Will you vote for independence?

[DexterTCN]

So that's the colours of an england flag behind him?

 

[8ball]

Fuck me. Caption comp?

 

[DairyQueen]

So that's the colours of an england flag behind him?

Aye, I know what you mean. If it wasn't for Lamont sitting there it could well have been him bawling at heads of SMEs in the conference suite of a Holiday Inn in Swindon.

 

[steeplejack]

Fuck me. Caption comp?

It's already been won on twitter:

"Ed Miliband shows off his giant toothbrush"

 

[geminisnake]

Is that photo shopped or is he a giant compared to those behind him?

 

[steeplejack]

Tommy Sheridan (!!) packed in 500 on a dreich Thursday night, in Dundee, to hear him speak about independence. Apparently his speech was electrifying, a friend of mine heard it. 400 seated and 100 standing outside and listening on loudspeakers!

He's a busted flush and will never be back in frontline politics, but if Yes win then his will have been an important (and outside of youtube, largely overlooked) contribution.

 

[Wilf]

Tommy Sheridan (!!) packed in 500 on a dreich Thursday night, in Dundee, to hear him speak about independence. Apparently his speech was electrifying, a friend of mine heard it. 400 seated and 100 standing outside and listening on loudspeakers!

He's a busted flush and will never be back in frontline politics, but if Yes win then his will have been an important (and outside of youtube, largely overlooked) contribution.

Swing voters?

 

[butchersapron]

Swing voters?

Talking to himself. Looks like the only people capable of being moved are DK to yes. The no block is solid. YES need 75%+ of DKs.

 

[weepiper]

Talking to himself. Looks like the only people capable of being moved are DK to yes. The no block is solid. YES need 75%+ of DKs.

Anecdotally I know quite a few Nos who've moved to Yes.

 

[andysays]

Anecdotally I know quite a few Nos who've moved to Yes.

That must be down to your powers of persuasion.

But more generally, given that most of the swing has been from No to Yes, doesn't that mean that as time goes on, the soft No supporters get converted and the remaining No supporters are that much more difficult to shift?

 

[DairyQueen]

That must be down to your powers of persuasion.

But more generally, given that most of the swing has been from No to Yes, doesn't that mean that as time goes on, the soft No supporters get converted and the remaining No supporters are that much more difficult to shift?

Yes, but is there enough time? Fingers crossed for a good Miliband bounce. With Ed in town, that would hopefully convince a few more of those soft nos. But yes, one problem is the no block has a larger solid block than yes. Got keep the hopes up though in these times, and the higher the turnout the better.

 

[DairyQueen]

City A.M. - any Londoners know this paper? I have been impressed with some of its coverage, a lot better than other UK papers.

Labour leader Ed Miliband today embarked on a word-bending tactic to win over Scottish independence voters today that is less “Better Together” and more “we're better than the Tories... honest”.

The shadow leader was in Blantyre, near Motherwell, campaigning on behalf of the union by pushing the message that change can come from voting out the Tories, rather than the whole of the UK.

Mindful of polls that show a spike in favour of independence when there is a suggestion the Tories could win again in 2015, Miliband stressed that come next general election Labour could be in charge, when things would be very different.

He started by saying Labour had “always been a movement for change”. Then it got a bit confusing about exactly what kind of change was allowed:
The choice in this referendum campaign is not about change with yes or more of the same with No. No. It is what kind of change you want. The change we need to build a fairer country with Labour, or the change of erecting a new border which is the only ambition of nationalists.
The change he was pushing, of course, was the change that will make him Prime Minister.

In which case, Miliband claimed he would freeze energy bills, raise the minimum wage, introduce a lower entry-level tax rate of 10p and raise the top rate to 50p, tax bankers' bonuses, abolish the bedroom tax “and put our young people back to work”. He rubbished the SNP's own election pledges and warned that an independent Scotland would face higher taxes.

At least at that point it was making sense. Then it veered into the mawkish:
Because if you care about social justice you care about the poor, the disabled, the vulnerable wherever they happen to live.
Before returning to the incomprehensible:

The choice for social justice is no, not yes. Let’s make that change happen together.
In summary, then: Labour is for change. But only a very specific form of change.

The Scottish referendum is on September 18.​

​

 

[Belushi]

It's a free business paper, very free market orientated.

 

[steeplejack]

Talking to himself.

well, actually, no. I don't know how you think you know anything, sitting behind a computer 300 miles away.

There is a big grassroots movement here which is not being recorded, and they have made quite a dent in the No vote in the last few weeks and months.

500 folk on a Thursday night to hear an (admittedly great orator) failed / disgraced politician is not Sheridan preaching to the converted /talking to himself. If Tommy was just talking to Solidarity folk plus sympathisers he'd have struggled to fill a seminar room.

It may not be enough, and there may not be enough time to win an outright yes. But if we fail we will come very, very close.

It's all to play for at the moment after a dismal few months when No just looked un-budge-able, and a double digit defeat was on the cards.

There is a chance a Yes will happen and that is all you can ask for. No one knows whether it is 1979 or 2011, just yet.

 

[William of Walworth]

Can't find the link right now, try as I might, but I saw some mention in the Guardian today of a rumour (?) about a prospective poll this upcoming weekend, that might show YES being in the lead for the first time. Is this bollocks or a real prospect?

 

[starfish]

Was up in Glasgow last weekend for big family do. Question. Do you have to pay to have a big Yes or No banner outside your work? Family opinion is pretty much split down the middle. Some for, some against. I cant vote but if i could id still be amongst the undecided. If i still lived in Scotland my opinion might be stronger though.

 

[Spanky Longhorn]

It's a free business paper, very free market orientated.

I often read it on the train if I'm going into Liverpool Street for the lols, a former poster from here writes for it!

 

[weepiper]

Was up in Glasgow last weekend for big family do. Question. Do you have to pay to have a big Yes or No banner outside your work? Family opinion is pretty much split down the middle. Some for, some against. I cant vote but if i could id still be amongst the undecided. If i still lived in Scotland my opinion might be stronger though.

You can get the window posters for free/a donation at a Yes shop but the big flags and the big cutout Yes aigns people will have paid for.

 

[Frankie Jack]

Lad on FB has been making and delivering the big MDF signs.

 

[xslavearcx]

Can't find the link right now, try as I might, but I saw some mention in the Guardian today of a rumour (?) about a prospective poll this upcoming weekend, that might show YES being in the lead for the first time. Is this bollocks or a real prospect?

Anybody have anything else on that rumour?On the Indy polling thread the rumour is that yes campaign have tried to bury a panelbase poll which would suggest the opposite

 

[teuchter]

Here's an aquaintance's post on facebook this morning:

I've never posted anything in the referendum until now. I've been undecided and verging on NO mainly due to the tiresome politics and bickering on both sides. I am not a supporter of the SNP, I would not even say I am pro independence because I believe the UK is a wonderful thing but I am PRO CHANGE and in the last few weeks I have decided I will vote YES...and this article sums up why.

(He's referring to this article: http://www.theguardian.com/commenti...ndence-referendum-debate-intoxicated-scotland)

 

[Frankie Jack]

Great pic of Lament in the DR..

"I'll wring Nicola's neck....she owned me!"

 

[Frankie Jack]

 

[Frankie Jack]

Not for mainstream BBC TV then.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2014/frankie-boyle-referendum

Frankie Boyle will take centre stage this September in a one-off comedy event, Frankie Boyle’s Referendum Autopsy, made exclusively for BBC iPlayer by Zeppotron, an Endemol company.
Filmed at Glasgow’s Britannia Panopticon in front of a live studio audience, shortly after the referendum vote on 18 September, the event will be a mix of stand-up, review, discussion and audience interaction – all connected to the subject of the referendum result and its repercussions for both Scotland and the United Kingdom.

Frankie will be joined by fellow comics as well as a series of experts and high profile figures, many of whom may well take issue with Frankie’s thoughts and opinions on matters related to the referendum.

They will analyse the campaign, scrutinize the celebrity endorsements, dissect the part that social media played in the run up to the vote and take a satirical look at how news organisations at home and abroad covered the event. And while Scotland is in the voting habit, Frankie will propose some other motions that he wants the studio audience to vote on after each comedic discussion.

Given this is a BBC iPlayer exclusive comedy event, the duration will only be finalised on the day of delivery.

 

[DairyQueen]

The more I think about it, the more I suspect Better Together have missed a big trick here. Instead of trying to pull the wool over voters eyes, they could have really proposed something concrete that offered voters something completely different (e.g. devo max). I am really curious why they didn't do that.

 

[The Boy]

The more I think about it, the more I suspect Better Together have missed a big trick here. Instead of trying to pull the wool over voters eyes, they could have really proposed something concrete that offered voters something completely different (e.g. devo max). I am really curious why they didn't do that.

might not have played with a proportion of the non-Scottish electorate. especially on the Tory end.

 

[Frankie Jack]

The more I think about it, the more I suspect Better Together have missed a big trick here. Instead of trying to pull the wool over voters eyes, they could have really proposed something concrete that offered voters something completely different (e.g. devo max). I am really curious why they didn't do that.

They wanted a NO vote and the end of it all. Backfiring on them now.

 

[Frankie Jack]

The Hootsmon link that is no more on the website archived..

SCOTTISH Labour leader Johann Lamont got the wrong No vote today when she took to the SNP heartland -- and was met with closed doors.
The MSP for Glasgow Pollok made a ‘behind enemy lines’ visit to Govan, in deputy leader Nicola Sturgeon’s Govan constituency, to argue the pro-Union case with voters.
But despite an army of Labour supporters knocking doors, only three residents engaged in conversation with her - while several even came outside to return the leaflets pushed through their letter boxes.


The weak response from SNP voters got worse when a pensioner refused to even discuss with Lamont how she would be voting on the 18th.
But Lamont later insisted it had been a successful exercise and not a waste of her time.
She said: “I’m very positive about the response that we got. It’s reflected the response that we’ve got across the country in Labour areas.
“Labour people are committing to vote No whilst the SNP’s supporters are committing to vote No as well, because they recognise they can get the benefits of devolution.”
But she claimed she did not see the local residents only come outside to give back the Labour leaflets.
She said: “Well I didn’t see that.
“Everywhere you go you’re going to have some people who are not going to be happy to see you, but right across the country I’m getting a very warm response on the doors because people know that for us this is not about what our party is saying, it’s what’s in the best interest of the people of Scotland.”
The Scottish Labour leader also said she was not concerned about an increasing number of women Labour voters apparently moving towards independence.
She said: “It’s not what I’m finding on the doors. I think particularly women are recognising that actually you wouldn’t put your family’s future at risk.
“They’d be expected to deal with a £6 billion black hole from day one and we know that’s a real problem and women recognise that.”

Scottish independence:Govan closes doors to Lamont

 

[Frankie Jack]

Wastemonster needs US...!!!

Tucked away in the Financial Times’ report earlier in the week was the giveaway. “Currency investors” would apparently be “particularly concerned by the UK’s persistent current account deficit if this were no longer offset by North Sea oil revenues.”

This is something of an understatement. The UK has run a deficit on its trade in goods every single year since 1983. We have imported more goods than we have exported every year for three decades. Including services and overseas earnings (the “current account”), the UK has run a deficit since the mid-1990s. Today, that deficit is close to record levels, at 4.4% of GDP.

A country running a large current account deficit with a freely-traded currency should see the value of its currency fall. Fewer people abroad will be buying that country’s products, and so demand for that country’s currency will drop, bringing its exchange rate down. That fall in the exchange rate should, in turn, lead to rising exports (since they become cheaper for the rest of the world) and falling imports (since they have become more expensive), so closing the trade gap.

That’s the theory; it hasn’t happened in the UK because we have an economy that has been extremely effective at covering for its deficit by borrowing from the rest of the world. Today, the UK holds the world’s second-largest external debt, behind only the US. The UK, collectively, owes 406% of its GDP to its overseas creditors.

http://www.neweconomics.org/blog/entry/scottish-independence-uk-dependency

 

[steeplejack]

Retweeted by Yes Scotland
Nicola Sturgeon ‏@NicolaSturgeon 2m
BREAKING: @SkyNews has just reported that tomorrow's Yougov poll in Sunday Times puts #Yes narrowly ahead