100 Days of Hope and Fear: How Scotland's Referendum was Lost and Won
David Torrance
Language: English
Pages: 192
ISBN: B00OM00XDS
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
How did the Better Together campaign come so close to losing it?
How did the Yes campaign come so close to winning it?
What can the people of Scotland - and other aspirant nations - learn from this seismic democratic event? Scotland’s independence referendum on 18 September 2014 was the most significant ballot in Scotland’s history. The 100 days up to 18 September was the official campaign period and the world’s media was watching. David Torrance was there throughout, in front of the cameras, on the radio, in the newspapers, at the debates and gatherings, privy to some of the behind-the-scenes manoeuvrings.
A passionate federalist at heart, described disparagingly by the outgoing First Minister as ‘Tory-leaning’, Torrance made a valiant attempt to remain ‘professionally neutral’ throughout. His commentary and analysis as the campaign went through its many twists and turns was always insightful, if not always popular.
'Reading this diary back during the editing process it was clear that, like (Nate) Silver (the US polling guru whose view was that the Yes campaign had virtually no chance of victory), I got a lot of things wrong (including the likely margin of victory) but also many things broadly correct. At least I can plead, as journalists often do, that I was probably right at the time.'
His diary is deliciously gossipy, entertainingly indiscreet, and a must-read for political geeks as well as those who want to see what goes on behind the scenes of Scotland's politics and media.
STEPHEN DAISLEY, STV
KEVIN McKENNA, Scottish Review of Books
Torrance has secured himself a prominent position in the referendum debate, partly through the strategic use of nice jumpers and expertly crafted hair, but largely on merit … [he deserves] far better than the lazy impossibilist critiques to which [his federalist] proposals have been subjected.
RORY SCOTHORNE on Britain Rebooted
F*** sake... David Torrance on again. Is the greasy weasel never aff the telly?
CALUM FINDLAY [on Twitter]
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cast the debate in voters’ minds as a battle between hope and fear, positivity and negativity, it became much easier to delegitimise criticism of independence – however compelling – as ‘scaremongering’ or, at the very least, ‘bluff’ and ‘bluster’. This was Yes’s greatest strength, taking the campaigning prowess developed by the SNP at the 2007 and 2011 Holyrood elections to new heights, while harnessing the energy of existing and emergent groupings such as the Greens, National Collective and
chatting amiably with other passengers (including one wearing a ‘No Thanks’ badge) about foreign policy, Iraq, Pakistan and his ministerial schedule. As we got off he complimented my hair, which has now become a running joke. It was still light so I cycled along the Clyde to Pacific Quay and ended up getting made up next to Jackie Bird (she was being quite starry). Patrick Harvie was there, sharp as ever, talking about Spain potentially vetoing Scottish entry to the EU, then Kevin McKenna and I
campaigning rather than constituting a campaign in itself, and also the impossibility of conducting a nuanced political discussion in bursts of 140 characters. En route to the studio I saw on Twitter that William Hague was standing aside as Foreign Secretary, which was kinda unexpected. Tuesday, 15 July 2014 (Edinburgh & London) Busy morning of interviews with a chap from the Toronto Globe & Mail (doing a piece comparing Scotland’s referendum with Quebec’s) and a very Dutch correspondent from
unusual for me, but the typically middle-class audience chortling at lots of cheap lines was just too much. Thursday, 17 July 2014 (London & Edinburgh) Left my brother’s place in Clapton at 7am and got to King’s Cross in only 25 minutes on my Brompton, far more quickly than I’d have managed on public transport. Got a bit of work done on the 8am train to Waverley, including a comment piece on federalism for Peter Geoghegan’s Political Insight magazine. I’m even getting paid; freelance wonders
already set out in the various party commissions. Jack Blanchard (now at the Mirror) texted me wanting to arrange dinner: ‘Mr Torrance. It appears Westminster had [sic] noticed that all that stuff you’ve been banging on about for the past few years is actually a story after all. I’m therefore being sent North forthwith.’ He’s not the only one. The three Unionist party leaders tell the media why they’re supporting Gordon Brown’s timetable for ‘more powers’. I emailed another Tory contact to
