The National:

IT was the best of times, it was the worst of times. A gloriously celebratory summer where the Yes community held festivals, ran concerts, urged their friends and neighbours to put their faith in a new future for Scotland.

With a friend I travelled around the Scottish islands in my Beetle, re-imagined as the Yesmobile, suitably adorned for its new role.

Filled with real optimism, clad in a wardrobe of Yes T-shirts, we talked to groups everywhere – not in a formal meeting setting, but wherever we could find an audience. A certain doctor’s surgery had never seen the like. And we were filled with genuine, real optimism. Motivated by genuine, real passion.

The polls in favour of independence had grown steadily from a baseline under 30. The one which put the Yes vote at 51 arguably came a week too early. So when we lost, the tears were real too. As they were for the thousands of folks who’d put heart and soul into tireless effort. And doubtless were for Salmond and Sturgeon who’d run a high octane campaign.

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The disappointment was acute; the disbelief widespread. And then an odd thing happened. Women for Independence decided to hold a rally shortly afterwards. It had to move from its original venue in Perth to a large church in the city because so many wanted to attend.

And from all over Scotland we travelled to what might have been a wake, but instead was a joyous affirmation that we weren’t going away. There were stirring speeches from a young teenager and an 80-something year-old woman who advised us she’d been an indy supporter for 50 years. We may have arrived dispirited, but we went home re-energised.

For so many women and men, September 18 , 2014, became a setback but not a rout. We had a dream, and it was far too good to throw away. In the intervening years many of those who had been fearful of plighting their troth to a new Scotland, who had very real concerns about their and their families’ futures, have come to share that dream.

The National:

There are a number of reasons why. People now argue that it is the contrast between the First Minister and Prime Minister in terms of dealing with the pandemic which has pulled the switch. But there’s more than that. The third-rate cabinet assembled by Boris Johnson after he had dispensed with the services of many experienced, senior Tories was seen as hapless long before Covid-19 reared its ugly head.

And before that was Brexit. That was crucial for a number of reasons. The most obvious is that Scotland voted Remain by almost 2 to 1. Ironically one of the pillars of the Better Together campaign had been their assurance that voting No was the only way to guarantee staying in Europe.

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Yet just as significant, I would argue, is what Brexit unleashed in the character of some of its supporters. An overt display of racism and hostility to our migrant communities. A high-pitched intolerance to a Europe few of us recognised. An obsession with a glorious era which existed only in the febrile imagination of those who persisted in seeing the world through the prism of a world war in which they’d never been involved. Plus a re-writing of the history of that conflict.

Many people in Scotland looked on in horror at a particularly unlovely form of mob culture. How it draped itself in the Union flag or that of St George. They hoped we could be better than that.

And they gave fresh thought to the notion of Scotland as the small modern European nation they could see had worked for other countries the same size and smaller. Other countries with fewer natural assets.

These are the former doubters we have to bring to the certainty that Scotland has more opportunities than challenges. Opportunities to strive for the best of times.

And not taking No for answer.