The National:

IT’S no secret that those who wish to undermine Scotland have been absolutely revelling in the problems between Nicola Sturgeon and Alex Salmond.

Unionist commentators have turned to utterly ridiculous language to talk down Scotland and her Parliament, with phrases like “one-party state” and “banana republic” thrown around as if they have no meaning.

A one-party state? In a country with a proportional voting system, designed not to produce a majority government? If one party is dominating, then that can only be the fault of the opposition.

There also can't be many one-party states where that one party doesn't even have a majority in parliament.

READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon rips into Ruth Davidson over House of Lords peerage

As for banana republic? Generally understood to mean a country with a leader who relies on the military and destroys state institutions in a quest for prolonged power, it is quite apparent to any rational person that this does not describe Scotland in any sense.

Last night a former British “diplomat” waded in, offering up some exaggerated language of his own.

Christopher Meyer, a former ambassador to the United States and Germany, and the former chairman of the Press Complaints Commission, praised Ruth Davidson’s contribution to FMQs against “Kim Jong Sturgeon”.

Very diplomatic language for someone who spent nearly 40 years in the British Diplomatic Service.

In a tweet Meyer wrote that during FMQs, Ruth Davidson “reduced Kim Jong Sturgeon to rubble today (witness the latter’s irrelevant ad feminam riposte).”

He added: “If No 10 could stop its Borgia-like plotting for a second, it would see that Davidson is the only Tory capable of leading the fight for the Union in Scotland.”

The National:

“From the House Of Lords?” asked one Twitter user.

After Davidson said the Scottish Government’s reputation has been “tainted” and the standing of Holyrood has been “diminished” during the inquiry, Sturgeon fired back yesterday.

“Ruth Davidson wants to lecture the rest of us about democratic integrity,” she told the Chamber. “But that’s the same Ruth Davidson who’s about to depart this elected institution, dodge an election, take a seat in the unelected House of Lords, where she will pursue a political career at the taxpayers’ expense, but never have to ask voters for their permission ever again.

“I don't think Ruth Davidson is in the position to lecture anyone about democracy.”

Meyer is married to a life peer – so won’t see any problems with taking a seat in the House of Lords.

But the truth that many Scots understand is that the House of Lords is just one of the many examples of the UK Government’s democratic failures.

Let us remember that the House of Lords now has more than 830 members, second in size only to the National People’s Congress of China.

READ MORE: SNP call for inquiry as London parties push yet more peers into House of Lords

These antiquated institutions are why we have seen 22 consecutive polls showing majority support for Scottish independence.

Elites can do their very best to distract from the failings of the UK, but after this current Holyrood drama is over, those failings will still be there.