American asks for comments and views on Scottish referendum

One of our heroes steps into the fray….

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/scotland/11081844/A-message-to-Scotland-from-Britains-greatest-aviator-Captain-Eric-Winkle-Brown.html

Breaking news: Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS)…

…confirms it has contingency plan to move its HQ from Scotland to London if there’s a Yes vote in the referendum.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-29151798

But may I pose a question? There is much talk of Cameron having to resign if the vote is yes. What about Salmond’s position if the vote does not go his way?

Really? Nothing I have heard about.

Can’t see what it has to do with him, can you?

Moggy

It’ll be all Westminster’s fault, of course 🙂

I thought that might be your answer. And if the project is looking a bit sick after 12 months of tough negotiating…….??:)

MM – as mentioned elsewhere in this thread I am a huge lover of Scotland and its people having spent a fair bit of my life travelling in and working there. I have many friends dotted about from the Lowlands to the Northern Isles but none are Yes voters. In fact my friends in Orkney and Shetland are strongly opposed to independent rule from Edinburgh by the SNP.

But may I pose a question? There is much talk of Cameron having to resign if the vote is yes. What about Salmond’s position if the vote does not go his way?

Apologies Charlie and thanks too.

Mr Salmond will, of course, be going nowhere should the vote fail. Indeed I suspect he already has a “celebration” planned at which he will point out how many more powers he has gained instead.

I have good news for all who have yet to make up their minds. When the former Yugoslavia split to its component parts, Macedonia, for example, became ‘Macedomia FYR’ – (Former Yugoslav Republic.)

If Scottish independence takes place, the rump of the UK will be styled; FUK (Former United Kingdom)

Uncommitted voters are asked to vote NO for FUK’s sake.

MM – as mentioned elsewhere in this thread I am a huge lover of Scotland and its people having spent a fair bit of my life travelling in and working there. I have many friends dotted about from the Lowlands to the Northern Isles but none are Yes voters. In fact my friends in Orkney and Shetland are strongly opposed to independent rule from Edinburgh by the SNP.

But may I pose a question? There is much talk of Cameron having to resign if the vote is yes. What about Salmond’s position if the vote does not go his way?

Well thank you Argonaut. It’s nice to know there’s still some goodwill directed our way!

For No-voting Scots this is a difficult time and some of the comments have certainly been uncalled-for generalisations of the entire population up here. There’s not as many “porkers” as there are piggies-in-the-middle at the moment caught between the aggro of the Yes voters and the nastiness of a section of the population south of the border in particular. This is exactly the divisiveness I was talking about and, whatever the outcome of the vote, that may remain as a legacy of the referendum process; devolution and SNP rule. Many of us Scots immediately knew how we would vote because of the strength of family ties, friendships and a feeling of being British as well as Scottish. Financial concerns or fear for the future didn’t even come into the decision. As to the immigrants, the general feel within the area I’m in is that they will vote No. The Poles in particular learned their history from the previous generation who may have lived in Scotland during, and for a few years after, the war but served in the RAF or British Army. The Asian population run many businesses including wholesale importing for whom currency issues could cause real problems. My concern is more the sections of the population who won’t be voting at all – several thousand Jehovah’s Witnesses for example.

A lot of damage has already been done and certainly if it is a Yes vote then the SNP will need to start building bridges in Scotland’s relationship with the remainder of the UK. My concern is whether they have anyone on their team capable of doing that.

As an Anglo Irish “Brit” ( with Dutch ancestry ! ) I am dismayed at the thought of Scotland leaving the Union. I have always found the Scots to be friendly and decent people and don’t like some of the comments of “we would be better off without them”. Each part of the Union has something to add to the whole. The worrying thing is the amount of Non Scots that have the vote, their knowledge of Scotland’s history is watching Braveheart. All the areas of the UK need to have a better view/knowledge of the other areas, there are some in the South of England that think civilisation ends at Luton, Cornwall thinks it is already independent. South Wales has problems with North Wales and vice versa. I wouldn’t even start on Ireland. Anyway here’s hoping that sense will prevail.

If the country really is ‘better together’ – why are they promising Scotland more devolved powers in the event of a ‘No’ vote?

Because it is better for the whole of the United Kingdom and if the only way to hold the Union together is to ‘bribe’ Scottish voters with greater devolved powers then bribe them we will…

…after all, the rest of the United Kingdom doesn’t get to vote on something that affects our future too!

Here’s something I don’t understand.
If the country really is ‘better together’ – why are they promising Scotland more devolved powers in the event of a ‘No’ vote? Wouldn’t that be… err… making the nation less ‘together’ and therefore ‘worse’?

As the Fosters boys put it – curly one!

As for Porkers I am sorry I forgot to add this link
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1564208/Scotland-is-second-in-the-world-for-obesity.html
Obesity another word for fat or Lard ar*es.

Tell them the price of Buckfast will treble and the same with fried Mars Bars. That should bring the overweight porkers into line!
If they want their own country fine,give them nothing let them start from scratch.
As for work there is a law that says only Royal Navy ships can be built in the UK so cancel the 3 OPV’s and the 13 replacements for the type 23 Frigates and cancel the closure of shipbuilding in Portsmouth.

My opinion is if they vote for it then good for them, but it needs to be a clean cut, I can understand the likes Brown being against it as he will be effectively out of a job as a Scots MP.

I would also ( if any of the powers are furthers devolved to Scotland, for which we will not be able to vote on ) prevent Scottish MP’s on voting on anything not involving Scotland.

I also worry that the whole premise of Salmonds case rests on the revenue from Oil, what happens when that runs out, If the Country splits up then the Danish might ask for the Shetlands back, and of course that would give them the oil rights 😉
My other concern is over the pound etc, I totally agree with the arguments against it, even the threat of a yes vote is affecting our currency exchange rate, imagine what will happen if they actually get devolution.

The Yes vote is a negative, Scotland will rue that day in history if it comes to pass!

doesn’t Scotland also have Members of Parliament with votes to cast in the Westminster Parliament? What matters do these Scottish Members of the Westminster Parliament get to vote on; for example, do they get to vote on matters of education in English schools (when Scotland has its own education system)?

Yes – in my area we have the SNP’s Roseanna Cunningham in Edinburgh and Labour’s Gordon Banks in Westminster with, I believe, a vote on all matters arising whether directly affecting Scotland or not.

I am not even sure how the current devolution works?

Scotland now has its own government but doesn’t Scotland also have Members of Parliament with votes to cast in the Westminster Parliament? What matters do these Scottish Members of the Westminster Parliament get to vote on; for example, do they get to vote on matters of education in English schools (when Scotland has its own education system)?

I often hear the criticism that the Scottish people feel they are not given enough representation by the Westminster Parliament but if I’m correct in the example above a Scottish voter gets one representative to vote in matters under the control of the Scottish Parliament and another representative to vote in matters under the control of the Westminster Parliament, even if those matters only affect the English electorate.

And now we hear that even more powers are to be devolved even if there is a ‘no’ vote.

Re 13

That’s a very telling last sentence. Whatever the result, this HAS been a very divisive process and even if the naysayers slide home the result will be a de facto independence – in everything but name.

And just think how that divisiveness will fester if the vote is close run? Salmond has a great deal to answer for. Scotland will be the loser whatever the result.