We Don't Need no Revolution.

I couldn't count myself as Russell Brand's greatest fan, but he obviously has a passion for popular sovereignty.

We in Scotland don't need a revolution to acquire popular sovereignty. Our popular sovereignty is enshrined in Scots constitutional law and, though it has lain dormant since 1707, it was famously reiterated by the Lord President in the case of John MacCormick and Ian Hamilton v The Lord Avocate in 1953 (MacCormick v Lord Advocate 1953 SC 396):

“The principle of unlimited sovereignty of Parliament is a distinctively English principle and has no counterpart in Scottish constitutional law.”

That case was about the styling of the Monarch as Elizabeth the Second. Scotland had never had a regnant Queen Elizabeth before and Ian Hamilton's is the first name on the roll of Queen's Counsel in Scotland which does not have the offending ordinal, as he refused to swear allegiance to a non-existent Queen. It's also worth remembering that my local postbox was the first victim of the use of explosives for domestic political ends in Scotland since 1746 when it was repeatedly vandalised and finally blown up for having the offending E II R monogram. 

In future, newly installed postboxes will probably bear advertisements for payday loans or somesuch now that the Tories and their Liberal Democrat lickspittles have sold the Post Office off to their chums at a knock-down price. 

Cartoon: Frank Boyle.

Thankfully, all we need to do to regain popular sovereignty in Scotland and to stop the theft of our public assets is to vote Yes on 18th September 2014.