Notwithstanding my light blogging, the tenth anniversary of the opening of the Scottish Parliament warrants acknowledgement, and these remarks strike me as particularly insightful and apposite:

HM The Queen, addressing MSPs: “Over this last decade members of the Scottish Parliament past and present have worked hard to address the issues of real importance to the Scottish people and have firmly embedded it as an institution at the heart of Scottish life and culture. Your challenge over the coming years is to take the Scottish Parliament forward on the next stage of this journey. To build upon those firm foundations to ensure it continues to reflect the priorities and aspirations of all of Scotland’s people and to retain the public’s confidence and trust.”

Gordon Brown: “Devolution is not, and must never be, a staging post to separation but a reasonable rebalancing of powers and responsibilities - to serve the people of Scotland better and secure its position in a stronger, more prosperous and fairer United Kingdom.”

Annabel Goldie: “Ten years after the opening of the Scottish Parliament, the hearts and minds of Scotland are firmly rooted in devolution and solidly behind Scotland’s place in the United Kingdom.”

Jim Murphy: “We can maintain Scottishness in Britain and Britain gives us the opportunity to be more Scottish. Scots want identity not isolation. Being in Britain allows us to be Scottish. Frankly, we have the best of both worlds. The advantages of devolved government but the invaluable insurance policy of being part of a larger social and economic union - the United Kingdom.”

Alan Cochrane: “Mr Murphy’s speech yesterday - one of the best this observer has heard on the subject - sought to up the ante, bring us back to basics and remind us what the argument is about. It is about who we are. We are Scots AND Brits; Brits AND Scots. That is by far the preferred option of the majority of the population and being patriotic about Scotland does not preclude support for the maintenance of Scotland within the UK.”

Ross Finnie: “In 1999 the Scottish Parliament opened with a high level of public interest and anticipation. There were, of course, the cynics who predicted the parliament would not be up to the job because they alleged it had very limited powers. They were wrong. Any objective assessment of the first 10 years will reveal that mistakes were made but, over the piece, the Scottish Parliament has made a real difference to people’s lives...”

Magnus Linklater: “The idea that devolution would lead to separatism and the break-up of Britain has been put on hold. What Tam Dalyell, the anti-devolution former Labour MP, once called “a motorway without exits to independence” has turned out to be a route liberally supplied with slip roads to all sorts of other constitutional options.”

Iain Gray: “The task given to the Scots of the beginning of the eighteenth century was to make the loss of a Parliament the springboard for a century of progress which shaped their world. Our task at the start of the twenty first is to make our new parliament the springboard for a century of progress which shapes our world for the better. To accept any lesser ambition for our devolved parliament is to let down those whose voices and values echo through it. To use it as an excuse to look in upon ourselves and to hell with our neighbours is to ignore the example they gave us of how to look outwards to the world and its challenges.”