Better Together, is it? The antics of the No side in victory suggest otherwise.

Cameron playing partisan party politics within minutes of the result. The bigoted, extremist element celebrating with a riot in George Square. The bitter leader of Scottish Labour resigning amid acrimonious score-settling.

You have to wonder what on earth would have happened had they lost.

But at least one group on the No side is trying to extract itself from the mess and move on with some positive proposals.

The newly-formed Labour for Scotland pressure group wants to change the party's future direction. It calls for the Scottish party to be "fully autonomous" from UK Labour.

Scottish Labour should have the power to appoint its full-time officials and write its own constitution. To drive the point home, it suggests changing the Scottish party's name to the Independent Labour Party.

Don't confuse the group with the Yes-supporting Labour for Independence. Labour for Scotland wants to remain in the UK but urges the party to set out a "radical agenda for home rule in the 21st century".

This would include Holyrood being given full control over income tax, responsibility for welfare and broadcasting and "substantial economic and industrial levers." It also proposes public ownership of some services and assets, local taxation, more help with childcare and a living wage.

Embarrassed by Labour standing shoulder to shoulder with the Conservatives, it advocates a policy of "non-co-operation" with the Tories if another independence referendum is called. In such an event, Labour for Scotland would "assert Scotland's right to self-determination" whilst remaining in the UK.

An Independent Scottish Labour Party, then, which supports not-quite-independence for Scotland. A contradiction you might think.

However, that commitment to the UK goes down well with many Labour supporters south of the border. They see a revitalised left in Scotland pointing the way forward for England. They, as well as the activists up north, hope a Scottish tail can wag the UK Labour dog.

Whatever one makes of the details of Labour for Scotland's policy proposals, they are a welcome addition to the debate in post-referendum Scotland. They surely point in the general direction Scottish Labour must take if it has any future at all.

At the moment, the title Scottish Labour Party is a gross misnomer. As Johann Lamont has now famously pointed out, it's just the regional branch office of London Labour.

And headquarter's response to these developments? London Labour has merely placed a situations vacant advert for, as Dennis Canavan puts it, "a Scottish branch office manager - only dinosaurs need apply".

And a big dinosaur has indeed lurched forward. Right out of the Westminster swamp. Tyrannosaurus Murphy. Jim Murphy. The man who proudly wears his egg yolk on his sleeve. Perhaps because, like the rest of New Labour, he hasn't much of a heart.

Jim Murphy MP? The answer to Scottish Labour's woes?

The enthusiastic Blairite who is a Trident nuclear weapons fan? The Iraq War defender, the NHS market reformer and university tuition fees advocate? The defender of the Tories' benefit cap and public spending cuts?

The Westminster MP who never showed any interest in Holyrood politics until the top Labour job came up? Maybe his recent demotion from Shadow Defence Secretary to International Development concentrated his mind.

His self-important call to arms - "I'm standing for First Minister of - Scotland" - is not an auspicious start.

If Murphy becomes leader of the Scottish Labour Party, his first move will be to close down any talk of radical change, any discussion of moving left. He will seek to remove any threat to New Labour's UK prospects. That means prioritising the election of Labour MPs in the south of England over Scotland's needs.

It's not just Murphy who thinks this is the key goal of the new leader. Sarah Boyack, an MSP who should know better, says "Scottish Labour is going to be the key party in the run-up to the UK elections. It's absolutely crucial we get an Ed Miliband government elected….. That is the key thing"

All this only confirms Johann Lamont's statement of the bleedin' obvious. Of course, London Labour treats its Scottish organisation as a regional branch. That's all it can ever be in the UK - as Labour for Scotland, for all its fine aspirations, will soon find out.

Lamont was correct to call London Labour 'dinosaurs'. She forgot though to add the fate of those creatures. New Labour is headed for extinction. The brave efforts of the likes of Labour for Scotland won't revive it.

However lively and energetic a tail is, it won't ever wag a dead dog.