tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35490153.post2421638948428053619..comments2023-05-01T16:14:04.382+01:00Comments on Scots and Independent: Decline and FallRichard Thomsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00380671811598211337noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35490153.post-61079561982038477572010-11-11T22:57:00.030+00:002010-11-11T22:57:00.030+00:00Raggedy-arse:
I think you're right about how ...Raggedy-arse:<br /><br />I think you're right about how the Scotish Government is perceived - or not - south of the border. It was illuminating for me to spend the first year of the SNP being in power living in London and working in Westminster, just to be able to see how ithers see us.<br /><br />'Playing by the rules' has confounded the tricks of quite a few knaves over the past three and a half years. Time will tell whether the SNP gets any kudos from the moderate masses in Scotland for having done so.<br /><br />Regards,<br /><br />RichardRichard Thomsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00380671811598211337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35490153.post-45431370544851957372010-11-11T22:41:35.169+00:002010-11-11T22:41:35.169+00:00So tell me Richard - where exactly would be the Sc...<i>So tell me Richard - where exactly would be the Scottish economy be if we had to bail out the two Scottish Banks - 2 of the worst 5 banks in the whole world that are located in Edinburgh?</i><br /><br />Probably in much the same place as it is right now. The consequences of either bank failing wouldn't have been confined to the borders of Scotland, even if we had been independent and handled the regulation over the previous decade as poorly as Gordon Brown.<br /><br /><i>And Richard - are you seriously suggesting Scotland will have the defence budget of the Uk to keep all the current bases open plus retain the MOD shipbuilding capacity here in Scotland?</i><br /><br />I'm not suggesting - I'm stating it as fact.<br /><br />If Scotland were to receive a pro-rata share of defence spending, somewhere in the region of an additional £4.5bn would be being spent in Scotland over and above existing defence spending levels. Now, I'm sure an independent Scotland wouldn't wish to spend the defence budget in exactly the same way as the present or previous governments, but the fact remains that an independent Scotland could spend every pound currently being spent in Scotland on defence and a whole lot more besides, if it so chose. <br /><br />Shipbuilding is an interesting one. It seems to escape a lot of people's attention that yards on the Clyde and at Rosyth are owned by BAe and Babcock/VT respectively - defence multinationals in other words. Without access to these Scottish based yards, the UK would lack the capacity to meet even its - admittedly diminished these days - requirements for surface ships.<br /><br />Now, I suppose it's possible that a UK government could, in a fit of pique, decide to punish Scottish workers by placing future contracts elsewhere, but given the difficulty of replicating that capacity elsewhere and given the damage that giving orders to overseas yards would cause to those British companies (and the pension funds that invest so heavily in their activities), I suspect it's unlikely.<br /><br /><i>Please get real young man before the sense of illusion changes to some nonsense of reality in your head.</i><br /><br />You puzzle me sometimes, Galen. If 'getting real' means coming round to your particular view of the world, you don't seem to have much of a knack for finding language likely to convert.Richard Thomsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00380671811598211337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35490153.post-54490969301042725442010-11-10T22:28:13.669+00:002010-11-10T22:28:13.669+00:00And Richard - are you seriously suggesting Scotlan...And Richard - are you seriously suggesting Scotland will have the defence budget of the Uk to keep all the current bases open plus retain the MOD shipbuilding capacity here in Scotland?<br />Please get real young man before the sense of illusion changes to some nonsense of reality in your head.<br />sincerely<br />GalenLiberal for Lifehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07867086515136782140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35490153.post-79083143823167794012010-11-10T22:23:10.624+00:002010-11-10T22:23:10.624+00:00So tell me Richard - where exactly would be the Sc...So tell me Richard - where exactly would be the Scottish economy be if we had to bail out the two Scottish Banks - 2 of the worst 5 banks in the whole world that are located in Edinburgh?Liberal for Lifehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07867086515136782140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35490153.post-84987473096617646782010-11-09T20:37:27.199+00:002010-11-09T20:37:27.199+00:00Might argue with some details as to cause but not ...Might argue with some details as to cause but not with conclusions.<br /><br />Problem is, as a Scot and supporter of independence living in England the responsible manner adopted by the SNP in governance has been at best ignored, or, more usually, tweaked towards parochial absurdity by the media deserving nothing more than to be ignored.<br /><br />To counter this inequality of arms that responsible approach is seen as being bogged down by political nuances in Scotland while being brought to a dead stop on the political buffers of Westminster.<br /><br />Why fight under their rules? You have after all's said and done a nation to save for true democracy.Crinkly & Ragged Arsed Philosophershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09230294511455500220noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35490153.post-90246195762401088842010-10-27T14:36:34.472+01:002010-10-27T14:36:34.472+01:00Cheers, Tris.Cheers, Tris.Richard Thomsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00380671811598211337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35490153.post-91888874912435880962010-10-26T23:49:41.969+01:002010-10-26T23:49:41.969+01:00Impressive post. Agreed on every point.Impressive post. Agreed on every point.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35490153.post-39805388091204412732010-10-26T12:32:07.181+01:002010-10-26T12:32:07.181+01:00It still needs a majority, certainly. The point is...It still needs a majority, certainly. The point is that with the traditional case for union being left so threadbare, the conditions are perhaps there as they have never been before - certainly in my lifetime - for that challenge to come.Richard Thomsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00380671811598211337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35490153.post-44020087725703061042010-10-26T12:11:55.089+01:002010-10-26T12:11:55.089+01:00Surely it would require all of these people to hav...Surely it would require all of these people to have become disillusioned to mount a serious challenge.LED signshttp://www.advantageledsigns.comnoreply@blogger.com