Scotland Divided Ahead of Approaching Independence Referendum. Liam Stevenson was never the type to become particularly passionate about politics. A tank truck driver in Scotland, he spent most of his free time with his wife Helen and daughter Melissa in their small house in Cumbernauld, northeast of Glasgow. Every now and then, he would join his friends for a few pints. But a couple of months ago, he experienced a transformation not unlike that of Franz Kafka's character Gregor Samsa, who became a new creature overnight. Stevenson became a political activist. He guides his Volkswagen Golf past working class housing cowering in the shadows of gigantic residential towers. Cumbernauld was created after the war and has since become a Scottish dystopia. It is a place that remains stuck somewhere between the 1950s and 1980s. Stevenson wants people to see the city through his eyes so they can understand his confidence.
Like many of his compatriots, Stevenson dreams of independence. The Undecided Stevenson isn't a politician, nor is he an intellectual. L'epic fail dello spot sessista contro l'indipendenza scozzese. Non è piaciuta la casalinga che vota no perché è troppo difficile pensare a cosa succederà votando sì L’epic fail dello spot sessista contro l’indipendenza scozzese Probabilmente il fallimentare spot prodotto da «Better Together» non sposterà le sorti del prossimo referendum, che secondo i sondaggi vede largamente in vantaggio i sostenitori della permanenza in Gran Bretagna su quelli a favore dell’indipendenza della Scozia (51 VS 38%), ma da tempo i sudditi di Elisabetta II non assistevano a un tale fail della comunicazione politica.
UNA DONNA FUORI DAL TEMPO - Lo spot è intitolato «The Woman Who Made Up Her Mind» ed è andato in onda anche su BBC, provocando immediatamente un fiorire di proteste e spingendo alla diffusione virale l’hashtag , #PatronisingBTLady. Se vuoi ricevere gratuitamente notizie su L'epic fail dello spot sessista contro l'indipendenza scozzese lascia il tuo indirizzo email nel box sotto e iscriviti: A message to Scotland from an Aboriginal elder. Veteran UK Politician Calls for Scottish Parliament to Be Scrapped. EDINBURGH, 14 August (RIA Novosti), Mark Hirst – One of Britain’s most senior political figures has told RIA Novosti the only solution to the problem of Scottish elected MPs voting on English only matters in the House of Commons is to abolish the devolved Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh. Sir Tam Dalyell, a Labour MP for 43 years, was the first politician to raise the issue of the democratic unfairness following devolution of having Scottish MPs continuing to vote on English only matters, whilst English MPs are not allowed a vote on Scottish only issues, such as health and education.
The dilemma became known as “the West Lothian question,” named after Dalyell’s former constituency. “The only solution to the West Lothian question is the ending of the Scottish Parliament,” Dalyell told RIA Novosti. Asked by RIA Novosti whether Redwood’s decision to raise the issue just before the Scottish independence referendum was right, Dalyell said, “The answer is yes.
Letter from Hanoi, Vietnam on our Independence Referendum « The letter below arrived on the Bella desk (via Margaret who helps organise for Yes Helensburgh & Lomond). Sometimes you need an outside view to help put things into perspective. Thank you Phi Yến Pham. June 28, 2014 A Vietnamese view of Scotland’s vote for independence I have never been to Scotland, am not a journalist and normally have no interest in politics. But the question I ask myself again and again is: why would anyone vote No? As far as I can tell it seems to be because some people think independence represents a risk whether to their pensions, their place in Europe, the use of the pound sterling or many other things on which I keep reading that people feel they “have not been given enough information”. To me this is astonishing for two reasons. Firstly even on the other side of the planet I have been able to find perfectly reasonable answers to these questions.
Sincerely, Phi Yến Pham Hanoi, Vietnam [2] [3] The Independence Referendum Is a Test of Scotland’s Confidence. Photo LONDON — ONE thing is certain: Whatever the outcome, this referendum campaign is changing Scotland irrevocably. Whether the Scots vote yes or no to independence on Sept. 18, their sense of what is possible for this small nation will have been transformed. Reporting on Scottish politics through wind and rain for almost 40 years, I have covered three referendums on self-government. The first, in 1979, offered a modest elected assembly: A slim majority of voters approved it, but the turnout fell short of the threshold required for the proposal to become law.
The second, in 1997, proposed a restored Scottish Parliament controlling most internal affairs. This referendum, the third, dares the Scots to go the last mile: proposing an independent Scottish state within the European Union, sharing a monarch (after the fashion of Commonwealth countries like Canada and Australia), and possibly a currency, with the rump of the old United Kingdom. Where does this come from? Sterling could sink as Scottish independence vote nears - Marsh on Monday. By David Marsh, MarketWatch Getty Images Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is finally taking sides in the debate over Scottish independence: He’s against it.
LONDON (MarketWatch) — At stake in the Scottish independence referendum on Sept. 18 is not just the future of a 307-year-old union with England but also the stability of a currency — sterling /quotes/zigman/4867886/realtime/sampled GBPUSD +0.05% — that is still ranked by the International Monetary Fund as the world’s third most important reserve money after the dollar and the euro.
The debate on Scotland’s fate gets fully into its stride this week with political rhetoric heating up on both sides of the border and opinion polls suggesting that the “Yes” campaign for a go-it-alone Scotland has narrowed the ground significantly against opponents of independence. U.S. -Russia Relations Come Full Circle After Ukraine Brown has kept a low profile since losing the 2010 general election against David Cameron, who became his successor. Scottish-independence-vote-could-set-off-eu-exodus. Farsnews. TEHRAN (FNA)- A senior political analyst suggested British Prime Minister David Cameron should resign if he really plans to retain Scotland in the UK. Ian Williams, Foreign Policy in Focus, London said Cameron’s resignation “would do wonders to get pro-union sentiment in the North”, Islam Times reported. “The best thing he could do would be to resign and call another election and I think that another government in Westminster might well do a better job of persuading the Scots to stay in.
If he thinks it’s that important he should make the sacrifice,” Williams stated. He also noted that the British conservative leader is right to claim that the UK is going to fall apart if Scotland was to break away from it. “Cameron … is one of the reasons why a lot of Scots are actually actively considering separating from the rest of the country because in England they’ve been returning conservative governments for a long time.
Scotland’s Good Neighbour « If Scots vote for independence, then Norway will be an important neighbour and ally says John Bryden, political economist and emeritus professor at the University of Aberdeen, and part time professor at NILF, Oslo. (Edited by Vibeke Buen) Norwegians voted for a new government in the autumn, an alliance of conservatives and populists. Meanwhile, Scotland is preparing for a referendum on independence in September 2014, in part to distance itself from the neo-liberal policies of the Thatcher-Blair-Cameron governments since 1979. Norway is Scotland’s closest continental neighbour and the two countries have similar population, geography, and natural resources, as well as much common history.
Maybe Norway should take more interest in the Scottish independence debates and ask themselves why the two countries appear to be moving in different political directions? This is not least because it is necessary to refute the argument that small countries are not ‘viable’. Like this: Like Loading... Scotland independence bid to be obliterated in 2014. ‘It is never difficult to distinguish between a Scotsman with a grievance and a ray of sunshine’. I love Scotland, but never mind the EU elections; the most entertaining political event of 2014 will be the referendum on Scottish independence. The predictions are a melt-down in the ‘yes’ vote. The Scottish Nationalists will be obliterated. The opinion polls show a massive lead for ‘no’ with ‘yes’ getting only 27 percent of the vote. A much safer guide is the bookies’ odds. There is no merit to their case, which entirely rests on sentimentality; the Scotland of Burns Suppers, tartan, and fried Mars Bars.
The economic arguments for ‘no’ are overwhelming. The British (mainly English) subsidy to Scotland is £25 billion ($41 billion). Most Scots would reject independence if it left them only £500 ($826) a year worse off. Then there’s the EU membership problem. There’s the currency issue. If not, they will have to set up their own central banking system. Scotland could go the way of Greece. Breaking up with the UK? Scots have nothing to lose going the 'indy' route. GLASGOW, SCOTLAND – Yes. The country is financially stronger than the United Kingdom as a whole and its people desire a government very different from the one sitting at the Westminster Parliament, London. Notification You’ve reached your story limit as a non-registered user.
To read more, please sign up or log in via one of the services below. This will give you access to 15 additional stories this month. Salmond tells AFP: 'Scots will back independence' Alex Salmond holds a pin with the Scottish flag on a visit to Barrie Knitwear in Hawick, Scotland, on Tuesday. The people of Scotland will defy the odds and vote to break away from the rest of the United Kingdom in a referendum a year from now, Salmond has told AFP.AFP Alex Salmond visits the Barrie Knitwear factory in Hawick, Scotland, on Tuesday.
Ahead of a speech Wednesday pledging that an independent Scotland would take a vastly more pro-European approach than "grumbling" Britain, Salmond brushed aside respected US pollster Nate Silver's prediction that he had "virtually no chance" of winning.AFP Alex Salmond (left) with David Cameron at the Wimbledon men's singles final on July 7. With 13 months to go until the historic vote on September 18, 2014, only a third of Scotland's 5.5 million-strong population are currently planning to vote in favour of independence, according to opinion polls.AFP "We'll win the arguments," he insisted. Scotland Unveils ‘Landmark Document’ on Independence from Britain. Modern Scotland is deep in socialism. CTA Board Member Charles E. Robinson at a board meeting at CTA headquarters in 2009. Brian Jackson/Chicago Sun-Times BGA Public Eye: Clout Questions at CTA, RTA and CHA.
As Others See Us: The View from The Netherlands. Scotland might just be about to be the first. That, at least, is the way our referendum looks to international nuclear disarmament campaigners. Ban-the-bombers across the globe, of course, don't care one way or another about this country's constitutional arrangements. But they love the idea of a territory, any territory, essentially volunteering to disarm in a national plebiscite.
Last month Abolition 2000 - a sort of international equivalent of our own CND - met in Edinburgh and visited the UK's Trident base at Faslane on Gare Loch. The event has gradually drummed up a lot of attention for the anti-nuclear stance of the SNP and its independentista allies in alternative media across Europe, not least in the Netherlands. One of those inspired by the Scottish debate was Krista van Velzen, a former MP for the Dutch Socialist Party and now a campaigner for No Nukes in Amsterdam. "I am jealous of the fact that you Scots have a referendum on independence," she said. Colijn gives us some context. Exclusive: Icelandic Prime Minister Ready to Welcome an Independent Scotland.
Update: today the Mayor of Reykjavik, Jon Gnarr, said ‘Yes’ to independence for Scotland. The Mayor of Reykjavik says Yes #IndyRef pic.twitter.com/nrSFqckKRG— National Collective (@WeAreNational) February 21, 2014 In an exclusive interview with National Collective, the newly elected Icelandic Prime Minister Sigmundur Davíð said he would welcome an independent Scotland into the world. In the event of a ‘Yes’ vote in next year’s referendum, the Icelandic government would “welcome Scotland with a new, thriving relationship.” Although Iceland has not taken an official position, he said that “Whatever the will of the people is, that is something that we would support.” Sigmundur highlighted Iceland’s history of celebrating new independent countries, stating that “Icelanders have usually been very supportive of nations seeking independence.”
This landmark intervention signifies a growing interest in Scotland’s future among Icelandic politicians. Michael Gray@GrayInGlasgowNational Collective. Scotland's Salmond would consider non-nuclear NATO bases. April 04, 2013|Daniel Bases | Reuters NEW YORK (Reuters) - Alex Salmond wants to see an independent Scotland free of submarines laden with nuclear missiles, but he says he is open to hosting NATO bases without weapons of mass destruction. As leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP), which controls the Scottish parliament in Edinburgh, the Scottish first minister announced last month that on September 18, 2014, Scots would have a chance to decide whether or not to break from the United Kingdom after more than 300 years.
A Scotland free of British Trident nuclear submarines has been a long-standing aim of the SNP. In an interview with Reuters in New York on Thursday, Salmond said he would not get into a debate before the referendum about allowing foreign military bases on Scottish soil. But he did say it was the SNP's intention to be a NATO member. "The choice in policy terms is to be a non-nuclear member of that organization," he said. Independence Day: A Dispatch From Edinburgh. Could Scottish, Catalan independence votes reshape Europe? Scottish independence: Icelandic president Olafur Grimsson enters debate. An independent Scotland could look like a wee Canada. North Sea oil 'could have made an independent Scotland as rich as Switzerland' - World. Four reasons Scotland might decline independence. Jews on Scottish independence: More faintheart than Braveheart. Scottish referendum to clash with European elections.
Broadcast Yourself. Scots begin push to be a nation once again. Independent Scotland "would prosper" - Salmond. As others see us. Would England ever accept Scottish independence? Disunited Kingdom. Dreaming of an independent Scotland - Frost Over the World. Scotland should break free of British rule. Scots Begin Bid for Vote on Independence. From Devolution to Independence. Skal Skotland indlemmes i Norden?