Akenaton:

The referendum question to be decided upon on the 18th September 2014 will be put not to the people of Scotland but to the electorate of Scotland as a whole - period - not to Scots voters, not to English voters, not to Polish voters or voters of any other category or label you want to use. The electorate of Scotland will vote and I believe that they will vote "NO" using their commonsense and not emotion, they will do so for the step they are being asked to take by the Yes Campaign in irreversible - once broken the Union can never be remade.

The result of the referendum will I believe be NO, and to those in the Yes Camp who say that they will just try again I would sincerely hope that the next time a referendum on Scottish independence is proposed the electorate of Scotland get a chance to state beforehand whether or not they want one, had that been the case this current referendum with its monstrous waste of time, effort and money would never have occurred it was pushed through by the SNP, for the SNP by less than one-quarter of the electorate of Scotland. The ridiculous White Paper "Scotland's Future" is little more than a "rose-tinted" SNP Manifesto full of baseless assumptions which when put up for critical review crumble to dust and prove worthless.

You ask what I will do if Scotland votes for independence? Make sure my money is safe then sit back and watch the train-wreck as it unfolds - It took us 350 years of internal bickering and greed the last time to destroy what we had and bring our nation to its knees. With our current crop of professional politicians I reckon it will not last three-and-a-half decades before Scotland is reduced to basket case status - possibly some Russian oligarch will buy it as a curio

"Hopefully most of the historic association between Scots and brutal warfare will start to diminish with Independence.
In was a symptom of how we were exploited by the Union. Young workless lads? Oh just get them intae the Army, cannon fodder for the Empire."

IIRC life in Scotland pre-Act of Union was a damned sight more brutal and warlike than ever it was after.

During the Jacobite Rebellions more Scots fought for the Government side than ever fought for the rebels. They did so not wishing for a return of "the bad old days" - THEY, the majority of Scots saw the tangible benefits of Union as opposed to the empty promises of France and the "pie-in-the-sky" Jacobites.

Poor working class lads eh? Exploited by the Union? If that is what you think you know little of the history of most of our Scottish Regiments both Highland and Lowland.

The Black Watch (42nd Regiment of Foot) for instance of "Twa Recruitin' Sergeants" fame - they, because they were not Clan based were the only Regiment that actually used recruiting parties and even then on their first being raised all men were "gentleman soldiers", all were volunteers and all had to bring with them letters of introduction and character, literally hundreds were turned away.

Fastest Regiment ever raised in the British Isles to serve under the colours was the 25th Regiment of Foot - The Kings Own Scottish Borderers - it took them less than 40 minutes to enlist over 800 men - again all volunteers.

79th Regiment of Foot - The Cameron Highlanders - raised by one of the Clan Chiefs with money from his own pocket - all volunteers

John Prebble in his book on the Clearances details the contribution made by volunteers from the Isle of Skye to Britain's armed forces during the Napoleonic War - it was staggering in terms of numbers which included Officers over the rank of Colonel, Line Officers, NCOs and men (over 10,000 of the latter IIRC)

Any claim to Scottish feats of arms mainly post-date 1707 and were won wearing Scarlet Coats and under Union Colours - prior to that the track record wasn't that brilliant.