Follow that line, and independence sounds like a progressive act to promote friendship between the yeomen of England and the brave hearts of Scotland, liberating two ancient cultures from the moth-eaten baggage of imperialist, embittered Britishness.

ECONOMIST: Bagehot

Sir Richard, arguably the second most powerful man in Britain, retains old-school civil-service values: devoted to its ethos, uninterested in partisan politics, and hooked on the traditional though moth-eaten doctrine of the accountability of civil servants through ministers to Parliament.

ECONOMIST: Tony Blair��s mighty servant

Though conservation is the trust's overriding goal, members seem likely to approve Mr Reid's plan to demolish this moth-eaten structure and replace it with something new merging the board and council into a single elected 15-member body reporting annually to members.

ECONOMIST: National Trust for Scotland: Demolish and preserve | The