Scottish Independence

I've little respect for them either, but I've even less respect for the idea that the vote was rigged.

Researchers are making breakthroughs in new mining technologies that can extend lifespan of North Sea oil reserves

I bring this up because, of course, people are citing this as proof Westminster, Better Together and the BBC lied about Scottish oil running out.

"What's so wrong with splitting up?" - Chinese netizens on the indyref.

A very interesting piece by Foreign Policy about how the Chinese interweb views the referendum.

Yes, that's satire.

Cross-posted to the E Asia politics thread.

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Something I'm noticing after subscribing to FP - despite one needing to be subscribed to comment (and thus, presumably, paying for the privilege), the quality of comments is abysmal.

Most comment sections are.

Well, what do you expect from the hideouts of government-backed trolls infamously known as the 50 Cent Party?

So how are things going on the street in Scotland? Life obviously goes on and people do about their daily business, but does the tension still linger or has it faded by now?

On the street? Faded most likely.

Politically nothing's been sorted, but I expected that.

edited 26th Sep '14 7:41:18 AM by Achaemenid

Lololololololololololololololol!

>RT

seemslegit.jpg

>RT reporting on RP

yea.

In general, life goes on. The news headlines have moved on to other things, and the focus politically has shifted towards the May general election. The Conservatives have their conference just now, and they're dealing with three issues, two openly and one secretly: namely the election itself, the threat of UKIP, and leadership challenges to David Cameron respectively since he won't finish a full second term as leader of the Tories, either as PM or leader of the opposition. Such matters are of course more appropriately discussed in the British Politics Thread.

The constitutional uncertainty dying down should see something of an economic upturn since everyone now knows where they stand, so things like home purchases that were delayed can now be moved forward.

On the street, the riots were followed by large donations to foodbanks placed also in George Square, which was really nice to see. Glasgow has always been a friendly city and people despite the obvious stereotype, so I'm not even that surprised.

A lot of political activists, particularly young ones, have now found themselves at a loss for things to do with their time; I know at least one person who gave up looking for a job to campaign full time, for example, and he won't have been the only one. Naturally, the first reaction of many was to form a Facebook group: "We are the 45%" and so forth. There's dozens if not hundreds, almost none of which will have any activity at all in 6 months time. There could be a few genuine initiatives that emerge from all the crap, but that will take time to happen. Just now, most of the people posting are angry, bitter and confused, admitting these things to varying degrees. Some are calling for reconciliation with No supporters, but plenty in these groups are saying it's to soon. Such emotions will die down in time as they always do, and those incapable of that will just be ignored going forward as they always have been.

Political party membership in Scotland has surged after the referendum; the SNP are now the 3rd biggest party in the UK and the Scottish Greens have more than doubled their membership. There's certainly talk of a push for better SNP representation in Westminister in May and it will be interesting to see what comes of that.

That's about it really, I think!

Gordon Brown urges Scots to sign petition to ensure devo vow is kept

I get Brown's intent, but considering many nationalists are convinced Westminster is going to renege on the devo pledge, and their certainly not unwarranted, I think he just opened his mouth and inserted his foot here.

Farage was claiming before the sun was up on Friday 19th September that Cameron had no obligation to actually stick to a "last minute promise" he made of extra powers to Scotland. Their scepticism is certainly justified to an extent, and I share it.

If anything, wouldn't Farage supporting an idea mean a Conservative or Labour government would have to oppose it (the latter to avoid looking right wing, the former to avoid looking like they're letting UKIP replace them)?

Depends who they're more bothered about pissing off. Farage's comments certainly will appeal to those in England who think that they subsidise Scotland (which is a common but false myth), and both he and the Tories know the real fight is with each other and Labour in England, not in Scotland. It's Labour who are more concerned with bothering Scottish voters, as they really need to avoid a pro-SNP backlash come May.

In response to Brown's petition gaffe, Wings Over Scotland have issued their own petition telling Brown to literally go fuck himself.

I never get why these petitions need these arbitrary x amount of signatures needed.

edited 30th Sep '14 8:02:44 PM by KoBB

Wow. How mature.

I expect no better from Wings.

Wait, what?

Slightly relevant?