Scotland YES or NO

A YES vote will not be a vote for Alex Salmond,he just happens to be First Minister at present,not all YES voters are SNP supporters,just saying

soop Every time his annoying face and irritating voice appear on our TV we have to switch over. Recently we`ve seen a fair few back episodes of the Simpsons on channel 4 for about 15 mins at 6 o`clock then switch back for the rest of the news. Amazingly there`s other stuff going on in the world. Who`d have thought it?!

HollyDaze- what next then. Shall we all split up into individual regions- Counties even. Will the NE stand well on its own and be best served that way, for instance? Or the SW for that matter? If France does the same, and Italy and Germany, etc- what chaos will it bring?

Must say I am a totally unashamed European- yes, we need to deal with the excesses- but Europe is much stronger vis à vis the US and the rest of the world when working together.

Thanks for putting a smile on my face. Roll on Thursday. I'm sick of the sight of the man. He makes my skin crawl. Just sayin'

Doesn't the queen own Balmoral as a private residence? Wee Eck would find it hard to move in there. I am sure he will after Holyrood anyway - handy for the office just across the road.

On a lighter note; if there is a yes vote, will Alex Salmond's new address be Balmoral?

FlicketyB I have always thought the same as you regarding Scottish independence.If the majority of the people there want it so badly then they must put aside all thoughts of anything else and just 'go for it'.It's up to their government there to make things go well in the future, and there will be uncertain times ahead, but if they want it enough it will be worth it.
I liken this problem to the tv programme Home Or Away? How can you choose a home abroad just because it gives you more space and a bigger garden?You have to really want to live abroad to go ahead and do it.If you want something enough, it will be worth the uncertainty and a few privations.

The Queen had no intention of making a public statement - she was indeed making "small talk" with a member of the public. Her words saying that she hopes people will think very carefully before voting are very sensible, and don't show a preference for one side or the other.

Why?

we may well need each other in the future

I'm sure that should the need arise, we would still defend one another

Isn't the reason for the referendum that many Scottish people do not feel that Great Britain works well for them?

Yes, it is and their nationalists have jumped on the bandwagon the same way that ours do and it puts the wrong emphasis on the debates. If the Scottish people feel they will be better off, it is for them to decide.

The same in many areas of England, I agree, but we do not yet have the chance to vote.

I think that is part of the problem for the rest of the UK - they don't have the chance of 'divorcing' themselves from successive governments that seem to care little about anything other than big business so there will be a bit of envy as well that the Scots are in a position to be able to do something about it.

How dare Salmond dismiss the Queen's words yesterday as just 'small talk'. He really is a most despicable little man!

I'm no royalist but that rankled me too. I suspect 'someone' is getting a little too big for his britches!

You can say that again papaoscar! I for one shall be glad when this is all over. I dread to think that in the event of a YES vote what lies will be exposed by the SNP. but of course there will be an election before long and no doubt the Labour Party will be left to pick up the bits and cobble up some sort of agreement with the UK while the SNP and their cronies sail off into the blue beyond having taken good care to make sure they have a 'blue beyond' to sail to!!

Yes, papaoscar I think so too.

How dare Salmond dismiss the Queen's words yesterday as just 'small talk'. He really is a most despicable little man!

Isn't the reason for the referendum that many Scottish people do not feel that Great Britain works well for them? The same in many areas of England, I agree, but we do not yet have the chance to vote.

Indeed Carolyn- and now the Welsh are a-stirring. Divided we will never stand, nor win. Tragic.

We were in France on holiday recently and as we always do, went to pay our respects at the beautifully kept British War cemetery.

There are 12 unknown soldiers' graves ("Known unto God" - that always moves me) and some Duke of Wellingtons' and several from Scottish regiments. About 30 in all, on the outskirts of the small village, lying together in death, as they had fought together in battle. How unutterably sad to think that now, 70 years later the United Kingdom is being threatened again, this time from those within.

I look around the world and see what a mess it's in and I can't help feeling that separatism is a potentially dangerous step. Despite the ups and downs Great Britain has worked well for the last 100 years or so - and who knows what we're in for over the next 100. If it aint broke, don't fix it, is my motto! Our links are strong and we may well need each other in the future. (hope the smiley works, it's the first time I've used it!)

I can assure you that care of the elderly in Scotland is NOT free. I know for certain because my mother had to pay as had my friend's mother-in-law.

NigglyNellie Paying for the care of the Elderly out of the total budget, not extra to it was a choice made by the Scottish parliament. It is not costing British taxpayers any more than if it were not being paid for. The same choice could have been made for England/Wales.

There is a block grant, assessed by the Barnet Formula, and how it is spent is a Scottish decision.

I didn't mean that Scotland would literally starve, and I should have put my comments in inverted comma's as a figure of speech. Citing 'Braveheart' as a reason for voting for independence does seem somewhat short-sighted. the sad thing about this whole campaign is that old hostilities and resentments on both sides that we all thought were behind us years ago have now resurfaced, and will be difficult to resolve which ever side wins. The issue of the Scottish MP's voting on some purely English affairs has certainly surfaced and in the advent of a NO vote will cause a row and need addressing. Of course politicians renege on promises, and may well do so again, on both sides of this fence. I spent most of my working life caring for the elderly, both in residential homes and in the community, and it does seem hard that in the rest of the UK the cost to the individual is means tested, making sure that most people pay dearly for the help they get, a lot of the time refusing care because of the cost, and yet in Scotland it is free - That and other things are beginning to cause resentment elsewhere in the UK, so perhaps a YES vote would be better as at least we wouldn't be subsidising free services that we in the rest of the UK have to pay for.

I'm English & living in Scotland. My children live here with their families & they both have jobs here.

However we will all be glad when Thursday has come & gone as it just seems to have stirred up a lot of anti English comments.

My daughter in particular has found this as she works in a large supermarket & although she keeps her opinions on the referendum to herself, she keeps getting jibes on the fact that she's English & bound to side with "that lot down there". She's being made to feel like the enemy!

People are actually citing "Braveheart" as a reason to vote yes!

Apparently at the moment Scotland controls 70% of its spending but only 16% of its revenues. That needs to change.

But does 'devolved' mean something different to operating in a foreign country?
Scotland has devolution but not independence as yet.