He marched them up to the top of the hill, he marched them down again, and when they were up they were up, and when they were down they were down, and when they were only half way up they were neither up nor down
Alex Orr (letters 16 November) argues that if Scotland votes 'yes' for independence in next year's referendum that the Scottish Government would seek to negotiate to retain the pound sterling as the currency of the new state. Alex Salmond argues that an independent Scotland should retain the Protestant monarchy even though the Scottish Parliament has resolved on more than one occasion that such religious discrimination should be removed. On the BBC TV Newsnight special on education and independence on 28 October the student-elected independence-supporting Scottish Green Rector of Edinburgh University pleaded for the the UK Government to say in advance that, in the event of a 'yes' vote, it would preserve the benign funding arrangements that allow Scottish university students not to pay tuition fees and which grant Scottish universities, based on competition, a disproportionately large share of UK research funding.
What on earth is the point of all the effort of seeking and securing independence if many of the existing arrangements that sustain the over three centuries old union are to be reintroduced after a 'yes' vote? The attitude of the SNP and the Scottish Government and its Scottish Green Party supporters is like that of someone who tells his partner that he wants a divorce but that from time to time he would like to sleep with her. This is hardly an attitude that will encourage the partner, in the event of a 'yes' vote, to be helpful in negotiations about the shape of an independent Scotland.
Letter in the Edinburgh Evening News 19 November 2013
