Chris

It is; however that membship number is a truer reflection of the general state of representative democracy in the UK today. The SNP's figure, on the other hand, is just another Internet campaign run out of control. A lot of people - and I do mean, a *lot* of people - have "joined" the SNP with a click as casual as hitting "Like" on Facebook, and with about as much forethought. It scratched an itch. It gave them a momentary self-righteous buzz. What it didn't do, I'm quite sure, is indicate that those people have thought through the implications of commitment to one particular party, along with all of its processes, priorities and policies, even the ones they personally disagree with.

As I said, the real test will be how many of these new recruits are sufficiently committed to hit the streets and go canvassing next May; how many of them will renew their membership when their subs are demanded next September; and (which we will alas never find out), how many of them are prepared to pay subs at a level that at the very least covers the cost of administering their membership. Whatever that figure is, it is substantially more than a pound. A great many of these new members are, as we speak, a financial drain on the SNP. So it's not all bad news after all.