by Paul Kavanagh
SCOtLAND, we are constantly being told by people who have a vested interest in keeping things just as they are, couldn’t possibly manage as an independent country. The tale that Scotland is too poor to stand on its own two feet and to maintain the frankly inadequate level of public services that we currently “enjoy” as a part of the UK is the staple trope of those opposed to independence.
So we see newspaper editorials like this one from The Times, saying: “Scotland cannot lfive on its own… The country could pay for only one ith of her food and essential imports; well over a quarter of the present labour force would be out of work and the country would collapse without British treasury subventions. Talk of full independence for Scotland is therefore hopelessly impractical.” Or there is this one from the Sunday Times, “Scotland can’t go it alone. Secession is futile, face this fact of life.”