Seil Chat

Innes Newton wrote: I choose to see the positives in what we already have without any need to break it up.

That is not the way your postings come out.

They largely seem to feature the 'too we, too poor, too stupid' meme with a dash of 'too lazy and feckless' thrown in for good measure.

The relentless negativity of 'Better Together' is backfiring rather badly - a realisation that seems to be finally dawning on yourself if not on the leaders of the 'Bitter Together' campaign.

I look forward to reading your upbeat and positive messages on why we should remain in the Union, and am delighted to hear that you are going to stop running Scotland down.

Nick, ask yourself this. Apart from putting a cross against "Yes" what are you personally going to do to make an independent Scotland into a better and fairer country? Be honest. Anything? This is not a dig at you, it applies to the masses, but will you admit that by voting "Yes" you hope and expect someone else will do it for you? Like you do now. I'm the same. I could get off my backside and do something positive, but I choose not to. I accept that as the status quo. So what is different by voting "Yes"? If the "Yesses" get their way there will be a mammoth task and unpredictable future ahead ahead. Have any Yes Campaigners got a clue as to what they face?

As a British person, I'm naturally tolerant of those who make up the United Kingdom. I haven't changed, but I am just tired of and fed up at the wrecklessness of a minority within these Isles who selfishly think of breaking up something that has been a great success for over 300 years and is the envy of so much of the world. As someone who is half Scot I will never run Scotland down but I despair with those within it who do not appreciate all the positives we have and only see the British Parliament and all the institutions of the UK as negative, negative, negative, negative, negative............ It is quite hurtful to a British person the way the Yes Campaign is so negative about our nation that has been so good to us. Unfortunately there are some out there who run our nation down and do not wish to part of it.

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When the campaigning is over, the vote is an overwhelming YES and we live in the first days of a better future then I will continue to run my personal, public and business life according to my own principles of integrity, transparency and consideration for others. What is negative about that, and what more can any man do?

I am certainly too old to get into politics beyond the current campaign, if that is what you are suggesting.

I accept that as an honest and reasonable answer. But given the size of the task and the uncertainty of the future (whereas I note you assume it will be better, with no way of knowing it will) what is going to change if everyone does nothing but abide by their own principles of integrity, transparency and consideration for others? If you want to see change in your lifetime (otherwise what is the point?) politics will not be enough to move Scotland where it dreams it will be. It needs the people, in their masses to have a change of attitude and mobilise into a force to make change. Where are those people? Where are those ideas? Where are those plans?

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The difference between me and you, Innes, is that I see a fundamental difference in the Scottish psyche and in Scottish politics. It is the Scottish people and the politics they choose to put in place that will make Scotland a better place than the UK under Westminster.

This is a matter largely of observation rather than belief.

You may disagree, but quite honestly you don't have much of a window on Scotland from where you are situated.

but quite honestly you don't have much of a window on Scotland from where you are situated

That is a ridiculous thing to say. Especially when you sit in a little quiet, isolated backwater like Balvicar. what makes you window on Scotland so different to mine?

Innes Newton wrote:
what makes you window on Scotland so different to mine?

Living here.

Your 'information' otoh seems to largely come from the right wing English press.

Your 'information' otoh seems to largely come from the right wing English press

No it doesn't. I look at the Telegraph, Herald, Scotsman, Press & Journal and other papers and publications, British, English and Scottish with a significant proportion of pieces on independence written by Scots. Are you as widely read? And most of my immediate and wider family are Scots and live in Scotland.

I sense, despite all your bluster, even you are beginning to have some doubts. So what are the papers saying today:

An independent Scotland will have a referendum to become a republic and remove the Queen as Head of State. I'm sure you're all for that, but many Scots might say, hang on a minute you didn't say that would be part of the plan.

Blackrock, which is based in New York and manages trillions in financial assets, will be sending out its 12-page assessment to clients next week regarding Scottish Independence. The world's biggest investment fund manager has said Scottish independence would bring "major uncertainties, costs and risks". Blackrock's assessment was that those risks would be "mostly for Scotland, but also for the remaining UK".

The SNP cannot dismiss this as they have every other warning from experts, employers and economists”
It said a currency union between an independent Scotland and the rest of the UK "looks infeasible" and would "bring risks to both countries".The asset managers believed the "best of the few choices" Scotland had would be to launch its own currency.
The company said oil and gas were critical to Scotland's finances but fiscal spending based on specific oil revenue projections was "uncertain and probably unwise".It reported that banks and insurers would face pressure to move headquarters to a "stronger fiscal state with a more certain regulatory backdrop". The company said oil and gas were critical to Scotland's finances but fiscal spending based on specific oil revenue projections was "uncertain and probably unwise".

He added: "The SNP cannot dismiss this as they have every other warning from experts, employers and economists.

"Being part of the UK means lower costs, more jobs and better opportunities for future generations. Losing the pound means losing the strength, stability and security of the UK economy"

I saw diesel at 134.9p per gallon today. North Sea Oil revenues must be tumbling.

Innes Newton wrote:I saw diesel at 134.9p per gallon today. North Sea Oil revenues must be tumbling.

There is no discernable relationship between fuel prices and North Sea tax receipts.

Brent crude remains consistently above 100 dollars.

Innes Newton wrote:An independent Scotland will have a referendum to become a republic and remove the Queen as Head of State.

Oh really? According to whose crystal ball?

Only if the SSP come to power I suspect.

And if they are elected on that platform then it will be the democratic will of the Scottish people.

You aren't really very keen on democracy are you?

Innes Newton wrote:No it doesn't. I look at the Telegraph, Herald, Scotsman, Press & Journal

I rather liked yesterday's Sunday herald cover.



And even the very pro Union Scotland on Sunday had the #Double Blow for UK' headline on its front page yesterday, with the story about the new ICM poll it commissioned.

So you're saying the press is honest and balanced and not biased now are you? Or are you sticking with, "You shouldn't believe anything you read in those papers"? That's the trouble with the Yes Campaign, you want to cherry pick the good bits, but ignore what you don't like. The reality is that Life is full of compromises, and for all the blind promises of Scottish Independence there are some ugly truths they ought to accept. And if they would only face up to reality, and stop whinging, "He's got this, He's got that" and accept that in the UK we have far, far more to be grateful for than most others. Should there be a yes vote in less than 6 months I think it would give most Scots one hell of a reality check. You've got to be very careful what you wish for, in the knowledge that the vast majority of those who would vote Yes are going to do absolutely nothing to make Scotland a better and fairer country.

What are you? Some Communist supporting Putin? Do you agree with Vladimir annexing Crimea?

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Elaine Rodger wrote:I know nothing, I'm from Balvicar.

[youtube]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=YitVQuOBuLc[/youtube]

Innes Newton wrote:So you're saying the press is honest and balanced and not biased now are you?

I'm saying the worms are turning.

Excellent, so now you can trust a Scottish newspaper.

Todays' news in the Scotsman:

THE Yes campaign’s momentum in the polls has suffered a blow, with a new survey showing only 28 per cent of Scots back independence.

The TNS UK results are well down on a weekend poll in Scotland on Sunday, which put support for Yes at 39 per cent.

The latest poll suggests 30 per cent of Scots remain undecided, while 42 per cent intend to vote No. The results are broadly unchanged from the last TNS poll in January.

http://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/t ... -1-3352264

11% difference in two polls published in the same newspaper two days apart.

I think that says opinion polls on this subject are a bit of a joke.

Did you know that the TNS poll was actually taken prior to the ICM poll, though its results were published later?