Scotland forever!

or The Ling!

The curl?

Thinking of what money [other than the pound] Scotland could create, I like 'Thistles' as in 'That'll be twenty thistles please, Madam'. It's very pleasing.

'You tak' the high road, an' I'll tak' the low road an' I'll be in Berwick afore ye!' A new song for you nonny

OOps -that should be apologise, patriotism and consequences!! you can tell I didn't have a good Scottish education. The education system in Scotland is good.

The trouble is for the Scots no-one seems to prepared to come up with an alternative to the £, EU etc and if it carries on like that they will be voting for what ????? who knows!!!

Whereas i actually find Salmond's attitude rather threatening.

My impression has also been that Westminster has tried to keep out of the "campaign". Responses have been made to cloud cuckoo things Salmond has stated without having the full facts. That seems to be all. I wouldn't define that sort of response as a threat.

I am English and have lived in Scotland for 31 year- half my life. I think that a yes vote will be a disaster for jobs, prices in supermarkets and a lot more things. Would the English government be buying Scottish built ships? I feel very concerned and have been looking at the price of houses in Berwick!!
I have had many anti English coments made to me over the years and feel that I have to appologise for being English.
My children- one born here and the other considers herself Scottish- are settled here so I don't want to live far away from them.
I hope it is a NO vote but fear that some will vote yes as they see it as a mark of patriatism without fully understanding the consiquences.

Yes quite joelsnan I know there are a minority of Welsh people who dream of independence but...
Re the currency I will concede that politicians might be blustering. But the governor of the bank of England is a Canadian and he raised the issue first.
I think the Westminster government have been very reticent about the consequences to date.

I think the thing with the £ is that for Scotland to retain it, they would have to forego much of the independence that they are fighting for because of the interdependence retaining the £ creates.

Aka thanks, however you should note that my statement was not an argument of point, just a personal observation
If there was no oil would this situation be on the agenda?

Polls and surveys are notoriously unreliable though, and it's still a way off until the vote.

The Labour party have done themselves huge damage by associating with the Conservatives and in particular George Osborne. The reaction of the Scottish people to being told, instructed from on high, that the currency we jointly built up, is not to be shared has narrowed the gap between the YES and NO vote from 20 points to only 9 in the latest survey.

So, yes, I think it was seen as a threat.

I don't think they are threats. Just statements of fact.
Incidentally when I visited Edinburough in December (GN meetup) I spoke to several taxi drivers and the staff in the airport lounge (and my brother who lives there) none of them wanted independence.

That's one of the problems, I think, GillT57! The alternative of a continued Tory government doesn't appeal....! I will also be voting 'No' though.

I am not sure if the government is 'threatening' or not [to a degree I guess] but Scottish voters do need to know all the financial [and other] implications before they vote.I imagine it will be a fairly resounding NO vote from Scotland, but we will have to wait and see.

The majority of my family, either resident in Scotland or elsewhere, are NO voters and see Alex Salmond as being anti-English rather than pro-Scottish. I am proud to be Scottish, but also proud to be British and (rather more controversially) proud to be European. I cannot imagine what the implications are going to be for the thousands of us living outside Scotland, I don't suppose Salmond has addressed this. When he is challenged with anything, he just says 'Yes we can!'.......However, I have to say that everytime Cameron and the other southern Tory toffs open their mouths it must get a few more waverers deciding to vote YES.

That's not the case Joelsnan. To liken the case for Scottish Independence to a childish squabble over a chocolate bar (or even a battered Mars bar) is no way to argue your point.

There is a lot of truth in Felice's point about the threats coming from Westminster and these smack of desperation.

I know that this is a very important issue, not just for Scotland, but for the whole of the UK as a yes vote would invariably impact on all. I am surprised that the rest of the UK is getting little or no say in this potential breakdown of the union, and when anyone does raise a valid concern or desire are classed as interfering bullies.

However, the more I listen to this issue, the more it just sounds like a family where one of the children has chocolate it doesn't want to share, feels that Westminster as the parent is uniquely telling them what to do, with little acknowledgement of others in the family.

If the vote is yes, then so be it, I would be sad, but as the saying goes 'you make your bed, now lie in it'

I was not sure wether to get involved with this discussion or not, I am a Scot living abroad so do not have a vote. I would probably be a no voter, until all the threats started coming from the English about what would happen in Scotland if they vote yes, no Eastenders, (so what) I can get it here,do not actually watch it, but I do not like soaps, Tesco and Morrisons would put up their prices they already do, anyone who has driven from the South of England to the North of Scotland can see the way the prices rise as you go further North. David Cameron patronisingly pontificating without actually sitting down and having a debate on anything!!
The passport issue is a worry for all of us here, I am on Invalidity Benefit and am concerned about my status. When I asked an SNP MEP recently he gave me a lecture on the benefits to Scots of independance, and no awnser to my question.
DD would be a yes voter but as she left Scotland at the age of 7 I don't really think she has much of a say!!!!!
There are too many open issues, and if England and the English government stopped threatening the Scots with unfounded dire consequences of voting yes Scots would be looking much harder at the main issues.

I think if the majority in Scotland want to be independent then they should be.... however they cant pick and choose bits to keep,- independence means just that, own parliament, own currency own border controls etc etc etc All or nothing. Salmon is seemingly on a power trip and Cameron is a whinging hand wringer saying 'sorry please stay'

*GillT57Well that is also interesting because exactly as absent said if Scotland is no longer a member of the EU you will not presumably have freedom of movement to England if you live in Scotland??!! I am sure that they will get around this though. I wouldn't have thought that Scots living in England would get sent back - all these blimen' immigrants!. Just think you will add to the immigrant figures! But I guess you would have to have a Scottish passport as it won't be a member of the EU at least for the time being - at least 5 years apparently?

All seems a bit of a nonsense to me

GillT57 Wouldn't that depend on whether Scotland were to become a member of the EU?

thats an interesting point whitewave if I got a Scottish passport by birth, would I have to apply to live in England? My children would be dual nationality, and I would be an economic migrant I suppose!