The Union Flag without the Scottish bit?

[Hopist]

Scotland could leave the Union, on 18 September 2014 a referendum will take place to decide the future of Scotland.

//http://www.aboutmyvote.co.uk/the_independence_referendum/frequentlyasked_questions.aspx


From the BBC website//http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25205017.

Some 400 years ago when the crowns of England and Scotland were united, an argument raged about how the blue field and white saltire of St Andrew could be combined with the red cross of St George.

The Scots were eager that their flag should be laid on top of the English flag, but of course the English thought it should be the other way around. It took a Royal proclamation to determine that the English flag should take precedence.

Now, the prospect of Scotland leaving the United Kingdom throws open the question again. It's already been suggested by the College of Arms that with the Queen still head of state of an independent Scotland there would be no need for a redesign. But there is still the possibility of renewed debate.

That article and this one //http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25222891 have some ideas for designs, I quite like these:

This one looks okayish..


Dragons are good, I wouldn't say no to a dragon:

and


maybe some lions?

Too busy for me, I think a flag should be simpler.

"I think that the attached flag captures the essence of the modern UK," says Haydn Iuchi-Sutton, of Suffolk

 :)

I would prefer we all stay together in one acrimonious family but won't moan if the Scots decide independence is in their best interests.

[The Skeletal Atheist]

Keep the orginal with a little bit at the bottom that reads "fuck you Scotland".

[Shiranu]

Holy shit, those redesigns are hideous. Please don't leave, Scotland :(.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

So the UK will be renamed to the NFKAUK? the Nation Formerly Known As United Kingdom?? :-k

[Hopist]

A bit like Prince?  :)

Kris Taylor, aged 32 ½, appears to have been inspired by the spirit of Jackson Pollock in his composition entitled My New Flag.

Fuck it that'll do, we have a winner, can't wait for the next Olympics. :rollin:

[AllPurposeAtheist]

At least little kids could draw the flag without looking.. :)

[The Skeletal Atheist]

So the UK will be renamed to the NFKAUK? the Nation Formerly Known As United Kingdom?? :-k

Nah, it'll be known as the UKWTTBS: The United Kingdom Without Those Traitorous Bastard Scots. Eventually it will just be England so it will be the POWDNYGAK: The Piss Off We Didn't Need You Guys Anyway Kingdom.

[stromboli]

I doubt first of all the referendum will be passed. I was in Scotland during refit for a total of 3 months, and I never saw two Scotsmen agree on anything.

[SilentFutility]

I thoroughly hope that Scotland does become independant. That way they can support themselves financially, stop wasting massive amounts of valuable time arguing about becoming independant instead of on improving people's lives and will ultimately have to be accountable for their own problems.

They clearly want to, think about how much money and time has been wasted on discussing the issue to death over and over again.

[stromboli]

I thoroughly hope that Scotland does become independant. That way they can support themselves financially, stop wasting massive amounts of valuable time arguing about becoming independant instead of on improving people's lives and will ultimately have to be accountable for their own problems.

They clearly want to, think about how much money and time has been wasted on discussing the issue to death over and over again.

I believe they still have revenue from North Sea oil and they are working hard to become energy independent. The Scots I knew certainly did have an independent streak, and they are a tough, hardy bunch of people. If they did become independent, I have faith they could pull it off. got nothing but praise for them, honestly.

[SilentFutility]

I thoroughly hope that Scotland does become independant. That way they can support themselves financially, stop wasting massive amounts of valuable time arguing about becoming independant instead of on improving people's lives and will ultimately have to be accountable for their own problems.

They clearly want to, think about how much money and time has been wasted on discussing the issue to death over and over again.

I believe they still have revenue from North Sea oil and they are working hard to become energy independent. The Scots I knew certainly did have an independent streak, and they are a tough, hardy bunch of people. If they did become independent, I have faith they could pull it off. got nothing but praise for them, honestly.

I'm not saying that they can't pull it off I'm saying that the debate over whether or not they should has been going on for many, many years and has wasted countless hours of labour and public money so we should just let them do it and be done with it.
Put it to the vote in Scotland, act on the vote, and move on to other issues.

[sab]

The sooner this farce ends the better. the Scots are an odd bunch -far more religious than the other parts of Britain- however they are NOTgoing to vote for independence, more's the pity. They are like a 25 year old screaming that life is unfair  whilst still taking an allowance from his parents and living in the basement. he constantly threatens to move out but never actually does.

[Fidel_Castronaut]

I thoroughly hope that Scotland does become independant. That way they can support themselves financially, stop wasting massive amounts of valuable time arguing about becoming independant instead of on improving people's lives and will ultimately have to be accountable for their own problems.

They clearly want to, think about how much money and time has been wasted on discussing the issue to death over and over again.

From a personal perspective I agree. Scotland gets far more money than my county (west mids) despite my county having far more people and infrastructure in it.

But from a longitudinal perspective of general human civilization, collectively we're beginning to become more homogenous and more centralized (I understand this will take many more generations, though). And as Scotland wants to join the EU anyway, in a round about way they'll effectively remain apart (or at least intrinsically joined to)/of the union financially anyway. They'll just have more control of their dwindling resources (almost entirely reliant on tourism and North Sea oil, which is quickly diminishing).

I think the SNP believe that their oil revenue will fund their massive welfare programs for the foreseeable future, which is really quite silly considering they want reforms of the Scottish NHS that even a local London authority in Chelsea would struggle to fund .

[Fidel_Castronaut]

I believe they still have revenue from North Sea oil and they are working hard to become energy independent. The Scots I knew certainly did have an independent streak, and they are a tough, hardy bunch of people. If they did become independent, I have faith they could pull it off. got nothing but praise for them, honestly.

The thing working in their favor regarding energy independence is their tiny population (around 5 million or so). Their centralized populations are all in the south east away from the inhospitable areas of the high lands in the west and north, so in theory it could work.

However, like I said above, their oil reserves are actually pretty low and could run out in the next 50 years or so. And in order to get money from it they'll have to export it, dwindling their reserves further. Considering they want to embark on massive spending programs means they'll have to find money from elsewhere (Scottish manufacturing is currently on a knife edge as a large proportion of businesses are EU and not Scottish, and don't want to invest in a country that might have higher operating costs thanks to independence and an unclear political future).

Also, the SNP have physically said in various interviews they want the population of Scotland to increase in the near future, so I assume they will create policies to facilitate this. Not only will this strain their future funding issues, it will also strain their energy production capabilities.

Food for thought. I'm sure they've already thought this through in the he SNP, but as there hasn't been a single indepth policy review/publication published by the SNP yet, nobody knows, which only undermines their cause IMHO.

[sab]

An independent Scotland will also

Not have its own currency and will use the Pound sterling which it will have no control over.

Have to apply to join the EU which Spain may well block

Lose all the uk civil service jobs and government contracts which it gets preferential treatment for.