daltontrees

Surely not? 5 million people times £1100 is £5.5 billion a year. Is that really how much the rest of UK is subsidising Scotland. What about Wales and Northern Ireland? Are they being subsidised too?

Stadard Life actually said that they were making contingency plans to relocate much of their operations from Scotland if tehre was independence without monetary union. They're just saying they as investment managers need monetary stability. Duuuuh! They also said a decade ago that if Scotland got a devolved parliament they would move out. Still waiting... RBS is owned by foreign shareholders (predominantly) and the UK government. Not particularly a scottish problem. Whta I want to know is what will New Scotland Yard be called after inependence. Will it be forced to move to Scotland?

I can't even figure out what he was TRYING to do.

It eems literally impossible to get an objective set of figures on this. People have been discussing an arguing about it for decades. If you have definitive figures adn a source reference I would be pleased to have a look. But really what I meant was that the points in favour of independence were valid and, whereas there are no doubt many against independence that are just as valid, saying hte guy's points are invalid is not a coherent argument. And more importantly still, if scotland gets independence then no amout of apportioning of curent revenues and assets is going to predicate what happens in the future because scotland will have to reinvent itself as a grown-up, non-complaining country that maximises resources, exploits markets, reins in expenditure and makes the most of everything. It's not governments that do that, it's people. What the SNP says it will do with and for Scotland is virtually irrelevant, we should assume that they can and will all be papped out and we start again. Forgetting the past and taking forward no preconceptions about past ways of doing and looking at things. Taxes will probably be higher, but the quality of life (not to be confused with the standard of living) should be better. As a matter of curiosity (honestly, I can't be bothered with arguments), if it could demonstrated that scotland is putting in much less than it is taking out, would that not be a case for chucking scotland out of the UK? Why keep it if it is a deadweight? Out of sympathy? Out of duty or a sense of history?

I think the points you made for independence were valid, the only criticism you got that they were pie in the sky, which is not a rational argument only caremongering. But Dean deosn't get to vote anyway and doesn't have to live with the direct consequences, just the indirect ones.

Possibly Fraxinus ornus (Manna Ash). Your pictures are fuzzy, look it up and see if it's a match.

Don't do it yourself, that's my advice. Yesterday I took down a Birch tree about 20m high. The following things were involved, without which the job might have been possible but would have been more dangerous or difficult. 2 13mm ropes 2 prussik loops Spikes Chainsaw trousers Chainsaw boots Helmet with visor and ear muffs Work positioning (not rock climbing) harness Silky saw and scabbard Top handled saw 18" ground saw Bag of tools for bar cleaning and chain tensioning 2 fit and strong sensible and knowledgeable guys on the ground 2 pulleys 2 1/2 tonne pulleys 13mm lowering rope Snapgate, trilock and screwgate pulleys in steel and aluminium An insurance policy 1000+ days post-qualification experience Flying capstan and 1 tonne strop Wire cored swedish strop Sorry, but I am not going to recommend any brands to you because I don't think you should try it yourself and I don't want to encourage you. Rock climbing and tree work are quite differrent. The former is thrill-seeking, backed up by dynamic fall-arrest equipment. The latter is risk minimisation by non-dynamic work positioning equipment. And when you bring a chanisaw up a tree,the dangers multiply. Then when you start shock-loading a tree during rigging, it's gettign way way beyond the amateur. How about you get a local company to do it on the proviso that they let you help with the ground work? Then you can watch and experience it. They may even let you climb the tree on their kit once they have their top rope in and before they start dismantling?

We are probably just arguing semantics but surely if someone leaves a union it is not the same union anymore, and even if it is still an union it might want to revisit its branding. Starting with Queendom, to move with the times. Again, I am just being playful, but with some sort of subconscious point.

Sorry Mr fergusontreesurgery but I did try to keep it on subject for a while, then gave up. But as long as the curent debate on the wider political issues is open-minded, constructive and good-natured I think it is dong no harm to let it run. Any contributions on the effect of independence on the industry welcome anytime though.

Rather nicely put, sir.

See, there's going to be a vote anyway, and not voting is not an option. Anyone who doesn't vote is a blethering idiot who is giving his vote to another person. I will vote even if it is just to beat the politicians at their own game.

As used earlier in the thread FUK means Former. If you prefer RUK, call it what you want but as it would no longer be united. How about LAP (London And Provinces)? Or SORE (Subjects of Royal England)? Only having a laugh, by the way!

Using stick/eye and paces is just a simplified version of hypsometry, or strictly speaking it would be called tacheometry. Most clinometers these days not only give you angles in degrees but they also give you percentages. If you look through the clinometer to the top of the tree you can read off a percentage. Do the same to the base of the tree and add this to the top angle. Multiply this by your distance to the centre of the tree. Example, you pace 20 metres away from the tree, stop and turn around. The top of tree measures 100% (the same as 45 degees) and the bottom measures 20% (about 11 degrees). Add the two together 120%. Multiply by your distance of 20 metres, gives you 24m. You can use any distance, it is just easier to do the mental arithmetic if the distance is multiples of 10m. The laser hypsometer uses a laser to measure and record the distance to the tree. trHEN IT RECORDS THE ANGLE TO TEH TOP, THEN TO TEH BOTTOM. pRESS A BUTTON AND IT DOES THE ABOVE CALCULATIONS FOR YOU AND DISPLAYS A HEIGHT. Sounds more precise but it's only as good as the care that goes into using it. The Suunto one piece clinometer is almost indestructible, needs no batteries, needs no maintenance and no button pushing with cold gloved hands. I wouldn't use anything else for standard surveys. About £100 new or £50 second-hand. Height measurement of a 20 metre-ish tree takes about 1 minute, less if you count the paces as you walk away to examine the crown.

Just now we have MPs in westminster and MSPs in Holyrood. IF the MSPs could handle the additoinal work of independence, the net saving would be the salaries and overheads of all the scottish MPs and their entourages.

Nonsense! If scots taxes have been paying towards scottish infrastructure for 300 years, why will the FUK own the infrastructure it didn't pay for? What's it going to do, chop faslane off, float it down the west coast and weld it to wales? Personally |I quite like the idea of Britains prime military trget being a bit further away, even if it is closer to the population centres that benefit from it and paid for it. I think your use of the word 'fact' is erroneous. If there is a Yes vote all preconceptions and assumptions will have to be set aside as part of a negotiated and legally binding separation agreement.

Are you referring to me? My knickers are currently perfectly straight. I've thought about it and read about it and looked at my policy and liaised with brokers and know what the answer is. If I've got it wrokng I will be punished by having wasted £250 of my £60k turnover on unnecessary insurance. If i've got it right I won't lose my house if someone gets killed.

Funnily enough, I am still undecided alyhough my sympathies lie with Independence and then vote all the b***ards out and start with a fresh bunch. I have had such a bad experience over the new High Hedges Act and the way the scottish Parliament handled it and is handling the guidance that I am very worried what they would get up to if their heads got any bigger and their brains any smaller. I am more or less putting my decision on how they perform on my test-issue Updates - High Hedges Scotland help advice representation over the next 2 months.

OK I had forgotten about the NATO difficulty. A bit awkward to resolve. Or not even try. If anyone invades we'll all charge down teh hillsidew with claymores in the time-honoured tradition of scots as cannon-fodder.

Personally I don't see that even as one of the reasons. And the following poitns are personal views also, an individual scot's perspective. Scotland would like to diverge its economy and society from that of England. It aspires to be able to manipulate the economy differently from how Westminster manipulates it. The current parliament with its SNP majority has aligned the government deprtments around its five Strategic Objectives that it says underpins its Purpose and describes the kind of Scotland it wants to live in - a Scotland that is Wealthier and Fairer, Smarter, Healthier, Safer and Stronger. It then brings its every action and decision back to one or more of those. Whehther it achieves it or not is a different matter, but it really is quite refreshing to be able to point to its manifesto and judge its progress. The scottish parliament is 'unicameral', decisions made in the parliament are final, there is no House of Lords of hereditary or politically appointed peers to interfere with the will of the peoples' elected representatives. The parliament has partial proportional representation so that parties like the greens (and even the tories) are able to have a say and a seat at the table. It's really quite a civilised advance on the UK system. And after me saying on here that it shouldn't be about individuals, quite frankly I cringe when I see William Hague representing Britain abroad, or that buffoon Michael Goave meddling with the education system, and (personally) I find Cameron slimy, disingenuous and he might as well be on Mars for all he means to me. We would like the right to choose our own slimy gits, thanks, and to be able to get rid of them when they don't do our bidding. As for Cameron-clone-Clegg, the U-turn meister, oddly I think his party is doing some good in holdiing the fascist elements of the coalition in check, but he does seem to have sold (no, given away) the LDP jerseys to get his snout in the trough. I have held my tongue when the opposition to nationalism has cropped up on the Forum, I see England as having a deeply unsavoury nationalistic aspect (as evidenced by UKIP) which but for the lack of proportional representation would probably have a good few MPs by now. They want to get out of Europe. So do some of the tories. I would rather be in an independent scotland applying to get into the EU than be dragged under by a UK trying to get out of it. Independence could be a nightmare, it could go badly wrong at first, but like a boy named Sue, it would have to get tough or die. Scots are tough. I think it would be OK in the long run. When you've no-one to blame but yourself it makes you a man.

It is one of teh great attractions of independence that Scotland would do away with nuclear weapons and would not participate in the expensive and blood-soaked invasions of Iraq/Afghanistan that make Britain a target for hatred form so many parts of the world. And the cost saving of a revised bit-part stance on the world stage would be enormous. What's the benefit really of being a big hitter politically as long as you have a sound economy? It's just politicians beating their metaphorical chests in the jungel clearing that is world politics.

I don't believe it! Someone wants to debate the effect of scottish independence on the tree industry? If SCotland's no part of europe and has no arrangement with FUK about employment, no-one from Scotland will eb allowed to work in FUK and vice versa without a visa. So scottish trees will be cut by scottish workers and FUK trees by FUK workers. Then if scotland's economy goes horribly wrong the scots tree workers will present themselves at Berwick as asylum seekers and then do all the rubbish jobs in FUK that no-one wants to do there, like branch dragging and chipping and sharpening saws.

“Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.” ― James Bovard Of course no-one really believes the scots are oppressed, I think my original choice of word was suppressed and I was referring to their democratic will.

I half heard the thing about named guardians on the radio, thought it was a wind-up for a few seconds. Not a good way to go for civil liberties. All politicians want power. That's why they're politicians, right? They are there to be used the way they use us. Anyone that believes them is a sucker. By now on this thread you can probably tell that my real grievance is english presumptuousness (is that a real word or is the right word presumption). Even if Scotland votes no I had hoped that it might raise awareness of the issue and prompt an english assembly. I recently pointed out to the AA a wee mistake they had made on their website about scottish TPO law compared to english TPO law; they said they would correct it. So what'd they do? They removed all reference to Scotland. There's erring on the safe side, and there's contempt. How united are we? I'm off to bed, it's the weekend and believe it or not I do have a life...

I've had this on Ash a few times, after cutting a section off and getting ready to do teh enxt one then suddenly there's a bang and a crack appears. Or it could be the start of a downward barbers chair because the hinge is close to the middle of the stem. Was the piece you just remoived pretty big and did it have a gnarly bit in it?

Look in the Insurance Forum for recent debate and also recent thread in the Chat Forum about verifying climbers. The answer, if there is one, is there. I haven't the energy to say another word on the subject.