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Rise and Fall of a No Campaign Meme

Posted by: Editor in Constitution, EU, Media Feb. 13, 2017, 10:06 a.m.

Two things happened on June 23rd, 2016: the UK voted to leave the EU and the campaign for Scottish independence was reinvigorated. One of the foundations of the Better Together campaign in 2014 was that by voting "No" people were guaranteed to stay members of the EU. In the course of one day in June these foundations were completely undermined and the No campaign knew they were in trouble.

Nasty campaign coming

Posted by: Editor in Media, Polling Jan. 31, 2017, 11 p.m.

Plumbing the depths

It is a common political technique to do some research prior to launching a campaign or announcing a new policy to assess how voters might react. Sometimes this research takes the form of focus groups, sometimes it is opinion polling. If you want to get genuine responses it is usually advisable to get an agency or polling company to conduct the research anonymously otherwise the respondents may tailor their answers according to their political prejudices. In recent times, with the prevalance of the Internet, online opinion polling is probably the most common and cost effective. The polling companies then manage panels of voters who they invite to complete the polls.

The National Roadshow, WGD & Independence Conference

Posted by: Editor in Events Jan. 15, 2017, 11:21 p.m.

Three free events for the price of one

Mark your diaries for three great FREE events coming up in Lochaber this April.

Inform Scotland & Banners

Posted by: Editor in Banners, Billboards Jan. 14, 2017, 11:30 p.m.

Helping you get the message out

Many of you will already be aware of the Mis-reporting Scotland campaign being launched by Inform Scotland. This coming Monday, January 16th, a series of giant billboards will appear in cities across Scotland questioning the BBC's impartiality in the reporting of Scottish politics. The purpose of the billboards are to draw people to the Inform Scotland website where they can read for themselves how our media are failing to accurately report and communicate.

The Good Guy

Posted by: Editor in Constitution, EU Sept. 9, 2016, 12:45 p.m.

Guy Verhofstadt appointed as EU Parliament lead negotiator for Brexit

Flemish politician Guy Verhofstadt has been chosen as the EU Parliament's lead negotiator for the forthcoming Brexit negotiations. The former Belgian Prime Minister, MEP and leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe is also the founder of the Spinelli Group which aims for greater federalism within the EU. It is also rumoured that Mr. Verhofstadt's candidacy to become EU Commission President in 2004, following Romani Prodi, was opposed by the UK when Tony Blair was still Prime Minister.

The Invincibles

Posted by: Editor in Establishment Aug. 2, 2016, 6:07 p.m.

If you want to present yourself as superior, better suited to rule or even infallible, you can't come out and say it directly, that would come across as crass and arrogant. It is not even possible to get other people to say it on your behalf, that would be sycophantic. What you can do is employ techniques which give the impression you are born to rule and this is exactly what is done by a group we will call The Invincibles.

Type 26 frigates: "indefinitely delayed"

Posted by: Editor in Defence July 20, 2016, 1 p.m.

Another No campaign broken promise

The Guardian is reporting that the order for the Global Combat Ship, also known as the Type 26 Frigate, due to be built at the BAE yards on the Clyde is to be "indefinitely delayed". Originally, 13 of the GCS ships were to be built on the Clyde but that was then reduced to just 8 ships and now the order is possibly cancelled completely. This comes scarcely two days after the controversial vote to renew Trident at a cost of £205Bn.

The time is now

Posted by: Editor in EU July 9, 2016, 5:07 p.m.

The Yes movement never went away and yet there is a feeling in the air that a resurgence is on-going. It might be that recent events have further strengthened the case for independence or that our opponents have weakened or a combination of both factors. The biggest influencing event is, of course, Brexit, which at a stroke demolished one of the pillars supporting the union between Scotland and England. During the previous IndieRef Better Together, and their supporters, argued that an independent Scotland would, at best, take years to get back into the EU. Those of us on the Yes side countered that the real threat to Scotland's membership was an impending in-out EU referendum. The Chris Cairns' Bull Bridge cartoon, published in January 2013, neatly encapsulated both of those arguments.

Heart of Europe

Posted by: Editor in EU, Humour July 3, 2016, 4:33 p.m.

SwissScotSwap is on the cards

Following on from Nicola Sturgeon's highly successful EU diplomacy in Brussels last week the FM has been conducting innovative talks with Swiss President Johann Schneider-Ammann. The talks, referrred to as SwissScotSwap in diplomatic circles, will see Scotland brought geographically to the centre of the EU. We are indebted to the respected investigative media outlet Der Postillon (German) for breaking this vitally important story.

Where's George?

Posted by: Editor in Economics June 26, 2016, 6:20 p.m.

UK in shambles yet the Chancellor has gone missing

An astounding referendum result will take the UK out of the European Union, the Pound is in free-fall, the stock market has plummeted, there are hourly announcements of major employers leaving the UK and the Prime Minister has resigned. An omnishambles doesn't even begin to describe the mess the UK is in and yet George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, hasn't been seen in public since before the EURef.

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