Possibility Of Scotland Becoming Independent From England

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/ ... RX20151017

In this day and age, it is utterly ridiculous for a small, impoverished place like Scotland to strike for independence. They would end up going down the toilet like Greece.

Scottish government revenue would be too dependent on taxes on production from North Sea oilfields. A year ago Brent crude was over $100 and the rest of the UK was getting a net financial benefit from oil production in Scottish territorial waters. Now Brent crude is $50 and related government revenue has fallen sharply. The challenge for the SNP is convincing people that independence is worth accepting lower government benefits or higher taxes. I don't think it's going to happen.

I also understand that the reserves are running low.

The same goes for Quebec and yet every few years, the concept of nationalism is again revived.

I'm not in favour of independence,but Scotland isn't actually impoverished.Whisky for example accounts for a quarter of the UK's entire food and drink exports.The main points against are
a) the SNP's insistence on using the pound sterling still controlled by the Bank of England.
b) a reluctance among the majority of Scots to break up the UK,which many still feel an affinity with.
The drop in oil values doesn't help,but Norway has always survived ok on its oil.
As it stands,Scotland is more or less independent already in many ways - it's own parliament (which England doesn't),
own laws,education system,international sports teams etc.
I'm always bemused when people from the 'land of the free' are disparaging about other countries' aspirations.