Beware of Greeks bearing gifts.

Unfortunately, this warning came late for the Trojans in 1180BC!  Had it come a few years earlier, history would have told the story of the great Trojan barbecue where they roasted their kebabs over the embers of a big wooden horse they found on the outskirts of the city.

Can you hear all that racket coming from that horse?  ‘Naw, cannae be, it’s made of wid’ said one Scot on his Trojan holidays!

Basically don’t trust your enemies.  When all else fails they come at you on a ‘charm offensive’ loaded with gifts.  If you are gullible enough to accept them – chances are you’re doomed.

Don’t believe me – ask any MacDonald from the Glencoe area around 1692!

Of course, these gifts can be anything you want, anything you need, release from any fear you may have, the list is almost endless.

The outcome is always the same.  Your enemies get whey they want, you get shafted, and they take the gifts back – with interest.

Fortunately, this warning has come in time for the people of Scotland in Scotland’s referendum.  However, just because you hear a warning, doesn’t mean you are listening.

Reflect back to ancient Troy when someone hears a rumour that the big horse is filled with really angry Greeks.  ‘Aye right’ says the Scotsman, on holiday – probably a modern day ‘No’ voter, ‘don’t talk keich, get the kebabs going!’

To the Scots who are listening, these promises of wealth beyond belief, Devo Ultra or one for the poor MacDonalds, Devo MacUltra, it’s just a Trojan horse – a trick to give the Westminster Greeks exactly what they want – access and control over our natural wealth.

Last night on STV we had Gordon Brown, any relation to Derren Brown the other great illusionist? telling us that Scots really wanted to share their gifts with the rest of the UK.  So we just handed over £1.5 Trillion of oil revenues over 40 years for the common good – neat trick Derren, sorry Gordon.  Oh, by the way Gordon have you got that 400 tons of gold you were looking after and our ‘final salary pensions’.  ‘Later!’, I hear you say.  Don’t worry, Gordon, we’ll get the bill for your Quantitive Easing illusion.

Today, they have a new ‘gift’ from the Institute for Fiscal Studies in London.  They claim Scots will be better off if they remain in the Union?  They are ‘independent’.  However, they have been accused of Neoliberalism – the tool employed by Augusto Pinochet’s economic reforms in Chile.

The left-wing think tank Tax Research UK had this to say about the IFS, “Institute for Fiscal Studies is a body that persistently recommends tax increases that benefit the wealthiest in society at cost to those who make their living from work and the poorest in society”.  Scotland has always leant slightly to the left, so I would perhaps give a bit of credence to the Tax Research UK opinion – it certainly leans more towards Scots than it does to Westminster

Notwithstanding, In October 2010, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg accused the IFS of using methods that were “distorted and a complete nonsense”

So, when we hear the term IFS, think ‘gift‘, think, Trojan horse, think ‘the fall of Troy‘.  4 words immediately spring to mind:

THANKS, BUT NO THANKS

That is enough for now, but there is a lot more to come!