Sturgeon: Scotland 'cannot be imprisoned' in UK

Will Ireland be far behind?

They are welcome to try independence again... because it has worked so well for them in the past.

The Scots have been dreaming of independence ever since their nobility signed it away to the English in 1707 (in return for the London parliament eating Scotland's massive national debt incurred when they tried to establish a colony in Central America in the 1690s. They have fought internally over everything because they used to have three different cultures at odds with each other: The Lowlanders, the Gaelic Highlanders, and the Borderers. King James I and VI eliminated the Borders problem right after he assumed the English throne in 1603. The Highlanders problem was eliminated after the Jacobite rebellion was crushed by clearing the people (except the nobility) from their lands up until 1882. That leaves the Lowlanders, and they fight with each other politically over just about everything. Since the Scots got their own parliament and limited self-rule back, the SNP and others has advocated for cutting ties completely with the British Parliament in London - after all the Scots run their own affairs already. Problem is that the country will quickly become a third-world country (as it was before 1707), since Scotland has nothing but North Sea oil (and the English would dispute that) and tartan tourism, which won't pay the bills. Additionally, the Scots have only one or two regiments in its military establishment, and no navy or air force. How will they defend themselves if Iceland gets aggressive? And, as has been said, if Scotland joins the EU on its own, they will have to deal with the Brussels bureaucracy and see some of their own laws tumbled in favor of EU laws. And there will a real border with England to be dealt with. Although descendents of Scots all over the world are sentimental about Scotland's independence, in reality I don't think it would work out too well for them as far as paying the bills.