CONGRATULATIONS TO NICOLA STURGEON AND STEWART HOSIE

The SNP Conference this year might have been a huge celebration of a Yes vote, or it might have been a gathering of a few down and despondent souls, who having booked their hotel rooms early, felt they had to turn up.

It is neither of these things. Instead it's a great big celebration of our future. 

The Perth Concert Hall, an excellent venue with, a friend who has played there tells me, excellent acoustics, was packed to the rafters with enthusiastic members old and new, and old and young, and the SNP party management were forewarning members that there wasn't an empty seat in the house, and begging them to please not turn up on spec! 

(It's an interesting side note from the BBC, that the conference is set to give the Perth economy a boost of £1.75 million over the weekend.)

So the SNP is a party renewed by not winning the referendum. As we all know, on the day of the referendum the membership was around 25,000. Now, around 8 weeks later it stands at 84,000...and it's still growing!

Alex Salmond has stood down...something that some people agreed with and others did not. And today the SNP has a new leader, Nicola Sturgeon,who stood unopposed, and a deputy leader, Stewart Hosie, who, stood against two first rate colleagues, Keith Brown and Angela Constance, for the post.

Munguin's Republic congratulates them both and wishes them every success in taking the party, and the country, forward.

Both have made it clear that they accept that the referendum was lost. The Scottish people spoke, and what they said was that they wished, by a majority of 55% to 45%, to remain part of the UK. 

Having accepted that, it has to be recognised that that vote was made days after senior Westminster politicians offered a form of devo max, or as an ex prime minister (ex-politician) described it, as near federalism as is possible in a state where one country (England) comprises 85% of the population. 

Given that in the early days of the referendum campaign, before the UK prime minister ruled out a third option, Devo Max was what the polls showed as runaway favourite option, it isn't unreasonable to assume that this promise, or "vow" as the Record called it, held some sway.

Both new leaders have said that they intend to hold the UK to the promises it made in and around that vow, and surely no one, not even independence's fiercest critics, could possibly call that anything but completely reasonable.

Of course that means that, bowing out with his speech later today will be our current First Minister, Alex Salmond. 

Love him or hate him; agree with independence or not, any serious thinking person would say that he was a giant of a politician. His Scottish or British opponents pale by comparison. I believe that the reason that the prime minister of the UK wouldn't debate with him on the referendum was that he believed that he would surely have lost, as would Miliband or Clegg, neither of whom seemed in a rush to put themselves forward.

Alex Salmond has seen off four Labour leaders, the official opposition, not to mention two Liberal leaders and one Tory (Nicol Stephen/Tavish Scott and Annabel Goldie). 

He had to retire. He'd run out of wall space.

Jack McConnell stood down after losing the election in 2007.

Wendy Alexander followed him but stood down after only 9 months in the job, after allegations of accepting foreign donations to her leadership campaign and some alleged back stabbing at the London head office by her brother, Douglas.

Iain Gray followed, lasting 3 years as leader, until his party was defeated heavily by the SNP in the 2011 general election. 

Finally Alex outlasted, although only just, Johann Lamont, who came to power on Iain's resignation. Ironically, just a few weeks before her resignation Ms Lamont is reported to have forecast that Mr Salmond would have to resign on defeat in the referendum, but that she would "still be here working for Scotland". 

However, that's not quite the way it worked out and in the end it was Johann's detractor, Jackie Baillie, who had the honour of making a complete idiot of herself in Alex's final FMQ, as James points out here with his customary panache.

Alex Salmond changed the SNP. And he changed Scotland. 

He persuaded many people who were 'UK' through and through, that Scotland could be an independent country, and he did so by running a sound and efficient government on an ever decreasing budget. 

In the end, surely that is what we elected politicians to do for us. And surely there isn't higher praise for a retiring First Minister, than that he did just that, and indeed was criticised by his opponents for doing it, (see above) which kinda showed just how poor THEY were, eh George, you nobleness?!!

So thank you Alex for 7 years of sound government; seven years of proving to Scottish people that not only we can do it, but that we can do it better, more fairly, with compassion and some foresight. 

Thanks for helping people that the UK government cast adrift, the poor, the sick. 

Thanks for leading us to a point where we nearly made it. 

Thanks for bringing us closer to independence than we have been in 300 years. 

Thanks for helping to relight an interest in politics.

Thanks for actually doing the job you were paid to do.

Munguin wishes you good luck in whatever you decide to do in the future.