I took issue with a Guardian piece a few hours ago, but that one looks positively well-informed compared to this frankly laughable effort by Alex Stevenson in politics.co.uk. I appreciate that the London media has some way to go in getting their befuddled heads around the Scottish political scene, but all the same, you'd think the deputy editor of an online news outlet might just know how to do a Google search.
"Scotland will decide whether to end three centuries of union with Britain in its independence referendum on September 18th 2014."
How in heaven's name can we 'be in union with' a geographical entity that we are an integral part of, let alone end such a union?
"The decision to choose September is unlikely to prove decisive as the 'no' campaign opposing independence has a substantial lead in current polls."
Really? You wouldn't be implying that the current opinion poll lead of 13-21% is already "decisive" with a full eighteen months to go, would you Alex? Yes, right enough, constitutional referendums are notorious for seeing very little movement in opinion over the course of a long campaign. For example, the No campaign in the 1975 Common Market referendum maintained its early comfortable lead - that's why Britain is not currently a member of the European Union. And as predicted by the early polls, the Yes campaign swept to an easy victory in the 2004 referendum on an Assembly for the Northeast of England - that's why Alan Milburn is now the wildly popular First Minister of the Northeast.
Oh wait...
"But the Scottish Nationalist Party governing north of the border will hope it can persuade Scottish voters."
'Scottish Nationalist Party'? Did this shadowy organisation come about as the result of a Judean People's Front-style split from the better-known Scottish National Party?
""We will be able to stand on our own two feet, but we will not stand alone, we will have a partnership of equals," Salmond told SMPs earlier."
What are 'SMPs'? Members of the Scottish Machinal Party, perhaps?
Meanwhile, Tim Montgomerie at Conservative Home seems to think that Alistair Darling is going to scare the people of Scotland into voting No by telling them they'll "lose access to the NHS" under independence. Hmmm. That'll take some doing, given that NHS Scotland has been an entirely separate entity since its foundation in 1948, and is already controlled by the SNP government in Edinburgh.
You always know when the person or organisation hasn't a clue about the political situation in Scotland when I see Nationalist instead of National. I always email the BBC or Sky when they put the wrong title in their news broadcasts.
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