Very cool, if true

Yup, at this point it's pretty much all spin. But then providing the economics stack up (and that's going to get a lot more numbers produced closer to the time, there's no point debating that now) it just comes down to whether you believe that Scotland is fundamentally different enough socially and politically to the rest of the UK that the government of the UK is not suitable to govern Scotland.

To some people the answer is a clear yes (after all, we wouldn't have a Conservative government up here). To others it's a clear no (because they feel very similar to our English/Welsh/NI brethren).

To some people the idea is just a scary one - and those are the ones that Alex Salmond is more likely to get by placing the referendum later - the more time people have to adjust to an idea the more likely they are to decide it's not as scary as they thought (provided, of course, that Scotland doesn't fuck up the Commonwealth games preparations and show that they're incapable of organising a piss-up in a brewery).

Edited Date: 2012-01-16 01:02 pm (UTC)

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octopoid-horror.livejournal.com

I'm sure after learning from Olympics, the Commonwealth games will go absolutely smoothly. After all, they're in Glasgow, a city that did not take a surprisingly lengthy time to build a parliament or tram line.

At least the Commonwealth games up here might not fail the pollution standards that I'm sure I saw something suggesting the Olympics would.

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I pretty much feel the same at the moment. I'm finding the arguments fascinating but I'm content to be in the middle opinion-wise at this stage - I'm open to being convinced.

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I found the series of television journalist interviewing print journalists over the last week surreal verging on pointless.

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I suspect I’ll take an interest a little sooner as I suspect I’ll end up campaigning and I’d like to do that with more than six months notice this time round.

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Let me guess - you'd like to live in a country where the government was elected using a decent voting system? :->

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Could I? Could I really? Gosh. You're not just teasing me are you now?

Seriously, that's part of my inclination to vote for Independence. It an opportunity to live in a more democratic polity sooner. I think independence for Scotland might be easier to achieve than electoral reform for the UK.

But that’s not the only reason I’m broadly in favour. I think it would take some decent evidence that independence would be economically pretty bad for Scotland before I changed my mind but I’m open to the debate and looking forward to it. I may even try and contribute something to it – once I’m a bit better.

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Yup, that's my inclination too. I'd like to live somewhere with at least a half-decent voting system.

So far as I can tell, everything else will be much the same. And it means I can stop worrying about the idiots at Westminster. Which would make me happy.

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Aye - I'm thinking things will be pretty much the same but with perhaps a little more local focus and access. Perhaps.

We're not going to turn into an oil sheikdom or a renewable energy sheikdom (and if we do things elsewhere are not so good).

So it's a marginal decision in my view. Which is why I think my dad is much less excited about the whole thing than I am - he sees it as a distraction from the real issues.

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We could be a renewable energy haven if we put our minds to it - that's one of the things that could tempt me into voting for independence.

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We could be a renewable energy haven and that would be a good thing for Scotland, Scottish workers and the world generally but I think it will work out differently from the experience places like Saudi Arabia, Qatar or even Norway have had with oil.

I think the costs of renewable energy, relative to the price of energy, are pretty close. Energy prices are mainly determined by the price of gas at the moment and renewable energy costs are pretty close to the wholesale energy price. So there isn’t a whacking great superprofit from renewable energy for a putative Scottish government to take a share of and use to pay for public services, physical captial or invest in a sovereign wealth fund. What they will get is increased taxation from locally based renewables service enterprises and from employees and, I hope, a fall in the welfare bill as employment goes up.

As renewables become cheaper, as the price of gas and carbon goes up and the price of wholesale energy rises and the renewables industry in Scotland takes off it will be very valuable to us providing well paid jobs and a secure source of energy that will encourage industry to locate in Scotland. All good. Not all of the jobs will be in Scotland. Not all of the profits will stay in Scotland. Not all of the value created by the renewables sector will be available for the Scottish Government to tax.

I think it will be a different experience to Norway’s or the Saudis’. I might argue better for us morally to work hard and earn a good living than stumble over a windfall and not have to earn it.

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I thought this was quite cheering:
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/business-news/2012/01/17/alex-salmond-signs-renewable-energy-deal-with-abu-dhabi-based-company-86908-23704211/

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Yes - nice to see some money coming in.

Mazdar is a strange place I think. I'd like to go and see if it really is a giant white elephant, the future of the future or just some place that sort of works like most of the rest of the world.

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Windfalls do not seem to encourage ethical practices, I'm with you on the moral argument.

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Here ya go:
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/business-news/2012/01/17/alex-salmond-signs-renewable-energy-deal-with-abu-dhabi-based-company-86908-23704211/

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Yeah, I spotted this link on your twitter feed after I posted the comment. Hopefully it bodes well, there seem to be lots of things in development, particularly on the tidal/wave power side, that have potential and just need the right investment to carry them forward.

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