And now for something completely different: Secession.

If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.
If, If’s and And’s were pots and pans, there would be no need for tinkers.
Doubtless, Mr Alex Salmond as well as other British Gazette readers will recall the origin of this old rhyme from James Carmichael’s Proverbs in Scots of 1628, of which; “And if wishes were horses, pure [poor] men wald [would] ride”. The second line being one of others collected by James Orchard Halliwell in the 1840s.
Mr Alex Salmond as British Gazette readers will know is a pedaller of nonsense. As Scots go to the polls on this one of the most important days since the Act of Union took effect on 1st May 1707, to decide their future, let us examine some of the fallacies of the “YES” campaign.
Firstly, let us start with the question itself; “Should Scotland be an independent country?” This as British Gazette readers will know is NOT on offer. What Mr Salmond offers Scots is secession from Westminster. Something completely different.
British Gazette readers will know that Mr Salmond is even more enthusiastic about handing over control of the levers of power to Brussels than is Mr Nick Clegg! Mr Salmond however boasts of his “independence of mind” by stating that he is not minded to have Scotland join the Euro but rather have Scotland enter a formal currency union with the residual parts of England, Northern Ireland and Wales.
Of course this has been rejected by the No campaign.
Mr Salmond has argued that this is mere campaign rhetoric on the part of the No campaign and of course the Westminster government will offer a formal currency union. This is fact is about the only factual statement uttered by Mr Salmond! Therefore, let us examine what a formal currency arrangement will mean for Scotland:
Before we do, let us remind ourselves that the UK nearly went this way before in 1914 with the Irish Home Rule Act – an Act of Parliament which ended up being rescinded due to a little local difficulty with a certain Kaiser Bill. Irish home Rule included a setting up of a Joint Exchequer Board.
A Joint Exchequer Board is PRECISELY what Mr Salmond will be asking for should the Scots vote “Yes” today.
Will Mr George Osborne or his successor offer this?
Of course he would!!!!!!!
Now let us explain precisely what would be involved: A Joint Exchequer Board would be a committee established by a formal international treaty between the Kingdom of Scotland and the United Kingdom of England, Wales and Northern Ireland where the two states agree to share Sterling. This agreement would establish joint and several liability for the sovereign debt of each state. This would mean that both states underwrite each other’s banks and financial institutions as well as each government’s paper (gilt edge securities).
Of course to some British Gazette readers less familiar with international finance than other readers this will appear alarming. “Won’t the Scots be able to go and run up huge debts which we (English folk) have to pay for? And; Won’t the Scottish banks be able to go and run up huge debts which we (English folk) have to bail out?
The answer to those questions is this: Only if the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Governor of the Bank of England allow them to!
You see, the Scottish Finance Minster will be in a minority of one on the JEB! He will always be out voted! The JEB will not be a meeting of equals!
So here you see the charlatan nature of Mr Salmond’s claims.
What he is proposing is not MORE control over their destiny to his fellow Scots, but LESS!
At the moment Scots have the chance of having a Scottish MP as their Chancellor of the Exchequer. Indeed one such former holder of that office is former Chancellor and Prime Minister Gordon Brown who has been a indefatigable campaigner for Scots to see sense and vote NO.
Gordon Brown is a true Scot and wants the best for his fellow Scots. That is why we saw him use such passionate language for the Union. The British Gazette is sure that as he watched Mr Brown’s impassioned address Mr Cameron will have been thankful that Mr Brown did not avail himself of the same oratory and passion back in May 2010. Had he done so, the General Election result would have been very different!
Another true Scot is no less than HM the Queen. The granddaughter of Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, the Queen urged Scots to “think very carefully” before casting their vote. HM could not have gone any further than this.
The British Gazette would urge those Scots to heed her words and see sense: For your own sakes, please VOTE NO!