I see you keep a bee and why Yessers should thank JK Rowling.

I'm minded of a delightful wee story that does the rounds about the late accordion supremo, Jimmy Shand. As he and his band toured the country, B&B landladies would compete for the kudos of having Jimmy stay at their establishment. Those in the know knew that he adored toast and honey with his breakfast. They would seek out pots of exotic honey to serve to him. However, one unfortunate landlady wasn't 'in the know'. When he asked if she had any honey, she rummaged around the kitchen and eventually produced one of these:

He examined it disdainfully before remarking "Ah, I see you keep a bee."

According to The Observer, and in an attempt to stave off the total meltdown of Better Together / UKOK / Project Fear / No Thanks / United With Labour or whatever they're calling themselves this week, word is that nice Mr Osborne is about to offer us the epitome of Jam Tomorrow. If you're expecting something exotic like Fortnum & Mason's Strawberry & Rose Preserve (£12.95 for a 340g jar), I suspect you'll be disappointed and remarking "Ah, I see you keep a strawberry".

Despite being in the purdah period, with thousands of postal ballots already having been cast, Osborne is alleged to be cobbling together some sort of Devo Max to offer the Scottish People at the last gasp. The very same Devo Max that Labour, Tories and the Lib Dems rejected out of hand and moved heaven and earth to keep off the ballot paper.

Banksy: The Mouse That Hampden Roared.

However, sensing that no-one is listening to the Unionist politicians any more, largely because we just don't believe a word they say, bizarrely, Better Together turned to a bona fide author of fantasy fiction to get the word out there, along with an excuse for a "call for calm" as, apparently, the referendum campaign turns "nasty", presumably a reference to one rabble-rousing politician being egged.

Now I do wish Yes Supporters would not attack JK Rowling. In fairness, from looking at her Twitter Feed it seems a couple of folk suggested yesterday that she should hang her head in shame for donating to Better Together. Hardly a vicious attack.

I met Jo Rowling for the first time a couple of weeks ago and she strikes me as a lovely lady. She has every right to donate to whomever she wishes. In fact, I think Yes Supporters should positively thank her for donating to Better Together. Without that £1M would Better Together have had the money to pay M&C Saatchi for the misogynistic masterpiece that was Patronising BT Lady that has driven Scotswomen to Yes in droves?

Being a lovely lady and an accomplished author does not preclude her being mistaken, however. But just as we Scots are highly unlikely to take advice about politics from footballers, we should think twice about taking it from other celebrities.

Ahem, From The Scotsman 2 Mar 2012: Scottish Labour: Johann Lamont rejects devo-max option

It's often been said that Better Together's strategy has been to turn people off from the debate as they have nothing to offer. Their best hope was to campaign for apathy and hope their loyal, Labour, ballot fodder would turn out to vote down independence, despite having seen that ballot fodder desert them in 2011. It's taken until the polls turned 2 weeks before the referendum for them to realise they have to engage folk and the more folk are engaged, the more they'll think for themselves and the more they'll turn to Yes. Of course we Yessers should thank JK Rowling for her donation to Better Together.

While we're on about donations, Dateline Scotland didn't ask for enough money and are skint. There's only 15 hours to go on their fundraiser. Go on, keep the fun going right up to 18 Sep!