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Very Bad Government

From the beginning, the SNP leadership has skilfully papered over its failures and absurdities with soaring rhetoric of the better life to come once Scotland is “free.”

· 11 min read
Health Secretary Humza Yousaf listens as First Minister Nicola Sturgeon presents her government's Programme for Government
Health Secretary Humza Yousaf listens as First Minister Nicola Sturgeon presents her government's Programme for Government, at the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, September 7, 2021. Alamy

It is not uncommon to hear Britain referred to as England in casual conversation, and not without reason—England holds more than 80 percent of the island’s population; London is the seat of government and one of the world’s largest finance centres; the Bank of England is the Bank of Britain (so to speak); the BBC has most of its operations in England; the Royal family’s main home is at London’s Buckingham Palace. The other three nations within the United Kingdom (Great Britain and Northern Ireland) are together less than ten percent of England’s 57.2m. These small nations have learned to live (not uncomfortably, but they grumble) with an elephant. In recent years, Scotland has made the most active effort to leave that beast behind, but as the resignation of the country’s first minister Humza Yousaf this week reminds us, the results have been decidedly mixed.

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