IT wasn't long ago that the Unionist media was pedalling myths about Scottish independence.
But things have changed since 2014 and what the Yes campaign has predicted has come true – Boris Johnson has become PM and Scotland is being taken out of the EU against its will.
With a recent opinion poll putting indyref2 support at 52%, a majority for the first time since March 2017, it seems the rest Unionist media is starting to take note.
READ MORE: Scots want independence and they want to vote now
Back in April, The Independent's Louis Staples wrote about how Prime Minister Theresa May didn't recognise Scotland's unique situation when it comes to Brexit.
"Throughout the Brexit process, the Scottish Parliament has found itself ignored and sidelined, despite frequent attempts to engage in dialogue with Theresa May," he said.
The contempt for Scotland has become even worse with a Boris Johnson Government and many English columnists have said they would love to have the opportunity to leave Westminster.
"If I were a Scot, I would vote for independence tomorrow. I would want nothing more to do with the shambles of today’s Westminster Parliament, which goes on holiday for a month during the worst political crisis in a generation," writes Simon Jenkins in The Guardian.
And he's not the only Englishman backing indyref2. Jenkins's colleague John Harris said if there was another vote he would be back in Scotland "in a flash".
He said: "If another independence vote materialised, whatever the surrounding tensions and complexities, I would be back there [Scotland] in a flash, to see if at least one part of these islands can leave behind the current wretchedness, and find something better."
In his column in The Independent, Matthew Norman, says Scotland has a lifeline out of the Brexit shambles with the prospect of indyref2.
He said: "Were I Scottish, I would be mad for independence. I’d say sod the crude oil price, sod the Barnett formula and sod the pernicious English meme that poor wee Scotland hasn’t a prayer of making it across the road without Nanny May holding her hand.
"I’d also say sod the uncertainties. With Brexit, how much more uncertain can it possibly get? And I’d certainly say sod the buffoons of Brexit – Gove, Boris, Fox, and the rest – who argued last summer that liberation from a union which restricted self-determination justified any risks, but will now counsel the Scots to keep a hold of nurse for fear of something even worse. How transparently hypocritical do these people need to get before a residue of self-respect automatically shuts their mouths?"
Guardian columnists Gaby Hinsliff, Dawn Foster and Martin Kettle all wrote about how a second indyref is inevitable with Johnson as PM.
Hinsliff pointed out that even if Johnson manages to secure a deal with the EU, Scottish voters will not forget how they were treated with contempt by Westminster.
"Even if Johnson cuts a deal at the last minute, voters in both Scotland and Northern Ireland are unlikely to forget how close they came to being dragged off a cliff by the English or how they were treated in the process; their concerns ignored, misrepresented and trampled in the rush. Once lit, a nationalist fire is not so easily put out," she added.
"Right now the breakup of the union looks extraordinarily likely, if not inevitable," Foster wrote in June. "It means if Johnson does indeed become the next UK Prime Minister, he may also be its last."
Kettle said ties that "have bound the UK together for centuries" are "fraying faster than ever before" due to Johnson's leadership.
Vonny Leclerc, who also writes for The National agrees, saying: "Brexit has done the heavy lifting for a second shot at independence, and Johnson is undoubtedly a boon for the cause. Now Scotland is persuadable – but only if the campaign offers a clear path out of this shambles."
In The Times, Iain Martin continues to write about how the Union can be "reformed and revivified and, with a little luck, saved" ... but other journalists are championing the Yes cause including National columnist Andrew Tickell and Kevin Pringle.
Pringle writes that "the position [on independence] is different now", referring to the recent poll that put a Yes vote at 52%.
"If independence is attained in the future, as I believe it will be, an irony may be that some who favour the Union will wish they had settled for the softer version that was on offer in 2014," he added.
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