Nicola Sturgeon vows to start process of second independence referendum

Well forget the argy bargy on this thread, I’m thoroughly enjoying Robert Burns, No Holds Bard on Sky Arts. Did a course on his poetry with Future learn, excellent. I’m English, but love Scotland , distant ancestry and family served in Scotland.

I love Scotland - been a few times, & I love the people. Really hope they stay with us, but if the majority want out then I wish them all the best.

I wonder if I can class that as rabidly anti Scottish rhetoric? ?

Yiayia70

If Scotland gets independence, then they can’t come on our quiz programmes etc, as they will be non British. Always a silver lining ??

What?

As an English daughter of a Scottish mum, I was totally against independence last time round. I’ve read all the comments on this post, including the one we might all wish hadn’t been posted. I was anti Brexit and anti breaking up the Union but I do think if Scots feel so strongly then so be it, Independence must be granted. Maybe it will stop some of the rabidly anti English rhetoric we have had to put up with in recent years, I for one will be glad to see an end to it and a return to more neighbourly relations. I have seen numerous times on this post comments about English people thinking Scotland to be too small, too poor, too stupid, first I’ve ever heard of this but then I don’t spend my days thinking about it so possibly missed it, I’m sure Scotland will be ok if they go their own way and it won’t be my problem if they don’t. I’m much more interested in how the remaining union will fare and I suspect we will be alright too. I cannot quite get my head around all this “400 years ago, this happened” stuff, what relevance does that have to life today? I think that’s a poor argument for change, I am sure there are better ones. Surely we don’t think much of what was happening 400 years ago would actually be preferable to life today.

Well Hadrian's Wall has its birthday today ....might I suggest those who disagree with Scottish independence apply to help re build it !! ////seriously if Scotland does become independent I am moving there .....will be back being part of Europe (if they will have us !)

No one has been brainwashed about being too poor, too wee etc.

Then why, oh why do people completely misunderstand the premise of the Barnett Formula and keep asking us how we'll survive without rUK subsidising us?

A friend once told me I was thinking with my heart, not my head, in 2014. Friendship ended. And be very careful about talking about levels of education and suggesting that maybe those who think differently to you about independence are ill-educated. That would be a mistake.

Has anyone actually visited Nicola Sturgeon's constituency? I have and it was worse than you could ever imagine.
I lived around that area when I was newly married 50 years ago. It was not top drawer but it was decent. I had to visit a medical facility there around 2 pm and was terrified and horrified in equal measure.
I would like the Independence from England. I and several friends had English husbands and they left us with bad impressions of the English.
I do not think we should be part of Europe. Independence should mean that Scotland is a single entity.

Paddyann54
No one has been brainwashed about being too poor, too wee etc. But most of us have been educated to a high standard and taught to weigh things up for ourselves with our head not our hearts. I find it insulting that you even said such a thing. We should be able to have our opinion whether you agree with it or not. Scotland was always previously a fair and free country. Nowadays, sadly, there are a lot of bitter people living here.

Half Scot, and she was voted in on independence- go for if Scotland. Vote and be free

they have been brainwashed for over 300 years that Scotland is too poor etc etc and that the mighty English with such generosity has kept us ,mind you they used us for our brainpower and our manpower in their wars ,

When and it will be WHEN we gain Independence there will be millions in shock when they realise that far from US scrounging off England we've been the mainstay of their economy ...long before oil was discovered and certainly they have bled us dry since ,
Now they've turned their eyes to our renewables and our water .We;; guess what ..none of those will be FREELY available anymore .Scotland pays massive fees to ADD power to the so called national grid when every other producer in the UK who supplies the grid gets paid for it. Such an equal union ,no its not and it has never been .
We would prefer good neighbours rather than bad "masters" for that is what Westminster is .Saor Alba

agree

Lucca
No I was replying to pce612 actually. Never even saw the post by mummer

Aveline

Alegrias have a good time listening to Nicola drone on and on taking up as much time as she can. In the event of any awkward questions you can expect her to snap back with personal comments or than she can't actually recall what she's asked about. The level of 'debate' at Holyrood has plummeted. Donald Dewar and Margo McDonald would be appalled.

What did you think of the bit today where she explained that the statistics organisation had agreed with her characterisation of the comparative infection rates in Scotland and England and that Rennie was being disingenuous in trying to say otherwise?

That was the bit just before Ross started on the "why didn't you do what we told you to" tirade.

Annie1

Since answers are demanded, I will endeavour to provide them.

Where will the money come from? From the taxes we raise. From our sources of income. From all the same places as other countries raise money on which to survive. Becuase we are a country, not a vassal state dependent on somebody else to keep us in the manner to which we have become accustomed.

How long will it take to join the EU? Don't know. But I know how long it will take to start the process of application after independence is achieved. About 20 minutes.

What happens after the Barnett formula money ends? We stop sending our own money down south and living on handouts that we're meant to be grateful for. (This is the same as question 1, BTW)

Can I say this once and then maybe hope that nobody asks it again?

The Barnett Formula is not a lovely donation made by the generous and kind hearted politicians of WM in order to save the poor wee Scots from penury and starvation. We pay our share into the central coffers and get an amount back via the Barnett Formula.

Are the questions valid? Yes? Do we get fed up with people asking the same questions over and over again and then complaining that they don't like what they hear? Oh yes. Most assuredly.

Alegrias have a good time listening to Nicola drone on and on taking up as much time as she can. In the event of any awkward questions you can expect her to snap back with personal comments or than she can't actually recall what she's asked about. The level of 'debate' at Holyrood has plummeted. Donald Dewar and Margo McDonald would be appalled.

Soniah

If she gets Independence I'm moving to Scotland, I love it anyway and am half Scots and yes, I'd welcome a move back to Europe if that became possible, I consider myself European

We’re all European. That’s geography. You can’t do anything about that. We’re not in the EU any more, that’s politics. That can be remedied if the will is there.

Alegrias1,

Answer the questions posed. I support Scotland being independent if that is what the majority want.

But, where will the money to run an independent Scotland come from. And his long will it take to rejoin the EU?

If I was a Scot those are the questions I would ask.

Once the Barnett formula money ends where is your source of finance%?

Don’t you think such questions are valid?

If Scotland gets independence, then they can’t come on our quiz programmes etc, as they will be non British. Always a silver lining ??

Kettle's on Soniah

If she gets Independence I'm moving to Scotland, I love it anyway and am half Scots and yes, I'd welcome a move back to Europe if that became possible, I consider myself European

GrannyGravy13

I would be sad to see Scotland leave the union, but if that is what the majority vote for I hope it is successful for Scotland.

Thank you GrannyGravy. That is a really nice thing to say. As a Scot, who has lived in and has family in both Scotland and England, I respect all the people of the British Isles and would want us all to live decent lives. . I would personally like to have the option of voting for a federal system with a Parliament for England too, so that more issues could be decided by region but we could still have a central government for other issues , perhaps defence and a common currency. I don’t know whether English grannies would want England divided up into Northern England and Southern England perhaps. I do think having a Parliament has been good for Scotland. It has brought energy and discussion of the sort of society we want to live in to our own area in a way that we can own and feel involved in. And voting patterns do seem to show differences in the way people in different regions want to live. Though many English people have chosen to live in Scotland in recent years. My best wishes to all north and south of the border.

Childish, Aveline. Childish.

They didn't call anybody names and they didn't try to make Scotland and the Scots feel small and stupid.

I'm away to listen to Nicola making a sensible report on the state of the pandemic and not try to pretend she went to a party but didn't know it was a party and nobody told her.

Having said that I am not keen on the SNP, I just think they need a bit of a rest after so long in power (by election, repeatedly, as others have pointed out) but we do not have an alternative at the moment. I would still regard Nicola Sturgeon as a better leader and a better communicator than Boris Johnson or any of the possible replacements for him.

Ah. So if they agree with you that's fine Alegrias. I agree with you on many topics but assuredly not on Scottish independence.