Don’t worry, Scotland is not going to vote for independence. That is what people opposed to the idea have tended to think until now. But the Yes campaign has gained ground lately, winning hearts and minds. How is it doing that? What will happen next? And will it be enough to deliver a victory that breaks up the union? Hope Street is a neat address for a campaign that was dismissed in the beginning as a lost cause, and it is where the people running Yes Scotland have their Glasgow headquarters. They are good at symbolism. The date of the referendum was chosen to take advantage of an anticipated swelling of national pride this summer, with the Commonwealth Games to follow the 700th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn, in which Robert the Bruce gave the English a kicking.
Support for a Yes vote has surged by 10 per cent since the start of the year, according to a poll of polls by the Financial Times. It dipped briefly when Alex Salmond, leader of the Scottish National Party, bizarrely chose to praise Vladimir Putin. But the overall rise is alarming many who assumed that there was no chance Scotland would ever vote to go it alone.
The Yes Scotland office is bright and modern, all stripped pine and optimistic colours, with free iPads to use in the lobby. The chief strategist, Stephen Noon, a youthful-looking 43-year-old, dismisses “old media and politics” – as well he might, since the Yes campaign is not doing so well in those traditional arenas.
Full Article: Yes or No? Scotland is teetering on a knife-edge – Telegraph.