In Neal Ascherson’s fine work of history Stone Voices: The Search for Scotland, a multi-dimensional journey through Scotland’s past from its ancient make-up of little tribes of mysterious provenance to the state of the modern devolution settlement, part archaeology, part literary reflection, part personal biography, he compares Scotland’s story to the standing stones he marvelled at in his youth (he was brought up in the West where many of these ancient structures are found) – “ritual spires of condensed fear and memory” he calls them.