Anything I should know about scotland before I take a leap of faith 😂

[Helliephant]

I met this Scottish man and he is simply amazing and wonderful, so interesting and kind with the sexiest accent ever, es the best. I went to scotland for the first time with him and fell in love with it. Would i be crazy to move there???!

What would the premise be? That independent Scotland simply returns to the "UK" as before?

The issue with that, is the rest of the UK would also need to be of that mind before it even became viable, so they'd need to pre-emptively accept Scotland back before Scotland even polled it's own citizens.

If you want to talk about "sub par" ways to run countries, then that's surely got to be up there, almost as wacky as letting yourself be governed by a parliament that is 90-odd% elected by people in other countries.

Self-governance seems eminently sensible by comparison, especially since it's how things are done in the majority of nations the world over, and appears to work perfectly well on the whole.

I was a yes voter, and I also think it was really divisive.

In what way?

This claim has been made endlessly since 2014, but I've yet to see anyone put any meat on the bones and describe how, precisely, a poll was "divisive".

People have different opinions, disagree, and hold different views on a myriad of things, we're "divided" by default. I've never seen anyone describe the party political system and democratic elections as "divisive", yet we undergo those every few years, people express differing views, and then we get on with things in the aftermath.

This was more than a poll, it was about the future of our country, and the stakes were high and emotions were also running high. It was a binary, you didn't have more choices like you would in a standard election.

In my own family, there were fallings out, mostly centred around one male family member who was a yes voter being obnoxious and confrontational to no voters. Some of those relationships never fully healed (sadly, he died last year).

It wasn't confined to my family, I saw it around me too. There was some bad behaviour on each side.

It was 12 years ago.

Sorry to hear that.

Yes extremely divisive.

I moved back to Scotland 20 years ago after living down south. Aberdeen would be far too cold for me. I live on the west coast which is wetter but warmer. I appreciate not paying for my prescriptions, the friendly people, the gorgeous scenery, and most importantly the feeling that it is very much a different country all together, not just “up north”.

This also happened in my family. Like a lot of us in Scotland there are a few mixed English / Scottish marriages. I’ve lived in Scotland for 20 years, one of my in laws still argues I should not have been able to vote in the referendum 🙄

In what way? We had no fallings out!

I'm sorry to hear your relative felt the need to behave that way.

I still do not accept the suggestion though, that because a minority of people can't control their emotions or behave reasonably that this should preclude any future consideration of Constitutional change, which is precisely what the "no to a Divisive 2nd Referendum" thing is about.

My Grandfather was a fan of Margaret Thatcher. This made him unique in my wider family. There were a fair few vocal disagreements about politics, but it was generally forgotten about within minutes. As I alluded to, people disagree about hugely important matters all the time, as a society we are divided by default, yet nobody suggests doing away with elections or political parties just because they divide opinions and provoke emotional outbursts. It seems fundamentally undemocratic to attempt to suppress thought and discussion by claiming that because a minority get carried away the whole thing is just too unhealthy and needs put away for good.

People voting for independence are voting for a concept, a belief and a hope. The same as those voting for Brexit.
A successful indy vote would involve negotiation with the Westminster government. The indy party would want as much as possible - I cannot see Westminster being overly generous. As with the Brexit debates at Westminster prior to meeting EU negotiators would give the other side an advantage.

Has there been a recent successful independence vote in a first world country, without a Rebellion? The Czech Republic and Slovakia? A pretty equal divide. Former Yugoslavia except Bosnia and Croatia? Both not a country calving off a much larger power.

Could a newly independent country have the same or better standard of living from day 1? If you have gained independence from a colonial power then you would accept a lower standard of living in order to have control. But eventually the most die have indy in Scotland died not get up and say "another day with our nose to the grind stone of Westminster slavery".

John majors suggestion after Brexit was "done" that a public vote on the "this is what is on the table -yes or no? was the best idea he had. Too late.

First line says it all. There are no respectable financial forecasts that show an independent Scotland not being substantially poorer than it is now for at least a considerable period of time.

Not surprising given the loss of access to tax revenues from the rest of the U.K. ( over 10.5 m people in Greater London alone, about 5.2 m in Scotland as a whole, the majority of whom don’t pay tax at all - age, disability and only 6-8 per cent higher tax payers). England is our biggest trading partner too. Borders won’t help.

I don’t want and don’t want my children to live in a poor country with sky high taxes ( they’ll have to be) substantially reducing our quality of life to fulfil the dreams of the ‘independent Scotland whatever the cost’ brigade. I also don’t feel Scottish to the exclusion of all else. I’m British too - therefore I don’t feel disenfranchised in any way.

And don’t believe that the higher tax payers won’t scarper over the border! At least, those who don’t work for the state.

i can see lots of opportunities with water and power that could give Scotland something to sell which could help their finances greatly . England needs Scotland quite a lot which is why they oppose any split

( not that I think splits are good , UK or Europe )

Can you tell us more about these "opportunities with water and power" please ?

We get a lot more rain than England

climate change means water availability will be increasingly problematic especially further south and so we should be looking at managing the extra water we have as a vital commodity that will have huge value

same with green energy - we are building loads of pylons across the border to supply electricity to the south - wouldn’t it be nice if we saw all the value from that too as we have so much wind

I doubt if potential water shortages is in the Top 50 issues concerning Andy Burnham

Electricity is already paid for by customers in England. There appears to be a widespread misconception amongst Separatists that they get it for free.

They don’t get it for free and neither do we but we don’t benefit in the way that we would if we had control.

and if Andy isn’t bothered about water that’s because he clearly doesn’t expect to be in the job long - it’s another head in the sand problem along with all the other negative and expensive climate change impacts

You need to explain what "control" of electricity means, how exactly it would be achieved in an independent Scotland and what the tangible benefits would be ...

Or do you just have blind faith that everything would magically be better after Scexit ?

No I don’t because I don’t think separation is a great idea

but if you want to argue against it you should do a bit more research because there are ways that Scotland could capitalise on its inherent benefits

Some comments on here.... What on Earth..
Hope you enjoy your new chapter in Aberdeen OP!

Today much of Britain is sweltering.
Here it's 14 degrees and pishing rain.

Tbh this has been a rubbish summer even by our standards.

Am I the only one who feels that independent Scotland would be all about SNP and Greens getting in as many asylum seekers in as they possibly can, ignoring all the crimes they do, calling you a racist if you are concerned about the said crimes happening (seen people being called racists because rapes happened in their area and they said they didn't feel safe). The greens would make sure to focus on anything but the lives of ordinary people, a massive attention would be paid to trans rights, Palestine, you name it. Anything but sorting the actual issues such as providing schools for SEN children. The crime would be rife with the new prison laws they want to implement.
Greens are ideological and not practical, they'll spend hours speaking about beaver introduction before admitting and tackling any real issues.
I would be bloody scared for sure.

Absolutely this. Plus weeds continuing to grow absolutely everywhere and potholes in all the roads, uneven pavements etc.