This is nothing to do with being stuck inside the Anglo-sphere! Are the Scots Gaelic speakers are comparable to, say, the Quebecois? That is certainly not the SNP’s belief, otherwise the borders of a proposed Independent Scotland would be in a very different place.

Likewise with religion – It is not like the Irish case, where the difference in religion between the rest of the UK, was a crucial argument for self-determination.

With regards to the suggestion that this is a non-issue: From an administration point of view, that may be the case. I’m just asking wether the ideological ideas of ‘national identity’ and ‘self-determination’ (which are used to justify independence) do not require a certain pro-activity, even zeal, on the part of potential citizens? To then let in, on administration grounds, any old Englishman who happens to work in the ‘Anglosphere’, seems to rather undermine the rhetoric of nation building.

“The Scottish Nationalists claim to be ‘different’ from the English, and yet there are no clashes of religion, ethnicity, or language.” Well perhaps inside the anglo-sphere of Edinburgh there are no no clashes of language, but not elsewhere in Scotland. Also, in terms of religion, the ongoing disgrace that a catholic cannot become monarch is shameful, (not that I subscribe to either affliction).

I would imagine that in the case of Scottish independence, both parties would take pains to minimise the initial impact on everybody, not least by rushing through Scottish membership of the EU, after which formal citizenship would become almost a non-issue.

Well Czechs and Slovaks are pretty much separate nations (meaning ethnicities) with many similarities but also quite a few differences (which do tend to get rather emphasized when divorce comes along) in language and in culture as well. Geographical separation was easy as well, the border with Czech lands was probably the one “most historically established” for Slovakia.

As far as the practical matter of citizenship, there weren’t any problems with this in the Czechoslovak case, I don’t even remember the particulars, I think everyone was granted the citizenship of the state he was a permanent resident of, unless he specifically asked for the other one. Dual citizenship was also a possibility for quite some time, I believe. Of course this differs from the Case of UK vs Scottish citizenship in the regard that in the Czechoslovak case there were only two new state entities, both claiming a de iure continuity with the old state. In your case however UK would (I hope) remain in existence which raises your fair question whether one could be stripped of his citizenship. I presume the sane thing here would be to apply for Scottish citizenship while leaving ones UK citizenship intact.

I won’t pretend I understand the question of Scottish independence though, what are they going to base their nationhood on? Their accents? Quilts? What?

When I speak of the ‘diaspora’, I would crucially include residents of England, Wales and Northern Ireland, who were born and/or grew up in Scotland. Since Scotland’s population has been falling recently (1% or two 2% a year, I think). That’s a lot of people.