Always the showman, Alex Salmond did the unexpected today when he announced that the referendum on Scottish independence would be held on Thursday September 18 2014.
He knew everyone was expecting it to be in October so he chose something different. He knew, we knew: everyone, it seemed, knew, that the events of 2014 have been so carefully planned in the Nationalist calendar that it seemed impossible for the First Minister to choose another date than October.
The 700th anniversary celebrations of the Battle of Bannockburn will take place at the end of June 2014. This bout of Nationalist patriotic outpouring will be followed by the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in July and August – which will see even more waving of Saltires.
The Ryder Cup is being held at Gleneagles at the end of September 2014 and, while not as strong a Nationalist event as the others, it was expected to be used by the Nationalists to make Scots feel good about themselves and their ability to welcome the world to Scotland.
There were then the more political events of the party conferences, culminating in the SNP conference in early October which – it was assumed – would be the final rallying point for Mr Salmond ahead of the referendum – to be held on or about Thursday October 16.
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