And now for something completly different:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLdK9zaLaG8

Well as far as I'm aware the leader of our nation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, is Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II as Head of State, and the Right Honourable David Cameron, MP, as Prime Minister, neither of which is easy to make fish jokes out of. As far as I am concerned my nation is the UK and nobody has given me the right to have a say in its future, so I am understandably a bit  p****d off about some jumped up council leader trying to break it all up.

Well said DP. 

If the Scots vote no, does that mean the SNP will disband and the whole thing will be never spoken of again?
Or can they keep asking the same question until they are happy the answer is correct?

Alternatively if after a Yes vote and independence there was a combination of unfortunate circumstances such as:
  * The New Scottish pound collapses
  * EU membership refused
  * English, Welsh and Northern Irish scientists perfect the fusion reactor" thereby giving nearly free, clean and limitless energy causing the collapse of the oil price

Would a reunion be possible, and who would vote on it? 


Cheers, Rob 

I think you have mistaken my comment as a criticism, not at all, bring on the p*** take, of all the people who need to be taken down a peg its politicians.
I have close family living in Scotland most of whom are Nationalists to some degree, however strangely few of them will vote Yes this time.
So smile you miserable sod.   

 

It'll be interesting to see what will happen if Scotland does get independence. A lot of the SNP's policies are based on the oil revenue, which is in Shetland's waters.

Shetlanders tend not to see themselves as Scottish. I think of myself as a Shetlander first, British second and Scottish third. From my family still in Shetland there isn't a great deal of affection for Salmond et al, and some grumbling about "going back to Norway." This may not be entirely serious, but I can see the Shetlanders being quite happy to point a very large calibre loaded gun at the head of the parliament in Edinburgh.

My question would be, if the Scotland becomes independent do all Scots become immigrants in England ,even if they didn't get a vote, so will it effect any benefits, pensions payable, housing and certain employment positions available. Also will phone calls/postal rates be charged as going abroad?
There must be thousands of daft little things ,never mind the BIG things, that will suddenly crop up after a yes vote.
Thought the Shetlands do all right out of the oil as it is, but what if they decide to become an independent state or even a Federal state, would Scotland let them go?
We live in interesting times.   

It occurred to me that, should independence happen, Scotland would not be a member state of the EU, therefore all Scots south of the border would be illegal immigrants and should be deported forthwith. Should Scotland decide to do the same with UK citizens, then their loss.

How would that apply to Scots serving in the British armed forces; would they be considered 'in foreign service' and denied their nationality/rights in Scotland? 

Maybe they could be given the option of being treated in the same way as the Ghurkas.

Given that the UK looks to have a good chance to be heading out of the EU the lack of membership for Scotland may not be a problem! Of course if rUK leaves the EU iScotland may be considerably more welcome ... well welcomed by everyone but the Spanish who would worry about the signals that might send to Catalonia!

And the Belgians - Walloons and Flemish, and the Italians - The Northern League, Sardinia.

Quote from: Dour Puritan on 21 August 2014, 01:43:47 PM
And the Belgians - Walloons and Flemish, and the Italians - The Northern League, Sardinia.

There are two relevant points here:

1.   Modern communications
Internet and mobile phones allow groups and organisations to communicate and co-operate as never before. Communications channels once the reserve of the state are now available to everyone facilitating separate groups promoting their own agendas e.g. Ukrainian separatists, Bosnian Serbs, Boko-Haram, Isis etc. I don't know this as a fact but I would bet there is a Catalonian network, for instance, with some sort of agenda which spans the French and Spanish border. The point being it is relativly easy to be organised these days if you have the will and determination.

2.   Gradual creeping expansion of  EU control over foreign policy and the military
The gradual subsuming of the EU member states independence to the point where these smaller staes can feel "safe" to exist apart from their current parent country if they remain part of the EU. This is important because if these smaller states gain independence they will have little in the way of intelligence services or military forces to protect their interest and nationals abroad, they would have to rely on the EU. The point being these smaller potential states can bolt themselves into the "big country" services that are gradually becoming stronger in the EU.

Cheers, Rob 

So that 's independence then? Leave a small union to become part of something bigger. I'm just not getting this at all. Saw Newsnight from Edinburgh last night and felt very sorry for the Scots chap who lives and works in England and so is denied a vote on the issue. Similarly I don't get how someone born in ,say, Basingstoke but living and working in Glasgow gets a vote. The whole thing just seems to be cooked up by a few people who want more power based on a mythical evocation of a past Scotland which doesn't take into account the Caledonians, Picts, Britons, Norse, Saxons and Normans who also settled there. The first three were there before the Scots even set foot in the place.

One of my university lecturers used to have two bumper stickers on his car:

"Say Yes To The Highland Clearances!"

and

"Send The Scots Back To Ireland Where They Came From!"

Have to say though that being part of a bigger union doesn't sound like a bad thing necessarily. The assumption is that your "Basingstoke Man" is going to stay here and should therefore have a say in how the country is run whereas ex-pat Scots have less invested in the country. It's the usual problem with drawing electoral lines, there will always be people who are, or think they are, disadvantaged. If you start including the diaspora where do you stop? Do we include those Americans who used to come in to the library I worked in looking to research their Scottish ancestors despite having surnames like Schmidt or Gonzales?