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.
Spartan 117 on Cowering From Destiny: ““What’s not to like?” We can’t have the little people happy and *enjoying* themselves, can we. No, instead we *really*…” Sep 24, 17:59
Red on Cowering From Destiny: “We’ve got to keep Farage out, because he wants to reduce immigration and also enforce border laws, and that’s what…” Sep 24, 17:40
Ross on Cowering From Destiny: “They can hardly appear to welcome a Reform govt. Or indeed want one as it would be bad for everyone.…” Sep 24, 16:50
MaryB on Cowering From Destiny: “There’s a new Facebook called ‘whynotscotland.com’ looking at all the reasons to support independence. (Not to be confused with Why…” Sep 24, 16:26
Captain Caveman on Cowering From Destiny: ““Farage is a disruptor and represents a significant threat to The Blob of Fabians, Scroungers and Crooks, which the SNP…” Sep 24, 16:16
Spartan 117 on Cowering From Destiny: “Farage is a disruptor and represents a significant threat to The Blob of Fabians, Scroungers and Crooks, which the SNP…” Sep 24, 15:50
Northcode on His Majesty’s Loyal Sabre: “Aidan’s breakdown of the salt-water rule is exactly right, and it dovetails with the UN procedural constraints I set out…” Sep 24, 15:36
Aidan on His Majesty’s Loyal Sabre: ““Everyone knows Scotland is geographically separate from England” – Really Sam, everyone knows there is no land border between England…” Sep 24, 15:21
Aidan on His Majesty’s Loyal Sabre: “The analysis you have provided there is wrong Alf, in respect of the four examples you have given each time…” Sep 24, 15:10
Lorncal on Cowering From Destiny: “Spot on, Turabdin. Take all autonomy away from the local areas. It is at this level that resistance is often…” Sep 24, 14:58
Lorncal on Cowering From Destiny: “Until a majority of Scots get it through their brain box that independence and only independence has any chance of…” Sep 24, 14:54
Northcode on His Majesty’s Loyal Sabre: “The UN doesn’t treat Scotland as a colony procedurally, and has no mechanism to do so without UK permission. That’s…” Sep 24, 14:47
Willie on Cowering From Destiny: “NHS England is this year being abolished. No if, no buts. Privatisation is coming. All the benefits of the corporates…” Sep 24, 14:41
Mark Beggan on Cowering From Destiny: “‘sign some form of legal agreement.’ How about on the back of a cigarette packet or a napkin. Nothings new.…” Sep 24, 14:02
Captain Caveman on His Majesty’s Loyal Sabre: “Hey Fatso, you don’t even have a mind, pal – open or otherwise! Sheesh, bloody cheek honestly. 😀” Sep 24, 13:34
TURABDIN on Cowering From Destiny: “Centralization by sleight of hand boundary reordering. Autonomy max regions for example, from which a geologically diverse country might benefit….never…” Sep 24, 13:31
sam on His Majesty’s Loyal Sabre: “Northcode Procedurally blocked. For now. Change is possible, even likely. Scotland does meet those three criteria. Everyone knows Scotland is…” Sep 24, 13:28
Hatey McHateface on Cowering From Destiny: “Just 6 weeks to save the NHS is it?” Sep 24, 13:26
Hatey McHateface on His Majesty’s Loyal Sabre: “Ah, c’moan noo, CC. It’s simply that Northy’s terrified the UN is going to declare Scotland Independent before Christmas, and…” Sep 24, 13:24
Alf Baird on His Majesty’s Loyal Sabre: ““An NSGT cannot be geographically contiguous to its administering state.” Quite a few were/are, actually, including in Asia and Africa.…” Sep 24, 13:22
James on His Majesty’s Loyal Sabre: ““It’s called having an open mind, you should try it.” And how would you know, exactly, chummy?” Sep 24, 13:21
Hatey McHateface on His Majesty’s Loyal Sabre: “If you want to consider the ME you need to consider the events of the 7th century AD. Then, of…” Sep 24, 13:18
Mark Beggan on Cowering From Destiny: “You haven’t heard the stinky pinky joke then.” Sep 24, 13:18
Captain Caveman on His Majesty’s Loyal Sabre: “People are allowed to change their minds without your permission, Dan. It’s called having an open mind, you should try…” Sep 24, 13:01
Hatey McHateface on Cowering From Destiny: “The Teletubbies? I don’t believe I’ve ever seen or heard a joke about them.” Sep 24, 13:00
Dan on His Majesty’s Loyal Sabre: “Aye, NC seems to have had a coding change in what it churns out. Compare now to a comment trail…” Sep 24, 12:50
Captain Caveman on His Majesty’s Loyal Sabre: “Thanks as ever for your erudite, “sophiticated” contribution, Confused. Brought to you by Evo-Stik and an odd fascination with slow-cooked…” Sep 24, 12:50
