Downside is that Russia was getting pretty close to big financial trouble because of the low price of oil and the attacks on Iran sent the price back up.

Geopolitics!

Likewise. I miss swipe to dismiss/read and to come out of comments. That's about it.

Perfect. Straight to the block list.

I want to have sympathy, I really do but Farmers aren't alone here. Everyone is suffering but repeatedly over the years Farmers have voted for their own interests against the rest of us, Brexit being a key one but also they keep voting for the Conservatives for example.

You also hear the things they say about "immigrants" at trade shows and then you tack on "No Farmers, No Food", I mean, that's not really true. Individual farmers will just be replaced with one of the laege groups or conglomerates. Now, that's not good for land management and nature oe local economies but it's what would happen. Even the inheritance tax foot stamping was ridiculous.

Then they want the rest of us to support them? I mean, it's a hard ask at times not gonna lie.

It seems like the SNP has lost a lot of it's support recently from two issues. Losing Nicola Sturgeon due to party irregularities with regards to funding and being replaced with Humza Yousaf has been divisive. Sturgeon was more respected even by people who didn't agree with her view of Independence especially with her handling of COVID. Yousaf doesn't have that kind of appeal and has had a few instances where he's made himself look petty. Add to that he was a staunch supporter of a couple of controversial bills and also doesn't have the personality or the appearance of ability as his predecessor and you have a loss of the less independence minded.

On the other end you have the hardcore independence supporters who don't think the SNP is pushing hard enough and think they should just annex Scotland out of the UK and to hell with the consequences.

That leaves the middle ground. Labour might mop up the less independence inclined but they and the middle ground supporters of the SNP could be swayed by the Greens who appear to be gaining slow and steady support.

My take would be the SNP will still be the biggest party with some moving back to labour, more probably to the libdems and greens and some to the conservatives but they have their own issues both with their party in Scotland and their association with the wider conservative party.

I don't think that independence has been killed off and I see it being a continual slow burn issue for many years to come with a steady increase towards pro-independce if the younger voters continue as they areunless Westminster does something radical such as federation or devo-max. The parties in Westminster as a whole aren't generally viewed positively, it's what helped get the SNP their support over the years after all and they seem disinclined to change that view.