EARLIER this week a poll was published which showed that a significant majority of Scots would prefer to remain a part of the EU.

The story was published on Monday, when there was no other news of note cos some royal wummin had just had a wean. The royal wummin having a wean was a cue for all sorts of people draped in Union flegs to parade on the telly and gush about how excited they were and how this was the best thing to happen since the last time that the same royal wummin had a wean.

This is of course an example of how British nationalism is so much better than other nationalisms because it’s not nationalist at all.

Displays of British nationalism are an unsettling combination of the weirdly comic and the deeply sinister, like a villain from a Batman movie but without the special effects budget. The Tories have spent the last few years destroying hospitals, so they’ve got quite a lot in common with Heath Ledger’s Joker. British nationalism wants us to believe that Prince Charles is deserving of his internship as leader of the Commonwealth, the first time in 70 years that the self-pitying privileged posho has got a job, and then only because his maw had a wee word with the selection committee.

There was real potential for a news story about who would expire first from paroxysms of royalist hysteria, the reporting teams from Sky News, or the one from the BBC, although personally my money was on Murdo Fraser.

But sadly we were spared that and instead were treated to assorted reporters standing outside a hospital desperately filling in time because nothing was actually happening.

I was only watching in the vain hope that one, just one, reporter would point a microphone at one of the Union fleg bedecked people who’d been camping outside the hospital for the past fortnight and ask, “What in God’s name is wrong with you?”

There was some real news happening elsewhere, but that didn’t count because some royal wummin had just had a wean. And we’ve not even had that bloody wedding yet. Just kill me now.

But back to some of that real news. The EU poll in question was a online poll of readers of various publications across the whole of the UK. It showed that Scotland is, by a decent margin, the most pro-European part of the UK. The poll was an online poll, and although it wasn’t statistically balanced in order to ensure that those answering the question were properly representative of the population as a whole, the results are probably rather more representative of Scottish opinion than anything that comes out of the mouths of Scottish Conservative politicians. Although to be fair, that wouldn’t be hard, as most people in Scotland instinctively know that pretending to be Saddam Hussein for a joke isn’t a good look for an MP, nor do they have to go on special diversity training to know that sectarianism is a bad thing.

Even though the poll wasn’t stastically balanced, we can still learn a lot from it. Which again is rather more than you can say for a Scottish Conservative politician. Mind you, I did once learn something from Jackson Carlaw. I learned that Scottish Tories think that Gaelic roadsigns are magical incantations to get people to vote for independence. I also learned that Scottish Tories aren’t the brightest bunch on the planet, but we all knew that already.

But back to the poll. It’s confirmation that Scotland remains strongly pro-European, and that public dissatisfaction with the British Government’s handling of the Brexit process is widespread in Scotland. Dissatisfaction with the amount of time that the media devotes to royals having weans is also widespread, and it would be nice to have a poll to confirm that too.

The poll confirms that Scotland’s relationship with Europe is going to be key in the next Scottish independence referendum. Mind you, I strongly suspect that if an independent Scotland could give a cast iron categorical guarantee that we’d never have to see Nicholas Witchell on the telly ever again that Yes vote in the next referendum would be a shoo in.

Despite the strongly pro-European sentiment in Scotland, it would be a mistake to fight the next independence referendum campaign on the basis of seeking independence in order that Scotland can still be a member of the EU. Research carried out by the pro-independence think tank Common Weal has shown that there has been significant churn in support for independence.

The Brexit issue has caused many former No voters to shift to supporting independence, but equally there’s been a dropping off in support for independence amongst some “soft Yeses”. This is why there’s been no real change in support for independence in the polls since 2014.

What we need to focus on in the next independence referendum campaign is on the right of Scotland to decide its own relationship with the EU and the rest of the world, instead of being stuck with a Tory Brexit.

What the churn in support for independence tells us is that the biggest task ahead of us isn’t to convert No voters to Yes, although it’s certainly important that we continue to work on that. However what’s going to win us the next Scottish independence referendum will be getting those soft Yeses who have drifted away back to Yes again.

The people we will be targetting are people who have already voted Yes. They were already persuaded to vote for independence, and they can be persuaded to vote for independence again. That ought to be a much easier task than persuading someone who voted No last time to change their mind. If we combine together everyone who voted Yes last time, plus those who have since come over to Yes because of Brexit, there’s already a majority for independence. That’s why I am so confident that Scotland is going to vote for independence next time.

Approximately 145 children are born in Scotland every day. If the independence movement can get back those people who once supported independence but have since drifted away, we can make sure that those babies will have a Scotland worth living in, an independent Scotland where their votes will count for something when they’re adults. And then as well as deciding what sort of relationship that we want with Europe and the rest of the world, Scotland can also decide what sort of relationship it wants with the Windsors and the legions of gushing propagandists who fill our airwaves every time they reproduce or marry.