I think others have answered your points rather well. I hope you now get it.

Krugman has made it very clear the huge risks that Scotland will face if it becomes independent he says that either they will have combination of political independence with a shared currency which is a recipe for disaster - the recent history for countries like Spain in the Euro have proven that.

Or they will do a 'banana republic' and use the pound but without the backing of the BOE. This has the very real dangers that they will simply run out of money and require a bail out ....but as I said from whom? As Krugman said " Be afraid, be very afraid"

The argument that the 800,000 Scots living outside Scotland should allowed to vote was opposed by the Salmond led Scottish Government.

So it would appear that not only have you not listened to Salmond but you have not listened to Cameron either! No wonder you are confused.

Day 1 of independence will only be after the period of negotiation which Salmond is stating will only take 18 months. Once again he is likely to have underestimated this timescale

Of the many items to be negotiated if Scotland votes for independence there will be the what happens to the Scottish assets of the Crown Estate (technically the UK government) which owns huge estates and half the coastline and seabed in Scotland. Another issue would be what the UK would charge to allow the use of the intellectual rights and software for all the government departments, NHS, tax, pensions etc

So Cameron is so useless he couldn't even win that debate with Salmond? And yet Scotland are supposed to be better off as a junior party in a union led by Cameron?

I've made it completely clear that my interest in politics is close to zero. This is virtually the first vote that I've even mustered any interest in whatsoever. My view is very simplistic - I would hope that an independent Scotland could govern itself better as a far more socialist country than England and show that a fairer country could work fundamentally better than the way the UK is run now.

IMO rather than operate a post-union UK by doing what is best for the UK and best for our newly independent neighbours, we will instead act all butthurt because the Scots have had the temerity of going it alone.

I still think that Scots born residents of England will still be accepted as UK citizens. It is not their fault if Scotland choose independence, it is mainly the fault of Cameron that he couldn't win them their right to vote. His failure should mean that he holds up his hands and accepts Scots born people as being part of the UK. As I said, the notion that these people will be stripped of the right to live and work in England if Scotland splits is just English based scare-mongering. It's not going to happen but it's just one of the very male arguments to try and get the Scots to vote no.

The gold reserves are assets and there probably is some spare cash held by the government. But the currency is really only an intangible asset rather like a brand. Sterling itself doesn't have any intrinsic value just sterling denominated assets. The real value is in the guarantees put up by the government and the B of E.

The national debt is about £1.3 trillion. The value of all of the financial assets wouldn't remotely approach that value. The gold reserves are valued at about £11b.

When Salmond says that he wont accept a share of the national debt its akin to Joe Public defaulting on his £150,000 mortgage and offering up the contents of his current account in exchange.

IMO it's more like Scotland living in a home but not being named on the mortgage. They assumed part of repaying the mortgage because they were living there. But now that a divorce is taking place the person named on the mortgage is being a penis over other issues so Scotland is saying that if they're acting like a penis over issues that they will be a penis over the mortage too.

I don't believe it is in the UKs interest for Scotland to have to go their own way with a new currency if they split. I think that is a way of trying to force the Scots to stay in the union.

Why should we do anything to aid Scotland if they vote to go it alone??..... They will be no more worthy of any help than any other foreign country.

We should actually do what is best for what is left of the Union, and if that involves leaving Scotland in the mire, then that's how it should be - Let's face it, they've had plenty of help over the last few years, with free prescriptions and free university education (You can't tell me they have achieved that by Salmond's wonderful abilities to run a budget). It will be interesting to see how Scotland maintain those sorts of policies without first increasing the tax burden on ordinary working Scots.

Thinking about it I can fully understand why an awful lot of Scottish folk want out of the U.K. We are a nation being shat upon from a great height by the politicians, banksters and spivs who run our country. The City of London is a cesspit of global financial fraud and a casino where these financial warlords gamble other people’s pensions and savings, awarding themselves huge bonuses when they win but when they lose passing on the losses to the taxpayer. Then their political cronies use these bailouts as an excuse to force austerity upon the masses and slash the Government spending on the poor and needy. The press as defenders of their corporate masters are always there to defend this bull***, finding convenient scapegoats for us to vent our anger upon. The financial complexities of a flawed, utterly corrupt and fraudulent global financial system are hard to understand but we can see its consequences all around, pay freezes, job insecurity, inflation (or ‘stealth-flation’ where the price doesn’t increase but the product is stealthily reduced in size and weight). Then as icing on the cake we find out that The Establishment are not only greedy self serving barstewards but also include many paedophiles whose crimes have been covered up to protect the status quo. If you were actually given an opportunity to break away from this kind of bull**** and the chance to try and build something better wouldn't you jump at the chance?

I'd agree with this whole-heartedly, if it wasn't for the fact that Salmond is planning to leave the Union, only to cosy up with the even more corrupt European Union.....

It was the Scottish based banks that got us in the mire!

I agree with you on this and my own opinion is they fear a financial meltdown in the City of London if the vote is YES.

This could really damage the whole of the UK. A large part of our wealth is based on our safe-haven status for global investors. They key thing that underpins that is our long-term political stability. This vote is, and if "Yes" undermines that. We could all end up in the mire. But, Scotland will depopulate within a generation if they vote yes. Pieces will increase significantly, property will lose value, thousands of jobs will be lost, taxes will rise and / or public services will be cut massively, etc.

I know, the mind boggles!

I think everything hinges on the National Debt and currency issues.

IMO the SNP haven't put near enough thought into this and our political elites, so blind to the fact that they are hated so much that the Scottish would actually contemplate voting YES, have not prepared for this eventuality. This is why Cameron in his arrogance demanded a straight YES or NO vote with no third option of more devolution.

They are panicking now like they did when the markets started to collapse in 2008. Remember Gordon Brown 'saved the world' when the U.K government stepped in as lender of last resort. If it happens again who's going to prop up the debt pyramid?

That software is owned by HM Gov?

Lloyds, RBS and Clydesdale Bank all confirming that in the event of a 'yes' they will move head offices from Scotland to London. Granted, many head office functions are already in London but it's still a significant decision that should send a clear warning.

Similarly, Standard Life suggesting they will move parts of their business south of the border, and even set up new businesses in England in order to channel customers' money into in the name of a more secure financial environment.

Salmond's entire campaign is nothing more than a huge and dangerous gamble based on vague and weak promises but the fact the 'yes' campaign is shouting the loudest seems to matter most at the moment.

erm, yep, thats just about got it covered.



Sad thing is, anyone with a pension scheme relies on this "system" to maintain it.

...and then there will be a plague of frogs, an infestation of boils on genitals, and the sky will fall on their heads.

Off to sleep now, I'm turning the light off and I can hear you downstairs, goodnight children.

Point 1. Is incorrect for two reasons. Firstly it's "The Open" not The British Open. Secondly it is run by the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews

So let's examine what I said:

Prices (not "pieces"icon_wink.gif. If retailers, etc (not to mention postal services and similar) do not operate in a single country they will, in my opinion, inevitably charge more in Scotland on the grounds of costs being higher (remoteness). Currently those costs are spread over the whole UK consumer base.

Jobs - financial services will lose jobs, indeed nearly all should Scotland have to use a different currency. But aside from that, what about the public sector jobs put there to swallow up unemployment - eg HMRC's Cumbernauld centre, etc?

If prices do rise and jobs go, then property prices will inevitably fall too.

If those things happen how is this welfare bonanza of which Salmond speaks to be funded - higher taxes or no bonanza and cuts?

At the end of the day, Salmond wanted "devo max" and now he's got it. If there is a "Yes" vote he'll panic!

Thank you for clearing that up, though I must admit I've heard it called the British Open before, I guess it will stick to its official name....

No he won't. He'll just feck off saying "There you go guys, it's all yours"

You have, the "British" gets included so as to not upset the Yanks. They'll probably still call it the British Open on the grounds that it takes place in the British Isles.