Independence - bring it on.

A split will be a disaster for Scotland and will create more problems for the rest of the Union-not the UK anymore! Vote yes at your peril.
However if they want to go-beggar off and good riddance to their constant references to Bannockburn and no devo max which means the Scots will still want their hand in our back pocket. If it's independence you want it has to be total.
So it will be job losses at Faslane- locate it to Merseyside or Barrow, lots of employment for the English or even a Welsh port.
NHS, welfare state, BBC licence fee, Sky, cable pay for it yourselves.
Re-locate all the Scots army to north of the border and pay for it yourselves if you need one or a Navy or Air Force.
You can set up your own currency and be free to decide Europe "in or out". Best of all no Scottish MP's voting on English decisions.
Alex Salmon strutting about the World as a statesman.
And all for what. A "share" if any, of oil revenue which will run out in a few years. Then you will be on your own. Still with passport controls along Hadrian's Wall (he had the right idea) you can charge the English to see a return to the crofting system, if the rest have not departed to other countries yet another emptying of the Highlands. And finally the bagpipe can be regarded as an unfriendly instrument South of the border. Peace at last. Goodbye!

Fandabidozi. Quite why some feel the need to throw insults over this is beyond me. Won't return the insults and engage in silly bitterness.

Your saying unnecessary negative things. Scotland isn't stopping you having devo max for your part of the country. Your elected representatives are.
Support for independence is continually growing and will highly likely be larger after another 2 years of Tory government. Support for independence is nothing to do with dislike for English people and more to do with a serious dislike for Tories and right wing policies

Can't wait; there's no greater cheer leader for Scottish independence than the English. The very thought of never again having to suffer another Scottish dominated Labour party. No more electoral-fraud; no more mass-immigration; no more squandering billions on the work-shy; no more pampering to Islam; no more economic-mismanagement, but best of all; not getting blamed for all Scottish woes.

Assuming that readers of The Staggers are politically savvy, I am surprised that no one has raised the issue of what happens to Northern Ireland (especially) and Wales if Scotland leaves the Union? It is not impossible that in the longer run, Scotland + Ireland + Northern Ireland + Wales will be associated in a new arrangement and England will be left on its ownio.

John,

I have to say that as a a member of the Cybernat 'twitterati', most of the people i follow aren't bitter, but committed to following the party line of positive argumentation for the Independence cause. Of course, i'm not naive to think there aren't those who harbour anti-English sentiment. But amongst my pro-indy friends in (and outside) the party this does not exist, nor does any bitterness. It is a simple case of wishing to govern for ourselves, and our own interests. Particularly at a time when it appears that those clash so distinctly with the diktats that are coming out of Westminster (i.e. NHS & Welfare).

Bile and nonsense such as that from Ian on this thread are something that i am seeing with, sadly, increasing regularity. I don't think it serves anyone very well at all. Worst of all, much of it seems to surface from people who ought to know better. Scare stories and woeful propoganda such as the recent 'Spain to veto' Scotland and Scotland having to promote whisky itself swing from the embarrassingly naive to outright lies.

Anyway, rant over. If our countries are to go their seperate ways then i live in hope that it is after some considered debate. Although i am a supporter of our independence i'd hate it if it were on the back of such childish nonsense as what i have witnessed from the big three thus far. We all deserve that.

A democratic rererendum would only accepty a two-thirds majority to support independence.

Doug,
I'm not bitter - and how is it bitter calling into question a poll of 1000 adults ACROSS THE UK which claims to tell us about OPINION IN SCOTLAND.

How many times have I heard the SNP say the same things about such polls when they say something they dont agree with?

There is much bitterness amongst some supporters - to give you a few examples. These are all things said by nationalists online in the last few days..

Anyone who doesnt want independance should leave Scotland now.

No one who has lived in Scotland for less than 15 years should get a vote

At last I can get my country back.

We can kick out the colonising b***** english.

etc
etc

Now, I am happy to condemn the vile and abusive things some people have said - the Daily Mail tendancy, if you like. But you have to accept that there is also much bitterness on the nationalist side too.

Like I said, Salmond is too canny to say anything like this himself. If anything like these things ever got said by senior SNP politicians, it would probably end any hope of independance.

We will get to keep all our oil money and we will never again be governed by toff public school multi millionaire tory wankers. That's got to be a good thing. It amuses me that the English want rid of us as they think we are a drain yet London with a population of almost twice that of scotland receives more cash per head, as does Northern ireland!Maybe you should jettison London instead! Bunch of "begging subsidy junkies" that londoners are!

I see a Poll showing 45% support an English Parliament 20% against. So an English Parliament is popular. When will Cameron take note? Never.

"Britishness" is becoming as dead a political concept as: "Austro-Hungarian-ness"
Two dis-similar countries, artificially and temporarily united, primarily for reasons of dynastic succession initially, then by the vested interests of the power elite.
I was born Scots, will die Scots and have never identified at any time as 'British' The Union was useful. Note the past tense.

stevem

Enough of this nonsense I pointed out earlier the reasoned comments coming from north of the border to Alan, who tried to make the accusations as you. I got no reply, strange that! Luddite always uses colourful language but always makes valid points.

If you are so sure of yourself get out there campaigning not posting childish remarks on here.

“I don’t want to be Prime Minister of England, I want to be Prime Minister of the whole United Kingdom,” says David Cameron. And Ed Miliband told the Commons: “This is a momentous decision which our children and grandchildren will have to live with if we get it wrong.” Unfortunately, he didn’t have any analysis to explain quite what ‘wrong’ would be or for whom.
At the same time, hoping to appeal to romanticised myth and obscure real history, Alex Salmond wants to hold the referendum in 2014, the 700th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn. But the battle was fought between two feudal overlords, sole possessors of the land. Scotland no more belonged to the people who lived there than did England to the English.
The Act of Union in 1706 merged the parliament of Scotland with that of England and Wales, and Britain became officially one nation. A rapidly growing capitalist economy throughout Britain destroyed feudalism.
Britain developed in the heat of the industrial revolution with all its national elements coming together in large-scale manufacture and the growth of major towns across England, Scotland and Wales. It didn’t matter which particular area mined the coal firing the furnaces, which were located throughout the nation.
A referendum on Scotland breaking away from Britain poses a crucial question for the whole British people. Our greater strength lies in unity. All must have a vote on the future of Britain, not just Scotland, with a simple yes/no question. On this, Cameron got it right.
A ‘yes’ vote in a referendum would mean subservience for Scotland. Let Greece, Portugal, Ireland and Italy serve as examples, subsumed by the European state. Do Scots really want the euro?
The British people must not allow itself to be split along false ‘national’ lines. We are a nation – a British nation – who share the same problems and are tied together in common interests. Salmond has been pumped up – by himself, his party and the press. He does not want a referendum because he is afraid his rhetoric will be exposed for what it is. He requires deflating.
Britain needs to re-discover a positive sense of itself, of its actual history as a united people. We must turn to the real problem: our future as a nation and how to rebuild Britain.

Will Podmore

"We must turn to the real problem: our future as a nation and how to rebuild it." Why?

In your last sentence you admit theres a problem. It's that New Labour thought it could control Scotland and Wales better by giving them devolution and it's backfired on them. You can't put the genie back in the bottle. Now at last England has woken up as well. Lets have an end to this dis-united Kingdom.