Drumlanrig: Fanning the flames for independence

Published on 27/01/2013 00:00

The Yes Scotland campaign has set up a number of “themed” offshoots, including a Celtic Fans for Independence group, made up of Hoops supporters who want to take the plunge.

Remarkably, Yes organisers also say there is a putative Rangers Fans for Independence group too, although, given the fans’ fondness for the Union flag, it is not yet known whether the group will turn out to be Rangers Fan for Independence.

Tory chairman gets his wires crossed

A case of crossed wires in the indy campaign after one local Tory party chairman rang the local SNP office, thinking it was Labour. Says the SNP man Norman Will: “He asked: ‘Can you give me a number 
for someone for 
you folks that I can talk to regarding the BT campaign. We need to get more co-ordinated in what we are doing as it is a bit of a mess at the moment.’ It was a lovely oops moment when I said who he was actually calling.”

Edinburgh Agreement is road to conversion

Similar giggles all round on the pro-UK side after opponents 
in the Yes campaign tried to dismiss a shocker of a poll last week on the grounds that people had been surveyed prior to the signing of the Edinburgh Agreement (the bit of paper that David Cameron and Alex Salmond signed last year to kick off the referendum). Don’t worry if you have no recollection. Proves you’re human.

“I had an old lady come into my surgery the other day,” says one Labour MP, tongue firmly in cheek. “She said: ‘I was going to vote against independence. Then I read the Edinburgh Agreement. I’m converted.’ ”

Boy wizard pops up in terrorism debate

J K Rowling’s influence is all pervasive. The Labour MEP Catherine Stihler revealed that she was once at a debate in the European Parliament when someone mentioned the economist Karl Popper.

“I don’t know if you’ve ever watched an EU debate but they can be quite fast-paced and the translators are absolutely outstanding. Sadly one must have been distracted because he noted it down as ‘Harry Potter.’ ”

The upshot, according to Stihler, was that the bespectacled boy wizard is quoted in one 
of the official documents on global terrorism.