Without Scotland, the UK would be poorer both culturally and spiritually

If Alex Salmond gets his way, this country will be rendered asunder. Once you cross the Tweed, you’ll be in a foreign land. The fact that Salmond is so keen to suggest that even after independence there’ll still be a ‘social union’ between Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom suggests that he knows that people are disturbed by this idea.

But one of the puzzles of the Scottish referendum campaign is how reluctant politicians have been to make the emotional case for the Union. Instead, Better Together and the government have chosen to concentrate on a series of technocratic argument. This is why Nick Watt’s story about a senior government minister conceding that there would be a currency union if Scotland went independent has been so damaging to the No campaign.

It is now, though, time to start making the emotional, positive case for the Union. Both Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom will be poorer if Salmond wins in September and I don’t just mean economically.