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News & politics

Scotland YES or NO

(999 Posts)
annodomini Mon 05-May-14 22:43:27

Here's an interesting blog by Jon Snow. He says what I have been saying - that Westminster politicians just don't understand the Scots and that the NO campaign is focusing almost entirely on negatives.

durhamjen Sun 14-Sept-14 00:03:15

I love the one of Alex Salmond with the little girl.

Granny23 Sat 13-Sept-14 23:34:41

In the interests of balance:
Here are a few of the 100s of pictures and videos posted on facebook today from around the country
You will not have seen any sign of these or any of the other YES campaign activities on the BBC, who chose instead to give coverage to the Orange Order March in Edinburgh in support of the Better Together Campaign.

Cardiff
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10203950239449096&set=pcb.10203950240249116&type=1&permPage=1

Not sure where?
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=294853160702336&set=a.190639011123752.1073741828.100005329621310&type=1

Inverness
https://www.facebook.com/533919023290523/photos/a.645863425429415.1073741827.533919023290523/938500406165714/?type=1

Dumfries
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10203950238809080&set=pcb.10203950240249116&type=1

Buchannan Street, Glasgow
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10202580367654912&set=gm.320644634783680&type=1

Dundee
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10152372826592496&fref=nf

If the links don't work try Control + click on them

durhamjen Sat 13-Sept-14 22:35:49

Nothing like a good bit of William Blake to stir the soul.

papaoscar Sat 13-Sept-14 22:30:10

Not quite so, G23, no duty is paid on exported whisky, so it wouldn't matter which port it is exported from. Presumably whisky for domestic consumption is still duty-paid ex-bond in Scotland, but I've lost track of all that, and it wouldn't surprise me what slippery accounting tricks our politicians have got up to in the meantime. I remember that anyway excise duties used only to be a fraction of what VAT, income and corporation tax brought in.

durhamjen Sat 13-Sept-14 22:26:40

That's interesting, Granny23. So the No brigade want to keep the tax from Scotland's whisky. I bet that's quite a lot.

A Finnish conductor from a more equal society. I bet there are a lot more like him at home, because their education system is better than the English one. I speak from somewhere in the middle of six generations of teachers and as the mother of a head of music.

papaoscar Sat 13-Sept-14 22:16:26

Very, very good, dj,and the Finnish conductor is also doing a very good job.

Galen Sat 13-Sept-14 22:15:10

There's a welsh whisky as well. I've heard it's very good.
If the scots vote yes, perhaps we could boycott their whisky and drink welsh instead? Thereby giving a boost to one of our other Celtic partners?

durhamjen Sat 13-Sept-14 22:10:45

Papaoscar, hasn't Roderick Williams got a fantastic voice?

Granny23 Sat 13-Sept-14 22:04:29

Another wee interesting snippet of information: A few years ago the UK government changed the point at which excise duty was levied on whisky from 'when it left the Bond' to 'when it left the country'. This meant that the vast revenue was no longer credited exclusively to figures for Scottish income generated, but instead credited to England as the Whisky is mainly exported via English Ports. Another wee dodge to fiddle the figures, just like Tony Blair's overnight shifting northwards of the sea boundary between Scottish and English waters immediately after the Devolution referendum was won, such that a chunk of gas and oil fields were suddenly in England. hmm

papaoscar Sat 13-Sept-14 21:59:27

Apart from Irish whiskey, I have seen English, Japanese, French, and many other versions of the golden elixir but haven't tried them all yet by any means. I think it would need a deeper pocket than mine to do so!

durhamjen Sat 13-Sept-14 21:45:57

My dad used to be a tours driver and visited lots of distilleries in Scotland. At the end of each season he used to be given lots of single malts. They would last him all winter, until we got old enough to drink it with him.

rosequartz Sat 13-Sept-14 21:44:44

You pay to get into Wales, dj. £6.40 and due to go up again in January because of the agreement they have with the company which 'runs' it.
The nearest decent shops are in England, a stone's throw away!

I knows that, Granny23, that's what makes it more galling.
Not good for business either, or the many people who live one side of the bridge and work the other side.

Will investigate the English Whisky Co. on behalf of DH, thankyou Nfk

papaoscar Sat 13-Sept-14 21:42:45

Yes, whisky is certainly Scotland's great contribution to the cause of worldwide inebriation. Fine though the golden product of the highland pot-still is, it should be remembered that it is blended with vast quantities of grain whisky for mass consumption, much like the SNP conceals its real objectives in a sea of spin and bile. By the way, the Archers, former repository of the Tory party at play in the English countryside has now been elevated to the dizzy heights of a radio soap with all aspects of modern-day muggery and thuggery covered. Not unlike our political process, one might say. Just getting ready for Land of Hope and Glory, Rule Britannia and Jerusalem at the Albert Hall tonight on BBC1. Brace yourself, Edinburgh!

Granny23 Sat 13-Sept-14 21:40:10

Just to make you more jealous the Scottish Government has abolished tolls on all the bridges including the Forth Road Bridge and the Skye Bridge.

NfkDumpling Sat 13-Sept-14 21:39:47

The very good Engish Whisky Company is on standby Rose !

durhamjen Sat 13-Sept-14 21:34:01

I cannot remember which way you pay. Is it to get out of Wales or to get out of England? My brother-in-law lives in Chepstow.
I always try to avoid the Tyne Tunnel and the Humber Bridge. They are quite expensive too.

rosequartz Sat 13-Sept-14 20:59:57

Relief dj (for DH anyway, I don't drink it, but just wondering if papa does?)

I doubt any discounts will be given; we who live in Wales would like a discount to cross the Severn Bridges but it just goes up and up .....

durhamjen Sat 13-Sept-14 20:57:22

Are people just over the border who really want to join given special discount?

I would be incredibly surprised if they did that, rose. I think about 80% of Scottish exports are to the rest of the UK.

Papaoscar, is Linda organising the pantomime already? Haven't listened to The Archers for ages, not since I realised that all the youngsters sounded the same.

rosequartz Sat 13-Sept-14 20:49:15

That's another thought - they could put an extra import duty on whisky if Scotland gain independence.

I won't mention it to DH just yet.

durhamjen Sat 13-Sept-14 20:46:16

Have you been at the whisky, papaoscar?

papaoscar Sat 13-Sept-14 20:01:25

So, old wounds are being ripped open and ancient animosities revived. Sectarianism and prejudice are rearing their ugly heads again. Intimidation and bigotry are back roaming the streets. Great past achievements have been swept away and replaced by spin, exaggeration and blatant lies. Children are being used as no more than metaphorical canon-fodder. Strutting, squawking, foul-mouthed turkeys are blindly rushing towards Christmes. I really must stop listening to the Archers!

dodiegale1 Sat 13-Sept-14 17:37:17

Think we need to redress the balance a bit here, Girls! How about this one?

www.economist.com/news/leaders/21616957-ditching-union-would-be-mistake-scotland-and-tragedy-country-it-leaves

Also I notice that Alex's new best friend, Rupert Murdoch, has landed in Scotland to gauge the mood of the country...

durhamjen Sat 13-Sept-14 16:27:20

For those who think that if Scotland says yes, there will always be a Conservative government in England, take heart.

https://fullfact.org/scotland/permanent_conservative_majority_scottish_independence-35134

Jane10, what's the anti No lobby? Do you mean the Yes lobby?

durhamjen Sat 13-Sept-14 16:20:18

I like that article, Granny 23. The Yes Clacks sounds like a game kids play.

Granny23 Sat 13-Sept-14 16:03:31

And this yesterday from the (fairly) impartial Financial Times, reporting from Alloa, my nearest small town.

www.ft.com/cms/s/2/e01fafd0-3a64-11e4-bd08-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3D9SkF3kN