Scottish independence: Alastair Darling is willing to fight Alex Salmond, a man who is married to a woman old enough to be his mother, can Alex Salmond keep ducking a political heavyweight, can’t float like a butterfly and can’t sting like a Bee! Is Salmond running scared now?

Dear All

I attended the BBC 5 lIve debate, Fiona Hyslop and Elaine C Smith for Yes Camp, Anas Sarwar and Alan Savage for Better Together.

A well run show, not a lot of enlightenment and mostly people who had a limited grasp of the issues, but it wasn’t a win for either side.

Another disastrously poor show of babbling nonsense in terms of the debate!

Alastair Darling of Better Together is having a good independence campaign so far.

He stands head and shoulders above Alex Salmond.

Darling says that the SNP ­Government's White Paper on how ­independence will work be would a failure unless it sets out a clear "Plan B".

George Laird has blogged on the need for a Plan B.

So far no one knows what plan A is, and no one is doing any real work, the white paper wouldn't be detailed, and pretty much vague!

And as we have seen as the SNP struggle to gain any type of support, flip flops are the order of the day.

Voters must know exactly what the structure of an independent Scotland would be in the unlikely event of a Yes Vote.

UK Government is looking increasingly likely to rejected Alex Salmond's plan to share the pound in a currency union, I pretty much thought that the co-operation would be lip service, seems to be panning out that way.

I have never believe that long term Alex Salmond and the SNP planned to keep the pound despite all the screaming from Salmond and Sturgeon.

I believe that if an independent Scottish Government was bedded in, then the SNP would take Scotland into the EU and accept the Euro.

This is to cement the break up with the UK.

The shouting about the pound is a distraction to tide over difficulties in getting a Yes vote, nothing in my opinion has changed, Salmond will want to put as much distance from Westminster as possible, the Euro addresses that problem.

Chancellor George Osborne has called such a sterling zone "unlikely", the SNP’s take on this is their traditional, this is scaremongering tactics but they will say yes down the line.

Why should they?

And add to that the UK gets a vote on Scotland joining or being rejected from Europe, however, the Spanish seem keen to keep Scotland out because of their domestic internal problems.

On currency, the SNP should have planned for a Scottish pound.

I blogged on this point for some time, you couldn't leave that option off the table.

It was always supposed to be a Scottish pound, due to a lack of a work ethic, Salmond decided to take the easy route, but the route might be blocked.

November's White Paper will be fantasy, if you expect facts, then don’t kid yourself on, you will get fiction.

Salmond and Sturgeon need to explain in rather graphic detail what would happen to pensions, the national debt, and above all the currency, and they have to hardwire in what all departments would look like, too little time for such detail to be fleshed out.

Darling added:

“If they don't come up with answers, the thing is going to fail," he said. "They have gone from favouring the euro, to using sterling in the same way Panama uses the US dollar, to saying we'll have a currency union. But with a currency union … the other side have to go into it, and that is doubtful at best. And if you don't have a currency union, what's Plan B? Will they just use sterling, will we have our own currency, will they go into the euro? Let's see."

To return to the BBC 5 Live Debate, Fiona Hyslop wasn’t giving any real answers, there was quotes about disputed figures, and she didn’t like her own Government’s figures quoted back to her.

£7 billion black hole according to the SNP's own figures.

Alex Salmond, a man married to a woman old enough to be his mother wants to debate David Cameron.

Salmond should learn some respect, just because he engages in trash talk, he shouldn’t try to lower the dignity of the Office of Prime Minister.

Cameron has rightly decided that Scots should mainly fight this matter out among us!

The idea of a man who is married to a woman old enough to be his mother wanting a square go with David Cameron is just odd.

Darling wants the First Minister to step into the ring with him, a rumble in the jungle about truth and fact.

Can Scotland’s ‘jolly fat man’ keep ducking the challenges, can a man who is married to a woman old enough to be his mother keep ducking a gravitas fight?

The SNP said:

"We're not reacting to backbench MP Darling."

Darling is up for the fight, Salmond doesn’t want to climb into the ring, Salmond doesn’t even want to be rolled under the bottom rope then helped to his feet, Salmond’s just plain scared.

The ‘big man’ is only big around the waist, big mouth, not a big brain, but always a woman to hide behind, taking the easy matches, fighting the bums in Holyrood.

Darling added:

"I'm ready and willing to debate all these key issues with him, whenever he wants, as often as he wants. I cannot understand his refusal, except that I'm beginning to think that he's running scared. David Cameron doesn't have a vote in Scotland. I've got a vote in Scotland. Alex Salmond has a vote in Scotland."

Alastair Darling is willing to take on Alex Salmond, a man married to a woman old enough to be his mother, maybe Salmond should accept the offer; there can’t be too many people willing to make that offer.

Soon even that offer might not be on the table, what then, a curry, a naan, and the pipes, the pipes of Bute House doing a lament to the end of his political career.

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University