Reality check needed

With Brent crude trading at nearly $90 a barrel, there was never a better time for the SNP to rekindle its old battle cry of "Scotland's oil". According to Alex Salmond, figures show that an independent Scotland in charge of its own resources would be the third richest country in Europe and the sixth richest in the world. The not-so-subliminal message is that Scotland would be transformed into a world-beating Celtic Lion if only it were not being weighed down by the rest of the UK and an unstoppable momentum is leading towards independence. Poverty in Scotland is dismissed by the First Minister as "the depressing social legacy of the Union".