The referendum may be over in a month but the Scottish Nationalists are here to stay for at least another year and a half. So, even if their vision for independence is defeated on September 18, as looks likely, they will still be wielding power over us all of us.
Generous souls assume that life will get back to normal and opponents who have been pitted against each other for one of the longest political campaigns in living memory will instantly forgive and forget their bitter differences.
But such healing will only be possible if the Nationalists themselves reach out to those constituencies they have savaged in past months and embrace friends and foes alike. Appointing prominent Unionists to senior government jobs would be a marvellous start but this seems an improbable scenario.
Alex Salmond, if he remains in his post, will surely be tempted to exact revenge on everybody who wrecked his hopes. It is this fear of retribution that has silenced many would-be critics of separatism, but brave individuals have spoken out and the Nationalists know who they are.
Hopefully, the insurance giant Standard Life will be beyond punishment for drawing up contingency plans in the event of a “yes” vote. And the pensions group Aegon, which had a plan B even if Salmond didn’t, is too big to harm.
But what about the smaller businesses which expressed concerns, or the companies dependent on state contracts? Or the organisations which will continue to rely on government support? Can they expect an even hand from Nationalist ministers after voicing their employees’ or members’ anxieties about secession?
And what about female voters? According to the latest Scottish Social Attitudes Survey, published last week, just 27% of this part of the electorate were pro-independence. Women have consistently been much harder to convert to separatism than men and if the Nationalists have anyone to blame for their almost certain defeat it will be women.
No doubt the benevolent provisions for increased childcare, promised if “yes” won the day, will be withdrawn after a “no” vote, although the SNP government could have used existing powers to push through this policy if it so wished.
The paucity of female executives on the boards of Scottish public bodies, highlighted by the Labour MP and Shadow Scottish Minister Margaret Curran last week, also needs to be addressed but it may not be a priority for Salmond if he receives a bloody nose from women at the ballot box.
The young, too, have been overwhelmingly in the “no” camp, as have the elderly. The middle classes are more likely to be Unionists than Nationalists, and so are Liberal Democrats and the majority of Labour supporters, though the “yes” team is lobbying furiously for the latter’s endorsement.
Whole regions, such as the Borders, have identified so strongly with the Unionists that they must anticipate a mighty backlash from dejected government departments.
As for English residents in Scotland, they are completely beyond the pale already in Nat eyes, with sufficient numbers to tip the balance in favour of the Union.
Will an English accent become an impediment in the acrimonious atmosphere of a post-referendum Scotland?
But the most beleaguered demographic will be the 15% of voting Scots who regularly support the Tories. Some 400,000 people, who have felt the relentless rhetoric of hatred directed towards them by the Nationalists, will wake up on September 19, relieved at the result but alarmed that they are regarded as pariahs in their own country.
How can Salmond claim to represent the interests of all Scots after he has traduced such significant chunks of the population? And how will he repair the damage that his campaign has caused, not only within Scotland but in the rest of the UK, our main trading partner?
A Better Together volunteer, who found the posters she put up in fields around Stirlingshire defaced and pulled down, said she couldn’t imagine a rapprochement in this divided nation.
Nor can many of us, but if Salmond’s dreams are dashed and he wants to salvage his legacy, he could do so by putting aside past grudges and showing real leadership to all his constituents.