Who’s with me in hoping that the people of Scotland are not idiots and will make the right choice tomorrow?
The Choice
Opinions, art, debate
Opinions, art, debate
Who’s with me in hoping that the people of Scotland are not idiots and will make the right choice tomorrow?
Clarissa's Blog 
If by idiots you mean the ones who would opt out of the UK, I listened to the financial people and they definitely needed to stay.
Further to your deer venture. We were driving home one night two months ago and about 9 P.M. a deer ran full tilt into the SIDE of our car. When we got it repaired they told us of a woman who brought a car in after a deer ran into the side of her car while she was sitting at a stop sign. After getting it repaired she was driving home and stopped at the same stop sign and another deer rang full tilt into her car.
I wonder what the deer are smoking.
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If I drive for a year without causing an accident, a large cash prize awaits me. And I’m pretty sure that deer ob crack don’t invalidate the prize. 🙂
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I hope they vote against independence, if that is what you mean.
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Me, too!!!
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Are you worried about what an “aye” vote would do to errr, like minded folks in Quebec?
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I’m more worried about Catalonia. It’s hard enough as it is to defend an existence of a specialist on Spain at a university. And if there is no Spain left, I don’t know how that even can be done.
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Well, you’ve frequently written about the decline of the nation-state. I feel a lot of sympathy for the Scotts. But I’ll leave the decision to the voters.
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I personally don’t much care about Scotland one way or the other. If the vote is yes then it will be an expensive disaster (since pro-EU Scotland will be kicked out and have to negotiate entry while anti-EU England will remain until they get a vote on the issues leading to awkward reconfiguration.
My head and my heart both want Catalonia to stay in Spain while my inner merciless moralizer wants them to achieve independence just to experience what a disaster it will be for them economically, culturally and linguistically (without being able to blame Madrid…. no they’ll still blame Madrid for anything bad happening anywhere).
The weird thing is that the decline of the nation state is co-occuring with the ascendency of mini-fiefdoms in their place which work as vehicles of power for a few elite men.Independence-oreinted Catalonian and Scottish nationalism are actually pretty new and similar to other nationalist movements including Padania and the Palestinians.
Meanwhile, in terms of history never stopping, I’ve recently become interested/obsessed with Albanians – who are slowly, but steadily and relentlessly, expanding and displacing surrounding populations (they were stopped for the time being in Greece but are probably ready to expand again). many years ago I read a Polish article about how they ignore local institutions and set up their own state-like institutions wherever they are but filed it away and forgot it until recently.
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What if Scotland decides it wants to be the new Switzerland and offers safe haven to all the Canary Wharf and City bankster scum?
After all, if the EU isn’t going to play nice, why would Scotland care about a bunch of whinging Fronch bureaucrats at OECD and their bankster haven blacklist?
As for support, perhaps the Americans will help — as long as those Scottish banksters keep accounts in American dollars, I’m sure the American government will look the other way, much like it did when it asked nicely if the Saudis would play a bit nicer …
Otherwise, I look forward to seeing a re-enactment of a certain scene from “Braveheart” if only for the confused horror it’ll elicit in the Scottish Borders. 🙂
[the sheep look up]
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“offers safe haven to all the Canary Wharf and City bankster scum?”
Is there any indication that the bankster scum is in any danger in England? And why would bankster scum choose Scotland? The kind hospitality of the friendly locals and the pleasant temperate climate? Wouldn’t Brazil make more sense?
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Let’s forget about the banksters here because they can take care of themselves and think about the real issue. Even with an intact Spain, the number of professorships in Spanish dropped x3 within just 15 years. If the Scots and Catalonians think anybody will start departments of Scottish and Catalonian Studies, they are deranged. Now their culture is still preserved and studied. If they become a tiny new country, nobody will. And since Americans are the only people on the planet who are still interested in preserving the world’s cultural legacy, if Americans don’t study you, you don’t exist.
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“My head and my heart both want Catalonia to stay in Spain while my inner merciless moralizer wants them to achieve independence just to experience what a disaster it will be for them economically, culturally and linguistically (without being able to blame Madrid…. no they’ll still blame Madrid for anything bad happening anywhere).”
– I sometimes have those feelings to.
“The weird thing is that the decline of the nation state is co-occuring with the ascendency of mini-fiefdoms in their place which work as vehicles of power for a few elite men.”
– Exactly! That’s exactly what they are!
“Meanwhile, in terms of history never stopping, I’ve recently become interested/obsessed with Albanians – who are slowly, but steadily and relentlessly, expanding and displacing surrounding populations (they were stopped for the time being in Greece but are probably ready to expand again). many years ago I read a Polish article about how they ignore local institutions and set up their own state-like institutions wherever they are but filed it away and forgot it until recently.”
– I don’t know anything about Albanians but this sounds very interesting! If you come across any links, do share!
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I tried to enter my “email” to read the secret post, but nothing happened.
I still see “This post is password protected. Enter the password to view any comments.”
Then tried to enter just a word in English, and still nothing.
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It was just a test. You’ll get the password once there is a real post.
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I live in England and I care very much about Scotland, I had one and a bit Scottish grandmothers and also have other family in Scotland. I identify with both countries, if Scotland dissolves the UK it will be emotionally sad and potentially financially depressing for all of us. We are still us at the moment, I don’t want to become us and them. I love the skirl of the pipes and I can sing both ‘Flower of Scotland’ and ‘Jerusalem’ with joy if not tunefulness.
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I still hope it turns out ok! Let’s keep hoping.
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I’ll have to go with the YES vote. The last three polls yesterday were:
Ipsos Mori: Yes 49%, No 51%
YouGov: Yes 48%, No 52%
Survation: Yes 47%, No 53%
Unfortunately most of the news services don’t give such important interpretive information such as margin of error, sample size and methodology. I did a little digging and found that most of the polls had a sample size of about a thousand which suggests a relatively large margin of error. The methodology was not discussed but I did note that many of the polls were conducted online. I took a look at the most recent Scottish Household Survey Internet usage analysis and found that:
“Almost three-quarters of Scottish households report having home Internet access in 2011 (73%) which continues a long established year-on-year increase. Home Internet access increases with net annual household income, from around half of households for those with income less than £15,000 up to 98% of those with an income greater than £40,000.”
This means that those who have the most financial success with the current governance arrangements are the most likely to be polled while the economic losers have a lower probability of being contacted. For me, this indicates a built-in pro NO vote methodological bias which results in an invalid NO vote win conclusion. I don’t know if this was a deliberate attempt on the part of the newspapers to beef up the appeal of a No vote or just a lack of methodological considerations.
This will probably have an effect on the Catalonian Independence referendum on November 18th in which the Spanish authorities seem to be determined to block on legal grounds as unconstitutional i.e. article 155 of the Spanish constitution. Spanish Foreign Minister JosĂ© Manuel GarcĂa Margallo said on Tuesday that a Scottish Yes vote would be an “awful precedent. “ The chickens have come home to roost. ”In Catalonia, kids caught speaking Catalan were warned, “Habla Cristiano!”—as if Castilian Spanish were the language of Christ and Catalan the idiom of Satan.”
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I know this is a horrible precedent for Catalonia. It’s precisely why I’m worried. Scots can go be weird for all I care but the idiocy of Catalonians will cost me personally too much. I don’t want to be “an economic loser” because of their immaturity.
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No with you on this one… These are very exciting times!
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The polls have just closed and the counting begun. Results should be starting around 03:00 BST. One of my grandmothers was a Ferguson so I’m off the store for wine and junk food. BBC blog is giving live coverage.
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Common sense won with a decisive NO thanks vote, and with a turnout of over 80% in most places it was a great victory above all for democracy!
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