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Answers for Gordon

Posted on November 04, 2012 by

Gordon Brown doesn’t turn up in the House Of Commons very much. He’s represented his Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath constituents at just 14% of votes since stepping down as Prime Minister two-and-a-half years ago, not bothering to voice an opinion on their behalf at 545 out of 635 divisions. But at least we’ve now found out why.

Brown has barely signed in to earn his £200,000-a-year salary for the last 30 months because he’s been busy working on a list of 22 questions to ask the SNP. We can tell he’s devoted his time to it single-handedly, because the list – unveiled at a speech in his constituency yesterday – has clearly never been anywhere near a sub-editor. It’s a clunking, bloated lump of leaden prose, almost entirely bereft of punch, coherence and even basic readability – any primary-school English teacher worth their salt would hold the former Prime Minister back for some extra lessons on first glance.

Nevertheless, because we’re professionals we’ve ploughed through the double negatives, split infinitives and stultifying repetition to make some sort of sense of it, and in the interests of opening up debate we’ve come up with answers to all of Gordon’s queries, even though we’re not actually in the SNP. Read on below.

SCOTTISH INTEREST RATES – WHO DECIDES
Why will the rest of the UK without any guarantee of a Scottish role set Scottish interest rates?

We’re off to a bad start. Despite its name, the Bank Of England is a UK institution owned by the entire United Kingdom. Its status post-independence will have to be negotiated to take account of the 9% of it that’s currently Scottish property. So Gordon’s premise is a false one, rendering the question invalid. (But of course, even if we accepted it as true, it would be no different to the situation we have now.)

SCOTTISH INFLATION –WHO DECIDES
Why will the rest of the UK without any guarantee of a constitutional role for Scotland set the Scottish inflation target? 

In what will become a recurring theme in Gordon’s list, this is in fact a repeat of the previous question, designed solely to pad out the document. The answer is therefore also the same: the premise is false, and even if it were to be the case would leave us in the exact same situation we are currently.

SCOTTISH MORTGAGES -WHO DECIDES
Why will the rest of the UK without any guarantee of a constitutional role for Scotland set Scottish mortgage rates? 

And again.

SCOTTISH MONEY SUPPLY-WHO DECIDES
Why will the rest of the UK and not Scotland decide the Scottish money supply? 

And again.

WHAT HAPPENS IN AN ECONOMIC CRISIS – WHO DECIDES
Why will the rest of the UK without a constitutional role for Scotland decide what to do in a crisis like how much quantitative easing or printing of money is done ?

And again.

WHO CHOOSES THE GOVERNOR OF THE BANK THAT DECIDES SCOTTISH INTEREST RATES?
Why will the rest of the UK with no constitutional role for Scotland decide who is Governor of the bank that decides Scottish monetary policy?

And again.

WHO CHOOSES THE PEOPLE WHO DECIDE SCOTTISH INTEREST RATES?
Why will the rest of the UK with no constitutional role for Scotland decide who are the members of the group, the Monetary Policy Committee; that supervises interest rate decisions?

And again.

SCOTTISH FISCAL POLICY
Why will England and the rest of the UK be able to demand a fiscal pact that controls Scottish spending?

And again.

SCOTTISH BORROWING POLICY
Why will England and the rest of the UK be able to demand a fiscal pact that controls Scottish borrowing?

And again. That’s nine versions of the same question. This feature is going to take a lot less time than we thought.

MONARCHY
What happens if the Scottish Parliament has a different view on the line of succession for the Monarchy?

Woah! A new one! The answer, of course, is “absolutely nothing happens”. Neither the Scottish nor UK Parliaments has any say whatsoever in the line of succession of the monarchy. That’s sort of the point of a monarchy. (Though goodness knows why the Scottish Parliament would have a view on it anyway.)

EUROPEAN UNION
On what basis do they claim we have an automatic right to membership of the EU?

On the basis that we’re already members of the EU, and no mechanism exists for depriving Scottish EU citizens of that status. Gordon doesn’t seem to have been keeping up with the news recently – even the leaders of the Holyrood opposition now acknowledge that Scotland would remain in the EU, with the only bone of contention being the negotiation of the precise terms.

EURO
On what basis do they claim that if Scotland joins the EU we do not also have to commit that we are obliged to join the Euro?

The construction of that sentence causes us actual physical pain every time we look at it. Ugh. Nevertheless, the answer is straightforward – it’s because while EU member states are in theory obliged to commit to joining the Euro, it’s only true in an abstract technical sense. In practice it can be deferred indefinitely, and the EU itself has said that it’s a decision for each member state, which is why the Swedes were able to have a referendum on it in 2003 and vote No.

CITIZENSHIP
Are their [sic] automatic rights of citizenship that come from being an English resident in Scotland?

The word you’re looking for is “there”, Gordon. And in the event of independence English residents in Scotland will naturally have the same rights regarding citizenship that all other EU citizens have. Unless the rUK has left the EU by then, of course.

NATO
Will the SNP accept that NATO is not just a military alliance generally but a nuclear weapons alliance with obligations on its members? 

The SNP, one would assume, was indeed already aware of that, given that it’s a simple empirical fact. Nonetheless, 25 of NATO’s 28 member states are non-nuclear, so it doesn’t seem to be much of an issue.

SPENDING
Can it be confirmed that there is more public spending per head in Scotland than in England?

Yes, it can. It can also be confirmed that Scotland receives back a lower percentage of public spending than it contributes, so we’re not entirely sure what the former Chancellor’s point is.

PENSIONS
Can it be confirmed that no guarantee can be given that Scottish pensions will not be lower than English pensions? 

(Sound of gunshot from offstage as Gordon’s grammar teacher commits suicide.) No, of course it can’t. Nor can’t it be not unguaranteed that English pensions won’t not fail to be unlower than Scottish pensions aren’t. Or, indeed, German or French or Dutch or Belgian or Australian or Bolivian or Malaysian ones.

Horrific brutalisation of the English language apart, nobody can “guarantee” any such things whether we stay in the Union or not, given that the UK government is already floating the idea of regional benefit levels, with Labour support. But readers can examine the respective attitudes of politicians north and south of the border and decide which they think are more committed to looking after pensions. Older readers may recall that Gordon Brown’s own record in this regard is somewhat questionable.

UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFIT
Can it be confirmed that no guarantee can be given that Scottish unemployment benefits will not be lower than English benefits? 

And again.

INCOME SUPPORT
Can it be confirmed that no guarantee can be given that in a separate state Scottish income support benefits will not be lower than English benefits? 

And again.

CHILD BENEFIT
Can it be confirmed that no guarantee can be given that in a separate child benefit in Scotland will not be lower than child benefit in England? 

And again.

FAMILY TAX CREDITS
Can it be confirmed that no guarantee can be given that in a separate state family tax credits in Scotland will not be lower than child tax credits in England? 

And again.

NATIONAL INSURANCE TO PAY FOR THE NHS
Can it be confirmed that there is no guarantee that in a separate state Scottish national insurance premiums for the NHS will not be higher than English?

And again.

MINIMUM WAGE
Can it be confirmed that no guarantee can be given that in a separate state the minimum wage in Scotland will not be lower than in England?

And again. Just the seven versions of that one, then.

So that’s that. Out of Gordon’s 22 questions, we find that there are only actually eight different ones. Of those, one is based on an invalid premise. Another is fundamentally idiotic, calling for “guarantees” over things that can’t possibly be guaranteed for or by any nation on Earth, regardless of whether Scotland is independent or stays in the UK. The answers to the other six are already public knowledge, available to anyone with the ability to use Google or read a newspaper.

If there’s anything else we can clear up, Gordon, feel free to ask. We’re here all week.

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42 to “Answers for Gordon”

  1. oldnat
    Ignored
    says:

    Can it be guaranteed that English Labour MPs won’t ever again select such an eejit as this as the prospective PM of the UK?

  2. redcliffe62
    Ignored
    says:

    Can the No campaign keep this drivel up for the next 2 years with the support of a complicit MSM who wish to avoid asking questions that actually need to be asked?

  3. CW
    Ignored
    says:

    Positive Case for the Union again here – Gordon seemingly cannot possibly conceive of any situation in which an independent Scotland might outperform England or the rump UK. As every one of these questions thuds clumsily home it amounts to damning indictment of the Scottish people’s capabilities from the former Prime Minister. How depressing.

    For anyone interested in Broon’s legendary bad prose, the first line of his tome ‘Beyond the Crash’ serves as perhaps the best example of his somewhat awkward style. It should also, quite helpfully, put any prospective reader off sampling the self-regarding pish contained within.

  4. dadsarmy
    Ignored
    says:

    Rev, Gordon Brown also referred to Blankety Blank as though it was a current program on TV, but it was last shown in 2002. ‘Nuff said.

  5. Angus McLellan
    Ignored
    says:

    I think you’re wrong on the monarchy. Parliament says who the monarch is. The succession could be different as any state currently (or in future) ruled by Brenda might decide that their monarch doesn’t have to belong to the CofE (not our state church …) or that absolute primogeniture (no male preference) should apply as it does in Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, Norway and Sweden.

  6. Stuart Crawford
    Ignored
    says:

    “Public spending is higher in Scotland, so obviously in an independent Scotland all your benefits will be cut.”

    Only if we elect a government that’s prepared to pursue an austerity agenda in the face of all the available evidence.

  7. Brian Kelly
    Ignored
    says:

    From one of the men who turned the Labour Party away from the Scottish electorate and into the NEW Tory Party, this is rich.
      To whom does he address this?  Those who have made their mind up don’t need it, and it won’t help one person make their mind up.  Wasted 5 mins reading it and another 5 posting this! 

  8. Erchie
    Ignored
    says:

    Actually it would be possible should, say, HM the Queen retire, that Scotland could choose a different monarch to England. The mechanisms are there.

    Not the top priority though one would have thought 

  9. Silverytay
    Ignored
    says:

    It,s a bit rich for the man who bankrupted the country and left us in the state we are in to be asking any questions of the S.N.P .
    This is the man who is still claiming his salary while jaunting around the world earning millions while we are all paying the price for his incompetence . 
    I wonder what his constituents think of him travelling around the world while he is meant to be representing their interests at westminster . 

  10. James McLaren
    Ignored
    says:

    Three questions for Gordon Brown, but feel free to add more.
     
    1) Who was the PR Head for EDF when they took over British Energy in 2009. This made them the biggest electricity generator in the UK and gave them 8 nuclear plants, including Hunterston B? They had announced previously that the were going to build 4 more. Was it a member of your family?
     
    2) Who paid for the house in The Hamptons on Long Island you used to holiday in? Was it a member of your family?
     
    3) Who benefits from the charity you have set up and where you place your earnings you receive during your short absences from your duties at Westminster? How much money have you earned from these light duties?

  11. TYRAN
    Ignored
    says:

    Letters asking the whereabouts of this man and questioning what he is actually doing for the area are a regular feature in the local Press. There was one again this week.

    I also had seen no prior mention of Brown’s appearance in that hall where various information and posters are on display. The mention of carpet bowls in the hall is advertised there.

  12. Davy
    Ignored
    says:

    Bloody hell we are in trouble if this level of questions are thrown at the “yes campaign”, once all our campaigners have torn their brains to shreds trying to answer them, the “NO campaign” will just have to pick up the pieces to win.

    Honestly that must be the most pathitic set of questions I have seen in years, but maybe they are set for unionist levels of comprehension or primary school ???

          

  13. ayemachrihanish
    Ignored
    says:

    Simple – in the questions transpose Scotland for England. So for Pensions ,  Spending, Minimum Wage, Family Tax Credits etc etc – ask can Labour/ Westminster ( in an independent Scotland) confirm English Family Tax Credits will be higher than in Scotland? Can they?

  14. Macart
    Ignored
    says:

    Sooooo the man who ‘saved the world’ and destroyed a disjointed union’s economy has resurfaced. Clearly he’s been a very busy man over the past year or he may have noticed these same questions being tackled time and again in interviews, Holyrood, the press and online. Still its nice that he’s thoughtfully remembered to pop up and remind us of just why we’d like control of our own fiscal levers. 

  15. Alex McI
    Ignored
    says:

    Ah, I see our Gordon makes sure his english is up to the same high standards as his maths. 
    He has just really written lots of put downs against Scotland, and the people who stay heres ability to do anything a wee bit better than Westminster. He really is a wanker! 

  16. Macart
    Ignored
    says:

    @ James McLaren

    One word ‘LIBOR’.

    Who knew what and when? 

  17. Rev. Stuart Campbell
    Ignored
    says:

    “I think you’re wrong on the monarchy. Parliament says who the monarch is.”

    In practice, maybe, but strictly speaking the UK Parliament is still subservient to the monarch, is it not? The Queen can ultimately veto any act of Parliament.

  18. Clarinda
    Ignored
    says:

    Well I’m having some difficulty identifying which category of “Animal, vegetable or mineral” should be assigned to each of Mr Brown’s version of Twenty Questions. Perhaps a new order of Toot should be considered in this case.
     

  19. pa_broon
    Ignored
    says:

    I almost feel sorry for Gordon Brown, almost.

    Like a small school boy in grey shorts, shiny shoes, poorly knotted tie and blazer eagerly handing in homework that he worked so terribly hard on, only for teacher to tear it to shreds and award D.

    I imagine the Gordon’s bottom lip has already began to tremble at the anger of disappointment, he had such high hopes for that assignment…

    I laughed out loud at the answer for the pensions question.

  20. velofello
    Ignored
    says:

    Never mind double negatives and split infinitives, whatever they are, it’s his careless forgetfulness that bugs me. he forgot to be advise his audience to be concerned over:

    Will Scotland be less able to purchase aeroplanes for the aircraft carriers that the UK is unable to purchase aerolanes for? (grammar suitable?).

    Will Scotland be less able (inclined if you prefer) than the UK to decline to sending troops in support of USA foreign policy?

    Then of course tuition fees,and privatisation of the NHS, free prescriptions and so on. 

    But you see, each of these forgotten topics are easily understood by the general public and potential effect on their individual lives and he could have faced some counter arguments from his audience. But macro-fiscal policy! Jeez that’s hard and couched in terminology for economic anoraks. Fiscal deficit, fiscal debt, borrowing rates, libor! 
    As above so below.
    A debt is a debt whether a household debt or a nation’s. So ignore the fancy wrapping paper terminology. Brown, as Chancellor didn’t have a full understanding or grip of the goings on at “the City” and the chancers therein. Surprising since as the saying goes, “It takes one to know one”.

     

  21. Veitchy
    Ignored
    says:

    By the looks of the picture all his “thinking” has given the poor soul a headache. It’s surely given us one reading his tripe.

  22. TheGreatBaldo
    Ignored
    says:

    Hi Stu

    Suffering with Insominia I decided to read the rest of the now legendary HC643 and I found this in the written evidence from BASIC.

    BASIC is The British American Security Information Council from their written evidence….

     3.5 Norway appears comfortable to sign up to Alliance policy that supports the continued relevance of nuclear deterrence and play a full and loyal role on the nuclear planning group, whilst at the same time playing a leading role as a non-nuclear weapon state within the NPT that questions the future for nuclear weapons in the international system, and bans the deployment and transit of nuclear weapons within its territory in peace time. NATO’s own Secretary General appeared to acknowledge this reality when visiting explicitly nuclear-free New Zealand in June, saying, “actually, we have quite a number of NATO Allies that are also nuclear free… they have exactly the same experience [as New Zealand]…”. What may seem to some as contradictory or ambiguous outcomes may be accommodated by the Alliance.”

    So in other words the NATO Secretary General has gone on the record and confirmed that NATO doesn’t have any issue whatsoever with some of it’s members having an Anti Nuclear policy whilst being part a Nuclear Alliance.

    Perhaps the Unionists now could explain why an Independent Scotland would be any different ?

    BASIC’s evidence unfortunately doesn’t tell us when or even where this was said beyond New Zealand in June….but I dare say someone with the limited investigative journalistic skills of a Daily Record Fiiba hack should be able to track it down ?

    Perhaps this should go viral like Avery’s evidence…?

     http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmselect/cmfaff/writev/643/m06.htm

  23. Angus McLellan
    Ignored
    says:

    On mortgage interest rates, Gordon could have saved himself a question or two. The European Mortgage Federation (http://www.hypo.org) has heaps of analysis and stats on the subject. Even within the Eurozone, where there are significant non-tariff barriers (different languages, laws and practices), mortgage rates are broadly similar. Those barriers would be much lower within a hypothetical Sterlingzone and rates would converge even more.
    They probably wouldn’t be identical though. Laws are different and that would in time be priced into mortgage rates. But whether Scotland’s legal system is such as to make the cost higher or lower, that I couldn’t say.

  24. Arbroath 1320
    Ignored
    says:

    Can it be guaranteed that in an Independent Scotland we will no longer have to listen to the demented haverings of a failed Chancellor/P.M.?
     
    Can it be guaranteed that in an Independent Scotland we will NEVER suffer from the demonic ramblings of this idiotic ex Chancellor, the worst in British political history, ever in Holyrood?

  25. Angus McLellan
    Ignored
    says:

    @Baldo; NATO have a transcript of Rasmussen’s comments up at http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/opinions_88129.htm There’s supposed to be video & audio links from http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/opinions_88129.htm but they don’t work for me.

  26. scottish_skier
    Ignored
    says:

    The unionist tactic of driving home to devo max supporters nervous of independence that the independence proposed is not ‘real’ independence continues to leave me somewhat at a loss.

  27. DougtheDug
    Ignored
    says:

    Brown has barely signed in to earn his £200,000-a-year salary for the last 30 months because he’s been busy working on a list of 22 questions to ask the SNP.
    Gordon’s actually working to a plan even though it doesn’t look like it. I remember the technique well from work meetings where someone who didn’t like a new proposal on the aims or running of a project would launch into a series of “questions” to try and put the proposer or proposers on the back foot and to sow doubt into the rest of the project board sitting round the table about the validity of the new proposal.
    The questions didn’t have to be that good and the questioner wasn’t looking for any answers because the questions themselves were the weapon.
    I assume Gordon has used this very same technique time and time again in meetings in the Labour party and in Government and he’s trying to use the same technique in the debate about Scottish independence.
    The questions are there to sow doubt and to put the opposition on the back foot.  Expect a lot more questions to come but don’t expect Gordon to listen to the answers. That’s not why he’s asking.

  28. Morag
    Ignored
    says:

    Pensions?  When I started work and for more than half my working life, I was assured I would get my state pension in November 2013.
     
    Then some years ago I received a letter saying in effect, tough luck, you’ll have to wait till 2015.  Well, it was only two years more, and it was a long time in the future then.  I shrugged and accepted it, and planned accordingly.
     
    Then earlier this year I had another letter saying, cancel that, you won’t get a penny until November 2018.
     
    Oh, how I wish I hadn’t voted for independence, look what it did to my pension!
     
    Oh wait….

  29. muttley79
    Ignored
    says:

    @s_s

    It is odd that unionists are trying to define independence as they are the ones who completely oppose it.  Surely it is up to those who support it and are in office to define it, and what powers it entails.  They don’t seem to have grasped that independence in the modern world is different to what it would have been in the 1960s, 70s etc.

  30. jake
    Ignored
    says:

    It’s nice to see that this publication at least is generous enough to give this fellow Scot a platform for his ideas and to report his contribution to the debate on scottish independence.

    Not everyone is interested in his ideas anymore or thinks he has anything valuable to contribute:

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/gordon-brown/9571894/Gordon-Brown-cancels-a-UN-press-conference-after-just-one-reporter-turns-up.html

  31. Doug Daniel
    Ignored
    says:

    DougTheDug is quite correct. Unionists don’t really want answers for these questions, and once it becomes clear that the public are satisfied by the answers that do come, they’ll just think up some more questions to ask.

    As someone who has a habit of coming up with all sorts of excuses for not wanting to do something when the true reason is “I just don’t want to do it”, this tactic is laughable transparent. We’re seeing it just now with the EU, where the previous line of “Scotland will have to reapply as a new state” is being seamlessly replaced with “Scotland will have to negotiate it’s position in the EU, so that will obviously put us in a worse position than we currently stand.” I even saw David Torrance (the Tory writer, not the SNP MSP) saying the “debate” is about the negotiations that would be required, not whether Scotland would be ejected from the EU or not. I was absolutely astounded at the nerve it took to completely ignore the fact that unionists have been saying for years that Scotland would not be in the EU from the start. Astounded, but not surprised.

    It’s much like all the various ideas about more devo, federalism or whatever. At the heart, they all share one goal: keeping us in the UK at all costs. The question, and it’s one that will never be answered because the reality is so pathetic, is this:

    What is SO brilliant about the union that we MUST remain in it, whatever the cost?

    This has never been answered, and I doubt it ever will, because as soon as it is, independence will be a mere formality.  

  32. handclapping
    Ignored
    says:

    This was trailed in the FifeFreePress as a public meeting anent the debate around his support for the Union on the basis of pooling. I was very interested as this pooling is the only argument for the continuation and I wanted to know whether he was going to support it purely on the economic or the socialist argument or even both. Thankfully I was unable to get there in time; this speech was as lame as his “Britishness” one.
    #oldnat: Too late already, they have done it again! ( Note the cunning placement of the comma. I don’t wan’t you thinking that everybody from Kirkcaldy is illiterate, grammatically or economically.)

  33. alan
    Ignored
    says:

    Have a wee read at Tom Bower’s unofficial biography of Gordon Brown… His brother leads a bit of a charmed life as well…

  34. James T
    Ignored
    says:

    Rev. Stuart Campbell says:
    “I think you’re wrong on the monarchy. Parliament says who the monarch is.”

    I agree with the Rev on this one. This is one of those really brilliant tricks that Monarchs and certain Emperor’s have used in the past (Augustus was very good at it – ‘I have no power, I am not an Emperor’ ….when really, he was that and more !!)
    In essence, the Queen is still the ‘absolute’ ruler of these islands. During the Glorious Revolution in 1688, the British Parliament placed William of Orange on the throne for as long as he gave up the power of ‘absolute monarch’. Instead of a King passing the laws, a government would be formed in the monarch’s name, and they would maintain the law within the land. 
    Even today, the Queen is still an ‘absolute monarch’ in all but title. She can dissolve Parliament if she wants (though she would have to have a very f**king good reason to do it !!! – failure to supply one would certainly guarantee the end of the monarchy!!), she is the only Field Marshall in peace time within Britain (all Generals have to relinquish the title ‘Field Marshall’ once a major war is over), and all successive Prime Ministers must go to Buckingham Palace to ask permission to setup a government in her name.

    It’s a brilliant trick. It looks like she answers to the people. In reality, we are all still subject to her, and we still need permission to do certain things such as create a government, have elections, let her have the final say on passing major laws, declare war…

    But, yes, on another note, if Scotland wishes, it could ask another member of the Royal Family to be King or Queen of Scotland. They all still carry the House of Stuart lineage within their blood. However, I think Lizzie would be a little peed off, if say…Prince Harry or Princess Anne are offered the Crown of Scotland. That would make Christmas Dinner at Windsor Palace interesting, especially when it comes to the mid afternoon King or Queen speeches !!

    And back to the main topic. Please, please, please…let Brown loose for the ‘No’ campaign. We just need them to send up auld Maggie, and then we would almost be home !!!!   (and ps…his English grammar is appalling !!)

  35. muttley79
    Ignored
    says:

    O/t.  Has anybody read the article in the Sunday Herald about Tom Watson’s claims?  (If you want to have a relaxing Sunday, then I would not read it). It is a real skin-crawling, shivers down the spine read.  It is like something out of a horror film.  If his claims are true then some powerful people will have a lot of explaining to do, as it is vile, horrific stuff.

  36. Arbroath 1320
    Ignored
    says:

    Well at least there is one saving grace about Brown, he is NOT a Fifer, which I for one am extremely thankful for, sorry Giffnock it looks like he’s from your region of Scotland. 😀
     
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Brown
     
    I don’t want to push this idiot onto any area of Scotland but, as a Fifer, I certainly do not want him to be ever referred to as a Fifer. He may live in Fife but that’s about as far as it goes. In fact if memory serves me right, after his magnificent win in 2010 I believe he was looking to move to Edinburgh, sorry Edinburgh it looks like you are next in line to be victims of the Brown attack.

  37. Stuart
    Ignored
    says:

    For the last few quesitons (Pensions, Income Support, Umeployment Benefit, Child Benefit, Family tax Credits) I’d hope we’d get rid of them all and just have a Citizens Income. 

    Of course, Brown is so caught up in an “its aye been” mentality that he doesn’t even comprehend that an independent Scotland would maybe want to completely re-write how benefits etc are distributed. Its a real issue- Westminster just doesn’t want to rock the boat on anything, at least Scotland would start with a clean slate…

  38. jinglyjangly
    Ignored
    says:

    What nobody appears to have picked up on is that all the current pensions
    and a portion of those not yet retired will have to be paid by the Former UK
    (fuk) If I was a pensioner and moved to spain or australia or whatever then
    then I am still eligible for a uk pension, as we have all paid into the uk pot over
    the years that will continue. So basically Scotland gets a pension holiday
    to enable it to build up the pension funds which will enable it to pay future pensions
    out of a fund not current taxation. the money its saving  can be paid into a social fund which can be combined with the proposed oil fund to ensure that we
    have a big pot of money when the oil eventually runs out in 40 years or so.
    By then we will be earning a fortune on renewables and the recently discovered
    “fire ice” in the atlantic of Scotland

  39. dinnatouch
    Ignored
    says:

    Fast forward six months and Gordon once again marches boldly to the defence of the Union http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/gordon-brown-i-want-a-union-for-social-justice.1368454511 Let’s play spot the howlers:
    “the MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath” who never turns up at Westminster yet still collects his salary.

    “the benefit we all get in Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland from UK pensions, from UK National Insurance, from UK funding of healthcare, from the UK minimum wage.” Funding of healthcare? Would that be the English NHS which is being sold off?

    “I could put the case for the Union by talking about how our defence needs are common, our security needs are mutual, our environmental concerns are shared, that we are part of one single island.” Err, look at a map Gordon.

    “Mr Brown began his speech by saying that in the “last few years I have had time on my hands, time to reflect, courtesy of the British people”.” See point one.

    “Mr Brown hinted that more power could be devolved to Scotland if voters reject independence.” Jam tomorrow.

    “I yield to no one in my pride in being Scottish. I was born in Scotland. I was brought up in Scotland, went to school in Scotland. I live in Scotland. My children were born in Scotland. My sons are at school in Scotland. My sons are growing up in Scotland.” But you deny the people of Scotland the power to control their own destiny.

    “Then there would be a race to the bottom and soon we would have very little revenue at all from corporations operating in the United Kingdom.” What, you mean corporations like Starbucks, Amazon and Vodafone?

    “On pensions, he questioned whether an independent Scotland would be able to provide people with the same level of financial support in their old age as the UK does” Would this support take the form of pensioners being ‘encouraged to do community work such as caring for the “very old” or face losing some of their pension’?

  40. Jiggsbro
    Ignored
    says:

    The Unionists have not just given up on the positive case for the Union, they’ve given up on the negative case against independence. All they have left now is to ask as many stupid questions as they can think of: what we might call ‘the confused case for don’t know’.

  41. john Lyons
    Ignored
    says:

    they’ve given up on the negative case against independence.
     
    Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
     
    HAHA!
     
    Did you even read this article? Broons questions are full of negativity against Scotland.

  42. stephen
    Ignored
    says:

    GORGONS ALIVE…?



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