"Sadly you can see signs of that trend of profligate spending in Scotland already; free university education etc etc."
Actually you can't at least not at present! What you can see is a devolved Parliament deciding how to prioritise the funds allocated to it by HMG at Westminster and yes we know the formula that decides that might well be too generous. So should Holyrood decide to pay for student fees and free transport for over 60's that means less to spend in other areas. For example, we still don't have a Motorway linking our two largest City's!
Buying votes by directing spending on the young and the old is the game here in the build up to 2014.