h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I know that, but a lot of vocal people are just against the current politicians.

For instance, citing David Cameron as a reason for leaving the UK

well yes I can see how someone would come to that conclusion
that could just be the way the press has decided to report on things though

but for people in scotland its a shorter distance to lynch a politicion in Edinburgh than it is in london

That's a simplified way of expressing the point, though - the point that Cameron's government is one that Scotland would never have chosen for itself, but gets anyway.

It wasn't the press that reported that, it was an individual arguing the case on Twitter. Actually, it was quite a few of them.

I don't bother with the mass media for things like this, they're all far too biased.

But the Scots need to think this through properly, think about the long term benefits and loses, before making their decision. Not base in on personal thoughts on individuals who'll be gone in a couple of years.

surely the same can be said for people who are voting no because they dont like Salmond

It isn't a question of Cameron personally, or his government. It's a perception that there is a structural question which that government is symptomatic of - that the make-up of Westminster is consistently unreflective of voting intentions in Scotland.

KB, the people I've been referring to are *definitely* referring to Cameron as an individual politician.

But nobody knows what the long-term benefits and losses will be. We are really rather pants at predicting the future.

I mean, I won't let that stop me having a go: my prediction is, if Scotland votes Yes, we aren't all going to wake up the day after the election to find new border posts in place, Scottish Widows carrying photocopiers out of their headquarters, and the Queen hurriedly packing a suitcase in her bedroom at Balmoral.

It's like a divorce. First you have to decide, in principle, if you're going to separate. Only after making that clear decision can you sort out the detail of who keeps the cat and what's going to happen to the mortgage. You need that decision of principle first.

I am *really* enjoying seeing the politicians of Westminster in such a huge flap, mind.

Mol

I just wish it was over, I'm fed up off all the utter crud that's being put out by people from both sides.

If all the time and money being spent trying to decide who was going to be responsible for problems was spent *fixing* problems, they'd be less blame needed

Maybe they are, Pastey, but he is just the current example. The last time there was a majority of Conservative MPs in Scotland seems to have been 1955.

That's my point KB, he's the *current* example. Using an individual that'll be gone in a year or two as the basis of your whole view on Scottish independence is a stupid thing.

Far better to use the reasons you and others have said, closer control over political structure being the main one.

I think he's being used as an example, because he's relevant at this moment in time. He might very well be gone next year, but that won't solve the wider representation problem.

My sense of the way people are thinking about this in Scotland certainly isn't that they are rushing into anything - there's quite a lot of thought going on. Certainly a lot more than there usually is anywhere in the UK in a general election.

There's a lot of thought going on by a lot of people I agree, unfortunately a lot of what I'm now seeing, possibly as a result of it getting closer, is people jumping in without giving it though.

I have two major concerns. One for the Scots and another for the rest of us.

The Yes campaign really haven't got the currency issue sorted out. They can use whatever currency they like - the Dominican Peso if they want, but if they retain the pound unless they have joint arrangements with the remaining UK, they are not in control of their own monetary policy. If there are joint arrangements, they aren't independent. The argument is half baked.

For the rest of us, should the Yes campaign win the day, the political landscape in the remaining UK, will be skewed to the right. Scotland has been a left leaning balance for the rest of us.

I hope they don't go. I can't see that it really benefits anyone that much. And I understand the disenfranchisement from the 'Westminster government', I have never had my views upheld by them either. And I live in Hertfordshire.

PP.

I don't get the anti-Westminster vibe either. It's 400 miles from Edinburgh to London, about the same distance as Paris to Nantes Southern France is represented in the French National Assembly just as much as Scotland is represented in Westminster - but without the petted lips and conspiracy theories.

I have real concerns about the democratic deficit in an independent Scotland. No second chamber and almost 50% of MSPs being political appointments instead of directly elected. That's a recipe for rushed, bad legislation.

I'm not all that politically minded, but I always thought that democracy meant that the party with the most votes, wins the election.

Yet, Maggie Thatcher got into power with only 28% of the votes, that means that 72% didn't want her in power, and most of them lived in Scotland

Smudger.

And it would appear that the Governor of The Bank of England has been reading H2G2 and has decided that he agrees with me.

PP.

Specifically, one of the biggest problems I see is the outflow of capital from Scotland the day after the election. Would any prudent saver/business have their pounds sterling held in an English bank underwritten by the Bank of England or in a Scottish bank underwritten by the no-track-record Scottish Treasury (no central bank is in sight for Scotland yet)?

This isn't just scaremongering. When less fiscally stable countries have joined the Euro, vast quantities of cash have been moved from local banks to German/French banks. Euro's is Euro's right? But banks ain't all made equal.

Nothing is going to change overnight. Very little will change until 2016 when if a yes vote happens, independance will come into force. Scotland will have until then to draw up a constitution, figure out the currency issue, decide about joining the UN and the EU etc.

What worries me is that most of the crucial questions asked to the politicians are never answered, all we get is the same waffle.

The subject is far too important, and needs more discussion before taking the plunge?

Smudger.