To ask scots if they actually like Nicola sturgeon

[Karen85]

Just out of curiosity really because she and her voice make me cringe when i hear her on tv or radio.

Love scots though please don't get me wrong.

Scotland is far too small to make a go of things on its own - Norway does not count as it has massive reserves of oil

There are many many countries in the world smaller that Scotland

The border between Scotland and England is arbitrary.

Hmm. It's the border between Scotland and England. The same as there is between England and Wales.

The sensible way of governing the island of Britain is to have one government

Not if all the nations are not treated equally.

What cheeseandcrackers said. Completely.

The military is also a key point. Break up of the union, also means break up of the combined UK forces. I work a lot with the military and there was deep unrest and unhappiness from them during Indyref 1. The vast majority voted remain. Those I spoke to - some very senior- stated very clearly they would not be interested in joining what would basically be a 'home guard'.
Scotland as an independent country could not afford to defend itself and would have to rely on other countries to one to its aid. If it was not part of the UK or part of Europe, just who exactly is going to come to the rescue?

I don't see any reason to think that we would make better decisions for Scotland on our own. We would have fewer people and institutions from which to choose as leaders. There would still be voters who don't get the govt they've voted for.

The future history exam questions will ask why Scotland broke away from UK and the answer will have to be because we couldn't get on with the other children in the playground so we drew a line down the middle. Sad and embarrassing. We should be encouraging co-operation instead of being divisive, especially when global trading is so unpredictable and climate change is a massive problem.

I don't want to live in a tartan painted parochial wee backwater.

Same! And it would be parochial. There's an over-emphasis on Scottish culture already - ask any teacher.

I don't recognise the 'demographic deficit' argument. Obviously, in a democracy there will always be a certain proportion of the population who don't get who they voted for. I certainly didn't vote for an SNP representative at Holyrood or Westminster, but here we are. I'm stuck with people I find embarrassing who certainly don't represent me, but I accept that because it's democracy. Likewise, there have been several elections in my lifetime where the Scottish vote put a labour government in Westminster, but those in the south accepted it, because it's democracy. It has been less than a decade since both the Prime Minister and Chancellor were Scottish.

Of course, by voting in a block of MPs that don't stand in most of the country, Scotland has pretty much guaranteed that they're NOT represented right now, ironically, but hopefully this will be a short lived mistake.

Unfortunately I don't need to ask a teacher rogue, I have children going through the system where apparently only Scottish people write books or plays or poems and only Scottish people were in the first world war....you get the picture.

And don't get me started on changing the road signs and ambulance livery etc into Gaelic.

I don't want to live in a tartan parochial backwater, but nor do I want to live in a union flag festooned backwater, and I can see Britain heading that way.

I saw a fair amount of anti-Englishness growing up, and was picked on at school for sounding 'posh' and 'English'. I'm just a Scottish person without a strong accent. But increasingly I see people where I grew up as simply racist against almost everyone - including those who are Scottish but not born in the village. My dad in particular is getting appallingly racist in his old age. But I don't see the anti-Englishness from Sturgeon that so many do. I agree there is sometimes an over-emphasis on Scottishness in general, but we've gone through years now of soul-searching about identity.

As I said above, I'm not a fan but I think she's one of the stronger politicians about just now. And for those going on about her dress sense -a) can we stop judging female politicians on this b) actually I like her dress sense

The inappropriate use of gaelic indeed. Gets my goat.

I agree that there is no demographic deficit. Even if there were wouldn't this be a case of reductio ad absurdam?

Wankers. Blimey it hasn't changed then. The only Shakespeare I knew about was Macbeth. I knew nothing of history from anywhere else just 1760 - 1820 new town Edinburgh. Now I have children being educated in England I realise how much was missed out

Personally dislike her intently , when as Health Minister she was on the tv stating there would be no cuts to frontline NHS services under the SNP. On the very same day I sat in a meeting with 21 others losing their jobs, on the front line, in the NHS. As our trust was told to cut 70 million from its budget that year.
Our local hospital has recently lost its orthopaedic ward. With no local consultation. When they tried to go straight in to shutting the A&E this was blocked on a public scale. They will now be able to close it as no Ortho surgeons on site means not receiving trauma. Sneaky.
As for education. In English- study a Scots poet who left a fortune in his will to the SNP. Modern Studies - scottish independence, History- guess what, Scottish wars of independence. Now I'm not saying we should not study our own culture but they have skewed the curriculum so far it's like propaganda.
And, Breathe

calyx. Not according g to this re. Oil revenues www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/oilandgas/12196260/North-Sea-oil-to-post-losses-of-1-billion-a-year.html. So oil revenue doesn't keep us afloat, it is currently the city of London financial markets.

And no, of course we don't pay tariffs, but we pay a huge up front fee for being in the single market, which is the same as a prepaid tariff imo, probably in excess or WTO tariffs.

I find NS decisive and peddling anti English, anti Westminster rhetoric despite the higher spending per capita she has to administer. I used to like the scots and still have many Scottish friends, but I keep these views to myself. NS has done a great deal to foster anti English sentiment and it's just a way to deflect criticism from her mismanagement

I have to say, having now had both my boys go through the diagnosis/referral system for ASD and for hearing problems, I've been comparing notes with friends in England/Wales and they are stunned at how quick and efficient the system where I am is.
Educationally I'm also impressed, yes there are issues with bullying, but there are issues with bullying everywhere. Wankers it would annoy me too if they were the only taught Scottish things, but that's not what happens in my LA, although around Burns Night they tend to have more of it. It's rounded rather than biased towards one.
Also, my Mum's cancer treatment and aftercare was second to none, I was hugely impressed with how quickly it was organised and how supported she was.

There will always be positives and negatives to any government, personally I think the SNP positives outweigh the negatives. I disagree with the Named Person idea as it was, although in principle it was a good idea. I also disagree with the criminalisation of football fans, it doesn't work and sectarianism would be better tackled another way.
What I'm trying to say is that for every negative about the SNP are people seriously telling me those negatives don't exist in Westminster?
People talk about divides but the only negative language being used on here is by anti SNP posters. No anti English feeling here, nor indeed in my experience. If I heard it, I would challenge it, as I would any kind of bigotry. But do not pretend it doesn't exist the other way around in England, because it does. I had it, just as many English posters on here have unfortunately been subjected to it up here by arseholes who need to be told what bigotry is but to pretend that only Scotland is a hotbed of bigotry and that remaining part of the UK would neutralise that is naive at best.

I have a lot of respect for Nicola Sturgeon, as a person, but strongly dislike her politics.

She has achieved a lot, both personally and politically, and seems to be a highly principled person. However, I think she should focus on governing Scotland and particularly on improving education and healthcare, rather than focussing on independence. The 'Neverendum' threat is very unsettling for individuals and businesses in Scotland, IMO, and is stopping the SNP from doing a good job of governing Scotland for the benefit of all its inhabitants, rather than just those who favour independence.

I don't want an independent Scotland and I don't vote SNP. I can't vote SNP because I'm registered to vote in England. I have a residence in Scotland and one in England. I don't want to retire in England.
I think MN is full of disgruntled Scottish Labour voters who can't understand why people didn't want the continuation of corrupt Labour politics in Scotland.

A low point for me was a couple of "ex friends" who posted a thing on Facebook, basically saying that a higher proportion of Scots died in WW1 and used that as propaganda for the SNP/Independence. Absolutely sickening. I, like most people, have family that fought and some who died in that war.

They were fighting for Great Britain the same as every other member of the armed forces at that time.

To use them for political gain is thoroughly abhorrent. I'm not saying that was party/NS instigated btw, just a symbol of the lows that their supporters go to. Can some of them just not think?

I'm not tarring all with the same brush. There are some incredibly intelligent, switched on people that support the SNP in the same way as there are some incredibly intelligent, switched on people that are involved in religion. I just really can't fathom either situation.

Saor I'm glad that it's working for you, are your DC in High school yet? I've noticed it get worse for the exam years.

Wankers no they're not, one primary and the other nursery. Ugh I hope not. I'd like there to be an even balance, not just one set of ideas. I asked to do Scottish history at Higher level (because it interested me) and was told it wasn't an option, however I'd be really disappointed if it was the only thing on offer iyswim. Out of curiosity, roughly where are you? (Not specifically obviously but highlands/central belt/lowlands). Feel free not to answer though.

I don't blindly follow the SNP, and I despair at acolytes of any party who blindly nod and yell and agree without actually considering anything first. For me, the SNP offers more than the others at the moment, if that changed, my vote would change. That's the beauty of democracy.

I really rate Nicola sturgeon,smart,principled,seems honest(for a politician)

A low point for me was a couple of "ex friends" who posted a thing on Facebook, basically saying that a higher proportion of Scots died in WW1 and used that as propaganda for the SNP/Independence. Absolutely sickening. I, like most people, have family that fought and some who died in that war.

That is absolutely abhorrent.

Saor, North of the central belt, but it isn't school/region specific, these are the standard courses for Nat 5, everything is taught from a Scottish perspective, I think it is a good thing that they learn about Scottish authors/history/economics etc. but we've gone far too much the other way now. :(

Ah ok, I didn't realise that. I think a balance would be better to be honest. It did frustrate me at school that nothing Scottish at all was taught beyond Burns (insert eye roll here), but to go too far in the opposite direction is inward looking IMO.

I think that's what pisses me off in general about the impression people get of the Nats in general, it's the rabid twats with extreme views that get airtime, much like the brexit campaign and the Tory government too. If only moderates got their voices heard too!

I also have to say the education especially in the Nat years is too focused on Scottish text, plants etc. I agree we should be teaching kids about our own culture, history but not to the extent it currently seems to be heading. It certainly reeks a bit of getting at the kids young and why oh why did they call them Nationals.

I also wanted to say that whenever any of these threads come up indy or SNP supporters always come on and instantly go on the defence saying tell me why the union is so good etc but the thing is we aren't trying to make massive changes to your way of life therefore we don't have to. If you are pro union and not going to vote yes you are likely to be happy or not massively unhappy with the status quo therefore we don't need to give you a counter argument.