Quite bizarre is Nicola Sturgeon's assertion that demand for Scottish independence will grow after, rather than before, a European Union exit. Stranger still is her belief that thinking Scots will actually vote for it.
'Highly likely' were the words she used at the weekend to describe the possibility of another referendum on Scottish independence, just a couple of years after the previous one. You can't say we don't like a referendum in Britain.
You'd also be forgiven for thinking that Mrs Sturgeon was unfamiliar with the meaning of the word 'independence'. You see, to her (and, unfortunately, many of her voters) it means nothing more than being able to put her name to something; a declaration of reverberant proportions, and an event to be forever remembered in the annals of Scottish history.
To the Scottish National Party, independence is much more about political vanity than it is about the repatriation of legislative power. But if the nationalists cared at all about the restoration of sovereignty, they'd be Brexit frontrunners, along with me and thousands of other campaigners up and down the country.
Sturgeon's denial that her referendum stance was a 'Machiavellian' attempt at architecting another vote to leave the United Kingdom, stern though it may have been, was a fairly blatant lie. Her real desire is for Britain to leave the EU so as to afford her and her party the opportunity to force through a referendum of her own.
It would be a cunning plan if it wasn't so obvious.
As is now quite clearly the case (David Cameron's attempt at a renegotiation acting as strong evidence), you cannot be an independent, self-governing nation and a member of the European Union. The external influence is just too great for the preservation of sovereignty to be realistically achievable.
Arguments fronted by the SNP advocating both EU membership and UK departure are strikingly interchangeable. An extensive trade relationship with the European Union rules out the desire for a Scottish National Party 'leave' stance, but trading ties with England and the rest of the United Kingdom are, conveniently, not so problematic.
Thankfully, most Scottish people do not feel represented by either narrow-minded nationalism or Nicola Sturgeon's supposedly progressive policies. Scottish nationalists should note that a UK Scotland outside of the European Union (and subsequently unaffected by its intrusive legislation) is far more independent than a separate Scotland re-joining the European Union.
Peculiar too is the notion that to achieve independence, Scotland must leave a union of four provinces, and amalgamate itself once more into one of twenty-six. With future treaties proposed by the European Commission on the horizon, any further directives or regulations could forcefully restrict or hijack any notable gains in Scottish sovereignty.
But all of this is elementary. A Scottish National Party so ironically keen on the creation of a federal Europe must well be hiding something. A party seeking both self-governance and political assimilation in Europe either has a poor understanding of what membership entails, or perhaps more accurately, doesn't want independence at all.
As the latter of the two options seems the more plausible, a rational person can therefore assume that it is, in fact, something more pertinent about the United Kingdom which Scottish nationalists are so uncomfortable with. A show-stealing neighbour acting as a domineering elder brother, perhaps? A southern counterpart often confused for representing the Kingdom as a whole, even?
Historically speaking, cravings for an independent Scotland have commonly been perpetuated by aggravated ideologues with an unbearable hatred of England, its customs and its people. English glories, be it monarchical or colonial, have left a bitter taste in the mouths of radical Scottish patriots, and such bitterness is yet to fully dissipate.
It just has to be about England. You only have to study a little British monarchical history to get some understanding of the influence that England has had on its surrounding constituent countries. The United Kingdom's sovereign labelled quite incorrectly as the second Elizabeth to reign over Scotland, and the huge economic and cultural focus on an England-situated London are perhaps evidence of an inherent English prominence.
Without suggesting this to be the catalyst for intra-Kingdom hostility, it does provide a stark reminder that many Scots do feel politically inferior whilst under the guise of an English-led coalition of countries. And so unfortunately, despite England not having its own individual parliament, such discomfort still exists today across Scotland, and continues to fuel demand for alleged (though not offered by the SNP) self-governance.
Talk of national independence merely masks Nicola Sturgeon's deceptive interests. For her real political motivation is and always has been purely about detachment from England.