No, that's the worst. It distorts the nations in the northern hemisphere to look much larger than they actually are.
Greenland is 2.17 million square km in area. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire) is 2.34 million square km. You wouldn't guess that from that map, would you?
In fact, Greenland is roughly the same size as Saudi Arabia.
That map is especially bad because it chops off Antarctica which makes the Southern Hemisphere seem even more insignificant.
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There was next to nothing about this in the news (outside Scotland) until the last couple of weeks. This is despite the agreement to hold a legally binding ballot being made back in 2012.
At the time the design of the ballot was being agreed, the SNP proposed three options, the third being 'devo max' (more powers transferred from Westminster to Holyrood). Cameron rejected this out of hand. The result now is there is an all or nothing ballot.
Pretty much throughout the period, the 'No' camp held what appeared to be an unassailable lead. Consequently it seems there has been no preparation whatsoever of what to do if there is a 'Yes' vote. The 'No' camp, while I feel may still prevail - is in utter disarray.
The 'No' camp have largely peddled fear while the 'Yes' camp have been slickly run and have promised opportunity - whether realistic or not is up for conjecture. But the point is, the Westminster political establishment have pretty much mishandled the entire process. And this goes right back to Cameron's initial position where he refused to agree a third choice. What the 'No' camp are now saying is a vote for 'No' is essentially a vote for 'Devo max'. And while the campaign has been running since 2012, they've been saying this since....Sunday.
The UK government is so unpopular that watching on TV, you'd have thought we'd stepped back to 2010. Gordon Brown is now the figurehead (since yesterday) for the 'No' campaign. It is as if Gordon Brown is the PM now. To give you an idea of the level of profile Brown has maintained since he resigned the Labour leadership on 2010, I thought he'd left Parliament altogether.
Yet it is Brown who is setting out or promising what devolution will look like in the event of the decision being 'No'. It is he who is seemingly making up what devolution will look like, along with the timescale for the transition of additional powers to a devolved administration within the UK.
And these promises (there is a distinct lack of detail) that are being made up on the hoof are actually being made after postal voting has already started!
It has been a total mess, with no planning whatsoever on the part of the UK Government on what will happen in the event of a 'Yes' vote.
And it is now very very close according to the polls. That said, a better indication is the betting markets, and here it seems cut and dry that the result of the ballot will be No to independence. http://www.oddschecker.com/politics/...rendum-outcome
I agree with all this.
The whole campaign on both sides has been one of No Plan B.
Westminster has not gotten round to drawing up plans as to what would happen should their plan A--a 'no' outcome--not succeed.
And the SNP has still not come up with a convincing Plan B as to what seems likely to happen if after a 'yes' outcome Westminster and the Bank of England refuse to allow Scotland to use the pound sterling as the currency. Alex Salmond's suggestion that they could create their own Scottish pound tethered to the UK pound (just as say Denmark's krone is tethered to the Euro) would mean that Scotland would have even less influence over its own monetary affairs than it does now. There is also the unresolved issue that the EU currently requires all new applicants to adopt the Euro as a condition of membership.
I don't see how all this uncertainty could lead to anything but bad regardless of which side of the fence you're on.
Also, perhaps I'm cynical, but besides the fact that Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling are Scottish and no one in the Conservative party is, perhaps the reason Brown and Darling have such prominent roles is because if Scotland secedes you will never see another Labour government in Westminster again (at least not without completely redrawing every constituency line in England, Wales and NI). As many people have pointed out, there are more pandas in Scotland than Tory MPs.
It's similar to what would happen if Quebec had left Canada in 1995... all those Liberal seats (or at least non-Tory seats) would be lost and the remaining balance of power in Canada would have shifted to the right. Depending on your political persuasion you might consider this a good or bad thing, but without redrawing constituency lines or reforming the available parties you would only see one colour of government for a very long time which we all know gets stale, uninspired and complacent after a while.
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Wasn't Scotland in fact colonized by Norse before England took control of the Ilses?
I have never been to Scotland, so I don't know if that plays into their national psyche at all, but it doesn't look out of place.
Part of it was for sure. The king of Denmark ended up having to give Shetland and some other territories away to the English when he couldn't pay his daughter's wedding dowry.
Doesn't even look that silly on the map. The distance between Edinburgh and Copenhagen or Oslo isn't much different from the distance from Helsinki to Copenhagen or Oslo.
However, flight prices do not seem to reflect this *grumbles*
Wasn't Scotland in fact colonized by Norse before England took control of the Ilses?
I have never been to Scotland, so I don't know if that plays into their national psyche at all, but it doesn't look out of place.
Quote:
Originally Posted by rubecube
Part of it was for sure. The king of Denmark ended up having to give Shetland and some other territories away to the English when he couldn't pay his daughter's wedding dowry.
Under the Viking king Canute, England was a Norse territory while at the same time Scotland, Wales and Ireland were not. At other times, the reverse was true to varying degrees although I'm not sure the Vikings ever had such a hold on mainland Scotland as they did on England.
Under the Viking king Canute, England was a Norse territory while at the same time Scotland, Wales and Ireland were not. At other times, the reverse was true to varying degrees although I'm not sure the Vikings ever had such a hold on mainland Scotland as they did on England.
They weren't the only ones to have difficulty conquering the Scots.
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This is an easy one for me. Both parents are Scottish as are most of my relatives. It's pretty clear where they stand and it's not having the English look down their noses at them. Independence all the way!!!
North Sea oil is on the decline big time so I imagine Scotland will be a much poorer country than the general population expects...
Well from a Canadian perspective if Scotland votes for Independence and their economy crashes, whenever someone from Quebec brings up separation we have a real for live example.
This is an easy one for me. Both parents are Scottish as are most of my relatives. It's pretty clear where they stand and it's not having the English look down their noses at them. Independence all the way!!!
I didn't understand this until while travelling in England I told this guy I was English, Welsh and Scottish and he gave me this pitying look. Makes me glad I live in Canada.
I didn't understand this until while travelling in England I told this guy I was English, Welsh and Scottish and he gave me this pitying look. Makes me glad I live in Canada.
So you are Canadian then?
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I didn't understand this until while travelling in England I told this guy I was English, Welsh and Scottish and he gave me this pitying look. Makes me glad I live in Canada.
Was it real pity, or the kind of playful faux-pity that an Albertan might show to someone who said he was from, say, Toronto or Newfoundland?
My ancestry in English, Scottish and Irish and I can't say I've ever experienced this, and I'm not aware that any of my Scottish or Welsh born and bred friends have experienced this in England but maybe London and the South-east is a bit more cosmopolitan than other parts of England.
This is an easy one for me. Both parents are Scottish as are most of my relatives. It's pretty clear where they stand and it's not having the English look down their noses at them. Independence all the way!!!
So, correct me if I'm wrong, it's a purely emotional decision for them from afar (I assume)?
Or, do they feel that Scotland needs to be an independent country for them to have some form of national identity? Because for me, whenever I meet a Scotsperson I think of them as Scottish first and to be honest rarely entertain the concept of them being British. i.e. If a lot of voting is being done on the basis of national identity I think it won't make much of a difference. The national identity is already there.
Quote:
Standard Life, the pensions and insurance giant, has said it is planning to shift large parts of its business to England in the event of a "Yes" vote in next week's Scottish referendum. The Edinburgh-based FTSE 100 company said that "if there was a need to do so", it would make drastic changes to its business structure to cope with Scotland seceding.
Quote:
The statement is the biggest confirmation yet that major Scottish companies are preparing for a shift south if Scotland votes to secede. Standard Life was the first FTSE 100 company based north of the border to warn of the risks of independence back in February. The company, founded in Edinburgh in 1829, has over 1m shareholders around the world, and 6m customers, managing over £250bn worth of assets, around £100bn of that wrapped up in pensions.
"Standard Life has a long history in Scotland – a heritage of which we are very proud – and we hope that this continues but our responsibility is to protect the interests of our customers, our shareholders, our people and other stakeholders in our business," David Nish, the company's chief executive said.
Alex Salmond has described fears that Standard Life is preparing to leave an independent Scotland as "nonsense" and "scaremongering".
The pensions and insurance giant issued a statement today advising investors that it is "planning for new regulated companies in England to which we could transfer parts of our business if there was a need to do so".
When asked if Standard Life is preparing to pull out of Scotland, Mr Salmond, who was in Edinburgh, said: "I think that is nonsense. On the way here I came past St Andrew Square, and in the corner you will find a substantial new office block being developed. I think it's a £90m development which is being financed by Standard Life Investments.
"That doesn't look like the actions of a company that has any intentions whatsoever of pulling out of Scotland."
Was it real pity, or the kind of playful faux-pity that an Albertan might show to someone who said he was from, say, Toronto or Newfoundland?
My ancestry in English, Scottish and Irish and I can't say I've ever experienced this, and I'm not aware that any of my Scottish or Welsh born and bred friends have experienced this in England but maybe London and the South-east is a bit more cosmopolitan than other parts of England.
I think part of it is that in Europe today, ancestry isn't as important as nationality. Almost everyone is mixed if you look hard enough and in Canada, people are brought up to embrace those mixes. In Europe, no matter what your mix is, most people will identify or "feel" as a particular nationality (to the point of even denying or downplaying what other ethnic mixes there might be).
You may be English, Irish and Scottish; but how do you actually feel when it comes to nationality? If you told an English man all 3, he would probably have trouble understanding that.
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