What the unionist media are saying about the NO campaign

[NickB]

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The NO campaign now seems to be machine gunning itself in both feet on a twice daily basis. Their recent antics have been so bad, so stupid and so unbelieveable that even the mainstream and pro-union press is turning against them. Here's a few gems:

The ‘No’ Campaign Has Sunk Further Than the Jeremy Kyle Show
(Huffington Post, 16 April 2014)

“The ‘No’ campaign’s approach to discouraging Scottish independence is akin to an abusive bully threatening a fleeing partner. It has been so shamelessly threatening that at times I have wondered if it is part of a covert plot to drive Scotland away. As we have got closer to the September vote, the arguments against independence have got more desperate and apocalyptic.

It is highly insulting to Scotland, therefore, when politicians and others with a vested interest try to manipulate voters in a way that wouldn’t even work on drunk cartoon socialites in a ‘reality’ TV show.”

The SNP, UKIP and our disunited kingdom
(The New Statesman, 16 April 2014)

“Rather than making the positive case for the Union, Better Together has run a negative campaign characterised by dry and technocratic attacks on the SNP over the currency, North Sea oil and EU membership.

In so doing, it has only enhanced its opponents’ appeal as an optimistic, anti-establishment force. If the No campaign is to avoid defeat in September, it must respond to the clear and consistent desire in Scotland for greater autonomy by outlining concrete cross-party proposals for further devolution.”

It is the English who should be on their knees, begging the Scots to vote ‘No’
(The Independent, 15 April 2014)

“In the entire global history of the political campaign, has any been more misconceived, wretchedly executed and potentially self-defeating than the one designed to keep Scotland within the United Kingdom?

Until proof is found of a Eugene Terre’Blanche run for mayor of Soweto on the Apartheid Now And Forever platform, the assumption must be not.

With every week that passes, the No campaign’s once lavish and seemingly impregnable lead evaporates. And as it dwindles, its scare stories continue to deluge the debate in the curious belief a) that Scotland, a proud and bellicose nation, is a wee, timorous beastie; and b) that if you double down on a tactic of transparently counterproductive idiocy for long enough, it will metamorphose into one of purest genius.”

The perils of pessimism
(The Economist, 12 April 2014)

“After the speeches were done, at a recent rally in Calderglen High School for “Better Together”—the cross-party campaign to keep Scotland British—there was time for questions. They were mostly the same.

The inquisitors, typically retired and articulate, asked the assembled politicians—including a Conservative cabinet minister and a serving and former Labour MP—to make a “positive case” for keeping the 307-year-old union intact. “Why are we better together?” said one.

This was awkward. It was bad enough that the venue, in East Kilbride, on the southern edge of Glasgow, was cavernous and the audience small. But what was most dismal was the lack of a good answer to the question.”

Lord Robertson has taken negative referendum campaigning a step too far
(Daily Record, 9 April 2014)

“It is widely believed the doom-laden message punted too often by the unionist campaign – that if you vote for independence the sky will fall on your head – is driving the don’t knows into the arms of Alex Salmond. But Robertson seems to have taken this negative campaigning one step further.

He doesn’t just think a Yes vote would be a disaster for all of Scotland. He thinks it would be a disaster for all of western civilisation.”

Lord Robertson is trying to bully Scots into voting no in the referendum
(The Guardian, 8 April 2014)

“As well as losing the pound, Scots are told they will be stripped of everything from the BBC to EU membership. It’s like a loveless relationship in which a partner is told that, if they walk out, they will have their clothes and DVDs taken away, lose all their friends, and be kicked out on the streets.

This establishment campaign is self-defeating, and has left many Scots feeling as though the choice is between hope and fear.”

Darling’s rattled performance will increase No campaign anxieties
(The New Statesman, 6 April 2014)

“As a politician, Alistair Darling is renowned for his calm and reassuring manner (most famously during the financial crisis). But interviewed on The Andrew Marr Show this morning on Scottish independence, he appeared distinctly rattled.

As I tweeted during the programme, he sounded like an embattled football manger giving a post-match interview after a bad result.”

Charles Kennedy brands Better Together campaign as “stupid”
(The Sunday Post, 30 March 2014)

“The anti-independence campaign was under growing pressure last night after being labelled ‘stupid’ and a ‘disaster’ by MPs on the pro-Union side.

The Better Together campaign was already reeling from a newspaper report quoting an unnamed UK Government minister claiming currency union with an independent Scotland would happen despite Treasury claims to the contrary.

But yesterday former Lib Dem leader Charles Kennedy attacked Labour’s referendum pitch of ‘Salmond versus Scotland’, describing the message as ‘stupid’.

And Falkirk Labour MP Eric Joyce also hit out at the wider Better Together campaign, describing it as a disaster and claiming it is ‘treating Scots like inferiors and fools’.”

Campaign to save the UK in crisis: Summit called by pro-Union chiefs after support for Scottish independence grows
(Daily Mail, 28 March 2014)

“Leaders of Scotland’s No campaign are holding crisis talks today as they battle internal splits and rising support for independence.

The Scottish Daily Mail can reveal that Better Together board members have called a crunch meeting to draw up a strategy for the final months of the referendum fight.

It is understood that campaign tactics will be dramatically reversed and a more positive message will be adopted as part of a major advertising drive.

The U-turn comes after a series of opinion polls found that support for the break-up of Britain is growing, while hard-hitting messages about the disastrous consequences of a Yes vote appear to be backfiring.”

Now even David Bowie’s ganging up on the Scots. Is this how to stop independence?
(The Independent, 20 February 2014)

“The next part of Osborne’s plan is probably to announce that if Scotland becomes independent, it won’t be allowed to keep its zoos, so the day after the vote it’ll have to release tigers and bears and crocodiles into the streets of Edinburgh. But it won’t be able to ask for help because it won’t be allowed to use our language, or any of our letters, so they’ll have to communicate by barking.

Nor will Scotland be allowed to share our orbit round the sun, and Osborne has it on good authority that NASA won’t let it join another one so it’ll have to find a different solar system but if that’s what Scotland wants, it’s up to them.

At one point, for a change, the No campaign got bankers to tell the Scots they were being silly to think they could be independent as well, because there’s no one your average Glaswegian likes to please more than an English banker.

But the No campaign seems to think that the answer is to send more disliked people to be even ruder. Next week Eric Pickles will walk round Paisley naked with a tattoo of Edward II on each buttock, telling voters ‘you’ll get no more of this if you leave England you know’.“

With friends like these the Union has no need for enemies
(The Spectator, 6 February 2014)

“An argument that suggests, implicitly, that, sure, you could vote for independence but if you do you’re stupid is not an argument that is going to prevail. Insulting or threatening the electorate is a bold move and one that causes more trouble, really, than it is worth.

Indeed, it is juvenile and hackle-raising stuff. The kind of thing liable to provoke a sod-you backlash just as much as it is likely to scare folk into voting No.

Worse still it reveals the extent to which Whitehall and Westminster still cannot grasp that this is an argument about a concept or an idea much more than it is a question of dismal accountancy.

Better Together needs a story about the future as well as the past and that narrative needs to be based on something good, not on gloomy predictions of mass unemployment after independence.

I have plenty of issues with the Yes campaign and the SNP and they offer us plenty of guff too but at least their imbecilities, most of the time, look to a sunny future rather than endless drizzle.

Between them, Westminster and Labour are making an almighty hash of this campaign.“

[Innes Newton]

I've come to the conclusion many 'outsiders' really hope there is a Yes vote, because it is true that in some respects rUK will be better off, and a two tier Britain will quickly materialise leaving those who fought for Scottish Independence to suffer for their foolishness. I'm not one of them but there is a suspicion that if people in England had been given the vote on Scottish Independence, instead of the Scots there would have been an overwhelming majority to get rid of the Scots.

If some Scots take umbrage at the 'bullying' it's only proof in some people's eyes that the Yes Campaigners are stained with chip on shoulder syndrome. Some Scots really can't help themselves from being dour, and hard done by.

But I'm confident there are enough strong, level headed happy Scots out there who recognise the folly of independence and come the day will ensure the independence move is roundly defeated. Sanity will prevail.

[NickB]

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In what even remotely conceivable way is your response above connected to the observation above that the unionist press is in despair at the ineptitude of the Better Together campaign ?

I sometimes wonder how many of your posts would pass the Turing Test.

Here's a couple more articles from BT appalled at their own performance:

Joyce McMillan: Is the No camp killing the Union?
(Scotsman)
In September, Better Together may pay the price for its lack of vision about Scotland’s future, writes Joyce McMillan


Scotland on the brink of voting for independence
(Mail Online)
Members of David Cameron's inner circle are increasingly alarmed that the lacklustre Better Together movement run by the former Labour chancellor could hand victory to the Scottish nationalists.

I can't see Flipper lasting much longer.