bobbyjag

Inverness did indeed vote Yes, it was actually one of the higher percentages of the evening (64% rings a bell) will confirm this with a link when I'm on here next "Scottish born" people as a statistic also voted Yes, it's been referenced on What Scotland Thinks and was pretty common knowledge when the demographics were broken down http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/independence-referendum-figures-revealed-majority-5408163#qE0yrP5LIo4Drbq4.97 Not that it matters, my wife and her parents voted Yes and they are English

More food for thought from What Scotland Thinks http://blog.whatscotlandthinks.org/2016/03/what-difference-did-the-referendum-make-to-scotlands-constitutional-debate-2/ 39% in favour of independence, a historical high for the SSA figures. Some 21% below the SNPs 60% favoured threshold, that's a wide margin, though given the direction of public attitudes, it would be ingenuous to read this as unattainable over the coming years More interesting though are the figures for Devo Max. 51% favour Scotland making all it's decisions, 12% status quo and a tiny 3% for a return to direct uk government rule. So even the majority of people not voting SNP but Con/Lab or Lib want Holyrood to govern pretty much everything even though their favoured party is not in power/doesn't look likely to be for the foreseeable. It was of course David Cameron who took the Devo Max option of the referendum voting card As Curtice has stated “The fact that the Scottish Parliament to be elected on May 5 will be a markedly more powerful body than its predecessors fits a public mood that is more supportive of a powerful Scottish Parliament than ever.” Certainly interesting times and for the Lab/Cons and Lib leaders in Scotland they have the more difficult task, appealing to an electorate that evidently favours more autonomous rhetoric but at the same time applying the core beliefs held by their parties at Westminster

Not been on here in a while, I see every thread still blends in to one Polls can certainly be cherry picked and unreliable DD but a big SNP win still remains pretty much a formality. Recent Lord Ashcroft https://mobile.twitter.com/LordAshcroft/status/710964953193304068 Even the Labour leaning Daily Record is on board https://www.google.co.uk/amp/www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/election-2016-poll-exclusive-survey-7587595.amp# 'Who will finish second' seems to be the prominent unknown *edit. Noteworthy are the figures surrounding trust in government in the last two days highlighted by John Curtice from What Scotland Thinks on the radio yesterday morning. 2nd highest score for any eu government https://www.holyrood.com/articles/news/public-trust-scottish-government-three-times-higher-uk-counterpart "The 2015 SSA survey found that 73 per cent of people in Scotland trust the Scottish Government, the highest level since the Scottish Parliament was established, compared with 23 per cent who trust the UK Government" Interesting given the backdrop with some quite forensic scrutiny for the snp government who firmly remain the bête noire of the larger media (only one daily newspaper backs their cause)

A typo appraisal and a Dad's Army quote? Wow, that was a real zinger back CyberBritNat.. considering the debate on here could be an enjoyable spectacle, it's just noteworthy how sour, negative, condescending and ugly your input reads, compared to some enjoyable inputs from both sides of the debate

It's immature, ignorant, generalising drivel, like the above which has the BBC only trusting Charles Bannerman with the latest tug of war updates from Drumnadrochit or the results from the knitting championships in Elphin, and not proper news. I've not spoken to a single former pupil of yours with a good word to say and you prove on here why, time and time again. It's embarrassing to watch, the constant nazi references, misogynic/racial undertones at times. We all know it hurts you dearly that the Snp continue their success, but maybe you should concentrate on why your arguments are failing and why the opposition is so terrible in Scotland (less than 50% of people know who Dugdale is) The constant demonising and obsessing over the Snp is clearly not working with the electorate and it's probably because many voices sound so negative, bitter and out of touch, just like our own Mr Scrooge on here. Merry Christmas one and all

Scottish Labour is indeed more right wing than Uk Labour. It is nowhere near a credible Left alternative to the SNP. Quite the opposite. Ironically, at a point now where Uk Labour's leadership has more ideals that may appear more attractive to voters in Scotland, Dugdale has to distance herself from the "London Branch Office" tag which they have created for themselves and she will be keen to emphasise their "Scottish" Labour brand to appease those who feel they are run for and from London "55% of them do not feel that independence would be good for Scotland".. When questioned on independence, current polling indicates 53% of Scottish voters would vote Yes, this has been the trend in all polling since the referendum Corbyn has been and will continue to be assassinated by the (mainly) right wing media, embedded Blairism has proved hard to shift within the party and it looks like it will be a divisive period over the next few years, making it hard to gain consensus and undermining any sense of true opposition. Middle England won't be won back with a veer to the left, the result will be further Conservative dominance and indeed the SNP and pro-independence parties will cease this as an opportunity to nail home the rhetoric that their path is the only path that can take Scotland away from this perennial Tory dominance and their evidently cruel and morally bankrupt approach to the those less fortunate

If you could pass this information on to the foreign office, Whitehall and the London media at large please Mr Bannerman, then we will not have to saturate the GE debate with irrelevant, cack-handed smear campaigns and instead talk about such things The reason these topics are not being discussed is because these happen to be the areas where the Conservatives, Labour and the Lib Dems are losing to the SNP, hence the SNPs massive lead in the polls It seems these chaps who ensured we remain as part of the UK don't like the steady erosion of the trusty two party dominance. Using terms like "nutter" indicates that certain people still fall in to the radar range of your venom, it would be good if you could focus on figuring out how in former solid Labour constituencies, which are now lost to the SNP, they can win that ideological battle, instead of worrying about random people who are free to believe what they wish

One never fails to enjoy the extraordinary lack of irony tangled up in the web of state spun bullshit which straddles our airwaves and graces our TV and phone screens each day. Apparently the way the nationalists operate is that "they identify a group, or an individual, or both, as an object of resentment and hate, and rally support based on the dislike it has created".... don't choke on your incredulity there SNP voters, we have a unionist here (someone who would have supported Better Together, one of the most negative campaigns in political history) espousing about a perceived moral deficit in the SNPs approach to politics. Should we pull him out of his bunker of ignorance and dust off the poor wee lambs dirt of naivety?? What the SNP are, are a political party which has to operate against a panoply of parties that blur in to one when thinking about the media mechanics of these isles. With the arrival of 'The National' newspaper (conveniently after the referendum) the SNPs beliefs are still only wholly ratified by one daily paper (and the Heralds Sunday edition). Have a look at the "memo-gate" debacle and you will see the ridiculous lack of balance here, NUMEROUS UK wide editions splashing leader stories about a story.... which isn't even a story. What it is, is a way of trying to temper the enormous popularity of the SNP and in particular, it's leader who had a winning performance in the Leaders Debate. Dirty tricks is what you have to resort to when your policies and the democratic tools at your disposal are failing dramatically. We saw it during the referendum with the email leak to RBS from a civil servant and we are seeing it again with Sturgeon as the target. The SNP may have the complete power and collusion of the British state and its media machine behind them, but they have the support of the majority of Scottish people who are FAR too tired of the Conservatives and 'The Conservatives-lite' to fall for their insipid, brazen and predictable bouts of Machiavellianism. To save Scottish Labour, the party would have had to head towards the left, but of course it couldn't do that, with the Tories having to pander to middle England, Labour in Westminster had to do the same, and who tells Scottish Labour what to do?? London, remember :) So what they did was put Jim Murphy in charge, a man who would cite the same institutions and think tanks of Liam Fox as his friends and a man who is a complete and utter anathema to the electorate. So sit back and enjoy this SNP people. You can nearly hear the drip of the tears of irrelevance as the views of the unionists are bandied about here. Let them do that tired and painfully unfunny tactic at using Nazi associations with the SNP, like 1930s German politics has anything to do with 2015 Scotland? The referendum showed that those despicable fascist organisations came out in support of the Union...... See, there's that irony again :) Let them batter away at pointless non-issues like this recent Sturgeon episode, the real important stuff is who wins the most seats, and with every attack on an already very popular leader, the votes for what her party represents will continue to rise like it's enormous membership. Scotland, come May 8th, will be going a rather lovely shade of yellow and remember, for every Unionist that cries foul about the SNP having a big say in Westminster, their NO vote has allowed them to be there for years to come :)

The idea that intimidation, bullying or vitriolic tendencies somehow characterises people who voted for independence will only ever be ridiculous. If you are to reduce the argument to such a base perceptive angle then you could only (with credibility) generalise that the 'large, tattooed ,skinhead' element was in fact entrenched within the No support during and after the referendum. This was of course the side which had the congenial political company of such lovely factions as ; The BNP, Britain First, The Orange Order etc etc. From the homophobic or sectarian banners on display at the Order's march through Edinburgh to the Nazi salutes visible in George Square before the unionists 'had their fun', the Union was fully supported by bigoted thuggery. This is not to say that the Yes side would not have had its share of less than savoury individuals, but they were grossly outnumbered by an assortment who are the very worst of political manifestations on these isles. As for the supercilious tone towards the poor of this land, some people should be ashamed of themselves as they sit in their 'I'm alright jack seat' and cast judgement. One thing that is for certain following this referendum is that the very people you may treat with such disdain are now politically awake, and (backed by multiple polls) they most certainly wont be voting Labour, Tory or Lib Dem next year!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQIN7UAfLBo

Now that Ravens back would Tremarco be a good replacement for Richie, very similar type of player?

Totally agree Richie Foran seriously missed.

Anybody know what the A9 was like yesterday. After been stuck for 40 minutes at Raigmore junction going to the Hearts game we went via the town centre (Harbour Road) etc and had no problems.

So the underpass is called stadium road

I have not missed a home match in a very long time. More friday night football please. Great atmosphere. The best for years ! Great service in a very full bar tonight prior to another brilliant performance. The stadium was buzzing. Forget about Munro and Tokely etc.....They were great servants to the club. ..... All the fans who have deserted the team in the last while should get back down and support the team because they are really impressive to watch and in my opinion the best squad of players I have seen at ITC. You dont know what you are missing ! Well done Tel and Mo !!! PS. I couldnt believe the number of County supporters who left after the third goal. Whas it something we said !!!

No idea i'm afraid. I don't want to sound like a moaning old git but do you think it would it be possible to have more staff on in the bar on Friday? also, for those who have tickets, having the door that leads from the bar into the stand open for access would help in cutting down on the crowds that form prior to kick off. Just a thought/hope!