If this is Utopia, no thankyou

It may well be sensible, reasonable, logical, etc, etc for the rUK to be in a sterling currency union with us post-indy but the noises coming from England and Wales are not positive at the moment. It would inspire more confidence if the SNP listened to those noises, rather than ignoring them, and answered the questions the noises generate, such as the one posed by Drew Smith at Holyrood this afternoon (35 mins in), instead of ducking the issue, as the Deputy First Minister did.

Calton has still to digest the contents of the White Paper (literally) but one thing did stand out today and that is the SNP's nightmare vision of an independent Scotland bankrolled by the taxes of women freed from the drudgery of caring for their own children by increased state provision of nurserycare, which will, in turn, provide 35,000 low paid jobs for women, caring for other women's children while their mothers work in the modern equivalent of the old mills - call centres and warehouses. The irony of it all seemed, unfortunately, to be lost on Ms Sturgeon as she enthusiastically presented this Utopia that could be ours, if we vote yes. Yet another reason to vote NO.

Disabled paying for blue badge fraud

As Calton has said before, Scotland leads the way with its policy of free prescriptions, however we are lagging behind the rest of the UK when it comes to charging for disabled blue badges. Scots are having to pay £20 for a blue badge whereas the charge in England is £10 and in Wales they are free. Calton believes that there should be a crackdown on the abuse and misuse of these badges, which is rife, however for some people they are an absolute necessity and to charge £20 for one seems wrong. It is punishing the innocent for the actions of the guilty. Instead, we should increase the fines for blue badge fraud.