To work out who won the debates between Alex Salmond and Alistair Darling, you have to ask the audience. The trouble is that different audiences will tell you different things. If you asked the studio…
Darling appeared to struggle in the second debate.
David Cheskin/PA
When Alex Salmond and Alistair Darling lined up for the first TV debate on August 5, Darling came out the surprise winner for the Better Together campaign. Few would disagree that the positions were reversed…
Alex Salmond played the NHS card this week, to much derision from Better Together.
Scottish Government
David Cameron and other prominent unionists have accused Alex Salmond of desperation over his decision to question the future of the NHS in Scotland if it stays in the UK in recent days. The first minister’s…
Salmond’s performance was not the game changer Yes campaigners were praying for.
Danny Lawson/PA Wire
The first leaders’ debate was meant to be an opportunity for Scotland’s uncommitted – though not necessarily wholly undecided – voters to make up their minds about which way to vote. Yet whether it succeeded…
The claws were out for Salmond and Darling’s first live televised debate.
Andrew Milligan/PA Wire
The leaders of the rival campaigns in Scotland’s independence referendum battle have clashed in the first televised debate ahead of the September 18 poll. So, who came out on top? David McCausland, Head…
General elections can be divided into a long campaign that can run from as early as the previous poll and the more intense short campaign that kicks off towards the end. The Scottish independence referendum…
England flag bearer Nick Matthew demonstrating how you keep politics out of the games.
Andrew Milligan/PA
You may have thought that politics-as-usual was only put on ice during war time. But, no; politicians on both sides of Scotland’s divide have been promising in recent days that they won’t sully Glasgow’s…
Gove got whacked this week, but will the Scots be bothered?
Stefan Rousseau
In the hours after David Cameron unveiled the biggest cabinet reshuffle in a number of years, the Scottish first minister Alex Salmond took to the airwaves. Putting the eurosceptic Philip Hammond in charge…
By his own admission, Dave is not the most popular man in Scotland.
Danny Lawson
The Better Together campaign has always had a problem. Such is Tory popularity in Scotland that the battle for the union was never going to be led by the biggest beast in British politics. Yet David Cameron…
Turnberry hotel and golf resort – Trump’s new place.
Brianac37
When Donald Trump announced that he would not be making any further investment in Scotland and would instead focus on his new acquisition of Doonbeg golf course in County Clare, Ireland, many people no…
Poll after poll shows Scottish women are considerably less keen on independence than men. Alex Salmond has been reaching out to women voters since the campaign kicked off two years ago. We asked our panel…
Both the Scottish and UK governments have published new contributions on the energy and independence debate in recent days. Energy Secretary Ed Davey visited Edinburgh to coincide with the Department for…
Go back to your constituencies and prepare to vote Labour!
Danny Lawson/PA
Of all the party conference speeches SNP leader Alex Salmond has made over the years, Saturday’s in Aberdeen was probably the biggest. As the last conference speech before referendum day on 18 September…
Irish situation is delicate enough without talk of referendums anywhere near Stormont.
Joel Riley
Northern Ireland’s oldest joke is that a man is asked, “Are you Protestant or Catholic?” to which he replies, “Actually I’m Jewish”. His questioner responds: “Yes but are you a Protestant or a Catholic…
Former UK defence secretary and NATO secretary general George Robertson dipped a toe into the independence debate this week and found the water scalding hot. In return for his comments to hawkish think…
Opinion polls can have a profound influence on the atmosphere of a campaign. If they suggest that one side is well ahead, the media loses interest. The politicians get less space and perhaps airtime, while…
Labour leader Ed Miliband addresses the party faithful in Scotland.
Andrew Milligan/PA
Ed Miliband’s goal in addressing the Scottish Labour conference in Perth was straightforward: to promote the campaign for the No vote on the forthcoming referendum on Scottish independence. There are all…
Banter: BBC and Alex Salmond in happier times.
Scottish Government
Called to give evidence of possible BBC bias in coverage of the Scottish referendum campaign to the Scottish Parliament’s education and culture committee on 11 March, I prompted gasps from more than one…
35 quid says they keep Sterling.
Danny Lawson/PA Wire
The Scottish referendum campaign has finally caught fire. After months of bland nothingness, the coordinated interventions of George Osborne, Ed Balls, Danny Alexander, and (most extraordinarily) Treasury…
Shadows of things to come (or so they hope…)
Andrew Milligan/PA Wire
Just two days after the latest polls showed the “Yes” vote for Scottish independence gaining on the pro-unionists, the Scottish government’s White Paper, Scotland’s Future: Your Guide to an Independent…