Scottish independence

[Cort Haus]

I don't think there'd be much point in NI staying in a Britain without Scotland. The loyalists are mainly of Scottish descent. England means nothing to them. Perhaps they'd officially become part of Scotland. Sounds an excellent idea, tbh.

[MOBIUS]

I'd vote for that!

[Dauphin]

I don't think there'd be much point in NI staying in a Britain without Scotland. The loyalists are mainly of Scottish descent. England means nothing to them. Perhaps they'd officially become part of Scotland. Sounds an excellent idea, tbh.

I suggested that on Poly about 5 years ago.

GP then started blathering on about Cromwell and such....

[OneFootInTheGrave]

Look at the GNP rather than GDP and the picture isn't so rosy.

Ireland's economy is currently ****ed. Even worse than ours. NI is improving all the time. It has a legacy of The Troubles, restricting external investment in the region which is being turned around.

There's no way we'd allow Scotland to keep all the oil. I don't think it follows that they could replicate 1990s Irish economic policy and guarantee the same levels of success.

no guarantee, but I would thing that the odds are better than staying tied to London...

Irish ecomony being in worse state than UK one is true at the moment, but they are starting off from a lot better position so that their "worse" is still better than current UK... not to mention NI one

The Scottish Nationalists big plan was to use Scotland's banking base as the launchpad to turn the nation into a financial powerhouse, like Iceland.

They had a lucky escape.

If they were independent since WWII - yes, but last few years would not have been enough to get that deep into trouble... not to mention the oil which would help a lot more spread out on 4 mil people over there than another 55 in other parts of UK, even if they only got a portion... I am pretty convinced that Scotland would have been better off alone than in the Union.

[Dauphin]

Yes, but at the moment it's still 15m barrels a day, even when that drops to 10m in 10 years it's significant. Scottish independence in 20 years.

Your figure is twice what I said.

And you may also want to see how much tax revenue that generates a year. Granted, not a kick in the teeth, but not that spectacular when compared to the deficit.

[MikeH]

We are at 1/2 peak now. You said it'd drop to 1/3 of peak. If half peak is 15, 1/3 of peak is 10.

[Dauphin]

I did. And I lied.

[bc1871]

Scotland will never achieve independence, since it’s as integral to the United Kingdom as England, Northern Ireland or God forbid Wales or Cornwall.

[Dauphin]

Disband the Union then.

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

If they were independent since WWII - yes, but last few years would not have been enough to get that deep into trouble...

HBOS managed it in 7 years.

[Hauldren Collider]

Scotland seceding from England to me seems kind of silly. Are there really such stark differences between England and Scotland? The island's not even as big as many US states.

[Dauphin]

Scotland seceding from England to me seems kind of silly. Are there really such stark differences between England and Scotland? The island's not even as big as many US states.

Of course it seems silly. I think Texas seceding from California is as equally silly a notion.

[Hauldren Collider]

Of course it seems silly. I think Texas seceding from California is as equally silly a notion.

I meant Scotland seceding from the UK, which I'm sure you understood. AFAIK, around here England is pretty much synonymous with the UK.

[Dauphin]

I meant Scotland seceding from the UK, which I'm sure you understood. AFAIK, around here England is pretty much synonymous with the UK.

Around here it isn't even close to an interchangeable expression. And may explain why you don't understand the finer points of the Scottish independence movement.

[Hauldren Collider]

It would appear to me that England is by far the dominant player in the UK equation, hence the equivalency of the UK and England.