Poll: Scottish independence - yay or nay?

[miketehmage]

As a man from Scotland, I really don't want the country to become independent. There is no reason to be. In-fact, I don't even really see why we still consider it a separate country, because it isn't. Sure, we speak with different accents but theres no real difference. We are governed and taxed by the same people. Our military fights for the same queen.

Oh and could anyone not from Scotland please note that not all of us are so stupid that we actually think we are better off without the rest of the UK. The UK as a whole is small enough as it is... Why the fuck would anyone want to split it up even more?

 

[Lord Mountbatten Reborn]

SNP looks out for Scottish interests. They may want independence, but the good stuff they get the people of Scotland under the current system sounds like the bigger reason for its popularity, rather than independence.

I'd be disappointed at Scottish independence, but it is the choice of the people there, not mine.

 

[ninja51]

I only say no because the world should unite together as the world, not seperate countries, that only leads to bigotry, ignorance, mismanagement, xenophobia, wars, and worst of all, nationalism itself. The UK is sort of the closest things have come to that at this point, so I say more countries should just join the UK, of course the royalty would need to be gotten rid of and the government would need an overhaul, ect ect.

We need a united Earth once the Turian wars happen not a bunch of petty nations whos only real differance is people rally behind different flags.

 

[Woodsey]

Polls show the majority of Scots don't want it.

To be honest, I'm bored of the Scots who don't want to be called British, the Irish who hate the English, and the English who hate everyone.

 

[Canid117]

I consider myself to be quite patriotic in some ways (although not in a blind, idiotic way like citizens of SOME countries we could mention...

Oh gee I wonder what country he could possibly be talking out of his ass about.

 

[OptimisticPessimist]

FUCK. YES.

Anyway, I'm not educated enough on the subject to render a legitimate opinion, but someone was gonna post that eventually. Might as well get it out of the way.

 

[Octorok]

OK, as a Scottish citizen, let me make this blunt - nobody wants independence. Literally nobody. I can't think of a single person who does, including everybody involved with "independence".

Scotland has nothing. Properly nothing. We've got some oil and we get money from American business in London, but otherwise in a post-industrial revolution world, Scotland is the barren, damp, useless lump it was when the Romans gave up on us.

And we provide, what, soldiers? I can't think anything the Scots do except drink and fight, and there's nothing a new country needs more in an economic crisis than - no economy, no industry, no work/ers and a small army.

It'd be more difficult and expensive than its worth to try and let us go, the UK needs our drunks and squaddies, Scotland needs overseas money from The City, and for fuck's sake, we united centuries ago, LET IT GO.

We're not "dominated" by England, we never were. We were at war for the better half of a thousand years, when we finally joined hands with our neighbours, and conquered, colonised and bullied our way to the top of the heap. The unity of our wet rocks resulted in an empire that meant, technically, if you were human you had a 50/50 chance of being under British rule.

Why destroy that? I'm far more proud of EVERYTHING we did as the United Kingdom than the Scots ever did. The UK created radar, penicillin and just about everything that used steampower.

Scots invented.... Hm.... Ah.... Thistles?

Basically - independence is impractical, pointless, expensive, an insult to the good bit of our history, nobody wants it, and if it happens then I'm forming a militia with proper weapons and everything with the sole intention of reuniting with the UK.

Scotland, England, Wales and Ireland are brothers. Maybe we fight a lot, but you have to admit - we're damn good when we get along.

[sup]And when the Germans aren't bombing us. That didn't help.[/sup]

 

[Neverhoodian]

I consider myself to be quite patriotic in some ways (although not in a blind, idiotic way like citizens of SOME countries we could mention...

Oh gee I wonder what country he could possibly be talking out of his ass about.

Why, China of course! What else could it possibly be?

Right, buddy? You were talking about China, right?
(Pssst, I'm giving you an out here! Use it!)

Anyway, based on my (admittedly limited) knowledge of the relationship between the two countries, it would behoove Scotland to stick with England. They benefit greatly from their economic ties with England, and as we all know trade is one of the most powerful forces for good in the world:

 

[Wadders]

Polls show the majority of Scots don't want it.

To be honest, I'm bored of the Scots who don't want to be called British, the Irish who hate the English, and the English who hate everyone.

Don't forget the Welsh who hate us too.

Some of the hardcore Plaid Cymru supporters actually think this result is a victory for Welsh nationalism too, and will somehow signal the beginning of Welsh independence.

I think these people need to forget about Owain Glyndŵr and come to terms with the fact that live in the 21st century, not the 15th Century...

 

[CrazyCapnMorgan]

Well, I'm not qualified to make an informed opinion on this matter. However, I am in favor of any independence the Scots deem necessary. Whether its more reliance on its own government instead of Britain's or full-blown separation - I'm in favor of it. All in all, I think the Scots are decent people.

Spoiler: It is a shame that I have really only met two great Scottish people. One is the Big Yin and the other...

 

[Infernai]

I'm Australian. If they wanna be independant, i say let 'em...it'll make Sean Connery Happy at any rate.

 

[mb16]

the Scottish can have their independence if we (England) stop giving them money and letting them vote in our elections.

 

[Levethian]

"Alex Salmond is prepared to compromise on the Scottish independence referendum by including an extra question on giving Holyrood much greater financial freedom while remaining part of the UK."

That option sounds good to me.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/may/08/scotland-independence-vote-financial-autonomy

 

[Charli]

Tch, for goodness sake we're a tiny enough piece of land already, you really want to divide this dirt clod up even further? Fine. Be petty like that.

 

[tunderball]

It would be really, really bad for the economy both the UKs and Scotlands. I've always strongly believed in the United Kingdom, it's a partnership, every nation keeps its own identity and practicaly runs itself whilst we stand united as one country when it counts globaly. It works.

 

[The Red Spy]

In case you hadn't heard, the SNP just got a metric f***tonne of votes at the recent elections and it's looking likely there will be a referendum on Scottish independence:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-13330641

I'm personally against independence. I consider myself to be quite patriotic in some ways (although not in a blind, idiotic way like citizens of SOME countries we could mention...), but I think this would be a bad move. Why? Well first off, I think it would really knacker Scotland's economy! Really, there's not enough infrastructure in place for it to support itself. This is probably all due to being part of the UK and the UK's economy being centered in London, but the damage is done now. Building a prosperous country would be damned difficult at this point.

There are other problems to think about as well, like how people would react to the setting up of border controls, what Scotland would do with its standing armed forces, and even just what would happen when they get cut off the national grid!

A lot of people will be against it for ideological reasons, although frankly I think they're preposterous. I can't think of a good reason to deny people who want it their right to self government (particularly when England doesn't really get anything out of it, as it's a bit of a money-pit). Still, if you disagree with me please write your views in a post, I'd be interested to read them.

The brunt of the Irish economy was based in belfast and the surrounding area, we gave that up for our independence.

That doesn't mean the Irish are stupid it means sometimes people just want to be free, Scotland has a heritage just as big as the Irish one and there's people wanting to protect and gain that.


Sorry lads sometimes independence isn't about wether you can sustain yourself but more about wanting to support your own rule.

I said it before I'll say it again : Look at Ireland

It's a nice cockup... but it's OUR cockup
[sub]PS if Scotland goes independend scat free can we get compensation payments for the hit the irish country has taken cause the brits felt like hugging belfast and all the industry there? [/sub]

Nice idea, I'm fairly sure those Scot's who are currently on NHS care lists will be very happy about their nice cockup when their government is no longer able to afford their methods of treatment (at least to the standard they receive now), or maybe the potential for power cuts and increased costs in natural resources, and how the resulting tax hikes from their own government to try and cover the loss of funds from the seperation might just be muted by the glorious split.

Ireland is facing economic ruin, even after the full backing of the EU and continued intervention of the UK. It's often vacant or even uncompleted housing estates offer a grand view of Irelands current climate, and more of the model on what-not-to-do than role model.

If you still feel England is a colonial power bent on rule over all nations within our reach, please update your archaic view on us, we released a Facebook status last week denouncing that.

Could you also elaborate on how not being part of the UK will have a marked effort on preserving heritage? I'm interested in hearing a well thought out arguement disproving how the removal of funding from less essential areas such as heritage conservation and awareness to cover the deficit in cash flow to try and juggle healthcare, housing and industry might be somehow be good for a nations culture.

You do know I'm not backing the scottish need to ce-cede from the british state

Right?

Anyway there's a reason why Ireland can't support itself and it's called belfast, don't you ever wonder why the british claimed that bit of land PARTICULARLY (You know dropping protestants there in higher lvl functions)

But that's not what I'm here to discuss.

The way it preserves heritage my friend is simple .

The ample fact of being able to say " This is Scotland and we're proud of our nation"
Overules any kind of sentiment you could try to supercede with

It's not my opinion it's the way simple minds work and shamefully those are the minds that channel this world

Besides the higher concentration of Irish Unionist's within the North East of Ireland, one of the main areas of Protestant settlement which would begin as far back as 500 years ago? You seem to forget the Unionist saying of "not an inch" when borders and border control were decided in 1921, or let's not forget to mention how the Unionists were so staltwart at remaining as part of the Union to go as far as bringing over 20,000 weapons from Germany in 1914, threatening to war with a volunteer force based in Ulster. Besides that, I don't believe I do know, now that you mention it.


Saying something is very easy my friend, believing in it is a much harder task. People find comfort in the norm, the practical and the freedom to not have to worry about lifes uncertaintees when they know the Government has their collective backs makes for a much easier ride. They may find it much harder when these freedoms, the ones you believe they somehow improve on, are lost in the time it takes to flick a switch. People don't like change, but such a dramatic change over such a short period of time; the loss of options in education (do Scotland believe they can maintain free University tuition without backing?), industry (that isn't lost to the UK or cheaper elsewhere) and healthcare (self explanatory), won't do a whole lot of good when people realise they are progressing backwards. But I'm fairly sure their 'simple minds' will just ignore all that.

Anyway, you ignored my point: how does one maintain any heritage or promote & encourage 'what it means to be' Scotish when all funds go toward trying to keep a country that already suffers economically afloat? You're opinion seems so wise, I feel like I must hear the answer.

I think it's high time you attempt to explain what your convoluted meaning on freedom is, because as it stands a drop in standards, higher taxes and costs generally (but we can ignore the limitation this puts on what a consumer is then able to buy), worse prospects for the people and even resentment to their own 'liberators' for bringing this about sounds like a very strange definition.

Kind sir, thank you for showing me that not everyone is batshit insane.

I honestly don't get some of these people, so obsessed in outdated stereotypes they've become all they can see.

It's actually quite entertaining and sad at the same time. All I can say is I've got some dam great Irish friends, from both sides of the border (and some on this site), and thankfully not all like this. I'm also not sure where the 'freedom' arguement comes into it either, as it stands Scotland has a higher income due to the UK and has it's own parlament, and so more funding to do with as it pleases (including the heritage awareness he has chirped on about).