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You are a good person Berlin_Freeper (your record on here speaks for itself and your World Cup threads were admirable) so I hope I have not come across as rude. Things always look much harsher on the screen then they were meant to be.

I know the sorts of comments you have read. They are mostly straight from the socialists playbook. The typical lefty self-loathing so familiar to Americans.

I am not a Scotsman, or an Englishman, but a Welshman (and so,easy to ignore! lol) with a great pride in being both Welsh and British. I just don’t like the left-wing running down my fellow Brits, no matter what part of the kingdom they are from. I wish they would understand that the silent majority are patriots too.

I am so sorry to hear that Myrddin, especially when you made such an effort. Remember, the vast majority of Welsh people do not speak Welsh either.

Don’t let the small-minded nationalists get you down. Like many left-wingers they are full of sound and fury and do not represent us all, but like to think they do.

If you ever return to Wales and stray into the Gwent/Monmouthshire area, I’d be delighted to show you an example of the hospitality of the Welsh (I work at a large historic property).

Keep that dragon’s fire burning!

Firstly, who said I was sneezing at anything?

I have the greatest amount of respect for the Scottish people and I am delighted that they have made the sensible decision that they have. My point is a clear one: they have never been a colony, have nothing to be ashamed of and a great deal to be proud of.

Secondly, it wasn’t 47%, it was closer to 45, but that would be nitpicking I guess. A ten point victory is pretty decisive whichever way you look at it.

Why would you assume that he has to ‘live with’ that headline as if it were something shameful?

Scotland was not a colony. It has been part of an extraordinary political union, which its leaders chose willingly. It is not some conquered land yearning to be free from a foul aggressor.

The UK has had some staggering achievements during this period of union; achievements astounding for such a small island off the coast of Europe.

I know you were reacting to an insulting comment towards you, but do you really think that the United Kingdom is so shameful?

It does not alter the fact that British conservatives are to the right of the political spectrum, however skewed you believe that political spectrum to be. British liberals are to the left. British socialists have dropped off the cliff.

The right decision. A very clear decision. The Scots were always going to be too canny to fall for the boisterous, misleading, poisonous campaign run by Alex Salmond.

Scotland is not going to recede into the darkness of a suffocating socialist banana republic, after all.

The Silent Majority have spoken.

No they certainly would not! Plaid Cymru have no where near the strength of the Scottish Nationalists. There are swathes of Wales (Monmouthshire, Pembrokeshire etc) which still vote Conservative.

Wales (the valleys especially) is a stronghold for the Labour Party, not the noisy nationalists.

Connery has long been a supporter of the Scottish National Party, and of its leader, the left-wing Alex Salmond.

Out of all the Bond actors, Sir Roger Moore is the most conservative.

“I recall a recent article that if Britain joined the United States it would be the poorest state in the union but for Mississippi.

Bearing this fact in mind, I don’t look for “Great” Britain to do ANYTHING that will impact ISIS significantly.”

Do you have a link to that article? How is ‘poor’ defined? Also, don’t dismiss the Old Girl too quickly. Quite a few notable names have made that mistake in the past.

If YES wins the Scottish vote then all of this should be somebody else’s problem. Cameron should immediately head to the Palace and tender his resignation.

I know he has said that he won’t resign, but he emphatically should. If the Kingdom breaks apart on your watch as the Queen’s first minister, then you should go.

It is a matter of honor.

Or, at least, it used to be.

Like a figure from the ‘moderate’ branch of Islam that the politicians keep assuring us exists...

It may take an Islamic leader to defeat Islamic extremism.

The silence is deafening at the moment.

A good article. What we really need is a major figure to emerge in the region. An Islamic Churchill is perhaps not a possibility, but we certainly need an Islamic de Gaulle.

The West can only do so much.

Define ‘coming to a vote’ though...

Some of those will never get the chance to vote. There is a Cornwall Separatist movement, a map of the US would have to include a Texan Separatist movement, etc.

An interesting map nonetheless. We’ll see.

Interesting. Of course the value of oil is a fluctuating one, and I would not advise pegging the future of a nation’s prosperity on that alone. Your point about ‘many small nations’ is not one that I disagree with, but I’m afraid that in the current climate, a small nation is far easier for the EU to swallow and digest, than a larger, more powerful one.

We live in interesting times.

I think the canny Scottish people probably will vote ‘no’ next week, but the Catalan issue rumbles on. At least David Cameron offered the Scots a referendum. Whither, Spain?

And yet the European Union will not allow them that opportunity. What you will get, however, is the repulsive Alec Salmond, with his English-baiting, and grossly socialist mind-set, running down the great nation of Scotland.

I concede that the independence campaign has the romantic advantage, but all the facts are on the side of the ‘no campaign.’

Still, as I’ve said, if the Scots wish to withdraw from the UK, that is their prerogative (my background is Welsh). I fear they will pay a heavy price, but conservatism in the rest of the UK will get a very large boost electorally.

“Scotland is solidly Socialist as is Ireland. Total nanny states”

Yes, the one bright spot from Scotland breaking away, is that the chances of a Labour government in Westminster are greatly reduced. Labour have usually won power thanks to their Scottish seats. England is a rather conservative country by natural inclination.

However, the latest poll (today) shows:

Yes 46 No 54

The great silent majority may yet keep the British family together.

Overlords? That’s a laugh. It was the Scottish monarchy that took over the English, not the other way round. It was the Scottish who wanted to join the Union; a Union, I might add, that greatly added to Scottish wealth and clout in the world. Just how many men of Scottish background have served as prime minister in the last fifty years?

Scotland (’socialist paradise’) have spent more than they rake in in taxes for every year of the last twenty, except one. How do you think the shortfall is made up?

Scottish students have no tuition fees to pay, while their English counterparts south-of-the-border, do.

Overlords? Really?

Quite right. The rest of the kingdom holds its breath to see if Scotland wishes to finally withdraw from the world stage, to descend into the deathly, suffocating grip of a socialism made all the more dangerous by the nasty taint of anti-English bigotry.

Make no mistake, an ‘independent’ Scotland would be a far less reliable friend to the United States than the United Kingdom has consistently been.

My hope is that there is a ‘Silent Majority’ of sensible Scots who, afraid to proclaim their ‘no’ preference outside of the secrecy of the polling booth, for fear of Nationalist reprisals, will keep the union together.

Quite right Mr Ramsbotham. There is absolutely nothing conclusive about this.

In my eyes, the shawl has an appalling provenance. It is only oral tradition that it was allegedly ‘taken home’ by a police constable (Amos Simpson). How likely is this? The material is nearly 8 feet long! Not something you could just tuck under your tunic. Also, the Eddowes case was handled by the City Police, while Simpson was a member of the Metropolitan Police. It was not his turf. Why was he there in the first place?

As others have stated, the police (City Police, remember) made no mention of any shawl in their reports.

To say nothing of the fact that the shawl has had plenty of years to be ‘contaminated’. Someone even suggested that it was put on view publicly at a Jack The Ripper convention in 2007 - and was actually in the same room as two of Eddowe’s descendants!

I don’t believe this was Eddowe’s shawl at all.

I think Jack still eludes his hunters.

Understand your point about 5 day Test Matches and, sure, cricket is not for everyone, but I don’t see it as a problem. I see it as a luxury. There are T20s for instant gratification, One Day matches for those so inclined, and the five day game for the purists and traditionalists.

I love the ebb and flow of a Test match. Life is too fast as it is. You don’t necessarily watch every ball, but you can dip in and out. Was it the great PG Wodehouse who described cricket as ‘organised loafing?’

This old world has room for baseball and cricket (and soccer!)