By Rab Bruce’s Spider

It is easy for Unionists to stick together. All they need to do is say No to a Section 30 Order and the cause of transforming Scotland into a normal country is stymied. Meanwhile, the Yes side continues to argue over the best way to achieve normality. Some demand no more delay, while others seem to be arguing that the long game must continue, with mention of reaching our goal by the end of the decade – by which we must presume 2030 is the target.

Such cautious talk is very worrying, because if Scotland isn’t going to vote for independence soon, it probably never will.

That’s not to say some of the Softly Softly talk has no value. It is certainly the case that shouting at people who voted No in 2014 will achieve nothing. We certainly need to use persuasion rather than angry accusations, but to extrapolate that tactic into saying we should take years rather than months is playing into the hands of Westminster. Delay and obfuscation is how the UK Government has always behaved when faced with a difficult problem. They promise things, then fail to deliver, and we’ve seen plenty of that over the past five years. If we continue to delay, people will adjust to the diminished circumstances brought about by Brexit and will again believe that there is no point in risking further change. People get used to pretty much anything, especially when their media is constantly telling them that things can never be better. Just look at how it was loudly proclaimed in 2014 that Scots would not vote for independence if it left them £10 per week worse off. So we voted No, and all of us are considerably more than £10 per week worse off than we were, but nobody does anything except grumble about the cost of living. Sterling has crashed by a far greater extent than that which was threatened if we had voted Yes, yet people just shrug and complain about how few Euros they get for their Pound. Situations which cannot be affected by individuals are accepted by those individuals because they know there is nothing they can do to alter them. So if we wait until we see just how bad Brexit is going to be, people will soon get used to the higher prices, the shortages of food and medicine and the increasing strain on public services as those evil foreigners are deported by Westminster. If we wait too long, the Tory grip on power will be too strong to break.

Whether it is within a few weeks, or within a few months, the SNP really need to start doing something to move the case forwards.

But what can we do if they don’t? This is the big concern. There is no viable alternative. Not voting in elections simply allows the Unionist alliance to gain more seats, and there really is nobody else to vote for. The Greens perhaps, although they generally don’t have sufficient candidates to warrant putting much support behind them.

The trouble is that the SNP know this all too well, and they have little incentive to alter the situation. I do hope that the voices who are suggesting the SNP want the current situation to continue for the sake of their own salaries and pensions are wrong. I hope the SNP will stop talking and start acting. Yes, we may well lose again because the full might of Westminster and the media will be brought into play to threaten and bribe the waverers, but doing nothing is not exactly going to improve things either. This year is a crossroads. Let’s hope the SNP chooses the right path.