Scorched earth

I WAS taken aback to read Alf Young’s column (Perspective, 23 March). After a career spent telling Scots they are too small and too poor to be independent while salivating over the London economic mirage, Mr Young has undertaken an apparent volte-face.

His new argument against Scottish independence is now based on the UK economy being a recognised disaster zone. It is confusing trying to argue with Mr Young. I normally seek statistics to support an argument, but his article lambasted the UK economy to such an extent that no empirical evidence is required to demonstrate the dire situation the Union has left us in.

Few married couples would count negative equity as grounds for remaining in a marriage when an amicable separation would deliver greater happiness, yet this is the analogy Mr Young chooses to base his defence of the Union on. In using the financial mismanagement of chancellors Brown, Darling and Osborne as the crux of his argument against independence, Mr Young is, in effect, advocating a scorched earth approach to Scotland’s economy.

Calum Mackenzie

Edinburgh