Give us a go (Douglas Young)

Well done Douglas keep up the good work.

You may not be convinced by the SNP Sandy, but do you, or anyone else for that matter, find Labour, The Lib Dems, or the Tories any more convincing, especially in Scotland, where one politician famously said that that “there are more Pandas in Scotland than Tory MPS”! Regarding the Scotland / England border, I think you’ll find that the crooks in Westminster already appear to have that one sewn up, having more or less stolen part of Scotland as an “Administration area” back in 1968. This article http://www.electricscotland.com/history/articles/TNBS.pdf makes interesting reading.

Take a lesson from history, as separate kingdoms; Scotland and England have a dark history of tribal warfare on every level. Such feudal, tribal gems as Bannockburn and Sterling Bridge, the massacre at Glencoe and butchery of Culloden. A history steeped in warfare, bloodshed and anguish pre-dating Roman times. Look at the United Kingdom of Great Britain’s achievements, many mistakes, but so many truly evil brutal despots and tyrants vanquished. After standing united and alone, the defeat of Napoleon, the defeat of imperial Austro Germany in 1918, the destruction of Hitler and the fascist horror also ensuring the freedom of the Falklanders from the junta of Galtieri, helping to overthrow of the dictatorship of Sadam, a genocidal murderer, to list just a few. Now look at Salmond’s vision, a tiny feeble defence force, a single air base, and a few coastal protection vessels. No longer a member of NATO, no nuclear deterrent. Now look at the world, Russia, nuclear armed with a very unstable fledgling democrassy, if Putin were to go, what next? Nuclear armed Iran? Argentina is again threatening the Falklanders. Just think what an independent defenceless Scotland could do in the face of these threats. Who would defend Shetland if an imperial new power were to rise in the east? It took just 15 years for a bankrupt Germany to arm and to occupy most of Europe under Hitler. To quote an overused cliché United we stand divided????

Is it not a bit childish to speak about ‘crooks in Westminster’ ? They are the government which governs the whole country and the Government includes Scots MPs as well as MPs from England, Wales and Northern Ireland. I am afraid that when you start to see all of those countries having some kind of dark agenda against Scotland it may be time to have a look at one’s own values ! ?

Lets get democracy into perspective. Any one area in the United Kingdom, say Yorkshire, for example, is in a minority in the House of Commons, the people of Yorkshire do not go about saying ‘its rigged against us’ and we want Devo Max. Incidentally that is my final point. Mr Salmond seems to have claimed Devo Max is a Scot’s right, but no it isn’t Personally I hope if that comes to be an option, then the rest of the UK will say, no we don’t want that . We don’t want somebody on the sidelines sniping at us from up North. We are not having them half in and half out, they vote yes, or no . To which we will say; welcome, or good bye !

Lets get it right yorkshire is not a country its a county of england. We are NOT ENGLISH we are by every bone in our bodies Scottish, our language, our history, our geographical place in the map of the world says Scotland, going back to the period when under the English landlord system in the Highlands they cleared Scottish tenant farmers from the land so they
could make more money by breeding sheep, at the same time the english govenment banned the production of the Tartan as well speaking in our Scots tounge. Why should the cleaver nerds in London do all this? why! to keep the unrully Scottish Clans down of course,
THEY operated the system of Divide and Rule. In America this was also their policy but the when American people saw this, they threw the Tea into Boston Harbour and started the American war with the British for Independance. The wording on the Scroll of the Declaration of Independance came from us. The Scroll of Independance which can be viewed in Edinburgh. Go see it compare it to the American one.

Scotland became part of the United Kingdom after the Act Of Union in 1707 when the act was passed by the Scottish Parliament of the day, which was then merged with the English one to form the Parliament of Great Britain at Westminster. That was the Status Quo until the Last Labour Government granted Devolution to Scotland after a referendum. That referendum posed two questions to the Scottish people.
1: Do you want Scotland to have a devolved parliament?
2: Do you want that parliament to have tax varying powers?
At the time I actually voted no to both questions as I then believed that we were doing OK as it was. However, since devolution, I have had a re-think because the Devolved Assembly have been able to make changes in the way monies are spent within Scotland which have made us the envy of many people in England. We are not being given any more money by Westminster, it is just being spent more wisely and effectively. Eye tests and prescription charges are but two of the changes they have made for the better. Abolition of bridge tolls is another.
Who is to say that Scotland would fail as a nation if we went on to gain independence and let those Edinburgh Politicians run the whole show? The Dominions which gained full independence after the 2nd World War all seem to be doing OK, with the possible exception of Zimbabwe, but we all know why that is!
I referred to “the crooks in Westminster” because such a Parliament is naturally biased towards the country with the greatest population and, subsequently, the most representatives. Any act which would be to the advantage of that country and the disadvantage of the other, would almost certainly be passed with a majority. Hence the situation existing to the North of Berwick upon Tweed. Another act of monetary vandalism came when George Osborne foisted a £2Bn tax levy on the mostly Scottish based Oil Industry in order to fund English projects. I could go on but I’d probably run out of space.
We have our Parliament in Edinburgh now, so why don’t we make full use of it instead of pussyfooting around in Westminster where we are but a voice in the wilderness. There are over 300 Tory MPs alone in Westminster, Plus all the others. The Tories alone outnumber ALL Scots MPs by five to one, and only one of the 59 is a Tory! It’s a wonder we ever get anything done at all!!!

Dave Heaney’s emotional rhetoric doesn’t help his cause. He conveniently ignores the facts of our history. The United Kingdom arose from MERGER of nations in these isles, and they together created the British Empire with Scots proudly playing a prominent role in its formation and administration. So implying that Scotland is akin to a colony of England is ignorant nonsense. Indeed, Scots have always had more than their fair share of roles in Westminster government, often as Prime Minister. Would an Independent Scotland abdicate its international responsibilities that are legacies of that empire, such as, for example, defence of Falkland Islanders (many of Scottish descent) and maintenance of our seat on the UN Security Council?

Colin, free prescriptions and eye tests and road tolls are all sweeteners that are in place to make us want to vote for Salmond’s pipe dream. These charges will be back along with higher income tax lower pensions and other money making taxes if independence comes about.
Colin your assumption that Westminster is naturally biased towards the country with the greatest population will revert to Holyrood being naturally biased to Scotland and the western isles and we in Shetland will Suffer. This is happening now and a perfect example is the ferry situation over the next nine weeks it will worsen if independence comes about. It has been muted in these columns that the reason for this is because we did not vote SNP and listening to Dave Heaney I am beginning to believe it.

Dave Heaney instead of repeating your rhetoric how about answering some of the questions I have posed in my last comments. I doubt you will as you are like Alex Salmond, you are totally ignoring the problems independence will bring with it just to relive the pressure of that enormous chip on your shoulder. Dave no one will prosper in a free and independent Scotland there will be nothing left to build prosperity from. All the rhetoric from you and Salmond is reflected in the word FREE, free from the auld enemy at what ever the cost to Scotland and the Scottish people.

Mr. Heaney, please check your facts before passing comment, otherwise people may accuse you of not being honest. The facts, “The SNP has already announced that an independent Scotland would withdraw from NATO.”
REF;:http://www.scotsman.com/news/letters/advance_warning_on_snp_defence_case_1_2072019 Somewhat at odds with yours “as a small nation we would still contribute to the UN/Nato conventions”. Dave Heaney, are you deliberately misleading or just short on knowledge?

As a new person on this site it, I can see many diff points some are good and some not so good. But I have the right to say I am Scottish and proud of it, over the years political parties have come and gone but the best has yet to come. No matter what some say now is the time to give a Scottish government our full support.

I too agree with Mr Fraser. I am a Scotsman proud to be part of a United Kingdom. I just don’t trust Salmond et al because they can’t/won’t come clean about the economic realities of Independence. More unanswered questions and lack of clarity on Europe, the euro and our defence strategy. I’m not in any way anti Scottish but niether am I anti English which is what I think fuels many peoples view of independence. Finally who do you really think Salmond and is party are doing this for, the people of Scotland or to satisfy their own political and career ambitions. God knows they won’t be held accountable when it goes wrong. Long may the Union last!

Ever since we’ve had a Scottish gov they have done some of the following. Introduced free prescriptions, abolished bridge toll charges, free acc in care homes, Free university tuition
fees, free hospital parking not bad eh?

Yes Mr Heaney, and they’ve done it through devolution within the Union. The best of both worlds! So I repeat what I say above, why break up a successful partnership?

The money that Scotland is given yearly by Westminster is calculated under the Barnett Formula. Before Devolution, this money had to be spent in line with UK wide policy, under the direction of the Scottish office. Since the formation of the Scottish assembly at Holyrood, successive Scottish Parliaments have been able to make changes in the way this money is spent, in order to better suit the needs of the people. These changes have been gradual, and were not all done by Alex Salmond and the SNP.
It is now generally reckoned that the Barnett Formula is out-dated, and that Scotland is actually being given more than should be the case. In fact, some years we receive more than is taken in various taxes from Scotland, and some years, less. This would indicate, to me, that the Tax burden is about right, and that only minor “tweaks” would be needed to make it better suited to the monetary requirements.
The truth of the matter is that the UK as a whole is deep in debt and Scotland must take responsibility for it’s “share”. It would be interesting to know how much of it has actually been spent here!