One of the great things about this site’s sky-high viewing figures is that on the rare occasions when we might be, for example, out having a walk in the park to get over the crushing disappointment of somehow losing yet another Scottish Cup semi-final, our ever-vigilant readers will remain alert.
We’re off to watch the Scottish Cup semi-final now, so to keep you all entertained for the next couple of hours here’s a little something we put together at the request of columnist and broadcaster Lesley Riddoch, and for anyone who was listening to Radio Scotland’s “Headlines” this morning.
Hopefully we won’t need it ourselves by 3.30pm. #COYR
Even Sparta’s mythical iron-bar currency – specifically designed, so legend had it, to shackle the economy by being too heavy to buy or trade anything – was marginally better, in Alistair Darling’s view, than anything an independent Scotland might be able to use for money, all of which will lead to inevitable doom.
Because Scotland, as all good unionists know, is the only country in world history for which there is no currency option that will work at all.
Have you seen the film of the coronation? I’m not talking about the grand televised extravaganza in Westminster Abbey with the young Queen Elizabeth done up like a wedding cake – I mean the Scottish coronation, in Edinburgh, three weeks after the glamorous London ceremony of 2 June 1953.
It’s not easy to locate. You’ll struggle to find a picture of it, or even a documented reference – a brief casual mention squeezed in right at the end of this article on the monarchical website is the best we could do.
Acting on the advice of her ministers, Elizabeth attended the ceremony dressed in an ordinary coat and hat. The honours of Scotland were presented to her, and she held them as if they were volatile explosive devices, standing stock-still until they were taken back again by be-gowned flunkies.
There would be no actual official crowning. It might give the natives ideas.
It seems that we’re letting the side down a bit here. If the same percentage of us were willing to vote Yes as the men, we’d be home and dry come September 18th, living in a nuclear-weapon-free democracy for the first time in our lives. But it seems like a lot of us are either not convinced or haven’t begun thinking about it yet.
I don’t believe it’s the former: anyone genuinely looking at the arguments, not to mention the behaviour of those on both sides of the debate, could hardly fail to be convinced that independence is a good thing. So I’m guessing it might be the latter.
We didn’t do a stats post at the start of April (still just under 4m pageviews a month, if you’re curious) but when someone tweeted these figures this morning we thought they were worth a wee toot, because they’re more than just nice news for us.
They’re from the independent web-traffic analysis site Alexa.com, and they detail the relative rankings for the seven biggest dedicated Scottish politics sites on the web.
The last batch of data from our Panelbase poll concerns social attitudes, away from directly party-political issues. We did a whole bunch of these last time, with a mixture of predictable and unexpected results, and Scots had a surprise or two for us again.
We’ve had these sitting around for a few days without getting round to posting them, but as we’re currently knee-deep in the last tranche of data from our Panelbase poll, it seemed as good a time as any to clear the decks.
First up in the ambiguously-named Posterotron is the “respectable” face of British nationalism, in the form of UKIP European-election candidate David Coburn.
Aidan on Shield Of The Phantom: “Well exactly YL and HmH, the point is I am not sure the lack of wall-to-wall television coverage is down…” Feb 2, 09:29
Hatey McHateface on Shield Of The Phantom: “Best response to that effluent, Cynicus, is to tell you to awa and shite. Get it all out and flushed.…” Feb 2, 09:03
Hatey McHateface on Shield Of The Phantom: “Ah, c’mon noo, Aidan. Maybe just a minute’s silence. To be held at a suitable time for the aficionados. 2:30…” Feb 2, 08:49
Young Lochinvar on Shield Of The Phantom: “Easy tiger.. There’s more this month, you’d never be at work! Just acknowledge the event happened (if that doesn’t strain…” Feb 2, 08:23
Aidan on Shield Of The Phantom: “I agree, it should be commemorated with at least a weeks public holiday with a shutdown of all non-essential services…” Feb 2, 08:07
Young Lochinvar on Shield Of The Phantom: “Happy anniversary all of the battle of Cockburnspath in 1400. Another significant Scots victory whitewashed out of mainstream Anglocentric British…” Feb 2, 07:04
Cynicus on Shield Of The Phantom: “Hatey McHateface says: 1 February, 2026 at 6:31 pm “You appear to believe there has to be a statute of…” Feb 2, 01:35
Saffron Robe on Shield Of The Phantom: “A thought-provoking video with two excellent speakers — especially relevant in the current geo-political climate: www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iYw2f9i6s0” Feb 1, 19:50
Young Lochinvar on Shield Of The Phantom: “I see Sandy Brindley has stepped down. Muted comment on controversies she has been involved in, BBC certainly isn’t making…” Feb 1, 19:00
Lorna Campbell on Shield Of The Phantom: “H McH: a judge should deliver a judgement solely on the evidence and the jury’s deliberations – which saved Alec…” Feb 1, 18:58
Saffron Robe on Shield Of The Phantom: ““Fanon and Memmi – foreign boys who knew SFA about Scotland, our people, our history, our culture, or our unique…” Feb 1, 18:58
Young Lochinvar on Shield Of The Phantom: “Depends on how much you support and want to see protected the transgressors eh.. Small potatoes though compared to what’s…” Feb 1, 18:45
Hatey McHateface on Shield Of The Phantom: “Just you, x. “Rich people have sex” is the biggest story since the Cuban Missile Crisis. Try to see your…” Feb 1, 18:36
Lorna Campbell on Shield Of The Phantom: “If those with money and power can be accused without evidence, the rest of us are easy meat.” Feb 1, 18:33
Hatey McHateface on Shield Of The Phantom: “@Cynicus Seems fair enough to me. After all, the mosque is built on the ruins of the earlier temple. What…” Feb 1, 18:31
Hatey McHateface on Shield Of The Phantom: “Any advance on tertiary? Anybody prepared to believe that syphilis hasn’t been curable since before President Trump was born? Anybody…” Feb 1, 18:15
agentx on Shield Of The Phantom: “Is it just me or are the general public just not as interested in the Ep files as the News…” Feb 1, 18:15
Hatey McHateface on Shield Of The Phantom: “G’wan, Marie, mak a start. What with being named after the Mother of God, you must have special insight.” Feb 1, 18:08
Cynicus on Shield Of The Phantom: ““Extreme orthodoxy of EVERY main ABRAHAMic (my emphasis) faith is frightening” -Marie ======== Trump’s son in law Kushner donates to…” Feb 1, 17:30
Aidan on Shield Of The Phantom: “@Xaracen – I posted one of the quotes from the judgement further up in the thread. You can read the…” Feb 1, 16:01
Lorna Campbell on Shield Of The Phantom: “You are right, H McH, as far as domestic legislation is concerned, but not international legislation, which a treaty is.…” Feb 1, 14:19
Marie on Shield Of The Phantom: “Monarchy is a religious relic – time to get rid. Religions are anti-scientific nonsense – ALL of them. The archaic…” Feb 1, 13:47
James Cheyne on Shield Of The Phantom: “Marie, Maybe all nonsense to you or I, but the monarch of England believes in that nonsense, follows his beliefs,…” Feb 1, 13:14
Marie on Shield Of The Phantom: “Another appalling scandal being deliberately hidden from us. Thanks for the info.” Feb 1, 13:05
James Cheyne on Shield Of The Phantom: “DaveL Thats because It is medical malpractice to follow an ( ideology ) medically when practicing medicine, “To do no…” Feb 1, 12:59
James Cheyne on Shield Of The Phantom: “Confused, It is a sexual deviance among the elites to pray on young people and children and women, The only…” Feb 1, 12:52
Saffron Robe on Shield Of The Phantom: “Very good comment in reply to the points Lorna raises, Alf, as are all your comments. I like how you…” Feb 1, 12:50
Marie on Shield Of The Phantom: “Halal, Kosher, not eating meat on Fridays – it’s all archaic nonsense.” Feb 1, 12:36
DaveL on Shield Of The Phantom: “A quote from msn news: “A woman who received a double mastectomy at the age of 16 under the guise…” Feb 1, 12:32
James Cheyne on Shield Of The Phantom: “Good day to you too north Code, The worlds still unrelentingly crazy even for a Sunday, my own religion is…” Feb 1, 12:30
