RuamRudy

That might have been possible 30 plus years ago, however the barriers to entry are now so great that it is no longer feasible for all except the super rich. What needs to be done is that some sort of anti monopoly commission with teeth looks at the media conglomerates we have now, and breaks them up.

Media in the UK and worldwide in general is a disgrace, and I agree that the BBC is hardly a bastion of impartiality. I read recently that printed news in the UK was mostly in the hands of only 6 organisations. TV news is hardly better. No democracy should accept that.

Why would English people vote in a Scottish referendum? That makes zero sense. How about you grow a pair and vote for your own independence rather than just barge into others' affairs? I know it must be a worrying thought for England to not have other countries' resources to purloin for its own benefit, but it's going to have to happen one day.

Surely nobody with any sense will go near GBeebies now? It has been the demise of many a grifter who thought that thinly disguised misogynistic and/or racist, right wing codswallop delivered with confidence was a sure fire route to riches. Thankfully these 'news' channels don't appear to have fooled most viewers so hopefully the financial woes GBnews is experiencing will continue until it ceases to exist, and the remaining grifters slope back off into obscurity.

I am sorry if it hurts that the majority of Scottish people don't want to be in your union. It's nothing personal, honestly. But it's fact - Scottish people don't want to be in the UK.

That depends upon who you consider a Scot. The majority of people who were born in Scotland and voted in the referendum voted to leave the UK. The vote was swung by incomers, a significant number being Europeans who believed the lie that a vote for the UK was a vote to remain in the EU. So to be clear, in 2014 the majority of people who were born in Scotland voted to leave the UK. That number can only have increased since then, because let's face it - no matter how bumpy the road the SNP has taken, it's been nowhere near the binfire that has been the last 14 years of the Nasty Party. Independence referendum figures revealed: Majority of Scots born here voted YES while voters from elsewhere in UK said NO That said, we are a welcoming people, and even though incomers may have dashed our peoples' hopes for a better country, I don't think anyone holds it against them. We just need to help them better see how much better Scotland would be if it wasn't burdened by this union.

The decision was made, in a large part, after promises were made. Those promises have not been honoured. If they had been, independence may have withered on the vine.

Are you trolling? This is a direct quote from the link: "Child poverty rates in Scotland (24%) remain much lower than those in England (31%) and Wales (28%) and are similar (if slightly higher) than in Northern Ireland (22%). "

If only the promises made in the run up to the referendum should we vote to stay were kept, there might not be the discontent we have now.

This means the UK as a whole, including Scotland, so the Scottish numbers are lower than overall UK.

They do - you either choose not to accept it or you can't see the connection between the UK government's Better Together campaign and... the UK government.

Then kick us out and everyone will be happy. Learn to stand on your own two feet for once and we can all get along much better.

Then why is it that the UK government, which is heavily English in makeup, fights so hard to prevent it? I have nothing but good will towards England and it's people. I simply don't want my country governed by it. It's been said on many an occasion that Scotland is a net drain on the UK's finances - just think how you could put that extra money to good use if you were to stand in your own two feet without us truculent Jocks (allegedly) costing more than we contribute?

I have given you several links already. Better Together was a UK government backed body. The UK government lied about North Sea oil as they have done about so many other things.

Absolutely I have. Better Together was a UK government initiative and they amplified the claim. You can deny it all you like but it is there in black and white.

Come on, you are not so naive as to think that the timing of the pronouncement by the openly unionist Ian Wood, on the eve of the referendum, trumpeted by the government's campaign group across every newspaper in the land, is coincidence are you? If so, I have a bridge to sell you.

I never claimed that 'oil was finished'. It was the government's Better Together cross party campaign that propagated the lie. Alistair Darling, the former Labour chancellor and head of the pro-UK Better Together campaign, said Wood's analysis "fatally undermines" Salmond's oil predictions and "blow apart Alex Salmond's plans for funding schools and hospitals."

Published the very morning of the independence referendum: North Sea Oil 'Running Out Faster Than Feared' Published July 2023: Hundreds of new North Sea oil and gas licences to boost British energy independence and grow the economy

Schrödinger's oil - in the run up to 2014 the UK government declared that the North sea was finished. Now it's a major part of their economic forecasts.

You make a good point. Every country in the UK is declining in every major societal aspect. The Scottish government, as my links show, has done better than most other countries in the UK in mitigating the toll of being in the union, dominated as it is by the masochistic wishes of the English electorate, forcing repeated Tory governments upon us.

UK poverty Unemployment Crime Higher education Inward investment Healthcare

Child poverty 4% lower than UK Overall poverty lower... Unemployment lower... Crime lower... Record numbers in higher education Record inward investment Best performing healthcare... Etc Etc And all that with one hand tied behind our backs while the country next door rifles our pockets. Imagine what we achieve if we weren't burdened by the that.

The law isn't an SNP law - it's a cross party law, having been supported by Labour, Lib Dems and greens.

Are you suggesting that we should have no politicians? Maybe govern by AI?

Good news - disaster has been averted thanks to the application of a bit of @transam and @impulse's suggestion and the insertion of a BBQ skewer. Thanks to all for you input. Sláinte