The Scottish Fifth Estate

One of the most interesting developments to come out of IndyRef was the role of the Fifth Estate in the Yes side. Often operating without any connection to the official Yes Scotland campaign they went about their business online unfettered by any party political considerations. Probably the best example of this was Wings Over Scotland. Their ‘wee blue book’ had, in print and download, 500,000 distributed to a country with around four million adults. The man behind this is the …

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IndyRef: A new dispensation

The returning officer for Fife declared at 06.09am and he stated that 114,148 votes had been cast for YES, but 139,788 for NO. That put NO over the winning line. The Better Together campaign had triumphed by a margin of 55% to 45%. On a turnout of 86% that means that 1.6million people in Scotland voted for independence on September 18th 2014. Moreover the cities of Dundee and Glasgow voted YES. However, the rest of the country rejected the proposition …

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The Slugger has landed

I finally arrived at the Royal Highland Centre in Ingliston. This is the National Count Collation Centre for the Scottish Independence Referendum. Media from around the planet are gathering in this hangar type building. Some places are reserved and the man from Slugger almost nicked a seat ‘belonging’ to the Chinese National News Agency. However I think I got away with it. I will be feeding the Sluggerati with a live updates throughout the night. Mick has said that he …

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Journeys on the Scottish omnibus

If you’re into politics then this is the happening place this week. I arrived in my native city last night and it started for me almost immediately. On the shuttle in from Glasgow airport the chaos of the universe decided to put me in the seat in front of Brian Wilson. For the uninitiated Brian was elected to serve for the Cunninghame North constituency in 1987 for the Labour Party and he successfully defended the seat until he retired in …

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Scotland. A historic and generational engagement.

I recently spent ten days in Glasgow. My intention was to pick up the vibe on the YES side in my native city with particular emphasis on the Fifth Estate and the unofficial YES campaign. I found that there was plenty of it and on day one of my trip I was pulled into a voter registration stall in Buchanan Street in the city centre. It had been set up by some university students and they were all YES voters. …

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Rangers FC in crisis: A genuine Ulster Scots saga…

If the Ulster Scots Agency has any spare money they might think about giving it to Rangers Football club and quickly. Recently the players took a 75% pay cut till the end of the season. The Administrators said it was that or the lights went out. The future for the club is bleak. Rangers could be liquidated as their debts are massive and unpayable. And the company will not be in a position to trade out of the situation. The …

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Salmond’s civic nationalism a problem for the Westminster elite.

Apart from the general good fortune that Alex Salmond enjoys as a politician David Cameron’s blundering foray north yesterday demonstrates that he doesn’t understand what the SNP leader represents.

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