Be Excellent To Each Other

Thanks for that Curio mate, I really appreciate it mate, genuinely.

I was beginning to get "that flouncy feeling" again.

I'll start this post with a massive deep breath and then a huge sigh.

I wasn't having a go, Cavey, merely making a harmless funny. You know, Scottish independence being thoroughly thrilling and all that. And bear in mind you're not the only person posting stuff in this thread! And that, as you point out, I get engaged in just the same discussions you do (often with you, and thoroughly enjoying it)! I'm hardly likely to be having an actual dig at you, am I?

Good grief, dude!

Right, come on everyone, :group hug:

Yes, I am indeed a twat, sorry. :embarrassed:

Sorry Davpaz mate.

That's alright man. Like I (kinda) said above, you are a passionate man who believes things strongly. This is excellent. Continue as you are.

Also, you and I use this place for very different purposes

Now, back to Scottish stuff (which I find fascinating, actually, Mr K!)

At least turn off the webcam dude, we don't need to see what you use this place for.

Anyone catch Question Time from Stirling last night?

Predictably, the latest 23% opinion poll results in favour of Independence came up. Some guy from the audience commented that he could not possibly vote 'Yes' because the SNP had not even remotely addressed what this would entail/what the ramifications would be, e.g. status within the EU and so on. (He was loudly clapped).

Humza Yousaf was on the panel; he promptly agreed with him. So it's official, folks, right from the very lips of the SNP's spokesman for 'external affairs'. The SNP have not, thus far, even remotely told people what a 'Yes' vote will actually MEAN and what detailed ramifications it would have, and their spokesman readily and publicly admits as much.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... 7_02_2013/

One word: Clueless.
I doubt this jaw-dropping moment of honesty will be getting a mention over at Wings anytime soon, though.

It was horrific, I had to turn it off.

Stu actually sounds happy.

"journalism"?

Yeah, to be fair, the Tory was bloody hopeless IMO (and I particularly loathed the weasel-words on gay marriage; have we learned nothing since the persecution of Alan Turing et al? Disgrace!). Even the SNP business bod had apparently funded a pro-Section 28 "campaign" of some sorts(?) and the latest revelations about the NHS - the utter disgrace that is Staffordshire NHS Trust with hundreds if not thousands starving/dying of thirst and people talking about "chains of command" (and apparently another five Trusts waiting in the wings and a further two being sued if I understood the situation correctly) - were almost too unbearable to behold. Has anyone been thus far accountable? Have they bollocks. So, that'll be the usual public sector standards of accountability and transparency, then, and it does beg the question as to how bad does it have to get before people *do* start getting sacked/struck off/held to account. Those involved - from top to bottom - should never be allowed to work in healthcare of any description, ever again IMO.

Yeah, maybe I should've turned it off too.

As I've said mate, fair play to the bloke - I'm genuinely pleased for him and even think it's a welcome development. I'm interested in the truth as much as anyone and I want balance and genuine, fair debate. As a Unionist I don't think there's anything to fear from the other side of the argument, but irrespective - people must hear it and the mainstream media is unquestionably failing here IMO.

Appreciate your comments in the other thread btw mate, thanks man.

I'm 50/50 on whether or not I can get to the end of an episode of Question Time these days.

Often shit guests doesn't help of course, but also PLEASE STOP FUCKING ASKING THE STUPID FUCKING AUDIENCE WHAT THEY FUCKING THINK. If I wanted to know what some random dumb cunt from Hastings thought about the intervention in Mali I'd travel to Hastings, visit a local pub and ask the first person I bumped into at the bar.

And please stop making Dimbleby tell us about fucking Twitter and hashtag this and email addresses that and all that crap.

I want to watch intelligent/knowledgeable/interesting/controversial/etc guests discussing topical issues, strip all the other shit out, for fuck's sake.

I remember when Question Time was frequently electrifying, now it's frequently shit.

EDIT - That came out angrier and more sweary than I was expecting. Sorry!

Agreed with AE. Again.

The best thing about QT these days is watching the Dimblebot feed.

I agree as well. If I have to listen to another hapless Dimbleby interruption of an absolutely key point being made by a knowledgeable member of the panel on supposed time grounds - only for him to then launch into yet another tirade of shit about Twatter, hashtags, red buttons and the web (like, as if the users of those utilities don't fucking know already and are somehow reliant on 70-something him telling them verbally for the 2,000th time) - I'll scream.

Likewise yet another some thick twat in the audience banging on about stuff they have no hope of ever understanding, given that they can't even muster one coherent sentence and appears to be dressed as a Guy for 5th November.

I tweeted Alistair campbell about QT once, and its importance in the scheme of politics and things. He replied very quickly, whihc was nice of him. but i forget what he says. he seems a nice man. Apart from the bagpipe playing.

He seems to have turned into the Queen. We are not amused.

I must admit, persistently and purposely referring to yourself in the plural (unless, like, you really are the Queen) appears to be somewhat delusional in my view? Still, whatever lights yer candle, I guess.

Do we know for a fact it's just him? There's no reason to assume he isn't working or collaborating with other folks.

To be fair I've seen stuff like "someone must have put something into our coffee" when just talking about himself in the past? It's just always struck me as rather odd. But then, what do I know - it could be a "trademark" or particular identifiable journalistic style.

My own trademark/style is 300-word poorly constructed sentences, with typo errors - but I always refer to myself in the singular, so it's all good, I guess.

Yes, we need to privatise the NHS and have an American style health system, I know your predictable Tory response.

Here we go again.

I've explicitly said, time and again until blue in the face, that we do not want a US style system, but since when have you been interested in the facts, HoE? It's probably about time you called me a cunting-cunting-bumchum-twat again or similar, eh. But call me old fashioned, I don't like the thought of hundreds/thousands of people being left to die a slow, lingering death through starvation and/or thirst, in the 21st Century, on hospital wards in this country - with no-one apparently being held accountable (far from it; most of the management involved have been promoted, which tells you something about the NHS as an organisation) and it being somehow due to being "too focused on targets" or deficiencies in the "length of the management command chain". Yeah, sure that'd wash in France. Or Germany. Or Sweden. Or anywhere else, even the US come to that. You have to ask, just what did those nurses and doctors think their jobs were? Still, how rude of me to even question this, eh. I just don't fancy something similar myself or my wife in 30-odd years from now, so ballsacks to your pathetically-precious political ideology.

I think I need to put you on ignore, basically.

Stu has always done this hasn't he?

the "we" refers to the organisation he is writing for "wings over scotland", "World of Stuart" etc

It's the same sort of thing he does when he referes to his readers as viewers.

Malc

Regardless of the reason, it still annoys me

Amusing article on the BBC.

Prof Crawford: "UN membership will be straight forward but in the case of the EU there will be things to negotiate such as the British opt-out and so on, financial contributions, and they are not automatic."

Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon: "James Crawford has said the Scottish government's timescale for independence negotiations is realistic, the treaty accession would not be a problem and that EU membership wouldn't be difficult."

I'm sure the EU would just love an independent Scotland to barrel in demanding the same opt-outs that the UK has at the moment. Of course, that wouldn't be difficult. Um.

Yeah, it is pretty pathetic on the part of the SNP, I must admit. Truly desperate stuff.

I hope that when Scotland does fuck off that we get a new flag. We can have a split background with the upper half white and the lower half green. Red St Geroge's cross atop of that. Maybe include the crappy St Patrick's cross and most of all put the Welsh DRAGON on there.

How many flags have dragons on them? Wales.. Well, obv. Malta? TINY DRAGON. Bhutan? Pretty cool actually. Somerset? a) It's basically Wales and b) it's already in the UK. This flag of Tibet? Looks like it was drawn by a child! It's a picture of a cute pussy cat rolling a ball of wool around.

It could be a real international coup and a feather in the hat of England the UK if we stick a dragon on the flag.

Looking to the future, then:

2014: Scotland votes yes to independence.
2015: Rest of the UK unveils new flag WITH A DRAGON.
2016: Scotland rejoins Rest of the UK and tells the SNP to go screw itself, because DRAGONS.

The whole of Britain should just adopt the Welsh flag. This would divide the population of Wales into two groups... those who become locked in state of eternal boiling rage, forever cursed to go on about it until everybody completely ignores them... and those for whom it is high time and that the flag demonstrates the innate superiority of Wales over NI, England, etc. Until everybody completely ignores them.

I has drawered it.

No, wait. I've gone wrong!

Ah well, it's not like Scotland are leaving anyway

Huh, I went to draw a super edgy satirical flag but decided to google it first. Turns out Banksy had the same idea

A dragon on the flag would make it easier to tell if it's upside down or not, reducing the levels of general pedantry in the country.

I dun a proper one.

That's a higher turnout than most student elections!

LOOKS GOOD! Though I prefer the less transparent nature of the previous attempt. After looking at the flag for a bit... maybe it should be smaller? It makes it looks like Wales is more important than England, which it clearly isn't.

Another BBC article discussing different countries' views on whether Scotland would be in the EU or not after moving off the living room sofa and into its own mancave.

I've just realised that the whole Scottish independence question is probably the only time you hear people talking about the need to stay in the EU, rather than how to get the hell out of it. How bizarre.

Lib Dems want freedom for the Shetland Isles.



Home Rule All Round indeed...

Cornwall next!

In time, me hansomes. In time.

After yesterday, can we dump Wales too?

So. Much. Smug.

Heh. Props to them for the win, which was superb and they deserved to party pretty hard about winning the 6 Nations, especially after the start they had.

But they probably only got so strong via carrying a mountainous chip on their collective shoulders.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buiXDbgnc4M

Anything with DEBUNKED in the title is usually wrong.

Also:
10. Stupid point? Isle of Mann and the Channel Island are part of the Crown and whatnot. The very thing Scotland is leaving. Though I don't think there will be border controls.
8. Did he look at that table? The only places coming out positive are London and the SE!
4. Ridiculous. The GDP was bigger than the bailout, therefore survival?

Anyway, the sooner Scotland becomes independent the sooner these bad videos will stop being made.

It is very doubtful that there would be, look at the Republic of Ireland and Northen Ireland.

Might not be coming out positive, but it's not coming out negative. (0.0%, neutral)

Eh... sorry, but I'm not sure what this means.

2014 this vote? I'll be 16 by then. Alex Salmond is thinking of including 16-year-olds isn't he? I will be voting yes, unless something rather big emerges. I am not making that decision purely from the fact that I am Scottish, as I know many of my friends are. I have spent many hours researching the subject, I truely believe that Scotland could do okay. Not excellent, as many people seem to think there will be no problems. There WILL be, it is inevitable. (Not sure rightly, but didn't ROI have problems when it split?) but I doubt that Scotland would collapse back into the union as many people believe.

There's no need for an independent Scotland or anything like that, really. All we have to do is merge the whole UK into the Federal Republic of Germany! Each of the separate parts of the UK can then become Länder (states) in an enlarged federal nation, and therefore get an increased level of self-governance that they'd get in the unitary United Kingdom. Also, we'd be the largest economy in Europe by a 'country' mile (or should that be 1.6 km, seeing as then we'd go proper metric?)