During the referendum campaign it was agreed that Lord Smith would head a commission which would devolve further powers to the Scottish Parliament.
Last week there was allegations that the SNP weren't taking it seriously. Now, we hear that SNP councillors have been videoed burning copies of the commission report.
Nicola Sturgeon rightly condemned these members actions but it makes me wonder if this is what drives Scottish nationalists even now, months after the referendum? The democratic will of the people of Scotland was to stay in the United Kingdom?
During the Scottish referendum campaign, there were some very positive signs of political engagement that have never been seen before. People who weren't interested in politics at all became involved and that was a huge positive for Scotland.
On the other hand, lies were told and scare stories were spread to scare the public into voting one way or the other. The Better Together campaign were accused of this far more than the YES Scotland camp were which seems unfair given the pro-indy leaflets that said our NHS was under threat if we voted No!
All political campaigns have scare stories. In the 2010 UK election the Tories warned of more debt and a higher budget deficit while Labour warned off cutting vital public services. It's just how politics works.
I do not think for one minute that the YES Scotland or pro-independence campaign were anti-English but I did speak to one gentleman who was approached in Edinburgh by a YES Scotland supporter, asking him if he intended to vote for independence. When the respondent said no (apparently) he was told to "F*** off back to England then".
This was surely an isolated incident but this is what nationalism does to people. There is being proud of your country, of it's history and then there's being so nationalistic that anyone who wasn't born in the same country as you isn't Scottish.
That ugly part of the referendum is thankfully over and we remain part of the United Kingdom. The new threat to the UK comes in the form of Nigel Farage and UKIP, not the SNP.
On the 18th of September 2014 Scotland voted to stay in the United Kingdom. Over two months on, the SNP's support seems only to continue to rise as Scottish Labour face what nationalists are calling a "leadership crisis". I wouldn't go as far as that.
When Johann Lamont resigned she took several cheap shots at the Labour leadership in London which did the party no favours whatsoever.
Johann to me wasn't leadership material anyway. Alex Salmond as First Minister was excellent at FMQ's on a weekly basis and I think the only leader that challenged him was Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson. It takes someone with a strong constitution to take on Mr. Salmond and Lamont didn't have that.
Another reason for Scottish Labour's decline is the fact that she seemed to embrace fiscal conservatism; even Ruth Davidson welcomed some of these proposals! They are based on the false premise that Scotland receives more benefits than England which simply isn't true.
The last time I checked, SNP membership was well over 65,000 and it seems clear that the referendum this year has not settled the national question. Pro-independence supporters are continuing to flock to pro-indy party's such as the SSP and Scottish Greens but there is a problem here.
After the referendum there was (and still is) a lot of talk of a "Yes Alliance". Surely this is unreasonable. The SSP lost seats in the Scottish Parliament and I don't know of any seats where they could mount a reasonable challenge to the SNP. If the SNP did stand aside, Labour would surely win the seat!
Scottish Labour isn't dead by any means, but it has been in decline since Iain Gray. What we need is a strong leader who will challenge the Scottish Government for the mistakes they have made since taking power, not a leader who is going to threaten to cut "free" services for the elderly.
I'm sure by May 2015 Labour will lose a few seats to the SNP in Scotland at the UK election but it won't be a catastrophic defeat.
