It’s hard to get excited about Scottish independence, though there have been many attempts by English political leaders to persuade us that it is the most important issue of our time. Mr Cameron – of that clan – is very keen to preserve the union even though this will mean our continued subsidising of all those Scottish socialists. There are no longer any – or at any rate many- Tories in Scotland. The destiny of aspiring Scotsmen seems to be to come to England and become either manager of one or other of our best football teams or, failing that, prime minister.

English Tories were suspicious of the benefits of the 1707 union, seeing in it the conniving achievement of the Scots, after successive disastrous harvests and near economic collapse, to hitch their wagon to England’s mercantile and financial success. Resentment persisted and we catch the tone of it in some exchanges between James Boswell and Samuel Johnson:

BOSWELL: I come from Scotland, Sir

JOHNSON: Yes Sir, and so do a great number of your countrymen.

Johnson’s dictionary also defined oats as a substance which in England provides fodder for horses but in Scotland feeds the population

As I say, I find it difficult to get worked up about the Scottish referendum. Except I am puzzled by what ought to be the centre of the matter, but inexplicably isn’t. We have had a political union with Scotland for 307 years. Whether Scotland retains this union or decides to break it will affect not just the Scots but the English too

Surely the people of both countries should be invited to vote in the referendum?