I Am Thrilled By The Result

I am delighted to have woken up this morning to find the United Kingdom intact and our Scottish family still part of Great Britain.

And, whilst it is a disappointment that 38% of those eligible to vote, voted for independence, that still leaves a fairly hefty 62% who chose not to do so.

Which means that, hopefully, for the remainder of my days, our beautiful little Scottish grandchildren Rose and Melody will share our nationality. I want them to feel totally Scottish and to be part of that wonderful country but also to feel part of a United Kingdom and be able to share the culture and heritage of each and every one of the individual nations that make it so unique.

I feel a bit sorry for Alec Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon. In all honesty they ran their campaign brilliantly and quietly without shouting until suddenly they found themselves in the surprise position of a YES vote becoming a real possibility. It was an exemplary example of how to run a political campaign and they managed to keep their dogs of war on a very tight leash until the polls showed the narrowest of gaps between the parties.

And then somehow, suddenly and inexplicably Jim Sillars and Tommy Sheridan slipped that leash and were all over the press spouting their opinions in the way that Salmond and Sturgeon had studiously spent two years trying to avoid. I imagine that Sillars appearance on BBC's Today Programme last week gave the NO campaign its biggest single boost in the last six months and slammed the brakes onto what was looking like an unstoppable Independence Bandwagon. The BBC was accused of bias. Had they shown Sillars and Sheridan on a 24 hour loop they could not have done the independence campaign more harm.

Once the firebrand fringe had shown its true colours with this sort of thing, the bandwagon came off the rails and I honestly believe that without this sort of negativity from the YES side, the outcome would have been much closer - a spectacular, but for me welcome, own goal.

As for Andy Murray and his now infamous tweet? Let's give the lad a break. He shared the view of almost two fifths of his compatriots. What's wrong with that? He wasn't aggressive in his opinion and, like all those who campaigned in a civilised manner on both sides of the argument, he should be congratulated on getting involved. Now that it's all over I will certainly continue to back him whenever he is playing and I hope that the rest of the UK gets behind him too. Anyone booing him on court should be swiftly shown the exit.

Now that it's all over and my worries of the last few weeks have subsided I feel certain that the referendum will prove to have been a good thing and have real beneficial effects for both Scotland and the UK as a whole.