Billboard battle rages in final push for votes

Photo / AP

With "Braveheart" marches coaxing pro-independence voters to the polls under waving Saltires, while music comes from the instruments of Yes-supporting "pied pipers", ballot day in Scotland will probably look and feel different from any other British election.

The colourful plans to rouse the emotions of the electorate in favour of breaking away seem somehow appropriate for a referendum without precedent on these isles. Some have questioned whether the "Short walk to freedom", as it has been billed in some locations, would be legal under election rules setting a "minimum presence" of party representatives at polling stations - but it will be difficult to stop.

With the Saltire, Scotland's national flag, now the symbol of separation throughout Scotland, a reclaim-the-flag strategy, with pro-Union patriotism as its message, is expected to dominate the final campaigning by the No side.

A huge turnout is expected after record voter registrations with the polls still neck and neck.

The two campaigns involve four main political parties at work in 59 Scottish constituencies, helped by dozens of committed support organisations, tens of thousands of activists, millions of leaflets and 500 billboards.

One Labour No activist in Cathcart, just one in an army of 33,000 helping the BetterTogether push, said: "We've asked the elderly throughout our canvassing if they need help getting to the polling stations. If they do, we will help get them there."

The Yes campaign, which has dominated traffic on social media, planned to deliver 2.6 million leaflets through letterboxes. A direct mailshot to 1.2 million pensioners is under way.

On 334 billboard sites across Scotland will be images of a child's small hand sitting in the palm of a larger adult hand. The message: "Scotland's future in your hands". Their leaflets describe a "choice between two futures", with a baby's hands pleading for Scots not to ignore this "historic opportunity".

Meanwhile more than one million leaflets will delivered by the No campaign to homes and outside polling stations. The leaflets depict the familiar "No thanks" message. But the flip side shows a new attack on the nationalists' claim that the National Health Service is safe in their hands. A stethoscope is twisted into a heart-shape with the message "We love the NHS".

Labour will be targeting a "voter pool" of half a million Scots in their traditional heartland, which polls have suggested will be the key to the final result. The party's activists say their canvassing points to a Labour vote bleeding some to the Yes side, but not enough to mean exit from the Union.

But the Yes campaign says the information received from an army of 35,000 canvassers means they have been feeding 25,000 canvass returns a day through their computer software. Leader Alex Salmond says this has translated into a "decisive" majority.

Who is right, who has won the battle of the billboards? It's not long to wait now.

Yes to everyday changes

National Radio 1

The nearest thing Britain has to a national version of the domestic record collection is Radio 1, part of the joint enterprise known as the BBC. But what happens to the country's former "national" telly shows; will Scotch pancakes ever feature on The Great British Bake Off?

Scot.com

Scottish companies, government departments, charities and other entities will need a new web suffix; www.scotland.gov.uk would look a bit silly. Now .sc would be very suitable, except that already belongs to the Seychelles.

It's for you

Scotland will need a new international telephone dialling code. As in most international affairs, Scotland is sandwiched between Saudi Arabia and Senegal which logically suggests a prefix between +966 and +221. So +593 or +594, then: except they've already been snaffled by Ecuador and French Guiana. But +999 is unassigned.

Letter from Scotland

The UK, as the inventor of the postage stamp, has the unique distinction of being able to omit the country name from its stamps. Scotland wouldn't, and wouldn't need an image of the Queen on them.

Scottish High Commission in St Lucia

Obviously it wouldn't be worth the Scottish Government having the same international diplomatic representation as Britain but who will look after Scots who get into difficulties on tiny Caribbean islands, and distant Pacific atolls and other micro states?

Is your pa Scottish?

There could be an awful lot of mega-rich Scots, or those of Scots descent, living in England to avoid taxation on their Scottish income.

Who gets the artworks?

The simplest thing is just to say the artworks in Scotland belong to the Scots; the ones in England to the English. But that would mean important works by great Scottish painters being left behind in London. Or what about the nationality of the artist? The iconic Monarch of the Glen was by an English painter, Edwin Landseer.

Is that your car?

The Driver Vehicle and Licensing Agency is a much loved national institution typical of the type that will prove difficult to manage post-divorce. The question is: do the Scots want to set up their own licence-plate system?

Bits and bobs

Such as: the Millennium Dome, Humber Bridge, RAF museum at Hendon, some 5455km of UK motorway, the London Underground, Tornado aircraft, nuclear submarines, innumerable vehicles, Boris bikes and buses, fine government buildings, national parks, not to mention laptops, tablets and other IT kit. All, sometimes, far away from Scotland, but all bought and paid for, roughly to the tune of 10 per cent, by Scottish taxpayers.