Cameron was so sincere there that he had to glance down at his notes to tell us how special the UK was.
It is certainly true that, by lying about silly things like roaming charges for phones; the end of the postal system; that Doctor Who and Easterners would be a thing of the past; that you'd need to get a visa to see your "foreign" granny in Berwick, if you could get through the barbed wire border; or that we would need to redraw the Treaty of Vereeniging 1902 and 10 million others, they have made people dubious about everything that they say.
It would be ridiculous to imagine that independence will be seamless, but probably to the average person it will appear that way.
You'll still have an (EU) driving licence, although it will probably be issued in Aberdeen (if they let us within the city limits) or Inverness instead of Cardiff, and you'll still have to pay your road tax, although it will be to Edinburgh, not London, that the money will go. But you'll still do it through the bank, or at a post office... and yes, post offices will still exist. Because they manage this kind of thing in other little countries, and we may not be any brighter than the Icelanders or the Irish, but we are also no more stupid.
Afterthought: I just read that the head of GKN, one of the UKs biggest companies, sways that he isn't in the least worried about Scottish Independence, but does go on to say that Cameron's in/out EU referendum is causing great uncertainty.
Terrible when things you say come back to bite you on the backside, Dave, isn't it?
The Guardian reported the GKN story about Cameron damaging business but it left off the positive part about Scotland.
ReplyDeleteNo big suprise there.
I wonder why that would be.... Oh yeah, they aren't real journalists, just propaganda merchants.
DeleteAn interesting perspective from my dad on why the Westminster parties are behaving the way they are:
ReplyDeleteThe Tories are expecting to lose Scotland, and are setting up to have Labour destroy themselves in the process.
And they're going to pull it off.
Which raises the question of why Labour are playing along with it?
Your dad could be right...
DeleteHmmm... good question though. Because, unlike your dad they ain't bright enough to see it?
Because of infighting in Labour between, London, the Westminster MPs and the Holyrood MSPs.
DeleteThey are still trying to set up a committee to design that Referendum horse which is looking more like a clapped oot donkey cross as the days pass.
A mule is sterile.
LOL Sterile... good word...
DeleteWhich raises the question of why Labour are playing along with it?
ReplyDeleteBecause they are genetically challenged according to their leader in Scotland and events seem to agree with her.
Why are Labour playing along with it?
ReplyDeleteBecause they view the Union as a vast dispensing machine, coughing out free sweeties for their delectation.
Would a kid give up a free sweetie machine?
I gave up trying to make sense of them. I'm convinced that the Union is just a vehicle for narrow vested interests and rewards.
Munguin is correct when he comments on the Union as being "special" but it is "special" in ways that we struggle to understand. You have to be a Labour politician to do that.
Here's an example of Labour politician accepting his sweetie. Don't try to understand it, just sit back and be amazed at the sheer brass neck on display.
http://whitefeatherclub.wordpress.com/2014/03/05/michael-martin-a-disgrace/
I've commented on that travesty over at your place Goose.
DeleteIt sickens me that we are paying for all this pantomime dressing up in costumes and speaking in olde Englishe Each one of these barstards calime £300 tax free to sit and watch airmiles Martin be made a Lord... Even though corrupt as they are, even they didn't want this odious man in their midst.
Let's be honest when you are tainting the house of Lords with your dishonesty, you are some kind of bloke!
tris have a read
ReplyDeletehttp://www.theguardian.com/politics/blog/2014/mar/05/alex-salmond-potent-case-scottish-independence
But there's no doubt which panacea populist can make the better speech. Farage's Ukip conference speech was a lazy appeal to prejudice. But that man Salmond is a class act, the rascal.
It's a reasonably typical London Centric view of independence. Maybe, he says, he has made the same speech at home many times.
DeleteSTV is ITV in Scotland... wow...
Truth is that Farage is a hater. He hates foreigners, as does that dodgy bloke from the BNP (I forget his name). Farage is a lazy tosser too. He doesn't turn up except to collect his money. He doesn't attend committee members and fight from Britain, or England or whatever he thinks he represents, because it wouldn't suit his book if the EU were doing something right.
Whatever you think of Salmond and independence there is a world of difference between the two of them.
Farage hates foreigners (even if he is of French origin) He wants Westminster to make decisions for Brits. He's a right wing Tory writ large.
Salmond welcomes foreigners. it makes economic sense as well as a kind of decency to do that (although the Tories are doing their best to hide that particular fact by burying a Home Office report under a pile of papers, and no minister being available to comment).
I think it was our dear fried (seen briefly in the previous video) Mr ffoulkes who said... he's making things better and he's doing it on purpose.
How have you been Niko? You've not been here for days....
tris
DeleteBeen busy sorting out me finances for
when i relocate to cyprus in the not to
distant future,
anyway why cant i post comment from
my iphone done loads but your blog
dont load them.....dunno why
Oh excellent Niko... Does that mean I have somewhere to come on holiday?
DeleteI've absolutely no idea why you can't Niko. I think the urchin had the same sort of problem with his ipad...
Technology is a bit of a mystery to me.
There are some blogs I can't comment on at all from my computer, but I can from my Chrome book, and others I can't from the Chromebook... argh...
Mr Brownlie will be pleased to know about the holiday though. = Do they speak Gaelic out there?
Damn... I wish I'd thought of it before I pressed publish.
DeleteI should have said it was all Greek to me!!!!
The poor Cypriots have suffered enough already, shame on you.
DeleteAh Niko, would that be North or South Cyprus?
DeleteDon't knock it, CH. Taz will soon sort them out.
DeleteI'm just wondering how John will get over to Cyprus to go to the bingo with a certain lady whose name shall be redacted in the interests of harmony.
Sincerity is the key and whether you can fake that.
ReplyDeleteThe entire NO campaign, collectively and individually fail massively, despite their notes and auto cues.
I thought Ms Lamont was reading better lately. Still not brilliant for an English teacher, but coming on. She seems to lose the place less frequently. But you can tell that drama was not part of her remit. She acts very badly. You can tell she really doesn't mean a word of it.
ReplyDeletesnotty
ReplyDeletelimasol...............very Russian there
Feel at home then Niko with all them tall leggy blondes
DeleteThat sounds like Niko's cup of tea...
DeleteShall we visit him the first week... or leave it to the second week?