NOVEMBER was a busy month in Holyrood ’s committee rooms on matters constitutional. At the Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee (CEEAC), they set up an inquiry to investigate a legal mechanism for an independence referendum and invited constitutional scholars Professors McHarg, Tomkins and Tierney to supplement the advice they had been given by their own internal advisers.

On Thursday, the Public Participation and Petitions Committee decided not to recommend Petition 2135 with 7500 signatories for the introduction of the International Covenant on Civil and Political rights into Scots Law. This was a particularly sad concurrence as the latter would have had significant benefits in saving time and effort for the former.

As it turned out, with the CEECA Committee

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