British Expatriate Network

You may wish to think so, but this is not the case. Far more Scots support independence than vote SNP. Because the SNP is not a single issue party, and people may not agree with their other policies despite supporting independence.

This is hardly a "tiny minority", and I see evidence for it out there on the street and in the office, not to mention schools. Sure, high apathy, but also high support for independence. Not a "tiny minority".

http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1339102006

p.s. Why am I on a British and an expat forum when I consider myself neither? Well, because when I see blatant inaccuracies like this, I think it's worth correcting them.

Well we don't discriminate here - not even if you are Scottish ;)
And the question remains - what are you doing here? Like it or not, Scotland is part of Great BRITAIN which in turn is the largest of the BRITISH Isles. If you are really Scottish, you are as British as I am. :razz: So... Welcome to Britnet :grin:

KentGirl, "Britishness" has nothing to do with geography. It is a political concept.

After all, if Scots are British by virtue of living on the same island, that would make the Channel Islanders French, and the Gibraltans Spanish, because of their closest neighbours.

Scots have never ever been given the chance to choose independence in a referendum. Seems in the British political set-up you can only vote to stay loyal, as per the Falklands, a chunk of Ireland and Gibraltar. Otherwise you have to keep mum.

"And the question remains - what are you doing here?"

I stumbled on one of the threads after a google search for Scottish Independence.

ps Scotland consists of over two hundred islands (other than the big one), some with thousands living on them.

I did see a recent poll from YouGov that said 44% of Scots backed independence, whilst 42% were against it.

However, YouGov is an internet only poll and there are probably a high proportion of Scots that have little or no access to the internet - therefore, it's not a very good sample to draw any conclusions from. A street poll would be a better source, if anyone has any access to the results of one on this subject.

There are arguments for and against Scottish independence, for both sides. On the one hand, if the Scots had been independent in the early 70's, they might have enjoyed a massive tax surplus on all the oil that is off their shores - perhaps being a sovereign nation like Kuwait with private healthcare for all or annual "bonus" payments to citizens.

On the other hand, a nation of five million or so is possibly politically and economically weak and would likley not be able to defend itself or be a permanent member on the UN Security Council, which the United Kingdom is.

There would be a lot of losses for both countries if they split - I'm not Scottish but I think you have to consider the disadvantages also of divorcing from the other 55 million on the island.

I've spend some time up in the Outer Hebrides and the people up there are different again from those on mainland Scotland - perhaps they also might have a case for independence from both the UK and the mainland Scots?

Good God!
Did you reallu trawl through the archives to find that quote, or do a search for scottish references.
In any event, in 2002 when I left the UK, and UK politics, what I said was correct as far as I am aware. I certainly wasn't relying on the SNP vote.
Four years on, given everything that has happened, I would not be surprised if a plurality of Scots want independence.
Personally, being English, I don't regard it as any of my business, but I certainly would not oppose it if that is what the people of Scotland want.
In meantime, welcome aboard.

Umm... weren't the original people on this island known as Britons, before the Angles came over and started calling it England?

So you should be considering Scotland and Britain almost as synonyms, and treating the English as foreigners.

Or we could just get along.

English AND British.

Show me the results of a poll across a representative selection of the Scots, with properly prepared questions, that show the voters the consequencesof the decision, and I'll believe them. A poll of of only those with a computer has no relevence.

Explain that it will be one of the smalles countries in the world and have to provide it's own army, navy and airforce, ambassadors to the UN and the major countries, etc, and they will sing a different tune.

I wasn't aware that the whole island was called England, though some may do so.

We will get along better with self-determination. Scotland, England and Wales are all different nations, and foisting some artificial identity on them all hasn't changed that. As well as the issue of how much Britishness is actually universal (bangers, mash and Frank Lampard don't particularly mean much to me. Never mind laverbread and the Eisteddfod.), there's also the question of the empire. The Empire's dead, and that's pretty much what kept this British thing going.

Personally I wish people in England - of all skin colours - would be English. There seems to be a problem with ethnic minorities there accepting an English identity as opposed to a British one, something we don't have here with the Scottish identity. I don't know why though. I remember Norman Tebbit telling a black Englishman that he was "British but not English".

Getting along, means allowing a country to rule itself. The situation is getting better in Scotland that way, but it could get better. And, if you consider us subsidy junkies, good riddance! India was once "British". Anyone want it back? Britishness will soon be as meaningful as "Austro-Hungarian", "Holy Roman" or "Ottoman".

There is no such thing as a perfect poll, but my experience, on the ground tends to suggest that quite a number of people support Scottish independence in some way, shape or form.

You don't have to explain this. We're not that stupid. This is par for the course.

In fact, we can stay out of dubious little geopolitical conflicts in the Middle East, and devote our defence money to defence itself.

Staying in the UK gives us many privileges of course, such as being its nuclear dumping ground, being refused our own TV channel (there are many countries far smaller which have theirs) despite being TV taxation, constantly being told we're too small to be a country (despite some of the richest countries in the world having a similar population), taking a disproportionate casualty rate in a number of wars etc etc.

Maybe it's because the flag of St George, England's national flag, was the same design as the one used in the crusades when we went pillaging all the non-Christians and particularly Muslims?

Personally I think it would be better for the country of the United Kingdom to break up into E, S, W & NI who run as independent states but still under a UK umbrella - something of a mini-EU.

That's the federal argument. The Liberals had it as policy for decades, and the Lib Dems inherited it. Personally I think it's more of the same, but then maybe I'm a black sheep.

was just thinking about how proud people in the US are of their families heritage, that they came to the US as immigrants two or three generations ago but their descendants still hold fast to their great grandparents countries of origins and consider themselves Americans. Surely people with Scotts or Welsh or irish or Cornish ancestors are more British than English, as theirs too is a mixed heritage. Sorry its so off topic, but these things pop into my head now and again and I feel the need to share them. :grin:

If those are the wishes of the Scots then I wish that Scotland would break away and become independent.

It probably wouldn't stop the whining though.

Rubbish - you had "OHBC Newwwwwwws" (Outer Hebrides Broadcasting Corporation) - we know 'cause we saw it in"Naked Video" :wink:

What about the Act of Union? Wasn't that signed by a scottish monarch? Didn't see no referendum asking us Eengleesh if we wanted a bisexual humpbacked scottish godbotherer smoking nazi midget for king...