Here are just a few examples of how the UK continues to fail Scotland:

• A third of Scotland’s children live in poverty

• A quarter of our pensioners live in poverty

• Our rate of economic growth is less than a third of that in the UK, and one of the lowest rates in Europe

• We are used as the base for all of the UK’s nuclear weapons

• In 2000-2001, 5000 more Scottish families registered as homeless than in 1997, the year Labour came to power

• We have the highest incidence of cancer deaths anywhere in Europe

• Our life expectancy is the lowest in the UK. People in many parts of Scotland have a lower life expectancy than people anywhere else in Western Europe.

None of the above statements could be made about Denmark or Norway. None of them is an advert for the government we know, in the form of Westminster rule. When power is exercised close to the people it always has a better chance of being exercised well. Government by remote control from London is never going to be relevant to Scottish needs, but a Scottish government with full powers would be able to make policies designed to solve distinctive Scottish problems.

At the moment, Scotland’s Parliament and Government can only treat the symptoms of Scotland’s economic and social difficulties. Only Independence can address the core problems.

Independence is a chance to change the way we do things, not least because it means Scots finally get to decide what happens to their own taxes. For instance, with Independence, Scots can choose to devote more of their taxes to fund public services and they can choose to create an environment in which business can flourish. Independence is about getting a chance to make choices for our country, choices which we presently don’t have. Here are a few of the things which the people of Scotland might choose to do with their Independence:

• ensure that no pensioners live in poverty

• drive down council rents by redirecting housing benefit

• invest Scottish oil and whisky revenues - which presently go straight to Westminster - in Scotland’s public services

• represent the interests of Scottish fishermen directly in the EU Council of Ministers and Fisheries Council, instead of voting against Scottish fishing interests, like the UK presently does .

• prevent new nuclear power stations being built in Scotland. Nuclear power is dangerous, unwanted and unnecessary in Scotland.

• remove Trident nuclear weapons from Scotland, in line with the views of Scotland’s people, and as campaigned for by our churches, trade unions and others. At present, the Scottish Parliament gets no say on this.

Support for Independence has risen steadily over the last twenty years. For instance, in 1999, 75% of those surveyed by ICM thought there should be a referendum on Independence and 44% said they would vote "Yes" in such a referendum, a far higher level of support than Independence had achieved in the past.

In a Scotland on Sunday ICM poll in January 2000, 47% said Yes to Independence and 43% No. Removing the "don’t knows" would equate to a 52% Yes vote. Support for Independence reaches even higher levels among the 18-34 age group. As support for Independence has risen, so the Scottish National Party, the party of Independence, has gone from strength to strength. The SNP has now become firmly established as the official opposition in Scotland, with 35 Members of the Scottish Parliament, five Members at Westminster and two Members of the European Parliament, as well as over 200 local councillors throughout Scotland.

I am highlighting the above, as the private prisons so beloved by New Labour (not when in opposition, of course) rely very heavily on all sorts of remote locking and monitoring devices, and a massive reduction in manpower to staff the prisons. In the Scottish Parliament a week or two back, John Swinney MSP drew blood from the Executive when he challenged the figures produced by them as savings. I found it all very confusing, as the Injustice Minister, Jim Wallace, had been talking about a saving of £700 million from privatisation, then somehow the figure became £300 million, and this week it seems to be back at £700 million. Now if I am confused, and taking an interest in the situation, what is the average vaguely interested person thinking?

Every time they talk about Kilmarnock Prison, the only one privatised so far, they tell us it is cheaper than the public sector, but when anyone asks for figures they are told that the figures cannot be given due to "commercial confidentially." So if we cannot get the figures, how do we know they are cheaper? Ah well, we must trust the Executive, who are looking after things on our behalf! Trust that lot - they should be in the jail! As part of the ongoing debate, the SNP’s Stewart Stevenson MSP for Banff and Buchan (which has Peterhead Prison, one of the ones to be closed and replaced by a private prison) visited Parc Prison in Wales; he found sex-offenders sharing cells, and experiences! He also found that whereas the cost per prisoner in Peterhead was £23,000 per year, the cost in Parc was £31,000 per head; I am sure that Kilmarnock is at least £5,000 more per head per prisoner than the average Scottish prison.

Annabelle Ewing MP for Perth (which also has a prison) has also tabled a Motion in the House of Commons on conditions in Dungavel Detention Centre in Strathaven where 40 people have gone on hunger strike in protest at conditions and the time taken to process their cases. Human rights groups, such as Friends of Refugees in Ayrshire, have been denied access to the refugees. The detention centre, which houses refugees, not criminals, remember, is run by the same crowd who run Kilmarnock Prison, Premier Prison Services, a subsidiary of the American Wackenhut Corporation, who are having American prisons taken away from them. I wonder why.

One of the Liberal councillors, whose father and mother have also had their nomination papers rejected, said "Everyone knows that the law is an ass, and I’m a solicitor!"

Can’t say fairer than that.

During the recent BAFTA awards, it was announced on the TV bulletin that "The stars braved the London weather".

Must have been a tough walk from the limo to the door; maybe the red carpet was wet.

Saw a programme on the STV Platform entitled "The by-election of the Century", and settled down to watch Winnie Ewing’s victory in Hamilton in 1967. I was totally astonished to see instead Roy Jenkins’ victory for the Social Democrats in 1982!

Totally coincidental that the presenter was Bernard Ponsonby, Social Democrat candidate in Govan, when Jim Sillars won that for the SNP in 1988!

After all the displays of military precision at the funeral of the Queen Mother, it is disconcerting to know that Edinburgh Castle will not have any sentries on guard duty from this summer onwards; an army spokesman said "The army is not run for the benefit of tourists, the vast majority of whom do not visit the castle to watch the changing of the guard but the excellent army exhibits inside."

We expect the Scottish Executive to employ Securicor.

OAPs "TAKEN FOR RIDE" OVER FREE BUS TRAVEL

Pensioners today claimed they had been short-changed over the new free bus travel scheme to be introduced across Scotland later this year. They said elderly people had been given the impression they would be allowed to go anywhere in the country at no cost, whereas the rules which come into effect in October will only allow free local journeys. Welsh pensioners last week were given the right to travel free by bus anywhere in Wales and a similar scheme has been operating in Northern Ireland since last October. But in Scotland, pensioners will be limited to their own area. SNP transport spokesman Kenny MacAskill called on the Executive to match the Welsh and Northern Irish schemes. He said: "The clear implication was this was going to be a national scheme. Wales has managed to deliver a national scheme. But this is no better than existing schemes in many areas. In Fife, for instance, pensioners can already travel free at any time, not just off-peak. And in Edinburgh, it's swings and roundabouts - under the new scheme you won 't have to pay your 30p, but you can't travel at the peak period."

WATER AUTHORITY DEFENDS EXECUTIVE PAY-OFFS

Scottish Water today defended pay-offs totalling around 1 million pounds to executives forced out by the merger of Scotland's three water authorities. The water authority said the payments were made to honour the contracts of several executives who have been left without posts in the shake-up. Scottish Water began operating on April 1 as a single publicly-owned water authority after the Scottish Parliament passed a Bill to set it up. The Sunday Mail newspaper reported that 17 executive directors and two chief executives were due to receive pay-offs as a result of the merger. SNP water spokesman Bruce Crawford said: "These pay-offs will only save the chargepayer money if these jobs are not refilled. My suspicion is that very similar posts with very similar salaries will be created."

STRIKE ACTION BY NAVAL SUPPORT STAFF

Naval dockyard workers in Scotland have voted in favour of strike action over plans to move their jobs into the private sector. Unions representing staff at the Faslane and Coulport yards said a one-day strike would take place on Friday, 12 April. The UK Government last week warned that up to 750 jobs could go in the transfer of jobs at the Scottish bases and at Devonport and Portsmouth. However, that claim has come under fierce attack from the unions who have accused ministers of betraying the workforce. SNP shadow minister for defence Colin Campbell said the SNP shared the concerns of the workforce that privatisation will lead to a reduction in standards through job losses. "Staff at Faslane and Coulport have made every effort to be flexible and versatile," he said. "They have taken on board the skill changes necessary to meet the demands of both nuclear and conventional vessels. Yet now they find their jobs are at risk. The strike decision is a clear indication of the strength of feeling about Labour privatisation plans."

GIVE OUR DINNER LADIES A BREAK

Thousands of school dinner ladies have launched a campaign for holiday pay. Along with cleaners and other support staff - currently on Easter break - they get no holiday pay, and with wages as low as 5 pounds per hour or 60 pounds a week, many struggle to survive. And since Ministers changed the rules last year, they have not been able to claim Job Seekers' Allowance (JSA) despite being fit and available for work. Irene McGugan, SNP shadow minister for education and children, said: "If the school dinner ladies and cleaners are legally entitled to holiday pay, it would be wrong for them not to receive it."

LOCKERBIE VICTIMS REMEMBERED IN US CEREMONY

Senior Scottish parliamentarians today gathered in sombre unity in a Washington ceremony to remember the 270 victims of the Lockerbie air disaster. Parliamentary business minister Patricia Ferguson laid a wreath at the Lockerbie memorial at the Arlington national cemetery. She was accompanied by a cross-party Scottish Parliament delegation that included MSPs Roseanna Cunningham, Winnie Ewing and Fiona McLeod. SNP president Winnie Ewing said: "Today was even more poignant considering the recent events of September 11. So as well as paying tribute to those who lost their lives in the Lockerbie disaster, we thought of all those who have lost their lives through terrorism." Meanwhile SNP MSPs last night visited the White House to meet with economic advisers to the President of the United States. Shadow economy minister Andrew Wilson said the meeting represented an "historic first" for the SNP which "secures another key part of our growing network of contacts in building our economic arguments". "Scotland has to look beyond our own country for the ideas and inspiration to drive our economy out of its current mediocre performance," he said.