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What a week we had in store on Monday morning. We had waited 20 years, since the trial of OJ Simpson, for a blockbuster TV show trial, and now we had it. The Good People of Scotland (and the SNP) vs. Alistair Carmichael.

Unlike OJ, AC was not in court - a position which those who were present quickly began to envy. The trial moved at all the pace of an injured snail as Roddy Dunlop, for Carmichael, spent a good few hours constructing his case. For those who remained awake, it was actually a fairly compelling narrative.

Then came the turn of Jonathan Mitchell, counsel for the petitioners. His style, based I presume on Senate filibusters, meant that I didn’t have to stretch for my remote in order to get a cup of tea. Mr Mitchell did the job of the Sky+ pause button to great effect.

The Nationalist twitterati was most upset, having presumed that by 10.30 the member for the Northern Isles would have had imposed on him the death penalty or, worse still, a by-election.

Alas, no such drama. Genuine credit in all of this goes to STV, which broadcast it for two days online and on its local channels. STV takes it politics seriously, and does it well, and the only unmissable bits of the two days of coverage were those anchored by Bernard Ponsonby.

Indyref2

Back in the real world of Scottish politics (y’know, the one where we talk exclusively about the constitution), we are nearing the anniversary of #indyref. After last week’s Ipsos MORI poll (which deserves attention because of Mark Diffley’s outfit’s propensity to get polling right in Scotland) we had a follow-up this week from TNS, which also showed independence leading the pro-union vote by a good few points.

Cue a variety of pro-indy figures discussing when we’ll have Indyref 2. Jim Sillars wants it in the manifesto. RISE and the Greens will have it in their manifestos. There was even a march on Holyrood to demand it. And today, Blair Jenkins says it’ll happen in 2021.

I wouldn’t hold my breath. The very thoughtful folk at the top of the SNP know that Indyref 2 is win or bust, and a couple of polls at a shade over 50% will not tempt them into an all-out declaration in the manifesto. Unless the polling consistently hits 60:40, it’ll be business as usual for now.

Educashun

At First Minister’s Questions (now called Questions about Education for Nicola Sturgeon in Holyrood, or QuENSH) the topic for Kezia, Ruth and Willie was, shock of shocks, education-related.

With everyone, including the government, now effectively admitting that our schools are in a right state, this is to be welcomed. Kez spoke about the performance of kids whose parents are in the clink, Ruth had a go about girls not being sciency-types, and Willie said that assessing performance shouldn’t result in any knowledge about how schools are performing (which sounds to me like a better formula for the Euro 2016 football qualifiers).

But the boss batted it away, as she does. We have a unique politics here, where education can go down the plughole under a government, but the only outfit with the believability when they say they’ll fix it is that same government.

Only in Scotland...