At The National, in Abu Dhabi, we work in a newsroom with at least 30 English and more than a dozen Scots.

At the moment, the English and the Scots live in the same country and carry the same passport.

That could begin to change, come Thursday, when Scotland votes on whether to leave the United Kingdom and become an independent nation.

It is a big story, getting lots of attention on the BBC (of course) but also on CNN and the major surviving print media, like the New York Times.

English print is full of stories about the risks (for Scotland) of independence, an editorial pastiche of (plausible) scare stories leavened by weepy “but we’ve been through so much together” pieces.

Yet, with all that attention, and with so many English and Scots in the room, the newsroom chatter on this story is near zero.

Why?

Because it is just too delicate a topic.

My sense is that many of the English and Scots in the room hold strong opinions on the independence question.

But, in a very British sort of way, they are not bringing it up. It might cause outbursts of emotion, and neither the English nor the Scots believe any good can come of that.

I asked an Englishman the other day his preference for how this turns out, and I did it sotto voce, with no one else within ear shot.

His reply?

“I don’t have an opinion.”

When of course he does. But it is not to be discussed — and I should not have asked.

Americans in the newsroom seem puzzled by the whole thing. (Perhaps forgetting the events of 1861-65).

We tend not to be particularly aware of centuries of Scottish independence, nor attuned to differences (sometimes subtle) in lifestyle and politics between those north and south of Hadrian’s Wall.

Some of those just tuning in are making occasional jocular references to the vote, and much of that is going over like lead balloons, given how much is at stake.

We’re not talking about it, remember?

Thus, as the days wind down to the big vote, the topic comes up regularly (it’s a newsroom, after all) but it rarely/never comes with a personal opinion attached.

I am confident X number of people I work with will be celebrating on Thursday, no matter how the vote (which looks very close) comes out. We have many of both sides of the question. (I think.)

But IN the newsroom, in public?

No cheering. The topic is too important to talk about.