When you are closely involved in something as infectiously positive and joyous as the Yes movement, it can be difficult to maintain objectivity. The sense of purpose is infectious. It is well nigh impossible to remain detached. But I am definitely sensing a new mood in Scotland.
Not that everybody has suddenly come over to the independence cause in some sort of mass epiphany. There are many different perspectives. For some, it is a kind of resigned determination. “This can’t go on,” they’ll say. “Something has to change. And it looks like independence is the only option.”
Tory voters feel cheated. They say, “This isn’t the Conservative Party I used to know. This isn’t the Union I want. This isn’t the UK I was promised.”
Others are concerned about the future. “I don’t like the way things are going. I’m worried about what the UK Government is going to do to our Parliament. I genuinely fear for our public services if they are taken over by Westminster.”
Most notable of all is what isn’t being said. With the exception of a few British Nationalist fanatics, nobody is rejecting the idea of independence out of hand. Even those who aren’t Yes yet accept that independence is an option.
The mood has changed. It continues to change. And the pace of change is accelerating. Scotland isn’t the place it was in 2014. People are not going to be deterred by scaremongering or deceived by lies or duped by false promises.
Those who are determined to cling to the Union at any cost will have to come up with persuasive arguments. As things stand, it’s not possible to imagine what such arguments might be. But maybe that’s because I’m looking at it all from the perspective of an amazing grass roots democratic movement.
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Peter A Bell 
I agree. I had begun to sense it prior to the AUOB march in Glasgow but that march seems to have stirred something further.
And, far from being dismayed at the reaction to the Growth Commission report, this is all part of the process of normalising the idea of Independence as being something worth having.
For, having been starved of the opportunity to debate the ideas contained in that report in a meaningful way for hundreds of years, people are now sensing that even the idea of Independence is empowering them. It would be a sad day if we all just accepted whatever report our leaders produced as gospel and actively chose not to debate, for that would signal exactly the kind of society we do not want after Independence.
For me, the reaction to the reaction has been way over the top. We have to remember that the most valuable output of planning is not the plan itself but the collective thought that the planning process requires.
It’s all good.
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Has the mood genuinely changed or are those who bottled it in 2014 just as ready to bottle it again next time ? The invisible no voter has to be won over , the question as always , have they .
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BritNattery seems to be taking a very nasty turn down there in Engerland of late. Not good at all, but it might at least turn off some of the more ‘traditional’ UK supporters and bring them over to our side?
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The point about scaremongering and false promises being ineffective this time is well made. We have had two years of inept twisting and turning over Brexit and it is clear to all that, faced with the responsibility of making constitutional change to benefit all, Westminster is in complete disarray. There is no status quo now and ScotGov has been much more credible in trying to find ways forward that carry the strongest consensus. On balance, independence is going to look more attractive than Brexit, even to those who would dearly like everything to remain the same. (But maybe I’m in a pro-independence bubble too.)
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“it can’t be difficult to maintain objectivity”
should be “CAN be difficult” or “can’t be easy” 🙂
Yes, things are looking up.
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Thanks for the heads-up. In my defence, I wrote this on my phone, in a busy Wetherspoons, with a procession of people stopping to say hello and an elderly Scottish-Italian poet laying into my left ear.
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