I hope you and Scotland get the answers you need. I doubt you ever will get the true answers.

I don’t think it is as simple as underpinning a new Scottish currency on oil. Not all of the revenue generated will be used to prop up a new currency and will it even be enough? Around £63bn of the total public expenditure of the UK goes to Scotland a year. Scotland generates around £53bn in tax revenue including the tax revenue of £6bn from oil (Salmond's figure but Westminster would put it at £4bn), it still not enough to make up the shortfall over expenditure. To me that doesn’t make Scotland “good for it” when it comes to a separate currency or independence. There would be a need for a Scottish central bank to underwrite the debt which would then issue Government bonds but with base rates a lot higher that it currently stands in order to attract other countries and institutions to invest in iScotland which might strengthen the currency in the short term, but will lead to a devalued currency in the long run. I only have a rudimentary understanding of how the money market works and this is only one of many factors influencing currency and therefore I am unable to explain all the intricacies surrounding the currency market both local and global, but there is a magnitude of interlinked cause and effect involved that not many could quantify or fully comprehend.

Unfortunately I wasted 10 minutes of my life reading what you'd previously posted.

And as for living in Warwickshire, yes that's true. But I'm a born and bred Scot. I lived in and around Livingston for the first 29 years of my life. My parents, brother and wife's family still live in Scotland and we visit regularly.

So please don't accuse me of discrediting your 'drivel' and calling me a sheep. I'm fully aware of the facts, unlike you :thumb:

A state wishing to join the EU does not have to take the Euro, rather they agree to take the Euro when they meet the criteria, so iScotland could join the EU with Sterling, whether they are in a currency union or not. They could then remain in EU for years without the Euro. They may even negotiate not having to take the Euro like UK and Denmark.

The question is, is that good for them? I don't know, but Salmond doesn't seem to know either, or he does but is keeping schtum. I would have though if it was hugely beneficial, he would be shouting it from the rooftops, but he is not.

Frankly I don't care whether they go or not, but from a neutral standpoint, the case for independence doesn't seem to hold much water. I would be concerned at that to say the least. Or, possibly they should take a leap of faith, it could be the best thing they ever did. And, we could stop pretending to support Andy Murray ;)

Where you were born is of no relevance. What you exposed to on a daily basis perhaps is, however.

So are you going to honour us with the benefit of sharing your "full" awareness of the "facts" or are we simply to accept that you are correct and the article I posted is just drivel?

Yes its opinion by the author, however all we have to with just now is posturing and opinion. From both sides.

I await reading about the basis of your stance with great interest.

For some, and I would even stick my neck out, that a significant number of those in the Yes camp don't care whether it would work or not on the basis that they have generations of anti-English mentality and disregard any rational thought as why it might not work. Would iScotland even want to join the EU/Euro, the Eurozone is faultering, Italy is back in recession and even the German economic power house now looks like they are heading that way too.

I'd wind that neck back in.

There are probably less who fall into that category than there are English people who think that Scotland is a backward nation wholly supported by English subsidies.

The Scots don't "hate" the English in the way that many think. And certainly no worse than many other nations. Just because we support "anyone but England" at football and Rugby doesn't mean the Scots hate the English people. Well, no one north of Watford ;).

It is true that many will vote based on a romanticism rather than rational thought - but then there's nothing new in that. UK general elections have rarely been decided on rational and reasoned decision making.

I never said "hate", but there is definitely an air of anti-English rhetoric amongst the Yes voters. Which is ashame as they should perhaps focus on pushing Alex Salmond for answers to some fundemental questions and maybe formulate a Plan B themselves.

I am very anti England when it comes to who runs Scotland

Just think there are too many lying bullsh!ting bell ends running the place and would rather have Scottish people running our own country

Don't mind the English people as such,,,well most of them anyway

That used to be the case but not any more

Would somebody care to explain this logic too me? All your going to get with an independent Scotland is a bunch of Scottish lying bull****ting bell ends running the place.

maybe and then maybe not !
we dont know how they will be until after the vote.

how ever one things guaranteed your goverment has done a P1ss poor job so far
and are proven bullsh1ting lying cheating swindling scum bags.

so my choices are
1. possible cheating bellends ( Scottish politicians )
OR
2. proven cheating bellends ( English politicians )


its pretty clear what I will choose :lol1:

I like your optimism but from what I've seen of Alex Salmond through out the course of the independence campaign, i'd have said he's just as much of a bull****ter as the bunch we've got down south.

The Scot,s are a very proud race,I travel to Scotland quite regularly with my job and we,re always made very welcome.My grandad was a Scot although I never met him.Sooner or later you will get independence. Good luck whatever you decide. Steve.

At least with independence there will be no lying bull****ting jockanese pricks running England.

:thumb:

Whether the Scottish get independance or not is largely irrelevant to me but I would say that from what I have seen from Alex Salmond, he's not neccessarily the man for the job. I get the feeling that there must be far too much in this for him than purely freeing Scottish people. He was balls deep into Donald Trump with that Golf complex affair, which promised lots of jobs and provided a small fraction. If memory serves, Trump got outline planning permission then promptly sold the site off at a huge profit, no doubt having smooged the Scottish local authorities along the way. I'm surprised that he hasn't been brought to account for his part in all of that. Seems like a huge slice of protected land was essentially sold off to foreign investors to line his own pockets. If he can do that, he can happily sell your sovereignty down the river.

I think it would be nice for the United Kingdom to remain as such but perhaps giving Scotland a bit more independance in the same way Wales have had. If we do sort of split up politically I won't lose sleep over it. I'll still eat Haggis irrespectively.

Just my 2p based on snippets in the news over the years. I certainly won't profess to being "in the know".

Argument for both sides but why would England be hell bent on keeping Scotland a part of the union if they werent beneficial ?
Salmond is a public speaking superstar, he wins on that. Running a country well ........ frankly no. He couldnt run a raffle. He'll ramp up corp to help pay for all his mishaps.
My vote wont really count but i can see both sides of the arguement.
Its not broke so why try & fix it.

Mmmm you dont see salmond getting pulled up for claiming 90K in fiddled expenses to pay for his mothers house and then getting a slap on the wrist and told to pay back 4.8K,,,,maria miller ring any bells LOL

besides if we do get the majority yes vote then we have a election 18 months later to vote for who runs scotland so even if salmond is not the man for the job we get to choose who will be a year and a half later

what this fella tommy says is amazing puts all my doubts to rest as I agree fully on what he says

100% yes vote from me !

Sheridan is a fu**in idiot. Hes done time, has a drug habit & is a notorious sex pest.
Some would argue that isnt an issue but why listen to someone who's a proven liar.

so because he has had a shady past does that mean he is not telling the truth ?
people change and there are loads of people who done stupid stuff in there early days and grown into fine outstanding people,

my best mate for instance was in his early days a right mess was homeless and breaking into peoples sheds and garages just to get stuff to sell to buy food then a couple of years later was bad with recreational drugs and spent some time in jail as well,

he wised up and straightened his life out and is now a very loving father and one of the warmest hearted family men I know
and is now the international trainer world wide for the engineering company
that me and him both working for

what I am trying to say is because my mate did daft things when he was younger judging by what you wrote my mate would not to be trusted because of his past and you know something you could not be further from the truth !

Tommy is 100% on the ball and speaks bang on about all the bullsh!t that comes with your government !

I trust in what the guys says and agree with him

Apart from the Scottish thing there's not going to be a big change then will there Neil, as all we have now is a bunch of lying bull****ting bell ends running the place.

With enough hard work anyone can turn it around. I've seen loads of individuals make it, then break it & only a handful come back.
I've met TS & he's a first rate tosser.
The world is full of politics & bs. It is afterall a massive sales job.
No one in any senior capacity can be trusted, its only business. :wonder:

Anyway .... Who's my Goverment ?

From the EU official website?

"All Member States of the European Union, except Denmark and the United Kingdom, are required to adopt the euro and join the euro area. To do this they must meet certain conditions known as 'convergence criteria'.

And it goes on to say...

"all EU Member States have to join the euro area once the necessary conditions are fulfilled, except Denmark and the United Kingdom which have negotiated an 'opt-out' clause that allows them to remain outside the euro area.

Have I misinterpreted it? Seems fairly clear?

No doubt he is pretty passionate for an independent Scotland and what he wants for Scotland sounds great, but how much will it cost and how does he propose he pay for it all? It's all romantic rose tinted views and of little substance as he doesn't actually explain what independence will actually bring; the benefits and the difficulties. Even Alex Salmond doesn't go into how much independence will cost for everyone in Scotland.

http://www.scottishconservatives.com...-independence/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...-up-costs.html

I hear a lot of criticisms of Westminster, and some well deserved, but the thing that strikes me is how little emphasis there is on the real benefits for independence from the Yes camp but a lot about negative aspects of what it could mean for rUK.

Who says we even want or need to be in the EU? I for one don't want a bloody thing to do with it and know lots of the same opinion.

Hopefully we will get another vote whether we want to be in that failed experiment that is the EU?

So you want to be out of the UK and out of the EU. Good luck with that. Even nae plan b realises that is a bad idea. But he just says everybody is wrong and we can keep the pound and the EU will just let us in. The boy is delusional.

The more you hear from Salmon the more you think he doesn't want to win. If you think about it he probably doesn't want to win. Let's face it he'd be unemployed if he did.

I want out of the EU aswell !

The Eu is a horses arse we done better with out it and didn't have every immigrant flooding through into the UK unchecked before we joined !

None of us know how much money Scotland generates and how much it costs
To run Scotland.

So neither me nor you can dispute whether or not we have the money to sustain our selfs.

But if we don't contribute more than take back in terms of tax and resources
Why is Westminster trying so hard to keep Scotland ?

My opinion we don't need England and I am more than happy to say yes and go it alone for better or worse we hopefully won't be taking orders from a out of touch and corrupt Westminster for much longer.