From Liminal Land to limbo: Scotland’s fate has driven me to despair

Under the onslaught of Project Fear, I – like millions of others – emerged unscathed, undented, and in the subsequent years ­considered myself battle-hardened rather than battle-weary by the relentless churn of negativity and hopelessness by the ­surround sound of Unionism.

But the last few months have broken the spirit of many. For several years we have been playing with the idea of Scotland in process, the idea of transformation and a change process akin to a liminal moment has been explored.

This idea of liminality (a “space-between” like the gloaming, or being a teenager) seemed like a useful way of understanding the strange process we were in.

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The philosopher Richard Rohr has ­written: “Liminal space is an inner state and sometimes an outer situation where we can begin to think and act in new ways. It is where we are betwixt and between, having left one room or stage of life but not yet entered the next.

“We usually enter liminal space when our former way of being is challenged or changed—perhaps when we lose a job or a loved one, during illness, at the birth of a child, or a major relocation.

“It is a graced time, but often does not feel ‘graced’ in any way. In such a space, we are not certain or in control.

“This global pandemic we now face is an example of an immense, collective ­liminal space. In liminal space, we ­sometimes need to not-do and not-perform ­according to our usual successful patterns. We ­actually need to fail abruptly and deliberately ­falter to ­understand other dimensions of life. We need to be silent instead of ­speaking, ­experience emptiness instead of ­fullness, anonymity instead of persona, and ­pennilessness instead of plenty.

“In liminal space, we descend and ­intentionally do not come back out or up ­immediately. It takes time but this ­experience can help us re-enter the world with freedom and new, creative approaches to life.”

This shift from incessant hopefulness to quiet despair may well be to do with the short, dark days and the terminal lack of Vitamin D we experience as much as ­anything political, but it also feels like a shift from being “liminal” to being in limbo.

It’s not so much the Supreme Court ruling (which was a revelation but not a surprise), nor is it the many politica and strategy failings of the incumbent ­Scottish Government, nor the experience of living under Conservative rule.

It’s more the feeling of being stuck, that progress and process is stalled.

Last week’s revelation that the UK Government would be “investigating” the Scottish Government’s work in ­planning and researching moves towards ­independence was perhaps the straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back.

The Times Kieran Andrews ­reported that: “The role of the civil service in ­Scotland is being re-examined ­following the Supreme Court’s ruling last week that Holyrood does not have the power to ­legislate for an independence ­referendum.

“Senior Whitehall officials are ­examining whether Scottish civil servants should be allowed to keep working on the SNP’s independence plans following the ­landmark court decision.”

Andrews continued declaring vaguely: “Questions have been raised since the ­ruling about whether it is legitimate for public money to continue to be spent making the case for independence.”

I could, just about, stomach the ­raucous glee with which the Unionist ­commentariat roared with delight as the Scottish people were sidelined and ­subjugated by the legal ruling in the ­previous weeks.

As the pack doubled down on ­victory, they delighted in declaring the ­independence movement over, and jostled with each other to demand that ­“Sturgeon ‘finally listen’”.

SUCH is the deafening noise of triumphalism that those arguing for a democratically elected government to be suppressed and silenced and a party whose very raison d’etre (independence) is to be quashed can close down all opposing arguments. It’s like you elect a government but you can’t elect a media. It’s exhausting to simply exist in

this landscape.

We’ve effectively entered a new Limbo Land in which all exits are prohibited and all sense of possibility is shut down. Many within the independence movement blame the SNP leadership, yet few offer any credible alternative strategies beyond rage.

So, congratulations to the wider ­Unionist community, the outriders, the passive supporters – the self-appointed “silent majority”. You’ve won, you’ve brought us to this place, you’ve broken this correspondent. I genuinely despair.

The dark irony that you have managed this without offering any alternative vision is quietly terrifying.

There is no alternative vision of ­Scotland-in-Union other than “shut up and sit down”. The previous offerings of the “Family of Nations”, the “Union of Equals” or suchlike have been quietly dropped.

The vision of Britain we now have is the post-Brexit one of global power and a fortress, a harsh place for the ­“work-shy”, a “Britannia Unchained”.

The vision dripped out by Starmer’s Labour Party differs only as much as the litmus test of the Daily Mail allows.

So, congratulations to those who have no vision and are content with a ­managed decline. Congratulations to those of you who look across a society ­pockmarked with brutal social ­inequality, ­disfigured by poverty and with little or no ­strategic ­answers to our chronic long-term ­problems (choose from ecology and ­climate, housing, education or health for starters) and say, “this is fine”.

Congratulations to those of you who look at the demographics of the young people in Scotland crying out for change, yearning for a chance to be part of a ­modern democracy and say, no, this status quo is good enough, this is all we should aspire to, this is all there is.

My legacy to you will be to tie you to this Union and suppress even your chance to have a voice or have a debate about your future.

CONGRATULATIONS to those of you who have experienced the last 12 years of Conservative government, the fiasco of David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss – the austerity economics they imposed, the Hostile Environment they created, and thought, “this is what I want to be part of”.

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Congratulations to those of you who will look back over the past half-century of being part of the Union and will reflect that – despite relentless and ­overwhelming evidence to the contrary – that this is a state which can change and evolve and will bring considerable benefit to ­Scotland. You won. Embrace it.

You have created a culture of ­dependence and timidity, fear of the ­future and low aspiration.

The message that has won is this: we are a people uniquely incapable; ­perpetually poor and socially and geographically ­useless. No explanation is offered for this strange state of affairs, they are just ­presented as a cold fact, a harsh reality, a state of being without explanation.

It is not this prospectus that has led me to abject despair, it is large sections of our society apparently accepting this which has.