oaksoft

We're leaving that sort of talk to No voters.

In fairness I hadn't considered the possibility that Phil's relative might be on the fiddle. If that were the case I'm not surprised he's not publishing details of what she's claiming. But perhaps she's enjoying a genuine windfall of £500 cash a week. I doubt it though.

How much of that £500 would they actually get in their hand? It sounds like the vast bulk would be in housing benefit.

Ach get over yourself FFS.

Oh FFS

EuroDisney? On benefits? That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. You are a lying bastard. The demonising comes from wrongly trying to persuade people that those on benefits are basically scrounging off our efforts when it isn't the case. You are spreading lies in an attempt to provide an easy bogeyman. That's a very Tory thing to do Duke. I'll tell you what though, if anyone else out there genuinely thinks that people on benefits can save those benefits and manage two holiday trips for their entire family in one year let's hear it. Keep a straight face though folks. Come on. Someone must be able to back him up.

I do know which is why I was asking you. Just name the figures. How much is she getting? Exactly what benefits are paying this level of money? You are bullshitting.

Personally? Yes but they'll have to make their case just like Scotland did. It took us 300 years so they'd better be prepared to be patient but in principle yes. You seem to think you have some killer argument here but this is all rather straightforwards.

Well the ISIS terrorists must be shitting themselves knowing that if we invade Iraq again they could be facing the might of the likes of this guy. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-29054216 Quite funny I thought but he'll probably get his baws booted for it.

Because since we went around the world bombing and killing civilians to get at a few terrorists, supporting anything America does (no matter how repellant) and generally demonising Islam we have unsurprisingly few friends in that part of the world. We therefore have limited intelligence on a wide range of things and my understanding is that we are learning less about these people not more. People who may have helped us in the past may not do so now. These poor hostages are the victims of that. I don't see what can be done to help them without causing even more problems. Sending in the SAS to "boot some baws" is just stupid. The problem is bigger than a couple of hostages as tragic as that is and I'm glad I'm not the one having to deal with my conscience over it.

OK folks. Hands up if this is why you are voting Yes. It's not why I'm votiing Yes and I don't know anyone who is voting Yes for that reason either. Neither is it because we hate the English. You'd have thought that after 370 pages of this, you'd at least understand some of the reason why people are voting Yes. You may not agree with them but really you should know by know why they are voting that way. I'll start the "Educate Dicky" lesson. I'm voting Yes....now pay attention......because I believe in self determination and self sufficiency. At the moment only about 8% of MPs represent my country on the things that matter to me. After independence 100% will represent my country. That is inherently a better thing than we currently have. No I don't want to get into an argument about the makeup of that 100%. That is nothing to do with independence and everything to do with the next election. I can't be expected to predict the future. Right. Self determination. Who else wants to help Dicky out?

I want him to explain what benefits she's getting which would allow her to party her arse off in Ankara's hottest nightclubs on one holiday and then put her feet up and plan her next holiday. He's engaging in demonisation of a whole group of people who are already the most vulnerable and excluded in our society. Now you'd have to ask why he'd lie through his back teeth about those same people. It's like walking around kicking frail OAPs in zimmer frames. Yes it's easy to do but why would you do it? Why would you bully someone who was already on their knees?

No it didn't. It morphed into a large number of people owning more than one home. That's the problem FS. Housing is a relatively finite resource. It should not be getting used for profit and certainly not by landlords doing nothing for 5 years and finding their "business" has gone up 30%. It's the abuse of this finite resource which is causing a social timebomb. Tories say "Well build more houses then". Yeah so we should concrete over our green fields so the same people can buy even more houses? How exactly will that solve the problem? We need to solve the root problem. How do you get enough houses off people who don't live in them to solve the problem?

It certainly did. It has been yet another contributor to the obscenity that is our housing "market" and it is continuing to cause misery for millions of people across the UK. An independent Scotland would of course still have the same type of problem but crucially it would be a smaller problem to solve both in terms of the numbers involved and the cost associated with it. The combination of council house selling and those unscrupulous bastards who own more than one house using other peoples money to do so has caused absolute devastation for countless others.

So where's that proof of your relatives benefits payments allowing her to party her way through a holiday in Turkey then?

Personally speaking you'll find me repeatedly saying ALL pollsters should be ignored because it's pretty glaringly obvious what the problem is with their methods. Not one of them has this correct. It's just nice to see one of them incorrectly predicting we're on the verge of a Yes vote rather than incorrectly predicting we're getting a No landslide. Now leave us to enjoy our minute or two of happiness.

Not in a million years am I responding to a post like this. Come back when you decide to behave like a grown up. This referendum certainly has brought out the smug in UK fans.

In which case he'd have said so. He's making the point that benefits allowed her to have 2 holidays and I'm calling bullshit on that.

Of course they will. I just love the earnestness with which No voters believe it won't happen. What possible reason could NATO have for opening up the entire north of the UK to Russia or China or anyone else who wanted to start entering our waters for a closer peek at England. Just like the tedious EU debate, this isn't about law, it's about commonsense and politics. Unless of course the EU and NATO have suddenly and inexplicably decided to obey Alistair Darling.

I expect the market to cause havoc with the pound sterling if the vote starts to show Scotland ahead. All down to Osborne and the other ruling out even discussing a CU before the vote. This may well come back to bite them. Never shut down a negotiating position before you need to. It's not a winning tactic. Always keep lines of communication open.

WGAS

Try digging a wee bit deeper. The vast majority of people do not have either big flashy cars or spend wads of cash in ANY shop. You are watching a relatively small handful of people when you visit Braehead or wherever. Those big flashy cars are like the big flashy houses. It's all largely fake. Both are bought on credit deals. Most of those owning a flashy car are actually simply renting it. The alternative is to wonder where the hell the sudden influx of earnings came from to explain the sudden invasion of a herd of massive 4x4 monstrosities polluting our roads. There are £20k to £40k cars everywhere and it happened almost overnight. Weren't you curious about that? Don't even get me started on housing. 3 million can't get a home because about 1.5 million have decided to borrow money (which they don't have) to buy more than one house causing a massive artificial and completely avoidable housing shortage which has seen house prices quadruple in just 20 years. To see why this is a problem imagine instead of houses (a social resource) we were talking about fresh water. There would be uproar if an artificial water shortage was being caused by people using other people's money to buy water they didn't need just so they could sell it at an inflated price to those who had nothing. It's a f**king scandalous situation. I'm in Oxford this week. As an example, an ex-council style house mid terrace is on the market on the outskirts of the town. I've been there. It's a shit hole. Guess how much? £450,000. Nobody has given a single thought to where the street cleaners, the nurses, the hotel staff or anyone else without a house already or sitting on half a million pounds will live. Where you have that sort of concentration of "wealth" you see huge poverty. Walk around the city centre in the early evening and you see it everywhere - beggars, people sleeping in shop doorways and misery everywhere. This is not just London. It's all over the South of England and it's creeping northwards. No way do I want Scotland looking as bad as that but we're getting there in some areas already. The UK is a mess from top to bottom and only independence gives us a CHANCE to sort it. Not a guarantee. Not certainty. A chance. It's more than we have right now.

2 holidays in a year on benefits? OK prove it. Give us the details of exactly what she earns in benefits because I'm calling bullshit on this one.

4 games in qualifies as the "first sign of trouble". As for the rest of your post? You want me to predict the future? Putting an end date on a breaking point is stupid, a total distraction and doesn't help anyone. You are confusing reslience and stubbornness. Personally I don't think a manager should be sacked during a season. In fact I'd like to see that written into the laws of the league - just like transfer windows. That would end this speculation pish.

Do we have any fans who don't buckle, crumble and succumb to hysterical panic at the first sign of trouble? It's a serious question. How do people become so lacking in resilience and backbone? I thought us Scots were a stoic proud bunch.