Yesterday, the Scottish Parliament started a debate on whether we should stage another referendum on independence. It will last for two days.
Many tax-paying P&J readers will wonder why on earth so much time has been set aside to discuss an issue that was supposed to have been settled for a “generation” or a “lifetime” in 2014.
It is valuable time that will not be spent discussing First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s supposed “number-one priority” of education at a time when we have slipped beneath former Eastern Bloc states in pupil performance.
It is several hours of discussion that won’t help our NHS at a time when nurses and doctors are operating under increasing pressure amid staff shortages and budget constraints.
And it is two days of debating an issue we spent two years dissecting between 2012 and 2014 that won’t do anything to improve our sluggish economy, which is growing at a third of the rate of the UK.
I’m sure I speak for all MSPs when I say we take our roles very seriously. We all have to remember, however, that we are here to represent the people.
And at this moment in time, the majority of people in Scotland do not want another referendum. To my mind, this SNP government is not focused on the things that really matter – schools, the NHS and the economy. Voters expect the first minister to get on with the job of running the country.
Voters also expect parties to abide by their manifesto commitments.
The Greens will give the SNP the votes they need today, despite a campaign pledge that a million Scots would have to sign a petition before there was another vote. The fact that they are so ready to abandon that promise is an absolute disgrace.
The SNP lost its majority in the 2016 election, but now the Greens are allowing Ms Sturgeon to drag us all back to the uncertainty and division of 2014.