It has become one of those journalistic clichés to talk about ‘firing the starting gun’ in politics. There has been some debate among the hacks at Holyrood as to whether or not Nicola Sturgeon has already ‘fired the starting gun’ on the next Scottish independence referendum campaign. So, to do justice to that cliché (and to mangle it completely), I suggest something like this: today the First Minister reached for the key to the cabinet holding the starting gun, which would launch a second Scottish independence campaign. She hasn’t yet opened the cabinet but she has the key in her hand, should she decide to place it in the lock and turn.
What I mean is this: today was one more small step towards indyref2 but Sturgeon still has plenty of time to retreat, if she needs to. Today was the SNP’s ‘Programme for Government’. Sturgeon announced 14 bills but only a small number of them really matter. So
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