IT'S been a funny old week.

No disrespect to our Scottish cousins, but if I never see a piece of Tartan or hear the swirl of bagpipes on TV again, I won't be grieving.

Wonderful though it has been to see the level of engagement during the independence referendum - and what a turn-out - the wall-to-wall, rolling news coverage has left many of us more than sated with those easy TV cliches.

Here's the question which has been forming in my mind for days: If people across the UK had equitable treatment, felt their financial situations were improving rather than stagnating, if the NHS was properly-funded and its future felt safe, if local services weren't being decimated by public service cuts, if people felt their government was actually in touch with their needs, would there be such strong calls for independence in any part of the UK?

And the only answer I can come to is no.

There will always be a number of people in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and even Cornwall who crave full independence.

But for most people, what we need the most is a government which governs in our interests, not just in the interests of big business, banks, or an elite which has no idea how the vast majority of us live.

For me, devolution is an important process which must be nurtured carefully.

But that cannot be done at the expense of a the creation of a vacuum of public interest in Westminster while we are all thinking about process rather than policies.

How wrong it would be if that argument about process dominated the next general election campaign instead of the issues which most of us care about: jobs, education, the economy, the NHS and how to protect its future.

How we would fail to learn the lessons of the amazing turn-out in Scotland if that were the case.

That was achieved because people felt their vote mattered, in a way many of us have despaired of feeling for years.

We're crying out for parties which offer us a proper vision for the future, a way the vast majority of us can build a better future for our children and grandchildren.

We're crying out for politicians who connect with the public.

And the political class had better learn that lesson quickly.

Devolution alone is not the answer.

How many of us in Wales feel that our AMs really connect with us?

Do people on Anglesey feel remote from both Cardiff and London?

Political engagement is not merely a matter of geography.

The inclusion of 16 and 17-year-olds in the Scottish ballot was also a revelation.

Families discussing politics like they have not done in generations.

There cannot be any argument now for excluding them from other UK polls.

The referendum exposed the lie that people don't care about politics.

People only give up caring about politics when it gives up caring about them.

WE at Argus Towers sometimes have a wry smile at how quickly some on-the-ball local politicians send out press releases referring to Argus stories.

So an article in the House of Commons magazine by Newport West MP Paul Flynn made me chuckle.

In a piece written to parliamentary candidates, telling them how best to get elected, Mr Flynn has some sage advice.

Among the tips is this gem for those facing an unwinnable "nursery" seat: "I was once dumped in a distant Tory area with no chance of winning or understanding local issues in a five-week campaign. My sole ploy to make some impression was to re-cycle and re-word the editorials in the local papers and submit them back to their editors as press releases. It never failed."

We'll be keeping a close eye on our email in-boxes.