"we have had no functioning Party of the left,"

Not strictly true. The Green Party is a fully functioning left of centre party that is very active locally and has one MP. The real issue for the Greens is the name; they need to reform and embrace the broad church of the left under a different banner as the Greens seem a tad anarchistic as a name. Their policies are progressive, achieved through consensus and consolation and most of all not centred around London.

As capitalism fails, the left would do well to unite to promote a more regulated approach to running the economy whilst encouraging entrepreneurship to flourish. We're not going to compete with the Chinese and Asians, and Africa is still to find it's feet (which it will). We need to look beyond the corporate politics of the right.

The thing is, as Teribus says, trusting virtually any politician is an exercise in futility these days and Scotland will be as vulnerable to their lies and obsfucations after independence as they are now. I'd vote to shake off the Westmonster yoke too, but the utopia of the north is a fantasy.