The 300th anniversary of Scotland's Act of Union

"Three hundred years ago this month, the Scottish Parliament passed the Act of Union by 110 votes to 67, creating perhaps the greatest and most successful nation the world has known. Yet our commemoration is confined to the minting of a £2 coin and a couple of exhibitions", comments the daily. "This reticence is easily enough explained. Support for the SNP [Scottish National Party] is rising, and most Scots now say they favour independence. ... Today, the Union ensures Britain's place among the powers, as the world's fifth economy and fourth military force. Yes, there are problems with the current devolution settlement, but these can be stitched up under local anaesthetic without major surgery. ... There is no need to break a Union which, in lifting its constituent peoples out of parochialism, renders them a force for freedom and justice in the world."

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