In his new book, John Lloyd makes the case for maintaining the Act of Union of 1707, and exposes the dark passions which motivate the SNP.
The PSOE hoped to reunite the Left. Instead, rising tensions have fuelled extreme parties.
Pedro Sánchez’s quest for a ‘solution’ is doomed – there is no combination of concessions which would either satiate or weaken the nationalists.
And here we end, by reflecting on what he might have thought about Labour’s move away from the tenet of democratic government.
Improving the situation means not only holding the police to greater account, but behaving more responsibly ourselves.
EU leaders – encourage by a rump of British Europhiles – are pursuing the fantasy that if they bully us enough, we might change our minds.
Self-determination always involves conflict. In some cases that is justified, a conflict of necessity. In others it is not.
The tiniest quantum of goodwill would have solved – indeed, might yet solve – the problem. But neither side is willing to display it.
It’s unimaginable that Westminster would have acted towards Scotland as Madrid has acted towards Catalonia.
His toothless policy towards the Democratic Unionists and Sinn Fein has created an unsustainable democratic vacuum in Northern Ireland.
There is a case for the EU guaranteeting internal as well as external frontiers – which would make Scottish independence impossible were the UK to remain an EU member.
The Spanish Prime Minister’s tin-eared reaction to police violence served to heighten, not dampen down, tensions.
For many, Brexit is a powerful justification for a new independence referendum. But this, too, works both ways.