Defying the bully

The National and social media being replete with prematurely triumphalist tales of how the Union is on the verge of crumbling in a terminal spasm of panic not on account of any action taken by the Scottish Government, but because of “soaring” support for independence and the serial incompetence of the current British regime, Andrew Learmonth’s exclusive in today’s National provides a timely reminder that the British state is a beast that is never more dangerous than when it is cornered. The surge in financial support for British Nationalist organisation Scotland in Union is just a small indication of how those with a vested interest in keeping Scotland bound in the Union will respond if the campaign to restore Scotland’s independence looks like gaining ground.

Reports of the British state’s imminent and strangely spontaneous demise are, of course, greatly exaggerated. They serve only to convince the credulous that the SNP’s…