Thinker

That's another strand of why I've been disappointed in Davis, and to a lesser extent Defoe, so far. As well as adding a bit of quality and guile I was hoping they'd set an example on the pitch - spur the team on with their winning mentality, and the professionalism to dig out results in unglamorous fixtures. It's not happening though.

Does a replay count normally as a match missed for suspension purposes?

If you take Morelos's actions on their own, there's no way anyone would suggest it's anything more than a yellow. He keeps his foot in, but doesn't "lash out" or make much contact to speak of. It's only because McKenna reacted the way he did (tried to do a headstand so he could put his studs in Alfie's face) and got a red, that the ref felt the need to give Morelos one too. I'm convinced that if McKenna hadn't reacted, no one would even be talking about this.

Yeah, seemed like a blatant drag-down on Morelos at 4-0. I'd need to see it again though. (Sorry - I see WalterBear has already mentioned that above).

Is this a "...and is therefore not entitled to any form of compensation" type of statement?

Normal? I'd be more inclined to characterise it as "depressingly typical". Self-determination and independence are terms with obvious positive slants to them, but do they really fit into a conversation about democracy, where majority consensus is everything? The main part of the deal is that we don't get to independently determine what we ourselves want. If you really consider yourself a democrat, surely you'd want to gain the greatest consensus possible - the more the merrier? I honestly can't see much that's noble, ethical or progressive in attempting to fragment the electorate based on (often half-baked) notions of cultural or ethnic separatism. Neither can I see how splitting into separate, competing factions is in line with the tenets of socialism. But, like I said, it's sadly typical of people to be clannish and divisive, especially in this current era of populism.

Was it not pointed out, in a previous thread, that that particular statistic is not true? (Apologies if not the case). I believe the stat should be that 14 million people in the UK that are in poverty, 4.5 million of whom are children. As a side-note, for comparison's sake, here's a link to EU figures on poverty in member states: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/2995521/9310033/3-16102018-BP-EN.pdf/16a1ad62-3af6-439e-ab9b-3729edd7b775 I'm sure most would like to see the UK doing better in this regard, but it's worth noting that Spain, Portugal, France, Italy and Ireland are all faring worse than us.

Given that the report which (as you say) "many UK Nats use to support their claim that Scotland can't financially support itself" is produced by the Scottish Government, what's your take on the figures? Do they support the claim that Scotland can't financially support itself?

https://www2.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Economy/GERS Check the above link (the Scottish Government website) and read who produces GERS.

Well, with regards to Scotland's Fiscal Autonomy it's been down far more often than it's been up. FFA would only have resulted in more wealth for Scotland for a few very brief periods when oil prices were at their highest. No it isn't. An independent Scotland would rely on oil for a much larger proportion of its GDP. (As Craig just said).

How much of a future do you see in fossil fuels? Do you hope to see atmospheric carbon and plastic production increase in the future, or decrease? If it's decrease, why would you wish to base a large chunk of Scotland's economy on oil?

The point is that, when oil was booming, Full Fiscal Autonomy was pushed for by the pro-independence camp as it would allow the Scottish Government to demonstrate how great an independent Scotland's finances would be - It would have been used as economic support for independence even though, as it transpired, the benefit hinged on a volatile source of income which has since fallen away. Now that things in the North Sea aren't so rosy, you don't hear about it so much. A trial run of Fiscal Autonomy as a prelude to independence is no longer desirable as it would do nothing but cast doubt on post-independence prosperity.

Given the current situation where incidents are either emphasised or down-played (by politicians and the media) depending on the club involved - what are the chances of SL being fairly enforced?

I'd be quite happy if those 7 fucked off and left UEFA competitions to clubs that are supported by actual fan-power rather than oligarchs and grotesquely inflated TV deals.

I know! The way they treated that poor orangutan! Second only to "whale choking on a poly bag" as wildlife tear-jerker of 2018.