Should Scotland be an independent country?

I still don't understand (although it seems I did misunderstand the first post you made). The UK will continue to exist. They're not asking for the destruction of Westminster and the break-up of NI, Wales, and England (although I don't think NI is part of the UK?).

It's semantics, around the name, how can it be the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (to give it it's full name), if it no longer contains all of Great Britain (that being the main island).

The United Kingdom of England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and some other bits?

Either way, arguing about a name is no justification for anything other than self-determination, that's just something pedants will get caught up on, who can't appreciate the bigger picture.

Funny that bet the Scots living elsewhere are gutted they have no say!

I don't care, personally. I don't live there anymore and I don't intend to ever move back, so I oscillate gently between vague interest and vague indifference. I just can't seem to work up any strong opinions for or against it.

I take the view that it's the scots who have ruled us for centuries, not the other way round, and that they are gracefully deciding to grant us our freedom.
After all, James 1st was their king, and the act of Union was their idea.
Admittedly I'm only adopting this view to be contrary, but what the hell.

Imagine if this had happened 20 years ago.
No Tony Blair, no Gordon Brown. No illegal wars on Iraq, and no financial crisis.
Possibly

It's semantics, around the name, how can it be the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (to give it it's full name), if it no longer contains all of Great Britain (that being the main island).

The United Kingdom of England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and some other bits?

We could call it Little Britain.

I'm tending to the view that this won't happen now- there seem to be too many unanswered questions which are quite important.

Do they get another go at some point of the Scott's vote no this time?

^ my GF asked the same thing and said, surely it's an inevitability that they will ultimately leave. Politically it's hard to imagine a losing SNP raising the issue for a while, but if it was something like 60/40 then that's good ground to build on and say, "we'll get there one day". Then again look how long it's taken to get a second "EU referendum".

I take the view that it's the scots who have ruled us for centuries, not the other way round, and that they are gracefully deciding to grant us our freedom.
After all, James 1st was their king, and the act of Union was their idea.
Admittedly I'm only adopting this view to be contrary, but what the hell.

+1

Also look at how many Scots there are* in Westminster representing us! Totes ridic. Will they have to go home if Scotland leaves?

I look forward to seeing this doing laps of the Westminster roundabout and Whitehall.

*or were in the New Labour years.

I think the reason the issue keeps recurring is the fact that it is not purely a question of logic but rather a combination of emotional and cultural differences, stimulated and provoked by both the dripping tap of condescension and smugness that emanates from Westminister/England and conversely, the SNP who use it as a possible conduit to reform.

If there's a no vote now, there's nothing for the SNP to lose in trying for another referendum in 20 years, by which point the UK will have formed into a toxic swamp with Katie Holmes having usurped the throne and assumed the position of One True Lizard Queen whose sole task is providing surrogate children for the Tories to eat, with Jeremy Clarkson impaling cyclists at will on some Mad Max style jousting wagon and the entire area London exclusively populated by exactly 10 billionaires and their serfs.

I'm surprised by how badly the last few weeks have gone for Salmond-he's made a miscalculation somewhere about how much leverage he could apply to the currency issue. He's a chancer and wants to avoid the insecurities arising from establishing a new currency, but I don't think he's done by a long way yet and I think there's more than enough time for Cameron to do his job for him, which he probably will.

If anything this whole exercise is probably more about using the referendum to definitely secure and deliver some kind of 'Devo Max' whilst maybe managing to snatch full independence by a sly 0.5% of the vote. They don't have much to lose as a political party at this point and even if there is a no vote they will retain a huge level of support in Scotland for their protection of core services like the NHS.

400 year old chips on shoulders in a nutshell - and the Scots LOVE their fucking chips

How do you know if someone plans to vote YES?

They'll tell you. Oh by fuck, they'll tell you

400 year old chips on shoulders in a nutshell - and the Scots LOVE their fucking chips

There's plenty of chips on shoulders in evidence in this thread tbh.

Good joke btw. As seen in the comments section of absolutely every article on this topic from the Daily Fail to the Torygraph.

FWIW from what I can see on my Facebook feed, the currency and EU issues haven't put a single dent in the enthusiasm of the "VOTE YES" crowd that I'm acquainted with.

A few of them were sharing a Willy Wonka meme with "tell me more about how we can't use a fully tradeable reserve currency" written on it and I'm not completely sure they understand what it means and intend to vote yes anyway, because Fuck England.

There's plenty of chips on shoulders in evidence in this thread tbh.

Good joke btw. As seen in the comments section of absolutely every article on this topic from the Daily Fail to the Torygraph.

And on this thread about a month ago (same person same joke!)

^^ this

And they ALL bleat on about it not being about Alex Salmond, and how he'll step down (yeah right) and how this is just the first step, and then we'll get a vote on proper leadership

blah blah fucking blah

complete fantasy

And on this thread about a month ago (same person same joke!)

insert Vic and Bob handbag.jpeg

I think, for some, it's a choice of never, ever having to be governed by the likes of Thatcher and Cameron again.

If you had that chance, would you take it?

If it's a sink or swim scenario, Scotland thinks it's going to swim but should it not be as rosy as they're imagining, most people would rather sink without a helping hand on their head.

Hmmmm.... Maybe London can join Scotland?

Charles would be relieved to still be able to mince around in his kilt whenever he takes a break from making premium oatcakes and feels like playing the highland ghillie.

How do you know if someone plans to vote YES?

They'll tell you. Oh by fuck, they'll tell you
I wish I could find that old Steve Bell cartoon on devolution, but nobody seems to have scanned it in and put it on the Internet, not even the Guardian (their scans don't go back far enough). I loved that cartoon. 'Yes, yes!'

Draw it for us, Oliver.

No, no.

Here's another thing that my Scottish mates are reposting all over Facebook.

There are many crucial differences between Scotland and the assortment of countries listed here. Can you spot them all?

high taxation?
oil fund in place since the 70's

A currency of their own?

trollololol

It puts me in mind of the old joke- person stops to ask directions, the respondent says "well, I wouldn't start from here".