As the campaign for independence nears its climax at the ballot box, Scotland is an increasingly self-referential and insular land. The polls suggest secession will be defeated, but that likely result will banish neither the divisions nor delusions of a society where superficiality is a guiding principle

Australian leaders generally don't take sides in other nations' internal debates, but Abbott's advocacy of a 'no' vote in the upcoming referendum on Scottish independence was no shoot-from-the-lip gaffe. Rather, it reflected an understanding of just how bad dissolution of the United Kingdom would be