ilmoro
Member of DD Central
'Wondering which of the bu***rs to blame, and watching for pigs on the wing.' - Pink Floyd
Posts: 11,335 
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Post by ilmoro on Sept 19, 2014 16:04:15 GMT
Prediction is 16-17 will vote NO in majority Ahem! Were you never a rebel? 71 per cent of this age group voted YES, apparently - presumably derived from a survey, not the results. And quite predictable, as Salmond knew and Cameron never thought about. If you get on the Twittersphere the Nationalists are blaming the "Aulds" for voting NO. People with no future screwing it up for everyone else! Quite an atmosphere there, quite vitriolic. I think I would have had my head knocked off if they could have found me. That was an SNP comment not a personal prediction. Did surprise me.
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ilmoro
Member of DD Central
'Wondering which of the bu***rs to blame, and watching for pigs on the wing.' - Pink Floyd
Posts: 11,335
Likes: 11,558
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Post by ilmoro on Sept 19, 2014 16:07:51 GMT
Apparently Doncaster is technically part of Scotland. Raises some interesting questions for all this constitutional reform talk  |
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Mike
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Post by Mike on Sept 19, 2014 16:31:13 GMT
Currently only 0.5% of Britons living abroad and eligible to register actually do so. It is a major hassle, and no doubt expense, to register and vote (you need to be very forward-thinking as the deadlines are well in advance of the UK elections). More likely they have other priorities. It is no hassle and you can email periodic registration forms sent to you on renewal. And it'll cost you just a stamp and 10 minutes of your time the first time you register - and a stamp to vote. Hardly a barrier. Yes that's badly worded, I meant expense to the taxpayer rather than the non-resident. 10 minutes? Hmm. Edit: It was a barrier for me, and 99.5% of everyone else.
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Post by rudry2677 on Sept 19, 2014 16:41:50 GMT
Any bets on when/if Mr Salmond will take up a Knighthood? (I inadvertently typed Knoghthood and smiled before changing it)
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Post by chielamangus on Sept 19, 2014 17:28:20 GMT
NEVER. And rightly so. I'm with him on that wretched place for placemen and purchasers of "honours". Ooops. Forgetting my age. I'm not supposed to be radical.
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JamesFrance
Member of DD Central
Port Grimaud 1974
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Post by JamesFrance on Sept 19, 2014 18:25:49 GMT
So do I understand this correctly? It seems that Gordon Brown (Scot), Darling (Scot) Cameron (Scot?) and other politicians have comitted the English taxpayer to pay for the continuation of free University places, free nursing homes, free prescriptions and lots of other goodies for Scotland which are not available in England?
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Post by batchoy on Sept 19, 2014 18:50:03 GMT
So do I understand this correctly? It seems that Gordon Brown (Scot), Darling (Scot) Cameron (Scot?) and other politicians have comitted the English taxpayer to pay for the continuation of free University places, free nursing homes, free prescriptions and lots of other goodies for Scotland which are not available in England? Yes, but a good many of their back benchers have stated that they will scupper the commitments when the legislation goes through if the West Lothian Question isn't sorted and there isn't a complete reworking of the Barnett Formula (which there will have to be if Holyrood gets promised tax raising powers) The interest thing now is that Alex Salmond is resigning as First Minister and leader of the SNP. If memory serves the last time he quit as leader of the SNP it pretty much went down the pan.
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Post by oldnick on Feb 14, 2015 21:41:52 GMT
Just a thought experiment for any students of economics out there.
Supposing it had been possible to push through all the legislative changes, currency wrangles etc that would have followed a Yes vote, so that by now Scotland had already gained independence. What kind of mess would their finances be in given the current price of oil?
What, if any, difference would it make in this imaginary scenario if Scotland's currency was Euros, Salmonds or Pounds Sterling?
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jo
Member of DD Central
dead
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Post by jo on Feb 15, 2015 12:16:32 GMT
As I understand it, even if there had been a 'Yes' vote, Scotland would still be a full member of the UK - with all the advantages/disadvantages that entails - until March 2016.
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Post by ablrateandy on Feb 15, 2015 13:19:17 GMT
A while ago, whilst looking into this properly, I did find a quote where Salmond said something like "We aren't dependent on $120 oil. In fact, we don't care if it sinks as low as $95 because we are adopting a prudent approach."
There would now be some frantic back-pedalling and, I would imagine, a call on Westminster to guarantee the price of oil as it was at independence.
To be honest, I almost wish that they had got a "Yes" vote just to see the frantic reversals that would have been occurring now!
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Post by oldnick on Feb 15, 2015 15:18:30 GMT
As I understand it, even if there had been a 'Yes' vote, Scotland would still be a full member of the UK - with all the advantages/disadvantages that entails - until March 2016. You're right of course, and in reality it might have taken even longer than that to break the ties. Hence my framing of the question as a thought experiment, because although this price drop wouldn't have caught Alex with his trousers down the next one would have.
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Post by ablrateandy on Feb 15, 2015 16:09:16 GMT
Don't get me wrong.... I have no problem with an independent Scotland if that was or is what people want and if they go into it with a full comprehension of the facts. In the same way that I have no problem with people voting any way in a GE. I could point to what I perceive as errors in any manifesto. My desire to see back-pedalling was in relation to the people who presented "the facts" to their voters, rather than the people of Scotland to Westminster. It wasn't intended as an ant-indy or indeed anti-Scot rant  . It was an eye roll at politicians generally. And economists. |
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mikes1531
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Post by mikes1531 on Feb 15, 2015 21:36:01 GMT
...because although this price drop wouldn't have caught Alex with his trousers down... I think it really would have. Scotland might not have been independent yet, but they'd have been heading that way and the writing would have been on the wall for the impending disaster. What they could have done to mitigate that financial crisis -- aside from deciding they didn't really want to be independent after all -- might have been very limited.
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Post by oldnick on Feb 15, 2015 22:15:16 GMT
...because although this price drop wouldn't have caught Alex with his trousers down... I think it really would have. Scotland might not have been independent yet, but they'd have been heading that way and the writing would have been on the wall for the impending disaster. What they could have done to mitigate that financial crisis -- aside from deciding they didn't really want to be independent after all -- might have been very limited. That's easy - put it down to perfidious Albion plotting behind the scenes again. The English did after all do a number on the Scots over the Darien Scheme and forced them to become a major player in the largest empire in human history, so what's a little manipulation of the price of oil. (Obviously the price slump was meant to coincide with the build up to the referendum, but timing these things can be tricky).
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. It was an eye roll at politicians generally. And economists. 