The SNP are desperate ...

... for a debate ...

... between Cameron and Salmond, but Cameron knows that if he put a toe into the referendum pond the SNP would probably get a swing to independence, as Cameron said, the referendum is between the Scots;  the currency and EU will sink Salmond, unless he gets Cameron on camera ..... poor fools!

Pork barrel independence with ...

... the SNP.

... higher pensions

... better childcare

... roll-back housing reforms
 
... pay less tax

... who will say no, how can you argue against the lip smacking list ?

BBC link.

Nothing tangible about currency, just the old chestnut that it will be better for the continuing UK to remain Scotland's lender of the last resort, I'm not sure if middle Britain will be carried along with this argument. I think it best let Salmond and Sturgeon burble on whilst we get next years street party ready ......... Salmon has won the argument with the little people with little more than pocket money.

There is a soft belly in the Independence argument, the isles [Hebrides, Orkney and Shetland] would like to be devolved away from Edinburgh, will Westminster be able to counter Salmond with Scotland's Viking heritage, could the Secretary of State for Scotland counter Salmond with the Isles ?

There is one aspect of today's white paper that I find nauseating,  Sturgeon said today the SNP government of Scotland hadn't introduced an improved childcare because the British Treasury would have benefited through greater tax take, when I heard her words she confirmed my feelings that politics is rarely about what will benefit the little people, its about what benefits politics.

Salmond's threat ....

.... reported in The Times

A threat by Alex Salmond yesterday that an independent Scotland could walk away from its multi-billion pound share of UK debt if Westminster refused to let it use sterling, has been rejected by one of  Britain’s leading economists.

The First Minister yesterday issued an ultimatum that a separate Scotland would refuse to accept its liabilities if London ruled out sharing the Bank of England and entering a sterling zone with Edinburgh. He insisted such a move would not be tantamount to defaulting on debt.

Salmond’s threat to walk away from national debt | The Times
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/uk/scotland/article3771533.ece

I wonder how the electorate of the "continuing UK" would feel about Salmond's threat, might it be best to end the union with Scotland today ?

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent ...

wrote Calum when he left a comment at Gerry Hassan .

Hassan is of course talking down Westminster to talk up Holyrood. 

Everything bad that has dropped into Scotland is of course the responsibility of Westminster, whilst everything that is good is conveniently ignored, well that's the preferred option of the separatist agenda in Scotland, a similar programme of attrition is a constant state in Wales, our First Minister must cry into his cocoa at night trying to juggle his loyalty to both the Welsh Assembly and Westminster, because for sure, Westminster has been at the birthing of many good attempts to level society.  The scorn Hassan throws at Westminster is equal to the scorn thrown by those opposed to separation, and the upshot is, both campaigns are in fact negative despite attempts by the SNP to project a brave new world that would surely follow separation.

There should be no doubt that Scotland could separate, and, from day one, function as a new state; at a domestic level pensions would be paid, people would continue to work and pay taxes, oil revenue would underpin a proportion of government spending, just as it does today. 

Internationally there is no certainty, no guarantee the early entry to the EU would happen, no automatic invitation to join NATO, in fact it is only politicians that wish to belong to such clubs, for sure, they are political clubs for political animals, the reality is it wouldn't matter, not on day one, not for many years, so discourse on international matters are blue smoke and mirrors, to what end only the SNP and the separatist agenda understands.

So if everything functions domestically, what will change for the little people, the people with little influence except maybe on polling day ?

Alex Salmond speaks of taking decisions for Scotland in Scotland by people who only consider Scottish issues (international and domestic), a clever tack for a stumbling campaign, but will the outcomes be any different.

Nothing will change, real decisions will be taken by people beyond the reach of Holyrood; do the cogs of Holyrood know exactly who the decision makers effecting Scotland are? When Scotland votes next year, many people will hope for a "yes" result, myself included, because a "no" vote will be nothing but a postponement for a future separation.

In the grand scheme of things ...

Two individuals may both believe that many of those around them are poor and deserve help, but this knowledge may lead only one of them to decide to actually help the poor (Kierkegaard). 

 ... in the world today politics has created the "deserving poor" and the "undeserving poor", next September nothing will change, except a yes vote will empower Scottish politicians to decide who are deserving poor (or otherwise) in Scotland.

The GR8 DB8, wk2, and toy throwing ...

... is on the cards north of the border.


Alex Salmond, Wee Eck to the faithful, wants to debate the forthcoming referendum with the PM, naturally the PM has deferred to Alistair Darling  the leader of the Better Together cross-party group that are campaigning for Scotland to remain part of the United Kingdom in the Scottish independence referendum in 2014.

Wee Eck is, naturally, a tad put-out that Cameron doesn't fall into line and give the Scots separatists an advantage; and an advantage it would be, no illusion, no smoke and mirrors, for Cameron to debate with the separatist leader would give him an extra 10 points in the opinion polls.

The SNP propaganda machine has littered the referendum path with promises that need not be kept, promises that in all probability would be nigh impossible to honour, these promises are like much candy scattered on a path to the infamous gingerbread house, but whereas the bread scattered by Hansel and Gretel disappeared, was eaten by birds, the separatist candy is recorded for posterity.  In the short term the promises are probably impossible to dispute except with extensive rebuttal, unfortunately in the 21st century the average elector doesn't have the time for university styled debate, they need sound-bite rebuttals.

So Cameron has declined the invitation, Alistair Darling should do likewise, stick with a political machine that is guaranteed to deliver your message, not become subsumed by the rhetoric of Wee Eck, because like it or not he will shout positives, and the Better Together group cannot prove a negative, and in live debate everything said by the Better Together group will be called negative.

The Better Together cross-party group need to produce positives for the future within the union, sound-bites that call time on Salmond's separatist quest, Salmand's wish to go down in history as a father of the Scots, a modern day Bruce, for certain not a modern day William Wallace’, because he was betrayed by his own ...

It only remains to be seen whether Wee Eck stamps his foot so hard it becomes embedded in the floor - temper, temper ...........
.

Countdown - 64 (working) days to ...

... I day !

... and in Scotland the separatist agenda continues too play to the gallery, play to the crowd, perform to get the approval of the audience.

Give separation a chance and we will abolish ....

• rules on under-occupancy
• take housing benefit out of Universal Credit

... nothing that describes a brave new Scottish world, just Deputy SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon  highlighting unpopular measures that might or might-not be changed by a future SNP government if the peoples of Scotland vote for independence next year !

With less than 13 working weeks before retirement I was reminded by a brother that I need to plan to fill my time in the future ....

walking the dog
fly fishing (once again)
baking ( bought "100 cakes and Bakes" by  Mary Berry for the Kindle this week ).
having a beer in the evening
not working until midnight

... and try to be a help sometimes.

Today I am taking into work a few Devonshire Splits (recipe) ...

It's a real pain being a diabetic, making but not eating ..............

Adam Price, ...

... one-time politician, separatist, adviser [to Leanne Wood] who likes to talk a great deal, had much to say this Christmas.

... but when the blue smoke is driven away by the breath of sanity, and the Plaid mirrors covered with a cloth of reality, there is very little substance remaining.

It is where he is reported as saying :

"As a nation we lack self-confidence because of the weakness of our economic position."

... it begins to unravel, much like a woollen thread caught on a briar.

... the only lack of self-confidence is with our lack-lustre politicians.

... he continued :

"Nations that lack self-confidence do not tend to back independence."

... over optimism here, with only a few percentage of the population interested in separation he could have written :

"People who realise separatism only changes the face of government, do not tend to back independence."

Not content with boring the pants off readers who might stumble on his particular politics he goes further, presumably to send people to sleep :

Wales is the only one of them [ the regions of Catalonia, the Basque Country, Scotland and Flanders ] where independence isn’t realistically on the current agenda, for a combination of historical, economic and demographic reasons.

I'm afraid Mr Price needs a reality check, its not a combination of reasons we choose not to join the separatist movement, its straightforward, we feel more at home with Britain than a

 "Price-Wise Wales" !

... take note, the word of the future is "union", so said ...

... the president of the European council,

... who has intervened in the Scottish independence debate, claiming that nothing will be gained from breaking up the UK. Herman Van Rompuy, who would chair meetings to discuss if an independent Scotland could join the EU, said the move for separatism was a thing of the past.

Van Rompuy, who will still be president of the council in 2014, when the independence referendum is due to take place, was asked his views on Scottish independence during a recent Q&A session broadcast on YouTube. "Nobody has anything to gain from separatism in the world of today which, whether one likes it or not, is globalised," he said. "We have so many important challenges to take and we will only succeed if we can pool forces, join action, take common directions. The global financial crisis is hitting us hard. Climate change is threatening the planet. How can separatism help? The word of the future is union."

A source close to the president said Van Rompuy would not be campaigning against Scottish independence. "The president would never involve himself in a national dispute. However, Scotland will need to reapply for EU membership and he could chair the meetings where that is discussed," he said. Van Rompuy's term will finish at the end of 2014.

"I can imagine some nations would make that a difficult meeting – Spain, Cyprus and Belgium. His own view is that separatism is as described on that video. He voted, for example, in favour of devolution in Belgium, but not independence for Flanders."

The comments will be a blow to Scotland's first minister, Alex Salmond, and emerge after the UK government reiterated that an independent Scotland would have to apply to the EU to become a new member state.

Salmond has claimed that Scotland would not have to leave the EU and even erroneously claimed to have had EU legal advice on the issue. However, it has since emerged that no such advice had been sought and a former Whitehall mandarin has been asked to conduct an independent inquiry into whether Salmond misled Holyrood and so breached the ministerial code.

The deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, entered the fray last week to declare that Salmond's statements on Scotland getting automatic membership of the EU "has no basis in fact".

Clegg said Scottish nationalists "don't want to face what might happen to Scotland's influence on fishing quotas or agricultural policy or the regulation of the banks. They don't want reality to bite. So they've gone into denial, preferring political assertion to legal advice."

Former foreign secretary David Miliband has dismissed SNP claims that an independent Scotland would automatically join the EU as "fantasy island". On a visit to Scotland, Miliband said leaving the UK would leave an independent Scotland "in limbo in Europe".

He claimed there would have to be "detailed and forensic negotiations" between all the current member states before Scotland could be admitted, adding that the addition of a new nation would affect the relative wealth of all other EU countries.

He also said it would have an impact on the voting weight for each country in terms of the relative influence of their MEPs – factors that would have to be reflected by an adjustment of EU rules.

"The final part is that you have to get agreement of all 27 countries, soon to be 28, of all ministers, and then it has to be ratified by each country," said Miliband. "France has said that any enlargement of the EU will require a referendum in France." (Source The Observer 4 Nov 2011.)

To the SNP (Scottish Nationalist Party and its by-blow Plaid Cymru), Herman Achille Van Rompuy has given a profound judgement on the separatist agenda (Salmond and chums), Europe doesn't want separatism in its march towards a united Europe ...

The further up the flagpole you climb ...

... the more of your ass is exposed, words of General later President Eisenhower, so my guess he knew all about leadership, its ups and its downs.

So for the errant Plaid AM, consideration might be given to a valuable Eisenhower quotation ...

A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both

Back down to earth and there is ...

Gerry Hassan (15 October 2012) wrote an open letter to Alex Salmond the Scots pretender to its political throne, the title ...

'Independence is about cultural and societal transformation'

... might generate a soupçon of interest from the political pundits scattered around the various halls of government, but to the little people the closure of Hall's of Broxburn meat factory in West Lothian has real interest, particularly the fact that the Scottish SNP led administration were unable to influence the decision making process of the Dutch owners Vion.  Impotent in the face of international business interests.

Unable to demonstrate real time leadership in 2012, what chance these very same politicians will be able transform Scotland's culture and society ...

.. absolutely zero !

Scottish independence is political in the narrowest sense, it has no benefit for the little people whose life will continue as before, in a 21st century serfdom with much the same masters !

 

Catalan separatists and Scots ...

... and the other disparate groups in European Union, a message ...

... there is no open door.

The recent march and rally in Barcelona used the slogan ...

"Catalonia: a new European state". 

But a European Union spokesman in Brussels pointed out that, were Catalonia to secede from Spain, it would have to leave the EU and could rejoin only if it met the economic criteria and if other member states voted unanimously in favour of its membership. (The Guardian, 10 Sep 2011).

... yet another lie by the separatist agenda debunked.

So the message to Alex Salmond is "... the list of your lies grows ever longer."  No honesty for the Scots people.

Scotland, Salmond and a strategy ...

... that will send the Scots into a brave new world, and not a shot fired.

The Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) are the traditional minnow in a large pond, unable to compete in the philosophical battles found in the larger Westminster arena, the only future is to create an illusion in the seemingly larger political pond an independent Scotland would bring.

Reflecting on the strategy towards independence, Salmond and chums have played a blinder .......

The strategy ...

Too few Scots want independence, less than 40%, so ...

Increase the voting population, the young are easily influenced, voting age reduced to 16 for the referendum.

Ignite an underlying conflict ...

Scottish sporting celebrations that will be dominated by the old enemy, the Commonwealth games will precede the referendum, good timing.

Salmond's coup de grâce, the finishing blow ...

An option that cannot be given without UK wide approval ...

... devo-max, fiscal federalism, the UK wide electorate will not underwrite a constitutional change that gives preferential treatment to one part of the Union.

Westminster says "No", the votes go to Salmond, game over ...

Salmond wins, 
       the party begins !

Say hello to our new flag ...

... minus the Scots Saltire ...

... Catalonia, an example why separatism is bullshit ...

... in the 21st century.

There is no accounting for failure, businesses fail, politics fail, people fail, but when you fail to the tune of ...

... €48 billion (£ 37 billion)

,,, and there are only 7.5 million people it gets tricky !

A report by Iain Dey of the Sunday Times paints a very bleak picture :

WORLD markets are set for a rocky week after it emerged yesterday that a second Spanish region is on the brink of asking Madrid for help.  Catalonia, the region that includes Barcelona, is said to be days away from requesting an emergency loan. It is unable to pay the interest on € 48 billion (£ 37 billion) of debts, according to reports.
Markets tumbled on Friday after a rescue deal for Valencia — site of some of the worst excesses of Spain’s property boom — was unveiled.  An emergency loan of an undisclosed size will be made by the Spanish government via an €18 billion rescue fund set up two weeks ago to deal with struggling regions. Spanish reports claim that six other regions may need help.
Spanish shares suffered their biggest one-day drop in two years on the back of the news, falling 5.8%. Germany’s Dax dropped 1.8% and France’s Cac plunged by 2.1%. The FTSE 100 closed more than 1% down on Friday at 5,655.04. The interest rate on Spain’s 10-year bonds jumped to 7.28%, a level that most economists say is unsustainable.

News of the Valencia bailout came as eurozone ministers ratified a bailout worth up to €100 billion for Spanish banks. The final figure will be known only after a review of the loan books is completed by the auditors PWC, Deloitte, Ernst & Young and KPMG.

And the corruption that is politics ...

Sources close to the review claim that Spain’s central bank is pressuring the auditors to ensure that they produce nothing that could even hint at the possibility that Spain’s three main lenders will need capital. The government has insisted that Santander, BBVA and La Caixa are sound.

I wonder if similar words were used in Greece when they were preparing to join the Euro ....

Fortunately for the poor saps of Catalonia the Spanish people as a whole nation, all 47 million of them, will pool their resources, and go without during the hard times, to pay the exorbitant 7.28% interest rate and bail out the devolved administration, and there are another six other regions needing help, poor Spain .......

So when the separatist agenda talk the talk that small is best, think of Spain, we all share the incompetence that is politics, and when we have to share the legacy of incompetence, the more the merrier is a better clarion call, think of Catalonia.  To see the illusions of Grandier, look no further than the Welsh Assembly!

Freedom of Information ...

... (FoI) can be denied by politicians and their civil service familiars, the most recent undemocratic democratic is none other than Alex Salmond, our "Separatist in Chief" of those who would destroy a country.

Those who favour the separation of Scotland, have built their case on several foundations to reassure the gullible of Scotland that it would be business as usual following a "Yes" vote in favour of independence.  One such fallacy is a relationship with the European Union that would be guaranteed, a by-blow of the UK's membership, Salmond has expressed a certainty that membership would follow independence as night follows day.

There are those that are very sceptical of Salmond's certainty, one is Labour MEP Catherine Stihler who made an FoI request last May, asking the Holyrood administration for any legal advice it had received on the issue.

Ministers refused to reveal whether the information was held.

In the interests of Democracy ...

... the Salmond administration cited Section 18 when it refused to reveal whether the information was held. This can mean the information would be exempt from release or the authority considers its release would not be in the public interest.

... but Rosemary Agnew, the country's Freedom of Information Commissioner, said ...

... In the commissioner's view, the role of [the FoI Act] is important not only in ensuring transparency in information held by public authorities, but also in enabling transparency in information about process.  
In this case, the commissioner considers that it is in the public interest to know the type of information that the ministers were taking into account in developing policy in relation to such a significant issue as independence

Salmond is under the impression that the electorate should believe his word, the Freedom of Information Commissioner thinks otherwise, myself ...

... together with every other citizen of the UK, is more than capable of coming to a conclusion when given sufficient information, we are not illiterate peasants of a medieval society, and as there is nothing of national security involved there can be no reason to hide the information.

Of course, if Salmond wishes to pursue his illusions, his political smoke and mirrors with kilt, then he needs to keep the electorate in the dark .......

Leanne Wood flounders in...

... the face of indifference and takes a new tack in the separatist pursuit of independence.

Unable to get close to convincing the electorate of Wales that her vision for a Welsh Socialist State is preferable to our inclusive United Kingdom, even with the unsavoury aspects of life currently on peoples lips, she and her tiny separatist cabal have been unable to lift support much above a whisper amongst the electorate.  Her answer to Indifferent Wales is a call for Independence Light, she's obviously taking tips from that Scots blowhard Alex Salmond, a confidence trick, smoke and mirrors, a poor an attempt at political disguise.  Scotsman letter from Wood.

And this is how  ...

... much like the Scots Nat's who realise the majority of people quite like being part of our United Kingdom, the Plaid leadership looked for and found a new card to play in the chase for the hearts and minds of the peoples of Wales ...

... the neighbourhood of nations.

The message says "come with us but stay with them!"

... an illusion of course, there seems to be the misconception that post independence the constituent parts will continue much as before, that there will be a brotherly love.....

Will Scotland keep the industry post independence, will it keep the Royal Navy on the Clyde, will it be able to influence the UK Treasury, of course not ...

... it will not be Britain, great or otherwise.

Wood, and presumably Plaid, believe that statehood is a form of straitjacket, her solution is simply to remove the straitjacket of the United Kingdom ......... and replace it with another straitjacket of her "Socialist State of Wales".

Her logic is as flawed as her rhetoric, Plaid is moving in an ever tighter spiral downwards to political oblivion, it's a shame its politicians were not content help the people of Britain making a better place to raise the next generation ..... but politics is not about people, its about politicians, the new aristocracy.

Salmond bumps his gums in ...

... vain, the rhetoric is a waste of time and energy.  Today in the (£) Sunday Times there are many hundreds of words written, the separatist leader ...

... at Friday’s launch promises to get rid of all the stuff Scots hate:

Westminster, the Tories, Trident nuclear submarines in the Clyde, Scottish troops sent to fight “illegal wars in Iraq”, public spending cuts imposed by a mean-spirited, perfidious Albion. And to keep all the bits they love: oil, gas, financial services and malt whisky.

... when the majority of peoples who inhabit these British Isles understand the true nature of the issue which is :

Scottish or British, a simple choice!

... and the majority don't really care how Scotland votes.

The aftermath will be interesting, because for sure it will be difficult for Scots to vote "No", and will those who do vote "No" be welcomed south of the border, and how soon before the majority British turn their backs on Scotland, reject Tunnock's caramel wafers in preference for Fox's biscuits, a better selection.

A tea party, or café para todos ...

... (coffee for everyone), and a hat tip to "labour uncut", the full story here.

The story of Spanish devolution is not well known outwith Europe and those organisations that would separate its regions into countries via independence.  It's that well trodden path of small fish needing its own pond, couple it with left wing economic models, then the use of smoke and mirrors (it's very rare for a separatist movement to be anything other than left wing, could there be a principle in there somewhere);  and of course, that ancient mantra of the separatist agenda everywhere - "the grass is greener over there.........".

The origins of Spanish, and devolution throughout the world, is that "local needs" should be addressed through "local channels", on the face of it a reasonable aspiration, in reality it has been the lazy way out, an admission that centralised government can often fail those citizens that are remote from the seat of government, or who have peculiar traits that are ignored as unimportant in the grand scheme, language variation being a prime candidate.

If the time-line of the European separatist movement is examined its start date coincided with today in 1773 the British Government passed the Tea Act followed by "The Boston Tea Party", the origins of the separatist movement.  This event is remarkable in that it demonstrates to the world the only legitimate reason why separatism should be enacted, it is when government, deliberately, gives an advantage to one section of society to the detriment of another.  footnote .... the argument that the act was to counter smuggling is superficial to say the least.

So where might Spain go from here, it seems that one regional government leader is proposing a winding back of its devolved administrations to gain economies of scale by streamlined regional spending, the spokesperson of this proposal is the leader of the seat of government for Madrid region, which by coincidence is also holds the capital the Spanish capital city of Madrid.  It might be prudent to ask how many jobs would be lost to Madrid if the regions relinquished their various administrations to central government, and how many jobs would migrate to the centre of government.

The Spanish crisis is an opportunity to re-model the governance of this ancient country, an opportunity to present a level of fairness through less government, to allow the seventeen autonomous communities of Spain to determine exactly which "Café para nosotros" is appropriate.  No longer are the words "you can have anything you want, as long as I want to give it" appropriate in the 21st century, regions should be allowed to make their own mistakes, they should be allowed to fail (just make sure the other regions are not underwriting their borrowings).


The crisis could also be the catalyst for other countries throughout the world with distinct regions to create a form of devolved governance that conjoins "separate" with "together", my guess is it closer to the USA model than to the China model.  There might also be a recognition that occasionally a separatist movement might gain a critical mass of such magnitude that mutual separation is the better course of action, Belgium is a prime candidate in this 21st century Europe, Scotland has become a close candidate, as do one or two Spanish regions, China has a peculiar problem with Tibet; a common cause of dissent seems to be a perception of unfairness ........ I am sure this particular hot potato is not beyond the wit of humankind to solve.

It’s time to let Scotland go ...

... a Spectator debate at the Royal Geographical Society Wednesday 27 June 2012, if you want a seat book on-line here.

The questions to be addressed are :

1. Can Scotland survive on its own? 
2. Are the cultural bonds too strong to break? 
3. Will English tourists be met by border guards? 

The speakers are :

For

.......... Kelvin MacKenzie, find him at the Mail

Against

.......... Malcolm Rifkind, loitering at Westminster.
.......... Rory Stewart, lurking on the right of the image.


The answers from this part of the world :

Obviously ?
What culture ?
Do people visit ?

The bottom line is, the majority of British couldn't give a hoot, myself, if only I could get to the debate!

Dutch courage, the French connection and California ...

... will plough its own furrow in the greatest melting pot since the Roman Empire, Scotland on the other hand has sent a member of its administration to have talks with "Parti Québecois" the Quebec separatist party, the brief was "learn how not to gain independence".

In Europe the realisation that government spending has been out of control for decades is now "de facto economics", the German political powerhouse is setting its own economic standards as the European model for members of the Euro club, Germany takes 40.6% of GDP as taxes and currently spends 43.7% of GDP, it borrows 3.1% of GDP (figures from the 2011 Index of Economic Freedom).

The Netherlands currently takes 39.8% of GDP as taxes and currently spends 45.9% of GDP, it borrows 6.1% of GDP.  Its Prime Minister resigned from Government yesterday because the elected representatives chose not to support measures to reduce government expenditure by 16bn Euros.  At stake is the prized AAA credit rating status and the low yield on government bonds.

It's not all rosy in garden across the pond in the USA, the US government takes a tiny 26.9% of GDP as taxes and currently spends 38.9% of GDP, it borrows 11% of GDP, so whilst the tax take is very modest the spend is probably dishonest, I'm sure a more balanced revenue stream could be calculated, but better the USA than the Netherlands or France, which brings me to the European bag of ferrets ....

France currently takes a massive 44.6% of GDP as taxes and currently spends a huge 52.8% of GDP, it borrows 9.2% of GDP, it taxes its citizens until they squeak and then borrows more to fund the most generous welfare system (probably) in the world.  To cap it the current presidential elections is a two way race between the poltroon socialist Francois Hollande who declares his true enemy to be "the world of finance", and the current president Nicolas Sarkozy I'm guessing he could make it big in reality TV.

To put France into perspective its borrowing is projected to be double the borrowing of the UK for years to come whilst the UK borrowing will fall, if we consider the promises being made by the mad-cap president elect Francois Hollande France is probably hypnotised by the abyss of Friedrich Nietzsche, is the 5th republic about to spawn another French revolution as a precursor to a 6th republic.

No matter, my money is out of the Euro zone, even with the German economic model underpinning this experiment, it really is a basket case, my money stays with the London Stock Exchange, New York, and the emerging markets.


In California the people are to be asked whether they want to abolish the state's death penalty law .... I am glad that I am not a resident of "The Golden State", I am not at all sure which way I would vote, one side tells me we must rise above the barbarism of execution whist the other calls for retribution for the more Heinous acts perpetrated by people, I would probably vote ...........

........ to send Scotland packing, separatism is for me little political fish wishing to appear large in a shrunken pond, this sums up my feelings about Scottish separatism, the likes of Alex (little but large) Salmond is not about to go away, the UK only caused the union with Scotland because Scots rulers were unable to manage their affairs, time to kiss our neighbours a fond yet firm farewell, David Cameron might consider joining the SNP crusade in its march towards the setting sun, he would do us all a service by setting them free unilaterally, that would be novel and a message to all the other political misfits across the world, but has he the balls ...........

... leave an independent Scotland, some islanders ...

think so, Orkney and Shetland could vote to leave Scotland but stay in UK during the forthcoming referendum ...

... listen and watch, the SNP caught with his independence pants around his ankles.

... the Orkney and Shetland are much like the Glamorgan's, Gwent, Monmouthshire, Pembrokeshire ....... and many more in Wales, we wear quite different specs ......... without the "rose" coloured tint.

The House of Lords agrees with me, ...

... Labour's Baroness Jay, said: "We are firmly of the view that any referendum that is held must be a straight choice between full independence or the status-quo".

"A third 'devolution-max' option is clearly something every part of the UK must have a say in as it has the potential to create different and competing tax regimes within the UK."

Yet SNP MSP Kenneth Gibson said Scotland's constitutional future could only be decided by the people who live in Scotland.  He said: "The position is very clear - the Scottish government achieved an overwhelming mandate from the people of Scotland to hold the referendum that is exactly what we will do."

Of course he is correct, but he should be minded that the constitutional future of Britain belongs to all the peoples of Britain ........ not just to the SNP cabal.