The National:

IT was the kind of conundrum that would have mystified Marple and puzzled Poirot — did the Scottish Government want to hold a referendum on Scottish independence?

Luckily the Scottish Conservatives were on the case.

There were few clues to go by — just a manifesto commitment to hold one, a programme for government laying out the framework, umpteen media interviews on the hows, whys and whens and the strongly-held pro-sovereignty conviction that was the very reason for the formation of the democratically-elected SNP.

Only on-the-record pledges from the First Minister made in print and parliament, recorded by broadcasters and, indeed, the Scottish Parliament's Official Record.

So the Tories wondered — did the Scottish Government aim to hold the constitutional vote they'd said they want to hold, repeatedly and constitently, in line with rising and sustained support for independence?

It was an enigma. A riddle. A real thinker.

The National:

But in a move that would have made the officers of Scot Squad proud, they've cracked it.

The linesman's team produced shocking evidence today that has left the political establishment aghast — indeed, the SNP-run Scottish Government does want to live up to the commitments it's made on staging indyref2. 

No shit, Sherlock.

In a move worthy of Scot Squad, the crack team of investigators used a Freedom of Information request to reveal that an Australian diplomat that had ASKED about the "proposed timing of the referendum post the Scottish election".

And — get this  — Constitution, Europe and External Affairs Michael Russell had ANSWERED the question in line with the established policy position, saying it could be held "by end 2021".

Pass the smelling salts, because in the manner of a lady in a vintage mystery novel, we're felling weak at the knees.

"The SNP Government’s official position is to hold indyref2 in 2021," DCI Ross cried between puffs of his pipe. "Nothing could be more reckless when our entire focus should be on fighting the pandemic."

We guess the flaps on his deerstalker must have been covering his ears when Nicola Sturgeon said she'd "put campaigning and planning for an independence referendum on hold" at the outset of the health crisis and "no-one is proposing holding an independence referendum in the middle of the pandemic — unlike the Tories, who have disgracefully ploughed ahead with Brexit amid the Covid crisis."

READ MORE: Michael Russell told Australia Scotland wants indyref2 this year

What the First Minister has also said, in an interview broadcast by Channel 4 News, is this: "As we start to recover from this, all societies, all countries are asking themselves 'what do we want to recover to, what changes do we want, what kind of countries do we want to be?'

"It’s an opportunity to tackle some of the deep-seated issues and problems like inequality and poverty and for Scotland that involves the consideration of who holds the levers, where do the powers lie?

"And that of course brings to the fore the question of independence."

"That’s not a distraction from that process of recovery," she went on, "that’s part and parcel of making sure we are deciding as a country in Scotland what we recover to."