Linking back to rugby, it seems that the two largest parties are following the Bulls example by trying to play without a leader on the pitch!

Well, 18 months ago, one of my reasons for voting NO was that the finance aspect was a big issue. Not only did the SNP and the Yes campaign have a firm fiscal structure, the volatility of the oil revenues that they held on to bitterly would always be a concern. (Remember the SNP wants to be an independent country but remain using English Sterling and be run from Brussels.....)

However, I think that people do underestimate the impact we could make.

The most annoying thing for Scottish people on the whole is an issue that faces everyone north of Watford TBH, in that we do not get a fair share when it come to finance. We hear about how "England have to bale us out" and that is not strictly true IMO.

Also, the most pertinent thing for me is that the North of England has far more in common with us than they do with their own countryfolks in the south. We both get shafted from Westminster in terms of funding.

Now, this sounds dangerously like I am now advocating Independence and I am not, but the clear issue is now here, whatever we do is completely ruled and decided by people who have absolutely no interest in anything bar self-interest. The EU vote and the general election vote show that.

For me, the way I am think is this....

Can we go it alone - yes.
Should we go it alone - unsure
Will we go it alone - yes.

For me, as one who is for democracy, we have to ask the people again if they still want to be part of a crumbling union? And I do not think that they will. We might not prosper as much as the "experts" say, but we will, at least, have the chance to make decisions for ourselves, that benefit the Scottish people, rather than help fund the likes of a High Speed rail link that will never come within 100 miles of our border for example.

We have the chance to go and I reckon now we should. The EU vote has shown this and suggests that England do more to "hinder" than "help" us up here.

And, ask yourselves, good people of the north; if YOU had the chance to vote out of a Tory dominated country and go it alone, would YOU?

The concept of a unified North, if it ever existed, is surely now dead.

The "good people" of Sunderland after years of feeling disenfranchised with a Tory administration, overwhelmingly voted to kick themselves even harder in the face last Thursday. They may have a notional similarity with the Scots in that they loathe the Conservatives, but they lack your good sense.

Sorry. I may have been picked up wrong here. I am just curious to see what people would do if they had the choice to do so.

However, the United Regions of Northern Britain does sound tempting!!!

Anybody want to take part in a sweepstake for when the vilification switches from immigrants stealing our jobs to the unemployed stealing our jobs?

Cos make no mistake, the unemployed being but one rung up the ladder means they're next.

edit: and I make no promises that I won't be joining in. I do not have the words for the depth of my resentment towards my countrymen right now.

It did. But the fragile alliance between the liberal left and the mainstream post industrial North has been killed by the hubris of both parties. While this saddens me, I'm firmly in the former camp, and am pretty much resigned to perpetual recession in the north of England, taking with it British Rugby League and various other institutions I hold dear.

I've had a weekend of mentally severing ties with the things I care about, and I've more or less adjusted to the fact that old school, small state liberalism is the best that can be hoped for now. The people of the north have handed the biggest constitutional change in living memory to a bunch of old Etonian opportunists, but is too busy complaining about people calling them thick to care. Fine. Enjoy the smouldering carcass of the country that you have 'won back', while it is divvied up between the parties of a demagogic crytpofascist and the official representatives of the home counties gentry. I'm done.

If, as I hope, Scotland does get independence we are on our way. At the moment I've had it with the ignorant xenophobic working class. Every single person I have spoken to, every person on the street Leaver I heard interviewed, made their disastrous decision on racism, xenophobia or a want 'to take control of our country again' (which is probably the same thing). They were too stupid to see the lies being peddled by the boys club & their agents in the right wing media. This could be a catalyst for further nasty nationalism in Europe; the victims of that will be the weakest & most desperate in society,not the bankers & the liars like Johnson - a man who cheated on & lied to his family, so lying to the country must come easy.
My hope is that Scotland can forge a country based on common good rather than a desperate race for short term material gain.

IF we go for Independence again, one thing I am very certain of is that the above would be true, but I had previously had my reservations on.

TBH, the idea of an Independent Scotland does not really phase me whatsoever. However an Independent Scotland run by Sturgeon and the SNP is a whole different story.

You will get far more coverage of Sturgeon than we do in the former socialist republic of Yorkshire, but from down here she (& Ruth Davison tbh) seem on a different moral plain to the disgusting public schoolboys we have handed our future to.

Ruth Davidson is a wonderful advert for the concept of a Conservative that isn't actually evil. Amber Rudd was a pleasant surprise to me as well.

I think you will be aware how much time I have for Ruth Davidson Pumps. She is an outstanding politician.