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Poll

What's going on there?

Boris Johnson's going on.
[ 2 ] (18.2%)
Cameron's going on.
[ 0 ] (0%)
The Labourists are going on.
[ 2 ] (18.2%)
Riots are going on.
[ 2 ] (18.2%)
It's raining again. And again.. and again...
[ 5 ] (45.5%)

Total Members Voted: 6

Topic: What's going on in the UK and Crown Dependencies (Read 108835 times)

Re: What's going on in the UK and Crown Dependencies

Reply #25 –
You can watch a video here (and countless other places).

Re: What's going on in the UK and Crown Dependencies

Reply #26 –
/Inb4 Mr. Howie arrives and has a stroke that OP didn't name his thread "What's going on in the UK and the Empire?"

Re: What's going on in the UK and Crown Dependencies

Reply #27 –
One thing I heard on the radio the other day gave me pause for some thought. One of the issues on the table over there is Scottish Independence. For a number of reasons-- not least of which is that most voting Scotsmen seem to be against it-- the issue looks to die stillborn and Scotland will continue to be part of the United Kingdom.

One issue now on the table concerns money. The British powers-that-be have come out saying that if Scotland becomes independent, they will have to find something other than the Pound to use as money. That's what got me to thinking.

How in God's Name can you claim independence if you still depend on your former "partner" to see to it that you have money to spend? Isn't that a little like moving out of your parent's house, but still depending on them to pay your rent, your car payment, your utility bills and so on? As long as you're dependent on Mommy and Daddy paying your bills, you're making too much noise if you say you're independent in any way, shape or form.

Like it or not, I'd have to side at least in part with the government guy on this one. If you're going to vote for independence, have a plan to go at it whole hog. Don't depend on the Crown for anything. Figure out your money, your defense (hey, it costs something to even maintain a token coastal defense) and all the other things a proper government needs, or we'll be reading of Scotland joining the PIIGS before the sun goes down.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/uk-to-scotland-walk-away-lose-the-pound/2014/02/13/f9406a4e-94cf-11e3-9e13-770265cf4962_story.html
What would happen if a large asteroid slammed into the Earth?
According to several tests involving a watermelon and a large hammer, it would be really bad!

Re: What's going on in the UK and Crown Dependencies

Reply #28 –
Quote from: mjmsprt40 on
The British powers-that-be have come out saying that if Scotland becomes independent, they will have to find something other than the Pound to use as money.

Project fear is in full swing.


Quote from: mjmsprt40 on
Figure out your money, your defense (hey, it costs something to even maintain a token coastal defense) and all the other things a proper government needs

All of those things and more we will be taking responsibility for. It's what being independent means.

The start and end to every story is the same. But what comes in between you have yourself to blame.

Re: What's going on in the UK and Crown Dependencies

Reply #29 –
If you don't mind my asking, @Luxor, regarding Independence: yes or no?

Re: What's going on in the UK and Crown Dependencies

Reply #30 –
Definite yes.
The start and end to every story is the same. But what comes in between you have yourself to blame.

Re: What's going on in the UK and Crown Dependencies

Reply #32 –
Quote from: Colonel Rebel on
Any particular reason why, specifically?

The main reason is that the best people to run Scotland are the Scottish people. I want to live in a country that makes it's own decisions relevant to the people who live here,  Scotland has the potential to be one of the wealthiest countries in the world but it never will be if we stay in the union.
There's a million and one other reasons, (some very personal) I could give but I would be here all night.

Contrary to what some people would have you believe it's not an anti-English thing by us rebellious Scots. My lovely English born-and-bred wife said she was voting for independence as soon as the referendum was announced. That was before I even thought of asking her about her views on it.
The start and end to every story is the same. But what comes in between you have yourself to blame.

Re: What's going on in the UK and Crown Dependencies

Reply #33 –
Quote from: Luxor on

Quote from: Colonel Rebel on
Any particular reason why, specifically?

The main reason is that the best people to run Scotland are the Scottish people. I want to live in a country that makes it's own decisions relevant to the people who live here,  Scotland has the potential to be one of the wealthiest countries in the world but it never will be if we stay in the union.
There's a million and one other reasons, (some very personal) I could give but I would be here all night.

Contrary to what some people would have you believe it's not an anti-English thing by us rebellious Scots. My lovely English born-and-bred wife said she was voting for independence as soon as the referendum was announced. That was before I even thought of asking her about her views on it.

Once again, thank you for the very honest answer.

Been speaking to my Scottish and English friends about it, and the Scots are divided 50/50 and the English are about 3/4 in favor of you all staying in the Union.

Re: What's going on in the UK and Crown Dependencies

Reply #34 –
Quote from: Luxor on

Definite yes.

The outcome will be definite no. But you can already think you are independent. You only outsourced your monetary system, defence and government services to London, because it's cheaper this way. You are milking them good.

Re: What's going on in the UK and Crown Dependencies

Reply #36 –
Quote from: ersi on
The outcome will be definite no.

Maybe, maybe not.
I know a heck of a lot more people that say they are voting yes than I do those who say they are voting no. The undecided I'm working on.

Quote from: ersi on
You are milking them good.


What complete and utter nonsense.
The start and end to every story is the same. But what comes in between you have yourself to blame.

Re: What's going on in the UK and Crown Dependencies

Reply #37 –
Independence is not going to happen!

How do I know? Rj Howie told me so, and that's good enough for me.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Quote
I know a heck of a lot more people that say they are voting yes than I do those who say they are voting no.


Have you considered that it's because they are people you know. Maybe you need to get outside you circle of friends and acquaintances.

Re: What's going on in the UK and Crown Dependencies

Reply #38 –
Yeah, go to an Afro-Caribbean district and ask them what they think about Scottish white nationalism?;)

Re: What's going on in the UK and Crown Dependencies

Reply #39 –
Quote from: Josh on
Well, let's start...

Just heard (BBC Surrey), tomorrow's gonna start a strike of London tube workers or something, and the commuters are gonna have to figure out about their way home that night...

Major problem with this thread...there was no beer option.

Re: What's going on in the UK and Crown Dependencies

Reply #40 –
The SNP has been found out yet again.

They waxed lyrical about how they had checked and legally an independent Scotland could get into the EEC. However investigation then showed they had lied and never took legal advice. In addition the EEC has made it clear they would have to apply. The Nats want their damn cake and eat it. How can you be an independent sovereign nation but remain allied to another country's bank - the Bank of England. Such a link would mean the Bank could influence internal Scots matters. Salmond was also found to have given wrong information on Education and he and the Education minister had to come back to the Edinburgh parliament to apologise. Salmond claimed that the pound was a smuch Scots as the rest of GB but that is damn nonsense. Only if you are in the Union but not if you are out of it.

In an independent Scotland therwe would be no Barnett Formula which subsidises Scots by more than it does the English, Welsh and Ulster folk. Oil is a waffle as it is declining and what when it goes? We spend as much on Welfare as the oil income would be. Salmond waxed lyrical for years on the Irish Republic but it only floated because of EEC handouts now it is still in a mess and he doesn't talk about it now. The replacement is Scandinavia but we are NOT like them nore their traditions. With no Plan B Salmond has had to waffle on economics and his female camp follower of a deputy, Sturgeon says they are being bullied. Somehow Nationalists have worked out Scotland would be the most prosperous country in the world and exempt from the economic woes.

"We were once an independent nation" they cry. Aye we were but we were dead broke and sunk in poverty and the Union saved us.  As for that stuff a contributor has mentioned her of Scotland being 50-50. What is he reading - an old Dandy or Beano comic. Polls are No and I think he has simply lumped the unsures onto the Yes emotional Scots loonies. Everyone in my circle, lodge, etc are voting NO. Two young students working part-time in my supermarket café (early twenties) are voting NO. The Secondary Schools in Salmond's MSP area had a mock referendum vote and every one voted NO! A special school was the only one to vote on his side.

Salmond and his SNP zombies picked 2014 because of the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn and the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. They are treating Scots as if they are daft on this and I can now tell everyone that although I admired Bannockburn the 3 day festival to be held has been cut down to only 2 days because they cannot sell enough tickets. Recently they had a march in Edinburgh and claimed all sorts of inflated numbers which the police disagreed with. The thing I noticed was the lack of a big crowd watching them. However last year there was a 10,000 strong parade of Scots Unionists to the Meadows in Edinburgh for a rally
We need to kick these would-be modern Jacobites into the heather. We did it in 1715 and 1745 and I will don my red coat and do it again in 2014.

Bring it on as I want to see what keech the Salmondites come up with when the vote comes in!
Proud to be Scots. Proud to be British.
"Quit you like men:be strong"

Re: What's going on in the UK and Crown Dependencies

Reply #41 –
Oh, my!.. If the statuses were given for the volume - you'd already be a hero ;)
Welcome home, Robert Howie![abbr=:beer:][/abbr]

Re: What's going on in the UK and Crown Dependencies

Reply #42 –
RJ, I would only remark that polls aren't all that reliable. The only one that counts is on Voting Day. But until then, polls are subject to the biases of the pollsters, amongst other things--- and therefore to be taken with a very large grain of salt.

Other than that, though, I suspect you're right about this one. The SNP wanting to remain on the Pound would have me wondering just how much they thought this through, since it's hard to be "independent" if you're depending on the "parent's" money. Personally, I don't like the idea of switching to the Euro, either, and for much the same reason: It gives your new-found "independence" away to a different master. As long as somebody else can jerk your financial chain, you're not independent at all.
What would happen if a large asteroid slammed into the Earth?
According to several tests involving a watermelon and a large hammer, it would be really bad!

Re: What's going on in the UK and Crown Dependencies

Reply #43 –
Pertaining to the British Empire, there've been cases of such "partial independence": let alone the so called 'Crown Dependencies', we have, eg, a case of judicial binding - Pakistan has the British high Court as its ultimate judicial instance (as I heard/read that).
Apart from that, I think there are countries comfortable enough with having the US dollar as their currency. I'm not sure on that, though, if they/some of them aren't having some sort of a "national paper" alongside...

Re: What's going on in the UK and Crown Dependencies

Reply #44 –
Yes mjm, you are correct,  for a small country, as Scotland would be, to be part of a fiscal union with a large one is to surrender a lot of independence. As part of the UK the Scots have a large, and respected influence at the highest levels of Government.

You put the word "Independence" on inverted commas, as well you should. One thing that I find distressing is the way the SDP campaign is being carried out by ratcheting up anti British sentiment and driving a wedge between, particularly, the Scots and the English. All that is cumulative and if the Yes side is successful these things well not be forgotten and Separation is what Scotland will get. That's not a future I would like.

In the meantime President Jose Manuel Barroso has said it would be "extremely difficult, if not impossible" for an independent Scotland to join the European Union.

The SNP,of course, ignores all this and continues it's campaign on the basis of hate and misinformation.

Re: What's going on in the UK and Crown Dependencies

Reply #45 –
Should farting be taxed?
Quote from: an MP or some such
We should tackle 'climate change'

Can Scottish independence STOP "climate change"?
(Or should we just stop farting? ???)

Re: What's going on in the UK and Crown Dependencies

Reply #46 –
@Mr. Howie: This is the user formerly known as "thedawgfan". Had you been bothered with even an ounce of reading comprehension, you would have noticed that the 50-50 comment pertained to the couple of Scots I am friends with (8).

@Josh: The bit about the BE was a jab at Mr. Howie, as he loved said BE.

Re: What's going on in the UK and Crown Dependencies

Reply #47 –
The main thrust of the storms have been south of the Border and only the far north of Scotland in a remote population situ touched. Being a Glasgow Presbyterian I have looked after my city of course. Somerset and similar are very low lying and is a wonder folk didn't wear clogs or have an array of windmills. Shame of course for those effected.
"Quit you like men:be strong"

Re: What's going on in the UK and Crown Dependencies

Reply #49 –
@string

I couldn't care less what the Scotch will do or how they will vote.
However it seems that England has strong interest to keep them as part of the UK, otherwise it wouldn't bother at all.
As for a fiscal union, there are even smaller countries in the EU with their own currency. Just sayin'.

Barroso compared Scotland to Kosovo.
Quote
We have seen that Spain has been opposing even the recognition of Kosovo, for instance, so it’s to some extent a similar case because it’s a new country and so I believe it’s going to be extremely difficult, if not impossible, a new member state coming out of one of our countries [getting the agreement of other existing EU member states].

However, Spain has its own reasons/interests to not recognize Kosovo or even Scotland for that matter. Namely its own fear for losing the Basque Provinces ;)