The wild thing about this poll isn’t the headline that six months after winning a massive landslide majority, Keir Starmer now trails Nigel Farage – leader of a party with five MPs to Starmer’s 411 – as the electorate’s choice for best Prime Minister.
It’s the little grey numbers sitting quietly at the bottom.
Nobody really answered the question in this article from a few days ago. A few of the dimmer bulbs in the indy movement have been getting over-excited at what are still currently a couple of outlier polls from fringe polling companies, which suggest that the 2026 election could unexpectedly return a pro-indy majority due to the Unionist vote being split four ways in the wake of UK Labour’s implosion in government.
That scenario depends on all sorts of dubious propositions, but in any event what none of them have addressed is what that would change even if it did happen, given that Holyrood has a pro-indy majority RIGHT NOW (and has done so on every single day since the indyref more than a decade ago) and it’s produced nothing whatsoever in terms of movement towards independence by any possible measure.
And it occurred to us that we had genuinely no idea what the SNP’s current official indy strategy is, because the party’s been in such farcical chaos and turmoil ever since Nicola Sturgeon’s sudden resignation. So we thought we should go and check.
To be honest, we’re not much the wiser for having read it.
Look, we know that mocking front pages on The National is low-hanging fruit, and this particular example could hardly be any more of a self-parody if it tried.
But just for the sheer mental exercise in that stone-dead last week of December when nobody even knows what day it is, let’s imagine if it came true.
Poor old Tommy Sheppard’s got a contract, so he has to keep talking. And this week he said something that, if anyone really thought the constitution was still a current live political issue, would have attracted a lot more attention than it did.
Because even the SNP are now saying another indyref is – at best – a decade away.
The Hate Crime Act has rather faded into obscurity after the furore surrounding its introduction, with the police apparently just trying to pretend it doesn’t exist by ignoring thousands and thousands of complaints, and the useless Scottish commentariat duly proclaiming as a result that it was all just a big fuss about nothing.
But as soon as everyone stopped looking at it, there it was.
As we’ve repeatedly pointed out, Wings has made NO comments about the “workplace harassment” allegations made against Alex Salmond several years ago. We’ve only commented on the CRIMINAL allegations, and workplace harassment isn’t a crime. (It’s a matter for an employment tribunal, not the police.)
But the real question is WHY Andy Wightman is so doggedly attached to these two complainers that he’s determined to keep digging himself further into a hole of lies. And everyone knows what you tend to find when you start digging holes.
Independence is dead as a political issue in Scotland for the next few years. This much should not be in any dispute. A Labour government with a crushing majority sits firmly in Westminster with absolutely no intentions of granting a second referendum, and the SNP has loudly and clearly abandoned any other strategy.
This fact is understandably painful and difficult to come to terms with for anyone who’s devoted the last 13 years (or more) to pursuing that cause and now isn’t quite sure what to do with theirself. But for those who still aren’t ready to face up to the unpleasant reality, there’s always the comforting world of fantasy.
Because there’s always money to be made from snake oil and pie in the sky.
Aidan on A Long Hard Think: “I think you’d have to get a job to join a trade union James . .” Sep 13, 16:15
Mark Beggan on A Long Hard Think: “What did Hitler and Elvis have in common?” Sep 13, 16:14
Mark Beggan on A Long Hard Think: “What has Hitler and Alf Baird got in common? Hitler had no people in his paintings and Alf Baird has…” Sep 13, 16:07
Captain Caveman on A Long Hard Think: “Here’s another: CLUE: “Morbidly obese, unemployed troll with a sub-80 IQ”. F _ T S O” Sep 13, 16:01
James on A Long Hard Think: “Can we have the real “Northcode” back, please? Anyway, whoever you are; here’s today’s crossword clue for you. It’s quite…” Sep 13, 15:40
agentx on A Long Hard Think: “The numerous Sturgeon items were originally listed by the Police/ COPFS but were removed from the criminal charges list when…” Sep 13, 15:39
James on A Long Hard Think: “Wait, what? “Communist unions”?? Which ones are they and where do I sign up!? Or do you mean the ultra…” Sep 13, 15:31
Mark Beggan on A Long Hard Think: “To think, out of all the very clever people on here no one thought to point to the most obvious.…” Sep 13, 14:16
Captain Caveman on A Long Hard Think: ““That we are treated similarly to a colony is, I think, indisputable” “indisputable”? I beg to differ. As Northcode rightly…” Sep 13, 14:04
Ex President Xiden on A Long Hard Think: “If it is the case that Sturgeon has not surrendered these items voluntarily then the police must petition the court…” Sep 13, 13:54
Confused on A Long Hard Think: ““we never got it as bad as the darkies”? – alas, Scots and Anglos are the same shade of pink…” Sep 13, 13:51
Mark Beggan on A Long Hard Think: “And to think Scotland got taken to the cleaners for the price of a campervan and a few pens. How…” Sep 13, 13:51
lothianlad on A Long Hard Think: “Police Scotland are corrupt. Establishment lackies!” Sep 13, 13:37
Captain Caveman on A Long Hard Think: “That’s because it isn’t.” Sep 13, 13:31
Lorncal on A Long Hard Think: “Northcode: spot on. That we are treated similarly to a colony is, I think, indisputable, but that we ARE a…” Sep 13, 13:28
TURABDIN on A Long Hard Think: “IT IS A FACT that Scots/Scotland have become rather accustomed to the grave insult of being the mere appendage. >300…” Sep 13, 13:24
agentx on A Long Hard Think: ““Key Dimensions of Memmi’s “Geographic Violence” Forced Spatial Segregation (The Ghetto vs. The Bourgeoisie): Drawing heavily from his own upbringing…” Sep 13, 13:17
Alf Baird on A Long Hard Think: ““I’m questioning the fit between Scotland’s constitutional position and the postcolonial contexts described by Fanon, Memmi, Said, and other theorists”…” Sep 13, 12:41
robertkknight on A Long Hard Think: “FYI I don’t support any team other than Scotland. And when your ill-informed, self-opinionated drivel constitutes ~25% of every BTL…” Sep 13, 12:36
Chas on A Long Hard Think: “Scotland will get the chance to vote for Independence only when there is an overwhelming desire for it. A case…” Sep 13, 11:46
Alf Baird on A Long Hard Think: “Perhaps you should engage a little more with Scotland’s actual very lengthy history of conflict with our ‘procurer’, before and…” Sep 13, 11:29
Captain Caveman on A Long Hard Think: ““I’m questioning the fit between Scotland’s constitutional position and the postcolonial contexts described by Fanon, Memmi, Said, and other theorists.…” Sep 13, 11:00
Northcode on A Long Hard Think: “A personal reflection, a confession if you will, prompted by recent discussions about Scotland’s constitutional status. I supported Alf Baird’s…” Sep 13, 10:41
TURABDIN on A Long Hard Think: “@ SPARTAN & HATEY, Whatever the ethics of buying into political parties or doing deals à la trump with countries…” Sep 13, 10:09
Captain Caveman on A Long Hard Think: ““… but as long as we are ruled by Totalitarian Internationalist Communists we are stuffed, regardless of whether we become…” Sep 13, 10:01
Hatey McHateface on A Long Hard Think: “Whataboutery. But no need to fall out. I’ll STFU for £5k. Bank of England notes will do at a pinch.…” Sep 13, 09:33
BLMac on A Long Hard Think: “Is there no legal way to make the police do their duty? Some sort of injunction or such like?” Sep 13, 09:32
Spartan 117 on A Long Hard Think: “Scotland might indeed be “hoaching” with natural resources however the key thing Communists fail to understand is someone has to…” Sep 13, 09:28
Hatey McHateface on A Long Hard Think: “Some people try to bribe us with their money. Some politicians try to bribe us with our own money. I’m…” Sep 13, 09:27