Alex Salmond
Scotland, NO means NO?
Alex Salmond, the luck runs out and there never was a plan, sunk?
Salmond and the SNP sunk?
So Scotland voted NO? In general when dealing with politics it's wise to stick to facts. Over on EUReferendum Richard North has crunched the numbers and neither David Cameron nor Alex Salmond can claim they have the full support of their people and so act 'on their behalf'.
The trigger for the current referendum was, of course, David Cameron, who became prime minister in 2010 on the back of a 36.1 percent Conservative vote, on a turnout of 65.1 percent, giving him a mandate of 23.5 percent.In the Scottish Parliament election, though, the turnout was a mere 50 percent, and Mr Salmond with his SNP, the driver of yesterday's referendum, snuck in on a list vote of 44 percent, picking up a mandate of 22 percent.
This blog has always had doubts about a Scottish referendum with Salmond involved. Back in 2007 we published this, all these years later what we wrote then still holds -
Surely an independent country responsible for its own affairs is also responsible for its own revenue? Relying on taxpayers from abroad, the English, would not be an option.
The Celtic tiger
Large cats and small countries explained
Small girl strangles tiger, eh?
Can you remember the Celtic tiger? This now extinct animal once roamed the financial world unchallenged by any predator. So what happened, what did it eat and why did it die? Well first a quick look backwards. The romantics would have you believe that Ireland has always lived under the yoke of the British. And if you are looking for a nation of romantics then look no further than the Irish. Also, if hyperbole could be exported then the whole Irish population would be fabulously wealthy. Put the two together and you get the foundation of the ongoing theme 'Brits bad, Irish good'. Using this as a platform, umpteen novels and plays have been written and, ironically, some have made the authors rich.
We could call this the proximity theory - as for example Russian and Finland, yes the latter has a right to complain but in the case of the UK and Ireland it is, I think you will agree, a bit different. Here it's a mixed bag, advantages and disadvantages. Has there been a tradition of Finns going to work in Russia? I think not. Likewise did the rouble ever support the markka? Whoops! Showing off again! The markka predates the euro in Finland. The fact is, life was hard in post WW2 Ireland but then so it was in most of Europe and for roughly the same reasons.
Smart Alex
Or big ninny?
Two! - see below for an explanation
There is a very old pub song with the line, “four and twenty virgins set out for Inverness”; the last time I saw this song 'performed' that was as far as it got as everyone fell about laughing. Well look out Inverness I say, as this year you have the SNP conference to contend with too. But then every time the SNP meets up for a conference people fall about laughing. There was the time when Alex Salmond (see right and footnote) suggested that Scotland could join in with Iceland and the Nordic countries in an “arc of prosperity”, soon after Iceland went belly up.
