Each of these books is different and not part of a sequence, but all of them have the common ability to draw you into the story and keep you turning the pages from start to finish. Click on any of the images for my page on Amazon UK and here for Amazon.com
There is passion and pride in the Scottish Referendum campaign, which has caught the attention of the world. This blog can think of no elections, and certainly none in Britain, which promises such a high turnout or such a cliff hanging result. Whenever it seems that the YES campaign is slipping back it surges forward. NO remains ahead but by so little that the grass roots passion of YES might bring it through next Thursday. Everybody is engaged from school children to tycoons. Nobody is any longer neutral except the Queen; that is her official position, but once again we all know that she is passionate about two political entities in the world, the Commonwealth and the Union.
Some remain undecided and some having decided and are wondering whether they might change. Some have voted already by post and wonder if they have made the right choice. The reason for this uncertainty is that neither campaign has really spelt out exactly what it is campaigning for. Of course it is clear in principle that one is for staying and the other is for going, but huge questions remain in the air. The complete absence of any coherent proposals for a currency, other than monetary union which would remove all of Scotland’s financial independence immediately, which is not on offer anyway, but which might be offered if financial meltdown was in prospect, has spooked business, the markets and anybody who has really thought it through.
On the other hand the failure by NO to explain what this Devo Max involves exactly is ridiculous. Is not made clear at all, not least because all the main political parties are offering a different version of it. All we have is a timetable for arriving at a conclusion, which is like writing a manifesto not before an election, but after it. So what is happening is that the streets have now taken control of this election and whatever the politicians say from now on will make no difference to the outcome. This is what Salmond is hoping, because he believes the streets will carry him to victory. At this point it is impossible to tell, if that happens, whether he will be remembered as the hero who led Scotland to freedom or the knave who plunged it headlong into the greatest disaster in its history.
What is now clear, and it is shocking, is that neither Edinburgh, nor London has thought the whole thing through, so YES or NO we are in for a period of post referendum uncertainty. If Salmond wins it will be one thing and if he loses it will be another. And for the rest of the UK? On Friday it will discover whether it has lost one third of its land mass, or whether because of the changes inherent in the promises of all versions of devo max, England faces the biggest constitutional shake-up since the foundation of its democracy. All of it could be good news but a few errors of judgement, and there have been a lot of those already, could turn it into very bad news indeed.