“I live in England and chair the board of a hi-tech company in Scotland. I have my own money invested in that company alongside Angel investors based in Glasgow. I chaired a board meeting in Edinburgh the day before the vote. I did not see any posters or campaigners, (except CND campaigning for 'yes' 'to get rid of Trident forever'. I wonder who was funding them!) But the business community people I met were horrified at the damage done to Scotland by the tactics of the SNP. They were also critical of the weakness of Cameron's leadership. There's a lot of rebuilding to do. Scottish business's are wonderfully supported by Scottish Enterprise and Scottish Investment Bank, much more effectively than anything I have experienced in England, where I also chair start-up hi-tech companies. Their job has been made harder and we all need to help them succeed now.

By the way, Edinburgh is a wonderful city. Do visit if you haven't done so.”

David Fuller's view

Thank you for this informative email. 

I hope you are pointing out your different business experiences between Scotland and England, with start-up hi-tech companies, to further audiences.  The Telegraph, Times and FT should be interested, as should influential cabinet ministers in our government.  

I think Cameron would have been vilified for all time if the ‘Yes’ vote had won, breaking up the United Kingdom, but at least he moved swiftly on devolution for England in addition to Wales and Northern Ireland.  The ‘devil is in the details’ but if this is achieved without cumbersome additional and expensive layers of government, devolution of responsibility to regions and their cities should eventually be good for GDP growth.  And where this is not the case, it should be easier to identify and address the causes of regional problems.

I love Scotland and have visited it on many occasions.  Mrs Fuller and I both have relatives there, ancient to current, as is also the case in England.  I was invited to Edinburgh for a half-day private seminar a little over two months ago, to talk about how long-term investors can best use price charts in conjunction with their fundamental analysis, and once again enjoyed this short visit enormously.