Norway's financial strength

Interesting piece by Newsnight's Stephanie Flanders on Sovereign Wealth Funds. It's estimated that these funds from the big Middle Eastern oil kingdoms and the Far East have trillions of dollars to invest, and are becoming increasingly influential in the West given the turbulent economic times.

US banks for example have been bailed out to the tune of $70bn recently for example. If Northern Rock was to have a saviour, it was likely to come from the Middle East.

Flanders lists the biggest of these funds, with number one being Abu Dhabi's. Can you guess who's second? Saudi? Kuwait? China? Wrong, wrong and wrong again - the second largest in the world may raise some eyebrows - Norway at $380bn.

They've only been saving since 1996. Flying in the face of all logic, I wonder if any of Scotland's unionists are still going to tell them their oil wealth is unsustainable. Despite stashing some cash away, Norway has six times in a row been listed as the best place in the world to live by the UN. All of these sovereign wealth funds are in effect 'rainy day' funds for their countries. Scotland doesn't have such a legacy, despite having as much oil as Norway, and indeed I heard recently more than somewhere like Dubai.

Maybe this is what Scotland could have done if it had been allowed its chronic surplus to a quite embarrassing degree.