Will cattle yawn in an independent Scotland?

Our house sits in the middle of a field, in the heart of the Aberdeenshire countryside. The field's occupants vary, but for the past few months we've been subjected to the close scrutiny of twenty or so young bullocks, who gather to stare in through the kitchen window, usually as I'm sheepishly roasting a chunk of beef. A few weeks ago, whilst watching them, it dawned on me that I'd never noticed them - or any other cattle - yawning. My dogs yawn; my cats yawn; but I'd never spotted a cow yawn. I consulted my infinitely more intelligent wife - who know these things - and was surprised to unearth a hole in her knowledge- she didn't know. Naturally, we turned to Google and my hopes soared as the search engine auto-completed my query on the 'y' of 'Do cattle yawn?'. A common question, I concluded. Alas, the results proved less decisive. Some links gave a 'Yes, they do', with even a few supporting YouTube videos. Others gave a firm 'No', going into detail that only meat eaters yawn. This led to further searches to establish if the 'meat-eaters-only' angle was true and again, more confusion. Deciding that a.Life was too short, and, b. I didn't really care that much, I abandoned the question and went out on my bike.

About the same time, I'd received an application form to participate in one of the BBC's referendum debates, to be held locally in Inverurie. The form asked for some basic information, whether you were a Yes, No or Undecided voter, and if you had a question you'd like to put to the panel. I completed all but my potential question, determined to develop some deeply penetrating, incisive and original gem of a question. There I remained stuck. Days went past and nothing smarter than the obvious, asked-to-death candidates, came to mind: 'What currency would we use?', 'How easy would EU membership be?', 'Would we be allowed a Eurovision entry?'. At this time, I was an "Undecided, verging towards Yes" man. For most of my adult years, my heart readily jumped at the idea of an independent Scotland, but I was determined that my head would need to be convinced - an approach, I suspect, shared by many. I read the White Paper, looked at the two early, competing fiscal reports and soaked up all I could from news and media. A couple of the TV debates had already taken place, including the first between Salmond/Darling. All this left my hopefully none-too-stupid head confused and gave few, if any, conclusive answers. As things wore on: more debates, more reports, more pondering, I gradually came to a set of realisations. Firstly, I realised that definitive, factual answers to most of the referendum's big questions are simply not going to be available, eg: we won't know with certainty what currency we'll be using or on what basis; we won't know for certain if, or how easily, Scotland's independent membership of the EU will unfold; we don't really know how much oil and gas remains for our benefit nor what it'll truly be worth; don't even get me started on Eurovision! Having realised all of the above, I then came to a very liberating conclusion: 'So what!'. Not because I'd conveniently decided all these questions were unimportant - they matter. What I hope I'd come to understand was that these issues all have an answer. That answer, preferred scenario or otherwise, would simply have to be dealt with. In some areas, currency say, a different outcome to that hoped for by Mr Salmond et al, might mean a radical rethink and perhaps years of adjustment, inconvenience, pain even. From my earliest musings on the practicalities of separating Scotland from the rest of the United Kingdom, I have never imagined for a second that it would not be accompanied by a huge amount of upheaval, reorganising, re-thinking, concessions sought and granted, sacrifices made. It will be inconvenient. Even given two cooperating sides carrying a fair slice of good will and determination to make the transition as smooth and painless as possible, the process of separation will not be easy. But again, 'So What!'. Ultimately, if you hold to the belief that Scotland can be a prosperous, successful, small nation, capable of running its own affairs (and even David Cameron has stated his belief in this premise), then all the unknown obstacles that stand in our way are simply obstacles we need to deal with. A Yes vote is, as we keep being reminded, for ever. Another way of looking at that is that this is therefore a long term strategy, with the full benefits possibly not seen in many of our lifetimes, but perhaps by our children and their children too. With this in mind, but unfortunately too late to participate in the debate, I finally came up with my master question. A braver me would dearly have loved to sit in the Undecided section, face Mr Salmond and Mr Darling and eruditely enquire: "Would Cattle Yawn in an Independent Scotland?". Not that I care about the literal answer (although I suspect Darling knows and has done all along) but the point, I guess, after all the debates, unanswered questions and layers of subterfuge on confusion that we've witnessed these past two years, the point is that the answer to that question is as seemingly unobtainable, unhelpful and unenlightening as a great many of the questions and answers we've listened intently to so far. And again I say 'So What!'. Last week I put a nice big 'X' next to 'Yes' on my postal vote and sent it on its way. I'd finally decided my answer was going to be Yes, but the day before, I caught sight of a now frequently reproduced quote from Nelson Mandela: "May your choices reflect your hopes and not your fears.". This sealed it for me. Some will say that this is emotion guided decision making; that I'd let my heart rule my head. Perhaps. But I truly believe that contained within that quotation is the simple understanding that in order to shape and determine our future, we need to be brave and bold enough to seize opportunities and be determined to see them through. By taking the bullish, positive, self-affirming approach, we put responsibility and control in our own hands. I feel that's exactly the sort of gutsy decision we need as a nation to kick start a whole new era of Scottish politics and societal change. The status quo is not good. Westminster politics is outdated, unchanging and no longer reflects the hopes and aspirations of the Scottish people. There are just as many risks staying in the union as there are leaving it. Now, if only we could get one definite answer to the whole Eurovision thing...