Scottish independence

[bobmcfc]

Well today's the day. The bookies seem confident that the No vote will prevail - currently around 1/5.

It will be a comfortable No vote. All those undecideds aren't suddenly going to take a giant leap into the unknown.

Spot on.

Will be glad to see the back of 16 and 17 year olds waving a saltire emblazoned with yes shouting how the Tories have ruined their lives for the past 8 years.

I'm no Tory but Salmond has appealed to a vote that doesn't have a clue politically and are wanting to be seen as patriotic.

Sad because the fall out up here will not be nice imo.

Wonder if they will be enlisting in the all new scottish armed forces

 

[Gabriel]

Cant agree with giving 16year olds the vote at all, I know when I was that age me and my mates were definitely not in the position to make such an important decision.

A masterstroke by Salmond

Sorry, but you need to understand that Scotland is a very, very different country. Two sixteen-year olds can legally marry in Scotland, so it makes no sense at all that they cannot vote.

 

[Citizen of Legoland]

It will be a comfortable No vote. All those undecideds aren't suddenly going to take a giant leap into the unknown.

Spot on.

Will be glad to see the back of 16 and 17 year olds waving a saltire emblazoned with yes shouting how the Tories have ruined their lives for the past 8 years.

I'm no Tory but Salmond has appealed to a vote that doesn't have a clue politically and are wanting to be seen as patriotic.

Sad because the fall out up here will not be nice imo.

100% Agree. I have Nieces and Nephews who would not know the 1st thing about politics and yet are backing the Yes campaign, taken in with all the bravado and no matter what others may say it has, IMO, become a Scotland v England and Tories rally. It has become very very vitriolic and I can see many a broken home when tomorrow comes, please let sense prevail and bring the majority with NO.

Don't you feel the SNP have tried to paint a picture of Scotland being a nation of down-trodden clansmen being run roughshod by the English nobility (ie the Tories)? I have half-expected Salmond to turn up with half his face painted saltire blue.

 

[west didsblue]

Worked well for who though? Not the Scots and thats the problem from their perspective couple of examples

8.9% of the UK population paying 9.9% of the UK tax takeuk government wants to spend £52 billion on a high speed train link whereas there are still a large number of train lines in Scotland running on diesel
A UK Government (Not voted for by Scotland) introduced University fees which Scotland managed to resist for their own population.
UK government wants to renew Trident missile which will cost between £15 and £20 billion. The scots don't even want it and want the subs removing from their country.........

Good luck to the Scots today 'cos whatever way the vote turns out it looks as though they will be independent soon enough

I wonder how much of that tax take comes from people working at places like Faslane supporting the nuclear fleet, the Clyde shipyards that are building ships for the UK navy, servicemen in the UK armed forces based in Scotland etc etc. Following a yes vote, Salmond has already said he's going to cut defence so its unlikely there will be a like for like replacement of servicemen in Scotland, Faslane will shut down and the MoD aren't very likely to give future contracts to foreign shipyards. I'm sure there are many other examples of UK wide industry and services that are based in Scotland that will be relocated to the rest of the UK following a yes vote. Quite a bit of that tax take will also be related to the financial services industry in Edinburgh which is sure to decline following the relocation of the headquarters of some of the largest companies to England.

 

[ell]

Cant agree with giving 16year olds the vote at all, I know when I was that age me and my mates were definitely not in the position to make such an important decision.

A masterstroke by Salmond

Sorry, but you need to understand that Scotland is a very, very different country. Two sixteen-year olds can legally marry in Scotland, so it makes no sense at all that they cannot vote.

I think the only reason the vote is close is because of 16year olds getting the vote. Not only do I think they are easily stirred by national pride, but I imagine peer pressure is playing a big part. Especially when looking at the bullying tactics employed by the yes campaign. Its a lot harder to stand up to at that age.

 

[metalblue]

Cant agree with giving 16year olds the vote at all, I know when I was that age me and my mates were definitely not in the position to make such an important decision.

A masterstroke by Salmond

Sorry, but you need to understand that Scotland is a very, very different country. Two sixteen-year olds can legally marry in Scotland, so it makes no sense at all that they cannot vote.

I think the only reason the vote is close is because of 16year olds getting the vote. Not only do I think they are easily stirred by national pride, but I imagine peer pressure is playing a big part. Especially when looking at the bullying tactics employed by the yes campaign. Its a lot harder to stand up to at that age.

Salmond made a point of having age lowered to 16. He's not stupid...well he is but he knew (as we all do) you tend to be more idealistic/romantic rather than pragmatic at that age. Not that you're much different at 18 it just means he gets more of them to vote.

 

[Citizen of Legoland]

Cant agree with giving 16year olds the vote at all, I know when I was that age me and my mates were definitely not in the position to make such an important decision.

A masterstroke by Salmond

Sorry, but you need to understand that Scotland is a very, very different country. Two sixteen-year olds can legally marry in Scotland, so it makes no sense at all that they cannot vote.

Two sixteen-year olds can legally marry in England too. The difference being they need parental consent, whereas the Scots don't give a f...

 

[johnmc]

We have deemed that every young adult needs to continue education up until the age of 18. I didnt hear much objection when this decision was made. Therefore we all agree that 16-18 need to learn a bit more.

Yet we allow them to get married, vote and join the army (presume this has now changed)

 

[hgblue]

I've got family in Scotland (sister's English, kids are all born and bred Scots), but like me they think Salmond wants to go close and be a hero, but he would privately be a very worried man if he had to back up his promises.

Spot on. There's going to be a lot of unhappy Jocks if they vote yes, when they realise he's been bullshitting.

 

[Wilf Wild 1937]

Worked well for who though? Not the Scots and thats the problem from their perspective couple of examples

8.9% of the UK population paying 9.9% of the UK tax takeuk government wants to spend £52 billion on a high speed train link whereas there are still a large number of train lines in Scotland running on diesel
A UK Government (Not voted for by Scotland) introduced University fees which Scotland managed to resist for their own population.
UK government wants to renew Trident missile which will cost between £15 and £20 billion. The scots don't even want it and want the subs removing from their country.........

Good luck to the Scots today 'cos whatever way the vote turns out it looks as though they will be independent soon enough

I wonder how much of that tax take comes from people working at places like Faslane supporting the nuclear fleet, the Clyde shipyards that are building ships for the UK navy, servicemen in the UK armed forces based in Scotland etc etc. Following a yes vote, Salmond has already said he's going to cut defence so its unlikely there will be a like for like replacement of servicemen in Scotland, Faslane will shut down and the MoD aren't very likely to give future contracts to foreign shipyards. I'm sure there are many other examples of UK wide industry and services that are based in Scotland that will be relocated to the rest of the UK following a yes vote. Quite a bit of that tax take will also be related to the financial services industry in Edinburgh which is sure to decline following the relocation of the headquarters of some of the largest companies to England.

The tax issue is quite interesting. A lot was made in the 1970s that with North Sea Oil Scotland would be contributing more per
head than the rest of the union and would not be receiving it all back. That is true for most years and assuming the most optimistic
forecasts may be true for the next 40 years. It was pointed out at the time though that in the previous 270 years the reverse had
applied for virtually every year which is probably not surprising given Scotland's low density of population and therefore greater
cost in the provision of services. This also implies that Scotland could be in trouble when the oil runs out if it is not part of the UK.

Financial services are today very important in all parts of the UK but more especially in certain areas.
The bailout of the Scottish banks during the financial crisis would have been hard for Scotland to bear if she had been independent.
A similar situation existed with the London banks and it's rubbish to say that London always subsidies the rest of England.
In times of difficulty small is not beautiful and a large diverse economy is required. As west didsblue has said Scotland has
seen a lot of "UK wide" government spending on things like defence.

The UK government is voted for by Scotland. Scotland is a full member of he UK, joined the UK voluntarily and has MPs at
Westminster. A disproportionate number of senior Cabinet posts during the last 20 years have been taken by Scots.
Saying a Tory government (which we don't actually have) doesn't represent Scotland is only like saying a Labour government
doesn't represent the Home Counties.Scotland has a major say in it's spending on things like education which the English
regions do not.

Scotland doesn't want Trident? Sorry NATO is a nuclear alliance. An alliance that Scotland wants to join.

If Scotland votes YES today then good luck to them but it would be a big mistake that would adversely affect everybody
within the UK.