Oil barometer

The recent dip in the price of oil, to as low as $67 (your report, 2 December), should make all Scots think.

The claims of the Yes side in the referendum, that a separated Scotland would be super wealthy, were based on oil revenues assuming prices close to double that amount.

When more cautious heads on the No side dared to question the wealth forecasts, bearing in mind the volatility of the oil price, they were attacked as being “fearties” at best and at worst received 
the old SNP favourite for those who ask for details of the wilder Nationalist suppositions: “anti-Scottish”.

All of Scotland should be grateful for the cool heads of the silent majority in September.

Without their wisdom this country would have been heading for unimaginably severe economic problems and the unemployment and economic distress in Ireland, Greece and elsewhere would have been mild in comparison.

Alexander McKay

New Cut Rigg

Edinburgh