Until we have a vision of a less Anglocentric, more conciliatory Britain, nationalists will keep trying for independence
On the face of things, now may not seem like an ideal time to be restarting the campaign for Scottish independence, as Nicola Sturgeon has done this week. Only one in five Scottish voters think a new referendum is a priority in the next two years, a YouGov poll found this week. For most Scots, independence trails in importance behind the NHS, the economy, education and the climate crisis.
On the wider stage, moreover, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has shocked European nations into much greater unity and overarching shared purpose, not their fissiparous opposites. The G7 and Nato summits this week embodied an imperative for Europe to put its often serious differences aside and pull together against Russia’s generational threat. Even Boris Johnson gets that, a bit.
Martin Kettle is a Guardian columnist
