So is Scotland going to leave the UK?

[Belladonna]

I see no real reason not to expect the disintegration of the UK within the next 100 years or so (thats, of course, assuming that the sea levels don't rise so much that london ends up underwater ANYWAY..., and they have to relocate to birmingham...)

 

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

sea levels MAY rise as little as 9m, that wont put london under water

eastangila, yes, thank *fruitcage*

*geography_girl strikes again!*

[Hillslam]

Wouldn't England just buy a bunch of Dutch dikes to protect London

 

(feel free to work the comedy angles on that sentence)

[Graeme]

Well personally being scottish i would also like to be Britsh aswell and dont like the idea of breaking off. Also thats just another excuse for england v scotland things which really get on my nerves.

[Blackwire]

Agreed. We all know Scotland is better..

[Crazy_Harry]

belladonna- true, sea levels may only rise a small amount, but they MAY also rise enough to prevent a serious threat to london, a threat that would, in fact, be so serious that it would prove unsustainable to tryand keep london from flooding.

 

not saying this will happen, but that its a theoretical model a number of scientists are saying could become very likely depending on our ability or lack there-of to counter or at least slow the increase of global warming.

 

And to those who think Scotland doesn't hav eth eeconomy- they said that of Ireland, among other stiny countries- but lo! cash incentives and grants from the EU did turneth up in the post, and yay, the lands did prosper, forsooth.

 

Just saying you shouldn't ignore the possibility of it happening in the next 100 years or so...

[Steve Pearson]

Ooh Ooh. Does this mean we can have another civil war?

[Cyber Soldier]

Ooh Civil war! I would wonder where we'd get our weapons from. Airsoft Civil War!!

[Crazy_Harry]

nah, it'll be banned by then- we'll have to have a proper, civilised civil war- fists, elbows, bottles, and plenty of argy-bargy.

 

hey, its traditional british behaviour

[Hillslam]

Chance to use that British Kung Fu

[samuel]

"......here we are, faced with a hundred thousand marauding ginger Scotsmen. And what does the learned Hadrian do Baldrick? He builds three foot wall!"

[Pablo]

Nah, that wall was to stop the zombies. I read it somewhere...

[Desolation mkII]

Well, the point is, Belgium, the Netherlands & Denmark are doing just fine.

Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark have all had a long long time to establish themselves as strong countries. Bearing in mind the Netherlands was able to use a vast trading empire to build up infrastructure etc and Beligium was able to take the Congo and used it's resources for similar. Denmark was allways, to my knowledge, a fairly powerfull economy.

 

So unless Scotland is going to invade the East Indies or take a swath of Africa, it would not have the same form of economic surroundings that were present to make Belgium and the Netherlands so strong.

 

Scotland provides IIRC 33% less money than it takes in, Wales provides 50% less money than it takes in. Any split would require catastrophic slashes in government spending. I guess there might also be problems as to how Scotland is governed after that, will it become a commonwealth country, will it be a republic or will people be angling to restore the Stuarts to the throne?

 

Then the US would invade and take their oil.

[Cyber Soldier]

There is also the fact that without englishmen to take out their anger on the Catholics and Protestants would start killing eachother.

[Hillslam]

Then the US would invade and take their oil.

Nah. Haven't you been paying attention? We only invade where its warm now. The last cold place we invaded was D-Day and that was all icky and poo.

 

Now if Scotland installs a bunch o space heaters and sunlamps, then we can talk.

[QQexDERA]

Cyber has a good bit of logic there - just look at a Celtic Vs Ranger's game lol

 

But, back to the point....

 

Could Scotland survive as its own country? probably. But it sure as hell wouldn't have the clout that the SNP believe that it would. Would it be another economic miracle along the lines of the ROI? probably not - that little EU funded gravy train is going to start drying up sometime....

 

And what about the Oil? yup, were almost at "peak oil" in that respect, so what other industry does Scotland have that could produce a decent level of cash - well, not a lot. The much vaunted "Silicon Glen" has been an abject failure, manufacturing industries are all out in the far east or eastern europe now. Scotland isn't home to the major financial institutions that create to much of the money in England.

 

Makes ya think a bit doesn't it?

[TheBauer]

But they get so much money off the English government it would be stupid.  Scotland gets in the region of 7 grand per person per year off the current government

 

Edit:  Kinda makes more sence now

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

well thats an extra 7 grand per person they can use to try and sort their own country out first.

 

*fruitcage* other countries, we need to sort this *beep* hole out first.

[joeking27]

Can England not get loads of money from splitting from Scotland?

[Terror_drone]

Its a conspiracy so they dont have to suffer us English once sea levels rise and our country is under water (I dont blame them ). At least Scotland might keep hold of their politicians

[soadrocker856]

It would be pretty metal if civil war broke out.

 

(Metalocalypse reference)

[Cyber Soldier]

It would be pretty metal if civil war broke out.

 

(Metalocalypse reference)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

We'll I know I'd be fighting on the side of the union.

 

We have this as our mascot:

[Crazy_Harry]

unfortunately, Maiden also wrote "The Clansman", which would probably end up being used as the scottish battle-song

 

ok, its not in the same league as "The Trooper", but its got a kick-*albartroth* cheesy metal chorus

 

*runs into battle waving claymore over head shouting "Freedom!"*

[Leadmill]

All our nuclear missle subs are based in Scotland, this could be a problem in the event of civil war

[PenGun]

But they get so much money off the English (British?) government it would be stupid.  Scotland gets in the region of 7 grand per person per year off the current government

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Yes but how much do the British government get from Scottish oil?

 

Apparently Scotland would be one of the wealthiest places around if its oil revenues went back into Scotland only. Tut tut tut

Scottish independence = a free Lexus and lifetime booze for all Scots...yayyyyyy!!!

 

The olde English nicked our magnificent forests of oak too...lousy tree-thieving gits

 

Though if they had cut down Sherwood Forest instead they could have saved themselves a boat trip and caught that Hood bloke too...

[PenGun]

Would it be another economic miracle along the lines of the ROI? probably not - that little EU funded gravy train is going to start drying up sometime....

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Yeah but that dried up in the mid-90s really.

What they did get right is the education system and that paid off big-time from the late 80s onwards.

Plus lots of tax-breaks for multinationals...and some pretty sharp finance ministers (you'd call them Chancellors )

 

All those newbie EU countries get a lot more now afaik.

 

Kinda hard to keep asking for money when your economy starts doing well

 

They do get some money for infrastructure but not all that much, its mostly government funded and funded in part by the EU.

Theres a €170 billion plan after being started here and the EU are going nuts cos they think the economy will boil over (but they said that 10 years ago too )

 

Theres so many damn jobs that 325,000 'foreign nationals' applied to enter to work...I'd say about 500,000 snook in and worked anyway

 

We're basically part of Eastern Europe now

Even Latvia is appealing for its young people not to leave to work here because its like the brain-drain here in the 80s.

What gets annoying is that some of them can't even speak basic English (or Irish) and don't make much of an effort to integrate, probably cos they'll just work for a bit and leg it when they have enough money.

The ones who do make an effort are well sound though

 

And loads of those Baltic girls are hot too.

 

P.S. go Scotland!!!