Paisley Red

Right on cue, John Major has just been on Radio 4 telling Scots we'd lose Trident if we vote Yes (we know!), that we'd be chucked out of the EU (but a Tory govt will allow the UK to leave) and that we don't know what independence means. Cheers John!

David Cameron ha started his day of appealing for a No vote by writing a "passionate plea" to Scots ... in the fucking Daily Mail! Sometimes I think the Better Together side is deliberately trying to lose this vote.

"How a 'Yes' vote could transform Scottish society by ending the intellectually bankrupt oil tax regime." Interesting take on energy from Al Jazeera. http://m.aljazeera.com/story/20149953957684597

That's what the 'unnamed Cabinet minister' suggested months ago; wouldn't surprise me at all especially if the City starts lobbying the UK government for a Currency Union. The SNP have committed to removing Trident and people here want it gone but the deal could involve giving the UK 20 years to come up with somewhere to put it rather than 4.

Frankie Boyle is debating independence with George Galloway at 7.45 on Sky News. Galloway supports independence for Ireland, Palestine, Iraq ... every country except his own in fact. He's spent his whole career railing against the Tories but wants us to accept more Tory governments we didn't vote for. Hopefully Frankie is well prepared and brings up Galloway's pussy cat impression at least once.

Aye, well I hope I will be but I'll be approaching 60 in 21 years time. Based on current life expectancy levels for Glaswegian males and the prospect of scavenging for food in the bankrupt third world of independent Scotland I'm not too confident. I'd be the oldest cunt in the country!

Fair enough and I would usually be just as negative about politicians but there's something happening up here just now that is making me optimistic. We now have one of the most politically engaged populations in the world and the consensus among Yes voters is that we can and will find less cuntable leaders than the likes of Blair, Brown and Cameron ... and Salmond for that matter. I'm prepared to accept there will be problems and challenges in the short-term so I'll not be accepting any "We told you an independent Scotland would be a disaster" type comments for at least 20 years.

Cunt that he is, Murdoch always backs the winner in elections. He backed Salmond in the last two Scottish elections, he backed Blair, Blair then Cameron in the last three UK General Elections.

Scottish independence, UK dependancy: http://www.neweconomics.org/blog/entry/scottish-independence-uk-dependency

In fact the Saltire isn't flying above Downing St yet; it fell down as they tried to raise it. Are we living through a live episode of 'The Thick Of It' right enough?

I'm half expecting Cameron, Miliband and Clegg to be wearing kilts and See You Jimmy hats when they come up tomorrow. .

Saltire now being raised above 10 Downing Street. Game changer!

The RBS is not a Scottish bank. It's 80% owned by the UK government who bought it with UK taxpayers money.

Tomorrow's PMQs cancelled so that Cameron, Miliband and Clegg can all come up here to persuade us to vote No. Yes campaign will be delighted!

I think Miliband is completely bewildered about everything. Thinking that English councils flying the Saltire is going to help the No vote just shows how clueless Labour are about what is happening here.

I see Ed Miliband is in Liverpool to raise the Saltire on top of the City Council building with Joe Anderson ... think I'll vote No now.

From what I've read Salmond studied Quebec closely, met some of the pro-independence leaders and was very unimpressed; he thought they were promoting a kind of ethnic nationalism and has since made sure there was no hint of that within the Yes campaign here. I'm sure he will also have learned lessons from how the pro-independence side led in the polls just before the vote but then lost. Whatever you think of Salmond he is switched on and won't make the same mistakes the Quebec guys did.

Haha! I think she's probably the best politician in Britain myself but your description cracked me up. Not sure if I believe it myself; can't imagine Salmond turning down the chance to become the first leader of independent Scotland but he may think that winning the referendum is enough to secure his place in history and there's no doubt he's a shrewd operator and is fully aware he personally puts thousands off voting Yes. Good article on Sturgeon here: http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/sep/05/nicola-sturgeon-salmond-deputy-brink-power

Just heard from a pretty reliable source that Alex Salmond will announce next week that he is standing down and handing SNP leadership over to Nicola Sturgeon no matter what the result of the referendum is. Absolute masterstroke if true; a lot of people are planning to vote No purely because they can't stand him. Sturgeon is much more likeable and has barely put a foot wrong during the campaign; she's been much more visible up here than he has recently. Yes to win still 11/4, Yes to get over 55% is 5/1... as Ray Winstone would say "Get on it boys!".

More bad news on the volatile and ever diminishing oil front: http://www.oilandgaspeople.com/news/1039/scottish-west-coast-untapped-oil-and-gas-reserves-worth-trillions/

Another good article here by George Monbiot - "Scots voting No would be an astonishing act of self-harm". http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/sep/02/scots-independence-england-scotland

Some will do that. On the other hand some will have settled on voting No then get into the booth and respond to the question "Should Scotland be an independent country?" with "Aye, it should be. Fuck it, I'm voting Yes".

This latest YouGov puts the undecideds at 8% which is the lowest figure I've seen so far. Twice as many undecideds have been moving to Yes as to No. Women and Labour voters also now shifting to Yes compared to a month ago so all the momentum is with Yes. http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/sep/02/scottish-independence-yes-campaign-poll-boost

The only mention of Braveheart comes from the No side; they're obsessed with it! I watched it once when it came out and thought it was shite. This article here by Paul Mason captures the mood quite well. http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/aug/31/scottish-independence-yes-vote-turnout-polls?CMP=twt_gu

New YouGov poll: No 53% (-4%), Yes 47% (+4%). 61-39 with the same polling company at the beginning of August and Yes has always polled lower with YouGov than with other companies ... I'm starting to believe Yes will win now; the Better Together campaign has become shambolic and thousands of people are registering to vote for the first time ever; I don't think they're doing that to cast a vote in support of the status quo.