The Scottish National Party’s primary and defining purpose is Scottish independence. Next weekend’s “special conference” will at least notionally determine its policy on that subject for years to come. On the face of it it’s the most important congregation of party members in the SNP’s history.
The Caird Hall can accommodate just 3% of the claimed membership. (And you’d expect at least half the seats to have been reserved in advance for the faithful payroll.) Members ought to be fighting like dogs for a ticket. And yet a week before the event the leader is having to send out pleading letters to try to scare up enough attendees that it won’t be a half-empty humiliation.
The SNP tell us that independence support is currently at 53%.
They tell us that most Scots want a referendum within the next year:
And we know that it’s absolutely unequivocally possible for the SNP and Greens to trigger a Holyrood election which would serve as a de facto referendum not only within a year, but within weeks. Scots could entirely realistically go to the polls this August or September, or even on the date Nicola Sturgeon promised less than a year ago.
So why are the SNP choosing this of all moments to give up?
When I was a boy at Balbardie Primary School in Bathgate in the mid-70s, football was banned in the playground. Of course we were all fitba-daft laddies, so we sought ways around the prohibition. Occasionally someone would bring in a tennis ball, but those were difficult to control in school shoes and also apt to fly over the wall of the outdoor toilet block if somebody caught one sweetly on the volley.
So most playtimes somebody would produce a tin of Pepsi or Irn-Bru or Cresta, chug the contents, stand the empty container on its end and stomp sharply on it, producing something more akin to an ice-hockey puck that would serve for our kickabout.
But even after being skelped and scudded around a concrete playground into stone walls for 20 minutes, that can was still in better shape at the end of our game than the one the SNP have been kicking down the road since 2016.
Just over a year ago, Shona Robison – then the Cabinet Secretary For Social Justice, now the Deputy First Minister – told the Scottish Parliament this:
There now follow some quotes from the media regarding the case of Andrew Miller, aka Amy George, who yesterday admitted the kidnap and repeated sexual abuse of an 11-year-old girl at his home in Galashiels earlier this year.
J Robertson on The Slowest Dawning: “As mentioned by other posters – how on earth with the shambolic nature of Scotland’s economy and public finances is…” Aug 29, 10:45
willie on The Slowest Dawning: “oh and one other thing about clunking fist Brown declaring that Scots irrespective of their political wishes will just have…” Aug 29, 10:40
willie on The Slowest Dawning: “Here’s quotes that the democrat not Great Gordon Brown has just made in the Guardian to coincide with his new…” Aug 29, 10:33
MaryB on The Slowest Dawning: “100% Yes 6.09pm You just fell into the ‘divide and rule’ trap.” Aug 29, 10:30
James Che on The Slowest Dawning: “The agenda of the SNP, and most political parties in GB is the same belief think tanks. Captured governments that…” Aug 29, 10:26
Mark Beggan on The Slowest Dawning: “It’s the only platform that Fanny has if you don’t count Cambridge and that went tits up. Think of it…” Aug 29, 10:24
ALANM on The Slowest Dawning: “Agent Sturgeon’s mission is almost complete. All that remains for Swinney is formalising a merger with the Greens paving the…” Aug 29, 10:22
James Che on The Slowest Dawning: “Just need to google Westminster foundation for democracy to realise why Scotland would not be seen as a security risk…” Aug 29, 10:10
100%Yes on The Slowest Dawning: “The SNP is calling for the Scotland office to be abolished Swinney already knows the Scotland office is going to…” Aug 29, 10:07
100%Yes on The Slowest Dawning: “The SNP stating quite clearly don’t vote for the SNP we can’t delivery a referendum unless its in the form…” Aug 29, 10:04
James Che on The Slowest Dawning: “I believe Lynsey Hoyle is its patron or was at the time. And the SNP are part of that Westminster…” Aug 29, 09:57
Bilbo on The Slowest Dawning: “I’ve got a feeling that Online presence for SNP meetings won’t be solely for islanders but also for the young…” Aug 29, 09:52
James Che on The Slowest Dawning: “I believe Lynsey Hoyle is its patron or was at the time.” Aug 29, 09:52
James Che on The Slowest Dawning: “The security of Westminsters Great Britain parliament. Which Scotland has never entered into a treaty with, we only ever held…” Aug 29, 09:46
James Che on The Slowest Dawning: “Stu, Better together is still as strong as it ever was and the SNP are in it. The Scottish national…” Aug 29, 09:34
Hatey McHateface on The Slowest Dawning: “Near 60 comments on this thread. If nobody else is going to step up, looks like it falls to me…” Aug 29, 09:30
Hatey McHateface on The Slowest Dawning: “Good spot, Bilbo. Peter Murrell too. Even if you question his commitment to law and order, you have to commend…” Aug 29, 09:24
Hatey McHateface on The Slowest Dawning: ““Kenya, the Caribbean, Ireland the method of holding colonies is well rehearsed” Odd. Why would they continue to rehearse a…” Aug 29, 09:19
Hatey McHateface on The Slowest Dawning: “Don’t think the devil buys sole. It doesn’t keep in the heat.” Aug 29, 09:13
Hatey McHateface on The Slowest Dawning: “Good spot. Does that mean the genocide is now complete? Maybe it was never happening? My best guess is that…” Aug 29, 09:07
Bilbo on The Slowest Dawning: “Wasn’t Michelle Mone all about hard work, enterprise, trying to get on in life, earning a crust, law and order,…” Aug 29, 09:06
Bilbo on The Slowest Dawning: “I doubt very much that many young people actually vote for the SNP, even the vocal minority on social media…” Aug 29, 09:04
Hatey McHateface on The Slowest Dawning: “Anyone caring about grown up issues; the economy, jobs, growing GDP, etc. may have noticed that Item #33 is the…” Aug 29, 08:49
John McNab on The Slowest Dawning: “These might be the “dark handlers” that Fergie Finlayson refers to….” Aug 29, 07:52
John McNab on The Slowest Dawning: “Will the “Provisional Agenda” come in Gaelic and other ‘community languages’? Then, when it’s finally agreed, will it become the…” Aug 29, 07:45
100%Yes on The Slowest Dawning: “SNP logic to sell Scotland to maintain Holyrood. The party has produced a referendum bill, WHY? John O’brien “Starting to…” Aug 29, 07:26
Bilbo on The Slowest Dawning: “It’s possible that a good part of the remaining 40% SNP members are young activists who only care about maintaining…” Aug 28, 23:45
