The Scottish Government

241. simse01 - Gosport

"And i would like to add a point in saying that the people who say that England "rules" Scotland are completely wrong ..."

Whilst I can accept your assertion that their are a number of Scots on the front bench, this does not mean that Scotland is any way an equal partner with England in this Union.

Without wishing to be patronising in anyway it is a basic principle of democracy that majority rules, therefore how can Scotland be an equal partner with her population of 5 million to England population of 60 million?

At Westminster Scotland has 59 MP's, Wales has 40 and England has 529 ... or so, I've been led to believe. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, although it feels about right! It's all very democratic and that's fine, as far as it goes, but it does mean that Scotland and Wales can largely be steamrolled on every and any issue they might disagree with.

regards
Alasdair Martin
http://manaboutthehouse.wordpress.com

"Europe" is not just an "economic Union" as Angus Robertson claims but a "political and economic community with supranational and intergovernmental features" according to Wikipedia.

It formally ceased any pretence at being a trading group with the creation of the European Union in the Maastricht Treaty of 1993.

This replaced the European Economic Community and paves the way for the creation of the United States of Europe

I don't promote violence, its clear that violence is not even a remote possibility here, thank the heavens.
I do read history - in detail. The union of the crowns was not solely decided by James VI/I you know, if the English parliament had n't of wanted it, do you think it would have happened? And look at the reign, after his English coronation he spent how many years in Scotland? I'm don't mean to tweak any Scottish noses by saying this, but the Union has always had Scotland as the junior partner. What I would like to see is three independent nations who perhaps have joint armed forces, so when a war decision needs to be made, all three have to agree. Iraq would not have happened then I feel. Thats a true Union.

Ah Independence - wouldn't it be great to live like the Irish and the Norwegians in our own little tartan utopia? Politicians can make many claims on how life would be, how about some methodical, rational feasibilty studies.
Looking at the many comments on this website it occurs to me that an informed, well presented national debate is required - perhaps the BBC in Govan could actually spend some of my license fee on providing this extremely important social service on primetime TV? And maybe even have input from a representative group of people instead of verbal ping-pong.

The three best reasons for national independence are Identity, Unity, and Independence itself.
Asking for the price tagging of these is to miss the point.
eip_enquiries@yahoo.com

I and my family have always lived in Scotland, as have my parents' families. I have 5 brothers and sisters from the ages of 23 to 36, and all have now left the country to find employment abroad. I would love to stay in this country, but will next year follow their example and emigrate.
The reason is that it is very hard to feel proud of my country as it currently exists, due to the fact that the streets are filthy, the people are unhealthy and unambitious, the public services are poor, and our public bodies are disorganised, bloated and ineffective (I work for the civil service, and see this every day).
I believe many of these problems stem from our lack of national identity - many have a perennial chip on their shoulder about English governance, and seem to use this, unwittingly or not, to justify contributing nothing to our country. In our schools, the cleverer pupils are derided as 'swots', sport is massively undersubscribed and aside from football, openly mocked(I also went to school in England for 5 years and was amazed on my return to find that there was no school athletics or rugby team), and creativity, bizarrely, is seen as a sign of being odd.
Many Scots seem to define themselves as 'salt of the earth' (with the chauvinism and small-mindedness that that entails) compared to our effete southern neighbours, which divests them of any responsibility to take responsibility of our country as it is beyond us. It is about time we were forced to confront the uncomfortable truths, that our 'sick man of Europe' tag is entirely justified, and nothing will do that as effectively as removing the get-out clause of blaming our problems on England.
Don't misunderstand me, I love this country, but our lack of local industry, our lack of civic pride, and our lack of ambition seem like a spit in the face on a daily basis, when I have seen the difference first-hand in Norway, and in Germany. This is a deep-rooted problem, and I believe it can only be confronted by taking the blame ourselves, as an independent country.

As addendum to my last post, I would like to state that while it may be true we would be worse off in the short term through the breakup of the Union, some thought needs to be given to the fact that this debate is about more than money. There are benefits to an independent Scotland that cannot be costed, and I believe that an independent country would lead to a better national identity, which would engender a communal attitude to finding ways to improve our country on our own, without tied assistance - our economy can then develop in the way that best suits Scotland, without such a disparity between the central belt and the rest of the country. In Norway, they have a far greater distribution of population, and I would like to see an independent Scotland supporting this here, helping local industries and communities to return to their more balanced levels, as they were before the clearances. The current unbalanced spread of wealth and population is an artifice created by outside influence - lets bring life back to the countryside.

PM Brown has effectively taken control of the devolution/independence debate.

PM Brown's man is now in charge. His name is David Cairns the minister of state at the Scotland Office. Parachuted in to save Ms Alexander's blushes to announce to the Scottish Labour Youth that contrary to previously expressed views Scotland on its own would not be an economic basket case.

He followed up his speech to labour's youth league by putting his signature to an article in the Guardian(7th Nov) in which he reverts to the 'old labour' tactic, that of exploiting the politics of class. The gloves are coming off!

The sinecure occupied by Mr Cairns is proving a useful conduit through which PM Brown can pull the strings.

to Alasdair Martin, indeed their is a majority of people who are English, as you have so pointed out, but this is one of the reasons why Scotland, Wales and Northarn Ireland and Devolved Assemblys/Parliament, so it is fairer to balence out the Majority Question.

An independent Scotland would be a magnificent thing. It would build a nation that was not only proud, but a nation that has something to be proud of. a so called Celtic lion economy a confident proud Scotland that is actually attractive to multinational companys investment and a nation that can make its own decisions according to the view of the people i need only to point to Trident were you see a Huge proportion of Scottish MPs rebel ageist there party for example Nigel Griffis..... And yet we may have to put up with more NUKES on the river Clyde without the peoples of Scotland's consent

this is just cause to Brake the chain connecting Scotland and England together. for ever