"It's Union all the way for me"
At a time when expressing any view on the independence debate can be perilous, this regular feature will reveal how some of the best known people in the Highlands are voting on 18th September.
Rev Richard Burkitt, the English-born 64-year-old community councillor, Episcopal Minister and director of For The Right Reasons addictions charity in Merkinch, who has in Scotland for 24 years.
He said: "All my children were brought up here and my youngest son Frank is a supporter of the radical Yes Campaign. But I am voting no because of of my love of Britain. We have seen support for the Union turned ugly in other places but I think there is a silent majority - those many of us who support the Union peacefully, quietly and with great affection. We don’t go around waving the Union Jack around for fear of being misunderstood, but we believe, for the most part, that the Union between Scotland, England and Wales has been a successful Union and it is an unnecessary denial of its success to throw it away. I hope Merkinch will prosper and become one of the most successful parts of Inverness. As a business we don’t want to be any further away than we are from the rest of Britain or Europe. The throwing away of a successful partnership would leave a deep sadness, a genuine grief, in the hearts of many people but the SNP are well-organised and well-led and their campaign has been beautifully done. Papers like the Daily Mail with their endless, absurd, scare-stories, increase rather than decrease the Yes Campaign vote. Do they think we are stupid? The reasons we do not want independence is positive not negative. We love Britain as it is. We are not impressed with silly scare tactics. Alex Salmond is a compassionate, brave and good man. I agree with him on many subjects but independence is not one of them."
