The metaphorical cannons have been fired, the first few volley of arrows twanged and the blood-curdling roars, as much as an old Etonian can muster, have been sounded.

This isn’t the 1600s though, this cross-border assault was delivered by press release.

Day 1 (yesterday) saw George Osborne warn that Scotland was losing out on investment as a result of constitutional uncertainty. Day 2 (today) sees similar warnings that Scotland will lose jobs in the Defence industry. Big Brother is clearly watching us and we shall see how long the onslaught goes on for but I suspect the drip-drip-drip of stories such as these will continue for a good while yet. So much for a positive case defending the union.

Whether the timing of the Conservative scaremongering/prudent warning (delete as applicable) over independence is supposed to coincide with Ruth Davidson being installed as new Tory leader and before Labour have selected theirs doesn’t change the fact that there has been a palpable stepping up of rhetoric against SNP plans.

The rights and wrongs of these arguments could, and will, be argued until the sheep come home; a neat analogy as it happens as David Cameron is effectively trying to round Scots up and put them back in their unionist pens. I don’t really mind what the result of the coming referendum is, but I do want Scots to really sit down and have a conversation with themselves and consider where they want to take their nation. There’s nothing wrong with not voting Yes, there’s nothing even wrong with bottling it but I do not want people frightened into thoughtlessly voting No and missing this great opportunity.

Yes, Scotland will have less jobs in Defence if we are independent but we’ll also be about £2bn a year better off if we adopt Scandinavian levels of spending in this area, more than enough money to retrain and reemploy anyone directly affected with change left over to help fund a renewables revolution, the oil boom of tomorrow. Furthermore, while there is a clear irony, even hypocrisy, in the SNP calling for the UK’s Green Investment Bank to be located in Edinburgh while simultaneously trying to remove Scotland from that same UK, it is telling that Alex Salmond can name several large companies who have invested in Scotland recently while George Osborne can name none. Scotland is bearing up very well indeed despite these difficult times and there’s only one Government that can take credit for that, even if it is to the chagrin of the other.

The real villain of this war of words debacle, not that it’s their fault, is the media. Newspapers sell through sensationalising a story (which perhaps makes we the public the real villains for falling for it) but this is not serving Scotland and the debate around independence very well at all.

The best way for the main players in this debate to take their arguments to the people is directly, be it party broadcasts, stump speeches or good old-fashioned door to door. There is an opportunity here for individuals to make famous deliveries – the constitutional equivalent of Jimmy Reid’s rat race speech or Obama’s Berlin speech on Europe.

There is at the very least an opportunity to rip up the tired old format of two political foes knocking lumps out of each other in the column inches and, I think, we will see that happen before too long. The SNP simply want this too much to not try something new and dynamic.