Scottish independence: Although Better Together has had a few PR disasters, Alex Salmond and unpopular Nicola Sturgeon see support for independence collapse even further, SNP have failed to connect with ordinary Scots, especially women, Sturgeon was a bad choice as ‘face of independence’.

Dear All

Better Together has had a rough time over the last wee while, some people saw them suffered a number of PR disasters.

Leaving aside Lord Robertson 'end of the world' scenario which has been universally condemned as a tad over the top, they seemed to have stumbled slightly. In any campaign; especially one that runs as long as this independence one, mistakes will happen.

The trick is not to make a habit of it.

Some people on the Conservative Party side called for Alistair Darling to be removed, hiccups are no reason for panic, and certainly no reason for removal, independence is and never will be a 'talent' contest.

Popularity will carry you only so far, details, substance and gravitas is what is winning the day for Better Together.

So, with a few Better Together setbacks, Scotland's 'jolly fat man' Alex Salmond and unpopular Nicola Sturgeon must have thought they had turned a corner.

Not a bit of it, they are not the drivers of events, they just react, which is why there is no real momentum, what they are getting in the polls is rather like false echoes.

The Scottish independence is and remains a question of who do you trust.

As we are seeing from the largesse of Salmond's con trick of 'standing with the common man' then him in private running up £2,900 a night hotel rooms, which incidentally the Nationalists tried to keep secret, is there is a chasm of between him and the Scottish people regarding trust.

Alex Salmond is no William Wallace.

Salmond is pissing on the people of Scotland without the courtesy of even calling it 'rain'.

His drive towards independence has hit the buffers and suffered a setback after support for a Yes vote has stalled, so much for having "too many talented people".

The Yes campaign must have thought, good times where just around the corner and they would get a surge as the unionist campaign lost a few steps.

Support for independence has dropped from 39 per cent to 37 per cent in the last four weeks.

£2,900 a night, 12 kinds of pillows, marble counters in the kitchen, downtown Manhatten living like a despot from an African state in an expensive hotel.

Ring any bells for anyone?

The Yes campaign will continue to see blips, pings, and false echoes, but this will be down to the ebb and flow of people having emotional highs or lows. People who are unhappy today with Westminster who the next day may not be so unhappy is a problem.

Emotion isn't the way to win independence, and neither is the bizarre phoney childcare policy, outed as a total sham and utterly bogus.

As to Ms. Sturgeon's attempts, they are quite frankly risible, reduced to screaming every time a pro UK politician puts their foot in their mouth, she is acting like the 'herald' of the mob.

You could reasonably ask the question of her recent performances, 'are you mental; is that your problem?'

Despite trying to 'bribe' women and by having Sturgeon front it as the 'face of independence' only 28.5 per cent of females now support independence, down four points from 32.5 per cent in March.

Apparently her unique selling point of having 'tits' hasn't worked, and it also hasn't worked for Alex Salmond either, his 'tits' aren't anything special!

The fall in the Yes vote is largely among women who are already staunchly opposed to independence despite the SNP and the SSP members running 'Women for independence' to get them worked up. The more little groups that are set up each claiming to 'have a voice' weakens the independence bid.

The SNP have the odious Natalie McGarry who was crushed, not unexpectedly, at the Cowdenbeath by-election in 'women for independence'.

Having listened to her rant on the gate during the Govan by-election on polling day, she talks some amount of shit.

If you are standing at the gate as a representative of a political party, you focus on the task at hand, winning over voters. She was dressed like a Mexican bandit with a poncho on, babbling away like it was some kind of social event.

Perhaps someone should teach her 'teamwork' because she did a disservice to the SNP candidate she was purporting to represent.

Looked like tramp, spoke like a halfwit.

As Napoleon remarked:

"Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake."

How she got picked for the Cowdenbeath by-election would be a mystery if not for the fact her aunty is an ex SNP MSP currently the Presiding Officer at Holyrood. It seems a lot of the 'talented' people in the SNP come from little SNP dynasties. 

The latest findings of the continual collapse of support will pose headaches for the SNP, having built their House of Cards, they are seeing that it cannot even support sham policies.

The SNP are preparing for a 'pre wake' for Alex Salmond, called their party conference in Aberdeen, dressed up a victory celebration no doubt where countless people will talk utter crap about social justice.

Heading the line up of 'social justice' campaigners the SNP will wheel out their Euro Candidates, including Chris Stephens who was happy to let an Asian man be abused by Shona McAlpine at an SNP candidate selection meeting. Maybe Mr. Stephens could go to the European Parliament if there is a vacancy for a window cleaner, but he has no chance going as an MEP.

He doesn't have #radicalthinking either in politics or on twitter.   

Presumably during the Conference, we will also see Salmond and Sturgeon publicly kiss each other in front of the cameras, what a load of bollocks that piece of staged managed crap is. But, they keep doing it, it is pathetic stuff indeed from two equally false people. There will be lots of cheering, standing ovations which no doubt will be timed to last for ten minutes, and plenty of opportunities for Salmond to be seen with young people. That's another one of his tricks; he is so 'popular' the youth just naturally reach out and flock to be with him.

Especially when 'organised'!

In countless debates across Scotland, school kids have rejected him and his poisonous vision.

In one poll in Perth, the vote for No was 98.5% against him, ironically the debater for Yes was a Nationalist MP, as I said, real problem due to lack of talent in the SNP.

Polling expert Professor John Curtice of Strathclyde University said the figures showed the nationalists have their work cut out to win the historic ballot, but the smart money at the bookies is a No.

The blips have seen Salmond claims his side have the momentum in the referendum battle, 2010, he said he would return 20 MPs to Westminster; that never happened, he didn't gain a single extra MP.

The slogan used 'elect a local champion' was bogus, I listen to a Salmond crony, Osama Saeed talk, repeating that slogan at an SNP meeting, and I thought, 'what the fuck is he talking about'.

Osama Saeed had a trick at SNP by-elections where he would turn up with kids and do no activism, I noticed this countless times at by-elections so much so I remarked on this to others in the party.

Back to Professor Curtice findings, who I was sitting next to on 'white paper' day, as I was invited to be a guest on a BBC radio broadcast, odious Natalie McGarry was also a guest, I just ignored her, in the round up, I raised the issue of trust in Salmond and Sturgeon, she countered that by saying there wasn't an issue.

Next day Brian Taylor, political editor of the BBC ran an article on....... trust!

George Laird right again.

Anyway Professor Curtice said the latest findings appeared to show that a spike in support for Yes at the start of the year had petered out.

Gimmicks as I said don't work, phoney little groups run by SNP members under another name don't work either, government on pause doesn't work, producing bad law doesn't work; failing to listen doesn't work. And generally cronyism coupled with stupidity is a poor substitute for intelligence.

Curtice added:

"With the Yes vote still flat lining, this poll suggests it was a one-off change".

Better Together leader Alistair Darling said the poll showed that Scots want to remain part of Britain.

He added:

"While the SNP spend every day talking about how they want to break up the UK, devolution is clearly the settled will of the Scottish people. It’s no surprise Scots are rejecting Alex Salmond’s negative and divisive campaign when he won’t tell us what would replace the pound or how our essential public services, like schools and hospitals, will be funded. Walking away from the UK puts the things we rely on at risk."

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University