In the modern commercial world, the brand is the thing. In Scotland, we have a clear distinctive brand which we have neglected and failed to use to our advantage.

There will be a license fee for any commercial business which is trading and benefiting from the use of "Scotland", "Scottish", "Scot", "Scotch". Similarily at local level, there will be a license fee for the use of "Helensburgh" or "Dumbarton" in a business name.

Initial estimates on the back of the proverbial fag packet suggest that this license fee will bring in approximately £10 billion per year with the banking sector alone contributing over £1 billion.

Further details and updated estimates will be contained in the April 1st relaunch of this web site.

"Scotch" as in whisky is Scotland's major industry with annual exports in excess of £2 billion. The industry employs over 10,000 with 30,000 jobs in various support categories.

The dilema is that virtually all of it is in foreign ownership. Major decisions about Scotland's main industry are being made in boardrooms in London, Paris, New York and Tokyo not Edinburgh, Glasgow or Inverness. Nationalisation would be one way to resolve this strategic problem but I'm not sure that the State wants to be involved in distillery management.

We prefer a simpler and direct approach.

The license fee for the use of the word "Scotch" will be based on the total sales of the parent company. It will take a while to work through the corporate structure of the ownership chain but the end result will be a nice little earner. Slainte vor.

Further details and updated estimates will be in the April 1st relaunch.

This is a tail of Walt and money and banks, though not necessarily in that order.

(Conflict of interest disclosure. We must point out that The Bank of Scotland was the recipient of The Scottish Jacobite Party Tumshie Award in 2005. While it might appear that this is written with vitriol impregnated pixels, only the facts are reported here.)

I lived in Portland, Oregon for thirty three years and dealt with American banks. While there is the odd hiccup, they are generally efficient organisations.

I returned to Scotland in April, 2000. I had had an account at The Halifax for about thirty years but anticipating the need for foreign exchange transactions, I opened an account with The Royal Bank of Scotland in 1998. I had banked with them when I was a student and needed to deposit my University Grant.

After a couple of months I found a flat to buy and made the necessary shifts in monies so that I could give my lawyer a cheque for the purchase price. I bought a money draft from The Halifax and deposited it with The Royal Bank of Scotland. With everything covered, I wrote a cheque to my lawyer.

I didn't realise the glacial speed of cheque clearance in this country. When I got the next bank statement from RBOS there was a deduction for £80. I went into the branch to ask. This was for the £60,000 overdraft that was required for a day until The Halifax draft cleared. I pointed out that my overdraft limit was £100 not £60,000 and that they were charging me for something they shouldn't have done. I suggested that they should have bounced the cheque instead. They were really good about it. They dropped the £80 overdraft charge and charged me the bounced cheque fee of £30 instead.

They tried to charge me for something they shouldn't have done then decided to charge me for something they didn't do when I complained.

When possible, I try to bank with someone I find logically compatible, someone that functions in my universe. I did what any reasonable customer should do and went up the street to open an account at The Bank of Scotland.

(As an aside, it is interesting to note the difference between banking in the US and in this country. Go into a US bank and say you want to open an account. Provided your paperwork is in order, you will walk out of the bank with an account and blank checks. Here, you walk out with an appointment to return at some time when it will be convenient for the bank to deal with you. An interesting study of attitudes to customers and customer service. But I digress, as Ronnie Corbett would say.)

At my appointment with The Bank of Scotland my information was fed into the computer. I was living with my dad at the time and using his address. His name was John Black and mine is John A Black. The computer dealt with the input and decreed that I could open an account with an overdraft limit of £10,000. It sounded good to me. In the course of the conversation we established that I wasn't my dad. He had never dealt with the bank in his life but a flawless credit rating was good for £10,000. I didn't have a credit rating in this country and the International financial giant that is The Bank of Scotland couldn't access my US credit rating. In the blink of an eye, two zeros went AWOL and my credit limit plummeted to £100.

I have been using The Bank of Scotland since the summer of 2000. When I needed to transfer money, I went to the Business Window, handed over a US bank debit card and the transfer was authorised to my Bank of Scotland account. This worked until the spring of 2006 when chip and pin was introduced. The US banks haven't introduced chip and pin. I was now considered a security risk by The Bank of Scotland. I could no longer transfer larger sums of money such as £2,000 using the debit card in a face to face transaction with a teller. Now, if I want to transfer £2,000 I have to make withdrawals of £200 for ten days at a hole in the wall and then take the accumulated cash into the bank and deposit it so that I can write a cheque.

Naturally, there was some chit chat while the new operating proceedures were being put into place. At one point I was informed that this was for my security. The teller could override the system and make the transfer but isn't authorised to do so. The bank thinks it is more secure for me to make multiple cash withdrawls in the street than one simple transaction inside the bank. Makes sense. If I get mugged in the street, no bank employees are involved.

After The Scottish Jacobite Party was set up and registered with The Electoral Commission it seemed like a good idea to open a bank account so that we could deal with the fat cat donations. I spent three months trying to open an account with The Bank of Scotland.

At one point I had asked the bright young lady I was dealing with some questions and a couple of other points had come up overnight. I went into the bank the next morning for the answers.

The Bank had not only decided that Customer Service was important, they had decided to do something about it. The young lady was in a business suit standing at a small raised counter directing customers to the appropriate service as they entered the bank. I told her that I had a couple of additional questions. She couldn't deal with the matter then since she was tied up for the rest of the day (as the Customer Service Representative!) and directed me to a teller to make an appointment to see herself the following morning.

It took 20 minutes to make the appointment since it involved new software that didn't work and the teller wasn't fully trained in how to use it. I returned to the bank the next morning and had the questions answered in two minutes by the bright young thing who had now returned to her normal duties.

It took about over an hour of my time to get a couple of questions answered in two minutes.

As surreal performance art its brilliant. Better than anything Salvadore Dali could have dreamed up.

We have got to sort out consumer banking in this country. It's dire.

One bank is as bad as the other as they compete in the race to find the lowest common denominator The banks are making billions so they don't care. They mistreat their employees then pay them off with bonuses. It is an upper management problem.

I am making some progress. I now have an overdraft limit of £2,000 and a Bank of Scotland credit card with a limit of £7,150. Why the difference in amounts you ask? Think interest rates and bank profits.

I have asked for an overdraft of £10,000 but I get nice letters from Peter Jackson, Managing Director, Banking and Savings instead. He closes with the salutation "If you have any questions about your overdraft, please contact any branch where our staff will be happy to help you." My simple minded interpretation is that I should ask in my local branch. I tried that. The tellers can't access any information about a customers overdraft status. They can sell you various loans and are actively encouraged to do so. Why do you think they deserve the bonuses?

Nice one Peter!

A bank charter in Scotland is a literal license to print money. I'm sure banking operations in this country are commercially sensitive information. In the US banks operate on the Reserve system. Say a bank takes in £100 in cash. They have to keep this as a 10% Reserve and are allowed to loan out up to £900. The Reserve of £100 is the protection for the system against the normal ebb and flow of business and any unexpected run on the bank.

On the £100 deposited in the savings account the bank pays the nominal interest of 3-4%. If it is in a current account, you get zip with the banks considering charging you for the privilege of having an account with them.

The bank doesn't physically have the £900 they are allowed to loan out but they can do it anyway since its all numbers in a ledger. If its the credit card division that's loaning out the money, they charge 26.75% which falls within the definition of usury.

So, at most, they pay £3-4 out in bank interest and take in £240.75 from the credit card interest. A tidy profit of £236.7 per year from someone willing to trust them with £100. What's not to like about the system if you are a bank. Its a different shade of purple if you are a customer.

Banks operate on a charter from the Government. That's us, in case you had forgotten.

Now on to Walt who is of course Sir Walter Scott. Or Wally as he would more familiarily be called in this country. He is to blame for the modern image of Scotland as the romantic land of heather, tartan and shortbread. After the wee disaster at Culloden, there was a ban on the wearing of tartan in Scotland. This wasn't relaxed until Walter Scott stage managed the visit of King George IV to Edinburgh in 1822. The King ponced about the town clad in tartan and its been with us since. Scott's novels took care of the romantic embelishments and we have been dining off the proceeds ever since.

What does Walt have to do with The Bank of Scotland? Its his physog that graces the top side of a Bank of Scotland £100 note. I had one. But I had to break it to pay off the campaign debts. This election campaign is being run on a budget of 100 big ones or one Walt. That's it between here and May 3rd, Polling Day.

I had to break the note to pay for the shared web space. That leaves £73.75 in the kitty.

This is a one Walt election campaign.

But, its not as bad as it seems. Have Bus Pass; Will Travel!

Sir David Murray, the chairman of Rangers entered the political fray yesterday by calling on captains of industry to stand up for the Union.

It would certainly undermine his campaign to have Rangers playing in the English Premiership if Scotland was Independent.

In our Independent Scotland, the Scottish Premier League agreement will be thrown out. This agreement gives an unequal proportion of TV revenues to Celtic and Rangers, the two clubs with the existing financial clout.

The two clubs used bully boy tactics when the agreement was negotiated. We wouldn't allow this behaviour in a school playing field. Why should we allow it on the football pitch?

The agreement only perpetuates the inequality which has been part of Scottish football for generations. We need a level playing field and an even distribution of resources. Scottish football should be a sporting contest between equals, not a squabble over third place.

Tavish Scott, Transport Minister announced the award of a contract worth £22.8 million to complete the upgrading of the A830 from Fort William to Mallaig a.k.a. "The Road to the Isles".

This marks the final chapter in the wanton destruction of this classic road, unmatched for its driving challenges and scenic splendour.

You can't build motorways to Nowhere. When the road is finished, Nowhere doesn't exist any more. Easy access to wilderness, destroys the wilderness.

The road "improvements" over the years have progressively destroyed the unique character of this Scottish asset. There is now a bypass around Arisaig. Why? So that folks can get to the Mallaig ferry two minutes quicker?

This will seem an eccentric view to most.

I first became aware of this problem in 1965 on a drive from Vancouver to Calgary. On the Trans Canada, you can do 70 mph all the way. No bother. In top gear. You arrive in Calgary having just crossed the Rockies, one of the foremost mountain ranges on the planet. You see the scenery. You marvel at the majesty of it all, at the sheer size and magnitude of the mountains. You have crossed the Pacific Divide, gone over Kicking Horse Pass, the highest point on the Trans Canada at 5390ft. All of this without breaking a sweat.

We can engineer the difficult out of just about anything these days. But should we? The Trans Canada is a commercial necessity for the Western Provinces of Canada. There is already easy access to Skye on the A87 to Kyle of Lochalsh and the Skye Bridge.

Now, the Jacobite Administration is going to have to spend money restoring this Scottish treasure and major tourist attraction. Putting the challenge back into "The Road to the Isles."

Its official. Scotland is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Merlin Entertainments [SEA LIFE] Limited.

Yesterday Merlin announced the takeover of the holdings of Dubai International Capital in a £1 billion deal which includes Madame Tussauds, the London Eye and Alton Towers. This makes Merlin second only to Disney in the theme park entertainment business.

Merlin operate the Sea-Life Aquarium at Loch Lomond, a unique Scottish experience. The aquarium is in Drumkinnon Tower, part of the Loch Lomond Shores development, a Scottish Enterprise project with a £60 million price tag.

The star attractions, the otters, can enjoy their fur coats in the certain knowledge that they live in the world's most expensive holt.

"All workers have the right to strike in this country", Bob Crow, RMT General-Secretary was quoted as saying in London yesterday.

Wrong.

In an Independent Scotland, workers do have the right to binding arbitration. They do not have the right to hold the country to ransom.

The right to strike has been an effective weapon in redressing the inbalance between the power of owners and the shameful exploitation of the workers. We have moved from the Victorian abusive owners to an era of abusive Union bosses. Enough.

If the country is to function effectively, there has to be an appropriate balance between the needs of the owners to make a reasonable profit and the rights of the workers to make a living wage. If the balance is made, the business flourishes and both sides benefit. If either side is dysfunctional, the business suffers and neither side benefits.

I went to University in Glasgow in the late 1950s, early 1960s when Clydeside meant Big Ships and Union turmoil. Too many Unions led to endless demarcation disputes. The Red Clydesiders were even more adept at fighting with each other than they were at opposing the establishment.

One strike in particular involved which Union was responsible for pulling back a chalked string to make a mark on steel plates on the side of a ship. I'm sure nobody remembers which Union won the right to pull back the string. With Brown's shipyard and the rest of Clydeside nothing but a nostalgic memory it matters not.

Jobs matter. Workers rights matter. Intimidation and bullying can't be tolerated on either side of the owner/worker partnership.

P.S. To Bob Crow:- The standard working week in Independent Scotland is 40 hours not 35 so you have no dispute with Network Rail.

If w're goin tae mak onythin o' this bit o grund we ca' hame, w've a' goat tae git our jaickets aff, roll up oor sleeves an git mucked in.

Ferguson's shipyard in Port Glasgow has been killed off by EU Regulations.

With Scotland out of the EU in an Independent Scotland, there will be work for the shipyard freed from the unequal bidding process with Polish yards.

These same EU Regulations have just resulted in a farcical CalMac tender process at a cost of £15 million.

There are real savings to be made when the Scottish Government doesn't have to follow expensive EU Rules. £15 million here, £15 million there; before you know it, we are talking billions of pounds; then we get into the real money and that mythical black hole in the Scottish economy looks more like the Scottish Money Mountain!

Jackie Baillie, the incumbent Labour MSP for Dunbarton has been taunting her SNP rival to give a public statement on the size of the Scottish Navy after Independence.

That's easy Jackie. It will be one third of the British Navy following the split of all assets acquired since the Union in 1707. It's a sizeable force.

One aircraft carrier, one assault ship, eight frigates/destroyers, 1 1/3 Vanguard class subs and three Trafalgar class subs. Looking after that lot should keep the lads and lassies at Faslane and Rosyth busy.

The Vanguard class subs are the nuclear jobbies. No our cup of tea so we will move them on. The market in these things has been a bit slow recently so its hard to come up with an estimate for their value though there is interest out there with India, Pakistan and Iran likely bidders.

If that doesn't work out, we can give them a whirl on E-Bay.

This is an artist's impression of the new Scottish Family History Centre due to open in Balloch in Spring 2008.

The Centre will be a resource and information point for any of the 90 million people worldwide with Scots ancestry when they visit Scotland in search of their roots.

The building was originally designed as the Headquarters for the Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park which was disbanded in May 2007 since it was not providing value for money.

It is anticipated that this new use will add significantly to the local ecomomy.

In recent years, it has become easier for people with Scottish geneology to research their ancestral origins on the internet. This leads to a craving for a physical connection to the place in Scotland where their forebearers lived and worked.

The staff of the new centre are trained to assist visitors find the graves of their ancestors and the sheilings they called home.