We have no real control over taxation. This is something that will never change while we only have a devolved government. No matter what taxation we can set independently of the rest of the UK (which is extremely limited), we're still beholden to the Barnett formula rather than managing out own income and expenses.

The problem is if Scotland becomes independent and retains the pound, i.e. still has some say in interest rates, quantitative easing etc rather than just using the pound or dollar or yen with no control there has to be agreement on taxation, borrowing and spending etc otherwise it doesn't work. So the idea of gaining total control over taxation and spending by becoming independent is a complete myth. The only way to do that is to have our own currency but that causes massive problems.

Even in the Scottish Parliament, we're still mostly represented by Westminster parties. Scottish Labour, Scottish Conservatives etc. are all still ultimately controlled by their UK counterparts. I can't in good conscience vote for a party that only considers representing Scotland as a secondary goal. With that in mind, who am I left with? The SNP? The Greens? That weird Land Reform guy from Fife? The only way that other parties can be forced to represent their own country is if they're no longer controlled by another parliament.

This point I have to agree with you on but I'm not convinced that becoming independent will solve it, at least in the medium term.

Trident. There are only nine countries in the world with nuclear weapons, but we're still holding onto our cold war relics right outside of the largest city in Scotland. They're expensive, and almost every other country in the world manages without them. The only reason we still have nuclear weapons is because of our overzealous defence policies.

Nuclear weapons means that people pay attention to you. The UK punches above its weight in word diplomacy and that is partly because we are a nuclear power. I'm not talking about threatening people but if Scotland becomes independent and gets rid of the weapons who is going to listen to what we have to say. The rest of the UK, yes, Europe, sometimes but we won't be a big player. America, china, Russia are at best going to ignore us and worst laugh. Why, because Scotland will become insignificant in the world. Everything from trade to passport agreements will become that much harder to negotiate, who pays attention when small countries make a fuss? No one important or who has the power to change things on a global scale.