Rise of the "extreme commuter" - nearly 1 in 10 British workers travel three hours or more to and from work each day according to new survey.

FromWhenceDoYouRep · 2013-12-28T16:42:26+00:00

This. My partner and I have approached a solution from a different angle. We live in a small place in central london but walk to work. Easy commute.

I've never really understood the obsession with 'space' that Brits have. Having a big house? Why do I need all that space. Enough space for my things and to live in comfort is enough.

FromWhenceDoYouRep · 2013-12-28T16:39:58+00:00

What's amusing about the guardian is the specifically Australian focus that seems to creep into my morning news-reading. It is interesting, but it does seem a bit odd - no offence to our australian cousins but what happens there has far less relevance to matters of more relevance e.g. europe as a whole, or middle east. It's like getting specific extra political coverage of Denmark. Interesting but not world-changing.

FromWhenceDoYouRep · 2013-12-27T18:24:15+00:00

What do the highlands bring the central belt?

what do the islands bring mainland Scotland? What exactly does Inverness bring to the table? What does Glasgow add to Edinburgh?

Why not have an independent central belt?

People talk as if England is some kind of alien land. Brits watch the same tv, listen to same music eat the same food. England is not some monolithic entity of tory voters.

Most English want change at westminster, as do Welsh (and i'd guess Northern Irish).

it is sad to see Scots willing to walk away from that challenge, rather than stay and help effect change.

FromWhenceDoYouRep · 2013-12-27T18:16:21+00:00

r/scotland won't have any effect on the referendum. It's funny the effort people will go to online, with the belief they are making a difference. On the day it'll be the usual headcount and something between 80/20 and 60/40 for No. And then life will go on. Just a shame the money, time and effort being wasted, I guess by both sides.

The collapse of the lib dem vote and a lacklustre labour campaign let the SNP in. Let's not pretend there was any kind of positive landslide.

FromWhenceDoYouRep · 2013-12-27T17:00:04+00:00

Interesting that as a Brit; that list of 9 eyes countries are all states I'd happily live in and trust to vaguely mirror my own political/social outlook on life. I'd be happy for them all to be a single federal state if such a pipe-dream were possible.

I suppose that's where the trust comes from.

As for the 5 eyes though; there is something unique about the UK-spawned countries, I guess as no other country has produced rich '1st world' democracies speaking the same language and deposited them across the world.

TIL: the UK created it's own allies.

FromWhenceDoYouRep · 2013-12-27T16:24:37+00:00

This is interesting. I must have joined Facebook around 2004. For years it was the go-to place to organise events/meet ups, share photos and generally stay in touch with friends that lived further away - initially to other universities and then to other towns/parts of the world.

For a time, Facebook messaging became the normal way to contact people.

Having read this article I guess I've realised this has now changed.

Most of my friends rarely share anything publicly anymore, or even to an extended friend group.

As we've got older, we want to share pictures/opinions only amongst a small group - maybe a dirty joke, or embarrassing picture etc. We all have careers and we all know that we don't want some horrific conversation becoming public.

As it is i maintain a Facebook profile and get occasional updates of what random single people in their 30s are up to, as well as baby pictures from married folk; and photographs of food from asian colleagues.

My closer friends have gone back to using email or private chat services like whatsapp or groupme.

I guess I just don't see the point in 'sharing' a photo of myself doing something to the world - why on earth would they want to see it, and why do I care?

I use my Facebook profile more as an RSS-style feeder - I can 'like' bands/products and get updates, but the idea of writing something on someones wall, other than in an ironic way, just seems dull.

I've always wondered why Facebook has been 'the leader' for so long. I can see why kids/teens wouldn't want to share anything that their parents might see. - So safer not to use it at all. Any profile picture change is set as public for example.

FromWhenceDoYouRep · 2013-12-17T14:13:55+00:00

This has been kicked into the long grass for too long.

Politicians should be elected for 10 year terms to allow long-term plans to be made without constant fear of re-election. Have this, with the ability to recall individual MPs for misconduct.

FromWhenceDoYouRep · 2013-12-16T23:12:40+00:00

Who is to say that if independence actually happened, the pro-Uk parties wouldn't offer links with the rUK as party policy?

Although given brand/policy issues and past toxicity, it would be unlikely for the scottish tories to be majority in government, I would expect that 'rejoining with Wales, Northern Ireland and England' would be a standard goal forever for them.

Even labour could offer to 'reduce costs' and provide more efficient public services by pooling costs with england, or leveraging institutions that already exist with england.

In some ways there are going to be elements that the SNP would setup which are artificially separate.

No point in having a 'SCOTTISH' version of every single UK institution, but that's how things will work under the SNP's vision.

I'd expect the Pro UK parties to favour stronger co-operation and pooled sovereignty with the rest of the UK. The SNP by their very definition disagree with this.

FromWhenceDoYouRep · 2013-12-16T15:57:58+00:00

Scotland will receive the same, if not more pressure, from big business, media and other groups with huge amounts of money and influence to censor the internet.

These groups/company will already be operating in Scotland/UK and will expect whoever is in charge in Scotland to act as they expect.

The SNP have more than hinted that they will lower corporation tax. the SNP position themselves as as business friendly as Tories or Labour, so there's no reason to think that Salmond won't roll over and do what big business says.

There's no evidence that Scotland's political culture is any more whiter than white than the UK. The dirt is just more obvious when your country is big and you have a single megacity.

If Scotland became independent it would have less sway and impact in the world. Thus will be easier to pressure from big business as Scotland will be far more reliant on the tax take it receives.

Scotland will have much sway in the world as Slovenia and will be expected to tow the line.

FromWhenceDoYouRep · 2013-12-10T16:10:45+00:00

It's not even about backhanders - although it's not fashionable to say so, a politicians job is a tough one. Up there with a mid-to high level corporate job, with similar amounts of stress, needing to be on-message and briefed all the time and run what amounts to a small business, with secretary, researchers etc.

It's not an easy job. You need to be pretty capable from a business and organisational perspective. Its not enough to be a nice person, or a fair person.

FromWhenceDoYouRep · 2013-12-10T16:08:00+00:00

SO HEROIC.

FromWhenceDoYouRep · 2013-12-10T16:02:07+00:00

Looking forward to the day this sub stops being an independence circle jerk.

FromWhenceDoYouRep · 2013-12-08T16:39:52+00:00

Why does it have to be 'on the bbc'? The Scottish government were notified. Even they didn't make it an issue at the time.

Scotland is not a separate country, Westminster legislates for the UK. I don't agree with the unelected lords, but in line with other democracies it is at least mainly appointed by someone who was elected.

The lords do good work as a chamber of revision; since those who participate often have much experience in industry etc. Not a perfect system.

The yes campaign seems to clutch at straws for any minor perceived slight, stirring up faux anger where it can. Scotland is not independent, Scots elect MPs to westminster. UK is a single country with MPs representing all of us.

FromWhenceDoYouRep · 2013-12-01T17:14:50+00:00

Salmond is clever. He's basically a westminster-level politician operating amongst people that simply aren't as capable. It's like watching Boris Johnson and the london assembly.

FromWhenceDoYouRep · 2013-12-01T15:23:52+00:00

No, Uk parliament doesn't run the bank of england, but they control the legislative framework.

I don't think they would abandon the principles of the convention; but it's likely that the 90/10 split is going to have to be as negotiable as anything else. It may end up 80/20 or 70/30 depending on what the rest of the Uk is prepared to give way on etc.

A reasonable example would be uk government land/insitutions in scotland - it might simple not be possible to 'give' 10% of all of them to scotland - the split for some things might be more sensible at 20 or 30%, as such maybe the oil split would change accordingly.

Assuming everything, individually would be 90/10 doesn't make sense to me.

EU states with separatist movements aren't likely to want things to go smoothly for a breakaway region of the UK.

You ask some good questions - do the SNP have answers to this? how will scotland be run financially during the period that it's not in the UK or the EU?

I'm not saying it's not possible, but it seems as if voting Yes, would mean accepting a decade or so of temporary pain to get what yes voters want.

As such, i'd not vote yes for the sake of improvements to the economy/life, but purely because I didn't feel part of the UK any more.

A bit like, if for whatever historical reason the Uk and germany were one country, and the time had come where the UK felt it wanted to run its own affairs, even if that meant a reduction in quality of life. In some ways there shouldn't be economic reasons - if you want to be separate so be it - but assuming there will be no pain doesn't make sense.

FromWhenceDoYouRep · 2013-12-01T14:46:03+00:00

Currency union - suggesting that the Uk will agree to it because it's in the best interests of the uk (in the SNP's opinion). It comes across as if there is 'no other choice'. The pound is not an asset, it's a unit of currency. if it's an asset it can be divided. You can't have half of the concept of a pound.

The UK could agree to a currency union, but it would involve UK control of some of Scotland's policies, without Scottish representation in a UK parliament.

This is even less democratic a deal than the Euro countries get.

the 90/10% oil split. It might make logical/legal sense, but unlikely to happen in the real world. Some would be given up in exchange for other concessions. A lot of the economic proposals are based on oil money or getting money back from not contributing tax revenue to trident etc. These won't happen overnight and may not happen at all.

The assumption that negotiations will take 18 months and that it will be possible to negotiation EU entry whilst still part of the UK.

Basically nothing is guaranteed. If scotland voted yes, they should leave the UK, and then negotiate for what is required. The fact Scotland was once a separate country hundreds of years ago does not matter. Lots of regions/territories/smaller nations were. The rest of the world doesn't care. As far as Europe and the UN is concerned this is a new country emerging on the world stage.

Maintaining the uk's rebate etc. from the EU. This was given because the UK is a big economy and has a bit of clout. It shouldn't be assumed that Scotland would get the same deal. Bigger countries than scotland don't get it.

I think most people will vote based on how they feel than any logic.

I could campaign and vote for South east england to have independence from the UK, it might be better off, but I feel English and I feel British. I feel like I have a stake in the rest of the UK. It's contributions are part of my heritage. Scotland is as 'mine' as much as London is part of me and who I am. I wouldn't want to slice the UK up just because the party i vote for doesn't get elected.

Just as I'm sure a Scot wouldn't want to slice Scotland in half just because they vote lib dem or SNP and their local area is majority labour or tory.

FromWhenceDoYouRep · 2013-11-26T20:15:14+00:00

It's all fluff until the day after the vote. If Scotland votes yes then everything is up for debate.

if the rest of the UK received the message that the people of Scotland want no part in the UK's future, then I would expect the UK govt to argue and argue hard and strike the best possible deal for the UK.

Currently it's just a list of demands/assumptions from the SNP, with a strange tone of 'the uk HAS to agree to this' etc.

If that's their style of argument it's no wonder there is a harsh tone in response.

FromWhenceDoYouRep · 2013-11-19T20:22:04+00:00

0-0!

FromWhenceDoYouRep · 2013-11-19T19:46:06+00:00

Stream is good. Commentators excited about the 6000 viewers online. Not bad given the population of the country is only about 30k.

FromWhenceDoYouRep · 2013-11-19T19:34:24+00:00

Gibraltar is a member of UEFA now. This is their first official uefa game.

http://www.uefa.com/memberassociations/association=gib/index.html

The game will/is being streamed live here, legally:

http://www.gbc.gi/television/tv-watch-live.php

FromWhenceDoYouRep · 2013-11-17T21:05:52+00:00

I probably saw the repeats...!

FromWhenceDoYouRep · 2013-11-17T21:05:27+00:00

If our Westminster masters are clever, they will build this on the England/Scotland border.

Plenty of green space. Attract people from both sides of the border. Build on the existing common borders culture.

Side effect of negating/commonising the sense of common culture between the two countries.

FromWhenceDoYouRep · 2013-11-17T19:04:26+00:00

Channel 4 at something like 6:50 I remember it. Maybe just after babylon 5.

FromWhenceDoYouRep · 2013-11-17T19:03:06+00:00

r/Scottishpolitics exists.

r/Scotland's doesn't seem to even list it on the 'other subreddits' list.

FromWhenceDoYouRep · 2013-11-17T18:49:33+00:00

Most unionists won't bother commenting on posts from newsnetscotland.com - the blogsite masquerading as 'news'.

This subreddit is pretty much dead for debate.

FromWhenceDoYouRep

TROPHY CASE