I hope this pans out to become true.
I’ve often wondered if scrap dealers have to sign some form of Air Ministry contractual assurance that the aircraft will be broken up, and not saved, a bit like nearly all the surviving German U-Boats which were scuttled north west of Ireland after the war during Operation Deadlight, to stop them appearing back on the sub market.
My own local dealers, JG Williamsons, have melted down literally thousands of military aircraft, from WW2 aircraft like Spitfires (at least 240 of them!) and Lancasters (including the Upkeep airframes which had survived), to more recently Shackletons, Buccaneers and now Nimrods. To my knowledge, they’ve never saved even one airframe…

Urgh, stop this treasonous talk of dissolution of the union, I wont tell you where in the UK I am *from* but I’m a strong unionist.

Good for you – but the Union is comprised of Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and England, four completely different countries and people. Now compare how many seats each has at Westminster…
England – 533
Scotland – 59
Wales – 40
N.I. – 18
Just because England has the bulk of the population, why should that be translated into such a dichotomy of power? It’s obvious that the other three nations will always be sucking on a hind tit, cap in hand, waiting for any scraps that is thrown their way.

Fair enough, but I don’t know how many Scots would view it that way when facing the cold reality of the situation, with huge cutbacks and job losses.
I’ll bet the peoples in nearly every part of the British Empire had the same fears initially, but are now very glad they became independent. Scots have always been rich in everything except hard cash, and I have no doubt we could easily manage by ourselves. We are amongst the most enterprising and inventive peoples on earth – imagine a world without TVs, telephones, the Bank of England, penecillin, anaeshthetics, RADAR, radios, syringes, pneumatic tyres, overhead valves, refrigerators, quinine, steam engines, the decimal point, fax machines, cloning, logarithims, tarmac, sulphuric acid, thermos flasks, light polarisation, the US and Chilean navies, Buicks, and Harley-Davidsons!

One more question, again playing devil’s advocate I’m afraid; say Scotland were independent and the Orkney and Shetland Islands held a referendum over independence from Scotland, an independence that would take 75% of the oil revenue with it, do you think the rest of Scotland would welcome or even allow such an independence?

It’s all relative – when does a small island become a nation? I know a lot of Orcadians and Shetlanders, and they are naturally proud of their Norse heritage, but would that really distill into being happy to be governed by Norway or Denmark? As far as internationally-agreed sea areas are concerned, the oil is in Scottish territorial waters, and these islands are part of Scotland.

It’ll be interesting to see what this does for Scottish nationalism – even after tactical voting, the Tories only managed to secure one seat in Scotland (out of 59!), but we still ended up with a totally unwanted Tory Prime Minister…

So, to play devil’s advocate for a minute, Scottish independence is based on Scotland being ‘better off’ because of oil revenue? Would Scots want independence if the was no oil, had never been any oil, and what happens when the oil runs out (which it will)?

No, I’d rather be poor and independent, than be a wealthy sponger. As much as I love the English, we are a totally different people here, and must decide our own future instead of hanging on to a union forged three hundred years ago, after Culloden. The union has always been pretty one-sided anyway – even on the flag, the St George cross is firmly on top.
The oil will run out sometime, but it’s reckoned not for another hundred years…

Right now, the Scots would be rather worse off than Greece – it is after all, their banks that caused the majority of the problems in the financial idustry in the UK.
Bruce

Only because all Scotland’s oil revenues have been squandered by Westminster since exploration began. Thatcher used it to rebuild and modernise much of the south east, while Labour gave it away in benefit handouts. Norway, on the other hand, tidied their revenues away, estimated to keep them in the black for perpetuity…
And by the way, the Bank of Scotland’s troubles only started when they were rudely taken over by the Halifax. Shrewd centuries-old banking practices were replaced by whiz-kid quick-buck tactics.

The real need is to stop the Scots and Welsh, who have a perfectly good parliaments of their own, having such an influence on the rest of the UK.
Time for true independence for England I reckon
Moggy

By ‘the rest of the UK’ do you mean England and Northern Ireland, or do you mean a ‘United Kingdom’ with only one country in it?;)
Please do all you can to achieve independence for England – I think that would be a fantastic dream come true!
I chatted with my local SNP MP last week, and he affirmed that under international laws (that have already been ratified), 92% of North Sea oil, present and future, would be in Scottish territorial waters.
Would you like a loan, at very reasonable rates?

I’m beginning to see why Stormin’ said “Can you keep answers to min please, we are not interested in idle chitchat.”…

Drive an old Harley down the US Pacific Coast Highway
Spend a long night alone in Aleister Crowley’s derelict ‘Chamber of Nightmares’ in Sicily
Stand in for Stranglers’s bassist Jean Jacques Burnel for one gig
See Scotland become an independant nation again
Fly in a Lancaster
Have Amanda Holden and Lena Endre catfight over me…