Friday 19 September 2014

It's a NO, Scotland remains part of the UK.

The majority of Scotland has voted 'no' for "independence".

Dundee City, Glasgow, North Lanarkshire and West Dunbartonshire all had a majority of 'yes' voters, but the majority of the rest of Scotland voting 'no'. (source BBC)

I think they've made the right choice for their country. In my opinion they kind of rushed into things with having the referendum now. The Scottish parliament has only existed since 1999, 15 years is nothing really.

It will be interesting to see how the 'yes' campaigners like Salmond reacts to this outcome. It will also be interesting to see how the relationship between Scotland and the rest of the UK (rUK) will be now, and whether Scotland gets any more power in any way.

It would have been interesting to see what would have happened in the case of a 'yes' vote, both with Scotland and the rUK. But who knows, maybe they'll try again in a few decades and who knows what will happen then.


Wednesday 17 September 2014

Interested in politics for the first time ever

Tomorrow, the people of Scotland will be voting on wether they want to be independent from the rest of the UK (rUK) or not. I've been hearing about this for a while, but it wasn't until a few days ago that I realised it's actually quite interesting. Just think about it. If Scotland does become independent we will be witnessing an important part of political history.

I remembered a course had been advertised on Future Learn about understanding the referendum a while back. When I first saw it I had just thought "not really bothered, nothing to do with me". However, I am very happy this course is still open now that I have developed an interest, it's open for another 2 weeks if anybody is interested in joining. I only signed up for it yesterday, but I have already managed to finish the 4 weeks of course material that is open.

It has been really interesting to learn a little bit more about Scotland's political history and why they want the referendum.

Scotland say they want independence, but they just want an independent parliament. They still want the Queen as head of state. To me, that's not really independence. Independence is having your own king/queen/president/whatever as well as the rest of the government.

What I think is a shame is that only people living in Scotland is eligible to vote, Scots living outside Scotland doesn't have a say.

What has surprised me the most isn't really what's on the course though, it's what people on the course would vote. Every week there has been a poll, where the students can say what they would vote if they were able to. With being late to join I've only done one poll. The results through the weeks has surprised me though. The people voting yes for independence has actually increased! After going through the course material as well as the statements of the two different sides I am surprised anyone would still vote yes. But, everyone is different and that's what makes the world an interesting place.

The vote is tomorrow, and I am really looking forward to find out the result. In a way I'm not too bothered which way it goes. I think it would be best for both parts to stay in a union, but at the same time it would be interesting to se how it goes if Scotland does get independence. Whichever way it goes it will be close and there will be a lot of disappointed people.

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