Where's Red Celt when you want a laugh!?

[JimC]

Audley Strange wrote:

AND considering the number of fucking shops in England where I've had Scottish money refused, even as recently as last October when I was in Manchester, fiscal union is not something I'm particularly concerned about.

Are fucking shops what we call brothels in the land down under?

[Rum]

For those who are not aware Scotland does produce its own bank notes and coins (I think coins too..). They are actual 'pounds sterling' and the absolute equivalent of an English pound (for the moment) though they look a bit different. In Scotland one sees as many of these more or less as an ordinary UK pound and they are dealt with in identical ways. They are legal tender throughout the UK, however it is a true and bizarre fact that is a shop keeper is not familiar with the note in question he/she is not legally obliged to accept it as legal tender.

We can be very quaint here..

[klr]

For those who are not aware Scotland does produce its own bank notes and coins (I think coins too..). They are actual 'pounds sterling' and the absolute equivalent of an English pound (for the moment) though they look a bit different. In Scotland one sees as many of these more or less as an ordinary UK pound and they are dealt with in identical ways. They are legal tender throughout the UK, however it is a true and bizarre fact that is a shop keeper is not familiar with the note in question he/she is not legally obliged to accept it as legal tender.

We can be very quaint here..

Bizarre indeed. Here in the Eurozone, it doesn't matter which country minted a coin or note - a Euro is a Euro is a Euro.

[Svartalf]

If I refused all the Spanish, Belgian and Germman coins I get, I'd have trouble getting proper change in shops

[klr]

In my loose change at the moment, I have Spanish (2 types), Italian and Finnish coins. I had to look up the Euro site to identify the last two.

[Audley Strange]

Audley Strange wrote:

AND considering the number of fucking shops in England where I've had Scottish money refused, even as recently as last October when I was in Manchester, fiscal union is not something I'm particularly concerned about.

Are fucking shops what we call brothels in the land down under?

Yes and they have fucking fences outside.

[Xamonas Chegwé]

In Scotland one sees as many of these more or less as an ordinary UK pound and they are dealt with in identical ways. They are legal tender throughout the UK, however it is a true and bizarre fact that is a shop keeper is not familiar with the note in question he/she is not legally obliged to accept it as legal tender.

Not true...

"Banknotes issued by Scottish and Northern Irish banks are not legal tender anywhere in England and Wales but can still be accepted with agreement between parties. Whilst banknotes issued by the Scottish banks are legal currency, that is approved by the UK Parliament, no banknotes issued by Scottish banks, Northern Ireland banks nor the Bank of England are legal tender in Scotland. Thus legal tender in Scotland is limited to coin as noted above."

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_tend ... ed_Kingdom

[Audley Strange]

I believe that some English banks also charge a "conversion fee" to businesses for non-english sterling notes, cheeky bastards.

Still it makes the whole point moot and further undermines the notion that Salmond is actually looking for full independence. At which point I wonder why the fuck bother?

"Permit me to issue and control the money of a nation and I care not who makes the laws." Mayer Amschel Rothschild

[Warren Dew]

Basically, the message is "If you guys leave, but still want the pound stirling as currency, then understand your fiscal policy will be controlled from London; eat my shorts..."

Strike "fiscal policy" and insert "monetary policy" in that, I believe. Scotland could still run a deficit or a surplus as they chose.

[Warren Dew]

Scotland does produce its own bank notes and coins (I think coins too..).

There were certainly plenty of Scottish pound coins circulating when I last visited. I had to read the edges of the coins carefully to figure them out, though - I can't imagine most people would bother.

In my loose change at the moment, I have Spanish (2 types), Italian and Finnish coins. I had to look up the Euro site to identify the last two.

The coins don't look largely similar for each denomination?

[JimC]

Basically, the message is "If you guys leave, but still want the pound stirling as currency, then understand your fiscal policy will be controlled from London; eat my shorts..."

Strike "fiscal policy" and insert "monetary policy" in that, I believe. Scotland could still run a deficit or a surplus as they chose.

Yes, that would be better terminology, I suspect...

I should have done Economics 101 instead of all that science nonsense!

[Rum]

In Scotland one sees as many of these more or less as an ordinary UK pound and they are dealt with in identical ways. They are legal tender throughout the UK, however it is a true and bizarre fact that is a shop keeper is not familiar with the note in question he/she is not legally obliged to accept it as legal tender.

Not true...

"Banknotes issued by Scottish and Northern Irish banks are not legal tender anywhere in England and Wales but can still be accepted with agreement between parties. Whilst banknotes issued by the Scottish banks are legal currency, that is approved by the UK Parliament, no banknotes issued by Scottish banks, Northern Ireland banks nor the Bank of England are legal tender in Scotland. Thus legal tender in Scotland is limited to coin as noted above."

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_tend ... ed_Kingdom

Well I looked it up too you argumentative sod and it said, in answer to its own rhetorical question: "Yes, you can – but it doesn't legally have to be accepted. Three banks in Scotland are authorised to issue notes: Bank of Scotland, Clydesdale Bank and Royal Bank of Scotland. There are also four note-issuing banks in Northern Ireland: Bank of Ireland; AIB Group (which trades as First Trust Bank in Northern Ireland), Northern Bank and Ulster Bank".

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2012/s ... ey-england

[Audley Strange]

Basically, the message is "If you guys leave, but still want the pound stirling as currency, then understand your fiscal policy will be controlled from London; eat my shorts..."

Strike "fiscal policy" and insert "monetary policy" in that, I believe. Scotland could still run a deficit or a surplus as they chose.

Yes, that would be better terminology, I suspect...

I should have done Economics 101 instead of all that science nonsense!

Exactly, what the fuck has science done? Nothing that's what.



This message was sent by magical invisible energies using specifically chosen minerals and metals weaved together by thaumaturges using arcane symbols.

[ronmcd]

Expressed in simple terms, he said broad agreement on tax and spending between the nations sharing the currency would be needed.

No problem, says the Scottish government. We can do such a deal.

Indeed. You'll notice Carney didn't say there couldn't or wouldn't be a currency union. And neither, despite all the opportunities and rhetoric, has Gideon (or Balls). Odd, no?

Big problem says the Treasury. We're not so sure.

Well, I'm shocked. Politicians against independence suggest independence not good. As Mervin King supposedly told Salmond, this would change after a yes in the referendum. Why? Because it would be good for Sterling and so good for the rUK.

Me? I don't actually mind. I lean more towards the view of many others in the Yes campaign rather than the SNP, that retaining Sterling would be sensible in the short term for both Scotland and rUK but a different currency might be best long term.

From Herald columnist Iain MacWhirter:

Better Together are claiming that the Carney speech is a “slam dunk” because he said that monetary union would require a degree of fiscal and political union. Hah! What kind of independence is that! However, pooled sovereignty is quite possible between independent countries. There is already a lot of pooled sovereignty in the EU, of which Britain is still a member (though perhaps not for much longer).

Moreover, the Governor didn’t suggest that Scotland could be denied use of the pound or forecast a punitive reaction by the English Treasury if Scotland votes Yes, which is what many Unionists predict. Nor, crucially, did he look at the consequences of monetary disunion: what would happen if Scotland decided to look elsewhere if the UK negotiating terms were too onerous. An independent Scotland, like any country, would have options. It could pool sovereignty or look elsewhere.

[..]

And the euro, which is supposed to be bad news for big old countries, still seems to work for small new ones. Lativa, another high-growth country, has just joined the euro, to the amazement of economists and commentators in the UK who’ve been waiting for the eurozone to break up. Even countries that aren’t in the eurozone often have their currencies pegged to it. If for some reason the rest of the UK did try to play rough after independence, it might be Scotland that had the currency options.

And back in the real world of independence polling ...

In a poll conducted for Scotland on Sunday and the first nationwide poll to be conducted since Christmas, ICM report that 37% think they will vote Yes this coming September, up five points on its previous poll back in September last year. Conversely, support for No is put at 44%, down five points. Once the Don’t Knows are excluded from the calculation, those figures translate into 46% Yes, 54% No, the highest Yes proportion yet in any poll, other than in a much criticised poll conducted by Panelbase for the SNP in August last year.

This swing comes on the back of four polls conducted between the publication of the Scottish Government’s independence White Paper at the end of November and Christmas that on average pointed to a two point swing in favour of Yes. Now we learn that perhaps that swing may have become rather bigger.

[..]

In responding to the publication of the latest Scottish Social Attitudes results, the SNP Deputy First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, stated the survey indicated that, ‘when we win the economic argument, we will win the referendum’. Indeed so – if the Yes side can win that argument victory could well be theirs. Presumably, we can now expect much more effort from it on that front.

Interesting times ...

[Red Celt]

I'm somewhere completely different, not thinking about you.

Bless you for still being obsessed with me. It's almost touching. In a court order restriction kind of way.