Joan McAlpine is a former editor of the Sunday Times Scotland turned MSP. She’s also his Parliamentary liaison officer. Today she has a new column in the Daily Record. The analogy used in her first outing has upset a lot of people:

The union between Scotland and England is a bit like the marriage of a talented, well-educated girl with good prospects and her own income, to a domineering man. She could easily stand on her own two feet thanks to a fortunate inheritance… But the husband complains she can’t be trusted to manage her own money. She would squander it. Anyway, it isn’t really hers, it belongs to both of them… Eventually she recognises the relationship for what it is – an abuse of power.

Concluding:

Scotland is as capable of running her own finances as England. Just as women are as capable as men. In fact, we could do a lot better.

Given that the Nats lost an MSP this weekend after his track record of wife-beating emerged, this is strong stuff from “Scotland’s Independent Woman”. What did she have to do to earn such a grand title?