After all, the UK government didn’t put the effort in to construct an even minimally coherent case, so frankly we don’t see why we should. We’re going for a pie.
When supprters of Scottish independence cite the infamous McCrone Report – a UK government document suppressed by both Conservative and Labour administrations in the 1970s because of its explosive revelations about the potential wealth of an independent Scotland – Unionists have a standard tactic.
Mumbling that it’s all ancient history, water under the bridge, and things are different now, they attempt – quite understandably – to swiftly move the discussion away from the uncomfortable reality of how much trust Scots should place in the word of London governments on the subject of oil revenues.
Today’s Sunday Post carries a front-page lead story which notes that in the 40 years since the original report was hidden from the Scottish people, nothing has fundamentally changed. As almost nothing of the Post is currently available online, we’ve included a hefty extract from the article below.
We got an email from our Prague correspondent last night, but that’s not the only thing the disgraceful pun in the headline refers to. As Michael Moore was kicked around the playground by Nicola Sturgeon in the first Scotland Tonight debate that same evening, the soggy security blanket he clung to more than anything else was the currency issue, which the No camp appears to believe is now its most powerful weapon.
It’s a two-pronged Trident, if you’ll forgive the even more tortured wordplay in that metaphor. Firstly there’s the scaremongering part containing the (empty) threat that the rUK would refuse to enter a currency union with an independent Scotland, forcing it to join the embattled Euro, and as back-up there’s the claim that if we DID get a currency union, Scotland would somehow end up getting less consideration from the Bank of England governors when it came to monetary policy than the none it gets now.
Let’s take the briefest look we can manage at both of those assertions.
We should point out in advance that we’re using the word “voter” quite wrongly here. But a piece in today’s Daily Record has us beaten all ends up for wrongness.
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?
The Scottish press has chosen its latest martyr well. Perhaps aware that the average politician – whose day job is basically one long playground name-calling session – doesn’t tend to cut a very convincing figure as the subject of “bullying”, this week the print and broadcast media chose someone a little more sympathetic to portray as a broken, pitiful victim of the Evil Cybernat Hordes: a poor vulnerable wee lassie.
A tiny 4’11”, Susan Calman is nevertheless a former lawyer (who’s worked on Death Row in the USA) as well as a comedian, and one might reasonably expect that she’d be fairly used to both being asked for evidence and being heckled. It’s quite difficult to imagine that any time she was challenged in a courtroom, with someone’s life hanging in the balance, she crumbled in tears at the shock of anybody requesting that she support her case with some sort of verifiable facts.
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.
It would appear that we’ve reached the point where the anti-independence campaign has officially run out of arguments, and is being forced to reissue its Greatest Hits.
The headline on the left is from January 2012, the one on the right is yesterday’s.
We have a fun task for Scottish Labour’s exciting new “Truth Team”, which made its debut last week. Clearly it would be rather unseemly to go around proclaiming yourself an arbiter of truth if there was a great big lie at the heart of your very existence, so hopefully someone on the Team will be able to explain the curious and seemingly untrue assertion that still heads up Scottish Labour’s own Twitter account.
Aidan on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “Now that he’s on pre-mod (I expect) he’ll go off and haunt some other forum.” Jul 23, 23:15
robertkknight on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “His King’s Colours didn’t go down too well either, with the Scots deciding upon their own design, which was contrary…” Jul 23, 23:12
Alf Baird on Ain’t it funny how things change?: ““I’m every bit as much a Sovereign Scot as you.” In a colonial society there are plenty of assimilated natives…” Jul 23, 22:41
Angus on Ain’t it funny how things change?: ““Ain’t it funny how things change?” Ain’t it also funny how things never change? Labour has been promising to abolish…” Jul 23, 22:35
Captain Caveman on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “Heh, oh really… Well, I’d “knock it on the head” and quit whilst you’re (self evidently) behind, Confused. 🙂” Jul 23, 22:23
Confused on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “EFTA came up, in the context of GDP/capita – the small, rich countries club – but you realise evil never…” Jul 23, 22:23
Xaracen on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “A, B, C, and E don’t mean anything to you, Aidan, and they don’t have to. They did mean something…” Jul 23, 22:10
Confused on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “you’re a bit of a pedant, and prone to miss the point (like some others round here, the reading age…” Jul 23, 22:05
Confused on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “sure www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5FbYBiJiuA caveman, you’re the kind of turnip a bash on the head might knock some sense into” Jul 23, 22:01
Confused on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “Main – the mobile gas van is on route number 6 000 000 as any fule kno” Jul 23, 21:59
sam on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “Auld enemy. Different language,they didnae ken. Deid Mum. Divine Right was right up their parliamentary noses. On the plus side…” Jul 23, 21:28
Aidan on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “A, B and C don’t mean anything but E is interesting, what proportion of Scots had the vote in 1707…” Jul 23, 21:18
Cynicus on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “Alf Baird says: 22 July, 2026 at 4:31 pm There is a long history of elite Scots selling out their…” Jul 23, 21:00
Hatey McHateface on Ain’t it funny how things change?: ““The people paid far less in taxes” Sure Xaracen. And not only did we get free cradle to grave benefits…” Jul 23, 20:55
Alf Baird on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “Divide an rule is aye the colonizer’s tool. The colonized are made ‘bystanders’ in their own land; they are ‘out…” Jul 23, 20:53
Hatey McHateface on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “Assuming rounded populations of England at 50 million and Scotland at 5 million. The political will to address the issue…” Jul 23, 20:47
100%Yes on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “What John Swinney has just signed Scotland over to Manchester and he’d doesn’t even know what powers the Scottish parliament…” Jul 23, 20:45
Hatey McHateface on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “Oddly enough, that greater trust in Scottish governments peaked under Nicola Sturgeon during the Covid Years. Nowadays, the ex party…” Jul 23, 20:35
100%Yes on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “Wings predicted on here and by people posting on here as well. But the SNP commitment to the union has…” Jul 23, 20:29
Hatey McHateface on Ain’t it funny how things change?: ““proselytising religions” Naw. A proselytising religion is one where its adherents chap your door, earnestly attempt to tell you the…” Jul 23, 20:24
Hatey McHateface on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “Havers, Mark. Check out the front lines (and the combat casualty lists) from the war in the east. You’ll find…” Jul 23, 20:09
Mark Beggan on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “Why not. No one else wants the job. What about asking Jack McConnell to step in.” Jul 23, 20:06
sam on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-social-attitudes-survey-2025-core-module/pages/5/ Factchecker. Link above. Of interest to me, the steep decline in trust of the Scottish government since 2015. Signs…” Jul 23, 19:55
Xaracen on Ain’t it funny how things change?: ““What made Scotland “much better” before 1707, Xaracen?” A, it was independent, B, it wasn’t a colony of England, C,…” Jul 23, 19:29
Hatey McHateface on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “Sorry, Alf, but I’m every bit as much a Sovereign Scot as you. What have I already told you about…” Jul 23, 19:15
factchecker on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “sam, my comment on the uncontextualised use of survey data relates to the original post. Not the survey itself. Hence…” Jul 23, 18:18
factchecker on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “Dan, regarding the much-quoted “Union of Equals” that I know is such a popular trope, I am unaware of any…” Jul 23, 18:12
sam on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “Don’t forget the colonisation of Ireland by the Scots and English. James granted confiscated land from Irish Catholics to Protestant…” Jul 23, 18:06
Young Lochinvar on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “FC Apology accepted. Always laugh when those who know their wordsmithery isn’t cutting it feel the need to conclude with…” Jul 23, 17:49
