featured_spectre

Happy womb evacuation day Shaun!

If Scotland goes, it can almost be guaranteed that it will not be to their Plan A which is that they will dictate terms on their departure and have automatic entry to EU etc etc. It wont happen. Scotlands fiscal economy will be crippled very quickly as businesses leave in the short term, and even if they set themselves up as a tax haven, it hasn't worked out particularly well for many nations or dependencies. Give it 2 decades and they'd likely want to be back in the union when they realise that they were stronger as a part of the UK. *awaits flaming*

There is also the fact that the entire White Paper for independence and Salmonds argument for independence is based on something over which the SNP can provide no guarantee: a currency union. It has been known for some time now that George Osborne is not too keen on such an arrangement. The Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls has also expressed his opposition to the idea (note that one of these two would be negotiating with the SNP as UK chancellor), as has the Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones, as he has said it would be a detriment to rUK if Scotland had a currency union and fiscal independence. Add to that the ever growing list of academics, economists, Bank of England experts, and industry professionals who say a currency union is unworkable and completely inconsistent with the idea of fiscal independence. What the Experts say. It is obvious why the SNP have not detailed their Plan B very much, deliberately leaving out large portions, and accusing everything that wouldn't go in their way as scaremongering. Doing a detailed plan B suggests the possibility that not only has the possibility of no currency union been seriously considered, but it is largely expected. Not exactly a winning strategy for them. But the Scottish public deserve to know in detail what Plan B is, just like they did with their Plan A. A responsible government must provide detail on not only what it sees as the benefits of its proposal, but also the risks, and how these risks would be managed or mitigated. It must cover all the angles and give well researched facts to the electorate so that an informed decision can be made. Nationalists like to accuse anyone who disagrees with them of scaremongering. But to ignore the realities that would face an independent Scotland is something much worse. It is not only ignorance, it is fraud. Scotland deserves much better than what they have been given as an option.

Also...At the heart of the SNP's case for independence is membership of the European Union. Now there is yet another uncertainty about Scotland's potential future in Europe. Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo, the Spanish Foreign Affairs Minister, said a separate Scotland "would have to get in line and secure unanimous support" before being accepted as a member. And securing that "unanimous support" could be problematic. Spain is resisting Kosovo’s application to the EU and constantly denying entry, partly because they fear an easy path to EU membership would encourage separatist movements in Basque and Catalonia. There is no automatic guarantee they would not behave in the same way towards Scotland, particularly if Scotland was not cooperative in the negotiations. But there is also the matter of a potential veto from rUK. While rUK and Scotland would want to become good neighbours, there is the small matter of Trident. The SNP are opposed to nuclear weapons (a somewhat ironic position given they are in favour of NATO), and given that they would be a negotiating party they would advocate Trident's removal from Faslane. But in any potential negotiations the SNP are forgetting something: when they say "jump" rUK is not going to ask "how high." In other words, just because the SNP want Trident removed it does not mean that rUK would agree, and potentially a deal may be struck where rUK leases Faslane base from Scotland to keep trident where it is. As Dr Phillips O'Brien from Glasgow University suggested, it is very possible that an independent Scotland would be obliged to keep Trident at Faslane until rUK found a new base in either England or Wales (there is nowhere suitable in Northern Ireland). If Scotland did not agree, then rUK could quite easily veto Scotland's attempt at joining the European Union. Advocates of separation would dismiss this scenario as scaremongering. But what they should remember is that Scotland needs the EU more than the EU needs Scotland, and as a consequence it is the EU member states that would have leverage in any negotiations, not the other way around. This is yet another illustration of just how much uncertainty separation would create and Alex Salmond sticking his fingers in his ears screaming that rUK is a big bully.

No matter how much it may hurt them, the SNP cannot set the UK's borders - only the UK parliament can do that. At present there is no distinction between "Scottish" or "English" waters, they are British waters. And until such times as Scotland or England legally separate from the other they always will be. The SNP like to draw an east-west line through Berwick on Tweed, which puts the vast majority of North Sea oil in Scotland. But in 1999 Westminster changed the boundary to follow the Tweed in a north-easterly direction, going along with the current border across England and Scotland, putting closer to 50% of the reserves in Scotland. Now if Scotland voted to leave the UK today all it means is that the Scottish parliament has the right to start negotiations with Westminster about leaving the UK. The boundary would be part of those negotiations. Only after setting the boundary would international law apply for allocating revenues, not before. Westminster could have a strong case for claiming up to half of the oil reserves. The remaining question would be what happens to the Orkney and Shetland islands if they decided to remain in the UK - something which the SNP MP Angus MacNeil has said would be accepted. If they decided to stay in the UK then they would be seen as detached islands of the UK mainland (so oil revenues from the Northern Isles would still flow to the UK Treasury), and another new boundary would need to be set. As a consequence of all these issues, the SNP cannot guarantee in any shape or form that a separate Scottish state would have 90+% of North Sea oil. It would be legal matter which could eventually be referred to an international court. The statistic therefore loses its credibility

He turned it down because he knows that they hold a large chunk of the oil and gas reserves in their territorial waters which would mean Scotland loses out on the revenues.

This opens up a whole can of worms...Several northern Italian states want to go for independence, As do several Spanish states. Germany is also having a bit of internal strife, with Bavaria looking to become its own nation also. The outcome from todays vote will alter the face of Europe, as it opens the door for anyone that wants to secede from their respective nation an option to pursue this.

tired from workout that work gave me (shifting 50 PCs down 2 flights of stairs was not fun) then shifting it from the ground floor to the van for collection. Add in that last night I did some swimming and weights, and this morning I did an hour in the gym doing cardio...I am bushwacked!

I meant the current itterations of the phones, not the new unreleased ones. Even then, I doubt they'd keep up with my phone. The 5s playing injustice gods among us goes from a 100% battery to 30% battery in 45 minutes, and goes to a 10% battery around an hour. My xperia Z ultra (way bigger screen btw, so has to use more power), goes from 100% to 30% in a little over an hour, and to 10% in around 80 minutes.

I've gone off samsung. I had the galaxy note, whilst it was lovely to use, it was bogged down with samsung bloatware which I just couldn't be dealing with. I also had issues with the feel of the phone. Moving to Sony, yes they have a bit of bloatware, but its stuff I actually use, like the music player, the tie in to PSN and such like. As for iOS, I am intrigued by the new desktop version (Yosemite) and that looks like one I may use for a hackintosh, but otherwise, I will steer clear of the phones. They're just not big enough, and the batteries last nowhere near as long as my Sony one (playing the same games or browsing the same sites).

yes but I'd have no washing machine left if a 3310 was placed in there.

The only true waterproof phone that I've come across is the Sony Xperia range. No other phone stands up to the rigours of a washing machine and lives to tell the tale!

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What people dont realise is that bats are incredible accurate in flight. They'll rarely hit you, you may get a small clip, but they'll never deliberately hit you unless you're covered in bugs they like.

not sure on network wide without replacing all of the normal.dot files.

load up your normal.dot file, press ALT+F11, paste the code into the VB, save it, restart word. Enjoy.

Mr Wayne: They use sonar?...a bit like... Lucius Fox: A submarine Mr Wayne!

No, because it isn't as concentrated as pepper spray commercially available. It still hurts, but isn't as potent. Plus it would be in an atomiser, not in a direct spray.

Make your own...the juice from a habanero in an atomiser is pretty effective at neutralising people. It gives a burning sensation wherever it touches.

You probably will as the restrictions in the US are worse than here...so good luck!

Glad I could provide amusement for you! haha

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That is a massive valuation, but that said, they're one of the most successful games on the market. They've sold 54m copies of minecraft over all platforms, and the number is increasing. Not to mention they have made massive sales from the DLC on the xbox and playstation platforms, and the customisations available. They also make a fortune on the servers for the game. In short, they're exceedingly lucrative, and MS buying them now, was a bargain as they could have gone for much much more.

I just packaged up a utility tool to send off to woodcutter. So I have a rough cylinder wrapped in copious brown tape in hand. Wandered into my local Post Office where the usual lady was training a lad as Holiday cover. This lady and I have danced the dance before and so I don't usually get asked awkward questions now but today she was back to the rule book. "Now you have to ask him what's in the parcel" "Nothing on the restricted or prohibited list" says I ( well rehearsed) "I have to ask you what it is!" "No you don't. You can't ask me that but you need to know it's not restricted or prohibited" "I need to know what it is" "Ok. It's a Sex Aid" "Is it powered by lithium batteries" "No, by fairy dust" "That will be £3.90, second class recorded" "Thank you very much" By which point there were people around me almost incontinent with laughter.

Is the twist relating to nipple clamps? If so...I'm in!