Poundland
Remember when Kirsty Wark ran a whole programme from a tent by the Tweed before the referendum? It was all a bit ‘Land o Kilts’ and included a wonderful sneer about the idea of a Scottish currency, with the memorable line: “Would Scotland create its own currency, the pibroch perhaps?”
So knowing, so culturally aware, yet so unaware of how that came across. Poor Kirsty.
Today Sterling’s the world’s second worst performing currency against the dollar this year, behind only the Nigerian naira.
Remember the Economist’s ‘Skintland’ cover? The magazine’s anti-Scotland edition included placenames such as “Glasgone”, “Edinborrow” and the “Highinterestlands”, followed by an article concluding that independence could leave Scotland as “one of Europe’s vulnerable, marginal economies”. Yikes doesn’t play quite so funny now does it?
Where’s your ‘Arc of Prosperity’ gags the noo?
The pound is tanking because?
What do you expect when currency values are decided by algorithms which base decisions on the utterings of prominent politicians.
House of cards.
The best thing one can do with grammar Nazis is to gather them in your arms, give them a good cuddle and whisper softly, “there their, they’re.
Gloating over the fall in value of our currency serves no purpose what so ever.
Maybe not the gloating part , but it does serve a function – 2014 “only the pound is safe in remaining part of the uk” , No pound sharing for Scotland and so on , Pound stronger in Union… et al.
I’m gloating big time and I hope it gets worse!
I always liked ‘the Groat’ as a currency, perhaps 240 groats to a Scots pound ?
Odd this should pop up, I was just reading
https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/9548/ronnie-morrison-resolution-never-made-it-snp-conference
Come on SNP, we lost the ref. on currency, get with the program !!
I totally agree. The SNP need ringer the currency right before another referendulum. If they don’t. No point In another referendum. We need to get this right. !!!!!!
Why is the MASSIVE issue of the REAL economy never examined by the radical press???? I mean, the British economy and how well it is doing and the value of the Poind Sterling is all down to casino games on the stock exchange and the value of the pond as traded in a god-damned game of gambling dividends!!! The value of the Pound should be tied to the Economic performance of business and manufacturing across the entire economy, not the gambling games of the idle rich. Real economic performance is being ignored across the economy of the U.K and it is being adversely affected by the gambling casino game of the stock exchange players. The July way out of austerity is to have your own currency and state owned central bank. Too many politicians are supine and accept that the debt of austerity must be paid by the public although created by the banks and financial institutions. They will come back to rob us again after their Heist of 2008/9 because every thief who gets away with robbery will rob again. Proper economic planning should take this into account. The unregulated banks and institutions are part of the disease and an antidote is required before they rip us off again as they inevitably will if we sit back and fall into stupid slumber.
The perhaps the devalue is on purpose , to sell off the last British Owned Companies – while looking like Brexit and exports with a lower value are a good thing. However the economists are warning that low pound today means importing costs higher tomorrow , and given that the Uk is import intensive , cars , trucks , oil , food from not just the continent but globally then this is a potential major problem – due to low wages.
So essentially on one hand increased exports , for foreign owned companies , thus on the other haun exports “that” wealth not instead retain it. So much for EU being the problem , well it will be come tarrif creation time sans brexit proper.
The whole concept of a free unregulated financial sector is the reason that our economy is performing so bad, a friend of mine who is struggling to run a startup business made a very poignant comment, there is nothing wrong with the financial model of this business, the only reason that I am struggling is that by the time the bank have creamed off the profit there is nothing left for me to invest, the suits make sure that they get their large bonuses at the expense of business.
Yet we hear govts are funding SME , and credit has never been cheaper – go figure.
I think we make too much of the currency and economic arguments for indy. When we had the oil peak in the 1980’s and 1990’s, most Scots were opposed to indy, despite the fact Scotland then would have been as wealthy as the likes of Norway or Switzerland. In the last few years since the financial crisis and the collapse of state oil income, support for indy has risen dramatically. So this is not purely about economic matters. For most Yes voters I think we would vote Yes again largely irrespective of economic issues. I suspect it is therefore the same with No voters, who would mostly vote No irrespective of the state of the UK economy, and even if the pound falls further; culturally many No voters are ‘programmed’ to think that more or less anything in Scotland would be even worse with indy. This means the issue is more cultural than economic. People either feel more Scottish or feel more British/English, and with the latter heavily influenced (indoctrinated?) by the msm which is constantly focused on its portrayal of the illusion of a ‘great’ ‘Britishness’ agenda (e.g. British bakeoff, menu, villages, sports, war commemorations, etc etc ad infinitum). I have linked this cultural impediment to the issue of language, which is the foundation of culture. More specifically there is a need to teach the Scots to read and write and to be literate in thair ane leid – Scots, as well as in English. This would also help address the cultural ‘cringe’ impediment which is a characteristic of many No voters. The refusal by state authorities to teach our main indigenous language is a breach of our human rights and should be remedied in any event. But, essentially, if we want to change the culture, and moreover if we want to protect and further develop our Scottish culture, we need to begin with sorting out our language.
Hi Alf, I think you put too much importance on the impact of language influencing people’s opinion of independence. If language is so important why have the people of Quebec voted 2 or is it 3 times to remain as a region of Canada when they speak French ? Also why is it that the % of Yes voters increases the younger they are ? I’d argue that the younger the voter in Scotland the less connected to Scottish Language and Culture they are.
Hi Mungo, appreciate your examples and I agree that the language deficit and resulting cultural cringe perhaps affects wir aulder fowk mair, however there is plenty of scientific evidence on how language influences culture and the way we think/what we do/how we vote etc., e.g.:
“There is a unique tie between culture and language. The languages we speak provide us with the words and concepts to describe the world around us, allowing us to verbalize certain values easily. Anything we as a cultural group value will surely have a known and easily understandable term. Being a native speaker of our mother tongue brings with it more than just the ability to communicate, it brings with it the ability to understand why someone thinks and acts as they do. (https://www.languageandculture.com/cultures-languages)
“The Sapir–Whorf hypothesis stated that the way we think and view the world is determined by our language (Anderson & Lightfoot, 2002; Crystal, 1987; Hayes, Ornstein, & Gage, 1987). Culture and language are undeniably intertwined. (http://www.education.com/reference/article/culture-language/)
“New cognitive research suggests that language profoundly influences the way people see the world” (http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703467304575383131592767868)
“Language is more than just a means of communication. It influences our culture and even our thought processes.” (http://anthro.palomar.edu/language/language_5.htm)
“Culture’s greatest impact is on communication, systems and relationships… Culture is more than nationality” (https://www.languageandculture.com/)
Hence, (Scots) language is currently an important (critical?) yet totally unused tool in the independence tool box! A Scots Language Act is surely not beyond even the SNP leadership, though perhaps the cultural cringe is prevalent in that age group more, as you imply.
Thanks for your reply. I’m certainly not against teaching our kids about their language and history…It should be of the highest priority, however i’d like to hope that we had gained our independence well before those kids who take part in your new curriculum get to voting age. I think we’re almost there Alf, we just need one last push and I think the Torys are doing a great job in providing it !
It is now absolutely imperative that iScotland has its own currency.
This is sterling before a baw has even been kicked; the UK is still a member of the EU with free access to 500million customers in 27 member states, the City of London still has its €Euro trading passports.
Can you imagine sterling AFTER Brexit has come into force and England has actually vacated Europe?
The City loses 45% of its turnover when €euro passporting is withdrawn. Frankfurt Paris and Dublin are biding their time to perform the coup de grace.
EU national to be expelled from England and companies compelled to inform the government of any ‘foreigners’ in their employ, while Whitehall is expecting to be granted most favoured trading status.
I expect Sterling will eventually be pegged to parity with soiled toilet paper.
Time for the Smackeroonie!
Seems The MAY has back peddaled on the uniformed officers asking for everyones “papers”.
There in your reply is the reason why the State of London voted to Remain in the EU , its not for the culture , but for the filth lucre.
Again you are right about the lengthening Queue for the Euro Passport , and may even be the single reason why London may just aid the indy II ref , unlike the previous one. Where single office corporations as well as banks can then operate in English Language , shipping near half of the London banking system to Scotland…. But there will be a fight , Germany no doubt being the preferred option , so ideally France may turncoat on Scotland asccension into the EU just to prevent Germany from gaining that upperhand.