These are dark times to be a Scot, a Unionist and a ‘No’ voter. After the referendum polls finally flipped in favour of a ‘Yes’ vote at the weekend, we should be in no doubt: it’s a real possibility that in just nine days’ time the United Kingdom will be voted out of existence.
As
that sad prospect grows more likely, Alex Salmond’s cocky smirk spreads ever
wider and there’s an arrogance to the separatists that manifests itself in
withering contempt for the views, arguments and emotions of the many people
like me who want to stay British. There’s an extra chill in the Scottish air
this autumn.
At
times, I feel like a stranger in a strange land. In Stirling — my peaceful,
semi-rural hometown, which sits halfway between Edinburgh and Glasgow — posters
put up by the Better Together campaign have had the word ‘Scum’ scrawled across
them, or been ripped down altogether.
Relationships
with friends, colleagues, even family members, have become strained in this
bruising climate.
It’s
one thing to have to tolerate abuse from the other side — the organised
mobbing, hectoring and egg-throwing that forced the former Labour Scottish
Secretary Jim Murphy to call off his tour making the case for a united Britain
was only the most visible example.
Equally,
there’s no point denying the SNP-led Yes campaign has done its job well, mixing
energy and passion with cynical but effective attacks on all aspects of Britain
and, especially, Westminster.
What’s
harder to take than any of this is the feeling that the campaign to save the
Union — probably the most important political fight of our lifetimes — has been
a lame, misjudged and overly negative affair.
Take
last week, when Better Together launched a series of posters aimed at
persuading the 10 per cent or so of voters who remain undecided to stick with
the UK.
