Reasons are clear

I found one statement in last week’s Yes pieces in the Reformer perfectly encapsulated the weakness of the Yes campaign.

Oil worker Ian MacDonald asks voters to take his word for it, “there’s enough oil out here to last into the next century.”

And there you have it. Forecasts from respected figures such as Sir Ian Wood should be disregarded because Ian says we’ll be fine. Well, that’s alright then.

Except, of course, it’s not. In fact, Ian’s comment sums up the problem with the entire Yes campaign. All the experts are wrong, and they’re right.

Olli Rehn, the former EU commissioner for monetary union is talking “guff” according to Councillor Gordon Clark about no membership without a central bank (I can tell Councillor Clark that all 28 members have their own central bank, but of course we’ve to trust him the EU will make an exception for Scotland.)

All the economic experts who have in the past week come out and warned about the financial implications of a yes vote are all wrong. We’ve to take the word of Rab C Nesbitt’s wife instead, who continues to be hung out to dry on national television.

Voters must realise the Yes campaign will say anything to get themselves over the line. They don’t care about the NHS, about currency or about the economy - they only care about getting one more vote than the Better Together campaign. After it, they can sit back all chuffed that they “stuck it up the English.”

They have fudged their way throughout this campaign, choosing to attack the media rather than look at the paucity of their own arguments. The recent hounding of the BBC is an example of their idea of democracy. The Yes campaign aren’t fighting bias, they just don’t want to be questioned and have their foolish plans scrutinised. If that’s a sign of democracy in an independent Scotland then I truly shudder.

They have backtracked time and time again. We were told there would be a currency union (thus allowing a foreign bank to set our interest rates). Then it was “we can use the pound if we want” without any understanding of the implications that will follow..

Councillor Gordon Clark tells us using the pound will be a temporary solution. We may even end up joining the Euro, which is what they wanted all along.

Bob Doris MSP asserts that we’d be the 14th richest country in the world in terms of GDP. This has been challenged by a group of Glasgow University academics who point out the real indicator of a countries wealth is Gross National Income. Due to the high proportion of foreign owned businesses, Scotland would actually be a middle ranking country.

We can add these distortions to the outright lies told by the SNP about having legal advice on EU membership and John Swinney lying about being in talks with the Bank of England on a Currency Union (while we’re on the subject of Mr Swinney, one ponders why he seems to have been relegated to a fringe player in this debate while a host of second-rate celebrities are given carte-blanche to try and con the Scottish nation.)

No matter what happens on Thursday, it will be a sombre occasion for myself. I have no desire to see my country divided, yet that is what the Yes campaign has managed.

I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised, they’re very existence is based on division and building borders. I will not celebrate a No victory if it happens, rather I’ll breath a sigh of relief that the people of Scotland have seen through the lies and opted to stand by our family of nations. Nor will I judge the vast majority of Yes voters, who I am sure are voting for the right reasons.

But there are others who deserve nothing but contempt. They challenge my own reasons for voting “No” without for one second considering I’m proud to be Scottish and British and I’m comfortable enough in my own skin to not feel the need to erect borders to get to sleep at night.

It’s easy to run away from your problems, so I can just about understand the attraction of a Yes vote. But running away is not for me, and I don’t believe it’s for the Scottish people. Be brave, support the Union and let’s make a better country not just in Inverness, Aberdeen, Dundee and Glasgow, but in Manchester, Newcastle, Belfast and Cardiff too. John Maxwell Name and address supplied With so many independent organisations and businesses telling us we’ll be worse off following a yes vote the economic arguments for staying in the Union are unanswerable.

However no one should be in any doubt how we Scots have contributed and benefited from the Union. Each of us has shaped and been shaped by the United Kingdom.

The BBC has the same principles today - to inform, educate and entertain - of John Reith.

Politicians and economists around the world still rely on the ideas Adam Smith discovered and taught at the Universities of Glasgow, Edinburgh and Oxford.

Alex Ferguson, Bill Shankly, and Denis Law are most famous around the world for achievements in English football.

JK Rowling is English and could live anywhere but chooses to live and work in Scotland.

Our best sportsmen and women, like Andy Murray, Lynsey Sharp and Chris Hoy, all benefited from UK funding and support.

Keir Hardie became an MP by representing working class voters in Essex. Our values are their values.

On Monday thousands gathered at short notice in Trafalgar Square. In the capital of England -under a statue of Nelson chiselled from Craigleith quarry sandstone - we were asked to stay.

The people of the UK value the contribution Scots have made over 300 years and take pride in our achievements, and they asked us to vote no.

Of course it’s not perfect, we get things wrong sometimes and there are problems we have to address.

The separatists will claim we can keep all of the bits we like and walk away from the problems. They think we can walk out on the family but keep the house and access to the joint bank account, and stay friends.

The divorce will be longer and more bitter than we imagine. Each of us will come out of it worse off than now, and we’ll be turning our back on over 300 years of greatness.

I’ll be voting No for a stronger Scotland within the Union on Thursday. Alan Ross, Cambuslang (by email).