Scottish Daily Mail

No chance for the Yes love -in

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Indyref fans had a treat at the weekend: a once-in-ageneratio­n opportunit­y to discuss their favourite topic in a windowless hotel conference room.

To some, this holds all the allure of a hostage situation, but remarkably the day-long event pulled in a crowd of around 800.

‘you couldn’t get enough no activists to fill a phone box,’ exulted one speaker.

Cruel, but probably correct. Still, activists are not the same as voters and no voters seem to believe a shared currency, a powerful devolved parliament and a £9billion fiscal transfer are enough to be going on with.

If the Scottish Government’s policies were making more headway with education, the nHS and public services, perhaps another independen­ce referendum would hold more allure.

‘This is not about being self-congratula­tory,’ urged actress elaine C Smith. ‘Let’s hear people’s doubts.’

A sensible exhortatio­n but one that fell on deaf ears.

Instead, they gazed at pie charts, extended begging bowls for websites, held a deluded show of hands against taking any share of UK debt, and made extraordin­ary claims that women voted no because their husbands told them to.

It was probably a marvellous day out for the faithful but instead of working out how to woo the opposition, they seem to have embarked on an exercise in self-love.

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