The world's most-read Scottish politics website

Wings Over Scotland


The unpalatable harvest 211

Posted on August 28, 2014 by

One of the most commonly-observed facets of the independence referendum so far has been the lack of a real grassroots “Better Together” campaign, and as a historian of Scottish popular politics I’ve found myself pondering why there wasn’t one.

togetheralone3

It’s not like there aren’t thousands of Scots who passionately believe in the Union and will be voting No, and are perfectly capable of arguing their case. We all know some – I certainly do, both family and friends. But there’s no organised grassroots campaigning of any serious note. Tiny handfuls of Labour activists, some of them shipped up from England and paid, have done almost all of the donkey work so far.

But as a historian of Scottish popular politics I should have an explanation, shouldn’t I? And when I had a think about it, something occurred to me.

Read the rest of this entry →

Tags:
Category analysis, comment, culture, history, scottish politics

  • About

    Wings Over Scotland is a thing that exists.

    Stats: 6,909 Posts, 1,242,212 Comments

  • Recent Posts

  • Archives

  • Categories

  • Tags

    and finally and firstly arithmetic fail braveheart klaxon britnats captain darling cartoons Chris Cairns confused cringe crybabies dateline debates Devo Nano Federalists Unionists and Devolutionists flat-out lies foreigner watch from the archives fundraisers galleries Greg Moodie hamish hypocrisy liars light-hearted banter lizards memogate misinformation one nation perspectives poll project fear project feart qft Scott Minto smears snp accused soapbox the positive case for the union The Vow ticktock toldyouso too wee too poor too stupid unionist of the day vote no get nothing

  • Recent Comments

    • Sven on The Queer Parliament: “Oh, they’re real enough, Mark. I just doubt that they are behind everything they get the blame for.” May 20, 15:52
    • MaryB on The Queer Parliament: “Perhaps the Stonewall funding shortfall has encouraged more trans activists to go into politics, so that they can keep up…” May 20, 15:49
    • Mark Beggan on The Queer Parliament: “That’s where the real battle will be fought. All those skeletons and missing children.” May 20, 15:43
    • Ian McCubbin on The Queer Parliament: “Well done both votes SNP and the let’s vote green cause they are for Indy sheeples. You have given us…” May 20, 15:42
    • Captain Caveman on The Queer Parliament: “This is nearing the logical conclusion of a heady combination of left wingers believing their own publicity and supposed moral…” May 20, 15:37
    • Al-Stuart on The Queer Parliament: “. Stu, I love your intro video. It puts me in mind of the stuff the SNP Sturgeon sycophant and…” May 20, 15:35
    • Alf Baird on The Queer Parliament: “Stonewall’s future now “depends on whether the public can fill the void left by fleeing sponsors”. So might we expect…” May 20, 15:34
    • Mark Beggan on The Queer Parliament: “I really don’t know how the Rev does it. Apart from taking me weeks to type that amount. I would…” May 20, 15:31
    • Mark Beggan on The Queer Parliament: “The seek them here they seek them there. They seek the 77 everywhere. They’re in the cupboard. They’re under the…” May 20, 15:29
    • Lorncal on The Queer Parliament: “Westminster has far too many problems of its own now, as does America, MaryB. Some would have it that this…” May 20, 15:28
    • Captain Caveman on The Queer Parliament: ““And it’s not just a Scottish problem. Wait until a UK Reform government meets the woke civil service.” I can’t…” May 20, 15:28
    • Alf Baird on The Queer Parliament: “If they were my ‘kind of people’ they would have declared independence after the first elected Scottish majority of ‘nationalists’.…” May 20, 15:22
    • Sven on The Queer Parliament: “And, every time this type of insanity occurs within our devolved administration it just becomes more challenging to persuade any…” May 20, 15:18
    • Lorncal on The Queer Parliament: “Alf: I like and admire you, but, please, please don’t keep on saying this is all about the uk, because…” May 20, 15:15
    • AntonDecadent on The Queer Parliament: “If you look it up it only really lists them as funding themselves.” May 20, 15:14
    • Cuphook on The Queer Parliament: “This action by the civil service in Holyrood should worry everyone. It is an ideologically driven bureaucracy which plays with…” May 20, 15:13
    • sam on The Queer Parliament: “After…. https://elearncollege.com/business-and-management/stonewall-funding-collapse-the-cash-crisis-explained/” May 20, 15:13
    • sam on The Queer Parliament: “Before… https://thecritic.co.uk/whos-been-propping-up-stonewall/” May 20, 15:10
    • Campbell Clansman on The Queer Parliament: “The new Scottish cabinet may not have “achieved anything useful” for Scotland. But they HAVE achieved something useful for themselves–a…” May 20, 15:05
    • Mark Beggan on The Queer Parliament: “I thought these were your kind of people.” May 20, 15:05
    • Mark Beggan on The Queer Parliament: “The Rise of the Retards.” May 20, 14:47
    • Alf Baird on The Land Of No Laws: “Yes Rev, on proportionality of sanctions, now we also have Southampton penalised by ‘spygate’, which would seem rather less an…” May 20, 14:37
    • MaryB on The Queer Parliament: “It would be interesting to know who is funding the Scottish Greens. Westminster must love them as disrupters. The SNP…” May 20, 14:36
    • Rev. Stuart Campbell on The Land Of No Laws: ““In football, the clock doesn’t stop when the ball hits the net. This is not the NFL.” Not literally, as…” May 20, 14:17
    • Alf Baird on The Queer Parliament: “We might add that there is also now a direct line from Stonewall to Swinney’s cabinet, even withoot the Greens…” May 20, 14:15
    • diabloandco on The Queer Parliament: “What a fucking shambles.” May 20, 14:04
    • Campbell Clansman on The Queer Parliament: “Why should anyone be surprised at this? It is a logical consequence of the SNP clinging to office and thus…” May 20, 14:03
    • J Robertson on The Queer Parliament: “This is who we admire and prioritise over you ,,,In a nutshell this is the message from the Fake Greens.…” May 20, 14:01
    • MaryB on The Land Of No Laws: “John Swinney has announced his new cabinet. Jenny Gilruth, partner of Kez Dugdale for Dep FM. And same old, same…” May 20, 13:37
    • lothianlad on The Land Of No Laws: “Stu is right, There is NO ‘old firm’! When a club in only 14 years old, it cannot be considered…” May 20, 12:54

  • A tall tale



↑ Top