I was at this lecture last night.

It provided an interesting analysis of the ebb and flow of unionist and nationalist fortunes over the last forty years or so. His principal conclusion was that it has been the parties rather than the voters that have changed their spots.

Mrs Thatcher he reckoned turned the Conservative party away from its previous identification with Scottish interests north of the border i.e. as a sort of nationalist/unionist animal into a party perceived here as irredeemably English.

The SNP on the other hand, at least the leadership if not every foot soldier, has shifted ground from a narrow, parochial, anti English stance to become a party which embraces all the peoples and cultures that are to be found today within our borders. This conclusion is supported by statistical analysis of the content of SNP manifestoes over 35 years carried out by a doctoral student.

The guy that slogged his way through that deserves a personal chair not just a PhD.