It has started already. I have a friend , a NO voter, who is of Pakistani descent who runs a Post Office in a rather rough part of Dundee (I know that is very hard to believe). Anyway he posted on my face book page this. A regular customer of mine at the Post Office has just been in & I've had a major bust up with him , he's a very disappointed Yes voter , he claims that only indigenous people of Scotland should've had the right to vote !! I was gobsmacked .i explained to him that I'm born & brought up in this country , he dismissed that , saying I should not be allowed to vote !! I told him he's a racist & to piss off and not come back !! If I had voted Yes Would I have been one of the boys ? Really sad for Anwar to be subjected to this treatment. Hope nothing else happens but I doubt more of this **** will happen throughout the country in the coming days.
Unfortunately Scotland just like the rest of the UK have its fair share of racist bigots. I doubt that in any case the non indiginous vote swung things Wonder if he would have had the same treatment if he had been of Irish decent
That's terrible Ian, but as you say there will always be some. I saw one comment stating that 700,000 Scots that don't live in Scotland are being denied a vote, whilst 300,000 non-Scots living in Scotland were allowed one, and this was "proof" of vote rigging. I don't know how true the figures are but how else do people think it should be done? The residents of a country were voting on something with direct impact on the people living there. Why should ex-pat Scots get a vote on the future of a country that they chose to leave? I've also seen people saying that footage of a table with a "No" sign on it and piles of ballot papers on it showing a "Yes" vote is proof of fraud - even the Dundee Yes campaign have said that was prior to counting and the votes were just placed there until they were handed to someone to count. But of course you will always get the conspiracy theorists. Generally the campaign has been fought hard but fair, passion on both sides but in the main nobody thinks that the people on the other side didn't also want the best for Scotland, just that they had a different opinion of what that was. I was torn between what I thought was best, I can't imagine what it was like for people who had a vote. I favoured the concept of independence, but I swayed to "no" because of what I saw were the wider ramifications of that on us in England, so this morning I was not happy, jubilant, or gloating but merely relieved. But overall, Scotland and the people can be proud of how this was fought. In centuries past people have died in battle over independence, what a mark of true democracy that a peaceful vote can take place and people can be dignified in victory and defeat.
Yes, I work with one of those people. He left Scotland to live & work in England over twenty odd years ago.... but he's been denied a vote.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't it Salmond that insisted the vote was only allowed for people living in Scotland? If they'd have reached out to the people that have left Scotland my feeling is the winning margin would have been much more significant.
Yes, because that is what Salmond wanted! If you don't live there you can't vote! Which is what my dear friend at work wanted, but left twenty-odd years ago! It's lilke saying people who emigrate can still vote in the UK General Election - ridiculous!
They can if they register and are still citizens. My wife is still eligible to vote in US elections, once she gets her UK citizenship as well and becomes a dual citizen she'll be able to vote in both countries!
I never knew that, but don't you have to be living there to be able to vote? Sounds ridiculous to me.
No. You just have to be a citizen of the country. I would agree with you, but I would also say that my wife, as a tax paying resident of the UK should be allowed to vote here without needing to have UK citizenship. She knows far more about British politics and current affairs than half the folk she works with!
Why? You should always be allowed to vote in a country where you are classed as a citizen. Salmond thought he was playing a masterstroke that would steer him to victory - thankfully, it didn't.
My own view is that it was done correctly. Any Scot living abroad having a vote and voting for Independence and it all went tits up maybe leaving the country in a mess then that expat would just, say thank fk I'm no there anymore and let us get on with it. Also giving all who live here the vote and we voted yes then we'd only have ourselves to blame for any mess which occurred But of course my own view was I thought we could easily afford to go it alone. But now we will never know.
That was my understanding as well - I think - though we dont know - a larger majority of expat scots would have voted to stay part of the UK - presumably Salmond was also of that view which is why he wanted them excluded. Of course he couldnt then demand that only those born in Scotland could vote. It doesnt matter now anyway -even giving Salmond the best possible terms - only those living there and including 16 and 17 year olds there was still a decisive no vote so we can put the whole thing behind us and move on
Hello Ian, Sorry you are disappointed, but the closeness of the vote was massively predictable. I hope it settles down as time passes, I'm sure it will. I used to manage a sales operation up there some years ago and I was surprised at the divisions then. East Coast/West Coast, Highland/Lowland, Catholic/Protestant, but even so, everyone seemed to get on with it. It's a massive disappointment for 45% of the electorate, but one racist doesn't make a difference. Incidentally, if only people born in Scotland were able to vote, then that would open it up for the ex-pats and I haven't heard one scots person living down here say that they would have voted yes.
You are right mate there is an awful lot of bigotry on show in Scotland. No wonder we've got a reputation of being an angry nation. BTW tonight as we speak there is trouble going on in George square in Glasgow. ACH well we will just have to see if there is gonna be any improvement with the extra powers.
It's unbelievable how bigoted some folk are. Maybe this fine Scotsman also thinks that women should not have voted too. I'm sure Anwar will be fine, he doesn't need arseholes like this amongst his 'friends' and most people won't have this kind of mediaeval opinion.
