Scottish independence referendum week in review: from JK Rowling to Hillary Clinton
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Version 0 of 1. Cannae be arsed this week. Not that it matters, when there are such brilliant round-ups elsewhere. The astonishingly prolific Stephen Daisley at STV is doing it daily - and very funnily - here, whilst National Collective's Stephen Paton has started his laser-sharp Youtube review here. Can't help noticing that both of these gentleman are called "Stephen" (#justsaying). You'd almost think they'd cooked this up together, but I'll leave that to the conspiracy theorists... Maybe it's the rain, or the full moon, but I feel in desperate need of some joy today. So here's James Robertson's bone-dry wit on regional news: Or maybe it's because the news in the referendum campaign this week has made pretty heavy weather. We've reported variously on: the bullish mood of the 100 days launches; pledge cards; Gordon Brown criticising Tories for 'threats' in the no campaign; Gordon Brown annoying allies over his TV debate remarks ; JK Rowling's donation to Better Together; Twitter abuse of Rowling by a Scottish charity; Campbell Gunn's briefing against Clare Lally; Gordon Brown's warning over risks of a yes vote to Strictly and Eastenders, Hillary Clinton's intervention in the debate. In Comment, Gordon Brown called for a patriotic alternative to the SNP, Martin Kettle unpicked why Gordon Brown has it right on federalism, and Ruth Wishart argued that online attacks would not sway Scottish voters. It has indeed been a great clunking fist of a week. Then, just as I was about to get under the bed (what do you mean, nobody else does that?) I read Alex Massie's thoroughly sensible response to this week of interweb woe and his exhortation to - y'know - chillax: It is dispiriting. But, again, let’s not wallow in hand-wringing (to the extent such a thing might even be possible) or waste more time tut-tutting than is strictly necessary. Responding to OUTRAGE with your own OUTRAGE is, in the end, a pointlessly unproductive way of carrying on... If Scotland’s independence campaign is notable for anything it is unusual for being remarkably civilised. Violence, generally speaking, has no more than 140 characters. No-one has died. No-one anticipates, I think, civil unrest regardless of the result in September. This may seem a small thing but it is not. Just peer across the North Channel if you doubt this. The message for me is clear: I need to get out more, like I did for this piece on the mood at smaller campaign events across Scotland. So please let me know below the line about events in your area over the next few weeks. No offence, but ideally without added Gordon Brown. I'm particularly interested in events aimed at undecided voters. And there have been other breaks in the cloud. Roddy Frame expressed a view on independence and social media did not implode. I do appreciate that the whole Boswell-lite approach can be wearing, but I really enjoyed Janet Street-Porter's BBC documentary on the referendum earlier this week, and she spoke to a braw bunch of people. I found this butterfly rather joyful: It may not be strictly indyref, but violence against women is everybody's business, and the amazing turnout for Monday's Reclaim the Night march in Glasgow should make everybody proud: Maybe it's not been such a bad week after all... |