We recently asked our supporters to send us their thoughts for our 'Tell us Your Story' campaign. The response has been fantastic and this week we have started sharing these stories with everyone.
Here is Scotland in Union supporter Robbie MacNiven with his short story: Drive for 'Yes2' has collapsed
Dear Scotland in Union,
My connection with the idea of British unionism has always been a highly personal one - with a mother from Buckinghamshire and a father from Slamannan, the idea of "Britain" as a state in its own right has always seemed like the most natural political set up. The idea that Scotland is not sufficiently represented on the British stage exposes the real weaknesses of Scottish nationalism - for a start, it wrongly implies Scottish MPs in Westminster somehow won't act in the national interest or "stand up for Scotland" (unless they're from the SNP, of course!). It also implies that the Scottish Government is inherently more worthy and less corrupt than Westminster just by dint of its very Scottishness. Such attitudes, ridiculous though they are, betray the ugly side of our own home-grown nationalism - the belief that we Scots are inherently different from others and, indeed, inherently superior.
That is not a view held by the vast majority of the people of Scotland. In both 2014 and in the most recently General Election, we have said no to separation and no to the nationalism that, by crook or by hook, seeks to divide us from not just neighbours, but from our family, kith and kin. Time and again we have seen proponents of independence fudge figures and twist circumstances towards the only goal that matters to them - separation from Britain, regardless of the price. Increasingly Scots are becoming aware of their duplicity. The drive for "Yes 2" has collapsed, and the tide looks as though it has turned against the SNP.
Perhaps, when they have finally lost their "Yes" majority in Holyrood, we can start healing the divisions created in 2014.
Thanks and all the best,
Robbie MacNiven