MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Scottish support for independence at its highest, but EU popularity has fallen
Support for Scottish independence is at its highest-ever level, according to an academic study, but the Scottish Social Attitudes survey also suggested the popularity of the European Union has fallen. The researchers said this suggested focusing on EU membership may not be the best way to swing more voters towards independence. Read full article
Comments
Disclaimer & comment rulesWales-is going nowhere
Mar 15th, 2017 - 10:04 am - Link - Report abuse -4Ireland north, is going nowhere,
Scotland is going nowhere,
England is going nowhere,
The uk however is leaving the EU.
Scotland's deficit is larger than that of Greece
Mar 15th, 2017 - 10:20 am - Link - Report abuse -4Nicola Sturgeon's pitch for independence looks set to centre on a desire for Scotland to remain in the European Union and the single market.
However, the terms by which an independent Scotland could enter the EU are extremely uncertain. Countries face a lengthy application process in order to become members and
Scotland may well be forced to adopt the euro as the price of membership.
One of the target metrics the EU enforces on its members is for each state to aim for a budget deficit of no more than 3pc of GDP. Scotland is a terrible performer in this regard, spending £1,200 a head more than the rest of the UK and receiving £400 per head less.
The Scottish government's latest annual estimate puts the country's deficit at £15bn or 9.5pc of GDP. This would be comfortably the worst score for any EU member state. (Telegraph, 14.3.17)
Why would the Scots reject a democratic government , for an undemocratic and irremovable government,
Mar 15th, 2017 - 10:32 am - Link - Report abuse -4It wont happen, she is just stirring the pot and trying to tear us apart,
Bad SNP, Good Scots.
Brit Bob
Mar 15th, 2017 - 10:59 am - Link - Report abuse -3Thank you for your scholarly,incisive and unbiased post taken from that socialist paper, the Telegraph .
I think I will go and slit my wrists now before Armageddon
@Brit Bob
Mar 15th, 2017 - 01:08 pm - Link - Report abuse -4Greece's deficit is entirely due to debt payments now, without those they would actually show a surplus. Besides, the EU is hopeless at enforcing anything. The UK's deficit hasn't been below 3% since 2008 and it wasn't a problem. And once Scotland is independent the SNP can (and probably will) raise taxes to reduce the deficit, and cut spending as well if necessary. I think it's clear they would have to reapply for EU membership, but since they already fulfill most of the criteria they would have an easier time getting in than most new members. They'd have to agree to use the Euro in principle, but it's possible to put off adopting it more or less indefinitely by deliberately failing to meet the criteria.
@Briton
“irremovable government”? The UK is leaving the EU, so clearly it is removable. There is no Article 50 to leave the UK!
This headline of MercoPress is not entirely accurate - most of the British press today 15 March 2017 seem to contradict what is said above. i.e.There is little movement on their desires to leave the union.
Mar 15th, 2017 - 01:08 pm - Link - Report abuse -4DemonTree
Mar 15th, 2017 - 01:52 pm - Link - Report abuse -4what are you on about,
In contrast today's YouGov poll clearly shows Scots don't want another referendum. As a small minority in the UK how do the nationalists think they will fare as a tiny minority in the EU? And, how do they think England will react to the folk who broke up the UK.
Mar 15th, 2017 - 02:43 pm - Link - Report abuse -4The young people is they key. Scotland will be gone by 2050, guaranteed.
Mar 15th, 2017 - 04:00 pm - Link - Report abuse +1And the Republic of England will be back in the EU as a junior member by 2060, if the EU survives of course.
Meanwhile, the English doing what they do best: THREATEN and DEMAND. Which is what I have always said here, the English never have negotiated, it is either their way or the highway.
http://edition.cnn.com/2017/03/15/europe/brexit-theresa-may-eu/index.html
This time it will be the highway, thankfully. The EU for all it's issues has stayed remarkably SOLID as one unit before, during, and after Brexit, and after Brexit was the best chance for that unity to fracture, yet it has not. That is proof of how no one really wants the UK, or cares about the UK. They are all willing to take some pain to teach a lesson in history.
The UK is the one deluded to think they can harm the EU more than they can harm the UK. What a hangover aways that island!
Nostrils, you do spout a load of tripe. Have you got a random sentence generator by any chance that comes up with a continuous stream of drivel. You know less about our or EU politics than one of the tadpoles in my pond or even CNN for that matter! Please get help...
Mar 15th, 2017 - 05:17 pm - Link - Report abuse -4Troll
Mar 15th, 2017 - 06:00 pm - Link - Report abuse -4Well it's nice to think that someone who probably cannot tie his shoelaces has all the answers. For your info. Brexit has yet to take place. As yet no one knows what will happen in the UK or the EU.when the split finally comes. Are you on the negotiation team ?
On the subject of “demand”, I think that you are getting confused with Argentina's main pronouncements.
Your wishful thinking has driven you to come to deluded conclusions. No one likes Britain ?
Why are tens of thousands risking their lives trying to get here.
Why are there about 3 million EU citizens living and working here if they don't like it here ?
They are here to make a life which seems to be denied them in the EU.
Again, in your usual childish, simplistic manner, you are confusing what politicians say with what the people think.
The population in France, Netherlands, Poland and probably Germany have a good percentage who don't like some of the EU's policy on immigration but are ignored by the Brussel's un-elected elite who wish to have an United States of Europe.
The Voice
“how do they think England will react to the folk who broke up the UK.”
Acting as Devil's Advocate I would imagine they will be delighted to get rid of the scrounging whining Scots....at least, that's the feeling I have been detecting over the years from some of the English press M.P.'s and some of the posters here.
Again, I could equally blame the English government policies since Thatcher that could lead to the break up of the UK. If it was that wonderful why would Scotland want to leave ?
So England has it's share of responsibilty.
So the question then is:
Mar 15th, 2017 - 06:52 pm - Link - Report abuse +3Why do you Anglos think YOU are allowed to spout all your uninformed drivel about Argentina, but I am not supposed to requite in kind?
Or do you all actually think the sh!t you all froth out about Argentina and Argentines has ever been even the slightest bit accurate??
You accuse me of using the internet to make my opinions, yet you all do the same, AS NONE OF YOU HAVE EVER BEEN TO ARGENTINA, READ ANY BOOKS ON ARGENTINA, OR PROBABLY EVER MET AN ARGENTINE IN PERSON.
Anglos will be Anglos!!
Clyde, I think you are wrong, sure some think that way but many more both sides of the border value the Union. Easy to blame the hated 'Tories', a convenient whipping boy of the looney left. TV I blame Labour and the union's dragging us down even more which is why I would rather see Tories running things. The good things they have done in the last seven years are rarely acknowledged. Thatcher went over the top but she did change things from the industrial chaos that existed before and which I observed at first hand. Then we had a couple of Scots in charge who helped plunge the Arab world into chaos causing untold suffering. We all bear some of the responsibility.
Mar 15th, 2017 - 07:14 pm - Link - Report abuse -4I think England will react the same way the rest of the EU has to Brexit: with confusion and resentment. No one likes being rejected, and no doubt there will be more 'threats and demands' on both sides if Scotland leaves.
Mar 15th, 2017 - 07:30 pm - Link - Report abuse -3What good things have the Tories done in the last 7 years, The Voice? I can't say I loved the Labour government and their ill-conceived wars, but the Tories have accidentally taken us out of the EU with no plan whatsoever, and probably caused the breakup of the UK. That's really enough by itself, but they've also left the economy limping, let the cost of housing and thus living keep rising to insane levels, failed to keep up the infrastructure, and underfunded the NHS to the point that it's near collapse.
Also they just U-turned on that NI increase you said you supported. Their budget mistakes and U-turns are really becoming a joke.
@AustrOllOpithecus
You can post what you like, but we are equally free to say what we think of it. As are you when idiots post crap about Argentina (which I agree they do, far too much).
You don't have to be one of the idiots though. I have seen you make sensible posts occasionally, why not do it more?
@DT
Mar 15th, 2017 - 08:11 pm - Link - Report abuse -5You can post what you like
You don't have to be one of the idiots though
I have to agree, this AustrOllOpithecus says some odd thing at weird times
As a unionist we will be better together, and very much weaker apart.
Nostrils, i have been to Argieland a few times and seen it at first hand. Rode from Mendoza to Ushuaia on my bike, pretty boring a lot of it. Police escort in Mendoza! Over the Andes too. More recently embarked on a trip to the Falklands Islands, S Georgia and Antarctica via BA and Ushuaia. Seen the beaver damage first hand. Where have you been - Rosario! Was it on Google Earth? I have the offer of a Rio, BA, Santiago and Lima trip in May but it's a bit too full on for me. I like slow travel.
Mar 15th, 2017 - 11:55 pm - Link - Report abuse -3Nozdrul and Enrique seem to share the same distorted perception of related to cause and effect.
Mar 16th, 2017 - 03:55 am - Link - Report abuse -4After a decade of disastrous economic mismanagement, Enrique has declared 15 mos. of reform by Macri to be a “failure”.
Article 50 has not been invoked yet, and Nostrils is already telling us that the UK's Brexit has failed to have the effect of destabilising the EU.
LOL
I have just noticed the picture at the start of this topic.
Mar 16th, 2017 - 10:45 am - Link - Report abuse -4Which one is “Voice” ?
Very funny Clyde...
Mar 16th, 2017 - 01:38 pm - Link - Report abuse +3Three separate bands there...three separate Drum Majors's I don't know of any Scottish bands that have a girl as a Drum Major, they normally have to shout a few orders and they are a bit of a scruffy bunch...
I don't think they are Scottish bands, probably Yanks or Canucks...
Noticed the pic is titled Scotland-Kelt. jpg not a mistake that Celts usually make...
So, a girl dressed up in Scottish costume, but not Scottish
Mar 16th, 2017 - 01:59 pm - Link - Report abuse -5I think we have identified “voice”
Mr. Voice...
Mar 16th, 2017 - 03:38 pm - Link - Report abuse +3I dunno the lass... ;-), but the lad in front is Pipe Major Nicki Stables at last years Fochabers games...
I think Voice is the one with the hairy Scrotum.
Mar 16th, 2017 - 03:41 pm - Link - Report abuse -5Correction to me above post...
Mar 16th, 2017 - 03:55 pm - Link - Report abuse +4It wasn't last year...
It was in 2014...!
Tempus Fugit...
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WqgaBrIC59o
Mr. Think
Mar 16th, 2017 - 04:16 pm - Link - Report abuse +5I stand corrected...
So it is Scottish...Grade 4b that explains it...
..but you must mean Drum Major...
The Drum Major leads the band...the Pipe Major will be the Piper on the far left of the picture, that would be the first Piper on the right of the ranks......Always...
I stand corrected... ;-)
Mar 16th, 2017 - 04:21 pm - Link - Report abuse +4There are four bands and the Drum Majors are Pamela Jensen, Frank Munro and Mike Morgan
Mar 21st, 2017 - 05:03 pm - Link - Report abuse +1Interesting...
Mar 21st, 2017 - 06:07 pm - Link - Report abuse +2Where is the fourth Drum Major of Dufftown...not in the photo and out of sight on the right...?
Nick Stables does not appear to be there. He can be seen on the right in this link for Abernethy Games https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VObcXivPHUk
Mar 22nd, 2017 - 03:24 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Cheers for that...nice easy marching 4/4's... Scotland the Brave and Rowan Tree for massed bands that no one can get wrong...as long as they decide which version of Scotland the Brave they play...and maybe who's going to play seconds on Rowan Tree...;-)
Mar 22nd, 2017 - 08:08 pm - Link - Report abuse +1Commenting for this story is now closed.
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