IN 2016 we saw the deaths of many who were worthwhile, talented and who added to the sum total of human happiness. And it also saw the death of two unions, one of which was considerably more worthwhile than the other.

Britain’s membership of the European Union died with the referendum result in June, and the Union of Scotland and England died shortly afterwards when it became clear that it was never a union at all. It’s really a job creation scheme for the likes of Michael Gove and Liam Fox, who without the United Kingdom would have as much influence on public life as a failed Tory candidate in a cooncil by-election in East Kilbride.

The Union was never about defending the interests of Scotland, it was from the very beginning about the personal ambitions of individuals whose sense of entitlement exceeded their talents.

The infamous English gold wasn’t spent on improving the lot of the Scottish people, it went directly into the pockets of selfish and greedy individuals who put their own interests before that of their country. That has set the tone for the path that the Union has taken ever since.

There’s no Union. There’s never been a Union. All there has ever been is the subordination of Scotland’s national interests to the personal interests of a small number of ambitious individuals whose sense of entitlement is inversely proportional to their talents.

That became crystal clear that morning at the end of June as Boris Johnson blustered his way in blubbering blather during the post-referendum press conference, and Michael Gove stood beside him mouthing empty-headed nothingness like a pet goldfish.

Even a failed Labour candidate in a cooncil by-election in East Kilbride would have had a better idea of what to say. They’d have blamed it entirely on the SNP.

It’s a pretty strange Union when only one partner in that Union gets to dictate all the terms of membership. It’s even stranger we’re told that there’s no reason to revisit the independence referendum even though all the promises and commitments made by the Unionist parties in 2014 have proven to be as worthless as the Govefish’s support for Boris Johnson.

During the recent appeal to the Supreme Court, the UK Government claimed that when they enshrined in law that the Scottish Parliament had to be consulted on anything that alters its powers that it didn’t actually have any legal effect, it was merely a serving suggestion. It’s like putting a habitual liar on probation on condition that they tell the truth in future, only for them to claim that they’re not bound by it because when they promised to tell the truth in future they were in fact lying.

The legal position adopted by the Conservative Government exposed their promises to the Scottish people as the lies they’ve always been.

Despite the likes of the Govefish bubbling at us repeatedly all the way through the independence referendum campaign that this glorious Union is a partnership of equals, Scotland’s input into the formulation of what Brexit means is to sook up whatever the Tories decide Brexit means once they get past asserting that it means Brexit.

That does require that they come up with something approaching a plan. For the time being, the Conservatives want to placate us with the hope that Theresa May has something up the sleeves whose cuffs she absent-mindedly fiddled with as the other EU leaders studiously ignored her on her recent trip to Brussels – letting her know that the UK was very low down their list of priorities.

Brexit means Britain wants to have its cake and eat it. That might seem like a contradiction in terms, but that’s not an obstacle since Theresa has already demonstrated that Brexit means being at the summit while simultaneously being at the bottom.

This week the Scottish Government released its plan for dealing with Brexit. It’s considerably more detailed than anything that’s issued from the goldfish gobs of anyone in the British Government. To be fair, this wouldn’t be difficult, as chimpanzees who strip the leaves from twigs to fish for termites exhibit considerably more in the way of forward planning.

Theresa May has told us nothing about what sort of Brexit she’s planning, except that it’s tautological, it has a patriotic colour scheme, and that it’s has to gain the approval of the monkey poo flingers who sit on the Tory back benches.

Nicola Sturgeon accepted Brexit, but only on the condition that Scotland’s vote was respected and reasonable steps were taken to protect Scottish interests. It was a major concession and a reasonable attempt to find a middle path that would allow Scotland to remain part of the UK while defending Scotland’s access to Europe.

“I’ll consider the Scottish Government’s plans carefully,” said Theresa May. Then five minutes later she announced that she’d done all the considering that she needed and she considered that Scotland should do what she says. She took an olive branch from Holyrood and used it as kindling to set fire to what’s left of the Union. The United Kingdom is ending, and it’s being killed off by those who claim to defend it.