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.)
Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson managed to make a bit of a balloon of herself earlier this month when she contrived to get THREE fairly key facts wrong in a single tweet about a poll on a second independence referendum.
(We’re not sure who the guy in the picture with her is. Probably a colleague.)
We suspected the reason she’d so badly misunderstood the data was that there were two options for “have another indyref in the next two years” and only one for “don’t have another indyref”, so when we were putting our latest poll together we thought we’d try to make it easier for her by having an equal number on both sides.
There’s a nice piece in today’s Scottish Sun about one of the findings of our newest Panelbase poll, on who was Scotland’s all-time best First Minister.
We thought you’d want a more detailed look at the data behind it.
There were no surprises in our latest Panelbase poll with regard to the independence question, at least not in terms of the headline figures – in line with a flurry of recent polls they came out at Yes 46% No 54%, with 2016’s Brexit vote seemingly having caused almost equal numbers of people to change sides since 2014.
But as readers will know, we usually like to probe a little bit deeper into the thoughts of our respondents than other media do, so we asked a few more questions on the subject. And the results of that were just plain weird.
When we commissioned our latest opinion poll from Panelbase, we were aware that there’d been a lot of polls recently about independence and Brexit/the EU and even Westminster voting intentions, but surprisingly few on the next thing that Scots will actually go to polling stations for – the council elections in May.
That’s odd because it’s a pretty significant vote, and could lead to some fairly seismic changes in how the country is governed. Despite losing the popular vote for the first time in 2012, Labour are still the dominant force in Scotland’s town/city halls, running almost twice as many of the country’s 32 local authorities (either in sole control or in coalition/minority administrations) as the SNP – 16 to nine.
Depending on the outcome in May, the Nats could either secure a grip on all levels of Scottish elected politics for the first time ever, or a Tory alliance with Labour as junior partners could keep most councils Unionist – something which could have all sorts of wider ramifications beyond local services. (That’s an article for another day.)
The ultra-hardcore Unionist community – or the Yoons, as they’re better known – are in a pretty much permanent state of wild and terrified rage, but it’s been turned up to 11 for most of this year. Constantly proclaiming that the people of Scotland don’t want independence, for some reason they’re absolutely petrified of putting that to the test.
Below is part of a segment from Monday’s edition of Good Morning Scotland (from 2h 35m at the link beneath the clip), which featured an interview with Professor Allyson Pollock, an extremely experienced academic in the field of healthcare on both sides of the border who so far as we know has no dog in the Scottish constitutional fight.
Cynicus on Contempt Of Government: “Thanks for getting back, Kevin. Sorry about mis-naming you in my first attempt. At least you are not, “mis-gendered”!” Dec 21, 02:33
Cynicus on Contempt Of Government: “Thanks for getting b ack Ken. your new information is very interesting but doesn’t come close as evidence for your…” Dec 21, 02:27
Saffron Robe on A matter of class: “I think it is worth noting that the separation of powers does not exist in Scotland and therefore Westminster can…” Dec 21, 00:24
Benhope on A matter of class: “The latest Epstein release of files in America are so similar to the heavily redacted files in Scotland by John…” Dec 20, 23:56
Mark Beggan on A matter of class: ““Sweet Loretta Martin thought she was a woman But she was just another guy All the girls around her said…” Dec 20, 23:49
Achnababan on A matter of class: “Maist o oor civil service leaders are frae sooth o the Boarder. This is the colonial response to clip the…” Dec 20, 23:13
Mark Beggan on A matter of class: “Macadanism. Built by the Irish, patented by the Welsh and overseen by the English. It wasn’t the Red coats that…” Dec 20, 22:06
Alf Baird on A matter of class: ““he concept of’Justice’ in that society depends on shared moral values” There are inevitably two different sets of values in…” Dec 20, 20:59
Mark Beggan on A matter of class: “On the point of Lady Justice. You could hang a wet duffle coat on those nipples.” Dec 20, 20:08
Saffron Robe on A matter of class: “Like the picture of Lady Justice at the top of your article, Stuart, here was I thinking that justice should…” Dec 20, 19:39
Alf Baird on A matter of class: “A decent ‘factchecker’ should know that “colonialism is always a co-operative venture with native elites” (Fanon). Burns rightly called them…” Dec 20, 19:10
factchecker on A matter of class: “Professor Baird says: 20 December, 2025 at 12:34 pm Aye, ‘Justice’ is at best a rather theoretical concept in a…” Dec 20, 18:48
agentx on A matter of class: “I look forward to seeing you listed on Peggie’s legal team as the race discrimination expert.” Dec 20, 18:47
Dan on A matter of class: “Aye, Bilbo. CC can get it right up him with that pish. Maybe he’d be a fan of the rainbow…” Dec 20, 17:44
Bilbo on A matter of class: “Captain Caveman Intelligence bordering on imbecility and delusion beyond belief. The Tories were in power for 14 years and the…” Dec 20, 17:12
James Cheyne on A matter of class: “Confused. But Confused our royals are german to, although have had some weird bedfellows and friends associations through out history…” Dec 20, 16:36
Alf Baird on Contempt Of Government: “Yes James, ‘colonialism is based on psychology’ (Cesaire) leaving a dangerous pathology and ‘disease of the mind’ whereby those afflicted…” Dec 20, 16:13
James Cheyne on Contempt Of Government: “Perversion alway starts and thrives through the association with money” Dec 20, 16:04
James Cheyne on Contempt Of Government: “Keven Cargill. I suppose the evidence is speaking for itself by the amount of men bringing in and twisting the…” Dec 20, 16:01
James Cheyne on Contempt Of Government: “The root of the problem goes much deeper and further back, as often said by my self, “The door in…” Dec 20, 15:50
Hatey McHateface on A matter of class: “Sorry, Alf. I overlooked the Amalgamated Scottish UN Petitioners and Associated Grifters.” Dec 20, 15:44
Hatey McHateface on A matter of class: ““Write more gibberish” But it’s yer turn, Northy. Gie us ane o yer lengthy epistles written entirely in yer fabricated…” Dec 20, 15:41
Confused on A matter of class: “civic nationalism at its best https://x.com/i/status/2002168538082005419 – we need to welcome the “new britons” furtheconomy-n-growf handthehenhaichess – luckily, 30 minutes…” Dec 20, 15:34
Confused on A matter of class: “as stewart lee might say … – you rape ONE BABY … https://archive.ph/urAU8 – and they CALL YOU A PEDOPHILE…” Dec 20, 15:31
Hatey McHateface on A matter of class: “Thanks for your reply, Stuart. As it happens, I lack a union-flag covered duvet. As it happens, you missed a…” Dec 20, 15:30
James Cheyne on A matter of class: “Its a class war, If Sandie peggy was a doctor, and upton was the nurse… If Sandie Peggy was English…” Dec 20, 15:26
James on The Idiot Rodeo: “Yeah yeah, blow it out of your ass, crackpot. Fecking loony tune. Anyway some of us have things to do…” Dec 20, 15:20
Hatey McHateface on The Idiot Rodeo: “@James 1:04 Did yer maw teach you nothing? What you wish for in your letter to Santa is supposed to…” Dec 20, 15:15
Captain Caveman on The Idiot Rodeo: ““Supercilious”..? You’re the one looking down on McDonalds and fast food restaurant workers you fat, lazy berk, not I. Get…” Dec 20, 15:12
Jay on A matter of class: “Assuming young Theo has male chromosomes and genitalia then, if he were to tell me that he is a woman,…” Dec 20, 14:59
