Wondering about the timing of the referendum

[Suff]

Conspiracy theorists have no clue about a system designed for 5 million users with, perhaps 50% overcapacity, getting 10 times the normal system load from England. Ignorance is bliss when making up a good story.

I was talking to a Scots couple last night. They're voting yes. They were clear. Salmond is an idiot, but this is not about Salmond, this is not about the SNP, this is about Scotland and what the Scots want to do with their own future. Salmond and the rest they can deal with, as Scots wish, without interference from the rest of the UK.

It is what is tearing families apart in the Labour areas. The donkey is dying by a thousand cuts and the newly enfranchised are flooding to SNP and independence.


I notice the Broon is nowhere to be seen. Do they think that everyone forgot that Darling was Broon's lackey in the demise of the UK economy???

I wonder how many people have read this?

[Workingman]

It would be pointless arguing against the figures even though there is a suspicion that they have been simplified and over-egged for presentation purpose. What the Scottish government cannot argue over is the fact that the country's performance has been done by a Scotland within the UK and EU. A Scotland outside of those two unions would be a different prospect.

It would have to open Embassies, Consulates and Trade Missions, and all those would have to be coordinated and run by a Civil Service. Scotland does not have a CS of its own, so it would have to set one up while also repatriating many of the UKCS jobs back to rUK. None of that will come cheap or be done overnight.

And what currency will be used to pay and be paid in? There are already legal wrangles about whether Sterling can be used, long-term. The € will be a no-no unless Scotland joins the Eurozone, and that would depend on Scotland joining the EU - hardly "Independent". Would the Yanks allow the $ to be a sort of de facto currency for a while?

What about defence? It rarely gets mentioned. Will Scotland have a Navy, Air Force and Army or will it go the route of Andorra, Nauru and Vatican City and have no armed forces. As an alternative would it follow Haiti, Monaco and Vanuatu and have no standing army, but a small internal military force. Notice how many big-hitters there are? Will it still be in NATO?

With just over month to go there are still lots of questions for the politicians, on both sides, to answer truthfully. I won't hold my breath.

[shazsha]

What about defence? It rarely gets mentioned. Will Scotland have a Navy, Air Force and Army or will it go the route of Andorra, Nauru and Vatican City and have no armed forces. As an alternative would it follow Haiti, Monaco and Vanuatu and have no standing army, but a small internal military force. Notice how many big-hitters there are? Will it still be in NATO?

According to the Independence white paper Scotland would have armed forces. It says it's planned to have 15,000 regular and 5,000 reserve personnel. The same white paper states that an independent Scotland will notify NATO of their intention to join the alliance and will negotiate the transition from being a NATO member as part of the UK to becoming an independent member of the alliance.

The media is truly peeing me off re Independence. The amount of scaremongering and downright lies being fed to us has made my blood boil at times. I still believe the Yes campaign will fail. However I don't think this will be a true reflection of what Scots want...it'll be down to the skewed reporting of what Independence would mean for Scotland and the failure of the Yes camp to to run a decent, informative campaign.

[Workingman]

Thanks for clearing up the Defence position Shaz, as you can probably tell we don't get too much information about such things down here.

As for:

it'll be down to the skewed reporting of what Independence would mean for Scotland and the failure of the Yes camp to to run a decent, informative campaign.

I think that is true for both sides of the argument; and on both sides of the border. We are about to get the insights of one Andrew Neil, remember him(?) in a series of programmes, so they will clear everything up: not.

[pollR78]

I would hope most people have read that document you shared the link for Suff as it was put through everyone's letter boxes!

From what I understand there are too many people not willing to research and read available information and just voting for what they 'think/want' to happen, imo, which is wrong.

I have looked into both sides of the argument and working for the NHS and being a single parent I know what political party has made things easier for me to get by and work and it wasn't snp.

Anyway, I won't say anymore as I don't really like to get into a big debate about it, I have made my mind up and won't be changing my decision.

Poll

[Suff]

I have looked into both sides of the argument and working for the NHS and being a single parent I know what political party has made things easier for me to get by and work and it wasn't snp.

Well that bunch of incompetents put me out of work for 15 months, left me in debt to the tune of tens of thousands of pounds and trashed the western world's economy. The Eurozone is still suffering the pain. What we are feeling now is the real pain of a whole country going through credit management and recovery after a huge splurgefest of overspending on debt.

Sadly they'll probably be voted in again by people who remember how "good" it was. Allowing the current crop of incompetents to drive the country to where we were in 1979. We know what that cost us. 19 years of conservatism, destruction of the miners, destruction of the Unions powers (too much) and a complete overhaul of the entire economy of the country.

In the middle we have 8.5 million people "not contributing to the economy", FIFE with 50% unemployment (I know I was there and out of a job) and interest rates reaching 15% (I paid 12.5%). We saw record homeowners losing their homes due to interest rate rises and total destruction of families over generations.

I would do anything and I do mean pretty much anything in my power to spare the country that again. Sadly it's not in my power.

Mrs S tells me the 1970's were fantastic. She never had it so good. Great wages, money to spend, fantastic time. She was a teacher. My father, on the other hand, was in the RAF. Minimal wage rises, 26% inflation, loss of income and real world wages year on year.

Depending on which side of the fence you lived, the 1970's were two different decades. The trick is to recognise the truth from the spin.

Independence is not really about who will give the most money or the most benefits in the long run. It's about who will make those decisions in the future. Scots for Scotland or the English for the entire UK.

I know what my vote would be.