Scotland flying the EU flag outside Holyrood after Friday, an proud to be Scottish.

[ssd]

Bloody good on us.

Pathetic and irrelevant - a bit like Ian Blackford, the Westminster SNP leader. I no longer hear words when he is talking in the House, just an incessant whine.

I even welled up when Auld Lang Syne was sung throughout the chambers. I'm Scottish and it made me feel sick. Another stunt to promote Scottish independence. I'm fed up with promotion of Nicola on here.
MEPs crying ffs. They're crying about the loss of their fat pay packet
I'm a remainer but the UK voted out. Goodbye Ode to Joy.

Oh look, a Tory sneering at Scots again. What a surprise.

"the Finance Secretary says that Scotland would refuse to pay their share of UK debt following independence"

How the fk would that be legal? Imagine the outcry if England went independent and left Scotland the debt? That is scandalous

I've no idea, but then I don't claim any financial expertise whereas Derek Mackay presumably does

Right now it's hard to see how Scotland's going to get independence if Boris keeps saying no to another referendum, but it's more the mindset in refusing any part of the debt which fascinates me - and I just can't get my head around how the country would prosper if they're seen as defaulters from the very start

It seems to be quite a few fellow Scots who are fed up ssd.

But it's true that encouraging a bit of a push towards full Scottish independence from English voters might be your best bet. Good tactics! Keep on fanning the flames..

I'd say the past few months have shown people living in this reasonably well-functioning (could do better) bit of the UK that people down south seem to know fuck all about how Scotland works and what people want.

I genuinely didn't realise how much contempt there was for this country. It's quite the education. I'm not much of a nationalist but Ive become much much more interested as Ive realise just how shackled we are to a union in which we're not just unvalued but actively despised.

Which bit of the area labelled "down south" would that be nib?

hilSwagielka
Oh look, a Tory sneering at Scots again. What a surprise.

Incorrect. I like Scotland and 95% of the of the Scots I've met. My sneering was in the direction of the SNP, not Scotland or the Scots.

I'm fed up with it and we've chosen to up sticks and move away, following a number of friends, to England where we pay less tax and don't have to listen to the fsnp!

Fair enough. Good luck if you get ill, especially mentally ill with Boris in charge of the NHS. The Scottish NHS is devolved and is outperforming the English and Welsh NHS. Of course there is problems that need to be tackled and its not perfect but I thank my lucky stars it's devolved.

My sneering was in the direction of the SNP, not Scotland or the Scots

Blurred lines I think as the SNP are voted in by the Scottish people.

Not all of them.

Blurred lines I think as the SNP are voted in by the Scottish people.

That's ridiculous!
I like that they're flying the EU flag outside of Hollyrood. I have no objection to the notion of Scottish independence if that is what Scottish people want* and I have never agreed with anything I've seen silverysurfer post - but that is still a ridiculous claim.

Sneering at the tories isn't sneering at 'the British' or even 'the English' en masse. I have a tory mp. I didn't vote for the fucker. say what you want about him - it won't be worse than what I have to say. Sneering at a political party or position is not the same as sneering at the country where that party/position exists.

*actually I object quite strongly to the fact that the million or so scots who voted to leave may be allowed quite quickly to regain what they voted to remove from me - when had they voted the other way, or not voted at all, I wouldn't have lost it in the first place. But other than that, I have no feelings about independence one way or the other.

Icantreachthepretzels
I have never agreed with anything I've seen silverysurfer post

Thank you but oh dear, would it help if I morphed into a remainer or had an epithany and started to vote Labour?

Passes the pretzels down from the high shelf.

I think it is a choice for the Scots to make to fly a European flag, though I think it looks a bit petty and it was a bit of a wasted debate. Whilst I understand that it intended to reflect the strength of pro union feeling in Scotland, it is sort of really an-anti-unionist gesture in that it is clear that you can't be both in the union and in the EU now (sadly, as I voted to remain).

I have a few moderate pro independence Scottish friends and they are some of the nicest people I know. I don't think they are morons and I don't want Scotland to leave. I do think that there is something of a parallel in the brexit/independence campaigns that even my moderate friends are very reluctant to recognise - essentially, both a brexit and an independence vote probably mean being a bit poorer as a nation (at least in the short term - in the long term, with the right policies, there is a possible argument to be made about being richer) to have more sovereignty and independence in the long term. It is a trade off. I don't like the EU trade off, but I respect that the vote has to stand. I think that there is a category of SNP supporters who are a little like the "sunlit uplands" brexiteers who refuse to engage with the fact that the nation may be economically worse off and who also fail to acknowledge that some of the domestic issues that might influence their vote are ones that their government does have some level of control over in the status quo (but is not sufficiently effective in doing so and conveniently chooses to blame someone else). If Scotland left, I would wish it the best and would genuinely want it to succeed, because having strong economic links and a good trading relationship with a strong economic partner is helpful.

It's not ridicolous at all. Sick to death of done of the posts I've seen written on here about the SNP and Nicola Sturgeon and generally people who vote for the SNP, making everyone who votes for them out to be some sort of nationalistic thicko, cyber nat"etc etc. Slagging off the SNP is indirectly slagging off the people that vote for them, they've been voted in as the Scottish Government, they won the general election in Scotland and that's not going to change anytime soon. They don't make a secret of wanting independence either so folk know what they are voting for.

The other thing I would say is that the SNP won 45% of the vote. Even if every one of those votes is pro independence (which it may not be - some could be to keep tories or Labour out), that doesn't currently suggest an overwhelming majority for independence.

I think that the Scots should get a referendum again BUT when it is clear what the U.K./EU settlement will look like, so that people have a level of certainty about what remaining in the U.K. looks like AND when it is clear whether Scotland would be able to rejoin the EU and when (at the earliest) that would happen as an independent nation. otherwise it is speculative what people are voting for - as can be seen from the last three years, that has the potential to cause a lot of division and it not the best start to life as an independent nation.

Pathetic and irrelevant - a bit like Ian Blackford, the Westminster SNP leader. I no longer hear words when he is talking in the House, just an incessant whine.

Yes, this attitude doesn't go unnoticed in Scotland.

I’m a Remainer and would prefer Scotland stayed in the Union but in the event of a referendum, if it was Yes, I would respect that.

It’s not in anyone’s interest for Scotland to ‘fail’ in the event of Independence.
Whether you’re a Yes or a No, or a Scot who left and would like to return or whether you enjoy a summer holiday there, you want to Scotland to succeed, to thrive and prosper.

The frustration comes from the fact that the SNP aren’t managing devolved areas particularly well at the moment.

The fact is Scotland is still part of the UK and we need to see where Brexit takes us.
As a pp says the SNP could take time to get the answers to many complex issues, currency, for example so that people actually know what they’re voting for.

The petty ‘Scotland is so much better than England’ argument is puerile and pointless.

I'm a Scot living in England and financially contribute to the SNP as a party member. Scots voted to remain and have never voted for a Tory government in any numbers in recent history. Remaining in the UK makes a no sense of their voting patterns. Love to see them going Independent.
Married to an Englishman, kids brought up here and friends are all English - wanting independence has nothing to do with hating English people. It's bollox dribbled out by nut jobs wanting those who disagree with them to 'know their place'.
Aye Right! Not going to happen.

The petty ‘Scotland is so much better than England’ argument is puerile and pointless

As is the England is so much better than Scotland argument!
(Or Wales or NI for that matter).

Seems to me that you posted this mostly to get replies from English posters and then claim contempt and hate towards the Scottish. I see a lot of hate towards the English too but that's perfectly fine, apparently.

FWIW I spend a fair bit of time in the Scottish highlands. I love the country and the people I have met. Luckily I've not come across the hostility in person. Reading this though, I wonder if they actually really hate me behind my back 😏

How about everyone realises that the government - English, Scottish and everywhere else are out to help themselves before anyone! They don't care. In fact, they'd love threads like this. Keep everyone fighting and blaming each other while they can sneak off to line their pockets and screw us all over 👍

SNP: Nationalism is evil and breaking away from long-standing international unions is wrong.

Also SNP: Our cool nationalism is much better than your rubbish nationalism, and when we want to break away from a long-standing international union, that’s just awesome!

That's the kind of petty gesture you would expect from the SNP..

I’ll never understand the dynamic of the English on here when they a) slag off the Scots, call them names, ignore their views while simultaneously b) strongly want them to stay in the union and can’t understand why they’re not on board.

It’s batshit.

The UK is batshit right now, not just on this issue.