UK to leave EU

[Losty]

[I_am_not_mafia]

For that matter what are the odds that Scotland, N. Ireland and Wales will bail on Britain?

I'd say they just get significantly more likely.  Scotland wasn't too far off last time they voted on independence (55/45 I believe).  Now that Britain has voted to pull them out of the EU, that might be the straw that broke the camels back.

Add to that all the broken promises made by London at the last minute to avert a Yes vote. They won't be able to pull off that trick again. Also factor in that staying with the UK outside of the EU is now the unknown, whereas before breaking from the union was.

[account_inactive]

Just like an average American, disagree with me on everything. Are you sure you're not American?

Maybe I'm a super secret undercover 'murican sent to infiltrate Britain. Dun dun dun...

At this point in politics I think I'd be happiest if I just become a Scottish citizen and voted for independence and rejoining the EU. Haha.

In all seriousness, in the event of a Scottish referendum and if the majority want to remain in Europe, I'll obviously have to respect it. It's not the opinion that I agree with, but I respect the results of referendums. I was pretty pissed off while typing that post earlier, that's why it descended into the whole civil war sentence.

But I do stand by always identifying as more British than Scottish.

Hey Bella, you'd looove South Georgia, wanna trade citizenships?

I'll have to politely decline, but we'd love to have you in the (for now) UK.  

[madog]

[...]As a vaper, I have been fighting a directive that blatantly violates Art.10 of the ECHR by banning the freedom of expression (speech) of electronic cigarette users ... If they can do it to vapers to save Big Tobacco they can do it to anyone 

[...]Note I am a smoker not a vaper, and I am only concerned with the advertising ban ....

bold mine

Hmmm... Am I missing something? 

I was a vaper when I noticed the the advertising ban .... I took two nations through the ECHR without lawyers so studied for many years the case-law and the principles that were trying to be achieved ...

ANY blatant infringement on "freedom of expression" (speech) concerns me .... even if I totally disagree with the minority voice being curbed ....

Again, many nations would like to curb advertising of condoms ... how else do you pass on a message of the positives of using them? Without advertising/promoting you need to rely on uniformed citizens ....

The point is the requirement that advertising bans should only be exempted from freedom of speech is with "Established" grounds, is to stop nations introducing legislation based on made up reasons that are actually hiding their real intent ...

I must say I have been very disappointed by the response so far and have probably reacted incorrectly through that disappointment ....

[abaris]

Going out on a limb there, but I guess nobody is really interested in your fag rant.

[LastPoet]

Dude just loves his vaping, I guess.

[account_inactive]

Going out on a limb there, but I guess nobody is really interested in your fag rant.

I'd say you guessed right.

[madog]

I am used to the pack mentality, where the issue is ignored .... But such is life ....

[FatAndFaithless]

Yup, it's our faults. Can you see us from where you are, way up there on your high horse?

[I_am_not_mafia]

Quite high for Scotland, unlikely for Northern Ireland and very unlikely for Wales at the moment. And the likelihood of a civil war that I joked about earlier is low, so it's either I swallow my pride and be totally Scottish or move when the referendum comes.

I don't mean this as an insult but I think you'll do well in England.

The thing is that we can't help where we are born and raised. And just because you have been raised to have the same cultural values as your peers doesn't mean to say that you necessarily will do so. This is after all why atheist forums are populated mainly by Americans throwing off the shackles of their Christian upbringing.

So for a lot of people, they actually do better if they move to another country that is in keeping with their values and needs. For me, born and raised in the south-east of England, that turned out to be Scotland. I need to be able to get to the wilds, and be surrounded by people who like to do mad things for the sake of it. It's also why I love Germany. I'm not a city person. I don't like being hemmed in. I like to live in a fair society and hate the consumerist rat race. Some Scots do very well in London for example and as far I'm concerned they're Londoners who happened to be born in Scotland.

We each need to be the person we are, not an accident of birth. I think that we can both agree on that.