25 IS THE NEW 18

One of the SNP's pre-electoral tissue issues was that under them, education would improve by leaps and bounds. It would need to. A vital component of the Scotch megamyth that SNP love to cuddle up to is the overstatement of educational progress. Scottish education was the best in the world, we gave it to the rest, a school in every parish, blah, blah.

Facts lead elsewhere. HMiE (Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Schools) suggest that 12% of all council aided schools do not meet what they call 'positive criteria'. Also that 10% of secondary schools were 'weak'. In view of the fact that all children only have one shot at all-through education, the response of the SNP's education spokesperson to suggest that exam attainment is perhaps not so important as all that, meets with a certain opposition and irritation from newly irated parents. The fact too that Scotland tends to prop up most international tables of successful education attainment seems to mean little.

What is slowly becoming recognised as the phenomenon known as Brownian Motion, ie turning away from problems that seem intractable or insoluble, is becoming a feature of SNP policy. Quite apart from its perky suggestion that Scottish schools are excellent and taking comfort from the teachers' unions inevitably egalitarian reflex that even the thought of league tables is bad, the SNP have resorted to their now customary tactic of reversing manifesto promises. All class sizes would be capped at 18 children in Primarys One to Three, they trumpeted. Sorry about that: it will be pegged at 25 now in Primary One classes.

This must inevitably mean few increases in teacher numbers in schools yet there are plenty of young trained teachers hanging around street corners waiting for a position. All of whom have cost money to train. The Sober Thistle detects signs of Brownian Motion.

The news that The Leaping Salmond is prepared to throw his hat into the ring, one last throw of the dice, in calling for a referendum on independence comes as no surprise. It flies in the face of polls that suggest a 28% interest in the subject but that means little to The Great Leaper. What came with the announcement was that he intends to throw his 'child soldiers' into the frontline. His intention is to allow 16 and 17 year olds to vote in such a referendum.

The thinking behind this cynical ploy is clear. Many of the younger generation have a slightly naive approach to politics. That may be why so many have, not quite a romantic attachment to nationalism, but rather a pseudo-patriotic one, demonstrated in community singing of dirges such as 'Flower of Scotland' and showing off face painting at sporting events . It stems of course from the 'Braveheart' phenomenon, a work of fiction that has been transformed into apparent fact by its cultivation by nationalists. That it is historical garbage seems immaterial. When the manipulation of media sways all of us and propaganda falls on well prepared soil, anything can happen.

How will teenagers be rewarded for their presumed voting patterns in favour of nationalism, assuming that Westminster allows voting rights to be given to them because the final decision rests there? One thing that the Leaping Salmond cannot give them is a drink to celebrate victory if it happens. The New Calvinists have issued new licensing laws that have forced supermarket checkout assistants to wear badges that inform you that if you look under 25 you will be asked for your age if alcohol is involved with your shopping. More sinister than that, is their regulation that if an individual asks for alcohol before 10.00am, a description has to be written down of the person asking. What-ho for an independent Scotland! The promise of things to come!

Did I not tell you? The name of Scotland has a certain odour about it now that The Leaping Salmond and his sidekick McAskill have stuck by their guns. All that fussing and feuding in Tripoli, accompanied by a waved Saltire (horror of Horrors!), all the half revealed negotiations, all the sleazy goings on means that the good name of Scotland has been dragged through the mud and the sand too.

L'affaire Megrahi is not yet over. Whatever it has done, it has succeeded in exposing a teensy amount of the SNP/Moslem byplay that goes on out of the public eye, about which more later. Out of all the criticism that The Leaping One's activities have engendered, there are few more trenchant critics than Professor Tom Gallagher, Peace Studies, University of Bradford. Google his name for a good read about Scotland today on a number of websites.