One of the current social media weekly rituals is the howls of outrage emanating from north of the Border whenever "Scotland" or "Scottish politics" rates a mention on the BBC's flagship "Question Time" programme.

The cause of annoyance comes from what can generally be termed 'ignorant' comments about the motivation for independence or the mindset of those who support it.

However, I suspect that education, rather than frustration, would be the better response to these comments. Mostly, their 'ignorance' seems to be just that - in the literal meaning of the word - these largely London-based commentators actually "do not know" what is going on in Scottish politics, and to attribute their ill-informed comments to hatred of the Scots is akin to their suggestion that the demand for independence indicates hatred of the English.

This 'ignorance' is scarcely surprising - as anyone who has lived in England for any length of time will be aware. For, whilst in Scotland and Wales, we are fed a daily diet of current affairs detailing what is happening at Westminster and at UK level, folk in England receive scant information about political events over their borders in Wales or Scotland. It is a media imbalance which reflects the political imbalance. Though we vote for representatives at Westminster and pay the same license fee as folk across the UK, our news coverage is, predictably, angled towards the 53 million in England rather than the five million in Scotland or the three million in Wales. It reflects the basic flaw in an unequal union of countries - the largest country will call the shots - whether or not that is in the interests of the other countries involved.

It is perhaps inevitable, however, that there is a train of thought south of the Border which is unaware of this imbalance. The establishment have long promoted the idea that the "UK way" with its "British values" is the "right way", indeed, the "only way" to approach political reality. There is some kind of hangover from colonial days in that view, you would have to surmise.

In addition, the Better Together campaign, frequently led from south of the Border, was fought as if the Yes camp were the SNP of the 1960s. Indeed, generally speaking, the use of 'proud Scot, 'patriotic', and 'Braveheart' was confined to the 'No' side in the campaign, whilst the independence lobby were actually talking about democratic accountability, being in a position to protect the vulnerable, the chance to use taxes progressively, and an opportunity to play a positive role in the world, instead of being isolated as an eighth of the UK's 'world view'. In an ironic turnaround, the modern call for independence was a demand for inclusivity and outward looking participation, whilst the No campaign was promoting an inward looking British nationalism.

Bearing this in mind, to equate the desire for self government with a hatred for another country, a case often made on "Question Time", seems quite bizarre, and veers towards the paranoia of the underconfident. I wonder if the promotion of vague 'British values' covers up a fear that the UK state does not stand for anything much these days other than the self protection of the elite.

Education is the way forward, and, irrespective of parliamentary arithmetic after the next UK election, at least the presence of an increased number of SNP MPs should provide an opportunity for folk in England to discover the true, progressive nature of our demands for independence, whether they agree with them or not.