Dec 2014

the jocks are gona be indipendent or not Dec 2014,,fisrt thing that went through my mind watching that on the six oclock was does that meen we will get all our ship building work back?could be huge news for the westcountry,the thing that gets my goat is that i wont be able to vote on something that will a major afect on the area i live, ( the whole of the uk sould be able to have there say on this, cam u cnut )

Be fantastic if they voted 'yes'.

They'd be bankrupt within 5 years.

Good point TCM I think we should all march on downing street and demand a vote

Also we need to get Hadrian's wall rebuilt smartish

If the Scots vote yes it would save a small fortune for the English in the subsidies that we have to pump into Scotland year in and year out that will probably triple over the next couple of years as Cameron attempts to buy Scotland's position in the Union.

I hope the English are given the same opportunity that the Scots have been given.

We'll miss the share of North Sea oil.

Ruled by David Cameron or Alex Salmond...take your pick!

Independence is hardly worth it for the Irish.

We'll retain a large percentage of it Mock, it was after all the English that funded its removal.

The North Sea Oil issue is one stumbling block. Scots seem to think it will belong to them but it won't. There's also the issue of Nuclear submarines being housed in Scotland. That would have to change and it would cost Billions to relocate them.

Scotland enjoys free university places, free prescriptions and free care for the elderly at the moment. Who the feck is going to subsidise this if they become independant? It won't happen and Cameron knows that, so he's making Alex Salmond look like a complete dick right now. He's called his bluff and once there is a No vote, that will settle the debate for years and years.

Scotland would need it's own armed forces as well. Own currency and not accept English notes etc. Even Labour are against the idea because they know that they would lose all of the Scottish seats they currently have, and losing so many of them to the SNP last time was one of the biggest factors in them losing the last election.

It's like when Cornish people say they want to be independant. They think they could survive on sales of pastys and scrumpy

Don't forget the art galleries Jock, there are about 1 million of them in St. Ives alone.

Iggy wrote:

Don't forget the art galleries Jock, there are about 1 million of them in St. Ives alone.

Oh yeah I forgot everyone needs a badly painted yacht for their bathroom with a driftwood frame.

As long as I still get free prescriptions.

I hope they do then we can get on with implementating double summer time and GMT+1 in the winter.

probably not worth breaking up the union for but its does get on my goat (not the mouldy kind) that because of some coach crash on the orkneys in times long past it's nearly impossible to implement

I see all the Union supporters are out this morning.
Much of Europe, including the UK, seems to be fracturing into smaller entities. It wouldn't take long for Scotland to reorganise itself, and I think you'll find international law would support Scotland where it comes to oil.

The Palace of Westminster is in it for itself and the City of London ... always has been, always will be. Outside of that City's ludicrous banking and financial system that is inevitably going to implode, it's the Provinces that subsidise London with it's labour and food. The English South East keeps everyone else poor..... it sucks resources and gives us ludicrous property prices in return... thanks guys, you're ll heart.

Greenjock wrote:

Scotland enjoys free university places, free prescriptions and free care for the elderly at the moment. Who the feck is going to subsidise this if they become independant? It won't happen and Cameron knows that, so he's making Alex Salmond look like a complete dick right now. He's called his bluff and once there is a No vote, that will settle the debate for years and years.

Scotland would need it's own armed forces as well. Own currency and not accept English notes etc. Even Labour are against the idea because they know that they would lose all of the Scottish seats they currently have, and losing so many of them to the SNP last time was one of the biggest factors in them losing the last election.

It's like when Cornish people say they want to be independant. They think they could survive on sales of pastys and scrumpy

It's a bit more complex than that. We are told that there isn't enough money to support free education/prescriptions etc in England, but it's mainly a matter of where politicians decide to spend the money there is. For example I read that if we spent the same % GDP on armed forces as Germany does, then we could afford free university places again. Why does Scotland need an army? Are the Jocks planning to invade the Faroe Islands? Scotland could easily just not have an army, or have an armed presence much smaller than the one that the UK currently maintains. Revenue could also be saved/generated by not getting involved in massively expensive PFI schemes, by legalising and taxing cannabis, by reducing the number of people going to universities (e.g. shifting less academically gifted students onto shorter vocational courses). You have to be careful not to just accept when a politician tells you that something is too expensive, it often means they are ideologically opposed to doing it, rather than it being too expensive.

I'm always torn on such issues. I hate the 'Little Englander' mentality with a passion ('Little Scotlander'??) and welcome being part of larger world bodies. But I also hate massive impersonal centralisation.

I suppose in the end I'd go for loose federations where there is local autonomy on many issues but with centralised government for wider concerns. What that would look like in practise, I have no idea!

Being half Scot & half English I'd be alright, I'm sure.

I try to read up as much as I can on a subject, and preferably listen to the views of people who it affects.

Historically Scotland has often gone with it's own laws so it's possible they could legalise cannabis and tax it, although as it is already smuggled in vast quantities I can't see that changing just so the Government can take their share of the pie.

I also don't suppose for one minute that Scotland would ever need an army but you could say the same thing about the UK if they didn't keep sticking their noses in where problems exist elsewhere in the world.

Alex Salmond has two years maximum to convince enough people that Scotland would be better off independant and I can't see him doing it. I think too many people would be worried about losing the safety net being in the Union provides.

Labour will put pressure on Scottish voters to say no, because they have such a large presence in Scotland that they would lose forever. That leaves the SNP battling Labour and the apathetic for enough votes to make a majority.

I'm sure the SNP would want Scotland to still be part of the EU, who would help subsidise the change over, but in these austere times there is a fear of change especially if someone is telling you how much it is going to cost.

The opposition to independance will be making sure there are enough shocking headlines about how much more tax the Scots will have to pay to fund independance that it should be enough to blow it out of the water.

That's my take on it all anyway, but stranger things have happened.

think they will vote for devolution.

if they go bankrupt im sure we'll bail them out.

Czarcasm wrote:

Be fantastic if they voted 'yes'.

They'd be bankrupt within 5 years.

And they have to repay all the money England n Wales has given them too so they will be poorer than Ethiopia

I am all for legalising weed, however must of the weed smoked nowadays is grown in the UK under lights and with the high price of ,leccy you could argue the Gov. Are already getting their share. Most of the revenue from alcohol drunk in Scotland ends up in Buckfastleigh.