Stewart

An interesting article appeared (that confirms rumours around Scotland for years) in an anti-independence Scottish Paper.

A former LABOUR MP for Ayrshire admits that he knew the MOD stopped BP drilling new oil wells in the 1980's.

This would have created a SECOND oil boom in Scotland and made the West of Scotland a booming economy.

Instead we have higher unemployment and less opportunities.

From the paper article;

"Retired Labour politician David Lambie has said oil exploration work in the Firth of Clyde was stopped during the 1980s because of fears it would interfere with a vital training and exercise area for nuclear submarines."

http://www.sundaypost.com/news-views/scotland/did-...

The good news is that the oil is still there and can be exploited by a Scottish State owned oil company (along the lines of Norway's STATOIL) after independence.

Denis Healey -former UK (Labour) Chancellor has openly admitted that Scotland can survive 'perfectly well' without Westminster.

He was interviewed in Holyrood Magazine and said the UK (Westminster) governments

“I think we did underplay the value of the oil to the country because of the threat of nationalism but that was mainly down to Thatcher.

Link to article;

http://www.holyrood.com/2013/05/westminster-fears-...

Further info;

This also ties in with the McCrone Report 1974 (the hiding of Scotland's true oil revenues by a Labour UK government)

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/...

The Daily Record had a bit in an article about the WingsOverScotland blog site who commissioned an opinion poll

So, to the question(s)

1. Is the debate in Scotland being manipulated by the 'mainstream' media?

2. Can there only be a 2% difference between YES and NO, this far away from the referendum?

The poll showed the gap between Yes and No to an independent Scotland was narrower than previously thought – with 36 per cent No, 34 per cent Yes and 30 per cent undecided. Since people are more likely to vote Yes when they are well informed, that does not look good for the anti-independence parties

Daily Record

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/joan-mc...

Wings Over Scotland- poll debate on the BBC (oh wait there wasn't)

http://wingsoverscotland.com/tiny-cracks-in-the-si...

Holyrood Magazine ran a story about a detailed interview with former Labour Chancellor (Lord Dennis Healey).

The story raises a couple of issues from someone in the know and (no surprise) this has had no air on the BBC (Biased Broadcasting Corporation)

The points raised:

He says that the value of oil to the UK is a prime motivation behind Westminster’s opposition to independence now and in the 1970s

“I think we did underplay the value of the oil to the country because of the threat of nationalism but that was mainly down to Thatcher

“I think there are a lot of problems connected with it that haven’t been faced up to, either by Salmond or by the British and they are mainly to do with oil and the income it provides and yes, I think they [Westminster politicians] are concerned about Scotland taking the oil, I think they are worried stiff about it.

Was this less news worthy than the UK government (predictably) saying Scottish Independence would be bad?

There was a youtube video released this week about 'debunking' the arguments against Scottish independence.

The NO campaign (Better Together) had it removed more than once from youtube due to copyright issues- it has not been removed yet.

Is is fair that the unionists control the media and try to censor the argument on the internet?

Discuss

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDrqamBHqLg&feature...

As I like to peek about the internet a bit I stumbled on the Pro-UK site http://www.noscotland.net/

I like to see how the opposition think and they had a poll asking

"Should Scotland leave the United Kingdom?"

The answers were

No 15.14% (756 votes)

Yes 84.86% (4,236 votes)

Total Votes: 4,992

As some of you may know by my other posts I am pro Scottish independence, but to find this gem on a pro-UK site made me chuckle

Discuss.

http://www.noscotland.net/

I have just watched a Newsnight Scotland debate on the Scottish independence question and was very impressed by the standard of the debate.

Quite a few of the audience (mainly made up from minority groups) commented on independence;

One chap from Poland (I think) stated that Scotland staying inside the EU was of paramount importance to him.

He had decided to vote for independence and this was a direct result of David Cameron's EU referendum decision

The general consensus was that Scotland was better inside the EU and only a yes vote for independence would suffice.

It has been widely trailed that Scotland 'canny afford' independence.

Now the MOD CONFIRM that Scotland pays around £1.5 Bn more per year than is spent in Scotland

It has also been widely trailed by pro-independence politicians that Scotland contributes more to defence than they have spent in Scotland.

Now it appears the MOD confirm this !

Scotland has received £7.4 billion less than it's population share of defence spending over the last ten years, a freedom of information request has revealed.

http://www.newsnetscotland.com/index.php/scottish-...