Surely it means a referendum on independence once in around 30 years. It's not difficult to parse. Once in a lifetime would be longer.
From the [Scotsman]:
> Speaking on the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland programme yesterday, he said: “My estimation was that political constitutional referendums are once in a generation and I was making the example of 1979 and 1997 - that is why I always put it in that context every single time I said that.
Of course, he goes on to say things have changed. What are the odds he would make the same case for another referendum if he thought things were changing against his favour?
Nicola Sturgeon in interview with the [Guardian]:
> And if the result is No? "Will there be another referendum round the corner? No. We can't bind our successors, but we've made very clear our belief that constitutional referenda are once-in-a-generation events."
From Sturgeon's conference [speech]:
> Next year, we have a once in a generation opportunity
There's *lots* of examples of them saying it and reiterating in, in several forms, that all mean it wasn't going to happen often. That's what once in a lifetime means, right?
Who knew that the SNP would bring me the real second life!
> The terms of the actual agreement signed by all parties agreed legally that there was nothing in it to preclude a further referendum
Very true. I'm not even sure if it's possible under the constitution, as Sturgeon pointed out above "We can't bind our successors", but that's why pledges about the circumstances of a vote are so important.
> so even if by some chance your interpretation is what was meant then they have no actual power to enforce it.
Right. What does that have to do with my voting intention? I'm also interested in what your interpretation of "once in a lifetime" means. Are you over 30?
[Scotsman] https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/alex-salmond-once-gen...
[Guardian] https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/aug/24/nicola-stur...
[speech] http://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/yesscotland/pages/3159/...