My thoughts drifted towards Freddie Mercury as I pondered the upcoming Scottish elections – and the SNP, which hopes that the show must go on.

The Show Must Go On was also a particularly emotional song performed by Queen in his dying days.

“My make-up may be flaking; but my smile still stays on,” he sang.

As The Press and Journal undertakes a major survey of north-east and Highland voting priorities ahead of the May elections, some party leaders might be having similar thoughts.

Another painfully bittersweet Queen song – which became especially poignant as Mercury’s health deteriorated – was Who Wants to Live Forever.

Scottish elections morphed into Queen songs

It’s incredible how the computer wired in our brain switches with such ease in nano seconds from one subject to another.

Scottish elections had suddenly morphed into Queen songs.

I think it was the “who wants to live forever” lyric which pushed the button.

As I thought about the upcoming Holyrood election I remembered my conversation with a high-up advisor to Alex Salmond just before the momentous independence referendum in 2014.

If my memory serves me right Salmond’s Yes campaign had just leaped into the lead – a false dawn, as it turned out.

Salmond told me ruefully in an interview later how former prime minister Gordon Brown’s last-gasp intervention – with “the vow” to swing the undecided – snatched the prize from him.

Up to then, these were heady days for Salmond after his spectacular and supposedly impossible achievement of winning an overall majority for the SNP at the Scottish elections in 2011.

I was leaning against the bar at a posh hotel in Aberdeen with the spin doctor after one of those off-the-record media briefings which happen with party chiefs at such times.

And I thought of a question.

“Do you think the SNP could rule forever, especially if they win the referendum?”, I asked.

He smiled and replied with disarming honesty, “No, people will inevitably tire of us and want change.”

Major survey to reflect community opinion

Well, that was nearly 12 years ago and they didn’t win – yet it does seem as though they have ruled forever after almost two decades of running Scotland, as a minority government mostly.

Seismic, scary events both at home and abroad concentrate our minds with just weeks to go before Scottish polling.

And The P&J is doing its bit as usual to reflect community opinion while championing local causes.

The Voice of the North is publishing a major survey after inviting local people to lay out their concerns ahead of the vote, which will be revealed shortly.

Possibly a reminder to any party which promises “a fresh start” how much has actually gone stale in people’s daily lives as a result of political failure.

I’m not advocating people vote one way or another; the SNP has an unbeatable record of continuous governance even if it has not been a particularly illustrious one.

It was said that people trusted Salmond to fight Scotland’s corner from Holyrood, but not enough to fully run an independent Scotland.

Swinney intends to use this election to demand another referendum if he wins most seats.

It’s a sleight of hand because “seats” do not automatically equate to a majority of actual “votes” – the real test of whether he has a genuine case for independence.

The P&J survey will show where independence features in people’s minds.

Yet the independence question already gives the SNP an in-built advantage as the subconscious “anti-independence vote” is always diluted in elections between opposing parties.

A classic example was SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn, who clung on with 32% in Aberdeen South at the last general election, while Labour and Tory runners-up shared almost 50% of the poll (and 7,000 more votes).

This would count as a vote for a referendum in Swinney-speak, but surely inconclusive and open to ridicule – unless the vote numbers were a lot more convincing.

How fortunes have soured for Scotland Labour leader Sarwar, who probably thought he’d stroll it before Starmer wrecked everything, and the Tories who are still rehabilitating after previous “crimes”; meanwhile, the winds of change hang heavy as voters ponder a leap left or right with the Greens and Reform.

It’s easy for local issues to be overwhelmed by the priorities of political ideology.

They are often forgotten in the political bubble of Holyrood – after MSPs have safely taken their seats on the gravy train for another five years.

A resumption of oil and gas drilling, energy bills, the A96/A9 scandal, health and schools chaos, and safety on the streets all have different local dimensions.

We are used to politicians setting the agenda for us during elections to suit their own ends – just look at how Starmer hideously misled everyone.

But by joining the P&J survey, people in our communities have set their own agenda for once. Have your say here

David Knight is the long-serving former deputy editor of The Press and Journal

© The Press & Journal