Moggy, what I meant was that it is not amicable in the sense that Scotland’s intention to independence goes without the British Government’s blessing. It is a one-sided affair. All three main parties in Westminster support the continuation of the Union. And the British people as a whole are not being given the benefit of a referendum to express their opinion. In constitutional terms it is a unilateral secession.

The Scots have my blessing if that’s what they choose, but I fear they have not thought it through at all and that, in the unlikely event they succeed, may well live to regret it. By then it will be too late, of course.