Panicking unionism, telling itself it's ok because the rise in support for independence is based on Brexit, coronavirus or PM Johnson, might not be in the present pickle had it attached due importance to the fact that 45% of us wanted independence before any of those things.
They acted like they won an election where the rules of he game are that the losers will shut up no matter what is done because they get another chance in five years. If you win a referendum narrowly, you can't behave as if you won it massively. You won't get away with it. /2
You need to adapt what you do on victory in light of its extent. The same goes for us. The kind of independence we end up, the specifics of our relationship with Britain, should reflect the extent of our win in a whole host of areas. I might want some things that I'd agree to /3
forego if the win is narrow. We'd have to recognise a sizeable unionist vote in that kind of way. You can't just say "You lost - get over it". It won't work. If unionism had been clever, and flexible, enough to say "OK. We won, but that was close. Let's talk.", we'd be stuffed.
Anecdotally, I think the rise in support has been building since 2014, in the form of increasing uncertainty among those still reporting as No voters, due to how unionism reacted to its victory, how it thought that entitled it to behave. Brexit and the rest are the final straws.
And Brexit, Johnson and his inept, facile, jingoistic boosterism are final straws that are entirely consistent with how Britain has behaved since 2014. They feel almost like the logical end of it. I think that's why they hit home so much. You almost feel like "Yeah. Of course."

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