Timing is the key word ahead of the SNP’s special convention on independence in Dundee this weekend.
Some within the party believe it could not come at a worse time, with the arrest of former leader Nicola Sturgeon and her husband Peter Murrell, the party’s former chief executive, still fresh in the mind.
But it also comes on the back of a remarkable week – the latest in a line of remarkable weeks for the SNP.
A tumultuous week
First Minister Humza Yousaf’s independence paper launch on Monday was his first major opportunity to set out his vision for Scotland’s future.
But the latest Building a New Scotland paper, focused on creating a written constitution, was overshadowed by questions about Ms Sturgeon.
The former first minister made her return to the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday but refused to comment on her husband’s situation.
Fergus Ewing row
The arrest and subsequent release of what was once Scottish politics’ most powerful couple has not been the only headache for Humza Yousaf ahead of the conference.
There are questions too about what he should do about former cabinet minister Fergus Ewing, who has become an unlikely member of the awkward squad at Holyrood.
Mr Ewing has been a strong critic of the SNP’s power-sharing agreement with the Greens and backed a Tory move to oust Lorna Slater from her job as a minister.
Such an act of public defiance would have felt almost unthinkable when Nicola Sturgeon was ruling the party.
But across the piece Mr Yousaf is facing questions about his handling of a growing list of party rebels and those at the centre of the police probe.
Difficult questions
At First Minister’s Questions on Thursday, he rebuffed questions from a gleeful Douglas Ross, leader of the Scottish Conservatives, about whether he would take action against Fergus Ewing.
There have been suggestions Mr Ewing could be removed from the party as a punishment.
Mr Ross referenced the Inverness MSP’s mother, former SNP president Winnie Ewing, when he said “we’ve gone from ‘stop the world the SNP wants to get on’ to ‘stop the SNP Fergus Ewing is getting off’”.
Later that day it was confirmed Ms Ewing, a giant of Scottish politics, had died.
All of that before the doors have even opened on the independence conference.
Fears of conference ‘talking shop’
Perhaps it is no wonder some SNP insiders fear the event will be little more than a “talking shop” overshadowed by events elsewhere.
With polls predicting the SNP could be defeated by Labour at the next general election and members growing restless over the lack of a clear path to a new referendum, answers will need to come quickly.
But the bigger question is whether the public is even listening.
The phrase “now is not the time” will bring back uncomfortable memories for many independence supporters of former Prime Minister Theresa May.
But with a cost of living crisis, a government in chaos at Westminster and unanswered questions over the way forward for Scotland’s crucial oil and gas industry, the lack of sustained majority support for independence remains a problem for the SNP.
Opposition parties will argue voters are focused on other issues.
A great deal of time has passed since the last Scottish independence referendum in 2014 and the country is now in a very different place.
When the dust settles on the conference on Saturday, the SNP will need to prove they have a strategy to tackle the problems of today and the means to make it a reality.