On the first, it is right to be cautious about breaking up countries, but when a region is a recognisable cultural, ethnic or linguistic entity, outright refusal to allow a vote is perverse. It would have been wrong to force Slovakia to remain in Czechoslovakia or Kosovo in Serbia, just as it was wrong for Britain to fight Irish independence. It would be just as wrong to make Flanders remain Belgian, Quebec stay Canadian or Scotland continue to be British, if a clear majority of voters preferred independence. (...) So the government should let the Catalans have a referendum. It should set some conditions, such as a minimum turnout of 80%, and maybe even a second vote, three years later. As Canada did with Quebec in its 2000 Clarity Act, it should insist on a fair process in any vote—a clear question that gets a clear answer, in other words. It should then devote its energy to persuading the Catalans to stay. As with Scotland, this newspaper would be on that side of the argument. (...) The Spanish government could do plenty to persuade Catalonia to stay—as the British government belatedly did with Scotland.