If England is a dick to Scotland in the event of independence, it will probably only serve to cause NI and Wales to distance itself from England further, possibly driving up sentiment for a further split. I have been undecided until now on the yes/no issue, as none of the arguments raised really appeal nor apply to me as someone not Scottish or living in Scotland, but the "no" campaign has been terrible and negative, and my patriotic streak wants Scotland so badly to vote yes. There appears to be the beginnings of a small murmur here in Wales, as people seemingly get behind the Yes idea for the Scots. This murmur might actually grow into a push for our own referendum if Scotland goes "yes", but unlike Scotland I can see us opting for further devolution (which has been the main body of discussion in relation to Senedd powers) rather than true succession, unless England plays the dick role as mentioned above.
Further devolution may actually be on the cards for Wales regardless of any sort of referendum;
Carwyn Jones is already requesting that any future powers devolved to Scotland be devolved to Wales also. He has predictably ruled out powers to make decisions on income tax and welfare, however. You would do well to be rid of the man, for he is an oaf. At least Leanne Wood and Plaid Cymru have some kind of serious plan for devolution or, as Leanne Wood puts it, "moving from devolution to a system of self government" - which is ambiguous enough to encompass a federal model as much as independence. I believe they're going into the elections in 2016 on that platform.
Owlbread, you said that in the event of a Yes vote, it'd be up to the London government to start negotiating your re-accession to the EU. Do you think that would happen? Wouldn't he use it as a bargaining chip to get more oil/assets/offload more debt?
I think it's hard to say. It all depends on how cooperative the British government is and it is in their best interests to be as cooperative as possible. I think Scotland still holds the majority of the negotiation cards because we're taking on debt that isn't actually ours and we're trying to develop a currency union which means the British pound is backed by Scottish assets like North Sea oil.
I say bring back the border reavers. (My wife's family had reavers on both sides of the border -- Carr/Kerr).
I think the Reivers should come back too. We should restore the borders to their once lawless, wild-west like state.
Also, my great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather was born in Dunfermline. That totally counts, right?
Not as a Reiver, no. You are, however, descended directly from Fifers. I'm not too sure how I feel about that, given my mixed feelings about the place. My cat is from the Kingdom of Fife so maybe it can't be that bad. Then again, the more I think about it the worse it gets.