When the turn-out is huge and the margin is clear, there can be no arguments.There need be no argument now. Scotland has said No to independence.
Whether Scotland yet knows what that choice implies is another matter. Whether those who run Britain have solved their Scottish problem for good or for a while remains, given that turn-out, to be seen.
At the time of writing 46% of the great majority of Scottish voters were content to break up the United Kingdom. They were outvoted by fellow Scots who chose an undefined offer of more powers for the Holyrood parliament. Two attitudes remain unreconciled.
There will be trouble, obviously enough, if the bigger Westminster parties do not, in the parlance, "deliver". The Scottish National Party will seize upon any failure. But the signs, for No voters, are not promising.
Which powers? When? And how - if it's even possible - can such concessions be reconciled with the growing sense in England that justice has not been done by its citizens?
In victory, the Better Together campaign might have made things difficult indeed for those who would keep the UK together.
How can you allow "English votes over English laws" while giving the Scots the luxury, as it is regarded, of the Barnett formula?
How can you keep the UK together without answering the West Lothian question? Winning a referendum solves nothing for believers in Britain.
It solves little for the Scots, either. Alistair Darling and Better Together have won a handsome victory but not, by any stretch, the decisive vote they wanted.
A big minority in Scotland have delivered a vote for dissent from the British way of doing things. They have rejected every blandishment. They are not happy Brits.
A lot of them are also unhappy former Scottish Labour voters. That party has thrown itself on to the wire to win this contest for the Union. The victory has been achieved, but the cost has been high indeed for the People's Party.
If nothing else - and it is a bit more than nothing - Labour have failed to hold tight to Glasgow. That, like a referendum on independence, was once unthinkable, but it no longer needs to be imagined.
We have not heard the last of it. Sooner or later, another referendum will be unavoidable.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article