Scottish independence referendum

[Ab]

So in just over a week the Scots are voting on whether or not Scotland should remain part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland or secede to become an independent nation again.

This is pretty fucking huge and basically dwarfs the NZ election in terms of prettyfuckinghugeness.

"Should Scotland be an independent country?"

I'll nail my colours to the mast right now and proclaim on behalf of my Highland ancestors YES SCOTLAND.

http://www.yesscotland.net/

[CCS]

Is this out of pride or does Scotland benefit materially from being independent?

[Ab]

plus not being ruled by a bunch of inbred Germans

[CCS]

Ah, so it's greed?

This wealth of opportunity means, what? That tax goes to an independent Scottish government instead of a British government?

[Cyberbob]

I saw that fancy graphic. "Richer than the rest of the UK" is a hell of a bold statement.

[Ab]

The rest of the UK won't have North Sea oil and gas.

[pxpx]

Hopefully they do it and relax the ancestry visa laws for people with scottish grandparents. Hello backdoor to the UK.

[CCS]

They should extend that to great-grandparents in that case

[Ab]

Even more for me, I'm Clan Burns through my great-great-great-great-grandfather

[Deff]

I was over there for 3 weeks 4 weeks ago and the issue is causing a lot of debate, consensus is from the people I spoke with it won't go through. But who knows on voting day

[crocos]

Young clan (the Highland Youngs, not those wannabe lowland punks) reprazent!

[Lightspeed]

Al Jazeera gave me the impression that this was a big mess. It sounds like there's a lot of uncertainty around the facts of what would actually happen if Scotland seceded. Like what kind of Euro membership Scotland would have, or what proportion of UK's debt Scotland would take on.

[Ab]

Latest poll has independence 51%, union 49%.

http://yougov.co.uk/news/2014/09/06/...poll-yes-lead/

YES SCOTLAND.

[Savage]

Originally Posted by crocos

Young clan (the Highland Youngs, not those wannabe lowland punks) reprazent!

Highland Clan Lamont checking in

[Ab]

Aiming for some powerful visuals, the office of the Prime Minister has announced that the Saltire will be raised above Downing Street this afternoon until “the end of the referendum period”.

WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG



oops

[CCS]

404 you useless old cunt.

[Spink]

works fine for me, get real internets ccs

I guess ab probably cheat edited it though

[CCS]

Don't you fucken lie to me, cunt.

This is all I get:




And I bet it's all you get too

[CCS]

Royal Bank of Scotland would leave Scotland in case of independence

Aw shit son.

[xor]

What about the current debt in the United Kingdom? Would a newly created state/country be absolved from having to pay that back?

What are the flow on effects for Northern Ireland if Scotland were to get independence?

[Ab]

Scottish soldiers serving in the British armed forces outside of Scotland have been denied the right to vote in the referendum. That'll go down well.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...n-country.html

[fixed_truth]

I'm meh on all this but it does strike me as strange to have all this hanging on a simple majority. Imo at least 65 would be better.

[Lightspeed]

Yeah, my thoughts are the same, however I could only think of an arbitrary number that would be better. 50.1% or whatever it is does seem off.

[Ab]

Well, it's an improvement over the last vote: 1 person decided for everyone else.

[Lightspeed]

It may still come down to one person deciding the outcome by the looks of how tight the election might be.

[guest]

http://new.livestream.com/Independen..._in=1411074894

Live stream between george square and the velodrome if anyones interested

[pxpx]

No gets the early lead with the first 2 results counted.

[Deadmeat]

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/...esults-in-full

Nice infographicy display of the results as they come in

[pxpx]

Thanks!

[Ab]

Cmon Scots, do this thing.

[BoyWonder]

I guess the cities will swing it back towards yes?

[fixed_truth]

Still early days I guess, but it looks like the NO's have it.

edit: hmm the cities . . . maybe it will swing back.

[CCS]

Scottish guy at work made a good argument for voting no (he doesn't get a vote). I can't really re-hash the detail, but the gist was the massive amount of uncertainty for an independent Scotland. Things like regaining admission to EU etc etc. Convinced me.

[pxpx]

Originally Posted by fixed_truth

Still early days I guess, but it looks like the NO's have it.

edit: hmm the cities . . . maybe it will swing back.

It's swung back fairly significantly - was 59 @ 3 councils counted, now is 53 with 12 councils counted.

[spigalau]

Originally Posted by pxpx

It's swung back fairly significantly - was 59 @ 3 councils counted, now is 53 with 12 councils counted.

4/21 supported, 17/21 against so far

[CCS]

Oh, also, apparently anyone who is an EU or Commonwealth citizen can vote as long as they have a Scottish address. So, if I was on holiday in Scotland while the vote is taking place and my address was my motel, I could vote in a referendum of which the outcome means jack shit to me.

For this reason, there was apparently concern that people would be bussed in from out of town to swing the vote a certain way.

[Ab]

Originally Posted by fixed_truth

Still early days I guess, but it looks like the NO's have it.

edit: hmm the cities . . . maybe it will swing back.

Looks like the Yes campaign depends on Fife and Edinburgh now.

[creamcheese]

Could someone please slowly and condescendingly explain the possible changes to the important things like the Olympics/Commonwealth games and Lions teams?

[BoyWonder]

Moot point as it looks like the No vote has it. As I heard earlier today the decision either way won't make the Scots any more or less Scottish.

[Ab]

Separate Scottish teams for Olympics and Commonwealth Games. Presumably the Lions would officially be "The British, Irish, and Scottish Lions".