Politicians who want to break up the UK often use the argument that Scotland could be like other small nations. They choose to compare with nations that appear successful at the moment such as Denmark, Norway, New Zealand or Ireland. >

However these states are over 100 years old and survived many years of poverty to reach where they are now. A much better comparison for the next 30 years are those nations which have been formed since the 1980's, Croatia, Slovakia or Latvia. >

I also wonder why the devolved government in Scotland does not follow similar policies to the nations that they admire as they have most of the powers they need. We have copied the Baby Box from Finland, but why not accept the whole package? >

We have the worse drug and alcohol disease in Europe. Why don't we do similar to Scandinavia and NZ and sell spirits in licensed shops, ban their sale in supermarkets. We already have more expensive alcohol to England, we have the powers to increase the cost of alcohol now.

Our education system is at breaking point, so why don't we follow the Scandinavian or NZ education systems now? Why don't we have kindergarten until 7, scrap all exams, have a wider choice of education such as Montessori or home schooling? >

There is a wind farm which is owned by a village community in Denmark. Why did Scotland not learn from the community ownership model from Denmark where wind farms are 20% community owned. We have land reform laws and community empowerment so why are we not using those powers? >

20yrs ago Scotland was given a devolved government, powers greater than those of Canadian states. But we don't use them to their full potential. We can change tax rates, create new benefits, have full control over laws, education and health.
Why on earth don't we use them now?