Unintentionally Scottish

Not since Trainspotting’s Renton – famed for his epic “it’s s **** being Scottish” rant – can anyone have felt more disappointed to be Scottish than Jacqui Lambie.

As she researched her background for an autobiography, the Australian senator for Tasmania discovered her father had not been born in her native country as she had thought and had actually been a toddler when his family emigrated from Larkhall, South Lanarkshire.

It’s a revelation that could end her political career. For, in what has been dubbed the “world’s most ridiculous constitutional crisis”, five Australian MPS, including the deputy prime minister, have been forced to step down because of a 1900 law barring dual citizens from holding office. Ms Lambie has since been frantically denying she has UK, as well as Australian, citizenship.

However, she may be coming round to the idea of being Scottish, judging by a recent tweet. It appears to show a picture of her in a tartan dress, with bagpipes and a bluepainted face. “William Wallace eat your heart out,” she said. Renton, no doubt, would not have been impressed.