It’s remarkable the Nationalist hierarchy thought it could get away with not saying how many eligible voters there were in the leadership contest.
Can a new leader persuade Nationalist activists to keep waiting, and waiting? Or will they be bounced into a kamikaze bid for separation?
Like the SNP, the EU are often an overtly hostile negotiating partner. They will take whatever ground he gives up and come back for more.
Much as with Lee Anderson and the death penalty, her candidacy puts the spotlight again on the question of major strands of public opinion which are deeply under-represented in public life.
Basic services – the NHS, policing, schools, road maintenance, refuse collection, you name it – have gone to rack and ruin. Life expectancy has fallen sharply. We still have, to our shame, by far the worst drug death levels in Europe.
Scottish Conservatives have attracted unionist voters who might not stick with them if the threat of independence were seen to recede.
The First Minister has a powerful gift for weaving myths about herself, but should not be allowed to write the first draft of history alone.
“I know it might seem sudden, but I have been wrestling with it for weeks”, says the outgoing First Minister and SNP leader.
A litany of domestic failures and the murky state of SNP finances are all possible factors. But his shattering the illusion that the Tories could not win a constitutional fight seems to have tipped the balance.
The BBC is reporting that the Scottish National Party leader and First Minister will make the announcement at a news conference in Edinburgh.
Anas Sarwar has shown no sign of sharing Sir Keir Starmer’s concerns about the Gender Recognition Reform (GRR) Bill.
Time and again, their more muscular – to borrow a phrase – approach to Westminster’s prerogatives has paid off. Yet they don’t set Union policy.
The Scottish Secretary, understated in his public utterances, “often makes the wittiest interjections in Cabinet discussions”.
The end of the iron discipline which made any criticism of the leadership unthinkable has exposed the deep divisions within the party and kicked off its vicious civil war.