Yes campaign's legacy is now secure

Although pro-independence people on social media have appeared to be united in their reaction to the UK government's intransigence over the fiscal framework, I think there's actually been a subtle divide.  The largest group always quite fancied the idea of the Scotland Bill being vetoed and were only too delighted that London seemed to be handing the Scottish Government a good reason for doing that.  A smaller group wanted the extra powers in the Scotland Bill, and considered it a matter of extreme regret that London were sabotaging the whole process and leaving Holyrood with little option but to veto.  I was part of the latter group, and I'm therefore delighted that a fair deal has been belatedly reached.

The Yes campaign was by any standards an extraordinary phenomenon - and yet its only concrete achievement was the Smith package.  (I know some people would say the SNP landslide was also a direct result of the Yes campaign, and that's true, but election results are ephemeral.)  If the new powers had never materialised, there was a danger that we could have ended up looking back at the 2014 referendum as an event that ultimately achieved absolutely nothing - which is pretty much how the sovereignty movement in Quebec look back at their near miss in 1995.

It may well be that the UK government honestly thinks that more devolution is in itself a trap for the SNP - but they're wrong, just as every previous UK government transferring powers as a "brilliant tactic" has been proved wrong.  Consider this, for example - how much harder is it going to be for the BBC to resist the case for a Scottish Six now that income tax rates will be entirely set in Scotland?  How can a one-size-fits-all "national" news programme broadcast from London possibly cope with that degree of asymmetric devolution?