Should Scotland be an independent country?

sharnad

Celyn wrote: »

What is this "uk sovereign terrorist"?

ibiza wrote: »

Its quite funny, initially every nation bar England in this poll favoured Scottish independence, and there was no shortage of comments implying Scotland was funded by the UK.

However, now there are no shortage of comments & references showing Scotland to be the wealthier nation per capita, with lower unemployment, and contributing far more to the UK than she receives in return.

Suddenly the poll reverses and no one wants Scotland to break away.

That aside, there will always be some little englander tabloid readers (who by no means are indicative of English folk as a whole) that will come in spouting unsubstantiated comments, who then take a slagging, prompting allegations the Scottish independence movement (which is not a synonym for SNP) are anti English.

England, most Scots for independence actually like you, even taking into account that dreadful "ni-ni-ni-ni-nineteen sixty six" speech impediment afflicting so many of your nation, but we just don't think we should fund the UK, or that she should make our decisions any longer.

Scottish unemployment is at a five year high and has recently risen

gm_xone

sharnad wrote: »

Scottish unemployment is at a five year high and has recently risen

Scottish unemployment is NOT at a five-year high.
(unemployment in Scotland reached 8.6% Oct-Dec 2011, when the UK average was 8.4%).

Despite a rise of 1,000 in unemployment in the three months to September 2013, unemployment in Scotland stands at 7.2%.
You have to go back to April-June 2009 for the last time it was below that, when it was 7.1%.

Employment, on the other hand, increased by 16,000 over the three months July to September 2013 - and it is this, EMPLOYMENT, that is at it's highest level since the summer of 2008.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/labour-market-statistics-are-encouraging-news-for-scotland
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-24924938

ibiza

sharnad wrote: »

Scottish unemployment is at a five year high and has recently risen

That's a relief, I hate when it falls to a high!!! :rotfl:

I see a friend enlightened you to the figures you overlooked mentioning.

sckoobs

I don't see the problem with the results of the poll and question the bias of the poll author in placing the "disproportionate number of Scottish" disclaimer beneath the "lives in Scotland" results. There are (as of the time of my writing) 11208 votes from those claiming to live in England and 8795 votes from those claiming to live in Scotland. So, rightly, there have been more responses from those claiming to live in England. It seems to me, only that there has been a suitably proportionate response from those claiming to live in Scotland, it has a smaller population than England but given the questions posed, would you not expect a high response from those claiming to live in Scotland? That's only common sense IMHO.

I don't get the anti-independence mentality of friends south of the border, or anywhere else to be fair. Not being in favour of Scotland going independent and then saying that even if they did they'd be doomed to high taxes and would suffocate under the welfare burden as the UK subsidies them. I really do have to question your general outlook on life and your compassion for your fellow man. You'd either have us continue in the union, being a dependent of the UK and continually be reminded of that and put down for it or go our own way and screw it up. In any case, that sounds like a bit of a loveless relationship. I would question your judgement in respect of any decision regarding the future of Scotland.

Besides, if we are a burden on the UK’s budget and Scotland is being subsidised, if this is true (which I don’t think it is), would you not be glad to be rid of us?

I am in support of Scottish independence. I don't understand that, with all the recent controversy over MPs expenses, the lobbying scandals, the tit-for-tat nature of Westminster politics, the old boys clubs and the obvious corruption, why the hell wouldn’t you want to get away from that? I’m not saying that a newly elected Scottish government would be shiny bright, but surely any significant change away from the nature of Westminster politics is one that should be seized firmly with both hands.

Put it this way, I’d be in favour of union if Westminster politics was more geared towards serving the citizens rather than corporations and the bank balances of MPs and the focus and effort spent on London was more fairly distributed throughout the UK.

I bear no ill-will for our friends in England and would hope that after independence, should that be the outcome, we could both come to terms with our new relationship and respect each other and work together like good neighbours. More importantly, the rest of the UK would respect Scotland’s decision for self-determination.

Evelyn2014

Sckoobs. Best post on this whole thread. Well said

stevemcol

The thing is most English folk (of which I'm one, and a northerner at that) don't really hold a strong view either way. Apart from the Daily Mail brigade, many of us aren't that nationalistic and don't really identify with the concerns of many Scots. The countries of the UK have so much in common and so few differences it seems odd to me that any of the members would want to go it alone; we're so much stronger together.

Anyway, good luck with the referendum and I hope the majority of Scots get the right deal for them and that the minority aren't too badly impacted. Personally I'll be pleased if you vote to stick with us. (if anyone quotes my earlier post to the contrary, please understand that was banter)

The outcome of this poll is inconsequential and not worth getting animated about.

Wiogs, I see from your frequent posts that you now value this thread more than your initial comment suggested.

gm_xone

Evelyn2014 wrote: »

Sckoobs. Best post on this whole thread. Well said

I agree.
It's just a wee bit disappointing that what sckoobs said actually needs to be spelt out in such great detail for some people to understand what independence means and why it is important.

Evelyn2014

londonlydia wrote: »

I'm English and I'm hoping that the vote says no. I think a split would be incredibly messy, and the estimations of whether Scotland can survive are really finger in the wind.
For instance, the biggest questions for me are whether the large multi national companies with bases in Scotland will stay there if they went independent...especially certain defence contractors. I suspect they would move out sharply, despite the cost, as they wouldnt want to risk the instability.That's an awful lot of people out of work suddenly.

Also, I'm guessing that the calculations have the assumption that everyone based in Scotland will stay there. I have a few friends living and working in Scotland, who have all said they would move back to England given a potential split as employment wise and business wise the uncertainty and settling period just wouldnt be worth it. I'm sure they are not special cases, and I wouldnt be surprised if a chunk of the working people (who are paying tax) decide to up sticks. Thats a danger in terms of the balance between those adding to and those taking from the pot.

Anyway, overall I think it's sad if any of the home nations want independence. And out of all of them, I would say England struggles for it's own national pride the most despite having the most people...and yet it seems is the only nation happy to stay in this together!

In 2011 when the referendum was announced, Scotland was hit with all the scary headlines saying that investment in Scotland would plummet due to the 'uncertainty' ...therefore I'm pleased to announce that the number of investment projects coming to Scotland from OUTSIDE the UK increased by 49%....I repeat ..**49%** between 2011 and 2012. The 2013 Ernst & Young Attractiveness survey showed Scotland is ranked number one...I repeat **NUMBER ONE** for inward investment outside of London. The report states that "there is no sign of investors being deterred from coming to Scotland, if anything, the reverse appears to be true". :T So please don't worry about Scotland, we'll be fine! :beer: Up here in Scotland, we tend to get very differing media 'stories' to the ones that are in the southern media. Oh and just as an aside, Scotlands food and drink industry is continuing to boom, with all time high.....repeat **ALL TIME HIGH** exports of £5.4B in 2011.. So again, please don't worry

gm_xone

Evelyn2014 wrote: »

So again, please don't worry

Don't worry?! That's easy for you to say

But Evelyn2014, what about all these (and plenty more besides) terrible things that we've been told will happen if we vote Yes?...
http://wingsoverscotland.com/reasons-to-be-fearful/
(click on each line of text in blue to read all about the misfortunes and doom the media and others say will befall us)
Don't have nightmares! :rotfl:

Oh!, but what's this? - some more of those answers that the No Scotland side pretend not to hear so they can go on recycling the same stuff over and over and over again...
http://www.newsnetscotland.com/index.php/scottish-opinion/4341-a-unionist-lexicon-an-a-z-of-unionist-scare-stories-myths-and-misinformation

Oh!, and here is someone being sensible, drawing on her own experiences, looking at the facts and weighing up the evidence and the possibilities...
http://wingsoverscotland.com/the-long-journey-to-yes/

Worried? Aye, right!!! :laugh:

dougalldeejay

Don't agree with that assumption. I would imagine that is because they have a real interest in this vote whereas the rest of the union couldn't care less (nothing new there then!)