I really hope Scotland vote 'no' for independence, after all a collective unit is better then smaller independent ones. And the knock the stuffing out of Alex Salmond's political career, someone who it seems has been pushing the independence bandwagon for 2 decades because of a huge ego.

@Haig - You should discuss the psychological makeup of Scots some more in a thread.

It is really interesting.

This chick I work with is pathological in her pessimism and dourness.

She actually gets angry if somebody is happy, praises somebody or is making plans for the future.

I have a shitty job - but she reacts like I said I want to be president or prime minister when I talk about getting a better job or promotion.

It is so funny.

The funny thing is that I get on well with her. And share her attitude about a 'job just being a job' and not caring about my career. But I can't wait for her to leave. It is hard to explain - but I am very sensitive to the people I am around (is that beta?).

And she is like a slow growing tumour on my soul. She is 61 and from Glasgow.

I will feel 3 stone lighter and ten years younger when she goes. I can hardly hide my glee.

God knows what I would think of her if I didn't actually get on with her! :-)

Hey Heathree,

The only way Alex Salmond will lose any political steam is if he has to step down on "health reasons" the man is such a political powerhouse in terms of debating other MP's, he unfortunately can wipe the floor with most of them.

Cardguy,


I may just do that to be honest. Cheers for the idea.

That is a good point, for all our miserablist nature, were are incredibly friendly, you could say that the Scots are Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh.

The scary thing about the Scots is in a straight up fight, we are brutal and unforgiving, thats why we were used on the front lines on many a war.

The way to conquer the Scots is through bribery and friendship. I could go into the roughest pub in Edinburgh and would get funny looks when I went in, but if I bought them drinks all night and charmed them with stories and song I would have friends for life by the end of the night. (The Scottish loyalty knows no bounds, but if you do us wrong, hell mend you).

I would recommend books by John Prebble on the Scottish mentality and plight.

lol - I was in a pub in Edinburgh celebrating England getting into the world cup back in 2001.

After David Beckham's incredible last minute goal. The best free kick I have ever seen:





That nearly ended badly for me. lol

As for the Scottish - they should realise that the English hate the same things about England that they do.

We hate the media hype which surrounds England and the wags.

We hate John fucking Motson.

We hate the constant banging on about 1966.

And we hate the upper class twats who run England as well.

And we either hate the Royal Family. Or only support it because having a President Blair would be worse and would mean doing away with a thousand years of British history.

Sadly - I feel Scotland enjoy being the plucky underdog - and enjoy standing up against bullies.

But the problem is that the English love underdogs as well. And we have no sense of national pride and no sense of national identity. We don't even have a national anthem.

We are the worlds first post-nation. Where the only defining characteristic is the respect for the rule of law.

As such - since Scotland needs a country to hate, I feel they have built up a straw man of England on which to aim their prejudices. Even if it is is not based in reality.

The problem is that David Cameron is prime minister. And he fits - to a tee - every prejudice about English people that the Scottish have ever had! :-)

The Irony is that both David Cameron and Tony Blair are from Scottish stock (Blair was born in Edinburgh).

The Scots and the majority of England share a lot of commonalities and culture but as you correctly said, we need someone to fight.

Us Scots can cause an argument in an empty hoose, and that again is ingrained in our culture, as we were tribal by nature and in the past (And with the English/sectarian nonsense today)would war with other clans just because they looked at us funny etc...

(05-16-2014 04:28 PM)cardguy Wrote:  lol - I was in a pub in Edinburgh celebrating England getting into the world cup back in 2001.

After David Beckham's incredible last minute goal. The best free kick I have ever seen:

That nearly ended badly for me. lol

As for the Scottish - they should realise that the English hate the same things about England that they do.

We hate the media hype which surrounds England and the wags.

We hate John fucking Motson.

We hate the constant banging on about 1966.

And we hate the upper class twats who run England as well.

And we either hate the Royal Family. Or only support it because having a President Blair would be worse and would mean doing away with a thousand years of British history.

Sadly - I feel Scotland enjoy being the plucky underdog - and enjoy standing up against bullies.

But the problem is that the English love underdogs as well. And we have no sense of national pride and no sense of national identity. We don't even have a national anthem.

We are the worlds first post-nation. Where the only defining characteristic is the respect for the rule of law.

As such - since Scotland needs a country to hate, I feel they have built up a straw man of England on which to aim their prejudices. Even if it is is not based in reality.

The problem is that David Cameron is prime minister. And he fits - to a tee - every prejudice about English people that the Scottish have ever had! :-)

I consider myself an Irish Republican, someone who typically would be perceived as "anti-British" (I'm not) but even I'm able to acknowledge the special, unique relationship that exists between the four nations.

I liken it to a family who're always bickering on the surface and publicly contemptuous of each other, but underneath it all there's a begrudging respect and (dare I say it) love for each other.

I remember that goal well by Beckham. An absolute screamer.

@Haig - the reason I obsess over the dourness issue is because being dour is the most pointless trait to have in the world.

It is so sad that people take a kind of pride out of being miserable and low energy.

To me - with that attitude - what is the point of even being alive?

Sorry - but I have spent the past 9 years dealing with a woman who is like this every day.

She retires in two weeks! :-)

I mean I can be miserable - but always in a jokey way. To take shit like that too seriously is just incomprehensible to me...

'Sein Fein' and the IRA supported Hitler during WWII.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/perso...e-IRA.html

Hey,

to get a better understanding of the "dourness" of the Scots, delve into our poets and our comics. Its very similar in my opinion of Jewish humor (self-deprecating etc) You just need to look at the satirist Ivor Cutler who was a Scottish Jew in the absurdity and dourness of Scottish humor.

I always remember this quote from David Duchovny (Who's mother is from Aberdeen) "I'm half Jewish, half Scottish. It's hard for me to buy anything"

I love Ivor Cutler.

I always find these oddly moving...









But for me the true Poet Laureate of Scotland is Phil Kay.

Yeah he truly was brilliant.

The national theatre of Scotland just finished a run of "The beautiful cosmos of Ivor Cutler"

If it ever comes down to your neck of the woods I would highly recommend it.

Phil Kay completely dropped of the radar after a glorious start to his comedy career.

Pointless trivia, his brother was the bassist for the band "The Darkness"

I have a total crush on Phil Kay. I could spend the rest of my life watching him perform. Which would make sense since his show is different every night.

I have seen him live about 3 times now.

I used to bump into him quite a bit up town.

He really was just as eccentric as you'd think.

In one opinion he should have been the next big thing (a la Billy Connolly) but there is something quite cool about him being "indie"

Maybe its the Scottish pessimism kicking in.

This conversation has went full circle.

There are big conglomerate powers stepping up to the plate challenge the US (like the EU and putins new thing). I think the trend is smaller countries banding together now instead of breaking up.

Giving this thread a bump.

Looks like the "Yes" vote is gaining momentum.

Is it? Last I saw it was losing by like 10-15 points. What have you seen?

Scottish independence: Yes camp closes the poll gap:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/s...l-gap.html

^The difference has narrowed to six points and could narrow further.

To Scotland, where the situation is always hopeless, but never serious.

I don't think there's been a single point throughout this entire drawn out saga where the Yes vote has had a majority.

If Scotland does win independence though, this will have a huge political impact on the rest of the British Isles:

a. There is only Tory seat in Scotland out of 59, without a huge lurch to the right Labour could only ever win an election in a 90's Tony Blair level landslide, they would essentially be in political abyss for at least a generation. Also 1/5 of Lib Dem seats are in the Highlands, losing them could be a terminal blow considering how much their support has collapsed since they joined the current coalition government.

b. If even Scotland has left the U.K it makes even less sense to Republicans for Northern Ireland to remain. It's worth noting Northern Ireland's Protestants descend mostly from Scots and feel more attached to Scotland then anywhere else outside Ulster, Scottish secession would trigger a crisis in their British identity. The best case scenario is the Loyalist paramilitaries start agitating a little, but a similar referendum does not come about. The worst case scenario is that renewed pressure from Republicans leads to a referendum, and everyone knows what will happen in Belfast then...



EDIT: I don't personally care either way whether Northern Ireland is part of the U.K or the Republic of Ireland, but nobody wants to see a repeat of the Troubles and the suffering and loss of life that would ensue, and for the foreseeable future at least that is what will happen if Northern Ireland tries to leave.

I've changed my mind, I hope they do get independence. The UK as a country needs it's power on the world stage reduced, we act above our standing and its time we got pegged down.

I hope Scotland votes yes and becomes a basket case economy. The same should happen with Ireland. I am sick to death of supporting these countries and all they ever do is fucking whine and yell "FOR SCOTLAND, FOR IRELAND!!"

Well ok, fuck off then. See how you cope without England and the City and the £.

They must not retain the sterling and any other banks that reside in England. We are not under-writing another husk of a country "just because". These spineless politicians won't do that though, they're scared of all the hate they'd get and raised eyebrows in the EU.

Personally, I hope they do leave. We should rebuild Hadrians Wall and charge them through the nose to come visit here. No more free university either or healthcare.

(09-04-2014 05:56 AM)Foolsgo1d Wrote:  I hope Scotland votes yes and becomes a basket case economy. The same should happen with Ireland. I am sick to death of supporting these countries and all they ever do is fucking whine and yell "FOR SCOTLAND, FOR IRELAND!!"

Well ok, fuck off then. See how you cope without England and the City and the £.

They must not retain the sterling and any other banks that reside in England. We are not under-writing another husk of a country "just because". These spineless politicians won't do that though, they're scared of all the hate they'd get and raised eyebrows in the EU.

Personally, I hope they do leave. We should rebuild Hadrians Wall and charge them through the nose to come visit here. No more free university either or healthcare.

You do know that Ireland is it's own country right?

Also, Scotland pays 9.1% of the U.K's tax revenue, despite only having 8.3% of the U.K's population. If anything Scotland props the rest of the U.K, not the other way around. Scotland's GDP per capita is higher than Wales, Northern Ireland and even England outside of London.

As a French Quebecer, I have a personal hatred for the Queen & monarchy as a whole.
But furthermore, I understand what it's like - having people constantly tell you: ''You ain't shit without us, & if you leave you'll be bankrupt anyways''. It's something that most anglo-canadians/Brits - sadly cannot understand.

Fuck 'em all I say. Get free or die trying.