There is no doubt that all civil servants everywhere like working for accomplished ministers and there is equally no doubt that the SNP has some talented performers. But the feeling is growing that this may be blinding civil servants working in Scotland – who are, after all, members of the British Civil Service – to the SNP’s main aim. It is one thing to assist ministers in pursuit of their goals on social housing or more hospital beds, but entirely another to help them achieve major constitutional change leading to the end of the United Kingdom.