An unconstitutional constitution

If, like Calton, you are concerned that the SNP are setting the rules for the independence referendum, you can always co-sign Alistair Darling's letter to Alex Salmond on the Better Together website. While he was there, Calton had a look around the site and he has to disagree that the National Lottery is a valid reason for Scotland to stay in the UK! How many of our poorest people have become enslaved to institutional gambling since the lottery began? Too many, and some are hooked to the extent that Camelot are quite confident that they will keep on playing even if the price is doubled. If we do become independent Calton would like to see Scotland become a lottery-free nation.

Better Together does ask a pertinent question via its twitter feed @UK_Together about whether Nicola Sturgeon's independence campaign blog should be funded by the taxpayer. Calton awaits the answer with interest. Meanwhile, The Edinburgh Coffee House has an thought-provoking article on the Claim of Right and Scotland's Constitution. Calton notes that the interests of the Scottish people are paramount in the opening words of the 1989 Claim of Right. Unfortunately he doesn't have much confidence that they are paramount in the minds of the SNP, and he finds it particularly worrying that Alex Salmond is considering tying the hands of future democratically elected Scottish Governments by making it illegal to host nuclear weapons, among other things, via a Scottish Constitution. It is a measure of the man's arrogance that he thinks that he can make decisions for all time and not just for the life of this parliament. The sooner he is booted out, the better, independence or no independence.