Upside down
In his book "Letters to my Grandchildren," published in 2010, the late Tony Benn started letter number 17 with the following recollection: "When I was a Minister, I decided to hang a map of the United Kingdom upside down on my office wall, to give me a different perspective on the way Britain was governed.”
It was a prescient act, because politically – if not geographically – the UK was in a sense turned ‘heelster-gowdie’ by this year’s general election result north of the border (a wee bit of Scots dialect there for ‘head over heels’).
The SNP’s election triumph in May – along with the party’s majority government at Holyrood – means that Scottish politics has never been more divergent from the rest of the UK than now.
Even at the height of Thatcherism in the 1980s - when Tory representation in Scotland fell to unprecedented lows - the Conservatives always had a double-digit number of Scottish MPs.
Nowadays, when once again there is a majority Conservative government UK-wide, there is just a single Tory MP in Scotland. As is the case for Labour and the Lib Dems.
Notwithstanding the Tories' overall majority in the House of Commons, Scotland's different representation is making itself felt in a number of areas. For example, David Cameron's attempt before the summer recess to weaken the fox hunting ban in England and Wales was unhorsed when the SNP made it clear they were prepared to vote with Labour MPs and Tory rebels to keep it - with more rows to come now that English Votes for English Laws is in place.
The same thing happened to Conservative plans to repeal the Human Rights Act. 'Braveheart' SNP MPs joined with 'Runnymede' Tories to keep the UK part of a European-wide framework of human rights, at least for now.
Syria
This week, the stark difference between Scotland's politicians and those elsewhere in the UK was laid bare when 57 out of 59 Scottish MPs voted against extending UK bombing into Syria - while the Government secured a thumping majority of 174 across the whole House of Commons.
Hilary Benn's impressive eloquence and passion failed to move Scotland's MPs - not even the solitary Scottish Labour member, Ian Murray, who voted against bombing.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon - who on Tuesday kicked off the first in a series of media briefings in her official residence, Bute House - played a canny game in listening carefully to the Prime Minister's case for war. But there was little doubt that the SNP would vote against the Government, though of course it made no difference on this occasion.
Scottish opinion may hold more sway in other major questions facing the UK, not least the referendum on European Union membership. Polling frequently shows a narrow majority south of the border to leave the EU, but a decisive majority in Scotland to stay.
One possible outcome is Scottish 'In' votes overturning an 'Out' majority in the rest of the UK.
Taking a "Bennite," upside down view of Britain may make increasing sense in future.