As someone born in Newcastle, but who has lived most his life in Scotland, I've got an arseful of splinters from having sat on the fence on this issue for years. On balance, if I think about it then I have to admit I have a good deal of sympathy with those who call for greater autonomy for Scotland, not least because of what Thatcher did to this country and the Poll Tax being just one of them, but I'm not in favour of independence. I think I'd actually favour a system of federal government with power devolved to all four home nations, each having their own Parliament (possibly with England having two assemblies, one for North of England and another for the South of England). I think that would ensure that every area had a more representative system of government, and a greater degree of self-determination in terms of social and economic policy. I'd also want the House of Lords to become an elected UK-wide Senate with overall control of defence, foreign affairs and international development. That would make sense to me.
There's no clear, definitive evidence on whether Scotland could actually go it alone successfully, or if there is I have yet to see it, but these recent news stories make for interesting reading if you're bothered enough to equip yourselves with some slightly more informed opinion on the issue, rather than rolling out half-arsed, dog-eared, cliché-ridden, angst laden tripe that dogs this debate.
I have to say the comments in this thread by some folks about wanting to escape to Scotland to escape the ravages of Tory government have put a wry smile of recognition on my face. After all, it was only 7 years ago that the North-East was given an opportunity to have its own Assembly which was rejected at the time, quite forcefully:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3984387.stm