They're aff their heids

According to the SNP, the Police have better things to do than investigate the alleged rigging of the Falkirk Labour candidate selection. Calton couldn't disagree more. What is more important than upholding democracy and investigating alleged infringements of it? If we turn a blind eye to vote-rigging and gerrymandering, wherever and whenever it happens, we may as well install Alex Salmond as El Presidente for life and be done with it. Of course, that's probably what the SNP would like. They've certainly shown scant regard for the wishes of the people since they got their majority in Holyrood and Nicola Sturgeon seems to think she rules by some sort of divine right. The Stuart monarchs thought the same and look where it got them. One of them lost his head and the Highland clans lost a lot of good men trying to put his descendants back on the throne. The present-day successors to the Jacobites are off their heads if they think that democracy doesn't matter. It matters a lot.

Have your say in your own words

Alex Salmond has a cheek to say that the Westminster consultation on the Independence Referendum is discredited just because 25% of the respondents used boiler-plate text supplied by the Labour Party website. At least they bothered to respond and were not anonymous, unlike a number of the respondents to the Holyrood consultation on the same subject, which the SNP were prepared to accept until Labour pointed out the potential for rigging the vote. It really seems that the SNP will grasp at any excuse not to listen to anyone whose view differs from their own. Their attitude is also a bit rich given that their own website contains suggested text for responding to the Holyrood consultation on the referendum. So, Calton's advice would be to ignore that and send in your own response to the consultation, a link to which can be found here.

Any date you like as long as it's 2014

So, one of the outcomes of the Westminster consultation on the Independence Referendum is that the majority would rather it happened sooner than Autumn 2014. Calton got there first. Not that it makes any difference to the SNP, who are saying that we can have the referendum any time we like as long as it is Autumn 2014. ("These responses will then be considered by the Scottish government as part of the process to the referendum in 2014" - Stewart Hosie, SNP on the Holyrood consultation exercise, which is still continuing.) Not only that, but it now transpires that the Scottish Parliament's referendum consultation is wide open to gerrymandering. The SNP seem to be making a habit of this. Looks like they have been taking lessons on how to deal with a recalcitrant electorate from the Government of the Republic of Ireland, who have twice held second referendums on European treaties after getting a 'no' vote first time around. Perhaps Alex Salmond would do well to remember that the same people who voted him into power can easily vote him back out if he doesn't listen to them!

Keep it simples

Calton thinks there should just be one referendum question: independence - yes or no? After all, if the answer is yes, who cares about devo-max? And if the answer is no, another debate can still be had on the extent to which we want to be devolved. Simples. Because his poor head is still spinning after reading about all the possible options and permutations (and opportunities for gerrymandering) outlined in this post by the wee red squirrel.

Moving the Goalposts Salmond-style

In the biggest act of gerrymandering Calton has seen since the Irish were told that they had given the wrong answer in the European referendum, the Scottish Government decided last week to open the consultation on same-sex marriage to anyone, regardless of whether or not they live in Scotland. Clearly the people of Scotland were not giving the answer which Alex Salmond wished to hear and could not be trusted to make up their minds on this important issue without outside help. One wonders whether the same thing will happen come the long-awaited independence referendum if the Scots do not come up with the 'right' answer!