it seems mostly the englandshirists that are pro no and the scotlandshirists are mostly pro yes.

Perhaps on this thread, although discussions socially the last few weeks suggest about 60% no amongst the Scotlandshirists, as you put it. The split there is more towards No being those that have thought about it lots and the Yes being those that like the principle and don’t want to think about how it might actually have to work.

Meanwhile, buried away in today’s budget, Scotland’s block grant is being cut in real terms.

As are many other areas it seems. NHS, Education are the winners. It was pretty well flagged that public expenditure was going to be cut in real terms, so I’m not sure this is a surprise.

Check that contract is valid before giving up on that. And even if it is, ought the director of the contractor to have allowed it to be signed as (surely, you would argue) he knew he was going bust. There’s a liability game to be played there.

Delivery – were they delivered to the insolvent contractor or were they simply stored on site with the permission of the ultimate client until the planned future delivery? Unless there’s a strong paper trail proving the IP has control, might some conversations with the ultimate client get you somewhere?

Latest official Scottish numbers Might read through this later, but until then, here’s the BBC’s take on it.

Or maybe another interpretation is that he was happy to be the head of an un-governable organisation and have a job which was un-doable as long as he was paid a ridiculous amount of money which wasn’t dependent on success, and if they didn’t pay him that he’d bugger off and leave them in the sh*t. And to think people accuse the unions of holding employers to ransom!

An alternative to speculation is to read the news release [/url]from the Co-op in which he says he’s not taking the money.

The big ticket item was control of inflation.

…which went up to 18% by 1980. And 3 million unemployed.
The inflation was oil price related (oil price more than doubled, from memory). It started to rise under Labour in 1978, continued to do so under the Tories until 1980-81 when it started to come down. Doubt either party could have stopped that.

Did he have decent retention of title clause on the invoice? The IP would want proof of title before allowing benches 2 & 3 to be removed, so the challenge there is to prove they are his.

Kcal, good to get some real info as opposed to 3rd hand photos

I generally prefer to let people explore and find out for themselves, but as you say you’re going anyway… If you go round Beinn Fhada anticlockwise, make sure you start the track at about 073198 at exactly the right place or instead of firm trail you’ll be in bog. Unless the recent trail building (Oct 2013)is all the way back there, it is indistinct.

If we vote yes then from the first election after the referendum the entire Scottish government will be answerable to people in Scotland whoever runs the currency union we’re in, EU and lenders, amongst others, which seems to me a distinct no advantage over the present

Would that be the 40 year old report available because the SNP put in a FOI request in 2005

No, that would be the August 2013 publication.

Driver pulling out is wrong. Driver flashing is also wrong. I know this from the prosecution of the guy who hospitalised me in exactly those circumstances nearly 9 years ago, except he pulled out so late I couldn’t stop, hit the wing and went over the bonnet.

It remains the case that a formal currency union was the advice given to the Scottish Government, and hence the Fiscal Commission’s proposal.

The Fiscal Commission doesn’t publish white papers so whatever its influence on the proposal, the Scottish Government has to have a formal position and formal currency union is it.

If the Fiscal Commission had recommended one thing and the white paper had featured a different idea, everyone would be jumping up and down.

It remains the case that a formal currency union is the Scottish Government’s, and hence Alex Salmond’s proposal. To say otherwise is misleading.

People seem to think that currency union is Alex Salmond’s pet project – it isn’t.

Well, he started the Fiscal Commission and the white paper indicates an intention to adopt its receommendation of currency union. I don’t think anyone can claim the white paper doesn’t “originate from the Scottish Government”.

2 years ish to negotiate the terms

How does that compare with other nations that are undergoing the accession process?

13 years so far for Macedonia
4 years so far for Iceland
9 years so far for Montenegro
5 years so far for Serbia
With the Scottish Government taking 4.5 years just to create Creative Scotland from Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Screen, 2 years to sort EU entry seems ambitious.

May 2015 Westminster election will get in the way of any negotiations and the next Scottish election is May 2016. The chance of concluding anything politically or diplomatically between September 2014 and May 2016 is pretty close to nil.

[/quote]So in the elections for the Uk parliament(?) they got 19% and the Tories got % 16?
How did the Tories fare in the Scottish elections?

Not quite. They got 19% of the Scottish votes in the 2010 election. Labour still got somethiing like 40%, from memory.

do not understand the point. Excuse me It related to the 2nd para you quoted. I read you implied 19% wasn’t a basis to speak for Scotland. No matter I dislike the speaker, 45% is.

You’ll not see me rushing to defend Salmond or the SNP THM, but rather more relevant to this debate is the 45% won in the 2011 Scottish Parliament election. Whether you believe that’s down to support for the SNP or voting against the Lib Dems for joining the Tories in 2010 or something else, it makes equating SNP votes with independence votes less than clear.

plus the guy all but admits it would be ridiculous for scotland not to be entered into europe, with our MEPs doubled. and also that rUKs voting powers and MEPs would also increase as a result(relative to current minus the scottish continignent.).

No, he didn’t. He clearly said that MEP numbers are capped and for Scotland to rise, we’d need to negotiate other countries having fewer. He also made it clear there was no automatic right to join irrespective of how suitable Scotland might be as a member, that border controls would be necessary and that adoption of the Euro would be a legal requirement.

It’s called Pegging.. happens all the time.. See this link for brief details..

http://www.currencysolutions.co.uk/euro/why-are-some-currencies-pegged-to-the-euro-exchange-rate
I know. I asked how you do it. It requires either the government or central bank to intervene in the market almost continuously to maintain the rate. So how will Scotland do that and with what resource?

The Pound ? either have a currency union with the UK pound or have our own Scottish pound which is tied at a 1-1 exchange rate with the UK pound..

OK, so humour me please. Explain how this parity is fixed and remains fixed between two economies moving relative to each other.

It’s just a mistake to think that what they say now bears any resemblance to what will actually happen.

Ye Gods. Really? And this is democracy?

Yup. Which is why, after independence, I’m sure it’ll all be negotiated by sensible people

Which is the problem. We’re expected to vote Y or N to a deal yet to be negotiated and we’re assuming the people will be sensible. I don’t say Y to deals I haven’t read the small print on – this is like writing politicians a blank cheque with your future.

Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face, it could cost English taxpayers quite a bit if English oil and utility companies suddenly have to start buying in a foreign currency

And what about the risk to Scotland needing to export to a different currency zone. Same coin, two sides.

Ban the sale of goods produced in China or India. However, I gusess they would then limit our access to rare earth materials further.

That’s not particularly useful, but to avoid exporting our pollution or poor labour practices, I wouldn’t argue against imports to EU having to be produced under standards applicable to manufacturing in the EU.

That’s sort of why I went for Storm in the first place, as it is on Cavalry Crag and has a bulge on it.

Can you tell I’m on a dull conference call…

Trying to work out which buttress it could be on. Damnation on Styx Buttress has an overlap like that in the article photo, but not sure you could get that photo from there.

Possibly something on Cavalry Crag?

The river would be in the line of trees (it is a tree lined river around there) and is on the correct side of the road. The river / road / hill layout fits quite well with an OS map of the area. I’m guessing on the route though by punting for a mid grade classic!

It is about a decade since I climbed in that glen, but might it be on Storm, as it was in most “best of” tick lists from that era which covered that grade?

Storm – UKC

Asking on UKC might get you a faster answer.

My first thought was one of the Glen Nevis crags, with the hill behind his head being the ridge up Stob Ban.

My brother is a soil scientist and does some work in the field. He’s a bit sick of the bandwagon as he feels the debate is about the wrong questions giving the worng answers. So in trying to be “better” we end up making things “worse”.

Examples might be where for environmental reasons we penalise the running of old cars when it makes more sense to maximise the life of them. Or where manufacturing moves out of one country because of environmental rules, only to have the polution created in a less enlightened country and then extra transport involved in transporting goods to market.

I can’t see why this is so hard to understand.

An independent Scotland isn’t some thoroughly pre-defined entity. It could be wonderful or a nightmare as its structure is dependent on negotiations after a vote and the range of outcomes is wide. To vote Yes is to trust in AS negotiating that in the interests of Scotland.

I see it a little bit like when Fred Goodwin bought a bank without doing decent due diligence first.

There is only one issue.

Will Scotland benefit in the long run from being able to determine its own policies?

Not quite. How about – Will Scotland be able to determine enough of its own policies (within the constraints of the EU and agreements with rUK) to make it appreciably better than devolution?

Not so sure it is odd for the No campaign – to suggest that independence isn’t going to be really that independent might swing some voters to say it isn’t worth the risk or hassle.

Some of my colleagues who were swithering have said since yesterday that it is getting too complicated and too much hassle for them to consider saying yes now.

Tell us to walk away, and we will – leaving the whole debt behind.

Nice incorrect assumption there. I am part of “us”. And “we” can’t walk away for reasons discussed widely elsewhere. Nor do I want to.

The Margo Macdonald quote in that Scotsman article piemonster linked to raises an interesting question. She says the position won’t be known until negotiations start. What if AS doesn’t like the outcome of those negotiations? Anyone believe he’ll go back to the electorate and say “the deal available wasn’t good enough, so the independence project is off”?

After all, he’ll be going into a negotiation (with a mandate from less than 100% of 5M people) to ask for something from an rUK team who won’t have a mandate from the other c55M people to give anything away.

I doubt the cameras will be half a mile apart

The FAQ bit on the govt’s website, if you scroll down it far enough, suggests around 40 camera sites averaging 6km apart.

FAQ

I reckon 90% of objectors to the average speed cameras are really objecting because they want to break the speed limit themselves.

Made up statistic alert.

The only 90mph warrior I’ve been passed by recently was pulled by the police moments later.

The issue is about average speeds and keeping them up, not by high peak speeds but by reducing the amount of time at low speeds. Oddly Transport Scotland told me they wanted to make journey times “more reliable” but were unable to point to any research suggesting how that would be either measured or influenced.

How are people doing this?

Running crappy cars & bikes when mates were buying flash
Always renting out spare room
Living on pennies and investing everything spare
Buying wrecks, doing them up, selling. Repeat.
Was mortgage free at 39.
And then we moved. Probably 55 by the time this one is clear.

Some sobering stuff in there.

There certainly is, but there’s also plenty of stuff which is just data listed rather than explained. If my recolection is right, there’s a bit about the very high percentages of accidents involving HGVs, but nothing saying if that’s HGVs crashing or being crashed into. Surely knowing the answer to that might aid safety actions?

No it wouldn’t Druidh. The convoys form behind vehicles doing less than the speed limit. Most of the vehicles overtaking are doing so within the speed limit, at least for the early part of the overtake. There are so many HGVs doing 40 now on the A9 that most overtakes are in the 40-60 mph range.