2014 Scottish Independence Referendum

I think this was raised once before. Yogi is the best man here to enlighten us here.

yes, klydon, but I posted this poll to know What the members thinks of the referendum on the independence of Scotland, and if this referendeum will successful , if could do something like that even in Ulster.

The issue of whether Scotland breaks away from the UK or stays is a decidedly more straightforward issue than that of Ulster, which for better or worse will probably be argued over until the day I die!!!

I don't think so, if the referendum in Scotland is successful, it could be another in Ulster within a few years, this is just my opinion.
And yogi, click a answer in the second poll.

Well it all depends on what happens with Scotland so i will plump for that.

ok Yogi,thanks for the honest reply.Honestly, even I'm curious, to see what will happen at September in Scotland.

Me as well Furio, me as well.

http://world.time.com/2014/03/04/sean-connery-wants-scottish-independence/

Former James Bond star Sean Connery has come out with a resounding “ay” in favor of Scottish independence.

Though Connery no longer lives in Scotland, he says that Scottish independence from the United Kingdom could spur artistic and creative growth in his home country, as well as boost the film industry there.

“There is no more creative an act than creating a new nation,” Connery wrote in an opinion piece published in British magazine the New Statesman on Tuesday, six months ahead of a Scottish referendum on independence. “A Yes vote in September will capture the attention of the world.”

The former agent 007 and longtime supporter of independence expressed appreciation for his homeland’s burgeoning interest in its roots and the Gaelic language, and said Scotland should strive to to strengthen its cultural identity by voting for independence.

“As a Scot and as someone with a lifelong love for both Scotland and the arts, I believe the opportunity of independence is too good to miss,” said Connery.

But the Scottish public may need more persuasion before it decides to split from the United Kingdom. A recent Ipsos MORI poll found that 55 percent plan to vote ‘no’ in September’s referendum.

I have to say that when I read that Sean Connery was coming out, I had something completely different in mind! LOL

These days..who can say...
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/entertainment/celebrity/uncovered-footage-shows-007-hero-2529339

Connery has lived abroad for the last 40 years!! What a cheek

If James Bond is trying to divide Britain then they must be in trouble.

They wouldnt last five minutes on there own.

They have tons of oil and a monopoly on scotch! They would do very well.

Dont forget the shortbread also..

Great analysis, only if the UK had more geniuses like you then w... oh their not there. The only flaw in your detailed criticism of Scottish independence

De Niro, but that has to do this video, with the forum topic?

If Scotland gains independence, the British will have to say goodbye to their loved Union Jack, and return to the old flag?

"Give me kilts, or give me death!"

List of Scottish Clans

Where's William Wallace when you need him!

We could always ask Mel Gibson put on a wig, a kilt and bring the sword going around Scotland, to promote the true Scots, to vote yes to the referendum for the independence and perhaps turn to the clan leaders left.

I am an Englishman who hates the British government.

I hate the top-down economic and social backwardness it's currently exacerbating, I hate the prolonged and very palpable intellectual damage it's causing, I hate the very real social tensions its domestic and foreign policies are adding to.

I hate the confused and angry nationalism that erupts because of all of these things, the lack of political solidarity, the "us" vs. "them" mentality that springs into action against political strawmen. The racist structures of an outmoded economic system that divides its working class in order to hold it time and again to ransom.

The country's upper echelons are the embodiment of filth.

As a political gesture, Scottish independence is an inherently optimistic proposition that I welcome and encourage. Somebody wants to break away from David Cameron and all of his debased squalor? Great! Can we move the border south so that my native Gateshead falls into Scotland, please? I hear their universities are free to residents too.

(And, perhaps north of the border, the Grammar Nazis are respected.)

Here's an idea: fuck the Queen, the monarchy, the media that protects it, the Prime Minister, his pals, the police, the Mayor of London, the whole Conservative Party, their Lib Dem cohorts, the banks, and everyone who apologises for any of the above. Let's mobilise an independent workers movement and fight for every country's autonomy as well as the full political emancipation of everyone therein.

Bring this country to its fucking knees.

Do you hear the people sing,
Singing the songs of angry men,
It is the music of people who will not be slaves again.
When the beating of your heart,
Echoes the beating of the drum,
There is a life about to start when tomorrow comes.
-Les Miserables

Love your spirit Mick. I can hear William Wallace bellowing..."FREEDOM",
I can hear Richie Havens singing..."FREEDOM", I can hear Martin Luther King proclaiming...Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty we're free at last.

Keep the torch burning.

Us Northerners don't care for namby-pamby southern toffs to be honest!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwLtyvGdNbc&hd=1

The Iron Maiden The Clansman

Wake alone in the hills
With the wind in your face
It feels good to be proud
And be free and a race
That is part of a clan
And to live on highlands
And the air that you breathe
So pure and so clean

When alone on the hills
With the wind in your hair
With a longing to feel...
Just to be free

Is it right to believe
In the need to be free
It's a time when you die
And without asking why
Can't you see what they do
They are grinding us down
They are taking our land
That belongs to the clans

Not alone with a dream
Just want to be free
With a need to belong
I am a clansman... Freedom

It's a time wrought with fear
It's a land wrought with change

If our ancestors could hear
What is happening now
They would turn in their graves
They would all be ashamed
That the land of the free
Has been written in chains
And I know what I want

When the timing is right
Then I'll take what is mine
I am the clansman

And I swear to defend
And we'll fight to the end
And I swear that I'll never
Be taken alive
And I know that we'll stand
And we'll fight for our land
And I swear that my bairns
Will be born free

And I know what I want
When the timing is right
Then I'll take what I want
I am the clansman... freedom

No, no we can't let them take anymore
No we can't let them take anymore
We've the land of the free
….Freedom

Is it right to believe
In the need to be free
It's a time when you die
And without asking why
Can't you see what they do
They are grinding us down
They are taking our land
That belongs to the clans

Not alone with a dream
Just want to be free
With a need to belong
I am a clansman

And I know what I want
When the timing is right
Then I'll take what is mine
I am the clansman... Freedom

And I know what I want
When the timing is right
Then I'll take what is mine
I am the clansman.

Great song by Iron Maiden, who all hail from the east end of London if I am correct....

Yogi, what effect would an independent and separately sovereign Scotland have on those Scottish citizens, who have long contributed to government social insurance or pension credit funds? I would assume that at the earliest it would take many months to withdraw from the UK, but is there any framework for British social insurance payments either to begin or continue to Scots in the event Scotland is no longer a part of the UK?

Also, I would imagine that most voters in Scotland would oppose breaking from the UK. Do you have a sense of how the voters are leaning?

Klyd, I have no idea how it would work either. The politicians who want Scotland to stay in have said that the whole thing is too complicated to sort out and would take years to do so. At the start of the year there was a poll I saw that said most Scots would vote to stay in but according to other polls lately there has been a swing the other way. The Scots were not over impressed when our Chancellor of the Exchequer George "Fart Face" Osborne said an independent Scotland would not be allowed to keep the pound. My cousins and family say they will vote to stay in, they are happy to be Scottish first but British second.

It is half breeds such as me who face the problem. My work pals say if the Scots vote yes I have to pack my bags and head north and live with my own kind!!!!

It's getting close to decision time...

BEITH, Scotland — The case for tearing apart the United Kingdom was made on a recent evening at a community center in this small town near Glasgow. More than 200 people were packed into folding chairs and standing along walls lined with posters promoting an independent Scotland, like the one with the word “Aye” emblazoned on a Scottish flag. A disco ball hung overhead.

Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s deputy first minister, spoke from a lectern covered with a tartan drape.

“As a country, we’ve spent an awful long number of years being told we’re too wee, too poor and probably a bit too stupid to be independent,” she said. “If we were too small and too poor and too stupid, if we were the economic basket case, if we were the subsidy junkies that some of our opponents try to imply that we are, then don’t you think Westminster might have offloaded us by now?”

After the applause died down, she asked, “What’s the downside?”

Plenty, in the minds of many business leaders and economists, who are concerned that an independent Scotland will not have the financial strength to prosper alone. The economy would lean heavily on revenue from North Sea oil, which has been falling, and its per capita government spending outpaces the rest of Britain.
The official campaign period kicked off Friday for the referendum that will determine whether Scotland will remain in Britain. If successful, the vote, which will be in September, would fundamentally reshape America’s closest ally, redrawing the borders of a union that has existed for more than 300 years.

Although the pro-Britain unionists lead, momentum has swung back and forth. The spread narrowed to just three percentage points in an April poll by ICM Research for the Scotsman newspaper, but it widened to 12 points in mid-May, with 20 percent still undecided...

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/02/busine...omic-costs.html

I remember reading in Craig Ferguson's autobiography that Glasgow had a large Italian population when he was a kid. Was that true? Is it still true?

Yes PB, quite a few Italians in Scotland.

On Thursday 18 September 2014 will take place the referendum on whether Scotland should be an independent country.

Less than a month what do you think will happen?
There is some Scottish or English that we can explain how is the situation in Scotland?

Edinburgh is a beautiful city. Architecturally very consistent.

Quite a few in Wales, England and Ireland too. They usually come over to run take aways (fast food joints).

Well that is over and done with. Scotland voted no to independence and we remain a United kingdom. It was a pretty close run thing but as most folks here know I am English born but of Scottish ancestry and I am glad our cousins north of the border stayed in!!

To be honest im surprised the outcome was a no vote,

I'm an outsider on the subject and wasn't sure which way it would go. However, did I read there was a 90% voter turnout? That's great!! Geez, we never get that here in the U.S. (sadly)





TIS

I read the voter turnout was poor. We must have different sources.

Every thing i've read has said it was roughly 85-90%, where did you read the turnout was poor? Anyway the turnout was only because it was for Independence, you wont see turnouts like that here for the local or general elections.

Seriously? I didn't think for a second the yes vote was going to win.

You're absolutely right TIS. 86+%

Glasgow, Scotland (CNN) -- [Breaking news alert, 6:23 a.m. GMT (01:23 a.m. ET)]

Scotland will remain part of the United Kingdom -- along with England, Wales and Northern Ireland -- following a historic referendum vote. A majority of voters rejected the possibility of Scotland breaking away and becoming an independent nation. "A turnout of 86% is one of the highest in the democratic world for any such vote ..."

anybody know the wining margin of victory? was it close?

I guess i was going by news reports last week, May i ask how you voted seeing as you are from Scotland?

55%-45%.

NO 2,001,926 55.30%
YES 1,617,989 44.70%

Of course you can ask, but i wont tell someone whose argument against it was basically: It wont work - Genius

Whether they would do OK on their own or not makes no difference to me. I am just glad they stayed together after all these years

The union is not needed. Imperialism died with the times. It should be consigned to the history books.

pizzaboy it is indeed true that Glasgow and nearby Paisley have Italian populations. The Scots Italians are also the first ethnic group to have their own tartan approved. Its red white and green from the Italian flag and blue from the Italian football shirts.

I'm very glad Scotland did not break away.

I understand there are some on this board who are from Scotland so I hope I'm not insulting when I say this.

In a time where we see Muslim extremists, an aggressive Russia, an unstable Middle East, and a horrible consuming virus it is more important than ever to stay unified.

The New York times had an article that basically went something like this: in the early 20th century the main conflict was aggressive nationalistic fascism versus the nations they deemed rivals or racially inferior. Then it was communism vs capitalism in the Cold War. Now we live in a world where it is order vs disorder. Groups like ISIS and Al-Qaeda represent a world of disorder, brutality and chaos. It is up to the rest of the word, and especially the Western Powers to hold the line and democratic humanistic principles in the face of that disorder.

That's why I'm glad Scotland stuck to the UK. Great Britain is stronger because of it.