Should Scotland be an independent country?

Ha. Royalists?

Ungrateful us for all the heritage and pride we're turning our backs on in providing the upper classes somewhere to go and shoot grouse whilst claiming fucking millions a year in grants for land that could do something a bit more useful than subsidising rich cunts pretending they're in an episode of Downton Abbey (that don't even live there more than the few weeks of the year they're not dodging tax abroad) poncing about their estates and stifling any real local economy developing by blocking other land uses.

And re: Scots politicians in Westminster-it's up to the English to legislate their eligibility to vote on 'English only' matters on a popular mandate. But there's no appetite to do this as for each of the main parties it would negatively impact their little collections of rotten boroughs and fiefdoms. Aside from this, Tony Blair is not considered Scottish by many up here, you might tell by his accent that he's from a different demographic, and those such as Darling and Brown as so integrated within the UK Labour party that they've got wholly different interests than representing Scottish issues.

The devolved parliament was the best things Labour did for Scotland and it's too bad they're not happy with the way things turned out-if the Scottish Labour party and Lib Dems had done a better job for Scotland instead of eternally playing second fiddle to their Westminster colleagues Salmond wouldn't be in power at the moment, and the referendum wouldn't be happening. When the dust settles Cameron and Milliband are going to wish they'd been more supportive of a Devo Max option on the ballot because even if there's a no vote, with the way people have been politically energised you're guaranteed years and years of unrest if things don't change up here.

As an indication of cultural difference up here, look at the composition of the MSP's-the vast majority of whom are working class, state educated (83%) and actually from the places they represent in parliament. Compare that to the Westminster where you've an assorted collection of private-schooled Oxbridge gollums (54% Tory, 36% LibDem, 17% Labour private schooled) that are parachuted into any available constituency where they are guaranteed a slim majority, have huge amounts of money thrown at them in electoral war chests, then set loose on the ministerial freebies and second homes allowances as a reward for putting up with pretending to live there. That's before we even get to the House of Lords and how fucked up that is as an idea in a supposed democratic system, or Prince Charles writing his little secret missives to the Cabinet to influence policy.

It stinks, yet the English working classes seem to have some aspirational Stockholm syndrome where they embrace it all as heritage or 'culture'. It's not-it's just rich privileged bastards mugging you all off on a huge scale and undermining every institution that serves you from rail privatisation, the Royal Mail to the NHS-they've all got their hands in the till.

David Cameron coming out and saying he had 'no problem' giving his friends' kids interns at no.10 and was 'totally comfortable' with it as a system is another spoke in the wheel of discontent-you've got the leader of the country endorsing a privilege-first, non-meritocratic system of preference where the best jobs and easiest routes to power will always be filled by the chums of the people already there, and all people say is 'oh, well-it's just like that, isn't it?'. For some people, yes, but that doesn't make it ok or something to endorse or aspire to when your supposed mandate is to improve social mobility and participation instead of propping up an outdated and skewed social edifice based on elitism.