Here in Scotland the debate over whether or not the nation should be independent from the rest of the UK bubbles away without ever boiling over. Nationalists want independence now and see the Scottish Parliament as a diversionary tactic by Westminster to suppress support for actual independence.

Unfortunately this is not a view shared by the majority of the Scottish electorate. The Scottish Political landscape is a product of the Industrial revolution. In the old industrial heartlands of Central Scotland, where the bulk of the electorate resides, Labour is the dominant party consistently garnering around 40% of the vote. The Scottish Nationalist Party have a core support of around 20% of the population. The SNP, Liberal Democrats and Conservatives have similar voter bases and generally do best in the rural areas of Northern and Southern Scotland.

Why is the idea of independence a minority interest? The most commonly quoted reasons are:

- The ecomony would collapse without English support
- Scotland is too small to be a viable country

The economic issue is sufficiently worrying to give even the most fervent Nationalist pause for thought, because on the surface at least it would appear that Scotland receives significant amounts of funding from the UK Treasury. What is not quite so clear is how much revenue Scotland provides directly to the UK treasury. The nationalist view is that Scotland makes a net contribution to the Treasury, the unionists argue that the opposite is the case. Who is correct? Who knows?

As for Scotland being too small to be a viable independent state, I am sure that Iceland, Ireland, Cyprus,Malta and New Zealand would beg to differ. Population size is not an issue in terms of the viability of a state, what is most important is that the majority of the population believe in the sovereignty of the state.

This is the issue that prevents the Scottish Independence being anything other than a dream. The bulk of the population are either against independence or simply don't take it seriously. If we look at successful nationalist movements during the twentieth century a common feature is the fact that over 50% of the population believed that independence from foreign rule was their right and were prepared to take action to secure this. Unlike in Ireland, Nationalism in Scotland has never been a passionate movement. Even the Jacobite Risings of the eighteenth century were focused on capturing the British crown, Scotland was just the first step. If Bonnie Prince Charlie had wanted to be King of Scotland he could have simply stayed in Edinburgh in 1745 and not marched into England.

Why is that Scots don't value their country enough to want to rule it unhindered by English interference? It would appear that in the last 3-400 hundred years we have developed a collective lack of self-esteem and love of being the underdog.

Until the people start appreciating their own worth Independence will always be a pipe dream. So if the SNP are serious about Scottish Independence then they should start campaigning on our national strengths ensuring that every Scot from the smallest child upwards knows what a great country he lives in.