Kevin Hague

IN this paper last week I wrote about focus groups run by These Islands with Scots now leaning towards independence. One of the observations I made was that, when faced with economic facts, many of the participants’ reaction was to deny that those facts could be true.

AS Nicola Sturgeon prepares for the SNP party conference this weekend, apparently cruising towards another Holyrood victory in May 2021 and with opinion polls suggesting support for independence has never been higher, it would be tempting to conclude that she leads a party and a movement with unstoppable momentum.