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.
There’s a truly abominable piece of hatemongering in today’s Times. A grotesequely dishonest Nat-bashing smear job based on stupendously misrepresented fragments of quotes, it’s penned by Patrick Harkness, someone who the paper identifies as “a past co-chairman of the RSE [Royal Society of Edinburgh] Young Academy of Scotland”.
For some reason it’s chosen to leave a few lines off his CV.
BH on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “Did they say ‘It would not be in the public interest to know we’re corrupt as that might make policing…” Sep 16, 18:09
robertkknight on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “I recon 75% of the Wee Ginger Fud brigade have no idea what day of the week it is and…” Sep 16, 17:34
Cynicus on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: ““ We’re getting so much correspondence from Police Scotland at the moment that we’re starting to feel like their guiltily-neglected…” Sep 16, 17:07
Arthur Martin on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “Many thanks for not taking no for an answer Stuart. It feels to me that your determination and tenacity in…” Sep 16, 17:02
J Robertson on Fear And Favour: “Your relentless determination and forensic annihilation of their clearly nonsense reasons must surely win out in the end. No problem…” Sep 16, 16:47
robertkknight on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “Police Scotland and the COPFS are corrupt and as an asset of Thames House, Sturgeon is being protected. What more…” Sep 16, 15:56
Old Bill on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “A trivial point, but I think it is unprofessional for PSoS Legal Services team to be sending anonymous letters “How…” Sep 16, 15:33
holymacmoses on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “I wonder if the problem of a prosecution lies not in the problem of ‘responsibility’ – which as you point…” Sep 16, 15:13
100%Yes on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “I’ll have a guess at why Sturgeon wasn’t charge, it was her looks and personality.” Sep 16, 14:59
Alice Timmons on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “*sigh*..ah, well. Better check out this year’s pension rise. I think I feel a crowd funder coming on. More power…” Sep 16, 14:22
Mark Beggan on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: ““It takes nothing to join the crowd. It takes everything to stand alone.” – Hans Froði Hansen” Sep 16, 14:01
Nicky T Naquetti on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “You are doing God’s work, here – as a Reverend should, of course. These SNP serpents need trampled underfoot.” Sep 16, 13:57
Mark Beggan on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: ““Scandal begins when the police put a stop to it.” “The Policing begins when a scandal puts a stop them…” Sep 16, 13:56
Northcode on Like Responsible Citizens Do: “It is my view that Liberation Scotland’s claim is structurally impossible. They are asking supporters to believe that raising £200,000…” Sep 16, 13:23
Aidan on Like Responsible Citizens Do: “Thanks Northcode – a helpful and clear summary. I might also add that the political will amongst UN members to…” Sep 16, 12:45
lothianlad on Fear And Favour: “keep at them Stuart! They think by continuing to deny your input that you will eventually give up. NO WAY!…” Sep 16, 12:39
Aidan on Fear And Favour: “Just out of interest Alf – when you meet other Scots in person, do you normally call them “oppressed natives”?…” Sep 16, 12:34
Northcode on Like Responsible Citizens Do: “There seems to be a lot of confusion about how the UN’s Non-Self-Governing Territories list actually works, so it might…” Sep 16, 12:32
Aidan on Fear And Favour: “Yes but you don’t provide any facts or figures, what you do provide is: a) generally written in such a…” Sep 16, 12:27
Alf Baird on Fear And Favour: “Colonial powers destroy annexed nations historical records when they take possession, and destroy their own colonial records when they lose…” Sep 16, 12:07
Captain Caveman on Like Responsible Citizens Do: “@BP Yes, you’re right – this clearly is “confusing for you”, so let’s draw a line under it. I note…” Sep 16, 11:59
Alf Baird on Like Responsible Citizens Do: “When colonial mouthpieces tell you that the UN decolonization process and international law route for peoples in self-determination conflict is…” Sep 16, 11:52
Willie on Fear And Favour: “And what of the Standards Commission and the governments appeal to the Inner House to challenge the landmark Lird Sandison…” Sep 16, 11:51
Willie on Fear And Favour: “And what of the SCS and the governments appeal to the Inner House to challenge the landmark Lird Sandison judgement…” Sep 16, 11:49
Willie on Fear And Favour: “And what about all the elected representatives who were wanting seek redress for Standards Commision Miscarriages of Justice. The destruction…” Sep 16, 11:45
Spartan 117 on Fear And Favour: “Standard racist wibble from the appropriately-monikered “Confused”. Anti-Semitic, Anglophobic and even managed to fit the Pakistanis in. For once Hatey…” Sep 16, 11:25
Willie on Fear And Favour: “Just heard the Salmond case has been sisted. Anybody got any details What is going on?” Sep 16, 11:22
