Scotland YES or NO

I'm very surprised and sorry to hear that he has done that.

My OH and I are delighted with this result, we had decided that if it was a yes vote we would sell our house in the Hebrides and move back to England . Inverness is much quieter today than it was yesterday

Very sorry to hear of his resignation.
Although the vote went against him I don't think he failed to get his message across.

Good riddance to Salmond. He took his people and the rest of us to the brink of disaster. Cameron should now consider his position for permitting that to happen.

Think that his resignation says more about his desire for power than his desire for Scotland.

Agree Agedp

What puzzled me about this whole thing was that nobody ever pilloried Salmond for being a nationalist. Whereas in England, it's almost a four letter word.

I thought he would have to go. I thought him smug and arrogant. I can't see any reason why DC should consider his position. We don't want any more upheaval between now and next May. Don't want Boris or Redwood. In fact I can't think who I do want. I think the Tories chose the wrong David and David Davis would have been a good leader/PM. He couldn't be accused of being 'posh'.

I assume his place will be take by Nicola Sturgeon who is approachable and personable as well as being a shrewd politician. She should come out from Salmond's shadow.

Interesting maps of how the Scottish regions voted and correlations with demographics

Agedp and petra I completely agree with your posts. Can't abide nationalism.

Is pride in your country allowed? You can have that without narrow jingoism.

I wonder if they will rename themselves? Only Scottish Nationalist Party seems old hat now especially if it is not likely to be voted on for a generation,

Who knows? The next general election will be interesting.

Elegran I agree you can have national pride without jingoism, but what has got to me over the last few years is the way our flag (as a symbol of the nation) has been hijacked by successions of far right parties.

I have a sort of horror now seeing St Georges cross flag hanging out of windows as I just associate it with these far right parties. (Apart from the world cup.)

The English Defence League. The British National party and before them The National Front.
And quite a few more over the years.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_British_far_right_groups_since_1945

Nellie a good post. I am hopeless at explaining myself but your post says it all for me. Our flags have been hijacked in many instances. I watched last night unfolding and am glad we are all still together.

Problem could be as one commentator on bbc this morning pointed out, is that they have woken the sleeping beast of English nationalism.

Well for me, Salmond's resignation says it all. He was apparently more interested in his quest for personal power than the interests of Scotland. Good riddance.

What a pity Cameron bottled it 2 weeks before the vote and promised even more powers of devolution to Scotland. If they're not content with their lot they should have voted yes.

Agedp Yes I find that quite frightening.

petra I agree

Is pride in your country allowed? Elegran, yes of course it is allowed if you are any nationality other than English (according to other nationalities anyway).

In the same way that Salmond played on age old Scottish prejudices, it's worrying that he may have awakened aged old English prejudices. Let's hope Cameron has the wisdom to diffuse this.

I doubt it Agedp, he hasn't demonstrated much 'wisdom' thus far.

The queen shows a lot more humanity in her response than some people on here.

Agreed Durhamjen

Shame that Alex Salmond has resigned, but understand why. He certainly made Westminster sit up and take notice.