And so it begins

A broad-based campaign

We've had the big media launch of the referendum campaign and, let's be honest, it wasn't all it might have been. Don't get me wrong! I'm not about to resort to the kind of sneering, carping, pantomime-cynical negativity that pervades the press. The general response of the mainstream media to yesterday's event has been as pitifully puerile as it was tiresomely predictable.

You could pretty much pick an article at random in order to illustrate the point. But David Torrance's bitter little diatribe in The Scotsman is fairly typical. (Amateur hour at Yes campaign launch). This is a man who is rapidly becoming almost a caricature of the bilious, bleating British nationalist naysayer. Alan "Poor Old Cockers" Cochrane had better look to his laurels. There's a potential new self-appointed anti-independence ranter-in-chief loitering in the wings.

It was always going to be thus. If the launch had been a perfectly staged and flawlessly choreographed piece of political showmanship then Torrance and his sulphurous ilk in the cold sick school of journalism would have just as assiduously earned their fees by denigrating and deriding it for what they would doubtless have called excessive theatricality. (What's the betting Torrance had that piece pre-written just in case?)

In the event, of course, the launch fell a bit short of being a full-blown showbiz spectacular. Fine actor though he may be, the presenter, Martin Compston, was certainly no Billy Crystal. And I could go on. There is much that I could say about the presentation strictly by way of constructive criticism. I shall refrain from doing so, in part because I'm certain the organisers will hold their own review, but also because I'd be seriously concerned lest I sound even remotely as negative, nasty and nit-picking as David Torrance.

I will confine myself to asking a question that would surely have occurred to a competent professional political analyst were they not entirely, obsessively focused on their own narrow agenda. A question that, as far as I am aware, has not been asked by any of the mangy pooches and establishment lap-dogs that pass for press hounds in the fifth-rate, flea-infested, turd-strewn dog-show of Scotland's media.

Why?

Why, when we know what the SNP's party machine is capable of, did the launch event fail to sparkle quite as much as it might have?

I think there are two possible explanations - apart from the trivially obvious one of failings arising from the inherent organisational difficulties of staging such an event. Firstly, I think there was a conscious decision to try and tone it down. My suspicion is that the organisers were concerned about the risk of alienating the Greens and others with the kind of extravagant display that could only be mounted by the SNP. The event had to look more home-spun than it otherwise might in order to better accord with the expectations of smaller parties and their supporters. Not to mention a sizeable chunk of the SNP's own support.

I also suspect that the SNP tried very hard to step back a pace or several from the practicalities of running the event. The aim would be to encourage the greatest possible involvement of non-SNP people such as it is hoped and intended will characterise the entire YES campaign going forward.

Some have commented that Alex Salmond seemed a little edgy. Not quite his usual self. I reckon this was the edginess of a man who had relinquished the kind of control he has grown accustomed to exercising. I reckon he was not his usual self because his usual self would have dominated the stage to an extent that he was all too aware would be inappropriate and potentially counter-productive. What we witnessed in that cinema was the rare spectacle of Alex Salmond trying to perform in a supporting role. Playing second fiddle is not something that comes easily to such a man, and I say he is to be applauded for making the effort for the good of the campaign as a whole, as well as for having the political nous to recognise what was required of him. Once again, Salmond has shown signs of admirable statesmanship as well as keen political acuity.

Whatever may be said of the presentation, the content was not at all bad. There were worthy people on that stage. And there was real substance in what they had to say. Watching and listening to the likes of Colin Fox, Elaine C Smith, Tommy Brennan and Patrick Harvie I was moved to wonder how long it has been since Labour was able to field such a cast of principled socialists and genuine progressives.

Then there were the celebrities. As there always must be at such events. But Alan Cumming and Brian Cox (among others) were not there merely to serve as a snappable buffet for the gathered paparazzi. They both contributed far more to the occasion than just the cachet of their names. Cox in particular made a keynote speech which I have not the slightest doubt resonated with a huge swathe of Scotland's population. A speech which, as might have been expected, has been quite maliciously misrepresented in the media.

What was very noticeable also was that each speaker had a different message. This was not some trooping of the party faithful as they stepped up to the microphone to mouth snippets of the party line in sound-bites meticulously scripted by media professionals. This was people from different walks of life, with different experiences and different perspectives, each and every one of them speaking from the heart and on behalf of their natural constituency.

In terms of providing a glimpse of the breadth of support for independence, the Yes Scotland launch was a considerable success. It was a good start. But it was just the start.