Why doesn't Cameron want Scottish Independence?

sss555s

FTBFun wrote: »

Why would the richest part of the UK lose out if Scotland became independent? It doesn't make any sense.

Because the south east is the drain on the UK. The rest of the UK would not want or be able to keep the south east bubble to the same extent with Scotland out of the equation.

Net importers of oil, gas, electricity and water

SE house: £600k with wages to match

Rest of the UK equivalent: £300k with wages to match

We know what Scotland exports but what do they actually manufacture in the SE to export?

Maybe if they moved parliament to the heart of the UK, or even Manchester then we would all feel we had a fairer crack of the whip. As a country it seems we are not making the best use of our assets when everything is run from the derriere.

zagubov

ruggedtoast wrote: »

You seem to be labouring under this unfortunate misconception that the wars in Indochina were the result of a noble and oppressed populace throwing off the yoke of foreign aggression.

This is simply not the case. In fact you are so wrong I dont even know where to begin.

Why dont you try reading about the fall of Saigon and what the South Vietnamese thought about it, or the Chinese communists invading Laos.

I know you think you are right but honestly, you really dont have a clue on this subject.

I'd be delighted to learn more. I never claimed there were no cases where sending in an army achieved a sustained benefit for the aggressors.

I claim I'm struggling to think of one that doesn't melt away when the politicians step in. I'm somewhat alarmed myself about how nihilistic this situation seems. I can see examples where insurgents rise up against occupiers - that seems to work. I've seen examples where an invader is routed by peacekeepers.

But naked aggression, where you send the army in to seize an asset you can't negotiate use of by political means just seems to work so rarely I can't think of easy examples.

I'll find out what I can about indochina.

Generali wrote: »

China & Tibet?

Now that is a promising example, although today's issue of the Scotsman claims China's new border is no more secure from India than it was before.

In fact with India's missiles and nukes its now got a grumpy neighbour loaded with WMDs and a reason to use them (the title of the article speaks volumes).:o

chewmylegoff

sss555s wrote: »

We know what Scotland exports but what do they actually manufacture in the SE to export?

why does something need to be manufactured in order for it to be of value as an export? if a company in SE england sells e.g. insurance to a company overseas, is that not a valid/worthy export?

Slowhand

Salmond & Sturgeon....smells and sounds well fishy to me!

Loughton_Monkey

sss555s wrote: »

...We know what Scotland exports but what do they actually manufacture in the SE to export?....

Boris is 'yer man' here. Didn't he give a list at the Conservative Party Conference?

From memory, I think the answer is "Hob Nob Biscuits" [no pun intended Boris].

So there you have it. I suspect more hobnobs have been eaten worldwide in 2012 than Scotland has sold ships in the last century!

But as Chewy rightly points out, exports do not have to be 'manufactured goods'. We 'export' financial services, tourism, education, consultancy, science/technology reasonably well.

Trouble is, we don't export enough to cover imports. This can be 'cured' either by exporting more, or (more likely) importing less. Every bottle of wine made in this country and drunk here presumably means one less bottle we have to import from Chile or France.

sss555s

chewmylegoff wrote: »

why does something need to be manufactured in order for it to be of value as an export? if a company in SE england sells e.g. insurance to a company overseas, is that not a valid/worthy export?

But what happens when a company from Manchester puts a quote in for 30% cheaper because their overheads are lower?

Loughton_Monkey wrote: »

Boris is 'yer man' here. Didn't he give a list at the Conservative Party Conference?

From memory, I think the answer is "Hob Nob Biscuits" [no pun intended Boris].

So there you have it. I suspect more hobnobs have been eaten worldwide in 2012 than Scotland has sold ships in the last century!

But as Chewy rightly points out, exports do not have to be 'manufactured goods'. We 'export' financial services, tourism, education, consultancy, science/technology reasonably well.

Trouble is, we don't export enough to cover imports. This can be 'cured' either by exporting more, or (more likely) importing less. Every bottle of wine made in this country and drunk here presumably means one less bottle we have to import from Chile or France.

McVitie's (named after a Scot ) is owned by united biscuits. I'm hoping you were joking They are liable to be sold to the Chinese or Americans when ever the right offer is placed on the table. At that point the SE will probably be too expensive to be used for manufacturing.

I'm surprised your not a bigger (quality) manufacturing fan LM, with your South Korea background.


Question for the ones who think Scotland will crash and burn if they go it alone.

If Scotland leave the UK will the english economy have a boost?

sss555s

Slowhand wrote: »

Salmond & Sturgeon....smells and sounds well fishy to me!

I totally agree.

The worst thing about the thought of going it alone is who would actually be trying to make it all work. I mean this for both sides BTW.

Loughton_Monkey

sss555s wrote: »

....McVitie's (named after a Scot ) is owned by united biscuits. I'm hoping you were joking They are liable to be sold to the Chinese or Americans when ever the right offer is placed on the table. At that point the SE will probably be too expensive to be used for manufacturing.

I'm surprised your not a bigger (quality) manufacturing fan LM, with your South Korea background.

Well I'm only going on what Boris said. Every hobnob eaten in the world made in London. OK, maybe a foreign owner, so probably no UK tax, and no profits stay here. But a few jobs no doubt.....

It's not a matter of being a manufacturing "fan". You're right, Korea manufactures pretty much everything, and to a high standard.

At the end of the day, though, each country should do what it does best, and leave the rest to those who do it better. Compared to our Indian/Chinese counterparts, there is simply no way we can make [some] things cheaper. We have been able to get on the back of 'brand values', but sadly all of these eventually fade into the sunset as Chinese brands come in.

My view is that we are better off concentrating on science/technology. Especially robotics. This is our biggest 'weapon' since the more we can manufacture 'robotically' means that it's likely to be more cost effective to make here - savings in shipping/distribution needs to counteract the huge cost of baggage, for the few British employees still required.... That's a tall order!

Then of course there's agriculture. Why we import so much food I'll never know. All these cloches all over the countryisde are a bit ugly, but other countries suffer them and they mean we can grow a hell of a lot more.

And also, we need to get rid of the 'greens' who are costing this country extremely dearly. My message to the oil industry is 'get fracking' and hopefully the government will tell the greens to 'frack off' to obscurity where they belong. Neither the Americans nor the Chinese or Indians give these idiots much houseroom. They will bleed us to death financially.

PaulF81

we do high end manufacturing services exceptionally well. the old jokes about uk project management are well behind us, we do architecture, aerospace design and car engineering to a standard few other nations can beat.

one thing i do wish is we were more enterprising regarding IT, makes the usa a fortune, suxh a shame seeing as both the inventor of the computer and the internet were both british.

zagubov

Generali wrote: »

China & Tibet?

Loughton_Monkey wrote: »

Well I'm only going on what Boris said. Every hobnob eaten in the world made in London. OK, maybe a foreign owner, so probably no UK tax, and no profits stay here. But a few jobs no doubt.....

It's not a matter of being a manufacturing "fan". You're right, Korea manufactures pretty much everything, and to a high standard.

At the end of the day, though, each country should do what it does best, and leave the rest to those who do it better. Compared to our Indian/Chinese counterparts, there is simply no way we can make [some] things cheaper. We have been able to get on the back of 'brand values', but sadly all of these eventually fade into the sunset as Chinese brands come in.

My view is that we are better off concentrating on science/technology. Especially robotics. This is our biggest 'weapon' since the more we can manufacture 'robotically' means that it's likely to be more cost effective to make here - savings in shipping/distribution needs to counteract the huge cost of baggage, for the few British employees still required.... That's a tall order!

Then of course there's agriculture. Why we import so much food I'll never know. All these cloches all over the countryisde are a bit ugly, but other countries suffer them and they mean we can grow a hell of a lot more.

And also, we need to get rid of the 'greens' who are costing this country extremely dearly. My message to the oil industry is 'get fracking' and hopefully the government will tell the greens to 'frack off' to obscurity where they belong. Neither the Americans nor the Chinese or Indians give these idiots much houseroom. They will bleed us to death financially.

On this much agricultural land the Japanese could feed a population the size of Indonesia. I'm always baffled how Taiwan can house and find work for 25 million people and grow much of their food in a country the size of Belgium and is half-forest. And still has room to build a bullet train network.

Agree with allthessss. The UK is badly put together. It looks as though somebody took the country stood it on its end and let all the money jobs and people fall to the bottom in a heap.

And then looked on their handiwork thought it 's better this way.:D