Scotland (overwhelmingly) and Northern Ireland (less so) have voted to stay in Europe while England (decisively) and Wales (narrowly) have voted to leave. Northern Ireland has its own choices to make, but Scotland must now hold a second referendum.
Yesterday the UK as a whole voted to leave the European Union, while Scotland voted to stay in. Unless something is done, Scotland will be dragged out of the EU against its clearly-expressed will – the margin for Remain was two and a half times the margin for No in 2014.
The temptations for Yes voters are almost overwhelming. The rage that many of them feel is genuine and fully justified. Scotland was lied to remorselessly and relentlessly throughout the indyref campaign, threatened and bullied and cowed into staying in a fantasy UK bearing no resemblance to the one we now find ourselves in.
The sheer irony of the UK plunging into exactly the sort of calamitous uncertainty we were told would befall an independent Scotland would test the character of a saint.
And for everyone whose restraint is being stretched to the very limits of its endurance today, we have a two-word message: George Square.
The game just changed, readers. We’ve been up all night. We’ll have some analysis for you in a few hours. For now, spend a few moments pondering who the “narrow nationalists” and “separatists” in the UK are.
We know it’s early doors, but we’re going to state with some confidence now that this is the Tweet Of The Night:
Yes, that really is Tim Stanley, leader writer of the Telegraph, complaining about being up against the British establishment in a referendum. (In which Leave was supported by, among others, the Sun, the Daily Mail, the Telegraph, and the Daily Express – the #1, #2, #4 and #6 best-selling newspapers in the country – along with around half of the MPs of the governing party.)
For extra fun, we might collect some of his indyref tweets later. But to the very best of our recollection, he didn’t consider the Yes campaign’s 45% – which really WAS achieved against the entire British establishment, without a single daily newspaper’s support – as a “moral victory”.
(Part of a fairly major volte-face by Harris on who should control what in Scotland, but let’s not get into that right now.)
On the face of it, this is a perfectly feasible possibility, since devolution was set up on a “reserved list” basis – any issues not specifically reserved to Westminster are devolved to the Scottish Parliament. In theory this would indeed mean that powers over farming and fishing would revert to Holyrood automatically upon exit from the EU.
(And even that view is conditional on whether you consider Scottish independence the most important political goal of your life. If it’s more important to you to be out of the EU than out of the UK then clearly you’ll be voting Leave and there’s nothing we could say that would change your mind.)
But what if you happen to be a supporter of Scottish independence who DOESN’T live in Scotland? What then?
Alf Baird on Steadying The Ship: “” We syriacs/assyrians know the schizoid condition well.” And ditto for us schizoid Scots. As David Purves wrote: “Since the…” May 16, 19:26
George Ferguson on Steadying The Ship: “The punishment has begun. After watching fitba all day. We are listening to Take the Floor. Apparently the second half…” May 16, 19:20
Mark Beggan on Steadying The Ship: “The English electorate are far from stupid. The arrogance of the Labour party passing seats to their mates so they…” May 16, 19:14
Alf Baird on Steadying The Ship: “Even today Hume’s self-hatred of Scottish culture looms large among assimilated native intellectuals and elites who ‘mimic the colonizer’ (Memmi)…” May 16, 18:58
Xaracen on The Broken Rainbow: “’I have always believed the truth will set us free and always will.“ Well, that can’t be true, Hatey; I…” May 16, 18:14
TURABDIN on Steadying The Ship: “@CYNICUS. no they are not, they are my «construct. Hume was very «antisyzygic». We syriacs/assyrians know the schizoid condition well.…” May 16, 18:03
Northcode on Steadying The Ship: ““you are the biggest contributor of irrelevant, pointless drivel BTL.” Wow! I’ve just realised you’re right… I’m a bore, you’re…” May 16, 17:57
George Ferguson on Steadying The Ship: “Anybody that has met John Swinney knows he has the Charisma of an ex Insurance Salesman of course prior to…” May 16, 16:44
Cynicus on Steadying The Ship: “TURABDIN says: 16 May, 2026 at 1:11 pm” “THIS IS THE PREAMBLE TO AN ACADEMIC WORK. HUME IN AND OUT…” May 16, 16:35
Mark Beggan on Steadying The Ship: “Sven meaning: Norse, boy, lad, young warrior.” May 16, 16:19
Cynicus on Steadying The Ship: “Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh says: 16 May, 2026 at 10:33 am “Cynicus: « the name of the author is Robert Curry. Not…” May 16, 16:19
twathater on Steadying The Ship: “It’s nice to see the gross stupidity of the engerlish electorate publicised daily on broadcast and media , I thought…” May 16, 16:18
Mark Beggan on Steadying The Ship: “If your name is your destiny Turabin then you are a reference manual with incorrect spelling!” May 16, 15:40
Mark Beggan on Steadying The Ship: “Samuel that’s a good Jewish name. Means prophet, heard by God.” May 16, 15:36
Mark Beggan on Steadying The Ship: “You have been eating too much sugar again.” May 16, 15:29
Mark Beggan on Steadying The Ship: “So what about your name Sam?” May 16, 15:16
Captain Caveman on The Broken Rainbow: ““Now that you admit they’ll not be providing you with a running commentary, they’ll not be sending you any decision…” May 16, 15:12
Mark Beggan on Steadying The Ship: “Correct but it was Beggins. Changed when my grandfather came to Scotland. Mark Beggan translated means Brave of the small.” May 16, 14:58
TURABDIN on Steadying The Ship: “Neu terminologie fir auld…. United Kingdom/United Kleptocracy? Westminster/Wastaminster? WASTA is the cronyism that oils government & everything else in the…” May 16, 14:27
sam on Steadying The Ship: “Well named? The surname Beggan is of Irish origin and is derived from the Gaelic word “beagán,” which means “little”…” May 16, 14:16
Geri on The Broken Rainbow: “AI Dan, Because I don’t have to. Others, far more educated than I am, are doing it on behalf of…” May 16, 14:00
robertkknight on Steadying The Ship: “Aye, and if Scotland had a legal system, Sturgeon and the Alphabetites would be in jail, soon to be joined…” May 16, 13:47
Aidan on Steadying The Ship: “I think what Chas is drawing attention to Northcode is that with James Cheyne now (sadly I fear only temporarily)…” May 16, 13:41
Mark Beggan on Steadying The Ship: “There is certainly more saltires at today’s Unite The Kingdoms rally. This is what happens when a government holds the…” May 16, 13:41
TURABDIN on Steadying The Ship: “THIS IS THE PREAMBLE TO AN ACADEMIC WORK. HUME IN AND OUT OF SCOTTISH CONTEXT by James A. Harris and…” May 16, 13:11
100%Yes on Steadying The Ship: “Izzie, STOP putting party before Country!!!! I can see your plan has merit. If in fact JS was going to…” May 16, 13:05
Mark Beggan on Steadying The Ship: “Another word salad. Saying nothing.” May 16, 12:46
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Steadying The Ship: “Initial link to ROBERT CURRY material: https://americanmind.org/author/robert-curry/ Paragraph by Curry: « At the age of sixteen, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison,…” May 16, 12:43
Alf Baird on Steadying The Ship: “We have to accept that the Scottish school of enlightenment failed even to ascertain Scotland’s colonial capture, much like Paine…” May 16, 11:18
