There's an odd time-travel quality in play as I write this.
It's one a.m. and as such, I have no idea what the outcome of the Scottish Independence Referendum will be. By the time most people read this, they will already know, so whatever I say will already be out of date.
Nonetheless, in the wee wee hours, I had a minor epiphany about my thoughts on Scottish independence.
I've written before that as an Englishman I don't actually get to have an opinion, although as Eric Idle pointed out, I perhaps should. Dissolving a union involves more than one party, and if Scotland just fucks off of its own accord it'll be the political and constitutional equivalent of a deadbeat husband absconding in the middle of the night.
"Got a wife and kids and Union Jack, I went out for a ride and I never went back..."
My opinion, as I've said before, is that I'd like to see Scotland stay part of the United Kingdom. Indeed, I, like everyone else, sort of assumed that they would.
This is largely down to media coverage that's been pitched somewhere between Michael Fish's "There will be no hurricane tonight" and the Iraqi defense minister's insistence that his side was winning. The news, until the eleventh hour, treated this as a trifling matter that none of us should be worried about.
Now, of course, everyone is panicking because (at time of writing) there are reports of record turnouts. Eighty-four percent of Orkney turned out to vote, for example. Granted, eighty-four percent of Orkney is six people and a goat, but such huge percentages seem to have been repeated across the board, and have effectively rendered any opinion polls taken so far as useless. Said polls had a narrow margin in favour of "no," but with five hours left until the count is finished and a result declared, this is anyone's game.
At this, the final moment, I realised that I should morally probably favour a "Yes."
The reason for this is that all my thinking so far has been largely selfish. I don't want Scotland to go because of a sense of familiarity, sure, but also because of a creeping fear that, without Scotland, England will be permanently under Tory rule. However, when I stop and think about it, I realise this isn't Scotland's problem, and that if I lived in an area of the country that had a chance to break away from the current political system, I'd most likely be in favour of it. I'd love to be free of David Cameron and his brigade of detached, monied arseholes who are slowly ruining the country. The only reasons I want Scotland to stick around are to lend electoral weight to the left, and also because I'd be jealous if they didn't have to suffer along with the rest of us. It's only potential bitterness that's making me want a "No" outcome. "When the breakdown hit at midnight there was nothing left to say, but I hated him. And I hated you when you went away." *
Clearly, this is not the correct attitude. This isn't about Scotland leaving England and Wales and Northern Ireland holding the bag. This is about Scotland, full stop. It's Scotland's decision.
So, by the time I get up tomorrow, they'll either be gone or they won't. But I don't have any right to bitch - if they leave, I've realised that I actually want them to do well for themselves. It's only jealousy that would make me feel otherwise.
Although I'll still be glad if they stay.
*I'm frankly amazed at how well Bruce "Mc"Springsteen's work is playing into this...
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