Do you want to know what it looks like when one party has become the most dominant force in its country’s political history, when one in every 30-odd voters is a member of that party and when it is regularly topping 50 per cent in the polls?
Then look no further than central Edinburgh this morning where Nicola Sturgeon was launching the SNP’s Holyrood election manifesto.
The queues to get in to the Edinburgh International Conference Centre stretched back for several streets as supporters and party members waited eagerly in the warm spring sunshine for the chance to hear, and see, their leader in person.
The inside of the hall was arrayed like an American political convention with the SNP leader speaking in the centre of 1,400 supporters in four tiered banks of seats – political theatre in the round, you might say. The American influence didn’t end there, with ‘I’m with Nic’ yellow wristbands given out and an interactive app ready to download for all those present.
The leader’s speech was not just beamed above the podium on a four-sided screen for all to see but all those who couldn’t make it could watch live on the SNP’s own YouTube channel.
This wasn’t a usual manifesto launch where the leader appears before the media, makes a short speech and answers questions. This
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