Trident, Austerity and Dentures. Those are the key components of the Labour brand in Scotland. The unionists demographic is overwhelmingly old. Independence had a majority in every age group except the over 55s.

Unionism is not a factor of age in the sense that once people reach 55 they turn into Unionists. People over 55 were the only Unionist age group, because they are also the only age group which predominantly does not use social media, buys deadtree newspapers and watches the regular BBC news bulletins. They are also influenced by residual memories of Empire and Second World War (old Tories). They remember the days when banks were viewed as respectable institutions, when the Labour Party helped the poor rather than supported the rich, and when public figures were widely believed not to lie.

There are very few replacement adults coming along with those kind of beliefs. Unionism is dying out. That is why Jack Straw has launched an initiative to try to outlaw future secession (at the same time contradicting his own position on Kosovan independence against the will of Serbia). Straw as one of the architects of the Iraq War has a strong track record of causing violence that kills many people. His idea of blocking the constitutional road to independence would cause violence beyond doubt.

The high energy community campaign for independence needs no encouragement from me to keep going. There seems general agreement that the May 2015 UK general election provides an immediate campaigning focus. I agree with that, and will address it, but it is also important that we are not corralled purely into the institutional agenda when our great virtue is that we are unconfined and extra-institutional. So I suggest a second vital focus, and that is Trident. Opposition to Trident unites everybody. Let us launch a great movement of protest aimed at Trident, including demonstration and direct action, and let us invite those in the rest of the UK who also oppose Trident to join us in that campaign. This should be a priority.

On the Westminster elections, there seems immediate consensus we should have a single pro-independence candidate per constituency. I strongly support that. There will be difficulties on how to achieve it, and I hope these can be worked through quickly. Tommy Sheridan has suggested that everybody should support the existing SNP candidates, which is very self-denying of him. I see virtue in this. But the Yes campaign was very much wider than the SNP, and I think the momentum could much better be maintained if we start with a clean sheet and local Yes groups choose their candidates through an open selection protest – in which the SNP candidates are welcome to participate, as are Greens and SSP and Solidarity and individuals, and the people will decide.

This is not institutionally neat – there is no clear membership of Yes groups. It requires self-abnegation on the part of existing party candidates. It removes the power of men in suits to screen candidates for acceptability. But those are good things.

I described the independence movement as having a revolutionary spirit. We should nurture that, not try to hammer it into the shape of a regular political party. In the long term there are some very good ideas on a new kind of participative project from the Common Weal. In the short term we need to keep the spirit moving, and go with the flow,

I have no sympathy at all for anybody who voted No on the grounds of the pledges by Brown, Miliband, Cameron and Clegg about constitutional change, and is now whingeing about the blatant dishonour of those pledges. I cannot understand how anybody could be so stupid as to have believed them, and yet have a brain capable of sparking respiration.

Labour is interested in losing no influence of Scottish Labour MPs on any UK or English matters. It wants greater powers to English metropolitan councils which are controlled by Labour – because that will give Labour careerists more jobs and access to contracts. Those are Labours “constitutional reform” goals. The Conservatives “constitutional reform” goals are to keep Scotland’s tax on oil revenues and tax on whisky coming to Westminster, while loading greater responsibilities but no more money on the Scottish parliament, and stopping Scottish MPs voting on English matters thus guaranteeing conservative apparatchiks continued jobs and access to contracts.

Both Tories and Labour want to keep the appalling corrupt and undemocratic House of Lords for its jobs for apparatchiks, access to contracts etc.

Nobody cares what the Lib Dems think anyway.

I ask again – what did you expect?

This is the collective wisdom of Andy Myles and myself, over an excellent mackerel breakfast at Nom De Plume.

The referendum result is the loss of a chance to dispute the hegemony of the neo-con corporate elite in the international world. My heart is still bursting with pride that 45% of Scots – a people devoid of political autonomy for three hundred years – had the nerve, intellect and will to see through the avalanche of propaganda from the entire mainstream media, political establishment, banking sector and corporate world. I met numerous voters who had received letters from their employers – including Diageo, BP, RNS and many others – telling them to vote No or their job was in danger. I met the old lady in Dundee who was told by the Labour Party that independent Scotland would flood the country with immigrants, and a Romanian building worker in Edinburgh who had been told by the Labour Party that Independent Scotland would deport all East Europeans.

Yesterday the Daily Telegraph, Daily Express and Daily Mirror in Scotland all had precisely the same full page photo on their front cover – not a startling news snap, but an arty concoction of male silhouettes and union and Scottish flags. The Mirror had photoshopped it to remove the blue from the union jack, but it was the same distinctive photo. There could be no more stark example of the fake diversity of the mainstream media.

Just as the Conservative, Labour and Lib Dem parties have been startlingly shown up as precisely the same creatures of corporate masters offering no policy differences whatsoever, merely a false tribalism. As they partied together at Better Together last night – the only party in the whole of Scotland, at which everybody present lives very, very well at taxpayers’ expense – it was impossible to tell which brand of Tory was which.

Keeping the popular momentum going, keeping all those wonderful people I met and spoke to engaged in trying to engineer a different society, is going to be a hard struggle. But we always knew that. The goal of independence must remain as a powerful unifying factor.

Through media onslaught people were convinced that a No vote was a vote for Devo Max. Actually after a fortnight of pontificating it will fall off the news agenda of the mainstream. Nothing significant will happen. The Westminster view is that we can have any powers we want at our glorified council in Scotland as long as we still don’t get the revenue from oil or whisky – and still provide cannon fodder for neo-con wars abroad, house Trident and are subject to draconian Westminster imposed attacks on civil liberties.

Anyway the dress rehearsal is over. At the next referendum – which is only five years away, after the UK has voted to leave the EU – we will not be putting forward Salmond’s Independence Lite, (I am not criticising, he carried it superhumanly far). We will be proposing a fully independent Scottish Republic, out of NATO, with its own currency, sweeping land reform to give Scotland’s land back to its people, nationalisation of railways and public utilities, a genuine minimum wage you can live on, a humane benefits system and strict regulation and controls on banks and bankers.

I am eating an excellent lunch and looking forward to it.

I can’t pretend not to have been disappointed by the Clackmannanshire result, especially as I am here with some wonderful people who have put months and years of their lives into campaigning heart and soul.

But the count was fascinating. Professional Conservative, Labour and Lib Dem politicians working and socialising together and dressing the same. Tory ladies in pillar box red clothes and Lib Dem councillors in Labour Party rosettes. All braying and congratulating each other in the same voices, and looking smug and very happy together.

We are not winning tonight’s battle at the moment, but the battle lines have now become clearly defined between the single establishment of the media and all the political parties, and almost half the people – so far who want an alternative political structure. This is a stage in a process, and in its clarity and scale a major advance.

I am in Clackmannanshire which is a good indicator – neither East nor West, right on the Highland line, both urban and rural, substantial wealth but also a significant central belt working class population. The politics have tended to mirror national fortunes.

In Tullibody, which was once solid Labour, we progressed to applause and shouts from people coming in to their gardens. I have never seen anything like the turnout. I have spoken personally to at least twenty middle aged or old people who have voted, who never voted before.

The perception is strongly that we are ahead. Nobody knows what is in those 800,000 postal ballots, but the voters on the day are openly and exuberantly broadcasting their allegiance. Weirdly enough, several people including myself have commented that the mid evening voters were the first group who had given a feeling of predominantly No = but 70 to 80 per cent of voters had already cast their ballots before then. Only a feeling, but it is feeling very, very good.

I shall be at the Clackmannanshire count invigilating. Should be one of the earlier declarations.

On Belleveue Road Edinburgh where I am staying, the number of houses or apartments sporting yes posters had suddenly gone up from 13 to 23, including some great homemade efforts. The No count remained stationary at eleven. I noticed new yes posters in Broughton Street and Albany Street too. There seems a huge last minute proclamation of belief – which is precisely what Andy Murray has done too. In a last gasp of silly bias, the BBC claimed that his tweet was ambiguous, and then stopped reporting it at all. This is Andy Murray’s “ambiguous” tweet.

“Huge day for Scotland today! No campaign negativity last few days totally swayed my view on it. Excited to see the outcome. Let’s do this!”

People with Yes badges stopping and talking to each other on the street. The central belt looking very good indeed. Currently campaigning in Larbert, then Stirling, then Alloa.

On this, the most exciting day of my life, here is a video by Laura Wadha. She kindly said she was inspired to make it by hearing me speak in Cupar. I am so proud to have been part of this people based movement.

I am watching now as voters walk down to the polling station. Whatever the result (and I believe we will win) the resilience of so many Scottish people in the face of the most concerted and unanimous media, corporate business and professional politician propaganda blitz in western democratic history has been quite extraordinary. Local, people-based, paying no attention to “leaders” and utilising the oldest forms of human communication combined with the most modern of social media, the people’s campaign for independence has been astonishing. Now we can grasp the chance to create a new kind of modern society.

The most important day of my life.

For the 45th consecutive time I have been invited, organised and then blocked at the last moment from a mainstream media appearance.

On Sunday I received this email from Channel 4:

Channel 4 have cleared their schedule for a live, hour long prime-time programme on Scottish Independence at 10pm on Wednesday 17th September in Edinburgh. I was wondering whether this is something you would consider being involved in?

With just hours to go before Scotland votes, the fate of the whole United Kingdom hangs in the balance. Jon Snow is hosting the debate live from Edinburgh, and will be joined by major politicians, voters, campaigners and well known faces from all across the United Kingdom to thrash it out one last time before the polls open.

We will have a panel of guests, and a front row of experts who will all join the discussion and we would love if he would consider coming along.

Do give me a call if you need more information or have any questions, we’d love to have you on the show if possible

On Monday I phoned them and agreed the details and they told me where to go. This afternoon they cancelled me because “the panel was full”. It was not full when they invited me or agreed everything.

Regular readers will know this happens again, and again, and again. I am invited to a programme, then shortly before the appearance am cancelled because some blocking mechanism steps in. The determination of the establishment to keep dangerous dissent off the airwaves is still implacable – even in Edinburgh tonight. By Friday they will look pretty forlorn.

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George Robertson – Third Arse From Left

George Robertson has been designated by the Labour Party to lead a campaign to have a Yes vote nullified, on the grounds of campaign irregularities, intimidation and overspending. This has been agreed by Miliband’s office. One of the great advantages of being a small country like Scotland is that you very easily discover what is happening through family and social connections.

The media propaganda about “violent nationalists” is designed both to try to sway undecided voters to No (along with the disgraceful Gordon Brown “if you don’t know, vote No” slogan), and to provide ammunition to question the validity of the decision when they lose.

As I said, the great thing about a small country is it is very hard to keep secrets. People know what is happening, including the police. The Police Federation have put out a remarkable statement to contradict the media propaganda of violence and intimidation. Do not expect to see this featured prominently in the mainstream:

In response to increased press reports and comment implying increased crime and disorder as a consequence of the Independence Referendum Brian Docherty, Chairman of the Scottish Police Federation said;

“The Police Service of Scotland and the men and women who work in it should not be used as a political football at any time and especially so in these last few hours of the referendum campaign.

As I have previously stated the referendum debate has been robust but overwhelmingly good natured.

It was inevitable that the closer we came to the 18th of September passions would increase but that does not justify the exaggerated rhetoric that is being deployed with increased frequency. Any neutral observer could be led to believe Scotland is on the verge of societal disintegration yet nothing could be further from the truth.

Scotland’s citizens are overwhelmingly law abiding and tolerant and it is preposterous to imply that by placing a cross in a box, our citizens will suddenly abandon the personal virtues and values held dear to them all.

At this time it is more important than ever that individuals be they politicians, journalists or whoever should carefully consider their words, maintain level heads and act with respect. Respect is not demonstrated by suggesting a minority of mindless idiots are representative of anything. One of the many joys of this campaign has been how it has awakened political awareness across almost every single section of society. The success enjoyed by the many should not be sullied by the actions of the few.

Police officers must be kept free from the distractions of rhetoric better suited to the playground that the political stump. If crime has been committed it will be investigated and dealt with appropriately but quite simply police officers have better things to do than officiate in spats on social media and respond to baseless speculation of the potential for disorder on and following polling day”

A Polish gentleman told me something profound last night. He said he had for months been determined to vote No, because he thought the United Kingdom had welcomed him in. Then he started to notice something very important indeed.

He had supported Solidarnosc as a young man, and he had lived through the overwhelming barrage of state media propaganda against it. All the newspapers, radio and TV had broadcast for month after month that if Poland left the Soviet orbit the economy would be destroyed, trading links would be severed, everybody would lose their pensions and housing, they would be invaded, the currency would collapse. Democracy campaigners were branded as right wing nationalist thugs. The people had no access to a fair hearing on the media, and communities had to organise alternatively through social networks.

A few weeks ago he had suddenly realised that precisely the same thing was happening in Scotland that he had witnessed in Soviet controlled Poland. A monolithic and all-pervading media was pumping out the same propaganda on a permanent basis, and even the arguments they were making were precisely the same arguments the Soviets had made. He had suddenly realised that democracy in the UK was an illusion – the apparatchiks of the main political parties and the entire media, both state and private, in fact belonged to and promoted the same ruling establishment. Only the methodologies were different, and raw power slightly better hidden in the UK than in the old Soviet bloc. But the truth was of hard rich men wielding power, in both cases, and keeping the people down.

I have immense respect for him, and will always carry that insight with me. He spoke to me after my talk in Linlithgow last night and it is a great example of the way we have all been learning from each other, in a new understanding of how a real democracy might look.

Inspirational meeting in Linlithgow last night. Wonderful people. Biggest applause of the evening for my suggestion that on the day of Independence, we seize the Trident nuclear missiles, dismantle them and refuse to give them back! A very bright audience, including some genuine undecideds. Everywhere I am especially cheered by the sheer determination of people to ensure they are not cheated by ballot-rigging, and their very wakeful understanding of the possibilities. It is not just a question of observers at the counts; there has been a groundswell to organise for ballot boxes to be followed from polling stations through to the count, which is essential but seldom done.

I confess to a boosted ego having been photographed and asked for my autograph frequently yesterday, something I am not used to! I have metamorphosised into “that man off youtube”, as the patronising BT woman would say, were she not living in the 1950s.

Despite the new media meme that all supporters of independence are evil Nazis, I really think we are going to win this. Communities are coming together to discuss how they wish to be governed, and an independent Scotland is going to bring a major change from current hierarchical political and economic structures. This truly is a revolutionary moment.

The Guardian have just published the most disgusting outright lies imaginable. I just got back from the St James Centre – I was literally just passing through on my way to change for this evening’s meeting. I saw Ed Miliband beetle in and beetle out again.

There was a prepared claque of Labour members with No signs, who had naturally attracted some curious Yes passers-by too. Miliband only does carefully controlled no opposition photocalls, so when there was some hackling and badinage he immediately scuttled away again. There was absolutely no pushing; shoving or threat. I have been in larger crowds at the chemists’ prescription counter. I personally called out “war criminal”, which I had every right to do.

To portray this as an angry mob denying free speech is so far removed from the truth that Severin Carrell should be sacked immediately. The man is a disgrace. He is of course only part of a deliberate effort to portray Scots as a violent group of intolerant nationalists. We are of course guilty of failing to show hushed deference to any Westminster trougher and war criminal they dare to send to address us.

I genuinely find it impossible to understand the gap between the opinion polls and what my eyes and ears tell me.

In Glasgow yesterday afternoon a small group of Better Together supporters were handing out material on Sauchiehall Street. Just fifty yards away on Buchanan Street a Yes stall was doing the same thing. The difference was so marked I wanted to quantify it to explain it to you.

I watched each stall for a timed fifteen minutes, immediately one after the other. These are both very busy pedestrianized shopping streets. The crowds going by on each were very similar in size and demographic.

In fifteen minutes the No team managed to give away 7 leaflets and one balloon (the latter to a child). I saw some of the leaflets immediately discarded. The No team were actively approaching people to hand out leaflets, and were shunned by the large majority of people.

By comparison the Yes stall was actively approached by large numbers of people. In the fifteen minutes, 56 people approached the stall and spoke and of those 42 took campaign material, while at least 11 made a donation. The final statistic is remarkable. I counted exactly the next 400 people I could scrutinise reasonably closely on Sauchiehall Street. Of these an extraordinary 52 – that is fully 13% – were wearing Yes badges. There were no large groups and no event in the vicinity that accounted for this. I saw only 2 No badges and one No balloon, again a small child.

I appreciate that this may seem strangely nerdish behaviour, but when I flatly tell you that I have been experiencing a revolutionary groundswell of popular feeling on the streets, that is a perception easily dismissed. The above are hard, statistical facts that in a small way quantify that feeling. The puzzle that remains to be solved is the extraordinary incompatibility between this evidence and the opinion polls.

I can accept that there is an exuberance about the Yes campaign – a belief that a better world is possible and the neo-con dominance of Westminster can be broken – that leads it followers to be enthusiastic and wish to share that belief. By contrast, the No voters to whom I have spoken have, in my own experience, never expressed any enthusiasm for the United Kingdom, but rather fear that an independent Scotland might fail economically – a fear with which they have been relentlessly programmed. Cowardice is not something you wish to display or tell people about. So I can see the psychology is different.

But if the opinion polls are right and the No vote is in the lead, then this psychological phenomenon must be extraordinarily powerful and universal, this behavioural difference so marked as to be in itself a quite extraordinary fact.

The alternative explanation is simply that the opinion polls are wrong. I discussed this with the Yes campaigners on that Buchanan Street stall. They had a considered view which seems prima facie eminently sensible. They believed that the people mobbing their stall were in the large majority people who had never been politically active before. They were not the kind of people who would ever have signed up to be part of online polling panels – the methodology of the vast majority of polls. Those who were on such online panels may give pollsters a reasonable reflection of how party support splits among the 60% of the population who might vote in a general election, but could tell nothing about the 40% who never vote or join online polling panels. Those people were the ones now taking badges and wee blue books. The other polling method was landline telephone, and that missed another great swathe of the Yes demographic – the younger voters.

I yet again saw the BBC baffled and fail to pick up on what was happening on the street as they could not find a man in a suit to interview. The No campaigners were al men in suits and the BBC team looked visibly relieved. For me this “man in a suit” media syndrome is the principal cause of the disconnect between media reporting and what is actually happening.

Tonight is my final set speech of the campaign – Linlithgow Bowling Club at 7.30 pm.

Sounds more romantic than the Finland Station!

http://new.livestream.com/IndependenceLive/BBCBiasV

I am heading for the train back to Scotland for the final, frenetic stretch of campaigning to achieve national independence. Rather strange feeling on leaving the house, because I know that if we succeed I shan’t be coming back here to live, but rather staying to help build the new Scotland, in however minor a way.

I receive far more email than I can possibly reply to, about which I feel somewhat guilty. But I both replied and obtained permission to reproduce this one from Fiona Mathieson:

I am sure you will be receiving hundreds of messages from so many in Scotland at the moment. I would just like to say how grateful I have been for the information you have provided. I have been able to direct people to your blogs and videos which have helped them to start questioning and delve further into unveiling the truth.

Last week at work a colleague who was undecided came to me and said that not only was she voting yes, but her entire family of 47 were voting yes. I gave her the wee blue book and some of your video links and they all went off and looked into it and discussed it. They decided that yes was the only way forward for a future of hope and positive change.

I was late in joining the yes campaign only becoming politicised in the last 2 months as the light bulb slowly went on. I have never in my life felt so engaged and enthusiastic and am amazed to be part of something that is making history. The sad part being that I went through the entire grief cycle in a week moving between stages quite erratically as I came to grips with the level of corruption and deception from the government and the media. I know there will be many others who have been dealing with the same issues as myself.

However, onwards and upwards as we continue to engage with our sense of humour, passion and creativity in these last few days of the campaign.

Thank you for sharing your experiences and knowledge as it has helped many of us to stay on course as the continued scare tactics are dropped down on us from on high.

I think the greatest achievement of the campaign has been that half the population of Scotland has awoken to the fact that the mainstream media, and the BBC in particular, pump out a stream of propaganda in collusion with the state and corporate interests, and that much of it is untrue. If I have contributed to that realisation, I am very happy indeed, but I am only one of a number of alternative sources of information now available on new media. The great triumph of the Yes campaign has been the united force of social media and community mobilisation.

Thank you, Fiona, for your kind message. I hope and believe that your account will encourage others to make the same journey.

You have probably all seen this already, but it made me laugh so much I just had to post it. The Labour Party brings up Jack Straw and 100 fellow troughers from Westminster to make a grand demonstration for the Union, and their efforts are negated by the brilliant mockery of two lads on a rickshaw.

A great example of the nimbleness and popular authenticity of the Yes campaign on the street, outwitting the Noes ponderous and expensive efforts.

Interesting to compare this to yesterday’s genuinely spontaneous scenes in precisely the same location yesterday. See the last thirty seconds of the first video – that No “demonstration” was given massive coverage by the BBC. Now look at this yesterday, which was not shown on the BBC at all.

Finally that full Jim Sillars interview on the BBC. I agree with every single word he said. The BBC only showed a 30 second extract after the live interview, and presented it as a “blunder”. Plainly not only were the BBC shocked at Sillars’ lack of neo-con orthodoxy, they could not understand that others might actually agree with him too.

The Telegraph has a pro-union piece by William Dalrymple. The byline says his ancestor signed the Act of Union; it fails to mention he organised the Massacre of Glencoe.

David Folkerts-Landau, Chief Economist of Deutsche Bank, who has claimed that Scotland would have a “Great Depression” if independent, has a second home he bought for US $11.6 million dollars. His first home is in London – where he would have been well-placed to notice that Deutsche Bank was at the very heart of the LIBOR interest rate fixing scandal. Naturally neither Folkerts-Landau (he and his wife are friends of the Camerons) nor any other senior banker was jailed for that long term criminal illegality.

Folkerts-Landau must, you might assume, have great powers of economic prediction to have accumulated a fortune of hundreds of millions of dollars from banking salary and bonuses. Yet he failed to notice that Deutsche Bank was running up 92 billion dollars of US sub-prime mortgage junk that would be written off in the actual great crash, in which Deutsche Bank was again in the centre. Why a man who failed to notice that his own work was contributing to an actual great depression, should be taken seriously in ridiculous prognostications of a new one, is rather beyond me.

It is interesting that Folkerts-Landau states that Winston Churchill’s return to the gold standard was a major cause of the great depression. From the German Deutsche bank, that dismissed its Jewish directors in 1933 and denounced Jewish employees, and received expropriated Jewish assets through direct cooperation with Hitler, this criticism of Winston Churchill might be thought culturally insensitive.

Folkerts-Landau is just another example of the super-rich who realise that the people-based movement for Scottish independence is currently the most potent threat to the neo-con hegemony that has resulted in the destruction of social-democratic society and the massive gap between the super-rich and real people. If you look at the other boards on which sit members of the board of Deutsche Bank, it reads like a catalogue of corporate dominance:

Coca Cola
Pepsi Cola
Microsoft
Accenture
IBM
Bayer
Daimler
EON Energy
Thyssen
XL Group
Alliance Trust
Bilfinger
BMW

That is an illustration of the fact that mega corporations are not really competitive, but part of an interlinked web of capital interests all sharing directors. Those interests have bombarded Scotland with apocalyptic threats the last few days. There will be a great depression, major businesses will leave, energy bills will go up, interest rates will go up, oil will run out, shopping bills will go up, call charges will go up, terrorists will run round unimpeded, Russia will invade. These nonsensical claims have been hammered home relentlessly in perhaps the most concentrated stream of mainstream media propaganda in history.

The extraordinary resilience of the Scottish people, in face of these ludicrous levels of threat and intimidation from “authority figures” like Folkerts-Landau, is something of which I am very, very proud.

No declaration of interest from Rusbridger in Guardian pro-union editorial over Benshie estate he stands to inherit through his wife, daughter of Lord Mackie.