with a London accent.
@ Croompenstein
ITV Borders said on the twitter that anyone with freeview will be able to watch the STV debate on Tuesday.
We saw the Sturgeon v Lamont debate here is Dumfries & Galloway, it is the only time we ever saw a Scotland Tonight programme and it appeared unexpectedly, so presumably we have freeview. I’m hoping the Salmond v Darling one will do the same.
It’s going to be a Yes, without a shadow of a doubt. I was worried about Glasgow until I was down there for a long weekend for the Games. Yes stuff everywhere, and the little No stuff I saw had been defaced.
Up here in Aberdeenshire I’m seeing more Yes stuff, and the ‘No Thanks’ boards that have gone up recently, well, every single one of them has been vandalised within twelve hours of them going up. That warms my heart.
And on the subject of the games, I was too shy to say hello to the Wingers sat in front of us at the rugby sevens. Sorry. Hello, whoever you were!
@Elaine Colliar 7.17,I have the large Wings Tin badges I could post you some where are you at
😀 We are going to win next month 😀
We WILL win.
It will be YES… i tell people , yes , there may be problems.. but they are our problems , and we can deal with them. certainly much better than toffs whose only interest in Scotland is how much they can take… and how much of our wildlife they can kill.. The Final Leg , we can do this folks 🙂
@Mary – ITV Borders said on the twitter that anyone with freeview will be able to watch the STV debate on Tuesday
I don’t have freeview only sky so if I lived in the Borders area I wouldn’t be able to see this historic debate. I think it’s shocking that a crucial part of the electorate will not be able to see this unless they have freeview.
I hope I’m wrong and that most people do see it
Looks like some will just have to make their own posters/stickers, badges. A card/board some paint. YES Voila.
Are freeview channels not on Sky?
@Paula Rose – classy!! very classy Doll!!!
@ronnie anderson that would be brilliant – can you find me on twitter @MFinThree ?
@Ken500 – You get the ITV area you are in the only other one you can get is ITV London so I get STV, others would get Ulster, Borders etc
Are you sure? I could swear that Darling said it was October?
link to wingsoverscotland.com
@elaine Colliar, I will try but am no a twitterer
Superb silver Lynsey Sharp Go Team Scotland 🙂
Google me then – I am the front page of google 🙂 Get me through my website contacts page – Thanks hon
YES Rev Stu,
Thanks for all you have done over the years – it has made a huge difference to our campaign.
I will buy you that pint when you come to Edinburgh.
@Free at 63!
Don’t give up on the Bearsdens just yet, Yes Lenzie canvassing tonight showed No: 26%, Yes: 56% and DK’s: 18%
I’ve spent much of the last 2 weeks fliering my village of 15 thousand souls in South Lanarkshire. Overwhelmingly the windows just have blinds and wee yapping dugs, but I can categorically state that Yes outnumbers No by about 12 to 1 in declared windaes.
And I am seeing Our flag everwhere.
Go Lynsey you did all Scotland proud that was pure guts and determination 😀
@ Dr JM Mackintosh
Agree totally – Rev Stu has made a huge difference.
I’m in Edinburgh too – we can fight over who buys Stu the most drink!
“Yes Lenzie canvassing tonight showed No: 26%, Yes: 56% and DK’s: 18%”
Wow… That is seriously encouraging news.
Sweeties – Rev says that you can buy me a drink in his stead.
We bought a telly and it came with freeview. We just plugged it in to the aerial and it worked. We don’t have sky. I could be talking sh1te tho, to be honest I don’t even know how to turn the telly on, I have to get the kids to do if for me.
Someone on facebook says you can put a Glasgow postcode into freesat and it thinks you are there and gives you STV. That could be sh1te too by the way.
@ Mary Bruce – I moved to Scotland 30 years ago on the promise that it was a modern democracy, moral of the story? Get it in writing.
@Mary – I must confess I don’t know too much about it either but I know you can get STV+1 on freeview but not on sky??
I just feel that the borders may be so crucial to the vote that it doesn’t seem right that folk may not see the debate.
The coaches and trainers are readying the protagonists.
Flipper must be touching cloth..
link to tinyurl.com
I’m going to ask the local pub to sort out the debate with their satellite system, they’ll know what to do 🙂
We are doing our best down here in the Borders and our canvassing is showing a shift to Yes. Lots of big Yes signs up especially in Eyemouth. One on the A68 that no one can miss and another in Lauder which is lit up at night. It’s a hard gig down here but we are working as hard as we can.
On Sky, you can find regional channels under Services ~> Other Channels. I’m in STV area but can find Borders listed under there. Should work the other way round too.
Well done Isabel, you learn so much on WoS 🙂
@Davy says:1 August, 2014 at 4:34 pm:
@“Here’s a question for you all, what would you like to happen first with independence?”
A New National Broadcaster who had to contribute the equivalent sum as the top person’s salery towards a fund for feeding anyone in dire poverty who, in the former UK, would have been sent to a food bank. Plus an ad funded service that had every advertiser pay 10% of the cost of each ad to a national charity.
I’m in one of the few Borders villages that gets STV. I should put out an invite for anyone in our group to come over to me that night.
I was starting my leafleting run for this evening, just gathering up my satchel from my bike basket, when a car passed with a group of cheery-looking young men in it. There was a barrage of tooting and a great thumbs-up display.
I did have one grouse hand back the paper, but otherwise people were cheerful and friendly. Even the guy who came out to see why his two large dogs were trying to eat me over the garden fence said “Oh, is that Yes? Thanks a lot!” and took the literature from me.
@donald anderson says:1 August, 2014 at 4:41 pm:
<b“How dae ye spell X?”
Ye spell it, “Eck’s”
@Clootie
We are going to win next month
I’m going to hold you to that and a pint. 😀
@Mary Bruce,
If you have Freesat, get someone to enter these details into the other channels section:
STV
Frequency: 10906.00
Polarisation: V
Standard: DVB-S
Modulation: QPSK
Symbol rate: 22000
FEC: 5/6
STV HD
Frequency: 10994.00
Polarisation: H
Standard: DVB-S
Modulation: QPSK
Symbol rate: 22000
FEC: 5/6
There’s a Women for Independence Coffee Afternoon in the Catholic Hall in Girvan this Sunday 3rd August 2-4 pm guest speaker is Dr Phillipa Whitford. It’s a free event hope they get a good turn out of don’t knows
I’m thinking, a lot of it is up to us now. Yes Scotland has spent three years getting us together and lined up. They’ll be outgunned in the media, inevitably. But the thousands and thousands of committed Yes activists with their badges and stickers and Yes windaes spreading across the landscape aren’t something No can manufacture.
@Croompenstein
STV are streaming it on their website.
To add STV to your sky box
Press Services button
Go to add Channels and press select
In frequency put in 10906
Polarisation should be at ‘v’
Change symbol rate to ‘22.0’
Change FEC to ‘5/6’
Press yellow button and highlight STV
Press Select twice and that is the channel stored.
When you want to view STV rather than ITV/UTV then press services, select other channels and select STV.
Odds on, ‘when will Darling start greeting?’
In sunny chapelhall (darkest North Lanarkshire)
My estate just of the M8 has yes stickers, flags everywhere
Not one Unionists to be seen
Long may it continue
Paul B Loyd Jr. A name you are going to be hearing quite a lot of, after September. See Yes Shetland fb page.
h and t and t and p://www.rigzone.com/data/offshore_drilling_rigs/641/Semisub/Transocean_Ltd/Paul_B_Loyd_Jr
You should (what I call) listen to yourselfs on this thread, the positive vibes and attitude are the reason Scotland will vote YES.
you lot are fantastic, keep it going.
@John Young
Cheers John. Great tip.
Info on how to watch the debate here;
link to news.stv.tv
I was in South Uist last week, virtually every passing place sign had a Yes sticker on it. In Plockton, Wester Ross, this week where there is a Massive Yes Saltire, a Lion Rampant and another Saltire flying in the back garden of a house, with a Yes sign on the garden gate. Constant stream of folk taking photos of these…expect to see them on Flickr soon. As I have said previously, the Rev, WGD, Munguin – and DEREK BATEMAN (who I forgot to single out in my last comment), are not just the Good Guys, but the total HEROES of this wonderful, inspiring, ground-breaking grass roots movement. Some sort of formal recognition should be in order post 18.09.
@John Young
Thanks John STV duly added.
Was at Glasgow Green and in the Merchant City today with family and the four of us (all Yessers) on Walkabout couldn’t help but notice Yes badges, stickers, wristbands absolutely everywhere.
I’m away to the bookies tomorrow to put as much dosh as I can on a YES win by over 60%… If your smart, you will grab this opportunity for easy money.
;-D
@Morag says:1 August, 2014 at 5:33 pm:
“And I don’t believe in this second-sight rubbish, it’s for the tourists.”
I am the last guy in the World who would believe in the the second sight, Morag, but here’s a strange wee story for you. When Gordon Brown was still just a candidate in this constituency, and my late wife was alive but wheelchair bound, I took her to a meeting in the Lochgelly Institute for disabled and old people.
The young Gordon Brown was there working hard as an election was looming. He was going from table to table trawling for support. Now I normally deposited my wife and went off to do the shopping. Something made me decide to stay with her that day. When Brown got to her table and spoke to us I had a flash of something I’d never experienced before or since and took him by the hand and to my own great astonishment said, “Dr Brown – one day you will be Prime Minister”. Now remember I’ve been staunch SNP since a wee boy in 1946. No one was more astonished than I.
Brown said, “Oh! I’m only a small cog in the machine and not even an MP yet”, and I heard myself say, “Trust me I know”, and I still do not believe in second sight or even in the supernatural or even in Gods of any kind but I do believe Scotland will be independent before I die. I’ll never be able to explain, even to myself, what happened that day but it felt very, very weird indeed – and it still does today.
@Indy_Scot says:1 August, 2014 at 7:35 pm
“There are some things in life you just don’t do, and voting against your country is one of them.”
That, though, Indy_scot is the rub. The dyed in the wool Unionists wrongly believe that their country is, “The United Kingdom”, even when it is pointed out to them that the name of the beast is, “KINGDOM”, not, “COUNTRY”.
Robert, have you read the Wee Ginger Dug’s story about Andy’s dream? Just saying.
Some time in the 1990s I was on holiday in Argyll. There’s a lot of raw history sloshing around there. Suddenly I pretty much heard in my head the words “Scotland is coming to the end of the British centuries.” Just saying.
When I got back from work on 6th May 2011 (a bit zombified as I’d had only about three hours sleep) I said to my mother, that’s it, we’re having a referendum and we’re going to be independent. She looked a bit dubious but I was adamant. We were going to win.
Of course I’m quite mad, I agree.
‘No point holding back now’ as my father said, weeding out the saltire flower bed next to the main road and then put up a Yes banner next to it for all passing vehicles to see.
It’s within touching distance.
First thing we should do upon independence is set a base living standard which we all commit that no Scot lives below. No matter who they are or where they are at right now or how difficult it is to do, in the new Scotland every single person should have clean bed and clothes, a hot shower, a comfortable, secure space that they can call their own, nourishing food, access to a decent education and and support to plan for and maintain a respectable career and lifestyle.
“The first thing we did as an independent nation is eliminate homelessness and child poverty.”
Paula Rose says:
Elaine honey – do what I do, wear a Yes wristy thingie on your ankle
My wife has a Yes sign on her chastity belt, is she sending out the wrong message..???
Confused male, falkirk.
I’ve never been asked for my opinion by a pollster but I suspect that’s because where I live everyone is going to vote Yes and it’ll not make the slightest difference….Independence will be won in key areas around Glasgow, that’s where the party has to start…so what can I do to make it happen?
In other news, Ali Darling has been rumoured to be lobbying the Westminster Government to cancel the 18th of September 2014 and just jump from 17th to the 19th.
Maybe shouldn’t give him ideas eh ?
How is this for a find.
George Read
Facts ABOUT George Read
Eighteenth-century American politician who SIGNED the of Independence and was a Delaware delegate to the United States Constitutional Convention.
Fact that matters, he was born on 18th September 1733 !!!
link to famousbirthdays.com
Sorry , that should read SIGNED the Declaration of Independence !
Paula Rose says
“It does help in my case that I speak with a London accent.
Mary Bruce says: ”
Cant say as I’ve noticed it Paula. 😉
packhorse pete (howdy stranger)says
“Agree totally – Rev Stu has made a huge difference.
I’m in Edinburgh too – we can fight over who buys Stu the most drink!”
The Rev wont be buying drink anywhere in Scotland,
it’ll be on the house wherever he goes! 🙂
Paula Rose says
“Sweeties – Rev says that you can buy me a drink in his stead.”
If you think for a minute Im going up to the bar again and ordering a long slow screw against the wall, replete with sparkler and cocktail parasole your sadly mistaken, 🙂
How did you sneak in there Mary?
I was in Edinburgh yesterday and I looked up from the bus stop on Queensferry Road, and saw the Union flag fluttering above Edinburgh Castle, and my first innocent thought was how out-of-date it looked.
That’s because the castle doesn’t belong to Edinburgh. It’s an army possession which comes under Westminster’s rule … I trust we’ll reverse the situation on independence regained!
There’s a wonderful iconic painting of Princes Street and the Castle by the great painter Barbara Rae. It has the ferris wheel at the bottom left corner – also a tapestry hanging in the Festival Theatre. She removed the Union Jack and substituted a Saltire.
Nice wee bit of subversion!
Sorry I could not reply last night I was busy putting out yes leaflets till late and I cant make muck of a reply …heading out to man the yes stall but thanks Stu for all that you have done.
Lets get out there and do something each and every day folks!
Paula Rose says:
“It does help in my case that I speak with a London accent.”
I suspect it might have something to do with the heels 😉
misteralz says:
“every single one of them has been vandalised within twelve hours of them going up. That warms my heart.”
I understand your feeling misteralz, but vandalism of anyone’s campaign materiel is not to be condoned. We have had a couple of our big white Yes signs pinched already (reported to the police, as all crimes should be). Any defacing or theft of stuff on either side is to be discouraged. The fact that all the No Thanks signs in Aberdeenshire are predominantly on wealthy land owners or business is telling. I doubt they are worth worrying about, if anything detrimental to the No side. Some of the signs they have put up may be in breach of regulations. We are looking into this.
Another batch of the signs distributed around Aberdeen/shire today, still looking for three or four more good locations in the shire 😀
We’re still finding a lot of Yes voters who are nervous of declaring it via a poster or sticker. Working on it though 🙂
Next month! What a shit, I’m off on holiday – better get my postal vote sorted out, eh!!