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Margaret Curran is no serious opponent, let alone a "chief" one. She's a Labour apparatchik. (And I had to double-check the spelling there...)

Oh, come on, prettybird, Labour is dead in the water til they reorganise and become a truly Scottish Labour, rather than an "accounting unit" of Labour in rUK. There's no chance Johann will ever be FM.

I would've thought so - you should never know . I can't decide if the result is indeed Yes whether or not any of the Westminster Scots will throw their hat back in to Scottish politics.

That should've read, "....but you never know"

Prettybird, of course they will, as all the MPs elected for Scottish seats will be out of a job come Independence Day. There will be the most almighty scramble to get nominations as MSP candidates for the 2016 Scottish General Election. Perhaps some of the Unionist MPs will move to England or Wales and try to get a seat there?

Even better all the Scottish based Lords/Ladies will be ejected from the House of Lords - still most of them will have directorships, etc. to fall back on.

< contemplates worrying about unemployed lords/ladies >

< decides against it >

True, granny23 . Maybe that's what's keeping Johann Lamont so motivated?!

'Johann Aye But No But Lamont' and 'motivated' in the same sentence? That's not something you see very often

Still, never mind - given that the Yes vote isn't actually a vote for the SNP (if you believe that argument) then the future is a Scotland led by a Unionist party headed up by Lamont, Davidson or Rennie (unless of course, we have a leadership contest and some erstwhile unknown politician of international calibre comes forward out of the woodwork and challenges their leadership at one of the most critical and unsettled periods in UK political history, but somehow I doubt that...)

You couldn't make it up, could you

I suspect that if Scotland does vote Yes, then the first elected government would indeed be SNP for exactly the reasons you say.

Even my firm Unionist friends acknowledge that Sturgeon and Salmond are quality politicians. One in particular, who is the strongest and most articulate No voter I know, still considers Salmond to be "the best politician in the UK". although that might be more of a comment on the calibre of the WM MPs

It's an indictment on current Scottish politics that the perception of the calibre of the politicians you mention is so low

If the vote is Yes, do you think some of the "bigger names" will come back? Like Danny Alexander or Douglas Alexander? Would Wendy come return to politics? (Predominance of Alexanders there! )

Although I am a No voter, I agree about Salmond and Sturgeon being excellent politicians. In the survey, I ticked that Salmond was doing a good job, however that doesn't automatically mean I agree with his politics or independence stance.

Really just goes to show that the results gleaned from surveys should be taken with a pinch of salt.

Nicola Sturgeon "doorstepped" us many years ago during an election campaign (thinking about it, it was probably the 1997 election where she nearly won the Govan seat against all the odds and the question marks about vote rigging with blue plastic bags full of Labour proxy votes ) and she is the only politician who has ever engaged dh in a worthwhile, respectful conversation (who up until then would spoil his vote).

Dh hates with a passion Tony Plastic Bliar, having had to do some work with him in the line of business he used to be in I think the more polite words are "Two faced git" . He says he had respect for Michael Forsyth and Donald Dewar who were both decent to work with. More recently (in a different line of work) he has been working with guys at the Scottish Government and has found them very approachable, professional and keen to do business . The Civil Servants on the other hand.....

I don't think there's much scope for most WM MPs to come back to Scottish politics should we vote Yes, apart from SNP ones. All the rest have been actively campaigning against "us" which doesn't give them much credibility... Of course Gorgeous George wants to be FM, so you never know. collapses with derisive laughter

I think the first, post-indy gvt probably will be SNP, just for the transitional period, which gives everyone else time to regroup and reformulate. The SSP and Greens (esp Patrick Harvie) have been doing sterling work and that should be recognised in a more balanced Parliament, and we need a decent centre-right party. I hope we achieve consensus politics, I'm not entirely happy with one party having an outright majority.

I think any politician worth their salt (SNP aside) will head south to a bigger Government in a larger Union - same with graduates etc. Those with ambition will always head to where the opportunities to grow and develop are, and where the money is - always has been, always will be. What we'll be left with are the second rate socialist politicians - the big fishes in the wee pond.

Labour have already announced their candidates for next SP elections btw.

In my area of fife we have some woman who has been shipped in on London orders, local Labour Party are not happy as two local candidates overlooked.

Even if you're right (and I think you know I disagree ) how welcome will Scottish politicians be, south of the border? Jim Murphy, of "Fuck off, fuck off, fuck off" fame? Johann, genetically unable to make big decisions about wee things, like WMD? For your second point, I agree, and a wealthy, independent Scotland will easily be able to retain our own graduates, and attract others with ambition. What fantastic opportunities await!

That's always the case in politics - they all move their politicians about.

Main thing is - is she any good?

(Xpost with Fanny, there.)

Oh dear - you've fallen for Alex's bad chat up lines, haven't you OldLady

The politicians you quoted there are hardly the ones that I had in mind. The good ones will move on - but it's interesting you're concerned about how welcome they might be down south. Another reason for staying together, isn't it - to ensure that there are as many opportunities for us all to move between 4 countries and prosper as a result

Nah, not Alex; Darling, who admitted we've been funding rUK for years, Healy, who admitted the west coast oil cover-up, McCrone (1974; I was maybe a bit young to be chatted up then but 40 years later it's OK), John Jappy, the Financial Times... And of course wee Buster from Shetland, he's a cutie.

Nah - Alex is still the bigger BSer of them all

Having lived and/or worked in South Africa, France, New Zealand, Iceland and the US, as well as Scotland and England (dh can add Japan and India to that list), I see the world as a big place with lots of opportunities - but I now choose to live in Scotland. I genuinely don't understand the borders as an argument for or against independence - unless that is, rUK is planning on sealing the border?

WM have indeed threatened to close the border. It's to be patrolled 24/7 by SAS troops accompanied by slavering attack dogs, with Rory the Tory taking command from his Cairn of Destiny, and directing the bombers towards our airports, just in case we let some Foreigners in...

Sorry, I'm being a bit facetious, I think I'm a bit campaign-weary.

I agree - so let's make sure that those who want/are able to work and travel abroad continue to do so, while those who want to move about the UK are also able to do so. I would hate to think that we would do anything silly like becoming independent to make ourselves less welcome in the rest of our UK, or to reduce opportunities.

And now, on that note, I am hiding this thread because I've got a stack of work, and as I have zero willpower will spend the next couple of hours posting on here instead of working

No

I would expect that, unless UK is particularly thrawn (nice Scottish word there ) that there won't be additional barriers even Scotland does vote for independence.

Even if Scotland is "thrown out" of the EU, in the 18 months minimum it would take to negotiate leaving after it becomes independent (which is how long it took Greenland to leave the EEC after asking to leave - and I'm sure things are even more intertwined in the EU), I'm sure that parallel discussions could go on about Scotland joining the EU. I'm sure the Civil Servants would love the duplicate work!

In any case, London seems to be full of Kiwis, Australians and Saffers, so I'm sure those Scots that still want to go to London would still find a way. Some of them even come to Scotland!