Has England gone mad?

In the final, frenzied, all-things-seem-possible days of the Scottish referendum on independence – the days when it seemed there was something in the air and perhaps the water too – some people outside Scotland began to ask a disconcerting question: Has Scotland gone mad? 

Scots, whether Unionist or Nationalist, disliked the question but while their huffiness was both predictable and understandable, not least because the question was often posed in ways that didn’t exactly flatter the Scots, the question itself was not as lunatic as it might have seemed. Or, rather, it was a telling question. Because, while Scotland thrilled to the drama of a referendum that was one part national awakening and one part battle of big and important ideas, most of the outside world wondered what the hell we were thinking. It was exciting but also, you know, baffling. Are you really going to do this? Really?

Fraser Nelson and Nick Cohen discuss The Spectator’s decision to back Brexit:

Because the outside world struggled to understand, far less appreciate, why anyone would wish to leave a country as evidently successful and fortunate as the United Kingdom.