Hello and welcome to the edition podcast from The Spectator. I'm Cindy Yu.

As Boris Johnson prepares to holiday in Scotland, I ask, can he stop Scottish independence?

We also talk about just why bats have so much pandemic potential.

And at the very end, since foreign holidays are a little difficult this year, is it time to bring back the Great British Holiday Camp?

First up, poll after poll after poll is showing a surging support for Scottish independence.

So can Boris Johnson stop it? And what do unionists need to do?

Alex Massey asked the question in this week's cover piece, and he joins me down the line now,

together with Angela Haggerty, journalist and commentator on Scottish independence.

So Alex, for listeners who are not in Scotland, a surge commentator on Scottish independence. So, Alex, for listeners who are not in

Scotland, the surge in support for Scottish independence may be hard to understand. He illustrate just how

powerful the surge has been. Well, I mean, the simplest way of doing that is to remind people that

six years ago in the independence referendum in 2014, the result was 55% of people

voted against independence and 45% voted in favour. We now have three or four different

opinion polls over the last month, which suggests that in broad terms, that result has been

flipped on its head, that you now have something approaching 55% of people supporting

independence and only 45% favouring the union. And as I say, this is multiple polls now over the last

month or so, so it is now in journalistic terms and in actual terms, indeed, a bona fide

trend. You know, and this is the context in which Boris Johnson is holidaying in Scotland later this month.

And, you know, it is now quite clear that for the time being anyway, momentum is very much with the

SMP and independence supporters, and it is unionism that has to answer the questions that justify

its own future rather more seriously, rather more thoroughly, than supporters of independence

have to make the case for independence. And that again is an area where the situation has

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