"And Stue, we in Scotland have the chance to fling out the "Tory tosspots" while you in England voted them in at the last election"

Well, tarring every person in England as someone who voted the tories in is as egregious as assuming everyone in Scotland paints themselves in woad and goes round yelling "freedom!"; it's a tired stereotype of the sort that colours debates like this and reeks of nationalist sentiment.

I didn't vote the tories in, and I never would vote for them . . . or the LibDems . . . or even Labour anymore, as none of them are for the people. In fact, no-one voted the tories in as they don't have a majority and subsequently zero mandate for the mess they're creating. I don't blame Scotland for flinging the fuckers out, but don't assume every lilly-livered English person is responsible for that shower being in charge. It's easy for people on both sides of the argument to reduce a whole nation of people to shallow caricatures then flinging shit at them from either side of Hadrian's Wall like caged chimps unable to see beyond the confines of their unthinking prejudice.

The problem with the independence debate is that is divisive to its core and there is a tendency for both sides to re-write history to accommodate their own current political viewpoint. In reality, it means the working people of this island will be split more than ever by a nationalist wedge from both sides of the border, and we will all be less powerful for it.

The nationalist debate is absolutist in nature and personally I believe that plays into the hands of the haters and those who would profit from the increasing marginalisation of the working and middle classes. It's a simplistic viewpoint and lacks the nuance that ignores the fact that on this island we are one people under three different flags; three rich and ancient traditions that are intricately intertwined and interdependent and kept alive by ordinary people who have had to labour under an unfair and unjust feudal system for a millennia; a system they neither chose or really endorse, that keeps them from power and influence and for which they have died and suffered in their millions, had their land stolen all across the island and been put to work for the profit of the ever-present 1%.

Types like Cameron and Salmond revel in this atmosphere of hate and division, men of small moral stature, zero intellectual or idealogical substance and devoid of any integrity. We get the leaders we vote for, and neither of these poltroons or their ilk are worthy of our votes. Equality? That's out of the window for the foreseeable future. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

I live on this island, I've ancestry from all over the island and beyond and as far as I'm concerned the borders are political and not cultural or genetic. We're one people, for better or worse and we'd be better off as one people.