Alex Salmond and Independence

That's not the point. A fine for writing newspaper articles critical of the government is hardly the gulag but it is still a violation of civil rights.
Of course, but whats that got to do with the price of Tea in Dunblane (good debate by the way)
 
Homeschooling is an option. In the US, census refusals are not prosecuted.

Home schooling is child abuse IMO. They are always weird with zero resilience. Should be banned.
 
I am not a lawyer but I don't think that argument would hold up in court.

Laws enforce all sorts of things and voting is surely something we should be delighted to encourage.
 
I'm a teacher and I have never met any teacher capable of home schooling a High School age student. The range of skills required is just too large. Plus High School is about far more than learning. The social aspects are just as important.
 
We should encourage it. Ad campaigns, more civics classes, more "I voted" stickers. Absolutely. But it shouldn't be subject to government sanctions.

Why waste the money? Make people turn up and then if they really do want to abstain they still can. Very few people don't vote on principal - they are just too lazy or apathetic. I'd actually increase the fine and/or add community service.
 
The flaw is that we still vote in a right bunch of cnuts every time.
 
Why waste the money? Make people turn up and then if they really do want to abstain they still can. Very few people don't vote on principal - they are just too lazy or apathetic. I'd actually increase the fine and/or add community service.

What purpose does government collect tax money for if not to respect the civil rights of its citizens? What's money compared to the right of people not to be compelled to engage in an activity they don't want to?
 
We should encourage it. Ad campaigns, more civics classes, more "I voted" stickers. Absolutely. But it shouldn't be subject to government sanctions.
What about £5 M&S vouchers
 
What the extent of this result shows is that the "Undecided" voters before the referendum weren't actually undecided - they were No voters who were cowed into silence by the disgraceful behaviour of a large number of Yes supporters who would scream down any opposition. They just sat and waited then delivered their killer blow. Good on them.

Very true. I voted No, but after telling a few folk early on I got the usual crap about being a 'fecking idiot' and a 'coward' from the Yes voters so from there on in I kept it to myself until I cast my vote yesterday. I suspect many did the same

Bunch of fecking cowards

And yeah this is the kind of shite I was alluding too thanks for that.
 
Very true. I voted No, but after telling a few folk early on I got the usual crap about being a 'fecking idiot' and a 'coward' from the Yes voters so from there on in I kept it to myself until I cast my vote yesterday. I suspect many did the same

And yeah this is the kind of shite I was alluding too thanks for that.
Ironically the Yes campaign were the ones constantly screaming about bullying during the run-up to the vote, but they were the ones doing most of it. They didn't seem to realise you don't bring people round to your point of view by screaming in their faces.
 
I'm noticing a distinct lack of support for Andy Murray from the press over the abuse he's getting. Plenty of stuff about how he was foolish to post it, which I can understand, but very little over some of the disgusting remarks being made about Dunblane. I do find it funny that he's getting shouted down for identifying himself as Scottish yet still representing Britain when English athletes do it all of the time. (English athletes identifying themselves as English, obviously. Not Scottish. That would just be plain weird)
 
He's in Australia. I'm American.
Yeah I thought that as I walked away from my desk.

To be honest, their cant be many countries in the world that don't regularly switch between 2 inept governments.
 
I'm noticing a distinct lack of support for Andy Murray from the press over the abuse he's getting. Plenty of stuff about how he was foolish to post it, which I can understand, but very little over some of the disgusting remarks being made about Dunblane. I do find it funny that he's getting shouted down for identifying himself as Scottish yet still representing Britain when English athletes do it all of the time. (English athletes identifying themselves as English, obviously. Not Scottish. That would just be plain weird)

I do feel he gets an unwarranted amount of stick. For years he was accused of being anti-English due to him rising to some snide comment from an English journalist about Scotland not qualifying for the World Cup. Still, I'll never understand why he replaced Lendl with Mauresmo and he now seems to have fallen back into the chasing pack.
 
If 70 year olds who may not live to see the consequences of their actions get a vote, 16 year olds damn well should too.

Its a paradox of life that young people drive like they have no time to lose, old people drive like they have all the time in the world. Young people are confident, energetic and reckless. Old people are careful, slow and scared.

Frankly anyone who had a problem with 16 yest olds voting seems undemocratic to me.
Why not let a 14 or even a 10 year old kid vote?
 
As a surreal postscript to the referendum drama, did anyone see that the voting procedure has been criticized by the Russian electoral commission observer as not meeting international standards? He was probably confused by the absence of ballot stuffing, carousel voting and the fact that the Nationalists and their supporters were genuine "opposition" rather than straw men funded by the government.
 
I'm noticing a distinct lack of support for Andy Murray from the press over the abuse he's getting. Plenty of stuff about how he was foolish to post it, which I can understand, but very little over some of the disgusting remarks being made about Dunblane. I do find it funny that he's getting shouted down for identifying himself as Scottish yet still representing Britain when English athletes do it all of the time. (English athletes identifying themselves as English, obviously. Not Scottish. That would just be plain weird)

Murray's problem is that he's very good at what he does. So there always going to 1. More Attention 2. Jealously.

No one's really care's or listen to the rubbish athletes so they can say what the really think.

Also England in particularly has a problem with winning sports men/women.
 
Ed Miliband supposedly not signing up to the PM's devo plans. So for once, we may need a Tory government...
 
That is my point, pretty much.

But if someone has spent 10 years in a nursing home, are they really going to have a worse idea than a 16 year old?
They know more about life than any 16 year old kid, and as far I know they watch TV and read newspapers which I can tell you most of the kids don't even know we had a recession, they don't know if their parents had problems to come up with food at the table. My son is 17 and the only thing he cares is PS4 and football, never watches or read the news and I bet you most of the kids of that age are like him.
I'm not saying I'm against Scotland's Independence but the fact they let kids decide the future of the country was wrong.
 
Salmond's stepping down, both as SNP Leader and First Minister of Scotland.

You'd hope this doesn't mean the SNP falling apart before 2016. The Scottish Labour party need more than a free ride to power in order to get their shit together.
 
Salmond's stepping down, both as SNP Leader and First Minister of Scotland.

You'd hope this doesn't mean the SNP falling apart before 2016. The Scottish Labour party need more than a free ride to power in order to get their shit together.

They won't. Sturgeon will take over and will probably get re-elected in 2016. Unless they make a huge number of changes, Scottish Labour won't be getting into Holyrood for a considerable time.
 
They won't. Sturgeon will take over and will probably get re-elected in 2016. Unless they make a huge number of changes, Scottish Labour won't be getting into Holyrood for a considerable time.
What if Gordon Brown ran?
 
Ed Miliband supposedly not signing up to the PM's devo plans. So for once, we may need a Tory government...
He's between a rock and a hard place. He knows that solving the West Lothian question is a popular idea with the English electorate, but he also knows he'll never have a majority without the Labour seats in Scotland.
 
What if Gordon Brown ran?

He'd have a chance if they put in a big name, but this referendum has caused a lot of the working class to lose faith in Scottish Labour, who have largely just followed the Westminster line for their own self-preservation.

If Labour get into power next year and don't deliver full powers, Brown would be just as well staying out of Scotland, nevermind try to run for First Minister. Honestly though, there will be a dent in the Scottish Labour both, both at Westminster and Holyrood.
 
He's between a rock and a hard place. He knows that solving the West Lothian question is a popular idea with the English electorate, but he also knows he'll never have a majority without the Labour seats in Scotland.

Exactly. They've backed themselves into a position where they'll be snaky liars if they deny us further devolution, but then they'll lose some of the English electorate who don't want to see us get any more powers.
 
Right decision from Salmond. He's taken it as far as he can, which is quite far all things considered.

Agreed. Sturgeon will take over now I expect, and unless Scottish Labour pull something out of the bag she'll get re-elected as FM in 2016.
 
Exactly. They've backed themselves into a position where they'll be snaky liars if they deny us further devolution, but then they'll lose some of the English electorate who don't want to see us get any more powers.
The English electorate don't mind if Scotland gets new powers, as long as they get something as well.