Sic transit gloria Scotia

I make no apologies for returning to the issue of Scotland,nor quoting from the greatest Scots poet of the last century.Hugh McDiarmid (Dr. Christopher Murray Grieve) came from the borders and was passionate about both communism and Scottish nationalism.In one of his greatest poems he said of himself:
"A'm aye whaur extremes meet."
The events of the last few days might be the start of somewhere where indeed extremes meet!
There is no doubt why the main parties want the status quo to continue, for the Tories it is the old comfort blanket of the union as they know it, and it also allows them to park their noxious nuclear subs far awy from the quiet suburban streets of the deep south.
For the Lib-dems it means they can hang on to a few parliamentary seats, and come next May Lib-dem seats will be as rare as hen's teeth'
The depressing truth of this process is the cowardly nature of the Labour Party.They have had a power base in Scotland for decades and have squandered  their advantage.They are desperate to make the No vote happen because in simple terms its 41 Westminster seats that makes the difference between PM Miliband and,well.....!
most Scottish Labour Mp's, well all of them really,are sad disappointments- it must have been really hard to scour all of Scotland and end up with such a band of pathetic mediocrities.
If Douglas Alexander is the answer then it must have been a tragic question!
Of course it could have been so much different.
When the issue of the referendum was first raised then the Labour Party should have put forward different proposals.Instead of 'devo=max' that they are now all pinning their hopes on, the Labour Party should have seen that the old system was broken, that there was no such thing as British politics, but rather London politics and a rather large dispirited hinterland called 'everywhere else'.
The offer should have been made of a Federation of Independent countries, with their own tax system,welfare system, defence structure and domestic policies.
The Federal government would have been the Upper chamber,what we now know as the House of the Undeas(Lords), that would be elected from the constituent countries.
Its function would be to ensure continuity and forward planning for the four countries of the islands.
It would of course mean that each country could if it so wished become a republic, thus allowing the Republic of All of Ireland to be part of the Federation,At the same time if England, or anywhere else wanted to continue with the anacronism that is the House of Saxe-Coberg-Gotha,then they could-although the costs of that 'institution' would be borne by those who want her.
It would seem that there is an objection that the British Isles would lose tgheir place at the 'top' table,but in real terms that place ended when the Empire went -indeed some might argue that went when those pesky colonials won the American War of Independence.
In todays Observer I see that their political editor is arguing for a Federal solution,and it now  seems clear that had Labour proposed such a solution it might have found favour amongst many Scots.

Instead of which there is a dogs breakfast called 'Better together' of which the Tories have more or less washed their hands of "nothing to do with us guv",and Labour is left holding the tine, along with the Lib-Dems,Ukip, and the Orange Order-not forgetting of course two of the British Communist Parties!
In the Sunday Times today the figures are startling, the majority of young people,working class votes and a growing number of women and most significantly Labour voters are moving to the Yes column.

It is still too evenly balanced,but the raising of political consciousness and the sense of empowerment will not vanish,even if the No lobby win.That must be a source of real panic for Miliband.
For if those 35% of Labour voters supporting Indepence have made that awesome leap, as sure as hell they will not return to austerity-lite  next May.
It seems unlikely that Labour will be able to count on 41 seats north of the border ever again!
McDiarmid was an avowed atheist,but if by some chance he miscalculated on that one-I bet he's having a good laugh tonight!