Corranga wrote:
They have included 16 / 17 year olds who on the whole, don't have a clue to up votes.
On the whole they are no more or less stupid than the rest of us (by definition). Having discussed the issue with a couple of our teenage acquaintances I would suggest that they are more able to discuss it sensibly than many. For every 16/17 year old ned, I can find you a similarly idiotic adult - probably wearing a football strip and chanting some sectarian nonsense
I suspect Mr Osborne has made either a tactical error or pulled a blinder in being so vocal about the pound - and I cannot work out whose plan it is/was:
(1) Was it the (secret) plan of the SNP all along to back the currency union such that he would have to reject it and thus look arrogant (and be made to eat his words in the event of independence as surely they won't want a substantial quantity of pounds to be out side of their control and realistically independent Scotland would use the pound with or without formal currency union as there is not much other choice. His arrogance makes me cross, and I am a No voter - I hate to think on the impact on the undecided.
(2) Was it the (secret) plan of the Conservatives all along to reach this point because secretly they want Scotland to piss off and they quite like the idea of fewer (Scottish) labour MPs and the Scottish banks having no lender of last resort (though of course that is dumb, because there are no Scottish banks - they are owned by HM gov and the big institutional investors the world over - that one will backfire I suspect!). So they can be overtly unionist whilst pushing the unloved Scottish cousins away.
(3) Are they actually stupid and think that it is a gamble worth taking - hope the fear factor outweighs the outrage factor and sways voters to vote No? Surely people that have only small amounts of liquid cash won't be too fearted ((c) Robin, 2014 - you heard it here first); those with big deposits would get advice on how to mitigate the risk of there not being a viable currency union (and just leave their mega pounds in a rUK bank ... perhaps hiding it from Scottish Revenue & Customs along the way). The rest of us assume that one way or another shops will sell sh*t and we will buy it ... using drogma or pounds or, worst case, chicken heads!
(4) Do they subconsciously associate "Plan B" with "(I always) stay too long" ... i.e. please leave!
If it were me campaigning (honestly) for the better togethers I would avoid the whole economic debate. I would argue it's impossible to say whether you'll be better off or worse off but chances are it won't make that much difference, really. The real debate should be about whether or not the stability of being part of a larger entity is outweighed by the opportunities afforded a smaller one. Similarly are the risks of being small better than the burden of being part of the larger system. You could almost toss a coin to answer that. But why stop at splitting Scotland from UK - why not split Fife from the Lothians, etc., etc. At what point do you stop, and why?
Cheers,
Robin
