FREEDOM!!!! [3]

Local councils run stuff like education, refuse, housing, planning, roads, sanitation, stuff like that.
But they get their budget from central government.

There are local council elections for local councillors.


As of 2013 there are 13 Mayors in England and Wales- a Tory idea borrowed from the US (they also tried and failed to go for Police Chiefs, like local Sherriffs, but no one wanted them!) but voting turnout for Mayoral elections was abysmal to say the least.

Scotland has no Mayors. Not our style.

"no idea. havent lived there for 20 years."- Mrs Figg

I thought you might still have been in touch with folks there.

Its the Anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn- 700 years ago and there is massive re-enactment going on and other events marking it.

'Thousands of people have turned out for a weekend of re-enactments and historical re-creations at the site of the Battle of Bannockburn.
Hundreds of actors are recreating the 1314 battle three times a day throughout Bannockburn Live.

The event is being held at the site of the decisive conflict, where Robert the Bruce defeated the forces of Edward II.
Musicians, poets and comedians are to perform over two days, with more than 40 clans gathering for the occasion.
A number of attractions and events are on hand in addition to the "brutally realistic" battle re-creations choreographed by Clanranald, who worked on Hollywood blockbusters including Gladiator and Robin Hood.
Visitors get to see weapons and armour being forged by a blacksmith, and see men treated in hospital as they are carried off the battlefield.
A genealogy exhibition lets people trace their ancestral roots, while the music arena features folk and Celtic stars including Julie Fowlis and Dougie MacLean.

The Battle of Bannockburn was fought on 23 and 24 June, 1314, when Edward II marched his armies north in a bid to lift the siege of Stirling Castle.

Robert the Bruce led an outnumbered Scottish force to a decisive victory which sealed Scotland's political independence and confirmed his kingship - although it took another 14 years of fighting for the Bruce's throne in an independent Scotland to be recognised.'- BBC

The Bruce himself!-



Lots of fighting-

Looks like the Society for Creative Anachronism that we have here.

Every few years two bordering regions have a war...and the loser gets Pittsburg.   

I like re-enactments! great fun   I dont give a hoot for who's the 'baddie' or who's the 'goodie', just like being there  

Was just reading that bit back from the BBC site and it occurred to me that I am not sure this bit-

' and see men treated in hospital as they are carried off the battlefield.'

Is actually referring to enactment.

I am put in mind of when they shot the clan battle between the Macleods and Frasers for Highlander-

'While filming in Glencoe the medical team were kept busy in the afternoons. After a liquid (read buckie!) lunch many of the hundreds of local Scottish extras got a bit too enthusiastic during the battle scenes with many injuries resulting.'- Highlander behind the scenes.

Historical reenactments are cool. For better or worse, the vast majority of reenactors here focus on the American Civil War, but there is (was?) this big collection of military reenactors from the Stone Age to Vietnam who gather together not that far from where I love and it's always a blast to visit there and see all their stuff. They do battle recreations in addition to talking to visitors in their camps. The medieval and early modern ones were probably my favorites.

Are there by any chance videos from the Bannockburn events? That would be pretty cool to see in motion.

Haven't watched it yet but one for you Petty.

Pettytyrant101 wrote:

"no idea. havent lived there for 20 years."- Mrs Figg

I thought you might still have been in touch with folks there.

I am. but we talk about interesting stuff like shoes.

Mrs Figg wrote:

I am. but we talk about interesting stuff like shoes.

Oh do tell! What's the latest in farm boots over there?  

 

Thanks Petty!

Glasgow- its the central battle ground for independence- whoever wins Glasgow will almost certainly win- at it is staunchly, and traditionally Labour.
But there are a lot of unhappy Scottish Labour voters out there and they have been switching, not to the SNP but to voting YES.

Dave's finally tuned response to this- bribe the entire city and surrounds!

'Glasgow and its surrounding area are to benefit from more than £1bn of investment.
Prime Minister David Cameron said the money from the City Deals scheme would help pay for roads, bus services, employment programmes and an airport rail link.'

Not that you would know it form listening to Cameron but the UK government is only putting half that cash, the Scottish Government is paying for the other half, the Westminster half is funded from the 'City Deal' scheme which has already been running in Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool.

I guess Dave told them to hold off on any Scottish cities getting aid from this fund until it was emergency time in the referendum and he needed a bribe in his back pocket.

Sadly once you read the fine print you see its only 15 million per year and even that is under review after five years (which if we vote no is when it will stop!).
The Scottish Government by comparison has already invested £1.5bn capital spend and another £1.1bn in capital funding to the Glasgow City council since 2008.

So Daves sound bite seems well and good, but as always with 'call me Dave' the fine print tells a different tale altogether.

Reading that post I kept thinking you must be angry at Dave for chasing you out of his fields or something.  

Edit: on topic, Cameron isn't doing much for the reputation of politicians for being sneaky and opportunistic.

Eldorion wrote:Reading that post I kept thinking you must be angry at Dave for chasing you out of his fields or something.  

If Petty doesn't like dealing with me, I'll see if I can borrow Huan from Tin for a while.   

Now! Now! There is no need for that sort of talk     bad enough that mutt will be at my picnic, but how do you refuse a Queen without loosing access to her buckie cellar (and no thats not a euphemism   )

Besides Ive never seen your berries bigger or a prettier shade David.   (Cranberry juice is meant to be yellow isnt it?)

Yet again we have a tale of two camps, and which you believe.

This time the contention is over scientific research and funding-

'Medical and scientific research across the UK would suffer if Scotland votes for independence, according to the heads of three academic institutions.
The claim was made by the presidents of the Royal Society, the British Academy and the Academy of Medical Sciences.
In a joint letter to The Times newspaper, the three academics also claimed that maintaining existing levels of research in Scotland would cost Scottish taxpayers more should the country leave the UK.
They wrote: "Scotland has long done particularly well through its access to UK research funding.
"If it turns out that an independent Scotland has to form its own science and research budget, maintaining these levels of research spending would cost the Scottish taxpayer significantly more."
They went on to state that the strong links and collaborations which exist across the UK "would be put at risk", with any new system aiming to restore these links "likely to be expensive and bureaucratic".
The presidents wrote: "We believe that if separation were to occur, research not only in Scotland but also the rest of the UK would suffer.- BBC

However there is quite a strong grass roots YES support among Scottish academics and universities, and they say-

Professor Bryan MacGregor from the University of Aberdeen, said: "On the one hand, we have the UK and England contexts of cuts in research and science funding, high student fees with unsustainable loan funding, an immigration policy that is preventing and deterring international student recruitment and the possibility of an exit from the EU and its research funding.
"And, on the other, we have a Scottish government committed to funding research, to free access to universities for residents and to attracting international students.
"People may be unaware of the existing scope of international collaboration in the funding of research, not least between the UK and Ireland which have a number of agreements through the research councils, as does the UK and several other countries. And other countries do likewise.
"The European Research Council allocates billions of Euros according to quality of the research, and there are international collaborations such as CERN. Scottish independence would not make any difference to such activities."


It all comes down to who you believe- I am more inclined to believe the people in Scottish universities, if only because its their livelihood and research grants that would be at risk if they are at risk, and I've never heard of a scientist who will come out in favour of anything which would jeopardise their funding!
And the three instituitions on the NO side-  Royal Society, the British Academy and the Academy of Medical Sciences - all have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo.

Back to europe and the question of if Scotland would retain its membership or if Europe would cast us adrift as the UK government maintains and it would take years to get back in.

The latest voice to enter the debate is Prof Douglas-Scott, professor of European law and human rights at Oxford, and author of a highly regarded book on EU constitutional law.

'She said: "Despite assertions to the contrary from UK lawyers, EU lawyers and EU officials, any future independent Scotland's EU membership should be assured, and its transition from EU membership (as a) part of the UK, to EU membership (as an) independent Scotland relatively smooth and straightforward."
"This would be a form of internal enlargement for the EU, and in this way, Scotland's uninterrupted membership of the EU could be preserved."
She said EU law characteristically takes a "pragmatic and purposive approach" to pressing issues that are not dealt with by specific treaty provisions.
She added: "There was no explicit provision in the treaties capable of dealing with the situation of German unification in the 1990s. But the (then) EEC Institutions responded to this event in a pragmatic and expedient manner, enabling a united Germany to become a member of the EU without long drawn out negotiations, accession proceedings or legal wranglings." -BBC

Typically though Better Together have decided in response to yet again just stick their fingers in their ears and stick to their own unfounded ludicrous position-

'A Better Together spokesperson said it was "clear" that if Scotland left the UK then it would need to reapply to join the EU.' - BBC

A mainly unbiased documentary on independence- from the BBC!!!!
It'll prob disappear quick form youtube though as it was only broadcast two nights ago.

Good stuff Petty ! I wanted to watch this & characteristically forgot !  

There has for the past month or so been a nasty smearing going on by the NO campaign- it started when they took advantage of some idiots posting unjustifiable abuse to Rowling when she came out against a YES vote (4 days continual press coverage- Salmond gets death threats from NO campaigners that end up in court, foot note on the news pages for one day)- since then they have been peddling a line that the SNP have been threatening businesses who want to speak out against YES, despite there being no evidence of this, and in fact the opposite- business has been very vocal throughout.

But peddle a lie for long enough and people start to believe it.
It came to a head on the channel 4 dispatches program where the former chief executive of the Scotch Whisky Association  accused the SNP of attempting to "neuter" business opinion.
In particular the whisky industry.

Since then Mr Hewitt has had connections to Better Together revealed, and the current head of the Scotch Whisky Association has come out saying-

"I have had vigorous discussions with all sides of the debate, whether it's the UK government, the Scottish government, or political organisations. All sides have forcefully made their case to us about how this debate impacts Scotch Whisky, but those conversations have always been constructive.
Admittedly, sometimes they have been "frank and constructive", as diplomats say, but I have certainly never considered any of them to go beyond the bounds of what is reasonable."
He added: "Has the Scotch Whisky Association been pressed into silence in public? Absolutely not, and no-one has suggested to me that we should be.
Despite the strong feelings on either side of the debate, we have felt able to participate in what we regard as a constructive manner."- BBC

This is how Westminster will lose this referendum if they keep at this - smears, lies, scaremongering and no positive message for the future within the Union.

Anyone in the UK watch tonight's QT?

Quite interesting one as it was a QT first- it was from Scotland (that wasn't the QT first !) but the panel for the first time ever had no politicians, it had an equal spread of Yes and No folks, but none of them part of any of the official campaigns.

Mainly good questions and comments too from the audience- and got to love the Highland Unionist- man's got passion at least!

Guessing thats a no then!

Heres' the passionate Highlander, making his case for the Union from the bottom of his boots to the hairs atop his head-

Much dislike around for the Sottish Commonwealth teamoutfits, not sure what they expected when the designer (thats her on the left) appears to model her own look on the Mad Hatter.
Theres even a petition to change it before the games start- it does rather look like she got the fabric from someone's curtains, in the 1970's-



Although my favourite response to the outfits has been from one of the Games major Scottish advertisers,  the soft drink Irn Bru, they have  billboards bearing the slogan - "We will dress like numpties"

(you can take your pick as to which meaning of numpty they are using- a) Someone who (sometimes unwittingly) by speech or action demonstrates a lack of knowledge or misconception of a particular subject or situation to the amusement of others. b) A good humoured admonition, a term of endearment. c) A reckless, absent minded or unwise person )