iaink

Perhaps there lies the central issue. "Im not a scot so why would I care".

Are we not really all British, regardless of whether we consider home as north or south of the border? As a nation we have a collective history stretching back officially 300+ years, 400+ years when you consider the court of King James, and in practice a lot farther back than that. What is under consideration is tearing a large chunk of Britain away.

I would consider myself english, born in london(ish) to english born parents, however my Fathers parents were Scottish and my ancestors on that side clearly Scottish as far back as I can trace them, so I guess I dont see it as a "them and us" situation at all.

Oakvillian

Inasmuch as it would make no difference to my daily life, I don't care. It would be a foolhardy course of action to throw away the history and so on - but I would be more immediately effected if Quebec separated from Canada than if Scotland seceded from the UK.

I don't know enough about it to understand the details. But I thought that the plan was to keep Liz as head of state, keep the pound as the currency, and rely on the rest-of-UK armed forces for defence. I don't know what the plans are for foreign policy and diplomatic services. If a country does not have its own head of state, currency, armed forces, diplomatic missions and so on, is it really a country at all? I'm not sure what is being proposed is any more than just an incremental step along the devolution pathway, rather than real, proper independence.

And you can argue anything you want from history. 600 years and more ago, the English and the Scots were beating seven shades of cr*p out of each other. Let's go back to the good old days, shall we, and send Prince Edward north with an army behind him to build a reputation as "Hammer of the Scots." It's worked once, why not try it again? (and would give the poor sot something to do, I suppose...)

iaink

A lovely idea "Oppression via the medium of musical theater" perhaps

Oakvillian

Now there's a thought. Perhaps it could be combined with a sort of Shakespearean premise of sending people into exile in a neighbouring country. Edward could take Andrew Lloyd Webber as his squire.

jamesmc

As a born an bred Scot who left to come to Canada because of basically very few good jobs left outside the central belt of Scotland .
I survived the Maggie years with most if not all of the deep mines and steelworks shutting down,the yanks and the british forces pulling out of many bases leaving many areas with nothing ,the farming &forestry industry is in the doldrums (how the hell can you bring logs from eastern europe /debarked ready for the mill ,transport them from Newcastle to sw scotland by road to a mill next to one o the biggest forests in the UK and be cheaper)
I speak /skype back to family & friends and they tell me its not our generation of 40+ that are voting yes ..its the 16+ generation that are saying why not ? give it a go as they she no future in their own country.
Im saying this as a working man not one o the chattering classes and to be honest i cant believe a word a politician says as they are looking after #1 ,years back local MPs were business men,farmers etc people that had actually worked for a living nowadays its school-uni-parliament and, this is their job...
and to answer the original question i care deeply about whats going to happen as if the vote goes no the conservatives will go to town on the scots.
jimmy

MarkG

The 'Conservative And Unionist Party' are the ones who want to keep Scotland in the UK, so they're unlikely to 'go to town' on them if they stay. By any rational standard, they should kick Scotland out so they'd get more seats in the new Scot-free Parliament.

From what I remember, the Scots went begging to join England because they were bankrupt after the Darien Scheme debacle. And the more vocal Scots seem to have whining about the Evil English ever since.

Frankly, as someone with Scottish relatives and ancestors, I find the whole thing rather embarrassing.

jamesmc

well to be honest david mundell the only conservative & unionist MP in Scotland is a good bloke .
BUT without Scottish MPs the labour party will never be in power again. and i believe the Barnett formula will come to a head again so as you say its in the lib dems & conservatives best interest if Scotland leave.
yup the more vocal scots talk about the evil English .....yeah but it goes two ways believe me lots o sweaty sock haters out there.!
So New Caledonia comes up again....i think you will find out the people who lost out were the nobility ,major landowners majority all from the lowlands who sold out the rest o Scotland tae England..iirc from school the east india company got the boot in to the scheme as well.
Why you are embarrassed?
jimmy.

fuchs01

'The Irish, The Welsh, The Scots, We Brits, We UK citizens'.
What I'd like to see, is when the English start their move and lobby for Independence.
My god, what have we English had to put up with, over the years coming out of Westminister and the domains.
Pubs taken over from bistros, Fish n chip shops being ran by foreigners.Hp sauce
ran out of the country, Football clubs once ran by scrap or haulage companies, taken over by sweet n sour companies.More promis coming from reality programmes instead of stage and screen.Expats returning home hoping to save the country, being stopped from borrowing sugar from the neighbours, bcos its too fattening,the list is endless. EFI has to be the new cry. PORK PIES, AND VICTORIA SANDWICH CAKE donations will be appreciated when we can eventually organise our first meeting, expected at
..Railway cuttings, East cheam.

orly

If they do a Norway...then more power to them.

If they want to be this "use the pound, get told by Brussels silly state" then they're fools.

Shard

It's a case of the production costs (wages, buildings, storage AND transportation to the UK) being cheaper in Eastern Europe than preparing the logs in Scotland.

fuchs01

Yup tis right, but why in gods name should these people in mangement who make,
these descisions which effect the local peoples employment and enviroment decline,
be allowed to carry on their careers and enjoy the advantages of the society they
help to destroy.
I have a belief,.... if a companies management decide to outsource its work to cheaper labour in another country, then they should be forced to carry on their career there.
Cheaper labour, ok now go where standard of living is lower, oh and by the way,
you dont need so much money, because the cost of living is also lower.
Outsourcing work to other countries has been a evil process Tory fanciers say we are
proud in selling British products produced by British workers, then sell out honest
working people. They then blame shareholder pressure...who are the shareholders, usually their own like and ilk......long live the revolution.
Ticket office closure at underground stations, mmmm saves money.
But people lose jobs, SS, NI, and Tax input goes down , benifit needs go up, and
standards go down.Customers like still speaking to someone when purchasing their
Tickets, some early and late night customers get frustrated in working ticket m/cs
Not everbody understands ticket m/cs processing.politicians, bosses send out their
Cronies to purchase their tickets. Forcing change is wrong.
People like me use internet and gladly use ticket m/cs including airports for train, bus, and air tickets, but its not only the oldily that struggle with ticket m/c technology or internet.What happens when the ticket m/c in a station is defect.Is there a system in place to differentiate between genuine cases of travellers not being able to obtain a ticket, and fare dodgers.
Sorry went off subject there....just needed a little rant.

Shard

I don't disagree.

andrewjohn

Ye..So it,s ok for middle England to tell Europe to get stuffed..No Euro union there..
But for Scots to say stuff your union ..?? Different kettle of fish Mr Cameron ?
It,s a British pound not a English one !

Shard

And your point is...?

Jingsamichty

The latest poster from the "No" campaign...