The sound of Scottish accents on every other BBC broadcast – whether as presenters of Today, comics and actors – as well as editors of newspapers and chairmen of banks, is another token of how far we have boarded and taken over the vessel to which we attached ourselves in 1707. Less visible, but no less powerful, are those Scots who fill places as ambassadors to the UN, Washington and Paris, and who run the Foreign Office, Civil Service and the British Army. Leave Britain and our Army and Diplomatic Service will be level pegging with that of Luxembourg and Ireland for influence abroad. Even if we do make it into Europe – and that is not certain, given the sensitivities of the Spanish and Italians to national fragmentation – we can forget having any sort of special relationship with the White House or a place on the Security Council.