Scottish independence: 820,000 Scots 'living in poverty'

CLAPTON

IveSeenTheLight wrote: »

LOL, once again, we do not hate the English as you try to implement into every post.

We stand with open arms for talented people to migrate to Scotland, regardless of nationality



You have cited a good reason why Westminster Politics is not suitable for promoting economic growth in Scotland.

well, if you success in your wish for those millions of immigrants, it will truely mean that there will be no dislike of the English, as the new majority will have no folk memory of all those Scottish defeats and will welcome re-union.

IveSeenTheLight

robmatic wrote: »

There are 60 million potential migrants due south of Scotland. Perhaps if the Scottish Government was truly welcoming to talented people, they wouldn't be discriminating against university students from the rest of the UK.

As I understand it, they are not discriminating against the English, they are simply not competing with Westminster policy.

CLAPTON

IveSeenTheLight wrote: »

As I understand it, they are not discriminating against the English, they are simply not competing with Westminster policy.

The Scottish government allows all EU students to attend Scottish Universities on the same terms as Scottish residents EXCEPT the English, Welsh and NI.

BillJones

IveSeenTheLight wrote: »

LOL, once again, we do not hate the English as you try to implement into every post.

Have you ever heard of your countrymen supporting "Anyone but England" in sporting competitions?

I have, and it seems to be quite a popular thing to do amongst the scots.

Are you saying that it doesn't happen, or that it's just friendly banter, of the sort of thing done between best friends?

CLAPTON

danothy wrote: »

Says the individual who argued that technological and medical advances would enable an existing population to be more productive for longer, thus negating any need to maintain the present ratio of working age people to retired.

indeed so

there is no inconsistency about my view of our real future population needs and what Alex says and uses as a reason for independence.

Alex uses the Scottish need for an increase in population (presumably because they have full employment and large numbers of vacancies) as a reason for independence so they can pursue a separate policy from Westminster; if he is correct and he wanted to maintain the same ratios as now then he would need to import millions that (in my view) wouldn't see a huge advantage in being separate from their near neighbour.

and note, my views aren't that we won't have a need to import immigrants but that

-a there is no current case as we don't have a real shortage of labour

- that encouraging immigration now will make the longer term situation worse, as these immigrants will age and then be part of the problem (in 30 - 40 years times)

-if in the future we find that we would benefit from an increase in immigration, then we can encourage it at that time as there are no benefits in doing it now.

IveSeenTheLight

BillJones wrote: »

Have you ever heard of your countrymen supporting "Anyone but England" in sporting competitions?

I have, and it seems to be quite a popular thing to do amongst the scots.

Are you saying that it doesn't happen, or that it's just friendly banter, of the sort of thing done between best friends?

I have heard of ABE and take this in the jovial banter it was meant to be.

It's a bit like Tottenham fans wanting anyone to beat Arsenal, or Liverpool fans wanting anyone to beat Man Utd.

These same sets of fans later join up to unite and support England.

There will always be a rivalry on the sportsfield between Scotland and England because you guys are our closest neighbours, similarly seen throughout the world.

Consider the possibility of a Brazil / Argentina final. Do you think there is no rivalry?

I recall watching the Germany / Holland Group match in Euro 2012 with both Dutch and German fans sitting right next to each other.
They were great friends but the banter between the two was immense to which at one point there was a comment that the Dutch had never had such a beating since the second world war.

The banter could be quite cutting, but they remained friends afterwards and rose to the competitive rivalry around the match.

Getting back to ABE, have you considered why it surfaced?
From my perspective it's because the media keep referring back to 1966 from which many Scots refer that they want Anyone but England to win as they don't want the constant reminder that our closest rival has been so successful.

Whenever England Qualify and Scotland do not (which has happened with regularity since 1994) I always want England to do well. I have an affinity with the players having watched the EPL, however I would never want them to win as I reiterate that they remain and will always be our closest rival and whilst we are happy for them to do well, certainly not well enough to win.

I hope this clarified (from my perspective anyway) that having a competitive, sporting rivalry / banter in no ways mean that you have a hatred or racism toward our friends in normal (non sporting rivalry) times.