Calling Scottish Dwellers...

[jimmybell]

How will you vote? No seriously - i couldn't give less of a toss. A yes vote would serve only to show how manipulative the sole beneficiary group's media/marketing campaign is, and how malleable opinions are by the media these days. Next we'll have the EDL promising to look out for the common Englishman. get lost. Anywho - i happen to be in the area during the vote, figure i should mention it.

Feel free to make this thread political, as long as i get SOME useful answers :p

So, the actual reason for the thread....

On Friday - i drive from London to Mallaig. I'm then in the area north of Fort William for ~7 days, where should i drive? Seems like a great excuse to take the red beast out for a spin.

[DumfriesDik]

I have already voted (postal) and I voted NO.

However, if the YES camp win, great, thats not a huge problem for me either. I like the idea of self governance, I just don't see how it can be set up, managed and paid for.

And your actual reply - visit Cairngorm. Take the funicular to the top and look down on Loch Morlich. Or better still paddle on on Loch Morlich and look up at the mountain.

[pvr]

Millions of roads to chose from, all fantastic. On each Highlander run I have done (3) we always came through Fort William to get petrol and then off to some other area. The single track roads are fantastic in that area and no cameras at all.

That will of course change once the nutters up there vote Yes and find out there is no money so they have to plant the cash cows everywhere

[jimmybell]

This made me laugh (pretty much my impression of the whole thing):



Also - are there any particular driving roads that i should go and raid on an early morning?

[pvr]

I did not find the time made a lot of difference, there are literally roads to nowhere, with nobody on them ...

[Bing]

The road to Mallaig from Fort William is ace - just driven it, have a look at the Skyefall road trip thread. I'll PM you the whole route on google maps if you like. Then take a ferry to Skye and spend a day driving around. Though you'll either want to get on the ferry first so you're off first on the other side, or get over early enough that you can pause for half an hour at the ferry terminal to let the traffic get ahead of you, as there's only one road for a good old way and if you get stuck going slow it's a bit deflating...

Then go over the bridge and head up the west coast towards Applecross and onwards instead of back down as we did. The stretch from Kyle of Lochalsh to Spean Bridge was also pretty awesome though

As for the vote... I've nothing to say

[Nictrix]

The propaganda goes both ways, Scotland has been hammered for years and have a chance to change things.
Any roads north of Loch Lomond are superb, go a bit further and head towards Ullapool or further north to Durness, very little traffic and lovely smooth winding roads.

[pvr]

Hammered indeed ..

http://www.scotsman.com/news/uk/public- ... -1-3197170

Lower tax for the south, no chance of a labour government - what is there not to like

[Jasey]

Scotland has been hammered for years and have a chance to change things.

AND

Any roads north of Loch Lomond are superb, go a bit further and head towards Ullapool or further north to Durness, very little traffic and lovely smooth winding roads.

The roads in England are all Fcuked - And FULL !

[Spikey]

Why would you not want to take the chance to govern your own country ? Yes own country - not another county in the north of England like so many seen to think.......

As said before it's not about economics - it's a vote from the heart - it's time we had an amicable divorce - we don't want you - you don't want us - what more to discuss?

[jimmybell]

Sounds great Bing - would love a google route

Spikey, i think thats the point, its not the right time for this vote, its been called under the shadow of bigger global economic issues at a time when global stability is at an all time low and I'm personally concerned the Scottish opinion is being influenced during a difficult period. As an Englishman i also don't think a split is a wise idea, economically and politically. SNP is just making endless promises about lower taxes and better facilities, and people are falling for it.

[Carol M]

Sounds great Bing - would love a google route

Spikey, i think thats the point, its not the right time for this vote, its been called under the shadow of bigger global economic issues at a time when global stability is at an all time low and I'm personally concerned the Scottish opinion is being influenced during a difficult period. As an Englishman i also don't think a split is a wise idea, economically and politically. SNP is just making endless promises about lower taxes and better facilities, and people are falling for it.

Couldn't have put it better

[Nictrix]

Sounds great Bing - would love a google route

Spikey, i think thats the point, its not the right time for this vote, its been called under the shadow of bigger global economic issues at a time when global stability is at an all time low and I'm personally concerned the Scottish opinion is being influenced during a difficult period. As an Englishman i also don't think a split is a wise idea, economically and politically. SNP is just making endless promises about lower taxes and better facilities, and people are falling for it.

This is not a decision that has just been made in the last year or so, so its nothing to do with bigger economic issues, this has been on the cards for 40 years.

[jimmybell]

The decision to HAVE a decision HAS been made in the last year or so.

It's totally possible that Scotland may benefit from being separate from the UK, but not one bit of evidence i've seen has come from an educated, informed and well rounded study into the impact - it's all political, emotional and anger driven. My main worry is that the Scottish people are forming opinions based on political and media driven scare mongery and propaganda. Alex Salmond seems drunk on the idea that Scotland can pay all its bills with whisky exports (pun intended..).

You can guarantee some of the most in depth impact analysis will be performed by large financial establishments trying to figure out which way to trade and position themselves - and the massive opinion at the moment is that independence is a terrible idea. 5 out of the top fallers in the FTSE are Scottish, as a result of polls this week; banks north of the border are now holding more cash in anticipation of people wanting to withdraw it all from Scottish banks. It's going to create large instability, and probably cost jobs north of the border - i doubt Mr Salmond is advertising that .. and if independence does happen, there won't be any going back..

There's also the young voter count - it'l be really interesting to see the outcome of voters at 16-17yo. I know i wasn't worldly enough to have a balanced opinion then, though i imagine theres plenty over 18 who still aren't. Who knows, their vote will probably be the decider, and they're the ones who'll live with the impact and outcome - best of luck to them. When i graduated from University my chancellor's speech was basically an apology for her generation screwing up the planet for mine - at least the Scottish kids will have a vote.

[pvr]

As Jimmy says - the financial markets are showing their view on this. The pound is dropping, the shares are dropping from Scottish firms.

It is also very suspicious that the vote has been withheld from Scots that do not live in Scotland. The thinking is clear on that, the Scots that have left Scotland are generally well educated so would generally be "No" voters.