Scotish Referendum

[Picard]

I know that many of you are from United Kingdom so I'm a bit surprised this hasn't been addressed before!

I've seen that for the first time a poll puts the ''yes'' ahead. What are your thoughts? Seems to me this would be a catastrophe of biblical proportions for the empire.

[Costello]

Our capital has double Scotland's entire population. Let them do their own thing. See where it gets them

[EVOXSNES]

Our capital has double Scotland's entire population. Let them do their own thing. See where it gets them

Oh i don't know, they seem to think that the North Sea Oil reserve will get them by. The Female vote seems to be responsible for the latest swing. Pretty pathetic that the Government of the day is unable to convince the Scots, its up to Ed Miliband and his mob in opposition. Pretty sad actually.

Grab your popcorn. A 300 year old union has an even chance to end.

[Costello]

Our capital has double Scotland's entire population. Let them do their own thing. See where it gets them

Oh i don't know, they seem to think that the North Sea Oil reserve will get them by. The Female vote seems to be responsible for the latest swing. Pretty pathetic that the Government of the day is unable to convince the Scots, its up to Ed Miliband and his mob in opposition. Pretty sad actually.

Grab your popcorn. A 300 year old union has an even chance to end.

That's it. They believe the oil is their saviour, but they have been piggy-backing on English governance for a long time. I think this is a case in the Scot's case for 'be careful what you wish for'.

[Warfire]

The scariest part is that just a 1% lead for "Yes" - i.e. independence - caused a 3% drop in the value of several high street banks that have significant staff in Scotland. The markets do not want an independent Scotland and the markets largely get their way.

One analyst yesterday (in the FT I think) after looking at the amount of refinancing and movement of cash from Scotland to England said that the biggest challenge may not be keeping Scotland in the Pound but keeping the Pound in Scotland.

I've seen so many arguments against independence that are based on solid arguments that union is better for the economy, social welfare, healthcare, defence, etc and so many arguments for that are based on "nationalism" or "sticking it to Westminster" that it honestly looks like the public are willing to cripple their country just because they get to go down sticking a finger up at England - which is insane.

I would hate to see a 300 year old union be ended over some politicians stirring up national hatred. There should be a change to how Scotland is run (it's very odd to have an entire country in the union only having 1 government MP for example) but independence is not it.

[EVOXSNES]

The scariest part is that just a 1% lead for "Yes" - i.e. independence - caused a 3% drop in the value of several high street banks that have significant staff in Scotland. The markets do not want an independent Scotland and the markets largely get their way.

One analyst yesterday (in the FT I think) after looking at the amount of refinancing and movement of cash from Scotland to England said that the biggest challenge may not be keeping Scotland in the Pound but keeping the Pound in Scotland.

I've seen so many arguments against independence that are based on solid arguments that union is better for the economy, social welfare, healthcare, defence, etc and so many arguments for that are based on "nationalism" or "sticking it to Westminster" that it honestly looks like the public are willing to cripple their country just because they get to go down sticking a finger up at England - which is insane.

I would hate to see a 300 year old union be ended over some politicians stirring up national hatred. There should be a change to how Scotland is run (it's very odd to have an entire country in the union only having 1 government MP for example) but independence is not it.

A case of too little too late then. Sounds as if the English took the Scottish public for granted. 1 MP? I'd call that an insult.

[Shroombuck]

If the Scottish people exercise their right to choose, then they can also exercise their right to change. Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely though. Whether it's wise, is a whole different matter entirely. I don't think Scotland can flourish as a separate country.

[Warfire]

A case of too little too late then. Sounds as if the English took the Scottish public for granted. 1 MP? I'd call that an insult.

I should clarify - Scotland has 59 MPs in the UK parliament but only one is a member of the ruling party - although 12 are in total if you count the coalition. The largest party in Scotland is the Labour party who, when they were in power, obviously had a good support in Scotland. However whenever there is a Conservative government (like now) the MPs in England shuffle around but Scotland doesn't change. This is a big contention for them because they elect an overwhelming majority for Labour and get a Conservative government.

There is no lack of MPs in Scotland, they have 59 MPs for 5.3 million people and England has 533 for 53 million people. So they have more MPs per person than England does. Northern Ireland has 18 for 1.8 million people. Wales has the most per person at 40 MPs for 3 million people.

But considering they vote fairly static for Labour with only 4 non Labour majorities in the last 60 years the major parties don't bother to give Scotland what they want because it makes very little difference to their voting. Most of the Scottish National Party votes (and Liberal Democrats votes) have come from the Conservatives voters (who were losing anyway) so it hasn't, and won't, make any difference to the overall winner.

[EVOXSNES]

A case of too little too late then. Sounds as if the English took the Scottish public for granted. 1 MP? I'd call that an insult.

I should clarify - Scotland has 59 MPs in the UK parliament but only one is a member of the ruling party - although 12 are in total if you count the coalition. The largest party in Scotland is the Labour party who, when they were in power, obviously had a good support in Scotland. However whenever there is a Conservative government (like now) the MPs in England shuffle around but Scotland doesn't change. This is a big contention for them because they elect an overwhelming majority for Labour and get a Conservative government.

There is no lack of MPs in Scotland, they have 59 MPs for 5.3 million people and England has 533 for 53 million people. So they have more MPs per person than England does. Northern Ireland has 18 for 1.8 million people. Wales has the most per person at 40 MPs for 3 million people.

But considering they vote fairly static for Labour with only 4 non Labour majorities in the last 60 years the major parties don't bother to give Scotland what they want because it makes very little difference to their voting. Most of the Scottish National Party votes (and Liberal Democrats votes) have come from the Conservatives voters (who were losing anyway) so it hasn't, and won't, make any difference to the overall winner.

Thank you. It did look a little strange. btw you seem... under dressed? ;)

[Warfire]

My signature you mean? I've requested a new one but it's in the backlog I think.