Metropol

Yes Campaign starts today but to honest there ducked some very important key questions:

* How much will Scotland will get landed with from the RBS bailed worth £45bn
* How much debt will Scotland get from the UK government?

I personnel think it backwards the YES campaign has started well before the referendum has been actually sorted out and what question/s will appear.

barcode wrote:Yes Campaign starts today but to honest there ducked some very important key questions:

* How much will Scotland will get landed with from the RBS bailed worth £45bn
* How much debt will Scotland get from the UK government?

I personnel think it backwards the YES campaign has started well before the referendum has been actually sorted out and what question/s will appear.

Where's the "I don't see why not" campaign for those in England, Wales and NI? I'd join that.

Can see why anybody would want to opt out as far as possible from the political mechanisms of the UK.

Coming from London I don't really care about this referendum.

I do dislike Alex Sammond and his Anti-English agenda however!

King Alex has had five years to sort out some of the main problems that Scotland face, including homeless and lack of social housing, etc and he more concern about a vote. He has the powers already to fix most of the problems Scotland has and has yet to do so.

Main reason for having a 2014 vote is build up more anti-Tory unhappiness in the country. Vote yes and never see the tory in power again, that might just swing it.

martindtanderson wrote:Coming from London I don't really care about this referendum.

I do dislike Alex Sammond and his Anti-English agenda however!

There are two other constituent countries he wants to be independent of as well you know.....

Some very reliable sources tell me that many within the SNP may be more ready to take a pragmatic approach on the outcome; and that Devo Max/Devo+ might serve many of the critical elements that are sought. So its not 'all or nothing' by any means.

The worry is that such a long period of debate will lead to the more vociferous cyberNats to poison the well of debate and make us all sick of the question - whatever that question turns out to be. The cyberNats do not necessarily reflect the views of the party, just as the views of pro-Unionists are not necessarily mirrored within the Scottish Parliament's opposition parties.

I'll wait and see what the proposition is - its only when drill down to the detail that we can make an informed choice.

Latest polling:

Westminster: SNP 40%, LAB 35%, CON 13%, LD 8%

Alex Salmond approval rating: 50% approve, 40% disapprove, 9% no opinion

Independence referendum: YES 30%, NO 58% (swing of 17 pct points towards NO since new question announced)

nodnirG kraM wrote:

Alexia wrote:Alex Salmond approval rating: 50% approve, 40% disapprove, 9% no opinion

The remaining 1% presumably voted Bubble out of the Big Brother house then?

I'm presuming Ipsos MORI rounded the numbers down. Could very easily be 50.4%, 40.3% and 9.3% would make 100.

i'm not sure if it's just me, but both nicola sturgeon and alex salmond make my skin crawl. they are almost one dimensional soap characters.

and barcode, i agree with you. whenever i see alex salmond or nicola sturgeon speak they pretty much go down the same road and end up talking about independence.

but if the people of scotland really want independence, i can't argue with that. however i really can't see what they'd gain from it other than a whole bunch of other problems.

it will be very interesting if the scots will be able to maintain free prescriptions and university places if they become independent. in fact, it will be very interesting to see just how much better off as a country they become.

personally, i'm in the stronger together camp.

Dr Lobster* wrote:i'm not sure if it's just me, but both nicola sturgeon and alex salmond make my skin crawl. they are almost one dimensional soap characters.

and barcode, i agree with you. whenever i see alex salmond or nicola sturgeon speak they pretty much go down the same road and end up talking about independence.

To be fair, you're only likely to see them on the national news - so its unsurprising that you see them talking about independence.

In the chamber they're pretty impressive speakers.

but if the people of scotland really want independence, i can't argue with that. however i really can't see what they'd gain from it other than a whole bunch of other problems.

it will be very interesting if the scots will be able to maintain free prescriptions and university places if they become independent. in fact, it will be very interesting to see just how much better off as a country they become.

personally, i'm in the stronger together camp.

There's an implication in what you've written that those policies are paid for by subsidy from the UK. The SNP make it clear that's not the case - and I've not heard Scottish Labour or the Scottish Conservative & Unionists say otherwise.

The only people who continue to claim we're supported by subsidy are the Westminster "No" campaigners.

I imagine the detail of this will come to light - but its hard to imagine why those who say we're subsidised by the English would want that situation to continue.

Can anyone explain this illogical situation?

I find it a bit ironic that the pro-independence supporters in Scotland are wild about being separate from the UK, but keen on being part of Europe. Why is one bunch of people imposing its policies on you better than another?

I think I'm in the no group, mostly because of the amount of central administrative infrastructure that has to be repeated whenever a country declares itself independent. And I'm surprised anyone in Scotland thinks they would be taken seriously internationally if they left the United Kingdom.

It's all very well to say that the people of Scotland should be allowed to govern themselves, but who actually are the "people of Scotland"? Especially given that a load of people from each location have interchanged. The whole thing reeks of rather ugly nationalist politics, and to claim that everyone in Scotland would live a more prosperous life separated from the UK is wrong and highly divisive.

I can see this campaign becoming more and more unpleasant as the referendum draws near, much like the yes/no to AV business which resorted to outright lying, and especially since the supporters benefit from stirring up anger and resentment toward England. I think it will do a lot of damage even if the end result is to stay together.