Independence For Scotland

[bluetooner]

Give them a chance. They have only been in goverment for a year. It will take a lot longer than that to sort out the Labour Holyrood and Labour Westminster f**k ups of the last 11 years or so...........

I'll reverse your question though, seeing as the previous administration had longer than a year to fix out previous government f**k ups.............What good have the Labour Party (UK or Holyrood to make it easier for you done for Scotland in their last 4 year term of office?

I don't know, i don't live there, and i also don't claim that they are doing such a brilliant job like people do with the SNP and Salmond.

[H_B]

If politics was about selecting "skilled employees", I might agree with you. But it isn't. So I don't. Doesn't make me stupid.

So if Scotland was a country of 10,000 people we would also have the same chance of getting the same quality of MSP?

If not, what is the optimal population beyond which it makes no difference to the quality of representative?

It is still baffling and absurd to me that anyone can seriously suggest that the quality of any occupation isn't enhanced greatly by having a massively greater pool of resources to choose from.

What are your arguments as to why this is so? What makes Scots better politicians than English or Welsh, or Northern Irish people, to the extent that the chance of getting quality politicians isn't improved by adding their numerical mass?

[Owsley]

The UK has a cumulative deficit of £581 Billion, that's even with the £25 Million a day the treasury pockets from Grangemouth(that strike really came in handy for finding out things like that!). This figure is only a third of the take from the North Sea. So that works out at £9 billion a year from Grangemouth, £27 Billion a year in total, all down to the pure luck of finding oil in our waters. Thankfully Gordon Brown has hit some stormy waters of late but should his Chancellorship not now be judged in a gloomier light? Just think what Scotland could do with £27 Billion each year, even if it is for only around 30 years. We would put a large part of it in a fund like Norway have, and unlike Great Britain.

Michael W, if you have a problem with even having a referendum I would guess you voted for all power going back to Westminster. Funny, you seem very patriotic in your photo.

It is a fact that the small countries of Europe are at the top of all the tables of prosperity or quality of life. We(the Uk) are near the bottom of most and in at least one category, the very bottom. Don't have the figures handy but I would imagine it's pretty easy to check.

[bluetooner]

It is a fact that the small countries of Europe are at the top of all the tables of prosperity or quality of life. We(the Uk) are near the bottom of most and in at least one category, the very bottom. Don't have the figures handy but I would imagine it's pretty easy to check.

Compared to who, the rest of Europe?

[Scary Bear]

1. I'm unhappy at the constant bickering between Westminster and the SP. I'm unhappy at plans for a local income tax, and I hope that doesn't get through. I'm also unhappy with the SNP's plan for a referendum on independence in 2010. What gives them the right to think they can offer this when constitutional affairs are reserved to London? MacAskill has also made me unhappy with his prison policy.

2. Nothing as of yet, but I have no confidence their policies will better me in life.

3. The burden of paying for the maintenance of the bridge is now on the taxpayer rather than the users. This means money will need to be sacrificed from elsewhere to pay to maintain the bridge.

What burden? If you pass over the bridge every day they have actually save you a couple of hundred quid. You still pay the same amount of tax. Do you know what was sacrificed?

[Michael W]

Michael W, if you have a problem with even having a referendum I would guess you voted for all power going back to Westminster. Funny, you seem very patriotic in your photo.

Ridiculous statement. Being patriotic does not mean you have to support independence. You can be both a proud Scot and be happy enough to stay in the union. My definition of patriotism certainly does not descend to moaning about "oppression" by the English and that it's our oil.

It's not the referendum I have a problem with, it's the fact that the SNP seem to think that it's on us to have one with a view to ending the Union. Constitutional affairs are reserved to Westminster, and I believe that if there is to be debate about a referendum on the issue, then it should take place in London. Any bill regarding constitutional affairs is outwith the Scottish Parliament's legislative competence.

I'm quite happy with the current set up. The problem is that the MSP's have gotten greedy, and want more powers. The Lib-Dems want more power, and even Labour and the Tories have looked into it. If this spiral keeps up, then in my opinion we have two choices. Independence or back to Westminster. Out of the two, I'd choose Westminster.

Handing over more powers is simply not an option in my opinion. The party in power will eventually get bored, and demand more powers again. This will happen several times, and Scotland will eventually become independent. That's just my opinion, but I'd say we have another 30 years tops in the Union if we went down that road.

In hindsight devolution has failed to do what it intended - to kill off Scottish nationalism. In my opinion, it has bred it rather than kill it.

[Michael W]

What burden? If you pass over the bridge every day they have actually save you a couple of hundred quid. You still pay the same amount of tax. Do you know what was sacrificed?

Why the hell should people who don't cross the bridge have to pay for it?

Say £40m was made from the tolls. That money could go towards maintaining the bridge. That £40m to carry out the maintainance will now have to be found elsewhere.

[Scary Bear]

Apologies for not quoting each part one by one. I don't know how to do that

Building and running new prisons evidently costs quite a lot of money. Had you thought about that?

Anyway, re the prisons, you can comment on what your feelings are by clicking on the link. There's evidently a commission which has to report back by June 2008.

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/About/spc

The Scottish Prisons Commission (chaired by Henry McLeish) will look at the purpose and impact of imprisonment in contemporary Scotland. It has been asked to report back by the end of June 2008.

Do you think prison is the right place for the majority of Scottish offenders? Do you have some doubts? If so we'd like to know more about your views on who gets sent to jail in Scotland and why

...There's a good thing about the Scottish Parliament. If you want to take part in the political process by giving your opinion, then log on and rant away.

[Scary Bear]

Why the hell should people who don't cross the bridge have to pay for it?

Arrrgghhh! You don't pay a penny more though! Do you?

Incidently I don't particularly like paying for cheap booze for the the great unwashed on incapacity benefit or for methodone for the junkies, or for the generally unemployable long term unemployed. I would shoot the lot of them but, lucky for them, i'm not in charge.

[Michael W]

Building and running new prisons evidently costs quite a lot of money. Had you thought about that?

Anyway, re the prisons, you can comment on what your feelings are by clicking on the link. There's evidently a commission which has to report back by June 2008.

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/About/spc

The Scottish Prisons Commission (chaired by Henry McLeish) will look at the purpose and impact of imprisonment in contemporary Scotland. It has been asked to report back by the end of June 2008.

Do you think prison is the right place for the majority of Scottish offenders? Do you have some doubts? If so we'd like to know more about your views on who gets sent to jail in Scotland and why

...There's a good thing about the Scottish Parliament. If you want to take part in the political process by giving your opinion, then log on and rant away.

Bloody hell, your out to get me today

Yes, I do know that building and running prisons costs a lot of money. In fact, I seen in today's Scotsman that each prisoner costs just over £30k a year to keep in jail.

However, we are dealing with public safety issues here. What merits a prison sentence is debatable depending on circumstances, but what message is letting prisoners out after serving half their sentence sending out?

We're playing with fire by taking risks, and it's only a matter of time before something regrettable happens.

[Scary Bear]

Why the hell should people who don't cross the bridge have to pay for it?

Say £40m was made from the tolls. That money could go towards maintaining the bridge. That £40m to carry out the maintainance will now have to be found elsewhere.

Same taxes, distributed differently. Therefore saving a lot of people in Fife and Edinburgh a couple of hundred quid and not costing the good people of Scotland a penny more.

The tolls being abolished on the Tay Bridge and Erskine Bridge, has saved the people money in these parts of the world.

[JGleeson Esq]

Independence please.

And get it right up the Lanarkshire Mafia that is the 'Scottish' Labrador Party!!!!!!

Useless cnuts!!!!!!!!!!!

[Guest Ron Burgundy]

all it takes for scotland to equal the performance statistics of the best of europe is sort out it's terrible record on health.

lets pretend it's down to council tax and 6 quid prescriptions though.

[Michael W]

Same taxes, distributed differently. Therefore saving a lot of people in Fife and Edinburgh a couple of hundred quid and not costing the good people of Scotland a penny more.

The tolls being abolished on the Tay Bridge and Erskine Bridge, has saved the people money in these parts of the world.

We'll just have to agree to disagree.

[Guest Raithsaltire]

Why the hell should people who don't cross the bridge have to pay for it?

Say £40m was made from the tolls. That money could go towards maintaining the bridge. That £40m to carry out the maintainance will now have to be found elsewhere.

Stats show around 2 million cars pass over the bridge ANNUALLY. When did the toll rise to £20? The tolls made only around £1million per annum (you only payed one way on the bridge). £1m is easily raised in a country's annual turnover.

[bluetooner]

Same taxes, distributed differently. Therefore saving a lot of people in Fife and Edinburgh a couple of hundred quid and not costing the good people of Scotland a penny more.

The tolls being abolished on the Tay Bridge and Erskine Bridge, has saved the people money in these parts of the world.

So what is going to lose out in this money then? Health benefits? Education?

IIRC i think i read it is going to cost something like 100 million to keep the Forth up to scratch for the next 4-5 years - where does that money come from?

[Michael W]

Stats show around 2 million cars pass over the bridge ANNUALLY. When did the toll rise to £20? The tolls made only around £1million per annum (you only payed one way on the bridge). £1m is easily raised in a country's annual turnover.

I made the figure up for the sake of arguement. It still leaves a funding gap though.

[Guest Ron Burgundy]

if you look objectively at the two administrations their is a bawhair between them......council tax/local income tax ... the fact of the matter is the government has to raise the same amount of cash to pay for the services so really no-one is going to be better off in any tangible way. Bridge tolls smidge tolls....it's probably fairer but you could argue it would be equally fair to compensate folk living in edinburgh city for the cost of their choice to live there which will be considerably higher than it would for those who chose to live in Fife.

The SNP will not make the country any leaner as every government claims it will, they will simply reassemble the same resources with new names in new places.

Every quality additional benefit proposed by the snp is based upon gaining total control over the oil money.

That is what makes me very angry.

[Michael W]

So what is going to lose out in this money then? Health benefits? Education?

IIRC i think i read it is going to cost something like 100 million to keep the Forth up to scratch for the next 4-5 years - where does that money come from?

This arguement doesn't seem to have been well recieved. I've given up trying.

There is no doubt that other budget areas will suffer because of the tolls being scrapped.

[Scary Bear]

So what is going to lose out in this money then? Health benefits? Education?

IIRC i think i read it is going to cost something like 100 million to keep the Forth up to scratch for the next 4-5 years - where does that money come from?

Give in. Health and Education get plenty as it is, although I could think of more worthy causes to cut funding for (methodone program).

Incidently if it costs £100 Million to keep the bridge open for 4-5 years, what are they doing? Rebuilding the thing? Post a link.

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/forthbridg...idge.3781361.jp

Ah! Well fair do's. In which case someone will lose out. Although, to be fair I think that big construction companies see the public sector as a soft touch with loads of cash, so they think of a figure and double it.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinbu...ast/6219096.stm

http://www.drugmisuse.isdscotland.org/publ...d_methadone.pdf

Alternatively, cut down on alcoholism.

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/01/20541/50225