http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/08/25/alex-salmond-and-alistair-darling-clash-in-second-scotland-independence-debate_n_5711095.html

My wife and I love the UK, it's our ancestral home. In fact we are looking to buy a house there in the near future so we will hopefully have it paid off by retirement because we want to spend much more time in the UK. Anyway, we try to keep up with what's going on there and I watched the debate last night and was wondering if any arfcommers watched and/or what your thoughts are on the whole referendum.

From what little I know it seems like a bad idea for Scotland but I'm just an outsider looking in. I understand the idea of political freedom, we struggle with that here via states rights vs. federal but it just seems Scotland would have a long road of many struggles ahead of them.

I maybe wrong so please forgive my ignorance but it seemed to me Alistair was making valid logical points and Alex reminded me of many of our politicians that offer "pie in the sky" types of solutions. Sure they sound good but are they feasible and based in reality or just something "feel good" to get votes.

I'd love to hear UK members thoughts on the whole issue.

Thank you!

As I live in England I have no say in this matter. It is for those resident in Scotland to decide which means if you were born in Scotland but don't currently live there you can't vote in the referendum. But any English/Welsh/Irish resident in Scotland will have a vote.

As part of the Act of Union the Scots got more members of parliament per head of population which means they are over represented in the UK Parliament and the UK Government spends more per capita on the Scots than the English.
Remember the Scots had their own independent parliament and following a major financial meltdown they voluntarily joined the Union and the English bailed them out.

My prediction is a very close vote with a small No majority,  followed by more devolved powers to the Scottish Parliament and the "West Lothian" still fudged, other words the worsted of both worlds.  

Secretly I think the Tory party would be happy to an independent Scotland with the loss of so many Scottish Labour party MPs

So does that mean if Scotland goes their own way the UK takes a hard jog to the right?  Would that be good for gun rights or no change?

Unlikely to be any change, certainly no significant change. Probably the best we could hope for would be the re-introduction of .22 rimfire handguns, which the Tories weren't going to ban but the Labour Party did...

You have summarised the situation exactly. Alex Salmond is promising a Socialist Utopia to anyone sufficiently misguided to believe him. He spouts continuously that "Scotland's Oil" will pay for it all, with no explanation of how it will be funded in 30 years time when oil is a memory. He dismisses any questioning or observation that does not comply with his views as scaremongering, bluster and bluffing, responding in this manner to all manner of people from heads of industry, the Chancellor of the UK Exchequer to the President of the EU. The much vaunted Independence White Paper was no more than an electioneering wish list, it contained little of fact and next to no economic discussion or explanation.

Salmond and the SNP are resolute in their intention to eject the Royal Navy Trident submarines from the base at Faslane near Glasgow, with no explanation of how the economic void created by the loss of civilian support jobs, the redeployment of locally based service personnel and their associated spending power will be filled. Sadly the attractions of enhanced welfare handouts appeals to those in receipt, who also have a vote. The decision is finely balanced, at the moment it is anybody's. I hope sense prevails and we get a decisive NO result, however we may well see a Quebec situation where they keep coming back for another try. Professional politicians, they don't give a damn about how much disruption and cost they cause others, they just ride the gravy train as long as possible.

There is a lively and generally well informed discussion on the subject here:

The Stalking Directory

Scotland has resolved to power their green energy-producing windmills with the laughter of healthy Scottish children, to hear them talk.  I've even heard claims from the 'Yes' crowd that they fully expect Glasgow to turn into another Dubai with all the North Sea oil money they're going to be raking in by the trillions.  *Dubai* for fuck's sake.  It's extremely delusional.  

I've seen Scotland close up.  They're live shabbily compared to what I'm used to, and I live pretty far from the life of a highbrow dandy set up in a penthouse apartment on Manhattan's 5th Avenue.  Believe you me.

If their economic claims were the slightest bit based in reality, they'd at least have something to show for themselves already going in the direction of prosperity.  All I saw in Scotland was a bunch of aimless 20-somethings sitting around in pubs at 10am on their third pint on a weekday, apparently unemployed and acting furtively.  Soggy, mossy, foggy, and morose:  The rest of the UK has long been subsidizing young Scots on the dole who are convinced they're entitled to it.   I'm sorry to say it so plainly, but I am highly skeptical that Scotland has the industriousness and ingenuity to do the hard work of turning Scotland around once any 'Yes' referendum passes.  Apparently they think that they're just going to import a shit-zillion Pakistanis to build it all for them, from what I've read on 'Yes' blogsites.  Wow.