Tuesday 1st March:  Dydd gwyl Dewi hapus to our Welsh readers. And let’s not forget our Cornish readers celebrating St.Piran’s Day on March 5 – Gool Peran Lowen! A week to remember on the Celtic fringes…

So, June 23rd it is, and the bunfight begins…

Miserable, negative, fear-based”:  Déjà vu, Scotland? Yesterday the First Minister fired a warning shot across the PM’s bows that despite his ‘underwhelming’ negotiations and project fear2, the SNP would campaign vigorously for Remain [though of course we will have no direct truck with Cameron and his ilk, who are also campaigning vigorously for Remain].  Judith Duffy in the Sunday Herald reported on one way Scotland could halt Brexit – smacking not a little of desperation.

If you missed them:  the Brexits of the week, courtesy of Guido Fawkes, first Michael Gove’s statement, and second Lexie Hill, the Question Time schoolgirl.

Is Cameron toast? : Chris Deerin in CAPX says Alex Salmond is right [ and how it must hurt to say that] when he says that the Prime minister has to go if he loses. Salmond speaks from personal experience of course and, says Deerin, “If it was necessary for Salmond to step down, Cameron’s situation in the event of Brexit will be that with large, clanging bells on”…

Is Indyref2 inevitable after Brexit? : No, said Martin Kettle in Friday’s Guardian. It suits the SNP to rattle London’s cage ahead of May’s election, but the practicalities of Indyref2 are quite another matter - what “may seem inescapable before polling day may become a bit more escapable afterwards”.  Joyce McMillan in Friday’s Scotsman also urged caution on Nicola Sturgeon as she balances on the tightrope between Yes and No and Leave and Remain. Lallands Peat Worrier finds it hard to contemplate the Union we are in outside the EU – the Brexiters are too depressing; bring on independence. Anyway, said Alex Bell in last week’s Scottish Review, it can’t happen. Referenda are outwith Holyrood’s powers – it’d be illegal without Westminster consent, and the odds are?

Is the BBC neutral? : Julia Hartley-Brewer in the Telegraph last week thinks not. There’s an ingrained bias towards the EU, she thinks – and when we clicked on the readers’ vote at the bottom, it appears that 93% agree.  Roger Mosey in the New Statesman is of a similar mind…

Will UKIP disappear on June 24th? : Owen Bennett in yesterday’s Huffington Post has other ideas. Leave, and there’s the divorce to oversee, Remain and the fight goes on. QED. Here’s praise for Farage from an unlikely source – Kathy Gyngell in last Tuesday’s Conservative Woman – “the most significant force in British politics for a generation”.

Project Fear scare story of the week : here’s Mark Wallace in Friday’s ConservativeHome on the defence issue which turned out to be full of sound and fury and signifying very little…

Best of the commentariat? : Probably Janet Daley in the Sunday Telegraph, maintaining that the week’s political explosions have been “more soap opera than politics” suggesting, says Daley that “the question is all about private loyalties” rather than the most important question we’ve been asked in a generation. “What this little flurry of anger and insults has accomplished is to catch the attention of a public that had glazed over. The people are listening now and they will draw their own conclusions from the manner in which warnings are delivered and arguments are conducted.”

Finally, this will resonate with those of you with young children - or who, indeed, are in your second childhood – No EU, no Gruffalo. Unthinkable…

On the whole, we’re with the plaintive BTL crie de coeur in yesterday’s Independent  - “How much more of this drivel do we have to endure before the vote?”

Our MUST READ this Week: Brendan O’Neill in the Spectator on the revenge of the plebs - a delicious view of the rise of Trumpmania and Euroscepticism. O’Neill takes a pop at those in power who believe that every point of view running counter to their own must be a mental illness. “In both Middle America and Middle England, among both rednecks and chavs, voters who have had more than they can stomach of being patronised, nudged, nagged and basically treated as diseased bodies to be corrected rather than lively minds to be engaged are now putting their hope into a different kind of politics. And the entitled Third Way brigade, schooled to rule, believing themselves possessed of a technocratic expertise that trumps the little people’s vulgar political convictions, are not happy. Not one bit”.  Great stuff…

We have fiscal lift off:  A funding agreement has been, er, agreed. Common Space obliged with a round-up of salient comment and Scott McNab in Friday’s Scotsman delivered ‘everything you need to know’ – so we’ll leave him to it.  Brian Wilson [see our last media round up] can wake up. It’s all over bar the election manifestos coming to a letter box near you…

Kezia Dugdale has decided that the best way to make people vote for you is to promise to ‘tax and spend’. Scott McNab reported in yesterday’s Scotsman on the Labour leader’s speech, delivered in the sure and certain knowledge that if the polls are right, she’ll never be called upon to act on it. The SNP reveals its own plans today.

“The nursing of grievances, the grinding of axes”: Meanwhile, the prospect of a Scottish Six rumbles on in the background. Dani Garavelli  in Scotland on Sunday is vaguely surprised at the negativity - from both pro-union and pro-indy sides - greeting the news that BBC Scotland is to begin trials. “Alan Cochrane [D. Telegraph Scottish ed] sneers at the concept of news through a Scottish lens, as if it is difficult to understand why a country that needs more migrants is not well-served by a narrative that presents them as a burden on over-stretched services. Others fret about the loss of UK and international focus in the apparent belief that those producing a Scottish bulletin might forget to cover Donald Trump’s bid to become the US Republican presidential candidate or Boris Johnson’s decision to back Brexit”. Garavelli has little doubt it’ll be a Good Thing. A rewarding read if you’re undecided…

As you might expect, Lesley Riddoch in Friday’s National welcomed the news, but with the caveat that there are still practicalities to be worked out and a certain amount of viewer resistance to overcome. And then there’s Vicky Allan in the Sunday Herald, reporting on trouble at mill – and what the great and the good really think of the idea…

And finally, the really interesting stuff…

Bunny hops:  Edith Hancock in yesterday’s CityAM on the new 50p coin destined for piggy banks because it’s too pretty to spend and grannies will give it away

and

We can’t wait:  Out of Fife comes nirvana – a Buckfast Easter egg with chili-flavoured chocolate. Should make the bunny hop faster…

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