In my opinion, the No campaign did not win the independence vote, it was the Yes campaign that lost it.
Because having watched all this unfold over the months, I think we can all agree after the fact, that there were indeed many more people in Scotland who really did want to vote for independence than did so in the end, so why didn’t they? Because, and even though this might be difficult to digest for some folk from the Yes side, the majority of people had become scared of the febrile nature of the Soltire waving separatists and the underlying racism of the Union flag burning outer sections of the Yes camp, strong feelings had been ignited and looked to burn out of anyone’s control should the Yes side win. Because to your ordinary person on the street, the Yes campaign, along with the cybernats, the shouty, in your face banner waving hordes, the people daubing painted Yes’s on monuments and defacing natural areas of beauty and rock structures etc and the irrational and wildly overlapping arguments put out by the fringes of the Yes side, from the bug-eyed pond life of the barmy left, through to the twittering absurdities of the barmy right, scared voters away from the Yes camp in their droves, it scared the hell out of them because of what might follow if the Yes side won.
So having said all this, I would also add that for the Yes side to then start blaming and name calling the No side, for having the temerity to achieve victory, even under the spoken threat of ‘you will vote for independence or else there will be consequences’, is nothing more than puerile, because the majority of people in this brave land have shown their true mettle by standing up to Salmond and his cohorts and firmly telling him No, we do not want your brand of independence thank you, so I think we should be rejoicing in this show of democracy and how it has so clearly triumphed over what appeared to be descending into mob rule, rather than decrying it.
I absolutely applaud the outcome of this referendum and my fellow people of Scotland, for having been brave enough to make this difficult decision to stay part of the 300 year old union.
Dave