Tuesday’s front page headline in The National was roughly the political equivalent of introducing yourself to your new next-door neighbour by saying “Hi, nice to meet you, I’m Jimmy from No.22 and it definitely wasn’t me who killed your cat last night”.
Humza Yousaf’s great masterplan of an independence strategy is imploding faster than the OceanGate Titan, and scarcely any less disastrously. And unless you’re one of the colleagues, family or friends of the tragic victims on board the doomed vessel, it’s even more painful to watch.
24 hours on, pretty much everyone seems to have come to the same conclusion (with the assistance of briefings from the FM himself) about Humza Yousaf’s “independence strategy” as the one Wings saw immediately yesterday, namely that he’s taken Nicola Sturgeon’s flawed version of a de-facto referendum and made it even less credible.
In as far as they’re talking about it at all, anyway.
Still wondering what Humza Yousaf’s going to say to the SNP’s pretend “conference” on independence strategy this coming Saturday? Well, wonder no longer, because this morning he told Sky News.
In other words, he’s waving the white flag and praying for a miracle.
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?
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on His Majesty’s Loyal Sabre: “University of Edinburgh CELTIC AND SCOTTISH STUDIES Intro Webpage https://llc.ed.ac.uk/celtic-scottish-studies” Sep 21, 22:57
Hatey McHateface on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “Careful there, Alf. You should fire off a message of congratulations to poot for his overwhelming victory in the elections…” Sep 21, 22:53
Hatey McHateface on His Majesty’s Loyal Sabre: “Ah, Bilbo, if you weren’t such a fucking arse, you’d be worth debating with. There’s absolutely nothing stopping you from…” Sep 21, 22:43
A2 on His Majesty’s Loyal Sabre: “I’m betting she’ll be in the next series of celebrity Traitors.” Sep 21, 22:38
Bilbo on His Majesty’s Loyal Sabre: “@ Spartan Spartan 117 Like this imaginary one: https://archive.is/qyISB Europe is under attack from three sides … … The continent…” Sep 21, 22:17
Alf Baird on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “All UN Member States are not only entitled to support the right of Scots to self-determination, there is the obligation…” Sep 21, 21:52
Spartan 117 on His Majesty’s Loyal Sabre: “Correct, but don’t let trivial things like facts and logic get in the way of a good unhinged rant.” Sep 21, 21:50
Spartan 117 on His Majesty’s Loyal Sabre: “Right, so I’ve been imagining all those hysterical MSM articles then, all these past few months, like that Star Trek…” Sep 21, 21:49
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on His Majesty’s Loyal Sabre: “‘An Act of Monumental Cultural and Educational Vandalism’ (Mike Small, BellaCaledonia, 21 Sept 2026) « “There is a loss of…” Sep 21, 21:43
Red on His Majesty’s Loyal Sabre: “It’s been known as the welfare state since Beveridge.” Sep 21, 21:33
Red on His Majesty’s Loyal Sabre: “Nicola Sturgeon has always been a hairy wee thespian.” Sep 21, 21:28
PhilMacVee on His Majesty’s Loyal Sabre: “Is it an indicator that Nicola can deliver lines in a drama? She doesn’t seem to mind who is the…” Sep 21, 21:14
Hatey McHateface on His Majesty’s Loyal Sabre: “@ Bilbo says: 21 September, 2026 at 8:27 pm “Do you believe that the UK will be militarily attacked by…” Sep 21, 21:13
Bilbo on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “Another example of how misguided the Trade unions are now. https://archive.is/JrGXt According to the below article, there is already work…” Sep 21, 21:03
Hatey McHateface on His Majesty’s Loyal Sabre: “Very true, Alf. One of the giveaways by which we recognise the culturally and linguistically colonised is when they insist…” Sep 21, 20:50
Willie on His Majesty’s Loyal Sabre: “My my my, and just how this wee dragon from Dreghorn cuts a new path with the London set. Free…” Sep 21, 20:47
Spartan 117 on His Majesty’s Loyal Sabre: “Probably to deter the usual headbangers who post lengthy diatribes following their daily raid on the COSHH cabinet and subsequent…” Sep 21, 20:29
Bilbo on His Majesty’s Loyal Sabre: “Aye Hatey, you’re a slippery one when you want to be 🙂 Okay, lets look at it this way. The…” Sep 21, 20:27
Spartan 117 on His Majesty’s Loyal Sabre: “@Hatey – yes they have. Even the most glib media browser will not have failed to notice over the past…” Sep 21, 20:25
Alf Baird on His Majesty’s Loyal Sabre: ““It’s cultural and linguistic colonialism. It’s everywhere in Scotland and it’s ingrained in the populace” Weel spattit Hatey, keep up…” Sep 21, 20:21
Hatey McHateface on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: ““What side of that conflict does Liberate Scotland sit on?” Once it has been compromised, I guess it will be…” Sep 21, 20:10
M.E on His Majesty’s Loyal Sabre: “I missed when she was going to be making no further statements.” Sep 21, 20:01
Hatey McHateface on His Majesty’s Loyal Sabre: ““At the very least, it says it will be Autumn this year” What will be in autumn this year? You…” Sep 21, 19:57
Bilbo on His Majesty’s Loyal Sabre: “At the very least, it says it will be Autumn this year. It’s Autumn now, where are the signs of…” Sep 21, 19:37
Aidan on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “@Alf – would you like to comment on a key member of Liberate Scotland working closely with the Ru**ian state?…” Sep 21, 19:31
Aidan on His Majesty’s Loyal Sabre: “@RevStu – it’s a bit restrictive that Ru**ia is a term that attracts a pre-mod on a post on this…” Sep 21, 19:26
Hatey McHateface on His Majesty’s Loyal Sabre: “As so many of “the poor” consist of those impoverished millions and their dependents who have flooded into the country…” Sep 21, 19:24
Alf Baird on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “Most countries are rightly not too keen on allowing trade unions based in other countries to influence their national policies.” Sep 21, 19:14
Hatey McHateface on His Majesty’s Loyal Sabre: ““There’s been articles in the likes of the Mail that the country she is referring to as the enemy is…” Sep 21, 19:11
