a year or more of darkness, a few hundred years without day

Alec Finlay explores the poetics and characteristics of an indigenous Scottish imaginary. The politics of 2014 began two days after the UK general election of 9 April 1992. Scotland voted left but the British electorate imposed a Conservative government. Scotland United, a left-wing umbrella group, called an impromptu rally in Glasgow’s George Square for 11 April. Around 5,000 people listened to speeches and sang Hamish Henderson’s anti-apartheid anthem, ‘Freedom Come-All-Ye’.