Re: Will Scotland Leave the UK?
 

That would have saved us from Gordon Brown.

Re: Will Scotland Leave the UK?
 

How? British PM, born in Britain ...

Re: Will Scotland Leave the UK?
 

It would be the point closest to the enemy if they invaded from Norway as the field Marshall expected. Sad fact is it made and still makes perfect sense, there's not many countries that have carried on fighting once the capital city has fallen

---------- Post added at 03:56 ---------- Previous post was at 03:51 ----------

Nothing, if anything it makes sense, I'd rather be in a religious minority amongst 60 million others who are pretty relaxed towards my faith than in a country of five million with a history of sectarianism (presuming your a catholic Celtic fan of course)

---------- Post added at 04:00 ---------- Previous post was at 03:56 ----------

I may be making this up like Jimi does but I'm sure that oil revenue has only topped the Barnett formula divvy up three times since the '70's

Re: Will Scotland Leave the UK?
 

Another irony is lot of the most vocal anti Britain/English/Queen sentiment is spewed by those who won't even be registered to vote.

Re: Will Scotland Leave the UK?
 

You obviously don't know much about Scottish football,do you?
You don't have tae be a Catholic tae support Celtic or protestant tae support Rangers.

Btw,the CBI must have got a wee bit nervous,eh?

http://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/top-stories/cbi-to-reverse-its-anti-independence-stance-1-3389046 :D

Re: Will Scotland Leave the UK?
 

The CBI have tried to put a lid on a PR nightmare, which is fair enough. I don't believe their claims that they weren't trying to be political.

Nevertheless, we shouldn't lose sight of the fact that the organisations that left over this either wished to maintain a neutral position, or were obliged to because of their position in public life (government agencies and quangos) or because of a legal duty to remain impartial (BBC and STV). So far as I'm aware, only a chain of care homes owned by a separatist left the CBI because he supports a Yes. And the protesting organisations numbered a couple of dozen out of thousands.

Still, as I said earlier, if you're a separatist you have to take your friends wherever you can find them, even if the best your 'friends' can do is decline to take sides.

You hold on to those rose-tinted glasses Jim lad, you're going to need them when you lose the vote in September.

---------- Post added at 20:47 ---------- Previous post was at 20:30 ----------

Meanwhile, yet more research shows that the GuessNP's plan to use oil money to pay for everything, is lacking somewhat in the credibility department.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/e...bt-burden.html

Re: Will Scotland Leave the UK?
 

You don't have to be but it helps, you are right though I don't know much about it, one of my best pals is a catholic Celtic supporting Glaswegian who was involved in plenty of sectarian football related violence throughout the seventies and early eighties leading to his imprisonment. Still things might have.changed in the twenty years since he left tae country.

Re: Will Scotland Leave the UK?
 

Bless.....

You don't have to be - but it helps.......

I still have relatives (Catholics) who live in Govan (next to Ibrox) - they would disagree with your assertion.....

Re: Will Scotland Leave the UK?
 

Whenever anyone posts a reference to the Daily Express article (23 March 2013) that claims that ‘Scotland would have abandoned to the Germans’ in 1940 (Jimi 23/4/2014) I post a response to try to reclaim my book from people who use what it is SUPPOSED to say to further their own agenda.

The Daily Express article misrepresented both what was in the book and what happened in 1940. What the documents show is that if the Germans mounted a diversionary attack on Scotland to draw British forces off from the main invasion site in south-eastern England, General Ironside was not going to be fooled into weakening his main force. Scotland was by no means left defenceless, but like any other part of the UK it was going to have to manage with the military garrison it had. Few units of the British Army were, in the summer of 1940, after Dunkirk, equipped or trained to fight off a very well-trained and mobile invader and Ironside could not afford to spend his mobile reserves in penny packets. Scotland was certainly not going to 'have been abandoned to the Germans' - beach and inland defences were built from May 1940 onwards, the numbers of British troops in Scotland grew throughout the summer and in October 1940 the highly professional Polish Army (18,000+) was added to the garrison.

Gordon Barclay, author of 'If Hitler comes. Preparing for Invasion: Scotland 1940' (Birlinn 2013)

Re: Will Scotland Leave the UK?
 

Thanks for clarifying the facts and how your work has been misrepresented. It seems your work has become yet another 'instrument' for those with an agenda to pursue who think nothing of cynically twisting the facts to suit their argument. :tu:

Re: Will Scotland Leave the UK?
 

Dr Barclay,

I found this extract from your article published a year ago today to be, sadly, reflective of how so little has changed in certain regards in the intervening years.

"In October 1940, however, the forces defending Scotland received a major reinforcement – about 18,000 Polish soldiers, who had been evacuated from France in June. With the then commonplace British attitude to foreigners, Carrington at first wanted to use the Polish units merely to cut timber, but their value as well-trained, experienced and highly motivated troops soon became clear. They significantly improved the beach defences they had inherited in Angus and Fife, built far more effective pillboxes, and positioned them much better than their British colleagues had done. One British Home Defence infantry battalion revealingly described the Poles as “too keen”, perhaps reflecting the unfortunate British “amateur” disdain for the professional".

Plus ca change.

Re: Will Scotland Leave the UK?
 

Hi. Goodness! A whole year gone ...

Is the automatic assumption that " 'Johnny Foreigner' has nothing to teach us" as common as it was then, except amongst Euroscptics? I don't know - it's something I don't come across day to day. The RAF of course wouldn't listen to Polish pilots about their experience of fighting the Germans, until the Polish squadrons began to rack up the highest number of downed enemy aircraft in the Battle of Britain.

Re: Will Scotland Leave the UK?
 

Yes, it's strange that you never hear anyone say "Bloody foreigners, coming over here and playing a major contributory part in the fact that we won the Battle of Britain".

Purely coincidental, I'm sure.

Anyway, stay well sir. All the best to you & yours.

Re: Will Scotland Leave the UK?
 

I love that! Brilliant.

Re: Will Scotland Leave the UK?
 

Things are getting serious. Beaker Miliband took his jacket off.

"Miliband tries to talk Labour voters out of supporting Scottish independence Labour leader finds uncertainty among the party faithful as polls suggest swing to yes vote amid disillusion with pro-UK campaign.

Ed Miliband took his jacket off on arriving at a community centre in Motherwell on Friday. He had two battles on his hands: he had come to start a fightback against a resurgent Scottish independence campaign, and to secure a Labour victory in May next year."

The cardigan