The tide is coming in.

Alan Taylor visited the capital, the Borders, Lanarkshire, Tayside and
Shetland in an effort to gauge attitudes to the independence referendum.

SNIP

My journey took me from south to north, east to west. It began in the
Borders when darkness fell at four in the afternoon and ended in
Lanarkshire as summer’s lease was almost up. On the way I met many Scots
and not a few non-Scots. On my early forays, few people had much to say
about the referendum, not least because it was yet to infect the media. In
Berwick-upon-Tweed there was a feeling of resignation. At the moment some
of its inhabitants live in Scotland and work in England and vice versa.
Nobody envisioned that changing. Many of those who live in England said
they were thinking of moving to Scotland were it to become independent,
principally because of free university tuition fees and long-term care for
the elderly. On the western side of the Border, the concern was not so much
over questions of independence but the proliferation of wind farms.

It was a similar story in other parts. In Shetland, where I detected more
antagonism than elsewhere between the two factions in the debate, a
long-running rammy over a wind farm was close to being resolved in favour
of its promoter. It was the one issue on which a Yes voter and a No voter
agreed. But there were also many on both sides who would rather not have
the turbines. Local issues tend to override national ones and the further
away from Westminster or Edinburgh you go, the greater suspicion and
cynicism about politicians. No matter where I went, I heard politicians
described in a manner that often had little basis in reality. Gossip on
social media was often taken for Holy Writ. Misconceptions abounded.
Opinion was accepted as fact. The once-revered BBC was seen by Yes legions
as inherently, subtly biased. Those insistent on voting No were agreed that
the SNP government was using its heft at Holyrood to steamroller through
policies that a majority of people did not want. Depending on where one
stood, the referendum was seen as an expensive waste of time and energy
when there were more pressing concerns or a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity
to restore pride and self-respect.

SNIP


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