FOR decades Westminster ran Scotland the way a tired old GP manages a fraught, but largely misunderstood, patient by making ample use of placebos. (You may know that the placebo effect occurs when positive expectations improve an outcome.)

For instance, the Scottish budget is cut but the prevailing narrative on the BBC and other Unionist organs is that these reductions are no big deal and anyway will probably bring about efficiencies in the longer term. Trust doctor Westminster and all will be well. The Scottish patient generally received its medicine sugar coated.

Actually, this nonsense worked rather well. Indeed, so effective was it, there was little need to change.

After all, the Scottish patient even spurned an attempt to ween itself of placebos in 2014. Scottish Tories of old rather liked this patrician approach. It enabled them to be Scots in Edinburgh and British in London. So, what changed?

Doctor Westminster changed thats what. The relatively benign old medical man was replaced by someone who believed in a more muscular treatment. This new medic knew nothing of the Scottish patient and cared even less. For him, the English patient came first and foremost. Energy spent on others was largely wasted effort. No longer was there was there any need to sell the medicine.

So, the Placebo has now been junked. It has been replaced by the Nocebo. Whats that, I hear you ask? A nocebo is when negative expectations of the patient regarding a treatment cause the treatment to have a more negative effect than it otherwise would have. Put briefly, it means the doctor decides youll get whats coming and he will make no attempt to sugar coat or downplay the consequences. In fact, he will go out of his way to tell you how bad things will get for you.

Look at the Latin roots for these words. The term placebo comes from I will please. By contrast, nocebo stems from I will harm. What harm?

Here are a few examples.

N Neglect. The UK Government has moved from unintentional neglect to deliberate mistreatment of the Scottish patient. They do not like you, and they do not want to hear from you. This will soon become even more evident, as Holyrood is neutered and bypassed.

O Overweening arrogance. The British Government increasingly represents only part of this island. And is now happy to make this plain. When challenged they simply shrug. And say, what are you going to do about it?

C Crude, muscular Unionism. Democracy in the UK is dead, in most respects. Without the constraints of a written constitution, Westminster will more and more reward those who agree and condone; but punish severely anyone who displeases. The BBC got this message loud and clear and responded early by surrendering its management to Tory control.

E England trumps all. As the UK Government transforms itself into the BNP in power, nothing that does not aid and support its power base, mostly in England, will be allowed.

B Bloody-mindedness. The doctor does not give a damn about how the Scottish patient feels. He says openly the medicine will be bad. Who cares? Few it seems. Scottish inaction will likely be rewarded with even greater excesses from Doctor Westminster. Dominic Cummings, the former adviser to the PM, has described Johnson as an unthinking Unionist.

O Organised evil. The typical Tory administration was ever engaged in one of mans oldest exercises in moral philosophy, that is the search for a superior ethical justification for selfishness. Now this pursuit will be conducted red in tooth and claw.

Please be under no illusions. The British Government does not care for you and is coming for you. The Scottish Government really needs to get beyond vain hopes that this administration is going to change. It will not. And it has said so on numerous occasions.

Ask yourself this: what would any sensible patient do if they thought their doctor was intent on harming them and had indeed said so? A rational patient would change their medical supervision. Inaction and soothing words are no protection against someone with declared malign intentions.

Also, right-wing voters in Scotland need to take a good look at this new treatment. They, like the Scottish Government, harbour the notion that with Johnson gone, the world will return to normal. Here is an uncomfortable truth. The new Unionist doctor despises you too. Stick with Johnson, then right-wing politics in Scotland is dead for a generation. Better to condemn the UK administration and form an independent Scottish Tory party.

Scotland is watching. The nation wants and deserves action, not words.

SNP president Michael Russell is the guest on the TNT show at 7pmon Wednesday

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Changing the medicine - The move from the benign Placebo to the malignant Nocebo - The National