Nicola Sturgeon’s vainglorious conference speech

In March this year, as the country went into Covid-prompted lockdown, the SNP and the Scottish government put their campaigns for independence on hold. 2020 has been a year of few consolations and it is typical that even its better things must come to an end.

Then again, there was no need for the SNP to put their demands for independence into cold storage, for a temporary cessation of outrage requires nobody to forget the party’s sole reason for existence. So few people took this notional ceasefire seriously – though characteristically the SNP demanded credit for it anyway – and even fewer will have been surprised to discover this afternoon that just as Nicola Sturgeon thought the case for Scottish independence was unanswerable before the coronavirus arrived, so she believes Covid-19 makes independence more vital and urgent than ever. Mandy Rice-Davies and all that, you know.

There are elections to the Holyrood parliament next year and the SNP will once again be rewarded with victory.