Scottish Independence Referendum - 18 September 2014

[bore]

There is no chance of the rest of the UK changing the flag if Scotland votes yes.

[afleitch]

There is no chance of the rest of the UK changing the flag if Scotland votes yes.

The flag itself originated after the Union of Crowns but before the Act of Union. It is the a flag of the United Kingdoms. It's only been adopted casually as the flag of Great Britain. I don't see it being amended if Scotland becomes independent.

[Јas]

The orange in Irish tricolor is rather redundant too.

I quite disagree.

[CatoMinor]

This should clearly be the alternative flag on standby in case Scotland leaves. Just remove the blue.

[Lurker]

Seems like the momentum of the independence campaign has stalled. The two polls for May show a "no" lead of 10 and 12 percentage points.  http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/scottish-independence-referendum

[bore]

Both Better Together and Yes Scotland have begun obnoxiously running adverts everywhere, (at this point combined they're before about every second youtube video, and my friends were complaining they're at the cinema as well) for those who want to see them, Better Together's is here and Yes Scotland is here.

[Swedish Rainbow Capitalist Cheese]

Better Together's is here and Yes Scotland is here.

The Better Together one is rather lame, but the Scotland Yes one is probably one of the most obnoxious political ads I've seen. If it was any more in your face about and cheesy about its message it would be dangerous to people's health.

[Cassius]

Kirsty needs to be fed through a mangle.

[politicus]

Better Together's is here and Yes Scotland is here.

Far thicker Scottish accents in better together. Wonder why they chose a girl with such thin accent for the Yes campaign.

[bore]

Better Together's is here and Yes Scotland is here.

Far thicker Scottish accents in better together. Wonder why they chose a girl with such thin accent for the Yes campaign.

One of the problems Better Together face is the perception that they're anti Scottish, while yes Scotland have the opposite problem (the perception that they're anti english), and both alienate huge portions of the country. For instance, almost all "No" voters will still strongly support the Scottish football team, and the vast majority identify as Scottish before British, so better together can't be seen as anti Scottish. Similarly, most people will have English relatives or friends, so any campaign that seems anti English will not work either.

[afleitch]

Anecdotally I know about ten English folk personally and all but two are a Yes voter. There is a selection bias as a number of them are involved in the arts and culture (which tends to be both 'local' in outlook and international) but I'm not seeing any animosity. Those who think independence will throw up a border tend to be those who have no family or business connection outside of Scotland and rarely visit the rest of the UK. Those who have settled here and have those connections don't seem to be as concerned by that 'threat.'

[bore]

Of my 16 facebook friends who like Yes Scotland, there is one English, one Irish and one Lithuanian born, plus quite a few other second generation immigrants, and Better Together is roughly the same. So, yeah, the way the campaign is at the moment there isn't much of Scottish/English/Other divide, but due to the nature of the debate there is still a danger that the yes campaign could get painted as sort of "Braveheart", which is why their advert doesn't have a strong accent. I think the same is true in reverse for Better Together.

[CatoMinor]

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http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/bombshell-daily-record-poll-shows-3678091#.U5knSMA1nOg.twitter

[minionofmidas]

Better Together's is here and Yes Scotland is here.

Far thicker Scottish accents in better together. Wonder why they chose a girl with such thin accent for the Yes campaign.

One of the problems Better Together face is the perception that they're anti Scottish, while yes Scotland have the opposite problem (the perception that they're anti english), and both alienate huge portions of the country. For instance, almost all "No" voters will still strongly support the Scottish football team, and the vast majority identify as Scottish before British

If things stood otherwise, the no's would not of course stand a chance in hell, so this is kind of a given from the polls.

[Gass3268]

J.K. Rowling does not support Scottish Independence. She just gave  £1 million to Better Together campaign.

http://thinkprogress.org/world/2014/06/12/3447761/jk-rowling-scotland-independence/

[You kip if you want to...]

The Pope has joined the list of big names (Obama, Hillary... JK Rowling) who've expressed doubt in the Salmond project this week.

Watch the SNP try and deal with this. Should be interesting.

[EPG]

The Guardian writes:

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which only proves once again that The Guardian's opinion and knowledge of Catholics is stuck around 1688.

[minionofmidas]

The Guardian writes:

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which only proves once again that The Guardian's opinion and knowledge of Catholics is stuck around 1688.

1868, more like.

That said, he's clearly the most influential of the names listed by the kipper.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-28279790

[afleitch]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-28279790

Given 28% is equivalent to the entire remaining Scottish population plus one friend that's not a bad result

[afleitch]

Peter Kilfoyle comes out for independence.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Former MP for Liverpool Walton.

[bore]

That's terrible news for Ed Milliband.

[Frodo]

The unionists look set to keep Scotland in the United Kingdom (and by a solid margin) if this latest poll is to be believed. 

[Keystone Phil]

The unionists look set to keep Scotland in the United Kingdom (and by a solid margin) if this latest poll is to be believed. 

It's a "poll of polls" and doesn't count undecided voters. It's also before the Salmond-Darling debate.