Glasgow city centre is alight. In George Square, a huge Yes rally is under way. Across one side of the vast square is a bank of signs, and across the square itself a huge crowd of sign-waving, screaming, selfie-taking people are sending volleys of noise into the night air.
The crowd is predominantly young and the atmosphere is intense. The traffic, which runs around all sides of the square is at a standstill. Most of the drivers seem happy to have stopped in the midst of the scene which feels like a victory celebration.
There are police, but very few of them. One of them is clear that the rally is not official, or in any way connected to the Yes campaign. It is spontaneous, he says. Young men wearing the Saltire as a cape rush past into the crowd, punching the air. Mothers with small children stand back and watch approvingly—it’s not quite the place for a small child but fine to watch from the sidelines. Teenagers wave placards with Cameron and Osborne’s faces angrily crossed out—there are similar posters dotting the walls of the shops on Leith Walk in Edinburgh.
The centre of Glasgow says a very loud, very youthful “Yes”. But what about the No, which, polls are predicting, will end up being the majority position? No evidence of that on the streets. Half a mile or so from the city centre is the hotel in which the No campaign has gathered. The contrast with the sardanapalian excesses of George Square could not be more pronounced. The crowd is older, much more sedate. The hotel is large, roomy and rather bland. The mood is one of confidence, but not necessarily of joy. The crowd will be gathered here until 6 am tomorrow morning, by which time the last of the results will be known—those from the great central belt, including Edinburgh and Glasgow.
The time of the posters and the campaigning is over. The polls have now closed and boxes of ballot papers are beginning to arrive at the count. The first results are expected at around 1am. In a strange, almost Platonic sense, the result already exists. All that remains is for it for that one fact to be fully established.
