There was, very clearly, no “indyref2 marketing campaign launch” yesterday, not least given that there isn’t a indyref2. Nothing in anyway has modified from the scenario which has persevered for the final six years, particularly that the SNP says it needs one other referendum and the UK authorities says it may possibly’t have one.
There was no settlement and there was no authorized judgement settling the deadlock. No legal guidelines have been handed, no date has been set (although a flustered Angus Robertson blurted out one thing about subsequent October on Good Morning Scotland), no preparations have been made.
And whereas The Nationwide might need one other 10-page particular immediately insisting that the sport is on, the home comedian of the SNP’s woke wing has, one may gently say, a certain quantity of prior type on this regard.
So we’ll make this transient.
Yesterday’s paper itself might be dismissed instantly. It’s an insultingly content-free piece of empty fluffpuffery amounting to “the UK has a rotten authorities and different international locations have higher ones so we might too”. Properly, no shit, Sherlock. The planet has 250-odd governments, a few of whom are good and a few of whom are unhealthy, whether or not they’re in Europe or exterior Europe, whether or not they’re giant international locations or small ones. That proves exactly nothing about something.
(Scotland already has a sort-of authorities of its personal and it’s bloody terrible. In case you can’t construct a ferry or conduct a easy census when these powers are devolved to you, it suggests {that a} lack of powers isn’t the issue.)
So what concerning the supposedly significant a part of Nicola Sturgeon’s speech? What, if something, did it truly say? Let’s translate:
“We should navigate” interprets to “we don’t but have a path to our vacation spot”.
“That work is underway [sic]” interprets to “that work has not but been performed”.
“I hope to” interprets to “I can not promise to”.
“A big replace to Parliament very quickly” interprets to nothing in any respect. Significance is within the eye of the beholder and “very quickly” is a chunk of string of indeterminate size. However the final time she grandly introduced an imminent bulletin of nice import was January 2020, and all of us keep in mind what a moist lettuce that turned out to be.
(There’s, after all, nonetheless no signal of that “constitutional conference”, however a mere two and a half years later we lastly have the primary of the promised papers, as a result of apparently you possibly can’t write a paper in a pandemic. It’s additionally now a 12 months and a half for the reason that social gathering revealed its “11-point plan”, which additionally amounted to “I hope to offer a major replace to Parliament very quickly”.)
When pressed by the media on the Q+A session following the speech, Sturgeon did nevertheless say that this explicit “very quickly” meant “in some unspecified time in the future earlier than Parliament goes into recess”, one thing which occurs 16 days from now. So the SNP has little over a fortnight to lastly inform us what its Plan B is.
(Alert readers could recall the social gathering’s earlier excessive hostility to such a plan.)
It’ll be fascinating to find what that plan seems to be. It’s now greater than 4 years since this web site referred to as for the SNP to power the matter to the courts by instigating an unsanctioned vote.
And greater than 20 months since we referred to as for a plebiscitary election on this manifesto to interrupt the stalemate within the absence of a beneficial authorized judgement:
Given the quantity of abuse that Wings, Chris McEleny, the Alba Occasion and plenty of others have taken from SNP politicians and members within the final 4 years for espousing these positions, it’ll be fairly entertaining if the SNP now adopts both or each later this month. However till it does, nothing has occurred.
The SNP can sit round whining uselessly about “democracy” all it needs, however Boris Johnson isn’t going to be all of the sudden persuaded by the deserves of the argument. Solely motion will ever ship Scotland’s freedom. We’ll be watching intently, after all, for the announcement. However we received’t be holding our breath.
