Altered State 2

The second part of Phantom Power’s doc on the referendum … ‘begins with the increasingly desperate ‘No’ campaign arranging Her Majesty’s backing. The impact of Project Fear’s negativity, elite self-interest, media imbalance and last-minute promises finally proved too much to overcome for the Yes campaign. Interviewees consider aspects of voter behavior and results as well as flaws in the Yes argument that require attention before considering a second referendum. In a campaign that saw the unionist parties prepared to destroy themselves to win, perhaps the real winner was the newly politically aware Scottish public who are still deeply engaged in a conversation about their constitutional future, a debate that seems destined to arrive at only one conclusion.’

Comments (6)

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  1. ScottieDog says:

    Old wounds!
    Although I voted YES, if I had any doubts it was probably the prospect of moving away from being in a currency issuing nation to living in a currency using nation. The major differences don’t seem to be fully appreciated perhaps until one asks about the ability of Greece to purchase its own bonds.

    It will be too late into a second independence referendum campaign (if there is one) to start thinking about currency options. I’m not sure what the SNP’s intentions would be or would they play the same record all over again? I hope not. It seems thankfully that the Scottish greens are on a different path.

    I noticed during the referendum campaign that some critics of YES made the claim quite rightly that Scotland in a currency union with rUK would be very much fiscally constrained. It’s a pity they didn’t follow on with the Corollary… That the UK being a currency issuing nation simply isn’t fiscally constrained.

    Before I get labelled a heretic folk might want to view the following…
    http://youtu.be/qBpm5sVmGYc

  2. B.P.B. says:

    Marvellous Monsieur Phantom.
    I am in no doubt that your consistently fantastic work is very much appreciated and respected by all.
    B.P.B.

  3. Douglas Robertson says:

    I enjoyed this retrospective but am concerned that the voices of women, and young women especially, as well as other prominant in the Yes movement are not there. Middle aged men like me are but one demographic, and other voices of Hope should also be there. To not ensure these voices are there is a serious failing.

    1. PPower says:

      Yes, it’s a real shame. We approached several women for filming but none were available or had to cancel. It’s a genuine problem in the new media and I’d ask any one who’d like to be in future projects to get in touch.
      [email protected]

  4. Common Sense says:

    As a No voter I enjoyed this, the total complete misunderstanding and in fact downright delusion views on why people voted No was genuinely funny. Despite the fact that most of it boiled down to “your all just cowards and / or traitors” wrapped up in some slightly more pleasant pseudo interlectual language. The ending montage, comparing the smiling happy young people of the Yes side, with the snarling face of loyalism, was so crude as to be laughable, despite the fact what it was actually doing was insulting the majority of the referendum electorate. So here is some advice from the No side, this video and all the other rants and snarls in the Yes echo chamber, keep it up please, seriously please do. The idea of a “Soft No” is another Yes fantasy, the more your insult, the more you belittle, the more you call us cowards for daring to have different views, the harder our attitudes become. Every video, article or social media post such as this, doesn’t bring the day the Union may end nearer, it pushes it further away. Keep up the good work guys!

    1. PPower says:

      FOR THE RECORD.
      We approached NO voters to be involved in the project but, rather like a lot of the indyref debates, they declined to take part and make the case for the union which you haven’t done here either.
      Nobody was called a coward or a traitor during the film and there’s an effort to understand some of the thinking and fears of No voters.
      The George Square photography was done by an English documentary photographer who holds no view on independence and was there to capture a political event. We could have shown footage of Better Together/No Campaign kicking the hell out of Yes supporters later on in the evening if you’d have preferred.
      This debate isn’t going away and I’d genuinely love to hear your positive case for the union.
      Please get in touch
      [email protected]

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