Majority of scots support independence ...latest poll

Scotland and the rest of the UK have been slowly diverging, and sooner or later Scottish statehood will be irresistible

The independence cause is not dead, as some Unionists proclaim. It may sag for a time, perhaps heavily. But the 2014 referendum campaign entrenched “indy” as a solid, plausible alternative for Scotland’s future. And the union no longer works as a partnership. It belonged to a Great British unitary state. But from 1999, as soon as devolution introduced democracy into the union’s structure, its basic lopsidedness emerged. The fact that one “partner”, England, held 85% of the total UK population suddenly started to matter. Westminster is now principally an assembly dealing with English affairs; Whitehall has adjusted its priorities. There was nothing especially “English nationalist” behind this: it’s a recognition of realities. But a union of unequals, based now on law rather than consent, is bound to disintegrate. Its members could perhaps come to rest in a “confederation of independent states”.

In the end, independence is there for the asking. If, say, 65% of Scottish voters keep demanding for six months to leave the UK, no British government will stop them. Critical for the future are the cautious thousands outside the SNP who are moved by the idea of Scotland as “a normal wee nation” but not yet convinced of its practicality. Meanwhile, the sheer blundering nastiness of current London governments continues to generate disgust. As a Glasgow woman told a journalist the other day: “It just makes you want to take Scotland and go!”