AS Glasgow woke up on Friday morning, the Saltire was flying at full sail over the City Chambers.
For weary SNP activists crossing George Square on their way to the count at the Scottish Exhibition Centre, it must have seemed a good omen.
Indeed, the same image had adorned the brochure for the SNP's spring conference in March. Then, Alex Salmond, had got delegates cheering at the SECC by proclaiming "the SNP are coming" to Glasgow for the local elections. At the time, it had seemed less like a prediction and more a statement of the inevitable.
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