Scottish Referendum debate: Alistair Darling and Alex Salmond, Wednesday September 10th, 1.45-2.45pm

[JustineMumsnet]

Hi all,

We're delighted to announce that Alex Salmond and Alistair Darling will both be joining us on Mumsnet this Wednesday at 1.45pm, to take part in a live debate in the lead-up to the Scottish Referendum on September 18th.

The decision with which Scottish voters are faced this month constitutes a significant moment in the history - and future - of Scotland and the UK. And with polls currently predicting a result that's too close to call, this final showdown between the two leaders could potentially prove decisive.

The debate will be conducted along typical Mumsnet webchat lines, but with each guest free to question and respond to the answers of the other. We know the referendum has been a topic of serious discussion on the site (we're currently on IndyRef thread number seven - and counting ...) so in order to ensure that the leaders answer your questions, we're restricting the ability to post to Mumsnetters who'd been members of the site for more than 24 hours before the launch of this thread. Otherwise, the usual guidelines apply.

Please join us on Wednesday at 1.45pm - and if you can't make it then, as ever, do post up any comments or questions in advance.

Just thought I would pass on some more information especially for GreenGarden. Just had some friends round she is a top cancer consultant and he is a lecturer at glasgow university and a science researcher. She says there is a stop on funding at the moment and it will continue if we go independent . Without funding there are no new trials which mean that cancer patients in Scotland will not have access to new treatments. They will suffer and and some will die. at the moment Scotland is well respected on the world stage, but without the funding this will go. He said that once with are members of the EU English students will be able to come to our universities for free. Naturally there will be a great influx of English students which the universities will not be able to accommodate. The only answer will be to charge the Scottish so we can then charge everyone else. Funding budgets in science have also been cut at the universities. She works in some of the most deprived areas of Glasgow , where people will not be able to move away or get better treatment else where. There is a whole wall of arguments against and these friends are not members of the UK govenment, or just bullying or blustering. I simply cannot understand how anyone when using there head can vote yes. I understand the vote yes with your heart, but that will not sustain us.

Exactly Rino - but people don't seem to be listening.

I think I said something on another thread about the state of the nhs and our crappy 3rd world health!

One observation - why is the Yes also 'aye' but the Nos aren't 'nae' and the don't knows aren't 'dinnae ken'?

People aren't voting with their heads. How many times has Braveheart been aired recently?

It's Naw, not Nae. I've seen several profile pics with a Naw badge on FB.

Of course it is! D'oh. And one of my oft-used expressions is 'hee-haw-aw'.

I've just had my first RL conversation with a Yes voter- I'm actually shocked that anyone who lives where we do would be a Yes voter - I've lived all over the UK and this is the absolute best place I have ever lived. Why the hell would you risk spoiling that. (And yes I guess I'm being a NIMBY)
Semi rural but pretty close to a big city, smallish so has a great community feel but not too small or insular or inbred. We are incredibly lucky to live here.
A few years ago we had to fight against proposed new housing - we do need more houses but not on the scale that was proposed - would mean doubling the size of the village in less than 20yrs, would smash any community we have (I know because similar happened to my parent's village a good few years ago). Economic crash helped - but we are still supposed to be getting some - more than we need but not the same scale as proposed. One reason for the 'excess' housing was that the SNP want (need) to increase the population size.
When I mentioned immigration to the Yes voter she said that with Scotland's history they are more tolerant of different cultures. Erm - ok but that's not the problem with immigration I'm talking about - it is about increasing population density...(Also pretty insulted - to think that I would be worried about keeping out the 'nasty foreigners' - for a start my DP isn't white - )
I think she really doesn't appreciate what we have ....probably because she hasn't lived anywhere else ...
And as to As doing the negotiation - something else that worries me - she said he wouldn't be doing it - he already had a good job lined up if we got independence

Feeling quite sad about the whole thing ....

Hey all, things still hot in here! :)

I am so excited! What a few days it has been for momentum in the yes campaign. Really all the BT team had to do was keep quiet and they likely would have limped home with a small majority. But how things have changed!

I fear the old fear-mongering ways of the gov/bbc/big corps will be their undoing - all that old media b/s just didn't translate well into the new world media and social networks. Now everything is different. The YES campaign is flying. The people have been mobilised on a wave of righteous indignation....and have become politically motivated to rid themselves of the tedious lies and monotony of UK Inc. We are marching on the streets, on the BBC buildings, convincing friends and family that there is a better more people-centric way to live. The road won't be easy, but revolution never is. Finally we have some hope. I am so excited to see if we can carry this through to Thursday for the vote. For the first time I really feel like this can happen. Scotland is buzzing! :O)

That you Nicola?

Revolution!? Seriously!!!

Someone I know can feel the "warm breath of freedom on his face"
Ffs, you would think he'd been living in North Korea instead of Perth his whole life!

Dalziel..get real...living in a dictatorship??? Do you live on the moon? I am clearly yes..but dont live in a dictatorship. Are you even from Scotland? Ridiculous comments!

Freeeeedooooommmmmm! (In my best Mel Gibson voice). I am sniggering at the thought of the Perth Ghetto with barbed wire and the public floggings/executions for those who dare to whisper the name 'bonnie prince charlie', and wearing the tartan is done on secret below the dastardly business suit.

Ok then...You won't be so cocky when the nhs is in tatters, you won't get free education/eyecare/prescriptions, and the economy is shot to shit.

The life expectancy in Scotland is already lower than the national average (can't blame the dastardly english for that, though I suspect some would try). Its going to be a hell of a low lower with a crumbling health service.

I am 'righteously indignant' that people are piss-playing at politics without actually looking at the bigger picture.

Its not like choosing a new pair of knickers - don't suit/dont like them/shrink in the wash? Then get a new pair.

'Revolution' my big fat hairy (but not blue) scottish arse. Bullying by gobshites and over excited weans.

Revolution? Seriously?
It is terrifying that people like you are allowed to vote.

SarahScotia righteous indignation?! What about the facts and what will happen to this country! As aYes voter you do not actually have any facts as to what will happen; all you have is what a politician has told you you will have. Surely if history has taught us anything politicians do not always deliver. At the moment I can tell you some facts: we have a strong currency, we are properly defended, we have MI5, MI6, we have access to all specialist hospitals In the UK ( my dad had an operation for stomach cancer in Basingstoke only place to do the operation), we have no borders, we have universal pricing from supermarkets, we have free university tuition, our pensions are paid, we did have research funding for science ( not any more at the thought of independence), we are members of the EU and NATO, we have access to embassies around the world, we have a successful union which has been around longer than the USA. You don't have any facts, you merely have what you have been told by politicians. Once your bridges have been completely burnt and there is no going back then they will have to deliver. If there is a vote for independence , which will be the darkest days Scotland has ever experienced please wear your yes badge for ever so we can ask if your "righteous indignation" is actually worth it.

"Bullying gobshites"? Have you been following the fear bombing that has gone on this week? :) That and the hideous bias of our "impartial" national media.

Nope. It seems the people of Scotland are done being part of a downward spiral. Declining standards, bigger than ever rich-poor divide, run by banks for banks, asset stripped, downtrodden, without hope or inspiration. It's time for a change.

The "Frreeeedom" stuff is of course part and parcel of the fear campaign, and more than a little patronising. This isn't about aligning with such frivolous appeals to Nationalism. This is not about that. This is about Scotland wanting something more than we have, about facing our own problems and finding solutions, about money no longer being the bottom line. About enshrining the NHS apart from it's ever deteriorating state, protecting public services from privatisation. About earning the chance to vote in a government to which Scotland aspires, rather than being the disenfranchised carrier of the begging bowl to the coffers of Westminster.

And re. "revolution, seriously"....yup, seriously. When the current regime resort to such despicable underhand acts to maintain subjugation of Scotland - acts contrary to the very nature of the democracy it's laws are supposed to enshrine, then extraction from that situation can definitely be, imo, considered revolution. Ymmv.

There is still a long way to go, and it may be close, but I believe the feeling is in the air that the people are about to speak. Let's do this Scotland!

SarahScotia And re. "revolution, seriously"....yup, seriously. When the current regime resort to such despicable underhand acts to maintain subjugation of Scotland - acts contrary to the very nature of the democracy it's laws are supposed to enshrine, then extraction from that situation can definitely be, imo, considered revolution.

Christ, some people really get carried away, don't they? What an embarrassment.

Considering the news headline we woke up to this morning in Syria, considering what people in North Korea and other parts of the world have to suffer, and yet in Scotland we have people complaining that not getting enough benefits, people having the temerity to speak with different accent to them, and only 2 members of parliament makes them oppressed.

And I bloody wish the very expensive democratic structure that Scotland already has, ie the Scottish Parliament, would extract itself from the corruption and fraud carried out by City of Edinburgh Council!

I'm beginning to think the Yes camp is probably more than full of its fair share of those who had their fingers in that particular pie, or those who think a different pie will give them the chance for something similar.

SarahScotia Are you on glue?

"As aYes voter you do not actually have any facts as to what will happen; all you have is what a politician has told you you will have."

With respect Rino, I find that notion quite bizarre. Do you propose that no regimes move for change anywhere in the world because all they have is "what a politician has told them". The case for an independent Scotland is open for scrutiny by all, and I am confident that it serves well the case for a successful independent Scotland. You assess it differently and that is fine, we all get a vote. Regardless, the sky will not fall, do not fret.

By the same token, what facts do you have about the future of current political regime other than "what politicians have told you". Have they served us so well? What is the debt on the head of every man woman and child in the country, £19000? Can our children afford housing? Do they start their adult lives overburdened by debt from education? Are the assets of the country being sold off to the city - vital services like Royal Mail. Are there food banks in our cities? Is the NHS in a terrible state? Have we become Americanised with no leadership outside of empty puppets our politicians have become to the banking institutions. Do we send our young people abroad to die in unnecessary wars? Do we live under the threat of our own nuclear weapons. Beyond that, people are miserable. The movement towards yes is a movement for grassroots change. We just think there is a better way to do things and that Scotland is best place to make those decisions for itself, under a political circumstance that accurately reflects the more socialist leanings of it's populace.

If you are honestly happy with the way things are, then I wholeheartedly encourage you to vote no in the referendum. Such is your want. I and and increasing amount of people like me believe there is a better life to aspire to and believe we can all work towards that under the auspices of an independent Scotland.

Nope. It seems the people of Scotland are done being part of a downward spiral.

Well if the polls are anything to go buy that's only half of Scotland.

As for money no longer being the bottom line... Are we going to be trading in fresh air then!?

"SarahScotia Are you on glue?"

Interestingly, this could almost pass for the level of debate aimed at Scotland this week via the puppet media. "Scotland: Are you on glue".

Is there any need?

SARAHSCOTIA tells us the facts of what we will have after the referendum. Not what the politicians have told you, but the actual facts. Now we have a strong currency, free tuition fees, access to specialist health care across Uk( Scots do head south),MI5, MI6, defence, our pensions and benefits are paid,funding for science research, funding for sport, universal supermarket prices, immigration controls, free borders, strong fisheries and forestry, universal blood donation and organ transplant, mountain rescue, royal family, massive lottery fund,access to foreign embassies, cyber protection, BBC, radio 4. What are the facts of what we will have if there is independence, not political spin.

"As for money no longer being the bottom line... Are we going to be trading in fresh air then!?"

As I am sure you are aware, yes actually! Scotland's development in renewable technologies and almost unparalleled wind resources shall indeed form part of a successful independent Scotland. :)

Of course, what I really meant by "money no longer being the bottom line" is that I hope we shall not be the slaves to the banks in the way we currently are. I believe an Independent Scotland will once again embrace it's socialist key values of reinvestment in public services and people and not run everything down to a barely fit-for-purpose level, while stripping cash for the city.

It reminds me of (oh the shame) when I was a student and we yelled at the tory politicians who came to talk to us. We were rather rude and lairy. We were young, ignorant and I suspect, drunk at the time.