by Douglas Lindsay, with Dr Ian Shackleton, senior lecturer at the Glasgow School of Politics and Football
And in the end, it was the silent majority who spoke.
Those hundreds of thousands who cared not for two years of campaigning, who ignored every debate - from the Sturgeon/Lamont Handbags At Yawn, to the Salmond/Darling My Cock Is Bigger Than Your Cock Double Header - who had never heard of the Scottish Imperial Shekel and who never knew that Vote No Borders was conceived in a PR office in Manhattan, the hundreds of thousands who just plain never wanted the referendum to happen in the first place.
Perhaps, two years ago, they'd have thought that they probably wouldn't even bother voting. But in the end, when it seemed that the Union was in doubt, when the collapse of the United Kingdom seemed as certain as the fall of Gondor to the massed ranks of the Dark Lord, the silent majority appeared, like King Theoden and his men on the hill above the great plain, and rode to the rescue.
Was it all a fantasy? All the polls and the hype and the talk of how close it could be, was it all a myth created by Alex Slamond and the media in search of a good story?
This morning I spoke to renowned political analyst, Dr Ian Shackleton, of the Glasgow School of Politics and Football. Standing in his office on the 98th floor of the recently completed Gordon Brown Memorial Tower at the heart of the city's resurrection district, looking out over a vast landscape of burning SNP supporters, I find the doctor in grim mood.
'The nation is divided,' he tells me. 'Brother against sister, husband against wife, multi-millionaire against hardworking, poverty-stricken accountancy consultant. Westminster is stuck with this shambolic promise of more powers, and for the most part, the people who voted No would have voted No anyway. They don't care about more powers. Yes voters are left howling with rage, while Westminster mocks them and drinks the blood of Scottish benefit claimants. It won't end well.'
I remind Dr Shackleton that just over a week ago he predicted that Scotland would be independent by Christmas. He waves away the prediction with his usual avuncular charm.
'I was just making that shit up,' he says. 'In that,' he points out, 'I was not alone.'
Shackleton then outlines the six-point path he believes will lead to Scotland being independent by Christmas one year or another.
* having allowed his desperation to write cheques his political ability couldn't cash, Cameron is forced to renege on all his promises and no further powers are devolved
* Nicola Sturgeon puts on her Wonder Woman costume and her wee nippy sweetie face, hides her delight that the powers were not devolved, and uses it to crush the opposition at the next Holyrood election
* the SNP bide their time, wait for the UK overall to vote to leave the EU on the instructions of the right wing press, while Scotland votes overwhelmingly to stay, and then call another referendum
* a distracted Westminster once more blunders into the vote, allowing the question to be posed as: Should Scotland become independent from the murdering, rapacious, deceitful scum bastards in Westminster, allowing themselves to breathe the clean, fresh air of freedom, with free doughnuts?
* a more focussed SNP, having learned their lessons from the last time over the economy and currency, swoop like an unfettered eagle on the baby lamb of secession
* Scotland votes overwhelmingly for independence, and the campaign of 2014 becomes a path along the way, rather than a bloody footnote in history.
'It's coming,' says Shackleton. 'Inexorably, predictably, undeniably. It might be because of another vote, it might be because America tells the UK to split up and Westminster rolls over like an obedient servant, it might be because the United Kingdom finally collapses beneath the weight of Nigel Farage's arsehole. But it's coming.'
Political infighting quickly broke out following the No vote this weekend, with each of the three Westminster leaders putting as much distance between each other as they could, which was tricky, given that they all believe in the same capitalist, elitist system, that crushes workers and washes the pavements of Westminster with the tears of starving children.
Prime Minister David Cameron, was said to have told Alex Salmond: 'Extra powers? I don't know no sticking extra powers.' Nick Clegg stated that he was absolutely determined to 'do the thing', although he couldn't remember what the thing was.
Ed Miliband, in temporary charge of the Labour party, failed to correctly pick out Scotland on the map, as a result of which he committed a future Labour government to an independent Suffolk.
'If they'd just played a decent game in the first place,' says Shackleton, 'they wouldn't have been panicked into this absurd pledge. Now they look like stupid multiplied by desperate and duplicitous. I doubt anyone would be surprised if this whole shambles doesn't end up with Sturgeon crushing Cameron's testicles in a vice fashioned from the last piece of shipbuilding equipment in Govan.'
Later a spokesperson for the Prime Minister denied that Mr Cameron had any balls in the first place.
'The government in Westminster need to hand over enough powers to make sure that Gordon Brown, Alistair Darling and Scottish Labour in general aren't humiliated. At least, any more than they are by being Scottish Labour in the first place. That way the SNP won't get their majority government in Holyrood and there won't be another vote.'
Shackleton strokes a contemplative chin as he looks out east, over by the great plains around Shotts, where Russian troops are in hand-to-hand combat with an elite Libyan extremist militia. 'You humiliate Gordon Brown at your peril,' he says.
'Look at Obama since that time he only allowed Brown to meet him in the hotel kitchen. Hasn't been the same since. Obama can't buy a piece of legislation, all because he pissed off Big Gordon.'
The world is in flux. War with Russia looms, and we can only hope that it is Cold War 2, rather than World War 3 or Die Hard 6.
The Ebola virus threatens to burst the porous defences of West Africa and unleash the worldwide zombie apocalypse. The descent of the Middle East into a vast, never ending war zone continues to accelerate.
Manchester United are battling relegation and Celtic are five points off the top of the league.
For a brief moment, however, Scotland provided some certainty.
Nothing, however, lasts forever. The game is far from over, and now, just as in the final few days of the great Scottish independence referendum campaign of 2014, the very future of Scotland lies in the hands of Gordon Brown, the big man from Raith.
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