Independence

[Gareth]

OK, never talk about politics or religion but Salmond makes my pi55 boil.
"Lets have a referendum in 2014." So it coincides with 700 years since the Battle of Banockburn.
What a load of tosh! If it happens...I'm outta here!

[Rusty]

Think there is a mega thread on PH about independance,

I'll vote for it, and if it works then brilliant if not, then living in a small ski resort in the alps would do me quite happily!

[mckeann]

i agree with you Gareth, seems very short sighted to me.

Adam, seems a big gamble no??

[tut]

If it happens what will the new names be?

I vote that "Great Britain" becomes "Lesser Britain", and Scotland becomes "Little Britain".

tut

[tut]

Might vote for it if we get the revenue from all our oil fields, price of central heating oil is halved, and petrol reduced to USA levels.

tut

[SAJ]

Don't think I'll vote for it

[BiggestNizzy]

Personally I would like to see a devolved England.

[j2 lot]

Definate NO vote from me.It might give us cheaper oil ( doubtful though) it WOULD give us higher taxes than the rest of the country.

[renmure]

Hypocrisy of the Scottish Cons, Lab and Lib-Dems calling for a referendum "as soon as possible" or "at the earliest opportunity" is funny considering they made it clear they would block one in the last Scottish Parliament before the election. I know it is all "politics", but some of them make my pi$$ boil.

Personally, I like Salmond. Would I vote for it..? Dunno. I think on the whole I would be comfortable with an Independent Scotland. Infact the patriotic Scot in me wants it but I don't really feel any less Scottish by being British. Would I want to pay a bit more tax for it to happen..? Dunno, although I appreciate I probably would have to.

Hopefully the debate over the next couple of years is a proper debate rather than a battle of slogans or intrenched self interest.

[Homer]

I would vote for it as well, Salmond is the only politician that I can stand listening to. Hes got an agenda, one he is passionate about and any questions i've heard him answer on it he gives straight forward honest answers. I would prefer my money and country in his hands than Cameron, Clegg or Miliband or any other ex Eton boys club member, all of whom bore me to tears . Big gamble, yes, huge, but one worth taking.

[Titanium S1 111S (gla)]

I’ve long said that I will go with it if the English keep the national debt and take all the NEDS. Otherwise it would be economic suicide.

The problem that Scotland is about to have is that there are a lot of people out there who are emotionally keen on the idea of an independent Scotland and don’t give the practicality much thought.

Lets not forget why Scotland threw its lot in with the England in the first place, we were broke!

Where would we have been when the banking crisis hit if we had been independent? Same place as Iceland, utterly FUBAR for a generation.

2p

G

[David]

There’s no doubt Salmond is a clever politician and I am warming to his political outlook. He knows he needs time to shift opinion – maybe he will succeed.

But I keep coming back to my ‘back of the envelope’ calculations which all suggest that there aren’t the tax revenues in Scotland to support the current levels of funding we currently enjoy. My salary and 1500 of my colleagues are typical of the ‘hidden’ funding that works its way north for no other reason than Scotland is part of the United Kingdom.

[Mr Momo]

Lets have the debate and get some reasoned facts on the table - I doubt this will happen and the general press will not let this happen (its too important and boring to be good for sales).

There are reports out there which say the country could be self sufficient, there are others that say the opposite. They are small countries in Europe which do better than the bigger countries. An independant Scotland in the EU may do OK/may not. Some key business people support/other do not. A fully independent Scotland could chuck out all the European fishermen.....

Would Shetland declare independence if Scotland did ? Would screw up fishing and oil revenues...

Personally, I'm for it (Devo Max as a fallback). I don't think Cameron is ready for the fight that Wee Eck will put up (and Michael Moore is a complete to$$er). It's all going to end in tears

Bring it on.

[tut]

I know Alex quite well as he supported us when I was running BCW and he was an MP, we were both looking at buying the same house in Strichen in '95 but TT came up so there was no bidding, but most of all, when I was medically retired in '93, the Insurance Company tried to get out of paying my loss of licence insurance saying the blackouts were caused by Epilepsy, which along with madness is the only two conditions that they do not have to pay out for.

He collected together all my medical records from when I joined the Royal Marines, spoke to specialists, and proved that it was down to two severe concussions when helicopter met ground. They then had no choice but to pay out the £200k.

Since then I have put my money where my mouth is and voted SMP. Met him last week as BCW is now winding up after 16 years, and its successor BITES after five years, as the Lottery Commission has now withdrawn the funding for the next five years that they had promised us.

So without Alex we would probably never been able to buy Tut Towers.

tut

[Titanium S1 111S (gla)]

Interesting that you have said much in support of AS and that you have voted SNP but not where you stand on the independence issue. For it or against it Tut?

Just a couple of other observations, AS is clearly an able individual and a talented politician but he is only one man. Do we think that we have enough good people in the Scottish Parliament to run the country now and indefinitely?

Just widening the debate.

If somebody more able than me were to set up voting buttons then we might get an interesting insight.