Catalonia is a separate nation within Spain, which was effectively annexed militarily by Castilian troops in 1714. Its laws and political institutions were abolished, its language was banned, its universities closed down and it was effectively under military occupation for the next half century.

By the early 19th Catalonia had recovered economically and its language and culture began a revival in the 1840s. By the end of the century, Catalans were back claiming more autonomy. This was partially gained by the Mancomunitat in 1914, which was abolished by Spain's first 20th century dictator Miguel Primo de Rivera in 1924.

During the Second Republic, Catalonia declared independence twice in 1931 and 1934 and it was one of the regions to hold out longest against the fascist nationalist forces under General Franco. Not surprisingly, the Catalans suffered brutal repression once again during Franco's 36 year dictatorship.

Spain's transition to democracy was a complete disaster and Catalonia has continued to suffer attacks on its language and culture. Added to this, it suffers a tax deficit (taxes paid to central govt which are not reinvested in the region) of 8% of its GDP (around €16,000,000,000 a year) making it the most heavily taxed region in Europe.

Do you think the Catalans are justified in asking at least to be allowed to vote on whether they want to be independent from Spain?

I would support Catalan Independence but not Scottish Independence.

Despite oil, I am not convinced the Scots pull their weight on tax. Catalans do.

Yes, Robert, that's obviously the big difference!

Also Scots don't have an identity problem - nobody tells them they don't exist! I deal with this in Chapter 3 of the book - if you understand any Spanish, just do a Google search for "Cataluña nunca existió" and you'll see what I mean!

I also don't think the UK is as inherently centralising as Spain. From the time of Felipe II, who made the tiny village of Madrid the capital in 1561, roads that fan out from the centre have been paid for by the state whereas roads connecting towns in the provinces have been generally privately funded. This is why Catalans have to pay tolls if they want to travel on local motorways.

The same policy was also applied to the railway system. This means that ALL the hish-speed AVE rail lines fan out from the centre and there are no connections between Barcelona and Bilbao or Barcelona and Valencia, for example. It also means central government refuses to fund the very necessary freight line known as the Mediterranean corridor, which would link the ports of Malaga, Cartagena, Valencia, Tarragona and Barcelona with the rest of Europe. This would be fantastic for the Spanish economy insists that it go through Madrid! MAD!