Cragus

You already have the bank of Scotland RBS if I remember rightly, but they went financially fits up and had to be bailed out by the tax payer... which is probably exactly what will happen to an independent Scotland.

I think you are being a bit ignorant in your knowledge of the finance world here Rich. While I am no expert you do realise that the BoE and high street banks such as RBS, Santander and HBOS are entirely different entities. BoE is a central bank and deal with monetary policy whereas banks like RBOS are retail banks. You are correct, the UK taxpayer, Scotland included, paid to bail RBS and Lloyds out. RBS like other retail banks was listed on the stock exchange and just happena to have the name Scotland in it because of how it came to be founded. Claiming that the UK (that's us too) bailed it out because Scotland made an arse of it is misinformed. Also, the government are looking to sell £38bn off in shares and a further £18bn off to institutional and retail investors and while this may take time, there is profit to be seen for the taxpayer.

By the way another little factoid for you here. John Holland was one of the founding members of RBS - an Englishman.

Why don't England get a vote, on what we want to do with Scotland..

 

Now that could be an interesting result, .. :scare: ..

This is too funny - some of you really don't get it. England do not have a greater control of union membership than any other member. If England wants to go in a cream puff that Scotland is holding a referendum, hold your own referendum and leave the Union yourselves. You can't kick any other country out though.

Move on to your next misguided thought where you believe the Bank of England belongs to England because is has the word 'England' in it. On a side note, I did some reading into the history of the BoE. It was interesting to read about one of the founding members, William Paterson. I can't remember where he was from from. I think it was eh....ah that's it... it was Scotland.

Welcome along!

or the fact that when you married her you turned a blind eye to the fact she was a dirty slag, and now she's eyeing your neighbour and hoping to take the family silver with her

or the fact that when you married her you turned a blind eye to the fact she was a dirty slag, and now she's eyeing your neighbour and hoping to take the family silver with her

Said neighbour being of the same gender (Mrs Wales) didn't want to be stay with their conservative ***** of a partner either so entered into a civil partnership with Mrs Scotland after learning that it was indeed true - Slags have more fun!

Mr England cried into his dinner....

....because the slags Mrs Scotland and Wales had stolen the family silver and he couldn't eat his spotted dick.

if they want to go let them go, like any break up give it a few months and they come crawling back all apologetic offering a blowie as long as we'll be together again

You have to wonder why they done the dirty on you in the first place - obviously they got fed up of being the bread winner and you were not satisfying them enough with that little pencil pecker.

i love the fact scotland get a vote on if the want independence, as this is a 2 way relationship, should we not have a vote on if we want to keep scotland? its like having a divorce, but only one side of the marriage is calling all the shots. its like the rest of the uk are nigella lawson, and scotlands trying to be mr satcchi

No offence but this is ridiculous! If one party in a divorce wishes to leave the marriage, the other party can't cage them in it. If England, Wales or NI don't want to be part of the union anymore they can hold a referendum and democratically vote to leave the 'marriage' too.

My problem with the whole debate is those outside of Scotland taking the view that this is only happening because Scotland don't like them and they spit the dummy out. Why don't they like us - boo hoo:

This video as I am sure you will have seen epitomises it:

Despite all that, I don't know whether it would be best for Scotland to go it alone or not. Long term it may well be, or it could be a complete disaster, but certainly chest-beating and mathematical guesswork doesn't seem like a good basis to strike out on your own to me. I'd rather you guys up north stayed with us, but tbh it really won't affect us south of the border much regardless: The risk is all yours.

I am not very politically minded but would place myself as a 'no vote' just now, predominately because I don't believe Alex Salmond has it in him to lead Scottish confidently into independence. I also agree with you that willy waving and guesswork are not are good basis for deciding the fate of Scotland. However I disagree that there will be no repurcussions South of the border and that the risk lies purely in Scottish hands. Nobody can determine exactly what these will be as too much is determined by negotiations that will occur IF Scotland chooses independence.

As of January 2013 the UK's debt was in the region of £988.7 billion. Scotland's GDP (excluding oil and gas) is only marginally below the UK average at 98.7% so if we make things simple and divide the debt evenly by population, given that Scotland has a population of 5.1 million (compared to the UK's 62.2 million), Scotland walks away with approximately £81 billion debt. This leaves the rest of the UK with £907.7 billion. Using different assumptions, Scotland's share of the debt would be far lower. This is a worse case scenario.

While £81 billion might sound like a lot of debt for a relatively small country, with Scotland retaining the oil and gas reserves it becomes far more manageable. Can't recall more recent figures but in 2008 I am certain oil and gas revenue was in excess of 12 billion. Let's not forget fishing, whisky and tourism as particularly strong trades for Scotland too. Getting rid of unwanted and expensive nuclear programmes etc will also save money. Will the rest of the UK continue to absorb these costs?

I don't doubt that Scotland has the potential to go alone if careful consideration is given to it's implementation and I do also believe there could be serious implications for the rest of the UK. Do I have faith in Salmond to execute the process - no. I think it would be a terrible shame to break up the UK and all this nonsense about hating English or actively supporting teams they play against in any sport is drivel. I can't say I have witnessed this - I have seen friendly ribbing and joking but that's all part of what makes our union so great.

....and to summarise FREEEDDDDDDDDDDOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM (i jest before you start lol).

Congrats mate!

Rev up is aftermarket mapping - not the name of the engine.

 

Up rev is tuning software, Rev up is the 296 engine.

Up-rev - so it is! Been out the game too long.

Rev up is aftermarket mapping - not the name of the engine.

Give us a rough budget to work with.

Audi or Merc?

Tell him to buy a mac and use OSX

What a load of drivel...

A guy called Mick Mulgrew has him added on Facebook. I think he runs the group central scotland cruisers - e may know who this guy is? Do you know him Neil?

I'll be down to half inch them tonight.

Hey buddy,

Have to say - always thought if I bought a 370z it would be getting the amused slapped on but that is a seriously good looking car. Could you PM me the deal you got on this bad boy as I could be seriously tempted - plus since I live in your neck of the woods when am I getting a swatch?

Congrats again - you must be proper chuffed!

It's Jessie I feel sorry - for. Walt is a manipulating moro!

I ordered direct from Shine for the last few bits of my 350z. Shipping is expensive but can be cheaper if you order a few bits.

I am sure RT performacne still have the amuse style kit on ebay.

I can see where Ekona is coming from on this one.

I am a teacher and attend two camps yearly with 9 year olds at the first and 11 year olds at the second. I have found in my years doing this that home sickness generally comes about when their minds are not being stimulated and they have time to think about home - this is why you find that the late night phone call is more troubling for her.

I can understand the anxiety from parents point of view but I am sure she is having a great time and ultimately being away from home amongst different children from different cultures is character building stuff.

Just saw this on the book of face. I would like to say I am lost for words but this form of parenting is on the increase...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9s1vn7iJzg

The very fact they put such sh1te music over the top of that video tells you all you need to know.

Can't say I fancy this Each to their own though

Who ever designed these just tried too hard....or didn't try hard enough. That's about as insightful as I get.

You car changed hands recently didn't it Cragus?

I think so mate - not sure who bought it though?

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