A week into September, I wrote about the cognitive dissonance caused by the Scottish government’s washing its hands of any leadership role in the pandemic. I pointed out that branch meetings of the SNP (of which I am a member) were being held online, but that people were free to gather in clubs unmasked.
Yesterday, with 2262 new cases, and 20 new deaths, also came the news that the SNP’s national conference will take place online, not in person. This, a party spokesman said, is “to keep everyone safe” and “protect the NHS.”
So, the SNP knows it is dangerous to have in-person events, and has, rightly, decided not to have any. But everyone else can…
I have no anlysis to offer about this; the congnitive dissonance is too overwhelming. If there is any logic here, it is dream logic, and the result will be a nightmare.
Nothing suprising happened. The SNP got one vote short of a majority, and the Greens gained seats, so the Scottish government is still a pro-independence majority.
Nicola Sturgeon says tomorrow’s election is the most important Scotland has had in decades. While we expect hyperbole from politicians, especially close to an election, she is not exaggerating. It might be the most important Scottish election ever.
“Ye Jacobites by name,
Your fautes I will proclaim,
Your doctrines I maun blame, you shall hear, you shall hear”—Burns
It is fitting that the online launch of the Alba party (the name of which its leader, Alex Salmond, does not know how to pronounce) was disrupted by technical issues, and then had its membership list leaked, because the party represents a time before such technology existed.
In the Holyrood inquiry as to whether Nicola Sturgeon misled parliament, the vote was along party lines, with four SNP members finding that she did not, and the other five — two Tories, one Labour, one Lib Dem and one independent — finding that she did.
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Joanna Cherry and some colleagues