³ÉÈËÂÛ̳

Aye Brian,
9% swing to SNP in Rutherglen. This could mean more than just a clean sweep in the north east.
Its a broad smile so it is.
How's it looking in pacific quay?

Could this be the union in crisis?

How you feeling Brian? ;o)

Andy Kerr has gone SNP landslide is on the cards!!

EK and Hamilton to the SNP!

It could be a route!

How good could this get?

The grayman's just arrived at the counting office. Looks like he's keeking it!

Well Brian, I know you ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ guys will keep going through the night and look forward to sharing it with you all. Have you arranged for the caterers to bring in plentiful supplies of humble pie to keep your strength up?

Welcome to the new Scotland. What role for the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ in that?

The grayman can't hide tonight.

Oh, the late nights don't suit Auntie Bella. Thought it was a repeat of John Pertwee's Doctor Who at first!!

What about the chances of SNP clean sweep in NE, big deal and the Lib Dem's should be after Danny A's blood for that.

Dr Who, mair like Worzel

But what a night, long party ahead

No congratulations for Linda Fabiani or Christina MacKelvie Brian?

It's very quiet on here tonight Brian, but it's very busy over on another site.

Wonder why?

I have to be honest. I thought the SNP would struggle to win re-election but it seems my doubts were unfounded.

Interesting night ahead.

@ X_Sticks

Aye the site that must not be named is the online place to be tonight but it's an SNP night hence pro labour Media outlets are rather quiet tonight.

Excellent - Nicola's safe. The grayman's still keeking it!

17. At 03:06am 6th May 2011, ForteanJo wrote:
"Excellent - Nicola's safe. The grayman's still keeking it!"

Aye ForteanJo, and you can bet he's not the only one. The whole establishment is in shock by the looks of it!

Brian has went to bed I wonder why lol!!!!!!

Greetings from Raleigh, North Carolina. Well, after the campaign that Labour ran, it is not really a surprise that the SNP have made major inroads in Labour areas. However, the win in Pentlands is just stunning. Now there is mention of an SNP clean sweep in Edinburgh. I have to say, this makes me rather homesick.

Congratulations to the SNP for running an excellent campaign.
On the doorsteps it always sounded and felt good.
There are some faces that I'll be pleased not to see for the next 5 years.
If New Labour have any sense, they'll cut the apronstrings to Westminster and align themselves with self-determination.
Slainte Mhor

It's the council tax effect. It's 6AM and Edinburgh is:
Edin Eastern SNP Gain
Edin Pentlands SNP Gain
Edin Southern SNP Gain
Edin Western SNP Gain

Only Central & N+Leith to go

People are sick and fed up of being robbed and mugged(via legal subterfuge) by the Council, which is populated by dogmatic unelected hardcore labourites who view Edinburghs population as a captive cash cow.

It's Payback time!

All that's left now bar the counting, is to pick up the wedge from the bookie.

Labour won't learn from this, they never do, and if the SNP treat people respectfully Labour will end up going the same way as the Tories in Scotland.

Scotland results just in: Labour trainwreck!

I'm not an SNP supporter. I only voted for them.

Glasgow going mostly SNP on constituency has to be a major revolution in Scottish politics. I do think that bringing in politicians from England to tell Scots how to vote was a major mistake. But I'm not sure Labour is going to admit that. All they did on STV was go on about how they would fight the SNP. They seem to have learned nothing.

Alex Salmond now enters no-mans land...

If his MSPs turn out to be a bunch of muppets public support for the SNP will evaporate, people up here are seriously fed up with clueless idiot politicians at both local and national level.

He's going to have to keep them on a VERY tight leash.
A few high profile public beheadings of transgressors with the body hung from the walls of Holyrood in a gibbet will go a long way towards reassuring the now huge number of floating voters in Scotland.

Though fickle Fortune has deceiv'd me,
She promis'd fair and perform'd but ill;
Of mistress, friends, and wealth bereav'd me,
Yet I bear a heart shall support me still.

I'll act with prudence as far's I'm able,
But if success I must never find,
Then come Misfortune, I bid thee welcome,
I'll meet thee with an undaunted mind.

Any empty champagne bottles rolling round the corridors of Pacific Quay?

Whayay!

Come on Scotland ,ya wee dancer ye!

Iain Gray, Ed Miliband, Harriet Harman, Brian Taylor, Jackie Bird, ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Scotland, You boys took a helluva beating!

For London the danger for the Union is that if Alex Salmond convinces people that we're all going to have to live in a British future which is a social and economic disaster zone, then we may as well vote for independence and have our own homegrown social and economic disaster up here.

No-one has a particular rosy future ahead of them at the moment, and self-employment for Scotland may well be the best option for managing the pain of a severe economic downturn.

Wasn't it Colin who kept hailing Subway Gray as First Minister in waiting?

Could be a lang time waiting cos he's missed the last bus...

Looks as though the news site with 1000+ postings on this fine night may have suffered again from a denial of service attack - wonder who could be responsible for that.

Meantime there has been a seismic shift for the better in this fine country where we are all too wee, too poor and too stupid etc.

Labour leadership anyone?

I must say that I find the success of the SNP quite remarkable given the media os Scotland playing the part of the opposition with such vigour - not to mention spite and spin.
Perhaps it is worth looking at the reaction of the voters to such malign influences and
" learning lessons"?
I won't be supporting the " quality " press,they have lost my readership for ever.
I will continue to enjoy an on-line newspaper which has a positive attitude to Scotland and Scots and I don't mean the Caledonian Mercury.

If the SNP get a majority...that would be an amazing result, un-be-lievable.
On a par with the 1945 general election

129 msps
69 results so far
42 SNP

Thank you Scotland, and thank you those who voted SNP for the first time.

An historic night, no doubt. Why all the glums faces on the beeb though Brian? This is huge news. Surely a political journalist should be delighted at the prospect of reporting on such an historic result.

A lesson for all of Labour about trying to use Scotland merely to curry favour with the English electorate. So, when does the audit of the postal votes and proxy votes (where the traditional areas for *inaccuracies*, shall we say, lie) in the Wee Grey Moose's constituency? I suppose the new leader of Labour in Scotland has to be Elaine Murray, since she has just about the only safe Labour seat in Scotland.

I wonder if the 'postal votes' can be checked.

Ah good, the other place is back up and running again

The results are looking completely amazing. Lothian has gone almost completely SNP, who would have predicted that!

Most positive campaign has won out in the end and this really looks like a new era for Scotland.

Oh no Brian! It looks like a SNP win! What on Earth are you going to do now that the SNP will be unlikely to entertain you? The gravy train hath stopped!

An Independence referendum doesn't need to be a black and white "yes" "no" vote.

To be honest an actual Independence referendum isn't even needed, multiple referendums on taking back "reserved" powers would be just as forward thinking and do just as much for Scotland.

We are currently part of a Treaty of Union, the Government of Scotland and as such the people of Scotland can at any point decide to change the Treaty as is the case with any International Treaty.

Fantastic results Scotland! Scottish Independence getting closer all the time - bring it on! Certainly looks like the other parties are being firmly put in their place. By the way Brian, love the braces :)

A reasonable night.

Thank you Scotland for not picking a bunch of medoicre low level apparatniks
who think you are all frightened and can neither read nor add.

Be positive and aim high.

Thank you.

"24. At 06:08am 6th May 2011, Ady wrote:

Alex Salmond now enters no-mans land..."

As they all must do.

At least he has freedom of action and does not need to call party
office down south for instructions.

The new MSPs (of all parties) will no doubt have a learning curve to climb - but
really they would have to be pretty bad to match those cast aside, is anyone
weeping for a great loss of talent ?.

Never mind! One day the public will realise where they are being led. But by then it will be too late. Will the last business to leave scotland turn the lights out. Welcome to the SNP vision of economic wilderness!!!

I was proud to play my part in the decimiation of Labour at this election.

Labour will never have the chance to take Scotland for granted again.

This is a pivotal moment in Scottish History - the day they stood up to labour and it's fear-smear campaigning and told them to Jog on.

A Labour SCALP list will follow once all the results are in - I'm so proud of Scotland today!

Well, it's finally happened. Labour have treated Holyrood with contempt for so long, with second-rate constituency candidates & third-raters on the lists, the Tories (!) now have a greater number of heavy-weight MSP's than they do.

Iain Grey's majority - WAFER THIN. he was visibly distraught through the recounts. If that was calm - I'd like to see him panicking!

I just seen someone behind the scenes hand Brian a piece of paper. Is it his P45?

Well done to all SNP members,voters, activist and everyone else involved in their success.

Pacific Quay sounds disappointed with the results so far Brian oh well the truth is out there only one has to search hard to find it on this site.

"25. At 06:17am 6th May 2011, Diabloandco wrote:

Any empty champagne bottles rolling round the corridors of Pacific Quay?"

Doubt it, but there will be at least one in my house the night.

47 SNP and counting with the possibility of a majority keep them coming.

#39 SolAlba,

I disagree - the SNP have earned the right to the Referendum they have long sought. In my view they should do it now and make it a striaght "independence yes/no" question. Anything else is just a fudge. With an expected majority in Holyrood there is no excuse for timidity - unless they don't think they can win, of course.

43. At 08:31am 6th May 2011, Mike T

??????????????

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

A great result for the SNP.
Jackie Baillie is on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ 1 (Scotland) just now and because of that stupid person's unchanged opinions she seems to want an SNP win in 2016!!!
What a pity she actually won (with an increased majority) I'm sorry that so many people in Dumbarton seem to like cheap drink - that was the only thing Labour promised the people of Scotland after all.
I'm actually sorry that Mary Mulligan was out-voted in Linlithgow, she was a pretty good MSP, but Mary - you weren't the problem in Linlithgow, your stupid leader meant your entire party was unelectable.
It would maybe have been kinder too if Iain Gray had got 152 fewer votes, that way he wouldn't have had to go to Holyrood and be embarassed. I take it he will be embarassed to walk through those doors again.

"43. At 08:31am 6th May 2011, Mike T wrote:

Will the last business to leave scotland turn the lights out. Welcome to the SNP vision of economic wilderness!!!"

Ah the Trolls are up early. And how was business under the Unionist parties ?.
One feature of this election is that the SNP are supportive of business and also
have a view of a better economy, they are selling Scotland as a place to invest
the other parties seem to see just grey clouds and cuts...

#45 GSy
Don't talk about Annabelle like that!
I don't like her politics, but she stands her ground.
That's more than can be said for some (soon to be ex) 'leaders'

For generations the London parties have have undermined and sapped the confidence of the Scottish people with their too wee, too poor, too weak mantra about running our own country. Now, even in massive defeat, they continue with the same negative tactics.

First up was Lib Dem Tavish Scott telling us two days ago that the Scottish people do not need a referendum - If they want independence all they have to do is vote for it in this election. Last night we had Lib Dem Jim Wallace telling us that this election is not about independence.

Next up, Iain Gray saying last night "We will work with anybody." Just a few months ago he was boasting how his party had 'Hamstrung' the SNP at every opportunity to stop the SNP getting their policies through.

Then 'Honest' auntie Bella was telling us last night that a majority SNP government would be bad for Scotland. Not long ago her party were telling us that not having a majority Tory government in Westminster was bad for the country.

Unbelievable. Jackie Baillie on KwithanE still trying to defend her position on MUP. How loudly do the electorate have to speak? And some consider her a successor to Elmer........

How will the Libs find a replacement for the Scott person, they don't have anybody else ? Maybe they could persuade Iain Gray to change sides , or better still the large Baillie lady could bring them a bit of presence (if nothing else) . Maybe the Labour party should ask Tavish to join them and they could all go off on a crusade to Mozambique where Iain Gray is apparently well thought of.

My there are some bitter comments on here this morning, howver there is one thing worse than a bad loser it is a poor winner.
Stunning performance from the SNP, just the outside chance of an overall majority.
How did this happen?
A competent 4 years of government.
Legislation that was generally well thought out and researched.
Positive approach to government, yes there are problems but lets sort them out.
A vision of a better Scotland
Promoting the sense that we can do better.
More competence in their ministers.
Respecting the electorate by not patronising them.
A very well organised campaign.
Excellent targeting of key seats
Targeting of second vote as being crucial.
SNP able to appeal to a broad swathe of people from all over Scotland.
Opposition especially Labour being absolutely dire.

To the Future
Labour are very far from finished, they still polled over 30% in the constituency. So lets not get ahead of ourselves.
Labour if they are to succeed at Holyrood have a lot to do, they only seem to have been able to appeal to their core voters, which is no longer enough.
The seem to have lost at least some of their more able MSPs (relative)
They require new blood, but from where has to be the question?
If they are serious about re-emerging as a viable Government at Holyrood, they require to completely revamp there selection process, find a positive message, develop some policies that are there own, reorganise at branch level. But most importantly they have to stop this incessant negativity and opposition for opposition sake.

Pitfalls for SNP
Having an overall majority may not be a good thing for them, yes they will be able to force through there legislation, but I think one thing that resonated with many voters was there ability to build consensus, this gained them a lot of respect even from non SNP voters. I sense there that what people actually want is there politicians to behave in a adult and responsible manner.

Ow forgot to say some of my visual memories of the results were.
Nicola Sturgeon, before official announcement of her result, but after she had been told by the returning Officer, going over to her campaign team, waving the together and going into a huddle, obviously to tell them the result. This simple gesture said so much, firstly that she wanted to immediate share that with her team, secondly that the team immedaitly got into a huddle. What it said was TEAM, a group of people happy to be together and sharing.
The second memorable image was during the night Salmond was being interviewed by a woman from the press, TV was just following him. Out of the corner of his eye he saw something and tried to get some else to do something, they did not so Salmond excused himself and did it himself. He went over to this older woman and had a word with her before they had a cuddle. Who was the woman? she was the original candidate for the SNP who because of health reasons had to stand down at the last minute. To me that simple gesture said a lot, it was about caring and ensuring that he said a proper goodnight to someone who had worked hard for the party, once again it also spoke volumes about team.

Congratulations to all those first time SNP voters this morning.

Well Done and hold your head high!

If the Labour Party feels miserable on the basis of overall seats won by the SNP, then they'd better not go looking at the numbers of seats which the SNP didn't win, but came within 1000 votes of taking.

It may have been a bad night for Labour, but looking at how close the SNP came to taking a bucket load of additional seats, it could've been a might worse.

C'mon Alex call a referendum now if you have the bottle?

The blow to both Labour (at Holyrood) and the Lib Dems is being understated I think. I just don't think people have quite realised what has happened here.

Everyone knows Labours A-Listers (sic) are in Westminster.
Well now there B-Listers have largley been swept away in Holyrood constituency defeats.
There new List guys? Who knows? Probably can't be any worse than the last lot, but it's going to be tough for them. Especially if they have to keep Gray as leader due to there being virtually no-one else of any experience. Johan Lamont? Jackie Baillie? Ouch! There in for a few tough times I think.

Lib-Dems?
Crash! Bang! Wallop!
How do you recover from that kind of wipeout in Scotland? 30 years on from 1979 the Tories still have not.
What kind of membership / financial / and activist support are they going to muster over the next few years?
The Dead Parrot sketch springs to mind.

give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day.

teach a man to fish and he'll feed himself for a lifetime.

looks like Scots are now getting the hang of fishing.

Brian,

"Firstly, the impetus towards an independence referendum will be significantly enhanced.

Secondly - and probably more immediately - there will be pressure for greater powers within the Scotland Bill, presently before Westminster."

Aye Brian,

Maybe now you'll have to listen to the poeple of Scotland. You have done your best to ignore, marginalise, mock and criticise our desires for self determination. No more.

Firstly, the Scotland Bill. We don't want it at all. It is a unionist construct designed to emasculate the Holyrood parliament. It's less about more powers to Scotland and more about returning powers (that they shouldn't have in the first place) to westminster.

Secondly, it would seem that a lot of people in Scotland don't want ruled by wesminster any more. We are demanding our say on the constitution, and the unionist will no longer be able to deny us. No longer will they be able to say the vast majority of Scots don't want independence. It's no longer true.

WHAT A GREAT DAY FOR SCOTLAND!

22. At 05:51am 6th May 2011, Ady wrote:
"It's the council tax effect."

Couldn't agree with you more but I doubt if Labour will get the message.
As Clinton might have said: 'Its the Council Tax Stupid'

I see that Tom McCabe has lost the Hamilton/Larkhall seat - my brother and his wife have both switched to SNP because of this issue as have a number of their friends - all Pensioners - all former Labour supporters who are fed up paying far more than their fair share of Local Taxation.

Unfortunately John Scott has held the Ayr seat, despite 5 of us, (3 Pensioners), voting SNP over this issue, but I have to say he did come round the doors, the only one to put in an appearance, and his was the only leaflet delivered to my daughter's house, and my brother's house, although I received 1 SNP, 1 Labour and 3 Conservative.


Brian,

You should have stayed up. A great night for the SNP!!!!

A bad night for Labour and a Terrible night for the LibDems - if ever there was a message sent to a Party from the Voters/Supporters regarding the consequences of 'Betrayal'.

#64 InModeration

Do we need a referendum?
Didn't Tavish tell us that we could just vote for SNP in an election.
If this turns into a majority, or even an SNP/Green/Margo majority - surely by Tavish's definition it's a done deal?

Careful what you wish for Tavish!

with 4 Regions declared could the Greens overtake the LibDems?

Brian,

There's a lot of talk about the libdem vote collapsing because of Nick Clegg. I'm not so sure that it is all down to Nick. I think a big finger must be ponted at Danny Alexander and his supercilious attitude to Scotland.

The best strategy for Alex is to have a series of referendums which drive a wedge between London Control and Holyrood autonomy, easing Scotland away from the current situation.

Something along the lines of:

"Should Scotland have it's own independent tax raising powers" Y/N

With only a few moves like this, the union could become a completely different animal from it's current form.

Real power lies with those who control the flow of money.

Alternatively he could just "go for it" and meet Cameron and Clegg for a punch up on the hard shoulder at Bannockburn.

False smiles from Salmond. Now he actually has to deliver on his twice promised referendum.

Of course, only one thing is worse than not delivering on 2 manifesto prmises from 2 elections.

And that would be to lose the referendum.

Pity that the election results are purely an anti labour smash - Scotland has not suddenly gone all "tartan & shortbread", as virtually every recent poll shows, independence is only wanted by a very small minority.

So Alec - put up or shut up.

Looks like massive congratulations are due to Alex Salmond and his team.

A great, great day for the SNP which has been a long time coming and they are finally to get their reward for all their hard work.

Labour are very far from finished, they still polled over 30% in the constituency. So lets not get ahead of ourselves.
--------------------------------------------------

Most of Labours support came from elderly British working class folk, Edinburgh Leith being a perfect example of a place with a very high pensioner population.
Labour were wiped out everywhere else in Edinburgh, across the board.
Labour has decimated the working classes over the last 30 years so it's a rapidly diminishing core resource they themselves have destroyed.

Labour has become too old fashioned and needs to evolve, although there's so much dogma and so little talent in that organisation that they may have to take a back row seat until such time as the SNP make a mess of things.

From the bbc live:
"1109: "South, north, east and west, Labour is coming back", Ed Miliband tells an audience of supporters in Gravesend. "

Err..that'll be north as far as the Scottish border I assume.

Ed, we don't like wesminster public schoolboy career politicians up here in Scotland and it shows.

Can someone please tell me how Annabel gets to be the leader of the the Tories in Scotland when between herself and Jackson Carlaw they managed around 35 thousand votes. Seems a bit nuts to me or don't the Tories have anyone else they can trust to do the job?

From the bbc live:
"1029: Laura Kuenssberg, chief political correspondent of the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ News Channel, tweets: "John McTernan tells me Iain Gray won't be Labour leader in Scotland at next election.""

Yes, but who will they be able to replace him with? Not much substance left on the labour bench.

What result would you expect from a match if one team is fielding only its "B" team (due to the "A" team being committed to an "international" match) while the other team, having little interest in the 'foreign' league, fields its top quality A-team.....?

Cash Hughes

73. At 11:11am 6th May 2011, daviecooper1 wrote:
"independence is only wanted by a very small minority."

I think you coud be as wrong there as the labour (north british branch) party.

Over 7000 majority for SNP in Caithness.

daviecooper1:

#73.

Your a bit early. I was wondering when the first individuals to appear and assert complete and utter nonsense that seems to represent reality as we currently understand it.

"Of course, only one thing is worse than not delivering on 2 manifesto prmises from 2 elections. And that would be to lose the referendum."

This is of course nonsense. Labour and the Liberal Democrats have continually attacked the SNP regards to independence because it does put some voters off. If the SNP were to loose a referendum (although any and all powers handed over to Holyrood is a victory for nationalists) it would finally end the nagative sacremongering during elections. It may actually benefit the SNP. Of course, we may actually win it.

"Pity that the election results are purely an anti labour smash - Scotland has not suddenly gone all "tartan & shortbread", as virtually every recent poll shows, independence is only wanted by a very small minority."

Your comment above is the biggest nonsense so far on these boards. The Labour vote accross Scotland has only fell about roughly 0.6%. Some seats their votes actually increased over 5% and the SNP still managed to take the seats.

I don't know what is happening over there on planet mars but come back to earth and join the rest of us in the real world.

So Alec - put up or shut up.

Ouch!
Lib Dem Wipeout in Caithness.
SNP mopping them up everywhere.
Highlands, Borders, Lanarkshire, North East, Tayside, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Central

No Party has ever done that. Even when Labour were returning 50+ MPs to Westminster it had no go areas.

Just heard John Mason on the radio say that not only did he want a referendum on independence, but on a lot of other issues as well. He said that if politicians wanted people to become involved in politics this was the way to go.

I couldn't agree more. The traditional uk politics only wants your vote, not your say. It is time, especially in this new communications age that ALL people had more of a say in things, not just at election time. We might even get some joined up thinking into politics this way. Switzerland is a great example of how it can be done.

#78. At 11:24am 6th May 2011, X_Sticks wrote:
From the bbc live:
"1029: Laura Kuenssberg, chief political correspondent of the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ News Channel, tweets: "John McTernan tells me Iain Gray won't be Labour leader in Scotland at next election.""

Fortunately for the SNP McTernan will still be around at the next election spouting his mono-occular New Labourism and advising SLAB to 'go more negative'.

The legacy of Maggie Thatcher is coming home to roost...
Maybe she did do something useful for Scottish society after all.

I'm looking forward to any interviews with Malcom Rifkind, he's good for a laff.

From bbc live:
"1157: Asked about the possibility of a referendum on Scottish independence, David Cameron says he "believes passionately in our United Kingdom" and while he congratulates Alex Salmond on his "emphatic win", he will fight with "every fibre that I have" to keep the United Kingdom together."

The treasury in london must be getting very worried. Without Scottish oil and whisky to support the trough what will they do? Westminster blackops will be working flat out to find any and every way possible to "scotch" our referendum.

#56 AlastairGordon

Perhaps I should've said:

"By sending their best talents to Westminster, leaving second-rate constituency candidates & third-raters on their regional list, Labour have treated Holyrood with contempt. Now the Tories have a greater number of a high calibre here."

Annabelle Goldie & David McLetchie have a wealth of experience which will give the Conservatives a better grasp of Scottish politics than Labour can expect for themselves.

Oi, ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳, please update the map etc here: /news/special/election2011/overview/html/scotland.stm - it's almost 2 hours out of date!

NOTICE: Friday 5th May 2011.

Your favourite Scottish news site was taken offline this morning.
Last night we incurred corruption to our files which severely affected the site performance.
We are working to get it back online as soon as possible but in the meantime, you can find us on Twitter or Facebook.

Thanks for your understanding.

From the bbc live:
"1224: James Forsyth, writing on the Spectator's Coffee House blog, says one of the big stories of the night is the return of Scottish politics to the national stage - after being "pretty much ignored since devolution". "It'll be fascinating to see how Cameron handles the prospect of a referendum on independence. Will he argue, as some constitutional scholars argue, that the Scottish parliament doesn't have the power to hold a vote on independence?" he writes."

Aye, Dave, just try that argument. And that'll be "constitutional scholars" from westminster I assume.

Trolls are out in force today. Sour Plums must be catnip for them

@69

Absolutely spot on. That was Tavish's stance on the TV debate. Gonna u-turn on that opinion Tavish?? Careful what you wish for indeed.

Bring on the referendum.

Absolutely smashing night and day.

Thank you :D

Just give Scotland and Scots full independence. Raise own taxes to pay for own policies. No annoying attendance at Westminster - no reliance on tax subsides from England. Full freedom and complete disconnection from Westminster in every way, shape and form.

Go for it Scotland - full independence and become a potential tax haven too. No VAT would be a good start - imagine all those shoppers south of the border shopping in Scotland! Bring it on!

Dear Sir
It would seem from very afar that your reading of the bones and tea-leaves apropos the Holyrood elections for the next and continuing Scottish government were somewhat off the mark (despite your oft-voiced, poetic certainties beamed, de temps en temps, from your bunker in Pacific Quay: Ironic given the lack of pacifism on matters electoral by the Scottish populace).

May I ask you, when you blog - if ever again - will you attempt an empirico-scientific analysis of these democratic events?


May I also enquire if the whispering susurrations borne upon the winds far across the continents unto even Asian archipelagos are the echoes of some ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ personnel retrieving coats and personal effects - including the most gallous of pendulously suspending braces - to join Mr Marcus Gardham Esq on his journey south of the Watford Gap? There to seek alternative PR employment or pass a bowl around the producers of Eastenders or Coronation Street?

I wish you well, sir, in your future fictional endeavours.

With new-borning, Spring time greetings from Tokyo

Etc, etc

Time for the SNP to carry on positive campaign into gracious victory. A 3-year review leading to an independence referendum. End the lies from vested interests that it would be a disaster for Scotland and that we dont currently pay our way in the UK. An independent review will soon show that to be the tawdry fib that it is.

Who knows what an independence referendum result would be, but the Scottish people are nearly ready for it - give us the right information and we'll make the choice that makes most sense.

As an aside, note the irony of the Tory mantra that FPTP is best, but their leading MSPs need the list system as a backstop, having lost in the FPTP bit!

All we need now is total wipe out in North East Fife for the Lib Dems - job done!!

60+ SNP

Let's hope this is the begining of the end of the union!