The Disunited Kingdom

paddyanne you’re more Scottish than the native born!

You sound more strident about the country than my stepfather and his 90y old cousin.
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So ‘you’ were dragged into it when?

“Scotland subsequently entered into a political union with the Kingdom of England on 1 May 1707 to create the new Kingdom of Great Britain.”

Ah I see paddyanne - a few years before you arrived.

I think that we in England should also have a say in Scottish Independence, it will affect us as well.
Scotland will need the money they currently say they send to England, funding a Navy and Army and Embassies in however many countries won’t be cheap.

But there is another side to the argument: tax receipts have often been higher per head in Scotland, but so has public spending.

Back in 2013 Professor Brian Ashcroft of the University of Strathclyde looked at these experimental figures and found that the extra spending per capita on Scotland cancelled out the extra tax revenue almost exactly over the 32 years covered by the stats.

(Source: Channel 4 News - Fact Check)

I wish people would check their facts before posting on this type of thread. Yes Scotland would be asked to 'work towards joining the Euro'. There are several Countries currently full members of the EU who have been vaguely 'working towards' for years. No one is putting any pressure on them. Also before you can even apply to join the Euro you must have been using your own currency succesfully for (I think it is 3) years. So Scotland would have plenty time to prevaricate and who knows whether the Euro would be a better bet than a post Brexit diminished (with two of its parts cut off) UK Pound Sterling.

The Royle (sic) Navy belongs to and is funded by taxes from all the Nations of the UK. The current Scottish Government's plan is to ban all nuclear weapons from Scotland and use the facilities at Faslane to create a state of the art deep water port.

Scotland is not reliant on oil revenues to balance its budget, Revenue from oil has always gone to Westminster anyway, with little benefit to Scotland (c.f Norway's well invested oil fund) but having vast oil reserves in its waters is an asset which can be used as surety for loans, etc. Meanwhile Scotland is a net exporter of renewable energy, food and clean water.

A whole string of recent opinion polls have shown support for Independence running at between 55 & 58%. When pollsters ask why previous NO voters have changed to YES the top answer is surprisingly NOT because Scots do not want to leave the EU, but rather the abysmal performance, perceived corruption, and focus on the SE of England (while ignoring Scotlands needs),of the Westminster Government. Remember too, that the last time Scots voted in a majority of Conservative MPs was 1955 and yet we have been ruled by a Tory Government, not of our choosing, for years. The Scottish Government (including the Labour MSPs) has just refused to endorse the Brexit Agreement, but it goes ahead anyway. So much for equal partners in a Union, when the 3 smaller partners, even if they all vote together, can be outvoted by the biggest one.

The Scottish Government (including the Labour MSPs) has just refused to endorse the Brexit Agreement, but it goes ahead anyway

I’m not surprised!
Scotland has just 5 million people - half the size of London (who also voted to Remain). Will London break-away?

Marydoll thanks for agreeing that Nicola Sturgeon does a daily Covid briefing, not a party political broadcast. Such a cheap slur.

I suspect London would if it thought it could manage it.
Scotland I think will begin to work towards it. I wouldn't be surprised to see regulations introduced to encourage the return of countries if they were taken out against their own vote

Just because someone is 88 years old doesn’t mean they automatically talk sense.

Doesn’t mean they talk nonsense either.
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My stepfather, his older brother and his cousins all learned Scottish Gaelic at school.

Nicola Sturgeon obviously didn’t. And hasn’t since either. Not even enough to return a Christmas greeting to a fellow SNP colleague. Embarrassing?

“Scottish Gaelic is seen but not heard. From north to south, east to west, Scottish Government policy since the turn of the century has seen the gradual conversion of many road and train station signs to accommodate the ancient language of the Highlands. Thus, from Shetland (historically Norse-speaking) to Glasgow (historically Scots-speaking), it is not uncommon to find oneself confronted with a sign declaring Fàilte! above a romantic and baffling Gaelic-isation of the town in question. Edinburgh becomes Dùn Èideann; Inverness becomes Inbhir Nis. Scotland’s signs are proudly bilingual.

Its people, however, are not.“

(Source:
HOW SCOTTISH GAELIC CAN EUROPEANISE BRITAIN
22 October 2017, by Gavin Dewar)

I think England would save a lot of money and hassle if Ireland and Scotland left and it seems the ones who choose to leave seem to be the ones paying the divorce bill too, apparently!! The UK has paid billions into the EU's (and all its previous aliases) coffers since 1973 and we'll never see any of that again. As an ardent Brexiteer, I wouldn't stop any country from having their independence if the majority voted for it.

Did more Scots vote to Leave the EU than voted for the SNP?

I've heard this but can't find any definitive answer

Also, why do we not all vote on this?

I think the SNP might get their wish if the English were voting as well

TheScottishGovernment'spolicy,Language LearninginScotland: A 1+2 Approach, is aimed at ensuring that every child has the opportunity to learn amodern language(known as L2) from P1 until the end of the broad generaleducation(S3). ... Thepolicyshould be fully implemented across the country by August 2.

Unfortunately, in my experience that didn't include Gaelic.
In my own primary school, I taught French and Italian. Neighbouring schools taught French and German. Pupils also had a taster of Mandarin.

Ah not from me Lucretzia I’d hate Scotland to leave the UK.
We need to love bomb them.

Only thing is some of them would get even more annoyed I suppose.

What to do to keep us united?

Remove EU stickers & slogans in Scotland and plant a few more Union Jacks around the place? Increase (or review) the Barnett formula?

But ... see here:

“Tax revenue generated in Scotland amounts to about £66 billion, including North Sea oil revenue, but it benefits from about £81 billion in public spending. That means Scotland benefits from £15 billion more than it puts in. This is possible because the UK pools and shares resources across the entire country.
www.deliveringforscotland.gov.uk › ...
Public spending - Delivering for Scotland”

Do you understand all the signs in Scottish Gaelic Marydoll?

For the tiny percentage who do, is it an expensive virtual signal?

A very tiny minority it seems.

1.1%
In the 2011 census of Scotland, 57,375 people (1.1% of the Scottish population aged over 3 years old) reported as able to speak Gaelic, 1,275 fewer than in 2001. The highest percentages of Gaelic speakers were in the Outer Hebrides.
en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Scottish_...
Scottish Gaelic - Wikipedia

Nanight. x

Absolutely not, Urmstongran. I don't speak Gaelic and don't know anyone who does!

It took a long time to increase the number of Welsh speakers in Wales, and road signs have played a role in that. It appears to have been pretty successful and I am sure the number of Welsh speakers will increase year after year.

I'm sure Gaelic will follow & will be heard as well as seen. Irish is having a bit of a comeback as well.

Surely a good thing?

Actually I do. My former neighbours were from Barra and I used to hear them arguing in Gaelic.

For Gaelic speakers to increase, it would need to be taught in schools and of course, that needs funding.

I ended up teaching French to every class in the school at one point, because no other teachers had the necessary skills, nor were interested in developing them. When Italian was introduced we had a real problem. Primary teachers are not specialists
So how Gaelic would be developed is anyone's guess.
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That's what they have done in Wales isn't it? Made it compulsory. Also a lot of Welsh language or bilingual schools. Definitely slow but I think Wales shows it can be done and I know there are the same sort of changes for Irish.

I know someone who visited an Irish language school for work and he said he noticed the kids would speak English when the teachers weren't around , but still, they were bilingual.

I am happy that the UK has left the EU but would be very sad to see Scotland, Northern Ireland or Wales leave the union. We have been through much together and there is far more that unites us than divides us.
I would like to see our United Kingdom work together to make our country a success, to mend the divisions and to bury the hatchet (preferably not in each other’s back).
We don’t have to be rich or a super power to be happy but we do have to show respect for each other and some humour wouldn’t go amiss.
Big ask but it is my new year wish.

My children went to Welsh speaking schools but spoke English at home. They haven’t suffered for that but some of the children who speak Welsh both at home and at school have certainly ended up with poor English language skills which has affected their chances of university places and good employment opportunities outside Wales.