Scotland’s Covid nationalists

One of the rare upsides of living in a country run by nationalists is that nationalists are not great at hiding their true feelings. When you’ve got a superiority complex, it’s hard to prevent it from bursting out, often at the most inopportune times. Efforts to explain to outsiders that the SNP isn’t actually a more left-wing version of Labour, but a strategically savvier version of Ukip may fall on deaf ears but, sooner or later, the subjects of your hand-wringing will just come out with it by themselves.

On Saturday, a modest band of Scottish nationalists just came out with it in dramatic fashion on the border with England. Here is how the Edinburgh Evening News reported the event:

‘[A] small convoy of cars and vans festooned with Saltires, SNP flags and independence slogans parked at a rest area on the A1 route towards Berwick-upon-Tweed. Eyewitnesses claimed campaigners wearing hazmat suits and masks could be heard shouting “plague carrier” at northbound vehicles, reading out number plates on live streams and brandishing banners with messages such as “Keep Scotland Covid Free”.