In 2003, Mr Salmond told me Scotland would be independent in 20 years. After that debate I doubt it By STEPHEN GLOVER. Daily Mail

 During the 2003 Scottish elections I found myself walking around the back streets of Dundee with Alex Salmond. He was not then leader of the Scottish Nationalists, though he had been, and would soon be again. I remember him as an amiable and rumpled figure.

At one of our pit-stops he said something that chilled my blood. He told me that in 20 years, if not before, Scotland would be an independent country. He asserted this so calmly and confidently that it was hard to disbelieve him.

I wonder whether Tuesday evening’s debate with Alistair Darling will mark the point when Mr Salmond and the rest of the world began to realise that his prophecy of an independent Scotland has been confounded, at any rate for a generation.

And I also wonder whether the debate might remind Labour that Mr Darling (still only 60) is a considerable but often underrated politician who in most respects stands head and shoulders above the party’s present leader, Ed Miliband.

 The debate had been billed as a contest between the wily, charming Mr Salmond, and the boring, bank managerish Mr Darling. Some supporters of the Union had had so many qualms about the former Chancellor that there had been private talk of replacing him with the more pugnacious John Reid, a Cabinet minister in the Blair administration.

In the event, though, it was the supposedly plodding Mr Darling who easily won the day. An instant Guardian/ICM poll after the debate gave him victory by 56 per cent to 44 per cent. It is hard to find anyone even in the Yes camp who thinks their man did well.

By the way, let me say how outrageous it was that the contest could not be viewed south of the border except online, and even then the picture was often interrupted. These two men were discussing the future of our country, Britain, and yet most citizens of the United Kingdom were excluded from the debate.

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We are the underdogs now, admits Salmond: Support for independence slumps after his TV mauling, Daily Mail

Plan B or not Plan B: Salmond rejects the question,  The Scotsman

Scottish Independence, a Vehicle for Alex Salmond's Grandiose Ego ?

First Minister Alex Salmond warns that without the pound an independent Scotland would refuse to take its share of UK debt and claims debate was a success for Yes camp.

Alex Salmond defends Plan B currency stance after losing Scottish debate on TV, Telegraph, Updated

First Minister Alex Salmond warns that without the pound an independent Scotland would refuse to take its share of UK debt and claims debate was a success for Yes camp.

Alex Salmond today continued to refuse to name his Plan B currency for a separate Scotland after holding a post-mortem discussion with advisers over his surprise defeat in the independence TV debate.

The First Minister arrived an hour and a half late at a conference for businessmen who support separation this morning, his first public engagement since he lost the STV showdown with Alistair Darling.

A defiant Mr Salmond defended his repeated refusal to name a Plan B currency if the remaining UK won't share the pound, despite being booed by the debate audience for dodging the question.

He even attempted to claim the debate had been a success for the Yes campaign, citing a snap ICM opinion poll that showed most Scots thought Mr Darling won the debate

The First Minister argued that a breakdown of figures revealed undecided voters gave him the victory and said support for independence had risen during the showdown.

But Unionist parties said he was clutching at straws after the figures showed that the support for the Yes campaign increased by only six voters during the debate, while backing for No rose by eight people.

Mr Salmond, who refused to take questions from the print press, pointed to another figure showing 74 per cent of undecided voters thought he had emerged victorious. The ICM breakdown showed this was the equivalent of only 23 people.

The First Minister also defended his repeated refusal to name a Plan B on the currency and warned that without the pound Scotland would refuse to take on its proportion of the UK debt after independence.

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Scotland 'likely to be worse off after independence' Daily Telegraph

Independent Scotland's debt 'would force spending cuts or tax rises'

Analysts at Societe Generale said Scotland would have an “immense” task ahead of it were voters to opt for independence in next month’s referendum, disparaging claims from the “Yes” camp that the country would easily gain EU membership and grow rich off oil revenues.

A resounding 'no': the UK financial industry's verdict on Scottish independence

Kevan McDonald: Currency questions need answers, The Scotsman

Danny Alexander: Salmond stuck on pound question, The Scotsman

Scottish independence: Salmond says 'we're keeping the pound' BBC News

Homeowners fed up with council's refusal to repair road outside their houses order ton of tarmac and fill in the potholes themselves. Daily Mail

  Fed up residents forced to fix their own potholes after a year long dispute

  The 100 metre stretch of road had 100 potholes, some were 6ft wide 

  Homeowners, some in their 90s, said the potholes were 'dangerous'

  The pensioners, with an average age of 75, filled the holes themselves 

  Council refused to mend potholes due to a wrangle over road ownership 

Homeowners were fed up with their council's refusal to fix potholes outside their houses - so they ordered the tarmac and did it themselves.  

After a year long fight to fix 100 potholes on a 100 metre stretch of road, six pensioners, of Pudsey, Leeds, took matters into their own hands and repaired them themselves.

The men refused to take no for an answer when Leeds City Council highways bosses declined to carry out the work on the basis it is a private unadopted road.

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A hero for our time: Inspired by the man who built his own toll road? He's one of countless Britons rising up to solve problems the State's too useless to fix Daily Mail

Businessman sets up private toll road just 340 yards long charging motorists £2 a time to bypass closed section of main road. Daily Mail.

Militant Spanish mayor plans invasion of Gibraltar in anti-British protest, Daily Express

A MILITANT Spanish mayor has announced plans to occupy Gibraltar with thousands of supporters in a one-day protest to claim the disputed territory for Spain.

Communist Juan Manuel Sanchez Gordillo made headlines two years ago after organising Robin Hood-style raids on supermarkets and handouts of the stolen food to poor families.

Now the left-wing union he leads is preparing for a mass invasion of the Rock on August 29.

Gordillo, mayor of the town of Marinaleda near Seville as well as head of the Andalucian Workers Union, has claimed they will cross the border peacefully.

But he has insisted on keeping secret the details on how he and his supporters will get into Gibraltar, hinting union members could cross by foot and car as well as arriving by plane and boat before staging their headline-grabbing protest.

Around 2,000 people are expected to take part although the union has 20,000 members and is hoping for support on the day from Spaniards who work on the Rock or are visiting as tourists.

Mr Sanchez, who boasts of running his town like a communist utopia, told a Spanish paper: "We will enter Gibraltar from different points and then see what we do. "It will be a peaceful demonstration but a very revindicative one."We have to take advantage of the surprise factor to be able to achieve our aims."

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Gibraltar rejects Spanish border plans, Daily Telegraph