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.
James Cheyne on A matter of class: “Willie, No you are not missing the mark, Jimmy Savelle even had a holiday cottage in Scotland. While the crown…” Dec 24, 14:44
I. Despair on A matter of class: “A Ferrari? Doesn’t appeal as a daily driver. Too cramped inside. I’d happily have a shot in one at a…” Dec 24, 14:40
sam on A matter of class: ““Scots take an inclusive approach to independence Only 50% of those who support Scottish independence say that being born in…” Dec 24, 14:23
DaveL on A matter of class: “I reckon about twenty percent of posts btl here belong to Hatey. I think most are in reply and all…” Dec 24, 14:16
James Cheyne on A matter of class: “The difference between the two is the English approach to the Scottish approach, English Approach. One tells, lies or bullies…” Dec 24, 14:11
Stuart MacKay on A matter of class: “Andy. you’re looking at it from a values and morals perspective. You don’t seemed to have learned anything from the…” Dec 24, 14:01
willie on A matter of class: “Scotland the colony. Scotland the corrupt. Its all in play as the establishment and the system reveal time after time.…” Dec 24, 13:57
sam on A matter of class: “Maybe you might look at the survey work by McCrone and Keating#. I posted a link above. It looks at…” Dec 24, 13:57
James Cheyne on A matter of class: “One wonders at the intellectual Standard required for tribunals or Judges in Scotland if they have to turn to artificial…” Dec 24, 13:49
Charles Findlay on A matter of class: “My granny used to say a lot of things, and I remember them all. “If wishes were horses, beggars would…” Dec 24, 13:36
Hatey McHateface on A matter of class: “My dear auld mammie used to say the lowest form of humour is limbo stand-up.” Dec 24, 13:34
Andy Ellis on A matter of class: “@cynicus 11.02AM It is you who are the newbie, sunshine. I have been around here a LOT longer than you…” Dec 24, 13:15
Hatey McHateface on A matter of class: “Guardian Online reporting the funeral of Stanislav Orlov. That such a tragic fate should strike down early such a nice…” Dec 24, 13:04
Dan on A matter of class: “Hmm, what are the views and concerns of Scots… https://wingsoverscotland.com/the-ginger-stepchild/ Immigration being in the top three, and the rise of…” Dec 24, 13:01
Hatey McHateface on A matter of class: “Hey Young Lochinvar. I do hate it when none of the usual suspects can be arsed to respond to a…” Dec 24, 12:49
Andy Ellis on A matter of class: “Independence for Scotland does not necessarily mean your version. But rather the Scots people as a whole,.. Perhaps not, but…” Dec 24, 12:47
James Cheyne on A matter of class: “The Snp , the dodgey trials, the governance, the gender issue, british media bias reporting or none reporting, resources and…” Dec 24, 12:25
James Cheyne on A matter of class: “Is it worrying that Scotland does not appear to be in the united kingdom of England and Ireland since 1800,…” Dec 24, 12:01
James Cheyne on A matter of class: “Name calling and sarcasm are the lowest form of wit my granny used to say,” Dec 24, 11:48
Young Lochinvar on A matter of class: “Aidan @ 8.49 Oh dear; a few too many dry sherrys for you last night and the intemperate sore head…” Dec 24, 11:43
James Cheyne on A matter of class: “It never falls far from the thread of supporting Scottish independence, whereas your own falls into name calling and personal…” Dec 24, 11:42
Hatey McHateface on A matter of class: ““I have been around here a LOT longer than you have” Sure, Cynicus. All the more perplexing then that judging…” Dec 24, 11:29
Hatey McHateface on A matter of class: ““we also live in that of the eternal, conceited, bully boy superpower” Sorry, TURABDIN, but I can think of at…” Dec 24, 11:21
Cynicus on A matter of class: “Andy Ellis says: 24 December, 2025 at 9:14 am “You must be relatively new here if you think off-topic posting…” Dec 24, 11:02
Cynicus on A matter of class: “Hatey McHateface says: 24 December, 2025 at 8:05 am “Defo worth a read” ====== Agreed. Why don’t you give it…” Dec 24, 10:55
TURABDIN on A matter of class: “INTERPRETATION is all. We live in the shadow of the semantic Tower of Babel & we also live in that…” Dec 24, 10:43
Hatey McHateface on A matter of class: ““it was never a good idea to accept mass migration which wasn’t predicated on those who chose to live here…” Dec 24, 10:32
diabloandco on A matter of class: “Ha! Ha! Ha! Oh you are a one – best joke so far!” Dec 24, 10:11
Marie Clark on Off-topic: “Hi folks, to anyone still looking in now and again, Merry Christmas to you and yours. I hope Santa will…” Dec 24, 10:07
sam on A matter of class: ““Corrections” may not be allowed. Amendments for “clerical errors” are permitted. What is being done is unlikely to be viewed…” Dec 24, 09:57
