By Rab Bruce’s Spider

From a purely military perspective, Britain’s decision to bomb Daesh inside Syria will make little difference to the current situation. Plenty of other countries have been bombing there for months and having a few Tornado jets adding to the killing won’t change things a great deal. Without significant numbers of coordinated ground troops, defeating Daesh will be impossible. Apart from the dropping of nuclear bombs on Japan, no war has ever been won by the use of air power alone. It is significant but not decisive. Just look at Vietnam for evidence of this.

So why are we bothering? The nonsense about keeping us safer goes against all the commentary from people who have been close to Daesh. They want us to attack them because it provides a rallying call for more recruits. The majority of those recruits will be home-grown in the UK, thus increasing the chances of a terrorist attack in mainland Britain.

So, if it is strategically pointless and tactically what our enemies want us to do, why on earth are we doing it?

Simple. It’s an ego trip for David Cameron and his warmongering pals. It makes Britain look tough and allows him to claim a place at "the top table" when it comes to discussing how the Middle East should be treated. Note that there is very little interest in asking the people who live in the region what they want. The sad truth is that the UK Government still harbours a lingering fondness for the glory days of its imperial greatness and wants to throw its weight around to prove it is still a world power.

What our MPs voted for goes against what most of their constituents want but that didn’t stop them. It’s not about Syria, or terrorists, but about Britain’s prestige and that’s a truly awful condemnation of the decision.

So now we have an escalating war which Scotland’s people and MPs opposed but which we are involved in anyway. It probably isn’t the material change of circumstances Nicola Sturgeon warned about as a prerequisite for another IndieRef because we’ve been bombing Daesh for months in Iraq and this is merely an extension of Britain’s involvement, but it’s certainly another widening of the gulf between Scotland and the rest of the UK.