With the end of the party conference season, MPs and their attendant pundits return to the bearpit of Parliament with little clear idea of what the future holds for the United Kingdom. What is certain is that the old order is overturned both in Westminster and out in the constituencies

As the estimable polling professor, John Curtice, declared in a recent BBC radio interview: “There is no such thing as British politics.”  He may, perhaps, have added the words “any more” because that was what he meant.

He was taking part in an academic discussion about the extent to which politics in the United Kingdom has changed in recent times, dating back to the Scottish referendum two years ago and, most dramatically, during the turbulent last three months. As so often, the professor was spot on.

It is no longer possible to carry out any sort of analysis of the state of British politics, as assessed, examined and pontificated on in the past; instead, academics can look only at the state of the political parties across the constituent parts of the UK and the extent to which they reflect such issues as the rise of nationalism and rejection of political tradition.

Statistics spell this out and, as this is the week of the last of the major political party conferences, it is perhaps apposite to start in Scotland, or, more specifically, in Glasgow, which is now one of only two cities in the country (the other being Aberdeen) large enough to host the Scottish Nationalist Party’s annual gathering.