JJ

So. Patronised by English people. Milliband is backing out of the mystery box devolution. And Salmond resigns. When I'm most surprised at Salmond resigning, then it says it all.

Still can't sleep so let's go through this shit. 1. The Work programme is the biggest colossal waste of money going. A truly wretched programme. 2. All for it if we can renationalise the rail service. Best thing on this whole list. 3. Part of the 2012 Scotland Act, so hardly new. 4. Useful, and we asked for this 3 years ago and it was rejected. Nice to see they've changed their minds. 5. All for this. 6. A barefaced lie that is nigh on impossible to implement as it won't be removed from Universal Credit. 7. Makes absolutely no difference whatsoever. Same programme is used in the UK, and thus in Scotland already. 8. Strangely, the devolution document that specifies this says itself that it's pretty much useless. 9. I like this, but I don't see why it necessarily has to be devolved. Holyrood could (and should have already in fairness) created this themselves. 10. Amazed it's taken 15 years to do this. The fact that the parliament could have been abolished in a moments notice by the House of Lords is shocking. 11. We have this already. We used it yesterday and we've used it since 2003 in Scottish elections. 12. The big one that really depends on the Barnett Formula actually being kept in place. If it's kept on, then this can be a good thing. If it's scrapped, then this would end up costing Scotland billions and be robbery disguised as a gift. Even a good few Labour MPs (who's party proposed this policy) have come out and said this is a disastrous policy. If this is the best they can do, then I'm even more miserable than I was a few hours ago.

I think it's pretty fair to ask for specifics considering they essentially broke purdah to change their stance on the Barnett Formula and make all these promises that back benchers are cobbling together with glee to vote against. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what the mystery box holds. I truly hope it's worth it. I'll get really tired of saying "I told you so" about this issue. There was a lot of talk of a Federal UK in the TV coverage. Would be very interesting to see if that gains any momentum. Anyway, I've been awake for over a day and I'm too gutted to really carry this on any longer.

Disappointing result. Funny that Cameron's first pledge was to resolve the West Lothian question, essentially taking power away from Scotland. Must say, I actually agree with that sentiment, but to be so brazen about it first thing in the morning was a testiment to the fact we're gonna get none of this "jam tomorrow" that was cobbled together as a panic move to force a No vote. I respect the decision. I just hope my fellow Scots reserve my right to say "I told you so" when we get bugger all for this.

It's not gonna happen tonight, and it's going to go down as one of those classic Scottish "glorious failures" in a few years time.

The idea is that a No vote will take the referendum off the table "for a generation." I guess we'll see. This is indeed the SNP's one moment, but I honestly feel that the only thing that will truly diminish them is a Yes vote. A Yes, and they lose their raison d'etre. They're a directionless party. While there will indeed be a backlash against the SNP from the No voters, the truth is, they've actually done a good job governing Scotland in Holyrood. But I do know there's a fair handful of people in the SNP (including 1 or 2 current MSP's) who will quit the party if there's a Yes vote due to the fact that Scottish independence was their one reason for joining the party.

This is how I feel really. It's going to be close (still think No will win to be honest) but the desire is there for it and it's strong. Westminster with their vague promises of more powers will inevitably cause a backlash when they fail to deliver and treat Scotland with the same contempt they've treated everyone north of the Watford gap for years. When they do go back to their usual ways, there will be a bigger push for independence than there is now. My honest prediction is that we'll vote No tomorrow (probably 52%-48%), then we'll revisit it in about 20 years and vote Yes reasonably comfortably, leaving people like me spending the next 20 years saying "see, we told you so."

Sounds like George Osbourne's austerity programme.

Because of Black Wednesday in the early 90's and the withdrawal of sterling from ERM II, Scotland essentially can't use the Euro. Your currency needs to be linked to ERM II and have a stable currency rate for 2 years before you can join the Euro. Sweden fail this on purpose so they don't have to join the Euro. Countries like Sweden and Poland use it as a loophole so as not to join the Euro. The only way Scotland legally could use the Euro would be if they used it in a form of "sterlingisation." If we're doing that with the Euro, it would make more sense to do that with the pound.

Latest poll has it 51%-49% in favour of No. I'm still not confident, but it's going to go to the wire.

I may have to hire a rickshaw to go to the polling station next Thursday.

This is fucking outstanding.

Aye I saw that a couple of days ago. Was superb

If Cameron gets hounded out, it's essentially a transitional government. Tories love sentiment. They'd see it as a nice send off.

I actually think it would be William Hague in the interim, which admittedly wouldn't be great, but certainly better than Boris.

If Scotland votes yes, Cameron will likely be hounded out by his own party by the end of the month. There's a small incentive for the rest of the UK to support our cause.

I would have replied to ClubSpinDoctor, but I couldn't have said it much better than this.

1. I think that Standard Life who have been the favoured scaremongerers of the No campaign, aren't as likely to up and leave as many think. They're currently spending £75 million extending their offices in Edinburgh, which seems a weird thing to do. The plans were completed in February 2014 and construction will finish in 2016, so it's not as if they didn't know what could happen. I'm not saying they won't leave. I'm just saying most businesses wouldn't leave a headquarters they're currently in the process of renovating. There will still be a financial sector in Edinburgh, so 5,000 jobs is a bit of an extreme number. Maybe the headquarters will relocate, but it's not as if the business will close. I know it's unfair to compare the two situations, but we were told in 1979 only being part of the United Kingdom could save the 35,000 jobs in shipbuilding. 24,000 of them lost their job during Thatcher's term. That number is now down to 8,000 and dropping. If they do carry through with their threats it will be much, much less than 5,000 people who lose their job, but we're told that it's a decision for the future by both sides. I would say if you truly believe a Yes vote is best for our kids and our grandkids, sacrificing our future isn't worth it to save some financial sector jobs in the short term. I know that sounds callous, but again it's Standard Life who is holding the Scottish electorate to ransom. They made a similar threat around devolution in 1997, and didn't follow through. I personally think they're bluffing. 2. I've never voted SNP. Used to vote Labour. Now vote Green. If Labour can hold it together for another 20 months (which in fairness they're struggling to do up here), I actually think they'd win the first election in an independent Scotland. Overall the SNP have done a good job in the Scottish government, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if they lost the first election to Labour. I'll be voting for neither mind.

Good lord

It's hard to say what effect this will have. I know some will argue that Standard Life's share price going down is due to the uncertainty they've perpetrated themselves by claiming they'll move south if we vote Yes. At the moment (and we have no way of knowing this for sure) the don't knows have apparently, according to polling agents, been choosing Yes over No at a 2:1 rate. There's more of a growing opinion over the past couple of days here that the drop of the pound is mere proof that a currency union is the right way to go for both parties, in which case it would help Yes. I actually agree with you in the sense that it shouldn't have that effect, but that seems to be the feedback thus far. One of the problems the No campaign is having is that it's driven away a lot of undecideds with their constant scaremongering, that even in a situation where people should be listening, then they just simply refuse. We'll see. It's getting really close.

Haha I thought you mean the general royal family talking over the weekend. Just found out that Kate is pregnant again. Ach well.

They've been good at shooting themselves in the foot. I joked that secretly they'd like us to leave, as every time we get some momentum, someone like Nigel Farage or David Cameron pipes up, which is only going to hinder rather than help their cause.

http://yougov.co.uk/news/2014/09/06/latest-scottish-referendum-poll-yes-lead/ For the first time, we're ahead in a poll.

We'll be using the pound. Whether it's in a currency union or not will be what's decided. I'm pretty sure the statement that there will be no currency union was a political move that will be reviewed if we do vote Yes. Not that I'm necessarily saying they'll definitely agree to a union, but I think there's a decent chance. And yeah, in the event of a currency union, that would leave the guarantor bank as the BoE. The rhetoric that in this situation "it's not full independence" is the type of thing I'd expect from a UKIP supporter to be honest. It would be like saying Germany and France aren't independent countries because they share a currency and lender of last resort. The truth is though, the lender of last resort argument is a bit of a red herring. There are examples of countries without that true lender of last resort like Panama (I use them specifically because the Better Together campaign like to pretend its a third world country) who's economy is extremely secure. Of course it's a risk and I'm not saying it isn't, but it's not a cause of inevitable collapse. I think the pound is the best plan, whether it's a currency union or sterlingisation.

Northumbria would be a great addition to an independent Scotland. And yes, I'm completely aware that that will not happen, nor would the majority in the North East want it to happen. Really good article. I'm pretty sure if Westminster really thought it would get this close they would have had more opposition to the referendum even happening. They assumed we would all fall in line, tow the party line and shut up. They're getting a bit of a shock that support of the Union is eroding, and as I said before, their best hope now is that the Yes side run out of time to gain the necessary support. This referendum has opened many apathetic eyes to the failures of the current system. Whether Scotland could do better is irrelevant in some ways. No-one can predict the future. People are realising that Scotland completely governing itself would automatically mean the people of Scotland are better represented. There are a lot of people like me who are really fed up of blaming Westminster for our problems, and while they know Scotland would make mistakes (as the devolved parliament has at times) it's much better to be responsible for your own mistakes rather than just blaming someone else. The desire for positive change has started, and regardless of whether it's a Yes or a No, that movement isn't going away any time soon. We've seen it the last few years in a big way all over the UK with all the marches against government policies. We're lucky in the sense that we've got a chance to create our own system. I hope we do.