An Independent Scotland ?

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Thanks.

The last couple of years during the Isle of Man TT, I listened to it on Manx Radio over the Internet.

What, if any, are the differences and similarities between the Scottish Independence Referendum and the Irish War of Independence which resulted in the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 (and its Irish Free State and Irish Civil War of 1922-1923)?

Sorry to sound like a school-test question. But, I doubt seriously that the United Kingdom would oppose a referendum vote for independence militarily. I suspect, though, that some politically influenced migration (both into and out of Scotland) will result if the "No" vote wins, with an even greater migration if the "Yes" vote wins.

Still, the Republic of Ireland is a member of the European Union, but not one of NATO. Its economy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_ ... nd#Economy is, despite some setback since 2008 in the high-tech sector, called one of the "best" nations for business.

Whether Scotland succeeds in its vote for independence or not, I suspect certain devolved Scottish authorities will increase, not decrease.

Try this for a scenario - neither Alex Salmond nor David Cameron ever believed that there would be any real support for Scottish independence.

Alex Salmond needed an excuse for failure, and D.Cameron had nothing to worry about...

This is from wikipedia -

"The Scottish referendum of 1979 was a post-legislative referendum to decide whether there was sufficient support for a Scottish Assembly proposed in the Scotland Act 1978 among the Scottish electorate. This was an act to create a devolved deliberative assembly for Scotland. The Act stipulated that it would be repealed if fewer than 40% of the total electorate voted Yes in the referendum.

The referendum resulted in a 51.6% support for the proposal, but with a turnout of 64%, this represented only 32.9% of the registered electorate, short of the required 40%. The Act was therefore repealed.

A second referendum to create a devolved legislature in Scotland was held in 1997, which led to the enactment of the Scotland Act 1998 and the creation of a devolved Scottish Parliament in 1999"

David Cameron is at pains to emphasise that Thursday's decision will be binding on all parties for the foreseeable future - I hope he is right.

I agree completely. I suspect that the referendum was expected to shadow a real intent to make Scotland a little more independent than it is currently, and nothing more. This would give the cover of magnanimity to Cameron while Salmond could reap the reward of seemingly pushing for something that a large and clear plurality of his nation wants. Funny how the voters weren't in on the secret deal.

Well, this is just rather odd. If Scotland breaks away, the nuclear subs would go to the USA (??)

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/510636 ... ndependent

The polls open in Scotland in just over 12 hours.

Do the polls close at 10:00 p.m. like most votes/elections?

My understanding is that they will be open from 7 am until 10 pm local time.

I wonder how long it will take to count the vote. I read that from some of the outlying areas, the ballots may be transported to the mainland by boats and in at least one case a helicopter has been hired and will be waiting for the ballots.

The difference is that Ireland was forcibly occupied by Britain and effectively became a colony,whereas Scotland and England were united firstly by a shared monarchy and then by political agreement,albeit in those days the ordinary citizens didn't have much say in the matter.
The UK encouraged English & Scots settlers especially in Northern Ireland as a 'divide & rule' policy,since most of the settlers would be
Protestants to counter the native Catholic population.
A recent promise by the UK government to increase devolved powers in event of a No vote has caused controversy,as it was
only emphasised after a suprise opinion poll showed Yes in the lead and 200,000 postal voters had already made their decision.Many
have asked in vain about changing their vote !

Boats are usually used to bring ballot boxes from the islands, and we usually don't get returns from the more remote areas until the following day. Whether or not they are relevant to the outcome will depend on how close it is. They will know how many votes have been cast in those areas and will be able to tell whether they could potentially make a difference.

As there are only 2 choices for voters, the counts should be quicker than usual where you have many candidates to choose from. If it is really close, then there will be re-counts, which take a bit of time, and I suspect there will be a lot of spoiled papers, which have to be considered and decided upon individually by the Returning Officer and usually, the candidates - I don't know who will be consulted in this vote.

Someone I know will be at the Glasgow count as an observer and she expects to be there till 3am.

I read about a year ago that the Scots consume more alcohol per capita then any one else on earth, and today read that its the equivalent of 46 bottles of vodka annually per person 18 or older. So what I guess I am wondering is if becoming independent will be considered an alcohol related incident?

Haha! Well, that is probably true now that the Queen Mother doesn't drink her weekly allotment. But, that was gin, wasn't it?

Mmm. Gin....

HERALDSCOTLAND.COM: "Your guide to Thursday's big vote and count" (September 17, 2014)
http://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/ ... 1410974461

The fact that all ballots will be printed on paper (avoiding the inevitable scandal that would be an electronic vote), is a very good sign.

I will be spending my day watching the exit polls and other results pour in online wearing my "Yes" campaign button. Now, I just need to find a Belhaven stout somewhere....

UPDATE: Hm. BeerMenus.com shows the nearest Belhaven stout is "486.7 miles away" from me in New Mexico! I guess a Guinness will work instead.

Looks like the UK stays intact.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/201 ... m-campaign

47% No 53% Yes

Victoria can sleep peaceably again, for the time being at least.

Actual votes never match polling exactly because they don't account for those voters who truly believe and desire to vote, and then, find that they can't or don't want to stand in the lines, miss their TV shows or ignore going to the pub instead. Life happens to even the most stalwart voters.

Having said that, I amn't certain which way the vote will end up; no one is. What matters more than anything is that, at the very least, the U.K. government will have an extremely large plurality of voters that now disagree angrily with the centralized government of London and expect some accommodations of that seismic shift in U.K. politics. Cameron's nightmare is hardly over; and the Tories know that. Settlements of certain kinds will need addressing even if the "No" votes succeed because when "almost" half the nation feels cheated, insulted and ignored, THAT is when Scotland will be able to say "you see? We told you so." Despite this vote, the independence movement is far from dead.