In this volatile world, the Union is never safe

Ten years ago on Wednesday evening I ordered a pint in the Café Royal, one of Edinburgh’s best bars, and drank in the atmosphere. The polls were about to close in the Scottish independence referendum and with friends and journalists visiting from abroad we picked over a campaign that had divided Scotland.

I remember we unionists thought that in the end it should be just about OK — the result, that is — though these feelings were tinged with anxiety and a growing apprehension about the possibility that the opinion polls in the final stages, which showed a slim majority in favour of the Union, were wrong.

Perhaps Alex Salmond would pull it off? There was after all something so energetic, discombobulating and dishonestly populist

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