It's a No from Us

I have generally avoided the social media scrum about the referendum, and this is going to be my only comment on the matter, unless you actually want to engage in a face-to-face conversation with me, in which case I will bang on for hours.

Anyway, I understand why people want to vote yes, I really do. If the referendum had taken place in June I might've done so myself. But the more I have thought about it, the more I have realised that my heart as well as my head is well and truly no. I am Scottish, but growing up I had green ribbons put in my hair on St Patrick's Day and went to Irish dancing. There was a slight sense of "other" attached to my childhood and adolescence. I remember the miners' strikes and the poll tax. The poll tax was rescinded just before my 18th birthday - I was willing to go to jail rather than pay it but fortunately it never came to that. I went to university in Edinburgh and then Leeds, I have friends and colleagues from all across the UK. My husband is English and my children (well Orla) see themselves as equally Scottish and English.

Who I am is formed by being British just as much as it is being Scottish. I work in Edinburgh but can work anywhere in the UK. I don't see the need to erect a barrier at the Scottish border. I don't want to see anyone living in poverty or relying on food banks, but that applies equally to people living in Doncaster as Drumchapel. I believe in home rule and I don't see the need for independence. We have already shown that greater engagement in the democratic process is possible. Independence will not necessarily deliver a fairer society, especially when the terms of it are being defined by things like a 3% cut in corporation tax.

Can Scotland be an independent country? Yes. Should it be? No.

Orla told us that at school today the person who sat up "the best and most quietly" got to decide what they did. It was her, and she asked the teacher if they could have their own vote on whether Scotland should be an independent country. She stood at the front of the class and asked those children who were no to put their hand up, then those children who were yes to put their hands up. She counted the votes (26 to 3, not reflective of the population in general) and announced that no had won. She is very anti, but that is obviously because she knows that we are no and also that she thinks that this is going to lead to a an actual physical split. We are very proud that she realises something big is going on and wanted to be part of it.