Will Australia be forced to change its flag in 2014 if Scotland votes yes?

[MaddAdam]

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/constitution-unit/whatis/uk-constitution

In all but a handful of democracies in the world, the nation's constitution can be found in a single document. The exceptions are Israel, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

As a result, people sometimes say that we in Britain do not have a constitution. It is true that there is no enacted document in which the constitution can be found (unlike the Republic of Ireland, for example, or the United States).

It is also true that we do not have 'constitutional' laws - laws of fundamental importance that can only be changed through some special legislative procedure. Thus the Bill of Rights 1689 could easily be amended in 1996 so that the former MP Neil Hamilton could pursue his libel action against the Guardian.

An 'unwritten constitution'?

But the United Kingdom does have a constitution; it is just a little hard to track down. People frequently say we have an 'unwritten constitution' in the United Kingdom. Professor Vernon Bogdanor of Oxford University dismisses this as a 'misleading platitude'.

As he explains, much of our constitution is to be found in written documents or statutes such as Magna Carta, the Bill of Rights, the Act of Settlement and the Parliament Acts. There will soon be other documents on this distinguished list, as explained in the section on new constitutional measures.

Professor Bogdanor prefers to call Britain's constitution historic. By that he means it has evolved over the years, the product of historical development rather than deliberate design. But 'historic' does not mean 'old-fashioned'. Our constitution is evolving so quickly at present that only an on-line version of it can be entirely up to date.

Yes, I'm aware of all this and with all due respect to Professor Bognador, he's wrong when the argument revolves around matters like this.

 

[Power Raid]

And the Americans step in to prevent this, and to protect their very valuable military assets there.

happy to deal a deal with both the US and China to free ourselves from the shackles of canberra.

Kal should be the capital of this nation! After all, WA has the experience of project delivery and nation building. Its just the spirit this continent needs!

 

[Power Raid]

Yes, I'm aware of all this and with all due respect to Professor Bognador, he's wrong when the argument revolves around matters like this.

fair enough

http://ukconstitutionallaw.org/
http://www.consoc.org.uk/discover-the-facts/what-is-the-british-constitution/
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...n-constitution-and-does-it-matter-781975.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_the_United_Kingdom

I am no constitutional law expert but plenty of groups are singing a similar song sheet

 

[Power Raid]

Do the Yanks care about the Quebecois?

Quebecois is more like South Australia, so no, no one cares.

I would let SA decide whether they join the east or join Qld, NT and WA. That should keep my mum happy.

 

[The_Reaper]

happy to deal a deal with both the US and China to free ourselves from the shackles of canberra.

Kal should be the capital of this nation! After all, WA has the experience of project delivery and nation building. Its just the spirit this continent needs!

Craig Thomson likes this

 

[Power Raid]

Craig Thomson likes this

nothing quite like a symbiotic relationship

 

[Sanders]

No, you're wrong. The Brits have no written constitution like us.

They pretend to have one, but they don't, and for the purposes of this argument, the point is jejune.

Australia has a written constitution that describes how constitutional change such as WA wanting to secede must be acrried out.

The Brits don't, hence why Salmond and Cameron negotiated the "Edinburgh Agreement".

No wonder you think Scotland will keep the pound & join the eurozone on its own terms.

You alternate between cloud cuckoo land and downright ignorance

Where did you pluck the idea that a constitution has to be written in a single document from?

Oh dear indeed

 

[Sanders]

Yes, I'm aware of all this and with all due respect to Professor Bognador, he's wrong when the argument revolves around matters like this.

And your qualifications are what?

Seriously what are they

 

[MaddAdam]

happy to deal a deal with both the US and China to free ourselves from the shackles of canberra.

Kal should be the capital of this nation! After all, WA has the experience of project delivery and nation building. Its just the spirit this continent needs!

Actually, that would be Melbourne that does that.

WA is the manual labour.

(I will come back to the UK constitution thing in a bit

 

[Geelong_Sicko]

If it ever hypothetically came down to it (it won't), and we were out on the streets every day demanding to secede, do you think Australia would say no?

I certainly do and the Federal government would never let
it happen.

I'd back any one of the States (or Territories) if they wanted to secede by popular vote. It shouldn't actually MATTER what the rest of Australia wanted - just the people actually living in the State concerned.

As long as the seceding State wasn't going to become an ethno-exclusive entity (like say a White Nationalist nation) I'm in favour of self-determination.

 

[clogged]

happy to deal a deal with both the US and China to free ourselves from the shackles of canberra.

Kal should be the capital of this nation! After all, WA has the experience of project delivery and nation building. Its just the spirit this continent needs!

Jesus, you write some s**t.

 

[MaddAdam]

A very interesting interpretation of the "English subsidise the Scots" view.

http://wingsoverscotland.com/the-historical-debt/

 

[Viceregal]

How much people care about secessionist issues would seem to be a function of how much they care about the country / how much it affects them ... I imagine that if the Confederacy tried to secede from the United States again it would garner a bit of attention around the ridges!

 

[Power Raid]

Jesus, you write some s**t.

I am not serious about Kal but serious that the two economies are not compatible.

We have seen the EU struggle for similar reasons

 

[medusala]

A very interesting interpretation of the "English subsidise the Scots" view.

http://wingsoverscotland.com/the-historical-debt/

No link to reference and just anti English bile re Darian.

The Scots like to pretend they are some downtrodden mob but the reality is they were front and centre of imperialism. They benefitted not only from English cash at home but from being part of Empire overseas. They have generally been proportionately overrepresented in the officer class. Just as their merchants received protection from the royal navy.

 

[MaddAdam]

The Scots like to pretend they are some downtrodden mob but the reality is they were front and centre of imperialism. They benefitted not only from English cash at home but from being part of Empire overseas. They have generally been proportionately overrepresented in the officer class. Just as their merchants received protection from the royal navy.

This is all very true.

 

[MiloStedman]

If we were ever going to change the flag it should've been ages ago. It's a national symbol now, whether it does or doesn't have the Union Jack it it.

Keep the flag.

 

[Power Raid]

If we were ever going to change the flag it should've been ages ago. It's a national symbol now, whether it does or doesn't have the Union Jack it it.

Keep the flag.

why?

it has only been our flag for less than 60 years which is less than a life time

 

[MiloStedman]

why?

it has only been our flag for less than 60 years which is less than a life time

For the simple fact that all flags are national icons.

What would you change it to?

 

[MaddAdam]

Latest Sunday Times poll has Yes at 47 per cent and No at 53 per cent.

That's getting to within margin of error status.

Murdoch playing a very interesting role in this.

 

[The_Reaper]

Latest Sunday Times poll has Yes at 47 per cent and No at 53 per cent.

That's getting to within margin of error status.

Murdoch playing a very interesting role in this.

Just curious but hypotheticall what would happen if people in lets say the Orkneys voted against it but the rest of Scotland did?

Could there be an arguement for a future Orkneys referendum to seceede from Scotland?

 

[The Speaker]

Just curious but hypotheticall what would happen if people in lets say the Orkneys voted against it but the rest of Scotland did?

Could there be an arguement for a future Orkneys referendum to seceede from Scotland?

From what I understand, O and S would want to be dependencies of Scotland.

 

[tandino]

Just curious but hypotheticall what would happen if people in lets say the Orkneys voted against it but the rest of Scotland did?

Could there be an arguement for a future Orkneys referendum to seceede from Scotland?

Hopefully.

 

[MaddAdam]

The whole Orkneys thing is bullshit.

 

[MaddAdam]

http://www.theguardian.com/politics...-likely-choose-independence-foreign-diplomats

A second foreign government source said most diplomats did not believe the UK government's stance on key questions such as George Osborne's claims the Treasury would veto a currency union, that Scotland's economy would suffer badly after independence and that Scotland would be barred from immediate EU membership.

But, but, but in Guido's comments!

medusala