Call that a constitutional crisis? What a let-down. In response to the defiance of the elected Commons by the unelected Lords over tax credit cuts, one half expected to wake this week to rioting, shelves stripped bare in Waitrose, escaped zoo animals wandering up Sauchiehall Street, and other signs that the democratic end of days, as foretold by Mr Cameron and Mr Osborne, the Pony Club of the apocalypse, had indeed come to pass.

All appeared calm. Except for viewers in Scotland. Here, we were indeed living in tempestuous times, if only we looked closely enough. In the villages and the cities, the classroom and the boardroom, various Scotch myths were being blown away like Highland mist.

Scotch myth one: we are a caring, sharing, friendly country in which no soul is left behind to suffer the curse of loneliness. One of the more distressing pictures of the week was the one which emerged from a report by the Scottish Parliament’s Equal Opportunities Committee. During an inquiry on age and social isolation, MSPs heard of older people being so desperate for someone to talk to they were making appointments with their GPs every Monday. In another case, a pensioner had taken to riding the buses all day with his free pass, just to get himself out of the house. Loneliness was placed on a par with poverty and poor housing as a factor harmful to health.

Scotch myth two: Scots are solidly European in outlook, so much so they are likely to vote for independence if it looks like Britain is heading for the EU exit door. Asked by pollsters if they felt European, 9 per cent of Scots said yes compared to 15 per cent in rUK. “Of course,” concluded Rachel Ormston, head of social Attitudes at NatCen Social Research, which produced the study, “this apparent lack of European identity does not preclude the possibility people in Scotland are more strongly in favour of political and economic union with Europe … but it does at least call into question the notion people in Scotland are more likely to identify with Europe in a more emotional sense, based perhaps on tales of the ‘Auld Alliance’ with France or links with Nordic sensibilities and customs.”

Scotch myth three: poorer students are better off in Scotland’s higher education system than if they went across the border. Student Award Agency Scotland figures show bursaries and grants in Scotland are falling (from an average of £1,860 in 2012-13 to £1,220 from 2014-15). Moreover, students from the poorest backgrounds are building up bigger annual debts (£6,650) than those from wealthier homes (£4,560).

Scotch myth four: There is a bright future ahead for Scotland if it embraces green power with gusto. Following the failure of the Leith-based wave energy firm Pelamis, administrators have been called in to Edinburgh company Aquamarine Power. The firm’s chief executive said the move underscored “the financial as well as technical challenge in bringing an entirely new form of energy generation to commercialisation” and called for new private sector funding. This would be in addition to public money already given, which one estimate puts at £28 million. The days of Scotland becoming what former First Minister Alex Salmond called “the Saudi Arabia of marine power” grow ever distant. As this newspaper reported yesterday, the Institute of Civil Engineers in Scotland is warning Scotland will shift from being a net exporter of energy to a net importer if the shortfalls created by the closures of Longannet coal-fired power station and the nuclear plants at Torness and Hunterston B are not addressed.

End loneliness, address our relationship with Europe, ensure poorer students are not saddled with ever more debt, and keep the lights on while protecting the planet. That is quite a to do list for one parliamentary term never mind one week, but no-one ever said it was easy being Scotland. And it is of course possible to take the anti-Chicken Licken stance on any of this. More of us are living longer, ergo loneliness is more likely; we might not think of ourselves as more European than the rUK but we are still less likely (30 per cent to 43 per cent) to want to leave the UK; there are more students in education overall; and green power might in time replace conventional sources.

We do like our Scotch myths, though, so rest assured there will more along in a minute. As a nation, we have a strong, accepted view of who we are as a country and what we stand for. We laugh at Brigadoon notions of Scottishness, the tourist take on Caledonia, yet have we not fashioned our own rose-tinted spectacles through which we sometimes view ourselves? A view that, as with the examples above, is at odds with the data or experience?

It is not necessarily a bad thing for a nation to look at itself in the mirror and take a liking to what it sees. Like the song says, accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, and don’t mess with Mr In-Between. Most countries do this, America being the world capital of national self-belief, but it is only recently, certainly within a generation, that Scotland has begun to act in a similar fashion.

The phenomenon can be seen at its strongest among young Scots. What a different breed they are to generations past. It is not just the physical differences, the height, the teeth (the teeth! Did you know it was possible to reach adulthood and have no fillings?), the general air of healthiness. It is more than that; it is the confidence that radiates from them. Mention “the cringe” to them and they will likely think it is a new band. They are cool with their Scottishness because what do you know, post-referendum, being Scottish is cool. What a contrast to Scottish youngsters of the Seventies and Eighties, who grew up thinking this was a dying land for careworn folk, its industries and hope disappearing up the nearest chimney prior to its demolition. This was the era of Bathgate no more, Linwood no more, when that old saw about the noblest prospect being the road to England was horribly true. Many of today’s youngsters see a future here. They want to stay here, work here, raise a family here. Considering the state Scotland was in at one point, that is something approaching a miracle.

This is a can-do generation, or at the very least a generation that wants to have a go. They are above all a reminder that time loiters for no-one and nothing. As such, they are an example to follow. Towering, complex decisions, on everything from energy generation to student finance, are pressing on Scotland. Day-to-day matters, from how well (or not) the NHS is working, to falling literacy standards, demand attention too. There are those who would stop all the clocks till independence comes, if it ever does, but that will not do. That way the myths flourish, the cobwebs settle. It is time to see ourselves not as others see us, but as we are.