THERE are some good reasons for voting Yes. Just as there are some good reasons for voting No.
That’s what makes it hard for those still undecided Scots trying to listen to a debate above the shouting and bawling.
There are, however, as Donald Rumsfeld famously figured out, known knowns, known unknowns and unknown unknowns. Most crucially, it is impossible to be certain about the economic consequences of a Yes vote, good or bad.
That’s why this national argument of ours too often sounds like ball-bearings clattering around a washing machine.
What the supporters of independence can tell is a story about a resourceful, grown-up country taking responsibility for itself.
Voters might agree. They might agree but still believe the benefits of a United Kingdom outweigh any gain. They might disagree. That’s why it’s called a debate.
What supporters of independence should not do, however, is to keep suggesting that Scotland is a fairer place than England, that Scots somehow care more.
Now they can say, if they must since it is one of Rumsfeld’s known unknowns, that an independent Scotland would be a fairer place, where the vulnerable, poor and old might be better cared for. But it is only a guess, a hunch, when a survey last week suggested that most Scots are in favour of UKIP-style immigration controls and cuts in foreign aid and state benefits.
That poll emerged days before civil servants warned an independent Scotland would need to attract 480,000 immigrants in two decades to fund pensions.
Now, Alex Salmond has already promised a vast increase in immigration by foreign workers to fill the tax gap left by Scotland’s ageing population.
But even they won’t fill the gap and that will almost certainly mean more taxes. Last week, Denis Canavan was the latest Yes Scotland
supporter to suggest Scots would be willing to pay more tax for a fairer society. Because that’s what we’re like, apparently.
He might be right. Or, then again, maybe Scots are just like the English, the Welsh, the Irish, whoever, wherever.
People are people. People with the same hopes and fears, talents and passions. People who, wherever they live, might harbour the same dodgy attitudes about immigration, for example, and might possibly show the same enthusiasm for the baloney of Nigel Farage as their neighbours. Some might even share a general reluctance to pay more tax.
Scots might have more pandas than Tory MPs – and hopefully UKIP MEPs after the European results are announced today – but almost as many voted Conservative as SNP at the last General Election in 2010.
To pretend Scots are somehow more caring, welcoming and progressive than the English – or anyone else, for that matter – is self-congratulatory, fatuous and insulting. Wherever you live.