DEFICITS are in the news – but while some are real, others are not so much. Let’s start with the deficit that does not much matter. Scotland apparently has a deficit of £15 billion. Scary? No.

The GERS story you have been told is mostly a tale of accountancy, not economics. It’s a story that has been scotched by a growing number of experts. But those resisting independence cling to this myth much like a drunk holds on to a lamppost – more for support than illumination.

The public prints in Scotland are replete with stories about the size of this deficit and deploring its steady growth over the years. Interestingly, they are mostly silent on the subject of the UK’s burgeoning deficit. Ever wondered why? Whisper it. Because when a country has monetary sovereignty – that is it can print its own money – these things don’t much matter, provided inflation is under control.

Ask yourself this, how can millions be found to bail out the banks, spend on defence or give tax breaks to the wealthiest? The United States is as preoccupied about “balancing the budget” as any other country, yet Franklin D Roosevelt was able fund the New Deal that transformed the lives of so many Americans, while John F Kennedy found the money to send men to the moon. And deficits have never, ever, stopped the US going to war. How come?

Well, some of this confused thinking – at least in the UK – stems from a noxious idea spread by Margaret Thatcher. She declared that a country’s budget is like a household budget. You can only spend what you earn, and as a home has to balance expenditure, so too does a country. Sounds convincing? Actually, it’s nonsense. Because countries with monetary sovereignty are not at all like households – because they can print their own money!

Remember the last financial crash when huge sums were needed to bail out the banks? Almost overnight these many millions were mysteriously found; and the US economy and others were brought back from the brink. How? Were taxes raised at midnight? Was public expenditure slashed overnight? Surely these changes were needed to balance out the truly enormous spend on bank bailouts. Not a bit of it. When the authorities were asked where the money came from, the answer was “we pressed a button on a computer”.

Space does not permit a lengthier explanation, however if you need more convincing, read a book called The Deficit Myth by Stephanie Kelton. But a word of caution, have a stiff drink nearby before you start, as you will find that most of what you thought you knew about economics is plain wrong. And you will get really, really mad when you discover that austerity and taxes are not needed to balance the budget, but mainly for social engineering and controlling inflation.

Think about this. If money can be found overnight to bail out banks, it can surely be found to fund the NHS, provide decent housing, combat drug abuse, tackle poverty and educate our children.

But some deficits are all too real. There is a deficit of morality and ethics. And there are deficits on compassion, on the constitution, on poverty and on Brexit.

We have arguably the most immoral and unethical government ever in the UK. Its debased conduct will surely bring about its ruin, but there may be little left to build on when they depart. They will eventually steal away like thieves in the night, having emptied the public coffers; but part of their stinking legacy is the normalisation of corruption.

And we have a huge constitutional deficit in this country. Want to open a drug rehabilitation centre? No, this is reserved. Will the Home Office transfer the powers to act? No. Scots would like to extend the furlough and need economic powers to address other pressing matters, such as poverty. Will these powers be transferred? Get lost.

There is also a huge deficit in compassion when an asylum seeker is left to die alongside her starving child, while the Home Office issues obscene videos aimed at warning off others. And there is the deficit of compassion by the Westminster Government for the many families who have lost loved ones to the pandemic.

These are the real deficits. Those that matter. Not accountancy.

Let me end on a happier note. There is no deficit on Scottish imagination, as Andy Murray showed last week. When questioned by an earnest interviewer about rumours of Lionel Messi leaving Barcelona, he suggested that the world’s most celebrated footballer was on his way to Hibs!

This column welcomes questions from readers

There is an exciting TNT show up 7pm on Wednesday. Our guest is Linda Holt, who is wholly opposed to independence. Don’t miss it!