PARTY politics leave me cold. I'm not a card-carrying, Saltire-waving separatist though I wouldn't rule out independence. If there was such a thing as a common sense party that wasn't hide-bound by partisan policies and blind allegiances I'd vote for it. So I'm pretty much what you'd call a floating voter.
But increasingly, the question I'm asking myself is precisely what benefits Scotland derives from being part of the UK.
Normally when any community or company is joined to a larger one there are advantages... economies of scale, bulk-purchase powe
r, a standardisation of costs, advantageous concessions and regulations that bind the membership together and make a union worthwhile.
The news that in the last month Scots food bills have risen ten times faster than those in the rest of the UK is further evidence, as far as I'm concerned, that the UK is falling apart, regardless of any inroads made by the SNP. And we are getting a raw deal.
The excuse we are invariably given is the cost of fuel and petrol being higher because of Scotland's remote and rural nature. Anyone would think we were a small outpost in Siberia. The distance between Land's End and John O'Groats is a mere 874 miles, not much bigger than one US state.
Can that really explain why bread, butter, mince and tatties should be so much more expensive in Scotland?
Particularly galling is the fact that we pay even more for local produce – everything from oil to Scottish beef – because it is sent to England for processing and distribution and, in effect, we have to buy it back as well as pay extra transport costs.
Of course, to many English MPs and some English voters, particularly those obsessed with the West Lothian question of why Scottish MPs should vote on English matters in Westminster while English MPs have no say on Scottish matters in Holyrood, we are a bunch of whingers who get great support and resource from the UK and should be grateful.
It's doubtful whether most people in England are even aware that the cost of living is so high here. Certainly it still comes as a surprise to most of them that Edinburgh house prices, despite the credit crunch, remain among the highest in Britain.
Surely, if we are full and equal members of UK Inc, we should be expected to pay roughly the same for our commodities as anyone in, say, Birmingham.
If not, what's the point of being in the club?
That point was recognised for Londoners as far back as 1920 when the London weighting allowance was introduced. Because of the cost of living in the UK capital, civil servants, teachers, police and key workers were paid more than anyone else. Still tToday it's worth between £3000 and £4000 extra on salary.
Today the Government says price fixing is beyond its control. Since utilities and transport were denationalised and we charged full-tilt towards a free, privatised market, commercial companies have been able to charge what they like and the laws of supply and demand are supposed to provide the answer for everything.
No-one wants to see Communist-type state control with the Government fixing the price of a loaf but neither is a free-for-all that leaves Scots penalised under the somewhat spurious excuse that remoteness is calculated on the basis of distance from London and the South-East, a sustainable plan for the future.
Is it beyond the bounds of possibility that suppliers and retailers should function on UK prices that would cost the southern English a little more and the northerners a little less to level the playing field?
Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling's response to that may well be that they are powerless to intervene. But if so they must recognise that by leaving Scots, even those without strong nationalist tendencies, feeling like ripped-off and second-class citizens, they are handing Scotland to the SNP on a plate.
Driving for changeI ALMOST cried reading the tragic News story of Ian Sayers, whose baby son was killed in a collision after Ian drove his car on the wrong side of the road while on holiday in Southern France. It's a heartbreaking burden for him to carry and in starting an awareness campaign for tourists travelling abroad by car he's trying to bring some good from his personal horror. It's long overdue.
Everyone thinks they are a good driver who can easily cope with using the other side of the road. But it's extremely disorientating. Frankly, I refuse to even try driving abroad. My husband has experienced driving on the right all over the world. Yet a few years ago we too took a Spanish roundabout in the wrong direction... mercifully, nothing was coming the other way.
One second's lack of concentration in an alien environment is all it takes. Perhaps we need more than the sticker by the rear-view mirror that Ian has come up with. Perhaps we need public information advertisements, posters, and warnings issued by all airlines and ferry operators.
Perhaps many more of us should admit we just aren't up to the challenge of driving abroad at all.
