In so far as there’s any actual reasoning or hard data supporting the Scotsman’s front-page lead story today at all, it’s when the American pundit Nate Silver claims that “Historically, in any Yes or No vote in a referendum, it’s actually the No side that tends to grow over time, people tend not to default to changing the status quo.”
Shall we just check whether that does indeed “tend” to be true, readers?
We talk often of the “swarm of wasps” approach to debate that’s the main strategy of the No campaign. The guiding principle of it is to throw out so many dubious assertions, straw men and red herrings, all at once, that it’s all but impossible for your opponent to effectively counter all the different thrusts of the attack, like trying to swat wasps with a broken tennis racquet.
Tonight saw the launch of “Better Together Bathgate”, the No camp’s debut foray into our beloved hometown. The email advertising the event, sent out on the 15th of July, said “I hope to see you at the on 28th June” [sic], which might help to explain the rather sub-spectacular turnout of around 40 hardy souls from a town of 16,000.
Of that 40 or so, several (perhaps as many as a quarter) were dastardly pro-Yes spies. And we know that for certain, because one of them was ours.
In an extraordinary outburst on TV last night, “Better Together” campaign chairman Alistair Darling accused Alex Salmond of exaggerating the amount of extractable oil in the Scottish sector of the North Sea by 1,200%.
The former Chancellor (who we learned a few weeks ago thinks the population of Scotland is six million, creating an impressive 705,000 imaginary Scots) suggested that rather than the 24 billion barrels currently estimated by the oil industry – and commonly cited by the UK government – there were in fact just 2 billion barrels left.
It’s hard to know where to start on picking apart the torrent of misrepresentations, distortions and flat-out untruths that “Better Together” campaign director Blair McDougall was allowed to get away with in the space of a few short minutes during a rather powder-puff interview on last night’s Scotland Tonight.
So let’s just pick one at random and see how we get on.
If there’s one area where you really have to hand it to “Better Together”, it’s sheer shamelessness. Despite having been humiliatingly exposed for inflating attendance figures at their events by at least 100% twice on this site alone, to the great merriment of Yes campaigners, they just keep right on going without a hint of embarrassment.
We can’t help starting to wonder if this might all be one of those sort of “When I was going to St Ives…” trick riddle things. How many Darling Youth kids make 70?
Alert readers may recall the anti-independence “Better Together” campaign’s rather, shall we say, enthusiastic approach to statistics. Earlier today we noticed them excitedly tweeting “Head count just done! About 600 at the launch of #bettertogether Edinburgh!”, and wondered if they might have once again been so kind as to provide a picture for purposes of verification. And bless them, they had.
If you’re looking at that shot and thinking that it’s certainly full but doesn’t look much like “about 600” people, you’re not alone. So we did a quick bit of investigating.
We stumbled across this quite by accident yesterday. We think you’ll enjoy it.
The clip is from last year, and was aired on Canadian national news channel Sun News. Douglas Murray is a British writer who claims to be half-Scottish on account of unspecified links to Unionist breeding ground the Isle of Lewis, popular haunt of No-camp luminaries like Alistair Darling, virulent Labour anti-devolutionist Brian Wilson and controversial “Better Together” donor Ian Taylor.
Murray studied at Eton and Oxford and writes for august UK journals like the Spectator and Guardian, as well as appearing on numerous BBC political shows. For some reason, the Canadians consider him an expert on Scottish politics, qualified to inform and enlighten their viewers. See what you think.
We already know that the No camp has, shall we say, a bit of difficulty when it comes to basic arithmetic. But rarely do they demonstrate it so eagerly as they did last night.
We very much appreciate their helping to make our job easier.
(Our emphases.) That’s pretty clear, then – the No campaign will not accept money from “foreign donors”, but will take “up to £500” from people resident in the UK.
Andy Wiltshire on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “Interesting. Were Private Eye one of the ‘Branchfoot’ offenders?” Jul 22, 14:16
Onlooker on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “Fuck that racist eighth-wit, hope he fucks off down to London and never comes back.” Jul 22, 13:50
desimond on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “And not just that….the rejected Anas is to be replaced on the list by the rejected Monica Lennon. Party Politics…” Jul 22, 13:30
100%Yes on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “The man has spent a carer of making gaffs. The SNP thought he was a ally. Here the a true…” Jul 22, 13:11
Rogueslr on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “Rev, you get name checked in the latest Private Eye, looks like they’ve lifted most of their coverage from Wings.” Jul 22, 12:59
duncanio on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “That’s British Labour all over: plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose” Jul 22, 12:35
Northcode on The Wheels Of Industry: “I’ve been thinking about ‘absent colonisers’. India, Kenya, Nigeria, Egypt and more are all former colonies of the British Empire…” Jul 22, 12:19
Alf Baird on The Wheels Of Industry: “The colonial-UK circus act re-opens with a new ringmaster: Scotland run by clowns at Westminster and its Holyrood department; colonized…” Jul 22, 11:13
Hatey McHateface on The Wheels Of Industry: “Clowns spread happiness and laughter to all postcodes. Perhaps hope as well.” Jul 22, 09:44
Captain Caveman on The Wheels Of Industry: “@Hatey I entirely agree with you. However, I’m not sure what this has to do with anything I said; our…” Jul 22, 09:40
Hatey McHateface on The Wheels Of Industry: ““longing for her to rise to the top” Havers, MH. Gingers are over-represented in Scotland and generally under-represented everywhere. I…” Jul 22, 09:04
Oneliner on The Wheels Of Industry: “It didn’t take Barnum long to send in the clowns.” Jul 22, 08:49
Minceheid on The Wheels Of Industry: “Hatey McHateface says: 22 July, 2026 at 8:09 am If nothing else, Mark, how can you NOT celebrate the return…” Jul 22, 08:22
Hatey McHateface on The Wheels Of Industry: “Nice try, CC. But if the immigrants have their way (for bloody obviously, it’s them who are behind the historical…” Jul 22, 08:16
Hatey McHateface on The Wheels Of Industry: “If nothing else, Mark, how can you NOT celebrate the return of the Ginger Growler? Back to the Housing role…” Jul 22, 08:09
Hatey McHateface on The Wheels Of Industry: “Handy place, the House of Lords. If some wrecking cants were to abolish it, somebody else would have to reconstitute…” Jul 22, 08:03
Hatey McHateface on The Wheels Of Industry: “Aye, Alf, one person is enough! Like I’ve said before, if you’ve worked out your theoretical framework, then you now…” Jul 22, 07:54
Oneliner on The Wheels Of Industry: “Meanwhile Pinocchio Sarwar has been elevated to the House of Lords where he will be in charge of dental hygiene…” Jul 22, 07:48
Captain Caveman on The Wheels Of Industry: ““Blaming colonialism and white oppression that have nothing whatsoever to do with the present generations – even the older ones…” Jul 22, 07:30
Young Lochinvar on The Wheels Of Industry: “CD It seems depressingly so.. At Westminster they revelled in 3rd place to get airtime and arguably influence matters down…” Jul 22, 00:24
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on The Wheels Of Industry: “TRANS ACTIVISTS LAUNCH ‘HOW-TO’ INTIMIDATION GUIDE A group promoting violence against gender-critical campaigners has produced a guide to intimidation. Bash…” Jul 21, 23:38
Lorncal on The Wheels Of Industry: “Too many Scots, even those who profess themselves to be independence supporters, worry about other peoples to the detriment of…” Jul 21, 21:09
Colin Dawson on The Wheels Of Industry: ““Were they just waiting for all the momentum and impetus of Brexit, COVID, May, Truss and Starmer to die down…” Jul 21, 20:49
