The Hitch Hiker's Guide To Scottish Independence

Andy Pickering was a middle-aged accountant who had loathed his dull job for thirty years. He was on his third mid-life crisis and desperately needed an interesting project before he started self-harming. Although English, Andy had a lifelong fascination with Scotland and was an expert on the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion, his specialist subject when he won a place on the BBC's Mastermind. When it was announced that there would be a Scottish independence referendum held in the autumn of 2014 and that there was now a very real chance of Scotland leaving the United Kingdom, he resigned, hoisted up his rucksack and set off to see what all the fuss was about. Despite not having hitched a lift since his student days, he thumbed the route of Bonnie Prince Charlie’s Jacobite Army from the Highlands of Scotland to the southernmost point they reached in Derby, then back north to Inverness, the scene of their final defeat. Along the way he talked to the people he met to find out what both the Scots and English think about themselves, each other, and independence. The Bryson-esque result is an affectionate, amusing and controversial book which gives real insight into the minds of the Scots and the English, and the possible outcome of the independence referendum. This is essential reading for anyone with an interest in the political future of the United Kingdom.