by Paul Kavanagh
How many times have you heard someone say that they’re not going to vote for independence because they “hate that SNP”? Often Thatessempee is spat out as though it was a single word, and a swerrie word at that. Just as frequently you’ll hear people say that they don’t want to vote for independence because they don’t like Nicola Sturgeon, or because they loathe Alicsammin, whose name has also developed a tendency among certain opponents of independence to be spat out as though it was a single swerrie word.
The overwhelmingly antiindependence media in Scotland has always been very keen to foster an association in the minds of the Scottish public between independence and a single political party. Most often the BBC presents discussions on independence by having on a sole representative from Thatessempee, and then “for balance”, he or she is up against a Labour person, a Tory, and a Lib Dem.