Even the smoke and mirrors are fake

I haven’t posted an article for a couple of days. For which I apologise. My excuse is that I got involved in a below-the-line ‘discussion’ prompted by news that Wings Over Scotland blogger, Stu Campbell, had once again been dragged in by police for questioning after yet another malicious complaint laid against him by one of the most deranged members of the gender cult. It was not Campbell himself that I was defending against a pile-on of nasty bigots but his forensic journalism. The guy is an excellent investigative journalist skilled at gathering and presenting the facts. We could do with more like him.

To be honest, that wasn’t the only reason I didn’t publish anything yesterday. The truth is that there was nothing in the news that caught my attention. I don’t know about anyone else, but I’ve been getting a very distinct impression of late that the independence industry is trying to divert my attention. The front page of the National’s website has been littered this past couple of days with articles about public transport — often featuring the SNP’s current golden boy, Stephen Flynn. It has been like a magician doing a flourish with his right hand so you won’t pay attention to what he’s doing with his left hand.

Don’t get me wrong! I recognise that public transport is an important issue. But there has been a distinctly frantic quality to the spate of SNP statements and Scottish Government press releases on the subject of late. Or maybe it’s just me and my somewhat single-minded — not to say monomanical — focus on the constitutional issue. I readily admit that I do tend to see everything through the lens of my Scottish nationalism. I don’t apologise for that. But it does mean that other matters can sometimes slip by me.

What strikes me at the moment is how little John Swinney has to say on the subject of Scotland’s cause. The term ‘back burner’ comes constantly to mind. We’ve seen it all before, of course. We’ve seen how independence rises to the top of the SNP’s agenda in the weeks prior to an election only to slide rapidly down again once the votes are counted and the self-styled ‘party of independence’ is safely returned to its cosy place in the bubble.

At the end of April, John Swinney set out what he promised his government would deliver in its first hundred days. There were promises about healthcare, housing, education, and more. On the constitutional issue he made two promises. Firstly, he undertook to have the Scottish Parliament immediately validate the British state’s veto over the will of Scotland’s people. That’s not how he described it, of course. But that is what it was. The British Prime Minister’s response was to send some lackey to tell John Swinney to fuck off. That’s not a verbatim account either. But it’s what it sounded like to my Scottish nationalist ears.

Swinney’s second promise on the constitutional issue was stated quite bluntly.

Within the first hundred days, we will publish the draft Referendum Bill.

By my reckoning, the first 100 days are up at the end of September. It’s probably a bit later if we count only sitting days. But I’ll leave that wee fiddle for John Swinney.

Where is the promised Referendum Bill? Why haven’t we heard any more about it? Surely a draft would have been published by now if it was going to be laid before parliament before the end of September. Maybe Swinney is planning on springing it as a surprise at the very last minute. Or maybe it’s never going to be mentioned again.

No doubt the First Minister will plead that a referendum Bill would be pointless since the British state has already used the veto he gave it. But we all knew the supplication for a Section 30 order would be curtly dismissed. So why promise a Referendum Bill? If the Bill is pointless, then so was the promise. Unless the only point was to rake in a few more votes from people gullible enough to believe Swinney when he said he could “guarantee” a referendum if the SNP was returned to power.

Incidentally, there really is a Scotland (Independence Referendum) Bill. But not at Holyrood. It is a Private Members’ Bill sponsored by Graham Leadbitter MP (SNP). This Bill is destined for the same bin that received a similar one sponsored by Neale Hanvey in November 2023, when he was an MP and Westminster leader of Alba Party, which then existed.

I seem to recall Ash Regan talking about “A Bill to amend the Scotland Act 1998 to transfer the power to legislate for a Scottish independence referendum to the Scottish Parliament; and for connected purposes”, as Mr Leadbitter’s Bill is titled. I don’t think that one even got as far as being drafted

It’s all performative. The vote in the Scottish Parliament for a Section 30 order was performative. Neale Hanvey’s Bill was performative. Graham Leadbitter’s Bill is performative. It’s all just ineffectual theatrics. The only thing anybody gets out of it is a reason to whine pathetically about Westminster ‘blocking democracy’.

It’s all deception and fakery. It’s all pretence. It’s all false. I’m not even sure this article is real.