Philobiblon

So Scotland is headed for a referendum on independence, after a striking, comprehensive Scottish National Party victory in the parliamentary elections.

My political knowledge of Scotland is limited, but includes a few days of intensive campaigning for the Green Party in the last stretch of the campaign, with odd days before that, which has left me with a snapshot of what it feels like to be in the middle of a campaign there.

One surprising thing was that there was a whole new language arising from entirely different rules of campaigning to that in England. There are A-boards and A-boarding – well it isn’t hard to guess what the term means, but I was astonished to learn that on the morning of the poll these could be placed right outside polling stations as a final reminder to voters of a party’s claims – no “no signs within 500m rule” as there is in England. (It certainly makes polling stations easy to find!)

There’s also the highly visible practice of placarding. In Edinburgh (although I’m told, to much political disgust, Glasgow has just banned the practice) from midnight on the Friday before the election (dark muttering about parties who jump the gun) party placards can be placed on lampposts (but only lampposts, not other street signage) around the city.

It tells you something about the nature of Scottish politics that polite treatment of other parties’ placards appears to be scrupulously observed – locals were horrified at the thought that anyway might start a placard-removing “war”. (Although I was party to the removal of one Labour Party sticker that had been put on a Green Party board.) But there are all sorts of rules and practices associated with it: placards. I was told are supposed to be 7 foot and 2 inches above the pavement, and that the preferred position is to be first on a pole, as later arrivals will push your placard up and place theirs underneath. And these must be removed by Sunday night.

What else is different? Well this isn’t a political characteristic, per say, but I’ve learnt from the experience of leafleting about the very distinctive tenement housing base of Edinburgh – purpose-built blocks flats of four storeys (usually, although sometimes higher on slopes) with entrances to each off a central stairwell.

It means that leafleting is only for the fit – or the you’ll-be-fit-when-you’ve-finished. I reckon I’ve climbed 1,000 flights of steps in a week. But it does give you a fascinating glimpse into lives and what people make of them.

Most of the tenements have a lightwell at the top of the stairs that can make the top floor more greenhouse than stair – and I came across a few impressive tropical forests spreading within them. The “backgreens” (gardens) are usually shared (ground floor flats usually having only a front garden leading to their own entrance), and in one area I saw a very sensible and impressive attempt to turn this into a vegetable garden.

The long history – and often I suspect long conflicts associated with this communal life are evident still in many places – many had “stairwashing regulations” posted inside the front doors – I gathered every floor is supposed to have a rota for once a week washing, but I doubt many were following this trend today. (One disturbing stair had a copious trail of blood that looked like it belonged to an injury that must have occurred weeks, if not months, ago.)

And in many areas when you pushed the front door open (always worth checking – often they are on the latch, or the “service bell” works all day, but if not nearly always someone will let you in) you never knew quite what you’d find. Some stairs had clearly been well maintained – I was particularly impressed by one where the probably century-old bell-pulls still worked- yet others in the same street might be in a state of near ruin – extremely worn stone steps, which slope downwards at quite an acute angle being a particular hazard.

It’s a different way to get to know a city, taking part in a political campaign there, but an interesting one.
And it all felt worthwhile when the Green Party saw Alison Johnston elected as an MSP for Lothians (which includes Edinburgh) replacing the retiring Robyn Harper, and Patrick Harvie returned in Glasgow. Polls had suggested we would get more seats, but the SNP surge – far greater than anyone had predicted – combined with the maths of the additional member system, which meant Labour having missed out on constituency seats gained more list seats than expected meant that we didn’t make the predicted gains. But were were the only party except the SNP to grow our vote share and keep our representation – which is certainly not to be sneezed at.

Like the SNP, the Scottish Green Party is in favour of independence, and I have to say that after spending some time in Scotland, based on election campaigns, and the generally very different feel of the place and way of life, it feels like a different, ready-to-be-independent, place to me.

I’ve also written over on Blogcritics some thoughts on the AV referendum.