Saintandy666

I don't have much understanding of the world of LOTR in depth to the max, but I believe Gandalf is effectively a God/spirit sent to guide the people of middle earth in their fight against stuff like Sauron... but he can't use force himself or aid in the fight. I have no idea whether Gandalf the white is more powerful than Gandalf the grey, although he certainly more senior. Now, back on to my point... answer my original points.

Different worlds. Incomparable. Now answer my points.

Selectively quote and ignore the large paragraph before that by all means. Go on, argue back at me for once. I dare you! Your hero, Margaret Thatcher would agree with me on tradition. She had no time for it either.

By that logic, as Verbal said earlier, should London just become an independent state? No, it's a ridiculous argument! Every area of the UK contributes in different ways.

Not at all. Read the quote... living in the past of what was or what could have been is no use if it means you can not progress. Better?! No Harry Potter quote there! What about the rest of my post? Backed up by more 'respected thinkers'. Edit: And I don't want the Union to break up, I just think the tradition argument is a poor one. In fact tradition in itself is a bad thing to cling too at all costs!

Well, that's good news as well then!

Ah fair enough, I thought you were referring to my first bit, not the business part. I do think we need the infrastructure upgrade regardless though.

Would you say our bonds are ethnic?

Sometimes looking back to history can help, but not always. The world is a very different place to what it was even 50 years ago, let alone 300. I think it is better to look at all sources and use reason to come to a better solution. Clinging on to the past is not good, because more often than not evolution is necessary to survive. Even conservatives began to admit this by the 18th century such as the father of modern English conservatism, Edmund Burke - 'We must change in order to conserve' and 'A state without means of some change is a state without means of its preservation'. I think history can be important, but it is also important to prune out and forget bits that are no longer relevant and not to be too sentimental. In words of a great man, Albus Dumbledore 'It does not do to dwell on dreams, and forget to live'. Sometimes history needs to be forgotten.

While all the history is extremely grand and interesting, it's hardly relevant to current situation. Yes, it is why we are where we are today. The past formulates the present, but that doesn't mean we should be locked into the past unable to change direction. I don't think history and past bonds is a very convincing argument when Independence is about the future(and I'm against Scottish secession!).

Salmond is nuts if he thinks Westminster would allow him to use the pound as an independent country while simultaneously lowering corporation tax to compete with us.

Well, I know it was a stupid thing to explain, but I said it would increase capacity and you said 'trust me, it won't.' Sorry if I misinterpreted your comment.

Ahahahaha, I had no idea, but surmised they would probably be electric! So thanks for the info.

Usually more efficient than direct fossil fuels I guess. Electricity produced by not fossil fuels would be the best option though!

I've been on trains in France, Germany, Italy, Austria and the Netherlands and all of them were substantially better than our trains on cost, space and timing.

It will increase capacity as more trains can run in the same given time. It's about time we moved to the 1980's(France got high speed in 1981) in terms of rail infrastructure in my opinion! And the environmental impact could be positive if more people end up using trains instead of cars and planes. What do the trains run on?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Speed_2#Journey_times Here's the journey times. I think it will make a huge difference to capacity and business.

Why? Rail tracks are all over the countryside already...

It'll go to leeds, manchester and liverpool as well I believe. And it is worth it on a 80 minute journey, that's a reduction of 38%! The increased capacity over time is huge. And also, it's about time we moved into modern rail properly, countries like France have had high speed rail for decades.

Most definitely. High speed railway is the future! Now if only we can make it as cheap as continental Europe, we're on the right track. I've always agreed with Ken Livingstone's attitude to public transport, make it cheap and convenient and people will use it. Train tickets at the moment though can sometimes take the ****.

Nations are entirely a psychological phenomenon. In my opinion, it is rather silly and dangerous to be too proud of the geographical land from which you hail. Nationalism taken too far can lead to nasty events. Obviously, I am glad I live in Britain as it is a great place to live on a whole, but if humans as a whole concentrated a bit more on worldwide issues rather than which geographical area of land to be born on is the best and what areas should be run by people born in certain places, perhaps some major problems would not be so. Though that is a little bit off topic as Scottish nationalism is more a cultural thing, and not jingoistic at all.

- Promotion to the Championship - Our incredible form, barring the last week or so, we barely lost a game all year. - The football we play, skilful fast passing... it's great to watch.

Plus he can get a far bigger audience on the Beeb and the BBC is the place to be just for its reputation.