RARELY has a name been so loaded with irony.
Better Together was supposed to convey unity, co-operation and a sense of shared values.
This weekend, the pro-Union campaign is consumed by rancour, finger-pointing and impotent fury.
A single newspaper story triggered the infighting which yesterday broke out between Labour, the LibDems and Tories. But while the Guardian's report of an unnamed Coalition minister saying an independent Scotland could "of course" share the pound with the UK may have ignited the feud, it is clear the match fell on prime kindling.
Better Together's troubles reflect deeper problems with the organisation, not simply one headline.
From the outset, its strategy has been to minimise grass-roots debate - its refusals to supply speakers to public events are notorious - and scare people into voting No before they barely had a chance to consider the issues. The less people chewed over the pros and cons, the better for the No camp, it seemed.
The upshot has been a campaign over-reliant on negative messages and all but devoid of inspiration. The polls show where that got them.
They now indicate support for independence rising and backing for the union edging down, a pattern seen across all socio-economic groups, among both men and women, and in all age groups bar the over-65s.
Better Together is in trouble, and it knows it. Its job was to deny the Yes camp momentum, but the momentum has developed regardless.
The jitters manifested themselves at this weekend's LibDem conference as former leader Tavish Scott made it clear Better Together's chair, Alistair Darling, wasn't connecting with voters, even Labour voters.
And then the Guardian story arrived. It is hard to underestimate how damaging it is for the No side.
The currency issue was Better Together's ace.
The flat rejection of Alex Salmond's plan to share the pound was meant to destroy his credibility on not just one but a host of issues.
Hence Better Together's constant demands for him to outline a Plan B on the currency.
If he had done so, he would have been attacked twice as hard, for deviating from Plan A.
Now the logic the Unionist parties hoped to apply to the First Minister is being used against them. If the Coalition is willing to mislead on an issue as big as the currency, what else can be trusted? That, at least, will be the thrust of the SNP's campaign for the rest of the referendum.
Better Together acknowledge they have been wounded, but intend to carry on denying a currency union is possible. The warnings will stay in their forthcoming advertising campaign. They may keep shouting, but fewer people are listening.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article