Oh dear… Zimbabwe could be breaking all sorts of bad records..

They are 19/5

Zimbabwe could be breaking all sorts of bad records..

- hopefully including Little Jimmy Osmond’s ‘Long haired Lover from Liverpool’?

I don’t think anyone now considers that the lack of financial discipline in the eurozone was very clever. Hence Swinney’s insistence that financial discipline must be central to a sterling currency union. We can’t risk rUK being so profligate with the public finances again.

Has the BoE agreed to be Scotland’s lender of last resort then ?  Source ?

I read something earlier that Greece are preparing to leave the Euro.

Currency union a little misleading then. They US$ in Zimbabwe, I would hardly say they had a currency union with the US.

Not the one I was looking for, but also relevant

A leading European bank has begun to account for euros differentially, by nation state. That is to say, they are differentiating a risk to euros that originate in a potentially defaulting country from that of a euro-cert. They, in effect, have invented the concept of a German, Greek and Irish euro.

Now we accept that government debts from these nations are different. The idea that a bank treats cash differentially, is an incredible development. I understand that this would allow this bank to account for an “internal exchange rate”, within the euro, between a strong country and a weak one. And the bank in question suspects they are not the only one.

http://blogs.channel4.com/faisal-islam-on-economics/euro-collapse-contingencies-at-davos-is-berlin-listening/16096

for those with roots North of the Border, coincidentally or not, findmypast have just released the 1881 Scottish census…
http://www.findmypast.co.uk/search/census/1881/person

 Reading 8/11 v Bristol City  no Maynard maybe? Reading Jason Roberts new owner/signing  

Well, they should have let them do that months ago.

I’m guessing, but it’s probably risk management. 

Keeping the nuclear operation at Faslane is a potential risk because Scotland might vote for independence.

Moving the operation south to somewhere in England eliminates that potential risk.

From a risk management view it makes perfect sense – eliminate the risk. 

The politics and perception may be utterly different.

Top article by Peter Watt.

Luckily no-one in Labour listens to him.

I think it is all to play for all, we are an integrated nation it is not as simple as I Live in Scotland, my wife and her family are Scottish and  the exiled Scots are  more critical of the Indepandance Movement. The last thing they want is a vote?   

You realise that the last poll which claimed a narrowing of the gap was a Scottish subsample.
Judging the Scotland debate by what you read on here is like watching the EDL and Anjem Choudarys mob in a stand off and thinking it gives you a temperature reading of inter religious nuance.

It’s an interesting scenario. The UK Government has been  ”removing strategic items and businesses from Scotland” since 1997.

Odd that a state, which currently is supposed to represent the interests of all parts of the UK, sees itself as representing the interests of only some of its citizens.

They will use “Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt” – just as they did over devolution, or the election of an SNP Government, bringing about the end of the world.

It’s a tactic that used to work.

He’s right about the consistency of message, which is why Cameeon and Osbornes positioning regarding piss taking at the bottom has just been so spectacularly undermined by their attitude to piss taking at the top today.

“those nasty unionists will be able to use Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt to discombobulate you”

Like they tried in 2011 scottish election?

I’d look up what happened to them before you get your hopes up that “too poor, too wee and too stupid” will ever work again.

The clue is in the word “landslide”.

The risk is that Scotland will become independent.

You need to evaluate the effects of that risk on your investments / security etc.

You need to take action as soon as possible to mitigate or eliminate that risk.

It is perfect common sense.

Politically, not so much.

‘
Good luck with having an economy even more reliant on the financial sector. Iceland and Ireland discovered that such reliance was unwise.’

But Iceland & Ireland were key parts of Salmond’s arc of prosperity,until they went belly up.

How patronising.  I spend time in both Scotland and England, I’d say the anti stuff is just as commonplace in both. i.e there is some but it isn’t the majority view.

If we want to see vicious bitter infighting we need only look at SLAB and labour Tim.

How’s wee Dougie and Murphy getting along these days with the anti-Ed whisper campaign? Darling still smarting from getting slapped down by the awesome might of Lamont? That was embarrassing.

I hope everyone who backed Santo for Iowa (or laid Romney) with bet”unfair” has submitted an IBAS claim. I think we have a very strong case. In fact I’d be amazed if we failed to win the argument. I think it will help if there are multiple claims.

When Peter Watt or Dan Hodges object to the Labour leaderships policy it spawns a hundred retweets on here.

So Cameron and Osborne have managed to alienate Tory backbenchers, the Taxpayers Alliance, their coalition supporters and most of he right wing press.

Now that’s an achievement.

“The Opposition seized on this week’s disclosure in The Independent that there was no contractual guarantee in Mr Hester’s contract that he should receive an annual bonus paid in shares.

Mr Johnson said he was at a loss to justify the “absolutely bewildering” bonus of 3.6 million shares worth nearly £1m and said it should have been vetoed by the Government. He said: “The idea this is not in the control of the Government seems to me to be far-fetched.”

Mr Johnson said Mr Hester, right, whose salary is £1.2m, was “an able man probably doing a difficult job”. But the Mayor added: “It certainly seems to me to be right that the Government should step in and sort it out. People will not understand how somebody can get a whacking great bonus when they are basically running a state-owned concern.”

There were also signs of Coalition strains as Jeremy Browne, a Liberal Democrat minister, appealed to Mr Hester not to accept the bonus. He said: “He needs to think like a public servant who has a duty to his country, not just his own wealth.”

Mr Cameron’s spokes-man said he had not been “directly involved” in deciding the size of the bonus. He declined to be drawn on the Prime Minister’s opinion on it.”

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/boris-joins-attack-on-no-10s-failure-over-rbs-bosss-bonus-6295906.html

I’m splitting my sides here. The arrogance is hilarious.

That’s essentially the point I’m making. If pro-UK Scots don’t start exercising their vocal chords soon, they’ll have lost the chance.

Tim B’s comments on risk management refer.

Not as funny as the fops Cammie Blair and Osborne insisting that the referendum be held as soon as possible.

How did that turn out for them?

2014.

I’m still splitting my sides that a labour voter such as you claimed to be is so keen on the tories these days.

That will never stop being funny.

I’ve confirmed that in the past. It does exist as does anti-Scottish  stuff south of the border.  You’ve glossed over your patronising picture of the English I notice.   

Westminster, however, still relies on a financial sector that can move elsewhere on a whim, for the largest proportion of its revenue stream. Very unwise.

Not if you continue to have a pro-business economy – why would they leave?

Incidentally, do you spend any time with people outside your own nationalist mindset ?

Go on….tell us what the currency will be – you know you want to! €? £? Groat? Or is that just a “detail”?

I think it’s time the Greeks “insisted” Germany pick up their tab…..

You do know that your sneering at the English, in itself, could be construed to be anti-English. Thought not.

So are you saying that an anti-business economy is a good idea?

My wife is from Glasgow, so I know all about sneering at the English.

But she thinks the independence idea is crazy.

I’m just back from a family wake in Essex. Lots of very civilized discussion about the constitutional question among family members with very different views. 

It contrasted greatly with the range of largely uninformed and pretty rude comments from a fair number of the locals who had descended to partake of the vol au vents and mulled wine, earlier in the day.

Icarus

I am delighted to discover that I am ignorant of the contents of “Butch Cassidy” and am therefore only 30 years old, rather than being a grumpy middle-aged 43 that I had thought.

antifrank
It’s amazing how quickly cultural reference points can date.

As a university student (1991-95) I was four years older than most of my contemporaries.  I continued to go back to my old university to visit the Student Union for a further 7 years after I graduated.  One time when I was there, I called someone a “hoopy frood” and then became horrified when it gradually dawned on me that he didn’t know what I meant.

Keep laughing, I said I’d vote Labour in the Holyrood constituency next time round.  My regional vote would still go blue.  Not too difficult to grasp is it ?  

Lucien, just seen your posts up thread. Really hope that your wife and niece are feeling better soon.

Really?

Monetary policy set in London.

Interest rates set in London.

How is that other common currency without fiscal transfers – you know, it’s been in the papers a bit recently – how’s that working out?

Thanks (and to all others who commented). 

But it makes no sense to use a currency over which you will have lost all control. I can’t understand why you’d want to. A new Scots currency initially pegged to Sterling would be more of a solution for an independent state, wouldn’t it?

Thanks – but we were genuinely celebrating the life of a great man. He was the “glue” that kept the different branches of the family together, and it has created a situation where the cousins are more determined to maintain the international “social union”.

How’s that for political analogy?

“So just to be clear, the SNP intend to bin a 300 year Union for the concept of Independence.”

Golly gosh. You ARE quick on the uptake aren’t you?

Osborne doesn’t control interest rates you silly goose. The BoE was made  independent in 98. You didn’t realise that either? Never mind.

The BoE will have to decide on the economic imperative and sadly for you that means it won’t be paying much attention to the impotent squeals of unionists but the larger fiscal reality of an Independent scotland and it’s natural resources on it’s doorstep along with those areas like Wales, the midlands and the North of England which have always been out of sync to a greater or lesser degree than the hothouses of London and the SE.

There’s nothing new about the BoE formulating an economic model that has to encompass differing economic circumstance throughout the UK. And even outside it as Osborne himself proved when he admitted the importance of Ireland’s fiscal future on his doorstep.

paulmasonnews Paul Mason 
Re Troika, as a Greek econ said 2 me: who hands over sovereignty of Athens, if it then fails, will face court martial. Not joking.

Why should Osborne say anything right now? As I pointed out on the previous thread, Cameron intervened to announce that the Westminster Parliament would do everything possible to facilitate a legally binding referendum on Independence.

This simple intervention thrust Salmond and the SNP into the spotlight, and placed them and their policy for Independence under intense scrutiny. We now have a date for this Referendum, and the SNP have been forced to face and attempt to answer some difficult questions they were desperately hoping to avoid. It appears to have gone almost unnoticed that once Cameron made that announcement, he diplomatically stood back while Salmond raged at Westminster interference. Why bother to engage in a war of words when you know your opponent is well able to hoist themselves up by their own petard. The currency issue alone is a prime example of this.

Over the last week its been Salmond dominanting the news bulletins with his ever more outrageous hubris and arrogance on show for everyone to see. The Currency Union con is now up there with the attempt by Salmond to lecture the English on why they should be glad to see the back of the Scots. I am sure that Osborne is sitting in the Treasury toasting Salmond with a fine malt.

I am watching Mary Poppins, for the first time in many many years.

I was reminded of the first time I watched it, in 1964, and how I spent most of the movie laughing uproariously at Dick Van Dyke: a wonderful physical performance, but an utterly appalling accent.

Why do you assume that “Salmond” (you people do love to assume that an individual has all power) would be the one insisting?

Whichever parties formed the Scottish Government would want to insist that all countries within the currency union followed the financial disciplinary rules. The same rules would equally apply to the Scottish Government, and rUK would insist on Scotland following them.

If you are saying that rUK would simply ignore financial disciplinary rules, and carry on as before, then clearly the currency union wouldn’t work. However, it seems unlikely that any rUK Government would repeat the errors of the past.

The ‘enough time’ thing. Yes, I explained that badly so what ? It was in the wee hours after not much sleep.  

The problem as I see it is this, after years of the SNP planning for the referendum, there is so little detail, and what there is is laughable.  You should have come out of the blocks with a good answer for the basic questions.  Most people want to know how it will affect their daily lives, their pensions, investments etc.  All you get is wibbling on about when to hold the referendum process issues.

Seems the EZ crisis/financial crisis has has knocked you off course.  It may be a good time politically to go for the Indyref, but economically, be honest it ain’t great. 

ps I don’t have to praise Labour to vote for them. You heard of tactical voting before ?  Of course you have. 

There is no such thing as a “legally binding referendum”. Haven’t you understood that yet?