THE National has celebrated its fifth anniversary with a karaoke party.

The paper’s journalists and columnists attended the event at Hummingbird in Glasgow on Thursday night.

The Christmas-themed celebration included crackers, a fifth birthday cake of The National’s first front page and concluded with a rendition of Auld Lang Syne.

During the independence referendum, most pro-indy media was online and Scotland’s only daily pro-independence newspaper, was launched as an alternative after we failed to get the Yes vote we wanted.

But the independence movement has kept its momentum with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon promising indyref2020 in front of a joyous crowd at The National’s rally in Glasgow’s George Square.

National editor Callum Baird thanked readers for their dedication to the paper since 2014.

He said: “It is a fantastic achievement to be celebrating our fifth birthday. As far as we know, we are the only paper in the UK that is growing in sales and we have our readers to thank for that.

“In the run up to indyref2 it is more important than ever to have pro-Yes voices among the Unionist media.”