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Diabetes UK

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Hope common sense prevails and it's a NO vote.
 
I'd predict a 'No' vote by a majority of 10-15%.

Why? Well, the 'Yes' campaign is strongly emotional and very vocal, with words like, 'traitor', 'bully', 'day of reckoning', 'liars' and the like being bandied around, to the point where I think human nature causes some people to be put off openly declaring their opposition, or even debating the point, in favour of assent with the view of the herd, be it implied, muted or otherwise, when asked if they're voting 'Yes'. That's enough in my mind to skew the opinion polls which, for all their sophisticated methodology, have been spectacularly wrong in the recent past.

If I'm wrong and there is a 'Yes' vote, I'd be very sad but I'd then be pressing for Scotland to get what it's decided it wants - total independence. No pound, no shared Bank of England guarantees, no special treatment from the remainder of the UK and no going back.

As an Englishman (albeit with not-too-distant Scottish and Welsh ancestry) I'm deeply aggrieved that I didn't have a say in the possible dissolution of this union, which will affect my standard of living and that of my children and grandchildren for some years to come and for that I blame the abject weakness of the Westminster Parliament and the mind-boggling selfishness of the Scots leadership. A joint referendum could have incorporated a formula which allowed for the large disparity in population size, with a weighting being agreed (i.e. 1 Scottish vote = 1/x English, Welsh and Northern Irish ones) but no-one chose to explore it, That meant we, south of the border have been totally disenfranchised.

If the English had (say) suddenly decided to unilaterally ditch the Scots as some sort of encumbrance, in a one-sided vote designed to be hugely favourable to English aims, the Scots would have, quite rightly, howled with indignation and I would have supported their view 100%. As it is, if a majority of Scots turn out to care so little about me and mine, why should I do any differently for them?

Hopefully, come Friday the family spat will resolved in favour of unity but, even if it is a 'No' vote, I think that the wounds will not be allowed long to heal. And a small 'No' majority would, I fear, be the worst outcome of all.
 
One good thing if it is a yes vote - we will get rid of all those Scottish MP's that can currently vote in Westminster on matters that only concern England. It would be nice if we could also ban Welsh and NI MP's from voting on those issues. It seems grossly unfair to me that at the moment they can do.
 
Will I still be able to get a haggis if it's a yes vote? Or will I have to get it smuggled down south, will I get a prison sentence if I'm caught?
 
Bluetit1802 said:
One good thing if it is a yes vote - we will get rid of all those Scottish MP's that can currently vote in Westminster on matters that only concern England. It would be nice if we could also ban Welsh and NI MP's from voting on those issues. It seems grossly unfair to me that at the moment they can do.
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I've always wondered why the powers that be gave devolution to Scotland Wales & NI and not the English, but it seems that it's ok to be patriotic about belonging to one of those countries but when we want to be called English we're accused of being racist or little Englanders
 
chris lowe said:
Will I still be able to get a haggis if it's a yes vote? Or will I have to get it smuggled down south, will I get a prison sentence if I'm caught?
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Hmmm, might not be too bad. Lots of carbs in haggis - switch to northern-style black pudding, perhaps?

And there's a whisky distillery that started-up not far from Norwich, a year or two ago. Could be more inclined to give their hooch a try, if things go the wrong way on Thursday ..... :)
 
2131tom said:
Hmmm, might not be too bad. Lots of carbs in haggis - switch to northern-style black pudding, perhaps?

And there's a whisky distillery that started-up not far from Norwich, a year or two ago. Could be more inclined to give their hooch a try, if things go the wrong way on Thursday ..... :)
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For some reason I like haggis but can't stand black pudding. No logic in it I know.
 
chris lowe said:
I've always wondered why the powers that be gave devolution to Scotland Wales & NI and not the English, but it seems that it's ok to be patriotic about belonging to one of those countries but when we want to be called English we're accused of being racist or little Englanders
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the north east of England were offered it and resoundingly rejected it.
 
The English have a big interest in this of course but I wonder if their opinions about independence will be the same in the referendum on "Britain" staying in Europe.

I should think that nice Mr Cameron has to be quite careful what he says about Scotland in case his comments come back to bite him in 2015.
 
I'm surprised it has taken so long for this topic to appear on the forum.

I will be voting No and have always had that opinion from the outset.

Things seemed to be going well in the polls until about 10 days ago when the one in favour of a yes vote appeared and I now think there is a real possibility of that coming about.

I guess the question has to be asked, what are we actually independent from? We're all still on this same rock floating about. We already have our own Police Force, our own justice system, our own education system, our own NHS.

The one thing that the SNP won't tell you is the reason that the Union came about in the first place, Scotland was bankrupt. We've got all these natural resources now though :banghead: can't wait for petrol to be free

The NHS is a really contentious issue up here in the debate. As many of us do, I rely on the NHS, I would not be here without it. I've never been failed with it with regards to my Diabetes and I'm worried that may change in an independent country. We have been failed as a family however as we have been waiting for speech therapy for our 2 year old since March and they are meant to see you within 12 weeks. At the last check we were 12th in the queue.

Its also said that there would be no border controls, but an independent Scotland would have a more relaxed migration controls so there would have to be some sort of border control.

I'm also not a big fan of the stance which has been coming out saying, oh we like that so it'll be the same etc. The Yes campaign have criticised the No campaign of Scaremoungering, but they've been doing exactly the same thing.

Some of the comments above are typical of the comments posted online about the referendum and Scots in general. To be fair, your entitled to your view and I do not blame you. The original idea was for Yes/No/Devo Max. If that was the case there is no question, Yes would not have won. Now the question is effectively Yes/Devo Max.

Sorry if that doesn't make much sense, just a bit of a brain dump and i'll get off my soapbox now.
 
Alasdair said:
the north east of England were offered it and resoundingly rejected it.
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Ah. That was not quite as simple as it appeared to be on the surface , and actually we weren't offered it as such

Signy
.
 
As @dtennant9 says, the union came about because Scotland was bankrupt, and had to be bailed out. Now what would the interest payments be on that loan?
 
Pipp said:
As @dtennant9 says, the union came about because Scotland was bankrupt, and had to be bailed out. Now what would the interest payments be on that loan?
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I think we might be due a fair bit of interest by now!
I'm proud to be Scottish but also proud to be British.
I also think that the vote might not be as close as some of the polls suggest. Up here it is seen as patriotic to say your a Yes voter and your not Scottish if you want to vote No. I think the polls may be a bit skewed, but thats just my opinion and we'll just have to live with the decision come Friday.
Hows the job situation in the North of England, I might be looking after the vote :confused:
 
thats the thing, i have always been proud of my English birth and Welsh and Scotish blood but now I'm feeling like half my family is snubbing me and its making me feel.....well..... anti Scotish if I'm honest,
of course not, i know there are good and bad and everyones doing what they think is right but, its kinda disturbing to even be thinking like that
 
Andy12345 said:
thats the thing, i have always been proud of my English birth and Welsh and Scotish blood but now I'm feeling like half my family is snubbing me and its making me feel.....well..... anti Scotish if I'm honest,
of course not, i know there are good and bad and everyones doing what they think is right but, its kinda disturbing to even be thinking like that
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I can totally see where you are coming from.

Some of the comments on sites like Facebook are worrying. People you have known for years are suddenly in to hard line politics. People, within Scotland, say we'll all be friends again by Friday but I fear for the backlash there may be if there is a No vote.

I quote a comment that was left for me by my best man and a friend of 20 years "..realise you're Scottish, you have common sense and see will be better off so ultimately you vote YES". Thats the kind of thing thats out there, you're not Scottish if you don't vote for independence. Alex Salmond came out last week and said you're only part of Team Scotland if you vote Yes. Quickly changed his mind in the coming days saying we're all part of Team Scotland come Friday.

I'm really surpirsed that Braveheart is not on TV tonight. :banghead:
 
lizdeluz said:
Hi, DiabetesUK,
Not a Scot myself, but as a UK resident of Wales, I'd like a vote in the forthcoming referendum. I hope we stick together, like we do on this forum.:(
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Yes we do stick together , however there is LCHF diet versus the NHS recommendations etc; in this forum.
England and Wales are presently being robbed by there own pockets, Yes or No will not change that..
I think a lot of Scotsman are being nice by saying "I don't know which way to vote" but will vote yes.( and come out the polling station still saying this)
We all know about oil and its wealth, or do we. In Scotland oil is inexhaustible while in England they have started Fracking under many homes in a effort to find wealth.
As @noblehead says, "Hope common sense prevails and it's a NO vote." however it is a Yes from me.:)
 
I don't know what the quality of voters is in Scotland but I was talking to a young Englishman this morning who thought that none of us should be part of the EU. When I asked him why he said that he was fed up with decisions being made for us in Japan. I told him that I didn't think Japan was part of the EU and he said, "Oh no, sorry, I meant Brazil".

We're all going to die.
 
Heathenlass said:
Just think how those of us feel, whose lands are currently bisected by a **** border :rolleyes:

" Whee ! Two steps to the left, I'm in England ! Two steps the right, I'm in Scotland " ooh great fun :D If a yes goes through, both governments are going to have such fun with us . :eek: The Border Rievers live on !

http://www.englandsnortheast.co.uk/BorderReivers.html

Signy
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Do you have the Angel of the North then? Lucky for some!
 
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