Scotland's Independence (make it happen)

[Cliphead]

The British actually.

I suppose so...

Most of the people I know in Scotland seem to consider themselves Scottish rather than British. I'm no nationalist and I've enjoyed my time working in England where I made many friends. Nationalism is an emotive subject which in my opinion tends to colour the reality somewhat. In the words of Dick Gaughan;

Let the love of our land's sacred rights
To the love of our people succeed
Let friendship and honour unite
And flourish on both sides the Tweed.

We're all 'Jock Tamson's bairns'

[swamp]

I've said it before and I'll say it again. If scotland were to go independant then the amount of money they would lose from Brown would be horrendous. Glasgow would be fecked as all the govt payment processing centres would come south of the border.

The EU would bail them out.

[Frus88ed]

I actually have been living in Austria for the last 6 years and Austria about the size of Scotland puts more in than it gets back, I am not so sure that Scotland would receive the same support from the EU as Ireland, I think it is a silly argument to base a separation on.

It is a very complex thing to separate the two countries, the Queen's lineage is from Wales, Scotland and England, the Queen Mother as a recent example saved the royal family from ruin.

So leave the royal family out of it nothing changes.

Also Scottish independence is in England's favour, it basically means the Scots want to run themselves economically and that must be a good thing, kinda like the break up a company into two and make it compete or maybe even supply in support.

The reason Scots know the oil belongs to them goes back to when the Norwegian king gave us the north isles where most of the oil lies, so it was a treaty between the King of Norway and a present to the Folks of Scotland, in the union the lords sold of our sovereign lands for lands in England.

So going back to my pros and cons there is a very tough economic gamble going on to balance the books and I don't think anyone knows if Alex Salmond has the ability to balance the books, god only knows.

What I do know is there is a £6b deficit between subsidy from england and Oil revenue in itself. One thing for sure if Scotland does go it alone you wont have all those Scottish born ministers running your country, so brown is just trying to protect his right to be in Westminster, just like the Scottish lords sold us out for greed, as for Cameron I wouldn't trust a guy who claims to be all green and ride his bike to work every day.


My conclusion: England benefits from the Scots independence and the Scots if they get it right will create a bit of needed growth which would be good for all. Leave the past and look forward, making an argument about the past history is not a case for a strong argument, its only based on emotion which serves no good for anyone.

A good website on why the UK will be facing problems in the future http://www.stirredup.net/articles/luck_or_judgement as if taxation wasn't diluted enough, part of the SNP argument is based on avoiding an economic long term problem that the policy of the UK with revenues is short sighted.

[threaded]

Isn't the oil actually rather closer to all the little islands around Scotland than Scotland itself, and wouldn't the people on these islands rather be associated with Scandinavia than the mainland?

[wendigo100]

I suppose so...

Most of the people I know in Scotland seem to consider themselves Scottish rather than British. I'm no nationalist and I've enjoyed my time working in England where I made many friends. Nationalism is an emotive subject which in my opinion tends to colour the reality somewhat.

You are right. I take my nationality from whatever I'm watching at the time - English for footy, cricket and the six nations, but British for golf, the Olympics, Lions tours, and wars.

To be honest I'm laid back about it all, but one thing I do get a bit annoyed about is the government waffling around the Midlothian question.

[Troll]

It's War!!!

Police are investigating two suspicious packages which are thought to have been posted in Greater Manchester.

Each contained a letter and a miniature spirit bottle containing liquid with a high concentration of caustic soda.

The packages were sent to a councillor in the Blackburn area of Lancashire and a journalist in Glasgow.

One of the letters was signed "SNLA". It is not known if it was from the Scottish National Liberation Army - a group pursuing Scottish independence.

A man claiming to be a member of the Scottish National Liberation Army (SNLA) has said he sent two toxic packages to Downing Street and a Scottish MP. BBC News Online looks at the background to the organisation.

Dubbed 'tartan terrorists', the SNLA is one of a number of fringe organisations pursuing Scottish independence.

It was formed by a former soldier with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders called Adam Busby and engaged in low-level violence against English 'settlers' in the 1970s and early 1980s.

In 1983 there were 27 SNLA attacks, including letter-bombs to Margaret Thatcher and the Princess of Wales.

The letter to Mrs Thatcher was sent to a north London hotel where she was addressing 100 Conservative candidates.

[Troll]

The media will pore over next Thursday's results, but we all know that only one of Thursday's polls really matters - the one north of the border. The game will be well and truly up for New Labour if the hairy-kneed Scottish Nationalists win a majority in the Scottish Parliament, then bring forward a referendum on total independence.

This is ironic since devolution was sponsored by the Scottish Labour Party. Indeed, the art deco carpet warehouse that shelters Scotland's Parliament was championed by Scottish Old Labour supremo Donald Dewar, a lovely man, but with no understanding of the elasticity of builders' estimates. Upon discovering that his new building was 1,000 per cent over budget, Donald made the most astute political decision of his life, and died.

Knowing the true projected oil production figures for the North Sea, my response to the Scottish Nationalists is "Goodbye, good luck, see you at Immigration". After all, most of the positions the Jocks used to fill - engineers, doctors, nannies, drunks - are now filled by Poles who charge less and speak better English. But with three years to go before The Rt Hon Member for Dunfermline East has to face an English electorate, we need a degree of damage control until next Thursday.

[scooterscot]

Isn't the oil actually rather closer to all the little islands around Scotland than Scotland itself, and wouldn't the people on these islands rather be associated with Scandinavia than the mainland?

Little Islands?!!! How many little islands lie off the East coast then (where the oil is)....

[scooterscot]

You are right. I take my nationality from whatever I'm watching at the time - English for footy, cricket and the six nations, but British for golf, the Olympics, Lions tours, and wars.

To be honest I'm laid back about it all, but one thing I do get a bit annoyed about is the government waffling around the Midlothian question.

I'm on the same boat as wendigo100. I'm not so sure how much I care for imaginary lines that divide this land into three.

There are many parts of England (like Winchester & Bath) which I love and the people are great and others, which how should I say are a little less fortunate and more difficult to get along with. With Scotland it is the same, first time I arrived in Dundee I couldnae understand whit the folks were saying like you ken?

What with rising tides global warming my BTL's are in Scoltand in the hills, that’s where the safe money is

[threaded]

Little Islands?!!! How many little islands lie off the East coast then (where the oil is)....

Isn't the oil off the east coast Denmarks and Norways? I was on about the stuff that is thought to be UK currently.