I don't know if anyone has definitively solved the mystery of who was responsible for handing out the blatantly political "two-faced" flags at the opening ceremony on Wednesday, although there have been dark whispers about possible Orange Order involvement. It was presumably a well-planned stunt, and I'm wondering if there's an opportunity for us to take a leaf out of their book for the closing ceremony. Nothing political - just free saltires to help the crowd celebrate what may well turn out to be the most successful ever Scottish team at any Commonwealth Games.
For the avoidance of doubt, I'm not suggesting I would be the person to run this potential initiative - for one thing I haven't the first idea of how to go about bulk-buying flags at very short notice, or indeed if it's even feasible at all. However, the crowdfunding element is certainly doable, because a Paypal-only Indiegogo campaign would enable the funds to be accessed instantly. So if there's anyone out there who feels capable of taking the task on, I think it would be a great idea.
Hi i was working on springfield road during the opening festivities. I noticed the flags but almost to a man/woman they were carried salire facing. So much so that i did not notice the union jack for about half an hour. Since it is a 50/50 chance the poeple chose what flag to show.
ReplyDeleteThis unionist prank has backfired as it forced poeple to choose, and choose they did by hiding the other flag, was proud of their choice.
We don't need crowd funding or an organised hand out. All we need is a well publicised Twitter, Scottish Blogs campaign calling on everyone to take their own Saltires to the closing ceremony and to fly them vigorously. Support from some well known YES supporters would help. And so would a good punchy hash tag.
ReplyDeleteYou've set the ball rolling James and I will start tweeting tomorrow along those lines calling for support. If it took off it could turn into something BIG.
I don't think that would work, to be honest. A Twitter campaign of that sort would reach committed Yes supporters by and large (we totally underestimate the extent to which we're simply talking to ourselves on twitter). What happened on Wednesday night was that people who hadn't even thought about taking a flag were handed one outside the stadium, and were happy and surprised to accept a freebie - to replicate that would require crowdfunding. It may prove to be too difficult at short notice, but I thought I'd at least put the idea out there for people to consider.
ReplyDeleteI suppose another possibility would be a "donate a spare flag" campaign, although that would be logistically complicated as well.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the rugby 7's today. See Scotland compete in another of our national sports.
ReplyDeleteFor any No voters and 14 minute patriots. That england team you will be cheering against is going to be representing us in 2016 if you have your way. Scotland, the country that invented 7's rugby won't have a single representative. Lovely union benefit there. See also golf.
A simple solution may be at hand, (It's not yours is our) Poundland does packs of 10 or 12 for a quid. So extremely doable.
ReplyDeleteGreat idea james. But Yes Scotland already give away just the sort of flag you are talking about at their stalls and shops. How about you contact someone in that organisation to sort it out? They should already have the resources to do this.
ReplyDeleteDo they give away plain saltires without a 'Yes' on them?
ReplyDeleteIs it another one of those astonishing co-incidences that the BBBC's effects microphones don't seem to be working. You are told of the great atmosphere and crowd noise but are unable to hear it. Unlike the 2112 union wnkfest where you could hardly hear the commentators at times. Pure accident I'm sure.
ReplyDeleteAye James, the ones I have seen are plain saltires without a Yes.
ReplyDeleteI would have thought that taking a roll of sellotape and getting people to ask for two flags would work quite well. Two saltires on the outside and the UJ on the inside.
ReplyDeleteWould that work?
We could also deploy folk with simple staplers to fuse two into one.
ReplyDeleteThe landscape is positively crawling with wee paper saltires (plain, unadorned), at Yes stalls and shops and so on. It surely wouldn't be that difficult to find people to hand some out in Glasgow.
ReplyDelete