... of ??
Well, you can complete the sentence for yourself, but my money's on the last two lines of Hilaire Belloc's 'Jim' (one of his cautionary tales for children) which were never far from the surface of things, even if they remained unsaid.
I struggled to find many references to (long-devolved) education in the great debate; no doubt the Scots still feel it's ok, and better than in the rest of the UK. They might be right in terms of their schools – although PISA scores don't show all that great a difference between the disparate bits of the UK – apart from Wales that it which brings up the rear.
It's surely a different matter when it comes to higher education, where the Scots can hardly claim any kind of pre-eminence, and the university sector did feature in the campaign – or at least in the reporting of it south of the English Marches. The part that sticks in the memory was the report , following an FOI request, of an attempt back in March to get the principle of a Scottish university to withdraw comments that the sector might well fare better, in research funding terms, under the Union than with independence. This was refused, as was the subsequent opportunity to say how good Scotland's HE policies were. Some of the FOI emails, and the back story, are here.
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