Intuition is a wonderful thing.  There are times when you just know that something ain`t right.  You`re not quite sure what it is and it`s difficult to put your finger on it but you sense there`s something in the air that is disturbing.

Now I had hoped to make these rambles a Scottish referendum-free zone, but it`s not easy to escape all the sound and the fury going on north of the border.   And with the referendum vote less than a week away, the temperature is rising.   It`s reaching the stage where it`s getting impossible to sort the wheat from the chaff, since logical argument has been displaced by rant, claim, counter claim, personal insults and unremitting brouhaha. 

So what is it that`s making me uneasy?   I think it might be just that - the welter of coverage so that, if I had the misfortune to be Scottish and wishing to cast my vote on the basis of reliable information, I would not be at all sure that I could trust anything that I was hearing, reading or seeing.   I might be driven to the reasonable conclusion that the protagonists of the `No` vote were mainly English politicians more concerned with their own futures than the future of Scotland, never mind the Union. 

I might have grounds to suspect that the BBC`s relentless output is as much to do with its upcoming charter renewal than its remit to provide unbiased, neutral and factual reporting.  I might even suspect that the BBC`s coverage has been `influenced` by those who will sit in judgement of their licence renewal.   And I might suspect that most, if not all, of the threats made by big business of dire consequences if the Scots dare to vote `Yes` might turn out to be bluster to avoid any `inconveniences` that might come their way.  

And in a moment of extreme fantasy, I might even suspect that a dubious ballot result could be on the cards.   As I say, it might be that my intuition is misguided - it won`t be the first time - but there is most definitely something in the Scottish air that is unpalatable, almost sinister and it`s no way to run a referendum campaign on something so potentially momentous.

But what could trouble me yet more is the concern that the shenanigans we are witnessing now might well be a dress rehearsal for the referendum we`ve been promised for 2017 on membership of the EU......if Cameron gets re-elected, if he successfully renegotiates our terms of membership and if pigs might fly after all.   Things in Scotland are bad enough, but I shudder at the prospect of a `charm offensive` being waged by the likes of Juncker, Merkel and the rest of the EU elite.