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[Max White]

When is the actual vote? I find early polls to be somewhat poor indicators as the parties involved haven't yet started their media onslaught to its fullest. Once every newpaper headline is a highly polarized opinion you are there.

[Owlbread]

When is the actual vote? I find early polls to be somewhat poor indicators as the parties involved haven't yet started their media onslaught to its fullest. Once every newpaper headline is a highly polarized opinion you are there.

Well nearly every newspaper headline is saying something negative about independence and it's been that way since September 2011. Our press (Scotsman, Telegraph, Record etc) is very much the voice of our establishment, which is anti-independence and always has been since 1707.

The vote itself is in mid September.

The SNP swung from 33% or so to 45% in the polls within the time between January and May 2011 (roughly, every pollster gave a different result) while Labour actually dropped from about 45% to 37% or something like that. That was when the SNP won such a great victory. I know that this is not an election, this is a referendum, but Better Together have done little to change that impression given that they've personalised all their arguments (everything's about how much of a liar/dodgy used car salesman Alex Salmond is) and I think this will be closer to an election than people think.

If so, the SNP have already proven that they can work political magic and have done so consistently since their original victory in 2007 over Labour that stunned everyone. They will be a formidable force and, given that we don't have 5 months as they did in 2011, we have around 8-9 counting January and part of September, I think they could possibly pull this off.

[Descan]

I don't know why you would count January. It's the first of February.

[Owlbread]

I don't know why you would count January. It's the first of February.

Yes, the thing is I see the polls I've already shown you as the successful results of January. January is like one good month under our belt. We need 7-8 more.

[10ebbor10]

EU corruption report

Edit: And the actual report Link

[lordcooper]

Hey Scotland, good on ya.

[kaijyuu]

Provision making it clear that the introduction of same-sex marriage has no impact on existing rights to freedom of speech and that it is possible to oppose same-sex marriage "without being homophobic".

bwhahahahaha

The rest of it sounds good though.

[Owlbread]

Hey Scotland, good on ya.

A great day for Scotland, I do not need to say more.

It's been a great week or so thus far though. A few days ago with STUC and Labour backing the SNP have begun asking the British government for a further £15 million for our emergency budget to help mitigate the worst of the effects of the Bedroom Tax in Scotland.

For those that do not yet know the so-called Bedroom Tax is a cut in housing benefit of around £14-£16 pounds a week for those who own what is defined as a "spare room". Children under the age of 16 are expected to share bedrooms. Parents who are separated and keep a spare room for their children will also feel the cut.

The thinking behind this is that there are, according to modern Tory ideology, "benefits scroungers" who live in houses that are too big and hog benefits and all the rest of it. Therefore we should be taxing those scroungers to pay for the mistakes of our unspeakably wealthy banking elite. In truth only 0.7% of benefits are fraudulently claimed, twice as much remains unclaimed by people who, by rights, should claim. The Conservatives suggest getting a lodger to help pay the rent. That may work for stately homes but it does not work for council houses that you can barely swing a cat in.

The thing is though - in order to receive the housing benefit you have to earn less than £16,000 a year (around $26,000 a year). That means, by Scottish standards, you have to be "poor" in order to be taxed. I know that some Americans may sniff at that as being defined as poor but that's just our standards over here. Many of the people (I have heard "most", in Scotland at least) who claim housing benefit are disabled or suffer from mental health problems and thus have further problems that they must pay for (including debt), and when you have a large family as many of these people do then a cut in housing benefit can cause serious problems.

As tragic as it sounds a difference of £14 a week really does make the difference for a lot of people. A number of people affected by the tax who suffered from depression and other problems have actually committed suicide.

"I think it's absurd that we are having to try to jump through hoops trying to find money within a fixed budget to mitigate the impact of a policy that's opposed by a majority of Scottish parliament, opposed by a majority of the Scottish people, being imposed on us by a government we didn't vote for."

"It would make much more sense to have the powers of welfare in Scotland so that we don't have a bedroom tax in the first place. But we want to do the right thing."

Though the essence of this is all wrong - the ancient nation of Scotland asking the British government cap in hand for a bit of extra pocket money to spend mitigating the worst of the effects of British governmental mismanagement - I am glad to see Scotland united and working together to fight this issue.

[Funk]

The bed room tax cos there a massive stock of small nicely furnished flats in council hand that need to be used.
Like fuck the is, it's just  a scam, all the nice property's in council hand were sold years ago, the right to buy left councils with the shit.
Which they then have to use to house people that often private landlords won't touch with a barge pole.
(im against right to buy, per see, it the not building more that did the damage.)

[Owlbread]

The bed room tax cos there a massive stock of small nicely furnished flats in council hand that need to be used.
Like fuck the is, it's just  a scam, all the nice property's in council hand were sold years ago, the right to buy left councils with the shit.
Which they then have to use to house people that often private landlords won't touch with a barge pole.
(im against right to buy, per see, it the not building more that did the damage.)

This is all true. I take the same stance in that people being able to buy their council house did make a real difference for a lot of people even in Scotland. The problem, as you say, is that not enough were built to make up for the best houses all being lost.

[Descan]

Hearing about so many contentious, close votes for marriage equality, it's great to see such a run-away success once in a while. 105 to 18 is great, almost says to me "Why didn't they do it sooner?"

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Hearing about so many contentious, close votes for marriage equality, it's great to see such a run-away success once in a while. 105 to 18 is great, almost says to me "Why didn't they do it sooner?"

I'm sure Owlbread can tell us why it's all Britain's fault.

[Sheb]

So, despite spending an amazing $51 billions, Sochi is hilariously unready for the game that start on Friday. The temperature is also not forecasted to go below freezing for the entire duration of the game. Wouldn't be surprised if we see the first Olympic ski champion to win in shorts.

Oh, and let us not even talk about the security concerns.

I'm glad I dislike both Russia and the IOC, so I can just take the popcorn and watch. Hopefully no one will die.

[Max White]

I'm sure Owlbread can tell us why it's all Britain's fault.

Hey be fair! It could also be the Labor parties doing. 

[Guardian G.I.]

So, despite spending an amazing $51 billions, Sochi is hilariously unready for the game that start on Friday. The temperature is also not forecasted to go below freezing for the entire duration of the game. Wouldn't be surprised if we see the first Olympic ski champion to win in shorts.

Oh, and let us not even talk about the security concerns.

I'm glad I dislike both Russia and the IOC, so I can just take the popcorn and watch. Hopefully no one will die.

Something tells me that this shitstorm is only raised because the Games are held in Russia, the country which was always despised in the Western world and which will always be despised until the last Westerners or the last Russians die out. Hell, the anti-Chinese propaganda campaign in the Western media before the 2008 Olympics in Beijing wasn't as intense.
Should not-stellar hotel reception before the Olympics happen somewhere in the Free World, not many journalists would object, or at least it wouldn't make headlines.

Also, fun fact: there are mountains near Sochi that have snow. All outdoor winter sports events are held there, in and around the mountain town of Krasnaya Polyana. Did you expect all Olympic competitions to be held in Sochi? And why didn't you make fun of Vancouver, which is also not a place that receives much snow in winter? Why Western reporters didn't go to Downtown Eastside, make photos and post them online under the title "Vancouver isn't ready for Winter Olympics"?