Gordon Brown, "Uk Could Become A Failed State" ......

[ToraToraTora]

https://news.sky.com/story/pm-must-reform-the-union-or-risk-uk-becoming-a-failed-state-12198125
Well if it does it'll be primarily your beloved Noo Labour's fault me old china, for enacting the devolution catastrophe. Is it time to reverse that and bring the Union back together? TBH I think England will thrive without the millstones of Wales, Scotland and NI anyway so it's them that need to get their April in gear.

[ToraToraTora]

untitled: "The EU can continue fine without the UK as a member... there is no UK without Scotland so yes I do think the British (English and Scots) are giving up on Britain if they allow it to be disestablished. " - rubbish, if one member leaves a club the club is still there.

[Ellipsis]

Yes, we can call it the United Kingdom of England and probably Wales and maybe Northern Ireland for the time being.

I wonder what would happen to the UK debt if we did disestablish the UK and revert to individual countries ... magically vanish? Split by population? Or split by geographic area?

[Untitled]

It might be called the UK toratoratora but it won't be the same country. Britain the country is not Britain without Scotland.

[ToraToraTora]

of course it is.

[ToraToraTora]

...if something is reduced by 8% it's still 92% of what it was.

[ToraToraTora]

elipsis, it would no doubt be split by population but that would be unfair as Scotland has 700% of the national debt per capita.

[douglas9401]

Has anybody ever asked the top banana, Her Queenship, what she thinks of the casual disposal of a fair chunk of her realm?

Her opinion should surely count as much as professed IT workers and new judges when it comes to downsizing.

[ToraToraTora]

Doug, well if we did the anti Royalists would have a fit but no doubt HM would not want Scotland to leave the UK.

[THECORBYLOON]

"Scotland has 700% of the national debt per capita."

When you say "national debt", do you mean the UK national debt or Scotland's national debt and do you have a link?

[ToraToraTora]

TCL from the Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/aug/21/scotland-2018-deficit-higher-than-uk-as-a-whole-last-year
if you attribute the deficit per head, the Scots have 7 times the rest of the UK.

[Untitled]

".if something is reduced by 8% it's still 92% of what it was. "

What a foolish thing to say. The UK is not a spreadsheet - it is a country. And Scotland's part in the Union is not about numbers... the Union was created to bring Scotland and England into one realm. If that union is allowed to fracture, the the Union of Great Britain does not exist any more - the country "Great Britain" does not meaningfully exist any more, and instead we'll be the Kingdom of England & Wales... the country you and I were born in will be no more. Obviously that does not bother you as much as it does me, and I suspect you are sadly in the majority there.

[ToraToraTora]

so if one person leaves the UK it's finished is it? right oh! looks like all them expats in Spain have already killed off the union! Silly me!

[ToraToraTora]

untitled: "Obviously that does not bother you as much as it does me, and I suspect you are sadly in the majority there. " - it does bother me but I don't accept that Scotland leaving means the end of UK. Is this your personal determination or do you have any sort of academic backing?

[ynnafymmi]

Unfortunately up here in Scotland we have too many benefits junkies reliant on England to keep them in beer,baccy and Buckfast.Even if an indepedent Scotland were to join the EU(in the next fifteen years),i cant see France or Germany rushing to bail us out or rescue us from bankruptcy.The highest drugs deaths in Europe,the lowest life expectancy in Europe in certain parts of Glasgow,and WB is still clamouring for independence.

[Ellipsis]

TTT, the UK is only commonly known as the UK. Its full title is The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

What will its full title be if Scotland leaves?

[THECORBYLOON]

TORATORATORA, ELLIPSIS was asking about National Debt and your link is about Defict which is not the same thing.

Also, the article expresses Scotland's deficit as a percentage of Scotland's GDP, not the UK's GDP.

[THECORBYLOON]

It could be called the Former United Kingdom...

[Untitled]

"it does bother me but I don't accept that Scotland leaving means the end of UK."

Then you are wrong. The UK was created as a Union between the kingdoms of Scotland and England, later broadened to include Ireland/NI... the backbone of the UK is the original Union of Great Britain - the Union between Scotland and England. If that is broken, then "Britain" as a state no longer exists because there will be two states on the isle of Britain.... you don't understand what your own country is.

[ToraToraTora]

ellipsis: "What will its full title be if Scotland leaves? " - err the same, Great Britain and Northern Ireland will still exist.