What did you want to be when you grew up? A doctor, teacher, footballer? Chief beach tester for the Caribbean Tourist Board?

Perhaps predictably, these (well, the first three at least) feature prominently in a new list of the dream jobs of today’s high school students.

The more interesting finding of the survey of 4,000 13 to 16-year-olds, carried out by the BBC, was the answer to the question “Who do you want to work for?”. For the first time, “myself” featured in the top ten, right up there with NASA, Google, Apple, the NHS and their favourite football club.

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It’s refreshing to know so many young people look favourably on the prospect of striking out and being their own boss.

It wasn’t always this way. Certain quarters have traditionally viewed the self-employed with disdain or pity, portraying them as tax-dodging grifters or a marginalised workforce exploited by unprincipled multinational employers.

The truth, in fact, is that Scotland’s quarter of a million self-employed individuals contribute almost £15bn annually to the Scottish economy. They’re among the hardest working, most entrepreneurial people in the country, providing........

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