Did Alex Salmond really tell David Cameron where to go yesterday?

Yesterday proved to be another interesting soap opera in the ever continuing debate on Scottish independence. Prime Minister David Cameron made a speech from Stratford in the east of London, pleading to Scotland not to walk out of the United Kingdom later this year. 

I initially thought yesterday that he was unwise to make such a speech when he was located approximately some 300 miles south of the Scottish border. Then again, to put things into context, it needs to be understood that this was more of a speech aimed at England, Wales and Northern Ireland - the importance of people in the rest of the UK's input (albeit by voice) could not have been more emphasised.

Around under half an hour after the speech, First Minister of Scotland Alex Salmond gave quite probably one of his strongest performances in months as he condemned the Prime Minister live on the BBC News Channel for making the speech and at the same time criticised him for not being willing to come up to Scotland to debate him. But it was his disapproval of the fact that the Conservative Prime Minister wasn't in Somerset instead to deal with the ongoing problems with the flooding situation there.

I must admit that when it was announced later in the afternoon that he would be heading over there to see how the floods were affecting people there, I was thinking that this was a visit that wasn't initially planned by Downing Street. I might well be wrong, but let's put it this way. Wouldn't it have been public knowledge in advance if the Prime Minister was planning to go to the south west of England in the first place? I think many people would have seen the common sense in that.

Finally, the reaction on social media is always worth observing in the aftermath of major speeches or political events on the independence debate. Albeit many people will have already taken a stance in public and stated opinions to assert their political assessments, I would be very intrigued to see the upcoming opinion polls. Many people took to social media to dismiss the Prime Minister's speech and some may view the message coming out of the Olympic Velodrome yesterday as nothing more than a patronising lecture.

Nobody can doubt that independence is closing the gap on the union but could more speeches like yesterday's backfire and just be a fuel for more votes to the side who want to leave the UK?