scottish independence, whats your opinion?

[seamus]

Seeing as wee Alex Salmond and whats her face Sturgeon are making alot of noise about a possible referendum, I thought I'd ask the question in here,

what do you think about the idea of an independent Scotland?

Im not entirely convinced it'll happen, neither am I entirely convinced its a good idea to be honest, neither do I think there is a massive political will in scotland for this.
As far as I see it, the SNP wernt voted in because of any nationalistic idea the Scottish people might have, they were voted in because of their left wing policies.
The more Labour moved into the centre ground, the more seats they lost in scotland.
Lib Dems wernt much of a vote either, the scottish population tried that and got a Labour / Lib Dem coalition, and still policies were moving toward the centre.

The SNP stuck to their policies, didnt do the trendy "move to the middle" politics that every other party seemed to be doing, thats why they got the vote, proper left of centre politics, nothing to do with any want for independence.

It looks like the SNP know this aswell, why else argue for a "dev max" option? If you seriously thought you had the general public behind you, why would you feel the need to hedge your bets?


Im not sure I think indenpendence would be a good idea, maybe 30 years ago, or if the euro was in a much better state, but as things stand just now, I dont see the point.
There doesnt seem to be enough benefits to outway the problems independence would cause, not right now anyway.

If I had to vote right now, I'd probably be tempted for the dev max option.

What does everyone else think?

[seamus]

But, in saying that, as a Scot living in England, I don't get a vote

[Andy c]

lol ....Also wonder if the BBC will charge extra for broadcasting to other countries 

[seamus]

no, there is a BBC Scotland Independence wont mean dodging the licence fee lol
(I'd pay the licence fee purely for the bbc news channel, I watch that more than anything else on the telly)

[Baa]

I doubt it would even mean that Scotland gets the whole bill for BBC Alba, we'll all still have to pay for that!   

[craftybeader]

Politics and religion..hmmmm... Anyhoo...as a southern softy living in Scotland married to a lovely Scottish man, we would emigrate to England, maybe to Berwick if this comes in.

[Andy c]

You will not have to pay for the over priced Olympics as well ..or will you 

[Baa]

I see Trump is now having a go at Salmond over windfarms although even I might admit he's a little over the top.

[scotserve]

ote the amount of blue lines maybe to Berwick if this comes in.

Would that be to nip across the border to get your prescription for nowt, or maybe so you wont need to sell your house to pay for your old age, then again it could just be so your kids can get an education without bankrupting them

There isnt a UK any more there is a South East a North of England and a Scotland + Ulster, when the South East farts everyone else gets the smell, I am no lover of Mr Salmond but have to say under his leadership there has been an investment in people whereas the rest of the political parties and investing in corporations.
Scotland has a separate legal system, separate Health system and a totally different education system. we have differing political ideologies to England but as a minor "partner" in the Union we always succumb to the will of the English parties ( well did until devolution) remember when the Tories were kicked out of Scotland we still ended up with a Tory Governement  - that just shows how equal a partner we are in the Union.

For years we have been starved of inward investment as an industrial nation we suffer hard under the Tories move towards a service based economy, many communities never recovered, take a look at any Map of the UK and look at how many blue lines representing Motorways are in England compared to Scotland, In fact it is only recently that Scotland was actually connected to England via a motorway network, Aberdeen is served by a dual carriageway from the south and a single land road from the North, Inverness ( a City ) has no dual carriageway connection to the rest of the hub for around 100 miles in either direction.

I will support whoever is going to support Scotland if that means independence then I am fine with that other than being part of EU or Eurozone

 

[seamus]

I'd agree with the majority of that Bryon, but I still think the timing is all wrong, I'm not sure the benefits outway the risks, not at the moment.

[Baa]

Why is the South East considered to be the bad guy?

Please don't mistake the South East for parts of London. The road systems here are only good if you are travelling to London, everywhere else is a pothole fest or conjested. In fact the quickest way from Hampshire to East Sussex and Kent is to go up to the M25 and travel back down again, no such luck where travelling west or further north than London is concerned. We are often the first in line for new housing because we have a severe housing crisis, the houses are hutches crammed together, thrown up asap using the lowest bidder. But the cost of a family house is cripplingly expensive, rent or purchase, the councils have managed to sell off a good deal of their own inventory and like everywhere else, built a lot less than they sold. The cost of living here is sky high compared with quite a lot of the UK. There is no investment in people and comparing the population density, the job prospects aren't great either except during tourist season in years when people actually bother to holiday in the UK that is.

Career dolers move to places like the south coast for the same reasons they move to the Highlands of Scotland, to avoid working, so that's an added pressure.

The South East is largely rural and coastal and under constant threat of development but little comes back into the local economies. So please don't lump us all together, most of the South East is not drowning in big piles of cash and investment from the UK government.

[Andy c]

you are so right there Baa ..take the A27 for example it was suppose to have been made into a double lane in the 70's (Lewes-Eastbourne) ..still waiting .... Our monthly government rip off is now at £149 a month .. I suppose on the bright side though our house price has gone up about 50.000 in the past 8 years ..I think the government thinks all the rich folk live down here so can do with no money .I had no choice as I was contracted to work here ,jees If I had to move up North I could swap my home for a 5 bedroom  but that would mean living with er ..............
Oh by the way Berwick is a really beautiful area has a train station,country side and a large puddle lol

[seamus]

Large puddle, what, the north sea? Lol

[scotserve]

Why is the South East considered to be the bad guy?

Please don't mistake the South East for parts of London. The road systems here are only good if you are travelling to London, everywhere else is a pothole fest or conjested. In fact the quickest way from Hampshire to East Sussex and Kent is to go up to the M25 and travel back down again, no such luck where travelling west or further north than London is concerned. We are often the first in line for new housing because we have a severe housing crisis, the houses are hutches crammed together, thrown up asap using the lowest bidder. But the cost of a family house is cripplingly expensive, rent or purchase, the councils have managed to sell off a good deal of their own inventory and like everywhere else, built a lot less than they sold. The cost of living here is sky high compared with quite a lot of the UK. There is no investment in people and comparing the population density, the job prospects aren't great either except during tourist season in years when people actually bother to holiday in the UK that is.

Career dolers move to places like the south coast for the same reasons they move to the Highlands of Scotland, to avoid working, so that's an added pressure.

The South East is largely rural and coastal and under constant threat of development but little comes back into the local economies. So please don't lump us all together, most of the South East is not drowning in big piles of cash and investment from the UK government.

Baa
While accepting what you say - back in the 90's the economy of the South was growing to fast, the banks intervened by raising interest rates but those interest rates were only needed to quell the market in the South the rest of the Britain and Scotland/North East England in particular suffers - the economy is always built around the South of England, my son lives in Kent btw
The journey time in summer months from Edinburgh to Inverness is around 4.5hrs the same with Inverness to Aberdeen as for decades the lack of infrastructure has meant having to negotiate more and more traffic winding through villages to go from city to city - Lack of investment in hospitals means that no heart ops are done in Inverness this means that as far away as the Shetland Isles they have to be transported to Aberdeen - imagine someone in Newcastle being told the nearest hospital to do routine heart ops is London.

Not sure Jamie when the right time would be - the Tories stripped our country of its manufacturing base and are now telling us we need more manufacturing these clowns dont have a clue, at one time we were the envy of the world for our engineering excellence and produced some of the finest engineers ever to have lived, now we import everything. The unions raped the companies in the seventies, the Tories finished the job of in the 80's so perhaps now is the right time, do I think we would be better off independent - No not straight away I do think for a period we would be worse off but if thats the cost of breaking out of this English elected mess that comes around every decade or so then to me it may well be a price worth paying.
I am not a parochial English hater - far from it I married an English lass - but just now the government elected for the UK is the government chosen by the English electorate 

[Andy c]

Large puddle, what, the north sea? Lol

lol Reservoir ...couldn't spell it and was in a hurry