To wonder how you're voting in the Scottish Referendum and why?

[deeedeee]

a month away from the vote thought it would be interesting to ask

( no bunfighting , derision or soundbites please. just yes or no and why. feel free to post more than once with different reasons. No links unless independent fact or opinion, nothing from the official campaigns)

I'm a YES

because Westminster's failed to protect the vunerable and the UK's me first politics have taken us down a particularly nasty path. An independent Scotland leans towards to left and can potentially choose a better route. And if a change happens in scotland then I think that that could inspire a change in the direction of politics in the rest of the UK.

I know, but I said countries, Quebec isn't a separate country, it's part of Canada.
That's very debatable.
Quebec was founded by the French, before it was joined to Canada. The Quebecois have always considered themselves a separate country, and retain the use of French to prove it. They have a number of devolved powers.
It's a very close parallel with Scotland.

I quite like Panorama, don't watch Taggart and rush for the remote control if River City comes on I would pay extra for BBC4, because I am a middle aged woman who loves a good documentary.

I genuinely (and naively) wish we could lift the tone of the debate for these next few weeks. Yesterday I was told (not here - people are generally quite nice here) that I was a traitor whose opinion was completely invalid. I get that quite a lot. Not a great illustration of democracy. In the interests of fairness, I've seen vile things said to yes voters as well. I really hope that it is a minority on both sides. I've also had some really good chats with Yes voters about the way we could structure a federal UK, how I would redesign the House of Lords etc. Sadly that kind of interaction is getting rarer these days, and we seem to be in for endless reports and spin from both sides.

The Scottish cringe alive & well on here now I see. I hope you don't see my River City comment as Scottish cringe FannyFifer - I genuinely think what I have seen of it is so bad that it transcends boundaries. In the interests of fairness, I think EastEnders is a big pile of keech as well.

I feel it it too much of gamble and I will be voting no.

If the outcome is yes, then perhaps in a few hundred years it would all have settled down and Scotland would be a great wee independent country, but it is our generation and our children's generation who will shoulder the cost of the change.

I also think that in an increasingly globalised world, there is nothing to gain from being a small country and that that the effect of Scotland leaving the UK would lessen the UK's world standing and would be a catalyst for more instability in Europe.

I am actually very annoyed at the amount of instability and division in general this has created. Scotland is not like Norway where 99.95% of the vote was yes. There are going to be a lot of upset people whichever way the vote goes. If it's a No, I really hope there is some kind of law passed that means there cannot be another referendum for many years.

Oh, I think Yes and No voters can agree that River City is a whole load of steaming tripe - utterly unwatchable.
I don't think that the quality of my TV viewing is going to sway many people's voting behaviour though.

Oh come on FannyFifer, be fair! You and your miniscule cohort don't like many of your fellow Scots at all - expensive house owning Scots, independently minded Scots, feminist Scots, English educated Scots, well paid Scots in non-traditional industries, Conservative voting Scots, landowning Scots, Scots critical of the No campaign, etc..

One cheering thing for me in the misery of the lead up to the referendum is just how many decent, solid and intelligent Scots there are, even if it seems to have taken quite a lot for some of them to speak out. There are many more reticent ones - we will see what the vote is in the Referendum and whether it is in accordance with opinion polls. I do hope that if the Yes side is unsuccessful, they will show some reticence in patronising their fellow citizens with comments about how it was unfair, or the BBC misled them, or they confused Alex Salmond's SNP with independence. Somehow I doubt it though.

Whilst Balamory was light years ahead of its time and was the firm favourite on CBeebies in the Shakes household, Me Too... hmm best leave it there really.

I'm undecided. On one hand, I think the Scottish government has made some sensible decisions eg smoking ban, NHS pay rises etc. I believe we are more than capable of self-governing.

But on the other hand: where is the money coming from for all these promises? I see a lot of poverty in Scotland & often think of us a poor country. Who is going to pay for it?

The whole debate just makes me feel even more cynical about politics. Each side just saying whatever it takes to win. I'd like to see more independent facts & figures; less sales techniques.

deedeed do you live in Scotland? Are you unaware of the fiasco of the Parliament building or the trams or the "quality" of legislation coming out of Holyrood or the money wasted on nonsense like "The Homecoming" or the obsession with cluttering up every part of Scotland with gaelic place names in parts with no gaelic tradition?

HiImBarryScot Scotland is not like Norway where 99.95% of the vote was yes

Interesting often overlooked point - Norwegian women didn't vote on independence as they didn't have the vote at the time! (not that I'm saying it would have made any difference to the result, Norway is a far more homogenous country than Scotland, although why its still so crap expensive to live in and has such an unreliable health service and poor public transport despite its oil fund I do not understand).

Am I "the usual suspect" Fanny? I'm hardly a late arrival to this.
I'm clear that I don't fit with your idealised notion of what a "Scotsperson" should be and think but I live, work and I suspect unlike many yes voters run a business here, employ people and pay a considerable amount of tax.

I assumed she was talking about someone else, phaedra.

No, it would me. The tiny cohort don't like me because I give them the type of backchat the school of cybernats find difficult to deal with. They try to single you out for bullying but unfortunately its water off a duck's back. But indicative I think of how they would like to deal with Scottish people who don't agree with them.

I admit I'm now tending to being deliberately facetious as I've gone through plenty of correct and detailed information, none of which a few people are capable of taking in, and accept we are simply going to disagree. I'm now so sick and tired of the Referendum "debate", I take really badly to being patronised and as I've mentioned before, I really just want to live in a normal country again - which I define as being one at least that I will know the name of in a year's time.

No Phaedra.

Chelsy I can tick many of those on your list about myself & family so your insinuation is quite frankly bollocks.

You always derail threads with insults, under your previous username as well.

I won't be responding to your goady nonsense again.

I was born in Scotland and was 18 months when my family and I moved to the South of England 47 years ago. We would visit Scotland a couple of times a year visiting family, today I speak in a Scottish accent to my family and an English accent to everyone else. I am proud of my Scottish roots but am also proud of us all being one great nation, Britain.

I know there is a deep history of political and military conflict between Scotland and England going back hundreds of years. I know that this is still underlying in the consciousness of Scottish people. I know that if we had not moved from Scotland, how I felt could be completely different, as our beliefs are greatly influenced by our upbringing.

However, I think that whatever the history, which should be in the past, we have shown the world that, together, what a great nation we have been and are in terms of invention, creativity, pioneering, survival, commerce. We are greater than the sum of our individual parts.

Together we have faced great challenges and threats in this world and have supported each other through so many things. I think today there are threats and challenges materializing in this world that we should continue to face together as one nation rather than going our separate ways. I do not want Scotland to go it alone as I think we are better together. I love Scotland, England, Wales, Northern and Southern Ireland. We are good people and belong together on these wonderful, colourful British Isles.

However, if Scotland decides to go independent, as I said to my brother when he moved away to Australia many years ago, I am sad you are leaving and will miss you and love you always but will understand your desire to go it alone to explore and face the challenges of this exciting world.

It's not about the past SuggestmeaUsername.
It's about looking to the future.

Ireland is an independent country already though.

I believe we are more than capable of self-governing. But on the other hand: where is the money coming from for all these promises?

Yes, for me that's the whole thing in a nutshell, although as an Englishwoman I don't get to vote on the future of the union. I understand the wish for self-determnation, but really haven't seen many answers to questions like this; for me, the whole "yes" campaign seems to be based more on hope than tough reality

As I said before, sometimes it's wise to be careful what you wish for ...

I agree Fannyfifer. it is about the future. If Scotland wants to go its seperate way, I will be sad but will understand if thats the path they wish to follow.

And yes, youre right about Ireland. I probably didnt express that bit very well, my apologies. I think what I am trying to say is that we are many people on this close group of islands called the British people, and whatever our differences , we are all good people who should work together for good and to face challenges in this ever changing world.

I think Northern Ireland has a rule that they can only have an independence referendum once every 7 years. I can see that with a close No vote there will be calls for another referendum, but I think a period should be set and within that period there should be UK wide discussions on constitutional issues. Although I'm a No voter, I don't think our current model of devolution is ideal, and we should look at how the whole of the UK is represented at local and national level. At the moment Scotland has a parliament, there are Assemblies (I think with varying ranges of power/responsibilities) in Wales, Northern Ireland and London, there are some areas of England with elected mayors and others who rejected it. I don't know what the answer is, but I'd like to see a UK wide constitutional convention looking at the questions.

I don't want to buy into the 'this puts it away for a generation', but I don't want to start another two year campaign on the 19th.

I'm not listening to your nonsense.
From the person who said no bunfights or derision...really...

Fair enough stat, apologies. I think i've just had enough of this thread now. Can't handle all this fear and selfishness wrapped up as pragmatism and realism.

Sorry - I typed all that then answered the phone and had a long chat, I now see the thread has totally moved on. I think people were talking about a second referendum a while back. Anyway - must go and get ready to collect the children. Bye!

A fear can be realistic though. I work in financial services, and I'd say the chances of my job being relocated in the event of independence are probably about 80% plus. Do I fear that, yes, because I think for my specific sector that would be the picture broadly so I would have to relocate. Which I don't much want to do. But I'm also being realistic - 90% of my company's clients are in rUK and the business would almost certainly need to move substantial numbers of jobs as a result.

Has anyone's mind actually been changed from all the fighting on this thread?

Mine hasn't.

I'm encouraged by this thread, the last couple of pages of unpleasantness notwithstanding.

I've been following independence threads on MN for the last couple of years and the majority tally always seemed to be No.

This time it's Yes.

As the vote draws closer, people are becoming more engaged, finding things out for themselves, coming to their own conclusions, and I am convinced that the more you know about the prospect of Scottish independence, the more likely you are to vote Yes. The momentum is in this direction and given another year, I think there would be no question that it wouldn't be a Yes victory.

I do still think there will be one on the 18th, though .