THE letter from your correspondent L MacGregor (July 14) must be an attempt to break the world record for the number of exaggerations, deliberate distortions, misrepresentation and downright lies that can be fitted into a single missive. In a way we should perhaps thank him or her summing up of the tissue of mendacity upon which the case for Scottish independence so heavily relies.
These range from the insistence on best-case scenarios (the assumption that a Scottish currency would have a triple-A rating) to utter fantasy (has anyone ever seen the pipelines which the English use to steal Scotland’s water?) via financial irresponsibility (independent Scotland would not be responsible for its share of historic UK national debt) to that good old favourite the Independence Time Machine (which would whisk us back to the 1970s to set up a sovereign oil fund), throwing in for good measure the wilful misrepresentation of the devolved fisheries border of 1999 as an oil field border. The rest of the claims in the letter are also rubbish of the same order.
The SNP has recently been advised by a tame academic professor of marketing to abandon facts and tell stories instead – a lesson learned from Donald Trump and Aaron Banks and his successful Brexit campaign (“facts are white noise and emotions rule”). Its followers are obviously quick learners.
Peter A Russell, Glasgow G13.
Planet Pedro! 