Nicola Sturgeon

[Iluvfriends]

Is a hypocrite.

Boris will be 'picking a fight with the democratic wishes of the Scottish people' and ' the only people that can decide the future of Scotland are the Scottish people'

Forgive me if i'm being stupid but didn't we already have a vote on independence, how did that go. Oh that's right......not how NS wanted so she ignores the democratic wishes of the Scottish people and pushes for Indy 2.

Laughable how she comes out with this stuff.

Malta 'could not survive without UK treasury interventions'. Well that was a load of bull from the UK Gov. It's thriving .

Malta
But that was before holidaying abroad was normalised - I'm pretty sure their income is mainly tourism. Whcih wasn't much on the horizon in 1959.
Covering Scottish hills with conifer plantations and wind farms isn't conducive to a thriving tourist industry but that is the way we are going.
Glasgow and Edinburgh Airbnb income can't support 5 million.

Stary, I don’t think anyone is saying that we can’t become independent and survive but many of us are concerned at the cost to people’s lives and to what overall benefit.

Both just upthread and on another I have asked about the plans for job creation that should be happening now to mitigate against the job losses and so far I haven’t seen any evidence. We can’t say that this will happen after independence as it takes time to set up new industries.

Well, at least there will be a neighbouring country we can move to who does appear to be making efforts for the population in less prosperous areas.

@Quincie

Malta But that was before holidaying abroad was normalised - I'm pretty sure their income is mainly tourism. Whcih wasn't much on the horizon in 1959. Covering Scottish hills with conifer plantations and wind farms isn't conducive to a thriving tourist industry but that is the way we are going. Glasgow and Edinburgh Airbnb income can't support 5 million.

Tourism accounts for less than a fifth of their GDP.

That pensions stuff is utter, utter insanity. Vote for an Indy Scotland and we’ll only give you tax credit when saving for pensions if you invest in the Scottish state assets. Oh and if you are a public sector worker we’ll take your pension and invest it in Scottish state assets. These people are mad! If you want to introduce these sorts of crazy ideas, at least wait until people have voted yes. Who on earth is advising them?

Stary, I do recall you saying that those who lost their jobs when trident goes could go into tourism so is that our only alternative?

Again I will keep going back to the question surrounding the strategy for job creation, what is it and why has there been nothing done of significance over the last 14 years to properly prepare our country for independence?

@Selkiesarereal

Stary, I don’t think anyone is saying that we can’t become independent and survive but many of us are concerned at the cost to people’s lives and to what overall benefit.

Both just upthread and on another I have asked about the plans for job creation that should be happening now to mitigate against the job losses and so far I haven’t seen any evidence. We can’t say that this will happen after independence as it takes time to set up new industries.

The point is that Malta was told that if it became independent ' over a quarter would be out of work, it could only afford a fifth of its imports ( including food) and therefore independence is 'hopelessly impractical '.

Independent Malta now has an advanced, innovation driven economy with low unemployment, far less inequality than the UK and a lower pension age too.

Scotland has a diverse economy.

Independence is normal.

So, we’ve had secret money; 1979 reports; Malta in the fifties; and it will all be great.

Actually, I remember a friend telling me he’d been to Malta in the nineties and he wouldn’t go back as it was so poor he found it distressing. Just an aside, but remembered it then.

The pensions thing is appalling.

Would it be retrospective? If funds transferred to Scotland? Never mind a change of currency to confuse things

And, last thing, I see NS has gone back on the manifesto pledge to have a full Covid inquiry in Scotland. Now wants to go along with the UK one. It’s puzzling why she’d want to do that with WM, and also breaks a pledge.

Mind you, looking forward to receiving DS’ laptop.

@WouldBeGood

The pensions thing is appalling.

Would it be retrospective? If funds transferred to Scotland? Never mind a change of currency to confuse things

You find it appalling that people in Malta are given their pensions years younger than those in the UK? In appalled too. Most will be dead before they receive it in the UK.

@ selkies, no - we have lots of industries in Scotland.

Independent Malta NOW has.... but what about 1965, 1970 etc? These things take time which as an economics graduate you will appreciate. So I go back to the question surrounding what has been done in the past 14 years and what is being done?

Or as you said before surrounding the trident job losses, plan b is tourism?

@StarryEyeSurprise not Malta, the pension plan for Scotland as set out in The National.

@StarryEyeSurprise are you an economics graduate? How did you not know what foreign reserves were?

@Selkiesarereal

Independent Malta NOW has.... but what about 1965, 1970 etc? These things take time which as an economics graduate you will appreciate. So I go back to the question surrounding what has been done in the past 14 years and what is being done?

Or as you said before surrounding the trident job losses, plan b is tourism?

Hilarious. We've been through Trident.

You're ok with having nuclear weapons close to our biggest population centre. I'm not.

Much of Malta's wealth comes from online gaming and providing advantageous tax schemes - the Maltese finance and insurance sector are very concerned about EU discussions around tax avoidance measures. Or perhaps Scotland as a tax haven is something to aspire to. There also appears to be a lot of corruption. In Malta, that is .

[quote WouldBeGood]@StarryEyeSurprise are you an economics graduate? How did you not know what foreign reserves were?[/quote]
Why are you and Graffiti so obsessed with me?? It's really really strange.

@Newstepchild

Why would any country not want self determination?

What I said was self-determination is problematic. The people of Scotland decided No. The people of The UK determined Leave. But "It's Oor Self-determination".

Yes, there are big problems on Malta. Remember the murder of a journalist who criticised government corruption?
And they sell off EU passports to make money - which Scotland will not be in a position to do.

@WouldBeGood

And, last thing, I see NS has gone back on the manifesto pledge to have a full Covid inquiry in Scotland. Now wants to go along with the UK one. It’s puzzling why she’d want to do that with WM, and also breaks a pledge.

Mind you, looking forward to receiving DS’ laptop.

Nicola Sturgeon does not want to take full responsibility for any inquiry which will show up all the Scottish Government mistakes ... care homes , lack of PPE etc. She going to hide behind the Uk Gov.

Stary, never said I was ok with trident but what I’m not ok is for the jobs to go and there is no plan to mitigate these and the impact on the wider community.

So again what is the government doing with respect to job creation for an independent Scotland.

And you were the one who suggested tourism for the lost trident jobs which must be so reassuring for them.

@StarryEyeSurprise to be fair, you actually just tagged me in a post, with snark.

It’s reasonable to ask you surely?

Yes @Ianrankinfan then it can all be the fault of WM I suppose, one way or the other.

And Stary, I don’t think there is anything “hilarious “ about job losses which is why I keep asking about this.