Getting a touch ahead of events, the New York Times noted earlier this month that the recent electoral victories of the Scottish National Party could lead to "the biggest blow to a British prime minister since Lord North lost the colonies in America.”

The markets took a different view. Soon after the election results were clear, sterling rose against the dollar and the euro — a vote of confidence in a U.K. economy that is bouncing back quickly thanks to a successful vaccine rollout.

I recommend trusting the markets, not the newspaper pundits, on this one. The threat of an independent Scotland hasn’t gone away, but the U.K. government still has many cards to play to preserve the most durable union in democratic history.