Section 20 of 21 - Prev - Next
All sections - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 19 - 20 - 21

Q1: Agree 123,063 (82.6%)  Disagree 26,010 (17.4%)
Q2: Agree 107,288 (72.2%)  Disagree 41,372 (27.8%)
Turnout 60.8%. Declared 04:07 (This result secured the second question)

Orkney Islands
--------------
Q1: Agree 4,749 (57.3%)  Disagree 3,541 (42.7%)
Q2: Agree 3,917 (47.4%)  Disagree 4,344 (52.6%)
Turnout 53.5%. Declared 01:54

Perth & Kinross
---------------
Q1: Agree 40,344 (61.7%)  Disagree 24,998 (38.3%)
Q2: Agree 33,398 (51.3%)  Disagree 31,709 (48.7%)
Turnout 63.1%. Declared 03:02

Renfrewshire
------------
Q1: Agree 68,711 (79.0%)  Disagree 18,213 (21.0%)
Q2: Agree 55,075 (63.6%)  Disagree 31,537 (36.4%)
Turnout 62.8%. Declared 01:59

Scottish Borders
----------------
Q1: Agree 33,855 (62.8%)  Disagree 20,060 (37.2%)
Q2: Agree 27,284 (50.7%)  Disagree 26,497 (49.3%)
Turnout 64.8%. Declared 03:40

Shetland Islands
----------------
Q1: Agree 5,430 (62.4%)  Disagree 3,275 (37.6%)
Q2: Agree 4,478 (51.6%)  Disagree 4,198 (48.4%)
Turnout 51.5%. Declared 03:13

South Ayrshire
--------------
Q1: Agree 40,161 (66.9%)  Disagree 19,909 (33.1%)
Q2: Agree 33,679 (56.2%)  Disagree 26,217 (43.8%)
Turnout 66.7%. Declared 02:31

South Lanarkshire
-----------------
Q1: Agree 114,908 (77.8%)  Disagree 32,762 (22.2%)
Q2: Agree 99,587 (67.6%)  Disagree 47,708 (32.4%)
Turnout 63.1%. Declared 00:50

Stirling
--------
Q1: Agree 29,190 (68.5%)  Disagree 13,440 (31.5%)
Q2: Agree 25,044 (58.9%)  Disagree 17,487 (41.1%)
Turnout 65.8%. Declared 02:57

West Dumbartonshire
-------------------
Q1: Agree 39,051 (84.7%)  Disagree 7,058 (15.3%)
Q2: Agree 34,408 (74.7%)  Disagree 11,628 (25.3%)
Turnout 63.7%. Declared 03:17

West Lothian
------------
Q1: Agree 56,923 (79.6%)  Disagree 14,614 (20.4%)
Q2: Agree 47,990 (67.3%)  Disagree 23,354 (32.7%)
Turnout 62.6%. Declared 01:49

Western Isles / Comhairle nan Eilean Siar
-----------------------------------------
Q1: Agree 9,977 (79.4%)  Disagree 2,589 (20.6%)
Q2: Agree 8,557 (68.4%)  Disagree 3,947 (31.6%)
Turnout 55.8%. Declared 02:11


[19.12] The Scottish Parliament

The Scottish Parliament web site
--------------------------------
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/ - English
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/gaidhlig - Gaelic
The Parliament was elected on 6 May 1999, reconvened after a 292 year gap on
12 May 1999, and assumed its full powers after the official opening
by the Queen on 1 July 1999.

The Scotland Act 1988
---------------------
http://www.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts1998/19980046.htm

Statutory Instruments
---------------------
http://www.scotland-legislation.hmso.gov.uk/

Results
-------
The full breakdown by constituency of the votes in the Scottish
Parliament election (including the regional list vote) is off

http://www.crest.ox.ac.uk/results.htm


Background
----------
See also
http://www.scottish-devolution.org.uk/

The powers of the Scottish Parliament are based on those established by
the Labour led Constitutional Convention.

The final report of the constitutional convention is at
http://www.almac.co.uk/business_park/scc/scc-rep.htm

The Scottish parliament extends democratic control over the
responsibilities formerly exercised administratively by the Scottish Office.
The responsibilities of the UK Parliament will remain unchanged over UK policy,
for example economic, defence and foreign policy.

The UK Government has published a short free guide concerning powers of
the parliament. It is available in Scots, Gaelic, English and other
languages. Write to: The Constitution Group, the Scottish Office,
Edinburgh EH6 6QQ.

Site of Parliament
==================
It was leaked to the media on 5th January 1998 that the Parliament will be in
Holyrood, near Holyrood Palace. Most political parties and most members of
the general public wanted the parliament to be at Calton Hill, but this
was ruled out on cost grounds. However, Holyrood palace offers plenty room
for expansion if/when the Queen is no longer the head of state.... Any
suggestions as to what the Parliament should be called? Thomas Muir house
has been suggested, after the Scottish political activist (see [11.16]). The
actual site was originally that of Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun's house - he
was one of the main opponents to political union in the previous Scottish
parliament. Until the new Parliament building at Holyrood is constructed, the
Scottish Parliament will meet in the General Assembly buildings on The Mound.
These buildings are only a few minutes walk from Parliament Square where
the Scottish Parliament met prior to being suspended in May 1707.

The postal address of the Parliament (both locations) is

The Scottish Parliament
Edinburgh
EH99 1SP

You can contact your MSP by e-mail.
The format is firstname.surname.msp@scottish.parliament.uk

Parliament Building
===================
There is an exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland showing the
latest design of the new Scottish parliament by the Catalonian architect
Enric Miralles. Since everyone cannot go and visit the display, you can view
photos of the models and illustrations together with some other info at:
http://scottishculture.miningco.com/

Constituencies
==============
129 seats - 71 of the present 72 constituencies plus Orkney & Shetland
with one each giving 73 elected by FPTP. The remaining 56 elected by
party list in the eight Euro-constituencies - seven seats each.

List regions

Central Scotland
----------------
Airdrie & Shotts; Coatbridge & Chryston; Cumbernauld & Kilsyth; East
Kilbride; Kilmarnock & Loudon; Hamilton North & Bellshill; Hamilton
South; Motherwell & Wishaw; Falkirk East; Falkirk West (10 seats).

Glasgow
-------
Glasgow Anniesland; Glasgow Baillieston; Glasgow Cathcart; Glasgow Govan;
Glasgow Kelvin; Glasgow Maryhill; Glasgow Pollok; Glasgow Rutherglen;
Glasgow Shettleston; Glasgow Springburn (10 seats).

Highlands & Islands
-------------------
Argyll and Bute; Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross; Inverness East,
Nairn and Lochaber; Moray; Orkney; Ross, Skye and Inverness West; Shetland;
Western Isles (8 seats).

Lothians
--------
Edinburgh Central; Edinburgh East and Musselburgh; Edinburgh North and
Leith; Edinburgh Pentlands; Edinburgh South; Edinburgh West; Linlithgow;
Livingston; Midlothian (9 seats).

Mid Scotland and Fife
---------------------
Central Fife; Dunfermline East; Dunferline West; Kirkcaldy;
North East Fife; Ochil; Perth; Stirling; North Tayside (9 seats).

North East Scotland
-------------------
Aberdeen Central; Aberdeen North; Aberdeen South; Angus; Banff & Buchan;
Dundee East; Dundee West; Gordon; West Aberdeenshire & Kincardine (9 seats).

South of Scotland
-----------------
Ayr; Carrick, Cumnock & Doon Valley; Clydesdale; Dumfries; East Lothian;
Galloway & Upper Nithsdale; Cunninghame South; Roxburgh & Berwickshire;
Tweeddale, Ettrick & Lauderdale (9 seats)

West of Scotland
----------------
Clydebank & Milngavie; Cunninghame North; Dumbarton; Eastwood;
Greenock & Inverclyde; Paisley North; Paisley South; Strathkelvin &
Bearsden; West Renfrewshire (9 seats).


The original proposed powers of the parliament, detailed in the white
paper are limited by the following, control of which is proposed to
remain at Westminster.

Exceptions to the home rule
===========================
1 Succession to Crown
2 Treason
3 UK titles of honour
4 Defence, civil defence, armed forces
5 Making of peace & war
6 Relations with foreign states, membership of EU
7 Immigration
8 Payments from UK Consolidated Fund and National Loans Fund
9 Tax payable to the UK Exchequer, except as otherwise prescribed
10 Currency and coinage
11 Interest rates and credit
12 Competition policy
13 Business regulation
14 Financial services regulation
15 Loan guarantees to public body, except as otherwise prescribed
16 Import & export licensing
17 Gas, electricity and telecommunications regulation
18 Regulation of charges and prices other than those charged by
Scottish secretary
19 Social security
20 Employment regulation
21 Discrimination issues
22 Control of drugs and medicines
23 Environmental protection
24 Civil aviation regulation
25 Maritime shipping, inland water navigation
26 Road traffic regulation
27 Railways regulation
28 Elections to UK and EU parliaments
29 UK statistics, census
30 Data protection
31 Continued existence of High Court of Justiciary, Court of Session,
the sheriff courts, the district courts
32 Appeals to House of Lords and High Court of Justiciary.
33 Courts-martial and the Courts-Martial Appeal Court; Election
Courts; Restrictive Practices Court; Employment Appeal Tribunal
34 Posts and telegraphs, including telephones, radio satellite cable
and terrestrial television
35 Prevention of terrorism
36 Quarantine of animals
37 Human rights
38 Genetic research, human fertilisation and embryology
39 Intellectual property
40 Weights and measures, including time


[19.13] How the Scottish Parliament might work

Readers interested in a proposed model for how the Scottish parliament
could work might find the following of interest

To make the parliament of Scotland a model for democracy
prepared for the John Wheatley Centre
by Bernard Crick and David Millar

The publication (published 1997), is a revised version of Standing
Orders for a Scottish Parliament prepared by the authors in 1991 for the
Scottish Constitutional Convention.

About the authors:
Bernard Crick, founding secretary of the Study of Parliament group in
1963 and author of The Reform of Parliament (1963) and of In Defence of
Politics, is Emeritus Professor of Politics, London University and an
Honorary Fellow of the Politics Department of the University of
Edinburgh. David Millar OBE, was formerly a clerk of the House of
Commons, then Director of Research at the European Parliament, now an
honorary fellow of the Europa Institute of the University of Edinburgh

The publication is 54 A4 pages and costs five pounds.
ISBN 1 873 11809 0
available from John Wheatley Centre, 20 Forth Street, Edinburgh
EH1 3LH
Tel/Fax: 0131 477 8220


Book information
----------------
Get more information on the books listed here
via our books page in association with Amazon.
http://www.siliconglen.com/Scotland/books/amazon.html#[19.13]


[19.14] Scottish Elections

Scottish General Election
=========================
First held on 6 May 99. Thereafter the first Thursday in May at fixed 4 year
intervals unless the parliament is dissolved early due to a vote of no
confidence or failure to form a government. Two ballot papers, one for
a constituency MSP the other for PR seats on a list.

Total PR votes
--------------
Figures are presented in the form: Party, No. votes  (% share) actual
seats won, Top-Up regions fought

Electorate 3,986,886
Turnout 2,305,987 (57.84%)

Labour 786,818 (34.12%) 56 All
Scottish National Party 638,644 (27.70%) 35 All
Scottish Conservative & Unionist Party 372,213 (16.14%) 18 All
Scottish Liberal Democrats 277,656 (12.04%) 17 All
Scottish Greens 84,024 (3.64%) 1 All
Socialist Labour Party 55,232 (2.40%) 0 All
Scottish Socialist Party 46,635 (2.02%) 1 All
Pro-Life Alliance 9,784 (0.42%) 0 C,G,L,M&F,W
Scottish Unionist Party 7,009 0 C,G,W
Natural Law Party 4,906 (0.21%) All
Cairdeas - The Highlands & Islands Alliance 2607 (0.11%) H&I
Scottish Liberal Party 2,056 (0.09%) L
UK Independence Party 1,502 (0.07%) S
Scottish Family & Pensioners' Party 1,373 (0.06%) C
Witchery Tour Party 1,184 (0.05%) L
Civil Rights Party 806 (0.03%) L
Socialist Party of Great Britain 697 (0.03%) G,L
Communist Party of Great Britain 521 (0.02%) G
Humanist Party 447 (0.02%) G
Independents (Various Lists) 41,319 (1.79%) 1 C,G,H&I,L,NE,W

Local Authorities
=================
Held on 6 May 99 and thereafter the first Thursday in May at fixed 4 year
intervals.

10 June 1999
============
Elections to the European Parliament. 5 year term. Scotland formed a
single constituency for the purposes of this election with all candidates
being elected on a closed list PR basis.

June 2006
---------
Latest date for UK General Election


[19.15] Understanding Parliament

For understanding how the UK parliament works, the web page for the
UK Parliament is:

http://www.parliament.uk/

They have links to how Parliament works (bills, etc..) at:
http://www.parliament.uk/parliament/guide/parliamt.htm

Just general information but cuts right through to the basics..

and http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/FACT.HTM has many public
information office fact sheets.

This info is here in order to help people understand the process by
which they are governed in Scotland. This section will be expanded once
the Scottish Parliament is running.

Announcments are often made through the Central Office of Information
http://www.nds.coi.gov.uk/ (UK)
http://www.ndsregions.coi.gov.uk/ (Scottish info off here)


For political information, see also
http://www.psr.keele.ac.uk/


[19.16] The Monarchy

Crown Estate
------------
http://www.crownestate.co.uk/
Info on the Crown Estate - property owned by the sovereign of the
United Kingdom "in right of the Crown" with origins dating back
almost 1000 years.

Do you want a monarchy?
-----------------------
On Tuesday 7th January 1997, there was a televised debate shown across
the UK on the future of the monarchy. There was a phone-in vote which
attracted 2.5 million votes, the biggest ever total for a phone-in
(the previous largest was 1.25 million). The question put to voters
was "Do you want a monarchy" and the breakdown of votes is as follows:

Scotland 56% AGAINST (the only part of the UK to vote against)

Northern Ireland 64% in favour
Wales 59% in favour

England:
The South East of England 72% in favour
The South West of England 71% in favour
East Anglia 70% in favour
The English Midlands 69% in favour
North East England 66% in favour
London 66% in favour
North West England 64% in favour

Further information in The Scotsman, 8-Jan-97, main story, P1.


Scottish Crown Jewels (Honours of Scotland)
-------------------------------------------
For information on the Scottish Crown Jewels (Honours of Scotland), see
http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/page451.asp

There are pictures of the jewels there. The Honours of Scotland are the
oldest sovereign regalia in the British Isles.


[19.17] OBEs, honorific titles, "gongs" etc

John Major introduced some reform to the the "gong" or honorific title
scheme to award knighthoods, OBEs, MBEs etc to more members of the
general public. If you know of someone who is worthy of an award then
just write to 10 Downing St, Whitehall, London and ask for details.
You get back a 4 page form to fill in.

If you want to know about courtesy titles, see
http://www.siliconglen.com/usability/courtesytitles.html


[19.18] Scottish Independence information

Websites
--------
The Scottish National Party
http://www.snp.org.uk/

Independence oriented websites
http://www.freescotland.com/
http://www.forscotland.com/

Further reading
---------------
Information on the legal issues around independence is covered in
the Vienna convention, on-line at:
http://www.tufts.edu/departments/fletcher/multi/texts/BH883.txt

A recommended read is
Scotland: An unwon cause by P. H. Scott
ISBN 0-86241-700-7, published 1997.


Book information
----------------
Get more information on the books listed here
via our books page in association with Amazon.
http://www.siliconglen.com/Scotland/books/amazon.html#[19.18]


[19.19] Article on Independence

Article by DOBSCAN mailto:dobscan@aol.com

I am forever reading comments about an independent Scotland. The reasons
often given are; a hatred for England, a wish for a return to Gaelic, and
other such emotional issues. Now while these and other emotional issues
may play a small part I doubt, due to the mass differences in opinion that
any of these will have any affect on the independence of Scotland.

I grew up in an extremely nationalist environment and the issues I heard
to support a separate Scotland, and I believe they are the ones shared by
most Scots and in general most thinking people.

1: Economic self rule so as to decide where our tax pounds went. A very
simple idea and principal, that would allow the people to decide what was
important to them and how their money was spent and to insure that their
money was spent in Scotland to meet the needs of the Scottish people who
paid them. This was always the main issue.

2: Our own polititians who would be more concerned with the problems
affecting Scotland than those in London who are resposible for a larger
area and a higher population. Since the governing people are elected the
issues of the majority get a priority over the issues of a minority.
England has a greater population thus more votes, thus more pull with the
political parties. Again a simple reality.

I never heard vote for Scottish rule because we hate the English, or we
want our own Royal Family, or other issues. They may exist in some cases
but not in the main stream. In fact if one was to look at the issues of
Scottish rule one would see the plans already in place for a great deal of
cooperation with the countries around Scotland. The reason for an
independent Scotland is to improve the life of the Scots, not to harm the
lives of other nations. The issue is prosperity and responsability for
Scottish issues by the people of Scotland.

As an example of the emotions involved, one of my uncles, a very staunch
nationalist, and a, rightfully so, proud vetran of the Scots Guards used
to make us stand for God Save The Queen, while everyone else left the
pictures (movies) Because it was the right thing to do.

At 14 to 16 I would of been the ideal terrorist and would of welcomed the
chance of running into Westminister with a bomb on my back. I suggested it
a few times, and even the hardest core fringe separatists/nationals were
aghast at my suggestion. "We don't do that" was the reply and the disgust
was very clear in the voices. As much as I thought of them as cowards in
my foolish youth I respect and admire their stance today in my mature
foolishness. Again the ecomonic and logic of separation were explained to
me. When I would, as a child, express a horray for the IRA or such, I
would be chastised and told some poor soldiers mother, wife or child would
be missing them. Think of the poor bairns was always a prominent remark.
Steps were taken so that I would not hate the English people with the
constant emphasis being placed on economics and logic.

I hope this will clear up some of the issues about Scottish Nationalism.
Will help clear up some missconceptions about the movement. As you can see
by the sign off of Mr. Chick McGregor when he says " Don't vote Labour
because of your Parents. Vote SNP because of your children." You will note
that there is no other reason for an independent Scotland that to benefit
the people of Scotland. Scottish Nationalisn is not based on history it is
conceived on the hopes of the future.

Dave M.


[19.20] Contacting MPs, MSPs by E-mail

Members of the Scottish Parliament
----------------------------------
You can contact your MSP by e-mail.
The format is name.name.msp@scottish.parliament.uk
Some apparantly don't read e-mail or respond to it.

Members of the UK Parliament
----------------------------
There is a list of MPs contactable by E-mail at
http://www.psr.keele.ac.uk/area/uk/mpsorted.htm


[19.21] Health and the NHS

http://www.hebs.scot.nhs.uk/
Health Education Board for Scotland


[20.1] Silicon Glen - Scottish Computing

Traditionally, Silicon Glen focussed on the inward investment of
electronic companies. We are now seeing the problems caused by such a
narrow strategy. Viasystems, National Semiconductor and the like are
foreign companies which are now closing down, with devastating knock
on effects for the Scottish economy, an economy which has focussed too
narrowly on such industries. The current trend towards massive growth
in call centres is another case in point - whilst these provide quality
jobs in the short term, their long term prospects are in grave
doubt due to the growth of automated systems and electronic commerce
on the Internet as well as outsourcing from Scotland's Silicon Glen to
India's Silicon Plateau.

It is estimated that like electronics, there will be a scaling down of
call centre jobs. An article in PC Week (29-Sept-98, P7) indicated that
50% of front line jobs (including call centres) will disappear by 2010.
There is hope though. Scottish software, whilst still relatively small
scale, is starting to grow thanks to the efforts of the Scottish
Software Federation, now ScotlandIS. However, we still live in a climate
where people are often expected to gamble the roof over their head to
start a business in Scotland and at the same time foreign investors are
paid thousands of pounds of money in grants for each job created. It is
hardly surprising therefore that there is such an imbalance in the
Scottish software business towards foreign companies at the expense of
home grown talent. Public sector money is also often surrounded by so
much red tape that it isn't unknown for  the funds to have to hand the
money back to investors because insufficient businesses were eligible
to apply.

In an age when we should be attempting to eliminate ageism and sexism in
the workplace and to encourage people to balance work and family life,
when you start a business there is completely rampant sexism (funds only
availale for women), ageism (funds only available to young people) and no
special help at all for anyone balancing a startup with a family! Talk about
conflicting government messages!


For business startup information, see [1.10].

Magazines and Journals
----------------------
NB Magazine will provide you with more information on computing
news from Silicon Glen, Scotland
http://www.nb-mag.com/

Scotland's Premier IT Trade Magazine
http://www.computerheadline.com/

Scottish Development International
----------------------------------
http://www.lis.org.uk/
The body dealing with inward investment in Scotland

Scotland IS
-----------
http://www.scotlandis.com/

Companies
---------
See the company search feature at
http://www.siliconglen.com/Scotland/internet.html for a comprehensive
search engine including the websites of over 500 companies, agencies,
government bodies and entrepreneurial groups operating in Scotland.

Helpdesk Software
-----------------
For Helpdesk Software, visit Serio Ltd, based in Livingston
http://www.seriosoft.com/


First Tuesday
-------------
http://www.firsttuesdayscotland.com/
The forum for entrepreneurs to meet venture capitalists.

SLI Centre
----------
For information on the Institute for System Level Integration (SLI).
This is a major initiative, Project Alba, to establish in Scotland a
world-leading centre for next generation semiconductor research and design
and software development.
http://www.sli-scotland.org.uk/
The "anchor" company of the Project Alba campus is Cadence,
http://www.cadence.com/

SiliconGlen.com
---------------
http://www.siliconglen.com/ (General site)
http://www.siliconglen.com/companies/
http://www.siliconglen.com/usability/ (web design guidelines)
http://www.siliconglen.com/usability/pants.html (The Pants Website award)

WOW Web Competition
-------------------
For Scottish businesses, a competition run by the Scottish Enterprise
network with corporate sponsors.
http://www.wow.org.uk/
The winners are usually websites with lots of glitz and trendy technologies
rather than websites which are useful from a consumer's point of view (e.g.
one recent winner didn't even have an email address on their site - doh!)

Combat Spam - Stop Spam
-----------------------
http://www.scot.demon.co.uk/spam-filter.html
The Spam Filter - Mentioned on TV across the US.

http://www.thespamfilter.com/
http://www.spam-filter.com/
http://www.themailfilter.com/
http://www.theemailfilter.com/
http://www.themailfilter.com/
http://www.the-mail-filter.com/
http://www.the-spam-filter.com/
http://www.filterjunkmail.com/

E-mail
======
To keep abreast of developments about the internet community in Scotland,
please join the Scotland internet community email list by sending a
message with the single word 'subscribe' to
mailto:scotland-request@scotland.org

Jobs
====
For information on jobs in Scotland,
try the newsgroup news:scot.jobs or see [1.15]

Free Press Release Distribution
===============================
http://www.prweb.com/

Other
=====
Downloadable PGP software
http://www.pgp.com/
and
http://www.pgpi.com/


[20.2] General Internet information

Societies
---------
Scottish chapter of the Internet Society
http://scotland.isoc.org/

Statistics on Internet use
--------------------------
http://www.nop.co.uk/

Scottish Internet Exchange
--------------------------
http://www.scotix.net/

Articles on Website Usability
-----------------------------
http://www.siliconglen.com/usability/
http://www.useit.com/


FTP by mail
-----------
See here

mailto:bitftp@pucc.princeton.edu
mailto:ftp.uni-stuttgart.de


[20.3] Creating a top level domain for Scotland

Background
----------
A number of people and organisations are calling for a global top level
domain (DNS entry or TLD) to be created for Scotland on the Internet.

What this would mean is that Scottish e-mail, WWW, FTP addresses could
be assigned a two letter "country" suffix signifying Scotland.
Currently Scottish addresses end in .uk or one of the general
"international" suffixes such as .net, .com or .org. Scottish
businesses in particular, rather than having a Scottish address are
forced to use either a "UK" version, or an international one which
might already be in use by a different company elsewhere in the world.

From a Welsh point of view, a separate DNS entry also makes sense for
companies as limited companies there can put Cyf. (Cyfyngedig) after
their names, making their name unique in a Welsh context only.
e.g. www.companyname.cyf. corresponding to the current
www.companyname.ltd.uk

The organisation which allocates Internet numbers to names is ICANN
(The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Number),
http://www.icann.org/

The responsibility was previously handled by http://www.iana.org/
(The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority). The two letter country
suffixes which they use are those defined in ISO3166.
This standard is on-line at various locations, one such location is
http://www.din.de/gremien/nas/nabd/iso3166ma/codlstp1/en_listp1.html
Incidentally, ISO3166 predates the Internet and is used in a wide
variety of contexts besides Internet country domains.

Independence is not a prerequisite for getting a country domain.
"The codes represent the names of countries, dependencies and other
areas of special interest for purposes of international exchange,
without indicating expression of any opinion whatsoever concerning the
legal status of any country or territory or of its' authorities, or
concerning the delimitation of its' frontiers." Any area of "special
interest" can get one with the support of the relevant standards body.
For instance, the Isle of Man is (.im), Jersey is (.je) and Guernsey is
(.gg). These ones slipped through to IANA (the forerunner of ICANN) by
"mistake". IANA states:

"Jersey is part of another ISO 3166 list which defines reserved codes.
All UPU (Universal Postal Union) codes on this list we allowed into the
top level domain list. We have now been advised to not use this
reserved code list any further. However, all top level delegations
from that list remain current."

It appears that the UK government was not at all pleased about Jersey,
Guernsey and the Isle of Man being granted full ISO3166 status. The UK
government should have been consulted and their subsequent stance
indicates that they would have opposed such a move, as they are presently
doing with Scotland.

The codes ICANN now uses are exclusively those from the ISO 3166-1 standard,
although codes previously allocated under previous rules are maintained. In
particular, uk (seen on most UK e-mail addresses) is not in ISO3166, the
appropriate country code in ISO3166 is GB. There is at least one address
using this: http://www.dra.hmg.gb/
Why GB was the country code in the first place rather than UK is explained
here:
http://tinyurl.com/loqh

Britain's (and hence Scotland's) representative on ISO is the British
Standards Institute or BSI. They can be reached at mailto:info@bsi.org.uk

The situation in the UK as regards ISO3166 is now rather a mess. Jersey,
Guernsey and the Isle of Man shouldn't have codes but do, and the UK's
is listed as "GB", but "UK" is what appears in the DNS. Scotland has
its own parliament with devolution but  still does not have its own DNS
entry, even though other areas such as Antartica do. So do
many minor islands. Some of them are barely inhabited (Pitcairn/.pn,
population 48). Some are now dependencies of Australia or New Zealand but
still have their own ISO 3166 codes and DNS entries. The Isle of Man and
the Channel Islands are Crown Dependencies rather than parts of the UK or
Great Britain (but they are classed as part of the British Isles). Despite
what HMG might say on the matter, they *should* have had ISO 3166 codes
long ago - they have different legislation, have different postal rates, etc.

The creation of a top level domain for Scotland not only has the support
of many IT professionals, but also some manufacturers and Internet
providers as well as the SNP. The .co.uk namespace is also
oversubscribed - too many people chasing the same names. That's why
Nominet introduced .plc.uk and .ltd.uk - theoretically the names
registered at Companies House (and mangled according to Nominet rules
to turn them into domain names) are not very memorable. If you want a
Scotland domain, sign the petition at
http://www.scot.net/petition/

Even the .plc.uk and .ltd.uk expansion has still resulted in uk.com
becoming quite widely used.

One way of increasing the effective namespace is to add Scottish, Welsh,
English and Northern Irish TLDs. That *might* be a justification that ICANN
would accept for adding those TLDs without ISO 3166 country codes. It is
also possible to lodge a case with the domain name arbiter
http://www.arbiter.wipo.int/domain_name/start-case/

In contrast to the problems with the DNS, Scotland has had its own usenet
domain for a very considerable length of time (in Internet terms). The
scot.* hierarchy has been around since at least 1985, more info on
this in [20.4]. Furthermore a top level domain may be introduced soon
for American Indigenous Peoples. There is also likely to be a ".eu" domain
for the European Union. If there is a case for these domains, surely there
is a case for Scotland?

Possible codes
--------------
The possible codes Scotland could be allocated range from aa to zz although
the country codes AA, QM-QZ, XA-XZ and ZZ are reserved by ISO 3166 as
user-assigned codes and are not available. There is no process for
reassigning codes already in use. Maybe having one might be a step forward?

"Scotland" letter combinations (all allocated):
SC = Seychelles
SO = Somalia
ST = Sao Tome and Principe
SL = Sierra Leone
SA = Saudi Arabia
SN = Senegal
SD = Sudan

"Caledonia" letter combinations:
CA = Canada
CL = Chile
CE = UNASSIGNED
CD = Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire)
CO = Colombia
CN = China
CI = Ivory Coast/Cote d'Ivoire

"Alba" combinations
AA = reserved as user-assigned
AB = UNASSIGNED
AL = Albania

Finally, people who use the unofficial "SCO" country sticker on their cars
may be surprised to learn that Scotland has been granted an official three
letter country designation under part 2 of ISO3166 - this indicates names
of subdivisions of countries. Under this standard, Scotland is not SCO but
GB-SCT.


[20.4] Scottish usenet newsgroups

(alphabetical order)

ed.* Edinburgh
--------------
news:ed.accommodation   - Edinburgh accommodation.
news:ed.followup                - Edinburgh - followups to articles.
news:ed.general         - General Edinburgh topics.
news:ed.review          - Reviews of events in Edinburgh.

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