This has been an incredible period for the Independence movement as we now have a succession of 6 opinion polls showing a lead for the Yes campaign.I was particularly struck by two factors in this trend.Stuart Cosgrove in his piece for the Sunday National on 16 August noted that only 68% of those who voted NO in 2014 would do so again and that only 17% of those aged 18 – 24 are opposed to Independence.These are figures which tell of a long-term direction of travel which can have only one possible destination. The figure of only 68% of NO voters staying with that particularRead More →

What a lot of items to choose from in this week’s Flag, so I thought I would give a few details as to how it was created. The Flag is an offshoot of the Scots Independent Newspaper. The SI, as we use the shorthand, was founded in November 1926 by Scots living in London.  The first page was written by James Clark;  I met his son Duncan, at an exhibition of the  Scottish Political Archive in Edinburgh.  The SNP was not officially in its present form until 1934, approximately 6 months before I was born! (The Scottish Political Archive is at Stirling University, and isRead More →

We go back to school tomorrow –  20 long weeks that we sometimes wondered if we would see.  Preparations are in place for a smooth phased return to education but it will not be the way it was offered before. Whilst numeracy and literacy are of course important, they can be caught up on; the immediate concern is the social and emotional development of children, some of whom will not have been to a shop, seen friends or been in a larger group than their household for nearly half a year.   The primary focus will be on fun and friendships, laughter and listening whilstRead More →

Riding high in the polls, a political leader with a strong public approval rating, our FM in the world top 5 of women leaders, on course for a general election victory and outright independence majority, the closest we have ever been to our political goal and what could possibly go wrong? For starters, internal division. The suggestion by some independence supporters that the SNP and, by implication or direct accusation, Nicola Sturgeon are not interested in independence beggars’ belief. Polling analysis by Sir John Curtice (no ally of independence), that the sustained lead for independence is gaining momentum and the SNP-led national movement has crossedRead More →