A cunning plan
Alex Salmond has a cunning plan.
Not content with Holyrood power, he's now setting his sights on Westminster.
So what else is new, I hear you sigh. After all, Mr Salmond is presently an MP as well as an MSP as well as FM. All those initials, so confusing.
But this is rather different. The SNP leader is working out an alternative approach for his party to adopt at the next UK general election.
Like all parties, the SNP is constitutionally obliged to pretend that it's set to win every seat, in every election.
Next time round at Westminster, expect to hear Mr Salmond deliberately setting the bar rather lower.
Little obstacles
He'll argue a substantial cohort of Nationalist MPs could hold the balance of power in a hung parliament, potentially extracting concessions from the UK Government (including the Treasury) in the by-going.
By "substantial", Mr Salmond means 20.
The concessions he envisages would address such issues as the current disputes between Holyrood and Westminster over funding.
There's more. Treating Westminster as a source of leverage finally narrows down the party's self-declared route to independence.
No longer would they be forecasting that they could secure independence by winning a majority of Scottish seats in the Commons.
Rather, they would confine that objective to securing a positive vote in a referendum in Scotland, almost certainly called via Holyrood.
Seek solutions
There are, of course, one or two little obstacles in the path of this cunning plan. Firstly, the SNP has never obtained anything like 20 Westminster seats in its history.
The best to date was the football squad of eleven in the 1970s.
Secondly, it is at least arguable that, with the SNP in Scottish devolved power, the voters may look to alternatives when casting their Westminster vote.
Evidence suggests that the SNP polls better at Holyrood although the current travails of the UK Labour Government may help rival causes.
Thirdly, a UK Government, even in a hung Parliament, may be inclined to seek solutions other than a deal with the Nationalists.
Fourthly, the SNP's rivals at Holyrood are currently opposed to the notion of a Scottish referendum, either on independence alone or on a broader range of options.
Still and all, thought you should know what's in the mind of the FM/MP/MSP.
I'm 
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