What planet are they on?

It seems that John Swinney doesn't believe the SNP's line that it will be alright on the night either when it comes to independence and company pensions, according to the word on the twittersphere this evening. If Calton had a subscription to The Times he could read all about it online. As it is, all he can see is the first paragraph of the relevant article. That is worrying enough, with its mention of the 'substantial changes at a European level to safeguard all the current private sector pension funds' which would be needed. Swinney is far more optimistic than Calton if he thinks that the problems are surmountable. This is the EU we are talking about. The words 'tanker' and 'change of direction' come to mind. It's not the same as pulling a few levers and sending the train down a different track, Mr Signalman Swinney. It really seems sometimes that the main qualifications for belonging to the SNP are positive thinking and an outrageous optimism that defies reality. Living on another planet also helps.

Stamping out stamp duty

It's about time the stamp duty on property was revised, although Calton tends to agree with Stephen O'Neill of Newton Property, Glasgow, who advocated a tax on profit when you sell rather than a tax when you purchase on today's John Beattie show. Interesting idea, however it looks like John Swinney is going to stay with taxing buyers, albeit on a sliding scale rather than the current system which involves a step change at certain values, with a knock-on effect on the market around those prices. Calton is not sure how much the change will help first-time buyers outside of the Capital given that most will be looking to spend under the current limit of £125k rather than the new proposed threshold for the tax at £180k, however the measure will help lower income home owners to move tax-free and will also benefit pensioners downsizing to smaller properties below the new threshold. It's definitely an improvement on the old system and, since Calton is not a property millionaire, or even a semi-millionaire, he is seriously considering delaying his next property move until after the introduction in 2015.

Ahm no playin wi you

It doesnae matter how much you want to play - if the other team grab the ball and walk off the pitch, you're scuppered. If the other team are the rUK with George Osborne as manager, they'll probably take the goalposts as well. OK, so John Swinney can throw a strop and refuse to pay oor share o' the debt. Nah nah ni nah nah! (Thumbs nose.) Or the SNP could grow up and realise that they can't always have things all their own way. That would be a good starting point for negotiations in the event of Scottish independence, instead of all the current assertions from the Scottish Government which seem to completely ignore the fact that, if rUK don't want to play ball, there's nothing we can do about it. If Swinney is genuine about having a "rational and considered discussion" with Westminster, it's time he actually put his mouth where his money is and got on with said discussion. At the moment there's far too much rhetoric and not nearly enough reality.

What a load of b*****s

Calton would like to thank all his readers for contributing to this blog reaching over 10,000 pageviews since it started. He is back in cold but sunny Edinburgh, just in time to avoid singeing his wings in Lochaber. Who would have thought that Fort William could be so dry? Anyway, it's back to the same old same old here in the capital, with John Swinney still singing the praises of a currency union with England in the event of a 'yes' vote next year. He continues to think that an independent Scottish government would have the full fiscal and economic freedom to vary tax and spending to deliver economic growth and to serve the best interests of the Scottish economy in such a union. Bankers to that - Ron MacLeod and Hamish Patrick to be precise.

Man up and call off the cybernats

We're all going to be filthy rich (dances on table top) ... well maybe. Calton thinks that he will just wait a while before buying a boat and calling it the Silver Dollar, because oil prices can go down as well as up. It all depends on who you listen to. Undeterred by David Cameron's bruising encounter with the OBR this week, John Swinney has decided to go head-to-head with them over oil revenue forecasts. Nothing like not learning from other peoples' mistakes. Of course Swinney has to pull something from the bag after the embarrassing leak of last week. The trouble is, he's now leaving the SNP open to the charge of just manufacturing their own figures whenever those of other people don't suit them. (The same goes for the Scotland in or out of the EU post-independence argument.) At some point, the SNP are going to have to accept that not every statistic or report is going to back independence and their response should be to give a reasoned answer and get on with it, not counter with their own set of figures or pet expert. And slagging off a journalist like Douglas Fraser just because they don't like what he says does not help their cause. Man up, SNP and call off the cybernats.

Calton said it first

Calton has been saying for quite some time now that, if an independent Scotland is to truly have control over its economic policy, it needs to have its own currency. Now, leading economist Professor John Kay has said much the same thing. He thinks that it would be right to try and retain the pound but the cost might be restrictions on our fiscal freedom. John Swinney has welcomed the Professor's contribution to the debate which leads Calton to wonder if he actually listened to/read it. So, for the benefit of Signalman Swinney, here it is in plain language - we won't be the ones pulling the fiscal levers if we keep the pound. It would therefore seem wise to have an alternative option if Sterling proves too tricky. It's called the Groat. (Anyone who expected Calton to say the Euro has (a) not been reading this blog and (b) deserves their eyes pecked out.)

Lords v Scoundrels 1-0

You've got to love the House of Lords. Faced with John Swinney's ridiculous assertions about Scotland's membership of the EU post-independence, Lord Lipsey says Swinney's position is "bizarre" and the Scottish Government is "retreating into implausible references ... the last refuge of a scoundrel". Wonderful. Why anyone would want to do away with the Upper Chamber when they come out with stuff like this is beyond Calton. They may give the impression of being half asleep but there are definitely no flies on them. Would that we had someone like Lord Lipsey in the Scottish Parliament when Nicola Sturgeon makes a statement to MSPs on Thursday afternoon about an independent Scotland's membership of the EU.

Thankyou Danny

Two days in a row! This has to be something of a record when it comes to politicians listening! No sooner had Calton asked if Danny Alexander was listening than the announcement came that the red-haired one is looking to see if the fuel discount currently being applied to the islands can be extended to some parts of the mainland, in particular, the North West Highlands. The only fly in the ointment is that implementation is still dependent on agreement by the European Commission. Which makes Calton wonder, once again, why the SNP are so keen for us to remain part of the EU if we vote for independence. They are making a lot of big assumptions, not least that, under the Edinburgh Agreement, the UK Government would support the process of re-negotiating an independent Scotland's position within the EU because it is in the best interests of the people of Scotland! This smacks all too much of Oprah Winfrey-style 'if you speak positively, it will happen' nonsense rather than dealing with the actual reality, namely, that we'll only get to stay in the EU club if the other members want us to. It's certainly not going to happen just because John Swinney says so.

Heading for the buffers

John 'The Signalman' Swinney is just itching to get his hands on the economic levers he thinks independence will give him. Trouble is, there's only going to be one lever - oil - and a pretty dodgy one at that. Calton wouldn't like to depend on it to stop the Flying Scotsman heading down the wrong track towards the buffers. Scotland is a one-commodity economy (or will be when Alex Salmond has trashed tourism with all his windfarms) with a high level of public spending. Can the SNP not recognise an imminent train crash when they see one?

Pot calling kettle black

It's a bit rich of John Swinney to say that it's time the Chancellor George Osborne listened, given the SNP's own poor track record of listening to the electorate. If Swinney and his pals have their way, Scotland will be an independent basket case with a large deficit and a downgraded rating, paying high interest on her debts to fund the SNP's vote-winning handouts, until the EU wades in and tells them to cut spending. As a party, the SNP have realised that Scotland will have to be a member of NATO if she wants to be taken seriously past-independence. Unfortunately, the same maturity is not evident in their approach to government finances. Time to grow up, boys and girls.

Keeping speech and prescriptions free

Calton is not sure that it would be a good idea to remove the 'no overnight parking' signs from Highland laybys. Given the increase in 'wild' camping and caravanning in these times of austerity, this would seem like a green light to low-budget holidaymakers to foul our laybys, with Highland Council picking up the tab. Highland council tax payers may wish to make their feelings about this known to their elected representatives.

Abuse of any sort is foul, however Calton is glad to see that the DPP in England and Wales considers that the bar should be set pretty high before prosecuting, in order to defend freedom of speech. Hopefully the same common-sense approach will prevail in Scotland.

Finally, in today's smorgasbord of  unrelated comments, Calton welcomes the commitment made in today's SNP budget to free prescriptions and affordable housing. He just wishes that John Swinney would stop bemoaning the fact that he doesn't have all the fiscal levers he would like - Swinney has obviously missed his true vocation as an old-fashioned railway signalman. If he loses his job as Finance Minister he could always try pulling pints at his local.

Willie Rennie gets it

When, oh when, are the SNP going to realise that they will not have the full range of fiscal powers that they want if Scotland does not have its own currency? John Swinney is talking through his hat. If he wants 'real independence' he needs to go the whole hog and cut loose from both Westminster and Brussels. We can't have an independent monetary or fiscal policy while tied to sterling or the euro. It just doesn't work. Sharing a currency with another country means agreeing on spending limits, interest rates, acceptable inflation and so on and so on (if we are lucky). If we are unlucky it means having our fiscal policy dictated to us by Germany. If Willie Rennie can grasp that then surely the Finance Secretary can grasp it. No?

Old hat from the SNP

Earlier this month Calton highlighted the fact that the SNP were using pre-2008 economic figures in their arguments for independence. Then it was John Swinney. Today Nicola Sturgeon was playing the same game in an interview on Radio Scotland. The question that has to be asked is this - so what if Scotland balanced the books pre-2008? That was then, this is now. The world is an entirely different place today compared to 4 years ago. The statistics which matter when considering whether Scotland will be better off independent are those for 2011, 2012, 2013 and beyond. It's about time the SNP got themselves up to speed on the current economic arguments instead of trotting out 4-year old nonsense.

Statistical spin

An academic has today claimed that the SNP are cherry-picking the statistics which they use to bolster their case for independence. (An example being John Swinney in his recent David Hume lecture citing figures from before the financial crash to claim that an independent Scotland's debt would be substantially lower than that of the UK now, as if the crash hadn't happened.) Calton is not surprised. Disappointed, yes, but not surprised. Of course the SNP deny the claim. Well they would, wouldn't they! Lies, damned lies and statistics. We are going to see a lot more of all three before Autumn 2014.