Scottish independence

[Henkeman]

Bit surprised he's resigned. There didn't seem any pressure on him to do so. I wonder what he's up to - he's the consummate politician and he's only 59.

 

[Juan King]

Bit surprised he's resigned. There didn't seem any pressure on him to do so. I wonder what he's up to - he's the consummate politician and he's only 59.

He probably thinks he can't do any more than he has done already, he got them to the point where they could have voted to be independent. He probably can't get his head around why the country didn't go for it IMO.

On another note does anyone think this might inspire more of a feeling of Britishness in people?

 

[pace89]

Cameron 'taken a gamble and won'?
More like 'was given a winning hand and nearly blew it'.

It was a winning hand until that drippy c**t Darling got involved.

Cameron is the man who has just killed off the political career of Alex Salmond.
Salmond is now a busted flush and will be replaced as the leader of the SNP in the not to distant future.
Cameron gave Salmond enough rope and he has hung himself. Nobody on here would have even remotely considered
the margin of the 'No' vote last night. Cameron has now killed off the independence cause for good.
He will also now use the opportunity to beat the drum for 'England' which is a political vote winner for the tories and will also help to head of UKIP.
I would suggest Cameron is feeling pretty pleased with himself this morning whilst Salmond is considering his political future.
Cameron is also being lauded across Europe for allowing the referendum to take place whilst in Spain where they have similar issues
they will not allow it.
All in all - Well done Dave!

The glow of victory will dissipate when Ukip win the Clacton by-election.

 

[coleridge]

Bit surprised he's resigned. There didn't seem any pressure on him to do so. I wonder what he's up to - he's the consummate politician and he's only 59.

He probably thinks he can't do any more than he has done already, he got them to the point where they could have voted to be independent. He probably can't get his head around why the country didn't go for it IMO.

On another note does anyone think this might inspire more of a feeling of Britishness in people?

Never thought I'd feel so British. Expat life does that to you as well [living in Dubai with my family]. When you live with 'foreigners', you realise that UK people [and the Irish] are really just the same [and I am the son of an Asian immigrant]. Everyone else, especially non-Westerners, have little in common with us, trust me.

Anyway, arise, Lord Salmon? My legal mentor was at St Andrews with Salmond in the 70s. She always says he was a professional politician, so no-one should feel sorry for him. He knows what he's doing.

 

[Henkeman]

Bit surprised he's resigned. There didn't seem any pressure on him to do so. I wonder what he's up to - he's the consummate politician and he's only 59.

He probably thinks he can't do any more than he has done already, he got them to the point where they could have voted to be independent. He probably can't get his head around why the country didn't go for it IMO.

On another note does anyone think this might inspire more of a feeling of Britishness in people?

He resigned once before, and came back. I remain sceptical.

 

[blueinsa]

Bye you bitter ****. Maybe if you had put forward credible plans instead of claiming as fact, things never under your control, the Scots wouldn't have handed you such a beating at the polls and a beating he well and truly got if you look at the map and the lack of support across the vast majority of the country.

 

[RandomJ]

Took his ball and gone home crying. Scotland are lucky they didn't win independence with such a mard arse in charge.

 

[Len Rum]

He's not daft.
He knows what he's doing.
He'll be waiting for devomax (Not) to go pear shaped and then he'll be back saying I told you so.
And then pressing for a new referendum with guess who heading the campaign.

 

[Blue Mist]

It was never about getting rid of the English or even hating England.
We look at Norway for example, they have less resources than Scotland, less oil, less exports and they still manage to be richer per person, have free healthcare, free schools, a better standard of living, lower unemployment rate and the average Norwegian is roughly £14k per year better off than the average scot. I voted Yes because I believe we could have had that.

The thing that swayed the vote was Cameron's offer of more powers for Scotland, more control over how our country is run and how our money is spent. If that had been an option, I would have voted for it. I don't believe Cameron's offer is real but he managed to convince enough people so now we'll wait and see.

I hate to think what will happen if we don't get those powers, right now there's 1.6million unhappy people, that number will go up massively if it turns out he was bullshitting.

Norway produces twice as much oil as the UK and exports most of it. That's why it's a rich country.

Why does a beer cost £6 then

Because the Norwegians are taxed to fuck. It is stupid (no offence OP) to say we could be like Norway, well you could if you taxed your citizens to the hilt. Many years ago I had to go to Norway, someone in the office told me to take them a present..... a bottle of Scotch because they just could not afford to buy it normally. I took 2 and was treated like a King.

You can all have free this that and the other but the money to pay for it has to come from somewhere.

 

[Blue Haze]

On a different tack though..........


What gives the political parties the right to make the standard of living in Scotland better than in the UK? was that in their manifesto?

Your question will be asked by many, and it will doom the union. Parliament gives the Scots virtual autonomy. So you can't make decisions for them. And the Scots still get to make decisions for you by keeping their MPs. All the while Scotland gets more money than the rUK.

Objectively that isn't a union. It's paying tribute to a coercive foreign power. How many will accept this?

 

[stony]

It's fucking ridiculous in an island of this size that we are still three separate countries.
We should stop using the names England, Scotland and Wales and just be Britain.
The government should stop being so London fucking centric and spread the money out so people don't feel disconnected to parliament.

We're supposed to progress not regress.

 

[Ifwecouldjust.......]

Salmond resigns

Played a blinder in getting the best deal he could for his people.......respect

if we only had MP's of the same fibre

 

[nelsons willie]

sorry for being a thick twat but what does the r in the UK stand for.

PS. i dont get out much.

 

[Ducado]

It's fucking ridiculous in an island of this size that we are still three separate countries.
We should stop using the names England, Scotland and Wales and just be Britain.
The government should stop being so London fucking centric and spread the money out so people don't feel disconnected to parliament.

We're supposed to progress not regress.

My sentiments exactly, go back say 30 years and we were getting there, then Labour unleashed the devolution beast in Scotland it's been all downhill since then, the Scots have increasingly seen themselves as a separate entity, all they needed to do was to start moving power away from Westminster and give more power back to the towns and cities which successive governments has taken away from, I will give you an example here on the Fylde Coast pre war the local councils used to own the Electricity Company, The Gas Company, and the local Water Board as they also has local hospitals this was repeated up and down the land, it meant that local people had direct control of much of the essentials of life if they did not like the way things were run they could vote the council out

 

[Henkeman]

sorry for being a thick twat but what does the r in the UK stand for.

PS. i dont get out much.

rUK = Rest of or Remainder of UK

 

[DelToro]

It's fucking ridiculous in an island of this size that we are still three separate countries.
We should stop using the names England, Scotland and Wales and just be Britain.
The government should stop being so London fucking centric and spread the money out so people don't feel disconnected to parliament.

We're supposed to progress not regress.

My sentiments exactly, go back say 30 years and we were getting there, then Labour unleashed the devolution beast in Scotland it's been all downhill since then, the Scots have increasingly seen themselves as a separate entity, all they needed to do was to start moving power away from Westminster and give more power back to the towns and cities which successive governments has taken away from, I will give you an example here on the Fylde Coast pre war the local councils used to own the Electricity Company, The Gas Company, and the local Water Board as they also has local hospitals this was repeated up and down the land, it meant that local people had direct control of much of the essentials of life if they did not like the way things were run they could vote the council out

Devolution was unleashed, unintentionally, by Margaret Thatcher's government in the 1980s.

Why do you think there are no Scottish Tory MPs?

 

[nelsons willie]

sorry for being a thick twat but what does the r in the UK stand for.

PS. i dont get out much.

rUK = Rest of or Remainder of UK

well why the fuck dont they say it then.

 

[Ducado]

It's fucking ridiculous in an island of this size that we are still three separate countries.
We should stop using the names England, Scotland and Wales and just be Britain.
The government should stop being so London fucking centric and spread the money out so people don't feel disconnected to parliament.

We're supposed to progress not regress.

My sentiments exactly, go back say 30 years and we were getting there, then Labour unleashed the devolution beast in Scotland it's been all downhill since then, the Scots have increasingly seen themselves as a separate entity, all they needed to do was to start moving power away from Westminster and give more power back to the towns and cities which successive governments has taken away from, I will give you an example here on the Fylde Coast pre war the local councils used to own the Electricity Company, The Gas Company, and the local Water Board as they also has local hospitals this was repeated up and down the land, it meant that local people had direct control of much of the essentials of life if they did not like the way things were run they could vote the council out

Devolution was unleashed, unintentionally, by Margaret Thatcher's government in the 1980s.

Why do you think there are no Scottish Tory MPs?

Which is a fair point, her government was also responsible for taking away much of the power of local government, however there was a case that several councils which were ruled by he far left were making a real mess of running things, however that was then this is now

 

[denislawsbackheel]

Salmond resigns

Played a blinder in getting the best deal he could for his people.......respect

if we only had MP's of the same fibre

He has achieved nothing yet.
The Tory rump will ensure the Scots gets as little as possible.

 

[cibaman]

He's not daft.
He knows what he's doing.
He'll be waiting for devomax (Not) to go pear shaped and then he'll be back saying I told you so.
And then pressing for a new referendum with guess who heading the campaign.

Dont be surprised if he's back in the House of Commons next year



<a class="postlink" href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/sep/19/russia-calls-foul-scottish-referendum" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.theguardian.com/politics/201 ... referendum</a>

Meanwhile Russia has claimed the vote was rigged