SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon
Edinburgh, Scotland:
At Queensferry, the picturesque junction of a river and a sea 30 minutes west of Edinburgh, a waiting crowd broke into applause.
They were here to cheer the newly elected MP's of the Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP), all 56 of them, a record victory that almost eclipsed David Cameron's unlikely return as Prime Minister of England for a second term.
The cheering was the loudest for a petite woman in red, Nicola Sturgeon, 44, the SNP's charismatic leader and the First Minister (equivalent to the Prime Minister) of Scotland.
Just moments before, a group of SNP volunteers said they had no words to describe her. One of them became emotional, holding back tears.
Sturgeon was charming, posing with children - especially little girls - for selfies and hugs. But she spoke with steel in her voice. She said she had spoken to David Cameron soon after the results , and had told him that it will "not be business as usual for Scotland", an indication that she will push hard for greater devolution of powers to her government in Edinburgh.
That message will have the force of a solid block of MPs, many of them first timers, who pulled off one of the biggest political upsets in British history.
One of them is already a star, almost rivalling Sturgeon for the crowds attention - Mhairi Black, the 20-year-old student of politics who defeated the Labour party strongman Douglas Alexander in a seat he has held since 1997. We jostled with selfie-seeking admirers and TV crews to interview Mhairi.
She told us that Westminster (seat of the UK Parliament) didn't intimidate her and that she is in the SNP because "they are the only ones listening to Scotland and have the people's interests at heart."
So what powered the SNP's victory? The most commonly heard answer was the strong desire for Scotland to control its own economic affairs, rather than have its finances determined by Westminster.
The push to austerity under Tory rule - Cameron has proposed nearly 12 billion pounds in spending cuts - was a major flashpoint. Last year, a referendum for Scottish independence driven by the SNP lost narrowly, falling about 8% behind those wanting to remain in the union.
James Astill , Political Editor for The Economist, disagrees. He told me that the SNP's philosophy is based on a utopian left wing dream, "totally bogus economics cleverly combined with residual nationalist feelings. The SNP's big achievement is to embed in Scottish nationalism a feeling that Scots are so different politically, more left wing than the rest of UK, that they must have their own state."
He said that "there is no polling to suggest that Scots are any different from any other member of the British Isles. The whole thing is nonsense but very powerful nonsense that could lead to the dismemberment of the most successful collection of nations in history."
Sturgeon has not clearly mentioned a fresh referendum, suggesting that this victory was for Scotland's voice to be heard in Westminster. But many believe that the momentum towards a fresh referendum may be hard to control.
An elderly gentleman we met in Leith, a slightly rundown part of the city ,warned of the dangers of the SNP-style nationalism. He said he voted against devolution in the referendum last September. "Nationalism is all about emotion, not rationality," he said. "People see very simple solutions to problems that are very complicated." He went on: "There's a background to Scottish history, which is to blame the English for everything. But, in fact, Britain has achieved far more together than it will apart."
But the powerful message of the SNP seems to have charged up a younger generation of Scots. One young woman felt that independence could give Scotland a more representative government, but didn't immediately want another poll on devolution. "You can be better represented by people who actually live in your community and the majority of those in Parliament in Westminster do not live in Scotland."
They were here to cheer the newly elected MP's of the Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP), all 56 of them, a record victory that almost eclipsed David Cameron's unlikely return as Prime Minister of England for a second term.
The cheering was the loudest for a petite woman in red, Nicola Sturgeon, 44, the SNP's charismatic leader and the First Minister (equivalent to the Prime Minister) of Scotland.
Just moments before, a group of SNP volunteers said they had no words to describe her. One of them became emotional, holding back tears.
Sturgeon was charming, posing with children - especially little girls - for selfies and hugs. But she spoke with steel in her voice. She said she had spoken to David Cameron soon after the results , and had told him that it will "not be business as usual for Scotland", an indication that she will push hard for greater devolution of powers to her government in Edinburgh.
That message will have the force of a solid block of MPs, many of them first timers, who pulled off one of the biggest political upsets in British history.
One of them is already a star, almost rivalling Sturgeon for the crowds attention - Mhairi Black, the 20-year-old student of politics who defeated the Labour party strongman Douglas Alexander in a seat he has held since 1997. We jostled with selfie-seeking admirers and TV crews to interview Mhairi.
She told us that Westminster (seat of the UK Parliament) didn't intimidate her and that she is in the SNP because "they are the only ones listening to Scotland and have the people's interests at heart."
So what powered the SNP's victory? The most commonly heard answer was the strong desire for Scotland to control its own economic affairs, rather than have its finances determined by Westminster.
The push to austerity under Tory rule - Cameron has proposed nearly 12 billion pounds in spending cuts - was a major flashpoint. Last year, a referendum for Scottish independence driven by the SNP lost narrowly, falling about 8% behind those wanting to remain in the union.
James Astill , Political Editor for The Economist, disagrees. He told me that the SNP's philosophy is based on a utopian left wing dream, "totally bogus economics cleverly combined with residual nationalist feelings. The SNP's big achievement is to embed in Scottish nationalism a feeling that Scots are so different politically, more left wing than the rest of UK, that they must have their own state."
He said that "there is no polling to suggest that Scots are any different from any other member of the British Isles. The whole thing is nonsense but very powerful nonsense that could lead to the dismemberment of the most successful collection of nations in history."
Sturgeon has not clearly mentioned a fresh referendum, suggesting that this victory was for Scotland's voice to be heard in Westminster. But many believe that the momentum towards a fresh referendum may be hard to control.
An elderly gentleman we met in Leith, a slightly rundown part of the city ,warned of the dangers of the SNP-style nationalism. He said he voted against devolution in the referendum last September. "Nationalism is all about emotion, not rationality," he said. "People see very simple solutions to problems that are very complicated." He went on: "There's a background to Scottish history, which is to blame the English for everything. But, in fact, Britain has achieved far more together than it will apart."
But the powerful message of the SNP seems to have charged up a younger generation of Scots. One young woman felt that independence could give Scotland a more representative government, but didn't immediately want another poll on devolution. "You can be better represented by people who actually live in your community and the majority of those in Parliament in Westminster do not live in Scotland."
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