Let's Have Our Own Referendum Now!, Should Scotland Be An Independent Country? Options

[GG]

An historic agreement setting out the terms for a Scottish independence referendum was signed today by Prime Minister David Cameron and First Minister Alex Salmond.

The agreement, struck in Edinburgh, paves the way for a vote in autumn 2014, with a single Yes/No question on Scotland leaving the UK.

It will also allow 16 and 17-year-olds to take part in the ballot.

Rather than wait for 2014, it was suggested on the boards that we should have our own referendum today ... so here it is! Just answer the single yes/no question below.

Also, tells us your views on whether you think Scots living abroad should get a vote in the referendum in 2014?

GG.

[Jennifer Hutt]

I cannot see anywhere to vote.

[GG]

Hi Jennifer,

You should see the voting options in the first post above. However, you do need Flash installed to see the poll – this is the technology the poll runs on. If you don't have Flash, you will probably see a list of adverts.

You can download Flash for your browser here:

http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/otherversions/

Hopefully, you will then be able to vote.

GG.

[laura j]

Not while alec salmonds involved - couldnt see extra poll re-ex pats - no they shouldnt.

[GG]

Thanks Laura, there's no vote for that, it was just inviting discussion on whether ex-pats should be given the right to vote in the referendum. I've changed the wording above to make it a bit clearer.

GG.

[Noonan McKane]

My answer to the secondary question is: No. Absolutely not. No ex pat of anywhere should be entitled to vote in elections held in their home nation. To me it's a total no-brainer; I can scarcely believe it when I hear people argue in favour of it. What right does a person who lives in Canada or New Zealand have to a say in how I get governed? I might as well say I want a vote in the next Spanish general election, so I can make sure it's all nice and tidy when I go there for my holidays.

It's even more amazing to hear recent arguments against prisoners retaining their voting rights. (usually from the same sort of folk who argue FOR Joe & Agnes of Vancouver to vote for Westminster and Holyrood..!) Prisoners are still citizens, are still certainly liable to taxation in some, probably many, of it's forms, and of course not all guilty of the crimes for which they've been convicted. If we insist on stripping prisoners of their vote, I'd insist no police officer on the South Yorkshire force be allowed to vote again, ever. Or get their bins emptied. Fair's fair.

So, it's 'no' from me.

[Bonny]

YESSSSSSSSSSSSS

From a friend

For all those that think Scotland couldn't go it alone......

Scotland has:
1. 90% of the North Sea continental shelf under international law
2. Almost half of the entire EU renewable potential (onshore, offshore and tidal)
3. 50%+/- of the entire global subsea engineering expertise
4. A booming biomedicine, pharmaceutical and genetics industry
5. More patents per head of population than any other part of the UK, second only to Germany in the EU
6. A booming food exports market
7. A booming whisky industry
8. A booming software industry
9. A smaller population than London, but equal productivity (richest part of entire UK outside London)
10. And while the UK saw a drop in tourism in 2012, even with the Olympics, our visitor rate increased by 7%

Oh, and lets not forget - fresh water, the commodity of the future.

We could finance ourselves solely on the income we earn selling water to drought-ridden UK. Unlike parts of England, when Scots drink a glass of tap water, we know it'll be the first and last time that water will be drank. I believe the average glass of London tap water has passed through a human being and been reprocessed at least 7 times? Correct me if I'm wrong...

[angel]

As an Ex.Pat., I do not think that we should vote in / on this referendum , allowed or not .

Leave those domiciled in Scotland to do whatever they wish , it is they who live there , I am a Canadian with my Canadian Passport and thats enough for me .

As long as I can visit when I have the mind to do so , I'm satisfied .

[*RDP*]

We will never be truly independent; all we will do is swap control from London to the Hague. If you don't live here and pay taxes then you don't get a vote, plain and simple.

[Bonny]

[Bonny]

Dear Independence Supporter

As organiser of the 2012 March and Rally I am dismayed, but not at all surprised, by the utterly inaccurate reporting by several newspapers regarding the figures reported as turnout for last Saturday and also the negative headlines with which they used the March and Rally to attack the Scottish Government.

The facts are that our attendance was 9,500. That is the reality, not the extremely inaccurate and adhoc method employed by an 'official' at the Meadows. This figure was derived by a cursory glance and calculation based on that glance - from the top if our bus!

Of course the media are, by and large, only to happy to seize upon any opportunity to attack the Scottish Government and in the past few months we have witnessed the intensification of that wholly unprofessional behaviour. Previously it barely passed as journalistic reporting but now it more closely resembles the press office of the NO CAMPAIGN.

In particular the Scotsman and DC Thomson have recently thrown to the wind any attempts to cover their contempt for fair and balanced reporting.

Recently we have seen senior journalists move positions from the Scotsman to DC Thomson, etc and as a result what was once a company that rose above the gutter press in Scotland has now joined the growing band of media outlets which take their orders from the boardroom - a boardroom which invariably has connections to the Conservative party. Whilst this is no surprise to us, and of course many of yourselves, what is distasteful is the collusion of the Labour party working together with the Tories in Scotland.

Each has a different reason but essentially it is to serve their own self-interests. The debate of what independence offers Scotland is ignored as the spend all their time colluding together to release the latest scare story, often including lies.

It's inevitable that these negative and relentless attacks will intensify in their frequency and voracity - reporting the truth is not even a passing consideration for the Courier in Dundee or The Scotsman any more.

It is OUR responsibility to fight back.

[*Yalnig*]

The reason I would vote no at this time for an Independant Scotland, it purely Salmond the Grasper, He participated as an Mp for both England and Scotland purely for monetary reasons. Any decent Scotsman would have been content with Scotish Parliament only. I firmly believe that the vote and the 16 and 17 year old vote, is purely for his own benefit and his eye on a future position in Belgium where the big bucks is after he beats it from the Scottish Scene, just like Neil Kinnock.

[Bonny]

Calling London - by Matt O'Neill.

What price did you pay for our nation,
When you dealt in political sleaze?
Well the price that you paid has been more than defrayed,
By the oil that you took from our seas.

How long did you think you could hold us?
How long would we play Britain’s whore?
Now we've broken the spell, sounded Liberty’s bell,
We’re the poor man of Europe no more.

The further you travel from London,
The thinner the jam will be spread,
When the border is crossed all the flavour is lost,
With the Highlanders eating dry bread.

When’s the last time you opened the window?
When’s the last time you let in the light?
Your empire is dead, get it into your head,
It went quietly into the night.

Now you’re planning to buy nuclear weapons,
An attempt to impress all your friends?
But the poor have to pay without having a say,
Maybe soon you will reach your world’s end.

You never could learn from your errors,
Never saw past your own urban sprawl,
But with Britain astern, maybe now you will learn,
Greed and ignorance was your downfall.

Now the northern shires of old England,
Look set to down tools and rebel,
How long will it take for their patience to break?
The clock’s ticking but no one can tell.

[Libisa]

For years, I always said no to independence as I always believed in the Union (by the way I was raised and still am a loyalist). But the way this whole country is being ruined by consecutive Westminster governments has turned me round.

I am placing a load of trust on Salmond to deliver the goods. The first thing I want back, is rights over our own oil and gas reserves. Westminster sold this to foreign powers who in turn sell it back to us at inflated prices.

We have no choice in the matter now, as things will only get worse if we remain part of the UK. As say, it is a chance we take and a big gamble at that. But we could be damned if we do, and certainly damned if we don't!

[Bonny]

Mc Crone Report - Top Secret

www.oilofscotland.org