They made a desolation and called it a Union benefit.

I've been thinking about the views of two other bloggers, Young AMW and auld Nick himsel Nikostratos.

Niko hates the Tories and thinks of the SNP as basically them with kilts on.

AMW is quite right wing, but is too young to remember the time when a certain Tory ravaged Scotland like a twinset and pearl clad Atilla, so time for a history lesson young yin, you're no in Falkirk noo.

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When I was a very young man, the village that I had grown up in was in the process of becoming a town.

Situated on a transport nexus outside the Capital, it had many employers, either within its borders, or a couple of miles away.

First to go was the small Naval base.It didn't employ that many civilian workers, but of course the pubs, clubs, cafes and taxi firms took a hit.

The Victualling yard which supplied it wasn't affected-yet- as it still supplied the larger base across the Firth.

Next was the whisky bottling plant, where I had worked for five years, three of them as a shop steward.

Owned by Distillers, they wanted to put all their eggs into two very large automated plants.

Tam Dalyell found out about this plan on his Old Etonian grapevine, and informed the union.

I'll always remember the bool in the mooth exec that came from London.

I had asked him if the bottling hall actually made a profit. He had the grace to look mildly uncomfortable when he answered; yes, but...er...not enough...

Over three hundred jobs were lost, mine and one of my sisters amongst them.

Then it was the turn of the two large electronics plants . One shut down entirely, the other's printed circuit division went; Malaysia could make them much cheaper, thanks to miniscule labour costs.

Guess who lost his job again?

The large Naval base closed, perplexing many of the workers there, as there was nowhere else suitable to service the Navy's nuclear fleet.

Fife voted Labour. Hampshire voted Tory.Guess which Naval base stayed open.

When that went, so did the vittling store that served it.

The area had two distilleries in the nineteenth century. Around them grew the industries that serviced them. The farmers sold barley to be malted, the distilleries sold the drained mash back for animal feed. Pig and chicken farms grew up, then slaughterhouses.The distilleries closed down, but the bottling plant and a maltings remained on their sites.

Once the maltings closed, the feed costs soared. No more pig and chicken industries.

So now the area I live in is more or less a dormitory town.

The Tories attitude to Scotland in the eighties was much like an ancient Chinese Emperor faced with a problem.

Famine struck in three provinces.The Emperor's answer was to strip all remaining foodstuffs from two of the provinces, and send it to the remaining one.

The logic being that he would have one very grateful, loyal province...and the others would no longer be a problem...

In conclusion?

Niko, if the Tories get in at Westminster, they will think only of their powerbase again; but this time there will be a Scottish Parliament to oppose them.

Let's hope that Parliament is full of of MSPs who don't take their orders from London.

AMW, in an independent Scotland there wil be room for a right wing party.

It won't be the Conservative and Unionist Party though...