Nicola will be flying high on her giant independence albatross as she sets scene for IndyRef 2

I climbed on the back of a giant albatross, which flew through a crack in the cloud, to a place where happiness reigned all year round, where music played ever so loudly ...

No, not a sneak preview of the “scene setter” of First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s vision for an independent Scotland expected to be published next week, but the dreamy lines from Traffic’s 1967 hit Hole in My Shoe, which might not be far off the mark when describing a document likely to be short on detail and long on sound-bites; all the greener, fairer, healthier, and happier stuff from which few will demur.

Keeping with the 60’s pop theme, maybe there will be a bit of Hollies thrown in, to remind us the road to a brighter future will be long with many a winding turn, given the grim consequences of the spending review revealed by Finance Secretary Kate Forbes 10 days ago.

Since the spending announcement, there is still no clear understanding of how a severe programme of services cuts will provide a launchpad for some sort of independence campaign over the next 18 months, and the repercussions of the 5% increase agreed with the train drivers this week will only make balancing the public books even tougher.

The ink was barely dry on the settlement between ASLEF and publicly owned Scotrail when the public services union Unison launched a strike ballot of 25,000 waste workers and school staff over pay, with the aim of keeping schools closed after the summer holiday. The Educational Institute of Scotland, representing the vast majority of Scottish teachers, is already threatening strike action after rejecting a two per cent offer in pursuit of a ten per cent increase, and the ASLEF deal now sets the bar for all public sector pay settlements, but for which the employers will not have budgeted. The impact of the planned £1bn reduction to public services budgets will therefore only be the half of it.