by Rab Bruce’s Spider

During the IndyRef campaign of 2014, a common claim by those who supported Better Together was that Yes supporters were letting their hearts rule their heads. Support for Scottish independence was, they asserted, a matter of belief, not reason, and we were likened to a cult.

How things have changed. As with so many of the claims made in 2014, this one has turned out to be the exact opposite of the current state of affairs. Despite Brexit, despite the scrapping of the Sewell Convention, despite the Power Grab, the Hostile Environment and the regular abuse directed at SNP MPs in the House of Commons, there are still many Scots who prefer to stick with the UK rather than take control of their own future.

You can point out all the ways Scotland has been ignored and exploited, you can point out the disaster awaiting us when Brexit bites, you can point out the fall in the value of sterling, cite the number of businesses closing down or relocating, and yet there are still those who will refuse to believe that Scotland becoming a normal country would be preferable. Many of these people can see what is coming, yet their attachment to the UK is so great that they cannot bring themselves to abandon it no matter what might happen.

In some ways you cannot blame them. The British state long ago mastered the art of propaganda through the media and education system, and a sense of Britishness has been embedded in many people’s minds. Breaking that bond is, for some, simply not possible no matter whether they can see the problems sticking with the UK will bring. Reason no longer applies; it is blind faith and belief in the UK that will determine how they will vote in a second IndyRef.

Is there a word for a belief system like that?