1, The UK was never really united -the 1707 Unification of Parliaments was against the wishes of 98 percent of the Scottish population. It was all decided by the few who counted at the top. There were riots and protests in the streets of Edinburgh and Glasgow when the union was announced

  2. The Scottish Nationalist Party has not suddenly appeared in the last few years. It has always been there, with peaks of visibility from time to time, such as in the 1950s when the present queen was crowned Elizabeth II. According to the Scots she should have been Elizabeth I of the United Kingdom. The previous Queen  Elizabeth had been Elizabeth Tudor of England only.

 3. Three hundred years of unification have not dented the Scots' strong sense of identity. While England has always tended to view Scotland as a province, Scotland has always seen herself as a nation. In fact, the term British is rarely used by the English, so much so that in many countries, including Italy, Britain is referred to as "England" and British subjests as "Inglesi". The Scots, Welsh and Northern Irish object strongly to this. The Scots and English are two separate races. The Scots descend basically from Celtic tribes from Ireland and native Picts, while the English are Anglo Saxons of Germanic origin. This accounts for the different character traits.

 4. Contrary to England, Scotland is in favour of stronger links with Europe, thanks also to a long past history of friendship with France against their common enemy (England) and also to the fact that Scots have always had to look beyond their national boundaries in order to survive and, ultimately, prosper.

 5. Scots believe firmly in free education and health care, due to the Presbyterian roots of many of them. The importance of education and also the principle of the distribution of wealth are deeply rooted in the Scottish psyche. One of the biggest bones of contention in the Referendum debate has been the Westminster government's policy of privatization and cuts in public services.