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A bit of an indictment as to how democracy functions in this country really.
Why is that an indictment of democracy in this country? There was 97% voter registration and 84% turnout, and it's widely agreed that the debate engaged a nation.
I've experienced a lot of 'blame everyone but the Scottish electorate' from yes voters recently. Oh it was a no because this, because that, because Westminster, because old people voted no, because Labour, because the other. I'm getting the same from your posts to be honest.
I wouldn't go as far as to call it sour grapes, but a lot of people do seem to be having trouble accepting that Scotland could have decided to leave the union, but 55.3% of those who turned out to vote decided they didn't want to, so here we are (in a situation that isn't great for anyone, frankly).
4,283,392 people could have voted yes, in the end only 1,617,989 did. The people have spoken.
Given that, why on earth would you talk about forcing another referendum?
Fox-
Like several on here, you're choosing to willfully ignore quite clearly stated parts of my posts, I'll summarise seeing as you can't parse the text for yourself:
-From the Lord Ashcroft poll it's clear that the over 65's delivered 'victory' to the No side.
-Given the (indisputable) scare tactics of the No side about security of pensions (contradicted by the Treasury) the above is deeply unsurprising. Add in their greater likelihood to vote by post weeks before the actual vote and you're seeing a huge swathe of some of society's most insecure and vulnerable voters being influenced by inaccurate information given out by the three main political backers of 'Project Fear' (again, their title). Class act.
-The purdah period agreed by Cameron in the Edinburgh agreement stated that within the last 30 days of the referendum, no substantive changes to the proposals on either side would be made. This is intended to stop the very same last minute desperate offers of Devo Max that Cameron, in his statesman like composed wisdom, didn't want on the ballot. He did it anyway in the last three days because he was going to lose Scotland, and having said the only thing he could have to get a No vote, now looks to be reneging on it-leaving Brown looking like even more of a gormless twat that he did after Blair kindly made him nursemaid to the recession and the war on terror. So, we'll never know how many more than 1,617,989 people would have voted yes if he'd stuck to the format of the in/out referendum he himself stipulated, will we?
-Now that Cameron's made his solemn vow to bribe people to vote no, if he backs out, he's basically lied to the Scottish electorate a la 1979. It makes it perfectly justifiable for the SNP to call another referendum.
If you sincerely don't understand any of the above as being self-defeating tactics, not to mention constitutionally and morally dubious behaviour on behalf of the UK government then really, it's not surprising you can only interpret the issue the way you do, and your voice will inevitably be joining the chorus of the newly outraged little ukipers who can only understand Scottish self-determination in relation to their own wants and needs. You're badly missing the point.
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Where's the victory? The stats show that a huge majority (73%) of pensioners, most of whom had voted by post already and had been under the impression their pensions were at risk, delivered the vote for the three stooges, and the last minute begging and promises of devo max dented the clear advantage of Yes in the other age groups, although they would have still been enough to deliver Independence.
A bit of an indictment as to how democracy functions in this country really.