Snp

[Craig B]

Scotland would perhaps lose out financially because nobody has heard of it. Oddly, even well-educated foreigners use the term England to describe the whole of the UK. I'm never quite sure how this happens, given that there are so many Scottish people living abroad and loads of people come here for their holidays.

It's hard to see what would Scotland would do if they went independent. Many of those small, seemingly a bit rubbish countries of Scandanavia, and places like the Faroe Isles seem to be doing pretty well for themseleves, although levels of personal and business taxation are very high, and with ageing populations they might struggle to maintain such a generous welfare state in the future. Scotland would really strugglke with that at the moment, with such appalingly low health levels that seem impossible to increase substantially.

They would have to take out huge loans based on future oil/gas revenues I think to pay for the sudden increases in spending they'd need to boost eduction and health levels. And taking the entire UK economsy into accont, being something like a trillion doallr economy or thereabouts, oil is not so huge an input, in the 70's for example, the cost of council housing alone soaked up most of the oil revenue.

[Hog]

Economic Left/Right: -4.25

Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -7.03

[HummerOfIntenseEvil]

A few points:

Scotland would perhaps lose out financially because nobody has heard of it. Oddly' date=' even well-educated foreigners use the term England to describe the whole of the UK.[/quote']

You're confusing "well educated foreigners" with Yanks there. Everyone knows their geography lessons extend to "Engerland is made up of Britain, Whales, Scotchland and Northern IRA-Land".

It's hard to see what would Scotland would do if they went independent.

Whatever Norway have done, as well as concentrating more on our high-fat dietry issues perhaps (England couldn't give a fuck - they don't even HAVE macaroni pies).

They would have to take out huge loans based on future oil/gas revenues I think to pay for the sudden increases in spending they'd need to boost eduction and health levels.

Everyone knows Gordon Brown already has Britain lending stupid amounts of money, and our education system is far superior to England's already, without ANY more money being spent on it.

And taking the entire UK economsy into accont, being something like a trillion doallr economy or thereabouts, oil is not so huge an input, in the 70's for example, the cost of council housing alone soaked up most of the oil revenue.

I dunno about that, but I DO know that without Scottish oil, England would be crying themselves to sleep. Probably.

[Hog]

Having visited Norway on 4 occasions, I have concluded that they live in a far superior country regarding health, standard of living, education etc.

[Craig B]

A few points:

You're confusing "well educated foreigners" with Yanks there. Everyone knows their geography lessons extend to "Engerland is made up of Britain' date=' Whales, Scotchland and Northern IRA-Land".

Whatever Norway have done, as well as concentrating more on our high-fat dietry issues perhaps (England couldn't give a fuck - they don't even HAVE macaroni pies).

Everyone knows Gordon Brown already has Britain lending stupid amounts of money, and our education system is far superior to England's already, without ANY more money being spent on it.

I dunno about that, but I DO know that without Scottish oil, England would be crying themselves to sleep. Probably.[/quote']

We don't force you to eat them! They look like maggots in a cheese sauce. I dunno how anyone can eat them. In what way is the Scottish education system better than the English? The poor eductaion up here is one of the main reasons for the bad health, as it is everywhere.

[Rachie]

Amazing... the SNP comes up and yet...

...far's TV Tanned when you need him??

[GraemeC]

The poor eductaion up here is one of the main reasons for the bad health' date=' as it is everywhere.[/quote']

Thats crap, everyone knows full well whats good and bad for them as far as diet is concerned, they just choose to ignore it in the same way there are still morons who smoke...o_O

[Cloud]

i dont think thatch was in power at that time..in fact im sure she wasnt... once the ball got rolling it might not have been to easy for her to realize her objectives whenshe did...but that is merely conjecture

Given that Labour (and the SNP) dominated Scottish politics then (and now)' date=' it wouldn't have been a great hardship for Thatcher to repeal the legislation relating to a devolved Scotland. The political climate at the time suggests that the SNP and Labour would've joined forces to pass as much differing legislation as possible to minimise the impact of Thatcher upon Scotland - so it would've been a politically clever move to end devolution on her part. There's what ifs surrounding whether it would've been accepted by the people of Scotland - but who knows, really?

illegality would simply land them in trouble with the rozzers and a long spell in the slammer....

They could try, but the more you jail them, the more other people will rise against them. Past experience in Northern Ireland shows that you simply can't use jails as a means of controlling the population.

if you are refering to the balkans... you have to agree there is a world of differnce between titos yugoslavia and the united kingdom....

I'm not just referring to the Balkans' date=' but some of the former Soviet republics too. Considering Britain's attitude for so long towards nationalists in Northern Ireland, would it be that much of a shock if the British establishment imposed a police state in Scotland if independence was declared?

and where were all the bloody civil war enthusiasts after develoution was gained?

Devolution can't be compared to independence in any way - as long as Westminister has the right to repeal the Scotland Act, then really, what does devolution mean?

Bloody hell thats an eye opener... snp get 1/2 million votes and gain 9 seats and the lib dems get 1/4 million votes and get 13 seats.... now theres a case for proportional representation if ever I saw one...

It's a dodgy system' date=' the idea is that if you get a lot of votes but barely any seats in the FPTP seats, then you'll get rewarded in the second (PR) vote - but that relies on people voting for you twice, which messes things up because people are starting to realise that they can vote for different parties. Essentially, the current system is designed to ensure that an SNP-led coalition can never win power - which suits all the three main British parties just fine.

I was under the impression they were jsut a part of the whole Green Party, like the Scottish Liberal Democrats or Scottish Conservatives etc. It would be strange for a British party to be pro Scottish independence.

If I understand it right, they split from the British Green Party (whatever it's called) before the first elections. I don't know why they did, but they're definitely pro independence. They're an integral part of any rainbow alliance in the Scottish Parliament, anyway.

It's hard to see what would Scotland would do if they went independent. Many of those small' date=' seemingly a bit rubbish countries of Scandanavia, and places like the Faroe Isles seem to be doing pretty well for themseleves, although levels of personal and business taxation are very high, and with ageing populations they might struggle to maintain such a generous welfare state in the future. Scotland would really strugglke with that at the moment, with such appalingly low health levels that seem impossible to increase substantially.[/quote']

One word - Ireland.

It should be considered that Scotland is suffering because of the incredibly wasteful NHS - we can't scrap the NHS, but it would do us the world of good to do so.

In what way is the Scottish education system better than the English? The poor eductaion up here is one of the main reasons for the bad health' date=' as it is everywhere.[/quote']

Where does your assumption that we have an inferior education system come from? Considering that we do more here at an earlier age, doesn't that suggest that our education system is in fact superior?

[Guest Jake Wifebeater]

Are the Scottish Green Party really pro independence?

The Scottish Socialist Party most certainly are.

[GraemeC]

The Scottish Socialist Party most certainly are.

Tomy Sheridan scares me......

[Cloud]

Tomy Sheridan scares me......

What, because him and Jimmy Calderwood obviously own shares in a chain of tanning salons?

[Alvin Starclusk]

Tomy Sheridan scares me......

Fear not. He's "wacky" in a Monster Raving Loony Party kind of a way.

[pogofish]

The SNP have always been a firmly left wing party although it is true that they have had to accomodate a small right wing element in their midst. When formed, one of the parties that merged to become the SNP was right wing, pro-independance. However, this was by far the smallest of the parties & frankly it barely qualified as one at all.

[Chris]

Are the Scottish Green Party really pro independence?

http://www.scottishgreens.org.uk/site/id/4908/title/Independence_Convention.html

[framheim]

http://www.scottishgreens.org.uk/site/id/4908/title/Independence_Convention.html

well that clears that up o_O

they're pro independence if the people are pro indepencence and they're not nationalists, they're just interested in creating stronger local level democracy.