Whoa Heidi, don't be too hard on LoneliestGirl and lets keep this pleasant. I could argue that the primary cause of the SNP's success in the Scottish parliament was not so much a wish for independence by the majority as a rejection of Labour in Scotland (the Tories already being a totally busted flush). But I freely admit that I'm not a close student of the nuances of Scottish politics - my purpose in starting this thread was simply to air the question of independence and its implications, since we are likely to be increasingly caught up in it as September draws closer. And then we'll see what the majority really want.
As to current spending by the coalition government, the figures quoted are totally meaningless unless inflation is taken into account. My personal income, stated in today's pounds, is probably several times what it was ten or twenty years ago but in practice I'm certainly not several times better off in real terms. Osborne has my sympathy; he inherited a system in which previous governments had for years been spoon-feeding the electorate with their own, and borrowed, money to the point that more and more was expected as of right without any realistic accountability.
I personally believe that the government should actually be making more stringent cuts (just imagine the squeals). But then I'm one of those old-fashioned people who believes in living within his means - and certainly not in passing on the cost of current extravagances to my children and grandchildren to pay off for me ...
Tony.
PS. One of the reasons why I very much hope that Scotland will vote "no" is the SNP's anxiousness to scrap Trident and thus discard the nuclear deterrent which still keeps us safe after so many years (the invention of the atom bomb being the most life-saving invention of the last century). But that's a whole further discussion!
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