Hale Britannia?

Actually, she’s looking pretty sickly these days:

“You will see in the next few days a plan of action to give more powers to Scotland … Then Scotland will have the best of both worlds. They will both avoid the risks of separation but have more control over their own destiny, which is where I think many Scots want to be,” Osborne told the BBC.

“More tax-raising powers, much greater fiscal autonomy … more control over public expenditure, more control over welfare rates and a host of other changes.”

Osborne said the changes, being agreed by all three major parties in the British parliament, would be put into effect the moment there was a ‘no’ vote in the referendum.

I’m against any measure which might negatively impact the accessibility of single malt Scotch whiskeys on our fair shores, so my position on Scottish independence is no mystery. Of course, this being a strictly local issue, it’s not like I’m exactly passionate about keeping the UK whole. Just don’t mess with my Bowmore 15 deliveries, aye?

That said, London’s panic measure look exactly like panic measures, which seems likely to have opposite the intended effect with Scottish voters. For more on that, read on:

icola Sturgeon, deputy leader of the pro-independence Scottish National Party, welcomed the YouGov poll as a “very significant moment” in the campaign but rejected talk of more devolved powers for Scotland.

“I don’t think people are going to take this seriously. If the other parties had been serious about more powers, then something concrete would have been put forward before now and remember the other parties were desperate to keep that option off the ballot paper,” she told Sky news.

Salmond described the plans as a “panic measure”.

“This is a ridiculous position being put forward by a campaign … in terminal trouble,” he told the BBC. “They have failed to scare the Scots, now they are trying to bribe us. That won’t work either because people have come to the realisation that we can take the future of this country into our hands.”

London — the Tories, Labour, the Queen — is flailing like a drowning man, and if I had to guess, Scots who haven’t yet made up their minds about the upcoming vote might prefer it a wee bit more not to remain tied to a drowning man.

I never thought before last week that independence had a real shot at passage. This story makes me wonder what chance is left that it doesn’t.

EXIT QUESTION: What happens to the Union Jack if Scotland goes?

UPDATE: Unnamed Royal Baby to save the Union?