What’s almost certain, though, is that if the unionist parties carry on with this relentless litany of negatives, the vast majority of voters will simply stop listening to them long before the two-and-a-half year referendum campaign is over.

And even if their campaign of fear and negativity is successful in achieving the “no” vote they crave, it will leave Scotland – the day after the referendum – with no prospect of a better future, and no idea at all of how it should move forward.

If the independence debate is to remain alive, therefore, and is not to become a huge turn-off for the vast majority of voters, it’s now absolutely essential that unionist politicians start developing their own positive vision for Scotland’s future in the UK, start advocating it, and fight for its inclusion in the coming referendum as if they cared more for that positive vision than for the momentary pleasure of inflicting a possible yes-no humiliation on Mr Salmond.

Let’s be clear here: when people vote in this referendum, they will be voting for independence or the union (or possibly devo max, although it won’t happen); we will not – I repeat, NOT – voting for our favoured political parties. Therefore, when producers are choosing people to appear on their shows, you would except an even split between the two/three viewpoints. However, for some bizarre reason, it has been decided that each of the three unionist parties deserves to have their own version of the “no” arguments put forward, even though each amounts to the same thing. Conversely, it has been decided that independence = SNP, meaning the “yes” arguments are supported by only one person.