As A Californian... I Understand Scotland's Desire For Independence... :evilgrin: [View all]

[WillyT]

Whereupon everyone but the Scots forgot about the referendum for a couple of years as it was assumed a no vote was a formality and that come 19 September it would be business as usual.

What got discounted in the calculation was the Scottish dislike of the Tories and the Westminster establishment in general and the belief that Scotland had always been given a raw deal.

Little by little, the polls moved towards yes and, as they did so, the no campaign began to bring out the big guns, with Gordon Brown finally bussed in to take over from Alistair Darling as project leader.

Panic properly set in less than two weeks ago when an opinion poll indicated the yes campaign was ahead for the first time. The three Westminster parties, along with many broadcasters and newspapers, realised there was a turn-up on the cards, and so sent every hand north to save the union.

Cameron, Miliband, Barack Obama, the EU, the Queen, Bob Geldof and JK Rowling all pleaded for the Scots to see sense. "You'll be broke. You'll rot in prisons abroad. You'll never get out of Scotland alive."

Cameron even promised the devo max option he had refused three years before. The Scots could have anything. Love. Money. Holidays. Blue skies. Anything but independence.

Link: http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/sep/18/cameron-devo-max-salmond-referendum-scots-antipathy-tories