I really don't know how anyone could see a similarity between the UK and the EU, beyond the word "union". One is a four-nation union that has been in some kind of union for many centuries, with all four nations sharing at least some common culture. The other is a 28 member continental superstate encompassing lots of different cultures, languages, territories, most of which have never been in union until the formation of the EEC.

The UK isn't even comparable to Yugoslavia, a much smaller superstate than the EU. Even Yugoslavia was unworkable. And even Czechoslovakia was too much for the nations involved. Throughout history, we see superstates fail. The UK isn't a superstate. It was when it was an empire, but now it's a mere country. Maybe the Scots view it differently, time will tell.

I don't have any emotional connection to the UK. See my location - England not UK. I consider myself more English than British. My British status is more formal than cultural. I'm English. That's not a choice, it's where I was born and have lived all my life. English is my nationality, if I have anything that can be considered an emotional connection it's that, and even that's tenuous because it's not like I'm a proud Englishman with a St George's Flag waving out my window. When it comes to football, I guess I am a proud Englishman... I definitely support the England football team in major tournaments, and I definitely share in the national embarrassment when our fans make fools of the nation.

I don't have a problem with England being a member of the UK because it's a logical union, at least with regards to England Scotland and Wales... one island landmass. I suppose I do have something of a moral issue with the Northern Ireland status... that's a colony, land taken from the Irish, but there's no easy solution to that one and it's not something that directly affects me so I keep my nose out of it. But the rest of the UK, so long as it's democratically acceptable to all parties, it's not a problem. If Scotland and Northern Ireland leave the union, England and Wales will remain in union, almost guaranteed. There are some nationalist Welsh who want independence, but they are very far from a democratic majority and I don't see that ever changing.

The EU for me is far more comparable to the Soviet Union than the UK. There are of course major differences... the Soviet Union was utterly dominated by Russia, with Moscow being the capital, while the EU is not dominated by one country, and odes not have one single capital, even though Germany does have more influence than any other member state. But the similarities are that both were huge unions made up from several distinct cultures, many of which have nothing in common except the fact they are in a union.

There's nothing wrong with working closely with your regional neighbours. There's nothing wrong with being friends. My problem with the EU was never the economic relationship... it was the political aspect of it. Unfortunately it proved to be the case that you couldn't have one without the other. That's a problem that Scotland are facing... is it worth being in an economic relationship with England at the cost of political integration? That's for them to decide.

I guess I don't have a problem with the UK because England dominates, which might sound selfish but it's probably more ignorance of the political problems of being a member of the UK. But I at least appreciate why Scotland has a serious decision to make, and it's why I would respect a democratic decision to leave.