AS I write, people in Scotland are still voting and we will not know the result of the referendum for hours yet.

However, as you read this, the result should be known. But for the purpose of this column, the outcome is immaterial.

The last few months have been the most exciting time to be a political reporter in Scotland.

It has been the most important decision for the people and I have been in a most privileged position to report the campaign for the Evening Times readers. On your behalf, I have been able to ask questions of the leading politicians on both sides of the debate and it has been a pleasure.

I hope the Evening Times has done what we intended at the start of this campaign, which was to provide readers with information from both sides in a fair, accurate and balanced way.

We wanted to help provide detail, ask the questions our readers wanted to ask and in whatever way we could, provide information to assist you in making your mind up.

It is your vote, and I sincerely hope you all participated in Scotland taking the decision it has today.

Now we know the result we all have a responsibility to make that choice work for us all. The issues that existed before the campaign still exist and require action to resolve, which will be as difficult today as they were yesterday.

What has impressed me having seen and spoken to many people about the referendum has been that people have been interested in a way that never really has happened, and probably never will, in a General Election.

People have argued in every setting imaginable about jobs, taxation, nuclear weapons, poverty, inequality, and wanting a better, fairer country.

Apart from a few idiots disrupting campaign events and abusing people of the other persuasion, it has been conducted calmly and respectfully.

Now the decision is made we have to get on with it. There can be no more Yes and No campaigns. The stickers and badges, flags, placards and slogans should be consigned to the archives.

No-one can shout at another, either in the parliament, the street or through the media that something is all their fault because they voted the way they did yesterday.

What the campaign has shown is that, in general, the vast majority of people want change and equality and fairness, but disagreed on how to achieve it.

We must now be united in our determination to make Scotland fairer.

Our history, especially in Glasgow, is filled with divisions in class, religion, colour and ethnic origin.

The very last thing this country and city needs is another division and set of labels.