Let’s keep things calm when the voting is all over
JUST around the corner from my house is a street like so many others in urban Scotland. There is a pub, a chippie and a corner shop dotted between the terraced houses that line both sides. But when I walked down it the other day I saw something I had never seen before – it was a No campaign poster in the window of one of the houses.
It was such an unusual sight I stopped and did a double take.
But then I started to wonder why that should be. After all, if the polls are to be believed, almost two-thirds of us are going to vote No in September, yet hardly anyone wants to shout about it publicly.
Quite a few cars on the same street have Yes stickers in the back windows and there are one or two Yes Scotland posters in front-room windows too.
But why do Yes supporters feel able to declare their allegiance so proudly and why do No voters feel the need to keep quiet?
The reason, I think, is one of intimidation. The intimidation is not overt, it is not necessarily even verbal or physical, but it is there, in the background.
One No supporter I know put it like this: ‘There is no way I’m putting a Better Together sticker on the back on my car, that’s just asking for trouble. The next thing I know my car will get keyed or someone will throw a brick through the window.’
Now, that reaction may be totally unjustified. There may be no more chance of getting your car vandalised with a No sticker than with a Yes one, but it is definitely true that there is a feeling that this is the case.
Part of this fear stems from the punishment handed out to those high-profile No supporters who have dared to voice their opinions: JK Rowling’s £1 million donation to the Unionist cause may have made her a particular target for cybernat bile, but there can be few, even low-key supporters, who would willingly subject themselves to even a fraction of the abuse she received.
And there is definitely a perception out there that, if you publicise your support for No, you are more likely to be confronted by angry Yes supporters than the other way round.
No supporters, generally, don’t want to risk the hassle or the potential confrontations that they think will come from declaring their loyalty to the United Kingdom and that, I think, is both depressing and sad.
Perhaps it is because Yes supporters are more passionate about what they believe in, I don’t know. But what I do know is that this is creating a false impression of this campaign.
All those Yes badges, stickers and banners make it seem as though Yes is making ground everywhere while the reality is that there is a big silent constituency out there which is preparing to vote No but does not feel able to shout about it.
But this sense of intimidation could have more serious consequences too. There are respected figures on both sides who are worried about what is going to happen after the referendum.
It is inevitable that some people are going to be bitter, angry and resentful after the votes have been counted and, as things stand at the moment, they are likely to be from the Yes camp. Certainly, if I was a No campaign activist with a UK-OK sticker on the back window of my car, that’s when I would worry about the car getting keyed.
If the result is close and Yes loses, I’d take that sticker off as soon as possible because that’s when the backlash will come.
THE problem, all along, has been that this independence debate has forced Scots to make a binary choice between two extremes when most Scots actually want something in between. The debate has been polarising because it has forced Scots to make a choice that most of them did not want to have to make.
It has forced Scots into two distinct camps.
Alex Salmond had every right to call the referendum after winning the 2011 election but, because he did so, he also has to acknowledge his responsibility for the damage the referendum is doing to the country.
He has to accept that, by forcing Scots to make so stark a choice, wounds are already being inflicted and there is intimidation out there on our streets.
But if, as still seems likely, his side loses, then he has an obligation to be as generous and magnanimous in defeat as it is possible to be.
The Yes Scotland foot soldiers will take their lead from him. If there is even a hint of resentment or grudge from the First Minister, then there is a distinct chance that windows will get broken and cars will get vandalised.
We are not very far from trouble of that sort. It is bubbling under and there is an obligation on all of us – particularly Mr Salmond – to make sure it is never allowed to get any worse, whatever the result on September 18.