Is Scotland So Broke It Needs Fixing?

Back in August Alex Salmond announced his plans for a national conversation on independence. Since then the conversation has been all one sided with the FM and his party never missing any opportunity to bang on about independence. Today at the SNP conference we hear that Mr Salmond is going to say, amongst other things, that Scotland could be one of the richest countries in Europe and independence is getting closer and it is the top of the SNP’s agenda.

I continue to be sceptical about the SNP’s ability to be a government and I'm absolutely sure that independence is a poison chalice. I have no issue about living in a country that is independent from England, it's not an emotional issue it is one of practicalities and unanswered questions. The Black gold argument is powerful, but it is a little bit like a football team relying on one striker to score all its goals. What happens if he gets injured or sold?

To me the SNP's desire for independence overshadows all their thinking and traps them on a course that is not necessarily right for Scotland. For me there are too many questions that just don't get addressed and the "it'll be alright on the night" philosophy is not something we should be countenancing when it comes to the lives of 5 million people. How badly 'broke' is Scotland that it needs fixing? How bad are our lives? How much better will life, definitely, be under an independent SNP Scotland?