By Rab Bruce’s Spider

Today is not a day to express anger even if we feel it. We face a challenging time and a very uncertain future. Only time will tell how this will be resolved and it is too early to speculate on anything.

Despite the widespread uncertainty, though, there are one or two things we can now be certain of.

First is that the Better Together claim that the only way to safeguard EU citizenship was to vote No in the Scottish IndieRef has finally been nailed down for the lie it always was. This makes the prospects of a Yes vote in any second IndieRef a bit more likely since it is now hard to think of a single Better Together threat that hasn’t been proved to be a falsehood or has come true despite the No vote. Whether that will be sufficient to swing enough No voters to Yes remains to be seen and, at the moment, I wouldn’t bet on it.

Secondly, we can now see with absolute certainty that Scotland’s voice in the UK simply doesn’t count. All the pleas to Lead the UK, not Leave it have been shown up as mere platitudes. Scotland can never lead the UK and can’t even influence things even with a majority of voters making the same choice. This is not an equal union and never will be.

Another thing that is certain is that the oft-repeated claim that social attitudes in Scotland are much the same as those in England has been shown up as another falsehood. It may be true in some areas because, after all, we share a language, a currency and an imperialist history, so there are undoubtedly some things held in common but every vote since the IndieRef has shown that Scots have a very different attitude towards the way they want to be governed.

My overriding reaction today is one of dismay. This Brexit vote may well result in Scotland becoming an independent nation but, if that does happen, it will be a depressing way for it to come about. That’s because, although Scotland has a potential escape route, I can’t help but feel sorry for my friends and relatives in England who face the prospect of a very bleak future under perpetual tory rule with all the austerity and hardship that will inevitably entail.