Scotland's place in the Union, Britain's place in the EU. Two referenda are on the horizon, but the debates around each are strangely divorced from each other.

Britain has long been a country that looks back to a romanticised, recreated past. But what kind of country will we be celebrating and mourning with Thatcher's funeral tomorrow?

Today sees the transformation of the British welfare system, combining crippling cuts to benefits with the full blown marketisation of England's NHS. This is Cameron's "compassionate conservatism". Scotland and the UK must find a different way.

Leading thinker on Scotland and our long-time contributor, Gerry Hassan, sheds a tear as the Big Day is set. What we need now, he says, is a non-partisan debate on the potential of a self-governing Scotland.

The Scottish Catholic Church was hit with a sex abuse scandal last week, while the Rangers football team defended itself against evidence of tax avoidance and illegality. Contrary to how Scotland likes to see itself, it is weak at holding power to account. These two unfolding scandals show this has to change.

Scotland's experience cannot be compared to a brutal dictatorship, yet there are parallels to be drawn between the debate over the coming independence referendum and the anti-Pinochet campaign as depicted in the recently released film 'NO'. Can a message of hope and fun work in Scotland as it did in Chile?

Scotland is at a crossroads. Here are a dozen steps (and an extra one, for luck) that could help Scots forge together a modern, progressive, democratic nation in control of its own future.