General Chat

She should talk to Rollo.......... :-D

On succeeding AS, Sturgeon was pretty confident she would be writing DC's
speeches for him

BREXIT won the referendum, DC accepted it and resigned.
So what is Nicola Sturgeon's problem :-S

Even Billy Connelly doesn't get.

As for National defence....maybe another way fo looking at it is....yes without Scotland it would be more difficult to defend the rest of the UK....but Scotland how would they be able to afford to defend themselves starting from scratch with new equipment new bases training new recruits....then they'd need border control with the same issues already mentioned...Education who will pay for it.......the list goes on....but don't worry Rollo says a brand new car industry will help fund it all...or you'd have to sell a lot of whiskey.

JoyLouise.....I was quoting Rollo with regards the oil !! :-D

Rollo....have you ever thought of writing books for a living ? Maybe Fairy tales....

I love the fact you're comparing Scotland to Slovakia...love it....so to all those on here who want to separate would you be prepared to work in a car factory; if it could be started up from scratch with untrained workers by investment from ??; and be able to live on the wage that a Slovakian thinks is good....I've no idea and don't want to find out what they may be paid but I'm taking a wild guess that it's at best equal to the current UK min wage or lower. Don't a lot of people move from Slovakia to the UK for employment ?

Slovakia is a mountainous country of 5 million people in e Europe. Since splitting from the Czech Republic Slovakia economy has grown rapidly esp the auto industry from next to nothing. It is now level with Czechs and growing faster. Slovakia is a full NATO member. The country has no geological assets of any note.

So there you go practical proof that Scottish independence could be viable.

England and Wales are not defensible without Scotland. That was the raison d'etre behind the Acts of Union in 1707 and 1801. It is still true. There is no reason at all to question ongoing membership of NATO by Scotland. It would of course have to allow ongoing use of Holy Loch by the RN and urestricted air space to the Raf.

It is a nice try by Sturgeon to try and finesse Scotland into the CU and SM while still part of the UK but is a legal nonsense. Holding a 2nd referendum before March 2019 is also dubious. full Eu membership would take less than 5 years but could not be instant. Scotland would have to agree to adopt the euro and enter Schengen. A lot of Scots esp the older want neither. Spain has stated that it would not oppose Scots membership.

Nevertheless an independent Scotland could expect to join both the CU and single market in short order which would underpin its economy. Making it work is far from impossible as Slovakia has proved. Whether the Scots would take the tough decisions needed as the Slovaks did rather than relying on a block grant from central funds is an open Question.

Without a shadow of a doubt Sturgeons decision is going to make UK brexit an even tougher call

Certainly don't want Alex Salmon back in charge God forbid he is worse than M/s Sturgeon .Tourism is a big facture & brings a lot of money in to Scotland. people from all over the world visit here Would a lot of prices go up would they want to come & have to pay toll charges & climb over a big wall to get here ?? I have been to meetings in the Town Hall . even though not local born from Lancashire originally .various issues are thrashed out .road issues .kids with cars riding up & down the village main street ..we have a monument & a garden near the river .it is a disgrace I just said surely it could be tidied up & sand Blasted as Visitors do sit on seats in the Garden & also locals should enjoy as well .we have no funds if you want it doing volunteer .?would the situation deteriorate .no money now so independence would have a big knock on effect .me thinks , I have Grt Grt Granddad who was Scottish & Great Grt Granddad from Ireland .very proud of my roots .Scotland has the Most beautiful countryside & so much to offer .we don't want to be independent As we need each other .not just for now but future generations .bloody wars were fought & we should respect the Men & women who lost their lives to make Great Britain Great .lets keep it that way Barbra

Gotta go out but .......... I'll be back. :-D :-D

I've been following this thread but now would like to wade in.

I don't think it's worth worrying over Sturgeon's apparent determination to force another referendum. If it happens she will either find herself in power or out.

If she finds herself out, maybe Salmon will be back in; they seem to operate together so she will still have some sort of job. Perhaps a Scot can think of someone else ready to take over though? Emma?

If she finds herself in, she may struggle to balance the books because, as examples locally (regardless of income from national government):

1. our armed forces may remove themselves from north of the border, taking with them the economic benefits enjoyed by surrounding districts where they are now situated; and

2. as stocks of oil continue to decline, companies will pull out, staff will be uprooted or be made redundant and, again, surrounding districts may experience economic hardship.

Caroline, I am not sure how you think that the English stole the oil (although I have heard the statement before) but I can assure you that there is still at least one Canadian oil company operating in Aberdeen. Are they stealing Scottish oil too?

There is still work going on in England as far as the oil industry is concerned, making it easy to set up larger oil exploration etc in the North Sea operating from places like Newcastle, Sunderland, Middlesbrough, Hull - some already being done. I am not forgetting the western seaports and the Irish Sea and Atlantic Ocean.

I think, from what the Scots have written here, Sturgeon will be onto a loser whichever way the vote goes. She will know about the oil industry's decline, but will she instigate a Scottish Armed Forces to employ Scottish personnel - the cost will be prohibitive to Scottish taxpayers.

She may well be paddling furiously underwater at the moment; she is not daft.

Finally, did I see mention of a Scottish car industry?

Unless the poster thinks Scotland's border crosses from the Mersey to the Humber or even from Whitehaven to Middlesbrough, I have not heard of a substantial car industry north of the border.

Perhaps someone needs to enlighten the unenlightened me?

I point out the negatives as you call them but all the positives are might be's and hoped for.....you can guarantee the UK will stop paying for all the benefits and funding......it's almost a sure bet Scotland will not be able to get into the EU it just takes one vote to block them....they will have to have their own currency the BoE has already said that who will force them to do otherwise....they will need their own passports.....their own army (I believe when polled many current personal said they'd stay with the UK army etc) and equipment....
NS has clearly said she thinks all these things will carry on as normal when they clearly can't and won't, and she banked on oil prices staying high which they didn't straight after the last vote and on them having all the oil and the equipment to get said oil...will they just take it from the companies that are currently drilling for it ?

TM was elected as a sitting MP was NS ?? I'm not sure....

Also if the lovely countryside is covered in thousands of wind turbines how many tourist would rush to view the highlands then ?

Caroline, I was just making the point that you were pointing out the pitfalls of Scotland going it alone, while the SNP thinks it will be great is just the same as Remain voters being called scaremongers while Leavers said everything will be great without providing any facts or figures to back that up.

Also Theresa May wasn't elected, she got the job when her rival dropped out.

Because the whole of Scotland voted to stay in the EU, and in their minds that means they can leave the UK.......BUT.....if they knew that by voting to stay they would then have to leave the UK would they have voted the same way you have to wonder....maybe...maybe not.

There are certain people in Scotland that will use any excuse to leave the UK and the one right now is the EU....before it was felt they weren't getting their fair share of the purse that they were hard done by......

Tomorrow who knows.......

Must have been hibernating or in a trance. Thought Stland was part of the UK
which recently had a referendum regarding the EEC, The majority voted to leave,
How can Scotland, part of the UK have a separate referendum ?
Has she been taking advice fromRab C Nesbit ?

Careful now you'll be accused of scaremongering too.

Rollo said we can't stop them using the British pound.....

Don't forget the English stole the oil from the Scots.

Don't forget wind power which there does seem to be an awful lot of...well at least hot air.

As I said before I have strong Scottish roots/relatives and most of them don't want to leave.

Ms Sturgeon appears to be at the beginning of a short road to political death.

She refuses to LISTEN.

If Scotland receives a subsidy of £1700 pa for every man woman and child from the UK government how will they make up that shortfall?

The price of oil is far too volatile to base an economy on (plus the much larger OPEC players will not allow a bit part player to interfere in their pricing structure).

What currency will they adopt in between leaving the UK and the £ and joining the EU Euro?

They would have as much chance of survival as Wales would, none!

Just my opinion as I don't live anywhere near Scotland.

Do you really hate us English Rollo, or are you just trying to wind us up? Cast your mind back 300 years to when the Scots came cap in hand begging the English to bail them out of their bankruptcy. There was a rhyme doing the rounds.. Hark, hark, the dogs do bark, the beggars are coming to town...
By the way, I speak of someone with many Scottish friends, most of whom have nothing but contempt for Ms Sturgeon.

Don't like the woman & I think Alex Salmon is pulling her strings .he has to much to say we need to stay united .as one country .stupid to think otherwise :-)

Would they rename it cloud cuckoo land ??

It might be too windy for wind power, there is such a thing. And the turbines need power to start up so you'd need that.

I hope Scotland does leave and I hope they do well........don't think it will happen but I don't want to be told I'm scaremongering so lets sugar coat everything.

Talking of sugar coating....having your cake and eating it.....they have to have the British pound but they don't want to be part of Britain....well why not have any country currency on that logic ??

Wind and solar are far cheaper than new build nuclear and will be cheapest overall within 5-10 years except where govts distort the price eg UK. Scotland is windy as any kilt wearer will testify.

What scares the sh-t out of the Brexiters is not Scotland leaving the union. Few Scots share the Liam Fox / Rees-Mogg philosophy so in one way Scotland is a nuisance and expendable.

What scares them is a Scotland doing fine inside the CU and SM working towards full membership while England goes through the uber painful trials of Brexit. It would completely take away the rug.

Due to the way interbank finance works the UK could not prevent Scotland continuing with the £ until Scotland joined the euro in, say, 2025. attempting to do so would cause a massive loss to the BOfE. post Scottish euro BOfE could make a tidy profit. The Scots would not get any say though.

Of course Mayhem might get a deal roughly as good as SM + CU in which case there would be no 2nd ref. Or she might not...

Only elected by the SNP.

The whole thing worries me as we are a whole country
what would happen if Wales wanted Independence,
if the North of England wanted Independence from London?

Never going to happen you say, I hope not.

Sky data poll just reported only 30% of Scots want a second referendum - dead in water I would say.

Says it all really SC XXX