philcom55 wrote:On Scottish independence I've a sinking feeling that it will come about this time... and for precisely the same reason that our cricketers did so badly in the current test series: sheer complacency. I don't know how much coverage the subject is receiving in the rest of the world but here in England our politicians seem to be taking the arrogant view that if they ignore the vote it'll simply go away.
To be honest I'd probably vote for independence myself if I lived in Scotland, but as I don't the whole idea fills me with dread since the loss of those parliamentary seats north of the border looks set to condemn the rest of us to all the horrors of a never-ending Tory hegemony.
- Phil Rushton
Just the thought of that makes my skin crawl, but it is a fact that the general public have no real idea how determined this government is to protect the prosperity of the wealthy, and to turn the screw on the poor, and all public services except Education, Health and Pensions. There will also be money for Aid and some Military spending. People know what the cuts will be, £17bn this year, £20bn next year, and £25bn over the two following years, but if they assume that those people receiving welfare payments that are already inadequate for their real needs are no longer to be targeted, they have another think coming. I see an exponential increase in homelessness, poverty, food banks and such, and I wouldn't be surprised to see some insurrection here and there. Miliband and his shadow cabinet will really need to have a whole lot of dry powder stored up their sleeves.
{Note from Andy - I've split the topic so we can discuss it properly here! I've marked the bit Phoenix originally quoted from Phil's post}
I don't think it will come about. I say that from a pro-independence position, mainly because I'm not sure that there will be a big enough turnout. So many people are turned off by politics and politicians. Also, the No side are completely negative and do a lot of scare-mongering. Talking to people about the referendum, I regularly hear that one of the big problems is that nowadays Scotland does not vote Tory and yet we get a Tory government. And then there is the moral side to this, in as much as the government seems to want the poor, sick and deprived to pay the most towards the recovery. All the stuff re. bank bonuses, the rich leaving the U.K. if they are taxed more and the total inability of regulators and Government to control energy companies and transport companies angers many but will that be enough to convince the Scottish portion of those angry voters to vote for independence and the high possibility that Scotland can be made into a more caring, left of centre country?
I have to admit that there are many unanswered questions but we are getting more information from the YES side and, fortunately, less use of scare tactics.
Phoenix wrote:
but it is a fact that the general public have no real idea how determined this government is to protect the prosperity of the wealthy.
I know you have more important things on your mind at the moment Phoenix, but in reply to your comment above It seems incredible if that is the case, and it should read any government.
I'm not sure how you are defining "general public" is it someone that is not a politician, not of royal blood, or the amount of money someone has?
I guess I fall into the general public catergory and I certainly know how they look after their wealthy mates. So where have most of the general public had their heads since 2008? When they saved all their banking buddies when their Fiat monetary Ponzi scheme blew up in their faces instead of letting the people who made the bad bets fail and go to jail they saved them all, surely the general public know that? Iceland at least restored some credibility.
I don't know much about the Scottish independence are they looking to make these people honest as much as they can? At least Mr Farage it seems has called them out how do you solve a debt problem with more debt?
I would hold gold and silver as the feds around the world debase their currencies supporting their wealthy mates with only their word backing it up, Scary stuff! Look out below as the general public as usual will be the last to know, I wouldn't trust them.
Phoenix wrote:Note from Andy - I've split the topic so we can discuss it properly here!
When splitting the topic it was obviously necessary for Andy to reproduce Phil's post in full so that later readers would be able to make sense of the split, but it would have been helpful if he had included the quote from it that I used to preface my post because I had no intention then of commenting on the Scottish Independence issue, nor do I now.
Phoenix wrote:Note from Andy - I've split the topic so we can discuss it properly here!
When splitting the topic it was obviously necessary for Andy to reproduce Phil's post in full so that later readers would be able to make sense of the split, but it would have been helpful if he had included the quote from it that I used to preface my post because I had no intention then of commenting on the Scottish Independence issue, nor do I now.
I have just changed the title from Scottish Independence vote to The Current State of The Nation. Unless anyone can think of a better title, I'll let this one stand for now.
I started to say something sensible but my parents took over my brain!
