A second opinion

I wasn't the only one to spot that Carol Craig's book contains some fundamental errors. In today's Scotsman, George Kerevan makes similar points to mine:

Could Carol have traversed the long road to political sanity and the realisation that Scotland is indeed in the grip of a collectivist zeitgeist that strangles our economy with excess regulation and taxes and that turns our schools into under-performing human battery farms? Could she? No, she couldn’t. For Carol Craig’s individualist terminology means quite the opposite of what the words ordinarily imply.

Read the introduction to her book and she is at great pains to point out that she rejects the free market. She adds: " I’m no fan of American individualism, believing it not only results in a high crime rate but also in the type of dangerous selfishness apparent in Americans’ response to the Kyoto agreement on climate control." In other words, she rejects drawing any political, constitutional, economic or fiscal consequences from her analysis that Scots suffer from a lack of individualism, creativity or risk taking.

On Saturday, the book wasn't available at Ottakars, Waterstones or Borders. When I manage to find a copy, I shall report further.