The disease that’s killing the British state

Back in 2014, when we were able to do all sorts of unthinkable things like hugging our mothers or going out for the evening, the big selling point of the Better Together campaign was the security, stability of the UK. The United Kingdom, we were told, had an unrivalled international reputation for the high quality of its governance, its democratic institutions, the quiet competence of its parliament. Why risk all that for a leap into the darkness of a Scotland left to its own devices. Scotland, we were told in no uncertain terms, depended upon the UK to ensure it was safe from political extremism, from instability, and to keep a lid on our internal divisions.

The implication was that we wild Caledonians can’t be trusted, and shouldn’t trust ourselves, to conduct ourselves like civilised people in a modern democracy. It was a trope which played into the deeply ingrained…