Referendum round-up: Glasgow 2014 | Farming

Get the latest on the referendum on our Scottish independence site. Picture: Jane Barlow

TODAY’S MAIN NEWS:

“Increasingly desperate” Scottish nationalists will pull any trick they can when Holyrood returns to business for its unprecedented summer session after the Commonwealth Games, according to Better Together leader Alistair Darling.

In Glasgow today, Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon claimed that Scottish independence can help reduce income inequality, and hit out at Westminster for “failing” on the issue. She was speaking at an Oxfam event in the city.

In other news, The Scottish and UK farming ministers clashed at a National Farmers’ Union debate on Scottish independence in Dingwall.

Scottish minister Richard Lochhead described the industry as key to Scotland’s future, while his UK counterpart George Eustice said that the UK offered farmers ‘the best of both worlds’.

COMMENT AND ANALYSIS:

Our Scottish independence site showcases some of the best comment, analysis and opinion from across the web; here are some of our favourite articles from the last 24 hours.

• Peat Worrier on prisoners’ appeal for a referendum vote

The Peat Worrier blog recaps yesterday’s doomed appeal by two prisoners for a vote in the Scottish independence referendum.

• Leo Michel: Scottish independence vote could reverberate through NATO

Leo Michel of the National Defense University in Washington DC looks at the possible impact of a ‘Yes’ vote on Scottish independence for Nato and its nuclear deterrent.

Trident missiles are currently based on the Clyde - removing them is one of the key points in the SNP’s independence plans.

• Referendum and female comics dominate 2014 Edinburgh Fringe

The Independent’s Alice Jones casts her eye over the 2014 Edinburgh Fringe programme, and finds the Scottish independence referendum stands out as a key theme at the world’s largest performing arts festival.

• Alan Bissett: Glasgow 2014 success may boost ‘Yes’ vote

Playwright Alan Bissett reflects on the opening days of the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, and the potential boost to the ‘Yes’ vote which the Games could provide.

• Holden Frith: Secret History of our Streets tackles Scottish question

The Week’s Holden Frith looks at new BBC show The Secret History of our Streets, and reports that the programme - while making no explicit references to September’s referendum - offers plenty for both sides in the debate to chew over.

• Tom Holland: What England and Scotland share, politically and morally

Historian and author Tom Holland looks at the long and complex history of Scotland’s relationship with England in this piece for the New Statesman.

Holland tracks the intertwining fates of the two countries across hundreds of years.

• Keira McLean: ‘Yes vote is for ‘We’, not ‘me”

Glasgow artist Keira McLean outlines her reasons for backing the ‘Yes’ campaign in the Scottish independence referendum, in this piece for National Collective.

McLean writes: “The mythology of Yes is one of a different political and cultural identity in Scotland: it is one that puts social justice and equality first.”

• John McTernan: There are none bigger than Gordon Brown

John McTernan argues that the former Prime Minister should lead the charge for Scottish Labour ahead of the independence referendum.

• Jim Sillars on his vision for an independent Scotland

Former SNP leader Jim Sillars outlines his thoughts on Scottish independence in this interview with STV’s Scotland Tonight.

Watch the video at the link above.

• Mike Colman: Glasgow Commonwealth Games as politically loaded as any before

Mike Colman of Brisbane’s Courier-Mail newspaper comments on the opening days of the Commonwealth Games, and likens the politically-charged atmosphere to that of the Moscow Olympics of 1980.

Gold Coast near Brisbane hosts the next Commonwealth Games in 2018.

• Get the latest referendum news, opinion and analysis from across Scotland and beyond on our new Scottish Independence website

Referendum round-up: Glasgow 2014 | Farming | NATO