IN Scotland, we are kept in the darkest box in the darkest room in the last remnants of the British Empire. Unfortunately, due to our geographic location we were the first to be colonised and as it stands we are one of the last colonies left. Technology and information have shrunk the world, but even then, for those who seek, the truth is often buried deep among information that is designed, solely to prevent the answers being known.

That is exactly what GERS is (Why you can’t rely on GERS to judge indy Scotland’s financial state, The National, March 21). GERS is information about Scotland’s economy based on information provided to the Scottish Government by the UK Government. It was created by Tory Ian Lang who is now Baron Lang of Monkton.

It is not in the interests of the UK Government to demonstrate exactly how rich Scotland is, so much of the key information is lumped together in a big pile of numbers, making it impossible to decipher. In truth, describing GERS to the people of Scotland is like describing a Salvador Dali picture to a blind man. Just how can you describe melting clocks, each showing a different time. Is that a dead goose or a dolphin? Is that a lake in the distance and a desiccated spider on the pocket watch, or is that a whisky flask? It is just too damn complicated and like the Scots, the blind man doesn’t have enough information to complete the picture. Every description is questioned. Why are the clocks melting? What colour is the lake? The answer to the Dali picture and to GERS is: “It just is!”

In the great GERS debate there are two opposing sides who claim the figures are used by the Scottish Government so they must be true – Scotland has a fiscal deficit that proves independence is futile. They refuse to acknowledge that the Scottish Government cannot borrow and doesn’t run a deficit. The other side counters that the deficit is caused by UK borrowing and spending, then allocating debt to Scotland that we didn’t run up or even see spent in Scotland or on any project that benefited Scotland.

The point I am making is that according to Professor Richard Murphy, GERS is constructed from bad data because the UK fiscal institutions don’t require companies to report their earnings for the regions.

For example, PricewaterhouseCoopers has reported that UK oil and gas companies contribute 16.4 per cent of UK corporation tax and when you factor in other taxes such PAYE, etc, they estimate that in total it contributes about £30 billion to the UK coffers. If this was split geographically after independence you would see a fair chunk of that go to Scottish coffers, yet GERS can’t tell us exactly how much of this is generated on Scottish trading, profits, VAT, etc.

Let’s extrapolate this across other industries, including retail. B&Q, Asda, Tesco, Next and a whole lot more don’t need to separately declare and pay corporation tax or VAT on Scottish profits and trading. Then think whisky, hotel chains, pubs and every sector you can think of.

That’s why GERS is like trying to describe a Dali to a blind man. It is something so complicated that we don’t have the information to form an opinion.

I am not saying we would or would not have a deficit – just about every nation runs a deficit just now. What I am saying is that if we model iScotland on other small independent nations we will be equally as successful and prosperous and be a happier place to live. People are happier when they have control over their lives, they can vote for governments they want and when they don’t work in their interests they can be voted out. Let Scotland’s independence be the operation that allows the blind man to see!
Mark Breingan
Address supplied

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Holyrood must review CAMHS rejections urgently

IT was encouraging to see Barnardo’s Scotland’s call for a review as to why around one in five young people is rejected for treatment by Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (Child mental health concern, The National, March 20). The figures are certainly concerning and it is an issue we, the Scottish Children’s Services Coalition, have been highlighting for some time.

NHS figures show that around 17,000 children and young people had their referrals for treatment rejected over the last three years, a disturbing statistic. While we know that waiting times for CAMHS continue to be an issue, it is very worrying that a considerable number of children and young people are not being seen at all, are falling through the net, and receive either no support or inappropriate support.

We know that half of all diagnosable mental health problems start before the age of 14. Given this, it is vitally important that those children and young people affected receive the care and support they need, when they need it.

The Scottish Government must review this issue urgently to understand why such a high proportion of young people are rejected for treatment, and what help is provided following a rejected referral.

The Scottish Children’s Services Coalition: Tom McGhee, managing director, Spark of Genius Duncan Dunlop, chief executive, Who Cares? Scotland Sophie Pilgrim, director, Kindred Scotland Stuart Jacob, director, Falkland House School Niall Kelly, managing director, Young Foundations Liz May, national co-ordinator, Action for Sick Children Scotland

THAT serial election loser and rent-a-quote MSP Murdo Fraser would have the gall to criticise Alex Salmond for appearing on Russia Today (RT) has to take the award for political brass neck of the year. Fraser is regularly wheeled out to defend indefensible Tory positions such as cutting off money for sick and disabled people. He is a disseminator of Unionist fake news against Scottish independence. It’s strange he seemed unconcerned about Russian influence when George Osborne was discussing donations to the Tories with Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. Or when David Cameron played tennis with the wife of Vladimir Chernukhin (energy minister under Putin) for a donation of £160,000. Fraser’s criticism of RT is nothing more than McCarthyite red baiting. The US deems Russia to be an obstacle to its drive for hegemony over Eurasia.

Whipping up of tensions with Moscow serves to keep US puppets lined up behind the geo-strategic and economic agenda of US imperialism.

A major function of the Cold War was to maintain US political supremacy in Europe by cultivating an external threat on the European imperialist powers’ eastern flank. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union, this role has been transferred to capitalist Russia.

RT is no more of a propaganda organ than the BBC or Fox News. What the Unionist establishment is worried about is that RT offers a counterpoint to the West-as-good-guys narrative that is reflexively implicit in all Western media outlets.
Alan Hinnrichs
Dundee

I ENJOYED reading Hamish MacPherson’s article on wartime Scapa Flow (The National, March 14). However, his opinion of the pride in “defeating the Kaiser and his chums” is contentious.

Some bravely opposed the war and paid the price in prison with hard labour. For example, the Glasgow branch of the socialist Labour Party put on record that: “The present war is an economic war, that is, a capitalist war for economic expansion ... We call on the workers of all the combatant countries to ‘down arms!’ You have not been consulted; why, then, should you fight? You own no country; what, then, are you fighting for?

"Your liberty after the war will be the same as before the war – the liberty of a wage slave to work for a master. You have no security of living so long as capitalism exists. Why, then, and for what are you fighting? We appeal to you in the interest of international working-class solidarity ‘Down Arms,.”

Perhaps the glory of war is all moonshine. All War is Hell.
A Russell
Paisley