HOPE is a cliché political leaders resort to when they have little of it to offer. The hopes of those tens of thousands of independence marchers in Edinburgh of an early referendum must surely have been laid to rest after this week’s SNP conference. . https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/16972430.iain-macwhirter-why-pragmatism-and-patience-have-to-be-the-order-of-the-day-for-snp/