Reddit mentions of Scotland's Choices: The Referendum and What Happens Afterwards

One thing that you didn't mention that I think is crucially important is that the North Sea oil fields did not start to become heavily exploited (and provide large streams of the revenue to the British government) until the 1980's, due to the major increases in price as a result of the oil embargos and advances in extractive technology.

This is important because the perception in places such as the previously mentioned North and Scotland is that Thatcher's government squandered the windfall of the North Sea by using the revenue on middle class tax cuts and current spending (notably privatization of industries and busting of the unions) rather than social spending or, more critically, investing some of it into an oil fund. The price of oil hit reached historic highs in the early 1980's, and the window of opportunity for establishing a significant fund was largely lost by the time Thatcher left office.

This is still important today, as many Scots especially see the same paradigm reflected in the government of the UK today (Scottish wealth being spent by the government in London in a manner that is politically unpopular in Scotland). The Scottish government even published a study on what a oil fund established using North Sea revenues would have looked like.

Sources:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2009/07/28112701/0

http://www.versobooks.com/books/1613-never-let-a-serious-crisis-go-to-waste

http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/04/thatcher-and-north-sea-oil-%E2%80%93-failure-invest-britain%E2%80%99s-future

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Scotlands-Choices-Referendum-Happens-Afterwards/dp/0748669876

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/13/north-sea-oil-money-uk-norwegians-fund