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JK Rowling joins stars divided over Scottish independence
Harry Potter author supports No vote, donating £1m to Alistair Darling's Better Together campaign
JK Rowling has thrown her support behind the campaign against Scottish independence, donating £1m to Better Together. Her donation is the largest single gift given to the Better Together campaign, run by former Labour chancellor Alistair Darling. In a statement on her website, Rowling, who has lived in Scotland for 21 years, said she came to the question of independence with an "open mind" but the more she listened to the Yes campaign, the more she worried about its "minimisation and even denial of risks". The Harry Potter author is one of several celebrities to publically declare their views on the future of Scotland:
"I had no great sense of nationalism when I was in Scotland, and I could never understand why the SNP were banging on about it. I was like, why do we want to become smaller? Surely we want to expand and look outward? Let's go into Europe and be one big happy family!"
The Week
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"This separation will not be quick and clean: it will take microsurgery to disentangle three centuries of close interdependence, after which we will have to deal with three bitter neighbours."
Billy Connolly
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(Image credit: 2013 AFP)
"I don't believe in having more layers of government that ordinary people will have to pay for. I think it's time for people to get together, not split apart."
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Rod Stewart
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(Image credit: 2013 AFP)
"I'd hate to see the Union broken after all these years — and I don't think it will happen."
Emma Thompson
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(Image credit: 2014 AFP)
"Why insist on building a new border between human beings in an ever-shrinking world where we are still struggling to live alongside each other?"
Yes to Scottish independence
Sean Connery
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(Image credit: 2012 Getty Images)
"As a Scot and as someone with a lifelong love for both Scotland and the arts, I believe the opportunity of independence is too good to miss."
Irvine Welsh
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(Image credit: 2010 Getty Images)
"I'm totally for independence, totally. I think everyone is, even the unionists. It's the process which is being argued about, not the principle."
Alan Cumming
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(Image credit: 2013 Getty Images)
"The Yes campaign for Scottish independence is, to me, the epitome of hope, optimism and positivity and I believe that independence is best for Scotland."
Brian Cox
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(Image credit: 2005 Getty Images)
"This whole argument has nothing to do with the pound. It’s not about any of these things they say are important; it's about the Scottish people trying to join up the dots back to the Treaty of Arbroath, and trying to get back to egalitarian principles, which is so present in the Scottish character."
Frankie Boyle
"It's an 'aye' from me, man."
Click here for a full summary of the pros and cons of Scottish independence
