The Spectator’s Notes | 14 May 2011

Making a speech in Scotland at the weekend, I met scores of people who want their country to remain in the Union, but do not know what to do about it. They complain that they have no leadership. Unionism is probably still, by some way, the majority view, but it is decades since it was properly articulated. Once upon a time, it depended upon Protestantism (even after the 1945 election, Tories held most of the seats in Glasgow for this reason) and Scotland’s role in the Empire. The case has not been updated, though it could and should be. (What, after all, is modern about petty nationalism, and creating new borders?) And so Alex Salmond, by far the most able Scottish politician, has been allowed to frame the argument. Now he is being permitted to set the timetable as well, choosing a referendum at his preferred moment, with his preferred wording.