Here in England we just don’t hear about independence

Of course, the answer largely depends on who you mean by “the English”. The growing group of “English Scots for Yes” clearly think that Scottish independence is a great idea – while contemptuous English Tory MPs at Westminster clearly don’t.

It’s also a difficult question to answer objectively. Polls tell you, for example, that 22% of English voters support Scottish independence, but also that a staggering 63% of Leave voters would accept an independent Scotland as the price of Brexit.

But these figures don’t tell you anything about the respondents’ actual thoughts on Scottish independence, so any attempt to answer the question is going to be subjective.

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And, if London and the south-east is anything to go by, there’s an additional complication. Because while most people, if pressed, will offer an opinion on Scottish independence, the most striking thing is that it is simply not regarded as a live issue and is pretty much ignored.

Despite independence dominating Scottish politics, despite the de facto restructuring of Scottish Labour, LibDems and Tories into a Unionist bloc and despite a steady stream of SNPBad stories in the Scottish press, my experience is that the average English person doesn’t normally think about Scotland at all.

So why not? Partly, it’s the London-centric nature of British media. There were two years of very visible campaigning before the September 2014 referendum.

But living in London you wouldn’t have known – it was ignored in the press and on TV until the last few weeks, at which point a Guardian article claimed the problem wasn’t that the media was biased and pro-Union but that it was focused on London. They were wrong about the media bias but hit the nail on the head with the London focus.

Since 2014, non-reporting of Scottish issues has had a more positive driver – Scotland does things differently (think NHS, preparing a public-sector rail bid, banning private contractors from benefit assessments) and none among UK Government, the Opposition or the media which – right and left – supports the establishment want to deal with awkward “if they can do that, why can’t we?” questions, or give positive publicity to the SNP.

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But whatever the motive, the effect is the same. If news media – the source of most people’s information – resolutely ignore something, then that thing is assumed to have no importance and so it’s unsurprising that most English people don’t give Scotland any thought.

What might appear to be English insularity or arrogance is actually the result of a kind of reverse advertising – don’t give it any publicity and nobody will notice it.

And it seems to be working.

But, trying to explain all this to a small left-wing group in London, I was met with genuine bewilderment and what is best described as polite scepticism:

• But you voted No – no-one’s interested in independence now
• Labour wouldn’t work with the Tories
• You couldn’t afford it
• Why isn’t this in the news then?
• This isn’t the time to break up our country

You’ll also notice the Anglo-centricity – if it wasn’t news in England, then it wasn’t really happening.

This is the consequence of being part of the country that has 84% of the UK population and a media that routinely conflates England with the UK.

But, while English ignorance of Scottish issues is irritating, does it really matter?

I suspect not. English people reliant on the mainstream press and TV are certainly going to be surprised when indyref2 arrives. But they now have their own problems and I really don’t see anyone setting up a grassroots “Keep Scotland” campaign.