Is Scotland ready for independence? our verdict

There aren’t many capital cities around the globe that don’t have a Caledonian Club.

The skirl of the pipes can be heard from Manhattan to Malawi. So, should Scotland split from the rest of the UK it would start with an advantage most new nations lack. It would already be not just known throughout the world but largely loved.

Only Ireland can rival Scotland for its international appeal built largely, like the Scots, by having huge numbers of ex pats settled successfully in every corner of the globe. But there’s the paradox.

For Scotland is already a globally recognised brand.

And that has been achieved as part of the UK, driven by a combination of the UK’s massive embassy network and the Scottish Government’s more targeted trade missions and helped of course by having a seat at the top table at organisations that shape the global order like the EU, the World Trade Organisation and the UN, including its security council.

Leave the UK and disrupt the global order and there’s plenty of powers that will be unimpressed. Not least America if Alex Salmond insists Trident has to be moved.

Then there’s the English. Alex Salmond claims independence would turn Scotland from a surly lodger within the UK to a good neighbour. That may be true. The bigger question is how the bigger neighbour would react?

Plenty of political commentators fear that if the Scots shun the UK the English will take it personally and play hardball in the ensuing negotiations, souring relations for years.

Scotland can make its way in the world as an independent nation, Scotland already is making its way in the world successfully as part of the UK.