Scotland YES or NO

Salmond is a silly, silly man if he allows this to continue (and Nicola Sturgeon is as bad if she doesn't stamp on it) This tarnishes the image of the Yes campaigns as bad losers. If they were to accept that this is the end of the matter, at last for a generation or two, and that they would be better employed now working toward a better nation from within the united kingdom, they would get a better press than if they go on like spoilt children "Someone stole my sweeties! It was a big boy that did it and he ran away"

Note - I could not see that it was Salmond or Sturgeon who is behind this. It seems to be a grass-roots petition from disgruntled foot-soldiers who thought they were avout to enter the promised land and can't believe that their entry was not automatic. The leadership still has a chance to redeem the situation with a strong statement. Of course, by resiging Wee Eck has left the campaign without a leader to speak sense for them.

papa I am somewhat confused by your mention of Ruth Davidson - wondering why you think a Tory politician who, in your words, is dignified, robust and fair, should change to Labour!
I agree with your description of her, she seems to have come over better than any of them. Let's hope she is included in the future consultations and decisions.

Let's hope Salmond does not start acting like spoilt brat, having tantrums and causing trouble because he did not get his own way.
I thought 'resign' meant keeping quiet and out of the way to lick his wounds and emerge later with some dignity. Apparently not; surely we do not have to give any more airtime to him?

As for Nicola Sturgeon, I think she is a formidable prospect.

Claiming the vote was rigged? Unbelievable! As other posters have said, too early to start saying that 'promises will be broken' it's only been a couple of days.Just wait and see.The YES voters [both on here and in Scotland] must accept it's over now. More people did not want independence than those who wanted it. Simples.

What a dismal pair are Salmond and Sturgeon, not even turning out for the reconciliation service. And Salmond whining-on about vote-rigging and UDI. They really are a sad pair.

They're claiming the vote was rigged.

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/09/20/scottish-referendum-rigged-petition_n_5854016.html

Really a re-vote? It wasn't even close in the end.

Like Elegran, Dodie, Jane10 and others, I don't believe that the last ditch attempts by the 3 parties swayed many voters. Certainly not me or many of my friends and neighbours that's for sure; we had all decided many months ago which way to vote. I can't believe that people were so unintelligent as to be duped by desperate, last minute promises. However, we will wait and see what transpires in the future. We may well be surprised.

I am sorry for those who wanted Independence but I am more than happy that the smug Mr. Salmond has gone but don't underestimate Ms. Sturgeon - she's another kettle of fish

I see the Yes camp are now calling for a re-vote.

"You've not seen the last of our bonnets or me"' chortles Salmond to Andrew Neil this morning, apparently from an old Jacobite song. Sums the man up, I think, and bodes very badly for whoever takes over at the SNP. With Salmond behind them they will never be safe, and that will play right into Westminster's slippery hands. Send him off to Muckle Flugga to look after the birds, or to do community service in the Orknies and Shetlands, just get him out of sight!

Quite true elegran a sticker never hurt anyone. In "Mock the Week" Dara O`Brien was saying that he was keeping out of the chat about the referendum other than to say that it was all very peaceful compared to his Granny`s experience of having to hide in a ditch during the Irish independence.

Like other posters, when I voted no it was not because of last-minute panic promises, but because I had already decided that I would prefer to be in a unified Britain to being in a fragmented one. We are not as naive as we are painted here north of the border, we can work out for ourselves what we want without believing every word we are told.

Here in the suburbs of Edinburgh, too, we do not necessarily put up posters or march around the streets proclaiming our political intentions. In my street there were no posters at all, yes or no. Most of my friends, if asked, would say that they voted no, but no-one I know was campaigning. The vote is what matters, not what label is stuck on your windows!

It is not that I was afraid to put a no sticker in my window, just that I have never put ANY political sticker up.

I will add, that a sticker has never hit anyone. The MP who claimed that his office had been "vandalised" admitted later that, in fact, what had happened was that Yes stickers had been stuck on top of all his No stickers.

I claim no particular knowledge of the SNP hierarchy, but Salmond came across as an obsessive, petulant bully, Sturgeon a much more reasonable prospect if only she can moderate her mouth, and Blair Jenkins, a very nasty piece of work, full of sectarian bile. Is there anybody else in the wings of the SNP? For the Scottish Tories (that endangered species) I thought that Ruth Davidson conducted herself very well with great dignity, and was robust and fair. Perhaps she could switch to Scots Labour!

I am so glad that Alex Salmond is going. If the nationalists had won, with him at the helm, I fear that freedom of speech and a free press would soon have disappeared in Scotland.

I am sure many will be - there was always something about him that was off-putting (can't put my finger on what it was though, just a gut feeling about him). What about Nicola Sturgeon? How do Scottish people feel about her if she takes over the helm? From what I've seen of her, she seems very reasonable and more open to discussion without hurling insults around - do you think she's in with a chance?

I agree, Jane10. Most people I know were planning to vote "No" long before any last minute promises were made. As you say they were swayed by the economic arguments but also shocked by some of the intimidation tactics of the "Yes" campaign.

I see that one of Alex Salmond's final acts was to ban newspapers he didn't like (Telegraph, Mail and Express) from his press conference when he announced his resignation. The Guardian refused to attend because Salmond's team tried to nominate which journalist was allowed to come. From the start the "Yes" side has been intimidating anyone who disagreed with them. As I mentioned in an earlier post, there were virtually no "Better together" posters in Edinburgh. Two English tourists at the bus stop expressed surprise that Edinburgh was coming out in favour of independence. When we asked them why they thought that, they replied that they had only seen "Yes" stickers and posters. We had to explain that the "No" side were too scared to express their views openly but were waiting for the ballot box.

We live on a quiet residential estate. For weeks there had been a handful of "Yes" posters in windows. No "Better together" ones at all, even though virtually everyone we know was planning to vote no. A couple of weeks ago one of my neighbours got so angry that she put up a "No, thanks" poster in her window. This was the only one in the whole neighbourhood. One day last week, when she was out, someone opened her gate, walked several yards up her drive and nailed a huge "Yes" notice to her fence. This is the sort of intimidation that has been going on.

I am so glad that Alex Salmond is going. If the nationalists had won, with him at the helm, I fear that freedom of speech and a free press would soon have disappeared in Scotland.

Well said, jane10, this is now a time for reconciliation not recrimination. The spectacle of the defeated Salmond, having deserted his party, sniping from the sidelines is indicative of the petty and divisive nature of the man. He hasn'tt got the guts to accept defeat and move on to capitalise on such achievements as were made. No, petulant as ever he is still out to make trouble, which will be a great problem for his successor, who is going to have to negotiate with that slippery bunch at Westminster. Obviously, changes to primary legislation will take time to achieve, after all, noboby wants to see poorly-constructed laws thrust into operation. A lot of this could have been achieved by patient negotiation a long time ago if there had been goodwill on both sides, so I suggest it is time to pension off Salmond and his cronies to somewhere far away, get some reasonable people in, and start talking!

I hope there is not going to be ongoing trouble stirred up by people who may be feeling bitter at the result.
The dust has not yet settled, change will not happen overnight. It will have to be extremely carefully worked out and implemented, it cannot be sorted out in 24 hours.
The 'no' voters were in the majority and I think the minority should accept the decision with grace and then everyone can work together towards a better future for Scotland.

i wonder what will be the reaction of Scottish voters if they don't fulful these pledges. Will they just accept it or will there be a reaction?

How daft do you think NO voters are? The last ditch efforts made by Cameron et al are not what swayed most of us. People just looked at the economics of the situation and decided that the wild promises of jam tomorrow paid for in some unspecified way in some unspecified currency put us all at risk. Salmond knew this which is why the YES campaign tried to steer clear of this in debates and concentrated on heavily emphasising emotional aspects and lots of shouting. Cameron had a go at the emotional bit but not with nearly such an effect as Gordon Brown`s amazing eve of poll speech. Whatever. Its over Thank God.

Fully expected them to backtrack Marelli,can't believe they duped so many people.

Didn't take long, did it?

I think you are right annodomini,unfortunately they believed pledges made in desperation.

I think that many of the people who voted 'no' on the understanding that it would lead to 'devo max' as 'pledged' by party leaders are becoming quickly disillusioned.

Whether you are happy or disheartened after the referendum result, copied and pasted here is Carol Ann Duffy's (beautiful) poem.

September 2014,

Tha gaol agam ort *
A thistle can draw blood,
so can a rose,
growing together
where the river flows, shared currency,
across a border it can never know:
where, somewhen, Rabbie Burns might swim,
or pilgrim Keats come walking
out of love for him.
Aye, here’s to you,
cousins, sisters, brothers,
in your bold, brave, brilliant land:
the thistle jags our hearts,
take these roses,
from our bloodied hands.
*I love you.

news.sky.com/story/1339172/miliband-more-important-things-than-devo-max

Yes, Jen it made me smile - but it was a very wry smile. From today's media comments it seems that the Scots, by voting NO to complete Independence, have guaranteed themselves fewer powers and less representation in the UK Parliament, while in the process they have educated and re-energised England and brought it the promise of Devolution, and increased powers.

Hope this makes you smile a bit, if not actually laugh.

www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2014/09/18/venn-diagrams-for-our-times-scotland/