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.
That virtuoso display of Olympic-class irony from Mr Davey was part of the latest fearbomb from the No camp – Nick Clegg’s plea for a “Sunshine Strategy” apparently having been a casualty of Lord Robertson’s “cataclysm” – in the shape of yet another “Scotland Analysis” report from the UK government insisting that every single aspect of Scottish independence would be comprehensively and unequivocally disastrous.
With the Scottish Parliament on a two-week break, it appears to have fallen to the Telegraph to take on the role of Johann Lamont this Thursday.
Scottish Labour’s regional manager has recently been under the curious impression that the most pressing issue on the minds of the people of Scotland is the fine detail of the First Minister’s hotel bill during a trip to America to promote the Ryder Cup in 2012, and the Telegraph seems equally obsessed.
But that dramatic splash isn’t quite what it seems.
We particularly like the Scotsman’s use of the word “error”, as in “Whoops, we totally accidentally rewrote this story three times in 24 hours, with four different headlines, in order to make it more and more pejorative and sneery. Tch, clumsy old us, eh?”
We had a couple of questions in our poll that were quite complex and involved, so to give people a wee bit of respite we threw in a little light-hearted one as well.
Q: If this was the referendum ballot paper, how would you vote?
As well as asking the respondents in our latest Panelbase poll what they were thinking right now, we also invited them to have a shot at peering into the future – to be more specific, the future of the UK.
It’s fair to say that their predictions weren’t exactly overflowing with optimism.
If it’s Wednesday, Labour must have changed their position on their future-devolution proposals again. Following our latest highlighting of the glaring contradictions in the shambolic “Devo Nano” plans, responses have started arriving to your letters.
If you’ve been listening closely, you’ll have heard that the position on whether the Scottish Parliament would be able to reduce taxes below the UK level has see-sawed from “No you can’t” (Johann Lamont MSP, 18 March) to “Yes you can” (Richard Baker MSP, 28 March) and back to “No you can’t” again (Tom Clarke MP, 4 April).
Well, sort of, anyway. We were going to have another poll post tonight, but your eyes go a bit squiffy after an entire day of cross-referencing spreadsheets full of percentages so instead we’re just going to allow ourselves a wee brief glow of pride about this.
We hadn’t any idea the vote was taking place so we couldn’t even shamelessly urge readers to stuff the virtual ballot boxes, so we’re pretty chuffed to be sharing what we’re officially calling “joint 11th place” with some very decent reporters indeed, and to even be on the same list as the likes of Alex Thomson of Channel 4 and other people who get actually shot at for a living (instead of just on the internet) isn’t the worst feeling we’ve ever had.
And the fact that we’re the only other crowdfunded operation, along with the winner, means that you – Wings Over Scotland’s readers and employers – get the credit too.
Thanks to anyone who voted for us, and to everyone who’s helped make it happen.
Alert readers can’t have failed to spot that we’ve been devoting quite a bit of attention on Wings to Labour’s devolution proposals, chiefly because they’re by default the closest thing to the “more powers” option that’s so conspicuously missing from the referendum ballot paper at the insistence of the Unionist parties.
Depending on which opinion poll you believe, the number of Scots who haven’t yet made up their minds which way to vote in the independence referendum is anywhere between about 11% and 33%.
That’s a pretty wide range, and when we were pondering our latest Panelbase survey we thought it’d be intriguing to probe the Don’t Know demographic a little more deeply.
If there’s one thing we – as a website rather than as part of the Yes movement – are sick and tired of hearing from Scottish people about the referendum it’s “We need more information”. Having spent two and a half years writing thousands of articles full of fully-sourced and referenced information covering every conceivable aspect of the debate, our response tends to be “You can’t be looking very bloody hard, then.”
But are we right to be so cranky, or are we just crotchety old grumpyfaces?
100%Yes on The Interests Of The Many: “After all the lies, I honestly can’t wait to see their defense.” Jul 7, 14:18
barelybare on The Interests Of The Many: “https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jul/07/marine-le-pen-doubt-presidential-election-electronic-tag-france “The Paris court decided that Le Pen, 57, had played a central role in orchestrating a fake-jobs scam of…” Jul 7, 14:16
100%Yes on The Interests Of The Many: “The death of the SNP doesn’t stop Independence it allows us to get behind a party who’s only goal is…” Jul 7, 14:13
Captain Caveman on Search And Replace: “Oh, and “English Nationalist”? Hilarious. I’m not the one calling for English independence, nor claiming genetic superiority over other Britons…” Jul 7, 14:11
100%Yes on The Interests Of The Many: “The SNP made the party about Nicola and gave up on Indyref2. Humza could have come in stated I’m calling…” Jul 7, 14:05
fillofficer on The Interests Of The Many: “the more fronts that they’re fighting on, the better karma go stu” Jul 7, 14:02
James on The Interests Of The Many: “I know you are probably not a believer, but God bless you Stuart, for doing this. I honestly believe that…” Jul 7, 13:57
Andrew scott on The Interests Of The Many: “Great stuff Get out of this swinney and crew” Jul 7, 13:45
robertkknight on The Interests Of The Many: ““Let justice be done, though the heavens fall” The cause of Indy has been in a moribund state for a…” Jul 7, 13:37
100%Yes on The Interests Of The Many: “Now its clear the SNP and its leader will have to answer the awkward questions the press has been unable…” Jul 7, 13:36
Captain Caveman on Search And Replace: “Duh, you’re thick aren’t you Sam? Dan was talking about (relatively) SMALL cars like the modern, present day Mini being…” Jul 7, 13:29
sarah on The Interests Of The Many: “John Tamson – as in all Jock Tamson’s bairns? Very good. 🙂” Jul 7, 13:11
Lorncal on Search And Replace: “What do you mean, sarah, we can do nothing? Of course we can. Yes, undoubtedly, we need independence, but going…” Jul 7, 13:03
Rev. Stuart Campbell on The Interests Of The Many: “No. Returning the money doesn’t get you out of embezzlement. The crime is committed when you spend it.” Jul 7, 13:00
Jeremy Wickins on The Interests Of The Many: “I contributed to the first fundraiser, but I checked my emails yesterday, and I’ve obviously deleted the acknowledgement. Not to…” Jul 7, 12:58
Blackhack on The Interests Of The Many: “If I ever get a rottweiler, I’m going to name it Stuart” Jul 7, 12:47
sam on Search And Replace: “The English nationalist can’t engage in a debate without abuse. Big cars do cause problems. Big cars come with big…” Jul 7, 12:44
MP on The Interests Of The Many: “Very nice. I hope we get to read the Defence once it is filed by the SNP. You’ll need a…” Jul 7, 12:40
Effijy on The Interests Of The Many: “If they can recover the ring fenced funds and properly ring fence it for Indy Ref 2 would that help…” Jul 7, 12:38
Graf Midgehunter on The Interests Of The Many: “I didn’t donate because I’d already left the SNP in 2017. It was clear for me at the time that…” Jul 7, 12:23
Alf Baird on Search And Replace: ““you are saying all nationalism is colonialism” No I am not saying that at all. So-called ‘unionism’ (so-called because in…” Jul 7, 12:06
Southernbystander on Search And Replace: “All nationalism, including the Scottish variety is a ‘political and cultural ideology’ by definition but to then say that means…” Jul 7, 09:51
Captain Caveman on Search And Replace: “Well the main problem, I think, is that you constantly come across as some clueless whinger with an axe to…” Jul 7, 09:32
Alf Baird on Search And Replace: “British ‘unionism’ is ‘a nationalist political and cultural ideology’ (Pettigrew). Or, what Elkins describes as ‘nationalist imperialism’, i.e. colonialism. Colonialism…” Jul 7, 09:04
Dan on Search And Replace: “It really isn’t that much of a conundrum. You should maybe take some time off endlessly posting on here and…” Jul 7, 08:48
Hatey Mchateface on Search And Replace: “Really Twat H? Anybody saying that Scotland should develop its resources to provide jobs for Scots and earn taxable profits…” Jul 7, 08:36
twathater on Search And Replace: “Dan as soon as I read that post on yesthink.scot I thought I was reading something from Chas, Aydan, or…” Jul 7, 03:09
