exile

Battleground Britain: Labour 'cannon fodder' desert to SNP in Glasgow East http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/mar/23/labour-cannon-fodder-desert-to-snp-in-glasgow-east-general-election Includes a quote from someone who doesn't want full independence but who is minded to vote SNP (As usual, beware the don't knows, don't turn ups and 'silent majority'!)

I tend to agree. Sturgeon better fits the post referendum mood.

http://www.thegrocer.co.uk/buying-and-supplying/categories/meat/macsween-launches-british-beef-and-haggis-burger/515750.article

So, the dastardly Salmond is aiming for a bigger prize than independence! His real aim is to take over Her Majesty's Government!

Yeah I was going to summarise it so people didn;t need to read it but you might need to read it to get the full glory of it The implication is that unionist leaning parts of Scotland would remain in UK... of course it's just a threat but at face value he's trying to avert the break-up of Britain by allowing parts of Scotland to break away... hence breaking up Scotland, and Britain It's hard to tell these days what is actually satire any more - he uses the term north Britain in a non ironic way? - but you can tell he's a clever man for putting the words 'nationalist' and 'socialist' so close together in the same sentence I wonder if it's guys like this who write into the Scotsman comments section

Here is a man so desperate to prevent the break-up of Britain that he proposes to break up Scotland! In today's Telegraph A way to save the Union from the cunning Nats "The Scots Nats are perpetual trouble-makers who will do anything and everything to aggravate the English. It's about time we turned the tables on them" http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/SNP/11485977/A-way-to-save-the-Union-from-the-cunning-Nats.html This guy proposed the same idea in December England must be resolute and save the Scots from self-destruction http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/scotland/11314336/England-must-be-resolute-and-save-the-Scots-from-self-destruction.html

What kind of stunt to wear black armbands for something (not involving actual mourning) that happened in 1979? If roughly or nearly half the Scottish electorate is sympathetic to independence and/or SNP, why are they likely to switch back due to this particular piece of tribal posturing?

Although I wouldn't call a Lab-Con coalition undemocratic, it has been raised by some (Kenneth Baker?) in an atmosphere of urging constitutional change to stop SNP getting power, or (as some might say) to stop Scottish voters' preferences having a decisive say in affairs at Westminster "Yes, your English Tory will talk the unionist talk, but press him on it — I am belatedly realising — and you will discover that the only Union they’re really interested in is one that has no impact upon them whatsoever. Remember all those decades when there was a Tory PM and almost no Scottish Tory MPs? Remember the way they’d shrug and explain that this was just how a Union works, and that the reverse could as easily be true? Call me a mug, but I actually thought they meant it. They don’t want a partner, these people, but a pet." - Hugo Rifkind

The figures for the younger voters were striking - the difference between Scotland and England

"I am half Scottish myself, and that part of my identity is very dear to me, and not something to be defined by SNP enthusiasts.” Bell must have a strange sense of Scottish identity to draw this.

Steve Bell - "I am half Scottish myself" http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/mar/15/cartoonist-steve-bell-defend-right-to-draw

Jim Murphy warns SNP against voting with the Tories or they'll end up destroyed in Scotland http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/jim-murphy-warns-snp-against-5379531

This point is dawning on some... The Real Threat to Britain thread

Clegg predicts Salmond election failure http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-31970118

Hugo Rifkind in the Spectator http://www.spectator.co.uk/columnists/hugo-rifkind/9472772/the-real-threat-to-britain-and-its-not-the-snp/

Scotland’s election result is the single factor most likely to shape the next government. No combination of parties would have the required numbers without the votes of the SNP http://www.theguardian.com/politics/datablog/2015/mar/20/general-election-lessons-scotland-political-history "Scotland was already partying. It’s just that nobody noticed"

yes - 2 different groups. Also linkages across between Scotland and England.

Some interesting comparisons between different groups in these islands... includes a map.... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-31905764

Well, 11 hours ? and 2 pages later it would have made a viable topic on its own, even if it was the same people saying the same things... Still, if Dougie is Googling himself on social media he may be disturbed to find the thread is not about himself after all! At least it's not an echo chamber of angry grieving SNP supporters. at least, not all of it!

I though this thread was meant to be about Douglas Alexander [not Kay Clark]. Anyway - it's a fair point that lies and rumours and inaccuracies spread on social media. But what Dougie should be asking is why people turn to social media? At least partly because of the degenerate nature of the mainstream media and politicians - which sometimes descend to 'angry venting' - Alistair Darling talking of blood and soil nationalism, comparing Salmond to Kim Jong Il, and Jockophobic cartoons in all the London papers...

...which no one is reporting Dougie's message now all over the media like a rash, venting his own straw poll of one woman in a supermarket, and the rest of the media commenting on the conspiracies http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/mar/17/online-rumours-damage-british-democracy-says-douglas-alexander http://www.politics.co.uk/news/2015/03/17/labour-blames-conspiracy-theories-for-scottish-collapse http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/03/17/facebook-conspiracy-theories_n_6884356.html There were certainly conspiracy theories - some of which turned out to be true - like the Queen being impartial, etc. etc. Social media is bad for democracy Dougie?

Facebook partly to blame for Labour woes in Scotland, says Douglas Alexander http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/labour/11476979/Facebook-partly-to-blame-for-Labour-woes-in-Scotland-says-Douglas-Alexander.html

Tory did a deal with SNP?

Every Tory attack on the SNP is another blow to the union “NIGHTMARE! Ed Miliband as PM, propped up by Alex Salmond ‘calling the tune’ if Labour gets into Downing Street.” 'For a party that habitually thunders on about the catastrophic idea of Scotland exiting the UK, this is pretty remarkable behaviour. Few so far have pointed this out,' http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/mar/09/tory-attack-snp-union-labour-snp-government

How The BBC Stole The Referendumhttp://www.ponsonby.webridean.com/index.php/comment/6-how-the-bbc-stole-the-referendum