Charles Bannerman

Much as I retain a degree of scepticism about the "I know loads of guys at my work who don't attend ICT games because of the merger" type of assertion, you seem to be saying that, in a first past the post election where a small swing has a big effect on seats, the 56, 55, 54 is to a large extent the product of tactical voting by disgruntled Labour and LibDem people who have no interest in separation?

Can't say I did but it's sure as hell not because the oil price is approaching what your chums in 2014 told us it was going to be in the "second oil boom" As for my comments - they are largely based on that variation on Animal Farm which says "All politicians are disingenuous chancers, but the SNP are more disingenuous chancers than others." They are all taken FAR too seriously.

I take it that your desire to suppress opinions which you don't like indicates a Nationalist leaning? Perhaps you also take politics - and in particular politicians - just a little bit too seriously?

Excellent post CH. Because it suits the SNP grievance machine, they are trying to portray the majority of Scots who voted Remain as rabid Europhiles who are utterly indignant at the democratic betrayal which has been perpetrated upon them. I believe the reality is that a lot of people weren't too fussed either way in the best Scottish tradition of "mibbiz aye, mibbiz naw" and the fact that separation preferences shift very little when the European dimension is brought in tends to confirm that. That is also one reason why the "thinking Nats" will be bricking tartan jobbies at the commitment to another Neverendum which, if they lose, will kill them stone dead for decades. There is further evidence that Scotland is not as Europhilic as the SNP, for political expediency, would want to suggest in the very low turnouts in the Peoples' Caledonian Republics of Dundee and Glasgow. A large slice of SNP supporters, the Brexonats led by Jum Sullurs, who are conveniently swept under the carpet by SNP Central, are Leavers who I suspect may well have solved their dilemma by abstention (aka "dinnae vote Jimmy"). Abstaining absolves them from having to contemplate voting against their anti EU instincts to boost the nationalist grievance factor. Abstention is, in effect, half a Leave and half a Remain vote. If they had not voted tactically to boost the separation case and expressed their true opinions, then it may well have been much closer in Scotland and these low turnouts in the two most pro-separatist areas tend to support that viewpoint. Interesting too that the German stock market has today plunged three times deeper than ours, which recovered two thirds of its early losses by the end of the day's trading. Maybe the Germans are more concerned than we are about the future of the EU - and with it their ability to dominate the continent economically. I don't know whether the French market - the CAC!! - has lived up to its name and also fallen very heavily but to do so would be just that bit hypocritical given that they are the only EU member the majority of whose voters poll in favour of us leaving. Remember also 1963 when de Gaulle - despite what we and the Americans, at great financial and human cost, had done for his country - said "non" when we first asked about joining the group of six Common Market countries, four of which we had liberated from the other two.

Yes you would, wouldn't you?! Indeed I fully expect your general desire to become offended on other people's behalf to spread rapidly throughout the separatist community with respect to this "democratic outrage of the people of Scotland being dragged by England from the secure bosom of the EU" (or other equivalent grievance-mongering terminology).

What is missing there is the fact that all Scots are British and a majority of us recently expressed a desire to remain British. We are not, on the other hand, French or German or Italian etc etc. Not all Unions are equally relevant and the EU is massively less relevant to us than the UK us. But of course the Nats are already jumping up and down about this terrible injustice which has been perpetrated over the last day or so. OK, Scotland was one part of the UK which voted to remain, but does that really mean that Scots are rabid Europeans? I don't think so. It's not a matter of life and death and quite honestly, I would imagine that a large number of Scottish Remain voters probably don't give too much of a sh!t either way and certainly don't think the difference warrants yet another round of political cr*p. SNP-speak of course - in the best Scottish traditions of perceived oppression and grievance - translates this into an injustice so terrible that they want us to be exposed to further years of uncertainty and saltire swathed UK Scexiteers roaming the streets and making a spectacle of themselves. If there is another Scottish referendum, there will of course be the additional issues of "It WAS Scotland's oil", the straightforward transfer of powers over Scotland from Westminster to Brussels, bypassing Edinburgh altogether and the central question of a yes vote creating customs posts, trading tariffs and passport control on the only border Scotland has - which will become a frontier with a much larger country which we desperately need to be our biggest trading partner but which will become part of a massive EU/nonEU political disconnect just north of Berwick. And if we get a second referendum on the basis of "changed circumstances" then, in the (still unlikely) event of that being a yes, we can then presumably expect Referendum 3 at the next change of circumstances - such as the implosion of a basket case economy and the government's inability to pay people's benefits etc? One other highly likely change of circumstance is that the current wave irrational, anger based eccentricity which is influencing recent voting patterns will pass - sooner rather than later I imagine. However it is still with us and this is what has been driving the recent world wide wave of political sympathy for political cranks and maverick causes such as Donald Trump, not so much Brexit but Brexit led by Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage.... and the current Scottish nationalist fad. It can't be too long now before the global electorate comes to its senses and assumes a sense of political maturity again.

This seems to have quickly become a sentiment shared with "Pure Dead Bilin', Drumchapel" and Alex Salmond who this morning - with that ridiculous mid-sentence giggle fully restored - gave an interview peppered with pointed references to "Nicola Sturgeon" and what she must now do. He clearly realises that she is stuck between the rock of the Mel Gibsoners' demand for a second vote on separation and the hard place of the likelihood that they would lose it - an awkward situation which Salmond can presumably exploit in an attempt to get his old job back. Meanwhile more discerning nationalists (if you pardon that oxymoron) take a more realistic view. It seems that, after a big drop, the FTSE has taken something of a bounce - led by companies selling blue and white face paint.

So the Mel Gibson wing of the SNP - delighted at having "lost" - will now be demanding a second separation vote, this time to see if we want to create an economic EU/nonEU disconnect and similar political disconnect with our biggest trading partner and with it, trading tariffs, Schengen/nonSchengen passport controls and customs posts on the border? And all that alongside an oil industry which has long since gone t!tsup.

"Aghast, Aberdeenshire" has indeed not taken long to emerge!

Laura Kuenssberg on the BBC has just said that she has had a number of anecdotal reports from across the country of turnout being high. In Gibraltar, it's 84% but I don't think anything at all can be drawn from that atypical voting region.

That would also mean that Oddquine could use the same badge.

In the event of a "Scotland - IN, UK - OUT" result, I suspect that a fair number of that 40% of Nationalist Brexiteers/ Little Scotlanders will undergo overnight conversions to "Indignant, Shettleston", "Disenfranchised, Lochee" ..... or "Pure Dead Bilin', Drumchapel".

That's a very interesting and accurate observation, but I'm not sure I fully concur with the "studies". I think they are indeed quite sure of what they are saying and the "eh?"-suffix is more of a hostile interrogative, goading the ned's interlocutor into a response which - irrespective of its nature - will render him or her liable to "a doeen". Examples include - "What ya doeen in West Drive, eh?"..... "So ya think yur hard, eh?"..... "Did ya touch ma Alsatian, eh?".... and "So you were the ref at the Clach game, eh?" More frequent repetition of the suffix tends to indicate a more imminent attack - eg "Wha'yalookeena'meliketha'fur.. eh?...eh?....eh?" I more associate the conclusion of the "studies" with the "eh"-suffix as used by the less well educated from the less salubrious areas of Edinburgh rather than Inverness - eg Ian Black. Here it's not so much a hostile interrogative nor even an interrogative at all, but tends to emerge in a more neutral, elongated and almost conciliatory tone - as if the speaker is even looking for some kind of reassurance that what he/she has said is actually correct. eg "This is the bus stop for Niddrie...ehhh" This broad similarity did cause me some alarm during my earliest Edinburgh University days and, before I got used to it, a perfectly innocuous statement would be in danger of triggering my flight reflex!

If the Common Good Fund has money that can be squandered on the likes of the tilting pier (great suggestion for its use, though, DD!) then that money could indeed be far better spent on refreshing the city centre. I also am not at all averse to SENSIBLE public art which is genuine art and not pandering to the self indulgence of some pretentious chancer who is in the business of churning out stuff that a 9 year old messing around would be equally capable of.

You are dead right IBM! What is it about this cabal of councillors who simply won't listen to overwhelming public opinion on that tilting pier nonsense? Between one thing and another, Inverness hasn't covered itself in glory in the field of public "art". Walk down the mankiest and most depressing street in the town - Baron Taylor's Street - and look upwards opposite one of the several fast food joints it has in addition to a multiplicity of bookies and pubs (and the Health Shop!!!). What you see is officially sanctioned graffiti polluting the environment. Round the corner in Church Street, someone has had the delusion that slanting pavement stones with trees (and now weeds as well) growing out of them and obscure inscriptions also qualify as "art". And at the back of the Eastgate Centre you have these massive murals of Forty Pockets etc which just about scored pass marks when they went up but which have already become so eroded that they are a dreadful eyesore. This is hardly surprising though, given Inverness's historic ability to shoot itself in the aesthetic foot, with older nonsense ranging from the rusting biscuit tins that used to sit outside Eden Court, again masquerading as "art", to monstrosities like Bridge Street and the building housing the 147 club which replaced the Methodist Church when it burned down. Partly prompted by my earlier failure to spot that new pub in Baron Taylor's St, I took a wander round the town centre last week and deliberately observed my surroundings. I was shocked. Boarded up shops, trees growing out of gable ends, shabby, run down buildings, the stink of p!ss in the alleyway between High St and Lombard St, emaciated druggies at regular intervals, drunks smoking outside The Keg and the Market Bar, long term scaffolding here there and everywhere. OK and having said all that let's just add in the legion of roadworks absolutely everywhere, these dreadful Kessock Bridge traffic lights and catastrophic traffic flow throughout the city. Having lived here for over 60 years, I don't think I can recollect a period when doing so was less pleasant.

The very same year as Buckie retired - 1970. Television Top of the Form runners up and Trans World Top Team winners. Of the others, Margaret is still about town, Irene was teaching in Dundee but will be retired and Andrew - whose older brother Ian is ICT company secretary - died 7 or 8 years ago.

Seems to be some kind of shoe show - Rose Street or Margaret Street halls?

Disappointing, but at the same time the fuss is quite predictable - given the rammy they created when they refused to retreat gracefully to the First Division in 2004. In years gone by, I used to have a degree of regard for Partick Thistle as Glasgow's biggest non-OF club. That all evaporated in 2004.

.... who probably just resents the dimensions of the Standard European T*dger

I was thinking about David Icke this morning when I read a report quoting a leading member of the Separation Camp at Holyrood as stating that Jesus was telling them to persevere with it. He said that Jesus is back here at the moment for his Second Coming. Presumably Jesus is also taking the opportunity to visit his chum Alex Salmond as he plans for his Second Referendum.... or are the two of them simply the same person?

If Mrs Pankhurst and the promoters of the Great Reform Act heard that they would be rotating in their graves! There are indeed times when you have to wonder if universal suffrage is such a good idea after all and whether some "fitness to vote" test might be a good idea - for the same reasons of public protection as we have tests of fitness to drive. Was the woman Scottish? If she was, I'd love to know her reason for voting Yes in 2014? On the other hand, if Merryl Streep can do it, might this Leave fanatic with a need for powerful hairdriers simply (sic!) have been Donald Trump in drag?

For me it's pretty well a dead heat on the issues so I'm looking for tiebreakers and I think there are two. Firstly, if it's six and half a dozen, why go through all the hassle of changing? And secondly, there are certain people I'd rather not align with. For instance if complete roasters like Boris and Farage are rabidly for leaving, then that's a good reason to vote Remain. Then there's the SNP who tell us they want to remain but, given they don't actually give a toss and used to be fervent Anti Marketeers, what they reallly mean is they want a Scotland- in and UK- out vote. So do I vote UK-in or lodge an Out vote which is 12 times more influential in Scotland? Interesting indeed to see Sturgeon back on the Tory grievance trail again.

I think I would want to add that on the Euro issues themselves, it's a tight call for me. Shaking off Brussels bureaucracy and taking decision making back to the UK are big Leave points and immigration to a lesser extent. Economic factors and collective security incline me towards Remain. The "Nat factors" - which are not really EU related - tend to cancel each other out. If they say Remain, then I want to leave, but if we get a Remain they would have to go and look for some other excuse to hold another Scottish referendum. What is therefore probably now pulling me towards Remain is that I don't want a scenario whichwould give that arch-idiot Boris Johnson any more influence. The same might be said of the execrable Farage and former PandJ striker turned archetypal Oily Tory Git Michael Gove.

I wouldn't put it past them - but all the same, over the last few days I've started inclining towards Remain. 13 days to go though.

Yes, but what's the approximate date? It will give a clue as to the demise of that vital Inverness institution which was the Hayloft!