The Great Scottish FREEEEEEEEEDOOOMMMMM!!!!1!!! vote

[Ben Kenobi]

Districts that do not have a Catholic Plurality:

Carrickfergus, Newtownabbey, North Down, Castlereagh, Ards, Larne, Ballymena Coleraine, Banbridge and Lisburn. This is the core of Protestant Northern Ireland.

Antrim and Craigavon close to flipping.

Moyle is on the wrong side of the line, while Armagh and Belfast are now Catholic majority.

Carrickfergus is 67 - 8
Ards 65 - 11
North Down 60 - 11
Ballymena 63 - 20
Castlereagh 57 - 20
Newtownabbey 57 - 20
Larne 59 - 22
Coleraine 56- 25
Ballymoney 56- 30
Banbridge 55- 30
Lisburn 47- 33


Antrim - 43 - 38
Craigavon 42 - 42

Repartition is inevitable when you have such a wide divide. Once Antrim flips, the it will be difficult to carve out a contiguous state. It would be in the best interests of Northern Ireland to repartition today with Antrim and Craigavon. If they wait, there won't be a Northern Ireland anymore.

[Imran Siddiqui]

http://www.standard.co.uk/business/business-news/scottish-referendum-bp-and-shell-urge-scotland-to-vote-against-independence-9724063.html

The bosses of oil majors BP and Shell have urged Scotland not to vote for independence, warning that Alex Salmond and his supporters are overestimating remaining North Sea oil reserves.

BP boss Bob Dudley said he backed the estimates of leading oil tycoon Sir Ian Wood, who last month said Scottish Government figures are up to 60% too high.

Uh oh... on the other hand, this is great opportunity for the UK to be rid of Scotland before it becomes a burden again as North Sea Oil runs out

[Dr Strangelove]

That survey is outdated. There is a Catholic plurality now. Majority in all save County Antrim and Down.

The "survey" was the 2011 census. Do you have a more recent comprehensive source?

[Colon™]

http://www.standard.co.uk/business/b...e-9724063.html



Uh oh... on the other hand, this is great opportunity for the UK to be rid of Scotland before it becomes a burden again as North Sea Oil runs out

I'm sort of wondering what the big deal is. It's only 5 million people out of +60 million you know.

[notyoueither]

I'm sort of wondering what the big deal is. It's only 5 million people out of +60 million you know.

They'd have to get new cards printed.

[Dr Strangelove]

Well, there is all that lovely oil they'd be losing.
David Cameron is almost in tears. I wonder if there are plans to fund a Maidan-like protest if "yes" wins.

[Uncle Sparky]

They'd have to get new cards printed.

[Bereta_Eder]

I've got little time for Flemish nationalism. I believe this isn't the first time I'm telling you this so I don't understand why you keep alluding to it.

You've never told me that you were against Flander's independence (that I can remember of). It's pretty obvious that you're not a nationalist too. Is the "cause" of independence solely the property of nationalists? (vlaams blok and the like?)

[dannubis]

Paiktis,

1. I am not nor was I ever member of VB. I never even considered voting for them. It is not because I don't agree with you that I am a nazi/racist.
2. The dissolution of the Belgian state is not my end goal. Promoting efficient use of public finances is. If in Wallonia they don't want to follow on this path of rationalization then they are free to continue on their merry ways alone.

[Bereta_Eder]

Is there something in the water today that has made everyone particularly touchy and hyper-sensitive?
I'd never think that you even considered voting for vlaams blok so why you'd think that it's beyond my comprehension.

[kentonio]

i meant that our, or anyone else's, views on the yes and no campaigns' approaches won't matter after a 'yes' vote. i agree that it's open to debate what will happen in an independent scotland. my view is broadly positive, though i don't really like the SNP or some elements of the yes campaign's petty nationalism, but i'm still optimistic that a smaller state will be more responsive to its citizens' needs and better able to cope with the challenges the future presents. one very positive aspect of the whole independence issue has been the wider political debate it has sparked about the future of scotland and what kind of society people want to live in.

There have been positives coming out of this, peoples engagement with the political process has risen hugely across Scotland and that can only be a good thing. Economically though the signals are horrendous, and that's even in comparison to the troubles we've gone through in the recent past. They have a far higher proportion of the UK's public service workers than the union as a whole does, so that's tens of thousands of potential job loses unless they artificially maintain a massively bloated bureaucracy. Some of the larger financial institutions have to move in the case of independence for regulatory reasons (again potentially tens of thousands of jobs) and lots of the big financial groups are apparently moving money and assets already and enquiring about locations in London. There's no way of proving the latter, it could turn out to be empty threats, but this is stuff coming from people who work in those industries who are scared to death that they are about to be faced with a choice between unemployment or moving their lives south.

How do Scots make that decision without any firm figures and guarantees about their economic security? There's a lot of scared people north of the border right now, and not because of any scaremongering but just because they genuinely have no idea if their lives are about to face massive upheaval in just a weeks time.

[Dauphin]

Some of the larger financial institutions have to move in the case of independence for regulatory reasons (again potentially tens of thousands of jobs) and lots of the big financial groups are apparently moving money and assets already and enquiring about locations in London. There's no way of proving the latter, it could turn out to be empty threats, but this is stuff coming from people who work in those industries who are scared to death that they are about to be faced with a choice between unemployment or moving their lives south.

Brass plating does not move tens of thousands of jobs. The issues, in my opinion, are more around tax takes shifting south rather than around employment and operations moving south. The same financial institutions saying they are moving cash and legal status south also say operations and jobs are not moving. That could change over time, but it is not a short term consequence of a Yes vote.

[Dr Strangelove]

Actually the blue field doesn't come from the Scottish ensign, it comes from the royal navy ensign. The rules of heraldry state that red and blue should not touch each other, so the white separating the red crosses from the blue field should remain.

They ought to take out the red cross of St. Patrick anyway, North Ireland hardly represents an Irish Kingdom.

[ricketyclik]

They ought to take out the red cross of St. Patrick anyway, North Ireland hardly represents an Irish Kingdom.

Maybe not, but a significant portion of the population are original Irish, right? It's only polite to acknowledge them.

[Colon™]

You've never told me that you were against Flander's independence (that I can remember of). It's pretty obvious that you're not a nationalist too. Is the "cause" of independence solely the property of nationalists? (vlaams blok and the like?)

Well, I certainly I never said I'm for independence so why assume that I am?