the scottish independence referendum

This is one of the worst things I have ever read in the Guardian:

http://gu.com/p/4xcj2

i assumed the baby was the first salvo in the black op to undermine independent Scotland by making yr royal family ruinously expensive

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/08/opinion/paul-krugman-scots-what-the-heck.html

I would def vote against it if I were scottish but I guess I am pro-experimental economics since I'm not

Yeah, the North American commentary on this is some of the dumbest shit I've seen.

there's been little to no discussion, as far as i've seen, of the economic impact of scottish independence on the rest of the UK. all the threats and tough talk from the No campaign has utterly ignored any possible consequence to not-scotland and how these consequences wd inform all sorts of negotiations with the newly independent nation

krugman is 100% correct that the plan to stay on the pound is unequivocally very bad and naive

def when compared with this http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jul/03/independent-scotland-bitcoin-testbed

Speaking through a robot from Sydney at the Financial Times's Camp Alphaville conference in London, Guy Debelle argued that the experience would be similar to Scotland's own period of free banking in the 18th and 19th centuries, when the country's banks were given the power to issue their own currencies.

^ totally thought that was a lagoon joke sentence

its very out there

No-one else finds the 'Oldest Trick In The Book' thing misogynistic?

wee bit

no doubt this has been all over facebook but a glaswegian friend just texted me this one: "i'm leaving you!" "wait.... i'm pregnant!"

ah i see that the Official Worst Article in the World has used this as its lede; i will now slink off to that benighted hole i call my home

there was a suggestion that scotland would run a currency board ala isle of man/channel islands

effectively the same diff as just using the pound no

yes, it's one way of doing it. scottish economy is so interwoven w/ the rest of the uk I wonder how big a problem it wld really be

Taking that as a given, if an independent Scotland were to get into serious financial difficulty, would the rest of Britain end up bailing it out and under what conditions? That turn of events would be politically difficult for almost everyone I'd imagine.

have to babysit the royal babies until its paid off

Not sure if stirmonster posts to ILE - really liked this account of his shift from no to yes:
http://nationalcollective.com/2014/09/05/keith-mcivor-optimo-independence-offers-the-possibility-to-start-again/

wonder what the turn out is going to be like for this

I think maybe 80%

.scot might be made redundant if the Scottish referendum on independence succeeds as Scotland would leave the United Kingdom and get its own two letter country code top-level domain (ccTLD)

.sc/.sd/.sl/.so/.st already taken tho

http://www.oddschecker.com/politics/british-politics/scottish-independence/referendum-turnout

.ce

eh, in what way?

To annoy some bigoted twats and maybe help to drag them into the 21st century?

.aa or .ab are free (for Alba)

.aa would be appropriate maybe because ah no, won't do that joke.

If Scotland renames itself Alba, it will see almost the same rate of use as Eire when referring to Ireland. Not that this is a problem. Alba is sort of cute.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/sep/08/scottish-independence-david-cameron-no-campaign-windows-8

Does anyone outside the UK actually care that much about this? Like I don't think anyone in Britain would be too bothered if Catalunya or Texas or wherever became independent

Voted Scotland/yes btw

I suspect there are a lot of Anglophiles over here going 'oh noes.' (Of course, I did say Anglophiles.)

I find it a little sad, it's like when a couple who was really cute together breaks up

Quite some attention for this in Holland. Because we're neighbours I suppose. And for the lols.

Knee-jerk non-UK/N vote, with about as much knowledge as the non-UK/Y people have afaict

(preferring to err on the side of not making radical changes to the status quo, at least concerning a liberal democracy that has been together for centuries)

not very liberal or very democratic tbf

would like to hear how/why foreigners feel nostalgia for ~britain~ or the uk gov

will this vote somehow lead to James McAvoy doing a nonshitty movie once in awhile?

so how long before the Welsh are like "you know what we don't like the English either"

nostalgia

Lord, grant that Marshal Wade,
May by thy mighty aid,
Victory bring.
May he sedition hush,
and like a torrent rush,
Rebellious Scots to crush,
God save The King.

english-born population in scotland is about 8% of the total and in wales about 20%

^ as an englishman living in scotland i've been wondering abt that - and abt how we will be perceived in a independent scotland. may you live in interesting times eh

would like to hear how/why foreigners feel nostalgia for ~britain~ or the uk gov

Took up white man's burden, civilized my people iirc

well yeah you can see why I'm a little bemused

xp there are twice as many scottish born ppl living in england than the reverse, idk how much change there'd be

not very liberal or very democratic tbf

Oh, come on! compared to who?

so how long before the Welsh are like "you know what we don't like the English either"

That's much less likely to happen. Not because the Welsh love the English, just other stuff.

xp to rephrase then: the fact that "liberal democracy" may be one of the less shitty forms of political organization human beings have managed thus far in our history doesn't really make it much to get excited about imo

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/sep/10/scottish-independence-poll-no-vote-lead