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White Paper (THE #indyref thread)

(2915 posts)
  • Started 10 years ago by Morningsider
  • Latest reply from chdot
  • This topic is closed

  1. chdot
    Admin

    Meanwhile

    "

    it’s about capitalism – not carbon – the extreme anti-regulatory version that has seized global economies since the 1980s and has set us on a course of destruction and deepening inequality.

    "

    http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=13414&replies=5#post-165130

    Posted 9 years ago #
  2. kaputnik
    Moderator

    How is an iS going to charge English students tuition fees but not the rest of the EU' debate on this thread

    Given that an iScotland would find the rUK to be "rest of the EU" I do find it to be an odd position to try and take. Not sure the EU think it's a great idea either and they've made noises it may not be allowed. Personal opinion is it's a bit of an illogical policy for SNP to put forward and can easily be played by their opponents as anti-English when real driving issue may be that England has made university so unaffordable for so many that "hopping the border" for higher education may be more attractive than ever.

    I hope they'd struggle to try and implement something like this within the EU and give up trying.

    Posted 9 years ago #
  3. Roibeard
    Member

    How is an iS going to charge English students tuition fees but not the rest of the EU' debate on this thread.

    Charge everyone the same flat rate, but give a student grant to local students, equivalent to the charge. Or have free education for all at the point of delivery, but then pay Universities directly out of general or graduate taxation.

    Or at least that's what I think I've been told.

    There's something similar for Research Council spending, where the line was "we can afford to match RCUK funding and anyway RCUK will continue in a single research area, as RC Great Britain (& NI)"

    Robert

    Posted 9 years ago #
  4. crowriver
    Member

    "Scottish Liberal Democrats. No Thanks"

    Just reflecting popular opinion. Typically fair-minded of them. ;-)

    Posted 9 years ago #
  5. chdot
    Admin

  6. chdot
    Admin

    "

    At the end of last week, the latest Guardian/ICM poll suggested that 42% of the Scots who voted Labour in the 2010 general election were minded to vote yes. And in front of me is a one-man story of what may be going on. Last night, he was at a packed yes meeting in the estate's sports centre, and was impressed; today, he talks about moving from being undecided to voting for independence, and describes a pained pulling-away from deep aspects of his own identity, both politically and nationally.

    "

    http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/sep/14/scottish-independence-labour-decline-electoral-force

    Posted 9 years ago #
  7. Instography
    Member

    @roibeard
    I'm not seeing how that gets round the problem of charging English students but not other EU students.

    EU law seems to take a very tough line against such direct discrimination against one group of EU citizens. Here's Niamh Nic Shuibhne, Professor of European Union Law at the University of Edinburgh. here

    Although it's a position they have to try to maintain because if English students didn't pay fees, the Scottish Government's own estimates are that it would crowd out a substantial proportion of Scottish students.

    http://www.scotland.gov.uk/About/Information/FOI/Disclosures/2014/March/scoping

    Posted 9 years ago #
  8. gembo
    Member

    Is that the same guardian story that has the chap in Clapton also opting for independence? Wasn't going to bring it up but there was a piece in the guardian linking UKIP nationalism to Scottish nationalism as a form of protest was the journalist's slant.

    If 42 % of labour voters voting yes (what was the exact question?) then close polls must mean 42% of SNP voters are voting No. If any of this is true.

    I must check out the financial times again for articles stripped of spin

    Posted 9 years ago #
  9. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    @instography, @roibeard

    The Germans discriminate legally on the grounds of residence duration in Germany it would seem. Everyone is charged for tuition, those resident in Germany for a qualifying period get a grant equal to the tuition fees.

    Posted 9 years ago #
  10. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    I am fascinated by the question of how many new countries there will be if we vote Yes and become iScotland. One of my campaign group teaches English law and is adamant that a judge would rule that there is only one new country. I do like this article though;

    http://lril.oxfordjournals.org/content/2/2/299.full

    It is the source of my inquietude as to the status of Northern Ireland.

    Posted 9 years ago #
  11. Morningsider
    Member

    IWRATS - I'm not sure that's right. Fees for German state universities were introduced in the mid-2000s and quickly abolished. The last Lander to charge fees will abolish them at the end of this academic year. Interesting article on this at:

    http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/features/germanys-great-tuition-fees-u-turn/2011168.fullarticle

    Posted 9 years ago #
  12. chdot
    Admin

    "Wasn't going to bring it up but there was a piece in the guardian linking UKIP nationalism to Scottish nationalism as a form of protest was the journalist's slant."

    If this story, then your slant.

    "

    This story is not just being played out north of the border: UK-wide polling shows the Tories and Labour scoring some of their lowest-ever combined shares of the vote, the inconclusive result of the last general election suggested a very significant juncture had been reached – and the fact that next year's result is anyone's guess only underlines the point. As in so much of Europe, there is nothing solid about politics any more – not least when it comes to ordinary voters, who often find themselves drawn to possibilities that might once have been unthinkable.

    ...

    Plaid will have to make serious inroads into post-industrial south Wales, where Labour still dominates politics – but by way of announcing that it takes this challenge more seriously than ever, its 2012 leadership election resulted in the election of Leanne Wood: a daughter of the Valleys from a once-Labour family, whose belief in leaving the UK is borne of what she sees as economic necessity, rather than any orthodox nationalism.

    "

    Posted 9 years ago #
  13. kaputnik
    Moderator

    If 42 % of labour voters voting yes (what was the exact question?) then close polls must mean 42% of SNP voters are voting No. If any of this is true.

    The poll was of the 2010 General Election in which in Scotland Labour polled 1,035,528 and SNP 491,386.

    A 42% Yes vote from 2010 Labour voters would = 434k. The same proportion back from SNP to No would be 207k.

    The 3 main "No" parties polled 1,913,854 in 2010 GE or 77% of the turnout. SNP + Green + SSP polled 511,370 or 21%. For the opinion polls to be anywhere near 50:50 as they are just now it would take more than just every newly registered voter opting for Yes, there has to have been a big move from the LD and/or Labour vote, but a hold in the core SNP vote. I'll stick my neck out and say the tory vote which is reliably 16-17% in both UK and Holyrood elections is more likely to hold in the face of a question of the Union.

    But then people are known to vote completely differently when it comes to Euro, UK and Scottish elections.

    Posted 9 years ago #
  14. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    @moningsider

    Thanks for that. Very interesting. Is the residence test legally a possibility?

    Posted 9 years ago #
  15. Instography
    Member

    @IWRATS
    From the post I linked to above:

    " ...the logic underpinning the idea of indirect discrimination in EU law is that while the conditions being imposed by national measures are neutral on the face of it – for example, residence conditions that apply to everyone, including home State nationals – it is, in fact, far more likely that home State nationals will actually be able to satisfy them. By contrast, a distinct burden is placed on the nationals of other Member States to meet the required period of residence, which might in turn deter them from exercising their free movement rights in the first place."

    So, that suggests they would frown on a residence test although the state proposing it has more scope to argue the justification for it. The post goes on to consider what those might be in the case of English students.

    Posted 9 years ago #
  16. Instography
    Member

    @kaputnik
    You don't even need to go back to 2010 voting. We find the same when we ask about intention to vote in the next Scottish Parliament. The last figure I remember was about 20% of Labour supporters saying they'd vote Yes and 10% of SNP supporters voting No. That's after the shift to SNP support is included.

    Posted 9 years ago #
  17. chdot
    Admin

    "

    Mid-Bedfordshire MP Nadine Dorries asks; 'Why are we paying them to eat deep-fried mars bars when we can't even get decent health care in this country?' in debate over Scottish referendum | Bedfordshire News

    "

    Posted 9 years ago #
  18. chdot
    Admin

    "

    The status quo is gone.

    This campaign has swept it away.

    There is no going back to the way things were.

    A vote for No means real change.

    And we have spelled that change out in practical terms, with a plan and a process.

    If we get a No vote on Thursday, that will trigger a major, unprecedented programme of devolution with additional powers for the Scottish Parliament.

    Major new powers over tax, spending and welfare services.

    We have agreed a timetable for that stronger Scottish Parliament: a time-table to bring in the new powers that will go ahead if there is a No vote…

    …a White Paper by November, put into draft legislation by January.

    This is a timetable that is now agreed by all the main political parties and set in stone…

    …and I am prepared to work with all the main parties to deliver this during 2015.

    So a No vote actually means faster, fairer, safer and better change.

    "

    http://www.scottishconservatives.com/2014/09/prime-minister-speaks-aberdeen

    Well I'm sure that will be enough for some Scottish voters.

    Obviously it's been agreed by all the backbenchers too...

    Posted 9 years ago #
  19. crowriver
    Member

    Another promise from someone with no power to deliver it. Even if the promise is kept, who seriously believes anything will change this side of a Westminster election?

    Posted 9 years ago #
  20. Baldcyclist
    Member

    The 'stolen' seas, how the UK govt changed the maritime border on the eve of devolution..

    http://youtu.be/GfbfldSrJ-0

    Posted 9 years ago #
  21. chdot
    Admin

    "

    Gordon Brown is calling for three "guarantees" for Scotland to be "locked in" before voting takes place in the referendum on Thursday.

    "

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-29203695

    Posted 9 years ago #
  22. chdot
    Admin

    "

    I launched Devo Plus, but have yet to be convinced by the no campaign

    Ben Thomson

    While the unionists have dithered over devolution, it’s the campaign for an independent Scotland that has come closest to Devo Plus

    "

    http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/sep/15/devo-plus-yes-vote-unionists-devolution-independent-scotland

    Posted 9 years ago #
  23. LaidBack
    Member

    Well it is amazing how quickly things can be changed with no voting involved when things have to....

    YouTube video link above shows that very well

    For those that can't see or believe it's made up.

    In 1999, the UK establishment secretly reclassified 6,000 square miles of Scottish sea as English waters.
    Craig Murray, the former British Ambassador to Uzbekistan, revealed this theft on his website back in 2012.

    This was done secretly by 'secondary legislation' the evening before the Scottish Parliament came into existence. (Tony Blair and Donald Dewar). Reason for change was to transfer the Argyle oil field plus seven other fields out of Scottish waters. This helps to keep GDP down in Scotland to protect the larger 'collective UK interest'(!)

    Posted 9 years ago #
  24. chdot
    Admin

    Posted 9 years ago #
  25. chdot
    Admin

    "

    Former Newsnight correspondent Paul Mason seems rather happy to be free of Auntie, especially since the Scottish independence referendum campaign sent the establishment to panic stations: ‘Not since Iraq have I seen BBC News working at propaganda strength like this. So glad I’m out of there,’ he writes on his Facebook page, to the consternation of former colleagues. ‘It’s on my friends-only Facebook page so not meant as any great statement other than weariness,’ Mason tells Mr S, ‘it says what it says.’ Lucky, then that he is now at Channel Four News – that famed bastion of slant free news.

    "

    http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/steerpike/2014/09/former-newsnight-hack-slams-beebs-referendum-propaganda

    Posted 9 years ago #
  26. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    @chdot

    I am tired and intemperate, like many who have put their backs into this thing, on both sides. Nonetheless, I make no apology for saying; Hell mend us if we vote on the basis of a 'pledge' by these three lounge-suited gentlemen.

    Posted 9 years ago #
  27. kaputnik
    Moderator

    Have just spent some time running through a list of UK general election results that Lesley Hinds retweeted to make some point or another about the British democratic system ("The Power of Democracy", that's it). I added in the 5 general elections it omitted, corrected the 2 it got wrong and highlighted the strange logic used to interpret some elections and thereby arrive at its conclusions that there aint nothing broke about Westminster. I know she's gunning for Malcolm Chisholm's soon-to-be-vacant seat, so I politely corrected her to avoid any subsequent embarrassment.

    Posted 9 years ago #
  28. barnton-to-town
    Member

    "The Vow" ... remarkably reminiscent of the laughable (if it hadn't been so depressing) "road map to peace for the middle east" that George dubya Bush waved about a dozen years ago.

    Posted 9 years ago #
  29. chdot
    Admin

  30. gkgk
    Member

    "Well it is amazing how quickly things can be changed with no voting involved when things have to...."

    >20% of voters have postal votes? Already posted probably and Westminster will be poring over the private polling data.

    This Vow thing all sounds a bit like the my-word-is-oak promises made last time round, from the Declaration of Perth onwards. It'll be a shame if each generation has to learn the same lessons first-hand, in this era of wikipedia!

    Posted 9 years ago #

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