THERE is something very different about the referendum that is taking place in Scotland today. It is not just that it is a vote about independence and the future of the UK, it is a large scale civil reaction where many people north of the border are experiencing a sense of history.

So many Scots have apparently refused to heed the warnings of press, politicians and banks, because this has been a truly bottom-up movement; ignored by the establishment, dismissed by polling experts who said a Yes vote was inconceivable.

The referendum experience should be shock lesson for the three traditional political parties in that the voters are less deferential, less impressed by threats and wanting local government. The cost of the No campaign getting it so badly wrong is that whatever the result, we are, regrettably, about to witness the start of the breakup of the UK.

Peter Troy, Rushyford