Of course Salmond has grossly exaggerated the money Scotland will make from North Sea oil and gas but independence is not about money it is about an ancient nation running their country in the way the majority of the people want.

Like children leaving the home you can warn them all you want but they will only learn from their own mistakes.

Like children leaving the home you can warn them all you want but they will only learn from their own mistakes.

Are you Osborne or Farage in disguise?

"Of course Salmond has grossly exaggerated the money Scotland will make from North Sea oil and gas but independence is not about money"

why did he mention it at all then

The Tories are in power in the UK, although the vast majority of Scots have chosen the opposition. The Scots are outnumbered ten to one, so whatever government the Scots will vote for in a UK General Election, it's highly unlikely that a Scottish Political Party will ever be part of a UK Government representing Scotland's needs. With the rising votes for the extremely right-wing UKIP in England, our goals towards a fair and harmonious society will diminish even further.


Vote No if you want the English to rule over us.

Vote YES to independence if you want Scotland to have a voice in her own affairs.

are you suggesting some skullduggery in politics? Surely not

Whichever way the vote goes it will mean more independence for England. Scotland can not have Devo Max and expect their MPs to have the right to vote on English matters.

I wouldn't want Scottish MPs to have that right, but in the first place I want the right to choose my own govt, without being outvoted by middle England which is populated by a majority with a political ethos which is vastly different from the majority of Scots. As for more independence for England, you need to think about devolution for regions. Good luck with Boris and Nigel though.

Sir Ian Wood and Aberdeen council.
There may be some comments of a more pejorative tone to be found.)


THE offer of a £50 million gift by oil tycoon Sir Ian Wood to help transform the heart of Aberdeen’s city centre is set to be formally rejected at a meeting of the city council this week.

The rejection of the massive donation is expected to finally bring an end to the long running and bitter dispute between the authority’s Labour-led administration and Sir Ian over the potential redevelopment of the city’s Victorian Union Terrace Gardens.

Back in October, in a surprise move, Sir Ian put his offer of a £50 million gift towards the redevelopment of the city centre back on the table - a year after the controversial £140 million scheme to transform the sunken gardens was thrown out by the Labour-led coalition administration.

The billionaire businessman pledged that he would still deliver on his donation towards the regeneration of Europe’s oil capital - provided Aberdeen City Council came up with a new project to transform the heart of the city by the end of the year.

But Councillor Willie Young, the council’s finance convener, claimed today that the “strings” attached to Sir Ian’s offer meant that it would be impossible for the council to meet his demands before the 31 December deadline.

‘Impossible’

A report, to go before Wednesday’s council meeting, is recommending that the Wood Family Trust should be told that “it is not currently possible for the council to provide the trust with the clear indication it seeks in relation to the design criteria stipulated as part of its proposed funding offer towards the costs of a city centre project.”

Councillor Young claimed: “It has become impossible for the council to meet the terms that Sir Ian Wood put to us. There were certain terms that the council couldn’t accept at this time. This was a gift that had strings attached and those strings attached couldn’t be met by the council.”

He said: “It is impossible for the council to meet the end of year deadline, primarily because we are going out to a masterplan and that masterplan will take a wee bit of time to develop. Had we been offered £50 million - without the strings attached - of course we would have been able to accept the money and would have been able to get on and do the masterplan. However, Sir Ian has been quite specific about what he wants for his £50 million and at this time the council cannot take that forwards.”

http://www.scotsman.com/news/scotland/top-stories/aberdeen-to-reject-50m-from-sir-ian-wood-1-3235228

I keep warning you 'high_lander'..............if you continue to make abusive posts there can only be one outcome which leads to the dark side for you

The abusive posts that you have made today have already been deleted by the forum moderators

Continue making further abusive posts and I can foresee your 'metaphor/high_lander' accounts being permanently deleted

The no campaign is getting dirtier by the day. No doubt they are offering bribes to any business who will say something negative about Scottish independence.

A new low even for them.

John Lewis chairman has warned of an increase in prices north of the border if there's a yes vote and that already their margins are lower in Scotland due to higher distribution costs...you can however get some bargains in Ikea

Well done high_lander you have started to be a good boy

For now at any rate, you seem to have stopped making abusive posts, though they clearly remain totally inaccurate

Remember though I am watching you, 'high_lander/metaphor'

I will continue to highlight any further breaches of the forum rules that you make

No one should have to put up with the racist, threatening, abusive and swearing posts that you seem to think you can make with impunity 'high_lander/metaphor'

who are currently on your list, I think other forumites would find it beneficial?

I believe his February report indicated there was between 12bn and 24bn, and he's now saying there is 15-16.5 bn. The OBR estimates 10 bn. The UK Governments own department (DECC) had estimated an upper figure of 35 bn.

how much oil do you believe there is metaphor? Presumably to say it's negative campaigning you would have to believe it to be a higher figure.

It's not all about oil.

Scotland has a rich and diverse economy.

Scotland’s economy includes £21.4 billion in construction which employs 170,000 people, £11.6 billion in tourism which supports 292,000 jobs, £39 billion yearly turnover in manufacturing with a value added of £12.7 billion and 127,000 people employed. Scotland also has world leading expertise in life science, world class universities (5 in the world’s top 200), a multi-billion pound creative sector and vast energy (oil, gas, tidal, wave, wind and solar), fishing and agricultural resources.

Scotland's biggest export is food and drink. Scottish whisky exports alone were valued at £4.27 billion last year. This is because Scotland exports 40 bottles every second. Oil is useful but by no means essential to Scotland's prosperity.

i believe there is a lot of lies going around. i disregard anything that appears to come from the no campaign. you have to read between the lines in politics. negativity towards the yes campaign can only be coming from one place.

Well the biggest lie so far has been Salmond stating that legal advice had been sought and bought in respect of Scotland and the EU.
Not only lying to the general public but to the Scottish parliament as well. Shame on him

BETTER TOGETHER so VOTE NO

if you think Scotland will rule Scotland as part of the EU then you need to get out more

I see that the euphoria lasted only a few days and sanity prevailed with the latest poll showing 53 to 47 in favour of the Union.


I see that you went missing from the forum for those few days. akabula - fair weather blaw

Scotland could well end up getting no EU referendum whilst the UK does!