Scottish Independence

[Rollo]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8386031.stm
Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond has pledged to put forward a referendum bill on Scottish independence. The minority SNP administration currently does not have enough support to pass such a bill as Labour, the Tories and the Lib Dems all oppose the plan.
The announcement came as part of a white paper on Scotland's constitutional future.

The way I understand this, the SNP and specifically Alex Salmond are basically trying to stir up some sort of nationalism in the hope of creating a name for themselves.

I would have thought that the biggest issues in Scottish politics would have been mainly to do with economic and employment issues; if that's the case would the SNP have any idea how to address those?

It all seems truly pointless to me.

[Brown, Jon Brow]

One thing I want to know

Scotland has its own government
Wales as its own assembly
Northern Ireland has its own Assembly
Britain has a government

But what about England?

I'm all for keeping the United Kingdom united. I always get worked up when I hear Scots and English claiming that they are not British, they are Scottish/English. Unless you are over 302 years old then I'm afraid you are British!

[Mark]

The way I see it, I can't see any reason for Scotland not to be an independent country. They have everything a soverign state needs, with the possible issue of how to divide up the military.

[Brown, Jon Brow]

The way I see it, I can't see any reason for Scotland not to be an independent country. They have everything a soverign state needs, with the possible issue of how to divide up the military.

Has everything a sovereign nation needs? Does this include huge loans from The Bank of England to help keep Scottish banks afloat?

[Mark]

Has everything a sovereign nation needs? Does this include huge loans from The Bank of England to help keep Scottish banks afloat?

A temporary arrangement and no reason to deny Scottish independence long term. Besides, the banks concerned may have "Scotland" in their title, but they are as much English as they are Scottish.
Indeed it was a bailout from the English treasury which initially brought about the union between Scotland and England.

[V12]

My view, maybe an overly simplistic one - is that if the majority of the Scottish population want independence - good luck to them. If they don't, then keep things as they are. Same for Northern Ireland or any other part of the UK come to think of it. And as far as I know the majority of all home countries currently want to remain part of the UK for the time being, of course I may be wrong.

If they don't have the infrastructure to survive as an independent country, then that's for the people to consider when making their decision.

[DexDexter]

The way I see it, I can't see any reason for Scotland not to be an independent country. They have everything a soverign state needs, with the possible issue of how to divide up the military.

My question is what good would it do to them? I don't get it. There are cases in Europe where "independence" hasn't been so rosy. The Czech and Slovaks went their separate ways a while ago and now one is doing very well and the other is not.

[Brown, Jon Brow]

I just see it as pointless nationalism from the Scots part.

[Sonic]

No, no, no. no. A thousand times NO! Terrible idea, we are the United Kingdom! I can think of no good reason to split.

[Mark]

My question is what good would it do to them? I don't get it. There are cases in Europe where "independence" hasn't been so rosy. The Czech and Slovaks went their separate ways a while ago and now one is doing very well and the other is not.

Because they are a country with their own identity and customs so why shouldn't they be?