20 days to go

I went to Cairndow this morning to see Danny & David Bonnar of Bonnar Sand & Gravel and to get their endorsement, as a successful local business, of the YES campaign. That was forthcoming on the same day, incidentally, as another local Argyll businessman, Neil Clapperton , was in the Financial Times explaining why the company he runs - the oldest family owned distillery in Scotland which is in Campbeltown - will flourish with independence.

I then spent the rest of the day in Dunoon where we were lucky enough to be visited not only by the Spirit of Independence, Chris Law's amazing veteran "Green Godess" which is on an epic journey across Scotland but also by Jim Sillars in his "Margo Mobile" which is also journeying up and down the country brining the message of independence to streets and communities everywhere.

The "Margo Mobile" is a development of the famous "Snappy Bus" in which I campaigned with Jim at the Govan by-election in 1998 , in Glasgow Central in 1989 and in a host of other contests. It is an enormously effective tool, and it is seen here at the top of Dunoon, in Cowal Place, where Jim is speaking to lots of people in their gardens or in the street or just at their windows.

Tonight there is a public meeting in the Queen's Hall which I am chairing and at which Jim, Alex Neil, Carolyn Leckie, Angus Brendan MacNeil and Chris Law will be speaking and then there will be an equally impressive ceilidh , headlined by the Vatersay Boys.

This is all part of the build up to the Cowal Games, of course, which are on Saturday. Between now and then, though, I have to go to Islay for a series of meetings including "The Ileach" Hustings tomorrow night.