The problem with this is.. what would be the Independent Scottish view if the Orkneys decided they wanted independence?
Reminds me of ‘Passport to Pimlico’. Scotland isn’t just a northern county of England you know, but a nation in its own right, whereas the Orkney and Shetland islands have never been countries, so have no internationally recognised territorial waters of their own.
Orkney has been Scottish since the 1400s, and Shetland since the 1600s.

But then I am disenfranchised and don’t actually get to vote in Salmond’s Folly.
I presume you are English, so why should you have a say in Scottish independence? It’s like me saying I am disenfranchised at not being able to vote on Basque separation…

Moggy

Does it matter? 🙂
A few years ago one of the film networks played a Scottish film here in North America.
The accents were so thick they added subtitles.
Really, no joke.

Yet most of us can decipher and even have an educated guess at geographically locating every US accent on TV or the movies from Alabama to Wyoming…

The amount of anti-Scotland biggotry in this thread beggars belief.
A lot of people here showing their true colours.

As Moggie says, a seperation and divorce always brings out the worst in people, but hopefully once all the name-calling is over and everything is done and dusted, the two ex-partners will still have a unique, dependable friendship.
I believe Scotland should no longer hold its hand out to Westminster, but stand on our own two feet, which we are more than capable of doing.
What the people of Scotland must ask themselves, after over 300 years of London-based rule, is this economy and standard of living really as good as it gets?
Couldn’t an independent Scottish government make better decisions and policies for Scotland than one based in a different country?
Among the nations on this planet, can anyone think of another country and people which are ruled by bigger (i.e. more population/votes) nation?

…Alex Salmond thought it preposterous that Scotland should be asked to choke up any money for its decommissioning, but it seems to me that he wants to have his cake and eat it too…

Nobody asked the Scottish people for their views when the atomic installations were built, so why should we pay to have the filthy contamination taken away? It’s a bit like a someone having to pay to have a neighbour’s dog crap removed from their garden…

To me, ‘Scots’ Gaelic has little to do with Scotland – it’s just a corruption of Irish Gaelic spoken by people called the Scots who migrated from Ireland around 1000 years ago.
The Picts were descended from the aboriginal settlers of Scotland who migrated across from Scandinavia and Germany hunting reindeer after the last Ice Age, when the area we call the North Sea was still dry land between 8000 and 14000 years ago. The Romans reported that the Picts didn’t speak Celtic, but had their own language which has since been lost, perhaps surviving today as words in the north east ‘Doric’ dialect.
But nobody really knows what language the Picts spoke – it was probably a mixture of Scandinavian and German, which is why we say ‘loch’ like we were hocking a loogie (look it up…), and most English say ‘lock’. I was amazed when I first started to watch ‘Wallander’ with English subtitles, to find so many Swedish words in common use in the Scottish east coast ‘Doric’ dialect today.
So for the want of anything better in today’s scientific world, English will do just fine…

…My only real issue about all of this is the nationalist accusation of Westminster bullying…
Nice to see a reasoned post for a change.
When it comes to Westminster bullying, you haven’t seen anything yet. I have no doubt the Establishment and Secret Services will now be working overtime to find ways of scuppering the democratic will of the people of Scotland.
You might think Westminster cares, but personally I don’t think any low act is beyond them. Carefully orchestrated smear campaigns, personal attacks, and media-hyped falsehoods will become the order of the day, and I wouldn’t even put assassination beyond the realms of possibility. Just remember what happened to poor old Dr Kelly when he had the temerity to buck the status quo over WMDs.
Just watch this space…

…Fair play I haven’t heard him use the word ‘traitor’ yet but soon enough folks, soon enough…

When I see these anti-independence Scottish politicians on TV, that’s the very word that springs to mind. You can bet that when independence does come along, these rats will be queuing for roles in the new government.

SNP party membership went up 4% in the 5 days after David Cameron’s plans to dictate referendum terms.
Thankfully, it’s all starting to look fairly self-fulfilling – anything the Tories and other parties say just fuels the independence cause in the Scottish voter’s hearts, and their anti-independence stance and rhetoric is beginning to make them look decidedly un-scottish.
It’s a great shame, but there’s a great deal of vitriolic and hateful remarks being published in the media towards Scotland, which will be long remembered, and only strengthen our resolve.
And incidentally, the gravity of the situation is well past all the cheap and disingenuous remarks and purile quips regarding Hadrian’s Wall, Mel Gibson, Rab C. Nesbitt, etc, and the racial stereotyping coming from this forum.
Pathetic…

@Al
So you are saying Scottish people are racially superior to English people then? :rolleyes:

Wow – that’s quite a leap! Why would you infer that from what I said? Being more aggressive and angry is just a national trait, not a sign of being superior.
That’s like saying Tyson could have beaten Einstein into a red mush, so was therefore a better man…

I think the real reason they are more likely to be in the army on the frontline has less to do with being angry, or bring brave warriors, and more to do with a lack of opportunities, poor job prospects, public sector dominated economy. Of course this is far less romantic war novel, and far more uncomfortable truth. You are of course free to disagree, and I’m sure you do 🙂

Tell that to the Black Watch.
According to Eddie Stone, nearly 75% of the UK SAS are Scottish – even accounting for exaggeration, that’s not bad for 8% of the UK population…