The games are over let the games begin! The brakes have been cut and now the referendum campaign is well and truly underway.
It began in earnest with the first TV debate between Alex Salmond and Alistair Darling on Tuesday night.
It’s probably fair to say not many people saw the showdown going quite how it did. The First Minister’s advisory team, and the top man himself, need to have a long hard think about tactics before the BBC event at the end of the month.
Aliens? Driving on the right hand side of the road? What a load of nonsense. One Yes supporter sent me a text half way through the debate to say the SNP leader’s argument were “pap”. Interesting choice of phrase, probably the right one.
When people go into the polling booth on September 18 they’re going to be thinking about the big issues. The economy, the currency, mortgages, pensions, social justice. Not whether a UK cabinet minister or shadow minister said something ridiculous a year ago.
Besides that, he’s taken some of the No campaign’s biggest problems and made them his own. He’s the one who brought this rubbish to our TV screens when there were just a couple of hours to play with.
It’s not like he couldn’t have anticipated the Better Together leader’s line of attack. It’s the pound, stupid.
Given that strategists say the line “it’s our pound and we’re keeping it” is going to be the mantra from here on in, it means a stronger attack was needed. This isn’t university debating where you win by scoring the most points. In politics you need the knockout blows.
Why then did he let the former Chancellor away with completely fluffing his lines on more powers? Asked to name two by chair Bernard Ponsonby, he could only name one and even then he bumbled around the detail of tax devolution.
If Mr Salmond had been on any sort of form he would have pounced. He wasn’t and he didn’t.
Mr Darling’s tactics were spot on and his performance was good, but no more than that. He left openings but they weren’t exploited.
Interestingly, no one from the Yes camp I’ve spoken to is even trying to pretend the First Minister won. They’re trying to pretend it doesn’t matter.
I said before the showdown it wouldn’t be a game changer. I still don’t think it will be but it certainly hasn’t helped the pro-independence campaign in the way they were hoping for.