Scotland Free At Last.... Just A Dream ?

[scotttswan]

Braveheart wasn't a comedy?

Mild entertainment maybe?

was certainly comedic! :lol:

 

[GS_Dirtboy]

Isn't Scotland a suburb of London.

 

[syngirl]

Salmond claims Scotland will remain part of the EU, the confusion arises because of the UK's position. Anyway, here's a related article which talks about some of these issues:

http://www.independe...nd-8964181.html

But again, from what my friends are telling me, Salmond and his party are trying to sell pipe dreams. This is, in their opinion, a very stupid move designed only for the SNP to garner more power over the country.

I personally don't know much about Scottish/UK politics to add to what my friends are saying.

Ugh in the lead up to the Quebec referendum we received ALL the separaist propaganda to our house because my university roomate had a french last name. The amount of crap they promised was ridiculous, that don't worry, an independent Quebec will retain membership in NATO, in NAFTA, a presence at the UN, Canadian passports, Canadian currency etc -- all a bunch of bs that actually wouldn't have even been 1) up to them and 2) not even decided on until details of a potential independence treaty were hammered out with Canada).

To me it's always a desperate move by any separatist party to try to sell these ideas when there's no guarantee. Often the idea of separation/independence resounds with the heart, but just doesn't make any logical sense.

 

[syngirl]

it would be strange if Scotland didnt vote for independence.

Why would the Scots not prefer Independence?

I suspect the Scots, like the Australians referendum to leave the Commonwealth, will ultimately be voted No. Not necessarily because of lack of the emotional desire to leave, but it will come down to the common sense (and perhaps their stereotyped character of being cheap!). It is SO damned expensive to become independent, and SO much easier to just stay part of the UK (or Commonwealth in case of Australia). Every once in awhile the idea of leaving the commonwealth gets floated in various member countries around the world, and at the end of the day it comes down to the fact that it requires so so much change in policy, government, currency, etc that it isn't worth the expense. I suspect the Scots will probably decide the same thing -- they now have their own parliament, I wonder if they'll really decide it's worth independence -- although then again, if the price of oil goes back up and their offshore production keeps bringing in the money, maybe they'll say forget it, why share that wealth with the rest of the UK?

And as Dublin mentioned along in one of the threads, Scotland would have to take it's debt. Now, Scotland obviously already pays taxes towards the UK debt, but when people actually are told oh we have to take X billions of pounds of debt with us, it tends to make voters shudder in their boots. The idea of independence can't help but make people think "clean slate" but there is no such thing -- if they leave they are going to have to take a lot of things with them, and have to leave others behind (EU membership for example).

That was another ridiculous lie of the Quebecois Separatists -- they claimed that the Quebecers wouldn't have to take their debt -- are you effing kidding me, the ROC (rest of Canada) surely would not have allowed this, especially when we were in a crappy economic position at the time.

Separatism / Independence are very emotional subjects, you will never win an argument with a die hard believer, because their belief is deeply seeded in the emotional, actual logic will never prevail. However when it comes down to the vote, the majority -- even if it is a slim majority as in Quebec which was 50.5% no (to separation) and 49.5% yes (separate) -- don't believe strongly enough to ignore the logistics.

Speaking of majority voting -- I think in Quebec referendum they would have needed a 60% vote -- what do they need in Scotland? I presume Scotland is the same thing as well -- a referendum to see if there is enough interest, and then they would have to present a bill to parliament etc -- it's not a one and done type of vote in other words....

 

[Dublin2BuenosAires]

The conservative govt and the EU have put enough barriers in the way of this to make it very difficult. The BoE says they could talk about currency union, UK govt says no, new Scotland, new money. It's enough to scare off the floating voters. Also, Barroso in the EU re-iterated that Scotland would have to apply for membership and that the Spanish would block it as they would not want to give any hope to the Catalans and Basques.

The big boys club are leaning in on little Scotland, making sure they know that leaving will leave them at the side of the road. Not nice to see, but it's what is happening.

Independence will be rejected on the basis that too much change and risk would be involved. Not sure national sentiment runs strong enough to carry it across the board.