English: Alex Salmond and Stuart Nickerson toast the re-birth of Glenglassaugh Distillery (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Dr Alf makes a good point and the evidence from Credit Suisse is extremely alarming.
The so called Scottish economy is un-competitive and has been that way for years.
Some 80 million Scottish people have already voted with their feet and are living all over the world.
One of America’s, Founding Father’s was a Scotsman, Alexander Hamilton but the Scottish economy, like a recalcitrant teenager straining at the leash and demanding to be allowed to “lead its own life” away from home,, is incapable of sustaining itself without subsidies from London and the South East.
The evidence for this can be seen in the figures, in the taxes paid by the English taxpayer versus what they receive in return versus what Scotland receives.
North Sea Oil is actually “owned” by the people of the Orkneys and Shetland Islands, who are in reality Norwegians and may yet try to become so, if they do not like the Referendum result on the 18th. Revenues from it are diminishing and most of the fund management houses, insurers and banks do most of their business south of the border.
The Scotch Whiskey Association does an excellent job so does the salmon industry but it is not enough to sustain 6 million people in the lifestyle Alex Salmond pretends they can have.
The Referendum is based on the premise that the Scottish people are the only people who can and must decide and that it is no business of the rest of us. That sounds wonderful to those who imagine they are Mel Gibson playing” Braveheart” in the film.
The reality is we are paying for Alex Salmond, the White Elephant of a Scottish Parliament, a disproportionate amount of the cost of the NHS, all the Adult Social Care and tuition fee costs and cross subsidizing defense jobs.
I (laving in England), have had enough, and so have millions of the rest of us.
Fortunately, for Alex Salmond and his alter ego, the Olga Klebb lookalike Nicola Sturgeon, he is dealing with David Cameron who is a pushover as are the Welsh and people running Northern Ireland, the other two segments of the Celtic fringe, who consume more than they produce but like Oliver Twist in the workhouse say in unison “Please sir can I have some more”.
Independence for Scotland really must mean independence for the rest of us of the financial burden that part of the United Kingdom represents not more devolved powers combined with a “bite the hand that feeds them” level of ingratitude displayed by the cunning and troublesome Salmond.
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