I recently spent some time in Scotland and the topic on everybody’s lips, and it will soon be in the media as well, is that of the Scottish Independence Referendum on 18 September.  There seems to have been a natural conflict between the Scottish and the English over the years and while they have separate sports teams, they all form part of the same country, the United Kingdom.  A referendum, for the first time in its history, has been held in Scotland where the people will vote as to whether or not they remain a part of the United Kingdom or in fact to create an independent and separate country.  

It will, by necessity, ultimately have its own currency and so you will not use the British Pound in Scotland if it does become an independent country and that will also have ramifications for its financial and economic sector.  At the moment, people seem evenly balanced between being in favour of independence and being against independence, and the campaigns are obviously going to hot up as the August referendum date draws closer.  To think of it in South African terms it may be similar, although not entirely, to the Western Cape holding a referendum to be a separate and independent country and so obviously it is a major issue in the UK at the moment.  Many of those who receive benefits from the State are obviously very nervous about independence feeling that a new independent Scotland may not have the money to continue to pay the benefits or to pay them at the same rate and my guess would ultimately be that those against independence will win on the day – but it is certainly – by all polls – going to be a close call.