IN or OUT?

I have a bit of a dilemma! I have looked around the Internet for answers but find none. Perhaps you can help?

Now then, there is a possibility that eventually Scotland will actually vote to leave the United Kingdom but there is also the possibility, however remote, that England and perhaps the rest of the UK, will vote to leave the EC. Then what!

It is difficult to see that we would end up with the current open border between England and Scotland as one of the major reasons that the English want to leave the EC is to stop immigration. But if EC residents are free to enter an independent Scotland that remains part of the EC, what would stop the EC citizens from wandering into England?

Further more, the moment the UK left the EC customs and trade tariffs would be completely different, another reason for leaving, and that would facilitate the potential trafficking of contraband between the two countries if the border remained open.

Of course to fund policing the 'new' border both nations would need to impose charges and duties on people and goods crossing the border and I imagine that the English Government would want Scottish hauliers to pay to use the English roads and railways as free movement would cease the instant we were no longer part of the EC.

There is no information about any of this which can hardly be called nitty gritty. It seems to me that these are fundamental issues that no one has thought through and made public.

PS If Scotland does leave the UK it will still be part of our, the British Towns and Villages, website because it will still be part of the British Isles like Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man - Just thought I would answer that question before it arises!

Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

The New Year, 2014, finds us with our economy on the verge of growth - perhaps! - but what will that bring?

The cost of credit

According to the Bank of England the unemployment figures are improving faster than predicted, which is great for those without a job BUT it is one of the major triggers for the bank to raise interest rates.

That will be fun, most folks are struggling to pay their existing mortgage or rent - that's if they can find an affordable house to buy or rent in the first place - and struggling even more to service their credit cards and loans and I suspect that the recent Christmas and New Year celebrations have been largely funded with the credit card. So mortgage and credit card payments are going to rise!

The value of property

2014 will likely be the year that the government will be forced to do something to stimulate a major program of house building. If there is economic growth and an increase in individual income without an increase in the availability of housing housing costs, either mortgage or rent, will spiral out of control.

The UK government states that failure to deal with the current housing situation will have serious social and economic implications

With approaching elections this is not something that can be allowed to get worse than it already is and there's the rub because if a significant improvement is made to the housing problem then the currently over-inflated house prices will fall as a result. Let's make the point here to have any effect the amount of housing needed is similar to that needed after the Second World War not one or two more here and there BUT if significant number of houses are built and made available the currently over-inflated property prices will collapse sending many current mortgage payers into serious negative equity for a long time.

Permanent Negative Equity

Anyone who has bought a property during this period of over inflated prices should start to get used to the idea that at some point in the not to distant future that they are going to be propelled into negative equity probably permanently.

Facing the music

I wonder when our politicians are going to get around to telling them?