Salmond "We can take Scotland in two weeks"

[jemb]

Financial Times editor Lionel Barber said on Radio 4's Today programme this morning that business leaders didn't want to get involved in the politics of the referendum but David Cameron and cabinet secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood had been phoning them asking them to speak up for the union.

awwwww bless. Are the nasty politicians playing politics?
They don't want to get involved because they want to alienate customers. Not really Rocket science. Even the banks are releasing as little as they can possibly can for the same reason.

Probably doesn't help when you have Jim Sillars (always a t1t) threatening a backlash against anyone supporting a 'No'.

[jemb]

Alex Salmond is an economist. He graduated from St Andrews Uni with a 2:2 Joint Honours MA in Economics and Medieval History in May 1978. In 1978 he entered the Government Economic Service as an Assistant Economist in the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for Scotland, part of the now defunct Scottish Office. Two years later he joined the staff of the Royal Bank of Scotland where he worked for seven years, initially as an assistant economist. In 1982 he was appointed Oil Economist, and from 1984 he worked as a bank economist as well as continuing to hold the position of Oil Economist. While with the Royal Bank, he wrote and broadcast extensively for both domestic and international outlets. He also contributed regularly to oil and energy conferences. In 1983 Salmond created a "Royal Bank/BBC oil index" that is still used.


After graduating in 1992, George Osborne did a few part-time jobs including as a data entry clerk, typing the details of recently deceased into a NHS computer database. He also briefly worked for a week at Selfridges, mainly re-folding towels.

a 2:2 from St Andrews is hardly the stuff of greatness.....

[quackhandle]

a 2:2 from St Andrews is hardly the stuff of greatness.....

Nowt wrong with a Desmond!

qh

[Zero Liability]

a 2:2 from St Andrews is hardly the stuff of greatness.....

Was gonna say. It is a top uni but even so. 2i, maybe, which is what most firms expect of their graduates. How can running a country require anything less, if this sort of thing means anything? Politicians fiddle with far more than the operations of one single company. Just because he graduated as an economist doesn't mean he knows very much about economics. You will find professional economists (a better term might be an economic analyst) also tend to be rather more focused on specific sets of statistics that impact a company's operations, which scarcely qualifies them to understand the sort of tinkering their bureaucrats engage in, e.g. 'independent' central banksters. Not understanding is a virtue as a politician, though, as it's easier to sell codswallop when you're genuinely convinced of its virtues.

I'm sure he's fairly bright as academic performance isn't all that matters, but he is either playing dumb and doing a very good job of ignoring the obstacles that would face iScotland (which I back, FWIW) or he is genuinely clueless. My money is on the former, as there is a lot of disingenuousness stemming from both sides in this debate. I think he will also surprise his voters and supporters, as I don't think he is so stupid as to chase away businesses through higher taxes, reprisals and the like. If he is the one to hold the reins and not some genuine nutter.

[jemb]

Was gonna say. It is a top uni but even so. 2i, maybe, which is what most firms expect of their graduates. How can running a country require anything less, if this sort of thing means anything? Politicians fiddle with far more than the operations of one single company. Just because he graduated as an economist doesn't mean he knows very much about economics. You will find professional economists (a better term might be an economic analyst) also tend to be rather more focused on specific sets of statistics that impact a company's operations, which scarcely qualifies them to understand the sort of tinkering their bureaucrats engage in, e.g. 'independent' central banksters. Not understanding is a virtue as a politician, though, as it's easier to sell codswallop when you're genuinely convinced of its virtues.

I'm sure he's fairly bright as academic performance isn't all that matters, but he is either playing dumb and doing a very good job of ignoring the obstacles that would face iScotland (which I back, FWIW) or he is genuinely clueless. My money is on the former, as there is a lot of disingenuousness stemming from both sides in this debate. I think he will also surprise his voters and supporters, as I don't think he is so stupid as to chase away businesses through higher taxes, reprisals and the like. If he is the one to hold the reins and not some genuine nutter.

I tend to agree - I've always had a sneaking respect for him. He's been chasing this dream for years, but I think he needed to be honest with the possible realities of a Yes vote. He hasn't been.

[mudskipper]

I tend to agree - I've always had a sneaking respect for him. He's been chasing this dream for years, but I think he needed to be honest with the possible realities of a Yes vote. He hasn't been.

Ironically, he might have got more support if he had been.

[Unix]

Ah - ok - you seem to understand more than I thought.
You also need to factor in the extra borrowing required to shore up Sterlingisation - anything North of 20 Billion.

20 billion is a drop in the ocean for Scotland. With a trillion pounds worth of oil based on the Tory's oil guy figures, and another trillion pounds worth on the other side of Scotland, I think we will manage. The economic argument is dead, we are rich as feck even by the most pessimistic of No twats predictions.

[Unix]

20 billion is a drop in the ocean for Scotland. With a trillion pounds worth of oil based on the Tory's oil guy figures, and another trillion pounds worth on the other side of Scotland, I think we will manage. The economic argument is dead, we are rich as feck even by the most pessimistic of No twats predictions.

Oh Sir Ian Wood predicted there is 25 billion barrels of oil still to be produced from current fields, but changed his estimates recently when he became involved with better together. 25 billion at 100 pounds a barrel is 2.5 trillion pounds.

[jemb]

Spanish saying article 49 entry

....Scotland would have to reapply under article 49 according to Spanish foreign minister.
It'd take about 5 years.....

Of course the 'Yes' campaign are saying that he's talking rubbish and it'd be article 48. The Spanish have already said No to that one.

Incredible that the 'Yes' campaign continue to just bluster this.

[Unix]

....Scotland would have to reapply under article 49 according to Spanish foreign minister.
It'd take about 5 years.....

Of course the 'Yes' campaign are saying that he's talking rubbish and it'd be article 48. The Spanish have already said No to that one.

Incredible that the 'Yes' campaign continue to just bluster this.

Why do you believe the Spanish foreign minister who has an obvious reason not to encourage new states entering the EU? It's already been agreed it will be article 48.