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politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » YouGov’s IndyRef NO lead grows even though the firm’s tweak

SystemSystem Posts: 11,688
edited August 2014 in General

politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » YouGov’s IndyRef NO lead grows even though the firm’s tweaked its methodology to make it more favourable to YES

There’s a new IndyRef poll out from YouGov – the firm which has generally been showing bigger NO leads and which has been critical of the way some other pollsters have been surveying this election. According to YouGov’s Anthony Wells on UKPR the firm has made adjustments to its approaches.

Read the full story here


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Comments

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    RobDRobD Posts: 58,969
    First!
  • Options
    A very distant second
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    JohnLoonyJohnLoony Posts: 1,790
    A trans-galactically lugubrious third
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    OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 32,003
    Barring a black swan, NO looks a likely winner. Pity it’s descended into a rather puerile row about detail rather than keeping to principles
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    foxinsoxukfoxinsoxuk Posts: 23,548

    Barring a black swan, NO looks a likely winner. Pity it’s descended into a rather puerile row about detail rather than keeping to principles

    The black swan was Salmond in the debate. Who expected him to blow it so badly?

    An unexpectedly good Miliband performance next year could be similar.
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    JackWJackW Posts: 14,787
    FINAL Scottish Referendum McARSE Projection Countdown

    26 hours 26 seconds
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    CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 59,722
    For comedy value there is a heroic Black Knight performance going on over on the blog that shall not be named.....
  • Options
    RobDRobD Posts: 58,969

    For comedy value there is a heroic Black Knight performance going on over on the blog that shall not be named.....

    All polls are Good For Yes™
  • Options

    Barring a black swan, NO looks a likely winner. Pity it’s descended into a rather puerile row about detail rather than keeping to principles

    The black swan was Salmond in the debate. Who expected him to blow it so badly?
    Salmond is great at talking and blustering but, astonishingly, has simply not thought through the implications for currency/EU/defence/financial services/etc. I think all sensible people expected him to blow up in the debate because he just simply does not have answers to the important questions. He's a guru at the machinations of politics and an empty headed lefty numpty at the content. This was wholly predictable. Expect another pummelling in the upcoming debate - maybe this time on EU membership or Faslane job losses or the financial services industry decamping to London.

    BTW I've been away a week. Has MalcolmG's head exploded?
  • Options
    CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 59,722
    Patrick said:

    Barring a black swan, NO looks a likely winner. Pity it’s descended into a rather puerile row about detail rather than keeping to principles

    The black swan was Salmond in the debate. Who expected him to blow it so badly?
    Has MalcolmG's head exploded?
    How could we tell?

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    edmundintokyoedmundintokyo Posts: 17,151

    Barring a black swan, NO looks a likely winner. Pity it’s descended into a rather puerile row about detail rather than keeping to principles

    The normal way for the status quo side to win a referendum is to create puerile rows about detail. This works because they become too obscure and tiresome for the voters to work through, at which point the change side are unable to defeat Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt.
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    CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 59,722

    Barring a black swan, NO looks a likely winner. Pity it’s descended into a rather puerile row about detail rather than keeping to principles

    The normal way for the status quo side to win a referendum is to create puerile rows about detail..
    I wouldn't call currency "detail" or uncertainty over it "puerile". "Major" and "legitimate" would be more accurate perspectives in my view. It simply looks like this has not been thought through.........as has been pointed out for years on this forum...

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    DavidLDavidL Posts: 51,311
    This poll is unfortunately bordering on useless. It simply reflects Yougov's assessment of the position pre-debate which was out of line with most of the others. The minor tweak in their methodology brings them slightly closer to the pack but it appears to be tiny.

    Don't get me wrong, I will be delighted if Yougov are vindicated on the day and we find that the other pollsters are overplaying Yes.

    I suspect that those who are weighting by 2011 voting patterns are probably doing so. In canvassing I have come across too many SNP voters who were voting no for it to be a coincidence. There were lots of reasons for voting SNP in 2011 starting with Iain Gray and most of them had nothing to do with peoples' views on Independence.

    What the poll does show is, if anything, Yes are going backwards. The Ipsos Mori poll on the eve of the debate threatened some forward momentum again. If there was substance to that it does appear to have been stopped by Salmond's performance.

    The target now for BT is not just to win but win sufficiently big to end this.
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    CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 59,722
    John Curtice on the GOTV machine for Yes:

    only 9% of voters say that the Yes Scotland campaign has knocked on their door, which perhaps cast some doubt on the extent of that campaign’s much mentioned focus on person to person contact. although the figure still beats the 5% achieved by Better Together.

    http://blog.whatscotlandthinks.org/2014/08/yougov-yes-vote-remains-steady-but-low/
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    malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 41,997

    Patrick said:

    Barring a black swan, NO looks a likely winner. Pity it’s descended into a rather puerile row about detail rather than keeping to principles

    The black swan was Salmond in the debate. Who expected him to blow it so badly?
    Has MalcolmG's head exploded?
    How could we tell?

    Given how thick and juvenile you sound one wonders.
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    Excluding 'Don't Knows' is the polling consensus not around 60 NO / 40 YES at the moment? Unless this turns into the polling screw up of all time then we're heading for a result that should make the question go away for a long time.

    Scotland is going to move instead onto a debate about the nature and terms of Devomax - and, I hope, so is England. This futile Sindy debate has been killed but so has the continued political acceptability of the West Lothian Question. A more federal UK is coming.
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    malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 41,997
    Patrick said:

    Barring a black swan, NO looks a likely winner. Pity it’s descended into a rather puerile row about detail rather than keeping to principles

    The black swan was Salmond in the debate. Who expected him to blow it so badly?
    Salmond is great at talking and blustering but, astonishingly, has simply not thought through the implications for currency/EU/defence/financial services/etc. I think all sensible people expected him to blow up in the debate because he just simply does not have answers to the important questions. He's a guru at the machinations of politics and an empty headed lefty numpty at the content. This was wholly predictable. Expect another pummelling in the upcoming debate - maybe this time on EU membership or Faslane job losses or the financial services industry decamping to London.

    BTW I've been away a week. Has MalcolmG's head exploded?
    patrick if you had been following you would have seen the dyumb frothers on here peeing their pants whilst humans saw that nothing much happened and we steam ahead BAU.
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    CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 59,722
    DavidL said:

    The target now for BT is not just to win but win sufficiently big to end this.

    Curtice:

    While 80% of Yes voters think the referendum has been ‘interesting’ only 34% of No voters do so. Equally 73% of Yes voters believe the referendum has been ‘good for Scotland’, but just 10% of No voters share their view. Meanwhile, only 34% of Yes voters believe the campaign has gone on too long, whereas 71% of No voters do. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, there appears to be widely held feeling amongst No voters that they should not have had to go through the whole process in the first place, and that – so long as their side wins – they will be glad when it is all over.
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    DavidLDavidL Posts: 51,311
    edited August 2014
    Patrick said:

    Excluding 'Don't Knows' is the polling consensus not around 60 NO / 40 YES at the moment? Unless this turns into the polling screw up of all time then we're heading for a result that should make the question go away for a long time.

    Scotland is going to move instead onto a debate about the nature and terms of Devomax - and, I hope, so is England. This futile Sindy debate has been killed but so has the continued political acceptability of the West Lothian Question. A more federal UK is coming.


    The poll of polls, for what that is worth, is currently sitting on 57:43, a slight (1%) movement to no with only 1 truly post debate poll in. It is still close enough to worry but there is little sign of the kind of surge that Yes need.

    As more powers are devolved to the Scottish Parliament the WLQ does get more acute. The McKay Commission was something of a failure in this respect and some serious work needs to be done to work out how we can have a Labour government of the UK which has a minority in England and arguably should not be able to regulate domestic policy. This is all too likely to be the position after the next election.
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    dugarbandierdugarbandier Posts: 2,596

    Meanwhile, only 34% of Yes voters believe the campaign has gone on too long, whereas 71% of No voters do. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, there appears to be widely held feeling amongst No voters that they should not have had to go through the whole process in the first place, and that – so long as their side wins – they will be glad when it is all over.

    will be interesting to see if that impacts on turnout for the "no" side
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    GadflyGadfly Posts: 1,191
    malcolmg said:

    Patrick said:

    Barring a black swan, NO looks a likely winner. Pity it’s descended into a rather puerile row about detail rather than keeping to principles

    The black swan was Salmond in the debate. Who expected him to blow it so badly?
    Salmond is great at talking and blustering but, astonishingly, has simply not thought through the implications for currency/EU/defence/financial services/etc. I think all sensible people expected him to blow up in the debate because he just simply does not have answers to the important questions. He's a guru at the machinations of politics and an empty headed lefty numpty at the content. This was wholly predictable. Expect another pummelling in the upcoming debate - maybe this time on EU membership or Faslane job losses or the financial services industry decamping to London.

    BTW I've been away a week. Has MalcolmG's head exploded?
    we steam ahead BAU.
    As per Captain Edward John Smith ;-)

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    HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 117,028
    edited August 2014
    dugarbandier Unlikely, No voters will probably turn up and vote just to shut Salmond up

    On WLQ Redwood is sensibly proposing days when English domestic legislation is voted on by only English MPs and if the Government of the day has to adjust legislation to ensure it gets an English majority, so be it
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    DavidLDavidL Posts: 51,311
    HYUFD said:

    dugarbandier Unlikely, No voters will probably turn up and vote just to shut Salmond up

    On WLQ Redwood is sensibly proposing days when English domestic legislation is voted on by only English MPs and if the Government of the day has to adjust legislation to ensure it gets an English majority, so be it

    It really is not as simple as that. If after the next election the tories have a majority in England but Labour or Labour/Lib Dem have a majority overall who is the Secretary of State for Education? Who gets to vote on who is the SoS for Education?

    Who gets to propose legislation? What do we do when Labour decide to cut the Free School budget and the majority of English MPs oppose this? Having the ability to block changes is not enough.


    We really have had enough sticking plasters and botched jobs on this. If we are going to have a more federal system we have much more fundamental work to do.
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    Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 25,466

    Meanwhile, only 34% of Yes voters believe the campaign has gone on too long, whereas 71% of No voters do. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, there appears to be widely held feeling amongst No voters that they should not have had to go through the whole process in the first place, and that – so long as their side wins – they will be glad when it is all over.

    will be interesting to see if that impacts on turnout for the "no" side
    I don't think it will. The no voters I speak to are absolutely determined to do their bit. And they're right, if they want out of tthis nightmare, no has to win big. If yes wins, it's just the beginning of the blame game, the angry recriminations, the England bashing etc. A no win is the only way to make it go away.

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    TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 114,487
    edited August 2014
    O/T - Owen Jones is talking bollards

    Mobile phone companies have failed – it's time to nationalise them - It may sound like off-the-wall leftiness, but there are clear and convincing arguments for a nationalised mobile phone network

    This is the bit that gets my goat

    And here is where the point about a natural monopoly creeps in. Mobile phone companies build their masts, but don't want to share them with their competitors.

    Has little Owen never heard of project cornerstone, o2 and Vodafone's mast and backhaul sharing project

    http://www.telecoms.com/45267/vodafone-o2-extend-uk-net-share-across-2g-3g-4g/

    Or

    MBNL, EE and 3's sharing their masts

    http://mbnl.co.uk/
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    TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 114,487
    edited August 2014
    Also how does Owen Jones propose we nationalise say o2 which is owned by Telefonica, a Spanish company, or EE which is co-owned by Germany's T-Mobile and France's France Telecom?
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    HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 117,028
    edited August 2014
    DavidL Precisely what I said, if Labour has a very small majority but no majority in England it has the education secretary, but it has to win over some English LD MPs, maybe even a few English Tories, to get legislation passed on English only affairs, it is not that difficult, and if it means Labour cannot easily cut the free school budget tough.

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    DavidL said:

    HYUFD said:

    dugarbandier Unlikely, No voters will probably turn up and vote just to shut Salmond up

    On WLQ Redwood is sensibly proposing days when English domestic legislation is voted on by only English MPs and if the Government of the day has to adjust legislation to ensure it gets an English majority, so be it

    It really is not as simple as that. If after the next election the tories have a majority in England but Labour or Labour/Lib Dem have a majority overall who is the Secretary of State for Education? Who gets to vote on who is the SoS for Education?

    Who gets to propose legislation? What do we do when Labour decide to cut the Free School budget and the majority of English MPs oppose this? Having the ability to block changes is not enough.


    We really have had enough sticking plasters and botched jobs on this. If we are going to have a more federal system we have much more fundamental work to do.
    Quite so.

    I hear that the "Yes" camp are preparing for defeat by planning to demand a second referendum in which the English living in Scotland will not have a vote but Scots exiles worldwide will.
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    Scott_PScott_P Posts: 51,453
    An MSP recounts how he was eating in the restaurant of the Scottish Parliament recently when Alex Salmond came in. Upon sitting down, the First Minister regally held out his hands. An accompanying flunkey whipped out some hand sanitiser and reverently smeared it on to the sacred mitts of power.

    A small thing, perhaps, but small things can contain big truths. The man who no longer believes he should have to apply his own soap is the same man who swaggered into last Tuesday’s debate with Alistair Darling expecting to walk it and who staggered out two hours later having been roundly thrashed. I don’t think the two events are entirely unconnected. A question: Is King Eck going a bit Louis XIV?
    https://medium.com/@chrisdeerin/after-hubris-syndrome-nemesis-cc204d7846e5
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    RobDRobD Posts: 58,969

    Also how does Owen Jones proposes nationalises say o2 which is owned by Telefonica, a Spanish company, or EE which is co-owned by Germany's T-Mobile and France's France Telecom?

    You just shake the magic money tree, and buy them out.
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    RobDRobD Posts: 58,969
    Scott_P said:

    An MSP recounts how he was eating in the restaurant of the Scottish Parliament recently when Alex Salmond came in. Upon sitting down, the First Minister regally held out his hands. An accompanying flunkey whipped out some hand sanitiser and reverently smeared it on to the sacred mitts of power.

    A small thing, perhaps, but small things can contain big truths. The man who no longer believes he should have to apply his own soap is the same man who swaggered into last Tuesday’s debate with Alistair Darling expecting to walk it and who staggered out two hours later having been roundly thrashed. I don’t think the two events are entirely unconnected. A question: Is King Eck going a bit Louis XIV?
    https://medium.com/@chrisdeerin/after-hubris-syndrome-nemesis-cc204d7846e5

    That sounds too bizarre to be true!
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    glwglw Posts: 9,549
    edited August 2014

    Also how does Owen Jones proposes nationalises say o2 which is owned by Telefonica, a Spanish company, or EE which is co-owned by Germany's T-Mobile and France's France Telecom?

    I think it's fair to say that Owen doesn't actually know very much about the mobile carriers.

    Oh and Three's owned by Hutchison Whampoa.
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    RobD said:

    Scott_P said:

    An MSP recounts how he was eating in the restaurant of the Scottish Parliament recently when Alex Salmond came in. Upon sitting down, the First Minister regally held out his hands. An accompanying flunkey whipped out some hand sanitiser and reverently smeared it on to the sacred mitts of power.

    A small thing, perhaps, but small things can contain big truths. The man who no longer believes he should have to apply his own soap is the same man who swaggered into last Tuesday’s debate with Alistair Darling expecting to walk it and who staggered out two hours later having been roundly thrashed. I don’t think the two events are entirely unconnected. A question: Is King Eck going a bit Louis XIV?
    https://medium.com/@chrisdeerin/after-hubris-syndrome-nemesis-cc204d7846e5
    That sounds too bizarre to be true!

    I know someone who is a germophobe, it isn't that bizarre.

    He's from the Sheldon Cooper school of hygiene.

    Hot air blowers are incubators and spewers of bacteria and pestilence. Frankly it would be more hygienic if they just had a plague infested gibbon sneeze my hands dry.
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    HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 117,028
    edited August 2014
    IA If it is 60-40 Yes can exclude every English origin voter and add every voter worldwide with even a 1/10 of a gene of Scottish blood and still lose. Of course Quebec's No was won by English speakers in 1995 and it is still in Canada
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    RogerRoger Posts: 18,891
    edited August 2014
    I was in Aberdeen a few weeks ago and went to a fete at a very pretty harbour just up the coast in what I was told was Alec Salmond's constituency. Amongst the stalls were several for YES and slightly fewer for NO. The NO camp were manned by what looked like landed gentry many with English accents (though apparently they were Scots) and the YES camp by a more diverse group including an Asian MSP

    I met a firebrand lady in one of the YES tents who told me she'd been a London Labour councillor in the early seventies. She was part of London's loony left. She'd been living in Scotland now for 35 years and far from the result being a done deal it's all going to come down to what the Labour voters of the central belt decide.

    She told me of canvassing in London in 1970 and sensing that all wasn't well. Tory voters she said vote for their team regardless. If Labour voters aren't happy they just stay at home. This silent protest she said is well known to Labour canvassers and the mood in 1970 was very black.

    She said this is what she senses here. These voters are being counted as NO but she thinks there will be a surprise.

    "So you don't think my £100 on 60/40 for 'Better Together' is a winner then?"

    Then the loudest and longest throaty laugh I've ever heard broke the genteel Aberdonian air "F*CK OFF!!"



  • Options
    RobDRobD Posts: 58,969

    RobD said:

    Scott_P said:

    An MSP recounts how he was eating in the restaurant of the Scottish Parliament recently when Alex Salmond came in. Upon sitting down, the First Minister regally held out his hands. An accompanying flunkey whipped out some hand sanitiser and reverently smeared it on to the sacred mitts of power.

    A small thing, perhaps, but small things can contain big truths. The man who no longer believes he should have to apply his own soap is the same man who swaggered into last Tuesday’s debate with Alistair Darling expecting to walk it and who staggered out two hours later having been roundly thrashed. I don’t think the two events are entirely unconnected. A question: Is King Eck going a bit Louis XIV?
    https://medium.com/@chrisdeerin/after-hubris-syndrome-nemesis-cc204d7846e5
    That sounds too bizarre to be true!
    I know someone who is a germophobe, it isn't that bizarre.

    He's from the Sheldon Cooper school of hygiene.

    Hot air blowers are incubators and spewers of bacteria and pestilence. Frankly it would be more hygienic if they just had a plague infested gibbon sneeze my hands dry.

    More amusing to watch too...

    Still don't believe the part of the story where his aide puts on the sanitiser for him.
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    CharlesCharles Posts: 35,758
    HYUFD said:

    DavidL Precisely what I said, if Labour has a very small majority but no majority in England it has the education secretary, but it has to win over some English LD MPs, maybe even a few English Tories, to get legislation passed on English only affairs, it is not that difficult, and if it means Labour cannot easily cut the free school budget tough.

    The problem is with money bills: is the Budget voted on by English or UK MPs?

    If UK, then the non-English MPs get to vote on the monies available for English education. I suppose you could make the Budget itself a 30,000ft affair - setting the spending envelope but then letting the English MPs decide how they want to spend it. But then what happens if they pass an amendment to English legislation that has spending implications?
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    CharlesCharles Posts: 35,758
    RobD said:

    RobD said:

    Scott_P said:

    An MSP recounts how he was eating in the restaurant of the Scottish Parliament recently when Alex Salmond came in. Upon sitting down, the First Minister regally held out his hands. An accompanying flunkey whipped out some hand sanitiser and reverently smeared it on to the sacred mitts of power.

    A small thing, perhaps, but small things can contain big truths. The man who no longer believes he should have to apply his own soap is the same man who swaggered into last Tuesday’s debate with Alistair Darling expecting to walk it and who staggered out two hours later having been roundly thrashed. I don’t think the two events are entirely unconnected. A question: Is King Eck going a bit Louis XIV?
    https://medium.com/@chrisdeerin/after-hubris-syndrome-nemesis-cc204d7846e5
    That sounds too bizarre to be true!
    I know someone who is a germophobe, it isn't that bizarre.

    He's from the Sheldon Cooper school of hygiene.

    Hot air blowers are incubators and spewers of bacteria and pestilence. Frankly it would be more hygienic if they just had a plague infested gibbon sneeze my hands dry.
    More amusing to watch too...

    Still don't believe the part of the story where his aide puts on the sanitiser for him.

    I can actually believe that - if his flunky is carrying the santiser it's just as easy to put it on as to hand over the bottle. It's the flunky doing the rubbing in that I struggle with...
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    CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,214
    For DavidL from previous thread: Congratulations to your daughter!

    Durham is very good for law so would recommend that. I am a bit biased as my husband taught there and I have hired lawyers who studied there but it has a good recommendation. Durham and surrounding countryside is also a lovely place to live.

    I am less impressed with the LSE.

    Whatever your daughter chooses I hope she enjoys her time at university. My daughter is starting this autumn and - and I'm sure some on this thread will appreciate this - she will be studying Classical Civilization.

    We're now waiting for GCSE results........fingers crossed.
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    DecrepitJohnLDecrepitJohnL Posts: 13,300
    RobD said:

    RobD said:

    Scott_P said:

    An MSP recounts how he was eating in the restaurant of the Scottish Parliament recently when Alex Salmond came in. Upon sitting down, the First Minister regally held out his hands. An accompanying flunkey whipped out some hand sanitiser and reverently smeared it on to the sacred mitts of power.

    A small thing, perhaps, but small things can contain big truths. The man who no longer believes he should have to apply his own soap is the same man who swaggered into last Tuesday’s debate with Alistair Darling expecting to walk it and who staggered out two hours later having been roundly thrashed. I don’t think the two events are entirely unconnected. A question: Is King Eck going a bit Louis XIV?
    https://medium.com/@chrisdeerin/after-hubris-syndrome-nemesis-cc204d7846e5
    That sounds too bizarre to be true!
    I know someone who is a germophobe, it isn't that bizarre.

    He's from the Sheldon Cooper school of hygiene.

    Hot air blowers are incubators and spewers of bacteria and pestilence. Frankly it would be more hygienic if they just had a plague infested gibbon sneeze my hands dry.
    More amusing to watch too...

    Still don't believe the part of the story where his aide puts on the sanitiser for him.

    More likely, Salmond asked to "borrow" someone else's sanitiser, and the rest of the story makes sense. It would be natural for the sanitiser owner to hold the bottle upside down for the recipient.
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    HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 117,028
    edited August 2014
    Charles The Budget affects the whole UK so should be voted on by all MPs, even now as it covers spending en bloc if an MP dislikes an element they can vote down the budget.

    Roger The referendum will likely have an 80%+ turnout according to the polls, Darling's debate victory seems to have shored up the Labour vote and in 1970 turnout was still higher than 2010 so that story is rather exaggerated
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    GadflyGadfly Posts: 1,191
    I became a germophobe last night. Whilst queueing at a carvery, the person in front me produced an enourmous sneeze into her hands,. She then proceded to vaguely dab away the resulting UHU with a fragment of tissue, before then helping herself to vegetables using the utensils that were common to all.
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    RobDRobD Posts: 58,969
    Charles said:

    RobD said:

    RobD said:

    Scott_P said:

    An MSP recounts how he was eating in the restaurant of the Scottish Parliament recently when Alex Salmond came in. Upon sitting down, the First Minister regally held out his hands. An accompanying flunkey whipped out some hand sanitiser and reverently smeared it on to the sacred mitts of power.

    A small thing, perhaps, but small things can contain big truths. The man who no longer believes he should have to apply his own soap is the same man who swaggered into last Tuesday’s debate with Alistair Darling expecting to walk it and who staggered out two hours later having been roundly thrashed. I don’t think the two events are entirely unconnected. A question: Is King Eck going a bit Louis XIV?
    https://medium.com/@chrisdeerin/after-hubris-syndrome-nemesis-cc204d7846e5
    That sounds too bizarre to be true!
    I know someone who is a germophobe, it isn't that bizarre.

    He's from the Sheldon Cooper school of hygiene.

    Hot air blowers are incubators and spewers of bacteria and pestilence. Frankly it would be more hygienic if they just had a plague infested gibbon sneeze my hands dry.
    More amusing to watch too...

    Still don't believe the part of the story where his aide puts on the sanitiser for him.
    I can actually believe that - if his flunky is carrying the santiser it's just as easy to put it on as to hand over the bottle. It's the flunky doing the rubbing in that I struggle with...

    That was my problem with it... !
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    Scott_P said:

    An MSP recounts how he was eating in the restaurant of the Scottish Parliament recently when Alex Salmond came in. Upon sitting down, the First Minister regally held out his hands. An accompanying flunkey whipped out some hand sanitiser and reverently smeared it on to the sacred mitts of power.

    A small thing, perhaps, but small things can contain big truths. The man who no longer believes he should have to apply his own soap is the same man who swaggered into last Tuesday’s debate with Alistair Darling expecting to walk it and who staggered out two hours later having been roundly thrashed. I don’t think the two events are entirely unconnected. A question: Is King Eck going a bit Louis XIV?
    https://medium.com/@chrisdeerin/after-hubris-syndrome-nemesis-cc204d7846e5

    That story has the ring of truth. I hope the witnessing MSP goes on the record.
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    Scott_P said:

    An MSP recounts how he was eating in the restaurant of the Scottish Parliament recently when Alex Salmond came in. Upon sitting down, the First Minister regally held out his hands. An accompanying flunkey whipped out some hand sanitiser and reverently smeared it on to the sacred mitts of power.

    A small thing, perhaps, but small things can contain big truths. The man who no longer believes he should have to apply his own soap is the same man who swaggered into last Tuesday’s debate with Alistair Darling expecting to walk it and who staggered out two hours later having been roundly thrashed. I don’t think the two events are entirely unconnected. A question: Is King Eck going a bit Louis XIV?
    https://medium.com/@chrisdeerin/after-hubris-syndrome-nemesis-cc204d7846e5
    That story has the ring of truth. I hope the witnessing MSP goes on the record.

    This story reminded me of Prince Charles having toothpaste squeezed onto his brush by a servant.
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    FinancierFinancier Posts: 3,916
    Scott_P said:

    An MSP recounts how he was eating in the restaurant of the Scottish Parliament recently when Alex Salmond came in. Upon sitting down, the First Minister regally held out his hands. An accompanying flunkey whipped out some hand sanitiser and reverently smeared it on to the sacred mitts of power.

    A small thing, perhaps, but small things can contain big truths. The man who no longer believes he should have to apply his own soap is the same man who swaggered into last Tuesday’s debate with Alistair Darling expecting to walk it and who staggered out two hours later having been roundly thrashed. I don’t think the two events are entirely unconnected. A question: Is King Eck going a bit Louis XIV?
    https://medium.com/@chrisdeerin/after-hubris-syndrome-nemesis-cc204d7846e5

    Was the 'King' really wearing new clothes or was mind bleach needed?
  • Options
    SquareRootSquareRoot Posts: 7,095

    Scott_P said:

    An MSP recounts how he was eating in the restaurant of the Scottish Parliament recently when Alex Salmond came in. Upon sitting down, the First Minister regally held out his hands. An accompanying flunkey whipped out some hand sanitiser and reverently smeared it on to the sacred mitts of power.

    A small thing, perhaps, but small things can contain big truths. The man who no longer believes he should have to apply his own soap is the same man who swaggered into last Tuesday’s debate with Alistair Darling expecting to walk it and who staggered out two hours later having been roundly thrashed. I don’t think the two events are entirely unconnected. A question: Is King Eck going a bit Louis XIV?
    https://medium.com/@chrisdeerin/after-hubris-syndrome-nemesis-cc204d7846e5
    That story has the ring of truth. I hope the witnessing MSP goes on the record.
    This story reminded me of Prince Charles having toothpaste squeezed onto his brush by a servant.

    That's not uncommon around these parts, but due to the dearth of servants, its usually the wife.
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    malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 41,997

    DavidL said:

    HYUFD said:

    dugarbandier Unlikely, No voters will probably turn up and vote just to shut Salmond up

    On WLQ Redwood is sensibly proposing days when English domestic legislation is voted on by only English MPs and if the Government of the day has to adjust legislation to ensure it gets an English majority, so be it

    It really is not as simple as that. If after the next election the tories have a majority in England but Labour or Labour/Lib Dem have a majority overall who is the Secretary of State for Education? Who gets to vote on who is the SoS for Education?

    Who gets to propose legislation? What do we do when Labour decide to cut the Free School budget and the majority of English MPs oppose this? Having the ability to block changes is not enough.


    We really have had enough sticking plasters and botched jobs on this. If we are going to have a more federal system we have much more fundamental work to do.
    Quite so.

    I hear that the "Yes" camp are preparing for defeat by planning to demand a second referendum in which the English living in Scotland will not have a vote but Scots exiles worldwide will.
    LOL, cuckoo
  • Options
    malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 41,997

    Scott_P said:

    An MSP recounts how he was eating in the restaurant of the Scottish Parliament recently when Alex Salmond came in. Upon sitting down, the First Minister regally held out his hands. An accompanying flunkey whipped out some hand sanitiser and reverently smeared it on to the sacred mitts of power.

    A small thing, perhaps, but small things can contain big truths. The man who no longer believes he should have to apply his own soap is the same man who swaggered into last Tuesday’s debate with Alistair Darling expecting to walk it and who staggered out two hours later having been roundly thrashed. I don’t think the two events are entirely unconnected. A question: Is King Eck going a bit Louis XIV?
    https://medium.com/@chrisdeerin/after-hubris-syndrome-nemesis-cc204d7846e5
    That story has the ring of truth. I hope the witnessing MSP goes on the record.

    More like you are talking out of your ring
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    MikeKMikeK Posts: 9,053
    Scott_P said:

    An MSP recounts how he was eating in the restaurant of the Scottish Parliament recently when Alex Salmond came in. Upon sitting down, the First Minister regally held out his hands. An accompanying flunkey whipped out some hand sanitiser and reverently smeared it on to the sacred mitts of power.

    A small thing, perhaps, but small things can contain big truths. The man who no longer believes he should have to apply his own soap is the same man who swaggered into last Tuesday’s debate with Alistair Darling expecting to walk it and who staggered out two hours later having been roundly thrashed. I don’t think the two events are entirely unconnected. A question: Is King Eck going a bit Louis XIV?
    https://medium.com/@chrisdeerin/after-hubris-syndrome-nemesis-cc204d7846e5
    Unless he had lace cuffs, Eck is still a commoner; a position he may not relish.
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    malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 41,997
    Charles said:

    RobD said:

    RobD said:

    Scott_P said:

    An MSP recounts how he was eating in the restaurant of the Scottish Parliament recently when Alex Salmond came in. Upon sitting down, the First Minister regally held out his hands. An accompanying flunkey whipped out some hand sanitiser and reverently smeared it on to the sacred mitts of power.

    A small thing, perhaps, but small things can contain big truths. The man who no longer believes he should have to apply his own soap is the same man who swaggered into last Tuesday’s debate with Alistair Darling expecting to walk it and who staggered out two hours later having been roundly thrashed. I don’t think the two events are entirely unconnected. A question: Is King Eck going a bit Louis XIV?
    https://medium.com/@chrisdeerin/after-hubris-syndrome-nemesis-cc204d7846e5
    That sounds too bizarre to be true!
    I know someone who is a germophobe, it isn't that bizarre.

    He's from the Sheldon Cooper school of hygiene.

    Hot air blowers are incubators and spewers of bacteria and pestilence. Frankly it would be more hygienic if they just had a plague infested gibbon sneeze my hands dry.
    More amusing to watch too...

    Still don't believe the part of the story where his aide puts on the sanitiser for him.
    I can actually believe that - if his flunky is carrying the santiser it's just as easy to put it on as to hand over the bottle. It's the flunky doing the rubbing in that I struggle with...

    You will be used to your flunkies doing it for you for sure, however why you would expect a normal human being to do the same is hard to imagine.
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    FinancierFinancier Posts: 3,916

    RobD said:

    Scott_P said:

    An MSP recounts how he was eating in the restaurant of the Scottish Parliament recently when Alex Salmond came in. Upon sitting down, the First Minister regally held out his hands. An accompanying flunkey whipped out some hand sanitiser and reverently smeared it on to the sacred mitts of power.

    A small thing, perhaps, but small things can contain big truths. The man who no longer believes he should have to apply his own soap is the same man who swaggered into last Tuesday’s debate with Alistair Darling expecting to walk it and who staggered out two hours later having been roundly thrashed. I don’t think the two events are entirely unconnected. A question: Is King Eck going a bit Louis XIV?
    https://medium.com/@chrisdeerin/after-hubris-syndrome-nemesis-cc204d7846e5
    That sounds too bizarre to be true!
    I know someone who is a germophobe, it isn't that bizarre.

    He's from the Sheldon Cooper school of hygiene.

    Hot air blowers are incubators and spewers of bacteria and pestilence. Frankly it would be more hygienic if they just had a plague infested gibbon sneeze my hands dry.

    Even more so is air conditioning, which if not properly treated bio-chemically in the heat exchangers can be a potent source of legionnaire's disease.
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    malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 41,997
    Scott_P said:

    An MSP recounts how he was eating in the restaurant of the Scottish Parliament recently when Alex Salmond came in. Upon sitting down, the First Minister regally held out his hands. An accompanying flunkey whipped out some hand sanitiser and reverently smeared it on to the sacred mitts of power.

    A small thing, perhaps, but small things can contain big truths. The man who no longer believes he should have to apply his own soap is the same man who swaggered into last Tuesday’s debate with Alistair Darling expecting to walk it and who staggered out two hours later having been roundly thrashed. I don’t think the two events are entirely unconnected. A question: Is King Eck going a bit Louis XIV?
    https://medium.com/@chrisdeerin/after-hubris-syndrome-nemesis-cc204d7846e5

    I might of guessed it would be cretin that posted such tripe. Just about your level.
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    malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 41,997
    Frothers are getting carried away today, all very David Icke like. Some real nutters on here and worse than even normal.
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    ..might HAVE guessed Malcolm might HAVE guessed...
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    TGOHFTGOHF Posts: 21,633
    JackW said:

    FINAL Scottish Referendum McARSE Projection Countdown

    26 hours 26 seconds

    Too close to call ?
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    malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 41,997
    Patrick said:

    ..might HAVE guessed Malcolm might HAVE guessed...

    Patrick I could have bet my shirt on it, only cretin could plumb those depths.
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    JackWJackW Posts: 14,787
    TGOHF said:

    JackW said:

    FINAL Scottish Referendum McARSE Projection Countdown

    26 hours 26 seconds

    Too close to call ?
    Indeed ....

    The final projection will be to a half point and very tight whether it tumbles into a full point projection I'll not know until later tonight ....

    Ah .... but you meant between the combatants ....

    I couldn't possibly say ....
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    Scott_PScott_P Posts: 51,453
    How easy it is to take umbrage in the fervid atmosphere that pervades Scotland at present. As those who recently declared their support for the No campaign – J K Rowling, Eddie Izzard, David Bowie, Mick Jagger – have also discovered, the nationalists have extremely thin skins.

    Some of us have known this for a long time. But, if cybernat activity is anything to go by, their prickliness has risen in inverse proportion to their popularity. Following Alex Salmond’s pitiful performance against Alistair Darling in the first televised debate last week, we unionists are having to walk on eggshells.
    http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jennyhjul/100282942/no-pleasing-the-neighbours-on-eve-of-the-scottish-vote/
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    ..only A cretin Malcolm only A cretin...
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    83% of the voters 10/10 certain to vote in the referendum.
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    TGOHFTGOHF Posts: 21,633

    83% of the voters 10/10 certain to vote in the referendum.

    Excellent news and heartening.

    Lets hear no more borlocks about internet voting at supermarkets over a weekend.

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    FinancierFinancier Posts: 3,916
    YouGov IndyRef Tables are now up.

    http://cdn.yougov.com/cumulus_uploads/document/n9xblv6gc0/Sun_Results_Scottish_Independence_140807.pdf

    10% of SNP Holyrood VI would vote NO
    Also 26% of SNP VI Holyrood Constituency 2011 vote NO.

    48% of 16-24 vote NO
    53% Born in Scotland vote NO

    Sample Size is 1142
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    MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 50,125
    Scott_P said:

    An MSP recounts how he was eating in the restaurant of the Scottish Parliament recently when Alex Salmond came in. Upon sitting down, the First Minister regally held out his hands. An accompanying flunkey whipped out some hand sanitiser and reverently smeared it on to the sacred mitts of power.

    A small thing, perhaps, but small things can contain big truths. The man who no longer believes he should have to apply his own soap is the same man who swaggered into last Tuesday’s debate with Alistair Darling expecting to walk it and who staggered out two hours later having been roundly thrashed. I don’t think the two events are entirely unconnected. A question: Is King Eck going a bit Louis XIV?
    https://medium.com/@chrisdeerin/after-hubris-syndrome-nemesis-cc204d7846e5

    Louis XIV? The Sun King? Not with Scotland's climate....
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    OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 32,003
    edited August 2014
    Cyclefree said:

    For DavidL from previous thread: Congratulations to your daughter!

    Durham is very good for law so would recommend that. I am a bit biased as my husband taught there and I have hired lawyers who studied there but it has a good recommendation. Durham and surrounding countryside is also a lovely place to live.

    I am less impressed with the LSE.

    Whatever your daughter chooses I hope she enjoys her time at university. My daughter is starting this autumn and - and I'm sure some on this thread will appreciate this - she will be studying Classical Civilization.

    We're now waiting for GCSE results........fingers crossed.

    The Durham area is indeed a great place to be, great scenery and friendly people. Best of, Ms Cyclefree for the GCSE results and I share your good wishes for those starting university this term. We’ve only had one family member who came away without happy memories and some life-long friendships.
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    hucks67hucks67 Posts: 758

    If SNP lose referendum vote, could Labour win more seats in Scotland ? Could Labour also benefit elsewhere in the UK, because they had helped to save the union ?

    SNP will be weakened after losing a referendum vote, because they exist to pursue an independent Scotland. If they fail to convince the public that Scotland would be better off with their own government in Edinburgh, then Labour could perhaps benefit as a result. Also Labour have been able to contribute towards saving the union, much more than the Tories were able to do so, so may gain some credit for this. As I have stated before, the Tories failure in Scotland to win over support for their brand of politics is a factor behind the independence move. Tories are hated by a sizeable portion of Scottish people.
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    TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 41,318
    edited August 2014
    malcolmg said:

    Scott_P said:

    An MSP recounts how he was eating in the restaurant of the Scottish Parliament recently when Alex Salmond came in. Upon sitting down, the First Minister regally held out his hands. An accompanying flunkey whipped out some hand sanitiser and reverently smeared it on to the sacred mitts of power.

    A small thing, perhaps, but small things can contain big truths. The man who no longer believes he should have to apply his own soap is the same man who swaggered into last Tuesday’s debate with Alistair Darling expecting to walk it and who staggered out two hours later having been roundly thrashed. I don’t think the two events are entirely unconnected. A question: Is King Eck going a bit Louis XIV?
    https://medium.com/@chrisdeerin/after-hubris-syndrome-nemesis-cc204d7846e5
    I might of guessed it would be cretin that posted such tripe. Just about your level.

    I might "of" guessed??

    Malc - your not defecting to the Kippers, are you?

    (Edit: apologies Nats, Kippers one and all - thoroughly uncalled for...it's early..)
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    TGOHFTGOHF Posts: 21,633
    hucks67 said:


    If SNP lose referendum vote, could Labour win more seats in Scotland ? Could Labour also benefit elsewhere in the UK, because they had helped to save the union ?

    SNP will be weakened after losing a referendum vote, because they exist to pursue an independent Scotland. If they fail to convince the public that Scotland would be better off with their own government in Edinburgh, then Labour could perhaps benefit as a result. Also Labour have been able to contribute towards saving the union, much more than the Tories were able to do so, so may gain some credit for this. As I have stated before, the Tories failure in Scotland to win over support for their brand of politics is a factor behind the independence move. Tories are hated by a sizeable portion of Scottish people.

    Labour got 42% in Scotland in the last GE - no Scottish leader to help boost that this time.
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    TOPPING said:

    malcolmg said:

    Scott_P said:

    An MSP recounts how he was eating in the restaurant of the Scottish Parliament recently when Alex Salmond came in. Upon sitting down, the First Minister regally held out his hands. An accompanying flunkey whipped out some hand sanitiser and reverently smeared it on to the sacred mitts of power.

    A small thing, perhaps, but small things can contain big truths. The man who no longer believes he should have to apply his own soap is the same man who swaggered into last Tuesday’s debate with Alistair Darling expecting to walk it and who staggered out two hours later having been roundly thrashed. I don’t think the two events are entirely unconnected. A question: Is King Eck going a bit Louis XIV?
    https://medium.com/@chrisdeerin/after-hubris-syndrome-nemesis-cc204d7846e5
    I might of guessed it would be cretin that posted such tripe. Just about your level.
    I might "of" guessed??

    Malc - your not defecting to the Kippers, are you?

    (Edit: apologies Nats, Kippers one and all - thoroughly uncalled for...it's early..)

    Your not? Your not?

    I need a lie down

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    Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 60,988
    Good morning, everyone.

    Congrats to Mr. L's daughter.

    And don't forget to check my mid-season review, with a few thoughts on how the 2015 driver market might go and a P&L graph:
    http://enormo-haddock.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/the-2014-mid-season-review.html
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    Patrick said:

    Excluding 'Don't Knows' is the polling consensus not around 60 NO / 40 YES at the moment? Unless this turns into the polling screw up of all time then we're heading for a result that should make the question go away for a long time.

    Scotland is going to move instead onto a debate about the nature and terms of Devomax - and, I hope, so is England. This futile Sindy debate has been killed but so has the continued political acceptability of the West Lothian Question. A more federal UK is coming.

    While I'd like to share your optimism, why exactly would the referendum mean the WLQ is no longer politically acceptable? If Labour get in again (which looks likely) there's no way they'd even consider stopping Scottlish MPs voting on English only legislation as they'd lose their majority.

    It's like in 2005 when the Tories got more votes in England, but loads less MPs. You might have thought it was politically unacceptable for this to continue, but you'd have been wrong.
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 0
    edited August 2014
    Copper Sulphate

    I'm sure you're right. There is, I'm afraid, little connection between what is acceptable and what will actually transpire. But at some point in the future a party will put this in its manifesto. I may be quite wrong on this but FWIW I reckon a manifesto pledge to resolve the WLQ would be very popular in England. MAybe UKIP will go first. But then others will feel obliged to follow suit. Probably Tories next to do so. This issue won't go away. But may take decades to be addressed.
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    I've never quite understood why the SNP never had a backup plan for the currency in the event that using the pound wasn't going to be possible.

    It looked like a massive oversight years ago, how did Salmond manage to get caught out so badly when he's had all this time to prepare an answer?
  • Options
    OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 32,003

    TOPPING said:

    malcolmg said:

    Scott_P said:

    An MSP recounts how he was eating in the restaurant of the Scottish Parliament recently when Alex Salmond came in. Upon sitting down, the First Minister regally held out his hands. An accompanying flunkey whipped out some hand sanitiser and reverently smeared it on to the sacred mitts of power.

    A small thing, perhaps, but small things can contain big truths. The man who no longer believes he should have to apply his own soap is the same man who swaggered into last Tuesday’s debate with Alistair Darling expecting to walk it and who staggered out two hours later having been roundly thrashed. I don’t think the two events are entirely unconnected. A question: Is King Eck going a bit Louis XIV?
    https://medium.com/@chrisdeerin/after-hubris-syndrome-nemesis-cc204d7846e5
    I might of guessed it would be cretin that posted such tripe. Just about your level.
    I might "of" guessed??

    Malc - your not defecting to the Kippers, are you?

    (Edit: apologies Nats, Kippers one and all - thoroughly uncalled for...it's early..)
    Your not? Your not?

    I need a lie down



    Not a “Welsh Not” I sincerely hope!
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    TGOHFTGOHF Posts: 21,633

    I've never quite understood why the SNP never had a backup plan for the currency in the event that using the pound wasn't going to be possible.

    It looked like a massive oversight years ago, how did Salmond manage to get caught out so badly when he's had all this time to prepare an answer?

    Years of an easy ride inside the Holryrood bubble lead to complacency.
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    MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 50,125
    DavidL, congrats to your daughter. I read Law at Durham, albeit some 30-odd years ago. Durham itself is a beautiful place to be for 3 years - you can walk everywhere and although it is hardly Rio in festival week (the biggest society in my time was the Christian Union...) you can be in Newcastle in a jiffy, with all the dubious pleasures of its nightlife. It is also a very college-based society - there are quite limited options for accommodation outside. It is certainly a good place to knuckle down and get a degree that will serve her well through her career. And contrary to SeanT, it is much easier to get to know a broad range of contacts through life because you are all together all the time, rather than spending time apart crossing London to your digs.

    If I had my time again though, I probably wouldn't have done a Law degree. Spend three years doing something less enervating than discussing making bridges that were never designed to meet in the middle. Do astronomy or archaeology or something else beginning with A. Then spend a year doing the law catch-up - if that is really what she still wants.
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    surbitonsurbiton Posts: 13,549

    I've never quite understood why the SNP never had a backup plan for the currency in the event that using the pound wasn't going to be possible.

    It looked like a massive oversight years ago, how did Salmond manage to get caught out so badly when he's had all this time to prepare an answer?

    Because until 2008, the Euro was going to be their currency. Remember, "Independence in Europe". It was a reassuring slogan saying we will be independent but, don't worry, we will still be part of Europe.


    In Scotland, there isn't that broadly semi racist Euro phobia that we have in parts of England[ London excluded ]
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    hucks67hucks67 Posts: 758
    TGOHF said:

    hucks67 said:


    If SNP lose referendum vote, could Labour win more seats in Scotland ? Could Labour also benefit elsewhere in the UK, because they had helped to save the union ?

    SNP will be weakened after losing a referendum vote, because they exist to pursue an independent Scotland. If they fail to convince the public that Scotland would be better off with their own government in Edinburgh, then Labour could perhaps benefit as a result. Also Labour have been able to contribute towards saving the union, much more than the Tories were able to do so, so may gain some credit for this. As I have stated before, the Tories failure in Scotland to win over support for their brand of politics is a factor behind the independence move. Tories are hated by a sizeable portion of Scottish people.

    Labour got 42% in Scotland in the last GE - no Scottish leader to help boost that this time.
    Did Brown help Labour win more votes in Scotland in 2010 ? Blair/Lab won 39.5% in 2005, 43.9% in 2001, 45.6% in 1997. At the 2010 election the Tories were more likely to win and therefore Labour did slightly better, but how much of this was the 'brown' effect, I am not sure.
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    surbiton said:

    I've never quite understood why the SNP never had a backup plan for the currency in the event that using the pound wasn't going to be possible.

    It looked like a massive oversight years ago, how did Salmond manage to get caught out so badly when he's had all this time to prepare an answer?

    Because until 2008, the Euro was going to be their currency. Remember, "Independence in Europe". It was a reassuring slogan saying we will be independent but, don't worry, we will still be part of Europe.


    In Scotland, there isn't that broadly semi racist Euro phobia that we have in parts of England[ London excluded ]
    What a stupid and ignorant comment. Being opposed to membership of a single currency - particularly one that has brought so much grief to many of its members - is in now way racist, semi or otherwise. The fact that those of us who always opposed the Euro project have been proved right really must stick in your craw.
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    TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 114,487
    edited August 2014
    hucks67 said:

    TGOHF said:

    hucks67 said:


    If SNP lose referendum vote, could Labour win more seats in Scotland ? Could Labour also benefit elsewhere in the UK, because they had helped to save the union ?

    SNP will be weakened after losing a referendum vote, because they exist to pursue an independent Scotland. If they fail to convince the public that Scotland would be better off with their own government in Edinburgh, then Labour could perhaps benefit as a result. Also Labour have been able to contribute towards saving the union, much more than the Tories were able to do so, so may gain some credit for this. As I have stated before, the Tories failure in Scotland to win over support for their brand of politics is a factor behind the independence move. Tories are hated by a sizeable portion of Scottish people.

    Labour got 42% in Scotland in the last GE - no Scottish leader to help boost that this time.
    Did Brown help Labour win more votes in Scotland in 2010 ? Blair/Lab won 39.5% in 2005, 43.9% in 2001, 45.6% in 1997. At the 2010 election the Tories were more likely to win and therefore Labour did slightly better, but how much of this was the 'brown' effect, I am not sure.
    There was a swing in 2010 to Lab in Scotland.

    What you have to understand there are very few marginals in Scotland.

    As antifrank correctly forecast, not a single seat changed hands in Scotland between the 2005 GE and the 2010 GE (the by-elections don't count)

    Some of the comments that were aimed at Brown, were anti-Scottish, and I can see how that could have boosted Labour's vote in Scotland.
  • Options

    I've never quite understood why the SNP never had a backup plan for the currency in the event that using the pound wasn't going to be possible.

    It looked like a massive oversight years ago, how did Salmond manage to get caught out so badly when he's had all this time to prepare an answer?

    Erm...because the only options then are:
    1. 'Dollarisation' a la Panama - just use Sterling anyway. But no lender of last resort, no backstop for Scottish banking system and the entire financial services industry heads south. Huge problem also of physical availability of notes and coins. Local bank runs out of notes on a Tuesday afternoon = bank run. Very, very unstable arrangement unless the 'cuckoo' user is WAY smaller than the parent provider (as is the case of Panama/USA).
    2. The Euro - good luck with that!
    3. The Groat. Actually the only real option for a truly 'indpendent' Scotland. But this implies a balanced budget and the ability to borrow in the bond markets. Good luck with that in the big deficit, statist lefty Jockutopia.
    4. All the above mean that Scotland's extant national debt would be in a foreign currency (the Pound). Repaying their share in Sterling could become unserviceable quickly if exchange rates move.

    Which adds up to a fact that has been obvious to all but Salmond for a LONG time. Scotland could manage fine as a truly independent nation - but only with its own currency/central bank/regulator and a debt/deficit trajectory that would not take it rapidly to Argentinian territory. So lefty welfare statism is not on the cards. The Scotland of Adam Smith would be a fine country. But that mindset seems part of Scotland's heritage not its current reality.
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    Patrick said:

    Copper Sulphate

    I'm sure you're right. There is, I'm afraid, little connection between what is acceptable and what will actually transpire. But at some point in the future a party will put this in its manifesto. I may be quite wrong on this but FWIW I reckon a manifesto pledge to resolve the WLQ would be very popular in England. MAybe UKIP will go first. But then others will feel obliged to follow suit. Probably Tories next to do so. This issue won't go away. But may take decades to be addressed.

    Why the Tories don't have it in their manifesto now (or even last time) I'm not quite sure. They don't seem to want to do anything that might actually help them.

    They don't really kick up much of a fuss about the unfair voting system either. Strange.
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    FinancierFinancier Posts: 3,916

    DavidL, congrats to your daughter. I read Law at Durham, albeit some 30-odd years ago. Durham itself is a beautiful place to be for 3 years - you can walk everywhere and although it is hardly Rio in festival week (the biggest society in my time was the Christian Union...) you can be in Newcastle in a jiffy, with all the dubious pleasures of its nightlife. It is also a very college-based society - there are quite limited options for accommodation outside. It is certainly a good place to knuckle down and get a degree that will serve her well through her career. And contrary to SeanT, it is much easier to get to know a broad range of contacts through life because you are all together all the time, rather than spending time apart crossing London to your digs.

    If I had my time again though, I probably wouldn't have done a Law degree. Spend three years doing something less enervating than discussing making bridges that were never designed to meet in the middle. Do astronomy or archaeology or something else beginning with A. Then spend a year doing the law catch-up - if that is really what she still wants.

    MM

    That's a very interesting viewpoint about specialising too early.

    I would loved to have done history (still my best hobby and am castle-mad to the annoyance of my family) but ended up doing Chemical Engineering as I was very good at Chemistry. Business at Harvard sort of rounded me off, but whilst still getting excited about new technology, my first love will always be history and its application to today and tomorrow and perhaps makes me a more-rounded person.
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    TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 41,318

    TOPPING said:

    malcolmg said:

    Scott_P said:

    An MSP recounts how he was eating in the restaurant of the Scottish Parliament recently when Alex Salmond came in. Upon sitting down, the First Minister regally held out his hands. An accompanying flunkey whipped out some hand sanitiser and reverently smeared it on to the sacred mitts of power.

    A small thing, perhaps, but small things can contain big truths. The man who no longer believes he should have to apply his own soap is the same man who swaggered into last Tuesday’s debate with Alistair Darling expecting to walk it and who staggered out two hours later having been roundly thrashed. I don’t think the two events are entirely unconnected. A question: Is King Eck going a bit Louis XIV?
    https://medium.com/@chrisdeerin/after-hubris-syndrome-nemesis-cc204d7846e5
    I might of guessed it would be cretin that posted such tripe. Just about your level.
    I might "of" guessed??

    Malc - your not defecting to the Kippers, are you?

    (Edit: apologies Nats, Kippers one and all - thoroughly uncalled for...it's early..)
    Your not? Your not?

    I need a lie down



    I'm not surprised - reading Owen Jones is enough to discombobulate anyone for weeks.
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    TGOHFTGOHF Posts: 21,633
    The SNP position is one similar to the Uk joining the Euro, then having an EU referendum with the "out" side proposing to keep the Euro as the currency.

    The insanity is large.
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    Scott_PScott_P Posts: 51,453

    I've never quite understood why the SNP never had a backup plan for the currency in the event that using the pound wasn't going to be possible.

    It looked like a massive oversight years ago, how did Salmond manage to get caught out so badly when he's had all this time to prepare an answer?

    He genuinely believed it would not be a problem. Eck's word is gospel. No dissent is ever expressed by anyone he meets. He says it; it must be so.
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    philiphphiliph Posts: 4,704

    surbiton said:

    I've never quite understood why the SNP never had a backup plan for the currency in the event that using the pound wasn't going to be possible.

    It looked like a massive oversight years ago, how did Salmond manage to get caught out so badly when he's had all this time to prepare an answer?

    Because until 2008, the Euro was going to be their currency. Remember, "Independence in Europe". It was a reassuring slogan saying we will be independent but, don't worry, we will still be part of Europe.


    In Scotland, there isn't that broadly semi racist Euro phobia that we have in parts of England[ London excluded ]
    What a stupid and ignorant comment. Being opposed to membership of a single currency - particularly one that has brought so much grief to many of its members - is in now way racist, semi or otherwise. The fact that those of us who always opposed the Euro project have been proved right really must stick in your craw.
    Some of us question the long term viability of Europe as a political entity if it wishes to achieve harmonisation and ever closer union.

    The fact that it is extremely hard to find a long term success of disparate nations fused into a cohesive single unit should tell us something about the history of 'super' nation building using individual nations as the building blocks.

    About the best example may well be UK, which some want to break up.
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    surbitonsurbiton Posts: 13,549
    hucks67 said:

    TGOHF said:

    hucks67 said:


    If SNP lose referendum vote, could Labour win more seats in Scotland ? Could Labour also benefit elsewhere in the UK, because they had helped to save the union ?

    SNP will be weakened after losing a referendum vote, because they exist to pursue an independent Scotland. If they fail to convince the public that Scotland would be better off with their own government in Edinburgh, then Labour could perhaps benefit as a result. Also Labour have been able to contribute towards saving the union, much more than the Tories were able to do so, so may gain some credit for this. As I have stated before, the Tories failure in Scotland to win over support for their brand of politics is a factor behind the independence move. Tories are hated by a sizeable portion of Scottish people.

    Labour got 42% in Scotland in the last GE - no Scottish leader to help boost that this time.
    Did Brown help Labour win more votes in Scotland in 2010 ? Blair/Lab won 39.5% in 2005, 43.9% in 2001, 45.6% in 1997. At the 2010 election the Tories were more likely to win and therefore Labour did slightly better, but how much of this was the 'brown' effect, I am not sure.
    The 2015 GE result in Scotland will be broadly similar to 2010. There might be a little churn. Liberals will lose to Labour and the SNP. The SNP and Labour might exchange a couple.
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    This is from 1999, but it is a keeper

    Alex Salmond delivered a whole-hearted defence of the euro yesterday and predicted that Scotland would successfully flourish if the country cut its ties with sterling and embraced the European single currency.

    Speaking to an audience at one of Brussels' most influential think tanks - the Centre for European Policy Studies - the SNP leader described the pound as ''a millstone round Scotland's neck'' and challenged the euro's supporters to launch a more aggressive debate against the new currency's critics. ''I think that being outside the euro area is already penalising the Scottish economy. In the medium-term, the longer we stay out, the more damage will accumulate. The euro is an example of why Scotland needs membership status so that it can take a decision on entry into the single currency,'' he said

    http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/spl/aberdeen/salmond-in-call-to-dump-millstone-of-the-pound-1.263204
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    OT. Knackered but very pleased this morning. Yesterday was the centenary of teh Sherwood Foresters mustering at Newark and marching off to the trenches. A group of us along with a section from the Mercian regiment recreated the march yesterday in rather inclement conditions (non stop rain for most of the march). 16 miles from Newark to Radcliffe in just a shade over 4 hours of marching.

    And no blisters! :-)

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-28732732
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    FinancierFinancier Posts: 3,916
    Scott_P said:

    I've never quite understood why the SNP never had a backup plan for the currency in the event that using the pound wasn't going to be possible.

    It looked like a massive oversight years ago, how did Salmond manage to get caught out so badly when he's had all this time to prepare an answer?

    He genuinely believed it would not be a problem. Eck's word is gospel. No dissent is ever expressed by anyone he meets. He says it; it must be so.
    This well demonstrates the problem of having a too dominant leader who then tends to ignore advice - even if it is very good advice. Salmond should look at and take heed of Mrs Thatcher's downfall which started with poll tax - a good and fair idea but just not workable in that environment.
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    Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 60,988
    Mr. Tyndall, I quite agree. Being against the single currency for Britain is common sense. The abuse and overuse of the race card has seriously diluted its meaning.
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    OT. Knackered but very pleased this morning. Yesterday was the centenary of teh Sherwood Foresters mustering at Newark and marching off to the trenches. A group of us along with a section from the Mercian regiment recreated the march yesterday in rather inclement conditions (non stop rain for most of the march). 16 miles from Newark to Radcliffe in just a shade over 4 hours of marching.

    And no blisters! :-)

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-28732732

    Wow, I salute you and your fellow marchers.

    And I'm embarrassed to say, I bitched and moaned yesterday because I got drenched, the 25 metres I walked from the car park to tesco.
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    surbitonsurbiton Posts: 13,549
    philiph said:

    surbiton said:

    I've never quite understood why the SNP never had a backup plan for the currency in the event that using the pound wasn't going to be possible.

    It looked like a massive oversight years ago, how did Salmond manage to get caught out so badly when he's had all this time to prepare an answer?

    Because until 2008, the Euro was going to be their currency. Remember, "Independence in Europe". It was a reassuring slogan saying we will be independent but, don't worry, we will still be part of Europe.


    In Scotland, there isn't that broadly semi racist Euro phobia that we have in parts of England[ London excluded ]
    What a stupid and ignorant comment. Being opposed to membership of a single currency - particularly one that has brought so much grief to many of its members - is in now way racist, semi or otherwise. The fact that those of us who always opposed the Euro project have been proved right really must stick in your craw.
    Some of us question the long term viability of Europe as a political entity if it wishes to achieve harmonisation and ever closer union.

    The fact that it is extremely hard to find a long term success of disparate nations fused into a cohesive single unit should tell us something about the history of 'super' nation building using individual nations as the building blocks.

    About the best example may well be UK, which some want to break up.
    Someone forgot to tell that to the Ukranians ! Also, in their darkest days, there was no clamour in Greece, Cyprus, Spain, Portugal, or, indeed, Ireland to come out of the Euro.

    Sterling today has a favourable interest rate differential to the Euro. It will not always be the same. If you look at the last 35 years, the pound has had more "crashes" than most currencies.
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    OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 32,003
    Financier said:

    DavidL, congrats to your daughter. I read Law at Durham, albeit some 30-odd years ago. Durham itself is a beautiful place to be for 3 years - you can walk everywhere and although it is hardly Rio in festival week (the biggest society in my time was the Christian Union...) you can be in Newcastle in a jiffy, with all the dubious pleasures of its nightlife. It is also a very college-based society - there are quite limited options for accommodation outside. It is certainly a good place to knuckle down and get a degree that will serve her well through her career. And contrary to SeanT, it is much easier to get to know a broad range of contacts through life because you are all together all the time, rather than spending time apart crossing London to your digs.

    If I had my time again though, I probably wouldn't have done a Law degree. Spend three years doing something less enervating than discussing making bridges that were never designed to meet in the middle. Do astronomy or archaeology or something else beginning with A. Then spend a year doing the law catch-up - if that is really what she still wants.

    MM

    That's a very interesting viewpoint about specialising too early.

    I would loved to have done history (still my best hobby and am castle-mad to the annoyance of my family) but ended up doing Chemical Engineering as I was very good at Chemistry. Business at Harvard sort of rounded me off, but whilst still getting excited about new technology, my first love will always be history and its application to today and tomorrow and perhaps makes me a more-rounded person.
    That’s the problem with any vocational degree. Interest in the early years outside ones own field is often regarded as eccentric!
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    TOPPING said:

    TOPPING said:

    malcolmg said:

    Scott_P said:

    An MSP recounts how he was eating in the restaurant of the Scottish Parliament recently when Alex Salmond came in. Upon sitting down, the First Minister regally held out his hands. An accompanying flunkey whipped out some hand sanitiser and reverently smeared it on to the sacred mitts of power.

    A small thing, perhaps, but small things can contain big truths. The man who no longer believes he should have to apply his own soap is the same man who swaggered into last Tuesday’s debate with Alistair Darling expecting to walk it and who staggered out two hours later having been roundly thrashed. I don’t think the two events are entirely unconnected. A question: Is King Eck going a bit Louis XIV?
    https://medium.com/@chrisdeerin/after-hubris-syndrome-nemesis-cc204d7846e5
    I might of guessed it would be cretin that posted such tripe. Just about your level.
    I might "of" guessed??

    Malc - your not defecting to the Kippers, are you?

    (Edit: apologies Nats, Kippers one and all - thoroughly uncalled for...it's early..)
    Your not? Your not?

    I need a lie down

    I'm not surprised - reading Owen Jones is enough to discombobulate anyone for weeks.

    I know, it has forced me to defend o2, and I hate o2.
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    Patrick said:

    I've never quite understood why the SNP never had a backup plan for the currency in the event that using the pound wasn't going to be possible.

    It looked like a massive oversight years ago, how did Salmond manage to get caught out so badly when he's had all this time to prepare an answer?

    Erm...because the only options then are:
    1. 'Dollarisation' a la Panama - just use Sterling anyway. But no lender of last resort, no backstop for Scottish banking system and the entire financial services industry heads south. Huge problem also of physical availability of notes and coins. Local bank runs out of notes on a Tuesday afternoon = bank run. Very, very unstable arrangement unless the 'cuckoo' user is WAY smaller than the parent provider (as is the case of Panama/USA).
    2. The Euro - good luck with that!
    3. The Groat. Actually the only real option for a truly 'indpendent' Scotland. But this implies a balanced budget and the ability to borrow in the bond markets. Good luck with that in the big deficit, statist lefty Jockutopia.
    4. All the above mean that Scotland's extant national debt would be in a foreign currency (the Pound). Repaying their share in Sterling could become unserviceable quickly if exchange rates move.

    Which adds up to a fact that has been obvious to all but Salmond for a LONG time. Scotland could manage fine as a truly independent nation - but only with its own currency/central bank/regulator and a debt/deficit trajectory that would not take it rapidly to Argentinian territory. So lefty welfare statism is not on the cards. The Scotland of Adam Smith would be a fine country. But that mindset seems part of Scotland's heritage not its current reality.
    So they basically wanted to keep spending like a Scottish Socialist whilst England picks up the tab again, this time in currency devaluation and higher interest rates rather than direct payments through the Barnett formula.
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    GIN1138GIN1138 Posts: 20,822
    Wasn't there some polling a while ago that said 16-18 year olds were no more likely to vote YES than any other age group and that in some instances they relate more with being British rather than Scottish than their parents/grandparents, etc...?
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    GrandioseGrandiose Posts: 2,323

    surbiton said:

    I've never quite understood why the SNP never had a backup plan for the currency in the event that using the pound wasn't going to be possible.

    It looked like a massive oversight years ago, how did Salmond manage to get caught out so badly when he's had all this time to prepare an answer?

    Because until 2008, the Euro was going to be their currency. Remember, "Independence in Europe". It was a reassuring slogan saying we will be independent but, don't worry, we will still be part of Europe.


    In Scotland, there isn't that broadly semi racist Euro phobia that we have in parts of England[ London excluded ]
    What a stupid and ignorant comment. Being opposed to membership of a single currency - particularly one that has brought so much grief to many of its members - is in now way racist, semi or otherwise. The fact that those of us who always opposed the Euro project have been proved right really must stick in your craw.
    Quite right, Richard. But the very fact that someone might think it racist I think is an indicator of how the Euro went wrong - or, at least, how people saw different visions for it. "Racist" points to a unifying political project where inclusivity/exclusivity was a factor rather than (merely) a tool for economic co-operation and growth.
This discussion has been closed.