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Scotland's Future
''Scotland's Future'' is a government white paper published on 26 November 2013 by the Scottish Government under First Minister Alex Salmond. It lays out the case for Scottish independence and the means through which Scotland would become an independent country in personal union with the United Kingdom. Salmond described it as the "most comprehensive blueprint for an independent country ever published", and argued it shows his government seeks independence not "as an end in itself, but rather as a means to changing Scotland for the better". Background and launch The Edinburgh Agreementa document drawn up by the Governments of the United Kingdom and Scotlandset out the terms for a referendum on Scottish independence, to be held on 18 September 2014. Subject to a Yes vote in this referendum, the Scottish Government said that Scotland would become independent on 24 March 2016. ''Scotland's Future''the white paper setting out a framework for an independent Scotlandwas launched on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scotland
Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjacent Islands of Scotland, islands, principally in the archipelagos of the Hebrides and the Northern Isles. To the south-east, Scotland has its Anglo-Scottish border, only land border, which is long and shared with England; the country is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, the North Sea to the north-east and east, and the Irish Sea to the south. The population in 2022 was 5,439,842. Edinburgh is the capital and Glasgow is the most populous of the cities of Scotland. The Kingdom of Scotland emerged as an independent sovereign state in the 9th century. In 1603, James VI succeeded to the thrones of Kingdom of England, England and Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland, forming a personal union of the Union of the Crowns, three kingdo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nicola Sturgeon
Nicola Ferguson Sturgeon (born 19 July 1970) is a Scottish politician who served as First Minister of Scotland and Leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) from 2014 to 2023. She has served as a member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) since 1999, first as an additional member for the Glasgow electoral region, and as the member for Glasgow Southside (formerly Glasgow Govan) from 2007. Born in Ayrshire, Sturgeon is a law graduate of the University of Glasgow. She worked as a solicitor in Glasgow before her election to the Scottish Parliament in 1999. She served successively as the SNP's shadow minister for education, health, and justice. Sturgeon entered the leadership of the SNP but later withdrew from the contest in favour of Alex Salmond, standing instead as depute leader on a joint ticket with Salmond. Both were subsequently elected; as Salmond was still an MP, Sturgeon led the SNP in the Scottish Parliament as Leader of the Opposition from 2004 to 2007. The SNP e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster submits an original song representing its country to be performed and broadcast live to all of them via the Eurovision (network), Eurovision and Euroradio networks, and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine a winner. The contest was inspired by and based on the Italian Sanremo Music Festival, held in the Italian Riviera since 1951. Eurovision has been held annually since 1956 (except for due to the COVID-19 pandemic), making it the longest-running international music competition on television and one of the world's longest-running television programmes. Active members of the EBU and invited associate members are eligible to compete; broadcasters from List of countries in the Eurovision Song Contest, 52 countries hav ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
European Broadcasting Union
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; , UER) is an alliance of Public broadcasting, public service media organisations in countries within the European Broadcasting Area (EBA) or who are member states of the Council of Europe, members of the Council of Europe. , it is made up of 123 member organisations from 56 countries, and 31 associate members from a further 20 countries. It was established in 1950, and has its administrative headquarters in Geneva. The EBU owns and operates the Eurovision (network), Eurovision and Euroradio telecommunications networks on which major television and radio broadcasts are distributed live to its members. It also operates the daily Eurovision news exchange in which members share breaking news footage. In 2017, the EBU launched the Eurovision Social Newswire, an eyewitness and video verification service. Led by Head of Social Newsgathering, Derek Bowler, the service provides members of the EBU with verified and cleared-for-use newsworthy eyewitn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
EastEnders
''EastEnders'' is a British television soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the East End of London, the programme follows the stories of local residents and their families as they go about their daily lives. Within eight months of the show's original launch, it had reached the number one spot in BARB's television ratings, and has consistently remained among the top-rated series in Britain. Four ''EastEnders'' episodes are listed in the all-time top 10 List of most watched television broadcasts in the United Kingdom#Most watched programmes, most-watched programmes in the UK, including the number one spot, when over 30 million watched the 1986 Christmas Day episode. ''EastEnders'' has been EastEnders in popular culture, important in the history of British television drama, tackling many subjects that are considered to be controversial or taboo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Doctor Who
''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterrestrial being called the Doctor, part of a humanoid species called Time Lords. The Doctor travels in the universe and in time using a time travelling Spacecraft, spaceship called the TARDIS, which externally appears as a British police box. While travelling, the Doctor works to save lives and liberate oppressed peoples by combating List of Doctor Who villains, foes. The Doctor usually travels with Companion (Doctor Who), companions. Beginning with William Hartnell, List of actors who have played the Doctor, fourteen actors have headlined the series as the Doctor; the most recent being Ncuti Gatwa, who portrayed the Fifteenth Doctor from 2023 to 2025. The transition between actors is written into the plot of the series with the Regeneration ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BBC Scotland
BBC Scotland is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. Its headquarters are in Glasgow, employing approximately 1,250 staff as of 2017, to produce 15,000 hours of television and radio programming per year. BBC Scotland operates television channels such as the Scottish variant of BBC One, the BBC Scotland channel and the Gaelic-language channel BBC Alba, and radio stations BBC Radio Scotland and Gaelic-language BBC Radio nan Gàidheal. It is one of the four BBC national broadcasters, together with the BBC English Regions, BBC Cymru Wales and BBC Northern Ireland. Some £320 million of licence fee revenue is raised in Scotland, with expenditure on purely local content set to stand at £86 million by 2016–2017. The remainder of licence fee revenue raised in the country is spent on networked programmes shown throughout the UK, with BBC Scotland producing over 880 hours worth of programming for UK–wide broadcast on BBC One, BBC Two, BB ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Universal Credit
Universal Credit is a United Kingdom based Welfare state in the United Kingdom, social security payment. It is Means test, means-tested and is replacing and combining six benefits, for working-age households with a low income: income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), income-based Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA), and Income Support; Child Tax Credit (CTC) and Working Tax Credit (WTC); and Housing Benefit. An award of UC is made up of different elements, which become payable to the claimant if relevant criteria apply: a standard allowance for singles or couples, child elements and disabled child elements for children in the household, housing cost element, childcare costs element, as well as elements for being a carer or for having limited capability to work-related activities, due to illness or disability. The new policy was announced in 2010 at the Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party annual party conference, conference by the Work and Pensions Secretary, Iain Du ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Welfare Reform Act 2012
The Welfare Reform Act 2012 is an Acts of Parliament in the United Kingdom, Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom which makes changes to the rules concerning a number of benefits offered within the Welfare state in the United Kingdom, British social security system. It was enacted by the Parliament of the United Kingdom on 8 March 2012. Among the provisions of the Act are changes to housing benefit which came into force on 1 April 2013. These changes include an "under-occupancy penalty" which reduces the amount of benefit paid to claimants in social housing if they are deemed to have too much living space in the property they are renting. (This already applied to tenants in private rental accommodation). Although the Act does not introduce any new direct taxes, this ''penalty'' has been characterised by the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party and some in the media as the "Bedroom Tax", attempting to link it with the public debate about the "Poll tax (Great Britain), Poll Tax" in th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
UK Trident Programme
Trident, also known as the Trident nuclear programme or Trident nuclear deterrent, covers the development, procurement and operation of nuclear weapons in the United Kingdom and their means of delivery. Its purpose as stated by the Ministry of Defence is to "deter the most extreme threats to our national security and way of life, which cannot be done by other means". Trident is an operational system of four s armed with Trident II D-5 ballistic missiles, able to deliver thermonuclear warheads from multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles (MIRVs). It is operated by the Royal Navy and based at Clyde Naval Base on the west coast of Scotland. At least one submarine is always on patrol to provide a continuous at-sea capability. The missiles are manufactured in the United States, while the warheads are British. The British government initially negotiated with the Carter administration for the purchase of the Trident I C-4 missile. In 1981, the Reagan administration an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United Kingdom National Debt
The United Kingdom national debt is the total quantity of money borrowed by the Government of the United Kingdom at any time through the issue of securities by the British Treasury and other government agencies. At the end of March 2023, UK general government gross debt was £2,537.0 billion, or 100.5% gross domestic product. Approximately a third of the UK national debt is owned by the British government due to the Bank of England's quantitative easing programme, so approximately a third of the cost of servicing the debt is paid by the government to itself. In 2018, this reduced the annual servicing cost to approximately £30 billion (approx 2% of GDP, approx 5% of UK government tax income). In 2017, due to the Government's budget deficit ( PSNCR), the national debt increased by £46 billion. The Cameron–Clegg coalition government in 2010 planned that they would eliminate the deficit by the 2015/16 financial year. However, by 2014 they admitted that the structural deficit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pound Sterling
Sterling (symbol: £; currency code: GBP) is the currency of the United Kingdom and nine of its associated territories. The pound is the main unit of sterling, and the word '' pound'' is also used to refer to the British currency generally, often qualified in international contexts as the British pound or the pound sterling. Sterling is the world's oldest currency in continuous use since its inception. In 2022, it was the fourth-most-traded currency in the foreign exchange market, after the United States dollar, the euro, and the Japanese yen. Together with those three currencies and the renminbi, it forms the basket of currencies that calculate the value of IMF special drawing rights. As of late 2022, sterling is also the fourth most-held reserve currency in global reserves. The Bank of England is the central bank for sterling, issuing its own banknotes and regulating issuance of banknotes by private banks in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Sterling banknotes issu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
