On Thursday September 18 the Scottish people voted ‘No’ to independence, 55% to 45%. In doing so the United Kingdom still holds together.
For many the breaking of the union which has lasted for over 300 years and has been hugely beneficial to these islands would have been an enormous sadness.
Huge questions
But the whole exercise of the referendum in Scotland has raised huge questions. Firstly, why was such a momentous step as the break up of our country to be taken on a mere majority? Surely any sensible person knows that to take huge decisions based on a majority of just one or two percent of a vote (which could have been the case) is to risk tremendous hurt and anger. If a country is more or less evenly divided then it needs to think again if it wants to maintain its unity. And in these days of the prevalence of media influence, small majorities can be much more easily manufactured through manipulation than something more substantial.
