And what of the very name 'Britain' and the shared yet multi-faceted cultural identity it supports?

Technically, if our Scottish brothers and sisters decide to walk alone, Great Britain would cease to exist on day one of an independent Scotland. This would be scheduled for 2016, after separation negotiations - that is, intense and costly legal wrangling - have taken place.

The 'United Kingdom' would be disunited. The term would have no meaning, as it currently embraces Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

I am not Scottish and do not live in Scotland. Mind you, were I Scottish born and living elsewhere in the UK I would feel even more aggrieved right now, as I would be denied the right to vote on a fundamental question affecting the future of both nations.

Yet it seems that some Scots are being hoodwinked by rank political opportunism north of the border and annoyed by political indifference to the south.

If Scotland votes Yes, it will not suddenly implode. In a globalised world, everything is connected to everything else. No-one in Europe, not even the government in Westminster, would want to see a close neighbour fail - even if only for economic reasons.

Mr Salmond, as an economist, knows this and I'm sure is banking on it to help see him through some difficult times ahead. Those times, however, may last longer than he chooses to acknowledge.

He promises to free a people who do not in 2014 seem to be, in the true sense of the word, oppressed.

Are there deep social and economic challenges in Scotland? Is there too much poverty in parts of the country? Did parts of Scotland suffer during the privatisation pushes of the 1980s?

Absolutely, but the same - and worse - can be said for other parts of the UK which, by the way, do worse that Scotland under the current formula for apportioning percentages of tax revenue.

Drive through some towns in northern England and you're left wondering why successive governments haven't done more for them. Indeed, some of their inhabitants will wonder what some Scots campaigners are complaining about.

Is Scotland, as some activists claim, being bullied into staying on? Hardly. When asked that very question during a BBC radio discussion in the early parts of this campaign, I replied that in this respect the government is on a hiding to nothing.

If ministers refused to speak out, I said, they would be labelled weak and dispassionate - which has turned out to be the case in this campaign. If, on the other hand, they spoke out with passion - as did Gordon Brown and David Cameron (belatedly) this week - they would be accused of bullying.

Is the Westminster system flawed and in need of reform and/or rejuvenation? Yes, without doubt. The trust deficit brought on by the MPs' expenses scandal lingers on, as does disillusionment about elitism at the top - on all sides of politics.