It looks like plans for the monetary union have run aground on the jagged rocks of politics. The three major political parties will block any attempt to form a currency union between an independent Scotland and the rest of the UK. The big criticism that I always seemed to find about the currency union was…
I can’t remember where I read it, but there was a little anecdote about the differences between the Scottish and English political landscape. When asked about how Scotland would fill skill gaps in its economy, Alex Salmond said that Scotland would seek them from abroad. The journalist, sensing that he had talked Salmond into a…
BP CEO Bob Dudley has come out with some mixed opinions about Scottish independence. On the one hand, BP’s all for investing in Scotland, with record investments in the North Sea in the near future. On the other hand, he has raised doubts about how his company will handle independence. His chief concern about it…
On the way to work, I noticed an English flag flying outside of a pub. Realising that this isn’t normal in Scotland, a closer look revealed a Scottish, Welsh and Italian flag. Despite the absence of a French and Irish flag, I extrapolated that this meant that the Six Nations is coming. Now, normally, I’m…
Bank of England Governor Mark Carney has made some pessimistic, if rather obvious statements about Scotland losing some of its sovereignty if it forms a currency union with Scotland. Whilst his statements come absolutely nowhere near the savaging that unionists fancy it to be, it does expose some of the problems facing a currency union…
Well, it looks like the UK’s unemployment total has fallen. Scotland has followed, reporting its own drop in unemployment. No doubt the yes campaign will sleep smugly tonight knowing it outperformed the UK as a whole. Of course, it is hard to predict how the economy will affect the referendum. Will people be more likely…
Opinions are cheap, so have two of them. From Irvine Welsh. And an academic. I can’t think until someone else has done it for me.
There’s a particularly worrisome article about the UK’s debt online. Whilst the article spends a lot of time trotting out the website’s credentials, and generally has such an enormously pessimistic slant that it is hard to take it completely seriously, it does bring up a lot of important points about how important debt is to…
I’ve mentioned before that fracking will have an effect on Scotland’s oil and gas industry. If England develops its shale gas resources, it will result in a major drop in the price for Scotland’s gas, a major blow to the post-independence economy. Well, there have been some major developments, starting with Total backing England’s shale.…
The national debt is a big talking point in British politics right now. It stands to reason that it will be a big part of the independence debate too. Should Scotland become independent, it will have to take on a share of the UK’s debt. How much, and the interest rates Scotland will have to…
Right, let’s get on with it. Henry McLeish is making a new case for the union. I’ll admit, I’m sceptical about the idea that right-wing populism is alien to Scots. It seems like an idea right out of the independence playbook. When confronted with England’s growing far-right movements, we can pretend that we are simply…
Right, let’s get down to business then. What’ve we got? I suppose the first thing is that the Scottish Referendum Act has received royal approval. I guess someone would be embarrassed if they forgot to dot that i. The Yes Campaign likes to point out how unequal the UK is. Here’s an article that seeks…
Right, this right here is what I’m talking about. Herman Van Rompuy has not made particularly positive comments about Catalonia remaining in the EU should it be independent. Whilst the SNP claimed that he was talking about Catalonia, not Scotland, Van Rompuy’s words are abstract enough to apply to either. The thing about people with…
Oops, looks like the BBC might be biased against the yes campaign. Well, this is good for me. I always felt that I was too much in favour of the yes campaign and rely too heavily on BBC articles. Guess this means I’ve actually been supporting the no campaign all along. In all honesty, I’m…
With the SNP’s land reform committee gathering evidence in the highlands recently, it is easy to think of land reform as just a rural issue; absentee landlords and their hunting estates, crofters pushed off their land; these are what immediately come to mind when you think about land reform. But it has ramifications for the…
Scottish Referendum Blog 